The Unabridged Journals of Sylvia Plath

The Unabridged Journals of Sylvia Plath by Sylvia Plath, edited by Karen V. Kukil

I wonder how she feels about having her journals published completely. Perhaps she expected it all along, as they do seem very polished. Many of the thoughts from these journals went into her novel Bell Jar. In the start, she is very concerned with boys and sex. There are conflicting thoughts on a desire for a writing career and for raising a family. These thoughts continue on through later entries. There are also thoughts on suicide which provide prelude to her eventual death. The editors add a few comments, with the most valuable indicating gaps. She comes across as a social arts type.

A Guide To Korean Characters: Reading and Writing Hangul and Hanja

A Guide To Korean Characters: Reading and Writing Hangul and Hanja by Bruce K. Grant

I checked this out intending to learn Korean writing. It does cover the writing systems. However, the Korean characters are only in the inside cover. The rest of the book covers Chinese characters. From what I have heard, these Chinese characters are only rarely used in Korea today. I'd rather find a book that focuses on Korean writing.

Antibodies

Antibodies by Charles Stross

This short story was first published in 2000, and later published in the compilation Toast: And Other Rusted Futures. A mathematician publishes a paper that solves the traveling salesman problem and transforms NP-complete problems to easily solvable ones. This seemingly breaks all cryptography. The story them picots to AIs gone amok. The AI has grown and taken on an identity of its own. It has started to consume all electronic resources and then goes on to inhabit the real world. A couple is trying to reach an "extraction point" where they can escape from this world. Alas, they are caught a little before escaping. Luckily, they appear to have "anitbodies" and are able to escape. There are a few interesting concepts in this story, but they don't quite come together.

Because of Winn-Dixie

Because of Winn-Dixie by Kate DiCamillo

Winn-Dixie was a dog causing a ruckus in the Winn-Dixie grocery store that was adopted by the narrator of the book. The girl was living in a poor southern neighborhood with her father (who she usually refers to as "the Preacher".) Her mother had left the family earlier. She meets many people in the community and befriends many of the "oddballs". She learns many of their backstories and gains respect for them. Inspired by Gone with the Wind, they decide to hold a big outdoor party with everyone invited (even her "enemies"). It seems to go well, but then a thunderstorm hits. They go for cover, but lose track of the dog. After trying to find the dog, they find out the dog had never left. They all learn that nobody is perfect and understanding can go a long way.

The Sunken Land Begins to Rise Again

The Sunken Land Begins to Rise Again by M. John Harrison

There are some people that sit around and talk in England. Some things have happened in their lives. There is a land that has sunk. Maybe there are aliens or something. It is billed as science fiction, but I did not get much of a sci-fi vibe. It just seemed to be life of the boring kind. I could not get into the book at all.

Hattie Hippo's Bongo Drums

Hattie Hippo's Bongo Drums by Nancy Parent, illustrated by Kevin Parks

This is a short board book on a hippo that plays drums.

Little Miss Spider at Sunny Patch school

Little Miss Spider at Sunny Patch school by David Kirk

The spiders go to a a school. There are bug activities. It was not very interesting for kids or adults.

Zachary's Zoo

Zachary's Zoo by Mike and Amy Nappa, illustrated by Lyn Boyer

This book has a biblical message about being kind to animals, but that is barely incidental to the story. In this story, Zachary has a "zoo", which is really just his pets. He imagines them being fierce creatures. The car is a "tiger", the dog is a "bear" and so forth. It is fun to see how he imagines the various animals. His respect and caring for the animals is the biblical part.

The Ware Tetralogy

The Ware Tetralogy by Rudy Rucker

The four books of the series are available as a free download. They explore a near future world, but have different approaches. There are various cyborgs and androids. There are conflicts between the various degrees of artificial. Scientists are exploring new things. One drug is "merge" that allows beings to merge together. These can be different species or two of the same. In some cases they briefly go together before separating. In others they can be made more permanent. Regardless of these changes, people seem obsessed by sex from a very masculine, mechanical point of view. I guess this is male vs. female authorship.

