1997, 2004 Arrow Books edition
Stephen Fry
Moab Is My Washpot
Original price £8.99, priced at "3 for £18" but I can't remember if I bought any other books then
Worn paperback
B
Stephen Fry fan that I was and am, and having run out of books on a trip to Scotland (I had underestimated the amount of time I'd spend in transit), I picked this up at Heathrow to read on the flight back. I enjoyed it, then and now. Fry tells the story of his years at public school (in the British sense), with many flashbacks and forwards. While he of course discusses the teachers and lessons, the book is also about how he became a thief and an out-to-himself homosexual. The title, Wikipedia explains, comes from psalms in which the nation of Moab became like a basin, and Fry sees this book as "scrubbing at the grime of years." Wikipedia also gives a somewhat happy ending to the story of Fry's love for a boy he calls here "Osborne," as they met again as adults, and both Mr. and Mrs. "Osborne" have been very nice to him in the years since.
Gay teenaged love and sex are rare to read of in autobiographies, but Fry shares much that's personal here, from his "deflowering" by a prefect to his inability to sing or play sports. He also gives his opinions on various matters, and even if you don't agree with him (like whether corporal punishment has lasting psychological harm), he's always interesting.
And, yes, I'll be honest, with the first Harry Potter book approaching later in '97, it was helpful to get a nonmagical description of things like "houses," and trains that take the students to school. Fry would go on to record the Potter audiobooks, and befriend Daniel Radcliffe, so this isn't entirely off topic of course.
Since this book covers only Stephen's first 20 years, it's good to know that The Fry Chronicles: An Autobiography came out in 2010. I doubt I'll get it in time for this project, but we'll see.
Tuesday, October 29, 2013
Monday, October 28, 2013
A Desperate Passion: An Autobiography
1997, possibly first paperback edition, from Norton
Dr. Helen Caldicott
A Desperate Passion: An Autobiography
Possibly bought newish for $13.95
Worn paperback
B-
At the age of almost 60, Caldicott looks back at her life to that point. (She's still alive at 75.) She's honest about her mistakes, including a difficulty in seeing others' points of view. She and her husband divorced after 26 years, so that affects how she describes their marriage, as her difficulties with her children affect how she sees her failures and successes as a mother. The book is mostly, of course, about her political activism, especially in the 1980s. (She expands on the story of her meeting with Reagan, his longest meeting with anyone during his presidency.) After rereading the book, I felt like she can be admired more easily than she can be liked. And I was most interested in the descriptions of Australia's political and literal landscapes.
This completes another shelf, although, as always, I may redistribute the books later.
Dr. Helen Caldicott
A Desperate Passion: An Autobiography
Possibly bought newish for $13.95
Worn paperback
B-
At the age of almost 60, Caldicott looks back at her life to that point. (She's still alive at 75.) She's honest about her mistakes, including a difficulty in seeing others' points of view. She and her husband divorced after 26 years, so that affects how she describes their marriage, as her difficulties with her children affect how she sees her failures and successes as a mother. The book is mostly, of course, about her political activism, especially in the 1980s. (She expands on the story of her meeting with Reagan, his longest meeting with anyone during his presidency.) After rereading the book, I felt like she can be admired more easily than she can be liked. And I was most interested in the descriptions of Australia's political and literal landscapes.
This completes another shelf, although, as always, I may redistribute the books later.
Sunday, October 27, 2013
Bisexual Characters in Film: From Anais to Zee
1997, possibly first edition, from Harrington Park Press
Wayne M. Bryant
Bisexual Characters in Film: From Anais to Zee
Possibly bought newish for $17.95
Slightly worn paperback
C+
Although this book had potential, I didn't think it lived up to it. The biggest problem is that Bryant arranges the book thematically, rather than chronologically or some other approach that would eliminate all the redundancies. Not only are films discussed in more than one chapter, often the same information is repeated. Also, of course, the book is dated, and not in an interesting way like the different editions of Celluloid Closet. (I've read two but don't own any.) As Bryant admits, the bi pride movement was then about fifteen years behind that for gays and lesbians. So there weren't terribly many movies with clearly bi characters. (And he misses one of my favorite moments, Terry-Thomas in Where Were You When the Lights Went Out [1968]: "I dislike women and men alike. Does that make me bisexual?") You could probably find equally good or better lists and analyses on the Internet these days. Still, points for being a pioneer.
Wayne M. Bryant
Bisexual Characters in Film: From Anais to Zee
Possibly bought newish for $17.95
Slightly worn paperback
C+
Although this book had potential, I didn't think it lived up to it. The biggest problem is that Bryant arranges the book thematically, rather than chronologically or some other approach that would eliminate all the redundancies. Not only are films discussed in more than one chapter, often the same information is repeated. Also, of course, the book is dated, and not in an interesting way like the different editions of Celluloid Closet. (I've read two but don't own any.) As Bryant admits, the bi pride movement was then about fifteen years behind that for gays and lesbians. So there weren't terribly many movies with clearly bi characters. (And he misses one of my favorite moments, Terry-Thomas in Where Were You When the Lights Went Out [1968]: "I dislike women and men alike. Does that make me bisexual?") You could probably find equally good or better lists and analyses on the Internet these days. Still, points for being a pioneer.
Friday, October 25, 2013
The Body Project: An Intimate History of American Girls
1997, 1998 Vintage edition
Joan Jacobs Brumberg
The Body Project: An Intimate History of American Girls
Original price $13.00, purchase price $4.95
Slightly worn paperback
B-
Using everything from teenaged girls' diaries to doctors' writings to advertising, Brumberg looks at how girls' relationships to their own bodies have changed since the Victorian period. She observes that puberty has gradually gotten earlier, with menarche often in the mid to late teens 150 years ago, falling and holding steady at roughly ages 9 to 14 since the 1950s. (And even in the early 1900s, doctors were shockingly ignorant about menstruation.) This, along with technology and other factors, have changed the nature of female adolescence. Her main point is that girls now see their bodies as projects to be observed by the world.
This book coming out at the time it did is significant. Not only is it about six years after The Beauty Myth, but it was a time when tattoos and piercing became more mainstream (although still controversial, more than now I think), and social media was becoming more widespread. It was a world before "selfies," but girls were already negotiating the conflict of their bodies as themselves in a different way than the 1970s feminist meaning, now both their property and their identity, while coping with the perception that teenaged girls are in a way seen as products to be consumed, at least visually. Brumberg writes of how her Cornell students saw Victorian corsets as restrictive, but not the "need" for bikini-waxing.
There's a lot to be resolved here, including the role of adult women as mentors, and I didn't feel like Brumberg brought it all together, making even the messiness work, as Susan J. Douglas does. The whole is not as great as the parts, and I would've rather Brumberg focused more. The diary excerpts are the best thing of course, quoting both ordinary girls and the likes of Queen Victoria and future First Lady Lou Henry Hoover.
Joan Jacobs Brumberg
The Body Project: An Intimate History of American Girls
Original price $13.00, purchase price $4.95
Slightly worn paperback
B-
Using everything from teenaged girls' diaries to doctors' writings to advertising, Brumberg looks at how girls' relationships to their own bodies have changed since the Victorian period. She observes that puberty has gradually gotten earlier, with menarche often in the mid to late teens 150 years ago, falling and holding steady at roughly ages 9 to 14 since the 1950s. (And even in the early 1900s, doctors were shockingly ignorant about menstruation.) This, along with technology and other factors, have changed the nature of female adolescence. Her main point is that girls now see their bodies as projects to be observed by the world.
