Joshua Kendall

"The Man Who Made Lists: Love, Death, Madness, and the Creation of Roget's Thesaurus" by Joshua Kendal

Putnam: 2008

Peter Mark Roget was born in a family of madness and grief. If anything saved him from these facts, it was the creation of his Thesaurus more than anything else. Joshua Kendal endeavors to produce the circumstances for this and in doing this he writes a biography that is as much entertaining as it is factual and knowledgeable about his subject. Yet, I can't help but think there is more to this story that Kendal with all of his immense research will never uncover, but what he does is fascinating and told well. Even the book itself with its chapters illustrating parts of Roget's definitions are well done.

The Roget family is beset with a genetic make-up for depression but how much is genetic and how much is environmental? That may never be known. Even one of his children seems to have inherited some of the madness and certainly Roget's mother and grandmother had it. Suicide was there too. In the darkness of the night when Roget felt madness and depression closing in around him, he classified words from an early age. It turned out to be his saving grace. His sister and daughter could not create a life of their own as insanity kept them at home. Yet, Roget had no clue as to why his relatives behaved the way they did although he was a medical doctor.

This was a time when science was waking up and making great strides in discovery but not for him. The Victorian Times was also a time when people hung onto their Christian faith and ignored many of the scientific discoveries such as the new science of Evolution by Charles Darwin and Alfred Wallace.

Kendall was careful in bringing in the world in which Roget lived in so that all of the information available could be seen in all of its implications. Some biographies, one has to look things up for more information. This is not necessary here. Yet, there is so much that is not known but not because the Kendal did not do his research but because the information simply does not exist.

The writing is clear and the information is well organized. It was enjoyable as it was informative about a remarkable man in a remarkable age. I could not put this book down.

Paul Theroux some short stories

I was introduced to Paul Theroux's work many years ago by his train books. I have read all of them through the years starting with "The Old Patagonian Express" when it came out in 1979 in hardback. I was so impressed with it that I gave it out as presents to friends and then read the rest of his travel books over the years. They remain my favorite books on train travel. I have always considered the author to be a very gifted writer and his prose is very wonderful to read.

The book that I am taking Theroux's short stories from is the following:
"The Pen/O'Henry Prize Stories: The Best Stories of the Year 2009" Edited by Laura Furman Anchor

The 22 small stories in this book are very small, often just three paragraphs long. Theroux states: "The essence of fiction writing-and travel writing too, is storytelling." The author states his influence is folk and fairy tales and this is evident in these wonderful quick and short stories.

The author said he likes to collect them and has about a hundred of them which he likes to call "Long Story Short" because that is the expression story tellers often use when recounting them. He feels that this form is one of the oldest forms of literature in the world and often told at leisure by people sitting around a fire.

Many of them are told in first person and take on the persona of different people who live assorted lives. Because the stories were so short, detail was not necessary so it would seem to be fun for a writer to create and fun for a reader to read because the author put enough in to make them very interesting. I could see people leaning forward in a circle around a fire to listen to these stories. Some of the protagonists were men, some women and all of the stories were believable.

The only question that I had in my mind was whether or not they were published as one block of stories or published in assorted publications? Would a publication print such short stories all by itself? I tended to think they were published as one block.

Carol Heding Munson

"Complete Slow Cooker Cookbook" by Carol Heding Munson Sterling: 2003

There are lots of recipes on the Internet, but I shop at the Redding Canned Foods Outlet which has many things there including fresh meat and produce. One never knows what will be there, but if it is there the price will be nice. The store backs the quality and I have taken back some things and got my money back or replacements.

During the winter, I use my crock pot quite often. I had a very nice one that I bought there a while back which went into my son's kitchen. So, I went there and bought another one for about half the price which made me very glad. I went to Barnes and Noble to pick up a cook book since my son permitted my ex-husband to get rid of my books here at my house while I was in Korea and without my permission. They included many crock pot cook books. The books were donated to the public library and went into their permanent collection. ( I was very angry and the ex-husband is not allowed in this house again. I had given permission for my clothes to be donated as they did not fit me anymore but nothing else.)

