Malachy McCourt's History of Ireland

While I appreciate McCourt's laid back approach to Ireland's history, his style in Malachy McCourt's History of Ireland revolved around individuals and I feel that there is so much missing from his narrative. I didn't actually get a sense of the Irish people themselves or any of the major events.

McCourt explains events such as the Easter Rising and Bloody Sunday only in contexts of who was involved. This tactic resulted in a vague and disjointed telling of the story, as well as a lot of redundancies. I read a review that questioned the editing of the book and I totally agree, it wasn't well-formatted.

The sections on Irish writers and Mary Robinson were particularly good, though I found it odd that Oscar Wilde wasn't included in the former. I also noted the absence of Roger Casement from the chapter on the Easter Rising.

Overall, it was very clear that this wasn't necessarily a history of Ireland, but was instead a collection of what McCourt happens to know. Not a terrible waste of time at all, just not very comprehensive, not particularly well written, and sometimes politically dry.

This Child Will be Great

For my second book club meeting of the week, our group read the memoir "This Child Will be Great" by Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf.  Sirleaf was awarded the 2011 Nobel Peace Prize, jointly with Leymah Gbowee and Tawakel Karmen.  Sirleaf is the first female president of Liberia.


I haven't read many memoirs, so I don't have much to compare it to.  In this case, Sirleaf's story reads more as a series of dry events that could be one long bulleted list.  I wonder if this writing style is a reflection of her time spent in the business world, where that type of writing is more common than a sentimental style.  Either way, as I reflect on all she has encountered, and what she has accomplished, it is apparent that she is quite the amazing human being.  Here is a series of her passages that spoke to me, almost as tidbits of advice:


Still, once I took the position, I had stepped into a stream that would carry me along toward the future of my professional development.  So often it is the small decisions in life that end up shaping our future the most. p 32

• The learning here - pay attention to your small decisions as they may have bigger repercussions than you may originally anticipate.  

All of this I said, but in the end, it was really one word - idiots - that got me into trouble.  That was the word that did it.  That was the word that they really, really did not like.  p 123

• The learning here - people may focus on one or two points and ignore the rest of your message.  The theme of education, or lack there-of, is common when defining a gap for Liberians in this book.  I wonder if this is why the word "idiot" offended so much - many of the regime did not have much of a formal education, and did not want to appear weak because of it.  

Leadership has many challenges, and those challenges are serious.  Too often people, in their eagerness to stand and shout 'Follow me!,' neglect to consider the downside.  They do not, for example, consider the possibility of ostracism.  But the truth is that if you want to lead and be hailed, you must also be prepared to be ostracized, because it surely will happen at some point in your career.

• The learning here - there are ups and downs to any situation.  Leaders may be glorified on one hand, but there will be people wanting to tear you down and you must be prepared for both aspects to move ahead.

On the challenges Sileaf faced as newly-elected president: "On that glorious day Liberians had not experienced government provided electric power for more than sixteen years... Pipe-borne water was nonexistent in the city center and parts beyond.  Civil servants' salaries were in arrears and woefully inadequate at any rate.  Our schools were in ruins, not just physically, but also in terms of the loss of trained teachers.  Mortality rates among all sectors of our population were frighteningly high.  Our hospitals lacked equipment, drugs, and most critically, doctors..." p 273

• The learning here - it would be difficult enough becoming leader of a developed nation today, and yet knowing the state of Liberia and what she faced, Sirleaf fought for her election to bring change to these situations.  Wow.  What a strong, brave woman!

The Devil in the White City

This week, I will be attending two different book club events.  For one club, I read The Devil in the White City by Erik Larson.  Three sets of stories are melded together in this piece of non-fiction.  It is the tale of a murderer, a serial killer, and the building of the Chicago World's Fair in the early 1890s.  


Before reading this book, I did not know much about World Fairs.  Now, I know a bit about the Chicago World's Fair of 1893, and a smidgen about the Paris World's Fair of 1889, to which the Chicago team used as their standard to surpass.  It was nicknamed the White City based on its appearance from the white exterior architecture of the buildings.  While the Chicago Fair was being designed and built to honor the 400th anniversary of Christopher Columbus "discovering" America, H.H. Holmes, America's first serial killer was on the loose in Chicago.  





