Ah, the final book, finished at about 1:00 PM on 12/31/09, is John Steinbeck's The Pearl. What a great way to end the year. Steinbeck doesn't waste a word, and even though he tells a lot (rather than showing), he does it in a way that is mostly forgivable, and he intertwines the telling and the showing together, so it doesn't seem as much like cheating.
In this novel, a villager finds an enormous, perfect pearl in the Gulf and it changes everyone's lives. "Every man suddenly became related to Kino's pearl, and Kino's pearl went into the dreams, the speculations, the schemes, the plans, the futures, the wishes, the needs, the lusts, the hungers, of everyone, and only one person stood in the way and that was Kino, so that he became curiously every man's enemy."
Read these two sentences, and see if the idea seems true: "For it is said that humans are never satisfied, that you give them one thing and they want something more. And this is said in disparagement, whereas it is one of the greatest talents the species has and one that has made it superior to animals that are satisfied with what they have."
Well, this pearl is TOO big, and the pearl buyers try to cheat Kino. None of the villagers know how to bargain or how to go to the city to get a fair deal. But Kino will not be cheated. Someone comes in the night to try to steal the pearl. Kino's wife begs him to destroy it, to cleanse the family of its evil. But Kino has seen a future in which his son will go to school and learn to read and then they will all know the things that the Europeans know. They will know what is true.
Oh, that pearl seems to promise safety and security and never being hungry, and that is very difficult to resist.
Read this: "And the sun beat down on the streets of the city and even tiny stones threw shadows on the ground." What would you give to be able to write a sentence like that?
Here is another great tidbit from this novel: "He had said, 'I am a man,' and that meant certain things to Juana. It meant that he was half insane and half god." True dat, right sisters?
The thing that makes this book really great, aside from the talented and skillful writing, is that it rings completely true. Imagine if you won the lottery, and not just enough to pay off the bills, but some insanely huge amount, like $500 million. Some amount that would absolutely destroy your current life and send you hurtling into some other existence. Everyone knows you have the money, and they all want some of it -- and not a little bit. Does a little part of you hate them for their greed? Do you question everyone's motives in hanging around you? Do you have to shut yourself away from the world for security and safety? It's easy to imagine the bad side of sudden immense wealth. Steinbeck wrote something like, when we step into the sunlight, our shadow side is revealed as well. Something like The Pearl could bring out the worst in each of us.
Woo Hoo Hoo!! I completed my challenge of reading 104 books in 2009!! I'm pretty relieved to be done.
But... I have made a new challenge for myself for 2010. I hope it will begin some time tomorrow, and I think it will be a lot of fun, even though I'm just a little terrified.
Happy New Year's Eve! I hope you have fun and get home safely and get ready to start your resolutions tomorrow.
Thursday, December 31, 2009
Book 103: Notorious Victoria
Whew! I finished this one at about 1AM. It's a very readable biography of Victoria Claflin Woodhull Blood Martin, the first woman to run for President of the United States of America. That was in 1872, long before women had the right to vote (which came in 1920, if you've forgotten).
Often referred to as "The Woodhull" by the press, Victoria was scandalous and outrageous! She was ahead of her time (and still might be today in some areas). She divorced two husbands, but the first one lived with her and the second husband for some time. She was as involved in the Women's Movement as Susan B. Anthony, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, and Lucretia Mott, but she pissed them off so much that they completely wrote her out of their 900-page history!
She was nominated for the office of President on the Equal Rights Party ticket, with the famous Frederick Douglass nominated as Vice Presidential candidate. But, many Republicans were aghast at the thought of the re-election of the corrupt Ulysses S. Grant, and so they banded together to support Horace Greeley, leaving Victoria with little support. Besides that, she was not listed on the ballot due to being a woman AND being only 34 years old (one year shy of being legally able to hold the office). Grant won anyway.
