Friday, July 1, 2011
A non-fiction update on my life
In short, there are a lot of big things going down as far as this non-fic chick's personal and professional lives are concerned. About two weeks ago, I left my two part-time jobs in favor of one significant full-time operation. Adjusting to my new schedule (including a hefty commitment to commuting) has been a bit challenging to say the least, especially as I try to figure out how I will find time to start reading and reviewing again. I already miss it terribly. I'm entertaining the idea of incorporating audiobooks into the jig, which may serve as an excellent compromise as far as time constraints are concerned. Until then, know that I remain loyal to this project in spirit and hope to bring you more full-length, insightful reviews in the near future.
Wednesday, June 15, 2011
Orange is the New Black: My Year in a Women's Prison
[by Piper Kerman]
Find it in your library!
Dewey: 920
It appears I have a small confession to make. You know that Masters of Sex review I seem to keep promising you? Well, I have decided to keep that on the back burner for two main reasons.
1: I am having a hard time getting myself to finish reading the book (make of that what you will, and possibly consider it a roundabout review in a nutshell).
2: I have yet to decide how I am going to present it.
Masters and Johnson's research covered an enormous span of important issues about intimate physiology and human sexuality, issues that on the whole I am not too shy to handle. However, I want but am finding it difficult to approach my discussion in a way that balances humor (not for cheap laughs or giggles: grown-up sex is worth grown-up levity and laughter) and a proper handling of the medical breakthroughs Masters and Johnson achieved. Perhaps I am attempting to bite off more than I can chew -- after all, I am sure you are more interested in the answer to "should I read this or not?" than my own personal treatise on complex sexual issues. However, I am set on completing each review to the best of my ability and I do not think I am prepared to do that yet with Maier's book.
Hence my admission that I am backing away from this particular challenge for now. This is unusual for me, but as you can see I am not retreating from the larger project entirely. In exchange for stalling on my planned review, I am going to get right back down to business this week with Piper Kerman's 2010 memoir Orange is the New Black.
This bestselling memoir has been generating quite a bit of buzz, and for obvious reasons. Kerman, a relatively privileged woman of upper-middle-class standing and a Smith College alumna (which calls for a shout-out to Move Laugh Aloha -- not for being a convicted felon, but for also having graduated from Smith), recounts her experience being incarcerated for thirteen months on a drug charge she sustained in her "reckless" post-college years.
One of Kerman's main goals in publishing her story was to shed light on the many injustices doled out by our broken justice system and describe how awful the experience was for her and her fellow inmates. Few women have written at length about their prison experiences. For the most part, she recognizes that her unique state of privilege (including the love and full support of friends and family -- particularly an incredibly loyal fiance -- who visited regularly, as well as a stable, well-paying job waiting for her upon her release) made her experience markedly different from those of her peers. Her odds for recidivism were essentially nil, as opposed to the thousands of men and women who will spend their lives walking (or depending on how one sees it, being forced) through the "revolving door" between prison and the streets.
One issue I ran into while I read this memoir was that I was having a hard time connecting to and empathizing with Kerman. As I read, I thought a lot about how it would feel to be separated from my loved ones on indefinite terms for such a long time and to be constantly harassed and abused by prison guards with no way to defend myself. Obviously, I found these struggles to be unimaginable. But something about Kerman seemed detached in a way that was challenging to me as a reader; she does discuss in some detail her personal philosophy of stoicism, which I am sure bled into her writing and contributed to this perceived detachment in a large way. Still, I found that I was far more interested in learning about the lives of the women she bonded with behind bars than I was about her.
However, I tried to keep in mind what can be gained by reading the account from her perspective. When I discovered that she has devoted much of her post-prison life to social welfare and justice reform programs, I warmed up to her considerably. She is using her position and her megaphone to fight for reform that desperately needs to happen. I don't want to make a political statement of my own on the issue other than to say that all people, even prisoners, deserve to be treated like human beings. Prisoners not facing life sentences deserve access to resources that will help them adapt to life "on the outside" to protect them from falling into patterns that put them there in the first place. In these ways, Kerman's message aligns with my beliefs on the issue, and for that reason especially I can recommend this book to other readers.
