Fear of a Female Planet

I started this post in 2005 to keep track of this life goal I have to read all of the Modern Library Top 100 Novels (yes, I know all the critiques of it, I'm not doing it because I agree they are the best 100 novels of the English language in the 20th century, but because it is a fun goal and provides a certain cultural and intellectual literacy that I have already benefited from). My Ancestry job has made it easier to listen to audiobooks and get back on track with the list, so I updated it and redated this post...

Thus far: 79/100

1. ULYSSES by James Joyce (2000)
2. THE GREAT GATSBY by F. Scott Fitzgerald (high school)
3. A PORTRAIT OF THE ARTIST AS A YOUNG MAN by James Joyce (November 2005)
4. LOLITA by Vladimir Nabokov (2004)
5. BRAVE NEW WORLD by Aldous Huxley (high school)
6. THE SOUND AND THE FURY by William Faulkner (August 2009)
7. CATCH-22 by Joseph Heller (October 2009)
8. DARKNESS AT NOON by Arthur Koestler (August 2009)
9. SONS AND LOVERS by D.H. Lawrence (high school)
10. THE GRAPES OF WRATH by John Steinbeck (high school)
11. UNDER THE VOLCANO by Malcolm Lowry (August 2014)
12. THE WAY OF ALL FLESH by Samuel Butler (March 2015
13. 1984 by George Orwell (high school)
14. I, CLAUDIUS by Robert Graves (September 2014)
15. TO THE LIGHTHOUSE by Virginia Woolf (July 2009)
16. AN AMERICAN TRAGEDY by Theodore Dreiser (December 2016)
17. THE HEART IS A LONELY HUNTER by Carson McCullers (August 2005)
18. SLAUGHTERHOUSE-FIVE by Kurt Vonnegut (high school)
19. INVISIBLE MAN by Ralph Ellison (August 2014)
20. NATIVE SON by Richard Wright (September 2014)

( Modern Library Top 100 Novels )

100th-Birthday Tributes Pour in for Lévi-Strauss
By STEVEN ERLANGER, The New York Times, November 29, 2008

PARIS — Claude Lévi-Strauss, who altered the way Westerners look at other civilizations, turned 100 on Friday, and France celebrated with films, lectures and free admission to the museum he inspired, the Musée du Quai Branly.

Mr. Lévi-Strauss is cherished in France, and is an additional reminder of the nation’s cultural significance in the year when another Frenchman, Jean-Marie Gustave Le Clézio, won the Nobel Prize in Literature.

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Holiday Gift Guide: Michiko Kakutani’s 10 Favorite Books of 2008
By MICHIKO KAKUTANI, The New York Times, November 28, 2008

APPLES & ORANGES by Marie Brenner. In this deeply affecting memoir, a journalist uses the prism of her love and grief for her dead brother — and her bewilderment over the twists and turns of his eccentric life — to create a haunting portrait of him and their uncommon family.

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Holiday Gift Guide: Janet Maslin’s 10 Favorite Books of 2008
By JANET MASLIN, The New York Times, November 28, 2008

WHEN WILL THERE BE GOOD NEWS? by Kate Atkinson. Another smart, tricky expansion on the mystery format from an author whose doppelgängers, parallel plots and beguiling characters keep her on a winning streak.

( Read More )


And if you need more ideas:
100 Notable Books of 2008 from the New York Times



And then once you realize you have too many books...

Essay: The Well-Tended Bookshelf
By LAURA MILLER, The New York Times, November 30, 2008

In order to have the walls of my diminutive apartment scraped and repainted, I recently had to heap all of my possessions in the center of the room. The biggest obstacle was my library. Despite what I like to think of as a rigorous “one book in, one book out” policy, it had begun to metastasize quietly in corners, with volumes squeezed on top of the taller cabinets and in the horizontal crannies left above the spines of books that had been properly shelved. It was time to cull.

