The World Without Us was another book I read on the road. Basic premise similar to Left Behind's, although from a secular viewpoint: What would happen if, in an instant, there were no more people in the world? (For example, New York's subways have to be pumped constantly, so they would fill up. Grass would grow in the streets, and so on.) However, this epigraph caught my eye, not least because I worry about my roof:

"If you want to destroy a barn," a farmer once told me, "cut an eighteen-inch-square hole in the roof. Then stand back."

Reminds me of FISA "reform" -- giving the telcos retroactive immunity is a a hole in the roof of the rule of law. Which neither party seems especially anxious to fix.

[ ] Very tepidly voting for Obama [ ] ?????. [ ] Any mullah-sucking billionaire-teabagging torture-loving pus-encrusted spawn of Cthulhu, bless his (R) heart.

Philippe Petit's playful, rebellious, sublime memoir of his audacious (the word used in its true context) tight-rope walk between the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center was printed in 2002. That wasn't exploitative: it was inspired. This is a book I defy anyone to read without crying tears at the beauty of its poetry. The poetry of the event, the poetry of the pictures, the poetry of the re-telling. As amazing an account of the power of imagination and the human soul as you will ever read. A must.

Special bonus! A documentary film is now out called "Man on Wire" which is currently out in theaters. I desperately want to catch it (run, don't walk).

-----------------------------

Around these parts we call cucumber slices circle bites

William Gibson's Spook Country is yet another book I read on the road.

Typcial Gibson fare, but/and beautifully written. However, I'm used to Science Fiction novels that are set in the future, and this novel, though published in 2007, takes place in 2006.

[ ] Very tepidly voting for Obama [ ] ?????. [ ] Any mullah-sucking billionaire-teabagging torture-loving pus-encrusted spawn of Cthulhu, bless his (R) heart.

by Marilynne Robinson, one of my favorite books, was also - amazingly - made into one of my favorite movies.

This almost never happens.

Policy not party!

http://www.julescrittenden.com/2008/08/1...

fully disclosed in the fourth sentence...sweet? what would you do?

Better movie or book? Or apples and oranges?

wow, on Princess Bride it's so hard to say. I'm gonna go with apples and oranges--the movie is true to the book, mostly--the author is the screenwriter so no surprise there, but the book is so much longer.

The movie is one of my favorites, mainly because you can watch it over and over and it's still funny. Inconceivable!

The book is one of that overly rare genre, an adult fairy tale. Fantasy is taking up some of that slack now but...I was going to say current fantasy was more violent but really Princess Bride is pretty violent. PB (not pb 2.0, notice) is written more like a traditional fairy tale than a fantasy tale. But it's more romantic than Gregory Maguire's "Wicked"--does Robin McKinley's work compare? Say "Rose Daughter"?

When they meet, do they both vanish?

From "Did you know?" on Literature:
"The antinovel was invented by the French. Antinovel writers insist that traditional novels sketch a false appearance of the world in much the the same way as television soap operas do - or as Murasaki Shikibu (writer of the first novel) did. Instead of creating fantasy plots and characters, antinovelists emphasize the minute details of life and the world."

Okay, now who wants to talk about average modern fiction in the U.S.? Okay, not the false appearance of the world=real life details part (that's what they do in politics), but the creating fantasy plot and characters and combining them with minute details of life and the world? Isn't that a good description of modern fiction?

Still The Enclyclopedia of Organic Gardening by Rodale Press.

Because you can't escape your own inner hero forever...

I like the Dick Francis books for this...something about the Francis heroes getting banged around is like overcoming misfortune in life...especially if you are achy and sick in bed.

One of my biggest favorites is "Smokescreen" (Berkley)--although it has more scenes than average for a Francis that are hard on the hero. Original in its plot and the resolution of its mystery, "Smokescreen" is about the human spirit and personally standing up to help people. Set when Apartheid was still happening, Francis himself says "this is not a political book" (p. viii) but it certainly comments on South Africa's historically different treatment by race in a nicely puzzled way. One example is a minor scene where the hero goes on a horse ride: his assigned companion from the stables won't approach him even during rests, in spite of the hero's offers. There are many other examples of a casual kind and you end up thinking that Apartheid was such a bad idea and waste of talent. But the main focus of the book is the hero, the well-known actor Edward Lincoln, who when the book opens is in the middle of a difficult scene with a revenge-bent director and a jovial cynical cameraman...and then an old beloved family friend, finally fooled into thinking he is an action hero based on all his action movies, asks him to solve a real life mystery and the action (with a few rests) is continuous from here on. It's a touching book too, exploring feelings about loved ones when you least expect it. "Smokescreen" is escapist fun but you feel as if you'll try to be a better person after you read it.

How about a few?

by Philip Caputo. (It's in storage so no quotes and such today.)

