In the Best News I've Heard in a While category there is this to say:  Kaye Gibbons has a new book!  It's called Divining Women, and I know no more about it than that.  However, as none of her previous books have been anything but sublime, I have full faith this one is something to look forward to.  When I get my library fine paid off, I'll be reserving it.  Any other fans of Gibbons out there?  Let me know if you read it before I do.

MORE "HIS DARK MATERIALS"

I finally finished The Amber Spyglass, which ends the His Dark Materials trilogy.  But I have neither stamina nor time to write about it now.  These kids are some ambitious readers, this book was well over five hundred pages.  Like the most recent book of the Harry Potter series, overinflated, if you ask me.  And Pullman does ascribe credit to John Milton in the acknowledgments at the end of the book, so I'm glad to see my literary instincts are intact (see my comment here).

If these books make it to these shores in any major way, say for instance via successful translation into movies, I bet they are toned way down in the theology department.  If the British got their knickers in a twist, the US Christian mob will freak out completely.  I'll say more on all this later.  For now what I'm reading are essays and journals from my writing class.

THESE ARE A FEW OF MY (SECOND) FAVORITE THINGS

Okay, our Blogfather, John Scalzi, has given us our assignment for week's end fun.  Here it is:   Weekend Assignment #2: Describe your second-favorite of the following: movie, book, album, school teacher, ice cream flavor, sports team, comfort food, celebrity crush, cartoon character and way to relax. If you feel like it, add in any other second favorite you like.

Isn't he cute?  I have a hard enough time trying to think of my absolute #1 favorite anything, let alone #2.  I didn't play along with last week's assignment, however (list 25 things about yourself, including one you've never told anybody....I gave it a moment's thought, and really, couldn't even come up with 10 interesting enough to post online.), so I feel like I ought to show a little more Plays Well With Others kind of spirit and try this one. 

I only have real favorites in a few of these categories;  I love way too many movies and books to come up with one or two top-of-the-lists.  Second favorite teacher ever was Sister Michel, who taught me algebra and trigonometry at Sacred Heart Academy in Belmont, NC.  This is a real teacher-tribute, let me tell you.  I have serious Math Aversion, but this woman was a dy-no-mite teacher and actually got the subject matter thru my terrified brain. (and, see, the problem with this is that I feel like I also have to mention my top faves at the same time, it doesn't feel fair.  So, Dr. Hazel Cazorla, who taught me Spanish Literature in Grad School at the Univ. of Dallas - I HAD to say it.)

Second fave sports team is the Baltimore Orioles, just because they're close, have a name I love, and a kick-ass stadium.  (is it okay to say "kick-ass" in an AOL Journal?  who knows?  who cares?)

Ice Cream Flavor would have to be Starbuck's Java Chip, a reeellllly intense coffee ice cream with a burst of dark chocolate chips to liven things up.

Comfort Food - oh god, how can I pick?  and do I have to tell the truth?  okay, here goes.  Little Debbie's Swiss Cake Rolls. with a pot of coffee or a huge glass of milk, I could eat an entire box.  Which is why I'm currently on a low-carb diet!!

Okay!!! Book:  no way is this possible.  All-time 2nd fave?  Current second fave?  Fiction?  Non-fiction?  WHHAAT?  I'm going with Woman on the Edge of Time, by Marge Piercy.  Feminist science fiction, a category unto itself. 

Movie -  maybe it's "Best of Show,"  because I could see it over and over and still laugh my ass off.  (Top of my chart is forever "To Kill a Mockingbird.")

Celebrity Crush - again, what category?  living?  dead?  male?  female?  maybe everyone doesn't have the luxury of enjoying both sexes, but I have.  so, #2 male celebrity crush is Johnny Depp (first is and will always be Burt Lancaster).  #2 female crush is Catherine Zeta Jones (and #1 is Susan Sarandon, so there).

Can't do album, simply and absolutely can't.  Don't watch cartoons, never have, so can't do that one.  Way to relax - watching TV, yes, I'm afraid it's true.  #1 is reading if I'm conscious, but after a hard day and evening (when I'm tense, but only semi-conscious), if I have some time pre bed and any of my favorite shows are on, I watch the tube.  That's why god made it.

 

EARTH DAY, 2004

WHEN EARTH BECOMES AN "IT"

When the people call Earth "Mother,"
they take with love
and with love give back
so that all may live.

When the people call Earth "it,"
they use her
consume her strength.
Then the people die.

