tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-40228782282283576822024-03-14T04:50:19.602-05:00Original EnergyBarryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16783291230451404118noreply@blogger.comBlogger184125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4022878228228357682.post-1076395305958334332011-01-07T17:19:00.001-06:002011-01-07T17:20:32.026-06:00January 7, 2011"Whatever returns from oblivion, returns to find a voice."<div>- Louise Gluck, from "The Wild Iris"</div>Barryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16783291230451404118noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4022878228228357682.post-27087738996802771532011-01-03T20:36:00.006-06:002011-01-03T21:12:14.087-06:00January 3, 2011<div><span class="Apple-style-span" >A list of the 74 books I read in 2010. I meant to read 75 but when I had finished up what I had believed was the 75th I discovered that I had counted one of my books twice. No big deal, I didn't expect to read as many books as I did, but still a little disappointing. </span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" ><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" >All the books are rated from 1-10. 1 being awful, 5 being not good but not too terrible either, 7 being good and any number higher than 7 means I loved it.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" ><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" >Pretty soon, I'll write a post about my favorite books from last year.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" ><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 18px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" ><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; line-height: normal; ">1. Junot Diaz. <span style="font-style: italic; ">The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao</span>. The 2008 Pulitzer Prize winner for fiction. 9<br /><br />2. Malcom Gladwell. <span style="font-style: italic; ">What the Dog Saw</span>. Non-fiction. 9<br /><br />3. Christopher Seitz. <span style="font-style: italic; ">Figured Out</span>. Non-fiction - theology. 3<br /><br />4. Suzanne Collins. <span style="font-style: italic; ">The Hunger Games</span>. Fiction - Sci-Fi/Fantasy. 7<br /><br />5. Suzanne Collins. <span style="font-style: italic; ">Catching Fire</span>. Fiction - Sci-Fi/Fantasy 6.5<br /><br />6. David Sedaris. <span style="font-style: italic; ">Me Talk Pretty One Day</span>. Memoir - Hilarity. 8.5<br /><br />7. Bernhard Schlink. <span style="font-style: italic; ">The Reader</span>. Fiction.8.5<br /><br />8. Mark Haddon. <span style="font-style: italic; ">The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night Time</span>. Fiction. 7.5<br /><br />9. Wendell Berry. <span style="font-style: italic; ">Standing by Words</span>. Non-fiction - Essays. 8<br /><br />10. Cormac McCarthy. <span style="font-style: italic; ">No Country for Old Men</span>. Fiction. 9<br /><br />11. - 17. C.S. Lewis. <span style="font-style: italic; ">The Chronicles of Narnia</span>. Fiction - Children. 7<br /><br />18. C.S. Lewis. <span style="font-style: italic; ">The Great Divorce</span>. Fiction. 7.5<br /><br />19. C.S. Lewis. <span style="font-style: italic; ">Out of the Silent Planet</span>. Fiction - Sci- Fi. 7<br /><br />20. C.S. Lewis. <span style="font-style: italic; ">Perelandra</span>. Fiction - Sci-Fi. 8<br /><br />21. C.S. Lewis. <span style="font-style: italic; ">Till We Have Faces</span>. Fiction.10<br /><br />22. Ronald Takaki. <span style="font-style: italic; ">A Different Mirror</span>. Non-fiction-History. 8.5<br /><br />23. Patricia Raybon. <span style="font-style: italic; ">My First White Friend</span>. Memoir. 7<br /><br />24. A.J. Jacobs. <span style="font-style: italic; ">The Know-It-All</span>. Memoir. 8<br /><br />25. Mary Doria Russell. <span style="font-style: italic; ">The Sparrow</span>. Fiction - Sci-Fi, Theological.7<br /><br />26. W.S. Merwin. <span style="font-style: italic; ">The Shadow of Sirius</span>. The 2009 Pulitzer Prize winner for poetry. 9<br /><br />27. Geraldine Brooks. <span style="font-style: italic; ">March.</span> The 2006 Pulitzer Prize winner for fiction. 6<br /><br />28. H.G. Wells. <span style="font-style: italic; ">War of the Worlds</span>. Fiction - Classic. 7.5<br /><br />29. J.K. Rowling. <span style="font-style: italic; ">Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows</span>. <span style="font-style: italic; "></span>Fiction. 10<br /><br />30. Jhumpa Lahiri. <span style="font-style: italic; ">Interpreter of Maladies</span>. The 2000 Pulitzer Prize winner for fiction. 8.5<br /><br />31. Philip Schultz. <span style="font-style: italic; ">Failure</span>. One of the 2008 Pulitzer Prize winner for poetry. 10<br /><br />32. Rae Armantrout. <span style="font-style: italic; ">Versed</span>. The 2010 Pulitzer Prize winner for poetry. 6<br /><br />33. Richard Russo. <span style="font-style: italic; ">Empire Falls</span>. The 2002 Pulitzer prize winner for fiction. 9<br /><br />34. Jon Krakauer. <span style="font-style: italic; ">Into the Wild</span>. Non-fiction - biography. 7.5<br /><br />35. Stephen Lawhead. <span style="font-style: italic; ">Hood</span>. Fiction - Fantasy. 6.5<br /><br />36. Norman Ollestad. <span style="font-style: italic; ">Crazy for the Storm</span>. Memoir - Survival. 7<br /><br />37. Lawrence Ferlinghetti. <span style="font-style: italic; ">A Coney Island of the Mind</span>. Poetry. 9<br /><br />38. William Young. <span style="font-style: italic; ">The Shack.</span> Fiction - Theology. 2<br /><br />39. Francis Fukuyama. <span style="font-style: italic; ">Our Posthuman Future</span>. Non-fiction - Bioethics. 8<br /><br />40. Robert Hass. <span style="font-style: italic; ">Time and Materials</span>. One of the 2008 Pulitzer Prize winner for poetry. 7<br /><br />41. Erich Maria Remarque. <span style="font-style: italic; ">All Quiet on the Western Front</span>. Fiction - Classic. 9.5<br /><br />42. David Benioff. <span style="font-style: italic; ">City of Thieves</span>. Fiction. 8.5<br /><br />43. C.K. Williams. <span style="font-style: italic; ">Repair</span>. The 2000 Pulitzer Prize winner for poetry. 9<br /><br />44. T.S. Eliot. <span style="font-style: italic; ">The Waste Land and Other Poems</span>. Poetry. 6<br /><br />45. Thomas Lewis, Fari Amini, Richard Lannon. <span style="font-style: italic; ">A General Theory of Love</span>. Psychology - Relationships. 9<br /><br />46. Lisa Genova. <span style="font-style: italic; ">Still Alice</span>. Fiction. 10<br /><br />47. Howard Dully. <span style="font-style: italic; ">My Lobotomy</span>. Memoir - Survival. 7<br /><br />48. Harry Schaumburg. <span style="font-style: italic; ">False Intimacy</span>. Theology. 2<br /><br />49. Claudia Emerson. <span style="font-style: italic; ">Late Wife</span>. The 2006 Pulitzer Prize winner for poetry. 7.5<br /><br />50. Robert Jordan. <span style="font-style: italic; ">The Wheel of Time: The Eye of the World</span>. Fiction - Fantasy. 10.<br /><br />51. Robert Jordan. <span style="font-style: italic; ">The Wheel of Time: The Great Hunt</span>. Fiction - Fantasy. 10</span></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 18px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" ><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; line-height: normal; "><br /></span></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 18px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" >52. Robert Jordan. <span style="font-style: italic; ">The Wheel of Time: The Dragon Reborn</span>. Fiction - Fantasy.10<br /><br />53. Robert Jordan. <span style="font-style: italic; ">The Wheel of Time: The Shadow Rising</span>. Fiction - Fantasy. 10<br /><br />54. David Sedaris. <span style="font-style: italic; ">When You are Engulfed in Flames</span>. Non-Fiction - Biography. 7<br /><br />55. Debbie Hindle and Marta Smith.<span style="font-style: italic; ">Personality Development: A Psychoanalytic Perspective</span>. Non-Fiction - Psychology. 8<br /><br />56. Alice Sebold. <span style="font-style: italic; ">The Lovely Bones.</span> Fiction. 8<br /><br />57. Cormac McCarthy. <span style="font-style: italic; ">The Road</span>. Fiction. 9<br /><br />58. Italo Calvino. <span style="font-style: italic; ">Invisible Cities</span>. Fiction. 9.5<br /><br />59. Markus Zusak. <span style="font-style: italic; ">The Book Thief</span>. Fiction. 7.5<br /><br />60. Christopher Paolini. <span style="font-style: italic; ">Eragon</span>. Fiction - Fantasy. 