This book coming out at the time it did is significant. Not only is it about six years after The Beauty Myth, but it was a time when tattoos and piercing became more mainstream (although still controversial, more than now I think), and social media was becoming more widespread. It was a world before "selfies," but girls were already negotiating the conflict of their bodies as themselves in a different way than the 1970s feminist meaning, now both their property and their identity, while coping with the perception that teenaged girls are in a way seen as products to be consumed, at least visually. Brumberg writes of how her Cornell students saw Victorian corsets as restrictive, but not the "need" for bikini-waxing.
There's a lot to be resolved here, including the role of adult women as mentors, and I didn't feel like Brumberg brought it all together, making even the messiness work, as Susan J. Douglas does. The whole is not as great as the parts, and I would've rather Brumberg focused more. The diary excerpts are the best thing of course, quoting both ordinary girls and the likes of Queen Victoria and future First Lady Lou Henry Hoover.
Thursday, October 24, 2013
The Cat Who Tailed a Thief
1997, 1998 Jove Books edition
Lilian Jackson Braun
The Cat Who Tailed a Thief
Original price $6.99, purchase price 50 cents
Very worn paperback with split spine
B-
The hero-worship of Qwill is getting ridiculous, with one woman offering to give up her spot in line at the bank. When he finally wears a kilt, everyone thinks he looks wonderful. And of course the banker's bimbo wife, soon widow, is after him. It's pretty obvious that she and her "cousin" are the guilty ones in the mystery, but it's not a bad book. I am getting tired of the local anecdotes that Qwill tape-records, but at least there's a sort of pay-off this time, with the tape recorder revealing information.
This is set the winter after Said Cheese, so 1990 turning into 1991. It seems a bit early for cell phones (I identify them with the mid to late '90s), but that's a minor quibble. I did find it odd that Koko and Yum Yum allow a picture of them to be taken for the front page of the newspaper, but they're cats and allowed to be fickle.
This is the last Cat Who I own, although I've read some of the later ones. So it turns out, after all, that I can't say when the series jumped the shark. Perhaps it's best to bid adieu to Qwill and the gang while the writing's still pretty good.
Lilian Jackson Braun
The Cat Who Tailed a Thief
Original price $6.99, purchase price 50 cents
Very worn paperback with split spine
B-
The hero-worship of Qwill is getting ridiculous, with one woman offering to give up her spot in line at the bank. When he finally wears a kilt, everyone thinks he looks wonderful. And of course the banker's bimbo wife, soon widow, is after him. It's pretty obvious that she and her "cousin" are the guilty ones in the mystery, but it's not a bad book. I am getting tired of the local anecdotes that Qwill tape-records, but at least there's a sort of pay-off this time, with the tape recorder revealing information.
This is set the winter after Said Cheese, so 1990 turning into 1991. It seems a bit early for cell phones (I identify them with the mid to late '90s), but that's a minor quibble. I did find it odd that Koko and Yum Yum allow a picture of them to be taken for the front page of the newspaper, but they're cats and allowed to be fickle.
This is the last Cat Who I own, although I've read some of the later ones. So it turns out, after all, that I can't say when the series jumped the shark. Perhaps it's best to bid adieu to Qwill and the gang while the writing's still pretty good.
Wednesday, October 23, 2013
Album Covers from the Vinyl Junkyard
1997, possibly first edition, from Booth-Clibborn
A whole bunch of credits, but I'm going with Project Co-ordinator Phil Beddard
Album Covers from the Vinyl Junkyard
Original price unknown, purchase price $19.95
Slightly worn paperback
B-
Roughly a decade into the compact-disc era, Beddard and company present odd record album covers from (I think) 1952 to 1985. They're grouped by theme, so, for instance, covers with dogs are all on one page. The music is pop of many varieties, from funk to polka. There are also some "nonfiction" albums, like advice about divorce, or records to test your stereo equipment. There's not much commentary, other than in the introduction by Rob Chapman, but there are excerpts from back covers. There are a surprising number of typos, in both the introduction and the excerpts, but they bugged me less than usual because they sort of added to the campiness. The albums are reproduced in full cover, sometimes with back as well as front, with one to five on a page. I'd guess them to be one-third American, the rest British, although it's not always easy to tell. I'm using the "music criticism" tag because I think album art is part of music appreciation.
Includes an evaluation card that is hard to take seriously in this context, especially when you're asked to check off "I found this book of great interest_ of moderate interest_ of no interest_" and then mail it in.
A whole bunch of credits, but I'm going with Project Co-ordinator Phil Beddard
Album Covers from the Vinyl Junkyard
Original price unknown, purchase price $19.95
Slightly worn paperback
B-
Roughly a decade into the compact-disc era, Beddard and company present odd record album covers from (I think) 1952 to 1985. They're grouped by theme, so, for instance, covers with dogs are all on one page. The music is pop of many varieties, from funk to polka. There are also some "nonfiction" albums, like advice about divorce, or records to test your stereo equipment. There's not much commentary, other than in the introduction by Rob Chapman, but there are excerpts from back covers. There are a surprising number of typos, in both the introduction and the excerpts, but they bugged me less than usual because they sort of added to the campiness. The albums are reproduced in full cover, sometimes with back as well as front, with one to five on a page. I'd guess them to be one-third American, the rest British, although it's not always easy to tell. I'm using the "music criticism" tag because I think album art is part of music appreciation.
Includes an evaluation card that is hard to take seriously in this context, especially when you're asked to check off "I found this book of great interest_ of moderate interest_ of no interest_" and then mail it in.
Hot, Throbbing Dykes to Watch Out For
1997, possible first edition, published by Firebrand Books
Alison Bechdel
Hot, Throbbing Dykes to Watch Out For
Bought new for $10.95
Slightly worn paperback
B
This is the collection that introduces Thea's annoying ex, whom Mo starts dating. Clarice and Toni's relationship goes through some rocky spots, not helped by new babysitter Carlos (the first significant gay male in the comic), but ending with Clarice adopting Raffi (yes, with two F's now), who's becoming more articulate. Meanwhile, Lois takes Prozac, until it interferes with her libido. Ginger finally completes her thesis. And Jezanna reluctantly agrees to a risque fundraiser to save her bookstore. These plots intertwine in the bonus story "Sense & Sensuality." (Yes, Austenmania hit in unlikely places in the mid to late 1990s.)
Again, there's not a lot of politics, although Sydney does bait Mo about Buchanan's populism, just to hear her rant. But, yes, the personal is political, and as the title suggests, this is a book about relationships, carnal and otherwise. The next year's title is more mainstream, Split-Level Dykes to Watch Out For, not that that's not a political statement in itself.
Alison Bechdel
Hot, Throbbing Dykes to Watch Out For
Bought new for $10.95
Slightly worn paperback
B
This is the collection that introduces Thea's annoying ex, whom Mo starts dating. Clarice and Toni's relationship goes through some rocky spots, not helped by new babysitter Carlos (the first significant gay male in the comic), but ending with Clarice adopting Raffi (yes, with two F's now), who's becoming more articulate. Meanwhile, Lois takes Prozac, until it interferes with her libido. Ginger finally completes her thesis. And Jezanna reluctantly agrees to a risque fundraiser to save her bookstore. These plots intertwine in the bonus story "Sense & Sensuality." (Yes, Austenmania hit in unlikely places in the mid to late 1990s.)
Again, there's not a lot of politics, although Sydney does bait Mo about Buchanan's populism, just to hear her rant. But, yes, the personal is political, and as the title suggests, this is a book about relationships, carnal and otherwise. The next year's title is more mainstream, Split-Level Dykes to Watch Out For, not that that's not a political statement in itself.