Barnes and Noble had some books on crock pots recipes on sale and one of each to a table and went through them. They were all about the same price but not the same. The following was what I wanted in a cook book:

1. I wanted a cook book that would lie flat and would not need something that would hold the book open while I read it and prepared the recipe.

2. I also wanted recipes that did not use prepared ingredients such as Campbell soups for many of them have gluten and other unwanted things in them.

3.I wanted recipes that used simple things and had alternatives such as canned beans or dried beans soaked over night. I don't like labels as I will choose whatever is on sale.

4. I also wanted a book that had an index that was accurate. I found one book with an index that was not accurate. I threw that to the side immediately.

5. I like pictures but not too many. If you have full page pictures, you don't have as many recipes.

6. I wanted a size that would make it small enough to slip in my big purse so that when I was going to the store and I did not know what I was going to make until I saw what was there I could just choose from the book what I was going to make. I could print a recipe from the Internet if I knew what I was going to make. I often don't when shopping at the Outlet.

7. I wanted a book that would use recipes for crock pot of the size I bought which is medium although I bought a large one at a second hand store which was supposedly tested and on sale. I haven't tried it yet but there must be a few recipes I could use if I want to use it later.

8. It would be nice if the recipes were gluten-free but not expected; however the recipes must be able to be converted by me to be gluten free. That is another reason that I don't want recipes to be over-loaded with certain products. For example, I can't use soy sauce. I want alternatives. I am pretty knowledgeable so can switch things but can't do all kinds of switching such as dumplings and the sort.

The above cook book met all of these expectations nicely. There were many recipes that I could use and convert. I could even make some of the meat recipes into meatless ones. It called for substituting dry ingredients with canned. There are pictures but not an abundance. Some of the recipes are main dishes and some are not. What is really important is that many of the recipes call for ingredients that are not too costly. What else would someone make things in a crock pot other than convenience. It means the cook needs to work and keep an eye on the pocketbook.

Ironically, it was also the cheapest priced at $7.98 and 224 pages.

I will report on a black bean and corn chili that I will be going to the store to shop for and cook later today.
January 21, 2011
P.S. The black bean and corn chili turned out excellent. I had to substitute a few things but it did not hurt the main recipe at all.

Libraries

When I was a kid, the public libraries were my life line to civilization, to education, to books which saved my life at a time when I needed it most. I could not afford to buy a book although on occasion I was able to buy a second-hand book from a thrift store. Now, that times are hard in today's economy because of unwise spending, attempts are being made to make up for this on the backs of the less fortunate. This means the young, the poor, the old and disabled and those who can least afford it. One target by the new governor of California , Jerry Brown, is the public libraries.

While Republicans debate tax breaks for those in the upper income levels, it will be those who have no access to the Internet, books, newspapers and to college education that will be carrying the burden of past policies of a broken economy. I am not near the income that is supposedly needing further tax breaks, but I make enough money to buy my own books. I have a college education. I am in no danger of being homeless, but turn the clock around and if I was suddenly back in the 1960's or 1970's I would be in trouble. I would not be able to use the public library to even read the books I did read during that time.

I used to do housework to support my children when I was just out of college with a college degree and would take left overs from my employers in order to feed my children. I could not find a decent paying job until my name came up in the government lottery and my score was high enough to qualify for a job. I never stopped working and retired several years ago so I could work at home. At the time, government jobs paid less than private sector jobs but that was for men and not for women. For women, they were the end of the rainbow for they paid pretty close to what men were paid. I never left government employment. Now, it is government workers that are paid more. It's ironic.

I lived in libraries and got to know the librarians over the years. They were very kind to me and would often hold books under the counter before hold policies were in place. When there was a scandal about "The Last Temptation of Christ" by Nikos Kazantzakis, it was a librarian that gave me the one copy from underneath the counter for me to read. It was an astonishingly beautiful book that gave me a wonderful introduction to Kazantzakis that I was never to forget. I remember reading "Lady Chatterley's Lover" by D.H. Lawrence and realizing that the book was a great book not because of the sex described in the book but because of many other factors. I learned not to depend on what was in the press about books as many journalists never read the books they wrote about.

