A Wind in the Door by Madeleine L’Engle ~ read
New to the Stacks: Madeleine L’Engle
- Many Waters – read
- The Arm of the Starfish – read
- A House Like a Lotus – read
- An Acceptable Time – read
Review: Spook
Title: Spook: Science Tackles the Afterlife
Author: Mary Roach
Published: 2005
ISBN-13: 9780739467298
Publisher: Norton
Twitter: @Mary_Roach
What’s Auntie Reading Now? picture
Publisher’s Blurb: “What happens when we die? Does the light just go out and that’s that—the million-year nap? Or will some part of my personality, my me-ness persist? What will that feel like? What will I do all day? Is there a place to plug in my lap-top?” In an attempt to find out, Mary Roach brings her tireless curiosity to bear on an array of contemporary and historical soul-searchers: scientists, schemers, engineers, mediums, all trying to prove (or disprove) that life goes on after we die.
This could also be titled Mary Roach Travels the World in Search of an Answer Which Doesn’t Exist. The book starts in India with Roach trailing a doctor collecting anecdotes about reincarnation in search of proof that reincarnation actually exists. It ends in a hospital at University of Virginia with a tablet computer mounted to the ceiling facing away from the operating table beneath it. The researchers hope to prove out of body experiences by having a subject astral project and tell what’s on the computer screen.
Inbetween she travels to England to take classes to learn to be a psychic, gets a cold reading from someone, and discusses spiritualism along the lines of The Witch of Lime Street. Roach’s snobbish tone arrives at the same place we all do, there is no scientific proof for what happens after we die.
Believers gonna believe, skeptics gonna question; ain’t none of us got a lock an answer which makes universal sense. And while I didn’t mind the process Roach used to satisfy (or not) her curiosity, I did mind that while asking her questions, she was not so openly mocking those who believed in something with no proof. That’s why it’s called faith, Mary, it can’t be proven.
My own reading, and conversations, have led me to the same conclusion many have, there may be something bigger than all of us at work (something I choose to believe in), but there’s no definitive answer to what happens next. In the end, it isn’t what one believes or doesn’t, it’s how one behaves in the present that matters. Chances are we won’t know what happens next even as it’s happening.
So good for Mary Roach for getting to go interesting places to ask questions about an interesting topic. If only she’d been willing to set aside her preconceptions for the duration.
New to the Stacks: Lady Astronaut, Invisible Library
New to the Stacks: Genevieve Cogman
Some evil, evil book warbler insisted upon telling me about this series about an interdimensional library, librarian spies … and dragons! I was helpless in this warbler’s clutches. Good thing I had birthday money to spend.
What’s Auntie Reading Now?: A Wrinkle in Time
A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L’Engle ~ read
New to the Stacks: Sandman Slim, Angel Crawford (Zombie) and, Kara Gillian (Demon)
Review: The Hakawati
by Rabih Alameddine
Title: The Hakawati
Author: Rabih Alameddine
Published: 2008
ISBN-13: 9780385664776
Publisher: Anchor Canada
This is a book of stories, about family, Identity, love of family filled with stories from generations of storytellers. In fact, Hakawati means storyteller.
Where do I begin with this? The story of generations of storytellers in one family. The strands of the stories weaving together the themes of identity (Lebanese or American? musician, storyteller or engineer?), physical place, and place within the family structure are told.
Osama al-Kharrat returns to Beirut from Los Angeles to bear witness to his father’s death. The entire family gathers around the hospital bed to reminisce and tell stories reaching generations back. As with most family reunions, new stories are created as the now adult children discuss events from their childhood and discover the meaning of said events.
I love the way Alameddine weaves the many generations of stories together to tell the story of a this Lebanese family. Anyone who enjoys good stories will love The Hakawati.
Review: When You Eat at the Refrigerator, Pull Up a Chair
by Geneen Roth
Title: When You Eat at the Refrigerator, Pull Up a Chair
Author: Geneen Roth
Published: 1998
ISBN-13: 9780786885084
Publisher: Hyperion
The connection between eating and emotions is deep and tight. It’s a way we learn to soothe ourselves, to fill the holes in our hearts, and may be one area in which we feel we’re in control.
Geneen Roth’s book is about the ways we trick ourselves into sabotaging ourselves with food, and how to become more aware and stop the damage.
Anyone who has known me for more than five minutes knows that I have issues. Lots and lots of issues which I use food to deal with. Emotional eating is a learned trait, and did I ever learn it well.
I’m not sure why I initially picked up When You Eat the Refrigerator, Pull Up a Chair, something clearly resonated. Becoming the person you love most in your own life is hard, challenging work. One needs a lot of help to get there.
Roth goes beyond the “just stop eating so much,” or “trade gluten free for x,” form of food talk. In 50 short (2-3 pages) chapters, she writes about the issues emotional eating covers and offers ways to break some of the chains we’ve formed over the years.
Most of them are things I already do, like wearing bright colors. If you haven’t seen my wardrobe, it’s filled with bright pinks and deep purples. But that’s a recent change for me.
When You Eat the Refrigerator, Pull Up a Chair isn’t about body image or acceptance, it’s about learning to love ourselves as the gems we are, regardless of our looks. It’s about learning to stop tearing ourselves down.
Review: Ready Player One
Title: Ready Player One
Author: Ernest Cline
Published: 2011
ISBN-13: 9780804190138
Publisher: Broadway Books
Twitter: @ErnieCline
Publisher’s Blurb:
In the year 2045, reality is an ugly place. The only time teenage Wade Watts really feels alive is when he’s jacked into the virtual utopia known as the OASIS. Wade’s devoted his life to studying the puzzles hidden within this world’s digital confines—puzzles that are based on their creator’s obsession with the pop culture of decades past and that promise massive power and fortune to whoever can unlock them.
I saw the movie with co-workers who are gamers and were so excited I could hardly stand it. My opinion of the whole deal was, at best, neutral. My knowledge of Ready Player One was only this was a really popular book, and at least one friend loathed it.
What a perfect escapist film. Bright, fast, flashy, filled with 1980s pop culture references that had my co-workers talking excitedly for days. I was bemused. Then one of them loaned her copy of the book to me. She was so excited to share it with me.
Perfect escapist fare again. Ready Player One is wish fulfillment 101. It’s like Cline took every reference from 1980s pop culture and crammed it into a “wouldn’t it be cool if ….” version of “my life sucks and I was really happy back then.” Which is, pointedly, harsh and maybe a bit unfair to Cline. Because we all have wish fulfillment fantasies, mine is comfortable surroundings on a golden beach surrounded by books and all the time to read them.
Pollution, poverty, climate change, unemployment have all reached their logical conclusion in 2045. It’s no wonder people would rather be in OASIS, the virtual world created by James Halliday, than anywhere else. And, like everything else in any world, the rich and powerful want even more.
Wade is the one-dimensional hero. The teenager who’s smarter and cooler than everyone else, saving the day from the big bad corporation who wants to take over OASIS and profit from it. Halliday’s death spurs an all out 3-riddle solving winner takes all contest for ownership. Wade’s team of five against IOI’s massive army of employees whose only job it is to research Halliday’s life and 1980s trivia, or strap up in game harnesses and play until they pass out.
The teenagers win. Wade gets the girl, the fortune and the power to turn OASIS off one day a week so everyone can reconnect to the “real world.” That’s pretty much it. Nothin’ deep or complex. Just a good mind candy afternoon read.
Although I’m sure my co-workers would disagree about the meaning of all those Easter Eggs.
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