Anfenwick

I own this book in French, which is one of my native languages, but that edition doesn't seem to be listed on Goodreads.

This is a college or high school textbook on ethical philosophy, produced in French speaking Canada. How it found its way to my bookshop in France I don't know, but I feel pretty lucky to have a copy. It was perfect for the age I was at (early 20s) very approachable and readable but still serious in its approach to the subject matter. It's really too bad it isn't more widely available and doesn't seem to have been translated into English.

In case anyone's interested to know what it covers:

Part 1: The Nature of Ethics
- Preliminary discussion of ethical concepts, history, connection with other disciplines.
- Moral relativism, arguments in favor of its existence
- Moral progress, discussion on what it means and whether it occurs
- Tools for ethical thinking, e.g. the golden mean and others

Part 2: The Basis of Moral Judgements
- Appeals to divine commandment and its critics
- Appeals to nature and its critics
- Appeals to the common good and its critics

Part 3: Social Ethics
- Ethics and economics
- Ethics and democracy
- Justice

Part 4: An anthology of texts dealing with ethical questions

Conclusion: Why should I act morally?

These animal fables are hilarious but in the way that makes you go 'Ouch!' Nasty, close to the bone - or, in one relatively touching(!!!??) instance - closer to a hippo's asshole than I would personally care to get. These are not, on the whole, nice animals. Some of them are as unpleasant as the unpleasant people you know from the office, but others are like people you fortunately only come across in the media. There was a rabbit who reminded me irresistibly of George Zimmerman. Then again, there were a couple of birds I must have met a hundred times. I still haven't figured out what to do about those birds. It's only because I allow my moral code to override my natural instincts that they aren't lying upside down, plucked and roasted on a piece of toast by now. But reading Squirrel Seeks Chipmunk made me feel a lot more vicious and who knows what may happen next time. So, it really isn't for everyone, especially not for people who like to maintain a sunny, optimistic attitude towards their fellow humans.

What else? Well, the book broke my regionalized book classification system. The style is so thoroughly continental European, the subject matter belongs to the English-speaking world, especially but not exclusively to the USA. I wasn't in the least surprised to learn that Sedaris is American but living in France. There's an obvious connection between his stories and those of La Fontaine. La Fontaine was vicious for his time as well. His stories were were meant for adults, but for some reason, they're now read to French children and always used to make me cry. I'm old and cynical now but all the same, I should have spread this book out over several weeks. There was definitely a point where I was thinking, 'Okay, David Sedaris, you know, one of the reasons I read books is so I can avoid being with people like this all the time!'

This isn't the Alice Walker book everyone's read, which is [b:The Color Purple|11486|The Color Purple|Alice Walker|https://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1386925078s/11486.jpg|3300573]. It isn't even the Alice Walker book I wanted to read which is [b:Possessing the Secret of Joy|60935|Possessing the Secret of Joy|Alice Walker|https://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1170553834s/60935.jpg|435527]. It's just the Alice Walker book which happened to be in the library and turned out to be exactly the book I wanted this weekend.

Then again it's a very personal thing with this type of book. This is one of those spiritual journey stories that probably work best if that's where you are right now. So here's me, feeling desperately over-extended, burned out, and very able to relate to the narrator at the beginning of the book. Although I didn't get bounced out of it, at least I feel like I'm on common ground. But if that's not where you're at, is it a good book? I don't think it's objectively as good as The Color Purple. It meanders quite a bit, like the river it uses as a metaphor for, errr... let's call it spiritual energy.

Also, it's cosy. As far as I'm concerned, the whole book meanders through very familiar territory - and this is a European, commenting on a very American book! But there again, what is and isn't familiar territory is very much a matter of personal circumstances. What else can I say about it which might be useful? It actually has two spiritual journeys in it: a very female centered one and a male centered one. It has a very nice gentle approach to relations between the sexes. It's also about coming of age - but not the adult age people usually think of with that expression - rather old age, and coming into that role in a positive way, personally and socially.