Tuesday, October 22, 2013
Jane and the Man of the Cloth
1997, paperback Bantam edition from later that year
Stephanie Barron
Jane and the Man of the Cloth
Bought new for $5.99
Worn paperback
B-
On the plus side, there are fewer footnotes than before. And I liked seeing Austen's family, even if Mrs. Austen is a bit Mrs.-Bennet-like. The setting of Lyme and the smuggling plot felt more original than the plot in Scargrave Manor. On the minus side, the classism is even worse, with Jane basically saying that the murder of a poor man is unimportant. Also, I didn't like it when Jane puts down her own writing (of The Watsons) and claims that real life is much more interesting. Sorry, Barron, you're not creating better characters or more intricate plots than Jane herself. Still, it's a respectable follow-up, itself succeeded by Jane and the Wandering Eye (1998)....
Stephanie Barron
Jane and the Man of the Cloth
Bought new for $5.99
Worn paperback
B-
On the plus side, there are fewer footnotes than before. And I liked seeing Austen's family, even if Mrs. Austen is a bit Mrs.-Bennet-like. The setting of Lyme and the smuggling plot felt more original than the plot in Scargrave Manor. On the minus side, the classism is even worse, with Jane basically saying that the murder of a poor man is unimportant. Also, I didn't like it when Jane puts down her own writing (of The Watsons) and claims that real life is much more interesting. Sorry, Barron, you're not creating better characters or more intricate plots than Jane herself. Still, it's a respectable follow-up, itself succeeded by Jane and the Wandering Eye (1998)....
"Schoolhouse Rock!": The Official Guide
1996, first edition, from Hyperion
Tom Yohe and George Newall
Schoolhouse Rock!: The Official Guide
Bought new for $9.95
Slightly worn paperback
B-
The co-creators of the long-running ABC-TV animated shorts reproduce the lyrics to all forty songs, with a few color stills and some background information. I don't remember the songs as well as I did at the time I got this book, but it did bring back some memories. The authors acknowledge the dated aspects of some segments, from "Manifest Destiny" in "Elbow Room" to the "more-or-less mistaken belief that children had a fear of computers, when in actuality it was most adults who had to cross the threshold. Kids took to computers like ducks to water." But they're also understandably proud of how they taught kids of Generation X about, yes, how a bill becomes a law, and that a noun is a person, place, and thing. Reading the book this time, I was most struck by how the music wasn't necessarily rock per se, but had country, folk, funk, blues, and jazz influences.
Tom Yohe and George Newall
Schoolhouse Rock!: The Official Guide
Bought new for $9.95
Slightly worn paperback
B-
The co-creators of the long-running ABC-TV animated shorts reproduce the lyrics to all forty songs, with a few color stills and some background information. I don't remember the songs as well as I did at the time I got this book, but it did bring back some memories. The authors acknowledge the dated aspects of some segments, from "Manifest Destiny" in "Elbow Room" to the "more-or-less mistaken belief that children had a fear of computers, when in actuality it was most adults who had to cross the threshold. Kids took to computers like ducks to water." But they're also understandably proud of how they taught kids of Generation X about, yes, how a bill becomes a law, and that a noun is a person, place, and thing. Reading the book this time, I was most struck by how the music wasn't necessarily rock per se, but had country, folk, funk, blues, and jazz influences.
Monday, October 21, 2013
MAD About the Seventies
1996, first edition, from Little, Brown and Company
Compiled and interior design by Grant Geissman (but yes, being alphabetized under M for MAD)
MAD About the Seventies: The Best of the Decade by "The Usual Gang of Idiots"
Original price $19.95, purchase price unknown
Worn paperback
C+
If this actually were the best of the decade in which I became a MAD reader, I'd rate it higher. But I didn't really feel like there was anything classic here. (One of the best things I ever saw in MAD was their pairing of quotes from Watergate and Alice in Wonderland, but it's not here. Nor is their classic Diff'rent Jokes parody, although that might've been from 1980.) I'd start warming up to the book a bit, and then there would be something offensive. (Could Dick DeBartolo not have said something to Larry Siegel when the Star Roars parody they cowrote has "a fag robot"?) Ironically, one the things that Geissman thinks wouldn't work twenty years later because of political correctness, the feature about the futility of arguing with a bigot, is actually still pertinent.
The look of the book is nice, with color sections for things like issue covers. The dimensions are the same as an issue, although of course much thicker. It's not a bad collection, but it didn't make me laugh.
Compiled and interior design by Grant Geissman (but yes, being alphabetized under M for MAD)
MAD About the Seventies: The Best of the Decade by "The Usual Gang of Idiots"
Original price $19.95, purchase price unknown
Worn paperback
C+
If this actually were the best of the decade in which I became a MAD reader, I'd rate it higher. But I didn't really feel like there was anything classic here. (One of the best things I ever saw in MAD was their pairing of quotes from Watergate and Alice in Wonderland, but it's not here. Nor is their classic Diff'rent Jokes parody, although that might've been from 1980.) I'd start warming up to the book a bit, and then there would be something offensive. (Could Dick DeBartolo not have said something to Larry Siegel when the Star Roars parody they cowrote has "a fag robot"?) Ironically, one the things that Geissman thinks wouldn't work twenty years later because of political correctness, the feature about the futility of arguing with a bigot, is actually still pertinent.
The look of the book is nice, with color sections for things like issue covers. The dimensions are the same as an issue, although of course much thicker. It's not a bad collection, but it didn't make me laugh.
How Stella Got Her Groove Back
1996, 1998 Signet movie-tie-in edition
Terry McMillan
How Stella Got Her Groove Back
Original price $7.99, purchase price $1.98
Falling apart paperback
C-
As with Bridget Jones's Diary, the background to this novel is more interesting than the book, in this case quite a bit more interesting. Middle-aged McMillan was inspired by her own romance with a young local man she met while on vacation in Jamaica. They got married the year this edition (and the movie) came out, but he later told her he was gay, and, well, let's just say that McMillan did not end up as happily divorced as Fran Drescher.
As for the book, well, I will admit that the actual romance parts of it are good. (McMillan can make even kissing sound very lush and steamy.) Unfortunately, I didn't care about the people in the romance, Stella and Winston. He's offpage much more than he's around, but we get far too much of Stella. I don't know if she's reflecting McMillan's own opinions, or if McMillan decided to make her an unreliable and unpleasant narrator, but Stella rambles on (often comma-less) about everything from her taste in music and literature (the moment when she dismisses Waiting to Exhale feels less earned than when Sinclair Lewis would mock himself 50 to 70 years earlier), to her seriously weird body issues. On the one hand, she thinks women's genitalia stink and she "sprays" herself as often as possible. On the other hand, she adores men's bodies, as long as they're not too white, fat, and/or old (over 50). At one point, she asks her eleven-year-old son about his "little unit," including how big it is. He shows her his pubic hair!
The "groove" in the title is not only Stella's love life (which has lately consisted of sex with a married man she dislikes), but also her work life. The latter is neatly resolved when she's fired from her corporate job that she doesn't care about, except for the money, and eventually decides to design furniture, at Winston's encouragement, although the reader probably thought of it 300 or 400 pages earlier.
When I said that McMillan does well with romance, I mostly meant the physical, swoony side. Unfortunately, she makes Stella (who brags about her confidence) incredibly insecure, ready to break up with Winston whenever he's late or he doesn't call when she expects, or simply if he hasn't yet told her that day that he adores her. She thinks she's being tough and independent, but she comes across as a worse basketcase than Bridget Jones, and that's saying something. A divorced 42-year-old woman, one who has other men throwing themselves at her throughout the novel, should really know better. Alas, I don't think McMillan knew any more than her protagonist.
You can see why I find Once More with Feeling, where characters actually communicate and act like adults, my favorite chick-lit book so far.
Terry McMillan
How Stella Got Her Groove Back
Original price $7.99, purchase price $1.98
Falling apart paperback
C-
As with Bridget Jones's Diary, the background to this novel is more interesting than the book, in this case quite a bit more interesting. Middle-aged McMillan was inspired by her own romance with a young local man she met while on vacation in Jamaica. They got married the year this edition (and the movie) came out, but he later told her he was gay, and, well, let's just say that McMillan did not end up as happily divorced as Fran Drescher.
