Gary Harkness is a football player and student
at Logos College, West Texas. During a season of unprecedented success on the
football field, he becomes increasingly obsessed with the threat of nuclear
war. Both frightened and fascinated by the prospect, he listens to his
team-mates discussing match tactics in much the same terms as military generals
might contemplate global conflict. Offering a timely and topical look at human
beings' obsession with conflict and confrontation, End Zone is a clever,
playful and, above all, funny novel, which confirms DeLillo's status as one of
the great American writers of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries, and
reaffirms the unerring incisive accuracy of his portrayal of the modern world.
Note
Part Semi-Tough, part
Catch 22. Sometimes elliptical story of a smart New England boy playing
football at a small college in Texas. Lots of worries about nuclear war, and
much more philsophy from the seventies. Very much of its time.
All of us lead two parallel lives: the
one we are actively living, and the one we feel we should have had or
might yet have. As hard as we try to exist in the moment, the unlived life
is an inescapable presence, a shadow at our heels. And this itself can
become the story of our lives: an elegy to unmet needs and
sacrificed desires. We become haunted by the myth of our own potential, of what
we have in ourselves to be or to do. And this can make of our lives a perpetual
falling-short.
But what happens if
we remove the idea of failure from the equation? With his flair for
graceful paradox, the acclaimed psychoanalyst Adam Phillips suggests that if we
accept frustration as a way of outlining what we really want, satisfaction
suddenly becomes possible. To crave a life without frustration is to crave a
life without the potential to identify and accomplish our desires.
In this elegant,
compassionate, and absorbing book, Phillips draws deeply on his own
clinical experience as well as on the works of Shakespeare and Freud, of D.
W. Winnicott and William James, to suggest that frustration, not
getting it, and and getting away with it are all chapters in our
unlived lives—and may be essential to the one fully lived.
Note
Still not entirely sure what this
was about—something about frustration, desire and conjecture interfering with
the enjoyment of life. Tough sledding. Many quotes from Freud, and other deep
thoughts that seemed profound by virtue of their impenetrability. Not
recommended.
In his widely praised book, award-winning
psychologist Jonathan Haidt examines the world's philosophical wisdom through
the lens of psychological science, showing how a deeper understanding of
enduring maxims-like Do unto others as you would have others do unto you, or
What doesn't kill you makes you stronger-can enrich and even transform our
lives.
Note
Science is slowly proving what the
artists and poets have known all along. Easy to read and agree with; seems a
little cherry-picked, in retrospect.
A new
kind of war requires a new kind of war story. This scorching, devastatingly
honest memoir is a first-of-its-kind confession of love, friendship, and
betrayal of ideals from civilians who volunteered to be on the front lines.
In the early 1990s,
three young people attracted to UN peacekeeping for very different reasons
cross paths in Cambodia. Heidi, a new York social worker on the run from a
marriage gone bust, is looking for an adventure. Andrew is a young doctor
seeking to save lives. Ken is fresh from Harvard Law and full of idealism.
The UN organizes
Cambodia's first democratic elections, and Phnom Penh is the scene of wild
parties, as the international community celebrates the end of the Cold War.
There the three become friends for life.
Propelled by success
in Cambodia, the US and UN sponsor peacekeeping missions to Somalia, Haiti, and
Bosnia. Ken and Heidi find themselves together in Somalia. They dance on their
rooftop to Jimi Hendrix while helicopters buzz overhead so close they feel the
heat of the exhaust. "You're listening to 99.9 FM MogadishuRockin' the
Dish," American Armed Forces Radio announces, "Keep your head down
and the volume up."
But after the infamous
Black Hawk Down incident when eighteen US Army Rangers were killed in a
firefight with Somali militias, a chain reaction of violence breaks loose. As
the trio's missions unravel, their bond tightens. Andrew is sent to Haiti, to
Bosnia, and then Rwanda where he finds Ken, investigating the mass grave of
genocide. Heidi's journey is unforgettablea rare woman in a man's world of
conflict and war.
