Stuy Shelf

The nine

Posted on the June 11th, 2010 under Recommendations by afc826

Book: Ishmael

Author: Daniel Quinn

Two good friends of mine independently recommended this book to me within the same week. My two friends couldn’t be more different from one another but they have several things in common that made reading Ishmael a life changing event for them: they recognize humans are destroying the world; they have trouble articulating exactly what we are doing that is so wrong (there is so much) and; they are searching for alternatives to the “story we are currently enacting.”

That is how Ishmael, a wise gorilla teacher that serves as Quinn’s voice box, would refer to human history, which he considers began with the agricultural revolution. The actual plot, in which a nameless middle-aged man becomes Ishmael’s apprentice, and its characters are thin; they serve only to frame a pretty radical view, taught by Ishmael, of how humans are ruining the world by cheating evolution.

Thwarting evolution and nature is the ultimate goal of the actions that we have been making since the agricultural revolution, the actions that negatively affect the world both immediately and in the long run.  Quinn brilliantly manages to zoom out and clearly explain his theories of where and how we went wrong. He does so by examining the history of the world anthropologically, and creating a scope that at times made me feel like an alien looking in on a society that I couldn’t believe was my own.

Ishmael, speaking of humans in one of his first lessons, says “you know how to split atoms, how to send explorers to the moon, but you don’t know how people ought to live.” Ishmael differs from other books because there is no other teacher quite like Ishmael. He doesn’t only depict and analyze the problems, but also offers (by having his apprentice discover) solutions, simple rules that every species in the world (with the exception of homo sapien sapiens) follows. He highlights and analyzes (through a zoomed-out lens) the way we blindly continue with ways that we know are bad.

I knew three things were going to happen as soon as I finished the last page: I was going to read every other books and essay of Quinn’s; I was going to reread Ishmael; and I was never going to look at the world, our society or my action’s the same way. All three came true. “Once you learn to discern the voice of Mother Culture humming in the background, telling her story over and over again to the people of your culture, you’ll never stop being conscious of it. Wherever you go for the rest of your life, you’ll be tempted to say to the people around you, ‘How can you listen to this stuff and not recognize it for what it is?’” The book has done exactly this. I often cannot share my opinion, on a wide range of topics, because people (either for not having read Ishmael, not thinking like Quinn, or not feeling like me) just don’t view the world with the same scope and awareness as I do now that I’ve read this book.

Book: The Dharma Bums

Author: Jack Keruoac

My father’s friend and colleague Peter, a beatnik type guy, gave me his dusty- copy of the Keruoac’s The Dharma Bums when I was visiting his place at Berkeley. He is a cool guy who publishes awesome poetry and I was thrilled when he gave me the book. I was even more excited when I saw that the margins were filled with writings of Peter (memories, notes, anecdotes, poems). He suggested that I omit his commentary the first time through. We had just had a pretty open and epic conversation over dinner, after which he was concluded that I had to read this book immediately. Good call Peter.

I don’t think any other book would have been more appropriate for me to read at that point in my life. I was in what would be the last month of a long and intense relationship. Before dating my ex-girlfriend, I had been sort of Dharma Bum-ish (in moderation of course) in my way of being. During my relationship however, I became the complete opposite and towards the end, was yearning to return to the old me and approach life like the old me did. I would say my ex’s extreme dependency, narrow-mindedness and temper were more significant factors than this novel was, but reading about this beautiful way of living definitely catalyzed our breakup. And I’m glad it did.

The book (published in 1958) is a semi-fictional account of events that followed Keruoac’s earlier novel On The Road (published in 1951). It mostly covers the complex relationship between Keruoac himself (Ray Smith in the novel) and poet/essayist Gary Snyder (Japhy Ryder). There is no real beginning, middle or end, nor is there any real conflict or climax. Ray’s unique story is told differently than any other I have read or heard. Snyder was pivotal to Keruoac’s introduction to, interest in and practice of Zen Buddhism.

Keruoac explores, always with traces of the somewhat-westernized but cool interpretation of Zen Buddhism, a number of concepts that are of interest to me: individuality, identity, inner-peace, transcendence, connection to nature, and connection to societal norms. He also examines a curious duality of his ideas and existence, comparing (though he says “comparisons are odious”) his “outdoors” life to his wine-filled, jazz-blaring, endless-partying “city” life. I often have trouble with the same duality and, as Keruoac did, value aspects of both, and have trouble accepting or pursuing only one. Though the intense descriptions of nature and its worth, at times, pushed me towards the outdoor end of the spectrum, I came away from the book with both a better understanding of the importance of the two sides of my life, and a goal to (inactively) find the right balance.

