catching up...
Nov. 4th, 2007 09:02 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
furyofvissarionThe Sons of Heaven - Kage Baker. This is the final book in Baker's Company series, about a group of immortals who go through time saving things that would otherwise be lost, to the great future profit of the mortals who created them. The Company has a concordance of everything that happens in history up to July 2355. After that, nothing. As the Silence, as it's known, approaches, both immortals & mortals in the Company alike get nervous. The immortals have learned a lot about how their mortal masters have screwed them over, torturing, manipulating, & generally ill-treating them. A few rebellions are in the works--at least two immortal groups who feel that humans should be wiped off the earth, one group that doesn't, & the mortals of the Company themselves, trying desperately to save their own hides. Needless to say, lots of wrap up in one book, but Baker does not disappoint. Lots of "Oh shit! Did that just happen?" moments, plus the cynical wit that has permeated the entire series. And my favorite character returns, yay! There's also a fabulously twisted & bizarre love relationship (a love square, I suppose you could call it). And the ending is ambiguous & sort of dubious (in that I don't know if things will work out the way characters assume they will) in a really satisfying way. Woohoo!
Stepping Lightly: Simplicity for People and the Planet - Mark A. Burch. Sort of a run-of-the-mill book on simplicity; I wish Burch did more to address the issue of simplicity for people who are not economically privileged. Also, I get the feeling that, like many books on simplicity, this one comes from a conservative, prissy, puritan viewpoint. Burch, talking about parents who have grown children living @ home b/c of ill fortune in the job market, describes them as having "pierce[d] every orifice in mute, masochistic protest." Uh, because no one ever pierces body parts b/c they like the way it looks or anything. Loser. One section I did like talked about how consumerism "strongly encourages people to live as if they have neither ancestors nor dependents." Historical relics or buildings are only important if they'll provide tourist revenue, & offspring are only important as future consumers. Also, requisite appalling quote from a corporate drone (this time from a Disney executive): "Antisocial behavior in pursuit of a product is a good thing."
Being Vegan: Living with Conscience, Conviction, and Compassion - Joanne Stepaniak. Re-read. This is a question-and-answer guide featuring some of the many questions Stepaniak has received via her website & online column. Topics covered are pretty standard for new vegans: dealing w/family, being vegan on campus or in the workplace, how to deal w/the animal products that pervade pretty much everything from film to motor vehicles, & how to read labels. She also debunks some vegan myths. This is a useful book, & Stepaniak's tone is patient & compassionate.
Arrows of Rain - Okey Ndibe. I picked this up after reading a review on SuperWeed. This is a novel about the fictional African country of Madia, and what happens when someone tries to tell the truth & crack the façade of a military regime. A woman drowns on the beach, early on New Year's Day. A drifter/vagabond known as Bukuru was the last person to see her, & when he reports the unvarnished truth--that soldiers raped her, & that soldiers have been raping prostitutes, or women thought to be prostitutes, on this beach for months--he is taken into custody. Bukuru speaks out because, as his grandmother said, "[A] story that must be told never forgives silence. Speech is the mouth's debt to a story." His life has been shaped by an earlier failure to speak out, which had grave consequences. This was a fast read, & a good one. I wish the prostitutes in the story had been shown more telling their own stories, instead of predominantly being remembered through the telling of their stories by men. Nevertheless, well worth reading.
Rain without Thunder: The Ideology of the Animal Rights Movement - Gary L. Francione. I was sort of hoping for movement gossip from this book, catfights & things. Ha! Well, there are some details on the deep divisions between those who purport to be for animal rights: between what Francione calls the "new welfarists," who believe that advocating for things like "happy meat" (small changes in how animals slaughtered for food are treated, but which still operate under the assumption that these animals are the property of humans), & abolitionists (who advocate for the end of animal use by humans). He explains why new welfarism is problematic ethically; he also talks about how it just doesn't give bright line guidance to its proponents as far as what is ethical behavior. An important read, but sometimes a little bit dry.
The Lifelong Activist: How to Change the World without Losing Your Way - Hillary Rettig. I wish six other people didn't have this on hold @ the library, because I would've liked to have spent more time w/this book, & gone through @ least some of the exercises. Rettig talks about burnout among activists, & how to deal w/it, & how to make a plan for your activism w/in your life--whether that's making activism your career or fitting it in otherwise. She also has some good advice on procrastination, time management, & "marketing" your cause to others. I did think that @ times she was a bit cavalier about money issues/class privilege or lack thereof, tho'.
