book

A Review of A S Byatt’s A Whistling Woman

A S Byatt’s A Whistling Woman is a strange book. At one level it’s a straightforward account of university life, with its politics, affairs and academic pursuit. But then there’s the suspicion that none of this is ever satisfying for those involved. They yearn for something bigger, whilst at the same time trying to deny its significance in their lives. Another strand is the career of Federica, one of the book’s principal characters. Almost by default, she finds herself host of a BBC2-style arts review or in-depth discussion. She is forced via the subject matter of her programmes to re-examine a whole host of assumptions. So while the scientists try to identify a mechanism by which memory is both stimulated and fixed by means of electrical stimulation, Federica, via her television shows, offers apparently ever more arcane subject matter, leaving us confused as to what we think we might believe – or even remember.

And these are just some of the strands of plot and characterization in A Whistling Woman, certainly one of the more complex novels I have read in many years. I have not read the previous three works in the series. This may have been why I found a number of loose ends that seemed to have strayed and frayed from elsewhere.

And then there’s the alternative university that establishes itself near to the conventional campus of the University of North Yorkshire, whose acronym, obviously, is UNY, implying generality. The alternative people adopt true nineteen sixties postures, preferring question to answer, experience to knowledge, heuristics to instruction. When we recall this hippy, flower power, professedly liberated, free thinking era, it is wise to bear in mind that this is also the generation that elected Ronald Reagan, tolerated support for death squads in central America and felled the consumer boom of the later eighties. But at the time, these revolutionaries sought something transcendent in their anti-university and found it in a self-destructing religious sect.

But no matter what people profess, no matter what they research, they still sleep with one another, still get pregnant, still need mutual support. The 1960s complicated all of these things with a superimposed need for personal, transcendental fulfillment and expression, whilst, at the same time, destroying perhaps permanently any possible recourse to established religion. In A Whistling Woman, A S Byatt captures this confusion and dissects it, but she offers us no neat packages of analysis, no simple results by which we might identify its elements.

All Cats Have Asperger Syndrome in Silicon Valley

Yesterday while I was browsing through Barnes and Noble Bookstore at Westgate Mall in San Jose, I saw the cutest book facing the center aisle. It was hard to miss. Once I picked it up, I couldn’t put down until I finished it. A child’s 72-page picture book entitled All Cats Have Asperger Syndrome by Kathy Hoopman, compares a cat’s behavior with traits of Asperger Syndrome, a type of autism.

The adorable color photographs display cat antics that paint a vivid representation of the disorder to help children understand AS.

Readers learn what children with AS might experience and feel. For instance, we know cats can be aloof, independent and sometimes wanting to be left alone. The book shows the photo of a kitten with a stuffed toy that?corresponds with the text, “Instead of coming to people for comfort, he may be overly attached to a toy.”

This book presents Asperger traits in a delightful picture book format that children will enjoy, but adults can also read the book to develop an awareness of the disorder.牋燘ut although the book provides a concise and simple explanation and description of AS, It is important to remember that people who have AS vary in their behavior, deficits and abilities.燼nd should not be stereotyped. So perhaps in Silicon Valley, cats would feel right at home and individuals with AS would be in their element.

Check your local for a copy of this delightful book. Read it to your young child, or if you like, purchase a copy and share it with other families or colleagues.

A Maine Christmas Carol – Modern Re-Telling of the Tale

Philip Harris’ A Maine Christmas Carol, a modern retelling of the Dickensian fable of Christmas’ past, present, and future in a middle class New England setting is a holiday treat for readers of all ages. The spirit of the original story is cleverly unraveled in a more up to date but equally grim narration of the experiences of a blighted contemporary Scrooge named Thomas as he “sees” Christmas with his spirit guides.

The classic unfolding of the life of a beleaguered and very ill-spirited young man faced with the consequences of his own self-serving actions is cleverly layered with messages aimed at the socially irresponsible of our own life and times. A Maine Christmas Carol is a powerful parable of the ills of progressive society left to exist unchecked and held unaccountable.

