TWIB II-20

[akujunkan]

1) Your Orgasmic Pregnancy - Danielle Cavallucci & Yvonne Fulbright
Your Orgasmic Pregnancy was written with several goals in mind: first, to dispel the socially constructed notion that pregnancy and sex are mutually exclusive; and second, to explain the various forms such sex can take. The book adopts a light, informal tone that will keep it accessible to the lay reader, but doesn't shirk on providing factual information. The authors deserve kudos for stressing that there is nothing inherently wrong with sexuality during one's pregnancy (assuming the absence of medical complications), that it is important to be receptive to the various ways in which one's changing body can enhance or alter one's sexual tastes and experience of the act itself, that there are many ways to achieve satisfaction aside from vaginal intercourse, and the importance of constant communication with one's partner throughout. They also take pains to make sure that the information they provide is gender-neutral so that both hetero- and homosexual expecting couples can make use of its content. Cavallucci and Fulbright are to be commended for repeatedly stressing the need to take care of one's own wants and desires, not just the health of the baby(-to-be), in order to ensure the wellbeing of all involved in the pregnancy.

Although I cannot comment on the usefulness of the illustrations, as they were not included in my advanced reader's copy, I found the information accessible and useful (although the authors sometimes went overboard on the buddy-buddy tone, and in one section the suggestions for erotic dialogue were more ridiculous than sexy). The intimacy-positive tone should go a long way toward helping the reader to maintain a positive attitude toward her pregnancy in general and sex life in particular, making this addition to the books-for-expecting-mothers literature well worth any future parents' time.

2) The Beauty of Traditional Korean Crafts - Korea Foundation for Tradition & Intangible Cultural Properties
Oh, Korea, you should be ashamed of yourself. The Beauty of Korean Traditional Crafts is a book produced by the Embassy of the Republic of Korea to jointly commemorate a D.C. exhibition of artwork by its Intangible Cultural Assets and the opening of the Korean Hall in the Smithsonian. Production-wise, it is a museum-quality catalogue. The paper is thick, creamy, and gorgeous. The photography is stunning. But alas, the English-language translations (cough, cough) are enough to make anyone wet their pants laughing. This book takes the term “direct translation” to new extremes. Sentences are either run-ons or fragments. Redundancy abounds. No word order is adopted for the transliteration of personal names. Worse still, the unnamed translator of this volume is either singularly lazy or singularly unqualified: whenever he didn't know a word's English equivalent, he merely substituted a transliteration of the Korean word--and more often than not, he transliterated incorrectly (e.g. ssanggiyeok (ㄲ) is way, way different from kieuk (ㅋ) Even I can tell that.). Worse yet, said translator couldn’t even be bothered to run the translations through a spellchecker, as the average of one misspelling per seventy-seven words indicates. According to the long-winded introductions by several notables (including the ROK's ambassador to the U.S.), it is “the duty of all modern-day Koreans” to “exhibit and illuminate our traditional culture,” but what this catalogue really does is exhibit and illuminate their cultural chauvinism. I've spent a lot of time at the ROK Embassy. I know for a fact that they suffer from no shortage of native English-speakers capable of proofreading K-E translations who would have been more than happy to help out. Instead of consulting them, the producers of this catalogue lazily assumed that of course the text was perfect--it was written by eminent Koreans, after all. It is this smug sense of cultural superiority that drives Westerners in Asia batshit. By its own admission, The Beauty of Traditional Korean Crafts was intended to awe Americans with the skill and genius of Korea. The artworks displayed in the catalogue are a triumph. The explanatory text (and the attitude of misplaced self-assuredness that abetted it) is an embarrassment.

SBS: Thirty-five. I got a bunch of mooches and ARCs in this week.


That will be all.