War and Peace

 

\ War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I did it! And I must say it is one of the best classics I have had the joy of spending over a month reading. Once you figure out who is who (everyone is referred to by at least three names) the world of the upper class during the Napoleonic war in Russia during 1805-1820 comes alive. Along the way, Tolstoy expounds his thoughts on how history is interpreted and the misconception of heroes. His battle scenes are exciting and insightful, the romances are complicated and satisfactory. There is death and disappointment, courage and compassion, faith and disillusionment. Throughout it all the characters seek to understand the purpose of life--some think they find it only to be mistaken, others discover it only after great trials, and some never do. I never felt as though I were slogging through a classic, and even though it was long, there is very little I would cut out.

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The regiment fluttered like a bird preening its plumage and became motionless.

At that meeting he was struck for the first time by the endless variety of men's minds, which prevents a truth from ever presenting itself identically to two persons.

The actions of Napoleon and Alexander, on whose words the event seemed to hang, were as little voluntary as the actions of any soldier who was drawn into the campaign by lot or by conscription.

all the facts of history (as far as we know it) confirm the truth of the statement that the greater or lesser success of one army against another is the cause, or at least an essential indication, of an increase or decrease in the strength of the nation--even though it is unintelligible why the defeat of an army--a hundredth part of a nation--should oblige that while nation to submit.

the unknown quantity is the spirit of the army...Men who want to fight will always put themselves in the most advantageous conditions for fighting.

For us the standard of good and evil given us by Christ, no human actions are incommensurable.  And there is no greatness where simplicity, goodness, and truth are absent.

But pure and complete sorrow is as impossible as pure and complete joy.  

We imagine that when we are thrown out of our usual ruts allis lost, but it is only then that what is new and good begins.  

While there is life there is happiness.

There were then as now conversations and discussions about women's rights, the relations of husband and wife and their freedom and rights, though these themes were not yet termed questions as they are now; but these topics were not merely uninteresting to Natasha, she positively did not understand them.

    These questions, then as now, existed only for those who see nothing in marriage but the pleasure married people get from one another, that is, only the beginnings of marriage and not its whole significance, which lies in the family.

    Discussions and questions of that kind, which are like the question of how to get the greatest gratification from one's dinner, did not then and do not now exist for those for whom the purpose of a dimmer is the nourishment it affords, and the purpose of marriage is the family.  

As gold is gold only if it serviceable and not merely for exchange but also for use, so universal historians will be valuable only when they can reply to history's essential question: what is power?

What causes historical events? Power. What is power?  Power is the collective will of the people transferred to one person.  Under what condition is the will of the people delegated to one person?  on conditions that that person expresses the will of the whole people .  That is, power is power; in other words, power is a word the meaning of which we do not understand.

Grey Goose

Reflecting

Father pops out in brilliant hues

    camping trip green

    roller-coaster red

    icy-pop blue

    punched through with angry black.

But Mother is a mess--

a finger-painting of routine,

bleeds colors from sole to grey,

the particular indiscernible from far away.

Grey--

tint of storm clouds

pregnant with sobbing,

chasing the sun with condolences,

mutilating the heavens with her bawl.

Grey--

chimes like silver,

sword on sword in a

defensive battlecry,

clashes of protection.

Grey--

skeleton scaffold of ladders

to drape a skin of want

without hazard of buckling.

Grey--

world at dusk;

a black and white movie

with birdsong as soundtrack;

blurred edges, softened scrutiny;

a rabbit's meuse;

white noise.

Grey--

becomes the background

so the colors can

pop.

Dreams of Gods and Monsters

Dreams of Gods & Monsters by Laini Taylor
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This was a satisfying and hopeful conclusion to the Smoke and Bone series. Although it was a bit too long with too many introspective passages saying the same thing. She uses language that always has bordered on this side of too sentimental and precious, and in this book I felt it crossed the line. Perhaps it was a culmination of reading all 3 in a row, or perhaps it was just over the top in this one, but I rolled my eyes more than once. A stronger editorial hand could have saved it, because several passages were transcendent, but got lost amongst the verbal barrage. The plot was really quite well done, though again, I felt like the introspective passages outweighed some of the new mythology she introduced--I would have liked more details about that and less about the constant longing of Akiva and Karou. Still, this is hands down one of the better YA fantasy trilogies.

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Stone Mattress

Stone Mattress: Nine Tales by Margaret Atwood
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Probably a 3.5 star rating. These are nine tales, some really good, some seemed tired and overplayed. Almost all involve aging protagonists who are dealing with the consequences (sometimes physical, sometimes emotional) of choices made when they were younger. A bit of magical realism (whimsy?) is usually involved. "Stone Mattress" is one of the better tales, as is "The Freeze Dried Groom" and "Torch the Dusties" (although this last one bends credulity a bit). I wouldn't say it lives up to what I was expecting from the author of A Handmaids Tale , but perhaps that is unfair, and it was an interesting read nevertheless.

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In the Wolf's Mouth

In the Wolf's Mouth by Adam Foulds
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

There have to be as many angles about war, specifically WWII, as there are people who were involved. I have read A LOT of literature about concentration camps, occupation, relocation, and hiding of Jews during WWII, but not a lot about the soldiers themselves. This book follows two soldiers in Africa and Italy toward the end of WWII. What you realize is that even without the sadistic Nazis, barbed wire, or cruel depravations, war is brutal. It is a machine and the soldiers are cogs that must run to keep up with it, or be spit out the other side. Morals, justice, and friendships have no place here--only the apathetic bureaucracy and political alignments matter and the soldiers are simply the tools being used.

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Life was a skin; It could be peeled away like strips of wallpaper with its coherent pattern.  The soil wasn't that deep.  A shell gored it and there was a rock beneath.  Plants burned, uprooted.  It could all be scraped off easily.

That was what it was like in battle: Things happened very far away or lethally close.

Days of Blood and Starlight

 

Days of Blood & Starlight by Laini Taylor
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

As the middle of the series, Blood and Starlight tends to be dark and hopeless, like most middle books. Things have to go from bad to worse to make the ending that much more suspenseful and triumphant (which I am assuming book #3 will do). Still, there are plenty of twists and surprises and this series has some of the best writing in YA Fantasy I have read.

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Citizen

 

Citizen: An American Lyric by Claudia Rankine
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Poetry and lyrical essays about how the little bits of throw-away racisim build up and magnify over time. "What did you say?" she asks repeatedly in the book. Perhaps the best descriptions of all those little misspoken, subtle prejudices that others dismiss as "joking", a "mistake", or "slip of the tongue" create a tension that those facing it must constantly battle against, and sometimes just can't take any more. This is a book that shows how art (poetry) can say the things that speechifying and lecturing can't.

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John Henryism--for people exposed to stresses stemming from racism.  They achieve themselves to death trying to dodge the buildup of erasure.

this other kind of anger is really a type of knowledge: the type that both clarifies and disappoints.  It responds to insult and attempted erasure simply by asserting presence

For all your previous understandings, suddenly incoherence feels violent.

For so long you thought the ambition of racist language was to denigrate and erase you as a person.  After considering Butler's remarks, you begin to understand yourself as rendered hypervisible in the face of such language.