Already the sun is hot
out of season.
Our Mother's breast
is going dry.
She is taking all green
into her heart
and will not turn back
until we call her
by her name.
                       Marilou Awiakta

"HIS DARK MATERIALS" CONTINUES

I finished volume two of the series (first mentioned two posts previous to this one) yesterday and have begun volume three, The Amber Spyglass.  The pace of these books is breath-taking, it's just one thing after another after another.  The Subtle Knife leaves us cliff-hanging dreadfully.  I can't type for too long, gotta get back and keep reading.  I can understand why there was flap over these books in Great Britain, and wonder how far into the North American consciousness they have penetrated.  The flap generated is theological in nature.  We expect the plot of this sort of young people's fantasy series to basically be Good Vs. Evil, and we think we have a clear understanding of which is which.  There is no such understanding in Philip Pullman's books.  I'm not going to say too much more until I have finished this last episode, because I really have no idea what the denouement might be.  Angels have been added to the mix of mythical creatures, and the worlds' openings to one another seem to be multiplying.  The characters of Lyra's parents, Lord Asriel and Mrs Coulter (remarried after LA, and widowed by Mr. Coulter) are the most mystifying and confusing to me.  Are they both bad or both good?  Is one good and one bad?  Which is which?  A great battle is building, a monstrous huge battle.  Whispers tell us it's the continuation of a battle begun long long ago.  Which I think I've read about before, in Literature class, hmmm, perhaps....John Milton?

Back from a little web browsing re His Dark Materials, and I find that New Line Cinema is planning to put the three volumes into two movies in the coming year.  I have to say these books could make some truly kick-ass movies.  I wonder who will direct?  It will be all-important to have someone who understands the scholarly flavor of these books, as well as the fantasy elements.   

FAREWELL, DEAR QUEEN

With the heartbreaking departure of QueenZ43 from the world of AOL entirely, my book journal will wander lonely as a cloud, I'm afraid.  I could always count on her to visit, read and comment.  I understand her reasons for doing what she had to do - but, I'll certainly miss her.  I'll also miss her own journal, keeping up with her life, thoughts, changes.  Again I'm forced to muse on this world of virtual friendships.  This loss feels more real than virtual to me.

Anyone else who passes through, please make it a regular stop. If I don't already visit your journal, leave a footprint so I can drop by.  And now, go check this out.  A Random Surrealism Generator.  Keep refreshing the page, and it keeps changing.  Furthermore, you can have one too.  If you understand how to do that html thing.  I don't, so I'll just have to go read this one occasionally.

CATCHING UP

So, though crazy, I've still been reading.  There's a list of recent books in the sidebar, a couple to mention in passing, a couple to talk about in more detail.  Deep Pockets is the latest in Linda Barnes' mystery series featuring the six-foot tall, redheaded, cab-driving P.I., Carlotta Carlyle.  I love reading stories set in locations I know and love, and this series takes place in Cambridge/Boston.  G is from Boston, and we lived close to Cambridge for some years before moving to Cape Cod.  Cambridge was a favorite haunt, for the bookstores and coffeehouses, the crazy press of student life, the street musicians, the sense of bohemian energy. This novel is not one of Barnes' best, but the ambiance is still there.  The story involves a Harvard professor, pharaceutical research, a supposedly-murdered illicit lover of the professor's, the Charles River and kayaks.  Sound like it should be riveting, but actually it wasn't. 

The Book Borrower was a strangely disjointed tale of the friendship between two women over a considerable period of their lives.  There's a story-within-the-story, contained in a book which one friend borrows from the other  (hence the title) on their very first meeting.  I found the rather impressionistic writing style annoying, and the two women never seemed fleshed-out as real characters to me.  The most interesting character in the book is one who moves from the borrowed book (a non-fictional account of a young Jewish activist during the days of the trolley strikes, her family, the tragedy occasioned by the strike) into the main story as an aged sculptor waning into solitary senility.  That itself was quite too coincidental.  I wanted this book to be better than it was, and I should have been warned when the jacket compared it, as a story of women's friendships, to Margaret Atwood's Cat's Eye, one of my all-time least favorite books.

Ah, the new unrestrained character limit means I can babble on until hell freezes over, doesn't it?  Therefore, on to the books I am loving.  The Golden Compass is the first in Philip Pullman's young people's fantasy trilogy His Dark Materials. These books have apparently caused some flap in England, as fantasy novels for young people often seem to do.  I've read a lot about the series, bought it for my niece, but decided I wanted to read it first.  And I'm certainly glad of that decision.  Unlike many of these stories, this one features a young girl as protagonist;  what a ferocious, brave, intuitive, and compassionate girl Lyra is too, yes indeedy.  This first novel takes place in a world quite like our own, but with enormous differences, the most interesting of which is that each of the human characters possesses a dæmon in the form of an animal or bird.  While the humans are young, pre- puberty, the dæmon can change shape at will, but as they grow into adulthood the creature "settles" into a permanent form.  This dæmon is, I am quite sure, their soul, their spirit, their lifeforce.  The plot centers around young people and their dæmons, and as Lyra scrambles through adventure after adventure to solve the dark and horrid mystery, we meet witches, armored bears, fierce Northern hunters (much of the book takes place in the frozen Arctic regions, under the northern lights), a lanky Texan balloon aeronaut, a river people called the Gyptians. 

