The Persuaders

Really fantastic documentary program from Frontline.
This one really went at it from many angles, following marketers trying to launch a new branded airline (Song), clinical psychologists turned corporate spies, renegade writers for Advertising Age (one of the most interesting magazines out there, for my money!), and it included interviews with some of the best cultural critics out there.

This was so good I can only say one thing- if you have ever dismissed advertising as background noise, if you have ever wondered how a 30 second ad might cost more than a movie to produce, if you have ever looked around and thought "WTF, mate?", watch this to get a concise, wonderfully articulate and thought-provoking look at what makes the sea we swim in.

Whole program available for viewing online here, at PBS.

Advertising and the End of the World

Very interesting documentary. Professor Sut Jhally from the Media Education Foundation talks about how advertising has become the primary communication force for our culture, what essential stories it tells us about ourselves, and about how desperately necessary it is to change our very societal goals in order to avoid environmental doom.
He attacks the very nature of the consumer-driven society, and while yes, yes, yes, I didn't see him really offer an alternative.
It may be controversial to say 'capitalism is wrong', but it's also kind of useless as an argument unless you are able to point to a viable alternative. Still, some excellent use of advertising images and a coherent argument that we lack a common culture made it worth watching, for sure.

Wicked, by Sara Shepard

The 5th Pretty Little Liars book- these are so fun and totally addictive. Who is the new A? Well, as I've mentioned before, I never guess right about the killer/bad guy in mysteries, so I just kind of enjoy reading along and seeing what idiotic things these girls do to get even further into trouble, but it is such a fun ride.
Sara Shepard has written an adult novel, which I'm really excited about. As much as I enjoy these as fluff, the writing is good- something much better kind of floats along in these, so I'll be looking forward to reading The Visibles when it comes out in May.

Death At A Funeral

This was ridiculously funny- so wrong, but so so funny. Worst funeral ever. Classic British humour- absurdist, tongue-in-cheek, a little bit filthy.

Baby Mama

Well, I kind of hated this, which I guess didn't surprise me, but I am surprised that Tina Fey would have written anything this... cruel?
It seems like the last acceptable group to mock in public is... economically disadvantaged white people? Chavs? Trailer trash? Is there even an 'acceptable' word in America for who these people are who deserve no dignity ?
I'm not saying that parts weren't funny, or that there wasn't a fierce skewering of a culture in which a woman often has to choose between her career and having a child, but this *really* didn't seem like the best way to address it, and the ending was a total cop-out.

Rigged: The True Story of an Ivy League Kid Who Changed the World of Oil, from Wall Street to Dubai, by Ben Mezrich

Ridiculously fun book for the topic!
The story of the start-up of the Dubai Merchantile exchange was as filled with fast cars, chases, hot girls and private planes as any James Bond, but also gave a lot of insight into the workings of NYMEX and the lofty goals of Dubai.

Misery Loves Maggody, by Joan Hess

Re-read, but fun! In this one, Ruby Bee and Estelle take an Elvis tour led by Miss Vetchling, but of course, it goes hideously and hillariously awry, and Arly has to head to Memphis to sort it all out.

Death of a Witch, by M.C. Beaton

Another fantastic Hamish MacBeth. Newcomer Catriona Beldame has been rumored to be selling the men of Lochdubh potions to increase their ... stamina, but when she is killed, Hamish has to look to the villagers to find the murderer.

I do love these, but I also wish Hamish would stop wavering between Elspeth and Priscilla.

Gimme Shelter, by Mary Elizabeth Williams

Gimme Shelter: Ugly Houses, Cruddy Neighborhoods, Fast-Talking Brokers and Toxic Mortgages: My Three Years Searching For The American Dream is the whole overblown title, which promises much more than is delivered in this surprisingly weightless book.

For 310 pages, Williams moans with the dreadfully self-conscious tone of the plagued priviliged, and it is not a pretty sound.

The book is not, as implied, a look at the greater collapse of the American housing industry or what have you- it is a great whine about how she (freelance writer for publications such as Salon) and her husband Jeff (on-and-off employed copy editor) couldn't afford to buy in Brooklyn's Carrol Gardens during the housing boom.

