Who am I? and other ruminations

Well, loyal readers, I have a confession to make:  I have done very little reading of late.  And, quite frankly, I am not sure I am going to finish a book very quickly in the near future.  I just feel so restless at times when I'd normally be reading.  I will pick up a book and then put it down, turn on a TV show and then lose interest, feel a little lonely at home but not want to go out, go out and then not be sure what exactly I want to do... I don't know what it is, but hopefully I shake it soon!

BUT, what I am still doing is listening to podcasts, mostly because they require much less of a time commitment than reading does.  So I thought I'd bring you another entry in my occasional series on podcasts.  Do you guys like when I do this?  Does anyone actually listen to the podcasts, or do I at least pique your interest?  I'd be interested to know - please give me some feedback :-)  To be fair, I'll probably continue the series whether you guys like it or not.  I think the reading posts will be slower for the next several months but I want to keep in the habit of writing on the blog.  AND - well, these podcasts are seriously fascinating and I think you should give them a try.

This episode has a theme!  IDENTITY.  Maybe I'm just becoming more aware of it now because it's of personal interest to me, but I feel like recently, Americans have been doing a lot of soul-searching to define who they are as individuals and how they fit into a larger group.  And, due to America's very complex history with race, this can be a very difficult experience.  Here are three podcasts that all relate to identity, fitting in, and being true to yourself.

TSS: The Forgotten Pleasures of Browsing

I am not sure when or how it happened, but some time after becoming a book blogger, I stopped being a book browser.  I would go to the library and the bookstore and book fairs and Amazon armed with a wish list and look for specific authors and titles that I have been wanting for months.  And I would feel so thrilled to get a book that I wanted - it was like a treasure hunt and I was always shocked to find that a book so high up on my wish list was, for some unknown reason, not high up on anyone else's, and it felt so wonderful to find a book waiting for me like a gift.

But somewhere along the way, I forgot about the pleasure of walking slowly down a library aisle, looking at so many titles of books, pulling one down from the shelf, and deciding that it was one I wanted to take home with me.  I forgot about opening up a book I know nothing about and realizing that I can get just as immersed in that one as I can in all those other books that my friends keep telling me to read.  I forgot about how calming it can be to go into a bookstore without an agenda, just open to finding something that appeals to you.

I forgot that I found one of my absolute favorite authors - Georgette Heyer herself - by browsing the shelves of a library and picking a book that I thought I'd like.

Most of the books and authors I love - The Book Thief, Terry Pratchett, the Marcus Didius Falco series, Diana Wynne Jones - have been recommended to me by other people.  But some of them I found on my own, just by meandering down the aisles and reading book jackets.

I didn't realize until recently just how much I miss that feeling.  This year, I very firmly set no reading goals for myself, but decided to just read what I wanted to read, when I wanted to read it.  And I did.  So instead of forcing myself to read only from my bookshelf (which would be a very worthy goal, I admit), I allowed myself to read what I wanted from my shelf and supplement it with other books.  I went to the University of Michigan's browsing collection in the Undergrad library and read my first Jo Walton book.  I looked through Project Gutenberg's offerings and found a hidden gem no one I knew had ever read.  I availed myself of the Chicago Public Library's extensive audiobook download collection and listened to a story I have had on my radar for a while but never had the motivation to read.  I went to the book store and discovered a fun and entertaining comic series that I'd never heard of before.

The result is one of my most varied and successful reading years in memory.  No, I haven't loved every book that I've read, but I've loved the flexibility that I gave myself to read what I want.  I love going to the library and just wandering around until something jumps out at me.  I love ignoring my TBR list, and picking books by authors that I enjoy but whose books weren't necessarily at the top of my list.  I don't need to read only the book that I want the MOST, I can read the book that I want RIGHT NOW.  It seems simple, but it's not.  With so much choice, and so many recommendations, and so little time, we can so easily put ourselves on a schedule or force ourselves to follow rules that don't always make us happy.

If there is one thing about book blogging that I regret, it's this loss of spontaneity - there's always the thought at the back of your mind about how quickly you can review a book or how recently you reviewed another like it or how likely your followers are to be interested in one book vs. the other option.  But the joy of reading exists not only in the act of reading itself - it is there in the anticipation you feel when you go to a bookstore, the affinity you feel when you are introduced to the main character, the thrill you feel when you realize that a book is really, really good.  The excitement of finding a book that no one else in your circle has ever encountered before.