Through the eyes of the spirit guides, Thomas sees that while he is not responsible for the happiness of others, his actions do deeply impact all those who come in contact with him. From the local shop owners to his eight-year-old sister, his exploits leave a deep and lasting impression. Even more critical to note is the tsunami-like wave affect his acts, deeds, and lack of achievement has on those he will never meet. What he does not do with his life is just as significant as what he has done so far in his 16 years.

In Harris’ A Maine Christmas Carol, a new family tradition is born. The easy conversational writing style, the logical flow of the story, and the twist to the original story makes this book a new classic that will go on the shelves right next to Dickens’ original morality tale. Harris does a marvelous job of weaving Thomas’ profound experience of redemption with the underlying themes of social justice and poverty.

A Maine Christmas Carol is explicit in demonstrating the relationship of the privileged class in our country who has failed to address the social issues facing our society. Philip Harris has clearly and unequivocally produced a rich allegory that redefines the importance of Christmas to a new generation of readers.

A Maine Christmas Carol

Philip F. Harris

Publication Date: Cambridge Books 2007

Book Review – The Plot Against America by Philip J. Roth

The Plot Against America is an unusual alternate history fiction novel by Philip J. Roth. It is set in an early 1940s, principally in Newark, New Jersey, (the time and location where Roth himself grew up), and tells the story of an America which is increasingly turning towards fascism and anti-semitism.

The novel’s main viewpoint character is a young Jewish boy named Philip. It is from his perspective that we see the rise of anti-semitism, but we also learn many other details of Philip’s childhood. As a result, the book is not just about the changes to history, but also about growing up – and these details are one of the things that gives the book its very unique flavor.

According to Roth, he was not aware of the alternate history genre at the time he wrote this novel, and while that seems surprising in many ways (and some reviews and critics have questioned this claim), it does seem possible that Roth’s claim could be true, especially since there are a number of aspects of the story which don’t follow the normal conventions of the alternate history genre. Perhaps the most obvious example of this is the ending (and what happens after America’s fascist period) – which I won’t reveal in this review – but which I am confident that anybody with even the slightest belief in the butterfly effect will find unbelievable and perhaps even contrived, and which in my opinion is more along the lines of secret history than alternate history. That said, I personally did not find the ending detracted from the novel as whole – because I felt the novel was really about what Philip’s feelings and life in the situation described, rather than the specific historical details of the political background story.

It is probably worth mentioning as well that the book has attracted some criticisms, especially from some sections of the conservative press, for its portrayals of real life characters (such as Charles Lindbergh), and for the apparent ease with which anti-semitism becomes common in th United States. Addressing the second criticism first, Roth has actually written in his autobiography about the anti-semitism that he himself encountered during his childhood, and many of the anti-semitic incidents he describes in the novel seem to be clearly based on the anti-semitism that he found in our timeline’s non-fascist America. As for the portrayal of historical characters, I don’t think that you would want to read any alternate history if you were highly sensitive about that sort of thing!

Over all, this is one of my favorite alternate history novels, not in spite of the differences from most of the genre, but because of them. Yes, I could make many nitpicking criticisms about flaws that I perceived in the plausibility of the historical events described in the novel – but as I’ve already said, the book isn’t really about historical events or even alternate historical events, rather it’s a high quality work of literature, largely about growing-up, in which alternate history simply provides the background.

If you’re the kind of alternate history fan who is only interested in the historical details such as specific battles, weapons and leadership decisions, then this book is not for you. On the other hand, if you have a broader appreciation of good and interesting writing, and want something different from the glut of run-of-the-mill alternate history novels, then this books is for you.

Reading That Values Your Time, Money and Energy

The man who does not read good books has no advantage over the man who can’t read. -Mark Twain

Do you read? I bet you do. I do too. But do you have to struggle to read or you find it easy to keep up with today’s best-sellers that come into the market one after another?

Have you ever been in situations where you find yourself getting bored of reading because it took you so long to finish a book that you can’t wait to switch to another books with new themes and ideas?

True, some people do have the skills to speed read that they can finish reading a book within a few hours (and are still able to grasp the whole idea of the book like sponge absorbing water!) but as for me unfortunately, reading a book can take hours, weeks and sometimes months!

