Flatland by Edwin Abbott

Read: 30 November, 2011

A. Square, an inhabitant of the two-dimensional Flatland, is taken on a journey of Lineland, Spaceland, and Pointland, during which he learns to transcend many of his assumptions about the universe and the natural order.

There are two parts to the Flatland narrative. The first reads like your standard (albeit clever - clever enough to fool several contemporary reviewers) social commentary, while the second tries to illustrate the failings of perspective and how trapped we are in comprehending only our own and lower dimensions. But as with any excellent writer, the division is never quite so clear and the second part provides a very interesting lens for the first.

I knew going in that I would enjoy Flatland; I'd heard enough about it for that. I'm glad to say that I was not disappointed. This is an excellent and readable novel that is one part social commentary, one part math, and one part Crusoe adventure!

I highly recommend the Broadview edition of the text. As always, the notes, introduction, and additional materials are both interesting and informative.

The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne

Read: 26 January, 2011

The Scarlet Letter is the classic story of a woman who dared to rebuke the mores of her Puritan society.What pop culture didn't tell me was that the novel actually starts with a rather lengthy chapter from the perspective of the narrator, living in "modern times" (mid-19th century), and complaining about life as a customs house clerk.

The first part was absolutely wonderful. It read like one of the Sketches by Boz narratives, as an exposé of a particular job in a particular place. The characters were vividly drawn amid the narrator's meandering thoughts and rants. It was everything I fell in love with about Victorian literature!

The more well-known portion of the story had a more standard Social Problem feel. A fallen woman wins over the reader and, perhaps, the novel's community by being a perfect angel of the hearth, a self-sacrificing and nearly Christ-like in her perfection. We've seen this before in novels like Ruth and Oliver Twist. But Hawthorne pulls a fast one and martyr's the male tango-dancer instead, allowing Hester to live and, presumably, to grow old.

I expected to have some trouble with this book. It's been a while since I've read anything from the Victorian period (at least that was aimed at an adult audience). But I found The Scarlet Letter to be extremely engrossing. I read the whole thing in just a few days and enjoyed it immensely.

As a little side note, I read this book while very obviously pregnant. It was rather titillating to be in public reading a book that is famously known for being about promiscuity resulting in pregnancy while actually pregnant!

What Does It Mean To Be Well Educated? by Alfie Kohn

Read: 22 September, 2011

I don't think that anyone questions the idea that our public schools are, by and large, failing kids. It's also no secret that programs like No Child Left Behind that require mass standardized testing promote "teaching the test," often at the expense of real learning. But in this collection of essays, Alfie Kohn goes a step further and argues that even grades should be dumped as an assessment tool.

Kohn ranks the evilness of the various assessment methods, with standardized tests at the top, followed by ranking methods (such as class ranks and grading on a curve), and ending with the assignment of grades. But each, he says, causes kids to view learning as a chore to get through rather than something they might choose to do.

The book is a collection of essays, so each chapter is a discrete unit. That being said, they've clearly been edited so that they make sense together, with references to other chapters for more information. The whole is brought together with a well-written introduction that serves to unify the individual essays in support of a common thesis.

I found Kohn's book to be very interesting and well-written. It challenged a lot of my assumptions (such as the bunk-ness of grade inflation), and has left me thinking a great deal about education. Only the chapter discussing Maslow was on the weak side, and I'm not sure what it was supposed to contribute to the thesis of the book.

If I had to find a flaw, it would be that while the current system is heavily criticised, Kohn is very light on the alternatives. I think this is a fairly important failing because he's challenging so many concepts that we take for granted that he absolutely must provide us with alternatives.

I don't know how much I agree with Kohn yet. I think that his arguments were very compelling on first reading, but I need to mull them over a bit longer before I come to a conclusion. He's definitely given me food for thought, though, and done so in a vehicle that was a pleasure to read. On that basis alone, I highly recommend What Does It Mean To Be Well Educated for parents of school-aged kids and anyone involved in education, at any level, formal or otherwise.

The Men Who Stare At Goats by Jon Ronson

Read: 7 July, 2011

I really want to categorize this book as fiction; and, in a sane world, I would. Unfortunately...

It begins in 1983,  when Major General Albert Stubblebine III (a truly Dickensian name), upon realizing that both his body and the wall are made up of atoms and that atoms are mostly made up of empty space, tries to walk through a wall.

