Some several things

[lunabee34]

1. Does anybody want my copy of How to Keep House While Drowning? Free to a good home. Claimed.

2. Josh's cousin's wife worked for NPR in various roles for many years starting with This American Life, so they know many people in the NPR family. His cousin, a photographer, has been close friends with Kai Ryssdal for many years and has photographed their family over that time; he's currently out in CA photographing his kid's bar or bat mitzvah, didn't catch which. We got a video text from cousin and Kai this weekend saying hi and thanking us for being NPR fans. That was a nice brush with celebrity.

3.

The Red Badge of Courage by Stephen Crane

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


I first read this in about ninth grade, and I remember liking it, but on reread, I can't imagine why.

There are some moments of beautiful prose, but everything else is such a slog: nobody gets a name until the book's almost done (everybody's an epithet like "the youth" or "the tall soldier") and the protagonist is so immature and aggravating.

What keeps this from being a mere two stars, though, are a few things related to this edition being a Norton Critical Edition. First, Donald Pizer's critical essay charting the trajectory of Crane scholarship is a close cousin of Gertrude Stein's treatment of herself in The Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas. He apparently attempts to evaluate every single everything written about Crane ever (which seems a bizarre choice to me in writing this sort of essay), which leads him to describe the work of others in the following terms: simplistic view, awkward, mechanical, forced readings, unconvincing, flatly and tediously applied, jaundiced

and the coup de grace

"Karlen's essay must surely be one of the most superficial and uninformed discussions of Crane ever published in a major literary quarterly" (130)

all while including his own work in discussions of the most salient and convincing readings of Crane.

I also enjoyed Frank Norris's parody, "The Green Stone of Unrest," and one of the earlier pieces of literary criticism included in the appendices, Charles C. Walcutt's "Stephen Crane: Naturalist." Walcutt's thesis (with which I wholeheartedly agree can be summed up as, "Henry Fleming is a ding ding who doesn't learn a damn thing and remains a ding ding from start to finish." Amy Kaplan's essay is the best piece of criticism in the appendices, and I also enjoyed James Cox's essay.

Off it goes to the giveaway pile.



View all my reviews

Comments

[china_shop]

Does anybody want my copy of How to Keep House While Drowning? Free to a good home.

No, because I rarely read paper books anymore, but I did see it recced recently and was wondering whether to get it in audio. Did you find it helpful? (Obviously not enough to keep it.)

<3 <3 <3

[lunabee34]

It didn't address my particular situation. I read it as part of a faculty learning community group, and I was expecting a book about pedagogy rather than a book about personal coping methods. I struggle with depression and anxiety, but the issues discussed in the book are not the way that my mental health issues manifest. I don't struggle with keeping my house clean; I struggle with procrastinating work, for example.

Here's my Goodreads review:

How to Keep House While Drowning by K.C. Davis

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


This is a book about self-care and letting go of shame around cleaning and other tasks. It contains a lot of hacks for people who struggle with housework, meal planning, and hygiene tasks because of depression or executive function issues.



View all my reviews

[china_shop]

Ahh, that sounds like it might be worth my checking out. Thanks so much for the context and for reproducing your review. <333333333

*hugs*

[lunabee34]

Yay! I hope it's helpful. <3

[independence1776]

I would appreciate the book; I've been wondering if I should read it or if I'd find it useful.

[lunabee34]

It's yours! Do I have your address? PM me!

[starwatcher]

I had to read "Red Badge of Courage" in a college freshman class. I ha-a-a-ted it; I found it grim and pointless. Then we had to write an analysis of the book -- without, mind you, any prior discussions / teachings of how one wrote a good analysis. Mine was titled, "The Color Symbolism in the Red Badge of Courage" -- and it was 100% bullshit, writing out of my ass.

The funny thing is, my grade was "100." Not "A" or "A+", but "100" -- as in no misplaced commas or awkward constructions? I lost a lot of respect for the teacher after that -- couldn't he tell that I was shoveling bullshit? OTOH, considering your reaction to Donald Pizer's critical essay, maybe all literary analyses are just various shades of bullshit, and I didn't know that at the time. <grin>

[lunabee34]

Heeeeeee.