And, for me, much of that joy has come about through browsing shelves and websites and catalogs that I haven't for a very long time, welcoming authors and characters and books to my life that would otherwise have consistently been de-prioritized in my reading queue.  Because now I know Miles Vorkosigan, have met Terry Pratchett's Dodger, understand much more the court cases leading up to Brown vs. Board of Education, and why so many people love Dorothy Sayers.  And I don't know if I'd ever have given them the benefit of the doubt if I didn't allow myself the freedom to leave my wish list and TBR list at home once in a while.

Do you still treat yourself to aimless browsing?  What books have you discovered this way?

What gave you that idea?

One of the podcasts that I've started listening to more recently is the 99% Invisible podcast (from National Public Radio, of course).  99% Invisible is "a tiny radio show about design, architecture & the 99% invisible activity that shapes our world."  In the past, the show has featured the sounds that your cell phone makes, the best beer in the world, and the design of the US dollar bill.

The most recent episode is one that I think would interest book lovers, so I am sharing it below.  It is about the surprising path of inspiration and just how much of our new, fresh ideas we owe to people who paved the way before us.

If that doesn't work in your browser, then try this: 57- What Gave You That Idea by Roman Mars

The Book That Can't Wait

I read about this in Shelf Awareness and then clicked through to the link, which I embedded below.  What do you think about a book written with disappearing ink?  I am not sure how well the disappearing actually works, but it's an intriguing premise, nonetheless, and a very inventive way of getting people to read new authors!

My feeling is that it is cool as a PR ploy, but that the disappearing ink was more a novelty that made people want to read the book quickly rather than the fear that the ink would disappear.  After all, if a book sits on your shelf unopened, it isn't exposed to sunlight, and the letters wouldn't disappear, right?

But I love that the publishing house is using this as a way to launch their new authors.  Good on them!

 And another fun video, about how books can make you feel:

 

Armchair BEA - Day 2: The Creme de la Creme

I found out this morning that participating in Armchair BEA requires daily posts!  This is not usual for me, so apologies to everyone for the two posts today.  I shall try to make this post suitably awesome to make up for the inconvenience, but that is a lot of pressure!

Today's topic is Best Books of 2012.  Oh, good heavens.  So many good books!  I don't know how to choose between them.  So I shall just choose three that I haven't seen reviewed much elsewhere on blogosphere:

Best Graphic Novel:  Girl Genius - Agatha Awakens

This is a very hard category because I have read some fantastic graphic novels this year so far.  I am cheating in a way because my review hasn't posted yet, but JUST YOU WAIT.  It's coming this week.  The book is about this really gorgeous girl who invents amazing things in her sleep because she is that good at science.  It is also super colorful and the panels are full of witty jokes if you pay attention, and the cast of characters has people of all age ranges and cultures and sexes, which I greatly appreciate.  Girl Genius is also available to read fully online, and I recommend that you do so, stat.

Best Non-Fiction:  A Midwife's Tale - The Life of Martha Ballard, Based on Her Diary


All, non-fiction can be just as fascinating as fiction can be, and Laurie Thatcher Ulrich proves that in this book.  She takes a really bare bones diary kept by this woman in late 18th century Maine and brings the whole world to life, using it to draw conclusions about networks, trade systems, SCANDAL (like an old man marrying a woman younger than his youngest daughter and having even more children- oh, yeah), and the rates of premarital sex in the early American republic.  So many fun facts!

Best Book To Make You Laugh:  Bab - A SubDeb

I loved this book so much, and it is available for FREE online at Project Gutenberg.   If you enjoy happiness, you will like this book.  The narrator is a budding feminist before the first world war, but she's also slightly ditzy and hijinks ensue.  Nothing like early 20th century hijinks, if you ask me.

Armchair BEA: Introductions

 
Well, everyone seems to be participating in Armchair BEA, and I am not as immune to peer pressure as I wish, so I figured I'd join in, too ;-)  I've never been to BEA before, but I do want to interact with more bloggers as I haven't really reached out to find new ones in a long time, and I bet a lot of you out there are TOTES awesome and people that I should know.  So here I am, making my introduction!

1. Please tell us a little bit about yourself:  Who are you?  How long have you been blogging?  Why did you get into blogging?

I feel this question is cheating by putting four questions into one!  Therefore, I am going to answer selectively.  My name is Aarti, and I have been book blogging for about 7 years now.  I haven't been blogging super-consistently over that time, but I have been very consistent over the past three years or so  As to why I got into blogging, see above- probably got into it because everyone else was doing it.  It's a sad answer, I know, but it's the truth.

