Reading Matters: August 2013

Books Purchased:

Time Warped by Claudia Hammond

Redemption by Bryan Clay

Inferno by Dan Brown (Kindle edition)

The Polysyllabic Spree by Nick Hornby

Sin and Syntax by Constance Hale

Books Read:

Redemption

Inferno

The Polysyllabic Spree

The Works by P.G. Wodehouse (Kindle edition)  (ongoing)

Beowulf Translated by John McNamara

        Let me be up front about it: I am stealing the format for my book posts, from here on, from Nick Hornby. His regular column “Stuff I’ve Been Reading” from The Believer Magazine (an advertising-free collection of interviews, essays, and reviews) was the fuel for his book The Polysyllabic Spree. His wit, humor, intelligence, and literacy make for great reading and have inspired me to rethink how I am handling book reviews here on my blog and elsewhere.  I particularly loved the fact that he is up front that he doesn’t read every book he buys; he “panic” shops when a new child is born to him and his partner; he is a reader of nuance and has valuable opinions about successive works by the same author; and he is doggone delightful to read.

        I don’t even remember where I came across the title for his book, but the subtitle- “A Hilarious and True Account of One Man’s Struggle with the Monthly Tide of the Books He’s Bought and the Books He’s Been Meaning to Read”- made me put the book on my Amazon wish list. Over this summer, I rededicated myself to reading more, lots more, just to spite my more-than-busy schedule this semester. As soon as my teaching money started to come in, I honored my commitment and bought a bunch of books (see above).

        Beowulf is for my British Literature Class. No matter how many times I have read it nor the detailed notes I have taken, I still have to read the book before I teach it. I wish I had a memory for plot details instead of themes and overtones, but alas, I don’t and at this late stage in the game, don’t think it will ever develop. So read, and reread, is part of my job. That said, this translation by John McNamara for The Barnes and Noble Classic Edition is great. Both lively and vivid, McNamara renders this classic of British Literature enjoyable for me as a teacher and for my students coming to it for the first time.

        Redemption is the story of Bryan Clay, 2 time Olympic medalist in the decathalon (Silver in 2008, Gold in 2010). His memoir, co-written by Joel Kilpatrick, chronicles his transformation from a rebellious party animal with good athletic skills to a world-class athlete. Along the way, Clay learns to commit to his sport and his wife, and most importantly to God. His message becomes “Do your best, and let God do the rest.” That may seem like wimping out, but I think it is just the recognition we all gain as we grow up that we are not really in control of much, so we need to relax and trust in our training and abilities.

        Another one of the things I really enjoyed about Hornby’s book—I keep coming back to him, I see. I guess that makes his work the most-influential of the month—were his frequent references to P.G. Wodehouse. I picked up The Works because I have always loved the Wooster and Jeeves stories, especially the adaptations starring Hugh Laurie and Stephen Fry that aired on PBS. I knew that Wodehouse had written about much more than the befuddled Bertie Wooster and his Man Extraordinaire, but I didn’t realize the spread of his stories. I am finding stories set in France and New York alongside those in London (and nearby suburb). There’s even a few with a dog as the protagonist. Always the humorist, Wodehouse manages to portray the humanity of his characters as they struggle with everything from being downtrodden to rising on the social ladder. Love, relationships, friendship, and family are the stuff of all the stories. And the wit and jokes! Come for the jokes and stay for the humanity. Wodehouse is perfect for dipping into when I need a little levity. Read too many in a row and they all start to sound the same.

        Now, the only other book I read that I haven’t talked about is Dan Brown’s Inferno. Let me insert my Amazon.com book review here because I have already done the work and don’t plan on losing any sleep over writing a different review here: Dan Brown's novel Inferno is infused with the beauty of Venice and Florence. I loved all the references to the art and architecture and with a little bit of research, was able to run alongside the characters and "see" the sights for myself.

Like all Dan Brown books, this one has the usual cryptic messages and clues that leave our hero and his requisite tag-along girl running from location to location, chased by various characters. Brown includes the usual plot twists and the "is he or isn't he?" a bad guy that is supposed to leave you guessing until the end for the big reveal.