Considering that they had lived there for years before prices skyrocketed, it seems rather sour grapes of her how much she bitches and squeaks about those friends of theirs who did buy early and made mad money from their foresight, and what she has to say about those dreadful new rich people who priced her out of what she clearly felt was rightfully her cool neighborhood- well, you can practically see her stamping her little feet.

She did have the grace to realize, close to the end of the book, that what she and Jeff were doing by buying and tarting up a place in way way uptown Manhattan (Inwood) was the same thing the wealthy were doing in Carroll Gardens- gentrification, lady. The rock stars priced you out of your neighborhood, now you're doing it to the residents of Inwood Park, the immigrants and the elderly.

I grow weary of these- The House on First Street, about the terrible agonies of restoring one's mansion in post-Katrina New Orleans, Not Buying It, (incidentally also set in smug-as-hell Brooklyn) about the fearsome self-denial it took not to recreationally shop for a year, Bitter is the New Black, whose loathsome author memorably carried a Prada bag to the unemployment office...

It's all nauseating. Seriously, none of the reviews I read of Gimme Shelter hinted at the self-pitying, bobo smug revolting nonsense that it was.

The Big Dirt Nap, by Rosemary Harris

Follow up to Pushing Up Daisies, which I loved. This was definitely another fun mystery, but I didn't feel that it was as tightly plotted as the first- that might be me, though, as I didn't have time to read it steadily and kept having to leave it for days. I can't wait to find out Caroline Sturgis's plan in the third book, so I liked it enough to stay hooked to the series!

Retail Anarchy, by Sam Pecker (mid-book update) (ARC)

I have NEVER done this before, but this book is so batshit insane, I have to. In the 52 pages I've read so far, he has ranted about everything from George Clinton's bands Parliament and Funkadelic to the "mentally handicapped" who bag groceries, but he's reached a soaring new height of madness here on page 53.

"The never ending shit-sprawl (I know it's crude, but really is there any other word?) of meaningless product, the movement of that product, and the ultimate disposal of the product for no good reason other than human failure is in itself what it means to live in a "consumer driven" economy.

Do people on antidepressants shop less?"

Wow, buddy! Do people on antipsychotics write less? This all gives me great hope for my own (fantasy) writing career. I really wonder what kind of edit job they're doing on this (I'm reading an ARC). If this is published as is, something is truly rotten in the state of Denmark.

(Up to page 58 and ) UNBELIEVABLY, this book has become even more WOW.

"While it's no secret that men's penises are responsible for lots of bad purchases, sometimes it's the need to avoid confrontation that feeds it as well."

Is that even a sentence? I would die if someone wanted me to diagram that. (Ps. It's about a local sandwich shop in his town, where the owner/operator is supposedly a hottie- although he disagrees- "she was not all that attractive, but she flirted with the factory workers".
I bet she didn't flirt with him, the jealous lout.

OMG. Page 61. I am going to make EVERYONE read this book. Dude is out of his mind.

"I don't have statistics on how many Cheesecake Factory hostesses end up working as prostitutes after their illustrious careers are cut short, but I have a feeling it's pretty high."

(page 68!!!) I might be obsessed, but this author certainly is. Damn, what did the hostess at the Cheesecake Factory do to him???

"Alcoholic drama-queen slut-in-dead-end-town hostess, please fetch the 17-year-old part-timer who spends al of his spare time fantasizing about you while masturbating instead of doing his homework so he may bring us an outrageously overpriced slice of your inest previously-frozen shipped-in-from and out-of state-factory namesake desert at once!...

Excuse me, did I call her a slut? I forgot this was a small town what with the big city restautant and all; I meant to say "popular"- thank you. ...

...I venture to say this is the first time that a book about economics has called anyone a slut and that may be the precise problem here with out economy."

Hot diggity damn, man. This guy is all fired up. If he can get published with this racist, able-ist, slut-ist bull, I should be able to get published.

Yee haw.

I cannot put this thing down. And I can't stop typing. His madness has infected me!