While reading this work of non-fiction, I started to take notes on familiar items and names that were started or associated with the Chicago World's Fair.   I've included a few that stuck out for me in the following list.  


Structures and inventions of note:

• Light bulbs.  The war of DC vs AC light bulbs was intense at this point, and Westinghouse won the lighting contract for the Fair with their AC bulbs, at a bid of $399,000.  As the author states, "The exposition went with Westinghouse, and helped change the history of electricity"
• Ferris wheel.  This was the Chicago Fair's answer to rival the Eiffel Tower of the Paris World Fair.  
• Exhibits of new inventions:  "The first moving pictures on Edison's Kinetoscope...the first zipper; the first all electric kitchen...Aunt Jemima's...Juicy Fruit, and caramel coated popcorn called Cracker Jack..."
• Midway.  The idea of Midway really took off with the Chicago Worlds's Fair, and carries on to this day.  One of the exhibits at the Midway was the California Ostrich farm which "offered omelets made from ostrich eggs, though in fact the eggs came from domestic chickens."  Shredded wheat was introduced as a cereal item that is still carried in grocery stores.  
• Museum of Science and Industry.  The Fair's Place of Fine Arts, transformed into a permanent structure, now houses the Museum of Science and Industry. 

Names of note:

• Frank Lloyd Wright.  He was a junior architect with Louis Sullivan's firm, and was fired for using his free time to design houses for clients of his own.    
• Elias Disney helped build the White City.  According to the author, Elias's son Walt may have been influenced by the White City in his creation of the Magic Kingdom.  

My review:
Genre: Non-fiction, history, true crime


Who I would recommend this to? Anyone with an interest in U.S. history that likes a detailed look into a set of events in a specific time frame should enjoy this book.  Even though it involves a serial killer, I did not find it too off-putting and enjoyed the majority of the book. 
If you're more of a fan of movies based on books, it is rumored that Leonardo DiCaprio will play Holmes in a 2012/2013 movie release.


Would I read other books by this author?  Erik Larson has other books available, and I may consider reading In the Garden of Beasts: Love, Terror and an American Family in Hitler's Berlin when the waiting list isn't so long at the library.  

Tina Fey is Bossypants

If you like Tina Fey in 30 Rock and Saturday Night Live, you may want to check out Bossypants.  I started to read it at Barnes and Noble, and then quickly added it to my library queue.

My first question was, why is it called Bossypants?  Quoting Tina, it is in response to the question she often gets, is it hard for you, being the boss?  I like her philosophy of hiring good people and then getting out of their way.  As she says "being the boss almost never involves marching around, waving your arms, and chanting 'I am the boss!  I am the boss!'"

There are plenty of laugh out loud moments as she tells stories about her childhood, college and career.  The one passage I flagged in the book was this advice from Tina:

"When faced with sexism or ageism or lookisim or even really aggressive Buddhism, ask yourself the following question: Is this person in between me and what I want to do?  If the answer is no, ignore it and move on.  Your energy is better used doing your work and outpacing people that way.  Then, when you're in charge, don't hire the people who were jerky to you.  If the answer is yes, you have a more difficult road ahead of you."

Books that define an age

Not too long ago, fellow promiscuous reader Angela shared a link with a decision tool for choosing sci-fi and fantasy books.  It's a flow chart for navigating NPR's top 100 sci-fi and fantasy books.  I took a walk down memory lane as I made my way through the fantasy side.  It made me think about the fantasy book series that have stood out as favorites as I've grown.

Middle School

During middle school, my cousins and I would team up for long sessions of Hero Quest (think Dungeons and Dragons) during sleepover weekends.  From this, I learned about the Dragonlance series.  Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman started this books series, based on their own D&D type game play.  They wrote several trilogies that explored the world of a set of characters.  From there, other authors took the denizens of Krynn through many adventures.  I've lost count, but I've read close to 60 of these novels.  These were definitely a young adult series.

High School

A friend of mine recommended the Mists of Avalon, by Marion Zimmer Bradley during junior year of high school.  I'm sure reading this took precedence over my assigned English class reading.  This is an Arthurian/Camelot story from the point of view of Morgainne le Fey.  As the saying goes, every story has many sides and the plethora of Arthurian books attests to this.  In the Mists of Avalon, the priestesses of the Goddess in Avalon are trying to save their traditions from being swallowed by the encroaching priests of Christianity and their God.  I was hooked after reading Mists, and moved on to the many other books Zimmer Bradley wrote in this story-line.  She connects Avalon back to Atlantis, and even reaches ahead to Helena, the mother of Constantine.  

