|
September 29
|
|
Heather
gave
to:
Mystery and Manners: Occasional Prose (Paperback)
by Flannery O'Connor
|
my rating:
Added to my books!
add my review
|
| |
Heather said:
"Who knew an isolated lupus-suffering hyper-religious Catholic in the smack middle of Georgia could be so hot damn funny!
Seriously, a victory.
I think what makes Flannery O'Connor's aesthetic so brilliant is its combination of two themes: what ...more
Who knew an isolated lupus-suffering hyper-religious Catholic in the smack middle of Georgia could be so hot damn funny!
Seriously, a victory.
I think what makes Flannery O'Connor's aesthetic so brilliant is its combination of two themes: what she calls the "violent" and the "comic." Her literature, like her essays, is both funny and deeply, unabashedly brutal. For O'Connor writing, like reading, isn't a science or an exercise in sentimentality. We don't -and shouldn't- read for enjoyment. We read for prophecy. Vision. We read because we want to experience the underlying mystery. And no, she's not talking about the X-Files, cornballs.
O'Connor challenges her reader to actually read not by decoding symbols and quotes but by going deeply into the text and the world it presents. The literature of the South, she goes on to argue, is full of grotesque people because we are all separated from God and therefore, grotesque. When we read, we shouldn't judge the "demented" characters because we, too, are displaced.
Yet somehow, she's about to present her dark side (she calls it uplifting) without posting it on a subway terminal (Dexter anyone?)
The best.
...less
"
|
|
September 13
|
|
Heather
gave
to:
The Reflective Practitioner: How Professionals Think in Action (Arena)
by Donald A. Schon
|
my rating:
Added to my books!
add my review
|
| |
read in September, 2008
Heather said:
"OK, I read this book for social work school, so it's not exactly the next volume in Harry Potter. If it were, however, the book would likely be called "Harry Potter: A Guide to Expert Wizardy in an age of Failed Experts." To give you a g...more
OK, I read this book for social work school, so it's not exactly the next volume in Harry Potter. If it were, however, the book would likely be called "Harry Potter: A Guide to Expert Wizardy in an age of Failed Experts." To give you a glimpse.
Basically, the book explores the idea of the failed professional in today's (or 1983's) age. No longer can we rely on experts to tell us everything - time and time again in recent history have the failed to tell us the truth. In the area of social work, professionals have been especially eager to "solve everything" but have historically fallen short.
Schon's book goes beyond social work to reveal that true experts must balance learned knowledge with experiential knowledge and intuitive learning. What is true is constantly changing, and our clients have been historically resistant to "expert wisdom." Consequently, no single theory or approach can solve a problem - instead, we as professionals must reframe problems and draw intuitive references, using multiple streams of thought to capture it into a single, evolving narrative. It's a kind of postmodern thinking with a genuinely practical approach.
A good lesson for any professional. Also, a giant snake at the end (a touch of the Potter). ...less
"
|
|
September 06
|
|
Heather
gave
to:
American Dream: Three Women, Ten Kids, and a Nation's Drive to End Welfare (Paperback)
by Jason DeParle
|
my rating:
Added to my books!
add my review
|
| |
Heather said:
"When I first looked at this book, I thought I would be reading a slim, smart, and satisfyingly written polemic about the nation's attitude towards poor women and poverty. Imagine Barbara Ehrenreich with a little less humor and a few more bulletpoint...more
When I first looked at this book, I thought I would be reading a slim, smart, and satisfyingly written polemic about the nation's attitude towards poor women and poverty. Imagine Barbara Ehrenreich with a little less humor and a few more bulletpoints.
But "American Dream" is not so much a polemic as a balanced account of the history of welfare and the recent changes in the system. Don't get me wrong - it's still freakin' disturbing. Parle begins the origins of welfare and moves us to the present, alternating his history with three personal stories of women currently on welfare. From both his history and anecdotes, we do see traces of a culture dependent upon welfare. Many of the people on welfare do work but need supplemental income. Yet welfare's originally intentions were to lift people out of poverty - and welfare, ironically, grounded people even more deeply in. Still, when Clinton signed his welfare reform act in 1996, little (sensical) was done to help those left behind climb up the ladder. Today, we look at data that shows how many people have left welfare, but we have astonishingly few statistics about how many people have left poverty.