As for the book, well, I will admit that the actual romance parts of it are good. (McMillan can make even kissing sound very lush and steamy.) Unfortunately, I didn't care about the people in the romance, Stella and Winston. He's offpage much more than he's around, but we get far too much of Stella. I don't know if she's reflecting McMillan's own opinions, or if McMillan decided to make her an unreliable and unpleasant narrator, but Stella rambles on (often comma-less) about everything from her taste in music and literature (the moment when she dismisses Waiting to Exhale feels less earned than when Sinclair Lewis would mock himself 50 to 70 years earlier), to her seriously weird body issues. On the one hand, she thinks women's genitalia stink and she "sprays" herself as often as possible. On the other hand, she adores men's bodies, as long as they're not too white, fat, and/or old (over 50). At one point, she asks her eleven-year-old son about his "little unit," including how big it is. He shows her his pubic hair!
The "groove" in the title is not only Stella's love life (which has lately consisted of sex with a married man she dislikes), but also her work life. The latter is neatly resolved when she's fired from her corporate job that she doesn't care about, except for the money, and eventually decides to design furniture, at Winston's encouragement, although the reader probably thought of it 300 or 400 pages earlier.
When I said that McMillan does well with romance, I mostly meant the physical, swoony side. Unfortunately, she makes Stella (who brags about her confidence) incredibly insecure, ready to break up with Winston whenever he's late or he doesn't call when she expects, or simply if he hasn't yet told her that day that he adores her. She thinks she's being tough and independent, but she comes across as a worse basketcase than Bridget Jones, and that's saying something. A divorced 42-year-old woman, one who has other men throwing themselves at her throughout the novel, should really know better. Alas, I don't think McMillan knew any more than her protagonist.
You can see why I find Once More with Feeling, where characters actually communicate and act like adults, my favorite chick-lit book so far.
Sunday, October 20, 2013
Hi Bob!: A Self-Help Guide to "The Bob Newhart Show"
1996, first edition, from St. Martin's Press
Joey Green
Hi Bob!: A Self-Help Guide to The Bob Newhart Show
Bought new for $14.95
Worn paperback
B
This equally as good as Green's Gilligan's Island book. Green had the disadvantage of Newhart refusing to be interviewed, but everyone else seems to have been cooperative, many of them enthusiastic. The cast was justifiably proud of the show, which incredibly was never nominated for an Emmy in six years. Green, as usual, has his own insights, including on Dr. Hartley's various neuroses. Green himself might seem obsessive to some, but I enjoy him pointing out contradictions in, for instance, how long the Hartleys have known Howard.
This book of course came out after Newhart's '80s series, where Tom Poston was a regular, but Poston made a few appearances on BNS as Bob's college chum Peeper. Five years after this book, Poston married Suzanne Pleshette. (They'd dated back in the '50s.) He died in '07, she the following year. Newhart is still alive at 84 and doesn't seem to have aged much in the past 50 years. As for Green, it appears he mostly writes household hints books these days.
Joey Green
Hi Bob!: A Self-Help Guide to The Bob Newhart Show
Bought new for $14.95
Worn paperback
B
This equally as good as Green's Gilligan's Island book. Green had the disadvantage of Newhart refusing to be interviewed, but everyone else seems to have been cooperative, many of them enthusiastic. The cast was justifiably proud of the show, which incredibly was never nominated for an Emmy in six years. Green, as usual, has his own insights, including on Dr. Hartley's various neuroses. Green himself might seem obsessive to some, but I enjoy him pointing out contradictions in, for instance, how long the Hartleys have known Howard.
This book of course came out after Newhart's '80s series, where Tom Poston was a regular, but Poston made a few appearances on BNS as Bob's college chum Peeper. Five years after this book, Poston married Suzanne Pleshette. (They'd dated back in the '50s.) He died in '07, she the following year. Newhart is still alive at 84 and doesn't seem to have aged much in the past 50 years. As for Green, it appears he mostly writes household hints books these days.
Bridget Jones's Diary
1996, 1999 Penguin edition
Helen Fielding
Bridget Jones's Diary
Possibly bought newish for $12.95
Worn paperback
B-
Sure, everyone knows this was loosely inspired by Austen's Pride and Prejudice (Bridget points out the irony of a snooty Mr. Darcy at a party), but has anyone ever noticed that there may be parallels to Henry Fielding's Tom Jones? Besides the coincidence of names, both Joneses are sexually promiscuous, often falling for people they know are bad for them. Then a good-looking and honest (in every sense) potential love interest comes along for each, initially dismissed but eventually won as the Right Person. True, Bridget is female and not a foundling (she only wishes she was abandoned by her mother, who's actually more embarrassing than Mrs. Bennet), but it might be worth pursuing in a doctoral thesis on chick-lit's relationship to classic fiction.
Or is this not chick-lit? I ask because Bridget is such an extreme, well, loser-- although of course attractive to handsome men-- that I can't tell how much this book is parody. Take the diary format. Each entry begins with Bridget tracking how she's doing on losing weight, giving up smoking and drinking, etc., but as the year's summary shows, she ends up basically where she started. She doesn't seem capable of doing anything right, and yet her bungling is meant to make her lovable.
At this point, we'd better talk about the first movie (from 2001). Not only is Colin Firth cast as Mark Darcy, but Hugh Grant is Daniel, and one of the best lines in the book is when Bridget's post-Daniel boss asks how HG survived the blow-job-by-prostitute scandal, and Bridget replies that somebody must've swallowed the evidence. And the movie is directed by Sharon Maguire, who inspired my favorite character, Bridget's feminist-ranter friend Sharon. So there are a lot of layers here, and of course BJD started as a newspaper column. (The dates in this novel match those of 1995, which does fit the parts about Firth and Grant.)
And, yeah, quite coincidentally there's a new novel out now. But, setting the background aside, I didn't think the book was as good as High Fidelity, although about on a level with Watermelon. I could relate to some of Bridget's idiocy about men. (I was 28 when the book came out, but that wasn't much younger than Bridget's thirties.) But even at my worst, I've never been this much of a screw-up. (Few women have.) Also, the book didn't seem as funny and outrageous as it once did.
One thing I liked was that the "Smug Married" people aren't any happier than the "Singletons." That beats the '80s stereotypes of desperate single girls and contented wives. (Or '70s stereotypes of contented single girls and desperate wives of course.) It's obviously a very '90s book-- Bridget and Daniel flirt via the work email-- but, perhaps because it's British, there's none of the optimism of some '90s writers.
Stay tuned for Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason in 1999....
Helen Fielding
Bridget Jones's Diary
Possibly bought newish for $12.95
Worn paperback
B-
Sure, everyone knows this was loosely inspired by Austen's Pride and Prejudice (Bridget points out the irony of a snooty Mr. Darcy at a party), but has anyone ever noticed that there may be parallels to Henry Fielding's Tom Jones? Besides the coincidence of names, both Joneses are sexually promiscuous, often falling for people they know are bad for them. Then a good-looking and honest (in every sense) potential love interest comes along for each, initially dismissed but eventually won as the Right Person. True, Bridget is female and not a foundling (she only wishes she was abandoned by her mother, who's actually more embarrassing than Mrs. Bennet), but it might be worth pursuing in a doctoral thesis on chick-lit's relationship to classic fiction.
Or is this not chick-lit? I ask because Bridget is such an extreme, well, loser-- although of course attractive to handsome men-- that I can't tell how much this book is parody. Take the diary format. Each entry begins with Bridget tracking how she's doing on losing weight, giving up smoking and drinking, etc., but as the year's summary shows, she ends up basically where she started. She doesn't seem capable of doing anything right, and yet her bungling is meant to make her lovable.