It took me far longer to read it the second time, and even longer the third. This is for a number of reasons: Firstly, Peter doesn’t only have chicken-scratch for handwriting but is also, I’m pretty sure, mildly dyslexic; he is also one of the few people I know that is more cerebral than I, making his writing even more difficult to understand; and, lastly, I feel that in between reads (specifically between the first and second) I acquired a lot of awareness and intellectual curiosity that made me slow down and think more. It’s without a doubt not a book for everyone, but I would argue that everyone should read it (or at least give it a chance).

Book: Homage to Catalonia

Author: George Orwell

This was the first of three books my dad asked me to read last summer. He had wanted to give it to me since we witnessed a curious incident in San Francisco. My father had been invited to the unveiling of a monument dedicated to the American volunteers that went to fight against fascism in the Spanish Civil War. He accepted and brought the family along to be at the opening, to visit his brother, my cousins and his friend Peter.

Many of the engraved beige names whom the statue remembered were pro-union, communist, or socialist, some were anarchist. Many were persecuted during the years of the McCarthy witch-hunts and portrayed to be active radicals (which a portion were) and having a monument in the downtown of a major U.S. city is a huge step forward. However, while we were still in the city, the anarchists disagreed. They showed their dissent towards the monument by covering it with graffiti. I was shocked. Why would they do that to people who hated the system as much as them? How could they be against volunteers of the brigade, men and women who sacrificed their lives to fight (alongside anarchists) against oppressive forces? Why is it like that?

My dad remembered having the same question when having heard about it, and recalled a friend giving him this book. It gives an incredibly detailed account of the Spanish Civil War. I don’t know if it’s his enjoyable, detached-but-passionate and detailed narration or the fact that I’m kind of into this time in history, but I managed to bear all the facts, dates and acronyms just fine.

That being said, because of the detail, the political journalistic style and the essay-ish narration, I wouldn’t classify this book as a novel. It is more a plain and simple personal account of observations, explanations and events. At times, I say this in a good way, it sounds sort of like an extremely revised and edited, self-done oral history.

Although this book, more than anything else for me, confirmed and increased my already strong interest in the Spanish Civil War, it probably would not do the same to too many others. When thinking about whether or not to recommend this book to others, I asked myself what value it would have were it stripped of its historical context. The fact that I initially felt it would have very little kept me off from recommending it for a little. I later realized though, that this is because all the explored emotions and characteristics of humanity are so interlaced with the time period and everything that was going on. That alone is a good reason for someone to pick it up and see if it interests you.

Book: Things Fall Apart

Author: Chinua Achebe

I knew I was going to enjoy reading Things Fall Apart after just five minutes. Achebe begins the novel by establishing Ibo society as being culturally rich. The tone is incredibly fable like as he goes into the customs and way of life in Umuofia. I found this portion interesting because aboriginal people fascinate me. I wanted to just learn more and more about their ways, and that’s exactly what happened.

Achebe portrayed the clan as living in accordance with their land. He cleverly set it up with glossed-over flaws that only became apparent and inappropriate with the arrival of the missionaries. Amongst these problems was; the killing of twins, the misogyny, the caste of slaves and many other things that are just not cool with the church. They can be not cool with it because organized religion doesn’t ever kill, discriminate or promote classism.

Either way, here is a solid example of when I wouldn’t be able to voice my opinion in class because most others (not having read Ishmael) don’t have the same scope as I do. The scope comes with a duality though, because a lot of the stuff it makes you think is difficult to truly accept or admit to others who don’t know the main arguments. For instance, I sort of believe that killing twins (as awful as it may seem) is a form of necessary population control. I by no means view that as a good thing to do, but I also do not (because it helps them maintain balance with their environment) condemn it. See, some people would think I’m crazy for that.

The middle chunk I didn’t enjoy as much as the first part. Everything (his temporary expulsion, returning to his mother’s land, the conversion of Nwoye) seemed so plotted and deliberate that it I just couldn’t deal with any of it. The ending (what becomes of Okonkwo) was the decision of Achebe that most interested me. Not trying to give away the ending but his novel screamed optimism (by having the systems complement one another) throughout, to me at least, while the end was far from optimistic. His actions aren’t crazy, and aren’t even necessarily pessimistic but the way it is described made it feel very tragic. Suicide is against the clan’s laws.

The real reason I like this book is because it explores the way oppressive systems can clash, blend and bend with one another. In addition, it, although plotted so conveniently by Achebe (making it slightly corny), makes commentary on the effects of the multiple systems.

It is a light read that evokes heavy thinking. Try it out.

Book: White Teeth

Author: Zadie Smith

I read White Teeth for my contemporary literature in spring of senior year. It tells the multigenerational story of several families in a racially diverse London. Samad Iqbal and Archie Jones- whom are unlikely but best friends connect the two main families. Samad, great-grandson of Mangal Pande (the first leader to die fighting the English in 1857) is married to a fellow Bengali Alsana. They have a pair of twin boys—Millat and Magid. Archie, a typical British bloke who has several recent failed suicide attempts, falls in love with and marries a Jamaican girl, Clara, a third his age. They have a daughter Irie, the same age as Magid and Millat.

