Reading Undeterred

Notes of a Dirty Old Man by Charles Bukowski (1969)

noreply@blogger.com (Carlie) — Sat, 07 Jan 2012 23:21:00 +0000

Finished: January 6, 2012

(Fiction – PS3552.U4 N6; 811/.54)

Indeed, Charles Bukowski is a dirty old man. In this collection of essays/stories first published in the newspaper, Open City, Bukowski half rants and half relates. Although it is fiction, there is no mistaking that his writings have the indelible aura of actions and circumstances that could only be auto-biographical. There is a bare cohesion that strings the book together and even that cohesion is a chaos of bum road tours laced with a lot of wine. As he drifts along in alcoholic frenzies, he falls into bed with numerous women that are often crazier than he is. There are occasional actual stories interspersed, but to pin down a plot would be a stretch. I found his stream of consciousness refreshing, and I was repeatedly reminded of Henry Miller. For those drawn to writings of the bum life, addiction, and the general world of miscreants à la Burroughs, Kerouac, Selby, and Thompson, you will find a friend in Bukowski.

Freedom Is Not Enough: The Moynihan Report and America’s Struggle over Black Family Life—from LBJ to Obama by James T. Patterson (2010)

noreply@blogger.com (Carlie) — Thu, 22 Dec 2011 01:33:00 +0000

Finished: December 17, 2011

(Nonfiction – E185.86 .P33; 305.896/073 – dc 22)

Freedom, now as well as in the past, is not enough to secure equality and justice. When dealing with a nation with racism so embedded in the history and psyches of the people, giving the oppressed freedom, whether de facto or de jure, does not guarantee that they will actually be treated non-discriminately. It takes a generation or two to really pull people out of their mindsets of prejudice, not to mention the generation or two it takes for the despondent to gain some considerable social and political traction.

This is what Moynihan was pointing out in his report (in reality a leaked memo meant for government officials), actually titled The Negro Family: The Case for National Action. Substantial government support was needed, according to Moynihan, to stem the dysfunction within black communities, dysfunction caused by racist and economic pressures that drove crime, unemployment, and family splintering. For as meaningful and pressing his position, it was equally misunderstood and admonished.

Almost immediately after the memo was leaked, the backlash against Moynihan and his positions started. Here was a white man discussing black culture and family structure, stating how the current state of the Negro family was dysfunctional and needed to be changed, and that it was so off that the government needed to intervene did not sit well with many black leaders and civil rights activists. Sadly, the overriding sentiment of the report and the possible policy contributions that could be gleaned was lost in a wave of resentment and distrust.

That is not to say that the report did not have an effect on policy reform, however the reform did not pan out the way Moynihan had hoped or intended. When the report was written, women with children were able to procure monetary support from the government but not if they were married. This did nothing to remedy or alleviate the family situation or provide a system in which black men were able to secure employment. In many ways, the welfare system created that which it sought to destroy – broken homes and families dependent on government subsidies. As the years rolled on, subsequent presidential administrations did little to improve the situation.

Patterson’s analysis of the report’s impact on social science was the most striking. The report had the effect of closing off dialogue rather than opening it up. Based on the initial reactions to the report, many sociologists avoided the issue of black family structure because of the controversy it incites. Beginning in the 1980s things began to improve on this front with outspoken people like Ken Auletta, Benjamin Hooks, and Glenn Loury. Nevertheless, even to this day, regardless of the speaker’s race, discussion of black family dysfunction remains controversial and often verboten to discuss in a meaningful manner. Until we are able to discuss these issues openly and honestly, effective public policies will remain elusive.

Motor City Shakedown by D. E. Johnson (2011)

noreply@blogger.com (Carlie) — Thu, 24 Nov 2011 00:06:00 +0000

Finished: November 23, 2011

(Fiction - PS3610.O328 M68; 813/.6 – dc 22)

In this sequel to The Detroit Electric Scheme, Will Anderson is driven to avenge the murder of his friend, Wesley. It has been seven months since Vito Adamo terrorized Will and his love interest, Elizabeth, and murdered their friend, but Will’s determination for vengeance is still strong. No longer an alcoholic, Will is now addicted to morphine, a habit he acquired to ease the horrible pain due to the disfigurement of his right hand by sulphuric acid at the hands of Adamo’s men.

The novel begins with Will trailing an Adamo gang member with the motive of killing him. However, when Will goes to the man’s apartment, he finds that the gangster is already dead. Unfortunately for Will, he is spotted outside of the man’s apartment and is booked for the murder. When another man confesses to the crime, Will is let go by the police but promptly shaken down by a rival gang, the Gianollas. In return for getting Will out of jail by pressuring another man to confess to the crime, the Gianollas want Will to convince his father, the owner of Detroit Electric, to allow the Teamsters to represent the factory employees. Will is forced to work with Adamo to get the Gianollas off of his back. In a late story turn of events, we find out that both gangs have been played by yet another party who has it in for everyone.

Johnson bases much of his story around actual events that happened at the time his novels take place with historical settings that are thoughtful and keenly researched. He has a flair for suspense, drama, violence and double-crossings, resulting in intriguing, fast-paced stories.

One Nation Under Sex: How the Private Lives of Presidents, First Ladies and Their Lovers Changed the Course of American History by Larry Flynt and David Eisenbach (2011)

noreply@blogger.com (Carlie) — Thu, 20 Oct 2011 01:52:00 +0000

Finished: October 19, 2011

(Nonfiction - HQ18.U5 F54; 306.770973 – dc 22)

With this book, Larry Flynt has once again focused on sex, but this is no Hustler article. Written with Columbia University professor David Eisenbach, this book lays bare many rumors and scandals involving national-level politicians. The authors do not merely tell tales of sexual proclivities and affairs, however. With each private life revealed, they also display and discuss how the sexual activities surrounding the people in or near the White House have affected policy and altered history.

The authors begin with the founding fathers and then proceed through the following administrations chronologically with some actors appearing multiple times. The extramarital affairs, the homosexual relations, and the like are interesting, but the more cogent elements involve how these sexual situations mattered to the nation. The following are a mere fraction of the stories covered in the book. Ben Franklin’s romancing convinced France to aid us in the Revolution. Buchanan’s failure to adequately address secessionists was likely the result of the influence of his lover, William Rufus King. Eleanor Roosevelt’s relationship with lesbian women led to her own liberation and call for equality. J. Edgar Hoover’s skinny on seemingly everyone in Congress allowed him to strong-arm in his favored policies.