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Various and Sundry articles that I found interesting as I went through my email from the long holiday weekend:

Recycled Toys
August 29, 2007, Starwars.com (presentation by Ron Salvatore)

Toy "recycling" is a well-known practice in the toy industry. To keep production and tooling costs down, companies will occasionally borrow a figure, vehicle, or accessory from one of their previous lines to repurpose for a new line. Kenner Products, and later Hasbro, were certainly no strangers to this, and consequently repurposed many of the toys from properties such as Six Million Dollar Man, Steve Scout, Batman, and others to become part of their famed Star Wars lines. What's more, in the years since the original Star Wars toys were released, other toy properties like The Real West, Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves and the Batman movies have borrowed select pieces from our favorite galaxy to be re-imagined as a "sonic neutralizer", a Sherwood Forest, and a "Glamour Gals" stage, among others.

Collector Ron Salvatore recently discussed some of the toys recycled into or from the Star Wars lines as part of the Celebration IV and Celebration Europe collecting panels taking place last summer. Here is an overview of that panel...
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Cancer Society Focuses Its Ads on the Uninsured
By KEVIN SACK, The New York Times, August 31, 2007

ATLANTA, Aug. 30 — In a stark departure from past practice, the American Cancer Society plans to devote its entire $15 million advertising budget this year not to smoking cessation or colorectal screening but to the consequences of inadequate health coverage.
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Starting Over
By JENNIFER SCHUESSLER, The New York Times, September 2, 2007

THE WORLD WITHOUT US
By Alan Weisman. Illustrated. 324 pp. Thomas Dunne Books/St. Martin’s Press. $24.95.

When Rachel Carson’s “Silent Spring” was published in 1963, the chemical giant Monsanto struck back with a parody called “Desolate Spring” that envisioned an America laid waste not by pesticides but by insects: “The bugs were everywhere. Unseen. Unheard. Unbelievably universal. ... On or under every square foot of land, every square yard, every acre, and county, and state and region in the entire sweep of the United States. In every home and barn and apartment house and chicken coop, and in their timbers and foundations and furnishings. Beneath the ground, beneath the waters, on and in limbs and twigs and stalks, under rocks, inside trees and animals and other insects — and yes, inside man.”

To Alan Weisman, this nightmare scenario would be merely a promising start. In his morbidly fascinating nonfiction eco-thriller, “The World Without Us,” Weisman imagines what would happen if the earth’s most invasive species — ourselves — were suddenly and completely wiped out. Writers from Carson to Al Gore have invoked the threat of environmental collapse in an effort to persuade us to change our careless ways. With similar intentions but a more devilish sense of entertainment values, Weisman turns the destruction of our civilization and the subsequent rewilding of the planet into a Hollywood-worthy, slow-motion disaster spectacular and feel-good movie rolled into one.
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The most touching "before and after" pictures I've ever seen:


Sean Fritz, left, and Timothy McQuillan, awaiting their marriage certificate at the Polk County Clerk’s Office.


Sean Fritz, 24, left, and Timothy McQuillan, 21, sealed their union in a ceremony performed by the Rev. Mark Stringer, right.

Iowa Permits Same-Sex Marriage, for 4 Hours, Anyway
By MONICA DAVEY, The New York Times, September 1, 2007

DES MOINES, Aug. 31 — From towns around the state, places like Cedar Falls, Ames and Cedar Rapids, same-sex couples converged on this city as early as dawn on Friday as word spread that a judge had overturned a state law banning gay marriage.

“Imagine this — right here in Iowa,” Amanda Duncan said as she and her partner of three years, Aleece Ramirez, filled out their application for a marriage license and put down $35. “Hopefully, this starts a fire that spreads to other places.”

The chance was fleeting. After four hours, Robert B. Hanson, the same county judge who had deemed the ban on same-sex marriages unconstitutional, delayed further granting of licenses until the Iowa Supreme Court decided whether to consider an appeal.
( Read More... )

The Pulitzer Prizes have been announced:
Letters, Drama and Music Awards:

FICTION: The Road by Cormac McCarthy (Alfred A. Knopf)

DRAMA: Rabbit Hole by David Lindsay-Abaire

HISTORY: The Race Beat: The Press, the Civil Rights Struggle, and the Awakening of a Nation by Gene Roberts and Hank Klibanoff (Alfred A. Knopf)