Now, of course, I tell people that I got into blogging because I wanted a record of the books I read and to track my reading over time.  I would like to give my younger self credit for that forethought and sensitivity, but I can't really.  Now, though, I DO blog because I want a record of the books I read and to track my reading over time.  So... I have matured.

2.  What are you currently reading?

I am reading the behemoth A Suitable Boy, by Vikram Seth.  As an Indian, I generally give myself a Get Out of Jail Free card for reading books by Indian authors.  Mostly because a lot of Indian books are about Indian immigrants to other countries and how difficult it is to straddle two such different cultures.  Well, I know that from my own experience and don't need to read a book about it.

BUT reading books that actually take place in India is different because I do not have that experience at all and those books cover all sorts of different topics, not just arranged marriages (though those often come up), and so I figured I should make up for years of neglect by reading one book that is basically the equivalent of 6 regular books.  Also, one of my best friends says the book is amazing and I trust her judgment.  So far, it is pretty awesome.

3.  Tell us one non-book-related thing that everyone reading your blog may not know about you.

I hate butterflies.

4.  Which is your favorite post that you have written that you want everyone to read?
Hmm, I don't really know.  I think I have written a lot of posts that I wish more people would read and comment on ;-)  I was really sad when my review of Incognegro didn't really get any comments.  In general, my reviews of non-fiction books also don't get as many people clicking through to read.  I don't know why- people seem really scared of non-fiction in a way that doesn't really make sense to me.

But I guess the posts that I feel most deeply about are the following:

http://aartichapati.blogspot.com/2010/01/rant-against-victorian-women.html
http://aartichapati.blogspot.com/2010/01/for-discussion-racism-in-fantasy-its.html

Clearly, I was very introspective in January 2010.

5.  What is your favorite part of the book blogging community?  Is there anything that you would like to see change in the coming years?

I feel like most people's answer to the first part of this question will be "I love the community and the people."  As I don't think I'm really a central member of the community at all, and because I don't want to say the same thing that everyone else says, I'm going to say something different.  I love that book bloggers expose me to books that I'd never have stumbled across otherwise, and that the community has really challenged me to think more critically about the way I read.  When I started blogging, I read almost solely historical fiction and fantasy, and while those still comprise a good chunk of my reading material, I can also say that I've become more of a feminist and much more widely-read in the past few years than ever before in my life.  I mentioned all this in a post I wrote earlier this year.

As for what I would change in the community- I think we are unkind to each other.  Book bloggerdom has gotten so competitive, and it makes me sad.  There are so many flare-ups and hurtful comments made in the community.  People are accused and vilified for so many ridiculous things, and there is so much strong reaction to everything, to the extent that my Google Reader will be filled with "responses" to current drama in blogosphere and that blogger's specific reaction to the drama.  Seriously, I don't need you to tell me that you do not condone plagiarism in a blog post manifesto.  I just want to hear what you think about the books you read.  So I guess if I could see change in the community, I'd want people to worry less about what other people are doing and how many followers they have and how many ARCs they get and how many exclusive parties they're invited to and how welcoming they are to new bloggers.  Just focus on yourself and your blog and the books, and DROP THE DRAMA.

Business Administration: Mastered

Today is my graduation day!!

[TSS] Which author defines your growth as a reader?

Like most of you, I've been reading for years and years, quite happily.  But I don't know that I evolved much as a reader until high school, and it's only now that I'm really willing to try many new books and stories and can tell how reading certain things has changed my mindset and my perspective on the world.

I read one of Georgette Heyer's mysteries, A Blunt Instrument, this past week, and I think my relationship with her as an author really personifies the way that I have grown and matured as a reader.  This is mainly because she's an author I've read so steadily for so long.  I read my first Georgette Heyer novel, The Nonesuch, when I was a junior in high school.  I am still making my way through her extensive catalog today.

Read so hard libraries try to find me.

My brother shared with me this version of one of my current favorite songs, and I thought you all would enjoy it, too:

Er... how do you pronounce "Proust"?

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Two weeks ago, I returned home from a lovely trip to Ireland.  The country is full of lovely, fun people, lots of lush green (even in February), many cozy and welcoming pubs, gorgeous countryside and RUINS.

Many of you may be unaware of my adoration for stone arches.  I think they are the best, particularly in ruins.  I love ruins that somehow have collapsed around stone arches, like this 16th century friary did in a small town called Adare:

I also really love stone arch bridges like this one, also in Adare.  Adare is a stone arch lover's paradise.

