This exercise was to write a haikus for each season, each including a kigo word (roughly, a reference to season, weather or atmosphere).
People seem to think
Spring is so fresh, bright and new.
All I see is mud.
That time of year when
Leisure outweighs the sweaty
Heat: it’s called summer.
The leaves flutter down,
Gracefully helpless in their
Seasonal descent.
Each home never so
Cozy as when the winter
Swirls coldly without.
The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins, 3/5
Skillful writing and an engrossing plot do not change the fact that this book is about children being forced to kill each other for other people’s entertainment. Collins tries to weasel out of this by framing the games as political oppression by an evil government, but the main focus throughout is on the entertainment aspect – people wanting the games to be exciting, wanting to see the violence, making bets on the winners, sponsoring the participants. This begs the question, if the culture that bets on gladiatorial games involving children is so evil, what does that make the culture that enjoys reading books about the same topic?
This exercise was to write Petrarchan (abba-abba-cdccdc) and Shakespearean (abab-cdcd-efef-gg) Sonnets on Electoral Apathy.
Petrarchan Sonnet
The folks who love election day are few
They’ve little time to waste on candidates
And even less for all the running mates.
They’ve stuff to see and better things to do.
The TV shows that trap their eyes like glue
Are not the lengthy policy debates.
They’d rather whine and moan about “ingrates,”
Than research on and vote for someone new.
And yet, I am too hard (perhaps) on all
Who do not hear the ballot’s siren song,
Who view each promise made as just a tall
Tale – their hopes have lesser length to fall.
They care less when the leaders’ plans go wrong;
The dirty lies don’t fill their souls with gall.
Shakespearean Sonnet
They’d rather watch reality TV
And mindlessly invoke the party line,
Than learn about each candidate’s policies.
Their “research” is to read the roadside signs.
The responsibility they hold is great –
A right for which historic heroes died.
And yet, they’d rather leave to others their fate
Than give a hand and our great nation guide.
It pains me to admit I’m not above
This accusation, I too am apathetic
Too cynical to trust the promises of
The candidates, my choices are aesthetic.
And yet, perhaps, we’re wise to hate the game
Since every politician lies the same.
After the Funeral (A Hercule Poirot Mystery) by Agatha Christie, 2/5
This book is fun, but not substantial, being short and populated with two-dimensional characters. The twist at the end was entertaining, but I did not feel that it was very skillfully supported by the preceding plot development. The whole thing gave me the impression that Agatha Christie had, by this time in her career, settled into a trustworthy and unique, if somewhat mundane and formulaic, writing style. I would be interested to read some of her earlier works.
This exercise was to write two pattern poems, one in the shape of a cross and another in the shape of a capital I. Also, an acrostic verse spelling out your name.
This
icon
rich
with
deep symbolic meaning
is the plain wooden
board
upon
which
I pin
my sin.
Really, Fry? It seems ridiculous
Of you to make me go to such a fuss.
Surely penning poems about my name
As such is just a narcissistic game,
Leaving others to suspect I find
In it more fun than yet has come to mind.
Not wishing folks to think me vain and dumb,
Denouncing it, I find the end has come.
Mirror, mirror on the wall
make me gracious dark and tall
life
long
mind
strong
eyes
bright
thoughts
right
make me charming rich and wise
And both my biceps a larger size.
The Wit’s Dictionary by Colin Bowles, 2/5
Some funny stuff scattered through a lot of unfunny stuff. Also, very Australian, crass and surprisingly anti-Christian. I would suggest reading Ambrose Bierce’s The Devil’s Dictionary and giving this book a pass.
Black Hawk Down by Mark Bowden, 5/5
I think this is a masterpiece of war journalism for several reasons. Firstly, Bowden treats his sources with respect and courtesy instead of manipulating and abusing them for the sake of furthering his own career. This is not as common an attitude as I would wish and expect. Secondly, it is clear that the accuracy of his portrayal is Bowden’s main concern. He wastes no time searching for a sensational “angle” and doesn’t create unnecessary drama. Thirdly, Bowden clearly recognizes the limits of his own expertise, refraining from sweeping allegations and extrapolations with regard to political and military strategy. He is intelligent enough to avoid turning an admittedly controversial story into a personal soapbox. Fourthly, the book is scrupulously well cited, with an annotated bibliography and detailed information provided on the sources.
How to Disappear: Erase Your Digital Footprint, Leave False Trails, and Vanish Without a Trace by Frank M. Ahearn with Eileen C. Horan, 2/5
Sometimes I get the strong feeling that I would hate a particular person if I ever met them. Frank Ahearn is one of those people. Just do a Google Image Search for his name and you’ll see what I mean from the pictures. He comes across as a low-class, egocentric, sleazy scumball, bent on glamorizing a career that seemed to consist mostly of lying to people over the telephone in order to obtain personal info to be sold to whatever shady employer happened to have the cash. It is no credit to him that he finally got out of the skip-tracer career because his morally reprehensible methods became illegal (or at least, more punishable). The book provides some good info and entertaining stories, but lots of the info is commonsense and repetitive and it is all couched in an unbearably bullshit style.
50 big ideas you really need to know by Ben Dupre, 2/5
These short essays on a variety of topics, ranging from philosophy to physics, were too surfacey and simplistic for me. I did not like the format of the book; it was very disjointed, with distracting quotations and random boxes of text floating around. I appreciate that Dupre manages to write from a relatively impartial viewpoint on controversial topics, though he did come across as pro-Communism, which is repellant to me. I was a little confused by his essays on conservatism and liberalism until I realised that he’s English and this book is only published in the UK. That explains many of the slight differences in perspective throughout.
Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand, 4/5
Rand’s writing is skilled, insightful, and compelling, but the argument for her personal philosophy of objectivism is not convincing. The fact that objectivism works for the heroes in the world she creates is more a tribute to her skill as a novelist than her prowess as a philosopher. One scene in particular drives home the unreality of the reality she creates: the heroine, Dagny, in an airplane with four gorgeous, intelligent, dominant men, with three of whom she has had incredibly serious, ostensibly meaningful, emotional and sexual relationships, who all still love her, respect each other and get along in brotherly harmony. Nothing in my experience and observation of humanity makes me consider this a remotely possible or even desirable scenario. The intellectual unsoundness of Rand’s philosophy becomes obvious in the 55-page monologue near the end of the book. Her persistent use of straw man fallacies reveals that she lacks a basic understanding of the psychology of religion and of philosophies other than her own. However, her cold artistry, perception of raw human psychology, and the epic characters that populate a dystopian future, result in a massive novel that is both a pleasure and a challenge to read.
P.S. XKCD just did an excellent comic about Rand. The mouseover is the best part.
OmniRambles 