She believed that women and men were equal and that women should have careers and be able to vote and run for public office. She and her sister, Tennessee Claflin, ran a brokerage house, published a newspaper, opened a school for teaching micro-agriculture to women, and was very involved in leading Spiritualist, Labor, and Women's groups.
Victoria was the first woman to address a committee of the U.S. Congress (arguing for women's suffrage). She was much admired by our well-known feminists at that time (Anthony, Stanton, etc.)
The Woodhull gave lectures all over the Eastern U.S. and in England about various topics, including women's suffrage, Spiritualism (by which I mean talking to ghosts), Unions, 8-hour workdays, the poor rising up to take back their wealth from the rich (she was aligned with communists for a while), and Free Love.
The feminists of the day possibly could have continued to support and appreciate The Woodhull if she had only:
* stuck to the topic of women's suffrage rather than getting involved in other areas of politics (labor, restructuring the government, etc.)
* kept quiet about her ability to speak to the dead, which was embarrassing
* kept quiet about Free Love. Victoria did not believe that a woman should be forced for survival to marry any man and have to submit to his unwanted sexual attentions. Women should marry for love and have sex because they want to -- she was truly a radical in the 1800s! Victoria had a love affair with Theodore Tilton during one of her marriages. Tilton revealed to her that his wife was sleeping with the Reverend Henry Ward Beecher, brother of Harriet Beecher Stowe (famous feminist).
When Victoria told the world that the Reverend was a Free Lover (to support her supposition that men are allowed to remain respectable while having sex outside of marriage, and women should be as well), all hell broke loose. Rev. Beecher never admitted to it publicly (though he did privately). Harriet Beecher Stowe was instrumental in kicking Victoria out of the feminist club as revenge.
PLUS, The Woodhull and her sister were imprisoned while being tried for libel after printing the story in their newspaper. But while imprisoned, "the other inmates agreed to refrain from smoking while the ladies were in residence." So at least there was that.
The Woodhull's story is very entertaining and amazing. How did this woman totally disappear from history? I have a minor in Women's Studies and I never heard of her. Re-write the books, Women's Historians! Don't let Harriet Beecher Stowe continue getting revenge forever.
Mary Gabriel's writing is almost conversational and easy, while always objective. Notorious Victoria is a great read.
Often referred to as "The Woodhull" by the press, Victoria was scandalous and outrageous! She was ahead of her time (and still might be today in some areas). She divorced two husbands, but the first one lived with her and the second husband for some time. She was as involved in the Women's Movement as Susan B. Anthony, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, and Lucretia Mott, but she pissed them off so much that they completely wrote her out of their 900-page history!
She was nominated for the office of President on the Equal Rights Party ticket, with the famous Frederick Douglass nominated as Vice Presidential candidate. But, many Republicans were aghast at the thought of the re-election of the corrupt Ulysses S. Grant, and so they banded together to support Horace Greeley, leaving Victoria with little support. Besides that, she was not listed on the ballot due to being a woman AND being only 34 years old (one year shy of being legally able to hold the office). Grant won anyway.
She believed that women and men were equal and that women should have careers and be able to vote and run for public office. She and her sister, Tennessee Claflin, ran a brokerage house, published a newspaper, opened a school for teaching micro-agriculture to women, and was very involved in leading Spiritualist, Labor, and Women's groups.
Victoria was the first woman to address a committee of the U.S. Congress (arguing for women's suffrage). She was much admired by our well-known feminists at that time (Anthony, Stanton, etc.)
The Woodhull gave lectures all over the Eastern U.S. and in England about various topics, including women's suffrage, Spiritualism (by which I mean talking to ghosts), Unions, 8-hour workdays, the poor rising up to take back their wealth from the rich (she was aligned with communists for a while), and Free Love.
The feminists of the day possibly could have continued to support and appreciate The Woodhull if she had only:
* stuck to the topic of women's suffrage rather than getting involved in other areas of politics (labor, restructuring the government, etc.)