Harold and Kumar Escape From Guantanamo Bay

This was wildly inappropriate but ridiculously funny. Some biting social satire, and a lot of vulgar and almost breathtakingly tasteless moments. Funny as hell, though.

Garlic and Sapphires, by Ruth Reichl

I listened to this book, and it was wonderful, but one warning- when she describes food, it makes you crazy with hunger!

Interesting look at the life of a NYT food critic- the lengths she had to go to to preserve anonymity were insane!

Bonus- recipes that sounded delish and very do-able!

Hollywood Car Wash, by Lori Culwell

Fast, fun and juicy book. Midwestern theater student hits it big on a tv drama, and finds herself receiving the "Hollywood car wash"- becoming thinner, blonder, and more surgeried than she ever thought she would.

Rumor is that this is the Katie Holmes story- complete with awkward marriage contract and all. No idea, but I couldn't put it down!

Lucky Jim, by Kinglsley Amis

Well, this was supposed to be one of the 10 funniest books of all time, based on a list I rather trusted, but I didn't find it that fantastic. A couple of laugh out loud bits, but it was no Three Men in a Boat.

Plagued professor Jim Dixon juggles academic responsibilities, social life, and lady friends, and drops every ball.

Secret Asset, by Stella Rimington

Fast paced mystery set in post-9/11 England among MI5 and MI6.

A swirl of IRA, New York tabloids, and Pakistani terrorists made for a whirl of a read.

Liz Carlyle must find the mole in the service, and it's a race against time.

I thought this was great, and the writer was actually the first woman to head MI5, so she has authenticity in her details. The paranoia and surveilance seemed so right, and the Big Brother-ness of Britain's CCTV culture seemed almost understandable in the context of the book. The influx of Asians and mosques into the UK and how that has changed the fabric of the country, and I thought it was all very well done until the end, which rather whimpered out.

Deluxe: How Luxury Lost It's Luster, by Dana Thomas

This was a fantastic, fascinating read. Thomas really went into the history of many of the major luxury labels, and pinpointed how contemporary business models have changed their product lines to an amazing degree. From the history of Louis Vuitton's trunk making and packing business for the French aristocracy, to the point now where 44% of Japanese own at least one Vuitton item and it is the most counterfeited brand in the world, there has been a major shift in what the business was about.

From Prada using cheaper thread to the still artisan-quality work at Hermes, this book gave delicious tidbits while following a definite trend of diminishment of what it is that made these things the best.

Wonderful read, and fun to boot.

Amber Brown Wants Extra Credit, by Paula Danziger

This read rather older than I had thought. Amber is upset that her mother is dating, and is falling behind in school, and needs to make up some missed assignments and wow her teacher with her How-To project, making AMBER BROWNies.

It was sweet, but I really am surprised at how much more complicated it was than I had thought these were.

Community Helpers Picture Books

City of Ember

Nowhere near as good as the book, but not terrible, really.

Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society, by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows

This was absolutely wonderful.

Entrancing. Guernsey after WWII, with characters that lived and breathed.

Community Helpers Picture Books

To Dance, by Siena Siegel

Graphic novel (graphic memoir?) about studying to be a ballerina, and somewhat abrubtly stopping at 18.

Born Rich

Fascinating documentary about what it's like to be born really, really rich.

It was made by Jamie Johnson (Johnson and Johnson). Ivanka Trump seems surprisingly lovely and ambitious. Cody Franchetti, Juliet Hartford, Georgina Bloomberg, etc. Interesting stuff.

Books to look for, books to read next.

It's too annoying to keep having to log in and change that list on the left, so I am going to just paste them here and 'comment' myself updates as I come across things!
If by any chance, you are someone who sees this and would like to recommend a book to me, comment away!

