Piling up books I'm reading (or have or plan to read), I noticed several of their titles could be lined up to make some sort of sense. (Perennial thanks! to Kirsten who first pointed this game out to me.)
Le Road Trip: An Anthropologist on Mars, A Tale of Love and Darkness. No Time to Wave Goodbye: 365 Days Lost in the Cosmos.
Le Road Trip is a beautiful book by Vivian Swift, who I met on Steve's blog, Shadows and Light. Thank you for your generous gift of this book, Vivian!
It arrived on one of the warmer of our polar vortex days, when it was only -15 (at -25, the USPS stopped delivering)––a perfect time to look at lovely pictures of Somewhere Else.
The book's subtitle is A Traveler's Journal of Love and France, and it's the France of croissants and chateaux––vin rouge not gilets jaunes––captured by Vivian in charming watercolors.
Oliver Sacks always tells amazing stories about humans and our brains, so I'm looking forward to reading An Anthropologist On Mars: Seven Paradoxical Tales, which follows seven people with neurological disorders.
I'm taking a break from A Tale of Love and Darkness by Amos Oz.
It's good and meaty, but it's hard going for me because I barely know the politics and people behind his childhood in British occupied Palestine. I want to go back to it, but I think I'll read some of his other shorter books and essays first, to get more background.
I'm especially interested in his teenage years in a kibbutz.
No Time to Wave Goodbye is about the London children who were bundled off to the countryside at the beginning of WWII, for their safety. Lots of bits of interviews with the now-old kids themselves.
Turns out the English countryside wasn't bucolic for many of the unaccompanied young children--including six-year-old Michael Caine, now Sir Michael Caine, whose host family locked him in a dark cupboard.
365 Days is a memoir by Ronald J. Glasser, MD, who served in a US military hospital in Japan during the Vietnam War.
A pediatrician, his job was to take care of the children of military and government officials, but, he said, he “soon realized that the troopers they were pulling off those medevac choppers were only children themselves.”
When I look at teenagers, I like to figure out how long ago they were 10 years old. For a 17 year old soldier, you only have to subtract 7 years.
I started Lost in the Cosmos: The Last Self-Help Book (1983) by Walker Percy last night, while I ate veggie burgers at White Castle after work.
(That hat I'm wearing is the best hat! It's fake fur, and it's warm. I looked up the brand, Pandemonium, Seattle, and it cost $82 new.
And it seemed to be new when I got it at the thrift store (of course) for $3.99.)
White Castle's colors match the book!
Verdict: Disappointing. Self-referential, cute, and unreliable. You can't trust an author who asks,
Adding to the list:
Federalist Paper No. 10-- "among the most highly regarded of all American political writings", but I've never read any of the Federalist papers. Now I want to because Michael posted about Columbia's core curriculum, which includes No. 10.
The FPs are all online here, at Congress.gov, among other places, which might be handy because I think these .gov sites go down if the government closes.
Le Road Trip: An Anthropologist on Mars, A Tale of Love and Darkness. No Time to Wave Goodbye: 365 Days Lost in the Cosmos.
Le Road Trip is a beautiful book by Vivian Swift, who I met on Steve's blog, Shadows and Light. Thank you for your generous gift of this book, Vivian!
It arrived on one of the warmer of our polar vortex days, when it was only -15 (at -25, the USPS stopped delivering)––a perfect time to look at lovely pictures of Somewhere Else.
The book's subtitle is A Traveler's Journal of Love and France, and it's the France of croissants and chateaux––vin rouge not gilets jaunes––captured by Vivian in charming watercolors.
Oliver Sacks always tells amazing stories about humans and our brains, so I'm looking forward to reading An Anthropologist On Mars: Seven Paradoxical Tales, which follows seven people with neurological disorders.
I'm taking a break from A Tale of Love and Darkness by Amos Oz.
It's good and meaty, but it's hard going for me because I barely know the politics and people behind his childhood in British occupied Palestine. I want to go back to it, but I think I'll read some of his other shorter books and essays first, to get more background.
I'm especially interested in his teenage years in a kibbutz.
No Time to Wave Goodbye is about the London children who were bundled off to the countryside at the beginning of WWII, for their safety. Lots of bits of interviews with the now-old kids themselves.
Turns out the English countryside wasn't bucolic for many of the unaccompanied young children--including six-year-old Michael Caine, now Sir Michael Caine, whose host family locked him in a dark cupboard.
365 Days is a memoir by Ronald J. Glasser, MD, who served in a US military hospital in Japan during the Vietnam War.
A pediatrician, his job was to take care of the children of military and government officials, but, he said, he “soon realized that the troopers they were pulling off those medevac choppers were only children themselves.”
When I look at teenagers, I like to figure out how long ago they were 10 years old. For a 17 year old soldier, you only have to subtract 7 years.
I started Lost in the Cosmos: The Last Self-Help Book (1983) by Walker Percy last night, while I ate veggie burgers at White Castle after work.
(That hat I'm wearing is the best hat! It's fake fur, and it's warm. I looked up the brand, Pandemonium, Seattle, and it cost $82 new.
