Middlemarch by George Eliot
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
"Few novelists have ever attempted so broad a canvas as George Elliott in her masterpiece, Middlemarch. Portraying every level of social life in a provincial Midlands town called Middlemarch, she interweaves several intensely dramatic stories of love and death, betrayal and reconciliation, into one of the finest pictures of nineteenth-century England ever created. Its acute psychological penetration makes it also an exceptionally modern work, particularly in the romantic idealism of Dorothea Brooke, who often resembles George Eliot herself, and in the disastrous marriage and thwarted career of the young reformist doctor, Lydgate. Virginia Woolf called it 'one of the few English novels written for grownup people' -- and it is truly great literature that ranks among the best novels in the world."
~~back cover
I thoroughly enjoyed this book! The author has a very sly sense of humor, and an understated way with it, so that you might miss all the innuendos and rapier thrusts if you read too fast, without thinking about what's being said. The story is reminiscent of the formulaic plots of Victorian English life, but it's only a surface resemblance. Characters behave as real, ordinary people, generally -- people who must make their way in the world, people who must weigh their principles against their need to earn a living. Even the deux ex machina denouement is enjoyable, and believable.
I don't understand why I waited so long to read it!
Reweaving the World: The Emergence of Ecofeminism by Irene DiamondMy rating: 2 of 5 stars"The Ecofeminist Movement represents the coming together of the environmental, feminist, and women's spirituality movements out of a shared concern for the well-being of the Earth and all forms of life that our Earth supports. Reweaving the World is a major resource on ecofeminism, gathering in a single volume articles, essays, and poetic prose pieces by the foremost writers, scholars, activists, artists, and spiritual teachers of this movement. Interweaving politics and philosophy, theory and activism, this provocative collection advocates a restoration of harmony in a global environment damaged by a devaluation of nature and women."~~back coverI wanted to read this book to learn more about the ecofeminist movement: what it was all about, what are the guiding principles, etc. I'm not sure I know any more now than I did before I read it. It's a very dense book -- actually an academic book, and the pieces are written for an audience that has already mastered the basics of the discipline. That isn't me.I'm reminded of the time I took a graduate course on nomads from my mentor in college. The syllabus was thick, and composed entirely of that same kind of dense articles. I'd never studied nomadism before, so the nuances and references and basic ideas weren't familiar to me -- I grappled with them, and it took me hours to get the reading done. The mentor, in the meanwhile, tossed them off like so many pieces of candy. It took me a long while to figure out that of course she could gallop through them -- she was conversant with the discipline.I'm sure some of these pieces were brilliant, but I think the brilliance escaped me. Nor do I have much of an idea about the warp and woof of ecofeminism. The most salient thing I learned is that Ursula Le Guin's Always Coming Home is an ecofeminist work. And it's one of my all time favorite books. Who knew? I'll have to go read it again, & compare it with the commentary in this book. Maybe then I'll finally get it!
To Save the Wild Earth: Field Notes from the Environmental Frontline by Ric Careless
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
"For more than 25 years Ric Careless has fought on the environmental frontline in British Columbia to save the wild earth. Tatshenshini River; Spatsizi Plateau; Nitinat Triangle; the Purcell Wilderness: these are a few of the areas Careless has helped to preserve for future generations -- almost 5.5 million acres of wilderness in all.
"Now Careless a gehind-the-scenes look at how environmental campaigns are fought and how they are won. To Save the Wild Earth is one man's firsthand experience of how countless people have come together again and again to save nature. 'Wilderness. It is a place, an experience, a tradition, a remembering, and a future,' writes Careless. With these words, he hopes to inspire people across North America to join the fight."
~~back cover
This book was an unexpected jewel, a sweetness beyond explaining. Although there is a modicum of biographical detail, the book is about the wilderness lands that had to be saved from exploitation and destruction. What most fascinated me was his practicality: Careless is no wild-eyed Earth First!er, but rather a man with a passion and dedication to save as much of the last unspoiled lands as he could for their own beauty, for their pristine remembrance of the world before man, the culture bearer, began to carve it to his own image. He learned to translate his passion into practicality -- to bring miners and loggers and developers to see the value in wilderness, and to recruit them to his cause. He formulated plans of action that drew the local populaces in, and which were fair and balanced to both sides.
It was an eye-opening story of how environmentalism can work well in this day of focus on the profit margin and the bottom line. And the descriptions of the wildernesses he traveled through, loved, and saved are lyric.
I could hardly put the book down.
Dewey Death by Charity Blackstock
My rating: 2 of 5 stars
"The Inter-Libraries Despatch Association is a librarians' library. With the help of the Dewey Decimal System of Classification, it should be a model of propriety and impersonal efficiency.
"But impersonal it is not. Everyone know that handsome, demonic Mark Allan is in thrall to the resident blond bombshell, Mrs. Bridgwater. And it's no secret that pretty Barbara Smith writes luscious historical novels about helpless ladies and dashing men -- even though she refuses to reveal her pen name. It's also clear that someday young Jack Wilson will let his curiosity get the better of him.
"But it's Mrs. Warren -- vicious gossip, interfering busybody, self-righteous prude -- who elevates office talk to something of an art form. How ironic that she will not be able to participate in discussing the most astonishing event the I.L.D.A. has ever seen. But then a victim cannot talk about her own murder.
"Somewhere among the books and microfilm, a killer is lurking at the I.L.D.A. And soon the staff will have another murder to chat about ..."
~~back cover
I'm a big fan of English murder mysteries. But I particularly like the English cozy genre, and this one wasn't quite in that category. It was good -- well written, good characterization, tight plotting, etc. But it just didn't quite catch my fancy. I recommend it to you, if you like English murder mysteries, and aren't quite as picky as I am about them!
The Slow Air of Ewan Macpherson by Thomas Fox Averill
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
"Glasgow, Kansas, is not quite the motherland for Scotsman Rob MacPherson. But his efforts to make it so leave an indelible impression on his son, Ewan -- especially the elder MacPherson's failed attempt to make a single malt Scotch ... which leads to a whisky-still explosion ... which leads to Ewan's suffering a terrible injury ... which leads to his falling in love -- at fourteen years of age -- with Shirley Porter.
"There's no turning back for Ewan. From that moment on, his heart has set its course. Through adolescence and into adulthood, through becoming a high school teacher, bagpipe instructor, loyal son, and keeper of all Scottish traditions, Ewan has found his one true passion -- much like his father's obsession with single malt Scotch. A passion that -- through trial and error -- will teach him that love is an acquired taste ..."
~~back cover
I really liked this book. But to be very honest, I probably liked it because the unexpected meetings with Scottish songs, or traditions, or trivia always brought a smile to my face. I love the Scottish culture as its played out in America. I have a suspicion that if this book had been interlarded into some other cultural tradition, I wouldn't have liked it half so much. I'm not a big fan of modern literature, my translation of which is people acting daft without any seemingly rational reason to do so. There was a good bit of that in this book.