(TITLES THAT ARE ITALICIZED HAVE NOW BEEN READ/WATCHED)

Books

Fiction
The Lace Reader, by Brunonia Barry
American Wife, by Curtis Sittenfeld
The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo, by Steig Larsson
The Gone Away World, by Nick Harkaway
Anathem, by Neal Stephenson
Pillars of the Earth / Ken Follet
Death and the Lit Chick G. M. Maillet (mystery)
The Frozen Thames, by Helen Humphreys (historical fiction)
Show of Hands by Anthony McCarten (lit fic)
The Swap - Antony Moore
One Second After By Forstchen, William R. thriller
This year's model Carol Alt
Spoiled : stories / Caitlin Macy.
Heroic Measures - Ciment, Jill (Author) post-9/11 New York City on panic-alert.
prayers for the dying o'nan
Personality Plus: Some Experiences of Emma McChesney and Her Son, Jock by Edna Ferber
The Rapture / Liz Jensen (apocalyptic thriller)

NonFiction
Deluxe : how luxury lost its luster , by Dana Thomas
Touch Me, I'm Sick: The 52 Creepiest Love Songs, by Tom Reynolds
Buy*ology , by Martin Lindstrom
Death by Leisure: A Cautionary Tale, by Chris Ayers
Just How Stupid Are We?: Facing the Truth About the American Voter, by Rick Schenkman
Spook : science tackles the afterlife / Mary Roach
NINE LIVES :Death and Life in New Orleans By Dan Baum
Mixed Metals: Creating Contemporary Jewelry with Silver, Gold, Copper, Brass, and More by Danielle Fox
Sewing Green: 25 Projects Made with Repurposed & Organic Materials by Betz White
What We Leave Behind by Derrick Jensen and Aric McBayCatalog: The Illustrated History of Mail Order Shopping by Robin Cherry
Watching the English, by Kate Fox Non fiction
Toy monster : the big, bad world of Mattel / Jerry Oppenheimer. Nonfiction
The Find: The Housing Works Book of Decorating with Thrift Shop Treasures, Flea Market Objects, and Vintage Details by Stan Williams
Lost in the Meritocracy: The Undereducation of an Overachiever by Walter Kirn
$20 Per Gallon: How the Rising Cost of Gasoline Will Radically Change Our Lives by Steiner, Christopher
Weddings of the Times: A Parody /by Dan Klein
The Sex Lives of Cannibals
Are You Experienced?
American Shaolin
everything by Tony Hawks
Yes Man - Danny Wallace
The Fortune Cookie Chronicles: Adventures in the World of Chinese Food - Jennifer 8. Lee
America Unchained - Dave Gorman
Friends Like These - Danny Wallace (The new book from the author of Yes Man - He tracks down his childhood friends all over the globe, and invites them outside to play.
Jaguars Ripped My Flesh: Adventure is a Risky Business by Tim Cahill.
Travels with My Donkey: One Man and His Ass on a Pilgrimage to Santiago by Tim Moore
'Round Ireland with a Fridge
Chuck Thompson's Smile When You're Lying: Confessions of a Rogue Travel Writer.


YA
My Life in Pink & Green by Lisa Greenwald YA
Science Fair: A Story of Mystery, Danger, International Suspense, and a Very Nervous Frog By Barry, Dave
Envy: A Luxe Novel By Godbersen, Anna YA




Anonymous said... An AbeBooks.com poll of British customers about the funniest books they've ever read yielded this laughable list:
1. Right Ho, Jeeves by P.G. Wodehouse (1933)
2. Catch-22 by Joseph Heller (1961)
3. The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams (1979)
4. Three Men in a Boat by Jerome K. Jerome (1889) ,
5. Wilt by Tom Sharpe (1976),
6. A Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole (1980) ,
7. Lucky Jim by Kingsley Amis (1954),
8. The Code of the Woosters by P.G. Wodehouse (1938)
9. Bridget Jones's Diary by Helen Fielding (1996) ,
10. Adolf Hitler: My Part in his Downfall by Spike Milligan (1971)http://www.abebooks.com/books/funniest-books.shtml

MOVIES

Anonymous said...
Sounds Like Teen Spirit
Summary: follows 10- to 15-year-olds competing in the Junior Eurovision Song Contest who, unlike adult Eurovision, write and compose their own entries in their mother-tongue. Blockbuster factor: the unwitting comedy provided by the children's efforts will pull at the heartstrings. Afghan StarSummary: follows two men and two women in Afghanistan as they risk all to win Tolo TV's X Factor-style series.Blockbuster feature: seeing pop culture where you'd least expect it to be is surprisingly entertaining.

