The Los Angeles Times discusses the American Book Review’s list of the Top 40 Bad Books. Among those listed: “The Great Gatsby,” “Revolutionary Road,” “Uncle Tom’s Cabin” (are you kidding me?) and “Let the Great World Spin.” (Yes, amen to the last one.)
Archive for the ‘IMHO’ Category
Bad books, bad
Wednesday, March 10th, 2010A Meditation on Trees
Monday, March 1st, 2010
At last, we say goodbye to the seemingly endless January and February and hello to March, the promise of spring to come. But before we welcome the verdant green that will be here in a few weeks, let’s pause to look around.
Take a look at a large tree. Have you ever noticed that, without leaves, the branches look just like the roots? It looks as if a giant hand had pulled the tree out of the ground whole, turned it upside-down, and shoved it back down in the ground, with the roots sticking out.
So, imagine that the “roots” you can see are trying to pull nutrients out of the air as roots pull them out of the soil. Can you imagine yourself mustering up your own energy and sending it to the tree, to feed it? Try it. Send it positive thoughts of strength, health, sunshine, love. And as soon as you do, I’ll bet the tree sends you more, right back. You may feel foolish at first, but eventually, I’ll bet it will make you smile.
We are all part of one energy force. Feed a tree.
Thank you to Lisa Scalfaro for the beautiful photograph.
Be happy!
Friday, February 26th, 2010
Today’s “One for the Books” column is “Don’t Worry; Be Happy!”
Lionel Jeffries, R.I.P.
Friday, February 19th, 2010
Actor Lionel Jeffries has died at the age of 83.
I absolutely adored him in his early movies. And as King Pellinore in “Camelot.” And he created the best-best-best audio version of the Winnie-the-Pooh stories ever. It’s hard to find, but if you can locate a copy, listen to it with joy!
Sex, Drugs, and Rock ’n’ Roll
Friday, February 12th, 2010
Today’s One for the Books column is on Sex, Drugs, and Rock ’n’ Roll.
Amazon did a bad thing
Thursday, February 4th, 2010I love Amazon. I have loved Amazon almost since its beginning, as I was an early customer of the mega-bookseller. And just yesterday I had a conversation with one of the customer service people at Amazon, who helped me quickly and very nicely, thank you, with a problem I had on my Kindle.
But what Amazon recently did with Macmillan Publishing books is just wrong. I’ve been adding links to this blog about the situation, but haven’t really commented on it. I was a bit divided, because I love Amazon, but I believe publishers should have the right to set their own pricing.
And I REALLY believe Amazon has NO RIGHT to remove materials from people’s Kindles after they have downloaded the materials. That’s theft. Amazon also says it has capitulated and will do as Macmillan has asked, but it still won’t let patrons buy all Macmillan books. (Find The Politician on Amazon.)
Here’s a link to today’s Shelf Awareness, which contains several comments and links in regard to the Amazon debacle.
The result of all this seems to be bad PR for Amazon, more sales for Barnes & Noble, and bad relationships with all publishing companies. What a shame.
‘High school opposite’
Friday, January 29th, 2010On “The Chris Matthews Show” on Jan. 23, Chris was asking the panel about the member of the tea party movement. Who are they?
David Brooks: “It used to be in this country that people with high school degrees lived the same kind of lives as people with college degrees. That’s no longer true. Divorce rates, attitudes toward society, attitudes toward government, it’s very different, college degree/non-college degree. … So I think they’re living in a different America. And they look at the people who are running them, most of whom are college degrees — Harvard law — on both sides and they say “That’s not me. That’s not my life. And they’re not listening to me.” … Tom Wolfe had this rule of ‘high school opposite’: Who do you vote for, in politics? Well, in high school you find out who your opposite is, and you vote against those bastards. And so, if you hate the football players, all through life you’re gonna vote against the football players. If you hate the art people, you vote against the art people.”
Brevity
Friday, January 29th, 2010
Today’s One for the Books
column is “Think Short!”
King and Grafton
Friday, January 22nd, 2010
Today’s “One for the Books” column is on “The ‘Dome’ Tome and ‘U’ ” from authors Stephen King and Sue Grafton.