She has taken a lot of flack among critics for the title of this book, which is odd at best and counterproductively flippant at worst. However, I consider it a wise choice if for no other reason than it is an attention-grabber, which was the obvious intended result. Cynics may say it was all about prescribing to a formula that would make her a bestseller, but I believe it was about drawing even more attention to the greater cause.
This memoir can be a quick and easy read, but I recommend that you take your time to absorb the stories of the women who have spent or are spending their lives in this or any prison. Kerman was incarcerated during the time that Martha Stewart was facing her own sentencing, an event which briefly made discussions of the quality of women's prisons en vogue. We all have our own beliefs about how celebrities receive preferential treatment under the law, and yes, I imagine that Stewart and the like could afford sterling legal representation that protected them from undue harm during their sentences. However, prison is still prison, and it is still ugly. It is unfair to millions of American inmates to paint a picture that is any rosier than the truth, a truth which I am moved by but still wholly unqualified to speak about in the level of detail that it deserves. Kerman's memoir brings readers face-to-face with a reality that often goes ignored by those of us who aren't directly impacted by it, although I wish it had gone even further.
Despite my few reservations about Kerman's narrative, I say that Orange is the New Black is worth the read. Have any of you read it yet? What did you think?
Find it in your library!
Dewey: 920
It appears I have a small confession to make. You know that Masters of Sex review I seem to keep promising you? Well, I have decided to keep that on the back burner for two main reasons.
1: I am having a hard time getting myself to finish reading the book (make of that what you will, and possibly consider it a roundabout review in a nutshell).
2: I have yet to decide how I am going to present it.
Masters and Johnson's research covered an enormous span of important issues about intimate physiology and human sexuality, issues that on the whole I am not too shy to handle. However, I want but am finding it difficult to approach my discussion in a way that balances humor (not for cheap laughs or giggles: grown-up sex is worth grown-up levity and laughter) and a proper handling of the medical breakthroughs Masters and Johnson achieved. Perhaps I am attempting to bite off more than I can chew -- after all, I am sure you are more interested in the answer to "should I read this or not?" than my own personal treatise on complex sexual issues. However, I am set on completing each review to the best of my ability and I do not think I am prepared to do that yet with Maier's book.
Hence my admission that I am backing away from this particular challenge for now. This is unusual for me, but as you can see I am not retreating from the larger project entirely. In exchange for stalling on my planned review, I am going to get right back down to business this week with Piper Kerman's 2010 memoir Orange is the New Black.
This bestselling memoir has been generating quite a bit of buzz, and for obvious reasons. Kerman, a relatively privileged woman of upper-middle-class standing and a Smith College alumna (which calls for a shout-out to Move Laugh Aloha -- not for being a convicted felon, but for also having graduated from Smith), recounts her experience being incarcerated for thirteen months on a drug charge she sustained in her "reckless" post-college years.
One of Kerman's main goals in publishing her story was to shed light on the many injustices doled out by our broken justice system and describe how awful the experience was for her and her fellow inmates. Few women have written at length about their prison experiences. For the most part, she recognizes that her unique state of privilege (including the love and full support of friends and family -- particularly an incredibly loyal fiance -- who visited regularly, as well as a stable, well-paying job waiting for her upon her release) made her experience markedly different from those of her peers. Her odds for recidivism were essentially nil, as opposed to the thousands of men and women who will spend their lives walking (or depending on how one sees it, being forced) through the "revolving door" between prison and the streets.
One issue I ran into while I read this memoir was that I was having a hard time connecting to and empathizing with Kerman. As I read, I thought a lot about how it would feel to be separated from my loved ones on indefinite terms for such a long time and to be constantly harassed and abused by prison guards with no way to defend myself. Obviously, I found these struggles to be unimaginable. But something about Kerman seemed detached in a way that was challenging to me as a reader; she does discuss in some detail her personal philosophy of stoicism, which I am sure bled into her writing and contributed to this perceived detachment in a large way. Still, I found that I was far more interested in learning about the lives of the women she bonded with behind bars than I was about her.
