Happy Birthday, Katie!
Wednesday, April 29, 2009
Monday, April 27, 2009
Book 45: Shutter Island
Shutter Island by Dennis Lehane
Wow. This novel is really good, a lot better than I expected. I knew the author had written Mystic River, which was turned into a film I have no interest in seeing so despite reading recommendations for this, I thought it might be a little boring. I was wrong.
After an intro by Dr. Lester Sheehan, the novel starts in 1954 with two federal marshals, Teddy Daniels and Chuck Aule, on their way to Shutter Island to investigate the disappearance of an escaped patient. Shutter Island is the location of a mental hospital/prison, housing some very violent offenders and mass murderers. Rachel Solando has escaped from her room, and Teddy and Chuck keep being gently blocked in their inquiries, leading them to think that there is something off about the whole institution. There are hints of extreme medical surgery, and Lehane keeps it interesting the whole time with many twists thrown in. Additionally, it is a study into the brain and psychology since obviously, that kind of stuff is going to come up at a mental hospital.
I started it last night, kept reading longer than I'd planned, and then when I'd actually put the book to the side, kept expecting something to jump out of the shadows. As I said very well-written, and suspenseful.
Wow. This novel is really good, a lot better than I expected. I knew the author had written Mystic River, which was turned into a film I have no interest in seeing so despite reading recommendations for this, I thought it might be a little boring. I was wrong.
After an intro by Dr. Lester Sheehan, the novel starts in 1954 with two federal marshals, Teddy Daniels and Chuck Aule, on their way to Shutter Island to investigate the disappearance of an escaped patient. Shutter Island is the location of a mental hospital/prison, housing some very violent offenders and mass murderers. Rachel Solando has escaped from her room, and Teddy and Chuck keep being gently blocked in their inquiries, leading them to think that there is something off about the whole institution. There are hints of extreme medical surgery, and Lehane keeps it interesting the whole time with many twists thrown in. Additionally, it is a study into the brain and psychology since obviously, that kind of stuff is going to come up at a mental hospital.
I started it last night, kept reading longer than I'd planned, and then when I'd actually put the book to the side, kept expecting something to jump out of the shadows. As I said very well-written, and suspenseful.
Sunday, April 26, 2009
Book 44: Becoming Madame Mao
Becoming Madame Mao by Anchee Min
Something about this novel just didn't quite do it for me. While I liked the idea of seeing the Cultural Revolution through Madame Mao's eyes and basically hearing the story of the famous man's wife, perhaps I should have read up on my Chinese history since I'd forgotten many of the details surrounding it, and her role in particular.
In some ways, I was actually reminded of Anne Boleyn (possibly because the second season of The Tudors is sitting in my living room but I wanted to read rather than start watching it). Like Anne Boleyn, she seduces a powerful man away from his previous wife, but eventually gets caught in political drama that makes her fear for her life. Of course, Madame Mao doesn't get beheaded by her husband though she does have to tolerate a few concubines. In ways, as involved as Madame Mao may have been in the persecutions, and I feel like the novel hinted at it but didn't quite explain everything she was responsible for, it seems like she was also just a pawn being manipulated by more intelligent and powerful men.
I also find it interesting how Madame Mao even came to have power since in the novel she has clearly fallen out of her husband's favor when suddenly, he turns to her and she uses his paranoia to come back into his good graces and actually gain some political power and prominence.
The novel alternates between first and third person narration. While I think this could have succeeded, the author switches voices every few paragraphs, leading to a slight disconnect. I feel like if she'd alternated chapters, or chosen simply one voice, it would have worked better. I understand her reasoning since the third person often added insights and knowledge that the character Madame Mao may not have admitted about herself, but it just didn't quite flow as well for me that way. I think perhaps I would have been better off reading a slightly sympathetic biography than this.
Something about this novel just didn't quite do it for me. While I liked the idea of seeing the Cultural Revolution through Madame Mao's eyes and basically hearing the story of the famous man's wife, perhaps I should have read up on my Chinese history since I'd forgotten many of the details surrounding it, and her role in particular.
In some ways, I was actually reminded of Anne Boleyn (possibly because the second season of The Tudors is sitting in my living room but I wanted to read rather than start watching it). Like Anne Boleyn, she seduces a powerful man away from his previous wife, but eventually gets caught in political drama that makes her fear for her life. Of course, Madame Mao doesn't get beheaded by her husband though she does have to tolerate a few concubines. In ways, as involved as Madame Mao may have been in the persecutions, and I feel like the novel hinted at it but didn't quite explain everything she was responsible for, it seems like she was also just a pawn being manipulated by more intelligent and powerful men.