Valentino: the last emperor
Summary: a look at the relationship between Valentino and his business partner, Giancarlo Giametti, during the final two years of their careers. Blockbuster factor: glitz and behind-the-scenes looks into couture's most hidden quarters will excite anybody with an interest in fashion. Release date: out now in US. Release date in the UK to be confirmed.

All Tomorrow's Parties
Summary: a jigsaw of footage taken by filmmakers, fans and musicians on mobile phones, camcorders and Super8 showing performances at the All Tomorrow's Parties music festival. Blockbuster factor: features performances from a huge list of music artists including Belle and Sebastian, Portishead, Mogwai, The Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Grinderman and Battles.Release date: premieres on 24 June at Edinburgh Film Festival.

The September Issue
Summary: tells the story of the renowned Vogue editor-in-chief Anna Wintour and her huge team of editors as they prepare for the September 2007 issue, the single largest issue of a magazine ever published.Blockbuster factor: a chance to see ambition in its purest form — gives an insight into one of the biggest fashion power houses in the world.Release date: September 2009.

Documentary: Malls R Ushttp://icarusfilms.com/new2009/mall.html

Forgetting Sarah Marshall

Sheik Seduction, by Dana Marton

Well, if February is my month to read romances (and I'm slacking), I figured I HAD to read a Harlequin. I was not looking forward to it- I imagined awkwardly written sex scenes and a lot of, well, I don't know what.

This was a big surprise. First off, I lost track of the body count around page, oh, 15. Tom Clancy doesn't have this many firefights and explosions. Secondly, there was a lot of fighting off wild hyenas. (Hyenas in the middle east? must look up). Third, the heroine steals a camel to save the sheik. Fourth, only one sex scene, and not too squicky.

So, that's one thing I had dead, dead wrong. I'm serious- they shot people the whole way through the book, the sheik's remote village cousins all had cell phones etc, the heroine kicked major a**, including bashing a bad guy up the head with a tire iron and jumping from a moving truck, and... well, I don't know what else to say.

It wasn't my favorite book ever, but it wasn't the worst (See First Light) and made me realize that I've been assuming that I knew what these were like and that I was wrong, wrong, wrong.

Also, just checked- there are totally hyenas there. Go, Dana Marton!

Lady Fortescue Steps Out, by Marion Chesney

Regency romance. Well done, clever idea, and fun.

Very typical of the genre, but still light and quick.

Junk Beautiful, by Sue Whitney

Some pretty cool ideas in this. I'd like to come back to this when I have more time.

Pure Sea Glass, by Richard LaMotte

Beautiful photographs. Interesting breakdown of how often each color glass is found per 1,000 pieces of sea glass found. Made me want to go beachcombing.

First Light, by Rebecca Stead

This might be the worst book I've read since I started this list.

I don't even know how to fully express what a disaster this was from start to finish- the concept (a secret underground civilization at least 7 generations old under the ice in Greenland founded by people fleeing genocide in England (?) that is discovered by a teen there with his parents who are studying global warming and mitochondrial DNA and the teen is psychic- or rather, is an "eye-adept" which is genetic and he can communicate with dogs who talk and and oh to hell with it.)

Stupid beyond all reason, an epic waste of time (thing was long, too), incredibly pretentious, badly written, nonsensical, silly, painful. Astoundingly, it is on the Rhode Island Children's Book Award list.

Lady Susan, by Jane Austen

Interestingly different Jane Austen epistolatory novella.

Lady Susan is not meek, demure, honest or humble- she's a bit like a widowed Becky Sharp, plotting and scheming all the time.

Fun and very different from Emma, P&P, S&S, etc.

Bog Child, by Siobhan Dowd

Extraordinary book. Technically YA, but amazing.

Fergus is cutting peat in 1980's Northern Island when he and his father come across an Iron Age body preserved in the bog.

From that point, the story of Mel, a girl in 80 AD and Fergus' own story echo each other in various ways, complementing each other.