* kept quiet about her ability to speak to the dead, which was embarrassing
* kept quiet about Free Love. Victoria did not believe that a woman should be forced for survival to marry any man and have to submit to his unwanted sexual attentions. Women should marry for love and have sex because they want to -- she was truly a radical in the 1800s! Victoria had a love affair with Theodore Tilton during one of her marriages. Tilton revealed to her that his wife was sleeping with the Reverend Henry Ward Beecher, brother of Harriet Beecher Stowe (famous feminist).
When Victoria told the world that the Reverend was a Free Lover (to support her supposition that men are allowed to remain respectable while having sex outside of marriage, and women should be as well), all hell broke loose. Rev. Beecher never admitted to it publicly (though he did privately). Harriet Beecher Stowe was instrumental in kicking Victoria out of the feminist club as revenge.
PLUS, The Woodhull and her sister were imprisoned while being tried for libel after printing the story in their newspaper. But while imprisoned, "the other inmates agreed to refrain from smoking while the ladies were in residence." So at least there was that.
The Woodhull's story is very entertaining and amazing. How did this woman totally disappear from history? I have a minor in Women's Studies and I never heard of her. Re-write the books, Women's Historians! Don't let Harriet Beecher Stowe continue getting revenge forever.
Mary Gabriel's writing is almost conversational and easy, while always objective. Notorious Victoria is a great read.
Monday, December 28, 2009
Fun With Spelling
A local radio station keeps advertising an upcoming concert at a venue near Denver. The venue has been renamed, and the DJ said, "at the Odium."
I was all, "WHA??" Why would you name an event center "The Odium"??? That means something horrible, and hated, and dreaded! That doesn't make any sense at all. If it were some kind of heavy metal club or a Goth parlor or something, it would make sense. But this place has concerts and horse shows and UFC MMA events.
*** just a quick aside to mention an episode of The Simpsons that I saw last night, in which Marge objects to MMA fighting and says, "Just because this isn't my taste, I think no one should be able to enjoy it." And then she and some other meddlers picket outside the arena and my favorite picket sign said, "UNMIX the Martial Arts!" ***
Anyway, I confirmed my definition, and sure enough, "Odium" comes from Latin and refers to something that is hated, detested, and makes people angry.
Then I thought: I'd better just double-check.
So I looked up the word Odium AND the city name, and guess what. It's spelled ODEUM, which comes from Greek and means a theater or concert hall.
Now THAT makes sense.
.
I was all, "WHA??" Why would you name an event center "The Odium"??? That means something horrible, and hated, and dreaded! That doesn't make any sense at all. If it were some kind of heavy metal club or a Goth parlor or something, it would make sense. But this place has concerts and horse shows and UFC MMA events.
*** just a quick aside to mention an episode of The Simpsons that I saw last night, in which Marge objects to MMA fighting and says, "Just because this isn't my taste, I think no one should be able to enjoy it." And then she and some other meddlers picket outside the arena and my favorite picket sign said, "UNMIX the Martial Arts!" ***
Anyway, I confirmed my definition, and sure enough, "Odium" comes from Latin and refers to something that is hated, detested, and makes people angry.
Then I thought: I'd better just double-check.
So I looked up the word Odium AND the city name, and guess what. It's spelled ODEUM, which comes from Greek and means a theater or concert hall.
Now THAT makes sense.
.
Book 102: Pilgrim At Tinker Creek
This book by Annie Dillard took me a long time to read. It's not because I didn't enjoy it, but just because it's a book best savored. I'm so out of the habit of quickly reading and digesting serious material that I have to read slowly and break it up into smaller installments. I can still read easy fiction at hyper-speed, just not serious books.
I first read this book about 10 years ago, and I liked it then, and I liked it this year. Dillard lived for a year in Virginia, near Tinker Creek. She read and walked around and looked at nature and thought. Doesn't that sound great? It was the '70s, so she surely wasn't as addicted to technology as many of us are these days -- it wouldn't have felt quite so foreign to live more in nature.