8<br /><br />61. Brandon Sanderson. <span style="font-style: italic; ">The Stormlight Archive: The Way of Kings</span>. Fiction - Fantasy.10</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 18px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" ><br /></span></span></div><span class="Apple-style-span" >62. Robert Jordan. <i>The Wheel of Time: Towers of Midnight</i>. Fiction - Fantasy. 10</span><div><span class="Apple-style-span" ><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" >63. Mary Doria Russell. <i>The Children of God</i>. Fiction - Sci-fi. 7</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" ><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" >64. J.K. Rowling. <i>Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone</i>. Fiction - Fantasy. 8</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" ><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" >65. Cormac McCarthy. <i>All the Pretty Horses</i>. Fiction 8</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" ><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" >66. Kurt Vonnegut. <i>A Man Without a Country</i>. 6</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" ><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" >67. Henri Nouwen. <i>Return of the Prodigal Son</i>. Theology. 5</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" ><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" >68. Stephen Dunn. <i>Different Hours</i>. 2001 Pulitzer Prize winner for Poetry. 6.5</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" ><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" >69. Elizabeth Strout. <i>Olive Kitteridge</i>. 2009 Pulitzer Prize winner for Fiction. 10</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" ><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" >70. David Wallin. <i>Attachment in Psychotherapy</i>. Non-fiction - Psychology. 9</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" ><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" >71. John Twelve Hawks. <i>The Traveler</i>. Fiction - Sci-fi. 6.5</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" ><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" >72. Stephen Crane. <i>The Red Badge of Courage</i>. Fiction - Classic. 8</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" ><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" >73. Lawrence Ferlinghetti. <i>Starting from San Francisco</i>. Poetry. 8.5</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" ><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" >74. Ted Kooser. <i>Delights and Shadows</i>. 2005 Pulitzer Prize winner for Poetry. 9</span></div>Barryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16783291230451404118noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4022878228228357682.post-20959313296671906972010-11-27T18:43:00.006-06:002010-11-27T19:40:26.193-06:00WikiLeaks and The Matrix<img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgCUjOPKuGOIIfIWEekja92sY5uTiRPWbuoNiId7vUo1hDQotq_wKErBe05XpZp-jvpzCy7ykgzQyoG7EN3oIbfRQ9sic15486h2rr3SptH1gm4L6kZkh89B1txtrSE8Ov3ffBH1lQ8zCGh/s320/Julian+Assange.jpg" style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 254px;" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5544397319818367330" /><div>If you haven't heard, WikiLeaks is the stirrer of shit storms. I vaguely heard about some documents or something about Iraq, but their most recent threat is to release a bunch more super secret stuff about U.S. relations with other nations. Over Thanksgiving, U.S. officials visited the countries that are supposed to be the most unhappy with these revelations, which include possibilities the U.S. backed a rebellion in Turkey (we're supposed to allies) and say nasty things about Russian politicians (the actual word used was "unflattering"). Seems like people are pretty pissed about this. </div><div><div><br /></div><div>The director of WikiLeaks is Julian Assange, who's been arrested for computer hacking. And he has a codename: Mendax. With him releasing all these secrets, he's gotta be making some enemies. Like the kind of enemies who send ninjas to your home, or snipe you from inside a hotel room in a tall building as you drive to work. In fact, there is an Interpol warrant out for his arrest. And Wikipedia said "he is constantly on the move" which sounds suspiciously like, "he doesn't sleep in the same bed twice."</div><div><br /></div><div>Sounds like something from The Matrix. All the good guys had codenames: Morpheus, Neo, Trinity, etc. They all wore dark colored suits and had stylish hair. They were all hackers. They all had warrants out for their arrest (I think in the beginning of The Matrix, Neo was looking at an article on an Interpol arrest warrant for Morpheus...)...stuff like that. </div><div><br /></div><div><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQa1YcWjZRB9nYYLy7abr3y_Zdyr7nrKsEqaL_HSlUo0BK2LcwQLT2_EEA_JV_ve6NIws2mabGTD-TYu_93xO_w5-UX6riyweyBEPNuzgFb3V6uFRzWY6LTNLm9refR9H-sPmBBvIVTw3W/s320/neo+flying" style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 223px; height: 167px;" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5544407975071833154" /></div><div>I'm not the first person to make the connection either. <a href="http://www.newsrealblog.com/2010/07/30/julian-assange-of-wikileaks-has-been-living-in-the-matrix/">Here's</a> an article from July of this year. </div><div><br /></div><div>If this is all true and Mendax is our savior from the Matrix (and WikiLeaks is Zion), then that means he can fly. And dodge bullets. And fight agents (read: ninjas). He's got the right job, the right clothes and the right look. All he needs to do to convince me the Matrix is real is fly over my apartment in Capitol Hill. </div></div>Barryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16783291230451404118noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4022878228228357682.post-17107217263381336302010-10-31T14:00:00.001-05:002010-10-31T14:04:48.362-05:00October 31, 2010"For me writing has always felt like praying, even when I wasn't writing prayers, as I was often enough. You feel that you are with someone. I feel I am with you now, whatever that can mean, considering that you're only a little fellow now and when you're a man you might find these letters of no interest. Or they might never reach you, for any of a number of reasons. Well, but how deeply I regret any sadness you have suffered and how grateful I am in anticipation of any good you have enjoyed. That is to say, I pray for you."<br /><br />- Marilynne Robinson. <span style="font-style: italic;">Gilead</span>Barryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16783291230451404118noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4022878228228357682.post-209864669817241522010-10-27T20:43:00.005-05:002010-10-27T20:48:30.788-05:00October 27, 2010God Map project for Theology 1. The quotes are sections of poems from Whitman, Thomas, Plath, Schultz, Ferlinghetti, Hopkins, Hass, and one or two others. All poetry that has affected the way I see God and myself.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjIGmnjlYG-FgK3svLMYATYww2npSJEcZI2aLtKKtIhWe77ySSoJ8aWDHIrBWl89uwDnSn3uuHqX6RR1nikq1FyK1ZisAfoq7YoSrXOcwauv1TRodxx57WAgBDZKC1RlqhPGHANfwJp0z-N/s1600/God+map.jpg"><img style="float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjIGmnjlYG-FgK3svLMYATYww2npSJEcZI2aLtKKtIhWe77ySSoJ8aWDHIrBWl89uwDnSn3uuHqX6RR1nikq1FyK1ZisAfoq7YoSrXOcwauv1TRodxx57WAgBDZKC1RlqhPGHANfwJp0z-N/s400/God+map.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5532907149203857922" border="0" /></a>Barryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16783291230451404118noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4022878228228357682.post-27858685054904266982010-10-24T21:30:00.007-05:002010-10-31T13:59:24.086-05:00October 31, 2010<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWNItTVHMeHP_aHYX9RK-dvAuSyF-lap5NBMUXr7OyxuXMcTj0REiasju7vXFTyxKY_sSTKSi0q9yLwMWBrqlf9At4ntUzLWsnXmGE3EM5vjcFyVGfZQgfOXLd38wJGdUAuKE15unOKOEN/s1600/sanderson.png"><img style="float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; cursor: pointer; width: 210px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWNItTVHMeHP_aHYX9RK-dvAuSyF-lap5NBMUXr7OyxuXMcTj0REiasju7vXFTyxKY_sSTKSi0q9yLwMWBrqlf9At4ntUzLWsnXmGE3EM5vjcFyVGfZQgfOXLd38wJGdUAuKE15unOKOEN/s320/sanderson.png" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5534286626822222802" border="0" /></a>The next 10:<br /><br />52. Robert Jordan. <span style="font-style: italic;">The Wheel of Time: The Dragon Reborn</span>. Fiction - Fantasy. I've already talked about The Wheel of Time a million times so I won't do it again. 10<br /><br />53. Robert Jordan. <span style="font-style: italic;">The Wheel of Time: The Shadow Rising</span>. Fiction - Fantasy. 