Briefly, its the story of several idealists working in the Sudan/Darfur region and how some of them compromise their idealism. One character, a young female Christian missionary, ends up in a polygamous marriage to a rebel military leader. A young, brash pilot/entrepreneur ends up killing to save people (or so he says). It's a tragic tale of how misplaced and naive idealism can change people for the worse. I guess some can see this as an analogy for what we've gone through during this election cycle.

I've left academia to pursue life in the nonprofit sector and often worry about compromising my principles so I recommend this book to all of my closest friends. To keep me honest.

The downside is that it is really long.

It's important to remember what Bill Clinton and didn't do during his Presidency. It's also important to remember what happened pre-and post-9/11, not only personally and to the country but also what the government did about terrorism. Read "Against All Enemies" by Richard A. Clarke. The book opens with evacuating the White House on 9/11. A lot of it is pretty wonky but it gives clear ideas about what the policy was in two administrations and what happened during the meetings when Clarke was present.

Bob Woodward's books on Bush have been widely panned for their over-edited fawning. Woodward was asked by the Bush Administration to leave certain things out and edit content a certain way--and he did. It's interesting watching him get more disillusioned with this process as the books proceed; of course, it's shocking that the Woodward who reported on Watergate would even agree to these constraints in the first place. But the books still show the mind-set of the Administration in important ways. It would be wise, perhaps, to have an alternate account handy or a detailed criticism of the books--like Clarke's book above. The Daily Howler March 29, 2004 says, ""Bush at War" (Woodward's first) supports quite a few of Clarke’s “controversial” claims."
Woodward's "Plan of Attack" (Book 2) about the Bush Administration's plan to attack Iraq--especially in view of more recent reports--is also limited but will bring insight into what the Administration was doing.

I love that book too.
It's been years and years since I read it but a scene really resonated with me.
I think the threesome had been locked in the house for a while because of the storm and the girl that was more "normal" was getting really agitated.
The kookie aunt's response was something like, "ah, it's the loneliness. it gets to some people". I know i'm butchering it a bit but that's the gist.
thanks for reminding me about that gem of a book.

How many Libs have read the book by Hans Blix on the Iraq weapons inspections? How many of Obama's supporters who most staunchly criticize Hillary for her vote on AUMF have read it? I haven't found one yet--and I ask them all. (Oh, and the number of Obama supporters who claim that Obama voted against AUMF is astonishing--even PhD students in history at elite universities get that wrong!)

The book, by someone with not much invested in US political battles, changed my view of the entire process.* The world consensus was that there were WMD in Iraq--yeah, even parts of old Europe. The controversy was the threat they posed and the ability of rigorous inspections to get rid of them. Too many Libs have rewritten the history on this and it makes me sick.

The purpose of AUMF was to disarm Iraq or verify they had no WMD. It was successful and if Bush was an honest person, we would have averted war. In my view, AUMF was successful and it was Bush who lied to us and broke his part of the deal. AUMF should have averted conflict. Sure it was used by Bush to "legalize" an Iraq invasion, but the Bush Doctrine doesn't really have much at all to do with AUMF. The Bush Doctrine is a constitutional interpretation that gives the executive the power to attack countries at will.

The Progressive focus on AUMF ignores the most egregious aspect of Bush's presidency--the dangerous expansion of executive power. The fact that Progressives still equate AUMF with "voting for the Iraq war" is not only ignorant, but it is dangerous. Its too bad that progressives have, and continue to, enable the Bush Doctrine by blaming congress and particularly Hillary for war with Iraq.

*I was at protest rallies when there were dozens or hundreds as opposed to tens of thousands toward the end. I was contacting my congresscritters about Iraq long before it became a topic for regular discussion.

Having a terrible time posting this (bad html?) so I will link it, and hope you enjoy the read. Here's what I'm reading these days.

downstreamer

I've been sitting here struggling with how to describe this book. The best I've come up with so far is: It's fiction, with a light fantasy element, a strong romantic element toward the latter half, a big dose of history, and a powerful ending.

In 1740 in Ireland, Cormac O'Connor sees his father murdered by the Earl of Warren over a horse due to anti-Catholic laws. Cormac, wanted for killing the Earl's men, escapes to America but only after being enjoined by a Druidic priestess and other followers of the Old Faith to kill the earl and destroy his line to the last male.

In New York, Cormac gains immortality -- or close enough to count -- but at a price: he is forever limited to the island of Manhattan. Should he leave Manhattan, he'll die, his mission unfulfilled.

The book is as much about the little-known history of Manhattan as about Cormac. From George Washington and the Revolution, through cholera epidemics, Boss Tweed and the Five Points, to 9/11 when all the threads of his life intersect.

Cormac has to decide between holding to his vow or walking away, as well as choosing between a life with the woman he loves (and his unborn child) -- if he can save her first -- or ending a life that's gone on too long.

Reread (or read) "The Secret Garden."