One of the more famous stone arches in Ireland is the Spanish Arch in Galway, which is on the way to the adorable and very yummy restaurant Ard Bia.

And the ruined 6th century monastery at Glendalough had one, too:

The Burren in western Ireland had a megalithic stone arch to mark a burial place.  This was actually not as impressive as I wanted it to be, I admit.  I am sure that, engineering-wise, it's quite a feat, but it wasn't nearly so awesome to see in person as it was in the very dramatic pictures.  It's pretty small.  (Says the jaded modern tourist, I suppose.)

Really, once you fall in love with stone arches, you see them everywhere!  And there's a reason- arches are very strong, ARCHitecturally speaking (I couldn't help it), and often stay standing after buildings fall apart around them.  They even stay standing for thousands of years, as in the case of the megalithic one above.

And, technically, a cave is a natural stone arch, correct?  Can you spot the stone arch here at the Cliffs of Moher?  (Yes, that's me!  And my Medusa-like hair.)

 Sadly, Oscar Wilde was not seated on a stone arch, but he is awesomely Irish enough to warrant inclusion here.

As is one of the coolest geological formations on Earth, also somewhat shaped like an arch, wouldn't you agree?  And made of stone.

Everyone's Irish today, including me!  Have a wonderful St. Patrick's Day :-)

Getting a Stamp in my Passport!

I am off to Ireland today for ten days of fun (and a little bit of work, too).  I have some blog posts scheduled for when I am gone, but probably won't be responding much to comments and probably won't be able to visit any of your blogs, either, unfortunately.  But I shall return in early March.

Below is a picture of the Giant's Causeway in Northern Ireland - I'll be visiting there Thursday, but my pictures probably won't come out nearly so pretty.  Very excited to see such a marvelous sight, though!

[TSS] On Spoilers

What confounds me about spoilers is that I do not know when they start.  Really, when does the plot of a book stop being a teaser summary and start veering into spoiler territory?  20 pages in?  50 percent in?  On the penultimate page?  I never know where to draw the line.  This is why plot summaries for books are so impossible for me to write; I'm so terrified that someone will accuse me of having "spoiled" the book for them that I instead cripple myself from writing any sort of useful plot summary at all.  I feel like everyone has a different set of criteria for defining a spoiler and so it is impossible to please everyone.

I clearly don't know where the line is for any spoiler situation, based on the below scenario:


A few weeks ago, I watched an episode of Once Upon a Time.  Soon after that, I made one of my rare appearances on Twitter and said something like, "That episode of Once Upon a Time just broke my heart."  Someone  responded, we started chatting and I got excited because I don't know anyone else in my daily life that actually watches Once Upon a Time.  So much of what I miss about my previous experience on Twitter is the ability to have these really in-depth conversations with a bunch of people at once about subjects that interest and matter to you, and so it was really great to get back on randomly and have an almost instantaneous connection with someone on a topic like that.  Also, Once Upon a Time is by the makers of Lost, so there is a LOT to talk about with regard to plots, secrets, possibly developments, etc.  I was ready to dig deep into the conversation.

And then, very quickly, I was chastised for talking about the show by another Twitter user because I was giving away spoilers.  She is also an avid watcher of the show, and it hadn't aired yet in her region.  And she was DVRing it, anyway, so didn't know when she'd get around to watching it.  She would prefer me not to give away any more information about the show.  Apparently, talking about TV show plots is an "obnoxious" thing to do on Twitter, and I and other plot spoilers should be ore careful.

[TSS] In which I don't talk much about books

Hello Friends!

So generally, on my blog, I do not talk about my Real Life because so much of my life is not book-related and, well, the title of this blog is BookLust.  But today I shall give you a glimpse behind the magic (iron?) curtain because there are many non-literary things I'd like to share.

First:  I saw the movie The Ides of March this week.  Wow.  It's quite an eye-opening experience, and when I say "eye-opening," I mean, "eye-gouging."  (Well, except that Ryan Gosling and George Clooney are both quite easy on the eyes.)  When watching political movies, I often get very cynical about the entire election process and spend about 45 minutes mulling conspiracy theories and the high probability that they are correct because, for real, people can get manipulative and devious.  I thought this movie was very well done, except that I am not a fan of the main female character at all.  So stereotypical!  I can't really say anything else in here because I'm sure some of you guys are spoiler fanatics and would be very unhappy if I were to say much else.  I will almost certainly spend one Sunday Salon in the future talking about spoilers and how, IMHO, people have become out of control about them on the web, but today is not that day.  But if you do not mind spoilers, or if you have seen this movie and would like to discuss the objectification of women with me, PLEASE DO.  I have opinions.