I read this right after [b:The Dark Lord of Derkholm|47587|The Dark Lord of Derkholm (Derkholm, #1)|Diana Wynne Jones|https://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1355961884s/47587.jpg|869986] which is the first in the series and I liked it a whole lot better. But here's the thing: I think I mostly liked it better because some of the characters were already familiar from the first time round. Otherwise, I think it suffers from the same problem as the first book in the series, in that it tries to cover too big a world in too small a space. There just isn't time to develop the characters as well as I would like.

Having said that, I can't imagine reading a Diana Wynne Jones book and not liking it at all. I just don't like it nearly as much as those of her books I like best.

It's really easy to see why this particular slave narrative was hugely popular in its day. The Craft couple's escape from the American South makes for a dramatic story. From a historical perspective, just realizing the sheer distance between Georgia and Philadelphia in the 19th century is quite interesting. It's not by any means the best written of slave narratives, but it's short and easy to read. Apart from that it is particularly interesting for these topics:

1. Life in the upper echelons of slavery in the American south as domestic servants and skilled workers, since this was the couple's background.
2. White slaves, wholly or mostly European, are a particular topic of interest. This was Ellen Craft's situation though others in her situation are mentioned.
3. The second escape to England, due to the Fugitive Slave Act, has some interesting insights into race relations in the free north.
4. Perceptions of slavery among slave owners in the American South. Ellen Craft's short period of masquerading as one of them provided the opportunity for her to hear and present these stories.

I'm afraid this is going to sound like a terribly critical review. As you can see, I still gave The Historian four stars. I did enjoy reading it. I might read it again one day. I suppose I just expected a bit more, something like a deep literary novel with a paranormal touch. Having read it, I'm not sure if it's as deep or literary as all that, but that isn't necessarily the book's fault.

I really wanted it to say much more about the whole theme of history, but it seemed to have it's best ideas covered in the first chapter. It turns out to be one of several books I've read this year which consider evil as a theme. It did this in a very interesting way but it doesn't do your thinking for you. I suspect I ended up thinking things the author hadn't thought of. All that is fine. But if a book isn't going to do your thinking for you, the relevant details really need to be memorable so that you can think about them yourself as you go about life.

The Historian isn't really memorable. It doesn't have enough emotional impact. The relationships feel lukewarm and it wasn't scary at all, which is a bit disappointing in a vampire story. It's maybe over-aestheticized, not just in the way it treats people but in those postcard-like descriptions of Europe. It does make for a very nice little armchair tour of Europe. It does treat historical research as very much like a detective puzzle in which you have to track down clues - which is very accurate in my experience. It was kind of fun, in a longish way. If I read it again, it would be on an aeroplane or at the beach.

I liked it but I didn't think it was one of her best. What I love about Diana Wynne Jones' writing is the way she manages to write families and characters who belong to families with such a natural touch. Also, although the families are often dysfunctional in quite a functional and/or believable way. So different from the separatist world of a lot of children's and adult's fiction. In this case whole scope of the story and the size of the world it's taking place in gets in the way a bit.

The other thing I was really interested in was the theme of tourism as a force that can be all-consuming and potentially damaging and exploitative to cultures. Unfortunately, I've grown out of the way it's presented in this book. I bet it would still be a real eye-opener to the kids for whom the book is intended, so I'm not marking it down on that account.

*** I received a free review copy of the paperback version of this book ***

I really wish I was reviewing this book as part of a critique group or as a beta reader. Then I could wax all enthusiastic about its good points while being clear about what it needs. The trouble is, it's meant to be a finished product and it just isn't. It needs a thorough edit at every level - from structural to line to proof-reading. Also, although the book-setting is globally very pleasing, there are aspects of it I would rethink.

That said, I'm going to try to stick to reviewing what's there, instead of what might be - which is going to be hard.

