It's impossible not to adore Flavia. She's precocious, sassy, and approaches life with just the right dose of snark.
I appreciated Bradley's gentle andIt's impossible not to adore Flavia. She's precocious, sassy, and approaches life with just the right dose of snark.
I appreciated Bradley's gentle and timely insertions of pertinent plot point reminders; these might perhaps annoy the more savvy mystery reader, but moi, lazy girl? I need 'em. I also rather liked that it is always clear which particular aspect of the mystery our heroine is ruminating on at any given point. Mysteries are solved in chunks, bit by bit, not all at once as so many Agatha Christie climaxes would have you believe. It's nice to uncover the truth gradually, alongside the protagonist, rather than have it all revealed neatly at the end.
A difficult book to rate. I thoroughly hated the journey. Random thoughts that popped into my head along the way included:
- I’d likBrave New World
A difficult book to rate. I thoroughly hated the journey. Random thoughts that popped into my head along the way included:
- I’d like to go to Iceland. Right now. - I could really use a soma tablet. - Dystopia is so not my cup of tea
The ideas communicated are both profound and profoundly disturbing, but the vehicle used to communicate them to the reader is simply excruciating. Lame, shallow characterizations along with a simplistic and simply boring plot = a lethal combination. In the excellent foreword (which I don’t recommend reading until the end), Christopher Hitchens suggests that the characters are two-dimensional for a reason � because the Society of BNW has snuffed out their emotional and intellectual depth. This may be so, but it makes for painful reading. Nabokov detested the “novel of ideas� for very good reason � they just aren’t much fun.
And yet I thoroughly enjoyed the climactic conversation between the Savage and the World Controller. Here we get to hear Aldous � channeled via Mustapha Mond � brilliantly lay out his full dystopic vision. I just couldn’t bear the path taken to get me there.
Brave New World Revisited
The earlier chapters on population pressures, over-organization, and propaganda are quite prescient and interesting. I lost interest once he began delving into how the future state will brainwash and distract the individual, and I suspect he did as well. In the end notes, Huxley is quoted as saying, upon completing BNW Revisited, “I am sick and tired of this kind of writing."
Finally, it must be said that Huxley was a futurist but was also inevitably a product of his time. His obsession with eugenics, his belief in the hereditary nature of intelligence, and his obvious anti-Semitism detract and distract from his core message.
Still, I couldn’t have hated it all that much as I just added Island and Point Counter Point to my GoodReads queue�
On the one hand, there is incredible value to be gained from the author's keen sense of observation. The first set oThis is a difficult book to rate.
On the one hand, there is incredible value to be gained from the author's keen sense of observation. The first set of essays, the Sand County Almanac, takes us through a year of observing nature at work on Leopold's farm. He discovers firsthand how certain plants fare better when collocated. He bands chickadees and later discovers the bands in the pellets of a screech owl. He gains broad insights from small things that most of us pass by every day without considering. It's an ode to getting out of the classroom and into the field.
He also supplies us with several formidable quotes and anecdotes on the importance of wilderness and conservation, especially in the later essays. The Flambeau River story (pp. 112-113) and his musings on the hidden uses of adversity (p. 84) are two that especially come to mind.
But Mr. Leopold is also a product of his time, and it shows. He decries the decline of the grizzly (whose numbers have since recovered) but shares a tasty outdoor recipe that uses bear fat. He decries the overhunting of various species, but then goes fishing for rainbow trout and comments with some satisfaction of smoking on a midstream rock while he could hear the trout "kicking in the bed of wet alder leaves at the bottom of the creel" (p. 38). Cruel. In some respects, the work is as much an ode to hunting as to conservation. I don't oppose hunting, but I also feel the author fails to adequately address how hunting holds a proper place in the balance of things.
Leopold also demonstrates substantial hubris towards his fellow man. He mocks a birder who attempts to describe a particular bird call in his log (p. 160), then goes on to admit that he himself will never understand the meaning of the call. Why be so nasty?!? I was personally insulted when he divided humans into four camps, including three types of hunters and one other type, the "non-hunter":
The deer hunter habitually watches the next bend; the duck hunter watches the skyline; the bird hunter watches the dog; the non-hunter does not watch (p. 208).
Mr. Leopold, I beg to differ.
I recognize that he - inevitably - carries assumptions of his own time. I just question whether his message, which was highly appropriate and advanced for his time, still resonates as effectively. It certainly should be required reading for any student of conservation or ecology, in order to understand the historic roots of the movement. For the layperson, though, I for one would rather turn someone on to contemporary nature writers such as Robert Macfarlane or Roger Deakin.
I enjoyed the illustrations of my edition. Any new printing would benefit, I think, from the inclusion of color plates that illuminate key topics such as the loss of biodiversity on the plains. ...more
A microcosm of life, all contained within the confines of a single house. Love, war, spirituality, food, art, the universal yearning for personal growA microcosm of life, all contained within the confines of a single house. Love, war, spirituality, food, art, the universal yearning for personal growth, how we are all connected to each other, the rewards of serving others, the rewards of kindness towards and guidance of others, human strengths and personal weaknesses. And the power of music. And the harshness of the world.
Hmmmm. I think I need to absorb and reflect for a while before posting a fuller review. This is as much as I can say at the moment:
A smashing beginninHmmmm. I think I need to absorb and reflect for a while before posting a fuller review. This is as much as I can say at the moment:
A smashing beginning, deliciously inventive phrasing, and an ambitious wrap up. The middle part, though...it's a bit of a draggy muddle, with more than a little bit of filler material and a healthy dash of author immaturity. Plus a late development out of left field that left me feeling victimized - not a nice way to treat your reader. I really wasn't into Kiwi's story and found the bouncing back and forth between his and Ava's POV to be distracting.
Pulitzer worthy - I don't think so. Evidence of Pulitzer potential some day? Definitely....more
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