Books like this one are the ones that make me unsure about calling what I do here at Semicolon “book reviews.” I’m not sure Rene Gutteridge’s thriller/mystery/adult novel Listen was all that well written, although it was certainly adequate and told a straightforward story. There were a few places where the motivations of the characters were unclear to me. And I thought the plot had a few holes in it. The characters were OK, but none of them was all that complicated or showed that much growth and change.
Nevertheless, Listen made me think about important stuff, and it held my interest all day today as I read it. And if a book makes me think, I value and recommend it. I’m not that interested in finding the picky little issues that make the book less than critically acclaimed and worthy and pointing them out to all of you (if I’m smart enough to find and articulate those problems in the first place). If that lack of attention to critical detail makes me a bad reviewer, then maybe I’m not really a reviewer. Maybe I’m just a book talker. Or a book discusser.
So, now that I’ve got that distinction off my chest, Listen by Rene Gutteridge made me think about words and the power of words and about gossip and privacy and about what we should post on the Internet and how seriously we should take the words of others posted on blogs or Facebook or Twitter for all to see. I have a friend who posted some pictures on her Facebook page a few months ago. Some people in her church didn’t like the pictures, or the captions that went with them, and didn’t think they were appropriate. These people took their concerns to the church leadership instead of to the young lady in question. The entire matter became a huge Issue, and a lot of people were hurt. Some of them are still hurting.
Listen deals with this problem of words and how accusations and indiscreet words can hurt, especially when those allegations and loose words become public and get distorted by gossip and hearsay. In the book, someone is posting private conversations verbatim on the internet. People start reading and see their own words and words about themselves, and people get hurt and lose trust in one another. The website in the book, called www.listentoyourself.net, is made up of random private conversations that the website author somehow manages to overhear and transcribe. Nevertheless, even though this is a book about the power of the internet, it’s also a book about a problem as old as humanity itself–the power of the tongue and of words to both heal and harm.
When we put bits into the mouths of horses to make them obey us, we can turn the whole animal. Or take ships as an example. Although they are so large and are driven by strong winds, they are steered by a very small rudder wherever the pilot wants to go. Likewise, the tongue is a small part of the body, but it makes great boasts. Consider what a great forest is set on fire by a small spark. The tongue also is a fire, a world of evil among the parts of the body. It corrupts the whole body, sets the whole course of one’s life on fire, and is itself set on fire by hell.
All kinds of animals, birds, reptiles and sea creatures are being tamed and have been tamed by mankind, but no human being can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison. With the tongue we praise our Lord and Father, and with it we curse human beings, who have been made in God’s likeness. James 3:3-9
What do you think? What should we do about words that we see and read on the internet? If you see words that you think are harmful to either the person posting them or to others, how do you respond? If the words are public (on the internet), should your response also be public? What if the words have nothing to do with you? Is it still your business?Should you insert yourself, either publicly or privately, into a conflict that others are having in a public forum? If so, when? Should people say things in private that they would be embarrassed to have made public for all to see? Should we say everything (on Facebook, for instance) that we’re thinking as long as we don’t think it will hurt anyone else? What kind of power do words have? Where do you draw the line in sharing personal details about your life on your blog or on other websites? How can we tame our tongues so as not to hurt and wound others?
If you’ve read Listen, you may have even more insight into some of these questions. If you’re concerned with these sorts of problems and issues, you may want to pick up a copy of Rene Gutteridge’s thought-provoking book.
3. Check out the finalists announcement at the Cybils blog. Winners of the Cybils Awards for Children’s and Young Adult Literature are announced every year of Valentine’s Day.
17-26. More recommended novels about love and marriage: The Love Letters by Madeleine L’Engle. Secret Keeper by Mitali Perkins Random Harvest by James Hilton Green Mansions by WH Hudson. ““Our souls were near together, like two raindrops side by side, drawing irresistibly nearer, ever nearer; for now they had touched and were not two, but one inseparable drop, crystallised beyond change, not to be disintegrated by time, nor shattered by death’s blow, nor resolved by any alchemy.†Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte. Yes. Heathcliff and Cathy were actually the worst of lovers –capricious, unfaithful while remaining bonded to one another, but let’s not quibble. “I am Heathcliff!” says Cathy, and what better description of the marriage of two souls is there in literature? Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte. Jane and Mr. Rochester are as radically faithful and loving in their own way as Cathy and Heathcliff imagine themselves to be. And they actually get together before they die, surely an advantage for lovers. Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen. Elizabeth Bennett and Mr. Darcy are the epitome of lovers in tension that finally leads to consummation. Gaudy Night by Dorothy Sayers. Lord Peter Wimsey and Harriet Vane are such a hesitant, battle-scarred pair of lovers that thye almost don’t get together at all, but that’s what makes the series of romance-within-a mystery novels that culminates in Gaudy Night so very romantic. They’ve used the same formula in TV series ever since, but Sayers is much better than any Remington Steele (Laura and Remington) or Cheers (Sam and Diane). And Ms. Sayers was even able to write a credibly interesting epilogue novel in Busman’s Honeymoon, which is better than the TV writers can do most of the time. At Home in Mitford by Jan Karon. Who says love is only for the young? Father Tim and Cynthia make it through thick and thin and through five or six books, still in love, still throwing quotations at one another. They’re great lovers in the best sense of the word.