The great book purge
Thursday, January 14th, 2010
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From The Millions, Edan Lepucki describes how she and Patrick went about purging some of the overflowing books from their apartment. This is hitting WAY too close to home for me! (By the way, this photo strongly reminds me of my Uncle Swick’s Old Book Store in Akron in the 1950s-60s+. (Lionel Swicker — what a great name.) Books EVERYWHERE!)
Conan vs. NBC?
Monday, January 11th, 2010According to the New York Post, Conan O’Brien is NOT happy with NBC’s decision to move Jay Leno back to his old 11:35 slot, currently occupied by O’Brien. Who couldn’t have seen this coming?
Here’s to Jane
Friday, January 8th, 2010
Today’s One for the Books column
Jane Austen and the monsters
Monday, December 28th, 2009
OMG. First there was “Pride and Prejudice and Zombies: The Classic Regency Romance, Now with Ultraviolent Zombie Mayhem,” which takes the classic Jane Austen novel and adds in monster attacks. I thought it was a joke — and a pretty funny one — but the joke was on me: It’s real! It’s also selling very well.
Then there was “Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters.” As a laugh, I said, “What’s next? ‘Mansfield Park and Mummies’?”
But lo and behold, there already is one! “Mansfield Park and Mummies: Monster Mayhem, Matrimony, Ancient Curses, True Love, and Other Dire Delights.” There’s also “Emma and the Werewolves: Jane Austen’s Classic Novel with Blood-Curdling Lycanthropy.”
It’s only a matter of time before somebody comes up with monsters that go well with “Persuasion” and “Northanger Abbey.”
Oh, BTW, my Kindle version of “P&P & Zombies” is illustrated.
A healthier Christmas Eve
Thursday, December 24th, 2009The American people have been given a lovely Christmas present this morning. The U.S. Senate has voted to pass the health insurance reform measure, which will (eventually) make sure no one has to die from lack of health insurance or go broke or lose their home because someone in the family got sick. Thank you, senators, and God bless us, every one!
Fifty needles found inside 2-year-old
Wednesday, December 16th, 2009
From the BBC:
A Brazilian toddler has up to 50 sewing needles inside him, which doctors suspect were deliberately inserted. The two-year-old boy was taken to hospital by his mother. X-rays revealed the needles, including one in his lung. His mother said she did not know how the needles, some 2in (5cm) long, got inside him. Police are investigating. A doctor said it was unlikely the boy had swallowed them. Most of them will be removed, but not the ones inside organs as that could cause more damage. Dr Luiz Cesar Soltoski told Associated Press news agency: “We think it could have only been by penetration because we found needles in the lung, the left leg and in different parts of the thorax. “It couldn’t have been by ingestion.” The boy was taken to a hospital in the small north-eastern city of Ibotirama, before being transferred to a larger hospital in Barreiras, in the state of Bahia. He is in intensive care. There were no signs of wounds on the boy, doctors said.
Why does this interest me? Because many moons ago, I fell and sprained my ankle badly. When the hospital took X-rays, the doctor came in and said to me: “Did you know you have a needle in your foot?” (He was Indian and I had trouble understanding what he was saying, since his accent was very strong and his words made no sense to me.) Then he showed me the X-ray. I couldn’t believe it. There’s a sewing needle in my ankle bone. How did it get there? He said it had to have been when I was a baby and my bones were soft. Possibly a big brother toddler pushed it into my leg as a joke. Possibly my mother left a sewing needle in a chair and set my baby self down on it accidentally. As far as I know, it’s still there, and the doctor said it probably would never work itself out. But I haven’t set off any metal detectors. And it doesn’t hurt.
Kindle goes global
Tuesday, December 15th, 2009The Amazon Kindle is now available on the iPhone and iPod Touch. Users in more than 60 countries can now download it from the AppStore free of charge.
Free? Free? Do you know how much a Kindle costs the rest of us?
Happy Hanukkah!
Friday, December 11th, 2009
Hanukkah begins tonight.
I want to wish everyone a wonderful, glorious, blessed Hanukkah!
Novels about Christmas
Friday, December 11th, 2009
Kent State’s May 4 historic site?
Monday, December 7th, 2009
The National Park Service is deciding whether an area on the campus of Kent State University should be designated a nationally historic site.