The three friends'
voices mingle to paint an indelible picture'suffused with tenderness and
unexpected humorof life, love, and death in the world's most dangerous places.
By day they struggle to bring order out of chaos; by night they use revelry,
sex, each otherdesperate measures from faith to flesh and everything in
betweento find a human connection in a terrifying world. Graphic, lyrical, and
astonishingly urgent, Emergency Sex and Other Desperate Measures is a
celebration of the strength of the human spiritand of the gritty power of
friendship to keep you alive.
Note
Honest, funny portrayal of development
projects in crisis zones has you cheering for the three heroes and cursing the bureaucracies
that pay the bills. Not for policy optimists. Hat Tip J Ho.
“Make [your] characters want something right
away—even if it’s only a glass of water. Characters paralyzed by the
meaninglessness of modern life still have to drink water from time to time.” —Kurt Vonnegut
“‘The cat sat on the mat’ is not the beginning of
a story, but ‘the cat sat on the dog’s mat’ is.” —John Le Carré
Nothing is more inspiring for a beginning writer
than listening to masters of the craft talk about the writing life. But if you
can’t get Vladimir Nabokov, Virginia Woolf, and Gabriel García Márquez together
at the Algonquin, The Modern Library Writer’s
Workshop gives you the next best thing. Stephen
Koch, former chair of Columbia University’s graduate creative writing program,
presents a unique guide to the craft of fiction. Along with his own lucid
observations and commonsense techniques, he weaves together wisdom, advice, and
inspiring commentary from some of our greatest writers. Taking you from the
moment of inspiration (keep a notebook with you at all times), to writing a
first draft (do it quickly! you can always revise later), to figuring out a
plot (plot always serves the story, not vice versa), Koch is a benevolent
mentor, glad to dispense sound advice when you need it most. The Modern Library Writer’s Workshop belongs on every writer’s shelf, to
be picked up and pored over for those moments when the muse needs a little help
finding her way.
Note
Very enjoyable look at the craft of
writing, which is much different than I had always thought. Vomit on the page;
clean it up.
When you’re the
smallest kid playing a big man’s game, the challenges never stop, especially
when your name is Danny Walker. Leading your travel team to the national
championship may seem like a dream come true, but for Danny, being at the top
just means the competition tries that much harder to knock him off. Now Danny’s
heading to Right Way basketball camp for the summer, and he knows that with the
country’s best players in attendance, he’s going to need to take his game up a
notch if he wants to match up. But it won’t be easy. Old rivals and new battles
leave Danny wondering if he really does have what it takes to stand tall.
Note
Sequel to Travel Team, not as good.
Voices of the inner city kids not as resonant as the suburban characters the
author surely knows better, and some of the coaches are crude stereotypes. But
I read it quickly and enjoyed it nonetheless.
Twelve-year-old Jonas lives in a
seemingly ideal world. Not until he is given his life assignment as the
Receiver does he begin to understand the dark secrets behind this fragile
community.
Note
Dystopia is more Twilight Zone than
Panem, and my interpretation of the ending (the sad one) was the opposite of
what the author apparently intended. Who’s to blame for that?
The most perfect of Jane Austen’s perfect
novels begins with twenty-one-year-old Emma Woodhouse comfortably dominating
the social order in the village of Highbury, convinced that she has both the
understanding and the right to manage other people’s lives–for their own good,
of course. Her well-meant interfering centers on the aloof Jane Fairfax, the
dangerously attractive Frank Churchill, the foolish if appealing Harriet Smith,
and the ambitious young vicar Mr. Elton–and ends with her complacency shattered,
her mind awakened to some of life’s more intractable dilemmas, and her
happiness assured.
Jane Austen’s comic imagination was so deft and
beautifully fluent that she could use it to probe the deepest human ironies
while setting before us a dazzling gallery of characters–some pretentious or
ridiculous, some admirable and moving, all utterly true.
Note
Did not
enjoy this. Too much fussing about social norms and proper behavior, and no
crazy wife stashed in the attic. Beautifully written and full of keen insights
about people but not my cup of tea.
.JPG)