I learned to do my own research. It was what Rachel Maddow said yesterday on her show. You can't do research on everything on the Internet. She said there is the evident lack of information on sexual matters but there is the lack of information about gun control because of the strength of the gun lobby. Maddow said you still need to use the library. Barnes and Noble is a wonderful book store but they don't carry out of print books. You still need to use a library. If an author is not popular, it will not be in a book store.

Authors fall into popularity and out of it all of the time. The library carries all of them. Some authors are no longer read because of politics or they are associated with the wrong schools of thought. They are still sitting on shelves in libraries as long as no one has noticed them there. Right now there is a ongoing controversy about "Huckleberry Finn" by Mark Twain. A publisher is going to take some of the "bad words" out of it so it can be put back into the classrooms. Most libraries have the book with the offending words in it. The Library of Congress is supposed to have all of the books.

I believe in free speech which includes saying or writing whatever one wants in a book. Everyone has the right not to read something if it is offensive. I have a Tweet account and every so often I find an account that is offensive to me and will "unfollow" it. I have that right. I have done it only once. I did not report it as offensive as it might not be to someone else. Books can't just jump off the shelf and force the reader to read it. It is the same for my television and for movies. People will complain about what is on television. Well, don't watch it. Turn the darn thing off. I do. I would rather read anyhow.

I intend on writing letters to different people about the importance of the libraries including Governor Brown. I can't think of anything else I can do at this point. When a large portion of the population does not have access to knowledge such is in libraries they will become tools of those who eat at the underbelly of civilization such as the brown shirts of Germany in the 1920's. We, as a people, can't afford this.

Reality and novels

At a local book store, there was an effort to start a book club and I showed up with high hopes. There are so few book clubs in my city. There were three people, counting myself, who did come which seemed a disappointment; but I thought we might be able to pick up some people in the future. My hopes were crushed when one member, a high school science teacher, said that there will not be any books that were fiction. He was very authoritarian and sure of himself being able to set the rules. The other member was a housewife that did the books for her husband's construction business. She said she just wanted to read and did not care what the book was. I asked the teacher why he he would not consider novels.

"Novels are not based on reality." He said firmly. "We should deal with truth only."

Needless to say, the book club never went anywhere. The first book we read was on the Ancient Greeks and the Science teacher said he could have done better. I liked the book, myself. I never went back and it did not attract anymore members and folded.

I have heard this argument before that novels portray life in a fictional mode and do not represent reality. In the Victorian Period, girls were often forbidden to read novels because there was too much reality in novels that girls who were thought to be innocent and pure,were not able to face although many women in the poorer so-called classes in Europe and America, had to deal with a very harsh reality in their lives. They just could not read about it.

D.H. Lawrence put sexuality in his books and stories and poetry. Many people thought of him as a pornographer although his work is considered mild today. Lawrence did more in his books than put sex in. He put the changing reality of England in his books and that also offended many people. A novel does best when it does put reality in the story. People can identify what is going on in a story or novel with what is happening in their lives even if it is described on a planet in another solar system.

Again, I have heard the complaint that novels do not describe reality but are fiction and thus not based on truth. I have heard this from pulpits when I was required to go to church as a child to opinions from people I have known over the years. To my mind, the opposite is true. An author takes what he or she sees as reality and creates a story for people to follow in a book. If it was not plausible, people would not read it. Harry Potter is a boy people get to know in J.K. Rowland's books although the circumstances of wizards and witches are not something that people see everyday or at all. The characters are totally reality based although the circumstances are not. Everyone knows of a man who is ambitious and evil to a fault and gathers followers around him, only to be defeated in the end. An example would be Adolf Hitler. History is full of such people. The character, Sherlock Holmes, was based on someone who was a real person that the author knew.

Novels are truth otherwise no one would read them. What is reality? It is a version of what is before our eyes and can be different. Even history differs from historian to historian. Some biographies are really novels and some novels are really biographies. Transcripts of court proceedings are full of eyewitness accounts that are unlike each other. Some people question whether or not there is a reality but many realities to chose from.

