Author Archives: bookdwarf

Soapbox Time

I read this article in today’s NYT on Mifeprex, also know as RU-486. 2 women died after taking the pill, but doctors think that a bacterial infection, which has also been seen after childbirth and in other gynecological situations was the cause of death. Then I get to this part:

Wendy Wright, senior policy director for Concerned Women of America, a conservative women’s group, said news of the latest death proved that label changes would not make the drug safe.

“Changing the label the last time clearly didn’t help the latest woman who died,” Ms. Wright said. “Sadly, people who support RU-486 apparently believe the risk of death is preferable to having a child.”

Uhm, so childbirth has miraculously become safe all of a sudden? I am not saying that abortion is better or worse than childbirth. Abortion is an option (sometimes the only one for people). But to trumpet that childbirth is completely safe to make RU-486 seem totally dangerous is completely misleading in my opinion. And I doubt the women who died thought death was preferable and you insult them by saying that. Many women still die in childbirth and many women would still die getting back alley abortions, if no other options were available to them. So get your damn opinions off my body thanks Wendy.

Boston Globe Review roundup

There I was all set to read the Book Review section and write a scathing report and I open up the pages of the paper to find it devoted to kids’ books this week. I wonder why? What could make them do that? They at least present us with a few non-kids related columns, which I’ve covered below.

The main piece devoted to secret places at least mentions some oldies but goodies—The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, The Secret Garden, The Indian in the Cupboard (I remember my fourth grade teacher read us this book everyday after lunch. I loved this book). Jodi Daynard wrote a nice piece on the value of a school’s curriculum and how difficult it can be to balance classics versus newer writers. James Sallis’ devotes his ‘A Reading Life‘ to Ed McBain. It’s a nice tribute to a great writer, who though he wrote many books, had much more to offer.

Amanda Heller has the ‘Short Takes‘ this week and looks at The Mysterious Flam of Queen Loana by Umberto Eco, Lavoisier in the Year One: The Birth of a New Science in an Age of Revolution by Madison Smartt Bell, and Meet the Beatles by Steven Stark. And the last column is ‘On Memoirs‘ by Kate Bolick. She writes about the difference between a memoir and a diary, covering Drawing From Life: The Journal as Art, an anthology edited by Jennifer New and A Field Guide to Getting Lost by Rebecca Solnit (which I am currently reading). It’s a thought-provoking piece.

That’s it folks. The rest is all kids’ books. I will save the scathing commentary for next week.

They’re Just Letting Anyone on the Radio These Days

Radio Open Source will be hosting none other than Bookdwarf favorites TEV and Kevin Smokler (who’s appearance at my store I recorded and I swear I will post soon. The technology is a bit beyond me.) They will be confronting Steve Wasserman, former editor of the LA Times Book Review, which I assume will end with some tears and maybe some gore. Or maybe just handshakes all around.

The Insult by Rupert Thomson

I got to 10 pages til the end at lunch yesterday, and I just couldn’t go on with my day until I had finished The Insult. I then spent the rest of the day thinking about this strange and wonderful book. Maud was right, this book was better than The Divided Kingdom, though I still love that one, maybe because it was my introduction to Rupert Thomson. Thomson has elements in his writing similar to Haruki Murakami, you know that dreamworld in which his stories take place. But Thomson’s dreamworld is darker and dirtier, tinged with grays and sepia tones (sorry, that’s how I imagine it). I can’t explain the plot too much, but it involves a man, Martin Blom, who has been shot in the head as he walks toward his car in the supermarket parking lot. Rendered permanently blind, he has to find his way back into the world. But one night, he discovers that he can see, but only at night or in the dark. At some points you think Martin has gone crazy. At some points you don’t know what to believe. And the book takes strange turns, but I loved every minute of the journey.