Whatever else you may say about Larry Flynt, one thing is true; he is a bastion of free speech. His aim with this book was to reveal how elections, economics, international relations, and war were affected by the sex lives of the nation’s leaders. In addition, the changes in social mores and journalistic codes of ethics are shown. In the book’s conclusion, the authors summarize with some plain facts: politicians have always, are currently, and will continue to have sexual scandals. They further point out that it is the role of the public to disallow these commonplace activities to divert our attentions from what really matters – a mature approach to politics that attempts to provide the greatest amount of income and civil rights equality for all.

The Great A & P and the Struggle for Small Business in America by Marc Levinson (2011)

noreply@blogger.com (Carlie) — Fri, 30 Sep 2011 01:35:00 +0000

Finished: September 28, 2011

(Nonfiction - HD9321.9.G7 L48; 381/.45641300973 – dc 22)

Besides my interest in social and economic history, I was attracted to this book because my grandmother worked for A & P for decades, retiring from the company in the late 1980s. While not a suburban icon in Washington state where I now reside, A & P was a common sight in the metro Detroit area. I can still recall when A & P changed all of their store names in southeastern Michigan in the late 1980s and early 1990s after they bought the Farmer Jack chain. The A & P brand was a staple in my childhood.

Little did I know when beginning this book that A & P was even more important to American history than it was to my own personal history. The company founder, George Gilman, was a leather trader and owned the company Gilman & Company. In around 1859, Gilman expanded his business to include tea and coffee trading. In 1863 Gilman changed the company name to the Great American Tea Company and began a mass advertising campaign, a rare occurrence in those days. Gilman was a talented promoter that used exaggeration and flair to attract customers. He also instated a novel buying club to encourage people to pool their purchases to receive discounts on bulk orders.

In 1869, the transcontinental railroad that linked the Pacific and Atlantic oceans was completed. True to his nature, Gilman launched a “new” business called the Great Atlantic & Pacific Tea Company. In actuality, however, the new company was just a front for the old company, and Gilman was using the new name to jeopardize the established business practices in the tea trade. Rather than deal in bulk like the rest of the tea companies, Gilman created a branded, pre-packaged tea called Thea-Nectar. At this point in history, there were few branded products available other than patent medicines. Most stores sold only in bulk with store clerks measuring portions for each customer. Creating a product like Thea-Nectar was a novel approach to food sales, and it would be another twenty years before the practice became common.

From the outset, the Great Atlantic & Pacific Tea Company was dogged by criticism and allegations of misconduct. Thea-Nectar, accused of being composed of damaged, low-quality tea leaves, was only the tip of the iceberg when it came to those opposing A & P. Most of the coming controversy was dealt with by the Hartfords. George H. Hartford had worked for George Gilman as a bookkeeper and manager since the early 1860s. In 1871, the two began expanding and built another store in Chicago. By 1875, there were stores in sixteen cities. George Hartford received full control of the tea company when Gilman retired 1878. Eventually he brought two of his sons, George L. and John A., into the business. Around this time, coffee and tea consumption exploded aided by expiring tariffs and duties to fund the Civil War. This caused the prices of these products to fall rapidly, and Hartford responded by expanding the product line and eventually got into the food manufacturing business to supply their stores.

By the time of George H. Hartford’s death in 1917, the company was doing swimmingly under George L.’s financial expertise and John A.’s trend-setting ideas. John was the mind behind the A & P brand, creating a tiered approach to branded merchandise based on the price of the product. He also started promotional offers such as a stamp program in which customers collected stamps by buying products that they could later redeem for other select merchandise. For all of A & P’s success, there was a big stick in the company’s craw however. Independent grocers were being stifled by the early years of the twentieth century, and they began to demand that Congress intervene on their behalf, thus beginning a decades-long battle to restrict chain stores.

The Great Atlantic & Pacific Tea Company began a new strategy in 1912 when it began opening economy stores and began using the A & P logo on storefronts. These stores were low-key enterprises that offered no credit, no premiums, and no promotional stamps. They opened economy stores at a rapid pace with more than 864 stores by 1915. Around this time, A & P and other chain stores were gaining more and more attention on the national political scene as groups attempted to thwart their growth. A & P was by far the most profitable and efficient of the chains due to their ground-breaking approach to food distribution and warehousing, placing it under particular scrutiny.

After years of political debate, extremely prohibitive taxes were imposed on chain stores by the 1920s and 1930s. In addition, numerous laws were enacted to prohibit wholesale price concessions and discounts. Although under constant pressure, the Hartfords chose to remain quiet until 1937 when they hired Carl Byoir to run a public relations campaign to counter attacks by independent grocers and politicos. A & P changed tactics again by closing hundreds of stores to avoid over-taxation, and they began opening supermarkets.

Many of these taxes were later repealed as anti-chain sentiments waned by 1940. Ironically the intervention of the federal government was under the guise of promoting competition but in actuality it did quite the opposite. Rather than try to lower prices to benefit the consumer, they instead wanted to keep prices high to support an inefficient distribution system that A & P and other chains had found ways to circumvent. By using more efficient distribution methods, A & P was able to keep their prices low and customers satisfied.

John A. died in 1951 and George L. died in 1957. Although they had a succession plan in place, their first choice, David T. Bofinger, died unexpectedly. Their second choice was Ralph W. Burger. When Burger took over, the company was thriving, but he proved to be a poor fill-in for the Hartfords by failing to innovate or watch trend lines. A & P faltered and rapidly declined in the 1960s and after. Despite all of the innovations in food marketing, improvements to grocery store services and buildings, and efforts to fight back and eventually win during the chain store wars, the Great Atlantic & Pacific Tea Company has been on a downward slope for decades since the deaths of the Hartfords.

Levinson tells this tragic story with expertise and nuanced research. This book was supremely enlightening when considering the current state of chain stores and large distribution channels in America today. It provided both historical and social perspective on the economies of scale that chains are able to accomplish and what these methods mean for the country as a whole.

The Dancing Plague: The Strange, True Story of an Extraordinary Illness by John Waller (2009)

noreply@blogger.com (Carlie) — Sat, 17 Sep 2011 22:51:00 +0000

Finished: September 9, 2011

(Nonfiction – RC389 .W35; 362.196/83009443954 – dc 22)

It is amazing what the human mind can convince the body to do under the right circumstances. In the medieval city of Strasbourg in the summer of 1518, one woman sparked an epidemic that left many people dead and injured. In the heat of mid-July under duress from years of crop failures and near starvation with no one trustworthy to turn to for guidance, Frau Troffea began to dance uncontrollably for days on end. Then a few days later, others joined her in what was to become a catastrophe of choreomania.