Starting from Stubblebine's sore nose, Ronson takes the reader through a brief history of the US military's more insane moments. He lulled me into a sense of "oh, that happened in '70s, but it would never happen today" with stories of men staring at goats to make their hearts stop (and, when goats aren't available, the odd hamster would do) and a First Earth Battalion that could end conflict with their "sparkling eyes."

But then he gets into the 'War on Terror' and the horrific acts at Abu Ghraib.

The most difficult part of reading The Men Who Stare At Goats is to remember that this is only, as the subtitle says, about a "small group of men" who happen to be placed in some key positions. It isn't representative of the army as a whole. The problem is that each of these "highly placed" men have subordinates in a culture that does not tolerate dissent - even when the orders are quite obviously insane.

Throughout, Ronson remains very objective. He allows his subjects, and their beliefs, to speak for themselves. This is an amazing feat when writing a book about men who believe that they can walk through walls or stare goats to deaths.

The tone of the book seems somewhat rambly - jumping back and forth through time and skipping from subject to subject - but it all makes sense by the end, when the whole is tied together and the influence of Jim Channon's First Earth Battalion Operations Manual is made clear. And, really, this is the story of that book - of its history and its legacy.

Men Who Stare At Goats appears to be meticulously researched. Certainly, it comes through in Ronson's writing just how difficult certain people and facts were to find. And, although some of the connections he draws are speculative (or based on "wink wink" statements from his informants), he does make the case that it's all at least plausible if not factual. I found it to be a very interesting and thought-provoking read, even if my faith in humanity requires that I remain somewhat provisional in my trust of Ronson's depictions.

Assuming that it is all (or mostly) true, though, I'd be very interested in a follow up in coming years as to the effect of the book on military policies and strategies. Has Men Who Stare At Goats embarrassed the leadership sufficiently to cause a change? Will it spell the end of First Earth Battalion's influence? Or will it increase its popularity?

The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson

Read: 19 September, 2010

I bought the book because I kept seeing it everywhere and I thought - why not? Then it sat on my shelf for a long time as I read other books on my reading list that were a higher priority.

When my dad came to visit, he was looking over my bookshelves and saw that I had The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo. I admitted that I hadn't read it yet, and he told me that I absolutely must. Well, with an endorsement like that, how could I refuse?

I say this because it tainted much of my experience of the book. When I got to the anal rape scene, for example, all I kept thinking about was my dad reading it... and liking it. Yes, I know, the book is excellent and I'm sure that my father's endorsement was not predicated on a predilection for anal rape. Still, though, it made reading about anal rape even more uncomfortable that it is normally.

Not that I normally read about anal rape...

But apart from all that, this was an amazing book. It's a mystery - a disgraced journalist is hired by a wealthy businessman to solve the 40-year-old murder of his niece. But it's far more than that. The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo is a statement about misogyny and violence towards women. In one way or another, each of the book's plots and subplots hinge on hatred towards women. Larsson strikes that very delicate balance between making his point without being it. Again and again, he shows us violence against women, but he never allows it to normalize. It's as horrific the last time as it is the first.

And boy, is it ever horrific! The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo was an extremely uncomfortable book to read. Larsson takes society's dirty little secrets and shoves them right in the reader's face with unrelenting force. But the writing is so masterfully executed that I found myself unable to put the book down, even while my head and stomach both were reeling.

When my dad was making his pitch for the book, he said that it's incredibly long, but that the style is so accessible that he was able to finish it in under a week. It took me only a couple of days. It takes a while to get into, introducing the vast network of characters slowly, and it might be easy to give up within the first couple dozen pages. But stick with it, the payoff is well worth the wait.

Free-Range Kids by Lenore Skenazy

Thanks to Matt who gave me this book, which I had been wanting to read for years, while I was holed up waiting for my son to decide that he was ready to be born.

Read: 31 January, 2011

It all started with a New York mom letting her 9-year-old son ride the subway. Little did Lenore Skenazy know, as she wrote an article about her son's experience, that she would soon be dubbed "America's Worst Mom," propelling her head first into the fight against what she calls "helicopter parenting."

"You can't be too safe! Or can you?" she asks in the introduction. The book is not really a guide to Free-Range parent, but rather an argument for it. We are currently living in a society that is safer than it's ever been, yet children are kept indoors for fear of abduction and all adults are treated as perverts just waiting for an opportunity. It's a crazy situation that leaves kids under-confident and completely unprepared for adult life, argues Skenazy. It also drives mom crazy, telling them not to leave their children alone - even for just five minutes! - at an age when previous genertions would have been out babysitting.

