From Kirkus Reviews
If there are such things as "poet's novels," Margaret Atwood writes them. Each of hers has a controlling, spooking metaphor; here the central idea is that today's men and women live in an era that is without the consolations of history, in which old forms are dying out, not to reappear. The actions are unsubtle and desperate, the air bleak, the light almost wholly interior. The pre-history of emotions and social codes here is entropic, using up and discarding modern feelings without ready alternatives. To this end, Atwood leaves no self-doubt uncovered, and there are chapters - it's a book of chapters above all, some of them memorable - in which the characters numbly go through rituals that are as spare and just as poems, veined with their own strange blood. Yet, for all the generosity, such unrelenting social and emotional chaos makes the book very confining: everyone's center is constantly being stirred, the struggles slow and nearly unbearable, until the entire novel comes to seem like one large tar pit. And though this is an effect Atwood no doubt wants, it's one that nevertheless makes for a gooey, close read. Monumentally depressing, thoroughly gifted work from a very special novelist.
Friday, April 3, 2009
New Rules: Polite Musings from a Timid Observer / Bill Maher
From Amazon.com Review
Bill Maher is on the forefront of the new wave of comedians who have begun to influence and shape political debate through their comedy. He is best known not just for being funny, but for advocating truth over sensitivity and taking on the political establishment. Maher first came to national attention as the host of the hit ABC-TV program Politically Incorrect, where he offered a combustible mixture of irreverence and acerbic humor that helped him to garner a loyal following, as well as a reputation for being a controversial bad boy. His new book, the first since his bestselling When You Ride Alone You Ride with bin Laden, brings these brilliantly conceived riffs and rants to the written page. Appropriately titled New Rules, the book will collect some of the best of the rules derived from previously written material and will also contain substantial new material, including some longer form "editorials"--of course with a twist and bite that only Bill Maher can deliver.
Bill Maher is on the forefront of the new wave of comedians who have begun to influence and shape political debate through their comedy. He is best known not just for being funny, but for advocating truth over sensitivity and taking on the political establishment. Maher first came to national attention as the host of the hit ABC-TV program Politically Incorrect, where he offered a combustible mixture of irreverence and acerbic humor that helped him to garner a loyal following, as well as a reputation for being a controversial bad boy. His new book, the first since his bestselling When You Ride Alone You Ride with bin Laden, brings these brilliantly conceived riffs and rants to the written page. Appropriately titled New Rules, the book will collect some of the best of the rules derived from previously written material and will also contain substantial new material, including some longer form "editorials"--of course with a twist and bite that only Bill Maher can deliver.
Tuesday, December 30, 2008
The Wise Woman / Philippa Gregory
From Publishers Weekly
The author of the Wideacre trilogy offers another intense, absorbing tale, a grisly drama of passion and witchcraft in 16th-century England. Growing up as an ill-used apprentice to Morach, the much-feared wise woman of the moors, Alys finds respite by joining an order of Catholic nuns. When young Lord Hugo and his men burn the abbey to the ground during a drunken rampage, Alys is the only one to escape; she flees back to Morach, consumed with guilt at having abandoned her dying sisters. Summoned to minister to Lord Hugh, Hugo's father, Alys soon finds herself deeply involved in the treachery and intrigue surrounding the old man's attempts to have his son's marriage to the barren Lady Catherine annulled. Alys soon finds herself so sunk in evil, so removed from God's love, that only a truly shocking gesture can bring about her salvation. Gregory adeptly manipulates hair-raising horror and mounting suspense, brilliantly evoking the period's turbulent atmosphere.
The author of the Wideacre trilogy offers another intense, absorbing tale, a grisly drama of passion and witchcraft in 16th-century England. Growing up as an ill-used apprentice to Morach, the much-feared wise woman of the moors, Alys finds respite by joining an order of Catholic nuns. When young Lord Hugo and his men burn the abbey to the ground during a drunken rampage, Alys is the only one to escape; she flees back to Morach, consumed with guilt at having abandoned her dying sisters. Summoned to minister to Lord Hugh, Hugo's father, Alys soon finds herself deeply involved in the treachery and intrigue surrounding the old man's attempts to have his son's marriage to the barren Lady Catherine annulled. Alys soon finds herself so sunk in evil, so removed from God's love, that only a truly shocking gesture can bring about her salvation. Gregory adeptly manipulates hair-raising horror and mounting suspense, brilliantly evoking the period's turbulent atmosphere.
