Sixty Million Frenchmen Can't Be Wrong

Sixty Million Frenchman Can't Be Wrong, by Jean-Benoît Nadeau and Julie Barlow.

All about French history, culture, and government, contrasting them to their North American equivalents.

Freakonomics

Freakonomics, by Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner.

Freakonomics is a short, extremely quick-to-read book which explains why many things are the way they are using sometimes counterintuitive reasoning.

By way of example, many people attributed the drop in crime in the US in the 1990s to factors such as improved policing and economic growth. Freakonomics posits that the drop in crime was really due to Roe v. Wade, some twenty years earlier.

Freakonomics covers many other topics besides, of course. There is room for "sequels"; for any phenomenon, there are many possible explanations. Levitt's explanations tend to be more interesting, and quite possibly more accurate, than conventional wisdom.

This book has spawned imitators. There are many blogs devoted to questioning conventional wisdom. Some are good; others are written by abject pseudointellectuals.

A Year in the Life of William Shakespeare: 1599

A Year in the Life of William Shakespeare: 1599, by James Shapiro. Harper Collins.

In this book, Shapiro puts forth the idea that 1599 was the year that Shakespeare went from being merely a talented dramaturgue and poet to being the greatest writer the English language has known.

Instead of defending this idea throughout, Shapiro gives an overview of the history of England in 1599, dominated by Essex' failed expedition in Ireland and the threat of attack by Spain, and how it may have affected the Bard in his quotidian life.

When he sticks to recounting history and making reasonable speculations (after all, for someone so important, relatively little is known about Shakespeare's life), Shapiro does an admirable job.

Less so, though, when gets sucked into writing literary criticism, which he does for each play of Shakespeare's first produced that year. It is in literary critic mode when Shapiro discusses Shakespeare's transformation, and that is when he impresses me least.

But maybe I just dislike literary criticism.

mis reseñas

Como usted puede ver, hace poco empecé a escribir mis reseñas de libros aquí, generalmente en inglés. Eventualmente voy a terminar un sitio que servirá como indice de los libros que leo, y otros artículos que son «peligrosos» para los lectores que no quieren saber cómo terminan los libros; el primer ejemplo: la reseña del último libro de Harry Potter.

Y creo que Alma escribirá más aquí también. Veremos.

Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone

Finalmente ingresé al mundo de Harry por la lectura del libro Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, el primero de la serie. Ya había explorado este mundo a través de las películas, pero definitivamente no es lo mismo. Esta historia es más completa y divertida en las páginas. Esa frase que dice "una imagen dice más que mil palabras", aquí es de dudarse. La verdad es que la imaginación es multimillonaria y aún cuando ya sabía la trama principal, la lectura de los detalles ma atrapó por ahí del tercer capítulo, porque el primero, si no mal recuerdo me aburrió, pero una vez superado éste, el siguente fue mejor y después ya no pude parar. Me sentí tan gratificada y con tan buen sabor de boca cuando terminé este primer libro que casi me sigo con el segundo, jejeje, pero bueno mejor poco a poco, porque mi inglés aún no es tan bueno como para entender palabritas "chiristirijillas" como las que usan estos niños. En fin, en compensación a esto ahora estoy leyendo un verdadero drama, con sangre y pelos, ya les contaré después.
Por cierto, lo peor que se puede hacer después de leer el libro es ver la película, como odié que cambiaran detalles de la historia y además, que no se explicaran bien algunas situaciones, ¡oggrr! Mi marido dice que ya soy una auténtica e insoportable harrypotteriana jejeje.

The Story of French

The Story of French, by Jean-Benoît Nadeau and Julie Barlow. St. Martin's Press.

A history of the evolution of the French language. It's light on linguistic detail, and focuses more on the reasons — historical ones, of course — that explain why French speakers are how they collectively are.

Did you know that L'Académie française has had very few linguists as members (immortels)? Or how Anglo Canada reneged on its word various times until the Québécois decided that enough was enough?

