Pictures and Words, a Blog: memoir

Showing posts with label memoir. Show all posts

Monday, January 2, 2023

Reading Log: December 2022

The books I finished reading in the month of December 2022

December 2022 Books: photo by Cliff Hutson

"The Song of the Dodo: Island Biogeography in an Age of Extinctions," David Quammen

"Seven Brief Lessons on Physics," Carlo Rovelli

"Andrea Hoffman Goes All In," Diane Cohen Schneider

"The Power of Myth," Joseph Campbell with Bill Moyers

"Paddle Your Own Canoe: One Man's Fundamentals for Delicious Living," Nick Offerman

"When Genius Failed: The Rise and Fall of Long-Term Capital Management," Roger Lowenstein

Cliff's Notes

"Dodo"

A friend and I recently discussed the books that have had an impact on our lives and this one immediately came to my mind. I first read it in 1996 and it shaped my outlook on the world and informed my work as a "nature interpreter" at the botanic garden where I volunteered. So, I decided to reread it to see how I feel about it after all this time.

It is still a great piece of writing combing scientific reporting with travel writing. Sadly, many of the situations it covers seem to have gotten worse rather have been ameliorated in any fashion. So, it is still highly relevant.

"Brief Lessons"

This book did not do much for me. This lessons are brief and as such lack much substance. We learn that the theory of general relativity and the theory of quantum mechanics are both true, yet contradict each other. The author seems to want the reader to accept this on faith; a word he disparages in other contexts.

One reviewer said that this book is a much better read than "A Brief History of Time" by Stephen Hawking. I don't find that to be the case.

"Andrea Hoffman"

This book came to my daughter's attention because the name is very close to her own and she decided to give me a copy.

I very much enjoyed it. While, at heart, I guess that it can be called a young woman's coming-of-age story it also provides a very interesting the world of finance in the 1980s. The author has a marvelous way with words. As an example; she describes as looking like ". . . he's been playing on a dusty floor with a toddler and a golden retriever." I very much recommend it.

"Myth"

Some say that this is a book that everybody should read, and now I have done it. Both Campbell and Moyers like to use words and drop names that send a reader such as myself to the dictionary or encyclopedia. That lies on me. Your mileage may be different.

"Paddle"

While I have still have not watched "Parks and Recreation", I am a fan of Nick Offerman. This is the third book of his that I have read. It is, in my humble opinion the least of them. That may be because it was the first one that he wrote and, dare I say it, it took him sometime to find his voice.

Part memoir and part his advice on how to live a fulfilling life it is immensely interesting. I certainly recommend to anyone aspiring to get into acting. However, while I do not think of myself as a prude, I learned far more about his martial relations with Megan Mullally than I care to know. Though, I am happy for them that their sex life seems to be mutually enjoyable. Also, I am the first to admit that I swear, cuss, or use foul language more than I should, but find these pages to just a bit too full of it.

[Note to self: Figure out the difference between "memoir" and "autobiography".]

"Genius"

Last month I read that this is one of the two books that was required reading for the people on Enron's trading floor, so I wanted to see what it was all about.

This book, originally published in 2000, details the rise and and fall (which nearly took the financial system with it) of LTCM. This 2011edition has an Afterward which shows that lessons were not learned. As James Cramer has noted, "perhaps the term genius should be reserved for Mozart and not for arbitrageurs."

I had already learned from Andrea Hoffman that this business is neither logical nor fair and that the party won't last forever.

Monday, July 4, 2022

Reading Log: June 2022

The books that I read in June 2022

June 2022 Books: photo by Cliff Hutson

"The Annotated Big Sleep," Owen Hill, Pamela Jackson, and Anthony Dean Rizzuto

"Driving While Black," Gretchen Sorin

"Trouble Is My Business," Raymond Chandler

"On Juneteenth," Annette Gordon-Reed

"Poodle Springs," Raymond Chandler and Robert B. Parker

Cliff's Notes

"Annotated TBS"

"The Big Sleep" may be one of Raymond Chandler's best known works. I feel that this edition should count as two books for the month. As, not only does it contain the complete text of the original story, there are nearly an equal number of pages of notes and comments. They provide very interesting insights as to how Chandler wrote (valuing style over plot) and how he "cannibalized" from stories he had previously done for magazines. There are a lot great photographs and illustrations as well.

I recommend it to any fan of crime fiction.

"Driving While Black"

This is another book that I learned of through Bookish. While many of us think of DWB as a contemporary expression, Sorin devotes only the epilog to recent examples of the injustices suffered by Black Americans. The body of the book is a history of the difficulties they encountered while traveling, how the automobile became a liberating mechanism, and that contributed to achieving civil rights.

"Trouble"

Reading this was a great follow up to "The Annotated Big Sleep". It has an introduction written by Chandler and four longish stories: "Trouble Is My Business", "Finger Man", "Goldfish", and "Red Wind." Which previously appeared in magazines.

One example of the cannibalism cited above is clearly evident in that "Finger Man" has a scene set in a casino that is very much like the one in "TBS."

By the way, "Red Wind" contains one of the best descriptions of Santa Ana winds ever written:

“There was a desert wind blowing that night. It was one of those hot dry Santa Anas that come down through the mountain passes and curl your hair and make your nerves jump and your skin itch. On nights like that every booze party ends in a fight. Meek little wives feel the edge of the carving knife and study their husbands' necks. Anything can happen. You can even get a full glass of beer at a cocktail lounge."

"On Juneteenth"

I recently wrote about Juneteenth and how some Texans are annoyed that it has become a widespread holiday. Gordon-Reed was initially one of those people. She uses that to move on to a brief history of Texas, and why it may be special, filtered through her personal history of growing up there.

"Poodle Springs"

When Chandler died in 1959, he had completed only the first four chapters of "Poodle Springs". Decades later, his estate hired the author of the Spenser novels to finish the story. Parker did a pretty good job. The transition is fairly seamless, though at times the dialogue between Marlowe and Linda smack of conversations held by Spenser and Susan.