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Book report
Mar. 10th, 2016 07:54 pmLatest group of books I read. Non-fiction sure seems to win out over fiction in this group, in terms of the ratings I gave:
Bittersweet by Nevada Barr - I found something that I wish for and search for all the time: historical fiction with a lesbian main character! Unfortunately it sucks. You know the old advise to writers: “Show, don’t tell”? This book basically just tells, and its prose is very jerky and abrupt. It feels more like the outline of a novel rather than a novel itself, lacking the dramatic highs and impacts that a strong writer can make the reader feel. The story itself? A spinster schoolteacher in 19th century America flees Philadelphia where she’s the subject of a scandal. She resumes teaching in a small Midwestern town and befriends a student, but her past catches up with her. I would’ve loved to have read a good version of that! Grade: D
Why Liberals Win the Cultural Wars (Even When They Lose Elections) by Stephen Prothero – As you can guess, the title basically explains the premise of the book. The author looks through US history all the way back to the founding of the republic and he makes the case that it works like this: conservatives tend to pick a cause that has already been lost, they wage a cultural war using rallying points along the lines of ‘we’re losing a cherished way of life!’, liberals step in a bit late to defend their case, the conservatives successfully mobilize their side of the electorate so they often win elections, but liberals hang in for the long run and use American principles such as freedom and equality - and so they tend to win the war, even if they don’t win the first few battles. (I apologize for that run-on sentence). The author uses examples starting from attacks on Thomas Jefferson and his belief in freedom of religion, to a wave of anti-Catholic sentiment that swept the US in the 19th century, to prohibition, to the contemporary cultural wars around issues such as same-sex marriage. Great read, almost a thrilling read, and Prothero makes his case well. Grade: B+
Intimacy Idiot by Isaac Oliver – This is how to do a memoir! The author is a gay man living in NYC, a playwright who also has worked at a ticket office for 11 years. The memoir consists of short vignettes from his life. Hilarious snippets of interactions from his job, on the subway, and in his casual sex encounters. It’s really funny and it leaves you wanting more. Grade: B+
The Gods of Tango by Carolina De Robertis – I listened to this work of historical fiction on audio. Young Leda leaves early 20th century Italy to head for Argentina, where her husband has already emigrated to. She gets there and finds that he’s been killed in a labor strike. Leda doesn’t want to return to Italy, but she has to come up with a creative way to make a living since traditional female occupations don’t bring in enough money to live on, and she doesn’t want to work as a prostitute. The audio book more or less held my interest. Occasionally the author’s prose gets a bit too florid and over the top, and I wished for less detail and a faster-moving plot. The 12 CDs took a long time to get through. But it was pretty good. Grade: C+
Song of the River by Sue Harrison – Historical fiction taking place about 8,000 years ago in what is now Alaska. I was intrigued by the setting, and the author sure did her homework. But like the other novels in this book report, it plodded along too slowly. I wanted it to be like two-thirds as long as it was. Grade: C-
Bittersweet by Nevada Barr - I found something that I wish for and search for all the time: historical fiction with a lesbian main character! Unfortunately it sucks. You know the old advise to writers: “Show, don’t tell”? This book basically just tells, and its prose is very jerky and abrupt. It feels more like the outline of a novel rather than a novel itself, lacking the dramatic highs and impacts that a strong writer can make the reader feel. The story itself? A spinster schoolteacher in 19th century America flees Philadelphia where she’s the subject of a scandal. She resumes teaching in a small Midwestern town and befriends a student, but her past catches up with her. I would’ve loved to have read a good version of that! Grade: D
Why Liberals Win the Cultural Wars (Even When They Lose Elections) by Stephen Prothero – As you can guess, the title basically explains the premise of the book. The author looks through US history all the way back to the founding of the republic and he makes the case that it works like this: conservatives tend to pick a cause that has already been lost, they wage a cultural war using rallying points along the lines of ‘we’re losing a cherished way of life!’, liberals step in a bit late to defend their case, the conservatives successfully mobilize their side of the electorate so they often win elections, but liberals hang in for the long run and use American principles such as freedom and equality - and so they tend to win the war, even if they don’t win the first few battles. (I apologize for that run-on sentence). The author uses examples starting from attacks on Thomas Jefferson and his belief in freedom of religion, to a wave of anti-Catholic sentiment that swept the US in the 19th century, to prohibition, to the contemporary cultural wars around issues such as same-sex marriage. Great read, almost a thrilling read, and Prothero makes his case well. Grade: B+
Intimacy Idiot by Isaac Oliver – This is how to do a memoir! The author is a gay man living in NYC, a playwright who also has worked at a ticket office for 11 years. The memoir consists of short vignettes from his life. Hilarious snippets of interactions from his job, on the subway, and in his casual sex encounters. It’s really funny and it leaves you wanting more. Grade: B+
The Gods of Tango by Carolina De Robertis – I listened to this work of historical fiction on audio. Young Leda leaves early 20th century Italy to head for Argentina, where her husband has already emigrated to. She gets there and finds that he’s been killed in a labor strike. Leda doesn’t want to return to Italy, but she has to come up with a creative way to make a living since traditional female occupations don’t bring in enough money to live on, and she doesn’t want to work as a prostitute. The audio book more or less held my interest. Occasionally the author’s prose gets a bit too florid and over the top, and I wished for less detail and a faster-moving plot. The 12 CDs took a long time to get through. But it was pretty good. Grade: C+
Song of the River by Sue Harrison – Historical fiction taking place about 8,000 years ago in what is now Alaska. I was intrigued by the setting, and the author sure did her homework. But like the other novels in this book report, it plodded along too slowly. I wanted it to be like two-thirds as long as it was. Grade: C-
