I've always been a fan of witty writing, especially that of writers like PG Wodehouse and Dorothy Parker, who understood that humor could have dark and sarcastic edges. This book sounds fantastic, and I plan on finding a copy of it soon, though I don't agree that puns are the basis of wit.
Review: Wit's End:
What Wit Is, How It Works, and Why We Need It
In books about
aphorisms (The World in a Phrase) and metaphor (I Is an
James Geary has
demonstrated he's someone who admires an elegant turn of
phrase. He mines a
similar lode in Wit's End, an entertaining
exploration of how
intellectual dexterity manifests itself in both
verbal and visual
form.
From the beginning
of this brief but wide-ranging survey, Geary explains
that true wit is
about much more than the ability to tell a good joke or
a humorous story.
His working definition of the term--"the faculty of
mind that
integrates knowledge and experience, fuses divided worlds, and
links the unlike
with the like"--sums up his belief that true wit is
much more than
merely being funny, something "richer, cannier, more
riddling."
That thesis is
best illustrated in Geary's discussion of puns. Though
most people have
been taught to regard this form of wordplay as the
lowest form of
humor, Geary has a particular affinity for the talent it
takes when one
"folds a double knowledge into words." Citing their
prevalence in
Shakespeare (with an average number of 78 per play) and
the Bible, as well
as Abraham Lincoln's special fondness for them, Geary
argues that puns
illustrate "the essence of all true wit--the ability to
hold in the mind
two different ideas about the same thing at the same
time."
Geary even touches
on the subject of artistic wit. A chapter delivered
as if it were an
art history lecture, and accompanied by a handful of
illustrations,
discusses "ambiguous figures." The work of 16th-century
Italian artist
Giuseppe Arcimboldo in the trompe l'oeil tradition, for
example, is
"an elaborate visual pun, placing in the mind two different
images of the same
thing at the same time." To that end, Geary cites the
portrait The
Admiral, painted out of the images of fish and crustaceans.
In Wit's End,
James Geary is undaunted by the risk anyone writing about
the subject of
being funny takes: spoiling the joke by explaining it.
Refreshingly, he
shows here that he's fully equal to the task, enhancing
our appreciation
of how true wit can both amuse and enlighten. --Harvey
Freedenberg freelance reviewer
I've been a fan of Celestial Seasonings Tea for a long time, and Barnes and Noble has been my go-to chain bookstore for almost as long (though I prefer independent bookstores). So the following was welcome news indeed.
Tea Company CEO on
Book Company Board!
Barnes & Noble
has appointed Irwin D. Simon, founder, president, CEO and
chairman of the
Hain Celestial Group, to its board of directors. Simon,
who will serve as
an independent board member, was recommended by
Richard
Schottenfeld.
An organic foods
and personal care products company, Hain Celestial
Group is best
known for its Celestial Seasonings herbal tea. It also
owns Arrowhead
Mills, which sells whole grain foods, and FreeBird
chickens.
Simon might also
have been recommended by Schottenfeld because of the
example he is
setting as a company founder and longtime head who is
slowly handing
over control of the company: Simon announced in June that
he would step down
as CEO and become non-executive chairman when a new
CEO is appointed.
This is lovely that Sonny the bookstore kitty cat gets a well earned retirement party prior to moving into a home where he can just rest and relax, not among the stacks!
Retirement Party
Set for Sonny the Bookstore Cat
Prairie Fox Books
in Ottawa, Ill., is
hosting a
retirement party
this Saturday for
Sonny, the bookstore cat who is stepping down from his
job greeting
customers to move in with a familiar family, the Times
reported. Prairie
Fox Books opened in 2016 as the spiritual successor to
longtime local
business the Book Mouse.
Special events
coordinator Dylan Conmy said Sonny doesn't know life
outside of a
bookstore, having come to the Book Mouse as a kitten in the
summer of 2008.
Now he will join a family with two children at the
recommendation of
Eileen Fesco, who owned the Book Mouse.
"They have
been contacting us frequently. They can't wait to get him. I
think he's going
to be very happy and spoiled," said Conmy, who has been
Sonny's bookshop
colleague since moving to Ottawa in 2012. "I have very
fond memories of
him and Ernie, the chinchilla. It was the one super
unique thing when
I started working at the Book Mouse, because you don't
often see a
chinchilla walking around either. So to have this very
uniquely colored
cat co-existing with the chinchilla, just chilling, it
was great. You
don't see many Barnes & Nobles with a fuzzy mascot."