I think it's important to note that Free-Range does not mean negligent. The Free-Range parent cares a great deal about their children, and takes the time to make sure that their kids are never given responsibilities that they aren't ready for. The Free-Range parent doesn't let a child walk home until they are confident with the route - and maybe they will still start out by walking just behind their kid, testing and making sure that Junior knows the way and crosses roads safely.

I have to say that I agree with Lenore's philosophy. Reading this book, I realized just how lucky I was. My parents were Free-Range before the movement had a name, but I come from the first generation that was typically under constant adult supervision. I loved my childhood, and I can really see how being allowed to "roam" has given me the confidence to step outside my comfort zone when tasks need to be done.

This book is a great read for parents who want to be Free-Range but are still weighed down by that old "worst first" thinking. It's also a great book for the already committed Free-Range parent, just for the confidence booster. It's a short, easy read and Skenazy has a delightful sense of humour. The whole book is written in a quick and conversational style that made me feel more like I was on the receiving end of an excitable friend's rant than reading an actually book. For this content, it really works, and it makes Skenazy seem very approachable and real.

You can read more about Free-Range Parenting on Skenazy's blog, where she posts updates on Free-Range wins and losses from around the world. If you already read the blog, the book is more of the same, but I really can't get enough of her humour. She reminds me of a chipmunk, talking in double-time. It's adorable!

Tess of the d'Urbervilles by Thomas Hardy

Read: 22 May, 2011

Fairly standard, as far as these types of novels go. The fallen woman is morally unimpeachable - getting the reader on her side and thinking that maybe, just maybe, one sexual mistake oughtn't condemn a woman forever - but she still has to die to satisfy Victorian bloodthirsty sensibilities.

Then again, we don't read Victorian novels when we want our plots to be ground breaking.

I enjoyed the juxtaposition between Angel Clare's sexual indiscretions to Tess's. As she says, they are truly the same, and yet he gets to live while she must die. But the point is still made. And, at least, Alec d'Urberville is suitably punished.

I was interested by the repetition of the word "mechanical" in descriptions of Tess. I'm not sure what it means, but it appeared frequently enough that it must mean something. I'm sure someone, somewhere, has written a dissertation on it.

Under the Banner of Heaven by Jon Krakauer

Read: 18, May, 2011

In 1984, Brenda Lafferty and her 15-month-old daughter, Erica, were murdered in their home in American Fork, Utah. Eighteen years later, Elizabeth Smart was abducted from her bedroom in Salt Lake City, Utah. In both cases, the crimes were committed by Mormon fundamentalists who believed in the doctrine of Celestial (plural) Marriage.

In Under the Banner of Heaven: A Story of Violent Faith, Krakauer investigates these two crimes, splicing in the Mormon story and the events that lead to the schism between the Fundamentalist church with the more mainstream LDS church. He also takes a hard look at some of the Mormon scriptures that the Lafferty brothers and Elizabeth Smart's kidnapper, Brian David Mitchell, used to justify their actions.

In particular, Krakauer condemns the idea of continuing revelation, saying that it makes it possible for individuals to justify any action as revealed commandment from God. With this idea firmly entrenched in Mormonism, it is almost impossible for the more mainstream leaders to rein in the crazies. In the background, throughout all the narratives, patriarchal polygamy looms.

The book is very strong in its narrative, but doesn't set out to make a point or place blame. As a result, Under the Banner of Heaven couldn't legitimately be called an anti-Mormon book. It also meant that there wasn't a good sense of scale - How many women are currently in polygamous relationships? How many children are being raised in these families and, potentially, being forced into marriages themselves? How often are crimes relating to Mormon polygamy committed?

Overall, I found it to be a very good read. Krakauer is a great storyteller and the stories themselves are interesting (albeit difficult to stomach). And, while Under the Banner of Heaven does give a fairly clear picture of the specific individuals and events covered, it's hard to extrapolate that into any kind of knowledge about Mormonism or patriarchal polygamy.

Most quotable line: "If you want to know the truth, I think people within the religion, people who live here in Colorado City, they're probably happier on the whole than people on the outside. But some things in life are more important than being happy - like being free to think for yourself."

