Review: Bright-Sided

I just finished reading - well, actually, reading parts and skimming others of, Bright-Sided: How the Relentless Promotion of Positive Thinking Has Undermined America, by Barbara Ehrenreich. I think this book would have made a good essay, but it's a bit stretched as a book. I very much enjoyed her book Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By In America, on the economic underbelly of the American dream.

Her latest book has some good points to make, particularly on the relationship between consumer capitalism and positive thinking:

But if early capitalism was inhospitable to positive thinking, "late" capitalism, or consumer capitalism, is far more congenial, depending as it does on the individual's hunger for more and the firm's imperative of growth. The consumer culture encourages individuals to want more - cars, larger homes, television sets, cell phones, gadgets of all kinds - and positive thinking is ready at hand to tell them they deserve more and can have it if they really want it and are willing to make the effort to get it. Meanwhile, in a competitive business world, the companies that manufacture these goods and provide the paychecks that purchase them have no alternative but to grow. If you don't steadily increase market share and profits, you risk being driven out of business or swallowed by a larger enterprise. Perpetual growth, whether of a particular company or an entire economy, is of course an absurdity, but positive thinking makes it seem possible, if not ordained. (p. 8)

She also makes the point that positive thinking can also be used to support and excuse enormous income inequality, and encourage a sense of entitlement that fuels consumer spending, at the cost of ever-greater consumer debt. It can also, in the case of the positive thinking expected of those who have cancer, serve to mask the evidence that the increase in certain cancer rates may be caused by increasing environmental pollution.

The tone is sarcastic, but the book makes some very good points - even if they could effectively have been made in a shorter format.

Review: The Red Door

Another mystery - The Red Door by Charles Todd, who are actually a mother/son team writing under a pseudonym. The mysteries in this series are set in immediate post WWI England, and feature a Scotland Yard detective with some serious burdens left over from the war. They are fairly workmanlike and atmospheric, and this one was quite a puzzle. I found it less entertaining than some in the series, as the number of related characters was complex and the twists a bit mechanical. But the series is always well-written and entertaining.

What To Read?

I've been thinking about how to reconfigure my reading. I started talking about that in this post. Recently, I took a walk through a bookstore to see what areas attracted my interest. I am clearly much less interested in fiction - perhaps my superficial forced march through it over the years has dulled my interest. For now, I'm only going to get fiction from the library and I'm going to be ruthless about dropping reading a book if it doesn't really grab my interest.

The things that interested me were mysteries and science fiction (although rarely fantasy) - these are fiction but have an element of puzzle or oddness to them as well, and they rarely require close reading but are rather pure entertainment. I've been a connoisseur of mysteries since my childhood. Memoirs and autobiographies caught my eye - not the celebrity or "great lives" ones, but rather those of people who have struggled, either with circumstances or themselves. I've always been interested in science and nature writing, including about animal behavior and the natural world, particularly biology and ecology. I'm interested in books about spirituality, mythology, human culture (including food culture) as well as personal essays. History and current events interest me less than they have, although I may deal with books on those topics the same way as I'm going to deal with fiction.

Except for the books I'm reading for pure entertainment, I'm going to try to slow down my reading and chew and digest a bit more, and take some notes. This may guide me on my further reading adventures.

Movie Review: The Lovely Bones

My older daughter and I went to see The Lovely Bones last night. We're Peter Jackson fans (his WETA Workshop was behind a lot of what made Avatar outstanding), ever since we were blown away by the Lord of the Rings. One of his weaknesses as a director is that he can pretty much operate without constraints at this point, and both King Kong and The Lovely Bones, as well as the Return of the King, suffered from this. Return of the King was an outstanding and ground-breaking movie that well-deserved its Oscars, in my opinion, but both it and his two movies since suffered from "bloat" - he sometimes tries to stuff too much in and doesn't edit tightly enough. He does also have a tendency to get carried away with his own prowess in using special effects. He is, however, a skilled editor in terms of composition and interplay of scenes, particularly those involving strong emotions and close interplay of actors, and these parts of The Lovely Bones are the parts that work well.