Second:  Book blogosphere, I am disappointed with you.  You've given me so many books to put on my wish list.  You introduced me to the glory that is Dr. Who.  Actually, on Thursday night, I had a longer-than-necessary and fairly useless conversation with the head of campus recruiting, who just happens to wear bow ties.  But, I found out very quickly, but not quickly enough to evade the morass of unfruitful conversation, he does not wear a bow tie because of Matt Smith.  Have you ever tried describing Dr. Who to a non-science fiction/fantasy person?!  You end up sounding a little unbalanced, which is unfair because if you watch the show it all makes complete sense.  "Oh, well there's this guy.  Actually, he's not a guy, he's a time lord.  And he doesn't have a name.  Well, he has a name but he doesn't tell anyone what it is.  He calls himself the Doctor.  No, he's not really a doctor.  Anyway, the point is that he wears a bow tie.  Just like you!  Do you ever wear a fez?  You should consider it."

Anyway, I bring this up because I only found out about the glory of Dr. Who through blogosphere and so made the logical conclusion that I would learn about everything glorious through blogosphere.

BUT I do not remember anyone in blogosphere telling me about The Wire.  HOW IS THIS POSSIBLE?  The show is completely addicting.  You have no idea the trauma I have gone through over the past week trying to choose between watching Dr. Who and watching The Wire (I admit:  The Wire wins pretty much every time, but it's always quite close.)  In fact, I actually went through and did a search for "the wire" on my Google Reader and none of you has ever mentioned it, as far as the accuracy of Google search can tell me.  You are missing out.  The show is fantastic.  At least ten of my friends (I do not exaggerate) have told me that it is "the best show on television.  Ever."  I have only seen seven episodes of the first season, but I believe it.  It's set in Baltimore and is about a gang in the projects and the cops that are trying to crack down on the drug trade and murders and it is is so intense and so good that I urge all of you to go out and watch it right now.  There are five seasons, as far as I'm aware, so don't watch all of it right now, but make a commitment.  I mean, it's winter (for most of us), so there's no better time to be a couch potato.  Below is the DVD cover - does it not just ooze gritty intensity?!

Third:  Contrary to what the above might lead you to believe, I do other things with my time besides look at screens.  One of the most important things I did this week was help put on this conference.  It was so much work, but so successful at changing people's perceptions of Detroit that I feel quite accomplished about my part in it.  But whew, my inbox needs a break from frantic emails!  Isn't the below logo so cool?  It's the actual Detroit skyline.  Anyway, so here is my plug:  There are amazing people working in and amazing things happening in Detroit.  Go to there.

Fourth:  I am going to Ireland at the end of February!  I will be spending some time on a school project, but will have at least four days to frolic.  I am hoping to meet some friends, and will be over there with friends, too.  I'm spending most of my time in Limerick.  Any suggestions on what I should do or see or eat?  Please let me know!

Fifth:  BEA, anyone?  I want to go this year!  But...I am utterly befuddled by the registration process.  Too many options!  I gave up.

The Wisdom of John Steinbeck

First, I must admit that I have read only two John Steinbeck novels - The Pearl and The Grapes of Wrath, and I disliked both of them.  But I remember them well enough to know that Steinbeck is a really evocative writer who understood the times about which he was writing.  I just didn't really enjoy the books at all.  I plan to give East of Eden a try one day, and I feel like that day may be coming sooner or later because I read this blog post, with a letter that Steinbeck wrote to his son on different types of love.  And it is just so generous and good and kind that now I want to read more Steinbeck and fall in love with him because I know that he would understand exactly the sort of love that a reader can feel for a book, and that is just lovely.

In case you don't want to click over, I'll just tell you the key line from the excerpted letter:

And don’t worry about losing. If it is right, it happens — The main thing is not to hurry. Nothing good gets away.

TSS: The changing nature of this blog

This week has been a big one for me in bloggish reflection.  I think many of us in blogosphere have been mulling over where we fit in, how much of an impact we have and in what direction our community is going.  I have been blogging since May 2005, so am coming up on seven years very soon, though the first few years of the blog were pretty on and off in terms of me posting, and I didn't have many readers at all.

I also posted reviews that were almost exclusively in the historical fiction or fantasy genres.  Often, books that somehow fit both genres and were historical fantasy.  That was basically all I read, and I think that if one were to classify my blog up until probably 2009 or 2010, it would be classified as a fantasy or histfict blog.  And while I loved those genres (and still do, very much), I had a feeling that I was missing out on a big chunk of awesome reading.