The 19th Wife by David Ebershoff

Read: 6 February, 2011

Jordan Scott is a Lost Boy. As a teen, he was expelled from his polygamous community after being caught holding hands with one of his step-sisters. Now, he's just received news that his mother has been arrested for his father's murder. Thus starts an exposé of polygamy in Mormonism, both in the 19th century and today.

I found the historical fiction portions of this book very interesting. Ebershoff mingled the present-day mystery with "historical documents" to compare a modern day 19th wife to Brigham Young's famous 19th, Ann Eliza Young. What makes this technique so interesting is that the author will frequently re-write actual documents - for example, he writes several fictional chapters of Ann Eliza's real Wife No. 19. It's a weird approach that both adds a great deal of verisimilitude and makes it difficult to separate those parts of the novel that are fact from those that are fiction.

The modern portions of the novel were appropriately gritty - lending realism without being gratuitous. I particularly liked the choice of making the main character gay (and pursuing a relationship) without it being necessary for the plot. I hope to see more novels with gay main characters without the novel itself being about a gay main character.

When I had finished reading the novel, I was curious as to how Mormons have reacted to the less-than-flattering portrayal of the early LDS church, not to mention the sensitivity of mentioning Mormonism in the same context as polygamy. So I took myself to the chat feature on Mormon.org.

Unfortunately, the missionary I was assigned (a lovely young man named Tim) was not aware of the novel (and doesn't "really discuss books very often with friends either"). I would like to pursue the question a bit further and perhaps try my luck at another time, but so far my sample of one seems to indicate that the Mormon boat hasn't been rocked too deeply by The 19th Wife.

EDIT 1: Attempt #2 got me Nicole, who assured me that Ebershoff's book is "not accurate at all unfortunately," but not to worry because "the Book of Mormon is 100% accurate!" Hoorah!

Unfortunately, she didn't acknowledge my follow-up questions about whether she had, personally, read The 19th Wife or if her impression was just from what had been discussed in her community. Rather, she wanted to know if I had heard of the Book of Mormon, if I knew what it was, if I was planning to read it, yadda yadda. And so my search continues...

EDIT 2: Attempts #3-4 got me Sloane and Emily, neither of whom had heard of the novel. I officially give up...

A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess

Read: 20 February, 2009

In this infamous classic, young Alex is an ultra-violent teen who revels in rape, robbery, and in beating up members of the older generations. When a robbery goes sour and Alex is betrayed by his closest droogs, he finds himself in jail with a very long sentence for murder. But there is still hope for our young narrator. Alex is given the opportunity to test a new system that promises to end all crime by turning the most depraved devils into perfect angels. But the prison chaplain has his reservations. Is it right for the government to keep the peace by creating clockwork oranges?

POSITIVE: The language play is amazing. I have the benefit of knowing a little Russian, but this is by no means necessary. Alex's switches between Nadsat and his "gentleman's goloss" add a great deal of layering to the novel. Burgess is also able to preach without bogging down the story. Finally, the humour is fantastic and, at times, very clever.

NEGATIVE: All that violence can be hard to read and Burgess's writing style makes it all the more vivid. I spent much of the novel in a cringe. Had it not been for the distancing provided by Nadsat, I might not have been able to make it through. Even so, the violence does serve a purpose to the story and cannot be said to be gratuitous.

Overall, I would say that this is a very readable novel and would be most appropriate for scholars and teens. Those with more sensitive dispositions may wish to stay away!

Blind Faith by Ben Elton

Read: 19 December, 2008

Throughout my reading of this book, I kept thinking of the classics of dystopian fiction such as Brave New World, 1984, and Fahrenheit 451. In the end, that's exactly where this book lost its points for me. The televisions that cover every wall, the underground railroad for books, the total saturation of society with sex, food, and entertainment, etc. All of it was lifted directly from the exemplars of the genre. The only difference was that when Huxley, Orwell, and Bradbury wrote their novels, their visions were prophetic in a way. Elton's novel, on the other hand, merely took much of the world as it is and changed the names (FaceBook becomes Face Space, YouTube becomes MyTube or just Tube).

All this might have been forgiven if the characters had been better fleshed out. Instead, Trafford is merely a modern man stuck in a totally different world with little explanation for why he thinks as he does. In his conversations with others (particularly Cassius and Sandra Dee), he comes off as either pathetic or overly dramatic. This might have worked had it been clearer that many felt as he did but were, like him, too afraid to show it. It might have worked if we could see him incorporating bits of media into his speech so that we can, at least, know that the reason he makes such dramatic speeches is simply that this is how he has learned to talk. Instead, we just have a thoroughly modern character who regresses into the role of a babbling idiot when he meets like-minded people, and then suddenly takes on this obnoxious and self-important attitude when he decides he has a "mission." It all reeked of Hollywood.