My only criticism of the novel is that the characters are unnecessarily dense at times. You would think that lead character Robert Langdon would remember his past brushes with cryptology and be a bit quicker at solving the clues. I had no advanced knowledge of the subject matter or setting of the book, and even I was able to figure out some things more quickly than the characters. I don't know that Brown dumbed-down his protagonist, but let's just say I wasn't that impressed with Langdon's supposed genius at times.

If you read travel guides for fun, enjoy Italian art and architecture, and are interested in the question of population growth, you will probably like this book.

Out of the Shallows: A book review of Nicola Carr's The Shallows: What the Internet Is Doing to Our Brains

            A Book Review of The Shallows, What the Internet Is Doing to Our Brains by Nicolas Carr. By Donna Samudio

            No one really needs to tell us that we live in a shallow world. From television shows urging us to root for strangers in competition with each other to changing fashions in hair, clothing, and makeup that make no lasting difference to our lives, the world seems built on shallow interactions and superficial presentations. Nicolas Carr in The Shallows: What the Internet Is Doing to Our Brains argues that we are being led into increasingly shallow thinking by the very nature of how we access the world through technology. While the book is secular, its message has relevance for us believers living in a technological world.

            Carr’s central argument is this: the way we get our information and interact through technology actually hinders our ability to make deep connections between ideas and to contemplate complex issues. He explores his ideas by looking at television, word processing, brain plasticity, and how we read on the internet. His tone is concerned, but I wouldn’t call him alarmist. I have experienced some of the things he talks about, like getting lost in a sea of pages by being lured by hyperlinks (the blue or underlined words in an article on the internet that take you to another page when you click on them).

            According to Carr, our experiences with data can easily become a matter of breadth rather than depth with each new page competing for space in our memories. Likewise, all the clutter of pop-up ads and animated gifs disrupt our brain’s natural process of moving things from working memory into storage memory. Have you ever had trouble remembering things you have read on the internet even when you tried to pay attention? It could be that you suffered from memory disruption.

            Google, Bing, Wikipedia, and other information gatherers would argue that access to endless information and multitasking through multiple windows is beneficial. Carr argues that in the long run our memory and neuron formation is programmed to be hyperactive by the increasing demands on our eyes and attention. Just like a diet too high in sugar will affect our body’s chemistry by reprogramming the release of insulin, a mental diet too full of these visual distractions and shallow interactions will hamper our ability to concentrate and think deeply. The internet screams at us to click anywhere and instantly get new visual information without ever stopping to ponder what we might be learning.

            I believe that the issue of contemplation versus stimulation has the most relevance for us in terms of our walk of faith. Ephesians 6:18 says, “praying at all times in the Spirit, with all prayer and supplication.” Kyle’s recent message (August 18) dealt with this issue of “all prayer” and “praying in the Spirit.” He said something I am trying to contemplate deeply—that prayer is spiritual because it reminds us of our humanity, that we haven’t got it all together, and that we are vulnerable. Prayer is serious business. We are constantly vulnerable to Satan’s attacks; therefore, we need to be in constant prayer. It takes mindfulness and effort to keep the shallow “hit and run” prayer from being our primary means of talking with God.

            Satan would have us shallow and distracted by whatever means he can. If Carr’s argument is correct, then we need to counter the effects of the internet by shifting our focus and practicing contemplative thinking in the Scriptures and an attitude of constant prayer. Carr’s book has made me aware of how even seemingly good things on the internet can possibly make my mind conform to the world’s shallow ways without even being aware of their influence. 

Book Review: The Year of Leaning Dangerously by Quinn Cummings

Bottom Line: I can recommend this book to anyone involved with homeschooling and to those who wonder just what's up with homeschooling.

Quinn Cummings, Oscar nominee and recurring character actress on the TV show Family, writes with honesty and wit about her trials and tribulations during her adventure with homeschooling her daughter Alice. I came to this book by way of my book club, made up of mostly home school moms. Hang on, I'm going to brag about my group for a moment. Unlike some other home school groups, notably the ones Cummings reports in her book, we are kind of a fringe group in that we don't all attend the same kind of churches or have the same kind of leisure activities. We have ex-lawyers, ex-college professors, people with masters and PhD degrees, people who never finished college, people who dance, drum, play bass in country bands, sing, and quilt. Some of us work full time and home school still. We also have women whose children are done with the school journey and who now are working on their own educations and independent entrepreneurial careers.