10<br /><br />54. David Sedaris. <span style="font-style: italic;">When You are Engulfed in Flames</span>. Non-Fiction - Biography. Not as good as the <span style="font-style: italic;">Me Talk Pretty One Day</span>, but still good. 7<br /><br />55. Debbie Hindle and Marta Smith. <span style="font-style: italic;">Personality Development: A Psychoanalytic Perspective</span>. Non-Fiction - Psychology. One of the texts for Psychopathology at Mars Hill. Enjoyed it, though. 8<br /><br />56. Alice Sebold. <span style="font-style: italic;">The Lovely Bones.</span> Fiction. 8<br /><br />57. Cormac McCarthy. <span style="font-style: italic;">The Road</span>. Fiction. 9<br /><br />58. Italo Calvino. <span style="font-style: italic;">Invisible Cities</span>. Fiction. Premise: Marco Polo tells Kublai Khan stories of the cities he has visited in his travels. The cities are as unique as they are imaginative. Calvino is a wonderful storyteller. I'm surprised more people don't know about this book. 9.5<br /><br />59. Markus Zusak. <span style="font-style: italic;">The Book Thief</span>. Fiction. Set in the second world war and told from the perspective of Death (you know, the Grim Reaper?). It's pretty good, but I saw it on a list of books that were the best of the last decade. I don't know if it deserves that much praise, but still good nonetheless. 7.5<br /><br />60. Christopher Paolini. <span style="font-style: italic;">Eragon</span>. Fiction - Fantasy. I read this in undergrad but I thought, hey, why not read it again? The movie blows by the way. 8<br /><br />61. Brandon Sanderson. <span style="font-style: italic;">The Stormlight Archive: The Way of Kings</span>. Fiction - Fantasy. This is the guy who is compiling the last three Wheel of Time books (since Robert Jordan is dead). This book just released this month and is the first in a series of ten. And it is good. Sanderson spent a whole decade building this world and the characters in it. Think about that. A decade working on a book. He created a world where hurricane-type storms regularly roll over the earth. As a result, grass retreats into the soil, cities are built against mountain ranges, and men worship a God called Stormfather.Fascinating work, especially where he explores leadership and the courage that makes men sacrifice for others. 10Barryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16783291230451404118noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4022878228228357682.post-65990322489740632272010-10-09T15:22:00.003-05:002010-10-09T15:45:50.132-05:00October 9, 2010The hard drive on my computer failed. Yeah...stupid HP. I swear, next time, if I have the dollars, I'm buying a Mac. But hey, I have it all under warranty (thanks to my mom, who insisted I have a 3 year warranty when I thought it totally unnecessary. Turns out PC's like to break. Who knew?) so my computer will have a brand new hard drive in a couple weeks. <div><br /></div><div>I've read a few books since my last post but I don't know where I'm at. 60 or more. Looks like I'm gonna hit 75 books by the end of this year pretty easy. </div><div><br /></div><div>One of the books I read recently was <i>The Lovely Bones</i> by Alice Sebold. It's a beautiful book if you can make it past the first chapter (if you've read it, you know what I mean). There is a dream-like, otherworldly quality to it that weaves in and out of the tragedy and beauty of lives shattered and remade by the death of Susie Salmon. </div><div><br /></div><div>Another is <i>The Road</i> by Cormac McCarthy, the 2007 Pulitzer winner for fiction. I can confidently call myself a devoted fan, having read two of his books. Although I think <i>No Country for Old Men</i> was better. </div><div><br /></div><div>I read an article about these trapped miners in Chile. 33 guys trapped under the earth for over 2 months. They just now reached them with a drill and are working on getting them out without any safety issues. They think they can have them out in a few more days if all goes well. I can't even imagine what that would be like. I'm a tad claustrophobic and being in a cave is like being in a tiny box. So by this time I would be foaming at the mouth. But hey, super glad they are getting these guys out. It's an emotional story for them and their families. </div><div><br /></div><div>In a few more weeks, the 13th Wheel of Time hits the shelves. On November 2nd, bright and early in the morning, I will be waiting for the doors of the downtown Barnes and Noble to open. Then I will rush in, snatch the book off the shelf, buy it and probably alarm the sleepy-eyed employee who sells it to me. I imagine myself looking like an energetic squirrel holding a nut, hoping up and down on all four paws. Drooling a little. Then scampering off to my tree. </div><div><br /></div><div>My only complaint about the Wheel of Time series are the illustrations on the cover. Please, oh please could you make it less embarrassing to be seen reading it in public? </div><div><br /></div><div>Reading week is coming up. Where I will spend all my free time working on the four research papers due in November. Fuck. </div><div><br /></div><div>I saw the God of Carnage last night. It's a play that won an award for awesomeness. It's hilarious. If you are in Seattle, I recommend seeing it. </div><div><br /></div><div>That's all for now. </div>Barryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16783291230451404118noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4022878228228357682.post-59290587047403281392010-09-15T22:17:00.005-05:002010-09-16T00:46:42.799-05:00September 15, 2010<span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Warning: this is a super long post. My bad.<br /><br />Last night I completed my 50th book this year. Fuck. Yeah. </span><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /><br />I have a rating system. Whenever I read a book, I put a number beside it: 1-10. 1 means it is the worst piece of shit I've ever read. 5 means it sucks but I'm not mad about it. 7 means it's good. And 10 is a gold star. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: georgia;">Here is a list of all the books I've read this year, in the order I read them, with a short amount of information for each, including my rating. </span></span><span style="font-size:100%;"></span><!--[endif]--><br /><br />1. Junot Diaz. <span style="font-style: italic;">The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao</span>. The 2008 Pulitzer Prize winner for fiction. Fantastic exploration of one young man's search for love and sex and his surprise at what he finds at the end. 9<br /><br />2. Malcom Gladwell. <span style="font-style: italic;">What the Dog Saw</span>. Non-fiction. If this guys writes it, you should read it. 9<br /><br />3. Christopher Seitz. <span style="font-style: italic;">Figured Out</span>. Theology - Typology. Boooorrrrinnngggg. 3<br /><br />4. Suzanne Collins. <span style="font-style: italic;">The Hunger Games</span>. Fiction - Children. This series is worth your read but much of this sort of story has been done many, many times before. 7<br /><br />5. Suzanne Collins. <span style="font-style: italic;">Catching Fire</span>. Fiction - Children. 6.5<br /><br />6. David Sedaris. <span style="font-style: italic;">Me Talk Pretty One Day</span>. Memoir - Hilarity. I laughed a lot. There is a short chapter on this turd Sedaris tried to flush down the toilet that KILLS me. 8.5<br /><br />7. Bernhard Schlink. <span style="font-style: italic;">The Reader</span>. Fiction. My God this book will depress you. It's good but my God...8.5<br /><br />8. Mark Haddon. <span style="font-style: italic;">The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night Time</span>. Fiction. 7.5<br /><br />9. Wendell Berry. <span style="font-style: italic;">Standing by Words</span>. Non-fiction - Essays. My first book from Berry did not disappoint. Several essays about poetry too. In case you don't know he's a God in some circles. 8<br /><br />10. Cormac McCarthy. <span style="font-style: italic;">No Country for Old Men</span>. Fiction - Haunting. Holy shit this man knows how to create tension in a novel. If you liked the movie, you will love the book and appreciate the Coen brothers on a whole new level. 9<br /><br />11. - 17. C.S. Lewis. <span style="font-style: italic;">The Chronicles of Narnia</span>. Fiction - Children. If you don't recognize this series, you are dumb. 7<br /><br />18. C.S. Lewis. <span style="font-style: italic;">The Great Divorce</span>. Fiction - Theological. 7.5<br /><br />19. C.S. Lewis. <span style="font-style: italic;">Out of the Silent Planet</span>. Fiction - Sci- Fi. Part of his lesser known Space Trilogy. 