The Record-Courier recently ran a story and an editorial about the site of the May 4, 1970, shootings that killed four students and wounded nine. Here, it’s called “May 4.” Around the world, it’s known as the “Kent State Massacre.”
My opinion: This should have happened a long time ago. As the editorial states, “That’s a far cry from the attitude that seemed to prevail among some at Kent State in the aftermath of May 4, when a portion of the site was willfully destroyed by the construction of the Memorial Gym Annex in 1977. While National Register status will not prevent changes to the site, it may help prevent it from being further compromised.”
You remember the gym annex, don’t you? We protested, we wrote letters, we screamed. It didn’t matter. Desecration. Sacrilege. Our fellow students were killed on our home turf and were treated as so much collateral damage (of the war in Vietnam) by the KSU board, as well as the Ohio governor, not to mention the Nixon administration. And rather than honoring their memory, the powers-that-be chose to sweep the entire incident under any rug they could find.
Historic site? You bet. Those four students are gone, but their deaths had an effect on the course of the war, and on the conscience of the people of the United States. And the world. And probably saved the lives of other students protesting on other college campuses. (Although they couldn’t save the lives of two protesting students killed ten days later at Jackson State University in Mississippi.)
The memory of my lost classmates is with me every day. Let’s give them — and the place where they died — a little respect.
Palin-tology
Friday, November 27th, 2009
Treats for Dog Lovers
Friday, November 13th, 2009
Today’s “
What about health care?
Wednesday, November 11th, 2009Last night, PBS Frontline presented a program on access to health care that was truly excellent. You can watch “Sick Around the World” online or read a transcript online, or even order a DVD, which I’m strongly thinking about.
The show demonstrated how health care works in various countries — all of whom treat their people better than the U.S. “for profit” system does. If you’re confused about why there’s so much talk about changing our health care access system, DO NOT MISS THIS GREAT SHOW!
Read-a-Thon
Monday, October 26th, 2009
Saturday/Sunday I participated in Dewey’s 24-Hour Read-a-thon. I had decided to sign up for the event because I always want to support readers and reading, any way I can.
I was a few minutes late for the 8 a.m. start, because when I looked out the window I saw two deer, munching on chestnuts that had fallen from the tree by the house, and I felt privileged to watch them until they moved away. But I took it as a good omen for the day.
My first book was one of the Christmas mysteries in my to-be-read pile, The Body in the Sleigh by Katherine Hall Page. Usually, I can knock off a mystery in four hours or so, but for some reason, this one took me ALL DAY. It was very discouraging to look at my pile of books and see that they’ were all still there.
Anyway, I enjoyed the book, but decided that rather than read another mystery, I’d move on to children’s books — shorter, easier to read. Pictures!
I managed to read a whole handful of them, including Kate DiCamillo’s The Magician’s Elephant and Mercy Watson: Something Wonky This Way Comes, Dessert First by Hallie Durand, a couple of Horrid Henry books, and Jacob Two-Two on the High Seas by Cary Fagan. Those will all go into a future books column.
I had to take a break Saturday night, so I cheated and started my second half on Sunday morning, continuing with more children’s books. I don’t think I got 12 hours in on Sunday, so I can’t say I really completed it. But it was fun, and a great excuse for staying indoors and reading all day!
But here’s the thing: I probably shouldn’t have done it. The organizers wanted those of us who participated to keep connected with their Web site throughout the event, playing along with the mini-challenges and adding comments and blogging throughout. I can’t do that from home. Besides being a big techno-challenged, I don’t even understand Google Reader, let along Google Wave. Twitter I can handle, but again, I’m not connected at home.
Besides, if I’m on the computer, I’m distracted from reading. I can’t just send out a tweet and go back to my books. I’ll check what else is going on in the Twitterverse, read my inbox, and look at what the other Read-a-Thon participants are reading and writing about.
So, all in all, I don’t know if I’ll do it again. But I got some really nice support from the Read-a-Thon cheerleaders who visited my blog during the event. I want to thank all of them. We’ll see how it goes next year.
Current Best-Sellers
Friday, October 23rd, 2009
Don’t understand health reform?
