Ron > Recent Status Updates

End of chapter 70: was this supposed to be a surprise? I thought they made it pretty obvious 40 chapters ago.

Through part one. The author certainly paints beautiful scenery with his words, but what am I even reading?

Molly Hooch isn't a professional author and it shows, but she's chosen an interesting narrative device in how she structured her memoir. Rather than try to tell stories chronologically, she organizes them by season, representing the cycle of life in subsistence communities. People come and go, and your role changes as you get older, but for the village as a whole each spring is pretty much like the last.

This is a memoir of the subsistence lifestyle practiced by many Alaska Natives, specifically the author and her family in the Yukon River delta of western Alaska. As with agriculture on the mainland, the arrival of commercial operations has significantly changed this way of life, not necessarily worse, but different. The author wants to document that older time before it passes out of living memory.

Chapter 21: Huh.

Through chapter 20 of 21. According to the author's introduction, this is all that was included in the first American edition, and I like where they've left it. Now on to the last chapter to see whether the book's better with or without it. In my experience, without is usually better.

Through Part 1. Very strange, but compelling. I've heard that the book is about how violently society fights Yeong-hye's nonconformity, but there's more to it than that. She doesn't just go vegan, she disconnects entirely from societal norms. Not in a cool rebellious way, but in a "checked out of reality" way. Still, there's something admirable about her refusal to hedge or apologize for her decision.

Book Three, Chapter 4: They're taking the hobbits to Isengard.

Through "Fellowship".

I don't read a lot of genre fiction, and I'm totally inexperienced with urban-paranormal-fantasy-whatever-this-is, but I like it so far. The exposition of the setting, characters, and supernatural elements feels natural.

Through Part One, "The Siege". There was definitely some luck involved in the nearly bloodless retaking of Boston, but it's also fair to credit the commander (Washington) who was patient and willing to listen to his advisors.

Book 1 Chapter 7:  Tom Freakin' Bombadil.  I've heard of him described as a cutesy childish figure, perhaps a sop to the kids moving on from "The Hobbit". I just think he's strange (Spoilers ahead)

Part One, Chapters 1-5.

Prologue: History and general structure of the Shire, a recap of how Bilbo got the One Ring, and a promise of many more details for nerds to memorize.

At last we begin our descent.

It's taking a while for the story to get going - we're more than a quarter of the way in and there's no particular call to action - but the characters and setting are well developed.

Sancho says, "People who keep people who love each other from marrying should rest in peace, world without end, and I was going to say the opposite."  Was this a sneaky way of cursing somebody without blaspheming?  If so, I like it.  It's an early version of "I wish them the best... NOT!" 

We return to the orphanage where Benga stayed after the Bronx Zoo episode, which the NYT describes as being populated by children ranging in color "all the way from café frappe to black coffee." Why is it always a food metaphor?

Also, the preceding chapter (ch. 19) is almost amusing in how sick it is. Frederick Starr, a respected anthropologist, wrote articles defending King Leopold's practices in the Congo, but they come off like (paraphrasing), "Yes, there have been some beatings and killings. But that's only because the villagers weren't working fast enough."

As much as I enjoy this book, sometimes it muddles the chronology to tell a more interesting story. Case in point: "Verner and Benga set sail from Liverpool on the SS Armenia... built in 1895 by the famous Belfast firm Harland and Wolff, designer of the luxurious Titanic." Not yet they weren't. Planning for the Titanic didn't start until 1907.

"Concerns had been raised by relatives about the welfare of the children residing at the orphanage once Benga arrived. 'Why he'll eat my Matilda alive!', one anguished mother told [the headmaster]."

Chapter 4: Jacobs explores the world of bowdlerized movie services (they films are so chopped up they make no sense) and wonders if part of the appeal to religion is reducing the number of decisions we have to make every day.

So far these are very evenly spaced chapters. Jacobs' OCD at work? Anyway, Jacobs talks shop with a Jehovah's Witness until late at night when he (the missionary) can make an excuse to leave. Jacobs also starts to appreciate the psychological benefits of a few minutes a day of selfless contemplation.

Chapter 2 - October: Jacobs visits the site of the Creation Museum, struggles with day-to-day sins like anger and jealousy, and dances with Hasidic men while the women watch from the observation room. On a totally unrelated note, Jacobs' wife seems to be growing more skeptical of hardcore religion.

Chapter 1 - September: Getting his feet wet, trying to accommodate the big stuff like the Commandments and tithing (which, to avoid conflict of interest, he gives to secular charities.) All his spiritual advisors are telling him not to be too legalistic about these things and to look for the point of the practice, but that doesn't make for an interesting enough book.

Introduction: Jacobs explains why he's doing this, mainly to explore his own secular life and see whether religion has anything to offer, and to get a better understanding of the significant number of Christians who claim to take the Bible literally.

Through Book One. Not bad so far. It's not as hilarious as I've been told, more just a light cartoonish comic relief between other stories. I'd liken it more to the Canterbury Tales, since much of this first volume is DQ and his party listening to other travelers' stories.