7<br /><br />20. C.S. Lewis. <span style="font-style: italic;">Perelandra</span>. Fiction - Sci-Fi. One of my favorite Lewis novels of all time. 8<br /><br />21. C.S. Lewis. <span style="font-style: italic;">Till We Have Faces</span>. Fiction. BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR. Few books have ever brought me to the brink of tears. This one did. So achingly beautiful.10<br /><br />22. Ronald Takaki. <span style="font-style: italic;">A Different Mirror</span>. History. An unpleasant read to say the least. But that's why its so good. All about our nation's history of oppression towards the "other." 8.5<br /><br />23. Patricia Raybon. <span style="font-style: italic;">My First White Friend</span>. Memoir. 7<br /><br />24. A.J. Jacobs. <span style="font-style: italic;">The Know-It-All</span>. Memoir - Hilarity. Jacobs tries to read the whole Encyclopedia Brittanica. A herculean task and plenty of laughs along the way. 8<br /><br />25. Mary Doria Russell. <span style="font-style: italic;">The Sparrow</span>. Fiction - Sci-Fi, Theological. This book poses the question, Where is God in the midst of relentless tragedy? 7<br /><br />26. W.S. Merwin. <span style="font-style: italic;">The Shadow of Sirius</span>. The 2009 Pulitzer Prize winner for poetry. Fantastic. 9<br /><br />27. Geraldine Brooks. <span style="font-style: italic;">March.</span> The 2006 Pulitzer Prize winner for fiction. Did NOT deserve this award. Book gets good at the end, almost redeems itself and squeaks out a 6.<br /><br />28. H.G. Wells. <span style="font-style: italic;">War of the Worlds</span>. Fiction - Classic. 7.5<br /><br />29. J.K. Rowling. <span style="font-style: italic;">Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows</span>. <span style="font-style: italic;"></span>Fiction - Fucking awesome. I've already read this before but what the hell. Don't judge...10<br /><br />30. Jhumpa Lahiri. <span style="font-style: italic;">Interpreter of Maladies</span>. The 2000 Pulitzer Prize winner for fiction. Heartbreaking stories but well composed. 8.5<br /><br />31. Philip Schultz. <span style="font-style: italic;">Failure</span>. The 2008 Pulitzer Prize winner for poetry. 2008 had 2 Pulitzer winners for poetry. A rare occurrence. And the other one wasn't half as good as this. <span style="font-style: italic;">Failure</span> brought me to tears. The author shares his journey through loneliness, insane asylums, suicide and his love of dogs. Best book of poetry this year. 10<br /><br />32. Rae Armantrout. <span style="font-style: italic;">Versed</span>. The 2010 Pulitzer Prize winner for poetry. Strange shit, guys. Sort of worth a read...sort of... but not worth a Pulitzer. 6<br /><br />33. Richard Russo. <span style="font-style: italic;">Empire Falls</span>. The 2002 Pulitzer prize winner for fiction. Totally surprised me how much I loved this book. The best part is the characters. Russo has a keen eye for the heartbeat of each one of them. 9<br /><br />34. Jon Krakauer. <span style="font-style: italic;">Into the Wild</span>. Biography - Survival. 7.5<br /><br />35. Stephen Lawhead. <span style="font-style: italic;">Hood</span>. Fiction - Fantasy. I used to read this guy when I was young and loved some of his earlier stuff. Not so much this one. 6.5<br /><br />36. Norman Ollestad. <span style="font-style: italic;">Crazy for the Storm</span>. Memoir - Survival. 7<br /><br />37. Lawrence Ferlinghetti. <span style="font-style: italic;">A Coney Island of the Mind</span>. Poetry. 9<br /><br />38. William Young. <span style="font-style: italic;">The Shack.</span> Fiction - Theology. Ughhh...just ughhh. I hated this book. I have no idea why it is so popular. 2<br /><br />39. Francis Fukuyama. <span style="font-style: italic;">Our Posthuman Future</span>. Non-fiction - Bioethics. 8<br /><br />40. Robert Hass. <span style="font-style: italic;">Time and Materials</span>. The 2008 Pulitzer Prize winner for poetry. Not as good as the other winner from this year but still some bright spots. 7<br /><br />41. Erich Maria Remarque. <span style="font-style: italic;">All Quiet on the Western Front</span>. Fiction - Classic. How have I never read this before? Well deserved status as a classic on the psychological impact of war on the soldiers who fight it. 9.5<br /><br />42. David Benioff. <span style="font-style: italic;">City of Thieves</span>. Fiction. 8.5<br /><br />43. C.K. Williams. <span style="font-style: italic;">Repair</span>. The 2000 Pulitzer Prize winner for poetry. 9<br /><br />44. T.S. Eliot. <span style="font-style: italic;">The Waste Land and Other Poems</span>. Poetry. I tried to like him, I really did. But aside from a few poems, in my opinion, he tries to hard. 6<br /><br />45. Thomas Lewis, Fari Amini, Richard Lannon. <span style="font-style: italic;">A General Theory of Love</span>. Psychology - Relationships. Reveals the structure of the human mind, how love affects everything and why therapy works. 9<br /><br />46. Lisa Genova. <span style="font-style: italic;">Still Alice</span>. Fiction. You should read this book not for the plot or the characters but for the way Genova pulls you into the mind of someone who suffers from Alzheimer's. Watch out though, its sad. 10<br /><br />47. Howard Dully. <span style="font-style: italic;">My Lobotomy</span>. Memoir - Survival. 7<br /><br />48. Harry Schaumburg. <span style="font-style: italic;">False Intimacy</span>. Theology - Crap. Just don't read it. 2<br /><br />49. Claudia Emerson. <span style="font-style: italic;">Late Wife</span>. The 2006 Pulitzer Prize winner for poetry. 7.5<br /><br />50. Robert Jordan. <span style="font-style: italic;">The Wheel of Time: The Eye of the World</span>. Fiction - Fantasy. Ahem. May I have your attention: These are the best books in the world. If you have not read them, you have not lived. I read the whole series last year and now I'm reading through them again. That's right, they're that fucking amazing. If were up to me I would give them all Pulitzers and then never give out another Pulitzer ever again. 10. 10. 10. 10.<br /><br />51. Robert Jordan. <span style="font-style: italic;">The Wheel of Time: The Great Hunt</span>. Fiction - Fantasy. I miscounted. I've read 51. 10, of course.<br /><br />That's all for now. I plan to hit 65 by the end of the year. Maybe 70. We'll see.Barryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16783291230451404118noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4022878228228357682.post-29323361326717872072010-09-09T19:48:00.002-05:002010-09-09T20:17:22.354-05:00September 9, 2010I'm all moved into my new place on Capitol Hill. It's a small (not too small) 2 bedroom on Summit. A few blocks from lots of things I love: beer, coffee, parks, bookstores, restaurants, Mars Hill, downtown and friends. It's pretty sweet.<br /><br />But I don't have internet. Or cable. Or a tv. So it's quiet. Disturbingly so. Jon, one of my roommates, observed that it felt like we were living in a hotel.<br /><br />That's odd, if you think about it.<br /><br />That not having cable or internet can so dislocate you, you no longer feel home.... If that's what we have made home to be, then perhaps we were never there.<br /><br />Whenever I was lonely, depressed or anxious, the tv was right there. Waiting to comfort me with people and voices and comedy and drama. Now that I don't have it, I have to sit with it. All the uncomfortable feelings well up and my shut off valve is gone.<br /><br />Yesterday we met with the apartment manager, a 99 year old Italian man. Gino. He has lived in the apartment below us for 34 years. Thirty-four years. Ninety-nine years old. Sounds even more impressive when you spell it out.<br /><br />Born in Denver, he was raised in Europe before he made his way back to the states and finally, Seattle.<br /><br />He told us how Capitol Hill used to be a much nicer place to live. We heard stories about how the apartment across the street used to be a whore house and police set up cameras in the trees outside his window. He watched them climb over the fence and haul people out in handcuffs.<br /><br />He told us about his cats. He has had 5 cats in his lifetime. He showed us a picture of two of them, huge balls of puffy fur, held in both arms by a smiling, brown haired Gino. Jon remarked, "Those look like raccoons."<br /><br />He talked about his love for Family Guy. He muted it on the television behind us as we came into his apartment and sat down. He never misses a show and loves the nearly demonic baby, Stewie.