However, I tried to keep in mind what can be gained by reading the account from her perspective. When I discovered that she has devoted much of her post-prison life to social welfare and justice reform programs, I warmed up to her considerably. She is using her position and her megaphone to fight for reform that desperately needs to happen. I don't want to make a political statement of my own on the issue other than to say that all people, even prisoners, deserve to be treated like human beings. Prisoners not facing life sentences deserve access to resources that will help them adapt to life "on the outside" to protect them from falling into patterns that put them there in the first place. In these ways, Kerman's message aligns with my beliefs on the issue, and for that reason especially I can recommend this book to other readers.
She has taken a lot of flack among critics for the title of this book, which is odd at best and counterproductively flippant at worst. However, I consider it a wise choice if for no other reason than it is an attention-grabber, which was the obvious intended result. Cynics may say it was all about prescribing to a formula that would make her a bestseller, but I believe it was about drawing even more attention to the greater cause.
This memoir can be a quick and easy read, but I recommend that you take your time to absorb the stories of the women who have spent or are spending their lives in this or any prison. Kerman was incarcerated during the time that Martha Stewart was facing her own sentencing, an event which briefly made discussions of the quality of women's prisons en vogue. We all have our own beliefs about how celebrities receive preferential treatment under the law, and yes, I imagine that Stewart and the like could afford sterling legal representation that protected them from undue harm during their sentences. However, prison is still prison, and it is still ugly. It is unfair to millions of American inmates to paint a picture that is any rosier than the truth, a truth which I am moved by but still wholly unqualified to speak about in the level of detail that it deserves. Kerman's memoir brings readers face-to-face with a reality that often goes ignored by those of us who aren't directly impacted by it, although I wish it had gone even further.
Despite my few reservations about Kerman's narrative, I say that Orange is the New Black is worth the read. Have any of you read it yet? What did you think?
Thursday, June 9, 2011
And now for a brief, unexpected review
[Bossypants by Tina Fey]
Find it in your library!
Dewey: 814
Dewey: 814
"May she play the Drums to the fiery rhythm of her Own Heart with the sinewy strength of her Own Arms, so she need Not Lie With Drummers."
It is a quick, quick read, and if (like me) you're sneaking in chapters at work*, you'll be finished in no time. For that reason, I will keep this short and sweet, not only so that I don't spend more time reviewing than it took to read (besides, I have hundreds of pages of sex to return to), but so that you can get to reading and tell me what you think.
* Awkward humor in juxtaposition: while my incredibly sweet co-worker sitting next to me is surreptitiously working her way through the Bible, I have Bossypants open to a chapter titled "There's a Drunk Midget in My House." 'Nuff said.
* Awkward humor in juxtaposition: while my incredibly sweet co-worker sitting next to me is surreptitiously working her way through the Bible, I have Bossypants open to a chapter titled "There's a Drunk Midget in My House." 'Nuff said.
Saturday, June 4, 2011
This week's sneak peek
Masters of Sex:
The Life and Times of William Masters and Virginia Johnson,
the Couple Who Taught America How to Love
by Thomas Maier
Thursday, June 2, 2011
How to use this blog
Perhaps it was a bit improper of me to jump right into the process of reviewing before first taking a moment to discuss what I hope to accomplish with this blog.
Why this project?
I hope that my reviews will spark discussions about what you and I are reading. I don't see it as a book club; we don't need to be reading the same books all the time and can learn quite a lot from each other if we don't. However, I'm always open to suggestions. If you have favorite selections, chances are very good that I will love them, too. Feel free as you read along (and thanks to those of you who are!) to disagree with my approaches and/or suggest new ways of viewing the same material. I'm hoping for a challenge, and thoughtful exchanges via the handy comments section will absolutely make my day.
Why now?
Since finishing school (for the time being), I have been feeling intellectually and creatively stagnant. I need a project that will allow me to express myself in a stimulating way and keep me reading something far more substantive than the trashy Web sites that have been draining too much of my energy and focus. For the first time in a long time, I may actually have the luxury of being able to read a book each week -- which is the pace I hope to maintain here -- so hopefully opening myself up to a potential audience of more than one will keep me accountable for this goal.
