QUIET MINDS: ART SAVES LIVES

03 March 2013

ART SAVES LIVES

2 comments:

Krystal BoothMonday, March 04, 2013 9:13:00 PM
Jan,
I completely appreciate this post and absolutely love it. I would love to hear which of these rules is your favorite, and which do you struggle with the most? For me, everything is an experiment really resonates, and I've been trying to believe and work on number seven.

Thank you so much for posting this!
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16 BOOKS READ January 2013 to now

• THE HUNGER GAMES by Suzanne Collins (2008) is the inspriation for the film, which follows it more faithfully than most movie version. I liked the book at lot, read it fast, and wanted the next novel right off. My only complaint is the writing, which is not great. The author is fond of stylistic use of fragments, a common habit among YA authors that goes a long ways toward explaining why I see the same pattersn in my students' writing.
• FAT KID RULES THE WORLD by K.L. Going (2003) was recommended by a student. It's a lively read and has moments of delight. " 'I always want you around. You're my brother.' In our entire lives I've never said this to him. I've spent years waiting for those exact words and it never once occurred to me to give them away" (158). This lines alone are woth the price.
• BEST AMERICAN ESSAYS 2012 edited by David Books has its ups and downs, but three essays stand out. In one, a Harvard doctor who has focused her career on pharmaceuticals reviews the work of three researchers who question the direction psychiatry has gone in treating depression. A review of all research (including what the FDA is forced to release through the Freedom of Information Act) suggests that we may be doing a great disservice prescribing medication for depression. Another by a well known essayist describes her own decades-long treatment with a variety of anti-depressants, which she declares have forced her to choose between the health of her mind and the health of her body. My book is on loan for the sake of a third essay about the bamboo ceiling that argues Asian Americans are hired but fail to advance for exactly the same reasons—they follow the rules, hold their tongues, and remain silent about their opinions.
• THE GREAT AGNOSTIC: ROBERT INGERSOLL AND AMERICAN FREETHOUGHT by Susan Jacoby (Yale, 2013) argues that Ingersoll deserves his place in American history for restoring Thomas Paine to the pantheon of American patriots, for arguing for the rights of the oppressed including women, for making science and the scientific method transparent, and for his outspoken views on religion, which he insisted had done great harm in the world. The man was a devoted husband and father, honest and honorable, and because of honesty and courage maintained many friends among the clergy despite their differences. It was an interesting book. He supported rights for women and access to birth control, opposed vivisection and capital punishment, supported the poor and protected the weak. He passed in 1899.
THREE MEN IN A BOAT (TO SAY NOTHING OF THE DOG!) by Jerome K. Jerome (1889) is a very funny read. Jerome is compared to P.G. Wodehouse and the connection is clear with the incompetent wealthy class of England. I was curious about this novel because of Connie Wallis' To Say Nothing of the Dog which references this older novel. I laughed out loud and kept reading sections to my husband. "It is a most extraordinary thing, but I never read a patent medicine advertisement without being impelled to the conclusion that I am suffering from the particular disease therein dealt with in its most virulent form.” So he and two of his friends, also concerned for their health, plus his dog (who is perfectly healthy and delights in stirring up more trouble) decide to spend a fortnight boating up the Thames—everything goes wrong but the merriment is nonstop.
• HAVE YOU SEEN MARIE? by Sandra Cisneros (2012) is not what I expected. Last time I was there, I saw it on Powell's shelves, picked it up, and then set it down because I didn't love the illustrations and I thought it was a children's book. The day before yesterday, Tina Hess handed it to me and told me it was wonderful so I opened it again and read it cover to cover. Tina was right. It's not a children's book and I love the illustrations and I nearly cried several times reading it—in a good way. This is about grieving and recovery—something I have experience with. The book is charming and wise and I am the better for having read it.
• STITCHES: A MEMOIR by David Small (2009) is another in a long line of incredible graphic memoirs. Small traces his troubled family history—madness and silence—and I was captivated from the first illustration shown opposite the title page: a little boy dives into the drawing paper on the floor before him. Escape. This is a wonderful tale presented by a powerful illustrator of how a troubled marriage can damage children... also another story (not new to me) of a doctor-father neglecting the health of his own family.
• I SAW A PEACOCK WITH A FIERY TAIL illustrated by Ramsingh Urveti (2012) is a beautiful presentation of a traditional 17th century folk poem—both poem and illustrations acknowledge the puzzle of the words. It is a charming book, delightful to read and to look at, a playbook for adults—nothing "inappropriate, but the wordplay demands a relatively grown audience.