<br /><br />I think what struck me equally as much as Gino's personality and warmth was my discomfort. I wanted to turn around and watch Family Guy. I was anxious, without any cause I knew of.<br /><br />I think I have so grown used to dividing my attention to other, less worthwhile things, that I easily miss what is right in front of me. The silence allows me to discover that again and instead of drowning my discomfort (and, ultimately, myself) in distractions, I can learn to listen.<br /><br />That's about it. I'm gonna get back to my coffee now.Barryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16783291230451404118noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4022878228228357682.post-48926004608452568892010-08-21T14:43:00.004-05:002010-08-21T14:59:57.047-05:00August 21, 2010<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizmbLMFUDi-sUvpQ8Q8SEDv1XTlONrB2DVfUg3bvGaCkWEZCB4qz3j2AWAZ5ieW4t0sDC0_M6MWZuJNF12pHgO18URB9M5LePCPRarm7geYFoh3NNCEdQuS-8khNJAyEJ-aux8LMhMVH9R/s1600/still+alice.jpg"><img style="float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; cursor: pointer; width: 266px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizmbLMFUDi-sUvpQ8Q8SEDv1XTlONrB2DVfUg3bvGaCkWEZCB4qz3j2AWAZ5ieW4t0sDC0_M6MWZuJNF12pHgO18URB9M5LePCPRarm7geYFoh3NNCEdQuS-8khNJAyEJ-aux8LMhMVH9R/s400/still+alice.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5507955201406170114" border="0" /></a>Ever finished a book, flipped to the last page, closed it, set it on the desk in front of you and felt like you were waking from a dream? <span style="font-style: italic;">Still Alice</span> is that sort of book. I finished it at Cugini's Cafe this morning, the hour I spent reading oblivious to my surroundings, pulled so far into the book I felt the raw tension of a life steadily pulled apart by Alzheimer's. I felt almost a part of the story, as lost in Alice's mind as she was, gripping the pages I turned, tense without knowing why. I left after the last paragraph, full of Alice's pain and loss, holding back tears. I was so struck with this powerful story I struggled to focus on driving home.<br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">Still Alice</span> is a remarkable look into how Alzheimer's ravages the mind and the relationships it effects. Out of the 45 books I've read this year, it reaches what so few of the others have: perfection.Barryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16783291230451404118noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4022878228228357682.post-41638213609474965282010-08-17T12:38:00.002-05:002010-08-17T12:41:50.614-05:00August 17, 2010Check out this link to <a href="http://everynone.com/">Everynone</a>. They make fascinating videos about ordinary things. "Words" and "Moments" are especially good.Barryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16783291230451404118noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4022878228228357682.post-37502492354148224862010-08-15T00:57:00.003-05:002010-08-15T00:59:27.857-05:00August 14, 2010Definition of a bad day:<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjvIVFolm4-VfmCjXch-aYcbI_AKEK4fD4TCcRPu0piljX4IA1RauK_3vz0oY3EQyqyv1fquDfzNq9XWaovbssVkudIzi-rffGo7rIT5UoHmJVtrmH379tAHvlySU1uV4H5Q_SO07s_ogQy/s1600/monkey+attack.jpg"><img style="float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 266px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjvIVFolm4-VfmCjXch-aYcbI_AKEK4fD4TCcRPu0piljX4IA1RauK_3vz0oY3EQyqyv1fquDfzNq9XWaovbssVkudIzi-rffGo7rIT5UoHmJVtrmH379tAHvlySU1uV4H5Q_SO07s_ogQy/s400/monkey+attack.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5505512027226727810" border="0" /></a>Barryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16783291230451404118noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4022878228228357682.post-69613063259696978522010-08-13T20:37:00.008-05:002010-08-13T23:00:10.562-05:00August 13, 2010<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZ0Wf_LyDQEGx-q0qVtDlVU0tDV4RmWKcO3LjZHak2yBlBp18MJfO8CYbdLHdj8PRrbYvhqPXmOJfVzh8Ftito7igsli5LJHBNZRQToYFR5Pe20oLGvcfk-IiH8amq4A3lKL-9e2MQCx08/s1600/coney+island.jpg"><img style="float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; cursor: pointer; width: 207px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZ0Wf_LyDQEGx-q0qVtDlVU0tDV4RmWKcO3LjZHak2yBlBp18MJfO8CYbdLHdj8PRrbYvhqPXmOJfVzh8Ftito7igsli5LJHBNZRQToYFR5Pe20oLGvcfk-IiH8amq4A3lKL-9e2MQCx08/s320/coney+island.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5505109580034340210" border="0" /></a>Lawrence Ferlinghetti - <span style="font-style: italic;">A Coney Island of the Mind</span><br /><br />Ferlinghetti was recommended to me by a friend and after reading a few of his poems, I wonder how I've never heard of him. <span style="font-style: italic;">Coney Island</span> has been translated into several languages and sold over a million copies, which is unheard of for poets. Granted, it took 50 something years to pull it off, but it's still an accomplishment.<br /><br />The book is split up into 3 sections, each quite different:<br /><br />1. A Coney Island of the Mind. This is the one I'll talk about the most<br />2. Oral Messages. These are meant to spoken out loud and accompanied by jazz.<br />3. Poems from Pictures of the Gone World<br /><br />In <span style="font-style: italic;">Coney Island</span>, Ferlinghetti is at his best. It brims with a sexuality almost adolescent, undiscovered. His characters, never named, and barely described, are drawn to this vision of sex that is juvenile and full of wonder, but contained within: broken promises and unrelenting disappointment.<br /><br />All of his poems have numbers, no titles, and 2 is significant for its description of Ferlinghetti's dystopic sexuality.<br /><br />The poem takes place at the sea, with sailors bound for American shores in an ancient Athenian ship. They sail with purpose of destination, making for the promise of "demi-democracy," a play on words (frequent in this poem), probably referring to demi-god. They are beset with temptations and obstacles, as if they plow through a sea meant to obstruct their journey. Most tellingly, they pass near "patriotic maidens" who "ran along the shores/wailing after us/and while we lashed ourselves to masts/and stopt our ears with chewing gum."<br /><br />If you ever read the <span style="font-style: italic;">Odyssey</span>, <a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_s_Xtc7Ixr9eu2u1U5gQheLIipTn-fvnFNP0QGn7eHV1IFnkfQR42srVcrjyoUuswlpBufMIhWEr2uLsB7rMTOpM6bMRSQsYKygO4SXwTbch63WHrT58rQynlnF67ycFJY5RZXs2haC5-/s1600/the+sirens.jpg"><img style="float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; cursor: pointer; width: 319px; height: 158px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_s_Xtc7Ixr9eu2u1U5gQheLIipTn-fvnFNP0QGn7eHV1IFnkfQR42srVcrjyoUuswlpBufMIhWEr2uLsB7rMTOpM6bMRSQsYKygO4SXwTbch63WHrT58rQynlnF67ycFJY5RZXs2haC5-/s320/the+sirens.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5505110061322308082" border="0" /></a>you'll remember that Odysseus passes within sight of the island of the Sirens and commands his men to lash him to the mast while they stop up their ears and ignore his cries for release. If heard, the Siren song is irresistible and it lures men to seek them, driving their ships on the rocks and drowning. Odysseus, while lashed to his mast, cries desperately to be released so he may go to them, but his sailors don't hear him or the Siren's song and sail on, avoiding destruction.<br /><br />What you see in this poem is the clash of the ancient and modern world, the old and the young. There is chaos to it. Cows are flying through the air "chanting Athenian anthems," discus throwers are reading Walden and "heliocopters from Helios" are "dropping free railway tickets." Random stuff. But sailing through it all, this ship bears on, reaching American shores where they "looked at each other/with a mild surprise/silent upon a peak/in Darien." Darien, I believe, refers to an affluent town in Connecticut, close to New York. Otherwise, I don't know the significance of it.<br /><br />The end of the poem is quite anti climatic. "Mild surprise" and silence are hardly the reactions you would expect from sailors who have labored to reach these shores. The poem builds in intensity, rising in pitch but it drops suddenly, chopping the emotion away like suddenly waking from a dream. What is even more curious is Darien has no mountains. The elevation is nearly sea level. Ferlinghetti, intentionally or not, has drawn a perfect picture of the sexuality he describes, even, laments.