I read "The Last Temptation of Christ" by Nikos Kazantzakis and I never considered the fact that it was true. It was one great book. It was one very good version on the life of Jesus Christ and it may or may not have been accurate. I am not a Christian so it had no significance for me since I am a Buddhist. I will bring up another book, "Siddhartha",a novel by Hermann Hesse. This is a novel on the life of the Buddha that I do not consider to be accurate but a great read. This brings into this discussion why people read novels and that is to read about other people's lives and versions of those lives so that they get clarity about their own. I am sure there are other reasons. Who know what is true and what is not as long as it resembles the truth?

It was a shame about that book club at the book store. The teacher was very dogmatic and looked upon the other woman and me as his students which was out of line. When I was a teacher in high school, I did not run a democracy. A book club of adults is by definition a democracy. He did not understand that, but then his wife was the manager of the book store. He knew he could get away with it. When he said he could write a book as good as the writer of the first book we read, I told him as I said to all wannabee writers: "Then do it." To the best of my knowledge he never has. I am sure he doesn't read novels either which is his loss.

Why read?

The question at the beginning of the post is why read? I don't expect to answer this fully here because the subject area is too vast. I can't even expect to state definitively why I read except that I prefer to read over other forms of gaining information such as watching videos, films, television, movies and so on. I find it so much more satisfying and fulfilling.

There are times I will watch a favorite program such as The Daily Show with Jon Stewart and will laugh and laugh at the end of the 30 minute program including commercials. There will be some spots in it that I will enjoy more than others and might revisit it on the website. I might watch The Stephen Colbert Show. Colbert is a young and energetic performer who is very talented, but I still prefer Stewart. In 30 minutes, the show is over and I go back to what I was doing before I stopped to watch the show. Stewart is not someone I pick up when I feel like it and then put it down when I get tired unless I am reading one of his book.

When I was a child, I lived in a very dysfunctional situation with parents with huge problems and in a neighborhood also with problems. I found comfort in books. I learned to read in school and my mother had a few books in the house that I read from cover to cover more than several times. I had a favorite aunt who taught me how to use the public library and signed me up for a card. My mother and father never took me there. I walked there often. I also had an imagination which helped and grew when I started to read. There was those few times I went to the show with my family and that was included in my imagination and there was the television still in its infancy. The television was a source of some of my problems as it showed the McCarthy Hearings which were a problem since my mother was born and raised in Russia and the neighborhood had their own witch hunt and picked on my family because of that. Some of our neighbors were ugly and I never forgot that. Books were a refuge and solace from that. This was the early 1950's. I felt I was rejected by people both in my family and neighborhood for who I was but never by a book.

I have two sons. One son rarely reads and watches television most of the time he is awake. The other one rarely watches television and reads often. The one that reads works and owns two companies. The one that does not read has a family of four children and a partner. Each is successful in his own way. The second one is disabled. I took them to the library often when they were growing up. I buy books for my grandchildren. I don't use the library anymore since I had to pay for books that I returned and they said I did not. I do use their second hand book store though.

When I had no choice, I used the library but learned to read too fast because of the due dates that were stamped in the books. That was better than not reading at all. Now, I buy the books and read them at a much slower pace. In college, I was a fast reader. I don't read all that fast anymore because I missed the richness of the language and the way a book was constructed. I also was in a hurry to read all the books I could. Now, I even re-read books as I did in Korea.
It was very fruitful to have done so.

I read children and young adult books now. When I was a young adult there were little to read but now there is a rich treasure of good books to read. Scholastic Press puts out wonderful books at a good price. Unfortunately, it is hard to find such books at a second hand store. There are many books in a second hand store that I don't read, but I have never ran out of good authors although I did when I was in my younger years. I like the current variety that is available and the books written by authors in other countries that are now translated. I find that often I am so familiar with authors that are now translated that it is hard not to skip ahead. An example is C.G. Jung who I am reading now. At one time, I considered learning German to read him. Now, I don't have to.