Throughout the book I, as well as my class, had difficulty gauging Smith’s degree of seriousness and satire. She, really impressively, makes fun of (often by caricaturizing) absolutely everybody and everything, to the point where everything (its legitimacy, image, significance, absurdity, etc.) is equal. It’s one of the many interesting techniques that she uses really effectively. The other most noticeable is just that she made it as cinematic as she possibly could. The plot progression, character development, transitions, and descriptions all make reading the book feel very akin to watching a film. A good film that often makes you laugh aloud, even if you’re all by yourself.

Smith is extremely funny and writes with a unique pop that keeps the reader (kept me at least) intrigued throughout. So captivating is her pop and so tangible are her descriptions that it didn’t bother me one bit when characters were blatantly turned into tokens of different ideologies, something that I normally don’t appreciate.

White Teeth explores a number of interesting topics all across the board: racism, sexism, religion, identity, environmental sustainability, justified violence, fate/predestination, free will, fundamentalism, hypocrisy, liberalism, science, immigration, and assimilation. There is something in there for just about everybody. Smith manages to remain vague about her own views in all areas and shows, rather, (through satire) that any position on any of the subjects is as subjective and silly as the next. She also portrays a number of these themes as being oppressive.

Another great thing about Smith’s novel is that it can be read on pretty much any level. There is a lot of literary mumbo jumbo that is great for English class discussion, a lot of profound thought provoking material that is great for thinking, and there is also a superb story that can be read and enjoyed without (over) analysis.

Book: Discipline and Punish: The Birth of the Prison

Author: Michel Foucault

Reading and understanding (parts of) Foucault’s Discipline and Punish was hard work. It is easily, because of both Foucault’s brilliant but complex ideas and his long-winded, super-French writing style, one of the most difficult books I have ever read. Though, at times, it would make my head hurt, it was definitely worth reading in the end.

The mother of my friend, whom is head of the innocence project and has worked with the penal system for over thirty years, recommended that we both read the book. My father got excited when I told him I was planning on reading Foucault. My father had read a lot of his work in graduate school but not since and, remembering having loved it, decided to read along with me. It was great that my friend and I had both our parents, far more prepared to read Foucault than we, there to talk about the book. If we hadn’t had them in this sense, my friend and I, I’m sure, would have come away from the book with far less.

Foucault examines the social mechanisms behind the evolution of attitudes of, and giant changes that occurred in, the Western penal system.  Sounds very scholarly, no? Well it is. Normally I don’t appreciate when writing is overly extravagant sounding and I am (too) quick to judge something as pretentious, but Foucault’s eloquent and embellished style, I feel, is far from being grandiloquent. I found it perfect for his approach towards exploring the concepts he does brilliantly. Although his denser sentences can be a page and require (from me at least) multiple reads thru, they sometimes evoke a sense of pure astonishment—did he just say that? How did he manage make this point, about this, and about that, and that, and this, and that, and he put it all together so smoothly? I understood that, could it be?

Again, I feel that if you are interested in this sort of stuff or are slightly cerebral and have the time, you should definitely read Discipline and Punish or anything else by Foucault. He is a truly intelligent man with some crazy thoughts that should be considered.

Book: The God of Small Things

Author: Arundhati Roy

Reading this book was, from the very second it introduced to us in class, nothing but interesting and enjoyable. Before distributing the book, the little my teacher told us of its author, Roy, made me really want to read it. She wasn’t a writer but an architect, and she didn’t just write the book but also worked on its visual representation, page layout, format, etc. This extra attention, in addition to her mastery of language and story telling, is apparent from the first chapter and really adds to the atmosphere, which is possibly the most wholesome of any novel I have read.

We were also told that Roy was very active, specifically with issues relating to social justice and economic equality. This was another plus for it told me that she was most likely going to get at some of the concepts that I most enjoy reading and discussing. We were then made aware that she used to live in a squat. Another plus because it made me think that she was going to do more than just touch on these subjects. I was right. She completely nailed (and with the slant I like) every last one of them.

The novel is set in a small village in postcolonial India where all the oppressive forces (the subjects she nailed) are especially present. All of her commentary must be deciphered through analysis for it is disseminated beautifully throughout the novel through the usage of very effective literary techniques— non-sequential narration, capitalization of certain words and phrases only when certain characters are children, clearly intentional juxtapositions, irony, repetition, etc. All the things that, just because of the classroom dynamic at Stuy, I dread discussing, I now felt like we weren’t discussing enough. Each time we did discuss them, Roy’s writing talent just impressed me more and more. Her style, poetic to the point of mild trippiness, flirts with magical realism magnificently. The non-sequential narration also makes the book and atmosphere more wholesome and real by resonating more like memory than anything else. I have rarely (maybe only with three others on this list and two not) been so impressed by an author and so immersed in his or her work.