College

I read many books in college to give my brain a rest from studying.   I have to say, I wasn't too creative in my search and went to well-known books to keep myself entertained.  The series included the Harry Potter books and The Golden Compass trilogy.  My list also included other Arthurian novels like Mary Stewart's Merlin Trilogy.

Grad School 

In graduate school, a fellow student introduced me to Mercedes Lackey.  Lackey has many different series, and I've thoroughly enjoyed three specific series.  I started with the Valdemar books, and polished off 30 of these my first year of grad school.  It was a typical fantasy series, with many strong female characters that appealed to me.  During my second year of grad school, I delved into the Elemental Masters series and the 500 Kingdom series.  Both of these re-work traditional fairy tales and put a new, sometimes much more adult spin on them.  Lackey is still publishing, so I keep my eye on her list for new books to check out at the library.  

What is next?

Surely, there is no shortage of fantasy/sci-fi series to discover or those yet to be written.  I'm truly looking forward to reading the rest of the All Souls Trilogy and was recommended to check out Connie Willis.  Thank goodness for recommendations from friends and the internet!

The Shadow of the Wind

I have spent the last week absolutely spellbound by Carlos Ruiz Zafón's novel, The Shadow of the Wind, and all I can think to write about it in a blog post is a simple plea to readers everywhere: please read this book.

Set in Spain in the first half of the twentieth century, the book follows the story of the boy, Daniel, who discovers a book that he finds absolutely spellbound. He goes on to discover the tragedies surrounding its origin and the eerie disappearance of all of the author’s other works. What ensues is the dovetailing of Daniel’s story with Julián Carax, the author whose life seems to exist in shadow.

At times quietly funny, and at others terribly violent, The Shadow of the Wind is a spooky, erotic, and beautifully written story of the magic and tragedy of life. It shocked me and held me captive. A prequel, The Angel’s Game apparently exists and I plan to hunt it down. I haven’t been so enamored by a story since my reread of One Hundred Years of Solitude or The House of the Spirits, which, anyone who has met me knows, are annual vices.

I can’t say enough about how fantastic a story Ruiz Zafón weaves. I’m positive I’ll return this loaned copy and buy my own because I’ll need to read it again next year. And probably every year thereafter.

A lesson on keeping it real.

http://i.imgur.com/uVCM4.jpg

A reader's dilemma

There is a fine balance to keeping a number of books on hand to read so one does not run out of reading material. As a reader that relies heavily on the library, this can have complications for me. I prefer to have three or four books in waiting, and this has not been a problem while being a member of two book clubs. I tend to be on several waiting lists for the more popular books at the library, and this is where things can get interesting. For instance, with three books due for book club in the next month and a half I've been taking it easy with "other books" by reading some shorter mystery books. Then all of a sudden, I had several long awaited books arrive for pick-up at my local library. Here's how what I've managed in the past month.

The Diva Runs out of Thyme by Krista Davis

While waiting for my book club books to arrive (Orwell!), I picked up a few mystery books to hold me over. The Domestic Diva mystery series caught my eye, and I've read the first three so far. I'm not a great mystery solver, so my strategy is to read through these quickly to figure out "whodunit" instead of trying to figure it out myself.

The main character, Sophie, ends up solving crimes in old town Alexandria, VA, while running her successful party planning business. Natasha is another party planner in the book that seems to be a younger Martha Stewart. The start of each chapter has a Dear Sophie or Dear Natasha question and response for party planning help. It is hilarious to read their respective responses, and try to figure out how that topic will work its way into the chapter. Note of caution - don't read these on an empty stomach - the descriptive food details will make you hungry.

The Pillsburys of Minnesota by Lori Sturdevant from the Minneapolis Star Tribune

I found out about this book via an article in the Minneapolis Star Tribune. It showed up at the library the same day as my assigned reading, 1984 and Animal Farm. Since the Pillsbury book had a three week limit with no options for renewal, I tackled it first. For a historical book, I was surprised at how much of a page-turner this was for me. This family has had a positive, and widespread impact on the state of Minnesota, starting in the 1850s.