So that's why I was so thrilled to receive an email from Kari this week that started with the words, "Hey Aarti, I know you're into non-fiction reading."  Seriously, she does not realize how excited this email made me.  Or actually, she probably does, because my response to that email had a copious number of exclamation points.  But hey, I was excited.  I am not sure when the transition happened, but clearly at least one of you out there thinks of me as a non-fiction reader, and that makes me really happy!  I am not sure why- maybe because none of us really likes to be pigeon-holed or to seem narrow in scope.  But also because I really have made an effort to read more widely and sometimes obscurely than I did in the past, and I'm glad to know that people have noticed.

I don't really know many people at all who have been blogging as long as I have (Kailana?  Daphne?) though I know many, many people who have blogged much more successfully than I have in a much shorter time frame.  But I started the blog to keep track of my reading and this week, I've really been reflecting on my reading.  And honestly, when you have kept track of your reading for almost seven years, you start to see trends and shifts.  I can trace my new-found love of non-fiction to the Women Unbound challenge that I co-hosted with Eva and Care.  I think that challenge really impacted the way I read, and I'm so grateful that we brought that together.  I think my interest in more obscure fiction stems from the now-dormant Spotlight Series that I co-hosted with Amy and Chris.  It was so great to find amazing books that just didn't get the attention they deserved.  And now that I have a Kindle, I can go back and find so many overlooked and forgotten books and journals and accounts that I never would have had access to otherwise.

I still love historical fiction and fantasy (though I admit the epic fantasy has not been thrilling me lately the way that it used to).  But I've also found that as I've grown older, my reading tastes have shifted.  I don't say that they have evolved, really, because I don't know that they are "better" now than they used to be.  But they're certainly different, and I look forward to seeing what direction the next several years of reading will take me, too.

In looking back over old posts, I've also been reminded of all the people that have been involved in my blogging life.  Many no longer blog, but several still do.  And it was so fun to go back and see the first time that so many of you commented on my blog, and how long you've been coming here.  I have done a lot of detective work both on my blog and other people's, trying to see how I first "met" some of you and all our interactions began, and it's been so fun!  I'm sad to report, though, that most of my first comments on your blogs were not particularly insightful or interesting, so I'm really impressed and delighted that you all made such an effort to come back my way and post here, too :-)

I realized, in revisiting old posts, just how rarely I make an effort to visit new-to-me blogs these days.  I don't know the last time I added a new blog to my reader, and I don't really know the last time someone new commented on my blog, either.  I honestly don't have the bandwidth any more to go discovering new people, but it makes me a little wistful, too, that I am moving to the periphery of a community that I've been involved with for so long.  I guess that's the nature of change, really.  I am not likely to give up blogging any time soon, but I am also never going to be at the center of it.

I'm okay with that.  As a very wise friend told me recently, books "are an escape from the world; a lens with which to focus on culture and people around us; and a way of forging strong friendships on the premise of loving the same set of printed words. If your blog still helps you do those things, then you should not stop."  And I won't stop because I've had such a wonderfully literary week.

I've really enjoyed my bookish interactions lately- the fabulous email from Kari that signaled to me that my blog is no longer very genre-specific, reminiscing about the first interaction I ever had with Zibilee, trying to figure out a buddy read with Kailana from our shared LibraryThing catalogs, getting back in touch with Amanda through her blog, chatting with previously quoted wise friend about books challenging the tired tropes of epic fantasy, and discussing the nature of feminism and racism with Ana.  And really, none of those conversations would have come about without the help of this blog, and my ability to interact with so many of you on a deeply personal and profound level.  And I look forward to so many more conversations that will help me discover new works and new perspectives and new readers. 

So thank you, BookLust.  I think I'll keep you around for a while longer.

[TSS] On the Merits of Skimming

I am reading Middlemarch over the next couple of months with the fabulous Zibilee from Raging Bibliomania.  The book weighs in at over 1000 pages on my Kindle and while I have enjoyed the first 20 percent of the book immensely, I admit that I have done some skimming.

There are many books that I've skimmed through before, even many books that I ultimately really enjoy.  For example, I used to read a ton of epic fantasy, and I skimmed through every battle scene in those books.  I do the same in historical fiction, pretty much leaving all of those battle scenes unread.  In Middlemarch, Eliot spends a significant amount of time describing medical ailments and treatments (odd, I know), and I skim through those paragraphs, too.  For non-fiction, if the author spends a lot of time on a topic I don't find particularly interesting or relevant, I will skim that portion of the book.  If there is a scene that really disturbs me, I will skim that.

