The first 120 or so pages of Shutting Out the Sun (2006) are fascinating, and indeed, Zielenziger’s portrayal of a number of Japanese hikikomori (shut-ins), their families, and those working the help bring them back out into the public world, manages to be very thoughtful and compassionate, and even, at times, moving. Later chapters are less powerful, in my opinion, in part because of the way Zielenziger presents the social problems he chooses to tackle. Many, such as the falling birth rate, the lingering (relative) conservativism among men, the precipitously-declined birth rate, and the national obsession with conspicuous consumption of brand …
Tag: books read 2011
The Dangers of Expat Writing: Fear and Trembling by Amélie Nothomb
While many expatriates have been great writers, in my experience, expatriates sometimes don’t do such a great job writing about the expatriate experience — with Graham Greene being a notable exception. They inevitably tend towards the same kind of thing that one sees in the expatriate blogosphere — the clever theorizing, the ranting, the mockery and the essentializing. Indeed, I have not read a single (published) book of fiction or autobiography by an expat, describing his or her life here in Korea, that didn’t have these kinds of problems… the urge seems to irresistible for most. (Of course, I haven’t …
Dark Gods by T.E.D. Klein, and a Question About the Depiction and Significance of Racism in Characterization
T.E.D. Klein is one of those writers whose disappearance baffles many lovers of weird fiction. After his celebrated novel The Ceremonies (which I have not yet read) and his collection of novellas titled Dark Gods, he seemed to go mostly off the radar, and to stay there (unless one was reading the right magazines, I suppose)… until Subterranean put out a collection of his short fiction, titled, Reassuring Tales, about six years ago. (That was a limited edition and I never see it online for less than $200, so I suppose I won’t be reading it till I get somewhere …
Playback by Raymond Chandler
What can I say? Chandler is Chandler — he does the thing he does, and he does it well, but I’m not sure I feel like reading the remaining novel in the volume, The Long Good-bye, right now. Apparently, a lot of people see this as the least of Chandler’s novels, something of a denouement to his career, and I’ll admit the novel seems a bit shorter and simpler than some of his others. But that doesn’t mean it’s not worth a read. Chandler maintains, here, his ability to empathize with characters, while depicting the world they live in (and …
What I read in 2011
My hopes of reading 50 books in 2011 were dashed by a lot of busy work, and all I’ve got to show for my reading this past year is a mere 47 48 49 titles, plus a few on the go — a surprising number of the finished books being cooking, baking, and brewing books. That said, of, those books I did read, I had a range of reactions, many of them blogged here (under this tag). Since I apparently cannot embed the code for the covers here in this post, here’s a permalink to a screenful of covers over …
Sex, Murder, and the Meaning of Life by Douglas Kenrick (Audiobook)
I should, before reviewing, disclaim that this was a free book from Librarything, which I got on the condition that I review it. Douglas Kenrick’s Sex, Murder, and the Meaning of Life: A Psychologist Investigates How Evolution, Cognition, and Complexity Are Revolutionizing Our View of Human Nature was, on the whole, a very enjoyable audiobook. Generally, Kenrick does a good job of bringing together his personal experiences and the research he and others have done — both pointing towards very interesting insights into human nature. This is especially interesting given Kenrick’s unusual background (at least, unusual for an academic): his …
Coltrane on Coltrane: The John Coltrane Interviews, ed. Chris de Vito
Probably one of the last books I’ll read in 2011, I actually worked my way through this book slowly. Not because it’s not interesting — though, if you’ve done any research on Trane before, you’ve seen some of it already, and there is a certain amount of unavoidable repetition — but because I was busy, and wanted to take the book slow. The impression it gives of Coltrane as an adult is somewhat vague in some ways, but it’s a wonderful look at how others reacted to him… which I suppose is partly because of how Coltrane presented himself to …
John Coltrane and the Pulp Connection
Arguably one of the most significant musicians in American history (and unarguably one of the most significant saxophonists and jazz musicians ever), John Coltrane grew up in High Point, North Carolina. It might be a weird thing to bring up — where he grew up, that is — except that, when we think about major artists, we so often imagine them having sprung into being fully-formed, if not in technique or approach, then at least in their essential selfhood. This is also often how we tell their stories: for example, in Coltrane: Story of a Sound (a book I’ve just …
One For the Morning Glory by John Barnes
John Barnes is one of those genre writers I’d heard of, but never happened to read until now. Oddly enough, he’s more well known for his SF work, but the book I stumbled upon, and decided to read, was his foray into the realm of magical adventure. Not epic fantasy, mind: One For the Morning Glory was intended as the second in a trilogy (of which neither first nor third got written, from what I can tell) it is as far from epic fantasy as can be. Rather, it is a lot like a fairytale, or maybe an existentialist’s version …
A Deepness in the Sky by Vernor Vinge
Every novel I read by Vinge seems to me to be better than the last. Maybe it’s because I started with earlier work, or maybe it’s just the impression that each of his books gives me. But one thing is for certain: A Deepness in the Sky certainly is a hell of a novel, space opera or not. I finished it last night, on the couch, very late into the night, and found myself in an odd position for such a time: I was excited about it, and wanted to talk about it. But it was the middle of the …