Many believed that these dancers were being possessed by Saint Vitus. The hysteria was referred to as Saint Vitus Dance or Saint Vitus Curse, and it was believed that those suffering from it had invoked the saint’s wrath. As the community of Strasbourg struggled to tame the crowds of dancers, they sought insight from the privy council XXI, the most distinguished members of the Strasbourg elite. After consulting with physicians and using scientific rather than supernatural explanations, the XXI decided to build the dancers a stage on which to dance and to hire musicians and dancers to keep the choreomaniacs moving in an effort to quell their over-heated blood. However, this only caused many more people to succumb to the illness and more died before the XXI abandoned this tack.

Eventually the XXI realized their error and decided to transport the entire dancing fleet to the nearby town of Saverne where a Saint Vitus shrine was located. In addition, the choreomaniacs were given red shoes to wear. The importance of the red shoes is highlighted by the author. “This was an age in which symbols were so much more than metaphors, when religious objects bore mystical meaning and when no one simply handed out free footwear. The shoes were somehow meant to assist the healing of the tortured dancers” (p. 161-162). Soon thereafter, the dancers recovered.

This was the last dancing plague to hit the Alsace region. There were as many as twenty instances of dancing epidemics in western Europe, particularly the border areas of France, Germany, and Switzerland, between 1000 and 1600, and possibly more that were not on record. It was the social-religious-political culture of the region combined with the historical context during the plagues that instigated these outbreaks. As Waller states, “The behavior … was also choreographed by the expectations and practices of their worlds” (p. 199). The deeply supernatural and religious nature of the population, the use of dance in the culture, the growing lack of trust in the clergy to save their souls, and the multiple years of crop failures in the second decade of the 16th century made this last plague particularly troublesome. Once placed in context, the fact of choreomania becomes much less bizarre. These plagues were contextual responses to despair, suggestion, and dogma.

Twisted Tree by Kent Meyers (2009)

noreply@blogger.com (Carlie) — Sat, 03 Sep 2011 22:51:00 +0000

Finished: September 2, 2011

(Fiction - PS3563.E93 T85; 813/.54 – dc 22)

Each chapter in this novel could almost be read as a stand-alone short story. The characters are peripherally inter-related, but each is dealing with their own sense of loss and despair. They are linked together by the town of Twisted Tree, South Dakota and by the death of one Twisted Tree inhabitant, Hayley Jo Zimmerman.

Hayley Jo was murdered by a serial killer who stalked anorexics online, befriending them under false identities. After he gained their trust and confidence, he would find them where they worked or lived, kidnap them, and then murder them. The reader learns of Hayley Jo’s demise in the first chapter which is told in the third person but from the killer’s perspective. As Meyers exposes the killer’s madness bit by bit through his disjointed thoughts, it creates a level of creepiness and anxiety that merely hints at the portending evil in store for Hayley Jo.

The following chapters highlight one or two characters in Twisted Tree with some characters appearing in multiple chapters showing how they are connected. Each character has been impacted by the death of Hayley Jo, regardless of how well they knew her. In addition, the death of Hayley Jo resonates within each characters own life experience. Meyers is a gifted writer with a knack for making an understated impact.

Why Marx Was Right by Terry Eagleton (2011)

noreply@blogger.com (Carlie) — Thu, 11 Aug 2011 18:08:00 +0000

Finished: July 24, 2011

(Nonfiction – HX39.5 E234; 335.4 – dc 22)

Marx may not have gotten everything right, but in this slim book Eagleton makes the case that most of Marx’s ideas were correct by examining ten of the most common objections to Marxism. Each chapter is framed with an objection and a counter-argument that attempt to illuminate Marx’s lasting thoughts and ideas as they pertain to the world today.

The highlight of the book was chapter six in which Eagleton explains Marx’s writings on humans as social beings and our relationship to materialism and spiritualism. For the most part, this book was under-cooked. While I am not in academe, I do have an educational background in social theory and Marxism. I followed along as well as I could, but Eagleton is writing to a class more intensely familiar to the subject matter in their daily lives. A bit more relevant examples would have greatly elucidated the weighty ideas and made for more stimulating reading.

The Detroit Electric Scheme by D. E. Johnson (2010)

noreply@blogger.com (Carlie) — Thu, 14 Jul 2011 00:47:00 +0000

Finished: July 8, 2011

(Fiction – PS3610.O328 D47; 813/.6 – dc 22)

I don’t typically read mysteries, but with my home turf, my favorite era in American history, and a debut author, I couldn’t resist. Like most respectable mysteries, it starts out with a murder and a frame-up. The story is told in first person by the wrongfully accused Will Anderson, son of the owner of Detroit Electric, the leading automobile manufacturer in 1910. A friend of Will’s was found crushed to death in a press at the car factory where Will is the first person to see the body. When the police arrive, Will panics and runs but someone sees him because he is soon embroiled in a blackmail flimflam.

The entire book is a series of run-ins with strong-armed police, famous folks like the Dodge brothers and Edsel Ford, nefarious low-life characters, a drug-addicted ex-girlfriend who cannot forgive Will for a mysterious grave sin, and exemplary friends who risk their lives to help Will clear his name.

I enjoyed Johnson’s illustrative and accurate treatment of 1910s Detroit, and his history of the automobile is well-researched and informative. There are plenty of twists and turns in the plot and sub-plots, making this an exciting read. The novel does putter out a bit towards the end, but finishes with impetuosity, a dose of tragedy, and a nice lead-in to a sequel.

High Society: The Central Role of Mind-Altering Drugs in History, Science and Culture by Mike Jay (2010)

noreply@blogger.com (Carlie) — Fri, 24 Jun 2011 22:00:00 +0000

Finished: June 23, 2011

(Nonfiction - RM315 .J39; 615/.788 – dc 22)

Written as an extension of Mike Jay’s exhibition work at the Wellcome Collection in London, this book is replete with images concerning drug use and drug cultures. In fact, the text itself does not offer much new information or heavy insight. The strengths of the book lie in its use of images to inform and extend the written text.

This is an excellent introduction to the subject of drugs, particularly their use throughout history, the types of drugs (both natural and synthetic), and the drug trade. I particularly appreciated his discussion of many types of drugs, including food-based drugs such as sugar, coffee, and tea as well as the more obvious mind-altering drugs such as opium, coca leaf, and cannabis. The annotated notes and useful index make this an outstanding starting point for more in-depth research.