27. My Love Song Playlist (very retro–70’s) The Twelfth of Never by Donnie Osmond. Cherish by David Cassidy and the Partridge Family. The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face by Roberta Flack Just the Way You Are by Billy Joel
Moons and Junes and Ferris wheels
The dizzy dancing way you feel
As ev’ry fairy tale comes real
I’ve looked at love that way
I’ve looked at love from both sides now
From give and take, and still somehow
It’s love’s illusions I recall
I really don’t know love at all. ~Joni Mitchell
I Honestly Love You by Olivia Newton John. Evergreen by Barbra Streisand. Can’t Help Falling in Love With You by Elvis Presley. Laughter in the Rain by Neil Sedaka. L-O-V-E by Nat King Cole.
28-34. Recommended Movies for Valentine’s Day Marty. “Ernest Borgnine (Oscar for Best Actor) stars as a 35 year old Italian butcher who’s still not married in spite of the fact that all his younger brothers and sisters have already tied the knot.” It Happened One Night. Clark Gable is a reporter in this romantic comedy about a run-away rich girl. Much Ado About Nothing. Kenneth Branaugh and Emma Thompson. The reparte between Benedick and Beatrice is so memorable that you may find yourself quoting Shakespeare in spite of yourself. My Big Fat Greek Wedding. I really loved the fact that Ian knew that he was not just marrying a girl but also her family. The Princess Bride. Romance at its finest and funniest. “That day, she was amazed to discover that when he was saying ‘As you wish’, what he meant was, ‘I love you.’ And even more amazing was the day she realized she truly loved him back.” You’ve Got Mail. Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan are a great pair. Romeo and Juliet. The Franco Zefferelli version.
53. If you didn’t manage to send out Christmas cards or a Christmas letter, or even if you did, use Valentine’s Day as an excuse to communicate with family and friends by sending out a Valentine card and family letter.
60. Make a list of fifty famous couples (Romeo and Juliet, Adam and Eve, Isaac and Rebekah, Scarlett O’Hara and Rhett Butler). Put each name on a separate slip of paper or card and see how many your kids can match together.
65. Have a “Golden Girls Valentine’s Day Party” for the over sixty ladies in your church, your family, or your neighborhood. From The Common Room.
66. 1968 movie: The Love Bug with Dean Jones, Michele Lee, and Buddy Hackett. Herbie the Volkswagon Beetle with a mind of its own inspires love wherever he goes.
73. Give out valentines to all your friends and neighbors with these verses printed on them: “Beloved, let us love one another. For love is of God, and everyone who loveth is born of God and knoweth God. He that loveth not, knoweth not God, for God is love.†I John 4:7-8
I’m focusing my Reading Through Africa project on south central Africa because of the mission trip that some members of my church are planning for this summer to Zambia. They will be working at Kazembe Orphanage in July, God willing, and I am trying to help them to prepare for that journey.
However, my reading has distributed itself around and about Zambia for the most part because I’m finding very little fiction or nonfiction actually set in Zambia itself. I have a list of a few titles that someone very kindly suggested to me, but so far I haven’t found too many of them available at the library. Anyway, the following book takes place in the Democratic Republic of Congo which borders Zambia, and it has given me a feel for the political situation, the culture, the peoples, and the rhythms of the entire region of south central Africa, although of course, conditions in one country cannot be generalized and made applicable to all nations in the region. Kazembe Orphanage is located just across the river from the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Blood River: A Journey to Africa’s Broken Heart by Tim Butcher. Mr. Butcher set out in 2004 to retrace the footsteps of the famous British explorer Henry Morton Stanley across the Democratic Republic of the Congo from east to west, from the eastern border town of Kalemie on the shore of Lake Tanganyika to the Congo River and downriver to the Atlantic coast. Stanley was the first outsider to map the Congo River as he traveled its length in 1874-1877, almost losing his life in the process. Tim Butcher hears repeatedly while planning his own journey that the trip is “impossible” and at the least “very dangerous.” In spite of war, terrorism, widespread corruption and lack of governmental authority, Mr. Butcher makes his way across the DRC by motorbike, steamer, and dugout canoe, and as he travels he recalls the history of the places he travels through and reports on the present-day conditions. In almost every case, the state of the towns and the people in the DRC is pitiable and far more perilous and poverty-stricken than it was back in the mid-twentieth century before and immediately after the country gained its independence from Belgium (1960). From Wikipedia:
The Second Congo War, beginning in 1998, devastated the country, involved seven foreign armies and is sometimes referred to as the “African World War”. Despite the signing of peace accords in 2003, fighting continues in the east of the country. In eastern Congo, the prevalence of rape and other sexual violence is described as the worst in the world. The war is the world’s deadliest conflict since World War II, killing 5.4 million people.
