Shuntaro Tanikawa: Selected Poems
Editorial Reviews- From Publishers Weekly Author of more than 60 books of poetry, Tanikawa is perhaps Japan's most well-known and accomplished living poet, and garnered a 1989 American Book Award for the Floating the River in Melancholy, a fully translated single volume now out of print. This first U.S. selected edition, translated by American ex-pat William Elliott and Kazuo Kawamura (who together edit a Yokohama literary journal), draws from 11 volumes spanning five decades of quotidian-based, wryly self-conscious work. While the surface of Tanikawa's poetry in these translations is practically hyper-literal ("I eat loquats,/ to do which/ I have to peel them;/ to peel them,/ I need hands"), the mind behind them is distinctly concerned with the shapes and inadequacies of meaning, and how it can be produced for an audience larger than one. At times, Tanikawa's awareness of his own practice is startlingly frank: "It is not clear what materials and techniques will go into the writing of this composition called `Starvation', and furthermore I doubt that it will stand as a valid composition." Tanikawa is clearly interested in a poetry that is colloquial at its core (he is the Japanese translator of the late Charles Schulz's Peanuts strip), free of traditional Japanese forms and interested in Western culture, though certainly not derivative of Western poetries. His sense of humor ultimately cuts through the questions of translation and cultural and linguistic differences to display the brooding charm that has won Tanikawa such acclaim: "I feel that I'd like being trapped forever/ but the snare rejects me humourlessly,/ pushing me back to the native milieu of people/ where humour is the only refuge." North American readers will find this a welcome refuge indeed. Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc |
Was very tired last night when I made my former post above:
It's LDR's son Rufus - not Ralph (Louise and Ralph lived together) - that Alice Arlen, author of the aforementioned book that I am reading, was prompted to visit, in leiu of finding out more about the life of Louise Dickenson Rich (who turns out to be related to Emily Dickenson). |
The Rosie Project by Graeme Simsion
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jus' finished "a lion among men" (3rd book in da wicked years series)
gettin' ready to start "the dangerous islands", by ann bridge |
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The baby business : how money, science, and politics drive the commerce of conception / Debora L. Spar. Debora Spar argues that it is time to acknowledge the commercial truth about reproduction and to establish a standard that governs its transactions. In this fascinating behind-the-scenes account, she combines pioneering research and interviews with the industry’s top reproductive scientists and trailblazers to provide a first glimpse at how the industry works: who the baby-makers are, who makes money, how prices are set, and what defines the clientele. Fascinating stories illustrate the inner workings of market segments--including stem cell research, surrogacy, egg swapping, #147;designer babies,” adoption, and human cloning--as Spar explores the moral and legal challenges that industry players must address. The first purely commercial look at an industry that deals in humanity’s most intimate issues, this book challenges us to consider the financial promise and ethical perils we’ll face as the baby business moves inevitably forward. --------------------------- Wonder women : sex, power, and the quest for perfection / Debora L. Spar. Fifty years after the Equal Pay Act, why are women still living in a man's world?Debora L. Spar spent most of her life avoiding feminism. Raised after the tumult of the '60s, she presumed that the gender war was over; she swore to young women that yes, they could have it all. "We thought we could glide into the new era with babies, board seats, and husbands in tow," she writes. "We were wrong." Spar should know. One of the first women professors at Harvard Business School, she went on to have three children and became the chair of her department. Now she's the president of Barnard College, arguably the most important all-women school in the country, an institution firmly committed to feminism. Wonder Women is Spar's story and the culture's. Armed with reams of new research, she examines how women's lives have-and have not-changed over the past forty years. The challenges confronting women are more complex than ever. They're problems that come inherently and inevitably from being female. Yet they're falling on generations of women who grew up believing that none of these things are supposed to matter now. Wonder Women gives us an important voice in an increasingly heated debate. In this wise, often funny, always human, and smartly conceived book, Spar asks: How far have women really come? And what will it take to get true equality for good? |
All We Know: Three Lives by Lisa Cohen
In my eyes a somewhat sad biography of three women lost in history, Esther Murphy, Mercedes de Acosta, and Madge Garland. All lesbian, all talented. They faded into the setting as less than glossy and memorable. Follows is a review I liked from Amazon. Quote:
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finished "the dangerous islands.
now beginnin' "plan a, plan b, plan c (just in case)", by lois cahall |
LSAT prep manuals.