It is a widely known fact that knowledge equal power. Your capability to learn, comprehend and apply success principles that you pick up from reading is vital to help manage and maneuver your life in today’s demanding world.

So, how do we tackle this problem of wanting to gain so much knowledge but lacking the skills to read in speed? To add to that, our time is limited to be spent too much on a book (or at least we thought so…).

The worth of a book is to be measured by what you can carry away from it. -James Bryce

One of the best available alternatives is to read a good summary of a book that contains the skills and ideas that you wish to become expert at and gain knowledge of. Nevertheless, one may argue that summaries do not equal to reading the book itself. They tend to dismiss some of the ideas of a book, they argue. But do you know that not all parts of a book are of identical value and significance? In every book, there are always filler materials. Have you been in a state where you needed to finish reading a book (eg; reading for a class) in a few hours and you ended up reading the back of the cover, the table of contents and then you go straight to the chapter where you thought the main idea is going to be illustrated and detailed out? And once done with that particular chapter while chasing time, you just skimmed through the rest of the book. It is like being in a long talk and you wish that you could just fast forward the talk because you already knew (after reading the outline or abstract) what the talk is going to be about and you do not fancy spending hours listening to things you are already familiar with – the same goes with reading.

No matter how busy you may think you are, you must find time for reading, or surrender yourself to self-chosen ignorance. -Confucius.

If the idea is still new to you, let me be the one to introduce it – reading good summaries of books can save your time, money as well as your energy (don’t you agree that being bored can take up a lot of our energy?).

But the question is, where do we find good summaries of books? So, in case you have not noticed, there are already a lot of sites and companies that offer book summaries. Their reading experts do the laborious reading job for you and then come up with summarized versions of the books with important points, information and ideas clearly laid out in just a few pages. You will be able to read dozens of books in less time! This will as a result, help you stay updated with the latest self-help advice that you can apply to advance your life and work.

Yes, subscribing to these providers will definitely cost you (a few bucks at least if not more) money but isn’t a wise man’s money in his head, not in his heart? But it will definitely take less from your pocket than when buying the books themselves. What a deal – money, time and also energy!

You can have all the channels on your television and listen to all kinds of music that are available on the internet but those will not substitute for reading. With the advent of countless educational technologies, reading is still ranked as the most crucial routine that everyone must have to acquire knowledge. Plus, as we get busier and busier with life, time isn’t something that we want to play around with. So, let us all live a life of a perpetual reader. Have we forgotten the famous saying of Thomas Jeferson? “I cannot live without books!“

The time you think you’re missing, misses you too. -Ymber Delecto

The Swarm – A Novel Of The Deep

The Swarm may not be a title that will attract many to this book.
I must admit that I picked it up a few times in the book shop before I decided to head back
one day and give it a go. I think that the main thing that put me off is that it is based in the
sea and is over 880 pages long!

Well I’m rather pleased that I picked it up one day and started reading.
The Swarm in a nutshell: Something is happening in the oceans. Ships are sinking, people
are going missing and the sea creatures and mammals are starting to attack!

After a major catastrophe hits the leading scientists and military meet to start sorting out
what is happening and what can be done about it before the existence of human kind is extinguished.

The book reads like a Hollywood movie and has kept me gripped. You can feel a bit of the television series 24 in there as a lot of the book seems to take place in real time and shifts
at an excellent pace. If it was on the big screen I’d be sat on the edge of my seat and not minding that this would be a good 5 hour film with some of the best and most spectacular ~effects you have seen. Unfortunately it is not a blockbuster – yet – but it plays very well in
my head.

Well worth reading. Don’t be afraid that it is over 880 pages long and scientific at times – the
author understands this and there is always a character to ask the questions that you are thinking of!

The book is now doing the rounds to the family members and there is a waiting list in the office. I’d recommend this and it’s well worth dropping onto the shopping sites as this is a cheap one for the summer holidays.

I look forward to reading more of Frank Shatzing’s work and most are now translated into English.

