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akujunkanThere's a slight chance I might get one more read today, but since I'd like to get back into the habit of posting on Sundays, here are the six books I read this week:
1) The Joy Of Living - Yongey Mingyur Rinpoche & Daniel Goleman
The Joy Of Living is part autobiography, part popular science, and part primer on basic techniques of Tibetan meditation. The first two aspects are much more interesting than the last. Mingyur describes his childhood experiences studying Buddhism and meditation under his father, a famous monk and teacher. He then goes on to discuss how recent scientific experiments have confirmed some of Buddhism's basic tenets and illuminate exactly how meditation affects the body physiologically. It's all very interesting stuff, which Mingyur's light and engaging tone keeps from becoming tediously pedantic. The third half of the book, alas, does not measure up to the first two sections, filled as it is with the sappy "lovingkindness" platitudes that fill so many popular books on the subject. Whether this is an inherent aspect of Tibetan Buddhism or the way it's been dumbed down and popularised in the west, I'm not sure, but it strikes me as just so much pop psychology-self help dreck. The Joy Of Living is definitely worth the read for anyone interested in its topics, but not something I'd ultimately want in my personal library.
2) Birth Of A Nation - Aaron McGruder, Reginald Hudlin, & Kyle Baker
So let's say a fictional character bearing a striking resemblance to Dubya is "elected" president by the Supreme Court after "winning" an election by a narrow margin of votes, specifically a margin that wouldn't exist were it not for the mass disenfranchisement of a poor black neighborhood in East St. Louis. Let's say the mayor of said neighborhood isn't too happy about this and decides to secede. How will America react? Or the fictional characters bearing striking resemblances to Cheney, Rice, and Powell? Or the neighborhood's street thugz? Or the fictional CEO of the Black Entertainment Channel? Birth Of A Nation was born as a screenplay but adapted into a graphic novel after its authors realised no production house would ever touch the thing. It's incredibly funny in spots with lots of biting social commentary aimed at all major players but unfortunately still reads like a screenplay: the jokes fly fast and furious, but one walks away with the impression that the whole thing is rather lacking in depth. I certainly enjoyed the read, but I won't be returning to this volume like I do to my Boondocks collections.
3) Lords And Ladies - Terry Pratchett
Lords And Ladies is the continuation of two earlier Discworld Books: Carpe Jugulum and Witches Abroad. It's amusing, as are all the Discworld books, but suffers from the same limitations of all the other volumes in this series--namely, that writing characters who are meant to be ironic commentary on fantasy fiction stereotypes inherently prevents the author from allowing those characters to mature and change; if they did, they wouldn't be ironic commentary anymore. Pratchett has also deployed the OMG this beloved character's just been killed off; wait--Death has decided to give her a reprieve/it wasn't her time anyway/she's only most dead not all dead/etc. ploy far too many times at this point for it to have any dramatic impact whatsoever. Seriously, the main character "dies" at the end of just about every single Discworld book; who is he fooling anymore? Still, there are some amusing moments to be had and I do so love Granny Weatherwax, so it couldn't hurt to read this one if you're a fan of the universe.
4) Female Chauvinist Pigs - Ariel Levy
This is an absolutely wonderful book that is deserving of all the hype it's received. First time author Levy mercilessly deconstructs pop culture's conflation of women performing men's ideals of female sexuality with actual female sexuality, with surgical precision. Better yet, she avoids falling into the "heterosexual female sexuality is an inherent tool of male repression" argument a la Daly or McKinnon. Female sexuality isn't bad, Levy argues, but Girls Gone Wild, Paris Hilton, cardio-striptease, and porno chic are not authentic female sexuality. Female Chauvinist Pigs is both engagingly written and home to some impressively well-considered theses. Buy a copy for your own collection; you'll definitely be back for rereads.
5) Rome Wasn't Burnt In A Day - Joe Scarborough
Oh, Joe Scarborough, how I used to despise you. Rome Wasn't Burnt In A Day finds Scarborough at a midpoint during his transition from strident right wing loony to reforming rightwinger who wants to get with the program but is afraid to put his toe in the pool. Ostensibly about how power elites in both political parties conspire to keep reformers in congress from affecting any meaningful political change, Scarborough still manages to get in a fair amount of digs (both deserved and otherwise) at Democrats. While I agree with his overall thesis, his departures into "compassionate" conservative fantasyland (healthcare reform=socialism, Gingrich's welfare reforms=a step forward, grants to environmental agencies=pork) left me cold, especially when he took an obviously hypocritical position on such "robbing" of taxpayer dollars whenever his own Congressional district was concerned. Still, I believe his frustration with and disgust for entrenched political cabals and massive government spending (he is surprisingly willing to point the finger at the Bush administration) is genuine enough. Rome was obviously written rather quickly and suffers from a number of typographic, grammatic, and definitional errors as a result, but it was a nice change from the obnoxious screeds of other popular conservative figures.
6) Un Lun Dun - China Mieville
What a fabulous book. Un Lun Dun turns some of the most deeply entrenched cliches of the fantasy genre on its head, but never to the detriment of a very engaging, fun storyline. Mieville is clearly referencing some of the basic assumptions of the Harry Potter and Discworld universes (among others), but his overall narrative feel is much closer to Gaiman than either of the other two. The world of Un Lun Dun is both grotesque and rather reminiscent of the videos of Matt Mahurin, which makes it a definite winner in my book. I read the ARC, which was littered with spelling, punctuation, and word choice errors, but I honestly didn't mind--the book is that good. I'll definitely be getting my hands on a copy of the official release shortly. Read this book.