And it seemed to be new when I got it at the thrift store (of course) for $3.99.)
White Castle's colors match the book!
Verdict: Disappointing. Self-referential, cute, and unreliable. You can't trust an author who asks,
"Why is it no other species but man gets bored?Have you never met a dog?
Under the circumstances in which a man gets bored, a dog goes to sleep."
Adding to the list:
Federalist Paper No. 10-- "among the most highly regarded of all American political writings", but I've never read any of the Federalist papers. Now I want to because Michael posted about Columbia's core curriculum, which includes No. 10.
The FPs are all online here, at Congress.gov, among other places, which might be handy because I think these .gov sites go down if the government closes.
Fun game! I'm going to try that at the book store.
ReplyDeleteI've never had a White Castle, but they are just the kind of places that I like to and out with a good book. I'll look out for one near me.
I'm glad that the book arrived, but seeing the spine of my book reminds me of the fit I threw when I got the first copies. Why on earth did the design genius at Bloomsbury turn my lettering GREEN? The title should, obviously, have been blue: the French flag is blue, white, and red -- the color GREEN has nothing to do with the story. And it's an ugly shade of green to boot.
I was so het up about that, and I didn't care if I got a reputation as a loud-mouth, but all my complaints were pointless -- the cover was already at the printer's. I worked on that book for three years, and some dope in the design dept took a five-minute nap and did THAT to my work. It still makes me want to scream. This was practically a no-brainer, and BTW, just shows that you have to be involved in every aspect of the publishing process. You can't count on the "professionals".
VIVIAN: I FEEL YOUR PAIN!!!
ReplyDeleteI used to write & edit nonfiction for a children's book publisher that sold to school libraries (not bookstores). You don't expect as much control when writing-on-assignment as with your own labor of love, but still I pitched a fit when Marketing (errrrgh) named my best book, on the history of toilets,
"Remaking the John".
My complaints, like yours, were pointless---
Marketing was sure this was a super title, even though I pointed out kids no longer call toilets "johns", and it sounds more like it's about the rehabilitation of sex addicts...
At least they went with my subtitle:
"The Invention and Reinvention of the Toilet", and the book won some award and on the book's strength, last spring I was invited to talk at the Texas Library Convention which was a hoot!
...but that stupid title still causes me pain.
Uh, yes. So. I know what you mean, and I agree blue makes a ton more sense, but I must say, as a casual observer, the green of your title didn't register one way or another. Hm. Though now you mention it, it does seem a little Christmas-y...
Anyway, thanks again!
--Frex = Fresca = Francesca
P.S. White Castle's veggie burgers are pretty good, for fast food, and only 99¢!
ReplyDeleteI THINK they're vegan--their "impossible burgers" certainly are. They even fry them on a different grill than the meat burgers.
(But possibly the veggie ones have egg or milk in them--I haven't asked.)
We actually did that book spine game as a contest with our students. We called it "book poetry," or something like that. They got a kick out of it. I admire your desire to read the Federalist papers. I decided some time ago that that's just something I'm never going to get to in my lifetime.
ReplyDeleteI love your stack! While walking back home today I tried to think about how I could also do one.
ReplyDeleteAs someone who has been contracted to write 5 short books I know the pain of titles and covers. I just found a wrong reference while reviewing one book yesterday. Acckkk! I pride myself on my accuracy........
Kirsten
BTW, did you check to see if that Walker Percy is a first edition? It could be worth $250 if it is.
ReplyDeleteBad habit: I'm always checking for first editions. I've got a backlog of donated books to the used book store that I have to research today, and I don't feel like doing it. I'd rather be gluing up some more paper trees.
I would KILL to get an invite to the Texas Library Convention!! That is AWESOME that you went as a featured author. It must have been one great book about pooping . . . was it fun to write?
ReplyDeleteYou have to do a post about writing a book about crappers. And then, it should be published in the NYTimes Book Review.
STEVE: Now I've read it, I really do encourage you to take a look at Federalist Paper No. 10---it's only a few pages long, and while it takes a bit to untangle the language, I thought it was really a surprisingly good read!
ReplyDeleteKIRSTEN: I still have to post the rat tableaux you sent me, but if you want to send a book title pile-up, I'd love to post that too!
Are you currently writing the 5 books, or was that in the past?
*Cool* either way!
What are the topics, can you say???
VIVIAN: It WAS fun to write the toilet book---I ended up presenting the topic as a history of public health, really, which fascinates me.
(A lot of books for kids on the topic go for the poop jokes, but that isn't my style. I was super pleased that a review called it a "good-spirited, wholly serious" approach.)
If you're interested and haven't yet read it, I highly recommend "The Ghost Map: The Story of London's Most Terrifying Epidemic--and How It Changed Science, Cities, and the Modern World," by Steven Johnson--
a fun read about how John Snow figured out cholera is spread by water.
I was at the TX con as part of a panel of nonfiction writers---you had to go on your own dime (not even a free lunch!), so while I was pleased and honored, I think they cast their net far and wide.
When your next book comes out, ask them to invite you!
*P.S. I meant, of course, "John Snow figured out cholera is spread by *feces in* water."
ReplyDelete