The most damning part of the welfare system, to me, was not the "handouts" (according to the conservative p.o.v.) nor was it the "limited income" (according to the liberal p.o.v.) It was how the nation has become singularly dependent upon welfare as an answer to poverty. The solution, I think, is a concept we still can't imagine- a good, democratic, education that prepares all of us for a modern economy. ...less
"
|
|
Heather
is currently reading:
The Heart of the Matter (Paperback)
by Graham Greene
bookshelves:
currently-reading
|
my rating:
Added to my books!
add my review
|
| |
|
|
Heather
gave
to:
Wuthering Heights (Paperback)
by Emily Brontë
|
my rating:
Added to my books!
add my review
|
| |
read in September, 2008
Heather said:
"Yes, I'm going through "the classics" as an attempt to make up for 4 years of reading Derrida and "A Room of One's Own" seventeen times through (total cost: $160,000).
Emily Bronte was a crazy bitch and it shows. Even more &qu...more
Yes, I'm going through "the classics" as an attempt to make up for 4 years of reading Derrida and "A Room of One's Own" seventeen times through (total cost: $160,000).
Emily Bronte was a crazy bitch and it shows. Even more "titillating" than Heathcliff and Catherine's turbulent love is the novel's meditation on the nature of oppression. Heathcliff is oppressive and abusive - yet the author forces us to simultaneously empathize with him (due to his difficult childhood and unrequited love) and to challenge him on his behavior (as seen through the relatively fair eyes of the narrator, Nelly Dean). In condemning him, we align ourselves with his early oppressors. In valorizing him, we align ourselves with his abusive nature. Even more frightening is his relationship with Hareton - clearly a victim of his "temper" - who is the only one to mourn Heathcliff at the end.
The novel further explores in the power dynamics of love between Hareton and Catherine II. The "darkness" here too is lingering, but it is ultimately Heathcliff and the original Catherine's love that carries the weight. Surprisingly - and this, I think is the novel's greatest feat -Bronte gets away with killing one of the main characters halfway through the novel. The story survives as does this character, in a way - testament to Bronte's belief that the underworld is an active and vibrant place. Kind of like a "Sandals Jamaica" for the dead.
Obviously, all of this fits the classic Gothic formula, although I'd like to give Bronte a little more credit for making it all so f'd up....less
"
|
|
July 13
|
|
Heather
gave
to:
There Are No Children Here: The Story of Two Boys Growing Up in The Other America (Paperback)
by Alex Kotlowitz
|
my rating:
Added to my books!
add my review
|
| |
|
|
Heather
gave
to:
The Dog Says How (Hardcover)
by Kevin Kling
|
my rating:
Added to my books!
add my review
|
| |
Heather said:
"Like the Prairie Home Companion except: not funny, and not well-written. Other than that, a treat!!!
I honestly think this guy's stuff sounds better spoken than written. His stories aren't that wild, his conclusions aren't that poignant, and ove...more
Like the Prairie Home Companion except: not funny, and not well-written. Other than that, a treat!!!
I honestly think this guy's stuff sounds better spoken than written. His stories aren't that wild, his conclusions aren't that poignant, and overall I'm left unengaged. But it is a good introduction to the first person storytelling movement which seems to be cropping up all over the place....less
"
|
|
Heather
gave
to:
The Plague (Paperback)
by Albert Camus
|
my rating:
Added to my books!
add my review
|
| |
read in September, 2008
Heather said:
"Citizens of a small city confront a massive, unrelenting, unsparing, plague with futile acts of self-sacrifice and revolt. No god, no courage, no hope, no winning, no miracles, but Camus expects us to be happy with the various philosophical ways peo...more
Citizens of a small city confront a massive, unrelenting, unsparing, plague with futile acts of self-sacrifice and revolt. No god, no courage, no hope, no winning, no miracles, but Camus expects us to be happy with the various philosophical ways people fight against exile and the inevitable. His approach doesn't exactly add the butter to my morning toast, but as Lil Mama says "he's real, for sho, sho."
Also note: boring....less
"
|