There are lot of things in this book that are right up my street: astronomy, prehistoric archaeology, aliens, lost explorers, puzzles and mazes, outdoor sports. Ochs is at his best when he's dealing with labyrinths filled with obstacles: man-made labyrinths and the natural wadis (dry river beds of the desert region). Especially the wadis. Clearly wadi-bashing is his first love. At the start, I liked it a lot but by the end of the book, which was supposed to be the climax, the labyrinth with obstacles theme was getting a bit old. Too similar to what had gone before. Also the debates where the characters talk their way through the various puzzles went on too much.

What I would have liked as a replacement is more of passages set in the ancient society, perhaps where they set these obstacles and puzzles. There's such a beautiful description of how they build irrigation channels and nothing on why and how, for example, they decided to etch symbols over a mural which was ancient even to them. This was needed to make the novel work as a fable which seemed to be the author's intention. It would also have been particularly nice because its Ochs' ancient characters who are the most human. The contemporary academics are about as flat as paper plates - except they're paper plates with custard pies on.

In itself, I accept this as a legitimate authorial choice and one I might enjoy. The thing is the comedy has to work, and in this case it doesn't. It's too unsophisticated for adults, too risque for kids*. The narrator doesn't show enough awareness of what he's doing with the humor to draw the readers into the joke. Before I recognized the pattern, I literally spent several pages - after I picked my jaw off the ground - wondering whether the characters had been possessed by demons/aliens/ghosts. That hypothesis seemed to fit the story better than attempted humor at that point. Instead, it's just that our academics are consistently mind-blowing in their social and professional incompetence, the Keystone Cops of archaeology (and astronomy). It blew my mind when they ... destroyed a thousand years old totally unique astronomical observatory and just dusted themselves off like it was no big deal at all. After all, they'd had time to make a few notes!. All this could have been funny, but as I say, it didn't quite make it.

As regards reading this book to gain an appreciation of Oman, I'd say it's good for an insight into the desert environment, especially the sport of wadi exploration, and some of the ancient history, assuming you can separate fact from fiction. It doesn't attempt to say anything about contemporary Omani culture and society, even though the character of Faridah presents an opportunity.

* I do think that in many ways, this might work better as a kid's book - alter those ghastly inappropriate jokes and unfunny sexist comments into something more suitable and you've got the level of astronomy, engagement with the world, puzzle-solving and adventure that many kids love and which would even be quite educational.

It's quite surprising how varied people's worldviews are. When you read reviews of this book, some people say it opened their eyes, others curse it for not being scientific enough or being too curmudgeonly. It isn't - Burkeman wanders through this exploration of anti-positive thinking with fake (I assume) wide-eyed innocence, as though it were all new to him.

There are also the converted, allowing themselves to be preached to for fun. Probably for cultural reasons,I fall into that category. I've never entertained any illusion about the mountain-moving power of optimism, the desirability of self-esteem in the absence of reasonable cause or the likelihood of living forever. Nor do I expect to find a scientifically proven route to happiness - or even misery.

I read the book because a glance at the first chapter led me to believe it was going to be very funny. Although it turned out the first chapter was the comic highlight, the rest was entertaining and well-written. To its credit, it did not contain ten bullet-point plans or exercises for becoming happier by being more negative, nor did it set out to prove anything to anyone. It relied more on continuous prose and sources in philosophy, religion and spiritual experiences - approach to life stuff, basically.

I love the Tiffany Aching books but I think my 4th reading of this was perhaps just that one time too many. I'd rather give my twelve year old's opinion on her 2nd reading. It's for her age group after all.

The first reading when she was 8 was aborted because she found it too scary. Nothing of the sort anymore. It's funny the sorts of things they put in books for girls her age compared to what she actually likes.

What she likes is a bunch of outrageously bad-ass (but not evil) boys wrapped around the little finger of a character she identifies with all having proper adventures. A character she identifies with would the kind of no-nonsense girl who has no truck with pink, pretty, prim, popular and all that kind of stuff. No romance, no soppiness. The wee free men were right up her street, as was Tiffany.