(One side note - one of Peter's earliest and most interesting films, made on a shoestring and completely lacking in special effects, is Heavenly Creatures, which was also, I believe, Kate Winslett's movie debut when she was a teen. This small, intimate movie has some horrifying elements similar to The Lovely Bones.)

There is too much pop-art special effects in the afterlife sections of the movie, which trivialize this part, but there are also scenes of great beauty and emotion in the afterlife. And one important point - if you have children who are not yet adults, I'd think twice about seeing this - it's about every parent's worst fears come to pass; and I wouldn't want my non-adult child or to see it as it might cause some serious nightmares. And some of it is emotionally wrenching and horrifyingly gruesome. Otherwise, well worth seeing for the performances alone, despite its defects.

U Is For Undertow

I just finished Sue Grafton's U Is For Undertow. I would describe it as pleasant, a quick read, and workmanlike. It's not a must-read, but if you like her mysteries, you'll enjoy it. I think some of her others are better, but it's the standard issue for her and just what you'd expect. I do like her private detective - a feisty independent woman with her own set of issues.

Lit, by Mary Karr

One of the categories of books I want to spend more time with is memoirs, and autobiographies, not of the "I-went-there-and-did-that" type, or tales (partly or wholly ghostwritten) of celebrities, but honest, clean, thoughtful writing. Mary Karr's Lit: A Memoir fully deserves all the praise that has been heaped on it - it is scathing, beautifully-written and touching at the same time. It feels deeply honest to me. Read it if you can.

How To Read?

As a result of beginning to think about how to reconfigure my life as an empty nester, I've been thinking about how and what I read. In thinking about how to reduce/reorganize both my physical objects and time commitments in order to free up time for new activities to pursue - see this post for more about that - it's become clear to me that my books and my reading, as currently configured, are an impediment and a weight holding me down. I need to change some things. I'm only in the earliest stages of thinking about this, but I can see some places where I may need to make some changes in order to pursue my themes of Adventure and Creativity/Self-Expression.

I've always been a compulsive reader - I'll read anything put in front of me, even cereal boxes if there's nothing else. I have used reading as an escape and as a source of identity - I was a Reader. I increasingly think that I have used it in a somewhat mindless way, particularly lately - it's almost just a way to fill time so I don't have to think about what else I could be doing - which is challenging and a bit threatening. I've always felt I had to read, and read a lot - lists of books to read, buying lots of books, and great stacks of them everywhere waiting to be read. At this point in my life, the books themselves and the feeling that I have to read them all, seems like a bit of a problem. I also remember very little of what I've read, which means that a lot of my reading has been pretty mindless.

So I've been thinking. What if I were to prune my library? (Husband of course would have to be part of this process, since it's his library, too.) What if I were to identify the books in my library that are important to me, and have those organized and available? - right now I couldn't find them if I tried. What if I were to get most books from the library, one or a few at a time, and look closely at them to decide if I really wanted to spend time on them - fiction is holding less interest for me right now, for some reason - I do the page one and page 50 test - if I'm not captured by the book by reading those pages maybe I don't have to spend time reading it despite its reviews or prize-winning status. Our library has an excellent inter-library loan program which means I can get many things that they don't have. I'm in the process of identifying a few areas where I do want to continue to build my book collection - nature/ecology writing, some other science writing, and some history, for example. I need to give myself permission not to read every book and not to finish every book I start - I used to be a compulsive book-finisher but lately I've just not been getting through things even though I feel I ought to. If I want to read a junky book for pleasure, I can - it's entertainment and that's OK. I need to experiment with audiobooks - I've never done those.

And I need to experiment, with new areas and new things. I do a bit of that now - I browse the new books shelves at our library, particularly the non-fiction, to pick out some things that are interesting, and look through them for fun. I need to do more of that. And for my birthday this year, I'm getting a subscription to Open Letter - a publisher of books in translation - the subscription means I'll get 10 books over the year (yes, more books, but I'll pass them around to others and on if they're not keepers) that will surely broaden my horizons. Same rules for movies and other entertainment - it's OK to watch junk for fun or as a way to have some time out with a family member or friends - but it's also important to me to experiment. My husband loves foreign films, so we'll be watching more of those.

