4.01.2005
recent books
while stalled on swann's way, I've had a couple of quick reads.
the new memoir, smashed, which I picked up to consider recommending to my students, turned out to be fascinating. as I told my college friend on the phone last night, I was tempted to require all my high school and college friends to read it and then schedule a conference call. the way that she handles socio-cultural aspects of both gender and drinking is impressive for a book that purports to be just a memoir, especially in an age when so many are flooding the market and one is tempted to remind authors that by in most cases, not much happens by age 23. reading this book, I was reminded that in fact quite a lot happens in high school and college.
in gatwick, waiting for our puddle-jumper to knock, both dana and I were able to pick up new books. so I read the latest adrian mole, and he read the new sci fi release by iain banks. adrian mole was entertaining, as always. it's a bit eerie how well he ages with us. I keep hoping that at some point he will seem less familiar, but apparently I'm as equally surrounded by lovable geeks at 30 as I was at 15. which means I laugh at all the jokes, and then have to wonder who's watching me empathize so enthusiastically with this fictional bumbler. in nosing around online, it appears that I've missed at least one book in the series in the past couple of years, though, so I'll have to remedy that. sue townsend's non-fiction writing is supposed to be equally bitingly funny, so I might pick up some of that while I'm at it.
since the new year, I've also read the mommy myth, which I highly recommend. I've assigned chapters of it for both my gender and deviance classes, and we'll see how the discussion goes. it seems more academic than the book that's getting a lot of press, perfect madness (which I've also picked up but haven't read yet, so I could yet change that evaluation). in both cases, though, the framing of the current cultural context of motherhood is spot on.
the new memoir, smashed, which I picked up to consider recommending to my students, turned out to be fascinating. as I told my college friend on the phone last night, I was tempted to require all my high school and college friends to read it and then schedule a conference call. the way that she handles socio-cultural aspects of both gender and drinking is impressive for a book that purports to be just a memoir, especially in an age when so many are flooding the market and one is tempted to remind authors that by in most cases, not much happens by age 23. reading this book, I was reminded that in fact quite a lot happens in high school and college.
in gatwick, waiting for our puddle-jumper to knock, both dana and I were able to pick up new books. so I read the latest adrian mole, and he read the new sci fi release by iain banks. adrian mole was entertaining, as always. it's a bit eerie how well he ages with us. I keep hoping that at some point he will seem less familiar, but apparently I'm as equally surrounded by lovable geeks at 30 as I was at 15. which means I laugh at all the jokes, and then have to wonder who's watching me empathize so enthusiastically with this fictional bumbler. in nosing around online, it appears that I've missed at least one book in the series in the past couple of years, though, so I'll have to remedy that. sue townsend's non-fiction writing is supposed to be equally bitingly funny, so I might pick up some of that while I'm at it.
since the new year, I've also read the mommy myth, which I highly recommend. I've assigned chapters of it for both my gender and deviance classes, and we'll see how the discussion goes. it seems more academic than the book that's getting a lot of press, perfect madness (which I've also picked up but haven't read yet, so I could yet change that evaluation). in both cases, though, the framing of the current cultural context of motherhood is spot on.