I am a writer and in order to remain a writer I have to read. I want to read authors who are better than me. I want to see innovative writing but not writing that I can't figure out what is happening. I resisted the group of writers know as the"Beats" for a long time since I got the impression that they were far out of the norm that I was used to. The first book I read out of this group was "On the Road" by Jack Kerouac which forever changed my idea of who they were. I have since read other books by other so-called Beats. I usually try writers who win the Nobel Prize for Literature if I had not read them before. I read authors who win prizes such as the Pulitzer Prize, National Book Award, and so forth just to get names of writers I have not read before. I choose books for their covers, from the recommendations from Bookmarks (I highly recommend this source) Magazines, other writers, Oprah and everyone else that seems to know what is a good writer.

I intend to change this blog which was about books that I had read into more about books in general and anything that comes to mind. I don't seem to have many readers, but if anyone has any recommendations I promise to take it on.

A new direction for this blog, somewhat

I stopped writing in here because I had no access to books for a while. That did not mean that I was not reading for I never stop reading. It was that I was doing it a bit differently. A few people who did read this blog for time to time stopped because I was not adding posts. That was certainly understandable.

I spent a lot of money getting things that were taken from my house including my car. I am living in one room in my house while my youngest son and his family live in the rest of the house. In turn, he takes care of the place and pays the utilities. I will have to wait until I make up for the loss of someone who took it upon himself to clean out my house including hundreds of books, my furniture including bookcases, cars, and so much I can't even put down without bursting into tears. That person no longer has access to my house. That also means not buying books for now.

I can dream though. One book that I am dreaming about is "Bird Cloud, A Memoir" by Annie Proulx. I had read "The Shipping News(1993) and loved it. What has really endeared Proulx to me is the book of short stories, "Wyoming Stories" that I checked out of the library. It included the finest short story I have ever read in my life, "Brokeback Mountain." It appeared in the magazine, The New Yorker. I went to see the movie and thought it was very good but the short story was absolutely outstanding. The use of flashback which was not in the movie and his talking about the relationship he had with his friend and lover was haunting and the movie caught some of it.

The memoir which is listed in the magazine, Bookmarks (No.50 Jan/Feb 2011) states is about the building of her dream house on 640 acres in Wyoming. I just want to know more about who this author is. The house went hundreds of thousands of dollars over budget. I have never built a house in my life and can't see myself doing it. I did buy a new car once and that was nice, but that was years ago. I drove it until it was time for it to go to the junk yard.

One of the reasons I loved Proulx's short stories is that they were easy to understand although not simple plots. They were written in language that used language that is in use today and in simple prose but clear and concise language. When she talked about Wyoming, one could see it quite readily. I did not have to go there in person to see it although I had. Too often I read a story and I don't really understand what is happening. That is one of the reasons I love reading W. Somerset Maugham's stories. There is no doubt what is happening and where my feet are in the telling of it. Perhaps that is why I love murder mysteries.

Catch-up

When I was in Korea, I gave all of my books away to my ex-students. I was going to give them away to some English Teachers but they were members of a Christian Church that did not believe in reading books outside of their faith. So, I gave them to students that wanted to improve their skills and also taught English on occasion. All of the books that I had were classic books but were considered risque by some as they were by such writers as Balzac and Camus. Until I came home, I just re-read the short stories of Sherlock Holmes by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle on my reader.

Since then, I have returned to the United States and continue to read. I am reading Oliver Sacks, Carl Gustav Jung, and Joseph Campbell as well as some Beat Writers. Unfortunately, I left my Sony Reader in Los Angeles and some books that I was reading there too when I left. Luckily, I got out of Korea before the weather got so bad all over the world and before the rains really hit California. I am working on my own book of short stories.

I have learned to Tweet and am enjoying it very much. One reads a lot when there are tweets out there. I am now watching television but I am watching pretty much the same programs as I did before except more of PBS since I could not get everything. I watch Countdown, The Rachel Maddow Program and The Daily Show and The Stephen Colbert Show. Those were the ones I was watching in Korea. I also follow them by Tweets. Stephen Colbert is especially fun to follow. I do these blogs and have a Facebook account. I now buy the New York Times from time to time as well as follow their tweets. I watched my first Masterpiece since coming back and it was alright.

I have never not read, and I am hoping the books I was reading in LA will be coming in the mail soon from my son in Los Angeles.

Have fun reading.