BIOGRAPHY: The Most Famous Man in America: The Biography of Henry Ward Beecher by Debby Applegate (Doubleday)

POETRY: Native Guard by Natasha Trethewey (Houghton Mifflin)

GENERAL NONFICTION: The Looming Tower by Lawrence Wright (Alfred A. Knopf)

MUSIC: Sound Grammar by Ornette Coleman

Journalism:
PUBLIC SERVICE: The Wall Street Journal

BREAKING NEWS REPORTING: The Staff of The Oregonian, Portland

INVESTIGATIVE REPORTING: Brett Blackledge of The Birmingham (Ala.) News

EXPLANATORY REPORTING: Kenneth R. Weiss, Usha Lee McFarling and Rick Loomis of the Los Angeles Times

LOCAL REPORTING: Debbie Cenziper of The Miami Herald

NATIONAL REPORTING: Charlie Savage of The Boston Globe

INTERNATIONAL REPORTING: The Wall Street Journal Staff

FEATURE WRITING: Andrea Elliott of The New York Times

COMMENTARY: Cynthia Tucker of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

CRITICISM: Jonathan Gold of LA Weekly

EDITORIAL WRITING: Arthur Browne, Beverly Weintraub and Heidi Evans of the New York Daily News

EDITORIAL CARTOONING: Walt Handelsman of Newsday, Long Island, NY

BREAKING NEWS PHOTOGRAPHY: Oded Balilty of the Associated Press

FEATURE PHOTOGRAPHY: Renee C. Byer of The Sacramento Bee

King and Abrams in Talks for Dark Tower
Source: The Hollywood Reporter, February 14, 2007

The Hollywood Reporter has confirmed an earlier IGN story that said Stephen King and J.J. Abrams are in talks to bring King's "Dark Tower" book series to the screen.

They are not sure, however, if the project will be a feature film or a TV series. Abrams' Bad Robot production company has a first-look deal at Paramount for film projects and a deal with Warner Bros. Television for TV projects. The project is not yet set up at either company.

The trade adds that King's tale -- which sprawls across seven books as it blends the fantasy, sci-fi, horror and Western genres -- might seem better suited for a multiple-episode television treatment. On the other hand, its potential cost might call for a large-scale cinematic treatment.

It is also unclear whether Abrams would take on the project solely as a producer or whether he would direct as well.

Thanks to Brad for this nice link for Comics for people who don't like comics:

Comics for people who don't read comics
By Whitney Matheson

Some of you don't want me to go to Comic-Con.

It's OK, I know what you're thinking: You don't read comic books, and you don't understand people who do. You don't know the difference between Harvey Pekar and Harvey Kurtzman, and, on top of that, you don't really care.

But you know what? I'm still not giving up. Below, I've outlined some of my favorite graphic novels -- that's just a fancy term for "long-form comics" -- and compared them to things you probably do know, like movies, musicians and TV series.

I omitted titles I've recommended repeatedly, like Y: The Last Man, Maus and Jimmy Corrigan: The Smartest Kid on Earth. I've also left out books that have been adapted into movies (Ghost World, Sin City, V for Vendetta, American Splendor, etc.). Though these are all worth reading, they've already gotten their fair share of press.

One more thing: Even though some of these books incorporate elves and animals, be aware that all of them are adult titles.

• If you like ... The Princess Bride, Animal Farm, Faerie Tale Theatre, Harry Potter
  Then try ... Fables, Vol. 1: Legends in Exile by Bill Willingham (Vertigo, $9.99)
  Why? Because it's the best bedtime reading a grown-up could ask for. Willingham's addictive and imaginative stories follow the residents of Fabletown, including Snow White, Prince Charming, Pinocchio and the Big Bad Wolf. Unlike the characters we heard about as kids, though, these folks cope with with everything from unplanned pregnancies to cheating spouses to bloody crime sprees. Seven trade volumes have been published so far, and I've read every one.
  ( Read More )

Kidman the Villain in The Golden Compass
Source: Variety, July 31, 2006


Nicole Kidman will star in New Line Cinema's The Golden Compass, playing the villainous and glamorous Mrs. Coulter, reports Variety.

