Some thoughts:
1. The Kennedy women really got the shaft. They worked like dogs and accomplished so much and still got very little recognition. All their pain and sorrow and loss was out on display for the whole world but their men mostly ignored them. Rose was just incredible. He talks about when their father took the assignment as ambassador to the UK and she moved 7 of their 9 children (Teddy was only 6 years old or so) to London, with only a few weeks to get Kick and Rosemary ready to come out as debs in the royal court in a foreign country, and heads of state and aristocracy to entertain in the drawing room as a world war was breaking out around them. Teddy says Mother was quite busy. Really? I'd be quite busy chasing shots of scotch with Pepto Bismol. (Which brings me to: Poor, poor Joan Kennedy. I feel for her, I really do.)
2. Ted tells this weirdo story about getting in a fist fight with an African-American guy in the army. He says he hadn't really had much contact with black people prior to this and then tells about finding this guys who was supposed to be working with him playing dice in the barracks and then getting in a fight with him. I can't for the life of me figure out what the point of mentioning that the guy was black or even of telling this story was. That he could win a fight with a black guy? That black people play dice? That he didn't know any black people? I don't get it.
3. As competitive as they were with one another, the Kennedy kids were also like a gang. They made their life decisions as a family, not as individuals really, and once they decided to do something they acted as a pack. All the rest threw their weight and energy behind whomever was sailing in a race, going to law school, playing football, starting a business, running for office, etc. How can you lose with an army of Kennedys behind you??
Monday, January 18, 2010
Thursday, January 14, 2010
He Was a Handsome Man
Kate likes to kiss the picture of JFK on the back of my book. RFK and Teddy are also in the picture, but she likes Jack.
Interesting Tidbit #2: Teddy's first communion was administered by Pope Pius XII himself in Rome at the Vatican. Top that.
Interesting Tidbit #2: Teddy's first communion was administered by Pope Pius XII himself in Rome at the Vatican. Top that.
Tuesday, January 12, 2010
True Compass by Ted Kennedy
I'm cutting you off at the pass. I don't want to hear your snide comments about the fact that I'm reading Ted Kennedy's memoir. Keep it to yourselves. My aunt Sandy gave me this book for Christmas and I'm excited to read it. He was the Lion of the Senate for God's sake and well respected by people on both sides of the aisle for the hard work he did over a lifetime in public service. I know he was far from perfect - one of the chapters of the book is entitled "Harvard Screw-Up" so I think he knew it too - but his story is most certainly an interesting one.
So there. And by the way, it takes me forever to get through non-fiction these days because I'm easily distractable, so bear with me. I'll probably try to throw in some interesting tidbits and random commentary about Uncle Teddy as I go along, just so you know I'm still alive. And still reading.
Interesting Tidbit #1: Ted tells the story of how the family spent a weekend at Hyannis Port shortly after JFK was elected President. Jack was already exhausted from the job, so he slept in on Sunday morning. As he heard his parents come in from Mass, he jumped out of bed, threw on some pants, and snuck out of the house through the neighbors yard to avoid getting griped out by his mom and dad for missing Mass. The President of the United States!!
So there. And by the way, it takes me forever to get through non-fiction these days because I'm easily distractable, so bear with me. I'll probably try to throw in some interesting tidbits and random commentary about Uncle Teddy as I go along, just so you know I'm still alive. And still reading.
Interesting Tidbit #1: Ted tells the story of how the family spent a weekend at Hyannis Port shortly after JFK was elected President. Jack was already exhausted from the job, so he slept in on Sunday morning. As he heard his parents come in from Mass, he jumped out of bed, threw on some pants, and snuck out of the house through the neighbors yard to avoid getting griped out by his mom and dad for missing Mass. The President of the United States!!
Monday, January 11, 2010
Unwind by Neal Shusterman
Now that Kate's birthday is past, I can finally get down to clarifying a thought about Unwind, which I actually finished reading almost a week ago. In truth, that would be clarifying a lot of thoughts, because as Wendy (who of course told me about this book) said I would, I have a lots of thoughts swirling around about this story. "There's a lot of ins, a lot of outs. A lot of strands in the old Duder's head..."
I talked to my mom a bit about it, which helped me pull some stuff together in my mind, because my mom does juvenile justice social work. Knowing her and the work she does and the stories she's told me, I know that as bizarre as this story seems to be, parents do just throw their kids away sometimes, and for the lamest of reasons. And the state is overburdened taking care of rejected, unloved kids. And that's reality as of right now, not some grim future world of fiction.
