Marion Tanguy Tanguy itibaren Ulu Bernam, Perak, Malaysia
Loved this book. My review is on Used Furniture Review.http://usedfurniturereview.com/2011/0...
I really enjoyed this light read. Only took a couple of days to finish it.
I waited until a Discovery of Witches came out in paperback, which I heartily regret now because this book is amazing. It is thick and large, and I read it in 2 weeks. Knowing it's a trilogy and the next two books were not out yet, I tried to resist hurling to the end, but I could not. I possibly reread it 5 more times because I could not pry my hands off of it. This book is about witches and vampires and demons. I feel as though the vampire theme has been beaten to death, but I love reading about witches, so I gave it the benefit of the doubt. I'm glad I did. It does seem to vaguely echo Twilight (which I wasn't enthused about) but it is infinitely better (broody vampire, helpless-like protagonist). A Discovery of Witches centers around Diana Bishop who is a witch that has turned her back on her magic, and Matthew, a vampire who is trying to discover the mystery of witches, vampires, and demons. It is a very engaging book. Diana grows in the book into a strong-willed witch. I also love how Diana and Matthew are professors, and how the mystery of witches, vampires, and demons turns into intellectual, academic debate. I can't wait for book two!
I swear I had some notes I wanted to use for this review, but I can't find them now and will have to do this from memory, making my observations pretty limited. In short, I had mixed feelings about this book. Some of Glassner's points are obvious (the media sensationalizes, or even invents, many threats), some are thought-provoking items that have changed the way I thought, and in some cases I thought Glassner was being unnecessarily uncharitable towards the public's "fear" of certain phenomenons. It is worth noting that this book was published in 1999, thus predating the amazing "politics of fear" that dominated national discourse throughout the Bush presidency. Nonetheless, many of the trends and topics that Glassner examines remain relevent. The book also makes a brief appearance in the Michael Moore documentary Bowling for Columbine. Of particular interest are the chapters entitled Monster Moms, dealing with teenage pregnancy, and Metaphoric Illnesses, dealing with imagined physical maladies that in some form represent a larger societal criticism (he suggests Gulf War Syndrome as a key example of this kind of illness). On teenage mothers, I underlined this passage: "Ignorance about contraception, psychopathology, desire to prove adulthood, lack of family restraint, cultural patterns, desire to obtain welfare benefits, immorality, getting out of school--a host of reasons are given for childbirth in women under 20, while 'maternal instinct' is thought to suffice for those over 20." In general, he makes a convincing case that teen pregnancy is a dramatically overstated problem and the outcomes of teen pregnancy much less dire than news stories often suggest. Children of teen mothers do as well as other children from the same income level in school. Turns out I wasn't really thinking much about this issue and had just internalized the kind of stories I heard about teen motherhood as I was growing up. But the other side of the coin is Glassner's critque of dangers such as plane crashes. Maybe I just take offense to this because I don't much care for flying, but Glassner spends a whole chapter telling us what we already know--that flying is statistically very safe. Nonetheless, people are still drawn to stories about planes crashing or possible deficiencies in FAA safety rules. Just because I might want to watch a news segment about the FAA doesn't mean I am so incredibly concerned that I won't get on an airplane--but if threats to my person from flying can be even further reduced from their already low levels--well, why shouldn't I care about that? Just because airplane crashes affect a small number of people doesn't mean that it wouldn't be better for them to effect a still smaller number of people. This is a good book, but not one that will shift many people's paradigms. It's dated now, but still a breezy and somewhat nostolgic read for those that remember the fake scares of the 1990s.
I had a couple people recommend this book to me, they really liked the concept of telling Jesus's story through Biff, Jesus's best boyhood friend. So I thought, hey, I was raised Catholic, I read the Bible, this could be an interesting chance to revisit my sordid, religious past. And interesting it was, altough I wasn't as taken by it as I had hoped. I enjoyed the fact that Biff represents all the urges and character traits that Jesus is supposed to reject. However, it is these traits that make me dislike his character. I've said this before, but I really dislike main characters that are outrightly stupid or silly. I did enjoy the travels, and subsequent development, of Jesus's teachings. Working their way through India and China, and learning from the religious leaders in these areas, demonstrated the intense departure in preaching by Jesus from his predecessors in the Middle East. It was a fun read, a little absurd, but an interesting what-if take on Christianity's history.