How not to use this blog: as a flotation device. That's pretty much my only rule, because I imagine it wouldn't do you a lick of good in such an emergency and I don't want to be held responsible if something goes wrong.
Enjoy!
Columbine
[by Dave Cullen]
UPDATE 6/3: Find it in your library!
Despite the challenges he faces in adjusting our preconceived notions, Cullen does an excellent job of debunking many common Columbine myths (including the oft-repeated myth that Harris and Klebold were ostracized loners -- simply not true) while remaining deferent to the memories of those who were killed. Unfortunately, one can argue that he does so at the risk of not treating each victim* equally. For example, Cassie Bernall's story has become relatively well-known and fraught with controversy; therefore, Cullen devotes a significant effort to setting that record straight. I will have to re-read parts before I can say this with certainty, but it's possible that some of the other students' names are never once mentioned, except perhaps when they fall into the detailed timeline of how the shooting spree unfolded. I understand that for Cullen's specific purposes it was neither feasible nor necessary to devote "equal time" to each student, but I did take notice of these patterns and tried to remember that there were many other seemingly invisible but intertwining personal stories taking place up to and on that day.
Beyond what I may have expected Cullen to discuss, in one chapter alone I learned more about psychopathy then I ever imagined would be presented to me at once outside of a university lecture. However, I found the information engrossing, and since that diagnosis is the crux of many investigators' beliefs about the killers' motives, it is important that readers understand the signs and symptoms of a psychopathic mind. (I can say with full confidence that I am not doing justice to this point. I am in no way qualified to discuss the impact of mental illness, particularly the role that Harris' and Klebold's mental illnesses played in their actions, so please forgive me for clumsily glossing over the finer details. Just know that as a layperson, I considered it a particularly informative chapter.)
A common-sense caveat to those who may be interested in further reading: it is impossible to discuss the full scope of Columbine without discussing the murders in a certain level of detail. Cullen does so in a balanced, straightforward way that reads not as a sensationalist account, but as a coroner's report or law enforcement investigation might. Even though we all know how the story ends, I do not doubt you will find many of these details disturbing. I handled such moments by pausing periodically to read something uplifting or to wrap my arms around someone I love.
While other reviewers have questioned Cullen’s motives or his unwillingness to place blame on the boys’ parents, I find his approach to be fair and honest, particularly in how he chronicles local law enforcement’s response to and handling of the case. We begin to see how Jefferson County’s series of critical mistakes followed by numerous cover-up attempts exacerbated an already horrible situation and obstructed opportunities to give the community (and a curious world) a clear picture of what happened at Columbine and why. However, one point he does make clear early on is that without living perpetrators to bear the blame, the community had an enormous amount of misplaced anger and pain that needed a target. Representatives of various institutions that failed to communicate properly with each other and their constituents became and continue to be one of those sets of targets.
Unfortunately, within this very review I see evidence that I’m falling into a pattern Cullen addresses of which many bystanders are guilty and should start to become more aware, which is to refer to the tragedy simply as “Columbine.” Can you imagine if your alma mater or hometown were so synonymous with such an awful event that everyone used just the name as a shortcut? Almost right away, students at Columbine High School took assertive efforts to reclaim their school and proceed with having completely normal lives. As many of them continue to point out, April 20, 1999 was one day of many in the history of Columbine High School, and these students deserve a better legacy because all students do.
Overall, I recommend this book, but it's difficult to say to whom. Many people could never imagine wanting to devote time to reading about such a grisly topic, but for those who may be interested for any number of reasons, there is a lot to learn in these pages. Columbine by Dave Cullen is a well-researched, thoughtfully presented piece of non-fiction that offers much to a receptive reader.
* I anticipate that some of my readers may take issue with my use of the word "victim," as many people consider it an emotionally charged term that unfairly represents someone as nothing more than an object of a perpetrator's actions. Please know that this is not my intention; I understand that everyone who was injured or killed at Columbine High School shared that day in common in their personal histories but were nonetheless unique individuals who all amount to far more than these tragic circumstances.
UPDATE 6/3: Find it in your library!