 I tell you all this to show that we are a group who are uniquely qualified to review the "truth" of Cummings book, and let me tell you, the recount of her experiences is dead on, especially in that no two homeschooling families will have the same things happen because no two family dynamics are just the same. When Cummings locks herself in the laundry room and breathes into a bag, I am sure several other women nodded in sympathy for feeling the same way at times. As Cummings moves through her search to find her "tribe," I know exactly what it feels like to be an outsider and want connection, but because I am already a bit unorthodox it can be a struggle to find other independent people who want to have a group interaction.

Readers who are not part of the home school world will get a glimpse into the some of the reasons why so many parents are choosing this option for their children. Cummings impressed me by her research and her argumentation skills in considering deeply all sides of the issue.  She is also very funny. I don't want to spoil any of the LOL moments in the book, but I was reading this in a doctor's waiting room and got some pretty curious looks thrown my way when I got to the section on Radical Unschooling.

I love the scene toward where the storyteller is giving the commencement address at a home school graduation. He says, "As life can be well lived if you find someone who really loves you for who you are, if you find something you love to do and you find someplace that feels like home." That's advice I think any home school parent can agree with and wish for her or his children.

Book Review: Mr. Penumbra's 24-hour Bookstore by Robin Sloan

Bottom Line: A clever, witty book that made me laugh out loud several times.

Amazon kept recommending this book to me, and I gave in and bought it for my Kindle. I  am so happy that I did. Sloan does a great job of marrying old-school table-top adventure gaming with Google, modern culture, and ancient secret societies.

The plot centers around unemployed graphic artist Clay Jannon who finds a job in a strange 24-hour bookstore that doesn't seem to sell books. Instead an interesting assortment of people come in a check out books from a three-story stack of strange tomes named for people. Clay's job is to keep a log book of each borrowing that includes details about the person's appearance and behavior. While Clay is wondering what's going on, he is simultaneously living with his roommate Mat's growing art project and his own interest in a woman named Kat Potente who works for Google.

The book is part mystery, part allegory for role playing games, part lesson in teamwork, and part examination of contemporary culture. If that sounds ponderous, don't worry. Sloan's writing is joyous to read. The book is lighthearted with lots of really funny moments in Clay's internal monologue. In one instance, Clay tries to boost sales in the shop by putting out a Google ad. When the mysterious Kat Potente appears in response to the ad, Clay almost blows the moment by hyper-responding. He thinks, "Google's astonishing advertising algorithms have delivered to me a supercute girl, and I have no idea what to do with her." Alliterative heaven right there.

Sloan's characters all come together for an adventure of their own, mirroring the world of D&D or Dragon Age. During the first half of the book I wanted to live in Clay's world and by the end, I realized that I already did. Even if these particular characters and conflicts are fictional, the lessons learned by Clay and company are the same that we all have to learn.

This is no Harry Potter with real wizards and quidditch. Instead it is a related story with many of the same themes of friendship, teamwork, bravery, and good choices. It is also a rare book that I and my 21-year-old son can both enjoy.

Book Review: Dandy Gilver and A Bothersome Number of Corpses by Catriona McPherson

Bottom Line: This, the seventh book featuring Dandy Gilver by Catriona McPherson, is one of the strongest in the series with beautiful characterization and enough complication to make it fun to read.

I ran across the first Dandy Gilver book in my local library when I was on the hunt for a work by another author. Set in post-WWI Scotland, it featured what was left of the landed gentry, dressing for dinner, and servants. Since I was in a Downton Abbey mood, I tried it and have stuck with the series because I find McPherson's writing to be interesting.

For a cozy series, and let's not kid anyone because that's what these books are, they cover lots of ground. The title character is Dandy, short for Dandelion, who is married to Hugh, a solid gentleman with enough land to be somewhat of consequence. Dandy is persuaded to start investigating mysterious happenings, at first by a close friend, and then later in response to more distance acquaintances and word-of-mouth advertisements. In this most recent book, McPherson takes the readers into Dandy's memories of a youthful idyllic summer spent with friends before bringing things back up to speed in Dandy's adult life with murders, mysterious school mistresses, and a charming Italian.