Wednesday, October 21st, 2009If you don’t understand the need for health insurance reform, excuse me, but I don’t think you’ve been paying attention. But maybe you’ll understand greed. The insurance companies have paid out so much in what I call bribes — and the lobbyists call campaign contributions — to the Senate and House members that few in Congress are willing to stand up to them.
I can’t come to your house and force you to watch the movie “Sicko.” I wish I could. And I can’t make you watch “Bill Moyers Journal” on PBS. I can’t make you turn off right-wing radio with Hannity or Limbaugh or any of the others who are out there communicating their one-note, hate-filled, let-the-poor-die-because-they’re-lazy-and-we’re-rich- and-we-don’t-want-to-subsidize-them screed.
Here’s a link to an article from Truthdig that talks about the Senate Finance Committee’s version of a health insurance reform bill. Here are some highlights:
The bill approved by the Senate Finance Committee imposes a penalty of $750 a person on those not buying a policy. That isn’t big enough for the insurance companies, which have eagerly anticipated the day when everyone must purchase a policy. “This [what the industry considers a low penalty] is likely to result in millions of people foregoing coverage,” said the BlueCross BlueShield Association. …
The insurance companies also want to be free to charge high prices. That is why they don’t want the government selling policies—the public option—in the exchanges. “They don’t want the government selling what would likely be cheaper policies,” Dugan [research director of Consumer Watchdog] said.
To sum up, the insurance lobbyists’ goals are clear:
—No government option.
—Stiff fines so almost everyone will buy policies.
—Maintenance of the monopoly status that big insurance companies have in most areas.
—Lax regulation so the companies can sell policies with terms and prices so complex that few consumers will be able to understand them.Congressional friends of the consumer are playing defense. For example, Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., has been fighting the insurance monopoly for years, and lately he has been joined by Sen. Schumer. Don’t count on them winning. President Barack Obama gave the advantage to the insurance companies and other members of the medical lobby early in the game when he turned over leadership to Chairman Max Baucus of the Senate Finance Committee and other conservative small-state Democrats, plus Republican Sen. Olympia Snowe of Maine. Baucus is a leading recipient of contributions from health industry firms and their lobbyists, having received $453,649 in 2007-2009, according to a study by the Sunlight Foundation and the Center for Responsive Politics. The study found “a web of campaign contributors” deeply involved in the health care fight. …
There MUST be a public option, or else the whole thing blows up in our faces. The insurance companies will get richer, and more people will get sicker and die — yes, die — because of lack of access to medical care. FTLOG, people. PLEASE call your congressman/senator and stress the need for health insurance reform AND the public option.
‘As Time Goes By’ reruns begin again
Monday, October 12th, 2009If you’re at all an Anglophile, don’t miss the first episode of “As Time Goes By.” The entire series will start up again at 8 p.m. Oct. 24 in N.E. Ohio on Channels 45 and 49.
This show has GOT to rank up there among the best sitcoms ever made!
Picture books for kids
Friday, October 9th, 2009
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Today’s “One for the Books” column is on Picture Books for Ages 4 to 8.
NASA bombs the moon
Friday, October 9th, 2009
Not content with blowing up everything on the Earth, the men in charge have now sent a rocket bomb to the moon to blow a big hole in a crater, hoping to find evidence of water in the remnants of the explosion.
First of all, the moon doesn’t belong to us. But, well, what the heck. If they do find water, it will be a really big deal.
Pres. Obama awarded Peace Prize
Friday, October 9th, 2009
Holy October Surprise! President Barack Obama has been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.
From The Associated Press: OSLO — The Norwegian Nobel Committee says U.S. President Barack Obama has won the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize for “his extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples.”
(Click link above for full story.) The committee voted unanimously to give the award to the U.S. president (probably mostly because he isn’t George W. Bush, I’m thinking).
The Associated Press blasts some myths about the Nobel Peace Prize.
Google has compiled some quotes by Pres. Obama.
Happy birthday, Gandhi
Friday, October 2nd, 2009
Happy birthday today to Mahatma Gandhi, born this day in 1869. I am grateful that the world had him as a mentor for nonviolent protest.
Let’s celebrate by not hating anybody for a day. Anybody. Anywhere. For any reason.