Summer Book List

I've decided to keep a list of books I've read this summer (for pleasure, not for work). There are a whole host of reasons: I'd be interested in my rate of reading (that is, the number of books I go through per month, or something like that), the breakdown of my reading habits (genre, rate/frequency of rereading, &c.), the amount of money I actually spend on books (as an undergraduate living at home, it's one of my biggest expenses, though one of the perks of working at a publishing house is all the free books I get!), and statistics of that nature.

Housekeeping: I bump this post to the top of the blog every time I add another book. It is in chronological order, with the most recently finished book at the bottom. The titles below link to the Amazon page (the exact edition I read, or as close to it as possible), and the authors link to the authors' Wikipedia pages, where available.

Reading
Love in the Time of Cholera by Gabriel García Márquez
Neuromancer** by William Gibson

Read
Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen
State of Wonder by Ann Patchett
The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd
Kraken by China Miéville
The Island of Dr. Moreau by H. G. Wells
Who the Hell is Pansy O'Hara? by Jenny Bond and Chris Sheedy
River Town by Peter Hessler
A Dance with Dragons by George R. R. Martin
The Code of the Woosters by P. G. Wodehouse
Sailing to Sarantium by Guy Gavriel Kay
Lord of Emperors by Guy Gavriel Kay
Shadowflame by Dianne Sylvan
Ten Discoveries That Rewrote History by Patrick Hunt
Galileo* by Bertolt Brecht
The Little Prince* by Antoine de Saint Exupéry
Hamlet* by William Shakespeare
Hallowe'en Party by Agatha Christie
Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell** by Susanna Clarke
Queen Defiant by Anne O'Brien
Urban Code by Anne Mikoleit and Moritz Pürckhauer
Just My Type by Simon Garfield

*reread
**started a long time ago, but didn't finish until now

Blog Hiatus

I'm flying to China tomorrow, and won't be back until early September. Given the blog censorship situation there, I likely won't be posting at all until my return. (There is a workaround. We'll see.) Meanwhile, I leave you with this:

I thought it was adorable, if slightly odd.

The Stanford Daily: Shakespeare (Kind of) in the Park

An article I wrote (I think it's my first lead story!) that runs today:

http://www.stanforddaily.com/2011/05/13/shakespeare-kind-of-in-the-park

As You Like It is really funny (though I'll admit that I often find Shakespearean humor more amusing than I do contemporary humor), and the Stanford Shakespeare Company does it quite well. You can see the review for details, but suffice to say that I'd gladly see it again. If you're on campus, go see it! Tickets: http://shakespeare.stanford.edu.

(I also realize that there's a bit of a skewed representation of my journalism on the blog. I'm predominately a book critic, but it seems like everything I plug here is about drama. I'll try to remember to post more of my book reviews!)

Edit: If you're interested in books, or just journalist-y things that I write, there's now a new button in the sidebar. Someone told me it would be a good idea, but I forget who it was, so thanks!

Sarah's Miscellany: A Year in Reflection

Happy May Day.

It has been a year since I first started this blog. I've learned a lot in the preceding 342 posts (That's almost a post per day!), even though quite a lot of them have been random, spur-of-the-moment amusements and trifles (there are 103 posts tagged "humor" to date -- that's nearly a third).

I've learned a lot about myself this year. I've gained a sense of direction, methinks: I've figured out some of what I want, which is rather better than the self-knowledge I had a year ago, when I only knew, mostly, what I didn't want. I have a better grasp, now, of who I am and who I wish to be, rather than living daily in the shadow of the person whom others thought I should be. Part of it comes of articulating (some of) my views publicly, in a venue anyone can access. (Part of it, of course, comes of being in college.)

Thank you, friends, for reading, commenting, and being part of the process. You are wonderful, and I couldn't have done this without you.

Donate via Text Message to Help Japan

 Note (03/12): Because this is an actionable item, this post will stay at the top of the blog for a week.

I'm sure you all know about the situation in Japan right now. Here are a few quick and easy ways to help:

Text "REDCROSS" to 90999 -- donates $10 to Red Cross efforts
Text "TSUNAMI" to 50555 -- donates $10 to Convoy of Hope efforts
Text "JAPAN" or "QUAKE" to 80888 -- donates $10 to Salvation Army efforts

Italy Travelogue, Part 1: Florence

I'm back! And as promised, highlights of the first leg of the trip:

Upon arrival in Florence, my father, my sister, and I decide to explore the neighborhood to scope out nearby sources of food and to pick up some essentials at the supermarket. We encounter a strange public service announcement spray-painted on a building. We aren't quite sure what it is all about, so we decide to take it very literally:


Anyhow, on to items of actual historical significance. These are the east doors of the Baptistery of St. John, which Michelangelo famously dubbed "the Gates of Paradise", because they are so beautiful. (They're actually a faithful replica; the real ones are in restoration.)