My primary reaction to The Devil's Thief by Lisa Maxwell was screaming "AAaahhhhhhhhh" and slamming my head against my desk in frustration. The sequel to The Last Magician, which I read and was anxiously awaiting answers to the cliffhanger ending, The Devil's Thief provides readers with nothing more than nearly 700 pages of run around and redundancies. There isn't even a proper ending to the book, nothing is decided or tied up, and things have gone from bad to worse for the protagonists, particularly Esta and Harte. Not that Cela, Jianyu and all of the other characters have had an easy time of it. Everyone gets beaten, bruised and nearly killed in this installment, but they get little forward movement on their quest for all their trouble, and Maxwell seems hell bent on having every character drone on and on about their horrid families, how they don't fit in with any society or gang, and how guilty they feel for all the damage they've caused and their inability to regain the jewels and book needed to complete their quest. Why any decent editor at Simon Pulse would allow Maxwell to repeatedly let her characters say and do the same things over and over, is beyond me. Here's the blurb: In this spellbinding sequel to the New York Times bestselling The Last
Magician, Esta and Harte set off on a cross-country chase through time
to steal back the elemental stones they need to save the future of
magic.
Hunt the Stones.
Beware the Thief.
Avenge the Past.
Esta’s parents were murdered. Her life was stolen. And everything she knew about magic was a lie. She thought the Book of Mysteries held the key to freeing the Mageus from the Order’s grasp, but the danger within its pages was greater than she ever imagined.
Now the Book’s furious power lives inside Harte. If he can’t control it, it will rip apart the world to get its revenge, and it will use Esta to do it.
To bind the power, Esta and Harte must track down four elemental stones scattered across the continent. But the world outside the city is like nothing they expected. There are Mageus beyond the Brink not willing to live in the shadows—and the Order isn’t alone in its mission to crush them.
In St. Louis, the extravagant World’s Fair hides the first stone, but an old enemy is out for revenge and a new enemy is emerging. And back in New York, Viola and Jianyu must defeat a traitor in a city on the verge of chaos.
As past and future collide, time is running out to rewrite history—even for a time-traveling thief.
Hunt the Stones.
Beware the Thief.
Avenge the Past.
Esta’s parents were murdered. Her life was stolen. And everything she knew about magic was a lie. She thought the Book of Mysteries held the key to freeing the Mageus from the Order’s grasp, but the danger within its pages was greater than she ever imagined.
Now the Book’s furious power lives inside Harte. If he can’t control it, it will rip apart the world to get its revenge, and it will use Esta to do it.
To bind the power, Esta and Harte must track down four elemental stones scattered across the continent. But the world outside the city is like nothing they expected. There are Mageus beyond the Brink not willing to live in the shadows—and the Order isn’t alone in its mission to crush them.
In St. Louis, the extravagant World’s Fair hides the first stone, but an old enemy is out for revenge and a new enemy is emerging. And back in New York, Viola and Jianyu must defeat a traitor in a city on the verge of chaos.
As past and future collide, time is running out to rewrite history—even for a time-traveling thief.
So all we really learn is that this whole magical object war was brought about by Thoth and Seshet, two ancient Egyptians with huge egos who wanted power for themselves and didn't want to share. So now they're inhabiting other bodies in order to battle for supremacy and revenge. Meanwhile, Harte, who is possessed by Seshet, has to wrestle with his lust and desire to possess Esta both magically and as a woman, whom he clearly wants to dominate (which is less romantic than it is creepy and abusive). This hefty tome is less spellbinding than it is impenetrable with the circular motion of the plot...once you think it's going forward, it's actually turning back around on itself, again. I implore you not to purchase this book that I wasted two days reading. It's not worth it, as we get no answers and no real forward motion on the plot points in the end. Borrow a copy from the library or beg one from a friend, if you must. I would suggest waiting for the hopefully final third book of the series and skipping this one altogether. I'd give it a C, and only recommend it to those who can't read a series without having read every single book, no matter how unworthy, to completion. And if I ever meet Ms Maxwell, I will have to refrain from kicking her in the shins for wasting my time and money on this overstuffed volume.