At this point, we'd better talk about the first movie (from 2001). Not only is Colin Firth cast as Mark Darcy, but Hugh Grant is Daniel, and one of the best lines in the book is when Bridget's post-Daniel boss asks how HG survived the blow-job-by-prostitute scandal, and Bridget replies that somebody must've swallowed the evidence. And the movie is directed by Sharon Maguire, who inspired my favorite character, Bridget's feminist-ranter friend Sharon. So there are a lot of layers here, and of course BJD started as a newspaper column. (The dates in this novel match those of 1995, which does fit the parts about Firth and Grant.)
And, yeah, quite coincidentally there's a new novel out now. But, setting the background aside, I didn't think the book was as good as High Fidelity, although about on a level with Watermelon. I could relate to some of Bridget's idiocy about men. (I was 28 when the book came out, but that wasn't much younger than Bridget's thirties.) But even at my worst, I've never been this much of a screw-up. (Few women have.) Also, the book didn't seem as funny and outrageous as it once did.
One thing I liked was that the "Smug Married" people aren't any happier than the "Singletons." That beats the '80s stereotypes of desperate single girls and contented wives. (Or '70s stereotypes of contented single girls and desperate wives of course.) It's obviously a very '90s book-- Bridget and Daniel flirt via the work email-- but, perhaps because it's British, there's none of the optimism of some '90s writers.
Stay tuned for Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason in 1999....
Saturday, October 19, 2013
Enter Whining
1996, 1997 Harper edition
Fran Drescher
Enter Whining
Original price $6.99, purchase price $3.50
Very worn paperback
B-
Drescher writes like she talks, no, not nasally, but she'll write, for instance, "I'm tellin' ya." The book isn't whiny in the sense that she's complaining. She's actually very upbeat, although she'll admit when she faces failure, as she did often (she was cast in Ishtar and then dropped), before clicking with The Nanny, which premiered in '93 and continued on till '99. I watched it sporadically, and I wouldn't say I'm a huge fan, but I like her. This book focuses mostly on her career, and isn't good about listing years, but it seemed like there wasn't much on her life before she met high-school sweetheart husband Peter Marc Jacobson, who went on to produce her hit series.
They divorced in '99, and then he came out to her as gay, leading eventually to another series that he produced and she starred in, Happily Divorced. It ran from 2011 to '13, but I've never seen it.
Fran Drescher
Enter Whining
Original price $6.99, purchase price $3.50
Very worn paperback
B-
Drescher writes like she talks, no, not nasally, but she'll write, for instance, "I'm tellin' ya." The book isn't whiny in the sense that she's complaining. She's actually very upbeat, although she'll admit when she faces failure, as she did often (she was cast in Ishtar and then dropped), before clicking with The Nanny, which premiered in '93 and continued on till '99. I watched it sporadically, and I wouldn't say I'm a huge fan, but I like her. This book focuses mostly on her career, and isn't good about listing years, but it seemed like there wasn't much on her life before she met high-school sweetheart husband Peter Marc Jacobson, who went on to produce her hit series.
They divorced in '99, and then he came out to her as gay, leading eventually to another series that he produced and she starred in, Happily Divorced. It ran from 2011 to '13, but I've never seen it.
Friday, October 18, 2013
A Very Brady Guide to Life
1996, possibly first edition, from Rutledge Hill Press
Jennifer Briggs
A Very Brady Guide to Life: Groovy Solutions to Life's Most Puzzling Dilemmas
Bought new for $7.95
Worn paperback
D+
One of the times I've laughed really hard in a movie theater was at The Brady Bunch Movie (1995). The sequel from the next year wasn't as funny but had its moments (the Brady Kids parody in particular). So that this book has at least as much to do with the movie versions as the TV show (the photos are of the film cast) is not necessarily a bad thing.
Unfortunately, Briggs is often painfully unfunny. Even when she comes up with a joke that works, like about how the Bradys in one episode accidentally come home in a different car than they left in, she kills it by repeating it at least twice. The book has letters from ordinary people, as well as thinly disguised celebrities, e.g. "Knute, somewhere inside the Beltway," and a man who feels Mike's pain. Each Brady gives clueless advice in character, or at least the characters as presented in the movies. Many of the questions are sexual, often involving pregnancy or homosexuality, with no less than three same-sex writers hitting on Alice, Greg, and Peter. I couldn't decide if Briggs was homophobic, since she doesn't know how to tell a joke anyway. (Mike is presented as straight, with an interest in Beebe Gallini, although Robert Reed's death had outed him a few years before.)
Recommended only for the Brady completist.
Jennifer Briggs
A Very Brady Guide to Life: Groovy Solutions to Life's Most Puzzling Dilemmas
Bought new for $7.95
Worn paperback
D+
One of the times I've laughed really hard in a movie theater was at The Brady Bunch Movie (1995). The sequel from the next year wasn't as funny but had its moments (the Brady Kids parody in particular). So that this book has at least as much to do with the movie versions as the TV show (the photos are of the film cast) is not necessarily a bad thing.
Unfortunately, Briggs is often painfully unfunny. Even when she comes up with a joke that works, like about how the Bradys in one episode accidentally come home in a different car than they left in, she kills it by repeating it at least twice. The book has letters from ordinary people, as well as thinly disguised celebrities, e.g. "Knute, somewhere inside the Beltway," and a man who feels Mike's pain. Each Brady gives clueless advice in character, or at least the characters as presented in the movies. Many of the questions are sexual, often involving pregnancy or homosexuality, with no less than three same-sex writers hitting on Alice, Greg, and Peter. I couldn't decide if Briggs was homophobic, since she doesn't know how to tell a joke anyway. (Mike is presented as straight, with an interest in Beebe Gallini, although Robert Reed's death had outed him a few years before.)
Recommended only for the Brady completist.
Thursday, October 17, 2013
The Cat Who Said Cheese
1996, possibly first edition, from G. P. Putnam's Sons
Lilian Jackson Braun
The Cat Who Said Cheese
Original price $22.95, purchase price $1.00
Hardcover in good condition with worn dustjacket
B-
I'm missing the 1995 entry, The Cat Who Blew the Whistle, which I think is about trains. (I got it from the library ages ago.) This book mentions Polly recovering from surgery, so presumably that happened in Whistle. This is set in September and October, I'm guessing the Fall after Breakfast, so this is probably still 1990. The death of one of the Fitch twins is supposed to have happened three years ago, but it's actually more like four and half.
Since I don't remember Whistle too well, I can't tell you if it was the drop in quality that this book is, but I suspect so. Not that it's a bad mystery or anything, but the thing of "Mr. Q" being the most popular man in the county is beginning to get annoying. He of course gets the highest bid in the bachelor & bachelorette auction. Everyone raves about his writing. The new banker's bimbo wife of course loves his moustache. And so on.
Also, there's a "foreign-looking" woman whom everyone gossips about, and it turns out she's being stalked, so the nosiness has a particularly unpleasant undertone. She, Onoosh, returns I think, as do some of the other restaurateurs and other "foodies" introduced here. The cheese is mostly literal, although Bushy does unsuccessfully try to take pictures of Qwill's cats again. (They have no problem with video though, so you'd think he could get stills that way.)
The Cat Who Tailed a Thief is coming up in 1997....
Lilian Jackson Braun
The Cat Who Said Cheese
Original price $22.95, purchase price $1.00
Hardcover in good condition with worn dustjacket
B-
I'm missing the 1995 entry, The Cat Who Blew the Whistle, which I think is about trains. (I got it from the library ages ago.) This book mentions Polly recovering from surgery, so presumably that happened in Whistle. This is set in September and October, I'm guessing the Fall after Breakfast, so this is probably still 1990. The death of one of the Fitch twins is supposed to have happened three years ago, but it's actually more like four and half.