Without knowing it, you hit on one of the significant areas of critical analysis for this book--color symbolism.

I agree with you re: 100. That is a bullshit grade for a writing assignment. I give plenty of As but not 100s. Except for my professional writing class where it's easy to write a business letter or something like that which is correctly formatted and perfectly grammatically correct because it is very short. LOL

I don't think all literary analysis is bullshit, but boy is a lot of it. Ha!

[timespirt]

How to Keep House While Drowning.

So, what's it about?

[lunabee34]

See my comment upthread to china_shop.

[kore]

Ooh, if I pay you for the postage of the Crane book, could I have it?

[lunabee34]

I'll just send it to you!

[lunabee34]

On the way!

[kore]

Aww thank you so much! I had to read that book for school....decades ago now, lolsob, and remember absolutely diddly-squat about it, so I'm curious.

[lunabee34]

You're welcome!

[kore]

I wanted to say, I just got this today (possibly yesterday as I don't check the mail that often -- but we're On Alert for the mail-in ballots now), thank you so much!

....I looked at it and boy I do not remember this at all. I remember my dad talking about it to me, I think (he was a Crane fan but preferred his poetry) and I know I read it for school at least once. Two things struck me, 1) it is quite mannered and 2) this is where Hemingway got like 80% of his schtick.

[lunabee34]

You're welcome. I'm glad it made it there safely.

I didn't remember much about it from my first re-read either; I hope you end up liking it more than I did. LOL

[archersangel]

i read red badge of courage in high school, i forget which grade. it was the only book we had to read for school & we had a bunch of small, cheap, hardbacks so everyone had one. i didn't like it.

[lunabee34]

It's not my cup of tea, that's for sure.

[lokifan]

We got a video text from cousin and Kai this weekend saying hi and thanking us for being NPR fans

So cute!

"Karlen's essay must surely be one of the most superficial and uninformed discussions of Crane ever published in a major literary quarterly" (130)

all while including his own work in discussions of the most salient and convincing readings of Crane.


criiiinge

[lunabee34]

INORITE? So fun of cousin to arrange that text.

And yes, that essay is super cringe. LOL

[author_by_night]

. Josh's cousin's wife worked for NPR in various roles for many years starting with This American Life, so they know many people in the NPR family.

That's cool!

[lunabee34]

Super cool!

[oracne]

LOL, "ding ding."

[lunabee34]

*takes a bow*

[amejisuto]

Seeing a celebrity and having them be a nice person is always nice. I've seen the actor who plays Chekhov twice and he was a butt hole both times!

[lunabee34]

Oh, no. I saw him at a con when I was a kid, and he was really nice. I hate when celebrities are not on their best behavior in situations where they are supposed to be. I mean, it's one thing if you accost somebody when they're out eating dinner or something. It's another when they're at a convention; that's part of their job.

[amejisuto]

The convention I was at had George Takei and Nichelle Nichols. Takei and Koenig got into a FIGHT on STAGE about scones Takei found in Charleston while on a job and Koenig left the stage and didn't come back!

I kinda found it hilarious!

[lunabee34]

Scones!

OMG, it's like a comedy bit.

[amejisuto]

It was funny! The more the audience laughed, the madder he got until he stormed off. Sheesh. It was so weird!

[amejisuto]

Speaking of NPR, I just found this article and wasn't sure if you read it. I know she's one of your favorite authors so I thought I'd link you. Margaret Atwood was advised to just find a good man. Her response: 'You're an idiot'

[lunabee34]

Yes! I did see that, but thank you for linking me. :)

Girl, I can't remember if I told you, but I made such progress on my sacred space! I got a bedside table and boxes for my oils and any crystals I might collect, and I got an incense holder. I've got some interesting paper incense from Japan coming at the beginning of the next week and some chakra stones. And I've started looking at journal prompts that are related to the chakras. I'm finding that a very useful way of thinking about different emotional aspects of my life.

Thank you for the suggestion.

[amejisuto]

Wow! That's awesome! You're gonna have a great space to relax in! I'm so glad it's helping!

[lunabee34]

And of course I put up the plaque you gave me.

[amejisuto]

I've got mine up in my living room where I can see it from my recliner!

[lunabee34]

<3