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Cold Mountain
10.04.05 | 10:37 PM
I picked up Charles Frazier's Cold Mountain at the library on the advice of TheKnitter. She really liked the book, and she probably knows what she's talking about because she was a litterature major. So, if you want to, take her word for it.
Me, the lowly journalism major, I did not really like this book. I began skimming halfway through. I found the characters were cold and distant, and the story was not really thrilling to boot.
To illustrate why I didn't like this book, I am going to put up a short passage that I feel sums it up quite well:
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Stobrod held the fiddle before him in the crook of his arm. The bow hung from a finger and twitched slightly, in time with his heartbeat. Pangle stood beside him, and theirs was the proud and nervous pose men struck when having ambrotypes made at the start of the war, though instead of rifle musket and Colt pistol and bowie knife, Stobrod and Pangle held fiddle and banjo before them as defining implements.
If you liked that excerpt and would like a similar description involving any of the following:
molasses
trees
wounds
death
blood
guns
grits
cornbread
horses
apples
leaves
farming techniques
then you're in for a book you'll love. Otherwise, I'd stear clear. If you're really stubborn, though, give it a try. Somebody must have liked it, or they wouldn't have decided to make a bad movie about it, right?
Cold Mountain by Charles Frazier
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05.04.05 | 01:07 AM
Part of the problem with this book is the cover. It's embarassing to walk around with a book called Spontaneous Healing with a huge picture of a bearded man on the cover. You automatically look like you would smell like patchouli. However, the book is quite serious and, for being on the best-seller list, is pleasantly devoid of fru-fru bullshit so common to books on natural healing and health.
The book is written by Dr Andrew Weil - a Harvard-educated doctor who is interested in natural health and alternative medicine. The overall premis of the book: your body has the potential to heal itself. Try to plug into that.
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I like that premis. I also like that Dr Weil seems to remain realistic in thinking that both traditional and non-traditional medical techniques have their limits, and one should know when to make the most of either form of health care.
Dr Weil is quick to say that our bodies are healing constantly, and we don't think twice about it. Examples: cuts, bruises, colds. Our bodies have the natural ability to defend themselves, and sometimes tuning into that aspect of our health can be more beneficial than taking prescription drugs.
I appreciated the book. To be honest, I didn't learn much that I didn't already know, but I can imagine for someone who doesn't maniacally read books on this sort of subject, there can be some pretty new ideas in there. Dr Weil writes very clearly, and maintains a sort of "high road" persepective. Often, alternative health is considered a sub-science to traditional Western medicine, but Dr Weil keeps his writings on the topic admirably well-researched and he maintains a serious tone throughout the book.
I would recommend this book to anybody looking to find out about different health options available beyond taking antibiotics. I have always been one of those weirdos who prefers not to take an aspirin with a headache, and, more generally, I don't like taking antibiotics. I will use parts of this book as reference (particularly the chapter on tonics) in the future, and think it could be useful to people looking for an overall discussion of ways to tune into the body. I agreed with almost 90% of the book, which is rare when reading health books. It was also great that Dr Weil - who is obviously a bigger fan of natural health than of traditional medicine - mentioned that there are limits to natural health care and that people need to know when the situation needs immediate (Western) medical attention.
Something revealing: I started reading this book during a break at work on a Saturday. I had the following conversation with a co-worker (French):
Him: What are you reading?
Me: Oh, it's a book on alternative medicine.
Him: Ah. I try to stear clear of that sort of thing.
Me: Lots of people think that way, but in the case of this book, it's a medical doctor - in the Western sense - who writes about the value of various alternative methods in place of drugs or invasive surgery. It's pretty well-researched.
Him: Yeeeeaahhh. I don't know. I try to stear clear of that sort of thing, like I said.
Me: Well, reading about it can't hurt you.
Him: Yeah. But in general, I try to stay clear.
This attitude - from somebody who has obviously never studied the benefits of various alternative health practices - is common and is part of what lowers its status on the health scale. This is just a result of upbringing, but it frustrates me when people see these forms of taking care of one's body as somehow sub-par. (To be fair, this guy is a smoker, with a generally haggard look, and is obviously in reasonably poor health, so I'm not surprised by his opinion on the matter)
Someone once told me that the difference between Eastern and Western medicine is that in the West, you go to the doctor when you are sick, and in the East, you go when you are healthy. Much of this corresponds to Dr Weil's book, but he also discusses using guided visualization, hypnotherapy, and other techniques to help solve what lots of Western doctors have diagnosed as chronic or incurable illnesses. If you are interested in finding about optimizing your health, you might find the stories of other people's spontaneous healing enough incentive to look into different types of treatment. Dr Weil also discusses dietary changes, lifestyle changes and so on.