I also find it interesting how Madame Mao even came to have power since in the novel she has clearly fallen out of her husband's favor when suddenly, he turns to her and she uses his paranoia to come back into his good graces and actually gain some political power and prominence.
The novel alternates between first and third person narration. While I think this could have succeeded, the author switches voices every few paragraphs, leading to a slight disconnect. I feel like if she'd alternated chapters, or chosen simply one voice, it would have worked better. I understand her reasoning since the third person often added insights and knowledge that the character Madame Mao may not have admitted about herself, but it just didn't quite flow as well for me that way. I think perhaps I would have been better off reading a slightly sympathetic biography than this.
Book 43: She's Not There
She's Not There: A Life in Two Genders by Jennifer Finney Boylan
My senior year of college I took a class called "American Narratives of Passing" and as part of that class, I read Stone Butch Blues, and an article by Sandy Stone called "The Empire Strikes Back: A Posttransexual Manifesto." This book called those two pieces to mind.
In her article, Stone critiques some previous pieces and memoirs written by transsexual and transgendered people. Some of her issues include that the narratives "reinforce a binary, oppositional mode of gender identification. They go from being unambiguous men, albeit unhappy men, to unambiguous women. There is no territory between." Stone also suggests that the "authors replicate the stereotypical male account of the constitution of woman," such as "fainting at the sight of blood." In some ways, Stone Butch Blues fell into the same trap, in other ways it did not.
What I really enjoyed about Boylan's account is that she doesn't have a definite moment of "now, I am truly a woman." While she feels that she is a woman her whole life, when she begins her transition, it is faster than expected but still gradual. There is a long period where she can go back and forth between man and woman, and depending upon who is around her, she might be identified as either. Additionally, as an English professor, Boylan has perhaps more tools to truly reflect on her actions. She recognizes that she starts acting in oddly stereotypical feminine ways, to the annoyance of the women around her and herself as well. She admits that perhaps her desire to suddenly lose five pounds was a way of trying to belong. She also compares transitioning to puberty - even though she is over forty, being a woman is still new so in ways she acts like a teenager, taking time to paint her nails and other things that her wife has long since moved on from. Boylan even addresses some of the issues with other transsexual/transgendered memoirs, and states this as a reason that perhaps some of them can occasionally seem a little adolescent with certain descriptions.
As she says, it is difficult to find a balance, describing some of her activities:
It was an interesting story, and Boylan herself shows that in many ways she was fortunate - her background and her family support her through this and while I'm sure she glosses over some of the more unpleasant issues (for example, her sister refuses to speak to her), for the most part, she seems to have had a lot of support with her decision, even if it was painful for some, such as her wife. Additionally, as she herself states, since she works at a liberal college with a focus on diversity, she didn't need to be as worried about losing her job, and could afford to get the transition done with the best care available.
My senior year of college I took a class called "American Narratives of Passing" and as part of that class, I read Stone Butch Blues, and an article by Sandy Stone called "The Empire Strikes Back: A Posttransexual Manifesto." This book called those two pieces to mind.
In her article, Stone critiques some previous pieces and memoirs written by transsexual and transgendered people. Some of her issues include that the narratives "reinforce a binary, oppositional mode of gender identification. They go from being unambiguous men, albeit unhappy men, to unambiguous women. There is no territory between." Stone also suggests that the "authors replicate the stereotypical male account of the constitution of woman," such as "fainting at the sight of blood." In some ways, Stone Butch Blues fell into the same trap, in other ways it did not.
What I really enjoyed about Boylan's account is that she doesn't have a definite moment of "now, I am truly a woman." While she feels that she is a woman her whole life, when she begins her transition, it is faster than expected but still gradual. There is a long period where she can go back and forth between man and woman, and depending upon who is around her, she might be identified as either. Additionally, as an English professor, Boylan has perhaps more tools to truly reflect on her actions. She recognizes that she starts acting in oddly stereotypical feminine ways, to the annoyance of the women around her and herself as well. She admits that perhaps her desire to suddenly lose five pounds was a way of trying to belong. She also compares transitioning to puberty - even though she is over forty, being a woman is still new so in ways she acts like a teenager, taking time to paint her nails and other things that her wife has long since moved on from. Boylan even addresses some of the issues with other transsexual/transgendered memoirs, and states this as a reason that perhaps some of them can occasionally seem a little adolescent with certain descriptions.