LCCN: LB3013.33
Dewey: 373.7888
I learned this week that reading a book with the word "COLUMBINE" printed in bold letters down the spine will certainly get people's attention. In my case, I'm glad it did, because it gave me the opportunity to share with others what I learned from Cullen's thorough account and discuss why I think it is a valuable read. It has been a dozen years since the name of a high school in the Denver suburbs became the gruesome gauge for (alas) numerous instances of brutal school violence, and many of us have come to believe that we know the story well enough to draw basic conclusions and hold shared assumptions about what happened there and why.
Despite the challenges he faces in adjusting our preconceived notions, Cullen does an excellent job of debunking many common Columbine myths (including the oft-repeated myth that Harris and Klebold were ostracized loners -- simply not true) while remaining deferent to the memories of those who were killed. Unfortunately, one can argue that he does so at the risk of not treating each victim* equally. For example, Cassie Bernall's story has become relatively well-known and fraught with controversy; therefore, Cullen devotes a significant effort to setting that record straight. I will have to re-read parts before I can say this with certainty, but it's possible that some of the other students' names are never once mentioned, except perhaps when they fall into the detailed timeline of how the shooting spree unfolded. I understand that for Cullen's specific purposes it was neither feasible nor necessary to devote "equal time" to each student, but I did take notice of these patterns and tried to remember that there were many other seemingly invisible but intertwining personal stories taking place up to and on that day.
Beyond what I may have expected Cullen to discuss, in one chapter alone I learned more about psychopathy then I ever imagined would be presented to me at once outside of a university lecture. However, I found the information engrossing, and since that diagnosis is the crux of many investigators' beliefs about the killers' motives, it is important that readers understand the signs and symptoms of a psychopathic mind. (I can say with full confidence that I am not doing justice to this point. I am in no way qualified to discuss the impact of mental illness, particularly the role that Harris' and Klebold's mental illnesses played in their actions, so please forgive me for clumsily glossing over the finer details. Just know that as a layperson, I considered it a particularly informative chapter.)
A common-sense caveat to those who may be interested in further reading: it is impossible to discuss the full scope of Columbine without discussing the murders in a certain level of detail. Cullen does so in a balanced, straightforward way that reads not as a sensationalist account, but as a coroner's report or law enforcement investigation might. Even though we all know how the story ends, I do not doubt you will find many of these details disturbing. I handled such moments by pausing periodically to read something uplifting or to wrap my arms around someone I love.
While other reviewers have questioned Cullen’s motives or his unwillingness to place blame on the boys’ parents, I find his approach to be fair and honest, particularly in how he chronicles local law enforcement’s response to and handling of the case. We begin to see how Jefferson County’s series of critical mistakes followed by numerous cover-up attempts exacerbated an already horrible situation and obstructed opportunities to give the community (and a curious world) a clear picture of what happened at Columbine and why. However, one point he does make clear early on is that without living perpetrators to bear the blame, the community had an enormous amount of misplaced anger and pain that needed a target. Representatives of various institutions that failed to communicate properly with each other and their constituents became and continue to be one of those sets of targets.
Unfortunately, within this very review I see evidence that I’m falling into a pattern Cullen addresses of which many bystanders are guilty and should start to become more aware, which is to refer to the tragedy simply as “Columbine.” Can you imagine if your alma mater or hometown were so synonymous with such an awful event that everyone used just the name as a shortcut? Almost right away, students at Columbine High School took assertive efforts to reclaim their school and proceed with having completely normal lives. As many of them continue to point out, April 20, 1999 was one day of many in the history of Columbine High School, and these students deserve a better legacy because all students do.
Overall, I recommend this book, but it's difficult to say to whom. Many people could never imagine wanting to devote time to reading about such a grisly topic, but for those who may be interested for any number of reasons, there is a lot to learn in these pages. Columbine by Dave Cullen is a well-researched, thoughtfully presented piece of non-fiction that offers much to a receptive reader.
* I anticipate that some of my readers may take issue with my use of the word "victim," as many people consider it an emotionally charged term that unfairly represents someone as nothing more than an object of a perpetrator's actions. Please know that this is not my intention; I understand that everyone who was injured or killed at Columbine High School shared that day in common in their personal histories but were nonetheless unique individuals who all amount to far more than these tragic circumstances.
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