The nature of home, the Boxer Rebellion, evil obsessive egg collectors & more
What I'm Reading:
Women of the Four Winds by Elizabeth Fagg Olds. I'm up to the fourth woman discussed in the book, Greenland explorer and American heiress, Louise Arner Boyd. Overall I've enjoyed reading about these women - I'd never heard of any of them before - and Boyd is a real character.
Eight Girls Taking Pictures by Whitney Otto. I'm conflicted on this one. Some of the chapters I've enjoyed a great deal whereas others really drag (to me anyway). But I'm still reading so that's something! ha!
Dwelling in Possibility by Howard Mansfield. Just started to read it for review - it's due out in September so I'll be writing about it formally this fall. The short reaction is that I love it. Mansfield is one America's most thoughtful writers (check out his stuff in
What I'm Reviewing:
Boxers & Saints (2 volumes) by Gene Luen Yang. A two volume novel set during the Boxer Rebellion told from the Christian and "Boxer" positions (as portrayed by two young people) is....well it's pretty freaking amazing! I can't believe Yang decided to do this or that First Second embraced it. So much Chinese history is utterly unknown to westerners and the Boxer Rebellion is huge in how modern China developed so wow - delighted to see these books!
But....well, hardly anyone knows anything about the Boxer Rebellion and that makes these two books a bit difficult to follow. Joan of Arc appears to the young Christian but unless you are familiar with her story (and how it ends), you will likely be confused a bit. Ditto the figures from Chinese history who appear for the young Boxer and even more so, the whole history of western involvement in Chinese affairs which came to a boiling point in this period. The books really really needed an author's note, probably more than any book I've read in a while. While there is a brief list of books for more reading, it's not enough. I taught history and I had questions; I can't help but think most teenagers will as well.
(See more here on the destruction of countless rare books at the Siege of Peking.)
The Silence Of Our Friends by Mark Long & Jim Demonakos. Also for the September column, this gn is about racism in Houston in the 1960s and the protagonist's father who is a white reporter assigned to cover the Civil Rights Movement. From the Afterword it is heavily based on author Mark Long's childhood and he explains the real court case that lies at the climax of the novel.
I thought it was a good book and really appreciated that explanatory note (as it makes clear that the court case was based in truth), but it seemed like in order to fit in everything he wanted that the story jumped around a bit and small events are brought in and not developed. It's just seemed a bit uneven but I still think a very worthwhile read.
And Then There's This:
This is as infuriating as it is fascinating: The New Yorker on obsessive collectors of rare and endangered bird eggs. Idiots.
Author Bennett Madison talks to "The Rejectionist" about not writing one book and turning instead to another. Plus mermaids, sex from a teenage boy's perspective, the Melendy Quartet, his parents concern that he was having a moment from "The Shining" (uh oh) and lots of other writerly goodness that should not be missed.
