Archive for the 'blooks' Category

Theirland

Thursday, February 16th, 2006

Berlepsch\'s six-wired bird of paradise

Years ago for school I read a book by Charlotte Perkins Gilman called Herland. It is a feminist utopia story, written in 1915. It was a fairly interesting read, and parts of it have stayed with me over the years. The story goes that three men are stranded in deep wilderness, and discover a very large, completely isolated valley, populated by a thriving civilization of women. The society had grown over millennia from a few women who had been stranded there and had developed the ability to have children — girls, of course — without men.

At the time it was written, it must have been easier to believe that such a place — such a physical location — could exist unknown to the rest of the world, mainly because people weren’t flying all over the place back then.

I found myself thinking of that secret valley when I heard the news about the expedition to the Foja Mountains of New Guinea. Here is a place that is so untouched by human progress that the animals — many of them found nowhere else — are completely fearless.

How awful that the sign of an animal’s familiarity with us is its fear of us.

But it is an exciting story. Listen to the interview to hear a little bit of the mating song of the six-wired bird of paradise. Here are a couple other links to sites with a few more pictures. Hopefully more pictures will be out soon.

Even better news: the area is a wildlife sanctuary, and has been protected for over twenty years, and so there is no immediate threat to all the wonderful newly discovered species. Hooray!

Some more books

Wednesday, November 30th, 2005

dahlia bud

Somehow, in between rounds of sudoku, I’ve been getting in a bit of good reading. Some short reports:

Peter Mayle, A Good Year — I always enjoy his books. The nonfiction is better though.

Gideon DeFoe, Pirates! In an Adventure with Scientists — Silly and entertaining. Recently picked up the next one (Pirates! In an Adventure with Ahab), haven’t read it yet. I did read the back cover, which is unusual for me, and found it quite funny.

Lois Lowry, The Giver — A copy belonging to the Children’s Literature section was returned to the library where I work, and I had to bring it home and read it. Seems like the kind of book that would have haunted me for years if I’d read it as a kid. I am glad I did not read it as a kid. It was freaky.

Charlotte Bronte, Jane Eyre — Years ago I picked up a book by Jasper Fforde called Lost in a Good Book. I started to read it, but quickly realized there was a book that came before it called The Eyre Affair. So eventually I picked that one up, and started to read it, but quickly realized that there was a book that came before it called Jane Eyre. That is to say, it became apparent that not having read Jane Eyre would be a problem in reading The Eyre Affair. In fact, if I were to have read The Eyre Affair first, it would have ruined Jane Eyre for me, and since I’d always meant to read Jane Eyre, and didn’t want it ruined, it got bumped to the top of the list. So I went to the main library here on campus and checked out a very old copy of Jane Eyre. One that hadn’t been edited by anybody. And I read it. Actually, first I went through it (upside down) with a gentle eraser and erased all the pencil marks that had been written in it. (I still can’t believe people think it’s okay to write in library books. Grrrr.) Then I read it. Without the seriously stupid comments of idiots to distract from the book. And. What a beautiful book. I’m so glad it got so circuitously bumped.

Jasper Fforde, The Eyre Affair — And this turned out to be a good read as well. A fun read. Mostly I’m grateful to it for getting me to read the Bronte.

Daniel Pinkwater, Lizard Music — Strange but fun. Very Pinkwater.

Laura Ingalls Wilder, The Long Winter — Thanks again to Chandra for the loan. This one was hard to read, but so good. Everyone should read these books.

The Worst Noel (various authors) — Some of the stories are funny, some are depressing. Made me glad the holidays have never been awful for me.

Next up:

Stephenson, Cryptonomicon — I must read this. I must read this.
Vowell, The Partly Cloudy Patriot — Courtesy, once again, of the lovely Chanzara. Finally started this one yesterday. Sarah Vowell is strange, but she sure knows how to make it interesting.
And another by Charlotte Bronte: Villette — Loaned to me by the lovely Julie, oh so long ago. Must read soon.

Steps

Wednesday, September 14th, 2005

Jerzy Kosinski\'s \"Steps\"

Most of the time, when I read a book, it doesn’t take me long to forget almost all of what is in it. A couple of things will stick with me if it’s a good book, but most of it will fade. Having this lousy memory can be a good thing, because when it comes to re-reading a book, it’s nearly as new to me as it was the first time through, especially with books that are shelved for a long time after the first read. The Silver Crown, for instance: first read it as a kid, and when it came back into print years later, it was all new again — except for a few bits (such as the crevasse).

Not with Steps. It had been almost 20 years since I last picked it up. I re-read it last week and almost every piece in it was still very fresh in my mind. It’s that kind of book. I wouldn’t say it has haunted me, exactly. It’s more like some of the climactic images — most of which are very disturbing — have stayed put, or I have caused them to stay by regular pondering.

Be warned if you’re curious: some of the stories in this book are seriously messed up. It’s hard to imagine what Jerzy Kosinski must have been like. To write such stuff. It must have been a fearful thing, writing that book.

I’m impressed with the National Book Award people for not dismissing it as a pack of obscenities.

Serendipity

Friday, August 26th, 2005

Magnolia sprengeri var. divaMagnolia bud

This morning I finished Bel Canto. One of the main characters in the book is a soprano, a diva. A diva in a good way.

And, by sheer coincidence, a few weeks ago I found a podcast of nothing but opera. At the time I subscribed to the podcast, there were several pieces available to download. I decided to listen first to a Bellini opera, Norma. Been listening to it in bits and pieces for the last week or so (not ideal, but I’ll take it over no opera). Act II finished up just as I arrived at work this morning, and I finally remembered to look and see if I could find anything about the story line. Here’s a quotation from the first paragraph of the first hit on the search bellini norma story:

Prepared for all lovers of great opera, including the serious undergraduate music student, this bibliography is structured to help its users develop and all-around appreciation of Bellini’s operatic masterpiece Norma. Materials chosen include biographies of Bellini, recordings of the opera by the greatest contemporary sopranos, reviews of the recordings, articles about current stagings, copies of the score, and discussions of Bel Canto singing, the style in which Bellini was noted.

L.R. Most / G. Frost

Bel Canto singing! I had no idea it was a style of singing or notation. Now I understand the book that tiny bit better. It is a good book and I do recommend it. It is not for the faint of heart.

Still looking for the story, I fumbled around in google for awhile longer, then finally figured out to check Wikipedia. Bingo!

I’d like to see that opera someday. The story sounds quite wrenching.

Also. Looking up the word Norma on Wikipedia brought these lovely results:

Norma is a constellation of the southern sky. See Norma (constellation).
Norma is an opera by Vincenzo Bellini. See Norma (opera).
Norma is a spiral arm in the Milky Way galaxy. See Norma arm.

I heart Wikipedia.

Giant book

Saturday, August 20th, 2005

And this is only Part I.

Giant book

Cartoon book!

Over 4000 pages