Despite, or maybe because of, the rise of English, French remains a relevant international language today. Or so many learners from around the world have decided. And it probably isn't a bad decision; almost wherever you go, you'll find someone who speaks at least a little English. I've never tried speaking French to strangers (except when in francophone countries), but it may well be the case that its diffusion is similar in scope to English's, and as such a good choice for a second (or third, or ...) language if you don't know where your travels may lead you.

Dead Air

Dead Air, by Iain Banks. Abacus.

This book is called a thriller, and I guess it is. Hard to believe, because it starts off slowly. Not that it is ever boring — Banks has a good lead character whose monologues and rants are fun to read, but certainly he takes his time before getting to the "thriller" part of the book.

It's certainly worth the wait, though. My heart was pounding during most of the last 50 or so pages. How could the lead be so stupid, and would he manage to get out of the jam he got himself into?

Qua thriller, the book could probably be rewritten as a novella and lose little. Maybe. Maybe the long buildup makes the end more exciting; it certainly gives Banks a chance to express (what I assume are) some of his political beliefs, which are reasonable, at least.

Thanks to Paul for leaving this book behind when he visited about two years ago.

Kitchen

Kitchen, by Banana Yoshimoto. Grove Press.

A short, enjoyable, but ultimately forgettable book. Seriously. I finished it some weeks or months (22 September, according to my records) ago, and I've forgotten pretty much all of it — the summary serves as a reminder, but you can look that up easily enough yourself.

Borges: A Life

Borges: A Life, by Edwin Williamson. Viking.

Unsurprisingly, Borges: A Life is a biography of one of my favorite authors, Jorge Luis Borges.

Williamson starts with a background of Argentine history starting with its independence from Spain and the role of Borges’ ancestors in that struggle. Borges continues covering Argentina’s history with respect to Borges himself.

Williamson is at his best when sticking to documented facts. When he takes some liberties and presents his own speculations — unlikely ones, in my opinion — about Borges’ most personal thoughts and attitudes and how they shaped his written works and his public persona he is at his weakest. Also, he repeats himself at times: the same nouns (that is, the same persons, places, and things) are often introduced and reintroduced. Better editing might have helped.

Still, at $verycheap on remainder at the Harvard Book Store, and as a chronicle of an interesting life, it was well worth my time and money.

I have no few books by Borges, and several other favorite authors, sitting on my bookshelves waiting to be read. I like to think of them as reserves — when in doubt, I know I have something good and new (to me) to read.

N.P.

N.P. by Banana Yoshimoto. Tusquets.

N.P. is the story of a book, aptly named N.P., written by a Japanese expat in English. Its translation into Japanese is stalled because its translators, and, in fact, all of the people who get too involved in the book, find, with tragic results, their life imitating that of its author and some of the stories contained therein.

The Children of Húrin

The Children of Húrin by J.R.R. Tolkien, edited by Christopher Tolkien. Houghton Mifflin.

As often happens with really good books, this book seemed more like a gift from its author and editor and less like something I paid my own money to get. This book was so good that I was able to finish it while on a plane, something I’m rarely able to do.

The Lord of the Rings was told from the point of view of the smallest character in a given chapter: usually one of the hobbits. Children, by contrast, is told from the perspective of great men, and in a more impersonal, more summarizing style.

The only disappointment is that this story is only a small part of a much longer history, which is summarized in The Silmarillion. I hope there are more books in this vein to come; certainly Tolkien left enough unfinished material to provide for several such books in the future.

Defensa apasionada del idioma español

Defensa apasionada del idioma español, by Álex Grijelmo. Punto de Lectura.

The book’s title translates to “[A] Passionate Defense of the Spanish Language”. It started on a high note. People write badly, use words unnecessarily borrowed from other languages, and generally disrespect their linguistic heritage. “Right on!”, I said, and kept on saying during a non-contiguous third of the book.

The rest was not so good.

Those non-contiguous two thirds of the book cover the many things Grijelmo knows little about: English (from which modern Spanish borrows many words), computers, international trade, history, and more and how they relate to modern Spanish usage.