Although citizens of the DRC are among the poorest in the world, having the second lowest nominal GDP per capita, the Democratic Republic of Congo is widely considered to be the richest country in the world regarding natural resources; with untapped deposits of raw minerals estimated to be worth in excess of US$24 trillion.
The contrast between the wealth of natural resources in the country and the poverty of the people is astounding and heart-breaking as Mr. Butcher travels through one wrecked, crumbling, and lawless town after another. He concludes that the greatest need in the DRC is not money or even education, but simple stability and even justice and the rule of law. Without a framework and infrastructure of honest government the people cannot be safe enough to begin to improve their lives or to educate their children to something better. Blood River gives consequently a tragic picture of prospects for the future in the DRC, as Mr. Butcher sees little or nothing that would lead him to hope that the DRC will change or become a more law-abiding and decent place to live. Indeed, according to Wikipedia again, “In 2009 people in the Congo may still be dying at a rate of an estimated 45,000 per month, and estimates of the number who have died from the long conflict range from 900,000 to 5,400,000. The death toll is due to widespread disease and famine; reports indicate that almost half of the individuals who have died are children under the age of 5. This death rate has prevailed since efforts at rebuilding the nation began in 2004.”
“Show me the books he loves and I shall know/The man far better than through mortal friends.”~S. Weir Mitchell
If you’re not familiar with and linking to and perusing the Saturday Review of Books here at Semicolon, you’re missing out. Here’s how it usually works. Find a review on your blog posted sometime during the previous week of a book you were reading or a book you’ve read. The review doesn’t have to be a formal sort of thing. You can just write your thoughts on a particular book, a few ideas inspired by reading the book, your evaluation, quotations, whatever.
Then on Saturday, you post a link here at Semicolon in Mr. Linky to the specific post where you’ve written your book review. Don’t link to your main blog page because this kind of link makes it hard to find the book review, especially when people drop in later after you’ve added new content to your blog. In parentheses after your name, add the title of the book you’re reviewing. This addition will help people to find the reviews they’re most interested in reading.
After linking to your own reviews, you can spend as long as you want reading the reviews of other bloggers for the week and adding to your wishlist of books to read. That’s how my own TBR list has become completely unmanageable and the reason I can’t join any reading challenges. I have my own personal challenge that never ends.
“A Poet is the most unpoetical thing in existence because he has no Identity.”~John Keats
Thou still unravish’d bride of quietness,
Thou foster-child of silence and slow time,
Sylvan historian, who canst thus express
A flowery tale more sweetly than our rhyme:
What leaf-fring’d legend haunt about thy shape
Of deities or mortals, or of both,
In Tempe or the dales of Arcady?
What men or gods are these? What maidens loth?
What mad pursuit? What struggle to escape?
What pipes and timbrels? What wild ecstasy?
Heard melodies are sweet, but those unheard
Are sweeter: therefore, ye soft pipes, play on;
Not to the sensual ear, but, more endear’d,
Pipe to the spirit ditties of no tone:
Fair youth, beneath the trees, thou canst not leave
Thy song, nor ever can those trees be bare;
Bold lover, never, never canst thou kiss,
Though winning near the goal – yet, do not grieve;
She cannot fade, though thou hast not thy bliss,
For ever wilt thou love, and she be fair!
Ah, happy, happy boughs! that cannot shed
Your leaves, nor ever bid the spring adieu;
And, happy melodist, unwearied,
For ever piping songs for ever new;
More happy love! more happy, happy love!
For ever warm and still to be enjoy’d,
For ever panting, and for ever young;
All breathing human passion far above,
That leaves a heart high-sorrowful and cloy’d,
A burning forehead, and a parching tongue.
Who are these coming to the sacrifice?
To what green altar, O mysterious priest,
Lead’st thou that heifer lowing at the skies,
And all her silken flanks with garlands drest?
What little town by river or sea shore,
Or mountain-built with peaceful citadel,
Is emptied of this folk, this pious morn?
And, little town, thy streets for evermore
Will silent be; and not a soul to tell
Why thou art desolate, can e’er return.
O Attic shape! Fair attitude! with brede
Of marble men and maidens overwrought,
With forest branches and the trodden weed;
Thou, silent form, dost tease us out of thought
As doth eternity: Cold Pastoral!
When old age shall this generation waste,
Thou shalt remain, in midst of other woe
Than ours, a friend to man, to whom thou say’st,
“Beauty is truth, truth beauty,” – that is all
Ye know on earth, and all ye need to know.