Since I don't remember Whistle too well, I can't tell you if it was the drop in quality that this book is, but I suspect so. Not that it's a bad mystery or anything, but the thing of "Mr. Q" being the most popular man in the county is beginning to get annoying. He of course gets the highest bid in the bachelor & bachelorette auction. Everyone raves about his writing. The new banker's bimbo wife of course loves his moustache. And so on.
Also, there's a "foreign-looking" woman whom everyone gossips about, and it turns out she's being stalked, so the nosiness has a particularly unpleasant undertone. She, Onoosh, returns I think, as do some of the other restaurateurs and other "foodies" introduced here. The cheese is mostly literal, although Bushy does unsuccessfully try to take pictures of Qwill's cats again. (They have no problem with video though, so you'd think he could get stills that way.)
The Cat Who Tailed a Thief is coming up in 1997....
Once More with Feeling
1996, possibly first edition, from Ballantine
Cynthia Blair
Once More with Feeling
Original price $5.99, purchase price 49 cents
Very worn paperback
B
This is one of my favorite chick-lit novels, although admittedly it's not a genre I've read much of. There are two things I particularly like about it. One, that it's about a woman, Laura, who goes through a divorce and gains both self-esteem and a nice new boyfriend (no career change, but she's happy as a children's author), so it's not just a romance, and arguably her relationships with best friends Claire and Julie are much more important than her romance with Cam (who doesn't even show up till about two-thirds of the way into the book). And two, I like all the topical references. That many of them are now dated adds to the charm. (The funniest was about a jigsaw puzzle with Snoopy and Woodstock having a "meaningful dialogue," and it's not like that was '90s-specific, compared to the mentions of TMNT.) Blair is very witty, yet she has enough realism that we feel for what Laura's going through.
That said, Laura was a bit Yuppie for my tastes, too worried about things being tacky, from her brother-in-law's contributions to her wedding (told in flashback) to the suggestive art at an Indian restaurant. Also, Cam was too much Mr. Perfect, like when he helps her move and then has her rest while he unpacks boxes and orders Chinese. (At least he didn't cook!) I thought it was interesting that her friends' romances are more flawed, although Claire is the one who gets married in the last chapter. Her eight-year-old son's adjustment to the divorce was glossed over a bit. Yes, it's mentioned a few times but not enough.
Overall, I enjoy the book enough that for years I've been hoping to run across another of Blair's books. It doesn't help that, one, she has a forgettable name, and two, her titles are forgettable. (There's not even a title-drop in this one, so I never remember what it's called, and her most famous book is apparently Temptation, yawn.)
Cynthia Blair
Once More with Feeling
Original price $5.99, purchase price 49 cents
Very worn paperback
B
This is one of my favorite chick-lit novels, although admittedly it's not a genre I've read much of. There are two things I particularly like about it. One, that it's about a woman, Laura, who goes through a divorce and gains both self-esteem and a nice new boyfriend (no career change, but she's happy as a children's author), so it's not just a romance, and arguably her relationships with best friends Claire and Julie are much more important than her romance with Cam (who doesn't even show up till about two-thirds of the way into the book). And two, I like all the topical references. That many of them are now dated adds to the charm. (The funniest was about a jigsaw puzzle with Snoopy and Woodstock having a "meaningful dialogue," and it's not like that was '90s-specific, compared to the mentions of TMNT.) Blair is very witty, yet she has enough realism that we feel for what Laura's going through.
That said, Laura was a bit Yuppie for my tastes, too worried about things being tacky, from her brother-in-law's contributions to her wedding (told in flashback) to the suggestive art at an Indian restaurant. Also, Cam was too much Mr. Perfect, like when he helps her move and then has her rest while he unpacks boxes and orders Chinese. (At least he didn't cook!) I thought it was interesting that her friends' romances are more flawed, although Claire is the one who gets married in the last chapter. Her eight-year-old son's adjustment to the divorce was glossed over a bit. Yes, it's mentioned a few times but not enough.
Overall, I enjoy the book enough that for years I've been hoping to run across another of Blair's books. It doesn't help that, one, she has a forgettable name, and two, her titles are forgettable. (There's not even a title-drop in this one, so I never remember what it's called, and her most famous book is apparently Temptation, yawn.)
Tuesday, October 15, 2013
Henry VIII and His Wives: Paper Dolls
1996 or 1972 (see below)
Copyright by Bellerophon Books
Henry VIII and His Wives: Paper Dolls to Cut out and Color
Original price $4.95 cents, purchase price unknown
Worn paperback
B-
Although it says, "Copyright 1996 by Belleroophon Books," that copyright may actually apply to the Queen Elizabeth I Paper Dolls advertised in the front. And the title page says, in very small font, "Copyright 1972 by Bellerophon Books." So this probably should've gone in the 1970s. Oh well.
I like the paper dolls, some of the gowns in particular having lovely detail. Nothing has been cut or colored. It seems an odd book to get for a child, partly because of the historical bits scattered throughout, not to mention the (rather bad) poetry from the likes of Skelton and Henry himself.
As for the history, check out this from the Catherine Howard section: "...She became quite friendly with young men....She became quite friendly with her cousin, Thomas Culpepper....News of Catherine's adventures soon reached the king, who was unable, at first, to believe what he was told." These adventures being her "friendliness." Either a child old enough to play with paper dolls would be too ignorant of sex and/or history to understand, or she/he would scoff at the euphemisms.
Or how about this? "Henry VIII was crafty and brutal and an absolute ruler....He was a respected king, however, and even popular...." Still, I give them points for trying to explain a complex time and set of people to such an unlikely audience.
Copyright by Bellerophon Books
Henry VIII and His Wives: Paper Dolls to Cut out and Color
Original price $4.95 cents, purchase price unknown
Worn paperback
B-
Although it says, "Copyright 1996 by Belleroophon Books," that copyright may actually apply to the Queen Elizabeth I Paper Dolls advertised in the front. And the title page says, in very small font, "Copyright 1972 by Bellerophon Books." So this probably should've gone in the 1970s. Oh well.
I like the paper dolls, some of the gowns in particular having lovely detail. Nothing has been cut or colored. It seems an odd book to get for a child, partly because of the historical bits scattered throughout, not to mention the (rather bad) poetry from the likes of Skelton and Henry himself.
As for the history, check out this from the Catherine Howard section: "...She became quite friendly with young men....She became quite friendly with her cousin, Thomas Culpepper....News of Catherine's adventures soon reached the king, who was unable, at first, to believe what he was told." These adventures being her "friendliness." Either a child old enough to play with paper dolls would be too ignorant of sex and/or history to understand, or she/he would scoff at the euphemisms.
Or how about this? "Henry VIII was crafty and brutal and an absolute ruler....He was a respected king, however, and even popular...." Still, I give them points for trying to explain a complex time and set of people to such an unlikely audience.
Jane and the Unpleasantness at Scargrave Manor
1996, 1997 Bantam edition
Stephanie Barron
Jane and the Unpleasantness at Scargrave Manor
Bought new for $5.99
Worn paperback
B-
The first in the Jane Austen Mystery series, this pretends to be a heavily footnoted reproduction of recently discovered journals of Austen's. The footnotes are easily the weakest aspect, although not the only flaw. I found the classism annoying, and ironically much stronger than anything in Austen's writing. I never quite bought "Jane" as Austen, but if you can get past that, and just see it as a very early 19th century mystery (set the winter of 1802-03), it's not bad. The plot twists are fairly well done and there's a good mix of characters. The settings, mostly the manor but also in London, add to the drama.