Taking English, Grijelmo rails against Anglicisms in large part because he thinks that they fragment the language, with the ultimate effect of causing unintelligibility among speakers: a debatable conclusion.

It’s true that many Spanish speakers today use words borrowed from the English that are strictly unnecessary.

Some do it thinking it makes them sound sophisticated, which I find rather obnoxious, not least because those words are all too often misused (and mispronounced!). “Esto es para tax purposes” is as good bad an example as any.

It’s also true that a number of false cognates have been made true cognates through misuse. The word “evento”, for example, didn’t always mean something planned such as a show, but rather something unplanned. English retains this meaning: “in the event of an emergency…”

And then there are Latinos who live in the US and other English-speaking countries who have adapted English words into Spanish: “parquear el carro a la marqueta”, for example. Here, the unintelligibility argument holds no water, and in fact is rather insulting to Spanish speakers. Does he think that they’re all so stupid that after a short period of exposure they couldn’t understand a dialect where less than 1% (my estimate; I’d be interested in seeing real figures) of the words are different?

I happen to find the first two cases of Anglicisms unnecessary and, indeed, rather tasteless. I try to avoid them. Sometimes my incomplete vocabulary makes this difficult, although I do my best: “Vamos a un … ¿cómo se dice? En inglés la palabra es «show».” I don’t use the Anglicisms used by Latinos in English-speaking countries, but nor do I denigrate them — in fact, I think they enrich the language as a whole.

For the most part, I wrote off Grilejmo as a grumpy old fart. There’s nothing wrong with that, really. But his downright absurd statements about English (and other things, of course, but this book is really too insignificant for it to be worth it to criticize everything) are what really got to me. He calls it a frigid language, less expressive, blah blah.

It ends on a positive, and almost inspiring note. But by then it was too late, and the damage was done. A waste of time and paper. Too bad, considering its potential.

(Oh, occasionally he put in a little parting shot at the ends of chapters in an attempt to be funny, much like The Economist often does, except The Economist’s quips are generally humorous. Grijelmo’s are not.)

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by J.K. Rowling. Bloomsbury.

I’m not sure what I can say about this book that other people haven’t already said, at least not without revealing spoilers. I went to some effort to not expose myself to any spoilers, and I’ll try not to inflict them on anyone else, either. But in case I screw up and reveal something I shouldn’t, you can read the rest of what I have to say about it offsite.

Ficciones

Ficciones by Jorge Luis Borges. Joaquín Mortiz / Emecé.

Ficciones was originally published in two volumes: El jardín de senderos que se bifurcan and Artificios. Subsequent republishings have combined them into this single volume. El jardín is definitely the stronger of the two. “Pierre Menard”, especially, is awesome.

The Lord of the Rings

The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien. Houghton Mifflin.

I reread the Lord of the Rings recently. I was pleasantly surprised how good it was. Having seen the movies certainly makes it less good, though. Because it’s hard to get the theme music and Elijah Wood’s obnoxious face out of your mind. Also, I was dreading some parts — the battle at Helm’s Deep, in particular — because it was so badly done (and BORING!) in the film adaptation. Turns out it’s pretty good in the book.

If you’ve never seen the movie or read the book, just read the book. If you’ve seen the movie, I’m sorry. You should still read the book.

The Neocon Reader

The Neocon Reader by Irwin Stelzer (ed) et al. Grove Press.

I was writing a review when, meaning to open a new tab in my browser, I hit C-r instead of C-t. Everything lost.

So much for that. It’s sufficient to say that Irwin Stelzer is an intellectual lightweight, and whoever the pseudointellectual who wrote the piece about pr0n was is even worse, and few of the people whose writings are included are much better.

Which isn’t to say that you shouldn’t read the book.

Fantasyland

Fantasyland by Sam Walker. Penguin.

This book sucks; don’t read it.

If you’re in a rush, those six words should be enough.

