Shan's profile

15 ratings | 18 reviews
avg rating: 4.00

Shan's bookshelves

read (15)
currently-reading (3)

to-read (0)
cookbookshelf (1)

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Shan is currently reading

	07/07 Shan gave to: The Woman in White (Penguin Classics) by William "Wilkie" Collins, Matthew Sweet bookshelves: currently-reading	my rating:
	Shan said: "I haven't quite finished Wilkie Collins' brilliant 19th century novel, "The Woman In White," but I had to go ahead and start my review to say that I am thrilled with it. I picked it up from the shelf because it was in the mystery section of...more " add a comment
	05/29 Shan is currently reading: The Life and Times of Mexico (Paperback) by Earl Shorris bookshelves: currently-reading	my rating:
	Shan said: "I've just started this one after returning from a trip to Arizona and Mexico to learn first-hand about immigration issues. So far, it's fantastic. I'll have more on it later when I've gotten more than 25 pages into it. " add a comment
	01/05 Shan is currently reading: English Traditional Recipes: A Heritage of Food & Cooking by Annette Yates bookshelves: cookbookshelf, currently-reading	my rating:
	read in January, 2008 Shan said: "Just bought this one last night! I was drawn in by the beautiful photographs of Jam tarts, Plum pie, Asparagus with hollandaise sauce, Rib of beef with Yorkshire puddings, Watercress soup, and more! Yum! I'm not much of a cook but have pledged t...more " add a comment

Shan's recent updates (rss)

July 07

Shan gave

to:
The Woman in White (Penguin Classics)
by William "Wilkie" Collins, Matthew Sweet
bookshelves: currently-reading

my rating:

Shan said: "I haven't quite finished Wilkie Collins' brilliant 19th century novel, "The Woman In White," but I had to go ahead and start my review to say that I am thrilled with it. I picked it up from the shelf because it was in the mystery section of...more "

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June 19

Shan gave

to:
Michael Palin Diaries: The Python Years, 1969-1979 (Hardcover)
by Michael Palin

my rating:

read in June, 2008

Shan said: "I've just started this one and love it! Palin is hilarious, even in these personal diaries, which he began writing as an antidote to the after-dinner cigarette. Although we get an interesting behind-the-scenes view of the creative genius that Pali...more "

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June 11

Shan made a comment on Jeff's profile:

Shan wrote: "Jef--I want to be your friend! Give Leroy a kiss for me!--Shan "

May 29

Shan gave

to:
American Shaolin: Flying Kicks, Buddhist Monks, and the Legend of Iron Crotch: An Odyssey in the New China (Hardcover)
by Matthew Polly

my rating:

Shan said: "This one is a loaner from a friend who loved it. So far, it provides an interesting view of China's interior by an American devotee of kungfu. I'm enjoying it and can't wait to find out whether Polly wins the fight or not, to bring honor or shame up...more "

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Shan is currently reading:
The Life and Times of Mexico (Paperback)
by Earl Shorris
bookshelves: currently-reading

my rating:

Shan said: "I've just started this one after returning from a trip to Arizona and Mexico to learn first-hand about immigration issues. So far, it's fantastic. I'll have more on it later when I've gotten more than 25 pages into it. "

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Shan gave

to:
Hard Line: Life and Death on the US-Mexico Border (Paperback)
by Ken Ellingwood

my rating:

read in May, 2008

Shan said: "An intense non-fiction piece on immigration, Ellingwood's book gives excellent insight into the reasons why some people risk their lives to cross the harsh desert of the American southwest and why others work so passionately to prevent those people f...more "

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Shan gave

to:
Kitchen Confidential: Adventures in the Culinary Underbelly (updated edition)
by Anthony Bourdain

my rating:

read in May, 2008

Shan said: "Anthony Bourdain is the most literary chef I've ever met. A fabulous storyteller with an incredible ear for dialogue and an eye for detailed narration, his musings from the back of the house are hilarious and often gripping. Although he confesses m...more "

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May 11

Shan gave

to:
Exodus (Mass Market Paperback)
by Leon Uris

my rating:

read in May, 2008

Shan said: "I read Exodus upon recommendation of a divinity school professor who feels that Uris captures well the drive to establish Israel in the wake of World War II. Gripping in many sections, the novel is filled with rather flat characters, an uneven plot ...more "

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March 18

Shan gave

to:
Burning Bright (Hardcover)
by Tracy Chevalier

my rating:

read in February, 2008, has a copy to sell/swap

Shan said: "I have long enjoyed Tracy Chevalier's historical novels, particularly "Girl With a Pearl Earring," which imagines the daily home life and creative process of 17th century Dutch painter Johannes Vermeer, as viewed from the vantage point of a...more I have long enjoyed Tracy Chevalier's historical novels, particularly "Girl With a Pearl Earring," which imagines the daily home life and creative process of 17th century Dutch painter Johannes Vermeer, as viewed from the vantage point of a teenage, Protestant maid. This more recent book,"Burning Bright," is set in 18th century Lambeth, a suburb of London, and imagines the public life and creative mind of painter and poet William Blake, seen through the eyes of two adolescents. While both books are entertaining and show good evidence of the author's grasp of the context in which each of these artists found himself, the former novel stands out above "Burning Bright" in terms of its character development and the richness of the setting.