The foreword contains a summary of family values that sticks with me: don't hold grudges, if you do, you become the problem; the arts are important, they communicate in a universal language; integrity is the most important attribute in making choices; joy comes from helping others, character comes from when you don't get credit for it.

If you are familiar with the Twin Cities area of Minnesota, you will recognize many of the names, businesses and locations that were associated with this family. Here are a few: Abbott Northwestern Hospital, Blake School, General Mills, Pillsbury flour, Cargill, Dunwoody, Minneapolis Institute of Arts, Gale Woods Farm, James J. Hill, Lowry, Loring, the Minneapolis Park Board, Lakewood Cemetery, Orchestra Hall, Peavey, Washburn, Nicollet Island, University of Minnesota and the list goes on...

A Discovery of Witches by Deborah Harkness

This may be my favorite book of the year. Like the Pillsburys, I read a review about this in the Star Tribune and added it to my library queue. Before being able to start Orwell, this showed up at the library. It too has a three week due date so I had to get cracking. This is the type of book that keeps me up past midnight on a work night. I flew through the 600 page book in two days (with the consequence of a much neglected to-do list). As I reached page 400, I could tell the story would not finish with this book. Sure enough, it is book one of a trilogy, with the other two yet to be published. This made me sad that I will have to wait until 2012 for the next installment, but happy that the story will continue.

It starts with Dr. Diane Bishop, conducting research in the Bodleian library at Oxford. Diane is a witch, from a prestigious line of witches on both her mother and father's sides of the family. She tries to suppress her powers, in order to get credit for her work as a normal human. Diane specializes in 17th century alchemy, and how this lead to modern day science. The book goes on to involve the other "creatures" of vampires and daemons. These creatures may be facing extinction, and an unlikely team gathers to look into this and risks their lives to break thousand year old traditions in their quest. I can't wait for 2012 to see what happens next.

September 24 - 25 is the National Book Festival

Check out more at: http://www.loc.gov/bookfest/

Now, on to Orwell!

Book club at sea

I just found out the Princess cruise ship line includes a book club discussion as one of it's on board activities. Check out the rotation here: http://www.princess.com/learn/onboard/activities/book_club/bookclub.html

last month...

Since returning from our foray into the romantic Pacific Northwest last month, I've felt compelled to finish books that have been lying around my house, waiting to be read. Something about the looming Minnesota winter demands that I take some constructive action against clutter in my home so I don't feel burdened by its weight. Rather than complete reviews, I'll sum...

• Little Bee by Chris Cleave. This is a book about a 16-year-old Nigerian refugee girl written by a middle-aged British white guy. In the same way that I felt troubled by the way Kathryn Stocket wrote The Help (first person), this book seemed awkward. Alternating chapters told a terribly heartbreaking story from the perspective of this Nigerian girl and a thirty-something woman, neither of whom seemed particularly well-written. It was, however, a very compelling story that gave an interesting perspective of illegal immigration that is totally different than what we in the United States encounter.
• Girl in Hyacinth Blue by Susan Vreeland. (This is the same author, fellow promiscuous reader, Lindsay, will recognize, who wrote The Passion of Artemisia.) This book is eight vignettes telling the story of a painting by Johannes Vermeer. (Vermeer, one might recall, is the similarly glorified painter of Girl With a Pearl Earring, book written by Tracy Chevalier, who writes beautifully.) I read this over Labor Day weekend on the North Shore and it was a pleasant book to keep coming back to. Gently written, concerned with the way light creeps along the edges of days.
• Storey's Guide to Keeping Honey Bees: Honey Production, Pollination, Health by Richard E Bonney and Malcolm T Sanford. Because one must keep one's options open.
• Animal Farm by George Orwell. I'll get to this when I finish 1984.
• King Leopold's Ghost by Adam Hochschild. This was assigned in one of Dr Poole's history classes at Scholastica that I, unfortunately, didn't get a chance to take. It explores the Belgian king's complete takeover of the Congo River Basin and the gross human rights violations that ensued as he viciously destroyed the indigenous communities for ivory and then rubber during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. It is gruesome and terrible but readable and informative. An estimated ten million Congolese people died during this period. Look it up.

So! On to other things...