Dillard tells little stories about nature and Nature and science and God and horrors and beauty. Her prose is just right to reflect a young woman who is extremely excited about life and science and nature. This book won the Pulitzer Prize.
Some of my favorite parts:
* She tells of a man who measured the pressure exerted by a growing squash. It was 5 thousand pounds per square inch! It made me wonder if the pressure of a growing baby is the same, but of course we could never hook a baby up to a machine to measure the pressure exerted by its growing body. Dillard makes you think of weird experiments. You won't be able to help it.
* She writes of human beings, "Our excessive emotions are so patently painful and harmful to us as a species that I can hardly believe that they evolved." If we were all lobotomized, we could all be happy.
* Here's a perfect line, "I felt a rush of such pure energy I thought I would not need to breathe for days."
* On navel gazing: "I wonder if we do not waste most of our energy just by spending every waking minute saying hello to ourselves."
* I love her description of a muskrat-watching adventure, in which she is lying on a bridge close to the water, trying not to move when the animal can see her, but rolling back and forth to watch him as he swims back and forth under the bridge. "All this time I was not only doing an elaborate about-face every time his eyes disappeared under the bridge, but I was also smoking a cigarette." Ah, the 1970's when cigarettes and nature could be combined without irony!
I love Annie Dillard and highly recommend her books.
I first read this book about 10 years ago, and I liked it then, and I liked it this year. Dillard lived for a year in Virginia, near Tinker Creek. She read and walked around and looked at nature and thought. Doesn't that sound great? It was the '70s, so she surely wasn't as addicted to technology as many of us are these days -- it wouldn't have felt quite so foreign to live more in nature.
Dillard tells little stories about nature and Nature and science and God and horrors and beauty. Her prose is just right to reflect a young woman who is extremely excited about life and science and nature. This book won the Pulitzer Prize.
Some of my favorite parts:
* She tells of a man who measured the pressure exerted by a growing squash. It was 5 thousand pounds per square inch! It made me wonder if the pressure of a growing baby is the same, but of course we could never hook a baby up to a machine to measure the pressure exerted by its growing body. Dillard makes you think of weird experiments. You won't be able to help it.
* She writes of human beings, "Our excessive emotions are so patently painful and harmful to us as a species that I can hardly believe that they evolved." If we were all lobotomized, we could all be happy.
* Here's a perfect line, "I felt a rush of such pure energy I thought I would not need to breathe for days."
* On navel gazing: "I wonder if we do not waste most of our energy just by spending every waking minute saying hello to ourselves."
* I love her description of a muskrat-watching adventure, in which she is lying on a bridge close to the water, trying not to move when the animal can see her, but rolling back and forth to watch him as he swims back and forth under the bridge. "All this time I was not only doing an elaborate about-face every time his eyes disappeared under the bridge, but I was also smoking a cigarette." Ah, the 1970's when cigarettes and nature could be combined without irony!
I love Annie Dillard and highly recommend her books.
Friday, December 25, 2009
Book 101: Under The Dome
I couldn't resist this huge tome from Stephen King, even though I need to read quickly to finish my challenge! It's 1072 pages long, but it went fast anyway.
The premise is that a little town in the Northeastern U.S. is one day trapped, inexplicably, under an invisible dome. No one can get in or out. Water and gases can slowly trickle through, but heat and pollution are building up after only a couple of days. The military can't breach it and no one knows what to do.
There's a bit more of a supernatural element to it, but I won't ruin the surprise for you. Mostly, King sticks to what he's great at: developing characters who seem real and pitting them against each other.
There is a really, really bad guy who is GLAD for the Dome because he would love to take over as dictator. There are other bad guys and stupid guys who help the Bad Man and enjoy the hateful, childish tormenting of the good guys.