The first set of Ghiberti doors was actually commissioned for the north-facing entrance in a competition sponsored by the Florentine guild of wool merchants. He and Filippo Brunelleschi were tied for the commission, but Ghiberti, through sheer persistence (and Brunelleschi's temper didn't help), eventually won out. Brunelleschi swore off sculpture in a fit of spite, and took up architecture and engineering instead (and was astoundingly talented at both); he designed the famous dome of the Florentine cathedral Santa Maria Del Fiore, one of the architectural marvels of the Renaissance:


Further reading on the subject, if you're so inclined: Brunelleschi's Dome, by Ross King. It was an assigned reading for a course I took in freshman year on Renaissance machine design (the system of pulleys, cranes, and other machines that Brunelleschi created in the process of constructing his dome is quite amazing), and it's a wonderful (and short) read on its own.

We also went to the Museo dell Opera del Duomo, where the real Gates of Paradise are currently housed. That particular museum is a treasure trove of amazing works by famous Renaissance masters. Among them is the understated, somewhat mysterious Magdalene Penitent by Donatello:


It's most striking, methinks, in its depth of emotion. She's not particularly beautiful, but she's wonderfully tragic.

Also in the Museo dell Opera del Duomo is the second-most famous Michelangelo Pietà, where instead of the Virgin Mary (as is customary), he depicts Joseph of Arimathea holding the body of Jesus:


It's believed that this Joseph was actually a self-portrait; Michelangelo originally intended this sculpture to be placed at his own gravesite. It's beautiful, and unlike many of the other really famous masterpieces, there isn't any plexiglas or a ten-foot fence, so we could walk right up to it to admire it.

We saw a lot of other things, too, like the David (I trust you don't need another picture of him) and some of the Medici palaces and private chapels (some of these restricted photography, to preserve the artwork). Florence basically belonged to the Medicis during the Renaissance, so half the sites in the city from that era were Medici-related in some way.

Florence was smaller than I'd expected; given its prominence during the Renaissance, I had thought it would be much bigger. I'd forgotten that cities in general were smaller back then (comes of being a New Yorker, methinks). We could basically get everywhere on foot -- no public transportation adventures there!

Rome is next.

Blog Hiatus

My family and I are going to Italy for about ten days, leaving tomorrow, so the Miscellany is temporarily going dark. We'll be back towards the end of next week. The itinerary includes Rome and Florence, with a tentative day-trip to Siena. I'll post pictures and/or a travelogue when we return.

The earlier, very brief dearth of posts (last weekend) was due to my friend Lucas visiting New York, and because I got a new computer, which needed setting up and so forth. Here we are:


(That's me, Lucas, and Mycroft. (See, Brett, here's a picture of me!))

He's 13" (if it isn't evident from the picture), and he's named for Mycroft Holmes, of Whitehall and the Diogenes Club, the lesser-known but more important of the Holmes brothers. Sherlock Holmes was (and still is) one of my favorite action heroes from my childhood (yes, he's a mostly cerebral detective, but he's also well-versed in boxing, fencing, single-stick, and "Baritsu" (see "The Final Problem"), all of which qualify him as an action hero). I thought Mycroft's personality and function were more suited to that of a computer.

Anyhow, see you all in about two weeks!

Bookshelf Background

When I found this new one in the template-settings, I couldn't resist. I'm working for a publishing house this summer (editorial department, absolutely loving it, could see myself here after I graduate), and I'm a huge bibliophile as is, so I reckoned it suited.

Thoughts? Do you like it?

Petition to Save New York Public Libraries

Note (05/28): Because this is an actionable item, I'm keeping it at the top of the blog for the next week or two.

Edit (06/01): Quit Facebook Day having ended, this post returns to the top for a few more days.

Edit (06/03): My sincere thanks to anyone who petitioned, for your support for literacy in New York.

New York City is facing (more) budget cuts. The city government is considering cutting funding for the public library system. Considering the state of education in New York (and in the country at large), squeezing public libraries is not the best way to save money -- the societal cost is just too great.

Please sign this e-petition to reject budget cuts for, and closure of, public libraries in New York (even if you're not a New Yorker):

http://dontclosethebook.nypl.org/action?hpfeature=1

Spread the word.

