Re-discoveries, Russian style

The random choice for this week turned out to be Resurrection, by David Remnick. It's the follow-up to his Pulitzer-Prize winning Lenin's Tomb, from his reporting from the final days of the Soviet Union. These books are stunning - and Remnick became my hero, a status that only grew when he took over at the New Yorker.

These are both long books, especially the latter, but are well worth the read. Remnick is an amazing observer, and weaves the incredible tale of Glasnost into a coherent narrative. In Resurrection, the story is the nascent Russian democracy, and the Yeltsin's struggle for reelection. It's less than ten years old, but already you can see how far the Russian republic has slipped from its post-Soviet aspirations. There was a period where the enormous wealth and corruption didn't necessarily have to lead to an autocratic president.

As a trained Russian historian, these two books are obviously a little form of nirvana (I took Lenin's Tomb with me to Italy) but anyone interested in current events and politics - or even just excellent reporting - will get a lot out of Remnick's work.

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Re-discoveries

A weekly series where I comment on a book that I read before the launch of the Library

The inaugural feature, chosen semi-randomly (I ran my hand down the bookshelf) is Remembering Mr. Shawn's New Yorker, by Ved Mehta, a long-time staff-writer at the magazine. It's a memoir of his years writing for Mr. Shawn, and an ode to Shawn's career as an editor.

I read this book a year of so after becoming enamored with the New Yorker, and its rhapsodizing tone suited my admiration. But even at the time I recognized it was a little much. Shawn wasn't superhuman. (btw, Shawn is also known for being the father of Wallace Shawn, who played Vizzini in Princess Bride)

What I liked best about this book was the detailed description of how an article makes its way from germ of idea to the pages of the magazine. And the characters that peopled the magazine during the era.

In all, a charming read :)

A little bit of whimsy

I finished Literacy and Longing in L.A. this afternoon. I stick with my previous statement that it was a bit of a letdown. But still sweet. Dora may be shallow, but she is also giving. And the ending, while unsatisfyingly written, is at least satisfying in terms of plot.

One thing I loved was the occasional reference to landmarks that are part of my LA as well. Like Dutton's. Although it's called McKenzie's, the central bookstore is unmistakable. It was nice to see such a haven for books get a starring role in a novel.

On a different note, I saw The Science of Sleep tonight. Michel Gondry, who wrote and directed, is an odd one. His protagonist, Stephane, can barely tell the difference between sleep and wakefulness, and therefore often neither can we. But the love story between him and his neighbor, Stephanie, is both quirky and heartwarming. It's only in his dreams that Stephanie reassures him that they are on the right track. When awake, things never seem to go quite as well. And yet you believe it is the sleeping Stephane and Stephanie that represent the true nature of their relationship.

The Westside Crazy Book Lady

No, that's not me. I still live in Hollywood, so I'm safe for now. But I'm reading Literacy and Longing in LA, a joint project by two Angelenas (is that a real term?). It's about a woman who is having a life crisis, and handles all crises by locking herself up and reading voraciously.

Much of this I can identify with. But I have to admit that I'm a little disappointed with the book so far. Dora, the protagonist, seems a little flaky, even if she is intelligent. And it's hard to believe her when she bemoans the shallowness of the Brentwood/West LA population when you discover that she lives (at 35) on a trust fund, thinks her size 12 sister seems fat (for LA, admittedly), and spends her days flitting around book stores and spying on her estranged husband.

But it IS white Los Angeles, so what is objectively shallow seems to make perfect sense within the context. I guess I just expected to identify with her more, and I'm finding that I don't want to be like her. (Although I wouldn't mind having a trust fund.)

The novel will probably grow on me. Expect a more positive review coming soon.

Plan B for the Earth - and why it needs to happen now

I have been sloooowly reading Lester R. Brown's Plan B 2.0: Rescuing a Planet Under Stress and a Civilization in Trouble. I wish it hadn't been such slow going, but lots of technical details (and repetition) have a soporific effect on me. In the end, I was pretty much reading it like an academic text - pulling out information rather than really digesting each sentence. It's the kind of book you want around as a reference, full of facts and figures and lots of suggestions.

Brown is president of the Earth Policy Institute, and he is writing to attempt to save the Earth from collapse. Our use of resources is unsustainable, and even so, far too much of the planet's population lives in poverty. So Plan B is two-fold: poverty-alleviation and "earth restoration." The annual price tag for the two: $161 billion. Sounds steep, until you realize that the United States spends more than three times that much on defense each year. And we know that some of that money is being wasted. So the money is there (and in lots of other places too, for those of you Defense Dept. boosters).

While reading, I vacillated between optimism and despair. We are in bad, bad shape. And my mind still boggles: what on earth were we thinking that oil - a fossil fuel that takes eons to form - would just never run out?! Or trees? Or topsoil? But on the other hand, lots of places are doing amazing things. Sweden and Germany have reformulated their tax systems to better reflect the costs of unsustainable activities. Bogota has dramatically dropped crime while making the city more pedestrian-friendly. New technologies have so much potential for sustainable energy, water, and more - and will create new jobs at the same time.

But it's a big, overwhelming task. We need to take it seriously. As Brown puts it, "We have won a lot of local battles, but we are losing the war." It's winnable. And we have to win.

ELECTION DAY!!!

I can't concentrate at all. I don't know what I was thinking coming to work (you know, making sure future generations are civically engaged) instead of going to be a poll monitor like everyone else I know.

What would help, of course, is if I could get away from the computer and my desk and read a good book :)

And speaking of good books, I just finished one: California Uncovered, a 2005 collection of stories from Californian authors. Many of the selections are excerpts from novels, and quite a few made me curious about the larger work itself. [When I get home, I will update with some examples.] One of the editors is Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni, who I have liked very much since I was in college. (I've seen her at readings too - she is lovely in person.)

On the other hand are bad stories, and that is what I've been writing (see my post below). I do not think I'm cut out to be a novelist. I tried for 2 days, and had my "novel" go in about 60 different directions. I haven't given up entirely, but I'm not convinced I should write as a chore, when I can just read something instead.

Vote, vote, vote! I love Election Day. Even if I usually don't have much to cheer about.

Update: The following were my favorites
Yxta Maya Murray (from The Conquest)
Paul Beatty (from The White Boy Shuffle)
Brian Ascalon Roley (from American Son)
Khaled Hosseini (from The Kite Runner)
Dana Johnson ("Melvin in the Sixth Grade")
Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni ("Mrs. Dutta Writes a Letter")

Erin's Library to Climb a Mountain

Or rather, write a novel or something in the month of November.

One of the many non-books that I read is the blog LAist. Thanks to the power of its team of bloggers, I have learned about National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo to the cool kids). As far as I can tell (their site is sloooooow today), the NaNoWriMo folk are dedicated to proving that all you need to write a novel is a little push. Their push: 50,000 words in the 30 days of November. Along with tens of thousands of your closest friends. And they even forewarn that it'll be crap. At least, most of it. But if you're me, and you like to write but don't make the time (and don't actually have a fiction story flitting around in your conscious brain), it's a pretty cool deal. So I am in the process of signing up (like I said, the site is slow) right now.

Another driving factor: I like things you can count. I am very tangible in the way I look for results. September was 10,000 steps a day + and I took great joy in calculating the change in my average performance from week to week. (I added the equivalent of an 8th day/week of walking by the end of the month.) October was sit-up and arm weight month, with similarly numerical planned gains. It got boring around the 24th. So I was trying this morning to figure out what November would be. And what better challenge than something I would never do on my own, with word/day goals, and no exercise required :) So here I go. If the novel gets far enough to acquire a title, I'll let y'all know.