There are the good guys and the medium-good people who try to help each other and stop the bad guys, and some just aren't trying to hurt anyone.
King builds the plot up until the reader wishes to go to that town and kill the bad guys herself. But instead, all she can do is keep reading and trust that an appropriate fate awaits the baddies.
It is fun, imaginative, and entertaining. King's still got it.
The premise is that a little town in the Northeastern U.S. is one day trapped, inexplicably, under an invisible dome. No one can get in or out. Water and gases can slowly trickle through, but heat and pollution are building up after only a couple of days. The military can't breach it and no one knows what to do.
There's a bit more of a supernatural element to it, but I won't ruin the surprise for you. Mostly, King sticks to what he's great at: developing characters who seem real and pitting them against each other.
There is a really, really bad guy who is GLAD for the Dome because he would love to take over as dictator. There are other bad guys and stupid guys who help the Bad Man and enjoy the hateful, childish tormenting of the good guys.
There are the good guys and the medium-good people who try to help each other and stop the bad guys, and some just aren't trying to hurt anyone.
King builds the plot up until the reader wishes to go to that town and kill the bad guys herself. But instead, all she can do is keep reading and trust that an appropriate fate awaits the baddies.
It is fun, imaginative, and entertaining. King's still got it.
Thursday, December 24, 2009
Truffles: First Attempt
One day, earlier this month, I suddenly became VERY INTERESTED in making chocolate truffles. I'm sure that reading the sequel to Chocolat played a role in this obsession. I found a few recipes, including this one for Honey Vanilla Chocolate Truffles from Martha Stewart. I rounded up all the chocolate and what-not that I needed, and set to work.
I envisioned beautiful chocolates that I could package and give as gifts, wowing people left and right!
Well, the Honey Vanilla Chocolate Truffles turned out DELICIOUS! But I thought they were too ugly to share, even when sprinkled with colored sugar. Even the one that was rolled in chopped slivered almonds. With practice, and maybe with something called Luster Dust (which I hear was invented as an edible body paint-type thing, but then got co-opted by bakers), perhaps I can make attractive truffles next year.
The OTHER batch I made was just regular chocolate truffles, except that I added some peanut butter to the mixture. Well, I did it WRONG, WRONG, WRONG! My ganache never hardened. It spent the night in the freezer and was still too soft to roll into balls.
But it tasted really, really good. So, I did what I had to do. I made some yellow cupcakes and used the peanut butter ganache as icing and it was so, so good!
They may look ugly, but my taste buds did not mind at all.
Lessons learned:
*The first time I make something, I should follow a recipe instead of winging it.
*But sometimes winging it leads to a great cupcake icing or other surprise treat.
*And if you make ugly candy and are forced to eat it instead of giving it away, YOU GET TO EAT A BUNCH OF CANDY! And cupcakes!
I envisioned beautiful chocolates that I could package and give as gifts, wowing people left and right!
Well, the Honey Vanilla Chocolate Truffles turned out DELICIOUS! But I thought they were too ugly to share, even when sprinkled with colored sugar. Even the one that was rolled in chopped slivered almonds. With practice, and maybe with something called Luster Dust (which I hear was invented as an edible body paint-type thing, but then got co-opted by bakers), perhaps I can make attractive truffles next year.
The OTHER batch I made was just regular chocolate truffles, except that I added some peanut butter to the mixture. Well, I did it WRONG, WRONG, WRONG! My ganache never hardened. It spent the night in the freezer and was still too soft to roll into balls.
But it tasted really, really good. So, I did what I had to do. I made some yellow cupcakes and used the peanut butter ganache as icing and it was so, so good!
They may look ugly, but my taste buds did not mind at all.
Lessons learned:
*The first time I make something, I should follow a recipe instead of winging it.
*But sometimes winging it leads to a great cupcake icing or other surprise treat.
