I find it disturbing that news reports of beach contamination have consistently shown families with children frolicking on those very same beaches. It astounds me how ignorant people continue to be about the filth with which we are coating the earth...sky, water, and now land, in greedy pursuit of yet more petroleum with which to feed our addiction. Even my 74 year old dad, who used to think I was a tree hugging pinko lunatic, was disheartened by the video of oil coated pelicans.
The magnitude of this disaster has succeeded where I had heretofore failed.....he's quoting Dr. Cornell West. I never thought that the son of an anthracite coal miner would "go green", but the deregulated fossil fuel industry has pushed him there. He has always despised W. He hates that young people are dying every day to stabilize an area which W. invaded because there's oil to be protected. He hates that people are resistant to wind power. When a group opposed windmills because of aesthetics, Bill said, in disgust, "These people have looked at culm dumps for 50 years, and they think a windmill is too ugly to grace the landscape? Jesus!" (Culm dumps are huge mounds of shale and other waste discarded during the mining process)
He grows an organic garden because "The whole point is so I don't have to eat that chemical shit". And, in the wisdom that sometimes accompanies old age, he said "Well, maybe you won't have to write all those letters to stop that whole drilling in the Arctic Wildlife Refuge. Maybe they finally get it."
Let's hope so, Bill.
Wednesday, June 9, 2010
Tuesday, June 8, 2010
Summer Reading
Because I have often wished that there was a list somewhere that was not "Esmerelda's Book Club", or the Bestseller List (which, I must say, proves that popularity is immaterial to quality), I offer the following recommendations for summer reading:
Nonfiction
Sh*t My Dad Says Justin Halpern This book is hysterical. I don't even know what to say. Holy shit!
The Bookseller of Kabul Asne Seierstad The author lived with an Afghani family, whose patriarch hid books banned by the Taliban while oppressing the women of his family. This dichotomy was fascinating. The descriptions of life as a woman in Afghanistan are vivid and disturbing.
Half the Sky: Turning Oppression into Opportunity for Women Worldwide Nicholas Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn This book is empowering. The stories show the subtle influence women have in developing countries, which, if nutured, can uplift a family or a people.
Orange is the New Black: My Year in a Women's Prison Piper Kernan I originally learned of this book from a "Modern Love" column in the NY Times Sunday Styles section (or maybe "Lives" in the Magazine) It was about the day she surrendered at the institution. Although Piper seemed (and may still be) a little prima donna-ish, her insights into the women's correctional system are honest and thought provoking. I feel, though, that she minimized her role in the criminal operation which landed her there.
New Fiction
Matterhorn: A Novel of the Vietnam War Karl Marlantes This is the best book I've read in about 20 years. It was so real and honest. The reader is immersed in the turmoil on each level of command. The book also makes clear how the government and officers played with the lives of enlisted men as if they were actually pons in a chess game. It was heartbreaking, revolting, and fascinating at the same time.
A Reliable Wife Robert Goolrick When I handed my friend this novel and insisted she read it, she said "Well, this doesn't seem to be your kind of book". True though it may be, the plot and the quality of the writing make it irresistable! The prose is masterful. There is one part that drags a little, but you won't mind.
Beatrice and Virgil Yann Martel A very strange novel by the author of The Life of Pi (not that Pi was conventional). The book got mixed reviews. This is, perhaps, because the reader is not provided with explanations of the story and the characters' motivation. There are a lot of loose ends. The reader is left with a lot of unanswered questions.
The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest Stieg Larsson As Beatrice and Virgil lacked explanations of stories and motivations, this eagerly anticipated "final chapter" in the Libeth Salander saga is nothing but. The end is kinda cool; otherwise, a disappointment. I loved the first two, but this.....
Other Fiction
Unaccustomed Earth, The Namesake Jhumpa Lahiri The first is a collection of short stories. The second is a moving story of a Bengali family whose son tries to bridge the gap between his parents' culture and his life as an American. Ms. Lahiri won a Pulitzer for another collection of stories, Interpreter of Maladies.
Nonfiction
Sh*t My Dad Says Justin Halpern This book is hysterical. I don't even know what to say. Holy shit!
The Bookseller of Kabul Asne Seierstad The author lived with an Afghani family, whose patriarch hid books banned by the Taliban while oppressing the women of his family. This dichotomy was fascinating. The descriptions of life as a woman in Afghanistan are vivid and disturbing.
Half the Sky: Turning Oppression into Opportunity for Women Worldwide Nicholas Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn This book is empowering. The stories show the subtle influence women have in developing countries, which, if nutured, can uplift a family or a people.
Orange is the New Black: My Year in a Women's Prison Piper Kernan I originally learned of this book from a "Modern Love" column in the NY Times Sunday Styles section (or maybe "Lives" in the Magazine) It was about the day she surrendered at the institution. Although Piper seemed (and may still be) a little prima donna-ish, her insights into the women's correctional system are honest and thought provoking. I feel, though, that she minimized her role in the criminal operation which landed her there.
New Fiction
Matterhorn: A Novel of the Vietnam War Karl Marlantes This is the best book I've read in about 20 years. It was so real and honest. The reader is immersed in the turmoil on each level of command. The book also makes clear how the government and officers played with the lives of enlisted men as if they were actually pons in a chess game. It was heartbreaking, revolting, and fascinating at the same time.
A Reliable Wife Robert Goolrick When I handed my friend this novel and insisted she read it, she said "Well, this doesn't seem to be your kind of book". True though it may be, the plot and the quality of the writing make it irresistable! The prose is masterful. There is one part that drags a little, but you won't mind.
Beatrice and Virgil Yann Martel A very strange novel by the author of The Life of Pi (not that Pi was conventional). The book got mixed reviews. This is, perhaps, because the reader is not provided with explanations of the story and the characters' motivation. There are a lot of loose ends. The reader is left with a lot of unanswered questions.
The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest Stieg Larsson As Beatrice and Virgil lacked explanations of stories and motivations, this eagerly anticipated "final chapter" in the Libeth Salander saga is nothing but. The end is kinda cool; otherwise, a disappointment. I loved the first two, but this.....
Other Fiction
Unaccustomed Earth, The Namesake Jhumpa Lahiri The first is a collection of short stories. The second is a moving story of a Bengali family whose son tries to bridge the gap between his parents' culture and his life as an American. Ms. Lahiri won a Pulitzer for another collection of stories, Interpreter of Maladies.
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