So recently, I have been challenging myself a lot. I don't mean that I've been going out rock-climbing and have pushed myself to the limits of my strength. I mean I say to myself "You're going to finish this book in a week!" And then I do. It started out simply enough -- read the last 4 books in a series in a week. Mission accomplished. Then, read Death Comes to Pemberley in a week. Mission accomplished. Next, read The House I Loved by Tatiana De Rosnay in a week. Mission accomplished. It was easy with the last two because they 7-day books. See, we have this neat thing at my library called "Most Wanted". It's a selection of the newest, most popular books, and you can only check them out for 7 days. You can't put a hold on them or reserve them, you can't renew them, and they're intended to be out there for people to just pick up on a whim. Likewise, we do that for really new movies and give them a 3-day check-out. I like this because it pressures me into really diving into a book and finishing it. Death and House weren't hard -- they were both relatively thin fluff novels. And then I saw Catherine.
It was intrigue at first glance. I have always been fascinated by Russian history. When I was a kid, that really inaccurate and cheesy Don Bluth movie, Anastasia, was one of my favorites. I can still sing every song from it. More importantly, intellectually, it sparked a life-long interest in Russia. So far (and still) it's really only a casual acquaintance and I don't presume that I know much of anything about it, but it keeps me interested and learning. When I was a teenager, I saw this movie called Russian Ark. It is, hands down, one of the most beautiful movies I've ever seen. It is the longest single, uncut shot in movie history, clocking in at an hour and a half (i.e. the whole movie). It's about this guy who loses consciousness, and when he regains it he doesn't really remember who he is but he's wandering around the Hermitage with this European from the 19th century (you never see the narrator). They walk around, run into famous figures from history (who are usually kind of sinister), and talk about art. Oh yes, and there's an overtone of philosophy and the meaning of life. Really an interesting movie.
When this big book arrived on our shelves, I was curious. I knew about Catherine the Great from that movie, but I didn't really know anything about her. Having said that, I felt sort of stupid. Here I am, professing to be interested in Russian history, and I don't really know that much about it. I put myself on the request list, but as it was 160 people long I didn't really have much hope of reading it before I left. But then, I DECIDED LIFE WAS TOO SHORT AND I WAS GOING TO READ IT MWAHAHA. So I waited patiently until an available copy showed up somewhere in Most Wanted, snagged it, and started reading.
This book reads like a novel. Seriously. Or else how did I get through 574 pages of biographical history in a mere 7 days, wherein I worked a total of 25 hours? The writing style interested me immediately and kept me interested the whole way through. Here are some cool facts about Catherine to prompt YOU to read this book:
#1: Catherine was the foremost European collector of art during the Enlightenment, which led to the creation of the aforementioned Hermitage, one of the premier museums in the world today.
#2: She created the first governmental body of people to include representatives from every class in the empire, including peasants, long before the American or the French Revolution.
#3: She extended Russian territory down into the Baltic (taking a huge chunk of Turkish land), created a Russian navy, placed a former lover on the throne of Poland, and then used his ineffectual governing to literally dissolve Poland and split up its territories between herself, Austria, and Prussia.
#4: Catherine took the throne from her mentally unstable and damaged husband, Peter III, with relative ease. And then, instead of merely acting as regent for her son until he became of age, she ruled it all herself.
#5: Born a German princess, she learned Russian, she converted, she took a new name, and she passionately involved herself in everything Russian so she could better run the country and look after her servants.
And #6, not about Catherine but I learned it while reading this book and it was very interesting: France used the guillotine as their main form of capital punishment until 1977. 1977. I had no idea and I find this practice insane. I know that, as an American, I have no proverbial leg to stand on, but still. Guillotine? Really?
I learned soooooooooooo much from this book. Ever heard of Battleship Potemkin? Yeah, I learned who Potemkin was. I learned about the leading monarchs and intellectuals of Europe, I learned a ton about Russian culture and institutions, and, mostly, I learned about the life of one extraordinary woman. She did what she liked, ruled how she like, but was still conciliatory, kind, and in absolute control. I would recommend this book for everyone, not just a hardcore history buff. It is good enough to appeal to everyone, while not compromising the intellectual integrity of the material itself. Massie's research is impeccable, his style entertaining, and his portraits human and realistic. I think it is a mark of a good biographer when you come away feeling like the person being chronicled was, in fact, a person -- not a saint, not a sinner, not untouchable, but a human with fine points as well as flaws. Massie excels at making the basic humanity of Catherine (and thus her similarities to us today) stand out.
In conclusion, if you want to read anything, here's the book for you. Maybe don't read it in a week, but do check it out. I promise you'll be showered with rubles and jewels and character sketches if you do. And next up for me: the first book in the Hunger Games series. I am way more interested in reading another lesbian novel at this point (anyone read Keeping You a Secret by Julie Anne Peters?) but I have checked it out, the movie's coming out tomorrow, there's no turning back. It's sink or swim, and I'm determined to swim. Catch you in a day or two.
Thursday, March 22, 2012
Wednesday, March 14, 2012
My Coup
First of all, HAPPY PI DAY!
Second of all, this week, I have had what I like to refer to as "a coup". Several, in fact.
Coup (n): when one wants to do/say/have something badly, and then they do/say/get that something. WARNING -- it can frequently result in bouts of unexplained dancing, giggling, and fist pumping. Otherwise known as a "hell yeah" moment.