I am not a fan of horror fiction, or the hybrid genres thereof. Yet The Dark Net by Benjamin Percy, which was recommended to me as a "dark science fiction thriller" (which I should have known is code for "horror fiction tarted up with a bit of SF and a fast thriller plot" ) grabbed me with it's spiky claws and would not let me go until the final 15-20 pages. The first 30 pages alone left me gasping with the breakneck pace of the plot, but also the realistic characters and the plausibility of the grim and bizarre situations facing the protagonists. My heart literally pounded, and I ran (okay, hobbled, but still) to tell my son about this relentlessly amazing story that, though gruesome, would fascinate him as much as it did me (Like The Martian or The Name of the Wind, or Scythe, there are books that I know that will transcend the age and preferential differences between my son and I, the back-end baby boomer and the millennial). Here's the blurb: The Dark Net is real. An anonymous and often criminal arena that exists
in the secret far reaches of the Web, some use it to manage Bitcoins,
pirate movies and music, or traffic in drugs and stolen goods. And now,
an ancient darkness is gathering there as well. This force is
threatening to spread virally into the real world unless it can be
stopped by members of a ragtag crew, including a twelve-year-old who has
been fitted with a high-tech visual prosthetic to combat her blindness;
a technophobic journalist; a one-time child evangelist with an arsenal
in his basement; and a hacker who believes himself a soldier of the
Internet. Set in present-day Portland, The Dark Net is a
cracked-mirror version of the digital nightmare we already live in, a
timely and wildly imaginative techno-thriller about the evil that lurks
in real and virtual spaces, and the power of a united few to fight back.
“This is horror literature’s bebop, bold, smart, confident in its capacity to redefine its genre from the ground up. Read this book, but take a firm grip on your hat before you start.”—Peter Straub
“This is horror literature’s bebop, bold, smart, confident in its capacity to redefine its genre from the ground up. Read this book, but take a firm grip on your hat before you start.”—Peter Straub
I have to agree with Peter Straub, you've got to grab hold of the handlebars of this roller coaster before you start the ride, which will leave you by turns screaming and begging the heavens for a way off before you vomit or your head explodes. Though the main protagonist is a journalist for the Oregonian, Percy doesn't seem to have too much respect for the institution of journalism or for it's practitioners, whom he likens to vultures who are selfish and cruel enough to do anything for a story. Having been a journalist for over 30 years at community magazines, newspapers and news websites, I heartily disagree. I never sought to harm others with my work, nor did I intrude or steal or violate any policies or laws to get stories for publication. I don't believe that my colleagues did, either. I didn't like the Buffalo Bill/Jeffrey Dahmer serial killer lionization in the book, nor did I like all the gratuitous death, bloodshed and violence. That said, Percy, like Stephen King, is a master craftsman/wordsmith who didn't waste one sentence or paragraph in this slender volume. I'd give it an A on technical ability alone, but the story is worth high marks, as are some of the characters. I'd recommend this book to people who like Kings work and love technology, Portland, Oregon and dark, bloody page-turners.
And the Ocean Was Our Sky by Patrick Ness, illustrated by Rovina Cai, is an amazing, beautiful book that tells the tale of Moby Dick from the perspective of the whales, out to hunt the mysterious white ship captained by the infamous whale killer Toby Wick, the devil himself. This book is beautifully written and illustrated, and would be a fine addition to someone's classic library. At a spare 160 pages, the story moves quickly, though it ought to be savored slowly as possible, just for the poignancy of the whale's culture and mythology if nothing else. Here's the blurb: From the author of A Monster Calls
comes a richly illustrated and lyrical tale, one that asks harrowing
questions about power, loyalty, obsession, and the monsters we make of
others.
With harpoons strapped to their backs, the proud whales of Bathsheba's pod live for the hunt, fighting in the ongoing war against the world of men. When they attack a ship bobbing on the surface of the Abyss, they expect to find easy prey. Instead, they find the trail of a myth, a monster, perhaps the devil himself...
As their relentless Captain leads the chase, they embark on a final, vengeful hunt, one that will forever change the worlds of both whales and men.
With the lush, atmospheric art of Rovina Cai woven in throughout, this remarkable work by Patrick Ness turns the familiar tale of Moby Dick upside down and tells a story all its own with epic triumph and devastating fate.