Shooting on the $150 million production, based on the first part of Phillip Pullman's "His Dark Materials" trilogy, is set for September at London's Shepperton Studios.

Chris Weitz is directing from his own script. British newcomer Dakota Blue Richards has already been cast for the lead role of Lyra Belacqua, who travels to a parallel universe to battle the forces of evil and rescue her best friend.

Scholastic Media's Deborah Forte is producing with Bill Carraro. New Line is eyeing a November 16, 2007 release date.

Here it is folks, your way too detailed book list and reviews of 2005.

2005 Book Reviews

Best Non-Fiction:

• Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game by Michael Lewis – So readable, so interesting, and so important if you like baseball.
  
• Female Chauvinist Pigs: Women and the Rise of Raunch Culture by Ariel Levy – A few problems but overall one of the best feminist critiques, especially of pornography, that I’ve read recently.
  
• Feminism is for Everybody by bell hooks – Perfect little book dispelling all the myths and lies about feminism.
  
• Imperial Bodies: The Physical Experience of the Raj, C.1800-1947 by E. M. Collingham – If you are into colonialism or body politics, this is revolutionary.
  
• The Deadly Truth: A History of Disease in America by Gerald N. Grob – Nothing mind blowing, just a good concise overview of my field.

Best Fiction:

• Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell – I can’t praise this book enough. It’s the sort of book that requires some work on the part of the reader, but the kind you are rewarded for.
  
• Three Junes by Julia Glass – Surprisingly good and touching.
  
• White Teeth by Zadie Smith – Like three amazing books in one.
  
• The Heart is a Lonely Hunter by Carson McCullers – The only Modern Library top 100 book that actually made my favorite list. If you don’t cry by the end of this book, you’re not human.
  
• The Foundation Trilogy by Isaac Asimov – I’m so glad I read these, entertaining and "foundational" to modern science fiction.

Best Graphic Novel/Trade Paperback:

• V for Vendetta – Not only is the story great, but there is some great pacing, structure and concepts in here.
  
• Y the Last Man – I don’t know why you haven’t read this yet. Sure, the concept is amazing, but Brian Vaughn isn’t resting on his laurels and keeps pushing the story.
  
• The Sandman: Preludes and Noctures by Neil Gaiman – Glad I finally got around to reading these, although it is amusing to read it after American Gods and see where all those ideas started.
  
• Channel Zero by Brian Wood – Do yourself a favor and try this out, you won’t be sorry.
  
• Watchmen by Alan Moore – Think Superheroes are played out? Try this.

Best Narration on an audio book:

• Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell – Somehow he made even the footnotes playful and interesting.
  
• Series of Unfortunate Events – This whole series just has the best narration.
  
• Ender’s Game – Used multiple voice actors (which a book like A Game of Thrones could really use).
  
• A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man – There is just something about an Irish accent reading this book.

Modern Library top 100 books read:

• A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man by James Joyce
  
• A Passage to India by EM Forster
  
• The Heart is a Lonely Hunter by Carson McCullers
  
• A Bend in the River by V.S. Naipaul

Honorable Mention:

• A Game of Thrones
  
• Ender’s Game
  
• American Gods
  
• Close Range
  
• Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell
  
• All the Pretty Horses (which gave me my favorite line of the year: "In history there are no control groups.")

Worst Non-Fiction:

• Eats, Shoots, and Leaves: The Zero Tolerance Approach to Punctuation by Lynne Truss – Useless if you want to learn anything, insulting and pretentious.
  
• What's the Matter with Kansas?: How Conservatives Won the Heart of America by Thomas Frank – A poorly structured argument with questionable evidence.
  
• Wash and Be Healed: The Water-Cure Movement and Women's Health by Susan E. Cayleff – An example of how one should NOT write a history book.
  
• Domesticity in Colonial India: What Women Learned When Men Gave Them Advice: What Women Learned When Men Gave Them Advice by Judith Walsh – A great topic, but it should have been an article and I put it on here because too many historians try this trick. If it’s an article length concept that restrict it to an article, don’t drag it out into a repetitive book.
  
• Kitchen Confidential: Adventures in the Culinary Underbelly by Anthony Bourdain – Just not impressed. Didn’t learn anything and found it rather childish.