Shusterman's main point in all this seems to be to strike some philosophical middle ground in the war over abortion, but he throws in so many other points as well (anarchy, personal responsibility vs. personal freedom, the nature of consciousness, the position of teenagers in our society, religious extremism, etc.) that you could discuss this book endlessly. I can definitely see how this story would strike a powerful chord in the minds of teens. If you want to get a teenager you know reading, this book would do it. On top of all that, it's fast-paced and exciting. That's a powerful combo.
Primarily, I appreciate a YA writer making the case for seeing all sides of an issue. I think a lot of stories marketed to kids are propagandistic. They attempt to teach something and in the process beat kids over the heads with their message. Shusterman seems to be saying, "look at all of these ideas and think about what the logical conclusions and consequences would be." That is a valuable message for anybody these days. We harp and harp about how we think things ought to be, but there doesn't seem to be enough call for stopping to think things out to their end result. How is this going to play out on the ground? In the book, for instance, a law allowing people to secretly leave their unwanted newborns on the doorsteps of others, thereby passing the legal responsibility on to the person who owns the doorstep, actually ends up inducing people to pass babies from door to door night after night until they are too weak to survive. A slow, painful death is not more humane and holy than life never lived. So many things in this world are good in their inception and intention and bad in their execution; you have to consider the consequences. That is a powerful teaching point all by itself.
On a lighter note, I had to laugh at the "romance" portion of the plot, which I guess the author felt was a necessity to draw in the ladies. It seems so obviously written by a man. Basically, it reads like: I like you. Me too. They kiss. HA!
I talked to my mom a bit about it, which helped me pull some stuff together in my mind, because my mom does juvenile justice social work. Knowing her and the work she does and the stories she's told me, I know that as bizarre as this story seems to be, parents do just throw their kids away sometimes, and for the lamest of reasons. And the state is overburdened taking care of rejected, unloved kids. And that's reality as of right now, not some grim future world of fiction.
Shusterman's main point in all this seems to be to strike some philosophical middle ground in the war over abortion, but he throws in so many other points as well (anarchy, personal responsibility vs. personal freedom, the nature of consciousness, the position of teenagers in our society, religious extremism, etc.) that you could discuss this book endlessly. I can definitely see how this story would strike a powerful chord in the minds of teens. If you want to get a teenager you know reading, this book would do it. On top of all that, it's fast-paced and exciting. That's a powerful combo.
Primarily, I appreciate a YA writer making the case for seeing all sides of an issue. I think a lot of stories marketed to kids are propagandistic. They attempt to teach something and in the process beat kids over the heads with their message. Shusterman seems to be saying, "look at all of these ideas and think about what the logical conclusions and consequences would be." That is a valuable message for anybody these days. We harp and harp about how we think things ought to be, but there doesn't seem to be enough call for stopping to think things out to their end result. How is this going to play out on the ground? In the book, for instance, a law allowing people to secretly leave their unwanted newborns on the doorsteps of others, thereby passing the legal responsibility on to the person who owns the doorstep, actually ends up inducing people to pass babies from door to door night after night until they are too weak to survive. A slow, painful death is not more humane and holy than life never lived. So many things in this world are good in their inception and intention and bad in their execution; you have to consider the consequences. That is a powerful teaching point all by itself.
On a lighter note, I had to laugh at the "romance" portion of the plot, which I guess the author felt was a necessity to draw in the ladies. It seems so obviously written by a man. Basically, it reads like: I like you. Me too. They kiss. HA!
Monday, January 4, 2010
Sunday, January 3, 2010
The English American by Alison Larkin
I always think it's strange to read a book whose main character is nothing like me as a person. There's always this assumption that I will be able to inhabit the primary personality of the story to some extent - maybe I only feel this way when the book is written in first person, because now that I'm thinking about it, there are quite a few books I love who's main figure is a man or an old woman or on drugs or living in another era, etc. I'm not entirely sure now about my theory, but I do know that the entire time I was reading this book, I felt a little bit off balance about how different from me I found Pippa Dunn, Alison Larkin's fictional alter ego in this semi-autobiographical novel. It's not that Alison Larkin and Pippa Dunn are both English-raised adoptees with American birth parents. The adoption part didn't really factor into it all, even though it's the central theme of the story.