I don't know how many people skim in their reading.  I think there is a fine line between judicious skimming and just DNFing a book.  But I feel strongly that you can really, really enjoy a book as a whole while not loving each and every page of it.

I suppose there are two paths you can take here:  you can either not read books that have sections that really do not interest you, or you can read those books and just skim/skip the parts that you don't find relevant.  I prefer the latter method.  There are so many things that I've learned from books that I've read in this manner.  For example, I didn't like Isabella Bird much at all, but I was fascinated by her life in the Rocky Mountains and how independently she lived.  So whenever she got prosy or preachy or annoying, I just went down to the next paragraph, and then the next, until she got interesting again.  And I'm very happy to have read her memoirs, even if I didn't enjoy every single page of them.

This happens to me a lot with classics, too, particularly those written in the Victorian era.  Frankenstein, The House Behind the Cedars, Middlemarch, The Leavenworth Case- I skimmed some pages of all these books.  But I am so glad that I read all those books, even if I didn't read every single word.  I think the effect of knowing and understanding the whole is much more important to me than reading each and every line.

And so often, instead of just giving up on a book, I'll skim for a bit and see if it gets better for me.  And often, it does.  I'm not saying that my life changed forever for the better because I made it through to the end of The Leavenworth Case.  But my life hasn't changed forever for the worse, either, because I skipped most of the battle/rape/violence scenes in George R.R. Martin's novels.  I think what's important is that I did find lines to enjoy, lessons to ponder and themes to mull over and appreciate in many books that I would have otherwise given up on.  All because I allowed myself to just skip a few paragraphs or pages and then get back into the action.

What about you?  How often do you skim a book?

[TSS] On Marketable Skills

 
This week, the Occupy Wall Street protesters were kicked out of Zuccotti Park.  The Occupy Movement has gotten a lot of attention in the US because while  most Americans identify with what the protest is about, they don't feel that the movement has been very successful.  And many Americans have the "Maybe if you stopped protesting and got a job, you'd be of better use to all of us."  A troubling trend that I've noticed emerging, particularly on my business school student-heavy Facebook newsfeed, is the idea that the protesters just chose a bad career path and are now suffering the consequences of it.  For example, one of my friends (who really is a great, witty, intelligent guy- don't mean to call him out on this post, but it's really pretty indicative) posted the following:

For the OWS people. You don't have jobs not because you are being oppressed. It's just that you don't have usable skills. Even though that art history major with a concentration in coffee making liberal arts degree seemed awesome in college, the real world doesn't owe you a job just for getting a useless degree.

I'm a second-year MBA student, so I am very, very likely to be working for The Man.  In fact, in the next few weeks, I will be accepting a job offer, so I know I'll be working for The Man.  I am thrilled to be doing so because I think that is where I'll make the greatest positive impact.  I chose to follow a path that included what my friend above calls "usable skills."  I went to school and learned things that, luckily for me, are currently valued in the job marketplace.  That does not make me smarter than someone else.  It doesn't make me more hardworking than someone else.  It certainly doesn't make me better than anyone else.  You know who makes up the unemployed right now?  At least a few rocket scientists who were affected by NASA's budget cuts.  Those people are a heck of a lot smarter than I am.

What bothers me is the implication that everyone should choose a study trajectory based not on their interests, but on where they'll make the most income.  It's really scary because then we have people who switch from astrophysics to finance, and physicists who believe the world is a completely rational place making all sorts of complicated models on Wall Street, and then being shocked when the market doesn't work according to that model.  Really, how many more management consultants do we need?  I can't imagine the world needs so many of them.  It's just that those are the companies that are hiring students out of college, and those students aren't completely certain what they can do with a BS in Physics.  Applying to grad school seems to be one of the only options.  The same goes for those who major in art history.

Saying that they have no marketable skills is a slap in the face.  They have all sorts of valuable skills, but they need to go through a hell of a lot more to get to a level of education in which those skills are valued, and many people can't afford to go to school for that long.  To me, it's more upsetting that our world today does not have viable employment options for the musicians and artists and historians than that these people chose to get skills that aren't easily transferable to a traditional work environment.  When did we stop valuing these studies that are so, so important to our collective cultural intelligence?  How much poorer would our world be if we didn't have people like Plato, Rumi, Einstein and Beethoven in our past?  How many modern-day Rumis and Einsteins and Beethovens are we pushing to conform like square pegs into round holes, and we'll never even realize the loss of them?