Choose Peace and Happiness: A 52-Week Guide - Susyn Reeve. False advertising! The back of the book made it sound like this would be a spiritual book that wasn't limited to the religious/those who believe in God. It started out that way, but quickly turned into a series of references to us being children of the Creator, blah blah. Not to mention a lot of the suggestions for activities are v. v. bourgie & pricey. And I have serious issues w/the notion that we choose, say, whether or not we get mugged & stuff like that. Bah. I can't remember how I stumbled upon this book--it would've been better had I not.
Stepping Lightly: Simplicity for People and the Planet - Mark A. Burch. Sort of a run-of-the-mill book on simplicity; I wish Burch did more to address the issue of simplicity for people who are not economically privileged. Also, I get the feeling that, like many books on simplicity, this one comes from a conservative, prissy, puritan viewpoint. Burch, talking about parents who have grown children living @ home b/c of ill fortune in the job market, describes them as having "pierce[d] every orifice in mute, masochistic protest." Uh, because no one ever pierces body parts b/c they like the way it looks or anything. Loser. One section I did like talked about how consumerism "strongly encourages people to live as if they have neither ancestors nor dependents." Historical relics or buildings are only important if they'll provide tourist revenue, & offspring are only important as future consumers. Also, requisite appalling quote from a corporate drone (this time from a Disney executive): "Antisocial behavior in pursuit of a product is a good thing."
Being Vegan: Living with Conscience, Conviction, and Compassion - Joanne Stepaniak. Re-read. This is a question-and-answer guide featuring some of the many questions Stepaniak has received via her website & online column. Topics covered are pretty standard for new vegans: dealing w/family, being vegan on campus or in the workplace, how to deal w/the animal products that pervade pretty much everything from film to motor vehicles, & how to read labels. She also debunks some vegan myths. This is a useful book, & Stepaniak's tone is patient & compassionate.
Arrows of Rain - Okey Ndibe. I picked this up after reading a review on SuperWeed. This is a novel about the fictional African country of Madia, and what happens when someone tries to tell the truth & crack the façade of a military regime. A woman drowns on the beach, early on New Year's Day. A drifter/vagabond known as Bukuru was the last person to see her, & when he reports the unvarnished truth--that soldiers raped her, & that soldiers have been raping prostitutes, or women thought to be prostitutes, on this beach for months--he is taken into custody. Bukuru speaks out because, as his grandmother said, "[A] story that must be told never forgives silence. Speech is the mouth's debt to a story." His life has been shaped by an earlier failure to speak out, which had grave consequences. This was a fast read, & a good one. I wish the prostitutes in the story had been shown more telling their own stories, instead of predominantly being remembered through the telling of their stories by men. Nevertheless, well worth reading.
Rain without Thunder: The Ideology of the Animal Rights Movement - Gary L. Francione. I was sort of hoping for movement gossip from this book, catfights & things. Ha! Well, there are some details on the deep divisions between those who purport to be for animal rights: between what Francione calls the "new welfarists," who believe that advocating for things like "happy meat" (small changes in how animals slaughtered for food are treated, but which still operate under the assumption that these animals are the property of humans), & abolitionists (who advocate for the end of animal use by humans). He explains why new welfarism is problematic ethically; he also talks about how it just doesn't give bright line guidance to its proponents as far as what is ethical behavior. An important read, but sometimes a little bit dry.
The Lifelong Activist: How to Change the World without Losing Your Way - Hillary Rettig. I wish six other people didn't have this on hold @ the library, because I would've liked to have spent more time w/this book, & gone through @ least some of the exercises. Rettig talks about burnout among activists, & how to deal w/it, & how to make a plan for your activism w/in your life--whether that's making activism your career or fitting it in otherwise. She also has some good advice on procrastination, time management, & "marketing" your cause to others. I did think that @ times she was a bit cavalier about money issues/class privilege or lack thereof, tho'.
Choose Peace and Happiness: A 52-Week Guide - Susyn Reeve. False advertising! The back of the book made it sound like this would be a spiritual book that wasn't limited to the religious/those who believe in God. It started out that way, but quickly turned into a series of references to us being children of the Creator, blah blah. Not to mention a lot of the suggestions for activities are v. v. bourgie & pricey. And I have serious issues w/the notion that we choose, say, whether or not we get mugged & stuff like that. Bah. I can't remember how I stumbled upon this book--it would've been better had I not.
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Date: 2007-11-05 04:57 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-11-05 05:02 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-11-06 12:59 am (UTC)Ugh... it's one thing to discuss karma or generally trying to have a positive attitude about the universe, but this kind of thinking really drives me up the wall.
My mom started talking to me about The Secret the other day, and choosing good things vs bad things, and whatever... I was just like, "You've been a cancer nurse for 30 years, and you're willing to buy into the idea that people somehow attract or choose these life events?" Sadly, she didn't really have a good answer for me.
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Date: 2007-11-28 04:25 pm (UTC)