The Naked Civil Servent and How to Become a Virgin by Quinten Crisp

Quinten Crisp is an extroidinary character. And The Naked Civil Servent was a great introduction to him. To live openly gay during any time prior to the 1970s is amazing. To do so in the UK--where it was illegal until the 90s--starting in the 1930s is astounding.

A few images from this book still stick with me, even nine months after reading it. The first is when he recieved his draft notice for WWII, and showed up to the draft station ready to serve his country. And, in one of many lucky breaks, despite being recognized as a homosecual, he wasn't arrested, was given a deferral and told never to come back.

Another was his matra regarding cleaning his apartment: after four years the dust doesn't get any worse. Speaking of his apartment, Crisp lived in the same place for something like 40 years, paying rent every month, not cleaning and often sitting around naked or in his dressing gown from when he awoke until he went to bed.

His adventures are interesting at the least.

His second book How to Become a Virgin is more uneven. It tells stories that are less compelling, focusing on the effects that his first book had on his life. While still interesting, it holds no where near the captivation as his first. We do get his impressions of the US, but the stories are not of a man looking back on the most interesting moments of his life, but more of a condesed diary of his life after The Naked Civil Servant was published. There were no stories that still stand out ot me after so much time.

The Naked Civil Servant  9/10
How to Become a Virgin         4/10

Anathem by Neal Stephenson

I am very far behind on posting with this coming some nine months after I originally finished this book. It ends up, in some respects, counteracting the entire point of writing books up in the first place. I suppose, though, better late than never.

Like, I'm sure, many others who often feel out of place or uncomfortable in every day life, the idea of a separate portion of society deadicated to intellectual pursuits is extremely attractive. Like life-long college, with equally committed people around you. For that element of this book, reading this served as pure escapism. And, once the story moved outside of the math, I was actually wanting to read an entire book just about the daily life inside of it. If Stephenson wrote just a long, detailed description of the math, I'd read the whole thing.

One of the projects that I really like from inside the math was the modeling of a battle with plants, using different plants to represent various portions of the armies and their interactions. Maybe later in my life, when I want to stay put, I'll do that in my back yard.

Once the story moved outside the math, a few things struck me: (1) Stephenson does an okay job writing female characters, but he always has one awesome female who is really hardcore and cool, but isn't the main character or even central to the action (the only exception being in <i>Snow Crash</i> where the plot is carried quite evenly between Hiro and Y.T.). Here, the hardcore female characters (Erasmas's sister) does get an important role, but it isn't central and is much lie America Shaftoe from <i>Cryptonomican</i>.

(2)I loved the idea of a distibuted launching methodology for space destined materials. I suppose the ISS was similarly constructed, but here the distributed materials were simulteously launched and the payloads (and human carrying ships) were much smaller. Maybe not practical in this day with our launching technology, but a fscinating idea nonetheless.

It was a good book. Very emersive and well paced.

8/10

The Help by Kathryn Stockett

I read this book on my mother's recommendation. I knew that it was making the rounds in pop culture; a movie based on the book came out recently.

To my surprise, I really enjoyed this book. It tells the story of a community of women in Jackson, Mississippi in the early to mid 1960s. The focus is on the interaction between the white women and the black maids and nannies who made their households run. One white woman, who wants to be a writer, decides to try and interview 'the help' to see how the relationships looked from their perspective. The book is told from the point of view of a number of different characters, and it's really interesting to see how the stories intertwine.

I laughed out loud a few times while reading this book, one quote that totally cracked me up (and made me think about teaching): "'What you learn today?' I ask even though she ain't in real school, just the pretend kind. Other day, when I ask her, she say, 'Pilgrims. They came over and nothing would grow so they ate the Indians.'
Now I know them Pilgrims didn't eat no Indians. But that ain't the point. Point is, we got to watch what get up in these kids' heads."

The story is frustrating in many ways, and you can predict a lot of what happens, but it is well told, and definitely makes you think.

8/10

Thorn in My Side (Kindle Single) by Karin Slaughter

This is a really short book, or perhaps a long novella (I can't say I know the difference) that is narrated by a conjoined twin. The twins are in their late 30s or early 40s, and really don't like each other. The narrator is the smarter twin, he goes to church, he gardens. The narrator's twin is more deviant, picking up sketchy chicks at dance clubs and treating them poorly. The story picks up when one of the women that is picked up in a dance club is killed by the brother(s), and they're dealing with the fall-out.

It's a really bizarre and disturbing story. If it were any longer I don't think I would have read the whole thing; I didn't enjoy it at all.

2/10

My Exile Lifestyle by Colin Wright

This book is about Colin Wright's unplugging from traditional society. He whittled his stuff down to a double-digit number of items, and then packed up and went traveling. He moves to a different part of the world every four months, and the new location is picked by people on his website.

The writing in this book was not especially good, it seemed like a mix of content written for the book and journal entries, and was often (very) redundant. The idea of minimalism and untethering is an interesting one, but I think there must be people who are better at talking about it than this guy. Also, there seems to be a big emphasis in this book on all of the girls he's dated, which really didn't interest me very much.

I liked the idea, but really didn't like the execution of this book.

3/10

Dead Until Dark by Charlaine Harris (Sookie Stackhouse: Book 1)

This is the first book in the Sookie Stackhouse series, the series that the HBO show True Blood is based on. I read it for the first time ages ago, well before the show came out, and then again earlier this summer. Wanting a comfort book, I picked it up again this week. No, it's not that great of a book, but gosh it's entertaining enough for me.

Sookie, the main character, is a waitress in Bon Temps, Louisiana, a small town. Vampires 'came out' recently after the invention of synthetic blood, and are now working to integrate into society. Sookie has her own quirks - she's a telepath who has trouble blocking out others' thoughts. One day the first vampire she's met, Bill, comes into the bar she works at. She saves him from some 'drainers' (people who sell vampire blood, the new drug of choice), and is thrilled to discover that she can't hear his thoughts. Sookie and Bill begin dating, and small-town vampire and other supernatural drama ensues.

Of course the mystery is solved by the end, and you're interested enough in the characters to read the next book to see what they'll manage to turn up next. If you like not-too-challenging mysteries, like a good beach read, and don't mind vampires, this is a very entertaining book (and series).

8/10

Ishmael by Daniel Quinn

I guess the first thing you'd want to know about this book is that is chronicles a conversation between a guy (a writer) and a gorilla. The guy meets the gorilla after answering a newspaper ad: "TEACHER seeks pupil. Must have an earnest desire to save the world. Apply in person."

The book offers an alternative history (or creation story) for humanity, and how we got to where we are today. It explains why we are ruining the world, and what needs to change in order to prevent us from completely destroying it.

Really, this was one of the strangest books I've read, but I think I really enjoyed it. I'm not sure I completely understand the 'next steps' that I was supposed to glean from the book, but the ideas have definitely been percolating in the back of my mind. Reading the book definitely gives you an interesting alternative to human history (and certain Bible stories).

I recommend it, if you can get past the silent human-baboon conversation idea.

7/10