There are many big, seemingly insurmountable problems in the world.  Hunger.  Disease.  Water scarcity.  Genocide.  Climate change.  The list goes on and on, and nowhere on anyone's list is "General decrease in creativity and curiosity."  Curiosity is what drives all major theories and discoveries in the world, from Pythagoras to Einstein, and creativity is what brought us such amazingly diverse things as Angkor Wat, computers and the escalator.  And they don't come just from management consultants or computer scientists or engineers.  They come from academicians and artists and philosophers and biologists.  Our world needs people who think outside the box.  These skills are extremely important because we just don't know where they'll lead.  But in our current economic downturn, we just don't seem to value them any more.  And it shows at all levels.  More and more science majors change their minds and switch to study other things.  They too want marketable skills.  And the world at large loses another great mind that could have been a game changer.

I'm not saying that everyone should go out and become an art history major, or struggle through ten years of higher education to get a PhD. in civil engineering.  I joined business school believing fiercely that business can be a force for good in this world, and I plan to use the skills I've gained to do just that.  I wouldn't be nearly as effective in a role that required me to do calculus.  But I hope that while I focus on the business side of things, there are other people out there who are majoring in art history, so that I can visit museums and understand the beauty that came before me, that people study science so that I can see the world's resources be used more effectively than they are being used now, and that others become writers so that I can have my heart wrenched by the next Great American Novel. 

[TSS] Interlude: Mabel Willebrandt, First Lady of the Law

I watched the first two episodes of Prohibition on PBS some weeks ago.  The series is a fascinating look at the Prohibition era in the United States and all the effects it has had on us.  For example, did you know Americans generally don't include wine in pasta sauce recipes?  This is because of many changes that occurred in cooking during the Prohibition era, including a tweaking of many recipes that called for alcohol as an ingredient.

In watching this series, I learned about Mabel Walker Willebrandt, the Assistant Attorney General from 1921 to 1929 and was known as "the First Lady of the Law."  The PBS documentary describes her as "an incredibly serious, determined, totally honest person who was told she had to enforce the law.  So she was going to enforce the law."  In her role, Willebrandt took on cases related to taxes and prisons, but most famously, she was a strong enforcer of the Volstead Act, more commonly known as the Prohibition Act.

[TSS] Interlude: The Voynich Manuscript

The Voynich Manuscript, on first description, seems pretty typical.  The manuscript is named for a book dealer who acquired it in 1912, and now it's safe and sound at Yale University's rare book center.  It was written in the 15th century, is about 240 pages long (probably originally over 270 pages long) and is illustrated on almost every page.  Most people believe it is a medical text.  So what's so mysterious about it?  No one can read it.  The author, script and language remain completely unknown, and because people are generally certain of exactly which languages existed in Europe at the time, people commonly believe that the manuscript is written in a cipher.  But if so, it's one tough cipher- while many cryptographers have tried to crack the code, no one has been able to do so.  Currently, there are no other known examples of this writing. 

Let me just pause for a moment here to say how awesome is that?!  I love it.  I am, of course, of a more romantic turn of mind, and prefer to think of this manuscript as being from a tiny, closed society that was at the forefront of medicine and science, but has since been forgotten by the world.  It would be so glorious to find that there was a whole language so different from any other, a culture no one even knows about, and it all happened right in Europe, where we have the most documentation of anything.  Granted, this probably is not at all what really happened, but I can pretend.

[TSS] Interlude: Cahokia Mounds

One of my all-time favorite books is Charles Mann's 1491.  It describes what America was like before contact with Europe, and it's fascinating.  In the book, Mann describes an ancient American city called Cahokia, which surprisingly enough is in my home state of Illinois.  I have never been there, but I want to go (even though, depressingly, it is probably the only World Heritage Site that has a four-lane highway and billboards going through it), and I thought it would be a great place to highlight for this week's Sunday Salon interlude.

Cahokia is situated close to St. Louis, outside Collinsville, IL, and is considered to be one of the greatest civilizations North America has ever produced.  It's a National Historic landmark and one of only 21 World Heritage sites located in the United States.  It is home to the largest prehistoric earthen construction in the US and Canada.  The largest mound in the park is about ten stories tall.  It's believed that there were originally 120 mounds in existence in this city, and currently about 80 remain.  They are shaped differently, some conical, some flat, some with ridges, and are thought to have served different purposes.