While Chevalier's symbolism tends to be heavy-handed in both books, she does have a gift for evoking the sense of place and time in which her novels are located, and she offers fairly well-rounded (though not dynamic) characters whose relationships are complicated and unpredictable. She has a knack for revealing something about the now-famous artists in her novels by surrounding them with rich characters and interesting locations. Vermeer's growing family includes a roiling gaggle of children, a spoiled and demanding wife, and a business-woman for a mother-in-law; these people, not to mention Vermeer's men friends, help the reader to gain a sense of Vermeer by looking at those with whom he surrounds himself in his most private moments. We see Blake by coming to know his rather taciturn wife, Catherine; the two young people who follow him even to his mother's funeral across town; the neighbors who are suspicious of him for being so insular and odd; and Lambeth's pro-monarchy association, whose members try to bully Blake into supporting their cause; these characters help the author depict the political and social side of Blake's life, giving us less insight into his private world. In any case, Chevalier's Vermeer and Blake both benefit from the swirl of life going on all around them.

What makes "Burning Bright" less compelling a read than the novel about Vermeer is the distance she keeps from Blake. In her earlier novel, she brings her heroine, Griet, the Protestant maid, directly into the Vermeer household, where we can see him in action as an artist and as a husband and father; we do not get this view of Blake. Instead, Blake is spied on by an Jem and Maggie, who imagine him to be strange and curious and who come to know him during the course of the novel as strange, creative, and caring. While Chevalier attempts to narrate Blake's creative process, the reader never gets enough continuity from the various scenes that show him, in one moment, having conversations with his dead brother, Robert, and, in another moment, etching a copper plate for eventual use in the printing press. While we get a sense of what makes Vermeer tick, we never gain that knowledge about Blake. This could be less Chevalier's failing than it is the reality that Blake was truly enigmatic and odd, set apart in his ways from the mainstream of British art and writing even as he wrote and drew, etched and painted his way into history (and anthologies and museums!).

If I am to be bluntly honest, I must admit that it is, perhaps, my own knowledge of Blake, more than it is Chevalier's writing, that makes me view the novel as weak. Having written more than enough of my own about Blake and his work, I probably know too much to enjoy Chevalier's development of Blake's character and creative process. In my mind, he is not quite the same man that she depicts on the novel's pages. I suppose I'll have to write my own novel in order to understand the Blake I think I know!...less "

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March 04

Shan wrote Lying Liars: When Realism Takes a Holiday.

"Don't read this yet. These are simply notes, and I can't figure out how to hide them. --S

Well" ...more

see all 15 of Shan's books »

Shan's favorite quotes

"You can safely assume you've created God in your own image when it turns out that God hates all the same people you do."
— Anne Lamott

71 people liked it

"We shall not cease from exploration / And the end of all our exploring / Will be to arrive where we started / And know the place for the first time."
— T.S. Eliot (Four Quartets)

tags: poetry

53 people liked it

"Don't own so much clutter that you will be relieved to see your house catch fire."
— Wendell Berry (Farming: a hand book)

tags: poetry

19 people liked it

"I heard a preacher say recently that hope is a revolutionary patience; let me add that so is being a writer. Hope begins in the dark, the stubborn hope that if you just show up and try to do the right thing, the dawn will come. You wait and watch and work: you don't give up."
— Anne Lamott

tags: bird, by, from

9 people liked it

Shan's writing

Lying Liars (Nonfiction)

1 chapters — updated 03/04/2008 10:32PM

description: Literalists disappointed yet again!

School Days (Biographies & Memoirs)

2 chapters — updated 01/18/2008 10:53PM

description: musings about the first day of the semester

What the Hedgehog Knows: A First Book of Poems (Poetry)

4 chapters — updated 01/03/2008 07:21PM

description: A book of short poems.

Shan's friend comments

showing 1-3 of 3. (add a comment | view all)

from Kristen

01/04/2008 01:39PM

Hi Shan

Thanks for inviting me to this site. I share your love of Anne Lamott and the quotes of hers that you posted were a bright spot in my day. The second one was exactly what I needed to hear and the first one I'm stealing to put on my blog! :)

Kristen

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from Leigh

01/04/2008 11:32AM

Hi Shan--what a fun site! I love all the quotations you've posted. Looking forward to more!

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from Marcia

01/04/2008 06:05AM

Shan-
It's lovely to hear from you, and thank you for inviting me to this interesting site. I look forward to sharing our "Bluestocking's" musings!

Marcia

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Shan's friends (27)

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