What Technology Wants by Kevin Kelly (2010)

noreply@blogger.com (Carlie) — Fri, 17 Jun 2011 00:33:00 +0000

Finished: June 14, 2011

(Nonfiction - T14.5 .K45; 303.48/3 – dc 22)

Kevin Kelly has something very important to say and some people are not going to like it, some people are not going to understand it, and some people are going to change their lives because of it (or at the very least change their minds). He takes the reader on a journey through technology history starting with the definition and the first use of the word. Beginning with this working definition allows Kelly to lay the groundwork for ponderous ideas by bringing evolution, biology, cosmology, autonomy, organization, ingenuity, art, craft, history, systems, and culture to the fore immediately. These are the forces that act to propagate technology and that ultimately create the technium which encompasses not only technology that we can touch, but also intangibles such as art, culture, social institutions, ideas, and the drive to innovate and create (p. 11-12).

The technium did not begin with humans. As a matter of fact, the technium did not even begin with what we conceive of as life. According to Kelly, “the root of the technium can be traced back to the life of an atom” (p. 57). All thought, order, systems, and organization are created to restrain entropy, which is waste, chaos, and disorder. The first atom was the first method the universe created to organize itself and thwart entropy. The opposite of entropy is exotropy, or negative entropy. Exotropy is the increase of order and self-organization and therefore resembles information. This slow accumulation of ordered information (or slow ordering of accumulated information) takes billions of years (p. 64). Across these billions of years the universe moved from an entity constrained by physics and chemistry to an entity that transcends physics and chemistry. The larger the universe got, the more potential energy was created, thus eventually creating life and mind. The technium became immaterial, a “liberation from the ancient imperative of matter and energy” (p. 69).

This all sounds very complicated and kind of creepy, but really it is not. If the cosmos were the first to experience the technium, then the next outgrowth was biology. Actually, evolution is a form of technology. It is part of the technium because as living beings evolve, they become more complex as they continue to become more organized. There are three forces that shape biological evolution and technological evolution. Two of the forces, preordained development (the inevitable outcome based on the structure constrained by physics and chemistry) and history (accidental contingencies), are at work on both biological systems and the technology. However a third force differs in technology. While biological evolution is an adaptive function that is unconscious (natural selection), technology is very intentional – it is an expression of collective free will, it is a conscious choice. We are part of the technium – it has autonomy and a selfishness that unnerves us because it includes us and our collective minds (p. 187).

The ongoing dilemma of technology, then, will never leave us. It is an ever-elaborate tool that we wield and continually update to improve our world; and it is an ever-ripening superorganism, of which we are but a part, that is following a direction beyond our own making. Humans are both master and slave to the technium, and our fate is to remain in this uncomfortable dual role. Therefore, we will always be conflicted about technology and find making our choices difficult (p. 187).

Many people are unsettled by these thoughts and their inevitable outcomes. Some rail against it and others wreak havoc, destruction and death to try to stop it. However, there is no stopping it because it is inevitable. It is an outgrowth of us, and we have a symbiotic relationship with it. The technium began about 10,000 years ago when humans passed the apex in which the earth was able to modify us more than were able to modify the planet. We are at another crucial point in which the technium is able to alter us more than we are able to alter the technium (p. 197). Because this happened very slowly and each alteration was a small advance, there was no resistance. To resist now is futile and to resist ever is impossible. We rely on technology to manage our complexity, and technology relies on us to continually improve it by creating more ways to combine pieces of it and fold it in on itself. “We willingly choose technology, with its great defects and obvious detriments, because we unconsciously calculate its virtues” (p. 215). We should not be afraid to use technology. If we have shoddy technology, the goal should not be to rid ourselves of it but to improve it.

With all of this background, here is how I see this broken down. As each particle in the universe moves away from each other, some of these particles begin to form systems that gradually increase in complexity and self-organization. Eventually we end up with living organisms and then with minds and then with technology. All of these particles are the technium. Every idea in every mind is the technium. We are just beginning to comprehend the technium. The more we comprehend the technium, the more there is to create and then the more there is to comprehend. The cycle never ends; it can only continue to infinity. There is no finite amount of technology or technological innovation – each technology builds upon the previous technology. There is nothing the mind cannot create given enough time. The technium is becoming itself faster and faster as the particles in the universe move further and further apart and as technologies build upon previous technologies more and more. The more technology that has been created, the more technology there is to build upon, and the more there is to create.

So what does technology want? The technium wants the same things that life wants. What began in the big bang extended into evolution. The technium is just an extension of these processes. It is all exotropic systems. Humanity’s role is to help technology find its way down a path it already wants to go, and Kelly lists the elements to help us help technology with what it wants and to be deliberate and intentional in predicting where technology can and should go. The elements that technology wants are: increasing efficiency, increasing opportunity, increasing emergence, increasing complexity, increasing diversity, increasing specialization, increasing ubiquity, increasing freedom, increasing mutualism, increasing beauty, increasing sentience, increasing structure, increasing evolvability (p.270).

This leaves us with infinite possibilities in discovering who we are and in who we might be. The existence of the technium increases the possible and the possibilities for each individual. We would have no pianist if there was no piano. There are only possibilities. All is within reach … eventually.

The journey from nothing to the plentitudes of a materializing universe can be reckoned as the expansion of freedoms, choices, and manifest possibilities. In the beginning there was no choice, no free will, no thing but nothing. From the big bang onward, the possible ways matter and energy could be arranged increased, and eventually, through life, the freedom of possible actions increased. It is almost as if the universe was a choice assembling itself (p. 351-352).

Lastly, where is God? Or a more apt question: where isn’t God? God is the technium, we are the technium, we are God. God is a process, not a thing. We are part of that process. God is autocreation. God is becoming. The technium and all that it contains is a reflection of God self-organizing – creations built upon by previous creations that caused itself. “That prime self-causation, which is not preceded but instead first makes itself before it makes either time or nothingness, is the most logical definition of God” (p. 355).

Page by page, this book consistently blew my mind. The deeper I got into Kelly’s theory and the better I began to understand his gist, the more amazing it became. There was a hell of a lot of build-up and a plethora of side points along the way, but it was totally worth it when the pay-off was such engagement with the material and ultimate enlightenment at the end (or as close as my humble mind can come to enlightenment). “A single thread of self-generation ties the cosmos, the bios, and the technos together into one creation. Life is less a miracle than a necessity for matter and energy” (p. 356). We should not be afraid to use technology; to refuse to use technology would be to go against the very laws of nature, hindering our own humanity. Reading this book was profoundly rewarding on myriad levels.

Mr. Peanut by Adam Ross (2010)

noreply@blogger.com (Carlie) — Sat, 04 Jun 2011 23:20:00 +0000

Finished: June 3, 2011

(Fiction – PS3618.O84515 M7; 813/.6 – dc 22)

This is hands-down one of the strangest novels about marriage I have ever read. David Pepin’s wife is dead after an allergic reaction to peanuts, and he is accused of murdering her. Two detectives, Ward Hastroll and Sam Sheppard, investigate the case and reveal their own marital trauma as well.

