Looking over my blog entries for the last year it looks like I have barely done any reading over the past year. However, I feel like I read all the time. I do read at least a little everyday.
The thing is that this year I spent a lot more time reading news and other short non-fiction pieces than novels. They are easier to get through in the short snippets of time available to parents of two year olds.
Zinn's history also took a lot out of me. It was a long slog.
Anyway Instapaper's recommendations and Zite provide me with plenty of reading material. I recommend both.
Dec 27, 2012
Nov 12, 2012
The People's History
Zinn's book was a long read. The is substantial in both shear number of pages and in the amount of information packed in between the covers. Because I was reading it during a presidential election cycle between an explicitly corporate man and a centrist made it even more difficult.
Zinn's writing is ponderous. He clearly has a message and never misses an opportunity to bludgeon the reader with it. The research, secondary, and primary sources, are prodigious and drives home the point like a sledgehammer.
Despite the writing, I forged through because I found the story Zinn was telling compelling. It is true that the victors write the history, so when the losers get a chance it is a troubling treat. As part of the mollified middle class, it is disheartening to be reminded that my happiness is a well constructed myth and that in many ways I, along with my peers, have been duped, and are in league with, the rapacious captains of capitalism.
Reading the book I moved between feeling angry and despondent-mostly despondent. I thought that perhaps the best way to effect change was to vote for Romeny and accelerate the rapid decimation of the middle class. I also thought that despite the fact that Obama was part of the grand compromise that kept the existing balance in place, it was better than the pain of revolution. I eventually found a balance by accepting that Zinn and his ilk present a false choice.
It is not the case that the current balance is fundamentally flawed and that it needs to be torn down. The current balance is still weighted towards the haves, and is arguably getting more lopsided, but it is far better than many systems. Revolution will not get us any closer to a healthy balance; it will only get us further away. That doesn't mean we accept the balance. The answer is constant vigilance and never accepting the status quo.
Zinn's writing is ponderous. He clearly has a message and never misses an opportunity to bludgeon the reader with it. The research, secondary, and primary sources, are prodigious and drives home the point like a sledgehammer.
Despite the writing, I forged through because I found the story Zinn was telling compelling. It is true that the victors write the history, so when the losers get a chance it is a troubling treat. As part of the mollified middle class, it is disheartening to be reminded that my happiness is a well constructed myth and that in many ways I, along with my peers, have been duped, and are in league with, the rapacious captains of capitalism.
Reading the book I moved between feeling angry and despondent-mostly despondent. I thought that perhaps the best way to effect change was to vote for Romeny and accelerate the rapid decimation of the middle class. I also thought that despite the fact that Obama was part of the grand compromise that kept the existing balance in place, it was better than the pain of revolution. I eventually found a balance by accepting that Zinn and his ilk present a false choice.
It is not the case that the current balance is fundamentally flawed and that it needs to be torn down. The current balance is still weighted towards the haves, and is arguably getting more lopsided, but it is far better than many systems. Revolution will not get us any closer to a healthy balance; it will only get us further away. That doesn't mean we accept the balance. The answer is constant vigilance and never accepting the status quo.
Jan 31, 2012
The Last Werewolf
The Last Werewolf by Glen Duncan is an odd duck of a book. There is a trend for literary authors to tackle genre, particularly horror, novels. Most frequently it is zombies or vampires. Duncan, however, decided to change things up and go with a less popular species of creature: the werewolf. Werewolves turn up in the current crop of faux romance horror, but it always in a supporting role. Duncan puts the werewolf right at the heart of the story.
I think it is a great choice for exploring the human condition. Unlike vampires or zombies, werewolves have a soul, a life to lose, and spend a majority of their lives as human beings. A werewolf must truly learn how to reconcile the monster and the man in order to live. Vampires and zombies are truly other. They lose all of their humanity once they are turned. All that is left for them is to mourn. A werewolf, because of the duality of their nature, can never leave their humanity fully behind. For 30 days every month a werewolf is basically human. They must make their way in the world; they must navigate human relationships; they must deal with human emotions. People are not just food to the werewolf; people are the werewolf's other half.
Duncan explores this duality from the point of view of Jake Marlow, a two hindered year old werewolf. He is hunted by a relentless man who has wiped out all other known werewolves and has saved Jake for last. Duncan could have made Jake a likable guy who has always tried to balance the monster with extraordinary feats of grace or had him be a noble monster, like Dexter, who only eats the guilty. Instead, Duncan makes Jake tired, cynical, selfish, and tired of life. Jake is essentially waiting to die. Duncan goes almost out of his way to make Jake unlikeable. However, Duncan also humanizes Jake by allowing Jake to have some consciousness of the evil he commits and the toll it takes on those close to him. Duncan also gives Jake a sense of honor. Jake's dual nature makes him complex and interesting. It keeps you reading despite the plot twists.