Fergus' brother Joe is in prison for his involvement with the IRA, and joins the hunger strike that killed Bobby Sands.

A young Welsh soldier named Owain and a girl from Dublin named Cora round out the main characters, and oh, this was just so well done.

It reminded me of one of the most powerful poems I know, about a bog mummy.

Punishment

by Seamus Heaney

I can feel the tug
Of the halter at the nape
Of her neck, the wind
On her naked front.

It blows her nipples
To amber beads,
It shakes the frail rigging
Of her ribs.

I can see her drowned
Body in the bog,
The weighing stone,
The floating rods and boughs.

Under which at first
She was a barked sapling
That is dug up
Oak-bone, brain-firkin:

Her shaved head
Like a stubble of black corn,
Her blindfold a soiled bandage,
Her noose a ring

To store
The memories of love
Little adulteress,
Before they punished you

You were flaxen-haired,
Undernourished, and your
Tar-black face was beautiful.
My poor scapegoat,

I almost love you
But would have cast, I know,
The stones of silence.
I am the artful voyeur

Of your brain's exposed
And darkened combs,
Your muscles' webbing
And all your numbered bones:

I who have stood dumb
When your betraying sisters,
Cauled in tar,
Wept by the railings,

Who would connive
In civilized outrage
Yet understand the exact
And tribal, intimate revenge.

Gilding Lily, by Tatiana Boncompagni

A fun, frothy and well-done take on New York socialite life.

Despite owing a lot to Edith Wharton (and who doesn't, really) this book about Lily Bartholomew (sneaky, Tatiana, sneaky indeed) showcases her rise and fall from grace among the "top girls" of the NYC social scene, and does it in a way that made this over-covered territory seem fresh, which is a heck of a trick.

W.

This was wonderful, and terribly sad.

Mrs. 'Arris Goes To Paris, by Paul Gallico

This was such a sweet, strange, and poignant little book.

Mrs. 'Arris (Harris) is a London char, who one day sees a Dior dress in an employer's closet, and becomes filled with longing to have one of her own.

It was really lovely, this book- it made me cry.

And it made me want to go to France.

Ordeal by Innocence, by Agatha Christie

I had thought that I hadn't read this, but about 5 pages in I realized that I had. Still, it was lovely to read an Agatha Christie that was a little unfamiliar!

Diary of a Chav, by Grace Dent

This was fantastic. The voice was perfect- I could hear Essex girl Shiraz saying everything, and I could see her and I could see Collette Brown, and Carrie and Bezzer and it was funny and sad and vulgar and kind of depressing. Shiraz at her "superchav academy", waiting to get out at 16 to get a job at a sporting goods shop to earn some real money was heartbreaking, and as she began to look at her real life options the book took on a whole new level. People don't talk about social mobility much in YA.

It was so great (interesting?) to read a UK YA novel that wasn't about the middle class. Georgia Nicolson, for all her flirting and lipgloss, goes to a 'nice' school with 'nice' friends and the boys she and Jools avoid in the park are the very boys that this Shiraz and her mate Carrie eye and ignore and blow bubble gum at, and what's-her-name from the Girl, 15 books is clearly well off what with the trips to France (not package tours) and so on.

Shiraz's neighbor Uma with the ASBO and her 'work experience' at the bhaji packing plant were so well written.

One thing I am struck by, is how the heck did big hoop earrings and tracksuits and hoodies lined with fake fur become the international uniform of the... I don't know if there's a politically correct term for this and I feel like I'm on edgy ground, but what the heck? Was there a memo? UK, Rhode Island- big hoops and skinny headbands, eyeliner and gobs of lipgloss, fake tans and fake nails, rap and cars- amazing.

Three Girls and Their Brother, by Theresa Rebeck

Fast and fun read. Nice to read an adult novel, but I am surprised at what great reviews this got. It was goodish, but read like chick-lit strained through Holden Caulfield's voice. If there was one more 'old', as in "his big old stupid movie" (p. 265) or "big old macho creep (p. 149) or "good old Dad" (p. 93), Salinger could have sued. (Except, you know, for the lack of a really good plot.)