With harpoons strapped to their backs, the proud whales of Bathsheba's pod live for the hunt, fighting in the ongoing war against the world of men. When they attack a ship bobbing on the surface of the Abyss, they expect to find easy prey. Instead, they find the trail of a myth, a monster, perhaps the devil himself...
As their relentless Captain leads the chase, they embark on a final, vengeful hunt, one that will forever change the worlds of both whales and men.
With the lush, atmospheric art of Rovina Cai woven in throughout, this remarkable work by Patrick Ness turns the familiar tale of Moby Dick upside down and tells a story all its own with epic triumph and devastating fate.
The power of pain and obsession and finally of compassion between species is at the heart of this novel, which left me crying in a way that the original Moby Dick failed to do. I felt like I understood Bathsheba, though she was a whale dedicated to hunting down a human, though he was a vile one,and to preserving the life of the human that her pod had kidnapped for information. I highly recommend this A list book, to anyone who wonders how ocean-dwelling mammals might view the world above them.
The Confidant by Helene Gremillon was one of those trade paperbacks that looked like it would be my kind of novel from the outside. Unfortunately, the inside prose was difficult to follow and roamed from POV to POV without any real logic or structure. The story of a vicious and insane barren woman and a young credulous woman who falls in love with her husband (and bears their child) is ground to sausage by the different points of view, so that by the time I reached the weird poem at the end, I wasn't sure who was really to blame for this poor child parentage and unusual upbringing, where she finds herself pregnant also with an illegitimate child. Here's the blurb: Paris, 1975. Camille sifts through letters of condolence after her
mother's death when a strange, handwritten missive stops her short. At
first she believes she received it by mistake. But then, a new letter
arrives each week from a mysterious stranger, Louis, who seems intent on
recounting the story of his first love, Annie. They were separated in
the years before World War II when Annie befriended a wealthy, barren
couple and fell victim to a merciless plot just as German troops arrive
in Paris. But also awaiting Camille's discovery is the other side of the
story, which will call into question Annie's innocence and reveal the
devastating consequences of jealousy and revenge. As Camille reads on,
she begins to realize that her own life may be the next chapter in this
tragic story. Publisher's Weekly:
Set in Paris in 1975, Gremillon’s absorbing debut begins when Camille Werner receives a long, unsigned, handwritten letter among the condolence notes after her mother’s death. Already in a state of shock, both from the unexpected death and from breaking up with her boyfriend after his casual mention of not wanting children when Camille told him she was pregnant, Camille becomes fascinated with the correspondent’s tale of a budding romance between two teenage friends, Annie and Louis, in a small town on the cusp of WWII. Camille becomes convinced that it is this Louis who wrote to her, though she assumes her receipt of the missives is a mistake. In subsequent letters (which are differentiated from Camille’s narrative by the use of fonts), Louis spins his tale of a love that became doomed when Annie was befriended by a young, wealthy, and unhappy Parisian couple. As a book editor, Camille wonders if Louis (who never signs the letters) is trying to wangle a publishing contract. But when he reveals that Annie has a daughter born around the time of Camille’s own birth, Camille becomes obsessed with locating Louis and getting the whole story behind his letters.
Set in Paris in 1975, Gremillon’s absorbing debut begins when Camille Werner receives a long, unsigned, handwritten letter among the condolence notes after her mother’s death. Already in a state of shock, both from the unexpected death and from breaking up with her boyfriend after his casual mention of not wanting children when Camille told him she was pregnant, Camille becomes fascinated with the correspondent’s tale of a budding romance between two teenage friends, Annie and Louis, in a small town on the cusp of WWII. Camille becomes convinced that it is this Louis who wrote to her, though she assumes her receipt of the missives is a mistake. In subsequent letters (which are differentiated from Camille’s narrative by the use of fonts), Louis spins his tale of a love that became doomed when Annie was befriended by a young, wealthy, and unhappy Parisian couple. As a book editor, Camille wonders if Louis (who never signs the letters) is trying to wangle a publishing contract. But when he reveals that Annie has a daughter born around the time of Camille’s own birth, Camille becomes obsessed with locating Louis and getting the whole story behind his letters.
Gremillon's prose is amateurish and confusing, and her characters are awful, cruel, possessive and preachy. I found the plot plodding and couldn't wait for the end of this sordid story. I'd give it a C, and only recommend it to those who find tales of parental obsession to be exciting. Be prepared to find these cardboard characters a disappointment.
No comments:
Post a Comment