I liked the book enough to go on to read a few of the sequels, so Jane and the Man of the Cloth will be coming up in 1997....
Stephanie Barron
Jane and the Unpleasantness at Scargrave Manor
Bought new for $5.99
Worn paperback
B-
The first in the Jane Austen Mystery series, this pretends to be a heavily footnoted reproduction of recently discovered journals of Austen's. The footnotes are easily the weakest aspect, although not the only flaw. I found the classism annoying, and ironically much stronger than anything in Austen's writing. I never quite bought "Jane" as Austen, but if you can get past that, and just see it as a very early 19th century mystery (set the winter of 1802-03), it's not bad. The plot twists are fairly well done and there's a good mix of characters. The settings, mostly the manor but also in London, add to the drama.
I liked the book enough to go on to read a few of the sequels, so Jane and the Man of the Cloth will be coming up in 1997....
Monday, October 14, 2013
Alias Grace: A Novel
1996, 1997 G.K. Hall large-print edition
Margaret Atwood
Alias Grace: A Novel
Original and purchase price unknown
Hardcover with wrinkled pages
B-
Even for Atwood, this is a strange novel. Not so much because it's based on a real-life murder case, but because one, Atwood doesn't take sides (you'll have no more clue of Grace's guilt and/or innocence by the end than at the beginning), and two, the really disturbing thoughts and behavior belong to the men, in particular Dr. Simon Jordan. I think Atwood is making a point about how men (some men? all? in the Victorian period? now?) view women, wanting them to be both virgins and whores, victims and villainesses. But, as in her other books, The Handmaid's Tale (1985) in particular, women seem to collaborate in their own oppression, and exploit it for its own ends.
I would've given the book a C+, but I got a kick out of Simon's mother. She's like a Thackeray character crossed with an Austen character, with maybe a dash of Wilde, all her letters harping on the same themes: the need for Simon to settle down with her friend's daughter, and the wisdom of investing in sewing machines. (The book is mostly set in 1859.) She's not only right, but she's funny. I kept wanting to read a book about her instead. Too bad Atwood seems to have mostly abandoned the farce of The Edible Woman (1969) and Lady Oracle (1976). This is the last of her books I own, but none of her later works sound like they'd be that amusing.
Margaret Atwood
Alias Grace: A Novel
Original and purchase price unknown
Hardcover with wrinkled pages
B-
Even for Atwood, this is a strange novel. Not so much because it's based on a real-life murder case, but because one, Atwood doesn't take sides (you'll have no more clue of Grace's guilt and/or innocence by the end than at the beginning), and two, the really disturbing thoughts and behavior belong to the men, in particular Dr. Simon Jordan. I think Atwood is making a point about how men (some men? all? in the Victorian period? now?) view women, wanting them to be both virgins and whores, victims and villainesses. But, as in her other books, The Handmaid's Tale (1985) in particular, women seem to collaborate in their own oppression, and exploit it for its own ends.
I would've given the book a C+, but I got a kick out of Simon's mother. She's like a Thackeray character crossed with an Austen character, with maybe a dash of Wilde, all her letters harping on the same themes: the need for Simon to settle down with her friend's daughter, and the wisdom of investing in sewing machines. (The book is mostly set in 1859.) She's not only right, but she's funny. I kept wanting to read a book about her instead. Too bad Atwood seems to have mostly abandoned the farce of The Edible Woman (1969) and Lady Oracle (1976). This is the last of her books I own, but none of her later works sound like they'd be that amusing.
Sunday, October 13, 2013
The Highly Sensitive Person
1996, 1997 Broadway Books edition
Elaine N. Aron, Ph. D
The Highly Sensitive Person: How to Thrive When the World Overwhelms You
Possibly bought newish for $14.00
Worn paperback
C+
In my review of The Path of Least Resistance (1989), I said, "I don't find self-help books helpful." This book is a partial exception. I appreciate Aron celebrating qualities that are often belittled, the various aspects of sensitivity. However, on this my third or fourth reading, I found myself very tense by the end. (The last time I read it, I posted on Facebook that the book made me cry.) Instead of providing coping strategies to thrive, I felt like the book was instead bringing up painful memories, without ways to deal with them. Her advice on dealing with loud noises, crowds, and the like is more useful, but I think she's blurring environmental sensitivity with emotional sensitivity.
Marginal recommendation, and make sure you read it in a soothing place, not partially on the bus, with a loud seatmate exclaiming, "A book! I thought everyone had a Kindle these days!"
Elaine N. Aron, Ph. D
The Highly Sensitive Person: How to Thrive When the World Overwhelms You
Possibly bought newish for $14.00
Worn paperback
C+
In my review of The Path of Least Resistance (1989), I said, "I don't find self-help books helpful." This book is a partial exception. I appreciate Aron celebrating qualities that are often belittled, the various aspects of sensitivity. However, on this my third or fourth reading, I found myself very tense by the end. (The last time I read it, I posted on Facebook that the book made me cry.) Instead of providing coping strategies to thrive, I felt like the book was instead bringing up painful memories, without ways to deal with them. Her advice on dealing with loud noises, crowds, and the like is more useful, but I think she's blurring environmental sensitivity with emotional sensitivity.
Marginal recommendation, and make sure you read it in a soothing place, not partially on the bus, with a loud seatmate exclaiming, "A book! I thought everyone had a Kindle these days!"
Friday, October 11, 2013
The Queening of America: Gay Culture in Straight Society
1995, possibly first edition, from Routledge
David Van Leer
The Queening of America: Gay Culture in Straight Society
Possibly bought newish for $12.99
Worn paperback
B
Van Leer looks at the ways that "gay culture" impacts "straight society," and vice versa. His examples go from the low culture of Hollywood Squares, to middlebrow culture like Damn Yankees, to academic approaches to the topic of AIDS. I'm not sure how well the book hangs together, or if Van Leer proves a thesis as such, but it's always an interesting read, looking at language and appearance in particular. I think this is a good example of a nonfiction book that gets a B rather than a B+. B+s make me go "Wow!", while B's make me go, "Hm."
It's a very '90s book in the way it looks back at the "post-war" era (roughly 1945 to '69), as well as the "liberated 1970s" and the "reactionary 1980s" (my terminology, he might disagree). There's distance, but not as much as now of course. For instance, he talks about the generational differences for middle-aged gay men who'd lost many friends to AIDS, as opposed to younger gay men who grew up with the threat of the disease as an aspect of their sexuality. He doesn't ignore lesbians, and one of the most interesting sections is on Larsen's Passing. He's very good at finding layers of meaning, even in something like a Paul Lynde quip, or the works of Patrick Dennis. I of course enjoyed the pop-culture stuff most, but I could see how the "higher" culture relates to it.
David Van Leer
The Queening of America: Gay Culture in Straight Society
Possibly bought newish for $12.99
Worn paperback
B
Van Leer looks at the ways that "gay culture" impacts "straight society," and vice versa. His examples go from the low culture of Hollywood Squares, to middlebrow culture like Damn Yankees, to academic approaches to the topic of AIDS. I'm not sure how well the book hangs together, or if Van Leer proves a thesis as such, but it's always an interesting read, looking at language and appearance in particular. I think this is a good example of a nonfiction book that gets a B rather than a B+. B+s make me go "Wow!", while B's make me go, "Hm."
It's a very '90s book in the way it looks back at the "post-war" era (roughly 1945 to '69), as well as the "liberated 1970s" and the "reactionary 1980s" (my terminology, he might disagree). There's distance, but not as much as now of course. For instance, he talks about the generational differences for middle-aged gay men who'd lost many friends to AIDS, as opposed to younger gay men who grew up with the threat of the disease as an aspect of their sexuality. He doesn't ignore lesbians, and one of the most interesting sections is on Larsen's Passing. He's very good at finding layers of meaning, even in something like a Paul Lynde quip, or the works of Patrick Dennis. I of course enjoyed the pop-culture stuff most, but I could see how the "higher" culture relates to it.
