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a record of books I read.
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At All Costs - David Weber (2005)
Began: January 28 | Finished:
[1/30] I walked into the library over the weekend, and there it was -- a new Honor Harrington novel! How could I resist? Perfect timing, since I just finished my previous work-lunch book.
The Known World - Edward P. Jones (2004)
Began: January 20 | Finished:
[1/21] Picked this up before going to bed one night. The style seems familiar, but I can't recall who it reminds me off. The narrative kind of wanders, following a trail of connections before coming back to the original point. So far it's about black slaves and their black owner (plus various family and other connections) in Manchester County, Virginia, in the 1850s.
Bad Boy - Olivia Goldsmith (2001)
Began: January 10? | Finished: gave up
[1/16] Yeah, this one wasn't really worth it. Girl with penchant for bad boys takes on the challenge of turning her geeky best friend into a bad boy, and then falls for him. There was the redeeming fact that the author write in such a way that it's clear she expects the reader to think the main character is acting stupidly, but there's the corresponding down side that, well, the main character is stupid. It wasn't offensively bad, but I have a few other things on my plate I'd rather get to.
The Decline of Pleasure - Walter Kerr (1962)
Began: January 15 | Finished:
[1/15] The premise is this:
In a contrary and perhaps rather cruel way the twentieth century has relieved us of labor without at the same time relieving us of the conviction that only labor is meaningful. (p31)I recognize his description of people who fill their 'leisure' time with more work, such as home improvement. I recognize that same urge in myself, to spend my time productively. But the thing is - I read for the sake of reading all the time. Escaping into fantasy worlds is one of my favorite things. It's true that sometimes I feel the need to give myself permission to spend time in this manner, but I spend an awful lot of time reading novels for no other reason than my own pleasure. So in this way I do not match at all the portrait of the twentieth century adult that Kerr depicts. On the other hand, I'm hesitant to believe that I could possibly be much different than the mass of other twentieth century adults.
I like this one:
It is customary to explain the hypertensions and the heart attacks that bedevil the contemporary American male by pointing to the abnormal pace and the abnormal work pressures of twentieth-century life as though that pace and those work pressures had been established by someone other than the man himself.Exactly. It's a choice. Quit your bitching. Is pity a more appropriate response to people who feel they don't have a choice? I think neither uncaring nor pity is a terribly useful response. I also think that sometimes people need to feel like they have no choice. Otherwise they'd have to take responsibility.
I recognize the adults Kerr talks about, but I don't recognize the children. Yes, kids are fascinated by dinosaurs and bridges and other factual things. But I think of the way Sara tells stories, just makes things up as she goes along. The book was written over 40 years ago. Is it that somewhere along the way, adults realized that they had missed out on creative play when they were children, and so now as a society we deliberately encourage such play? I've been trying to think of people I know who would have been children when Kerr was writing. Uncle Alex is the only one we could identify, so that doesn't exactly give me many data points to work from. I don't really even know Alex that well.
[1/18] I had a thought! It was while I was reading this passage:
The machines we meant to drive drive us... We are pushed. But while being pushed does breed in us a habit of walking faster, it should not in the normal course of things lead us to like being pushed. If we were wholly sane, and had a spark of manliness left in us, we should resent being pushed, rebel against being pushed; and if rebellion were not really possible during working hours in the mechanized twentieth century, then we should, at the very least, leap to our leisure with a wild cry of relief, with singing and dancing and shoulting in the streets, with the exhilaration of escape from everything intolerable. (p39)So here's my thought -- the reason we feel guilty about taking leisure time is to relieve the cognitive dissonance caused by us being pushed, not liking being pushed, and yet not rebelling against being pushed. I don't really know if cognitive dissonance is the right word there, but it's the best I could come up with. If we feel guilty for taking our leisure, then that means we really are ok with the whole pushing thing, and there's no need to rebel. I have no idea if that's where Kerr is going, but that's the thought I had while reading.
[1/22] Kerr has arrived at what he identifies as the source of the decline of pleasure - utilitarianism. He's just started talking about John Stuart Mill, his father James, and James's association with Jeremy Benthan, the progenitor of utilitarianism. I recall the article Raff found, about the pursuit of happiness, and there's a lot of discussion in there about utilitarianism. I'm going to have to pull that article back out. It had some good stuff in it. Might generate some interesting thoughts if I have ideas from that article in my head, while I'm reading Kerr.
[3/9] I finally picked this up again (without having finished that article first). I'm glad I did. I enjoy reading it, and it's good for my brain. Don't get that too often. I learned a new word, too: emolument. It means 'payment'. It's one of Bentham's synonyms for utility and pleasure.
Pen Pals - Olivia Goldsmith (2002)
Began: January 4 | Finished: January 9
[1/17] A loaner from Kelly, by the author of The First Wives Club (which I haven't read, but the movie looked interesting). It was all about women bonding in prison, and there were funny and touching scenes, but overall there was too much of a 'all women in prison are victims' tone. I'm sure conditions are deplorable, I'm sure there are cases where people are wrongly imprisoned. But I have this feeling that a whole lot of the women in prison committed crimes and are now doing their time. Her entirely one-sided presentation did not inspire me to feel pity; it was so over-bearing that I'm pretty sure my heart hardened a little in reaction.
The Pact - Jodi Picoult (1998)
Began: January 2 | Finished: January 5 (wee hours)
[1/17] Sad, but well written book. Would have the feel of an Oprah book if there weren't so many sympathetic male characters (which was just fine by me). The author does a good job of handing out bits of truth without revealing anything too soon. Stayed up late finishing it because I couldn't put it down.
Playing James - Sarah Mason (2004)
Began: January 1 | Finished: January 1
[1/17] A funny romance, similar in style to Jennifer Crusie. Takes place in England. Took me a while to warm up to it, given my recent negative experience with a British funny romance, but turned out much better than that other one.
Saving Francesca - Melina Marchetta (2003)
Began: January 1 | Finished: January 1
[1/17] Excellent teen book. One I would have appreciated at that age. Takes place in Australia, so there are a few things that seem foreign but not too much. For some reason I had a hard time placing people of Italian ancestry in Australia.
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