Streams of Babel, by Carol Plum-Ucci

Hm.

I just finished this, am not sure why I'm as upset about it as I am. Teen trash, why should it bug me? Ok, well it's been recommended by people whose opinions I often share, so this is about something.

Ok, on the one hand, it's terror-thriller YA, so that... what, diminishes expectations of a solid plot? I guess it does- YA fiction kind of has to 'star' teenagers, and so that makes for instant plot holes.

I just didn't like it. I didn't like the hidden rah-rah American thing, so carefully concealed behind a veneer of showing 'the other side'- all that talk about Mogadishu and the Kurdish asylum issue just clouded everything and anyway, the terrorists who took down the World Trade Center were from freaking Saudi Arabia, which is never mentioned once in the book. If the terrorists had been Kurds, maybe I could see bringing all that into the book, but they weren't.

Pakistan-raised Shahzad's character seemed strained, as if Plum-Ucci had really had to work to get a guy with his motivations, and the ending really bothered me.

SPOILER SPACE

Ok, I really have to work out what felt so wrong here. Tyler Ping's mother was a spy. Tyler Ping was some kind of uber-hacker who helped Shahzad track down the terror cell meeting place and time- interestingly, a college "Panel to Discuss The True Nature of American Foreign Policy". Yup- that's suspicious, ain't it. People questioning what was going on in 2002? Wicked suspicious.

Anyway, after much Clancy-type absurdity, we reach a point where we are treated to the following lecture:
"A terrorist is a person who holds principles above people...They have replaced people with principles. Principles become their best friends. It sounds very high and mighty. However, we live in a world still too influenced by intelligence over instinct. Thank you, the Enlightenment. But terroristic behavior is not high and mighty. It's sad, and and sad is simple."

Ok, that makes no sense at all, even if one is inclined to diss the Enlightenment (which for the record, I am decidedly a fan of). But there's a contradiction even in this daft little speech- He's saying that instinct is better than intelligence, but then saying that emotion is simple, and bad. And all of this from an intelligence agent!

Anyway, the next awful thing is that (of course) Tyler Ping promptly betrays his mother- if that's not a clear example of 'principle over people', I don't know what is.

Aye yah.

And then of course the end was sickening, when Shahzad visits the World Trade Center site and realizes that to honor his father's life, he'd better get shopping.

"Where is the nearest Kentucky Fry?" I ask in English..."And I want a Yankees baseball cap"..."And then we should make to the Gap. I need the blue jeans."

Yeah. Welcome to America, kid.

To Be Mona, by Kelly Easton

Well, I read this because it's Rhody YA, and it was ok. I read it fast, and quite liked Sage's voice, but the whole Roger thing felt kind of forced.

Leon's Story, by Leon Walter Tillage

This was extraordinary. An autobiography, apparently read by children in school often, but one I had never heard of before.

Leon Tillage tells his story of growing up during segregation in North Carolina. The most sickening things happen, and his retrospection is filled with such forgiveness and understanding of how hard it was for his parents' generation to believe that equality would ever happen. One part in particular really struck me- he was talking about the Klu Klux Klan at this point, and how he and his parents would hide when the Klu Klux Klan went riding.

"They weren't interested in participating in marches and stuff like that; they felt like Moses was going to lead the blacks out of bondage like he did the Jewish people. They were thinking... the only thing they could belive in was God, they prayed about every little thing that went on. The figured He was going to send somebody from Heaven. Thank God they had that to hold on to."

This book was devastating, and as Leon grew to participate in the equal rights movement, inspiring.

Fuck the South.

A Man Named Thoreau, by Robert Burleigh

Mmmm. Guess what, it's a picture book biography. (See below.)

But you know, this one was better for me. Was it better because there were more words and less pictures? Am I that verbal? Is it too hard for me to go back to children's books because I need the words to mean so much? I don't know.

This book was aimed at slightly older children, and was much more complex- it wasn't just a 'here's a hero/athlete/warrior' story, it was a story about someone who had something to say about America and what life means, which made it much more tolerable to read.