<br /><br />In many of the poems in <span style="font-style: italic;">Coney Island</span>, sexuality is coupled with loss, sadness and even devastation. The end of 24 says, "still we laugh/and still we run/and still we throw ourselves/upon love's boats/but it is deeper/and much later/than we think/and all goes down/and our lovebuoys fail us/And we drink and drown." For Ferlinghetti, sex leaves us only with a broken promise. What it promises, is hard to describe, yet we all know. Transcendence. Happiness. Love. If you remember your youth, you remember the wonder of the opposite sex, of their bodies, of the pleasure you could feel. In <span style="font-style: italic;">Coney Island</span>, wonder is what draws us to sex, the rocks we dash our lives upon, our broken-hearted despair, the sea we drown in.<br /><br />With these broken promises is a lost innocence. In 26, he describes a "sensual phosphorescence/my youth delighted in" but which is "like a land of dreams...thru which desire/looks and cries." Ferlinghetti longs for a return to the sexual wonder of his youth, yet describes sex as an ultimately depressing pursuit. But still, against all reason, he longs and returns to the rocks.<br /><br />After reading <span style="font-style: italic;">Coney Island</span> I felt both a sadness and a certainty that Ferlinghetti speaks the truth. We have lost more than our innocence, but also our hope. We never long for sex alone. It represents more than the longing of our bodies but the longing of our souls to connect and love and hold. Sex fails us as certainly as we seek to have it.<br /><br />What makes Ferlinghetti's poetry so beautiful is his honesty. In the <span style="font-style: italic;">Odyssey</span>, the Siren's appealed not to Odysseus' physical longing, but his longing for truth. They sing to him,<br /><br />"Come hither, as thou farest, renowned Odysseus, great glory of the Achaeans; stay thy ship that thou mayest listen to the voice of us two. For never yet has any man rowed past this isle in his black ship until he has heard the sweet voice from our lips. Nay, he has joy of it, and goes his way a wiser man."<br /><br />Ferlinghetti's poetry becomes its own island of the Sirens, the Coney Island of the Mind, calling us to the rocks, where we wreck our ship upon the rocks, "drink and drown."Barryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16783291230451404118noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4022878228228357682.post-68762717888153960122010-08-11T00:28:00.003-05:002010-08-11T02:00:59.598-05:00August 11, 2010"When the time comes to you at which you will be forced at last to utter the speech which has lain at the center of your soul for years, which you have, all that time, idiot-like, been saying over and over, you'll not talk about joy of words. I saw well why the gods do not speak to us openly, nor let us answer. Till that word can be dug out of us, why should they hear the babble that we think we mean? How can they meet us face to face till we have faces?"<br /><br />- C.S. Lewis, <span style="font-style: italic;">Till We Have Faces</span>Barryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16783291230451404118noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4022878228228357682.post-74681686276234862252010-08-09T22:23:00.003-05:002010-08-09T22:26:14.635-05:00<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj89pB12SVdl-4wBWVSd5zUvdbYPHFcRPgw0zxtky7Sb1SY87MuMCoPilLeKwZmQLST_Ax-oIwPfXau6-nsxM07fzqHkSv5WPOIEBh25VGCjBcVnLaRpSB8n3qqPJwYyNGsfVBkb-c8bhF3/s1600/August+books.JPG"><img style="float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj89pB12SVdl-4wBWVSd5zUvdbYPHFcRPgw0zxtky7Sb1SY87MuMCoPilLeKwZmQLST_Ax-oIwPfXau6-nsxM07fzqHkSv5WPOIEBh25VGCjBcVnLaRpSB8n3qqPJwYyNGsfVBkb-c8bhF3/s320/August+books.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5503616659238947378" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />I intend to read all of these by August 30th.Barryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16783291230451404118noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4022878228228357682.post-34523676236077376332010-08-09T21:19:00.004-05:002010-08-09T21:46:43.891-05:00August 9, 2010I'm slogging my way through William Young's <span style="font-style: italic;">The Shack</span> and Francis Fukuyama's <span style="font-style: italic;">Our Posthuman Future</span>. There is no end in sight.<br /><br />Young started out interesting, gripping even, and then he hit a wall: religion. As soon as the book shifted into a dialogue between him and the Trinity it got downright boring, and even embarrassingly simple-minded. In <span style="font-style: italic;">The Shack</span>, God is a black woman called Papa, Jesus is a middle-eastern man in his thirties and the Holy Spirit is Sarayu (an Asian woman, I think). They are all smiley, talky, laughy with each other...makes me want to throw up. Not because it paints an inaccurate picture of God, but because it's just bad writing. Which is such a switch from the first half. This book has sold millions of copies... I expected something different.<br /><br />It's super disappointing. I want to throw it, but its required reading for Theology in the fall...and I'm not a quitter. Well, sometimes I am, but not this time.<br /><br />As for Fukuyama, the book is good but it hits a snag when he starts talking philosophy, which he isn't good at. He tries to create philosophical grounds for an ethics based on human nature. I agree there is a human nature, but it's a tough subject to argue and Fukuyama is not a philosopher. So I wish he would stick to the real purpose of the book: telling us why science is gonna suck us all into a black hole.Barryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16783291230451404118noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4022878228228357682.post-29511438767596894442010-08-05T18:42:00.004-05:002010-08-05T18:51:06.238-05:00August 5, 2010<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhV1CfXMH3t9hXudNiEB4IzTdnPZC97sFzxql3j2O6d4f796FLmeuHel3EhPAAKvF6SqNRdty8rJliKQmjOV7YoT4n8r8LRPtGN1-BG8BYQcgcw6LOTWy3xy95I5v0Lp2tyb5BWFUdHH5cv/s1600/petit.jpg"><img style="float: right; margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; cursor: pointer; width: 238px; height: 211px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhV1CfXMH3t9hXudNiEB4IzTdnPZC97sFzxql3j2O6d4f796FLmeuHel3EhPAAKvF6SqNRdty8rJliKQmjOV7YoT4n8r8LRPtGN1-BG8BYQcgcw6LOTWy3xy95I5v0Lp2tyb5BWFUdHH5cv/s320/petit.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5502077510925035554" border="0" /></a>15<br /><br />Constantly risking absurdity<br />and death<br />whenever he performs<br />above the heads<br />of his audience<br />the poet is like an acrobat<br />climbs on rime<br />to a high wire of his own making<br />and balancing on eyebeams<br />above a sea of faces<br />paces his way<br />to the other side of day<br />performing entrechats<br />and sleight-of-foot tricks<br />and other high theatrics<br />and all without mistaking<br />any thing<br />for what it may not be<br /><br />For he's the super realist<br />who must perforce perceive<br />taut truth<br />before the taking of each stance or step<br />in his supposed advance<br />toward that still higher perch<br />where Beauty stands and waits<br />with gravity<br />to start her death-defying leap<br /><br />And he<br />a little charleychaplin man<br />who may or may not catch<br />her fair eternal form<br />spreadeagled in the empty air<br />of existence<br /><br />- Lawrence FerlinghettiBarryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16783291230451404118noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4022878228228357682.post-9443065965821585222010-07-24T01:23:00.006-05:002010-07-26T00:47:04.549-05:00July 25, 2010<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi36ZxyzrmS1wS8V_57idMDAJLf3fBNwMQ9fjqvHzopAs9BlmXey1riw_7vRI-sWv5D0vBHBJR3GmYmbsgkBzxQmG-e8IIB5RxNkDAd8qbfJZ39-OTPJ3o1UsCMZfkFjkX-k5ZB4jE4UgAG/s1600/empire+falls.jpg"><img style="float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; cursor: pointer; width: 202px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi36ZxyzrmS1wS8V_57idMDAJLf3fBNwMQ9fjqvHzopAs9BlmXey1riw_7vRI-sWv5D0vBHBJR3GmYmbsgkBzxQmG-e8IIB5RxNkDAd8qbfJZ39-OTPJ3o1UsCMZfkFjkX-k5ZB4jE4UgAG/s320/empire+falls.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5498087077869131074" border="0" /></a>Richard Russo's <span style="font-style: italic;">Empire Falls</span> is the well-deserved recipient of the 2002 Pulitzer Prize for fiction. I, at first, wasn't looking forward to reading a 500 page novel about a small town in Maine. You can usually find me in the Fiction, Science section of the library, flipping through books with planets and spaceships on the cover. Or, if it is more of the Lord of the Rings type, orcs and elves and swords. A story about a small town in Maine doesn't fire up the imagination.