*And if you make ugly candy and are forced to eat it instead of giving it away, YOU GET TO EAT A BUNCH OF CANDY! And cupcakes!
A Few Simple Ornaments
These are really simple to make: just cut out two layers of felt for the main shape. Sew any decorations onto one layer with matching embroidery floss (making all knots on the back), and then sew the two layers together (all knots will be in the middle).
You can sew the ribbon on with embroidery floss as you sew the two layers together, or use sewing thread to attach the ribbon once the ornament is done. I think the thinner ribbon looks better (as opposed to the Gingerbread Man's thicker ribbon).
Gingerbread Man and Snowman
Back sides
Crooked Star (you may want to make a perfect template rather than cutting yours out freehand). I like crooked, but not everyone does!
Stocking: I sewed green pieces on top of a red sock shape.
Candy Cane: I sewed white stripes on top of a red cane shape.
Tree: is it weird to put a tree ornament on a tree? Should I have made tiny tree ornaments to decorate the tree ornament? And so on! When would it ever end?
You can sew the ribbon on with embroidery floss as you sew the two layers together, or use sewing thread to attach the ribbon once the ornament is done. I think the thinner ribbon looks better (as opposed to the Gingerbread Man's thicker ribbon).
Gingerbread Man and Snowman
Back sides
Crooked Star (you may want to make a perfect template rather than cutting yours out freehand). I like crooked, but not everyone does!
Stocking: I sewed green pieces on top of a red sock shape.
Candy Cane: I sewed white stripes on top of a red cane shape.
Tree: is it weird to put a tree ornament on a tree? Should I have made tiny tree ornaments to decorate the tree ornament? And so on! When would it ever end?
Sunday, December 20, 2009
Book 100: Girl With A Pearl Earring
This novel by Tracy Chevalier is set in Delft, The Netherlands, in the 1660s. You may have seen the movie based on this book, which stars Scarlett Johansson.
The plot is that a young woman's family hits hard times and she must go to work as a maid in Vermeer's house. She struggles with doing as Vermeer asks without offending his wife. She must avoid a handsy patron and deal with her impatient future husband. And her worst enemy may be a 7-year old girl who likes to cause trouble.
Chevalier's writing is excellent. She develops characters well and times the plot nicely. It is fun to read about Delft in the 1660s. It brings back memories of touring Amsterdam several years ago. I never saw Delft, but I think there are many similarities between the cities. I was able to go on a tour of Rembrandt's house, which is being restored with historical accuracy. He also painted portraits in the 1600s, but in Amsterdam. Chevalier's descriptions of Vermeer's house meld with my memories of Rembrandt's house to create a very full, vivid experience. I love it when it all comes together!
Four books to go! I couldn't resist starting Under the Dome, which has over 1,070 pages! The other three are already started, as well: Steinbeck's The Pearl, Dillard's Pilgrim at Tinker Creek, and Notorious Victoria (author's name temporarily forgotten).
The plot is that a young woman's family hits hard times and she must go to work as a maid in Vermeer's house. She struggles with doing as Vermeer asks without offending his wife. She must avoid a handsy patron and deal with her impatient future husband. And her worst enemy may be a 7-year old girl who likes to cause trouble.
Chevalier's writing is excellent. She develops characters well and times the plot nicely. It is fun to read about Delft in the 1660s. It brings back memories of touring Amsterdam several years ago. I never saw Delft, but I think there are many similarities between the cities. I was able to go on a tour of Rembrandt's house, which is being restored with historical accuracy. He also painted portraits in the 1600s, but in Amsterdam. Chevalier's descriptions of Vermeer's house meld with my memories of Rembrandt's house to create a very full, vivid experience. I love it when it all comes together!
Four books to go! I couldn't resist starting Under the Dome, which has over 1,070 pages! The other three are already started, as well: Steinbeck's The Pearl, Dillard's Pilgrim at Tinker Creek, and Notorious Victoria (author's name temporarily forgotten).
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