This novel shifts in both space and time. As the book progresses, the story jumps from the present investigation to Pepin’s past and back again while alternating between Pepin’s and Hastroll’s respective stories of marital strife.

Halstroll and Sheppard track down Mobius, a man they believe helped David murder his wife. The insertion of this character pushes the structure of the novel even further as Mobius demands to hear the story of the murder of Sheppard’s wife before he will reveal the method of Alice’s murder. The infamous former Dr. Sam Sheppard relates the story of his wife’s murder to Mobius while also questioning him about Alice’s murder, and again the story jumps back and forth in space and time.

There is a great deal of symbolism throughout the novel relating to weight loss and weight gain, freedom and commitment, love and hate. The over-arching theme is the cyclical. Cycles and the lack of true beginnings and endings are found everywhere, most notably in the method of Ross’s storytelling. He is profoundly talented at drawing the reader into the story and then pushing the reader back out. We are taken on the journey with the characters and are as lost in the tumble as they are. This was a remarkable debut.

I Smile Back by Amy Koppelman (2008)

noreply@blogger.com (Carlie) — Tue, 26 Apr 2011 23:28:00 +0000

Finished: April 25, 2011

(Fiction – PS3611.O675 I25; 813/.6 – dc 22)

This is the story of Laney, a drug-addicted narcissist who is knowingly unworthy of her two adorable children and her devoted husband. The only possible explanation for her actions is that she utterly hates herself and must ruin any good that happens to her. She cheats on her husband, she takes too many drugs, she is ungrateful for her children – in short, she is a miserable human being with daddy issues that uses abandonment as an excuse to cop out on a meaningful life. Even her stint in rehab is revolting for her minor and short-lived attempt at redemption. I cannot decide which is worse, Laney’s despicable character or the fact that she is aware of how despicable she is.

Much of the novel is written in a form of stream of consciousness with the narrator relating the misery and angst inside of Laney’s head. If Koppelman set out to create a loathsome and reprehensible character albeit with absolving qualities and a penchant for failure of atonement as I believe she intended, she succeeded marvelously.

Havana Nocturne: How the Mob Owned Cuba – And Then Lost It to the Revolution by T. J. English (2007)

noreply@blogger.com (Carlie) — Sun, 24 Apr 2011 04:52:00 +0000

Finished: April 21, 2011

(Nonfiction - HV6453.C9 E54; 364.1/06097291 - dc 22)

Since the bootlegging operations of the 1920s, American mobsters had their eyes on Cuba as a haven for gambling operations. After a few false starts, Meyer Lansky and his associates finally made of go of it in Havana between 1952 and 1959, and his gambling enterprise thrived with the help of Cuban President Fulgencio Batista.

It all started with a 1946 sit-down in Havana among many of the biggest gangsters in the United States. It was at this meeting that a plan was hatched to do big business in Cuba. Little by little, the mob gained traction in Cuban gambling operations, and they began to build major casinos. Meanwhile, Fidel Castro was making a name for himself and vowing to bring down the president and his gangster cronies.

It was good for the gangsters while it lasted, but they should have taken Castro and his guerrillas more seriously. Tensions among the Cuban people were rising and talk of a revolution was in the air. Tourist bookings were down in the 1958 season, and the mob began looking for other Caribbean islands to operate on. In early 1959, the rebels took over Cuba, Batista fled, and the casinos were done. Gangsters scrambled to get their money and get out before it was too late. Cuba was changed overnight, and the mob presence in Havana was finished.

This was a fun way to learn more about Cuban history and the lead-up to Fidel Castro’s takeover of Cuba. The book covers details of the mob’s involvement in Cuba and Cuban politics and economics, the political backdrop of the country, and Castro’s background. In addition, English takes the reader through the life and times of the elite in 1950s Havana. He expertly recounts the culture and the fast times, highlighting the music, the entertainment, the nightlife, the celebrities, and the iniquitous elements. The writing and the research are excellent.

The Wet Nurse’s Tale by Erica Eisdorfer (2009)

noreply@blogger.com (Carlie) — Thu, 31 Mar 2011 02:34:00 +0000

Finished: March 30, 2011

(Fiction - PS3605.I77 W48; 813/.6 – dc 22)

Like most of the members of her family at some point in their lives, Susan Rose worked for the Bonneys at the Great House. After starting her work there, she began an affair with the young son and later became pregnant with his child. She returned home to her family but refused to divulge the paternity of her baby.

Susan’s mother worked for years as a wet nurse and Susan’s abusive and alcoholic father thought that Susan could add extra income for the family by working as a wet nurse as well. Susan was offered a very well-paying position in another town, but she had to leave her son with her mother and father. Her son soon died, and Susan was devastated. When her nursing job was finished, she tried to find more work as a wet nurse but was unable to.

She started work at the Great House again and became pregnant again. This time, however, it was not the Bonney son’s child but she passed it off as if it was. When the baby was born, her father stole the child and gave it to Mrs. Bonney in exchange for a bribe. Mrs. Bonney in turn gave the baby to a relative. Susan was distraught and enraged. She left town to find her baby. When she did find the house where the baby was kept, she tricked the mistress, Mrs. Norval, into letting her become the child’s wet nurse. Mrs. Norval turned out to be mentally disturbed, and Susan used her wits and cunning to escape with her child.

I was intrigued by the topic of this novel, and it was certainly an interesting treatment of the livelihood of wet nursing. It is written in a 19th century British English dialect which threw me off at first, but I became accustomed to it though I found it kitschy. The descriptions of setting were lacking but the characters were fairly well-developed for a first-person narrative, and the story moved quickly. Eisdorfer is a proficient story-teller although there is not much of a story.

Economic Lives: How Culture Shapes the Economy by Viviana A. Zelizer (2011)

noreply@blogger.com (Carlie) — Tue, 15 Mar 2011 21:39:00 +0000

Finished: March 14, 2011

(Nonfiction – HM548 .Z42; 306.3 – dc 22)

Zelizer circuitously found her way into the budding field of economic sociology through the study of small-scale economies and interpersonal relationships in social history. As she researched “how interpersonal negotiations actually transform both available culture and personal relations, and how negotiated interpersonal relations shape the accomplishment of concrete economic activity” (p. 3), she increasingly studied how contemporary economic processes fit within their social contexts. As her work progressed, she gradually came into contact with scholars outside of social history and for over 30 years helped shape the field of economic sociology.