Otherwise…

So this is a book about a sportswriter who manages to talk his way into an expert fantasy baseball competition, Tout Wars. He uses his sportswriter-insider access to talk to actual ball players and baseball execs, and learns nothing. He hires two guys, an idiot and a smart guy, and proceeds to ignore the smart guy and actually pay attention to the idiot. He doesn’t win.

A hint for authors and editors: if you want to look sophisticated by including accents in foreign names, do so consistently. And if you want to transcribe quotes by people with bad English, do so consistently, and not using some half assed ad-hoc system. It’d be worth it.

Told by a flake, full of useless words and phony emotions, signifying nothing.

Update: What I really meant to write was that when I saw this book, I was hoping it would be Moneyball II, which it definitely was not. Otherwise I doubt I’d have even picked it up.

god is not Great

god is not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything by Christopher Hitchens. Twelve.

If Richard Dawkins is “Darwin’s rottweiler”, then who is Christopher Hitchens? He is certainly more vicious than Dawkins.

In any case, buying their books is a public service; best-selling books about controversial topics (and the more I think about it, the harder I find it to believe that anything said in this book is really controversial) get their authors on television and on the radio and on speaking circuits. That much is a good thing.

No real surprises: it discusses the harm that religion has done and continues to do, and has lengthy sections on the absurdities of various religions.

French Made Simple

French Made Simple by Pamela Rose Haze. Made Simple Books.

French Made Simple is a textbook that I bought in a bookstore in Montréal when I was there last summer.

The first chapter lists some statistics about French and its speakers and some reasons why you might want to learn it. The second provides detailed pronunciation information (which I would do well to revisit) — as detailed as I think you can get in a book without using overly technical vocabulary that only people trained in linguistics would understand.

Each chapter from the third on starts off with a short reading. At first, the readings are divided into two columns; the left has French text and the right has an English translation. Later chapters’ readings are French-only. After the readings come vocabulary related to and grammar introduced in the text. Then an exercise or two, some more grammatical information, and then a few more exercises. After every few chapters, there’s a review-only section which lists vocabulary and has more exercises and a reading for practice.

The readings are based on an ongoing story. Monsieur Brown, a New York based importer of French objets d’art, plans to visit France to meet his representative in Paris and, time permitting, check out the French countryside. He doesn’t speak French and his agent doesn’t speak English (how they’ve managed to do business is never explained), so M. Brown decides to learn French. He is taught by Monsieur Picard, a Frenchman who lives in New York. M. Brown eventually travels to France and gets on and along fine.

I can’t remember exactly when I started this book; it was after I started working from home; I generally read it and did the exercises while eating lunch. I did all the exercises except for those that were translations into English. That’s because I was writing out the exercises in a notebook. Writing in French is, for now, slow enough that I can keep up with myself. When I write in English, my hand can’t keep up with my mind, and it’s frustrating. I did usually speak what I would have written, sotto voce, however.

I was pleased with this book; its descriptions and explanations were generally clear and, as far as I can tell, correct. If I didn’t already know Spanish (and if I hadn’t already gone through some other, incredibly crappy, and poorly and inaccurately translated into Spanish books about French), my impression might be different. Certainly knowing English and another Romance language helps with learning French immensely.

There are other books in the same series that appear to be equally good, although without having read them nor done their exercises I can’t be sure.

Slow Learner

Slow Learner by Thomas Pynchon. Bantam.

Slow Learner is a collection of short stories written early in Pynchon’s career. All were written before the publication of V. except the last, which was written between V. and The Crying of Lot 49. Some characters, such as Pig Bodine and Victoria Wren, who show up elsewhere in Pynchon’s œuvre, make appearances in these stories.

I don’t know why I choose to read this, given how much I disliked Gravity’s Rainbow. It was an improvement, although that really isn’t saying much.

The maddening thing about Pynchon is that he can write well when he wants to. He is capable of writing enjoyable and readable passages and even complete books, but has more than once chosen not to. I can’t begin to understand, much less explain, why someone outside of academia would choose to do that.

If you come across a copy, I suggest reading “Low-lands” and “The Secret Integration” — those two were well written and entertaining. The others you might as well skip.