Final Demand by Deborah Moggach

Final Demand
by

Deborah Moggach (Goodreads Author)

Dec 15, 2018 

A young woman processes payment-checks for a British Telecom company. She thinks she's found the perfect way to pilfer the checks without anyone being the wiser. Unfortunately, she's overlooked two things: 1) Embezzlers can't afford to overlook the finest detail and 2) Thanks to the Butterfly Effect, there's no such thing as a "victimless crime." Deborah Moggach's taut novella is crisply written, engaging and draws the reader through an intriguing plot to a satisfying ending.

The Stepford Wives
by

Ira Levin,

 

 

Dec 15, 2018 

In a novella reminiscent of "Invasion of the Body Snatchers," Ira Levin does what he does best: Draw the reader into an unlikely, paranoid situation (a la his "Rosemary's Baby") and lower the boom after a protracted cat-and-mouse endgame (a la his "Deathtrap"). An exhilarating read!

The Book of Mormon Girl: Stories from an American Faith by Joanna Brooks

The Book of Mormon Girl: Stories from an American Faith
by

Joanna Brooks

 

Delightful, poignant memoir, recounting Brooks' heartwarming upbringing in the Mormon faith, followed by her crisis of conscience as her progressive inclinations collide with the LDS church hierarchy's conservative cast. I'd read this book again.

The Flight Attendant by Chris Bohjalian

The Flight Attendant
by

Chris Bohjalian

 

 Hard-drinking flight attendant wakes up next to a murdered man. The professionals who "hit" the man decide the Flight Attendant knows too much. Espionage and skulduggery ensues.

It's a timeworn plot, but Bohjalian writes it well. She also adds some dimension to the character of the Flight Attendant by detailing her addictive history with alcohol (taking Sarah Hepola's book, Blackout: Remembering the Things I Drank to Forget, as a guide to the condition).

Glad I read it--Bohjalian writes crisply and engagingly--but I probably wouldn't re-read it. I might check out another of her books, if I'm in the mood for a thriller.

A Matter Of Faith: Understanding True Religion by Mart De Haan

A Matter Of Faith: Understanding True Religion
by

Mart De Haan

 

 You'll often hear Christians say, "I don't have a religion; my faith involves a relationship with Him." This little book is a nice elaboration on what Christians mean when they say that.

To me the distinction boils down to this: Religion involves rituals and behavior tailored to win God's approval. But the "relationship" with God (that Christians speak of) requires us, first, to admit that nothing we could do ourselves could win God's approval. Instead, we have to ask God's grace and mercy to forgive us, and then take the "relationship" from there--in a new humility of repentance, and a new willingness of obedience.

Not a lot of people are willing to concede this complete bankruptcy, of course. The gap between ourselves and God can't be that vast, can it? But the author of this book, Mart De Haan, reminds us of the Beatitudes in Jesus's Sermon on the Mount, which recites the humble features of those who seek full relationship with God (pages 29-30)--They are: broken in spirit, mourning their wrongdoing, meek in their willingness to accept God's guidance, hungry for righteousness. They yearn to be: merciful of others' faults, pure in heart, and peacemakers bridging chasms between persons and between persons and God. ("And all things are of God, who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation." (2 Cor. 5:18))

From there, De Haan describes the change of heart a true relationship with God brings. The focus of the relationship is a person's inner self ("First clean the inside of the cup and dish, so that the outside may become clean as well." (Matt 23:26))

The book is short, but it is sharply written and invites re-reading. Thumbs up.

My Little Red Book edited by Rachel Kauder Nalebuff

I admire the premise of this book: So often, young girls feel "weird" or "strange" because of events involving their bodies. The way to mollify their fears, as this book makes plain, is to point out that every young girl feels exactly the same fears, insecurities, etc. Back in the '60s, we called this exercise--of bringing to light the heretofore hidden feelings that every woman has--"consciousness raising." This book is a wonderful contemporary example.

So, OK, since I'm a guy, I've (obviously) never had a period. But since I'm fascinated by all things feminine, I've always listened intently when women have told me of the nuanced circumstances of their menarches: One woman endured years of painful self-consciousness on account of getting her first period at only nine years old. Another woman, of Catholic Mexican descent, burst into fearful tears--since she'd never been told about menstruation, and thought the blood meant something was dreadfully wrong. (The same lack of information occurs, author Nalebuff reports, to a stunning 87% of polled Pakistani women (page 7).)