Thursday, October 10, 2013
Ladder of Years
1995, 7th edition from later that year, from Knopf
Anne Tyler
Ladder of Years
Original and/or purchase price unknown
Hardcover in good condition but with worn dust jacket
C+
Tyler's thirteenth novel (the twelfth I'm reviewing) is her weakest since Dinner at the Homesick Restaurant, although not as bad as that. The main character Delia runs away from her life as wife and mother to a new life in a new town, and then runs back to her old life. This in itself isn't necessarily bad (for her or the narrative), except that I never got the sense of what she liked in her old life, other than she finally feels needed there. The problem is, she's also needed in her new life. The fact that she can have two sets of people, not to mention two cats, who forgive her almost without question doesn't sit right with me.
I also found the story anachronistic, and not just because a twelve-year-old boy says "golly." It's a world with CDs and a few other items that seem to be from the late '80s or later, but the little town she moves to feels like it's out of the 1950s, or earlier, making her transition too easy. (She walks right into a lawyer's office and gets a job.) I also felt that, like Helen in Binchy's Glass Lake, only more so, Delia doesn't seem to miss her kids much, and she doesn't have Helen's excuse of running off with her lost love.
Still, I liked the book somewhat, especially things like Rick-Rack's (Tyler is good at imaginary restaurants and stores), and was set to give it a B-, but the ending felt arbitrary. Unlike in Accidental Tourist, where either of Macon's choices is plausible, but he and Tyler make the right one, here neither of Delia's choices feels right, and the one she makes is possibly worse, since it's clear she'll feel restless and neglected again in the future. She tells her husband, "All you had to do was ask," but the narrator admits, "Although, in fact, he still had not asked. Not in so many words." Even in Earthly Possessions, I bought the return to the husband more.
I'm missing the next few Tylers, and I think the next (and last) one I own is Digging to America, which is not till 2006....
Anne Tyler
Ladder of Years
Original and/or purchase price unknown
Hardcover in good condition but with worn dust jacket
C+
Tyler's thirteenth novel (the twelfth I'm reviewing) is her weakest since Dinner at the Homesick Restaurant, although not as bad as that. The main character Delia runs away from her life as wife and mother to a new life in a new town, and then runs back to her old life. This in itself isn't necessarily bad (for her or the narrative), except that I never got the sense of what she liked in her old life, other than she finally feels needed there. The problem is, she's also needed in her new life. The fact that she can have two sets of people, not to mention two cats, who forgive her almost without question doesn't sit right with me.
I also found the story anachronistic, and not just because a twelve-year-old boy says "golly." It's a world with CDs and a few other items that seem to be from the late '80s or later, but the little town she moves to feels like it's out of the 1950s, or earlier, making her transition too easy. (She walks right into a lawyer's office and gets a job.) I also felt that, like Helen in Binchy's Glass Lake, only more so, Delia doesn't seem to miss her kids much, and she doesn't have Helen's excuse of running off with her lost love.
Still, I liked the book somewhat, especially things like Rick-Rack's (Tyler is good at imaginary restaurants and stores), and was set to give it a B-, but the ending felt arbitrary. Unlike in Accidental Tourist, where either of Macon's choices is plausible, but he and Tyler make the right one, here neither of Delia's choices feels right, and the one she makes is possibly worse, since it's clear she'll feel restless and neglected again in the future. She tells her husband, "All you had to do was ask," but the narrator admits, "Although, in fact, he still had not asked. Not in so many words." Even in Earthly Possessions, I bought the return to the husband more.
I'm missing the next few Tylers, and I think the next (and last) one I own is Digging to America, which is not till 2006....
Wednesday, October 9, 2013
The "Sense and Sensibility" Screenplay & Diaries
1995, first edition, from Newmarket Press
Emma Thompson
The "Sense and Sensibility" Screenplay & Diaries: Bringing Jane Austen's Novel to Film
Bought new for $23.95
Hardcover in good condition
B
While not as enjoyable as the film, this is a good companion to it, offering behind-the-scenes glimpses from the screenwriter-star. True, you won't find out absolutely everything-- Thompson is mum about her involvement with Greg Wise, who played Willoughby and whom she eventually married-- but she is generally refreshingly honest, and humble. (She does mention Hugh Grant's arrest, and Gemma Jones's lewd and funny remark on the matter.) My favorite irony is Ang Lee's vow to film "no more sheeps, never again sheeps," a decade before Brokeback Mountain.
I've read the book enough times that I don't enjoy it as much as I used to, although the snark about Morris dancing never gets old. I was going to give it a B-, because there's too much screenplay and not enough diaries, but I think the photographs bump it up a notch. It's probably best to read it after watching the movie, but before listening to the commentary by Thompson and producer Lindsay Doran, which adds details, like that the actor who played Robert Ferrars became Thompson's brother-in-law.
I'm using the "film criticism" tag since Thompson has observations about the making of this and other movies.
Emma Thompson
The "Sense and Sensibility" Screenplay & Diaries: Bringing Jane Austen's Novel to Film
Bought new for $23.95
Hardcover in good condition
B
While not as enjoyable as the film, this is a good companion to it, offering behind-the-scenes glimpses from the screenwriter-star. True, you won't find out absolutely everything-- Thompson is mum about her involvement with Greg Wise, who played Willoughby and whom she eventually married-- but she is generally refreshingly honest, and humble. (She does mention Hugh Grant's arrest, and Gemma Jones's lewd and funny remark on the matter.) My favorite irony is Ang Lee's vow to film "no more sheeps, never again sheeps," a decade before Brokeback Mountain.
I've read the book enough times that I don't enjoy it as much as I used to, although the snark about Morris dancing never gets old. I was going to give it a B-, because there's too much screenplay and not enough diaries, but I think the photographs bump it up a notch. It's probably best to read it after watching the movie, but before listening to the commentary by Thompson and producer Lindsay Doran, which adds details, like that the actor who played Robert Ferrars became Thompson's brother-in-law.
I'm using the "film criticism" tag since Thompson has observations about the making of this and other movies.
Tuesday, October 8, 2013
The Hundred Secret Senses
1995, 1996 Ivy Books edition
Amy Tan
The Hundred Secret Senses
Original price $6.99, purchase price 79 cents
Worn paperback with split spine
B-
Instead of focusing on mothers and daughters, Tan this time presents two half-sisters, both born in the Year of the Monkey (1944 and '56, while I was born in '68), the elder in China, the younger in the U.S. Kwan tells stories (mostly of her past life in the 1860s) from the time Olivia is 6 to roughly the present ('94 I think, since Kwan turns 50). She also tries to reconcile Olivia with her estranged husband, Simon, leading to the three of them going to China together.
I was less drawn in to this book than to the earlier Tan novels, although to balance that there wasn't anything as horrific as in either of those. That's part of why I haven't read any of her later works, along with my just not reading many new novels this century.
Amy Tan
The Hundred Secret Senses
Original price $6.99, purchase price 79 cents
Worn paperback with split spine
B-
Instead of focusing on mothers and daughters, Tan this time presents two half-sisters, both born in the Year of the Monkey (1944 and '56, while I was born in '68), the elder in China, the younger in the U.S. Kwan tells stories (mostly of her past life in the 1860s) from the time Olivia is 6 to roughly the present ('94 I think, since Kwan turns 50). She also tries to reconcile Olivia with her estranged husband, Simon, leading to the three of them going to China together.
I was less drawn in to this book than to the earlier Tan novels, although to balance that there wasn't anything as horrific as in either of those. That's part of why I haven't read any of her later works, along with my just not reading many new novels this century.
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