Troy

Troy by Adele Geras

This book tells the story of the Trojan war. It feels like a movie script, with overly dramatic and romantic scenarios. The characters have a very contemporary feel to them, with a little bit of ancient overlay to fit them in their settings. I had trouble focussing on the first part of the book. Though I finally could connect with the ending Trojan Horse scene.

Magic Tree House Collection: Books 17-24

Magic Tree House Collection: Books 17-24 by Mary Pope Osborne

17.  "Tonight on the Titanic": They go on the titanic and try to help people.

18. "Buffalo Before Breakfast": They join a native american on the buffalo plains before white settlers dominated.

19. "Tigers at Twilight": They are off seeing animals in India.

20. "Dingoes at Dinnertime": The visit Australia. This one completes the cycle where there dog turns out to be a boy that was on a mission to better understand other cultures.

21. "Civil War on Sunday": They are part of the Civil War. They help a drummer boy to get better. They want to keep him from harm, but he wants to go back. They later find out he is their ancestor.

22. "Revolutionary War on Wednesday": The meet up with some patriots and see George Washington. They get a letter to deliver to family if the operation fails. (It doesn't)

23. "Twister on Tuesday": They go to a school house along the California trail. There are two siblings and one other boy there. The boy is difficult to get along with. Shortly after they leave, they see a tornado. They run back, and show people where the cellar is. The mean boy is strong enough. They all get in and are saved. They become friends with the boy.

24. "Earthquake in the Early Morning": They are in San Francisco during the earthquake. They see somebody trying to rescue valuable books. They see that the building they take them to will be burned, while the one where they were survived. They try to talk him out of it, but they don't. They later are photographed with a message of hope. In the book, they see these.

The stories are all fairly short, with a few "threads" tying them together. They are looking for something as part of the group of stories and seek to help Merlin and the Arthurian people. It is an interesting bit of time travel to help explore different historical epochs.

The Sun Is My Favorite Star

The Sun Is My Favorite Star by Frank Asch

A kid likes being outside and with the sun. He likes other stars, but the sun is his favorite. Pictures are nice, story is not.

Thanksgiving Is for Giving Thanks!

Thanksgiving Is for Giving Thanks! (Reading Railroad) by Margaret Sutherland (Author), Sonja Lamut (Illustrator)

Kids are thankful for various things around thanksgiving time, including family, food and fun. There are lots of kids with different backgrounds in a very forgettable story.

Drip, Drop

Drip, Drop (I Can Read Level 1) by Sarah Weeks (Author), Jane Manning (Illustrator)

A mouse's house starts dripping. He gets containers to grab the rain. It keeps dripping more and he keeps needing more containers. Finally it stops and others want to play, but the mouse is finally ready to sleep. It is a nice simple story.

Will You Be My Friend? A Bunny and Bird Story

Will You Be My Friend? A Bunny and Bird Story by Nancy Tafuri

There is a storm. Bird's nest is flooded, so bird goes to wait out the storm with bunny. Then bird needs to build a new nest. Bird, bunny and some other small critters work together to gather parts for the nest. They are now friends. It is a simple book on friendship.

Cho-Cho's Treasure Hunt (球球尋寶記)

Cho-Cho's Treasure Hunt (球球尋寶記) by Hisako Madokoro

This was originally written in Japanese. It is now in Chinese and English. Cho Cho and his friend go on a treasure hunt. A big dog remembers putting a treasure somewhere in the past they find it.

There is an audiobook CD that goes with it. It is simple and fun to read. The repeated "Bow-wows" are fun to read, though there are a few typos in the English.

Henry Hikes to Fitchburg

Henry Hikes to Fitchburg by D.B. Johnson

A 30 mile train trip to Fitchburg costs 90 cents. Henry says he will walk there. His friend says he will work to earn the money to get there. The friend does a number of chores for the famous people of 19th century Massachusetts. Henry observes all the interesting things in nature. Eventually the friend gets there shortly before Henry, but Henry has blackberries to share. This is a fun story depicting observations from Henry David Thoreau.