This means a lot to me, personally, as well. I'm a lifelong, incurable bibliophile, and I would hate to see libraries close in my home city. My thanks to my dear friend Weily for bringing this to my attention, and also to everyone who petitions.

A Good Life, without God(s)

This just about sums up my take on religion (or at least, on the possible repercussions of atheism):

Live a good life. If there are gods and they are just, they will not care how devout you have been, but will welcome you based on the virtues you have lived by. If there are gods, but unjust, then you should not want to worship them. If there are no gods, then you will be gone, but will have lived a noble life that will live on in the memories of your loved ones.

~Marcus Aurelius (apocryphal)

I strive to live a good and worthy life because I believe in honor, in beauty, and in helping the less fortunate. I am an atheist because I believe in science and its methods of proof; I will believe it when I see it (or evidence thereof). (In a similar vein, I also believe in Occam's Razor -- that is, the simplest explanation is usually the correct one. I see no need to create a mythology to explain natural phenomena if it is plain that science is progressively explaining more and more of said phenomena -- I trust that science will eventually be able to explain enough to satisfy me, and in the meantime, I am content to wait.) If there are indeed gods, and if they find these two tenants to be somehow contradictory, then I would not be able to reconcile my own morals to the rule of such beings, and therefore would not want to abide, for all eternity, by their laws. (Yes, I just applied social contract theory to heaven.)

Would I rather remain in hell for all eternity? Obviously, from a practical standpoint, fire and brimstone and torture isn't my idea of fun. But continuing in the above vein of political science, all these tortures are the Christian God's way of punishing sinners. Cruel and unusual punishment aside, notice that none of these tortures are the Devil's doing. They are the work of a being who, having cast the undesirables from his kingdom, insists upon punishing them in somebody else's territory. (If you try to claim that hell is a vassal territory, albeit gone rogue, by virtue of Satan's lesser magnitude of power, I will laugh, and point out that a state in rebellion for however many millenia without active attempts at reconquest or administration by the claimant state has de facto sovereignty. Moreover, God has violated His social contract with the denizens of Hell by actively detracting from their welfare. I suppose one could claim that hell is something like a penal colony, but the literature describing hell as "evil" and governed by a rogue, hostile entity suggests that for all that God quarantines sinners there -- and without due process, mind you -- it is not actually under God's control.) Anyhow, the Biblical (or at least, Old Testament) God basically seems to be a very powerful egomaniac who demands worship and compliance with his (albeit well-intentioned) rule. Quote Plato at me all you want, but I'm not sure that in this case, the wise and benevolent dictator is really all that benevolent.

Hmm... that was perhaps more than I'd intended to write when beginning this post. I suppose this counts as an increase in self-generated content? Expect this to continue, I'd say, especially over the summer, when I won't be writing papers about Revolutionary French politics and the Enlightenment for classes; I'll need an outlet.

Petition to Stop Off-Shore Oil Drilling

Note (05/17): Because this is an actionable item, I'm keeping it at the top of the blog for the next week or two.

Edit (05/27): Thank you, dear readers, for your support for environmental conscientiousness.

In light of the recent oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, and in the interests of biodiversity in American and international waters, please sign this e-petition to reject off-shore drilling. (It'll take 30 seconds, max.) Environment California is a legitimate group; I've done my homework, never fear.

http://www.environmentcalifornia.org/action/oceans/gulf-oil-spill-disaster2?id4=ES

And of course, spread the word.

Thanks. It means a lot to me.

The Inaugural Post: A Declaration of Purpose

Allow me to justify the existence of yet another blog on the vast Internet. This is first and foremost a personal project, an instrument of order to placate my sometimes-chaotic mind. If it should attract the interest of others (friends, acquaintances -- those who know me, or wish to) then so much the better; I am a proponent of free exchange of ideas, news, innovation, artistic expression, and all things which engage the mind or touch the heart, or both.

I have been told that I should (instead) invest in either a social networking profile (i.e. Facebook), an online journal (such as Livejournal), or a compendium of links (Delicious). There are myriad reasons against any and all of the above, reasons which, when taken together, outweigh any potential benefit I would derive therefrom. It is mostly because I am, at least on the web, a rather private person, and not inclined towards social networking. (With regard to Delicious, it is merely that I enjoy having the option of writing long posts to accompany certain links, and of posting things other than URLs and text, such as images and charts. (If there is an existing way to do so, then I am a web neophyte, and have exposed myself as such.)

I chose May Day (as the date of launch) for its traditional symbolism: spring, growth, hope, and the beginning of new things.

Note: Expect, in the coming day(s), a deluge of precisely-timed posts; I am merely tidying up my browser bookmarks.