SBS: Up 4% from last week with 120 books. At least I read a lot of manga. ::le sigh::
That will be all
1) The Joy Of Living - Yongey Mingyur Rinpoche & Daniel Goleman
The Joy Of Living is part autobiography, part popular science, and part primer on basic techniques of Tibetan meditation. The first two aspects are much more interesting than the last. Mingyur describes his childhood experiences studying Buddhism and meditation under his father, a famous monk and teacher. He then goes on to discuss how recent scientific experiments have confirmed some of Buddhism's basic tenets and illuminate exactly how meditation affects the body physiologically. It's all very interesting stuff, which Mingyur's light and engaging tone keeps from becoming tediously pedantic. The third half of the book, alas, does not measure up to the first two sections, filled as it is with the sappy "lovingkindness" platitudes that fill so many popular books on the subject. Whether this is an inherent aspect of Tibetan Buddhism or the way it's been dumbed down and popularised in the west, I'm not sure, but it strikes me as just so much pop psychology-self help dreck. The Joy Of Living is definitely worth the read for anyone interested in its topics, but not something I'd ultimately want in my personal library.
2) Birth Of A Nation - Aaron McGruder, Reginald Hudlin, & Kyle Baker
So let's say a fictional character bearing a striking resemblance to Dubya is "elected" president by the Supreme Court after "winning" an election by a narrow margin of votes, specifically a margin that wouldn't exist were it not for the mass disenfranchisement of a poor black neighborhood in East St. Louis. Let's say the mayor of said neighborhood isn't too happy about this and decides to secede. How will America react? Or the fictional characters bearing striking resemblances to Cheney, Rice, and Powell? Or the neighborhood's street thugz? Or the fictional CEO of the Black Entertainment Channel? Birth Of A Nation was born as a screenplay but adapted into a graphic novel after its authors realised no production house would ever touch the thing. It's incredibly funny in spots with lots of biting social commentary aimed at all major players but unfortunately still reads like a screenplay: the jokes fly fast and furious, but one walks away with the impression that the whole thing is rather lacking in depth. I certainly enjoyed the read, but I won't be returning to this volume like I do to my Boondocks collections.
3) Lords And Ladies - Terry Pratchett
Lords And Ladies is the continuation of two earlier Discworld Books: Carpe Jugulum and Witches Abroad. It's amusing, as are all the Discworld books, but suffers from the same limitations of all the other volumes in this series--namely, that writing characters who are meant to be ironic commentary on fantasy fiction stereotypes inherently prevents the author from allowing those characters to mature and change; if they did, they wouldn't be ironic commentary anymore. Pratchett has also deployed the OMG this beloved character's just been killed off; wait--Death has decided to give her a reprieve/it wasn't her time anyway/she's only most dead not all dead/etc. ploy far too many times at this point for it to have any dramatic impact whatsoever. Seriously, the main character "dies" at the end of just about every single Discworld book; who is he fooling anymore? Still, there are some amusing moments to be had and I do so love Granny Weatherwax, so it couldn't hurt to read this one if you're a fan of the universe.
4) Female Chauvinist Pigs - Ariel Levy
This is an absolutely wonderful book that is deserving of all the hype it's received. First time author Levy mercilessly deconstructs pop culture's conflation of women performing men's ideals of female sexuality with actual female sexuality, with surgical precision. Better yet, she avoids falling into the "heterosexual female sexuality is an inherent tool of male repression" argument a la Daly or McKinnon. Female sexuality isn't bad, Levy argues, but Girls Gone Wild, Paris Hilton, cardio-striptease, and porno chic are not authentic female sexuality. Female Chauvinist Pigs is both engagingly written and home to some impressively well-considered theses. Buy a copy for your own collection; you'll definitely be back for rereads.
5) Rome Wasn't Burnt In A Day - Joe Scarborough
Oh, Joe Scarborough, how I used to despise you. Rome Wasn't Burnt In A Day finds Scarborough at a midpoint during his transition from strident right wing loony to reforming rightwinger who wants to get with the program but is afraid to put his toe in the pool. Ostensibly about how power elites in both political parties conspire to keep reformers in congress from affecting any meaningful political change, Scarborough still manages to get in a fair amount of digs (both deserved and otherwise) at Democrats. While I agree with his overall thesis, his departures into "compassionate" conservative fantasyland (healthcare reform=socialism, Gingrich's welfare reforms=a step forward, grants to environmental agencies=pork) left me cold, especially when he took an obviously hypocritical position on such "robbing" of taxpayer dollars whenever his own Congressional district was concerned. Still, I believe his frustration with and disgust for entrenched political cabals and massive government spending (he is surprisingly willing to point the finger at the Bush administration) is genuine enough. Rome was obviously written rather quickly and suffers from a number of typographic, grammatic, and definitional errors as a result, but it was a nice change from the obnoxious screeds of other popular conservative figures.
6) Un Lun Dun - China Mieville
What a fabulous book. Un Lun Dun turns some of the most deeply entrenched cliches of the fantasy genre on its head, but never to the detriment of a very engaging, fun storyline. Mieville is clearly referencing some of the basic assumptions of the Harry Potter and Discworld universes (among others), but his overall narrative feel is much closer to Gaiman than either of the other two. The world of Un Lun Dun is both grotesque and rather reminiscent of the videos of Matt Mahurin, which makes it a definite winner in my book. I read the ARC, which was littered with spelling, punctuation, and word choice errors, but I honestly didn't mind--the book is that good. I'll definitely be getting my hands on a copy of the official release shortly. Read this book.
SBS: Up 4% from last week with 120 books. At least I read a lot of manga. ::le sigh::
That will be all