The first book was lengthy, but I raced through it, barely able to put it down for a moment.  I have just started the second volume, The Subtle Knife, and am immediately hooked, gaffed, netted.  I'll be back to report more as I follow Lyra, and her new friend, Will, through the adventures we see looming ahead, as she searches for her father, Lord Asriel, in the alternate world they have just entered.

Should YOU Belong to the ALAS? - Part 1 of 2

Do you or your loved one have a Literary Abuse Problem? Take this test and find out! How many of these apply to you?

1. I have read fiction when I was depressed, or to cheer myself up.
2. I have gone on reading binges of an entire book or more in a day.
3. I read rapidly, often 'gulping' chapters.
4. I have sometimes read early in the morning or before work.
5. I have hidden books in different places to sneak a chapter without being seen.
6. Sometimes I avoid friends or family obligations in order to read novels.
7. Sometimes I re-write film or television dialog as the characters speak.
8. I am unable to enjoy myself with others unless there is a book nearby.
9. At a party, I will often slip off unnoticed to read.
10. Reading has made me seek haunts and companions which I would otherwise avoid.
11. I have neglected personal hygiene or household chores until I have finished a novel.
12. I have spent money meant for necessities on books instead.
13. I have attempted to check out more library books than permitted.
14. Most of my friends are heavy fiction readers.
15. I have sometimes passed out from a night of heavy reading.
16. I have suffered 'blackouts' or memory loss from a bout of reading.
17. I have wept, become angry or irrational because of something I read.
18. I have sometimes wished I did not read so much.
19. Sometimes I think my reading is out of control.

If you answered 'yes' to four or more of these questions, you may be a literature abuser. Affirmative responses to seven or more indicates a serious problem.

Once a relatively rare disorder, Literature Abuse, or LA, has risen to new levels due to the accessibility of higher education and increased college enrollment since the end of the Second World War. The number of literature abusers is currently at record levels.

SOCIAL COSTS OF LITERARY ABUSE
Abusers become withdrawn, uninterested in society or normal relationships. They fantasize, creating alternative worlds to occupy, to the neglect of friends and family. In severe cases they develop bad posture from reading in awkward positions or carrying heavy book bags. In the worst instances, they become cranky reference librarians in small towns. Excessive reading during pregnancy is perhaps the number one cause of moral deformity among the children of English professors, teachers of English and creative writing. Known as Fetal Fiction Syndrome, this disease also leaves its victims prone to a lifetime of nearsightedness, daydreaming and emotional instability.

HEREDITY
Recent Harvard studies have established that heredity plays a considerable role in determining whether a person will become an abuser of literature. Most abusers have at least one parent who abused literature, often beginning at an early age and progressing into adulthood. Many spouses of an abuser become abusers themselves.

OTHER PREDISPOSING FACTORS
Fathers or mothers who are English teachers, professors, or heavy fiction readers; parents who do not encourage children to play games, participate in healthy sports, or watch television in the evening.

PREVENTION
Pre-marital screening and counseling, referral to adoption agencies in order to break the chain of abuse. English teachers in particular should seek partners active in other fields. Children should be encouraged to seek physical activity and to avoid isolation and morbid introspection.

 

Should YOU Belong to the ALAS? - Part 2

"DECLINE AND FALL: THE ENGLISH MAJOR”
Within the sordid world of literature abuse, the lowest circle belongs to those sufferers who have thrown their lives and hopes away to study literature in our colleges. Parents should look for signs that their children are taking the wrong path--don't expect your teenager to approach you and say, "I can't stop reading Spenser."

By the time you visit her dorm room and find the secret stash of the Paris Review, it may already be too late. What to do if you suspect your child is becoming an English major:

1. Talk to your child in a loving way. Show your concern. Let her know you won't abandon her--but that you aren't spending a hundred grand to put her through Stanford so she can clerk at Borders, either. But remember that she may not be able to make a decision without help; perhaps she has just finished Madame Bovary and is dying of arsenic poisoning.
2. Face the issue: Tell her what you know, and how: "I found this book in your purse. How long has this been going on?" Ask the hard question–“Who is this Count Vronsky?”
3. Show her another way. Move the television set into her room. Introduce her to frat boys or sorority girls.
4. Do what you have to do. Tear up her library card. Make her stop signing her letters as 'Emma.' Force her to take a math class, or minor in Spanish. Transfer her to a Florida college.

You may be dealing with a life-altering problem if one or more of the following applies:

* She can tell you how and when Thomas Chatterton died.
* She names one or more of her cats after a Romantic poet.
* Next to her bed is a picture of: Lord Byron, Virginia Woolf, Faulkner or any scene from the Lake District.

Most important, remember, you are not alone. To seek help for yourself or someone you love, contact the nearest chapter of the American Literature Abuse Society, or look under ALAS in your telephone directory.