Pippa (and Alison, I believe) are theater girls, cheery, energetic, enthusiastic, goody-too-shoes types who love show tunes and prefer chocolate milk to cocktails. They are messy, impulsive, romantic types dripping with spontaneity who jump at the chance to sing in public. I don't understand people like this at all. I like bluesy rock bands, bourbon and 7's, sarcasm, black humor, inconspicuousness, tidiness, and gritty realism. I do not pine after men who write emails that say cheesy things like, "You open your soul for a second, so it touches mine." I rarely get sucked in to other people's emotional turmoil. I just wanted to shake Pippa and smack some sense into this girl. Don't fall for that guy's ridiculous romantic claptrap! Don't take a job from a family member with no paycheck! Don't get dragged in to that drama! Don't pay off one credit card with another!!! Aaaaurrrrrgh!!!
I bought this book as a Christmas present for Wendy and our other friend Val because it sounded like an intriguing story and we're all a bunch of Anglophiles who once travelled through the UK together. I loved how Larkin compares the two cultures with humor and understanding, appreciating and skewering each of them equally. However, I did sometimes feel like her comments were based on fairly generic stereotypes, but then again I guess most humor is based on generic stereotypes. There aren't any really deep revelations here about the trans-Atlantic culture clash. I think Bill Bryson has more interesting and funnier things to say about it in his memoir, Notes from a Small Island. Not all English people are emotionally stunted intellectuals and not all Americans are artistic drama queens, for example. And I'd just like to make the argument that if Americans don't know how to make a proper cup of tea, Brits can't produce a cup of coffee that doesn't taste like warm dirt. I did love how all the English people in the book eat tons of toast. That is true.
What Larkin does best is present a realistic picture of what it is to be adopted and what a struggle it is to go in search of your birth parents. She makes good, subtle arguments for why the US should change it's adoption laws to make it easier for biological parents and children to contact one another and share information such as health histories. She helps explain the kind of support adoptees need as they work on piecing together an identity once they meet the people who gave them life. As an advocate for adoptees, I think she comes out swinging. Here's more from her website.
As for me, I'm headed over to my grocery store's international food aisle to pick up a tube of Smarties and a bag of Maltesers. But what I'd really kill for is a Flapjack, any flavor!
Pippa (and Alison, I believe) are theater girls, cheery, energetic, enthusiastic, goody-too-shoes types who love show tunes and prefer chocolate milk to cocktails. They are messy, impulsive, romantic types dripping with spontaneity who jump at the chance to sing in public. I don't understand people like this at all. I like bluesy rock bands, bourbon and 7's, sarcasm, black humor, inconspicuousness, tidiness, and gritty realism. I do not pine after men who write emails that say cheesy things like, "You open your soul for a second, so it touches mine." I rarely get sucked in to other people's emotional turmoil. I just wanted to shake Pippa and smack some sense into this girl. Don't fall for that guy's ridiculous romantic claptrap! Don't take a job from a family member with no paycheck! Don't get dragged in to that drama! Don't pay off one credit card with another!!! Aaaaurrrrrgh!!!
I bought this book as a Christmas present for Wendy and our other friend Val because it sounded like an intriguing story and we're all a bunch of Anglophiles who once travelled through the UK together. I loved how Larkin compares the two cultures with humor and understanding, appreciating and skewering each of them equally. However, I did sometimes feel like her comments were based on fairly generic stereotypes, but then again I guess most humor is based on generic stereotypes. There aren't any really deep revelations here about the trans-Atlantic culture clash. I think Bill Bryson has more interesting and funnier things to say about it in his memoir, Notes from a Small Island. Not all English people are emotionally stunted intellectuals and not all Americans are artistic drama queens, for example. And I'd just like to make the argument that if Americans don't know how to make a proper cup of tea, Brits can't produce a cup of coffee that doesn't taste like warm dirt. I did love how all the English people in the book eat tons of toast. That is true.
What Larkin does best is present a realistic picture of what it is to be adopted and what a struggle it is to go in search of your birth parents. She makes good, subtle arguments for why the US should change it's adoption laws to make it easier for biological parents and children to contact one another and share information such as health histories. She helps explain the kind of support adoptees need as they work on piecing together an identity once they meet the people who gave them life. As an advocate for adoptees, I think she comes out swinging. Here's more from her website.
As for me, I'm headed over to my grocery store's international food aisle to pick up a tube of Smarties and a bag of Maltesers. But what I'd really kill for is a Flapjack, any flavor!
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