It is a worthwhile book as an intro, but maybe a bit too simple for those who are already well-versed in the subject.
Sponteanous Healing by Dr Andrew Weil MD
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01.04.05 | 07:22 PM
You most likely remember the cover of She's Come Undone, because it seemed to be everywhere in the 90's. I'm pretty sure the cover alone kept me from buying it. When I walked into the bookstore ten years later and saw the British cover (much better), I didn't even recognize the book.
The books was under the Staff Recommendations section of the store, and I read through all of the staff blurbs rather meticulously. I decided on She's Come Undone because its simple recommendation was: "I LOVED THIS BOOK!!!!" That seemed more enthusiastic than the recommendations that read, "In 19th centure Russia, a man finds himself in dire straights when..." or anything equally as exciting. So I went for it.
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It was pretty good. Some parts were incredibly touching, others were equally as painful, and the overall book is satisfying. I always appreciate when male authors can write authentically from a female perspective, and Wally Lamb is no exception. In fact, the "About the Author" page in the back explains how he perfected the female voice; among his techniques was growing up surrounded by women and seeking out the opinion of women in his writing group. Whatever he did, it worked.
The synopsis: Told in first person, the story focuses on the fucked-up life of Delores Price. While everything starts out peachy, within the first few pages of the story, her handsome and charming father leaves her, her mother has a mental breakdown, and her upstairs neighbor does naughty things. It all unravels in a bit of a whirlwind, and Delores is left to pick up the pieces for the remaining years of her life.
The beautiful thing about this novel lies in Lamb's skills at character development. The mother we love we end up hating, but then we love her again, and then kind of hate her, but realize that we love her underneath it all. The grandmother is stiff as a board, but then becomes one of the most charming characters in the story. And so on.
The downside is that things get a little heavy (literally) at times, continuously dealing with Delores' attitude and her favorite technique of shutting out the world. Half of the book is centered around her obesity and what it costs her self-esteem and social life, which starts to wane after a couple hundred pages.
Still, certain parts of the book might have dragged a bit, but it was an overall good read. I enjoyed it, and I give it a B+. I wouldn't write "I LOVED THIS BOOK" if I were to make staff recommendations, but I will still put it on the recommended shelf.
Amazon: She's Come Undone by Wally Lamb
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01.04.05 | 06:16 PM
I picked Audrey Niffenegger's book up just before heading to London. I spent half of the three-hour train ride sleeping and the other half reading this book, and we pulled into Waterloo before I even looked at my watch once. Even though I myself was travelling, The Time Traveller's Wife kept me entertained enough to consistently sneak in a read throughout my short stint in the city. It made me even look forward to having to wait around in the train station on my return trip, because I knew it would mean uninterrupted reading time. I devoured this book, and finished it a little over 24 hours after beginning it.
I would never say that it's amazingly written or destined to become a classic. It is, however, original and different, and pleasant to read.
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The synopsis: A man, Henry, time travels against his own will. For some reason, he regularly comes to see the woman who is to become his wife (Clare). He first drops in on her when she is six and he is 42. The second visit comes a few months later when he is in his 30's. While time moves along chronically for Clare, it is more of a jagged, sputtering forward march for Henry, with unexpected rewinds. He even is occasionally visited by himself at various ages. But the story is less about Henry and his unique chronic time travel issues than it is about the developing love story between the two protagonists. It unfolds like delicate paper, and, despite their unique circumonstances, they suffer highs and lows like other, ordinary couples. Their relationship is so well-portrayed that it is what one remembers when retelling the story, and the time-travelling is just a mere backdrop.
Ok, so the time travelling part sounds trite and kind of weird with such a short summary, but the truth is that it somehow worked. It even became semi-believable at some point. Had this not happened, the book most likely would have been a big flop, and that fact alone testifies to Niffenegger's writing skills.
And although there is a slight science-fiction twist to the novel, it is more a modern-day philosophical love story than anything remotely fantastical.
Another added bonus: it takes place in Chicago, so if you know the area, it's kind of fun. Lots of musical references (especially to indie bands and such) and so on.
Read it. It's different, quirky, and manages to approach the topic of love without making me want to ralph. In fact, I found myself enamoured with the couple in question. That almost never happens.
Amazon: The Time Traveller's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger
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