<br /><br />But Russo won me over and I was surprised to find myself gripping the paperback with both hands, leaning into the pages and watching Miles Roby's life slowly unfold.<br /><br />What I discovered that is best about Russo is his ability to pencil in the details of his characters. He creates a fuzzy outline and steadily, fills it with color. What a character appears to be in the beginning is not always what they are in the end. And along the way, some of them even shock you.<br /><br />There is Miles Roby, 42 year old manager of the Empire Grill, a struggling restaurant in a dying town. The question the book poses is, Why is Miles Roby still here, living in Empire Falls? He has the intelligence to realize his dream of becoming a professor (he never finished college, having rushed home to take care of his dying mother) but doesn't. He stays, marries a woman he doesn't love who eventually cheats on him, and lives a dissatisfying life. He has a tendency to be far too nice and people take advantage of him. Russo gives the impression that Miles is a weak, impotent man but towards the end, Miles surprises me and reveals himself to be a stronger man than I supposed.<br /><br />Francine Whiting, owns half the town and for the last 20 years, has strung Miles along on the promise that she will turn over ownership of the Empire Grill to him. Why she tortures him with half hopes is a mystery Russo explores through Miles' memories of the past.<br /><br />Janine Roby is the fiance of Walt Comeau (Owner of the local fitness center, who obnoxiously calls himself the Silver Fox) and soon to be ex-wife of Miles Roby. A somewhat self-absorbed woman, she struggles with her infidelity but rationalizes it away and ignores the growing reality that Walt is not all he appears to be.<br /><br />Walt Comeau is, in fact, not as wealthy as he makes himself appear and is 60 years old, not 50 as he leads Janine to believe. His obnoxious personality is half entertaining and half maddening, which is something that creeps into several of Russo's characters. He has a habit of showing up to the Empire Grill and taunting Miles into arm wrestling him.<br /><br />Max Roby is Miles' father and the ultimate narcissist. He is another half entertaining, half maddening personality. He pursues whatever he wants with such reckless abandonment for himself and others it's astounding. He consistently abandoned his wife to handle the bills and raise their sons, leaving for months at a time to paint houses on the coast. And now as a 70 year old man, his habits are the same. His primary passions being beer and money to buy beer. I can do no justice to the fascinating character Russo creates in Max Roby, except by saying this man is almost worth the read himself.<br /><br />Finally, there is Christina (called Tick), Miles' daughter. Tick is one of Miles' few remaining passions in life. A high schooler, she has the regular struggles of a teenager dealing with sex, high school drama and love until John Voss shows up. What happens with him changes Empire Falls for good.<br /><br />There are a dozen other characters I could mention but I just wanted to hit a few so I could cover the plot in its most basic form.<br /><br />Russo manages to craft a way of speaking for each character that fits their personality so well. When they speak, you believe it is them speaking and when they act you believe that is exactly what that sort of person would do. It's a trick a lot of writers try but so few nail as well as Russo. And it's what makes a boring town like Empire Falls one the best reads of 2010 thus far.Barryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16783291230451404118noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4022878228228357682.post-32697795443375368012010-07-19T15:27:00.005-05:002010-07-19T16:30:14.450-05:00<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEht_vmzPHkcWzfplGKod1uYAg1B97R9mezodYNB9GUpgBXVaDPd4wEdKrXObCqI0doWLM2rBfrRiLAhPPmRTnXkxAfPIuwCojiBdO4LPu4Mc1GDm9B2xHQ0bVEIxcmnyeYpOHJZSEuNvgXx/s1600/versed.jpg"><img style="float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; cursor: pointer; width: 214px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEht_vmzPHkcWzfplGKod1uYAg1B97R9mezodYNB9GUpgBXVaDPd4wEdKrXObCqI0doWLM2rBfrRiLAhPPmRTnXkxAfPIuwCojiBdO4LPu4Mc1GDm9B2xHQ0bVEIxcmnyeYpOHJZSEuNvgXx/s320/versed.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5495731961300271458" border="0" /></a>Rae Armantrout's <span style="font-style: italic;">Versed</span> reminds me more of Pascal's <span style="font-style: italic;">Pensees</span> then it does any poetry I know (of course, there are so many different types of poetry, who is to say what is and isn't?). Her poetry is punctuated by endings and beginnings. Pauses in the actual framework. They are sharp intercisions into the poem, chopping it up into bits, making it both devourable and tough. Some pieces I understand, some I don't. The ones I do sometimes feel connected to the rest, but rather they often feel more like a puzzle. Figuring out one piece does not make the poem understood as a whole.<br /><br />It is not that Armantrout's poetry is bad, rather it seems academic, like Derrida's philosophy or Freud's psychology. I wonder if it is meant for me.<br /><br />This causes me to linger between irritation and intrigue. I'm drawn in by the puzzle, by the need to struggle out the meaning. But I'm also repulsed by the incoherence. The rambling memories and thoughts, the lack of a true center from which the poem orients itself.<br /><br />The problem is I'm not getting a whole poem to relate to. I'm getting pieces, and maybe that <span style="font-style: italic;">is</span> the poem, the pieces, but it makes for a disconcerting, almost anxiety-induced read. I check the poems I like almost half heartedly, uncertain whether I like them or just part of them. And then often the ones I like I have no explanation for why. I am picking and choosing what I keep and reject but what makes that choosing hard is the lack of a coherent poem to choose. I want something packaged and whole and Armantrout offers nothing of the kind. And when I am both drawn in and repulsed, it messes with my interior world. Armantrout says it well in Help:<br /><br />A space<br />"inside"<br /><br />can't bear<br />to be un-<br /><br />interrupted<br /><br />I mark it:<br /><br />"I" "I" "I"<br /><br />You can see Armantrout's poetry is disconcerting in its structure and words. Even the break between "un-" and "interrupted" is meant to be daunting.<br /><br />The disconcerting nature of Armantrout's poetry is not only what it produces, but what it reveals. It doesn't create incoherence as much as it reveals it.<br /><br />Armantrout's poetry is as fragmented as we are. And when I read it, my true state surfaces. It is similar to sitting quietly in a chair and not doing, saying or thinking anything. I dare you to try it. Within 5 minutes you will be uncomfortable. Within 10, anxiety or depression or anger may surface and you will want something to do. I can barely make it to 15.<br /><br />When I push away all the activity and business that keeps my mind occupied, I find myself alarmingly unstable. I am not as whole as I thought. Armantrout calls this "space 'inside:'"<br /><br />"I" "I" "I" <br /><br />There isn't one "I," there are several. Maybe these represent the id, ego and superego. Whatever they are, they are fragmented and divided. Like her poetry. Like myself.<br /><br />What is disconcerting about her poetry is what is disconcerting about myself. Not at all the parts work together, not all the parts make sense. I've discovered this in therapy, in practicum at Mars Hill, in silence, in poetry, in reflection.... I am not whole. There isn't a well put together anything. The question for me is then, What do I do with what I discover?<br /><br />As I was reading Armantrout's poetry I realized I was rejecting and accepting poems similar to the way I reject and accept myself. I throw out the unpleasant parts and leave what is best and presentable. But what I am really left with is even more fragmented than before. Because just as Armantrout's poetry is incomplete without the breaks, pauses, and confusion, so am I without my own.<br /><br />It would be nice if life were like Walt Whitman's Song of Myself, but it is more like the chaos and disconnect of <span style="font-style: italic;">Versed</span>, where Armantrout's poetry lacks a center to revolve around as we are eternally searching for one in ourselves.Barryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16783291230451404118noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4022878228228357682.post-54934323087995567902010-07-16T19:09:00.001-05:002010-07-16T19:15:40.453-05:00July 16, 2010My Dog<br /><br />His large black body lies on his bed across the room,<br />under the French doors, where he used to sleep, watching me.