As she says, it is difficult to find a balance, describing some of her activities:
Had I been born female, no one would remark upon these things - but since I was not, any masculine affect is considered a vestigial link to a previous life; conversely, any feminine affect that seems excessive can be hauled out as evidence that I, like Morris, have arrived at middle age just in time to be fourteen years old. (247)
It was an interesting story, and Boylan herself shows that in many ways she was fortunate - her background and her family support her through this and while I'm sure she glosses over some of the more unpleasant issues (for example, her sister refuses to speak to her), for the most part, she seems to have had a lot of support with her decision, even if it was painful for some, such as her wife. Additionally, as she herself states, since she works at a liberal college with a focus on diversity, she didn't need to be as worried about losing her job, and could afford to get the transition done with the best care available.
Saturday, April 25, 2009
Prague Pictures
As I may have mentioned before, I spent Easter in Prague, which is an amazing city. I've been meaning to post a few pictures from the trip for a few weeks now, but keep getting distracted.
While I was in Vienna, I "discovered" the artist Alphonse Mucha, and further research revealed that he had a museum in Prague, so that was my one goal for the weekend, to see that museum. There weren't any pictures allowed but Mucha also designed a stained glass window for St. Vitus Cathedrale (which is on top of a really high hill that I got to walk up twice in one weekend), so I got a few pictures of that. I just love his designs and he may have replaced Monet as my favorite artist though they have very different styles.
I am afraid of heights, and also have a thing when it comes to tight, spiral stair cases, especially going down or when wearing sandals. I don't know, I guess I'm afraid my shoe will get stuck, and then I'll fall down. Generally, I avoid going up towers like at Notre Dame, though I went up the Arc de Triomphe, though this was partially because I didn't realize what the ticket I was buying was for. However, once I was told that the tower to the old city hall/clock tower had an elevator, I was willing to go up. It also turned out there wasn't actually a spiral stair case but instead a ramp all the way up so I was okay walking up - the very last portion was a stair case which was fortunately only about a story high , but my friend Katie lost her shoe on the way so it's not like I have a completely unfounded fear. Anyway, I'm actually glad I went up there because I got some pretty amazing pictures out of it. The Arc de Triomphe for example is far enough from anything high (which I think is actually a law to keep the appearance) so that when you try taking a picture of the view, they all look kind of boring (however, pictures of the Arc de Triomphe look pretty damn cool). The clock tower was in the middle of a down town area and near a few churches so I actually got some cool shots. There was also a huge Easter market going on in the square (last time I was in Prague, there was a huge Christmas Market in the same spot).
While I was in Vienna, I "discovered" the artist Alphonse Mucha, and further research revealed that he had a museum in Prague, so that was my one goal for the weekend, to see that museum. There weren't any pictures allowed but Mucha also designed a stained glass window for St. Vitus Cathedrale (which is on top of a really high hill that I got to walk up twice in one weekend), so I got a few pictures of that. I just love his designs and he may have replaced Monet as my favorite artist though they have very different styles.
I am afraid of heights, and also have a thing when it comes to tight, spiral stair cases, especially going down or when wearing sandals. I don't know, I guess I'm afraid my shoe will get stuck, and then I'll fall down. Generally, I avoid going up towers like at Notre Dame, though I went up the Arc de Triomphe, though this was partially because I didn't realize what the ticket I was buying was for. However, once I was told that the tower to the old city hall/clock tower had an elevator, I was willing to go up. It also turned out there wasn't actually a spiral stair case but instead a ramp all the way up so I was okay walking up - the very last portion was a stair case which was fortunately only about a story high , but my friend Katie lost her shoe on the way so it's not like I have a completely unfounded fear. Anyway, I'm actually glad I went up there because I got some pretty amazing pictures out of it. The Arc de Triomphe for example is far enough from anything high (which I think is actually a law to keep the appearance) so that when you try taking a picture of the view, they all look kind of boring (however, pictures of the Arc de Triomphe look pretty damn cool). The clock tower was in the middle of a down town area and near a few churches so I actually got some cool shots. There was also a huge Easter market going on in the square (last time I was in Prague, there was a huge Christmas Market in the same spot).