• GRAMMAR GIRL'S 101 WORDS EVERY HIGH SCHOOL GRADUATE NEEDS TO KNOW by Mignon Fogarty (2011) has words for every letter in the alphabet: ad hoc, bellicose, canard... to zeal. My students should know these words, though I do quibble with xeriscape, which I think made the list only because it was the only X word worthy.
• I'VE HEARD THE VULTURE SINGING by Lucia Perilla (2007) is a short collection of memoir essays weaving together the author's knowledge of biology and her MS diagnosis decades earlier. She has a poet's skill at sculpting langauge because aside from her mountain-climbing youth, she was a biologist and has been a poet probably all her life. These essays look at destiny and hope, beyond Prufrock's despair and May Sarton's chosen. She has created a life for herself and shares it with the reader.
• NIGHTINGALE WOOD by Stella Gibbons (1938) is wise in the way people find love. You might know this author because of the sharply ironic and surreal film made from her first novel, Cold Comfort Farm, but the books are always better and this one is splendid—smart, wry, cynical, and sweet. Gibbons understands and reveals truth about people is a way no current author does. You will laugh and you will learn something. It’s the best I’ve read this year.
• THE GIRL WHO CIRCUMNAVIGATED FAIRYLAND IN A SHIP OF HER OWN MAKING by Catherynne M. Valente (2011) is a romp. Even my granddaughter, who carefully paged through to find them, enjoyed the black and white illustrations at the beginning of each chapter. September is bored with her father overseas fighting some war, her mother at work all the time, and the pink-and-yellow teacups, so when she is offered a ride to Fairyland, she jumps. She is warned against giving her full name or eating fairy food, but she's so very hungry—and she meets an astonishing variety of characters. This is an bloody knock-off of L. Frank Baum and as a fan of Baum, I have to say I enjoyed it thoroughly—but maybe it’s best to read it first before sharing with the young-uns.
• VEGAN CUPCAKES TAKE OVER THE WORLD by Isa Chandra Moskowitz and Terry Hope Romero (2006) was a gift from my younger son and daughter because I am making 80 cupcakes for my older son and daughter's ring ceremony in June. I pretty much read this sweet cookbook cover to cover, but I didn't want to review it until I'd tried at least one recipe. The Coconut Lime Cupcakes were tempting, but the recipe I baked this afternoon was the Toasted Coconut Cupcake. Since I wanted to use coconut oil as the fat instead of butter, I was interested in a recipe that exploited the coconut flavor. I put a little organic powdered sugar on top. Next stop: vegan buttercream! I almost never follow others' recipes, but this one was great. The Coconut Lime Cupcakes look like they are worth a try too.
• THE ROUND HOUSE by Louise Erdrich (2012) is a novel with a grand goal of waking up America to the need to treat women better and the very real challenges of reservation life. There is rich cultural context here, authenticity and beauty. I have been a fan of the author for most of my adult life. The story is dramatic and compelling and funny. The choice of a man recalling himself at thirteen is an unexpected choice for a narrator. I read it fast. And yet... I have mixed feelings about the novel. It would make a very good film. It's too complicated to explain the plot, but a couple of turns felt wrong to me. Some of the set-up felt a little forced. I live in a small, highly connected community, so that much I appreciated. But I was sorry that Geraldine was such a victim—not just that she was made a victim, but that she remained one. I still want to see women demanding their place, not being handed over ditches. I guess that's my only real quibble.
• THE WORLD OF A FEW MINUTES AGO by Jack Driscoll (2012) is about love and pain and the ways we survive it all. I was already fgamiliar with most of these stories, having heard Jack read them, or having read them in their original publications, but they were worth my time again. These are not gentle stories, or optimistic stories, but they are all true in the most important way they can be true—to the heart.
• THE SCAR by China Miéville (Ballentine, 2002) is a second and slightly longer story (638 pages) set in the same world as the earlier Perdido Street Station. It begins shortly after the other leaves off, following a different set of characters on another grand adventure. I did not, at first, think I liked it as well but this changed partly because while PSS is a wild ride, I didn't feel it left me with much. Mostly, though, it was the discussion and explanation of the Possible Sword as a device only useful when it is allowed to turn its own way—forcing it, even with skill, is a disaster. It must be allowed to select its own possibilities. That's the way I see creation. At its best it may be pointed in a direction, but the mind must hold it gently, allowing it to flow where it wills.

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03 March 2013

ART SAVES LIVES

2 comments: