Tag: Nonfiction

Books

Book 68: Waiting for Snow in Havana – Carlos Eire

Geoff W

This book was both brilliant and boring. There were times when I couldn’t stop reading and times when all I wanted to do was abandon the book for another. Mostly I’m glad I finished it and hopefully it is one of those books that in a few weeks/months I’ll appreciate having read it.

I was excited about seeing Eire speak at the upcoming Boston Book Festival and I still plan on going to the panel, but I’m not as excited as I was. This isn’t the first book I’ve read that let me down. Leaving it on my list for so long without reading it, removed a lot of the luster and excitement from when I first found it and wanted to read it. Either way I can’t get my copy signed as Tom accidentally spilled water all over it and I had to check out a new version from the library to finish reading it (the main impetus in actually finishing it).

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Books

Book 65: From Boys to Men: Gay Men Write About Growing Up – Ted Gideonse and Rob Williams (eds.)

Geoff W

This book is a bit unusual in that I have no idea when or where I picked up this collection of essays. I’ve had it since I moved into my new place last September, but I have no idea where it came from. But wherever I got it from I’m glad I did (if you loaned it to me and want it back let me know :-D).

From Boys to Men is a collection of stories/essays from men growing up and coming to terms with their sexuality and masculinity. What I enjoyed most about this book is that it wasn’t all about sex or who one has (or doesn’t have) sex with, and that the editors and authors wrote about masculinity and degrees of masculinity which is often times demonized or forgotten. I also appreciated the wide variety of views included from men of varying racial, geographical and socio-economic origins. Rather than write about each of the stories – I’ve provided a few quotes and you can read the quotes and my reactions to/about the particular story/quote.

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Books

Book 54: The Professor and the Madman – Simon Winchester

Geoff W

The Professor and the Madman - Simon WinchesterThe complete title of this work is The Professor and the Madman: A Tale of Murder, Insanity, and the Making of the Oxford English Dictionary and it fully lives up to this title. It is the history of Professor James Murray (the Professor) and Dr. W.C. Minor (the Madman) and their serendipitously linked lives through one of the greatest feats of the English-speaking world.

It’s a fascinating combination of historical novel about the Oxford English Dictionary and Biography of its longest editors (Murray) and greatest contributors (Minor). If there’s one major critique I have is that it often felt like the author purposefully used a ridiculous synonyms when a simple word would suffice. However, with his obsession for lexicography and the OED in particular, it’s not too surprising.

Click here for the recommendation, quotes and the rest of the review.

Books, Professional Development

Book 39: Outward Bound USA: Crew Not Passengers – Josh Miner and Joe Boldt

Geoff W

“I was suddenly aware of how ignorant I was, alive with curiosity, doing academic work at a level I would not have thought possible a few years before. I did not know it yet, but I was learning the basic educational fact of life: the answers are meaningless until the questions are asked.” (17)

This quote pretty much sums up my review of this book and my beliefs in the need to be challenged in education and the push/drive for excellence. Not only was I pleasantly surprised by this book, I learned a lot more about the history of Outward Bound USA and its intricate ties to experiential education in the United States. Now this might seem like a bit of a contradiction with a title like Outward Bound USA: Crew Not Passengers, but I honestly wasn’t sure what to expect. The book sat on the bookshelf in my cubicle the entire time I’ve been at my current position and one day I decided I should read it and not only did it reaffirm my decisions to work where I work, but it also further informed my belief that classroom learning is important, but it’s what you do outside of the classroom in relation that’s just as important.

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Book Group, Books

Book 29: Role Models – John Waters

Geoff W

What a fascinating memoir. I knew who John Waters was based on his picture, but had no idea what he had done and who he was in Hollywood. He’s a cult filmmaker, I’ve only seen Hairspray, but recognized a few of the other movies listed. There were two things that I found absolutely fascinating about this book, the first was his fascination with gristliness/grunge/dirtiness and how he wrote the memoir itself.

The writing of the novel was in such a way that Waters was not only interested in, but obsessed with the grunge/gristliness of both his hometown and everywhere he is and this shows in the topics of his memoir. From a brief tirade about men washing their hands in the bathroom like surgeons having only taken a piss and not rubbed off or anything, to his obsession with Rei Kawakubo of Comme des Garçons an off kilter fashion designer (this is a blog about the guerilla stores that Comme des Garçons holds and that Waters talks extensively about). The ‘mistakes’ and slightly ‘gruesome’ design aspect seem to hold sway over Waters and he describes them with such love and detail that he’s clearly behind this designer (as if we couldn’t tell).

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