Wednesday, April 22, 2009
Book 42: A Death in Vienna
A Death in Vienna by Frank Tallis
I probably shouldn't buy books based on their setting anymore. Once again, the title attracted my attention because, "hey, I've been there." The description of the book also sounded interesting - murder mystery with psychology. However, and this isn't even the author's fault, the back flap was a bit deceiving: "As a team, they must use both hard evidence and intuitive analysis to solve a medium's mysterious murder . . ." Except for the most part, it isn't really much of a team effort in my opinion. Basically, it's Lieberman, the psychologist, acting incredibly superior and smarter than everyone else. Not that he solves the crime very quickly. And that's when I remembered that while I find Freud's theories interesting, especially when used to analyze literature, actually reading Freud pisses me off. His methods are fucked up (you can't base a theory on nine case studies!), he's sexist (penis envy, anyone?), and has too high an opinion of himself (because, you know, all his patients fall in love with him) and Lieberman obviously gets his superiority complex from him.
Lieberman also takes a rather condescending view towards his fiance in the novel because she's too shallow in his opinion. He seems to see her as more a of a cute plaything to brighten his mood, and as the novel progresses he starts to have doubts about their engagement. That's really the only place I felt any sympathy for him. Everything else about him and even his cop friend just rubbed me the wrong way, especially their hour long music sing alongs and concerts - too pretentious.
As far as the murder mystery is concerned, it wasn't really that intriguing. Murdered woman in a room locked from the inside - possibly could have been interesting, but I never became invested enough in any of the characters to care one way or the other. Also, it seemed like every other chapter was supposed to be a red herring - ooh, maybe he did it. Or him. Plus, the solution seemed pretty simple. Granted the novel was set in a pre-CSI time, but it was written during it, so as an author, you need to come up with something a little more complicated if you don't expect everyone to figure out the method of the murder if not the murderer early on in the novel.
One cool thing was when they mentioned the confectionary Demel, because I've had coffee and cake there; in fact, I brought my parents cake from there when I went on leave (also, that picture from yesterday is from there). There are apparently sequels to this novel, and the only thing I would possibly be interested in knowing is the progression of Lieberman and his fiance Clara's relationship because I'd rather not see him bore me through another murder case.
I probably shouldn't buy books based on their setting anymore. Once again, the title attracted my attention because, "hey, I've been there." The description of the book also sounded interesting - murder mystery with psychology. However, and this isn't even the author's fault, the back flap was a bit deceiving: "As a team, they must use both hard evidence and intuitive analysis to solve a medium's mysterious murder . . ." Except for the most part, it isn't really much of a team effort in my opinion. Basically, it's Lieberman, the psychologist, acting incredibly superior and smarter than everyone else. Not that he solves the crime very quickly. And that's when I remembered that while I find Freud's theories interesting, especially when used to analyze literature, actually reading Freud pisses me off. His methods are fucked up (you can't base a theory on nine case studies!), he's sexist (penis envy, anyone?), and has too high an opinion of himself (because, you know, all his patients fall in love with him) and Lieberman obviously gets his superiority complex from him.
Lieberman also takes a rather condescending view towards his fiance in the novel because she's too shallow in his opinion. He seems to see her as more a of a cute plaything to brighten his mood, and as the novel progresses he starts to have doubts about their engagement. That's really the only place I felt any sympathy for him. Everything else about him and even his cop friend just rubbed me the wrong way, especially their hour long music sing alongs and concerts - too pretentious.
As far as the murder mystery is concerned, it wasn't really that intriguing. Murdered woman in a room locked from the inside - possibly could have been interesting, but I never became invested enough in any of the characters to care one way or the other. Also, it seemed like every other chapter was supposed to be a red herring - ooh, maybe he did it. Or him. Plus, the solution seemed pretty simple. Granted the novel was set in a pre-CSI time, but it was written during it, so as an author, you need to come up with something a little more complicated if you don't expect everyone to figure out the method of the murder if not the murderer early on in the novel.
One cool thing was when they mentioned the confectionary Demel, because I've had coffee and cake there; in fact, I brought my parents cake from there when I went on leave (also, that picture from yesterday is from there). There are apparently sequels to this novel, and the only thing I would possibly be interested in knowing is the progression of Lieberman and his fiance Clara's relationship because I'd rather not see him bore me through another murder case.
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