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Still working on "How Few Remain" by Harry Turtledove
Getting Ready to Start on "The Unfinished Tales" and "History of Middle-Earth" by J.R.R. Tolkien |
currently readin' "plan a, plan b, pan c" and "the straw hat".
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I will definitely read the first book. Commodification of family development is very rarely spoken about. Thanks for the suggestion. Might be interesting for me to use in some of my human behavior and development classes. Looking it up on my kindle now.
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Let me know what you think. Children as commodities is not a new concept. We have been doing it in both foreign and domestic adoptions, genetic engineering and in utero modification, sex selective abortions, child sex trafficking, etc. Is disconcerting to see human beings as an industry to be exploited for significant financial gain. Not surprising, just disconcerting. |
Under the Overpass
Current Primary Read. I usually have a few books going at one time. I am agnostic but keep my mind open to all religions. This is a good book about homelessness.
http://www.blindbeggar.org/img/under_overpass.jpg |
The Secret History, Donna Tartt
Never read Tartt before, picked this one up on kindle because of an piece in the Observer today on the top ten long reads. Her newest one is on order. |
I just got...(and am only glancing through atm)
No Impact Man:The adventures of a guilty liberal who attempts to save the planet and the discoveries he makes about himself and our way of life in the process. By Colin Beavan And that is the entire title! Colin Beavan is No Impact Man. Dismayed, worried, and angered at worsening global climate conditions, and sorely confused and frustrated about what one individual can do to alleviate—or reverse—such threatening trends, Beavan decided to do something. His choice: to lead a life of no impact for one year. That is, in everyday living his goal was to create no negative impact on the environment. In New York City. And he dragged his Starbucks-addicted wife, one year-old daughter, and trusty dog along for the ride. A no impact transition meant no transportation use that required the power of fossil fuels (subways, taxis, planes, elevators), no takeout food (wasteful containers), no bottled water, no new purchases, no use of disposable items (like razors), and eventually, no electricity. Big things (travel) and little things (cooking) and private things (hygiene) and everything in-between fell into this phased-in project. Along the way, Beavan blogged about his trials. His book, No Impact Man (Farrar, Straus, and Giroux, 2009), made of recycled paper and produced by a plant powered by biogas, tells the tale—at turns comical, revealing, and emotional—of a family at first hesitant, then fully embracing of this project. It is also peppered with startling, eyebrow-raising statistics on global manufacturing, consumption patterns, and waste production. (The documentary on the project is out now too). |
really enjoying it
The Interestings: A Novel
Amazon: An Amazon Best Book of the Month, April 2013: This knowing, generous and slyly sly new novel follows a group of teenagers who meet at a summer camp for artsy teens in 1974 and survive as friends through the competitions and realities of growing up. At its heart is Jules (nee Julie, she changes it that first summer to seem more sophisticated) Jacobson, an aspiring comic actress who comes to realize she’s got more creative temperament than talent; her almost boyfriend Ethan Figman, the true genius in the bunch (he’s a cartoonist); musician Jonah Bay, son of a famous Baez-ish folksinger; and the Wolf siblings, Ash and Goodman, attractive and mysterious. How these five circle each other, come together and break apart, makes for plenty of hilarious scenes and plenty of heartbreaking ones, too. A compelling coming of age story about five privileged kids, this is also a pitch-perfect tale about a particular generation and the era that spawned it. --Sara Nelson |
Last night I finished "To Kill A Mockingbird" and started "Orange Is The New Black" Just as I enjoy a variety of music, anywhere from Bee Gees to Three doors down to Lionel Richie to Linkin Park, I have been enjoying a variety of very different books :)
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Just to briefly share, tonight:
I have no idea what's up with me lately, but I did not finish the last two books I attempted to read: "Bride of Lammermoor" or Alice Arden's, "She Took To The Woods." I did not enjoy either book. But I forgot that I subscribed to a reader's list, a "Tip Sheet", supplied to me by: Publisher's Weekly. I have been browsing reading materials found on two different lists and thought I would leave links for them tonight, in case anyone else might see something interesting to read. Link no. 1 ~>>> The Big Indie Books of Fall 2013 Link no. 2 ~>>> The 20 Best Books in Translation You've Never Read On either link above, a person can find tabs for: News, Authors, Reviews, Best Sellers, International, Opinion, and other items that might be interesting to learn more about. |
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