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I am in school now and have two literature classes along with two history classes, so I am averaging about 150 pages a day to read. This leaves me with little time to review books, so if you want to take away the sticky that is okay. I will write some reviews down in a word document while I am in school and should have a few done by Thanksgiving break.
Currently Reading: Galapagos By Kurt Vonnegut--This is a good one
Next up:
1984 by George Orwell--a classic, of course. Very good.
The Electric Cool-Aid Acid Test by Tom Wolfe--haven't read it
Lulliby by Chuck Palahntuk--it's on my shelf to read next
The Siriens of Titan by Kurt Vonnegut--read it; but don't remember it
__________________ America cannot have an empire abroad and a Republic at home.
I had to do a book review for one of my classes, so I thought I would share it with you guys. It is the story of the first Navajo female surgeon.
Dr. Lori Arviso Alvord straddles the line between multiple worlds: the Dine and the American, the operating rooms of western medicine and those of her tribe’s medicine people, the academic halls and those of her home. She defines it as “living between two worlds and never quite belonging to either” (Alvord & Van Pelt, 16). Now the associate dean of minority and student affairs at Dartmouth, Dr. Alvord reflects upon the trials and tribulations that have caused her to be the woman she is today.
Raised on the Navajo reservation in the little city of Crownpoint, Dr. Alvord begins her course to become the first Navajo woman surgeon. The Scalpel and the Silver Bear is a brilliantly written autobiography that takes the reader on a journey from Dr. Alvord’s childhood in Crowpoint (a tiny town near what used to be the Anasazi city of Chaco Canyon), through her undergraduate studies at Dartmouth, to medical school in Stanford, and finally back home on the reservation.
After Dr. Alvord finished medical school she returned to the Gallup Indian Medical Center to begin an even more daunting task: to incorporate her studies of biological medicine with traditional Navajo beliefs and philosophies of healing:
“In my culture—the Navajo culture— medicine is performed by a hataali, someone who sees a person not simply as a body, but as a whole being. Body, mind and spirit are seen as connected to other people, to families, to communities, and even to the planet and the universe . . . Those types of relationships, so key to us, are not strongly acknowledged in medicine today . . . People . . . want a medicine that understands their health needs are not separate from the rest of their lives. A medicine that does not isolate but connects” (Alvord and Van Pelt, 3).
It was through this philosophy that Dr. Alvord began to incorporate her learned Western studies with the Navajo beliefs she grew up with.
Like most of the more than five-hundred tribal groups located in North America, the Navajo preach the importance of “walking in beauty.” This is defined as a “way of living a balanced and harmonious life, in touch with all components of one’s world” (Alvord and Van Pelt, 3). Keeping with this idea, the medical center at Dartmouth, where Dr. Alvord is currently working, is surrounded by trees and instilled with natural light; and Dr. Alvord states that it is the first hospital to adopt this notion of “walking in beauty.” In her autobiography, Dr. Alvord stresses that certain ceremonies which have personal meaning can be an significant part of the remedial procedure. Whether it is lighting a candle for someone, regularly attending church, or any other sort of ceremony it can help every patient’s health. For example, Dr. Alvord suggests that patients who are preparing for surgery to practice meditation, a yoga routine, or to just take daily walks. In her book, she notes that heart surgery patients who listen to “guided imagery” tapes that help them relax and imagine serene scenarios seem to heal faster, have shorter hospital stays, and need fewer pain medication (Alvord and Van Pelt).
Along with promoting personal ceremonies Dr. Alvord also promotes closeness to family and the communities at large as an essential part of the healing process. This approach was confirmed by science to be an enormous factor to promote a superior curative course. It is because of this that Dartmouth is one of the first major medical centers to make it easy to families to congregate together.
Along with promoting being a part of a community as a way of healing, Dr. Alvord also promotes singing as a means to cure illness. She says that “singing comes from the misty place where human physiology, feeling, and spirit collide. It can even be, for some people, a holy act, a religious act, an act with great power” (Alvord and Van Pelt, 5). Many different peoples around the world recognize singing as a way to cure illnesses; and Dr. Alvord has even applied it to her patients along with accepted Western medicine.
Lulliby ended up being my least favorite of Chuck P.'s. It started out really neat, but the it maybe should have been a novella or short story instead of a full-length novel. The premise was more suited for a half-hour twilight zone, IMO.