Innocent In Death By JD Robb

Innocent in Death, by Nora Roberts writing as J. D. Robb, is the latest novel of the suspense series that takes place in a futuristic New York City. Amid a frigid, winter setting, Lieutenant Eve Dallas works to solve the murder of Craig Foster, a school teacher who appears to have been an all-around good guy. Published by G. P. Putnam’s Sons, ISBN: 978-0-399-15401-0, the book appeals to readers who enjoy mystery, police procedural, and romantic subplots.

Roberts/Robb does a wonderful job at creating three dimensional characters in Innocent in Death. Lieutenant Eve Dallas is a no-nonsense, smart cop who takes no prisoners once she believes she knows the culprit that is responsible for Craig Foster’s murder. Beneath Dallas’ cool posterior lies a slightly less chilly interior. Beyond the walls that Dallas has probably built as a defense mechanism is a witty, sarcastic woman who is fiercely in love with her husband, Roarke. While I enjoyed the entire book, I especially enjoyed how Roberts/Robb shows the intense passion that Dallas and Roarke share by weaving words in such a way that the novel’s romantic subplot drew me deeper into the story. When someone from Roarke’s past slinks into town, Roberts/Robb uses her word-weaving skills to show Dallas’ more vulnerable side.

Innocent in Death touches on several themes, in my opinion. The author shows that appearances can be deceiving, that past mistakes in life does not define one’s present or future, and that love does conquer all, sometimes.

Although Nora Roberts has written twenty-three previous suspense novels as J. D. Robb, Innocent in Death was the first book I had read of the series. Despite Innocent in Death having been the first I had read of Eve Dallas, the book was written in such a way that I understood the parts that touched on Dallas’ past without needing to have read any of the previous books. Over all, I enjoyed Innocent in Death from its first page to its last. The novel has good pacing, well done suspense and characterizations, and a chilling culprit. I look forward to reading the next novel in the series and as many of the past novels as possible, and recommend that other mystery/suspense lovers read Innocent in Death, also.

Colors – A Book Review

Colors is the first book of the Eye Like children’s hardcover series that will also include Numbers, Shapes and Letters in the near future. Colors consists of 64-pages with full color photography and a few illustrations.

This book has a distinctive way of bringing children’s attention to details and textures and spark the fascination of discovering likenesses between species of vegetation, animal, insect and other life forms. By using large images of nature to educate children aged 3 and older about the varied shades of colors, this book is sure to be a hit. Details of fruit skins, leaves, animal fur, vegetable skins; including tiny pores and seeds – are all of interest to children of this age group and can be discussed with children in an interactive manor. Stunning butterfly and fish photographs are filled with intense color.

Most of the colors included in the book are accompanied by helpful color bars to show the many shades of each color, which can sometimes be confusing for young children. The yellow, green and purple colors are given 4 pages, while most of the other colors span 2 full pages. Because of this, Colors would certainly be applicable for group situations. I was pleased to see the authors of this book included 2-tone, stripes, multicolor, iridescent and translucent in their list of colors.

The book’s information page shows a long list of credits – too many to list here, but readers will be interested to know that the publisher acknowledges that a number of teachers, parents and children helped develop the Eye Like series. Color is about 10×8 inches in size and has a suggested retail price of only $9.95 (US) – which is a bargain for a book of this size and quality.

The publisher, Play Bac Publishing, has been creating educational concepts for over 20 years and is best known for BrainQuest and for publishing the only daily children’s newspaper in the world. Originally, the publisher was based in France however they have branched into the US market and are now based in New York. Play Bac Publishing has worked hard to ensure the series would be a success and state the Eye Like series has been field-tested by professionals and educators. Color is certainly a visually stimulating book and will likely cause the children to ask a number of questions and spark discussions about the things they have seen.

I would rate this book 4.5 out of 5 stars.

ISBN#9781602140196

Charmed Thirds by Megan Mccafferty

Charmed Thirds portrays the hopes, struggles, and heartbreaks of college life. As a coming of age story with the marvelously saucy language of its heroine and the lively writing style of its author, the book leaves a permanent impression on its readers.