One thing McPherson does well is create diverse characters with their own voices. The schoolgirls sound different from each other, the mistress have their own energy, and the transition of one of the characters from youthful blithe spirit into something else entirely has its own reality in this fictional world. McPherson also has fun playing with Dandy's relationship to her rather stodgy husband who tolerates her detecting because of the money it brings in and her sons, one of whom is turning out to be much less talented scholastically than hoped for. Dandy's close working companion, Alec Osborne, excites all kinds of comments and rumors from people on the periphery, but unlike other crime detecting duos (Castle and Beckett come to mind) there is no steamy undercurrent of desire. They work as a duo, without much sexism, and it seems to be staying that way.

I find these books perfect for when I want some light reading featuring a strong female lead and charming Scottish folk set in rugged countryside.

Book Review: How to Succeed at Aging Without Really Dying by Lyla Blake Ward

Bottom Line: Ward is not nearly as curmudgeonly as Andy Rooney. She actually knows how to use a computer and shop online, and she writes with clarity and wit.

I picked this book up on one of those super Amazon Kindle sale. I liked the title and am dealing with aging relatives. I have been working on creating a notebook for myself that includes all sorts of useful advice to myself for when I eventually grow old. I encourage myself to get a minimum amount of exercise and to write things down, among other such stellar wisdom.  I thought I might glean a thing or two from Lyla Ward's book.

This collection of essays has its share of old-person grumbling about how things used to be simpler, and she's right. I remember when you turned on the TV without a remote and had only a few channels to turn access via the tuner dial. (I know that qualifies me as old in some people's eyes.) Now, I have to have at least two remotes or a computer to watch my shows because I stream so much of my visual entertainment. But besides the complaining, Ward includes some lovely snapshots of her life through the years.

I really enjoyed two of her essays. One was about trying to fit in with the sports/country club set. Ward is not a sportswoman, but through the judicious use of proper "outfitting," she was able to create the illusion that she either had just come from playing a sport or was about to join in a match, game, or set at any moment. Her other essay I really liked was about flower arranging. She uses satire nicely to skewer strange, artistic "individual" centerpieces for dinner parties or other occasions.

This book is easy to read and mostly fun. Ward has an intriguing mind. I enjoy essayists who present a clear voice in their work. I plan to look up more of Ward's writing.

Product Review: Paleo Bread by The Julian Bakery

I'm always on the search for good Gluten-free or Wheat-free bakery goods. When I came across Paleo Bread, I was intrigued and hopeful that I had found something that I could eat as a person allergic to wheat and that my brother, who eats no carbs, could also enjoy.

I ordered the coconut bread with 40 calories a slice. 5 grams of protein and 5 grams of fiber, combined with 6 total carbs yields a net carb value of 1. The Julian Bakery website is easy to navigate and contains two different bread varieties and some recipe ideas.

My bread was shipped  two-day air because it has no preservatives. The fiber in the bread comes from psyllium, the gritty husk of a plant, touted for its colon cleansing benefits.

Taking the bread out of the package, I noticed that it is a dense bread with kind of a spongy texture. It also smells kind of weird. I have had gluten-free things smell weird out of the package but be fine once they are cooked.

I toasted a slice of the bread. One bite and I decided maybe a little butter would help. Another bite and I opted for cinnamon and sugar to maybe help with the taste. Nothing was going to conquer the still spongy texture even after toasting.  Two more bites and even the cinnamon and sugar couldn't make me finish the piece.

I think the best way to sum up my view of Paleo Bread is to try to recreate the sound I made when I bit it, even after the cinnamon and sugar treatment:  Uhhhahhhbluuuggghhyeecchchchchchchahdjhuggjaldmg.....

* * * * * * * * * * * *

That translates to "Horrible, icky, spongy, smelly, I never want to eat this again, and it ranks up there in the top three worst gluten-free bakery goods I have ever tried."