Worst Fiction:

• Quicksilver by Neal Stephenson – What might happen if a 15 year old boy read Shapin and Scaeffer and decided to do a NaNoWiMo on the topic. I cannot count the ways I hated this book. It made me retroactively hate his other work and I sold them on Half.com so that my house would cleansed.
  
• Eragon by Christopher Paolini – So derivative and uninventive. I mean, Tolkein is bad enough, do we need a bad imitation of him?
  
• The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd – Am I the only person that hated this? To me, this was the epitome of all that is wrong with modern fiction.
  
• Walk Through Darkness by David Anthony Durham – I wanted to like this, his first book was so good, but this was predictable and unimaginative.
  
• Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith by Matthew Woodring Stover – If I hadn’t listened to this, with all the nifty sound effects, I would have put it down after the first chapter. Really poorly written and trite.

Worst Graphic Novel/Trade Paperback:

• Star Wars: Jedi vs. Sith – Written by someone who has no idea what Star Wars canon is.
  
• Star Wars: Union – Were they trying to appeal to women here? Either way – it’s insulting.
  
• Star Wars: Boba Fett: Enemy of the Empire – Someone just thought it would be cool to have Boba Fett fight Darth Vader. Just because something sounds cool to a fanboy does not make it a good idea.

MOST productive Month:
December (although August was the most productive month as far as non-graphic novels)

LEAST productive Month:
February – what the hell was I doing?

COUNT:
Books: 51
Audiobooks: 27
Graphic Novels/Trade Paperbacks: 38
Male: 46
Female: 31
TOTAL: 116

( The Complete List, Month by Month )

Not only did my former advisor, Kevin Boyle, win for best non-fiction, but one of his daughters (Abby) got to be part of Judy Blume's medal presentation.

Listen to NPR review of Arc of Justice (about 6 minutes).

Watch a video from Ohio State interviewing Kevin (about 3 minutes long).


Winners of the 55th US National Book Awards pictured left to right, Kevin Boyle, Lily Tuck, Jean Valentine and Pete Hautman on November 17, 2004. (AP)

South America Epic Wins the National Book Award
By EDWARD WYATT, The New York Times, November 18, 2004

"The News From Paraguay," Lily Tuck's historical epic set in 19th-century South America, won the National Book Award for fiction last night, capping a month in which the publishing world debated the merits of the work of five little-known female authors living in New York City and the meaning and purpose of literary awards.

The novel, published by HarperCollins, is the tale of a woman who blunders her way into history and a dictator who both gives her a family and destroys it. Rick Moody, the chairman of the panel of judges who chose the winner and the four other finalists, called it a novel of "astonishing quality" that incorporates a rich mixture of language and imagination.

The imagination portion in particular was evident when, in her acceptance remarks, Ms. Tuck confessed that she had never been to Paraguay and did not intend to go.

"I've often been asked, 'Why Paraguay?' " Ms. Tuck told an audience of about 600 people at the Marriott Marquis in Midtown Manhattan. "I don't have an answer," she said, although she admitted that it did allow her to exercise her penchant for writing about "stuff that most people don't know about" and satisfied her "need to teach or instruct."

"It gives me an edge," she added.

The nonfiction prize went to Kevin Boyle for "Arc of Justice: A Saga of Race, Civil Rights and Murder in the Jazz Age,'' published by Henry Holt & Company. Mr. Boyle, a professor of history at Ohio State University, wrote of the life of Dr. Ossian Sweet, whose purchase of a house in an all-white neighborhood in Detroit in the early 1920's sparked a race riot and murder trial.

When whites attacked Dr. Sweet's home shortly after he moved in, one of the attackers was shot and killed by a panicked black man who had come to Dr. Sweet's defense. The Sweets and nine other men were charged with murder. Reviewing the book in The New York Times, Patricia Cohen said the story of the trial, and the defense effort headed by Clarence Darrow, "is filled with rich detail and unexpected twists," although not for Dr. Sweet. Though he finally won acquittal, he lived out his life as a bitter, unhappy man in what remains one of the most segregated cities in America.
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