Point being- you should definitely check this book out because it forces you to think about a lot of things that are good to think about, through an enchanted and engrossing story.

Book: The Modern School Movement: Anarchism and Education in the United States

Author: Paul Avrich

This is the only book that made the list that I have never completed. It is crazy long and, at times, painfully scholarly. Having only read the first third, I can comfortably say that it (the first couple hundred pages) drastically changed the way I view everything— our world, education, my education, and myself.

The author, Paul Avrich, was a professor of history at Queens College for most of his life. My father met him through a mutual friend and is now fairly well read in his work. He is, according to my father, one the most important preservers of anarchism in the United States and Russia. This book specifically is about an approach to education and type of school designed by a Spanish education-reformer named Francesc Ferrer i Guardía. His methods and schools, based heavily on anarchist principals, had so much success in Spain that they spread to other European countries and the United States. The first chapter recounts the formation of the first schools and the ideals behind it, but most of the later chapters seem to go into incredible depth about individual schools and programs (based of Ferrer’s teachings) in the United States. Though the sections I read are equally detailed, I feel like their subjects are far broader and more interesting than specific schools.

The interpretation of education and its purpose as well as the approach towards educating are absolutely brilliant. It’s the only way I can really put it because the ideas are all intertwined and getting into the arguments would require far too much explanation because of how radical (and sensible) they are. It is just a different way of thinking that cannot be discussed in bits and pieces.

I have recommended and lent (its hard to find) this book to four friends. They have all come back to me (two actually finished the entire book) saying that it radically changed the way they view education and their own upbringing. Although it affected each of them and I differently, we all wished we had learned in that kind of school, and not our own system. It also made us all, by highlighting the flaws, strongly dislike (certain aspects of) our own education system.

This book will painfully smack you with reason, truth and reality. Beware! But if you would like to read it and cannot find it- please feel more than free to ask me. I would like as many people to read it as possible, even if just a little. So, do not beware!

Book: Kiss of the Spider Woman

Author: Manuel Puig

Back in the day, I was an avid reader. My mom’s pride. I would breeze through countless books of any and every sort. I was open and enjoyed reading mostly everything. Then there was a period in my life, which I would say began in eighth grade and ended near the end of eleventh, when I stopped reading for pleasure. There is not one reason that this change occurred but there are several factors to which I attribute the patch of dryness. Regardless of the reasons, it’s over. I’m back baby! And in large part thanks to this book.

I selected it from the top of a box in the basement of our (at the time) newly acquired retreat house upstate. My family had gone to town to get groceries when it started pouring. I am embarrassed to admit (to you reader and to myself) that I wouldn’t have decided to read had there been sun, or someone around to play ping-pong with, or internet, or something to cook, or pretty much anything. It upsets me but that is how I remember being at the time. Either way, Kiss of the Spider Woman had a sick cover, a cool title, and was near the top of the box.

I read until early next morning in the fireplace’s light (the only light for the electricity wasn’t yet set up). It sounds romantic, reading for the first time in the flickering orange of a fireplace, and it was. The story hooked me immediately and I just couldn’t stop. My parents were thrilled when they returned to the house to a reading me. They were even more thrilled the next day when they learned I had finished one of their favorite books, which was later (in 1985) turned into what is one of my mother’s favorite films.

The majority of the book is set in a single, two-prisoner jail cell in Argentina. There is no conventional narrator voice and all text in the book (with the exception of metaphysical government documentation and a few streams of consciousness) is dialogue between the two inmates— Molina (a homosexual pedophile) and Valentin (a Marxist revolutionary). Puig develops between them a complex and fascinating relationship. The dialogue is formatted interestingly, indicating only when someone (and not who) begins talking with a dash. Though, because which of the two is talking makes a large difference, one must sometimes reread if he or she gets lost, I find it to be a really cool technique that paints relationships distinctly.

The conversations between the characters revolve around the films that Molina recounts to Valentin. Over the course of the book, Molina shares four very different movies, all in amazing detail, with Valentin. The four films, skillfully told by Molina, would be interesting by themselves, even as short stories, so having the four of them together, framed by a fifth larger and equally interesting story, is awesome. It is fairly obvious that Puig uses Molina’s stories to parallel his and Valentin’s relationship, but, having read it only for pleasure, I have never really analyzed this parallelism or his other affective techniques. All I remember is being incredibly moved at a number of points, both in the main and imaginary stories.

Kiss of the Spider Woman was banned in Buenos Aires, for its controversial content and power to move people, from its publication in the late seventies until 1983. It is (comparatively-speaking, especially in comparison to the other books on this list) a fairly light read (in terms of style, not content), and one that should definitely be read.