Where this book really shines is as the depiction of a micro-society, the forty of so people of Mizda. My copy says the author is from a village of the same name, though I don't whether he intends an accurate depiction of his homeplace and its people.

The villagers of Mizda, already struggling after a period of drought, come to Jandouba in the hope of harvesting the barley fields in exchange for some of the crop. Arriving on the brink of starvation, they discover the jerboas have already harvested every barley ear in every field. A lot of the book deals with the bitter struggle for insufficient resources between humans and jerboas.

But it's also very much a book about society, culture and history, especially that of the people of Mizda, individually and collectively. They clash with the second group of arrivals from Bir Hakeem over culture and resources. As a counterpoint, the author introduces the social organisation and beliefs of several species of animal.

I think the blurb for the book rather misrepresents the way it ends:

Neither hunger nor marriage succeeds in uniting the two tribes, but when disaster strikes in this little patch of desert it is time for everyone humans, rats, snakes, wolves and insects to unite as one, under the same burning sky.

I really must have blinked and missed that part, although it is true that the situation between the groups of humans evolves somewhat. Perhaps it wouldn't be a total spoiler to say that everyone was united in their desire to avoid said disaster, but that's about it!

The downside to this book is that while its written in acceptable style, it's got a 'tell, don't show' kind of voice and no emotional depth. I had to bring my own knowledge of humans to get up much empathy for the human characters. As for the animals, their part is much less developed than the comments on this book might lead potential readers to imagine.

The idea of listening to a porcupine's confessions to a baobab is amusing and light-hearted but his story raises the most serious cultural and ethical issues. I'm reminded of nothing so much as Hannah Arendt's Banality of Evil, with digressions on the relationship between evil, power and the possibility of redemption.

This is not the first time I've read a fable written from the point of view of an animal and most of the other recent ones come from outside the English-speaking world as well. They've almost always been ways of raising quite complicated philosophical issues in an approachable way and of commenting on human society from the outside. They come across cute and easy to read, but they are meant to be taken to quite a deep level. It works for me. I will probably read this one again soon so I can think a bit more about some aspects of it.

With respect to the porcupine's talkative style and digressions: considering some of the sentences are several pages long, it's amazing how easy this is to read and follow. You're just going to have to trust the porcupine on this one - it really works as advertised. It's just like listening to someone talk (only well).

Last point: the translator, Helen Stevenson, has done a great job reproducing a colloquial feel. I found this book by chance in my local library and I hope to compare it with Mabanckou's original sometime soon.

I keep taking books like this out of the library whenever I get particularly itchy feet and then wondering what on earth you're supposed to do with them? Nice pictures, though.

Take a genre everyone loves: the murder mystery and add some magic and fantasy beings (everyone loves magic), set it in the city that's got everything (and everyone) and you get the equivalent of literary chocolate.

I wanted to read this book slowly, a little bit every night, but instead I scarfed it down in a couple of nights. Lucky for me there are more Peter Grant mysteries just waiting for me to get my hands on.

This is a great little walking book, small enough to fit in a pocket, detailed enough to be interesting, concise enough to read while you're walking, pretty enough to make you want to get started and easy to follow. What more could anyone ask.

Tribulations is okay. The plot idea of an over-pampered rich man who has everything except an idea of what to do with his life still resonates today. Kin Fo decides to end it all and for reasons best known to himself entrusts the task of killing him to his friend, the supremely competent but until now reformed assassin, Wang. What happens next is only unpredictable in the extremes to which the two of them will go.

Bearing in mind that Voyages Extraordinaires had a didactic mission, Verne does a reasonable job of covering the Chinese political issues of his day as they were understood abroad: poverty and mass emigration, the negative effects of imperialism, especially relating to opium and political unrest within China.

His lack of detailed knowledge of China's geography, outside the international centers and westernized trading ports limits him quite a bit. He tops it off with some peculiarly 19th century ideas about racial purity, western cultural superiority and various other indiscretions. Its actually quite funny to listen to him describing the cuisine and admitting that it might be refined if you were only used to it, while considering the music completely irredeemable!