__________________ America cannot have an empire abroad and a Republic at home.
An extremely original satire about Oedipa Maas, a woman who finds herself thrown into a worldwide conspiracy, meets a horde of interesting characters, and received a large amount of self-knowledge.
Thomas Pynchon, who I heard went to school with Vonnegut, is almost as bizarre as his work. Not only is he almost like a hermit, he mocks the institution of writing through his OWN writing (little odd). He does this by playing with names of his characters. Examples include, Mucho Maas, Dr. Hilarius, and Fallopian, not the mention the name of the radio station that Mucho works at, KCUF (figure it out? Do not feel bad… it is naughty, hence why I caught it).
Pynchon plays games with the reader by revealing something that might be important, but then never talking about it again. This whole book is unique, and mocks other books that follow a certain formula.
Definitely a book to pick up if you are a fan of authors like Vonnegut or Palahniuk. It is one of my favorite books and will remain forever on my bookshelf.
Definitely a book to pick up if you are a fan of authors like Vonnegut or Palahniuk. It is one of my favorite books and will remain forever on my bookshelf.
Loved it, on the list of my favorite books of all time. I have that specific list on my facebook profile (a college thing). Let me post it:
A Clockwork Orange
Cat's Cradle
Mother Night
Catcher in the Rye
Life of Pi, To Kill a Mockingbird
A Canticle for Leibowitz
SlaughterHouse 5
Some Shakespeare (Hamlet, MacBeth, Othello)
'Salem's Lot
Catch-22
Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas
American Psycho
Ordinary People
The Dark Tower Series (The Gunslinger is my favorite)
The Bunny Suicides
Survivor
The Stranger
“When Gregor Samsa woke up one morning from unsettling dreams, he found himself changed in his bed into a monstrous vermin,” begins this shockingly, yet surprisingly funny, allegory of a man place in unusual circumstances. Written in 1916, this book might never have been published if Kafka’s best friend, and fellow writer, had obeyed the man’s last request.
Prior to his death, the self-considered failure as a writer, Kafka, asked his friend to burn all of his works once he had passed. However, these unpublished works remain for the sole fact that the friend, Max Brod, saved them. He justified his actions by saying that Kafka picked him to destroy the novels because Kafka knew that Max could never do such a thing.
This book is purely based upon the absurd nature of a man who has been transformed into a vermin, which many people see as a cockroach or some other type of bug. The man had been providing for his family, but once he has become despicable he is the object of disgrace for them. He is an outsider in his own home, and quintessentially an alienated man.
Highly recommended, this book will challenge your understanding of those who are downtrodden in our society. Moreover, it will surely change your perspective on life or the social structure.
Next up:
1984 by George Orwell
The Electric Cool-Aid Acid Test by Tom Wolfe Lulliby by Chuck Palahntuk
The Siriens of Titan by Kurt Vonnegut
What'd you think of Lulliby? I was disappointed. I thought it started out with so much promise, but then it just dragged on. Should have been a short story, IMO.
__________________ America cannot have an empire abroad and a Republic at home.
What'd you think of Lulliby? I was disappointed. I thought it started out with so much promise, but then it just dragged on. Should have been a short story, IMO.
Sorry I haven't gotten to it yet. I will try to over Thanksgiving break. I have three books to read by the end of this week and having 2 literature classes isn't helping my free time.
In this work, John Gardner takes a unusual perspective from the old Anglo-Saxon tale Beowulf. However, Grendel is a completely different tale then that of the original tradition. Writing from Grendel's perspective, Gardner takes the first and most terrifying monster in English literature and humanizes him, as he tells his own side of the epic tale. This fiend is portrayed as a lonely, friendless creature that wants nothing more than be accepted by those in Hrothgar's hall. Throughout the account, Grendel is fascinated by Wealtheow and the Shaper, Hrothgar's harper, humiliates Unferth, confronts a nihilist dragon, and confuses priests, before meeting his end at the hands of a stranger from over the sea (Beowulf).
To read this work, is to take one's perception of truth, reality, etc. and place them completely on their head. Part novel and part epic poetry, this work never ceases to mock theories of existence and personal morality.
While not for everyone, Grendel is simply worth reading in order to explore the alternate side to reality and perceived truth.
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