So in reading this unique (and often poignant) book of first-person menarche-memoirs, I kept an eye out for the nuances. Where and what age did it take place? Who did she tell first? How did that person react? How did the girl feel? Did she receive outdated advice? (Hint: the landmark novella on the subject, Judy Blume's Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret, was published in 1970.) What did the event mean to them and their families/friends?

Girls' feelings ranged the gamut, as this anthology attests: Some felt fear; some felt joy; some felt overwhelmed; some felt irritated; some felt exposed; some felt relief; some felt ecstatic; some felt annoyed; some felt horrified; some felt embarrassed; some felt disappointment. Et cetera. In short, there's no "normal" way to feel about getting one's period. It's almost an intriguing kind of Rorschach test, according to YA author Michele Jaffe: "I discovered that how you react to Your First Period lets you see the beginnings of personality traits that are magnified as an adult" (page 25)

The book contains a variety of experiences from different eras: Menarche during slavery (page 41); the fear of "menotoxins" in the 1920s (page 21); a Depression-era orphanage (pp. 70ff); in India in 1962; in Kenya (pp. 134ff); while preparing U.S. Thanksgiving cranberry sauce (page 127); snorkeling in the Caribbean (p. 102); a bar mitzvah party (p. 106ff).

But while many girls are today given "The Period Talk" in gym class, this book reveals that so many questions often remain: Does a period happen only once? Does it only happen at certain hours of the day? How does one pronounce that tongue-twisting word "menstruation"? How can blood come out if you're a virgin--wouldn't the hymen keep it in? Should you put off using tampons until after marriage (because of the "virgin thing")? How much blood comes out during a first period? Why is the stain rust colored--all the pictures in books show red stains! Where's the belt--Judy Blume's book (from 1970) talks about a belt! Won't everyone notice this BIG pad--I can feel it! Won't this small tampon get lost inside me--I can't feel it! How do you dispense of used sanitary products? What if I go swimming and the tampon "floats out"? Will my dad still want me to mow the lawn?

And along the way, women share the life lessons and morals they learned from menstruation: "What getting periods teaches you," writes Bita Moghaddam, "is that life will not be fair [Boys don't have to deal with this!]; it will be full of nuisances and disasters. But you can handle it as long as you know what to wear" (page 155). "It means your body now has life for two" (page 183). Kate Zieman "thinks that first periods would be easier if we viewed them as one of the many steps toward adulthood instead of as automatic womanhood" (page 69). (This last point suggests an interesting insight: The girl/woman distinction isn't a "binary," neatly bifurcated by menarche; rather, the path from girl to woman runs along a continuum of discreet markers. And aren't the emotional markers far more important than the physiological ones? (Even Britney Spears seems to have noticed this!))

It made me sad to see the word "embarrassed" occur in so many of these accounts (Google Books counts 23 occurrences of the word). I couldn't help but notice how much the issues surrounding menarche dovetail with the constellation of similar issues surrounding (female, but not male) virginity--compare, especially, Jessica Valenti's masterful work The Purity Myth.

"Ultimately," writes Carol Tavris (in The Mismeasure of Woman), "the belief that menstruation...[is a] problem...for women is part of a larger assumption that female physiology itself is abnormal, deficient, and diseased. Because this view is so pervasive, it is easy to forget that it is not the only one possible." Here's hoping that this collection of honest sharing can bring us closer to a day when girls no longer meet menstruation with a sense of dread, embarrassment and shame--but rather with a sense of courage and self-appreciation.

The Psychology of Consciousness by Robert Evan Ornstein

The Psychology of Consciousness
by

Robert Evan Ornstein

 

I've been re-reading and re-reading this book over the years. The most helpful part of it is (for me) was his page outlining various writers comparing and contrasting the "Two Modes of Consciousness" (in Chapter 2, pp. 36-39 of the 1972 edition):

I'd really love to write a research report on each of these contrasting modes, at some point. :) But Ornstein deserves credit for putting the two side-by-side in such a perspicuous way.

Resisting Happiness by Matthew Kelly

Resisting Happiness
by

Matthew Kelly

 

A thought-provoking book. The essential argument appears to be:

(1) God created us to be in relationship with him
(2) We're (ideally?) happy only if we're pursuing our created purpose
-------
Therefore, if we resist pursuing a relationship with God, then we are "resisting happiness"

I'm not convinced that the matter is as cut-and-dried as Mr. Kelly presents it. Nonetheless, I think a lot could be learned by spelling out his specific mistake(s). For that reason, I'll re-read this book at some point. I disagreed with it, but I enjoyed it.