Jessica Darling, who has just graduated from high school, attends Columbia University in New York city with psychology as her major. At the same time, she takes a prestigious internship job at True Blue, a hip teen magazine, and her lover from high school–Marcus Flutie, a bad boy turned serious–goes off to California to attend a Buddhist college. Although several of Jessica’s old friends and schoolmates reappear periodically, Jessica manages to make or lose new friends, also. While in college, Jessica’s heart stays with Marcus, even if she finds herself in wild situations that help her to grow and discover herself at the end.

Jessica and Marcus’s relationship is one of a kind, and even though so much comes in between them, they manage to connect repeatedly. The uncertainty of Jessica’s life and the way she overcomes her difficulties and outgrows anything negative in her life is the main theme in the story.

The characters in the story are fully developed with humor, insight, and originality. From a literary point of view, the novel should be required reading for novice writers who want to learn about voice. Jessica’s witty, smart, hilarious voice with its teensy jargon is a delight and the intelligent weaving of the plot makes the reader stay with the story to the end.

After I closed the last page of this book, I wished I were young enough to grow up reading Megan Mccafferty. Unfortunately, in my time, most writers had descended from Charles Dickens, at best.

Megan Mccafferty, the author, is a former editor for Cosmopolitan, YM, and Fitness magazines. She wrote in Glamour, CosmoGIRL!, Maxim, Details, and other national publications. She also created a fiction serial, “You Think Your Life Is Crazy,” for teens on Twistmag.com.

Mccafferty’s books are: Sixteen, a short story anthology; the Jessica Darling series with Sloppy Firsts; Second Helpings; Charmed Thirds; and Fourth Comings.

Mccafferty lives and writes in New Jersey.

Charmed Thirds is in paperback with 368 pages and ISBN-10: 1400080428 and ISBN-13: 978-1400080427.

Kudos to the skill of the author, I enjoyed this book thoroughly, even though I had not read the two previous books. In addition, the ending of Charmed Thirds did not disappoint at all. I recommend this book to any reader, young and old.

A Review of Disgrace by J M Coetzee

Disgrace is a novel of a man’s, even a family’s decline. David Lurie is a university teacher, the kind of teacher who was at home with academic material that current course requirements no longer demand. He is also divorced, twice, and even on his best form he has to grapple with the trials and tribulations that his frayed life and career present.

He needs regular sex and visits a prostitute with regularity, always the same one, and harbours suspicions that he provides her with more than just business. He also suffers from self-delusion. So when he has an affair with one of his students, he really believes that she wants him for what he is, despite his thirty years of seniority. He convinces himself that she is a willing participant. It turns sour. She reports him. There is a committee. He cooperates, perhaps, but not in the way required by mores with which he cannot identify. Conveniently, messily, he resigns. And he loses his benefits.

David goes off to live with his daughter in a rural area in the Eastern Cape. He discovers complexities in the relationship between white and black which were at least less apparent in the urban setting of Cape Town. He is willing to make compromises, but it is not going to be easy.

David and his daughter are then viciously attacked. Motives are clear, and then unclear. Relations between the father and daughter, and between the two of them and their black neighbours become difficult and strained. Old scores are being settled, perhaps. Older scores are being tallied. A new world demands that new details of inter-relation and inter-dependence be drawn, except that for David the art seems like freehand. No-one seems to be able to say what they want or what they feel.

To me, Disgrace seems to be about change and how we do or do not cope with it. It’s about how we want to continue asserting, for want of a better word, values – assumptions, perhaps – that might no longer apply. We would only know by reading the unspoken assumptions of others and interpreting them correctly. Disgrace is also about vengeance and punishment, about settling scores, about inclusion and exclusion. The story line is strong, but the overtones are stronger.

Disgrace is a book that presents individual experience and through that manages to comment on change within South Africa and its society, What has changed is not always for the better and what is retained is not always relevant. But these are reactions to assumptions, perhaps, rather than to any external reality, no matter whose it might be. On reflection, the overt simplicity of Disgrace is part of its complexity.

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