This book contains 20 essays clustered by the major topics of the author’s study: valuation of human lives, social meaning of money, intimate economies, the economy of care, circuits of commerce, and critiques and syntheses of economic sociology. The book is arranged so that each essay may stand alone creating both a positive and a negative reading experience. Positively, the ability for a scholar or researcher to use a singular essay while maintaining intellectual continuity is helpful. However, reading the book from cover to cover creates a great deal of repetition. She often critiques the separate spheres/hostile worlds and nothing-but theories and provides her own theory of good matches repeatedly.

In short, economic theory historically saw interpersonal relationships and the economy as two separate spheres. These spheres must be kept apart or risk corruption on both counts, creating hostile worlds – interpersonal relationships corrupt economic activity and money corrupts interpersonal relationships. Another theory involves nothing-but analyses which hold that interpersonal relationships are just a special kind of market exchange. Regardless, separate spheres and the ensuing hostile worlds approach and the nothing-but approach fall short in Zelizer’s opinion.

She sees economic activity as intertwined with and often fundamental aspect of interpersonal relationships. There is no need to attempt to divest economic considerations from relationships; rather, social groups create their own meanings for money and economic exchange that do not necessarily follow the same rules of macroeconomics yet are crucial forces on the broader market. Her research focuses on these microeconomic rules between individuals and small groups.

It had been a while, so it was fun albeit tedious to read a truly academic work. I found Zelizer’s research informative and revelatory. As sociological research often creates, I now have a new perspective on an ingrained aspect of daily life.

Heliopolis by James Scudamore (2009)

noreply@blogger.com (Carlie) — Mon, 28 Feb 2011 18:33:00 +0000

Finished: February 25, 2011

(Fiction – PR6119.C82 H45; 823.92 – dc 22)

The novel opens in the present time with Ludo, an advertising executive in São Paulo, Brazil. As the novel moves back and forth from present to past, we learn that Ludo was born to a single mother in the favela of Heliopolis in the city of São Paulo. While still an infant, his mother had the fortune to be asked to cook for the rich Carnicelli family, Zé, Rebecca, and their daughter, Melissa, at their country estate. This is where Ludo was raised and befriended every weekend by Melissa.

When he was fourteen years old, Ludo was given an opportunity that he could not refuse. The Carnicellis invited him to live with them at their home in the city where he would be exposed to all of the power, prestige and education their money could buy. While Ludo greatly appreciated the offer, he felt forlorn. He enjoyed his life on the farm with his mother, but not accepting the proposal was out of the question. He felt pressure both from the Carnicelli family and from his mother.

Ludo’s waffling between what he actually feels and how he thinks he should feel based on others’ reactions is a main theme throughout the book. He is a consummate pleaser and feels causing any displeasure, even at his own detriment, is a shortcoming. Even as he grows older and Melissa and Ludo begin a sexual relationship, it begins in response to her loneliness at her husband’s absence.

Scudamore’s writing is exceptional and his portrayal of São Paulo is gripping. Having visited the city, it was fascinating to read about it in this way. More than just the traffic and congestion, Scudamore provides a view into the striking contrast of rich and poor that defines this population. Using Ludo as a base of neither rich nor poor, we can compare the other characters to him and see how drastically differently they live. Ludo also serves as a starting point when considering how the rich and poor view themselves and each other. His ambiguity about his own beginnings and where he ended up proves to highlight the certainty of how the rich and poor feel about their own beginnings and endings.

Barbecue: The History of an American Institution by Robert F. Moss (2010)

noreply@blogger.com (Carlie) — Tue, 08 Feb 2011 03:36:00 +0000

Finished: February 3, 2011

(Nonfiction – TX840.B3 M687; 641.7/6 – dc 22)

For a cooking method and a social event so ingrained in American culture, barbecue is mainly written about in terms of recipes and techniques rather than as a social history. Moss fills this gap with this book. He tells the story of barbecue beginning with the colonists’ introduction to it in the 1600s. The origin of the word barbecue is Taino Indian, a people from the Caribbean, however the cooking method was widespread along the Atlantic coast of North America.

Barbecues as social functions have been used throughout American history for a variety of purposes. In the 1800s, barbecues were used as political tools to recruit and butter up voters. They were also used by masters as incentives and rewards to enslaved African Americans at the end of the season. As the railroads were being built and migration headed more steadily west, barbecues went west as well. Barbecues were often held in celebration when a rail line was completed in a town.

During the Civil War, barbecues were held to send off the troops and to welcome them home. During Reconstruction barbecues were held as part of festivities that included readings of the Emancipation Proclamation, prayers, speeches, and entertainment. Eventually these Reconstruction celebrations grew larger and larger and became what is known as the Juneteenth holiday.

The late nineteenth century also saw the rise of barbecue men, experienced cooks who became expert pit masters. These men taught their skills to apprentices which gave rise to local styles of barbecue. Eventually these men began opening restaurants and serving barbecue. Restaurants and roadside stands further ushered in regional styles and sauces.

As cooking equipment and fuel changed, barbecue moved into the backyards of homes after World War I. With this change, there was also a change in the meats used for barbecue, with hamburgers and sausages making their way onto the barbecue scene. Large companies began mass producing sauces, reflecting the increasing homogeneity of the nation. As time went on, barbecues were still used in social gatherings from churches to labor unions. In 1923, John C. “Jack” Walton, the mayor of Oklahoma City, arranged a barbecue for 200,000 people to celebrate his election to governor, and Lyndon Baines Johnson held large barbecues at his ranch in the 1950s and 1960s.

Toward the middle of the twentieth century, barbecue restaurants began to fade as fast food restaurants sprang up. At first, fast food drive-ins served barbecue, but as they began to standardize and multiply they found barbecue to require more time and skilled labor than they were willing to invest. By the 1970s, barbecue restaurants faced many cost challenges, such as the prohibitive cost and availability of wood and the loss of local meatpackers. However, a few chains cropped up in the late 1970s and 1980s which staved off the extinction of barbecue restaurants. Today, barbecue lives on in a chain restaurants and a handful of renowned and world-famous barbecue joints and barbecue competitions.

Moss has done a wonderful job of imparting the history and importance of barbecue in American history. This book is well-researched, interesting and provides a needed narrative for a vital and nuanced part of the culinary and social history in the United States.

Dogfight: A Love Story by Matt Burgess (2010)

noreply@blogger.com (Carlie) — Sun, 30 Jan 2011 02:10:00 +0000

Finished: January 28, 2011

(Fiction - PS3602.U746 D64; 813/.6 – dc 22)

In a theme reminiscent of Hubert Selby, Matt Burgess’ debut novel delves into the unseemly underbelly of New York, specifically Jackson Heights, Queens. The story centers on Alfredo, a low-level drug dealer that is not particularly good at his job. He and his pregnant girlfriend, Isabel, live with his parents in a small apartment.