<br />The vet said to cover him with a blanket, but I can't.<br /><br />Two hours ago he moaned loudly and let go of his life.<br />My wife dreamed of his death in Paris but didn't tell me.<br />I drove home from the airport imagining him at the door,<br /><br />tail wagging. He introduced me to my wife in a dog run,<br />stood proudly beside me at our wedding, handsome<br />in a red bow tie. He faced wherever I was, sat staring out<br /><br />the window if I was away. If you haven't loved a dog<br />you'll find it hard to believe he knew it was time to die<br />but wanted to wait two weeks for me to come home.<br /><br />I'll spread his ashes at the beach where we walked nearly<br />every day for twelve years, this gentle creature following me<br />the mile and a half to the breakers and then back to our car.<br /><br />Philip Schultz<br /><br /><br />A sad, but beautiful poem.Barryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16783291230451404118noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4022878228228357682.post-65072857502446350102010-07-12T01:31:00.001-05:002010-07-12T01:32:51.639-05:00July 11, 2010Just finished the 7th Harry Potter for the 2nd time. Just as good as the 1st. Can't wait for November.Barryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16783291230451404118noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4022878228228357682.post-2230728547490926912010-07-08T18:53:00.003-05:002010-07-08T18:59:31.856-05:00July 8, 2010<span style="color: rgb(255, 255, 255);font-family:arial;font-size:100%;" ><span style=";font-family:times new roman;font-size:100%;" ><span style=";font-family:times new roman;font-size:100%;" ><span style=";font-family:times new roman;font-size:100%;" ><span style=";font-family:times new roman;font-size:100%;" ><span style=";font-family:times new roman;font-size:100%;" ><span style=";font-family:times new roman;font-size:100%;" ><span style=";font-family:times new roman;font-size:100%;" ><span style=";font-family:times new roman;font-size:100%;" ><span style=";font-family:times new roman;font-size:100%;" ><span style=";font-family:times new roman;font-size:100%;" >We shall not cease from exploration<br />And the end of all our exploring<br />Will be to arrive where we started<br />And know the place for the first time.<br />Through the unknown, unremembered gate<br />When the last of earth left to discover<br />Is that which was the beginning;<br />At the source of the longest river<br />The voice of the hidden waterfall<br />And the children in the apple-tree<br />Not known, because not looked for<br />But heard, half-heard, in the stillness<br />Between two waves of the sea.<br />Quick now, here, now, always—<br />A condition of complete simplicity<br />(Costing not less than everything)<br />And all shall be well and<br />All manner of thing shall be well<br />When the tongues of flame are in-folded<br />Into the crowned knot of fire<br />And the fire and the rose are one.</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">- T.S. Eliot</span>Barryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16783291230451404118noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4022878228228357682.post-41729461753655391332010-07-08T16:24:00.003-05:002010-07-08T16:48:22.483-05:00July 8, 2010<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiY87t1vF_tdYxDUTT5SlaPoOGQMm_1pggCQECeE5AMqUXt5E3ihvAXBtaXby0l4grYsM955E6sJAWt4HgyHyD8wCJZvTgqmdqBb5eN6rDDZ9tHcGEnFGr6WaoGZYRd_KMNY57J5wFV79rd/s1600/march.jpg"><img style="float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; cursor: pointer; width: 209px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiY87t1vF_tdYxDUTT5SlaPoOGQMm_1pggCQECeE5AMqUXt5E3ihvAXBtaXby0l4grYsM955E6sJAWt4HgyHyD8wCJZvTgqmdqBb5eN6rDDZ9tHcGEnFGr6WaoGZYRd_KMNY57J5wFV79rd/s320/march.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5491655335411226386" border="0" /></a>Summertime means lots of reading. I've read 27 books this year so far. I'll finish 28 and 29 by tonight and 30 probably by Sunday. My summer goal is to read 20 books in the next 2 months, including articles and books for classes in the fall semester. That might sound super nerdy...It is.<br /><br />I don't know what my total at the end of the year will be but it will certainly far surpass last years total of 39. Part of that goal is to read the Pulitzer winners for Fiction and Poetry in the last 10 years. I've read 1 of the winners for poetry and 3 of the winners for fiction and I'll finish another tonight.<br /><br />The 2006 winner for fiction was Geraldine Brooks' <span style="font-style: italic;">March</span>, an almost boring read for the first 200 pages but which leaps in intensity in the last 80. I'm not convinced it deserved a Pulitzer, but it turned out to be a thoughtful read, if not the most entertaining.<br /><br />Mr. March, the main character, joins the Union side of the civil war as a chaplain, leaving his wife and four girls at home. Initially a highly idealistic man, the war shatters his optimism and his body, leaving him wracked with disease and broken hope. Where the book becomes interesting is when those ideals collide with the reality of war and the evil it produces. March watches friends die and feels the weight of his cowardice. You can almost feel his soul crack under the weight as the champion of equality and conscience we see in the first part of the book is lost forever.<br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">March</span> is almost frustrating at first but then flares into life when March's world falls apart. It's a worthwhile read for the emotion of the last third, if for nothing else. And hey, if it won a Pulitzer, I think most people would disagree with me that it wasn't all I hoped it would be. So maybe you should check it out.<br /><br />The other Pulitzer I'm presently in the middle of is Jhumpa Lahiri's <span style="font-style: italic;">Interpreter of Maladies</span>. And it's gooooodddd. More on that some other day.Barryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16783291230451404118noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4022878228228357682.post-81730339766226768122010-06-09T15:27:00.002-05:002010-06-09T15:30:59.775-05:00June 9, 2010"The water gleamed, the sky burned with gold, but all was rich and dim, and his eyes fed upon it undazzled and unaching. The very names of green and gold, which he used perforce in describing the scene, are too harsh for the tenderness, the muted iridescence, of that warm, maternal, delicately gorgeous world. It was mild to look upon as evening, warm like summer noon, gentle and winning like early dawn. It was altogether pleasurable. He sighed."<br /><br />- C.S. Lewis, <span style="font-style: italic;">Perelandra</span>Barryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16783291230451404118noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4022878228228357682.post-26000926223491389232010-06-08T20:57:00.005-05:002010-06-08T22:38:51.685-05:00June 8, 2010"I felt sure that the creature was what we call 'good,' but I wasn't sure whether I liked 'goodness' as much as I had supposed. This is a very terrible experience. As long as what you are afraid of is something evil, you may still hope that the good may come to your rescue. But suppose you struggle through to the good and find that it also is dreadful? How if food itself turns out to be the very thing you can't eat, and home the very place you can't live, and your very comforter the person who makes you uncomfortable? Then, indeed, there is no rescue possible: the last card has been played. For a second or two I was nearly in that condition. Here at last was a bit of that world from beyond the world, which I had always supposed that I loved and desired, breaking through and appearing to my senses: and I didn't like it, I wanted it to go away. I wanted every possible distance, gulf, curtain, blanket and barrier to be placed between it and me. But I did not fall quite into the gulf. Oddly enough my very sense of helplessness saved me and steadied me. For now I was quite obviously 'drawn in.' The struggle was over. The next decision did not lie with me."<br /><br />- C.S. Lewis, <span style="font-style: italic;">Perelandra</span>Barryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16783291230451404118noreply@blogger.com0