Olivia

Olivia by Ian Falconer

Olivia is a rambunctious young humanoid pig that is loaded with energy and opinions. She loves trying things (and can get really good and building sand castles.) She spends a long time picking out her clothes. After seeing a Jackson Pollock painting at the museum, she tries to paint a similar one herself - and gets in trouble. The art is fairly sparse, with mostly greys and red, but an occasional photograph of a real painting. Both the art and the story are refreshingly good for both adults and children.

Suburban Nation: The Rise of Sprawl and the Decline of the American Dream

Suburban Nation: The Rise of Sprawl and the Decline of the American Dream by Andres Duany, Elizabeth Plater-Zyberk and Jeff Speck

While walking around listening to this book, I couldn't help but get mad. I was in older neighborhood in Seattle that would probably be in the 99th percentile of "least suburban blah". Yet, there was still ample evidence of suburban destruction. Streets were wider than needed. There was use segregation, too much space for cars and areas without pedestrian crossings. I passed the old library building in a mixed urban area and was reminded that the new library is a few blocks away on a larger, more "blah" piece of land. (It is still in a pedestrian friendly area - just not as appealing.) The school district has been busy building "mega schools" and talking about shutting down and consolidating schools. I also passed people using electric scooters on the sidewalk. Sure, these are better than cars, but they are impinging on people space, not car space.

The book focuses on the pitfalls of suburbanization and the good parts from Congress of New Urbanism. Suburbanization has been heavily influenced by government policy. It is based heavily on car transport and is not scalable. In the past, developers were revered. Today they are villainized. New development brings in more traffic and more conflict for scarce resources. In the past, development would include building up of many public goods. New development would provide new neighborhoods to walk in, new travel routes and new public amenities. Now, development is mostly an isolated subdivision. These cars get funelled on to existing streets increasing traffic. They crowd the existing mega-schools. It is a negative, not a positive.

It is a depressingly huge uphill battle to get liveable walkable communities. People don't want their subdivision connected to others. Developers follow the generic process. They want to build their ultra-large mass-produced houses on needlessly winding streets. City code requires abundant parking spaces and shuns mixed use. Economies of scale in production encourage more of this development. This is more expensive in the long run. However, in the long run, most of these residents will have moved out to the next ring of suburbs and the inner ring will be left to decay. 

Attempts to remedy the problems of suburbanization often focus on the periphery without addressing the true concern. Transit systems are built with big park and ride lots. Why take transit if you are already driving part of the way? Electric cars are treated as a solution to pollution, but fail to address the big problem of all the resources they require to build and drive on.  Small pedestrian friendly parts of town are built, but are primarily accessed by driving from remote subdivisions. Many of the more livable areas could not be built today because they are against the codes. Unsustainable American subdivisions are also spreading throughout the world. How can we fight against people's greed and laziness to actually build something sustainable and livable?

Death of a Red Heroine: Inspector Chen Series, Book 1

Death of a Red Heroine: Inspector Chen Series, Book 1 by Qiu Xiaolong

The author of the book was a Chinese national who was visiting the US when the Tiananmen Square protests occurred. He was against the crackdown, and ended up staying in the United States. This book was a way for him explore conditions in China, with the mystery part serving as a vehicle. He explores the importance of loyalty to the party in decisions. The relationship is complex. It is important for all people to be treated similarly. However, the masses also need to see the party as a trustworthy organization. The inspector treads that fine line as he investigates a murder case. A body was found tossed in a somewhat remote body of water. It turns out she was an important party member. The suspected murderer is also an influential party member. Will the murder be swept under the rug? Or will he be punished. Solving the mystery is less important to the story than guessing what will happen. Once the party decides a course of action, it moves swiftly. There are also cases of people violating standards required for the country. As long as they stay out of trouble, party members can get away with things that normal people cannot. But if they do get in trouble, they will quickly feel the wrath of the law.