A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius / Dave Eggers
From Publishers Weekly
Literary self-consciousness and technical invention mix unexpectedly in this engaging memoir by Eggers, who subverts the conventions of the memoir by questioning his memory, motivations and interpretations so thoroughly that the form itself becomes comic. Despite the layers of ironic hesitation, the reader soon discerns that the emotions informing the book are raw and, more importantly, authentic. After presenting a self-effacing set of "Rules and Suggestions for the Enjoyment of this Book" and an extended, hilarious set of acknowledgments, Eggers describes his parents' horrific deaths from cancer within a few weeks of each other during his senior year of college, and his decision to move with his eight year-old brother, Toph, from the suburbs of Chicago to Berkeley. In California, he manages to care for Toph, work at various jobs, found Might, and even take a star turn on MTV's The Real World. While his is an amazing story, Eggers mainly focuses on the ethics of the memoir and of his behavior--his desire to be loved because he is an orphan and admired for caring for his brother versus his fear that he is attempting to profit from his terrible experiences and that he is only sharing his pain in an attempt to dilute it. Though the book is marred by its ending, it will still delight admirers of structural experimentation and Gen-Xers alike.
Literary self-consciousness and technical invention mix unexpectedly in this engaging memoir by Eggers, who subverts the conventions of the memoir by questioning his memory, motivations and interpretations so thoroughly that the form itself becomes comic. Despite the layers of ironic hesitation, the reader soon discerns that the emotions informing the book are raw and, more importantly, authentic. After presenting a self-effacing set of "Rules and Suggestions for the Enjoyment of this Book" and an extended, hilarious set of acknowledgments, Eggers describes his parents' horrific deaths from cancer within a few weeks of each other during his senior year of college, and his decision to move with his eight year-old brother, Toph, from the suburbs of Chicago to Berkeley. In California, he manages to care for Toph, work at various jobs, found Might, and even take a star turn on MTV's The Real World. While his is an amazing story, Eggers mainly focuses on the ethics of the memoir and of his behavior--his desire to be loved because he is an orphan and admired for caring for his brother versus his fear that he is attempting to profit from his terrible experiences and that he is only sharing his pain in an attempt to dilute it. Though the book is marred by its ending, it will still delight admirers of structural experimentation and Gen-Xers alike.
O Careless Love / Susan Dodd
From Library Journal
Dodd (The Mourner's Bench, LJ 6/1/98) uses her amazing command of language to present the eternal search for love in unsuspected venues. Her characters fail to fulfill their desperate longings, leaving the reader hungry for more. In "The Lost Art of Sleep," having left Haiti in search of respite and finding none, Lisabet is caring for her eight grandchildren while their parents search for work. She must leave the children in a cave outside the city limits while she begs for food and searches for the parents. Returning to the children at the end of the day, "Her arm tightens around the dark bundle slung against her hip: two worm-scarred apples, a cellophane bag with a sprinkling of coarse salts from pretzels, a loaf of moldy bread... Provisions." With such eloquence, Dodd exposes all of our unrequited, pedestrian yearnings. Highly recommended.
Dodd (The Mourner's Bench, LJ 6/1/98) uses her amazing command of language to present the eternal search for love in unsuspected venues. Her characters fail to fulfill their desperate longings, leaving the reader hungry for more. In "The Lost Art of Sleep," having left Haiti in search of respite and finding none, Lisabet is caring for her eight grandchildren while their parents search for work. She must leave the children in a cave outside the city limits while she begs for food and searches for the parents. Returning to the children at the end of the day, "Her arm tightens around the dark bundle slung against her hip: two worm-scarred apples, a cellophane bag with a sprinkling of coarse salts from pretzels, a loaf of moldy bread... Provisions." With such eloquence, Dodd exposes all of our unrequited, pedestrian yearnings. Highly recommended.
A Passion for Excellence / Tom Peters and Nancy Austin
Product Description
A Passion For Excellence is the single most existing, inspiring, career-transforming book ever published for people who want to get ahead. It takes you behind, the scenes in some of the most successful organizations and analyzes what makes them distinctive.Here are real people, real companies, real numbers. Here is what you need to know about the crucial elements of success: constant innovation, staying in touch with customers, encouraging the contributions of everyone in the company, and maintaining the integrity that is basic to leadership. Here are the secrets of building excellence.
A Passion For Excellence is the single most existing, inspiring, career-transforming book ever published for people who want to get ahead. It takes you behind, the scenes in some of the most successful organizations and analyzes what makes them distinctive.Here are real people, real companies, real numbers. Here is what you need to know about the crucial elements of success: constant innovation, staying in touch with customers, encouraging the contributions of everyone in the company, and maintaining the integrity that is basic to leadership. Here are the secrets of building excellence.
Neuronal Man / Jean-Pierre Changeux
From Scientific American
An outstanding attempt to convey to the general public an interdisciplinary understanding of the human nervous system.
An outstanding attempt to convey to the general public an interdisciplinary understanding of the human nervous system.
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