Written in honor of Lisa Hart's 9th Birthday, as a book for children, "The Secret Garden" by Frances Hodgson Burnett is an excellent gardening book. Reading it makes you feel like growing lots of plants.

It is also the story of the newly orphaned Mary who comes to Yorkshire as an unloved child and with the help of Nature and the Sowerbys, a family that lives nearby, becomes a happy, healthy gardener--with all kinds of mysterious subplot involving her "missing" cousin and her troubled uncle.

There are many plant scenes in "The Secret Gardener," including the big house's kitchen garden and how it's tended; the heath or "moor"; the cottage's garden; replanting and nourishing plants; and the delightful secret garden.

You can read the book on-line for free thanks to the marvelous Gutenberg Project:
http://www.gutenberg.org/files/113/113-h...

Here are a few of the plant descriptions:

"Yorkshire's th' sunniest place on earth when it is sunny. I told thee tha'd like th' moor after a bit. Just you wait till you see th' gold-colored gorse blossoms an' th' blossoms o' th' broom, an' th' heather flowerin', all purple bells, an' hundreds o' butterflies flutterin' an' bees hummin' an' skylarks soarin' up an' singin'. You'll want to get out on it as sunrise an' live out on it all day like Dickon does."
"Could I ever get there?" asked Mary wistfully, looking through her window at the far-off blue. It was so new and big and wonderful and such a heavenly color."...

"...(a)nswered Martha. "Lots o' spring flowers grow from (bulbs.) Th' very little ones are snowdrops an' crocuses an' th' big ones are narcissuses an' jonquils and daffydowndillys. Th' biggest of all is lilies an' purple flags. Eh! they are nice. Dickon's got a whole lot of 'em planted in our bit o' garden."
..."Our Dickon can make a flower grow out of a brick walk. Mother says he just whispers things out o' th' ground."
"(Bulbs)'re things as helps themselves," said Martha. "That's why poor folk can afford to have 'em. If you don't trouble 'em, most of 'em'll work away underground for a lifetime an' spread out an' have little 'uns. There's a place in th' park woods here where there's snowdrops by thousands. They're the prettiest sight in Yorkshire when th' spring comes. No one knows when they was first planted."

"...Dickon worked there planting or tending potatoes and cabbages, turnips and carrots and herbs for his mother.
"We'd never get on as comfortable as we do," Mrs. Sowerby said, "if it wasn't for Dickon's garden. Anything'll grow for him. His 'taters and cabbages is twice th' size of any one else's an' they've got a flavor with 'em as nobody's has."
"...There were not only vegetables in this garden. Dickon had bought penny packages of flower seeds now and then and sown bright sweet-scented things among gooseberry bushes and even cabbages and he grew borders of mignonette and pinks and pansies and things whose seeds he could save year after year or whose roots would bloom each spring and spread in time into fine clumps. The low wall was one of the prettiest things in Yorkshire because he had tucked moorland foxglove and ferns and rock-cress and hedgerow flowers into every crevice until only here and there glimpses of the stones were to be seen."

But I dare not say for those who haven't read "The Princess Bride." (Make sure you get one that has the extended stories too.)
I was just thumbing through PB again--it just sucks you in--what a funny book and movie.

At this resource: access the list of "over 1,250 books, novels, short stories, and plays that have been made into motion pictures...(and) released as feature-length films in the United States, in English, since 1980."
1,250? In the past 28 years?
About 45 works a year--that's a lot. Did you know it was so much? And aren't novels books?

"About a Boy"--better movie than book--for me the book by Nick Hornby was too inclined to sink into self-absorption in less attractive ways; good movie with the first bad boy Hugh Grant appearance.

"Accidental Tourist"--better book than movie although both good, especially on human nature, National Book Critic Circle Award-winning book by Ann Tyler just allowed more scope. Geena Davis shines.

"Age of Innocence"--better book but movie good, felt more unfinished than the book though; Edith Wharton is amazing and always painful, Pfeiffer and Day Lewis were excellent.

"The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn"--always better a book than movie, but which year's movie? And which movie--Disney's? Twain can still tell a tale to us today in his own unique voice, wise and wry.

"All the King's Men"--Pulitzer Prize-winning powerful book--on political power--by Robert Penn Warren; I found the most recent movie slower.

"The Adventures of Pinocchio"--great fairy tale, movie was fascinating and beautiful but upsetting (and no, I am not talking about Disney's cartoons.) Doctor, I can't stop thinking about Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck.
How long have you been getting these Disney spells?

"Alias Mrs. Doubtfire" (Anne Fine)--Has anyone read this book? Fun Robin Williams/Sally Fields movie.

"Angels and Insects" (A.S. Byatt)--Byatt is a great author. Absolutely shocking book and movie--kind of psychological horror. Beautiful movie, slight preference for the book because of the increased scientific research and detail about insects.