Compare this to Winston Smith who, despite his doubt, remained thoroughly a man of his time. Or compare it to John of Brave New World who at least had a good reason for being an outsider and a throw-back from our time.

All in all, I found it to be a bit of an ego-stroke - a vehicle for ideas that are finding themselves increasingly in poor favour. All the atheist and scientific talking points were puppetted out by the various characters, which is all well and good. I would have liked a better setting for such gems, but this is what I got instead. Worth a read, but don't expect too much.

The Warden by Anthony Trollope

Read: 2006

Hiram's Hospital was a small alms house that functioned without much public notice under the guidance of the warden, Mr. Harding. When the young reformer, John Bold, notices the disparity between the lifestyles of those in the care of the hospital and the warden, he appeals to England's presses to correct the issue, despite being a friend of Mr. Harding's and a suitor to his daughter. When the case comes under the notice of some popular journals and authors (including a Mr. Popular Sentiment - a hilarious caricature of Charles Dickens), Harding falls under very public attack.

The story is well-written and interesting. Though the beginning is rather heavy with facts and figures (the first ten or so pages devoted to the total earnings and holdings and allocations of the hospital), the story quickly picks up and, for me at least, was functionally glued to my hands. The drama was well handled and the characters, particularly Harding and Bold, had enough depth for me to feel sorry for both. One of my favourite aspects of the book is that it took both sides of the issue and dealt with both sympathetically enough that I would have been saddened by any possible outcome.

The moments of humour were also well handled, particularly those passages that poked fun of Dickens.

Hard Times by Charles Dickens

Read: 2003

Gradgrind rules Coketown with Utilitarian facts and figures, killing fantasy in the young minds he teaches. Hard Times does not follow a single main character, but rather a community driven by materialism that, without humanity, oppresses all who dwell within it.

Hard Times was my first conscious exposure to the ideas of Utilitarianism and I loved the portrayal. I also found it to be more serious than many of the other Dickens novels I've read, a short attempt at depth in characterization (only a little, though - the writing is still mostly an expression of ideas and stereotypes).

Ruth by Elizabeth Gaskell

Read: 2006

Ruth is a Victorian Social Problem novel about a young orphan working as an apprentice dressmaker. Ruth Hilton is seduced and then abandoned by the wealthy Henry Bellingham. Discovering herself to be pregnant in a society that frowned and even criminalized single motherhood, she enters the home of the kind Thurston Benson and his sister under the assumed identity of Mrs Denbigh, a recently widowed cousin of the Bensons. Soon after, she takes a job as a governess with the tyrannical Mr Bradshaw.

The novel deals with a topic that was very controversial in its time and, in many ways, is still very controversial today. Reading it, I realized how many of the stereotypes her contemporaries held about "fallen women" and unmarried mothers that Gaskell deliberately set out to break are still with us today.

I felt that her treatment of Ruth was very balanced. When dealing with this sort of topic, is so simple to either make the main character too rebellious or too pathetic. But Ruth, who admittedly has a very mild personality (Gaskell trying to paint her as the model 'angel of the home'), she does come into her own and fight for acceptance.

I was also impressed that Bellingham was brought back into the narrative. It seemed easy for the story to simply end at Ruth, leaving Bellingham off the hook for the "sin" of Leonard. But Gaskell brings him in and she highlights, underlines, and paints in neon the total lack of punishment given to Bellingham by society while Ruth and Leonard are made to suffer so dearly. And again, this sort of unequal gender-based moral standards are very much still with us.

The one topic that had my Victorian Literature class arguing hotly was Ruth's death. About half of us argued that despite all Gaskell had done in the novel, she still let Ruth have the only fate available to the "fallen women" of Victorian literature - death. The other half of us argued that Ruth was being caste as a sort of Christ figure, sacrificing herself to save all those sick, including Bellingham himself. Rather than dying as a fallen woman or even redeeming herself through death, she had already redeemed herself and, in her newfound self-agency, indulged her innate goodness and self-sacrifice. For my own part, I see a lot of the former, but my understanding of Gaskell leads me to assume she meant the latter. But I will leave that up to better readers than me to decide.