I once wrote a paper for an art history class on a Grecian urn; Keats wrote a world famous, cryptic, and oft-quoted poem. And therein lies the difference between me and poor John Keats.
Stone of Destiny.Recommended by HG at The Common Room. I enjoyed this movie based on a true incident in 1950 when four Scots student stole the Stone of Scone from Westminster Abbey and returned it to Scotland from whence it came back in the thirteenth century.
Bright Star.Also recommended by HG at The Common Room. Based on the life, romantic entanglements, and death of Romantic poet John Keats. This one was a little too sad and hopeless for my tastes; I think I’m developing a prejudice against all Romantic poets. They were all so emo, which I guess was the point.
Les Miserables in Concert. An old favorite that we enjoyed together as a family.
Celtic Thunder: Christmas. We didn’t get this one until after Christmas, but we watched (and swooned) and sang along anyway.
The urchins watched other things, too. They (we?) watch too many movies. I’m working on that issue.
Attention Houston area book bloggers! It’s time to come out of hibernation! Jennifer Donovan who blogs at 5 Minutes for Books and at Snapshot and Sherry Early of Semicolon, are planning a Houston area book bloggers get-together, meet-up, brunch and spring awakening for all Houston area book bloggers.
You’re invited to Jen’s new house in northwest Houston at 10:30 AM on Saturday, March 5th. Bring a brunch-type dish to share and a friendly face and lots of bookish attitude. You’re also welcome to bring ARC’s or review copies of books that you’ve finished and that you would like to pass on to someone else. Email Jen at (5minutesforbooksATgmail.com) for a street address and directions. Please feel free to pass this invitation on to other Houston-area book bloggers or to post the invitation on your blog. We’re going to have a Houston Readers and Bloggers Meet the Springtime gathering so that we can meet and get to know each other and celebrate books and blogging together. We hope you’ll be able to come.
If you’re hoping to come on March 5th or if you can’t make it this time but would be interested in future gatherings, please fill out the form below so that we can get an idea of where people live and who’s blogging books in Houston.
Children’s Fiction: Moon Over Manifest by Clare Vanderpool. Semicolon review here. Dragon’s Gate by Laurence Yep.
Young Adult Fiction: After the Dancing Days by Margaret L. Rostkowski. Heist Society by Ally Carter. Split by Swati Avashti. Semicolon review here. The Wager by Donna Jo Napoli. Semicolon review here. The Life of Glass by Jillian Cantor. Harmonic Feedback by Tara Kelly. Amy and Roger’s Epic Detour by Morgan Matson. Ship Breaker by Paolo Bacigalupi. Semicolon review here.
Adult Fiction: The Forsyte Saga by John Galsworthy. Valeria’s Cross by Kathi Macias. The Identity Man by Andrew Klavan. Semicolon review here. The Unbearable Lightness of Scones by Alexander McCall Smith. Semicolon review here. Mrs. ‘arris Goes to Paris by Paul Gallico. Little Bee by Chris Cleave. Semicolon review here.
Nonfiction You Are What You See: Watching Movies Through a Christian Lens by Scott Nehring. Semicolon review here. The Eye of the Elephant by Delia and Mark Owens. Semicolon review here. The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind by William Kamkwamba and Bryan Mealer.
Favorite Nonfiction Book of the Month: The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind by William Kamkwamba and Bryan Mealer. Inspirational, Thomas Edison-type story with much tragedy and questioning mixed in. Semicolon review here.
Favorite Fiction Book of the Month: Ship Breaker by Paolo Bacigalupi.
My Bible Reading Project is going pretty well. I’ve read through Genesis, on track to finish Mark this weekend, and several of the Psalms. I also read Galatians, mostly aloud to the urchins, but I can’t say I was very successful in explaining the distinction between keeping the Law for the law’s sake and keeping it out of gratitude for what Christ has done. The urchins stared at me blankly for the most part as I engaged in this lesson in theology for their benefit. Ah, well, push on.
Poetry Project: The poems are posting on Fridays for Poetry Friday, and I’m enjoying them, even though we are in the Romantic period right now. I think I’m becoming an anti-Romantic poetry reader.
Operation Clean House is going nowhere. I haven’t even attempted to put together an Exercise and Diet Project. If anyone know of a way to exercise without actual physical labor being involved, please let me know.
Nevertheless, Listen made me think about important stuff, and it held my interest all day today as I read it. And if a book makes me think, I value and recommend it. I’m not that interested in finding the picky little issues that make the book less than critically acclaimed and worthy and pointing them out to all of you (if I’m smart enough to find and articulate those problems in the first place). If that lack of attention to critical detail makes me a bad reviewer, then maybe I’m not really a reviewer. Maybe I’m just a book talker. Or a book discusser.