Ten Things I Hate about You by David Levithan

Ten Things I Hate about You
by

David Levithan

 

If I be waspish, best beware my sting -- Taming of the Shrew (Act II: scene i)

This little paperback, made into a movie in 1999, retells Shakespeare's play The Taming of the Shrew as a high school drama: Cameron and Joey carry a torch for Bianca. Bianca wants a chance to date. The problem is, Daddy won't let her start dating before her older "shrew" of a sister, Kat, begins dating herself. Solution? Patrick Verona, who's willing to woo the difficult Kat...but only if he's compen$ated for the arduous job.

One thing leads to a-farcical-nother: Cameron tutors Bianca in French ("You speak French?" he's asked; "No, but I will," he vows.). But Bianca falls for the rough charms of Joey. Bianca goes on a date with Joey. Bianca falls out of "like" with Joey. Meanwhile, Patrick perseveres in his mi$$ion to move Kat's seemingly unshakable aversion to "unwashed high school miscreants." Patrick succeeds--then finds himself falling for Kat. Kat discovers Patrick's attentions were fueled by the profit motive ("Only at first!" he protests). It takes some sorting out, but all ends well--as is par for the course in a Shakespeare comedy.

This modern rendition of the drama has its charms. It slips in a couple of allusions to The Bard (Macbeth"s "Who could refrain that...in that heart [had] courage to make love known?"; and "Sweet love, renew thy force!" from Sonnet LVI.)

The story also has its occasional thought-provoking observations: There are two kinds of looking--one respectful, "daring not touch" the apple of one's eye, and the other "that's like slurping a Coke" (page 12). There are two kinds of changes in life: "sometimes...it's totally out of your control....Sometimes, though, you have a say in where your life is going to go" (page 96). There are two kinds of kisses between lovers: a kiss to "shut up" what one's Beloved is saying, and another kiss "because [they] understand" (page 105).

I enjoyed this book: it gave me what I expected--I wanted lightly funny, with touches of teenage angst and earnestness. And that's what I got. It's worth checking out. Students might find it fun to draw out more parallels between this story and the Shakespearean original. And parallels there always are--for while times may change, people, and the love between them, never change. And since "the course of true love never did run smooth", this means there will always be some comedy in the flowering of serious love.

Letters to Malcolm: Chiefly on Prayer by C.S. Lewis

Letters to Malcolm: Chiefly on Prayer
by

C.S. Lewis

 

 In this brief collection of letters, C.S. Lewis discusses a rainbow of issues concerning all kinds of prayer: prayers of adoration, prayers of repentance, prayers of petition. Since these are only letters, Lewis's views on these matters are often sketchy, but deeply suggestive. (I think it would be quite interesting to discuss this book with a Christian reading group.)

A few bits I hope to remember from this slim volume:

1) "Does not every movement in the Passion write large some common element in the sufferings of our race? First, the prayer of anguish; not granted. Then He turns to His friends. They are asleep--as ours...are so often, or busy, or away, or preoccupied. Then He faces the Church....It condemns him....There is the State [which washes its hands of His plight]...There is...an appeal to the People [He had served and blessed]...But they have become over-night...a murderous rabble, shouting for His blood. There is, then, nothing left but God. [But] to God, [Christ's] last words are 'Why hast thou forsaken me [too]?'" (page 43) It might be interesting to discuss this passage in connection with I Corinthians 10:13.

2) I very much like Lewis's gloss on the Lord's Prayer (Matt. 6:9-13). Especially, regarding thy will be done: "...a great deal of it is to be done by God's creatures, including me. The petition, then, is not merely that I may patiently suffer God's will but also that I may vigorously do it. I must be an agent as well as a patient." (pages 25-26) And, yes indeed, this seems true--even in the context of the rest of the Sermon on the Mount (Matt. 5-7). After all, it's God's will that I not think wrathful nor lustful thoughts, nor be self-seeking in my prayer and giving. For myself, I certainly need a prayer to have the strength to adhere to those parts of God's will! I hope I can always remember Lewis's understanding of that: "Thy will be done--by me."

3) I wonder about Lewis's claim that a true "religion" must contain elements of both: (a) the miraculous ("magical" is his word, meaning an "objective efficacy which cannot be further analyzed [explained?]"); and (b) the moral ("ethical" is his word). Where do you draw the line? Lewis wisely shrugs: "I am not going to lay down rules as to the share--quantitatively considered--which the magical should have in anyone's religious life. Individual differences may be permissible. What I insist on is that it can never be reduced to zero. If it is, what remains is only morality, or culture, or philosophy." (page 104)

As one can guess, I found this book challenging and thought-provoking. I could certainly see myself re-reading it (as I think I'd need to, to fully grasp all of Lewis's remarks on prayer).