From the get-go, there is an ominous feeling to the novel as the reader waits for the return of Alfredo’s brother, Tariq, who will soon be released from prison. The way the characters speak about Tariq or avoid the subject presents the reader with a foreboding and apprehension, an anxiousness of the possibility of retribution and violence. We soon learn that not only did Alfredo bail on a robbery at the last minute, thereby avoiding prison while his brother did not, but he also fell in love with his brother’s girlfriend while Tariq was in prison.

To combat ill will, Alfredo presents Tariq with stolen drugs and a dog fight upon his release. Hoping to stay in Tariq’s good graces, Alfredo is hoping that the money these ventures may illicit will soften the blow of Isabel’s pregnancy and devotion to Alfredo. When Tariq does arrive home, the family is on pins and needles. With his new faith in Islam, Tariq attempts to remain calm and peaceful. However, all hell breaks loose quickly. By the time all is said and done, Alfredo and Tariq have turned against each other. Tariq’s violence injures Isabel, and Alfredo’s duplicity kills Tariq.

While not excellent, Burgess feels like a natural storyteller. It felt like a first novel, and it would have benefitted from more carefully constructed character development. Nonetheless, I enjoyed it.

The Man Who Sold America: The Amazing (but True!) Story of Albert D. Lasker and the Creation of the Advertising Century by Jeffrey L. Cruikshank and

noreply@blogger.com (Carlie) — Tue, 28 Dec 2010 05:59:00 +0000

Arthur W. Schultz (2010)

Finished: December 24, 2010

(Nonfiction – HF5810.L3 C78; 659.1092 B – dc 22)

Albert Lasker was much more than an advertising man. Let alone that he aided in revolutionizing the business and mechanics of advertising, he was also an investor (often to help companies in which he was heading their advertising campaigns), a political campaigner for Presidential candidate Warren G. Harding and other politicians, a Cubs baseball team owner, chairman of the Shipping Board, an art collector, and a philanthropist in organizations that still thrive to this day. His friends came from a variety of industries and were invariably influential. It seems as though there was nary a pie that Lasker had not dipped his fingers into by the time he died in 1952.

Reading about Lasker was incredibly fascinating. His life and his personality were a whirlwind. The only breaks he appears to have taken were his mental breakdowns, where he would spend his time in spas and resorts during long bouts of depression. When he was up, though, he was hypomanic. Despite his preoccupation with himself, however, he preferred to remain behind the scenes in his endeavors, and he was generous to a fault.

He had the kind of genius that found the kernel of the nut, and he also brought out the best in others. He cultivated some of the most talented ad men of his time, and those who worked under him often became quite successful in their own rights. He had many protégés go on to found profitable advertising agencies of their own, partly due to the fact that he was not a very good manager and had difficulty retaining talent.

Although deeply biographical, this book also tells the story of the transformation of advertising. He moved advertising from a brokerage between media outlets and products to a creative profession. Branding, packaging, and copyediting became well-thought-out mechanisms to give consumers a “reason why” to purchase products. His mark on the field of advertising is inextirpable and apparent to this day.

Barnacle Love by Anthony De Sa (2008)

noreply@blogger.com (Carlie) — Mon, 22 Nov 2010 21:45:00 +0000

Finished: November 17, 2010

(Fiction – PR9199.4.D486 B37; 813/.6 – dc 22)

Manuel Rebelo was supposed to be a great man. At least that is what his mother always told him when he was growing up in Portugal. She treated him differently than his siblings, but that always bristled him. He did not know how he was going to manage to be so great. In his young adulthood, he decided to sail to Canada on a fishing expedition, but he never returned to live in Portugal as planned.

The remainder of the first half of the book describes the adventures that Manuel encountered in his first years in Canada. He was taken in by a man and his daughter, Pepsi. Pepsi fell in love with Manuel and saw him as a way to escape her overbearing father. The story of Manuel is partially told through his letters to his mother, begging for forgiveness for leaving Portugal and proclaiming his intention to make something great with his new life. When Manuel discovers that Pepsi never sent his letters and instead hid them, he leaves Pepsi and her father. Manuel heads to St. John’s where he is taught about life in Canada from a fellow Portuguese ex-patriot, Mateus. Later, Manuel does return to Portugal with his wife and two children to visit his dying mother. He finds his small village to be unchanged by the years and his absence.

The second part of the book begins the narration of Antonio, Manuel’s son. The strain in the family is felt immediately due to Manuel’s lack of success in providing for the family and his increasing reliance on alcohol. As Antonio ages, the burden of his father becomes ever greater and distressing. The last straw comes when Antonio’s teen-aged sister physically assaults their drunken father after he issues a verbal battle against her. Manuel visits a rehabilitation clinic and abstains from alcohol, but he still cannot manage to earn respect from his children.

De Sa writes beautifully and draws on literary imagery to produce angst and tension. At times the storytelling feels disjointed, but the effect is emotional and intentional. His characters remained slightly unknowable throughout; their true thoughts and feelings are overlaid with derision and secrecy. The relationships, particularly the child-parent relationships, are complicated and uneasy. Love, like a barnacle, can attach itself to you and roughly slice you.

The Enemy Within: 2,000 Years of Witch-Hunting in the Western World by John Demos (2008)

noreply@blogger.com (Carlie) — Sun, 14 Nov 2010 16:32:00 +0000

Finished: November 8, 2010

(Nonfiction – BF1566 .D46; 133.4/309 – dc 22)

Looking back from the vantage point of the world today, it seems almost inconceivable that such things as witch-crazes and mass witch-hunting could still occur and the fact that they did occur is often puzzling. Yet if we delve a little deeper at what witch-hunting truly means and its role in society, it becomes clear that not only is it imaginable but also that it could reappear at any time. Witch-hunting is not simply the hunting of witches; it is the ousting of the other in our midst and the affirmation of what the current culture deems appropriate and desirable. Viewed in this way, we can see modern day examples of witches and their hunters by another name.

John Demos, a renowned history scholar, is particularly well-suited to process and synthesize the history of knowledge on witch-hunting and the more recent incarnations of the practice. Hunting witches, he tells readers, begins closest to home, and accusers are often neighbors of the accused. In a way, to designate someone as a witch is a simple way to call attention to their behaviors that are undesirable. To execute them is to execute that behavior found offensive.

The author chronicles the history of witch-hunting through this lens of extracting the other and establishing standards of society, and it becomes increasingly clear how these hunts and executions could have happened. After the Enlightenment, we may have moved away from using the term witch to castigate, but the practice of hunting down and ousting remains in many forms to the present time. Demos illustrates his point through more modern day hunts of the Freemasons, Bavarian Illuminati, Haymarket activism, the Great Red Scare, McCarthyism, and child sex-abuse cases. In the witch-hunting cases of the past as well as with the more modern examples, there are recurring themes that emerge that help us to make sense of these incidents: conspiracy, secrecy, large scope, fundamentally subversive ends, hidden contaminating means, apocalyptic danger, and negative emotional repercussions.