And in the reading I do, I need to be more selective - I'm still identifying focus areas - and I want to figure out some ways to pursue themes and more intensively read and study - as long as I'm not just imposing a new "must-do" along the lines of my usual compulsive reading.

I think this is going to be fun!

Review: Two Self-Help Books

For a brief discussion of David Allen's Getting Things Done and a review of SHED Your Stuff, Change Your Life: A Four-Step Guide to Getting Unstuck, by Julie Morgenstern, please see this post.

Movie Review: Avatar

Avatar is an amazing achievement - I agree with those reviewers who say that its impact is equivalent to that of the original King Kong or the first Star Wars movie. At this point, I don't have to suggest that you should see it - you've probably already seen it. The technical achievement is outstanding - the main CGI characters are as fully realized as Gollum/Smeagol was in the Lord of the Rings - the mobility of expression and nuances are all there (but then WETA was doing the special effects on both, so there's a connection). I loved the realization of the Pandora world, and the 3D really enhanced the experience. I was actually as much, if not more, impressed, by the effect of the 3D in the scenes where only humans were involved - some of the meeting scenes, for example. It felt as if you were in the same room with them, that they were just there with you. It was very powerful, and I see the 3D technique being used soon even in "ordinary" (that is without CGI characters or novel worlds) movies, to great effect. I would also expect the techniques to revolutionize the televising (or simulcasts in movie theaters) of sports, music and other performances.

All that said, I was somewhat troubled by the Avatar story line. It was a little primitive, and I don't mean that as a compliment. It was too much "white guy who doesn't know he is a hero rescues good primitive people from bad, rapacious corporate and military interests". The villains were stock caricature figures with no redeeming characteristics whatsoever - it was impossible to understand or empathize with their motives. It was one-dimensional, and frankly the male hero was very simplistic and lacking in dimension. I did very much enjoy the female alien lead character - she was very well-developed, and I liked some of the scientists as well, who were better realized.

An enormous achievement and a deeply flawed movie. It will be a classic, and is a milestone in cinema.

Movie Reviews: Invictus and Up In the Air

I've recently seen several movies, among them Invictus and Up In the Air. Invictus is a sports story, but much more than that - it's a story of how Nelson Mandela used the South African rugby team, formerly supported only by whites, to bring the country together after the end of apartheid. Matt Damon plays the captain of the rugby team, which is a long shot in the world cup. A very moving story, which shows the power of forgiveness, as well as the calculation that went into that forgiveness. And be sure to stay for the credits - there's some special stuff with them that is very interesting and moving.

Up In the Air is a fun movie, and a fine one, with several excellent performances. George Clooney is the traveler whose profession is firing people. There are many excellent cameo performances among the people being fired. There is an interesting old way of doing business/new way of doing business tension that isn't resolved until the end, and a very appealing younger female character. There's romantic action that ends up not being quite what it seems. It's really about how we define ourselves and how we find a place to feel important and valuable. See it if you get the chance.

Review: Food Rules

For a review of Michael Pollan's Food Rules: An Eater's Manual, please see this post.

A Couple of Links on Publishing and Literacy

Yesterday's New York Times had an interesting article, "A Savior In the Form of a Tablet", by David Carr on the possible effects of an electronic tablet (there are rumors that Apple is about to introduce one) on publishing, particularly publishing of magazines and other periodicals.

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By chance, I discovered an interesting group which promotes the reading of books to children in doctors' waiting rooms - Reach Out and Read.

Review: The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay

I just finished reading The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay, by Michael Chabon. It took me a long time to finish - it isn't one of those books that pulls you easily along, it's denser and more substantial than that. But in the end I was sucked in, to the very end (my edition is 656 pages long) - it's an amazing book about magic, illusion, the Holocaust, comic books and their creators, love and family. The characters are vivid and alive, and the book deserved its Pulitzer Prize. Read it and rejoice in the power of the writing.