The plot centers around Jake's inexorable meeting with his hunter. Jake just wants it to end, or so he believes. The hunter of course wants the end to be a challenge, so he goes out of his way to provoke Jake. There are a number of crazy plot twists that get between Jake and his stated desire to die. The twists are just a way to keep Jake talking. It is Jake's talking, the way he sees life, the way he deals with his nature and humanity that keeps the reader in the game.
The Last Werewolf is a horror novel, a chase novel, and a journey of self discovery all wrapped up in one ball. There is almost no horror other than having werewolves and vampires. The chase is pretty slow. It is the inner journey that makes up the meat of the book. I highly recommend it to anyone regardless of their position on werewolves.
I think it is a great choice for exploring the human condition. Unlike vampires or zombies, werewolves have a soul, a life to lose, and spend a majority of their lives as human beings. A werewolf must truly learn how to reconcile the monster and the man in order to live. Vampires and zombies are truly other. They lose all of their humanity once they are turned. All that is left for them is to mourn. A werewolf, because of the duality of their nature, can never leave their humanity fully behind. For 30 days every month a werewolf is basically human. They must make their way in the world; they must navigate human relationships; they must deal with human emotions. People are not just food to the werewolf; people are the werewolf's other half.
Duncan explores this duality from the point of view of Jake Marlow, a two hindered year old werewolf. He is hunted by a relentless man who has wiped out all other known werewolves and has saved Jake for last. Duncan could have made Jake a likable guy who has always tried to balance the monster with extraordinary feats of grace or had him be a noble monster, like Dexter, who only eats the guilty. Instead, Duncan makes Jake tired, cynical, selfish, and tired of life. Jake is essentially waiting to die. Duncan goes almost out of his way to make Jake unlikeable. However, Duncan also humanizes Jake by allowing Jake to have some consciousness of the evil he commits and the toll it takes on those close to him. Duncan also gives Jake a sense of honor. Jake's dual nature makes him complex and interesting. It keeps you reading despite the plot twists.
The plot centers around Jake's inexorable meeting with his hunter. Jake just wants it to end, or so he believes. The hunter of course wants the end to be a challenge, so he goes out of his way to provoke Jake. There are a number of crazy plot twists that get between Jake and his stated desire to die. The twists are just a way to keep Jake talking. It is Jake's talking, the way he sees life, the way he deals with his nature and humanity that keeps the reader in the game.
The Last Werewolf is a horror novel, a chase novel, and a journey of self discovery all wrapped up in one ball. There is almost no horror other than having werewolves and vampires. The chase is pretty slow. It is the inner journey that makes up the meat of the book. I highly recommend it to anyone regardless of their position on werewolves.
Jan 14, 2012
2012
So this is the last year of the Mayan calendar, so the world might end in December. If that is the case, which I doubt, there is a lot of living left to squeeze into the year....
For me, less is usually more so I'm not going to clutter the year up with lots of big plans and lofty must accomplish goals. Instead, I'm going to set myself a few things to guide how I live this year:
1. I'm going to value time with my family over time at work.
2. I will do my best in all things that I do.
3. I will read indiscriminately.
4. I will prefer outdoor time to screen time.
5. I will stay active.
6. I will eat healthy with the occasional chocolate and ice cream.
7. I will try to relax.
These are just guiding principles. They are not mandates. They are not goals to be reached.
Mandates, goals, resolutions are just another way to beat yourself up. They are carrots to chase and hoops to jump through on the way to the next goal. They are not a way to live a life.
If they Mayans were right, I don't want to be looking back from the end of the world wishing I had accomplished some goal. I want to be happy knowing that I had lived life.
For me, less is usually more so I'm not going to clutter the year up with lots of big plans and lofty must accomplish goals. Instead, I'm going to set myself a few things to guide how I live this year:
1. I'm going to value time with my family over time at work.
2. I will do my best in all things that I do.
3. I will read indiscriminately.
4. I will prefer outdoor time to screen time.
5. I will stay active.
6. I will eat healthy with the occasional chocolate and ice cream.
7. I will try to relax.
These are just guiding principles. They are not mandates. They are not goals to be reached.
Mandates, goals, resolutions are just another way to beat yourself up. They are carrots to chase and hoops to jump through on the way to the next goal. They are not a way to live a life.
If they Mayans were right, I don't want to be looking back from the end of the world wishing I had accomplished some goal. I want to be happy knowing that I had lived life.
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