The Unit by Ninni Holmqvist (2006)

noreply@blogger.com (Carlie) — Mon, 08 Nov 2010 00:05:00 +0000

Finished: November 4, 2010

(Fiction - PT9876.18.O3324 E5413; 839.73/8 – dc 22)

In the not-so-distant future, women at the age of 50 and men at the age of 60 who do not have children or significant others and are not caring for an elderly parent are regarded as dispensable. No longer considered capable of bestowing contributions to society, as determined by recent spates of laws, they are sent to various units around Sweden, the setting for this novel. These units are containment facilities where dispensable people are subjected to medical experiments and organ harvesting, and where they provide their ultimate and final donation.

The book follows the story of Dorrit Weger from the day she leaves her home and her dog, Jock, to her arrival and her life in the Second Reserve Bank Unit. She finds life in the unit to be quite bearable – anything one asks for is made available, everything is free, and there is an entire community of friendly and caring individuals. In many ways she has much more than she did in the outside world. It takes time for her to adjust to her new life, and the depiction of her sadness over the loss of her dog is especially moving, but she establishes close friendships and falls in love with Johannes. Each friendship, however, is tinged with despair because as time passes, one by one her friends make their final donations and never return to the unit.

Against the odds, Dorrit becomes pregnant. She tells Johannes the news, and they are ecstatic. Their happiness is short-lived as the Director of the unit gives Dorrit two options: have the fetus implanted into an eligible indispensable or give it up for adoption after its birth. Neither she nor Johannes will ever be indispensible again. Meanwhile, Johannes has kept a secret from Dorrit, and without her knowledge he makes his pre-scheduled final donation the next day. Distraught, Dorrit is allowed a visit with the now brain-dead Johannes. Afterwards, a sympathetic nurse gives Dorrit a key that enables her with the opportunity to escape.

Dorrit is the personification of resignation and justification in order to survive. Every step of the way, she must negotiate with inner turmoil and her every positive encounter comes with a negative counter-emotion. That she manages to eke out meaning for her life under such constraints is a testament to her character. Ninni Holmqvist has written a riveting story that feeds the readers’ minds and hearts. As Dorrit ponders the social changes and her own actions that led her to the unit, the reader wonders whether the concept is really so far-fetched.

Making the Cut: How Cosmetic Surgery is Transforming our Lives by Anthony Elliott (2008)

noreply@blogger.com (Carlie) — Tue, 26 Oct 2010 02:34:00 +0000

Finished: October 21, 2010

(Nonfiction – RD119 .E45; 306.4/613 – dc ?)

Plastic surgery in recent years has rapidly moved from something for those with physical deformities and the very rich to something more attainable for the general population. With this movement comes shifting notions of youth, economics and indulgence. Anthony Elliott presents a global cultural view of the cosmetic surgery industry as well as individuals’ shift in attitudes and justifications for undergoing the knife for vanity.

He begins by discussing the economic conditions that have given rise to such a culture. When the economy is healthy, there is an increased demand for cosmetic surgery. In addition, those already in leadership positions attempt to hold onto their status by being perceived as youthful, and loans can be fairly easily had to obtain the look of a leader. Add to that the fact that the cosmetic surgery industry is a multi-billion dollar global enterprise that continues to grow, and we see a formula for cosmetic surgical culture.

Elliott lays out the factors that he sees are responsible for creating a cosmetic surgical culture. First he considers the influence of the media and celebrities. Further he touches on the idea of self-reinvention and how this concept plays out in the lives of celebrities and trickles down to the masses. Second he discusses consumerism and the consumer industry’s role of playing upon fears and frustrations to sell temporary fixes that will keep the consumer coming back for more. Third, the author finds that globalization has contributed to cosmetic surgical culture by affecting individuals’ emotional lives. As our ways of working and living are changed due to globalization, we have lost our footing regarding values and norms. As individuals and as a society, there is an identity crisis going on and part of the new culture is the need to remake oneself to fit into the new context.

The larger questions concern what this culture has done to the psyche of the individual living today. Elliott loses me a bit when he delves into the psychoanalytic theory of loss, but his ideas are nevertheless intriguing. The way he sees it, globalization has created an economy of grief. The celebration of and yearning for youth, the annihilation of time, and the negation of death are the ways in which cosmetic surgical culture contains and represses grief.

This book had an interesting take on cosmetic surgery that brought together some disparate theories and viewpoints. Occasionally it was difficult to grasp just what the author was trying to convey because he seemed to be all over the map and some of his theses were half-baked. However, his insights provide another look at the phenomenon and a jumping off point to discuss this aspect of our broader cultural shift. He challenges our assumptions of the meaning of cosmetic surgery within a societal framework. He states, “Cosmetic surgical culture is one of excess, fear, disposability anxieties and melancholia.” (p. 19)

The Imperfectionists by Tom Rachman (2010)

noreply@blogger.com (Carlie) — Tue, 19 Oct 2010 02:12:00 +0000

Finished: October 14, 2010

(Fiction - PR9199.4.R323 I57; 813/.6 – dc 22)

Set mainly in Rome in the near past of 2007, this novel tells the story of an international English-language newspaper that is failing to thrive in the increasingly technological and instant-news world. Begun by Cyrus Ott, an Atlanta-based millionaire businessman, in 1954, the paper had a slow but steady start with the husband and wife team of Leo Marsh and Betty Lieb at the helm. Unlike his other business ventures, Ott seemed to care little for making a profit with the paper. Perhaps it was this organizational culture that later spelled the paper’s demise.

Each chapter takes as its focus a member of the rag-tag group of writers, reporters and editors that made up the paper. Between each of these are short chapters that touch on the history of the paper, from its inception to the death of its founder and its takeover by Ott’s son and then grandson. The recurring theme throughout is the idea of obsolescence. All of the characters are in a state of potential replacement in both their personal and professional lives, and the newspaper itself optimizes this idea and provides a canvas for their stories to unfold.

Rachman is a proficient storyteller. His gift for dialogue shines through in the Winston Cheung chapter wherein a budding reporter’s life is overrun by a veteran reporter with a fast jaw and an irritating demeanor. Also particularly compelling was Ornella de Monterecchi who wrapped her life around religiously reading the paper and living in the past. All of the characters are rich in flaws. Though the reader knows each of them only cursorily, together they provide a more nuanced and detailed story of the collapse of a newspaper.