three more books: Gang Leader for a Day, Orlando, and Shakespeare.

#16 My Lobotomy

My Lobotomy by Howard Dully and Charles Fleming is exactly what it sounds like. When Howard Dully was 12 years old, his stepmother took him to a doctor who lobotomized him. The book is Dully's account of his childhood. It's his attempt to decipher why his stepmother took this drastic, inhumane step. And you feel his relief, his pain, his anguish as he realizes that there was nothing wrong with him. His stepmother hated him, and that was that. It's a good study of family systems theory and step-families, especially the concept of the target child. And the thing is, even in the 50s, when psychology was not at its finest, there were still 5 doctors/psychiatrists that told Dully's stepmother the problem was with her, not with Dully. That makes me obscurely proud. See, even back then we had it right, dammit.

It's an interesting book. Puts my own stepmother problems into perspective. I would recommend it as a bargain book; I'll be selling my copy to COAS.

#15 Troublesome Young Men

Troublesome Young Men by Lynne Olson is the account of the backstage negotiations it took to get Winston Churchill into power during World War II. It's interesting; I know a lot about WWII from the American point of view; it's such a comfortable war from our view. I mean, fighting never happened in our own borders like it did in Europe; we charged in and saved the day; and there was a clear evil side (and really, Nazis are if nothing else the ultimate evil) and so we were the undisputed good guys. All the wars since then have been so murky and unclear. We don't always win and when we do, it's an unsatisfying partial victory that refuses to completely coalesce into something we can be proud of.

Olson talks a lot about the system of Parliament during the time. Everyone knew each other; went to the same school, ate at the same clubs, slept with each other's wives, etc. So to differ in any way from your peers, even in your view of Hitler as a dangerous untrustworthy madman, was extremely difficult. A lot of the book relates the failed attempts to overthrow the appeasing Chamberlain and his government. You know how it ends, but Olson writes so well and so immediately that every time Cartland refuses to vote against the Conservative government, every time Churchill refuses to speak out against Chamberlain's hollow promises, every time the vote is called off or doesn't have enough votes, you bite your nails. It takes one hell of a writer to make a vote of no confidence a nail-biter. And then, 400 pages of failed negotiations and broken coalitions later, Leo Amery, a contemporary of Chamberlain's and an enemy of Churchill, stood up. He said to Parliament and to Chaamberlain: I do it with great reluctance, because I am speaking of those who are old friends and associates of mine, but they are words which, I think, are applicable to the present situation. This is what Cromwell said to the Long Parliament when he thought it was no longer fit to conduct the affairs of the nation: "You have sat too long here for any good you have been doing. Depart, I say, and let us have done with you. In the name of God, go."

Thanks to Olson, you know how much it cost him to say these words. Amery and the other "troublesome young men" who overthrew Chamberlain were on the vast whole not rewarded for their efforts. (It says something about the British national character that Churchill looked at the men who put him in power as dangerous revolutionaries and excluded them from his government.) Amery was shrewd; he knew how much this betrayal would cost him. But he believed it needed to be said. And so he said it.

4/7/2009

Today Vermont became the first state to legalize gay marriage through the legislature. There are no words.

#14 Wishful Drinking

Wishful Drinking by Carrie Fisher. OK, I literally read this in an evening while Gavin read Wired and Dad watched House. Apparently it's more or less a transcript of her stage show. I want to see that show. Excerpt: “And now for a list of famous alcoholics: Ulysses S. Grant. Edgar Allen Poe. George W. Bush. Russia.” hee! Funny and entertaining without too much substance. She did talk a bit about her drug use, alcohol use, and being diagnosed as bipolar. That was good to read, especially right now. She seems to have had far more serious swings than I do, but. She talked about using drugs and alcohol not necessarily to feel good but to get to normal. I think I'm that way with food. An interesting realization.

If you can pick it up at a bargain table, it's worth the five bucks.

#13 A Spot of Bother

So it feels like I've been reading a lot, but looking back on it? Not so much. These next five are in the order I remember reading them.

A Spot of Bother by Mark Haddon. OK, so I started this book with a chip on my shoulder because Mom told me it might be “too British” for me. To which I said, I accept your challenge, madam and I finished the book in an afternoon. sighs But, I'm really really glad I did because I loved this book. LOVED IT.

George Hall is going crazy. And he knows he's going crazy. But, he's British. So he goes crazy without allowing anyone around him to notice. Stiff upper lip? An expression for a reason. George's encroaching breakdown feels very real to me. In a different way than my own, but I recognize the panic and the fear and the denial and the awful recognition that something is wrong. Well done Mr. Haddon.
However, the other three characters are also interesting. Jean, George's wife, is having an affair. His daughter Katie is marrying a man she's not sure she loves while his son Jamie has so compartmentalized his life that he has set days of the week for his boyfriend to spend the night.

So all of these people are miserable, hurting, lonely, obsessed with some mythical idea of something better. And then, during one disastrous week and really just about the worst wedding reception one could imagine, everything is resolved. And yes, it seems rather too pat, but dude. All four realize that sometimes, you have to stop looking for perfection and open your eyes. And you won't find that perfection has been in front of you all along. Instead, you settle, you adapt, you give up your preconceptions and your certainties. And that's life. And it's good.

I see what my mom meant by a British book. But, with a Scots mother, a British father, and a childhood spend reading Richard Crompton's William the Terrible and Agatha Christie? I'm British enough to have thoroughly enjoyed this book. Tally ho, dear chap!