Coup #1: A couple of weeks ago, I was checking in some books used recently for a class. This happens pretty regularly -- we pull a bunch of books related to the class/assignment topic, put it on a fancy-dancy library list (this involves incantations and the occasional swear word), and set it aside for the students. Then, when they're done, we put them all back. I was putting back a cart of books for an assignment on Hesse's Siddhartha (GO READ IT RIGHT NOW) and what was I saying? Oh yes, I found this book -- it was BEAUTIFUL! It was gigantic and kinda old but still had these big glossy pictures and it was a cultural atlas of India. I loved it. And then I just happened to notice the spine was broken! Shame shame shame. We can't have broken spines sitting out on our shelves! No self-indulgent sarcasm intended. We want to have things people would actually be interested in looking through. Luckily for meeeeeee, I still wanted to look through that book, even though it was broken. So I took it off the shelf and had the donations lady price it for me per our usual requirements for pricing withdrawn and donated materials. In this tough economic time, I would like to savor this moment. New, on Amazon, this book goes for (drum roll please): $129.71. I got it for $1. HELL YEAH. P.S., this is why the library shop is amazing. Movies for less than five bucks, kids books for twenty-five cents, popular thrillers for a dollar. . .it is SO cheap and usually we only put the nice stuff out there, too, like the stuff that's not falling apart. It is a great deal, seriously.
Coup #2: So we're doing this project at work right now for fun about repurposed and upcycled libraries/books. Make cool things out of your old books, basically. It is seriously very cool. Some people make art out of books. Today I saw a portrait of Obama somebody had made out of carving books. Yeah, that's pretty legit. So anyways, I'm going through the books that get delivered to our library twice a day, and what do I spy with my little eye? A new repurposed library book -- and it's brand spanking new and smells so good and the cover crackles and the crafts look so easy and so cool and it is mine mine mine mine mine! Okay, I'll share next week, but in the meantime I am going to make a vase out of books. AND THEN PUT FLOWERS IN IT. HELL YEAH.
Coup #3: I am what's known as a book hawk. And no, I did not make that term up right here on the spot. I made it up ten minutes ago on the drive home. I am one of those people who wants a book, then waits patiently for it to arrive, then swoops on it as soon as it arrives and checks it out. I have booksense and the eyes of an eagle. Oh yes. Our staff library database particularly helps if I want to expand to the other branches. With spies stationed at at least two other branches, I cover 3/5 of the system. That's not bad, especially considering the other two locations are the two biggest and busiest. Also known as thanks for the help, mom and dad. Anyway, there's this new biography of Catherine the Great, by Robert Massie. It's supposed to be fantastic. My boss recommended it to me, and she and I have very similar interests and reading tastes, but I was like, no, it's a doorstop, I'll never have time to get to it. Then, Monday night, I was watching my favorite Russian movie, Russian Ark. And Catherine gets a little cameo. And I thought, "Well why not?" Two days later, my book hawk skills pay off and I have successfully scarpered off with one! I checked our catalogue every half an hour until someone returned a copy and then I called my spies and they nabbed it for me, the book none the wiser. HELL YEAH.
HAVE A FREAKIN' AWESOME PI DAY, BECAUSE I SURE WILL!
Second of all, this week, I have had what I like to refer to as "a coup". Several, in fact.
Coup (n): when one wants to do/say/have something badly, and then they do/say/get that something. WARNING -- it can frequently result in bouts of unexplained dancing, giggling, and fist pumping. Otherwise known as a "hell yeah" moment.
Coup #1: A couple of weeks ago, I was checking in some books used recently for a class. This happens pretty regularly -- we pull a bunch of books related to the class/assignment topic, put it on a fancy-dancy library list (this involves incantations and the occasional swear word), and set it aside for the students. Then, when they're done, we put them all back. I was putting back a cart of books for an assignment on Hesse's Siddhartha (GO READ IT RIGHT NOW) and what was I saying? Oh yes, I found this book -- it was BEAUTIFUL! It was gigantic and kinda old but still had these big glossy pictures and it was a cultural atlas of India. I loved it. And then I just happened to notice the spine was broken! Shame shame shame. We can't have broken spines sitting out on our shelves! No self-indulgent sarcasm intended. We want to have things people would actually be interested in looking through. Luckily for meeeeeee, I still wanted to look through that book, even though it was broken. So I took it off the shelf and had the donations lady price it for me per our usual requirements for pricing withdrawn and donated materials. In this tough economic time, I would like to savor this moment. New, on Amazon, this book goes for (drum roll please): $129.71. I got it for $1. HELL YEAH. P.S., this is why the library shop is amazing. Movies for less than five bucks, kids books for twenty-five cents, popular thrillers for a dollar. . .it is SO cheap and usually we only put the nice stuff out there, too, like the stuff that's not falling apart. It is a great deal, seriously.
Coup #2: So we're doing this project at work right now for fun about repurposed and upcycled libraries/books. Make cool things out of your old books, basically. It is seriously very cool. Some people make art out of books. Today I saw a portrait of Obama somebody had made out of carving books. Yeah, that's pretty legit. So anyways, I'm going through the books that get delivered to our library twice a day, and what do I spy with my little eye? A new repurposed library book -- and it's brand spanking new and smells so good and the cover crackles and the crafts look so easy and so cool and it is mine mine mine mine mine! Okay, I'll share next week, but in the meantime I am going to make a vase out of books. AND THEN PUT FLOWERS IN IT. HELL YEAH.
Coup #3: I am what's known as a book hawk. And no, I did not make that term up right here on the spot. I made it up ten minutes ago on the drive home. I am one of those people who wants a book, then waits patiently for it to arrive, then swoops on it as soon as it arrives and checks it out. I have booksense and the eyes of an eagle. Oh yes. Our staff library database particularly helps if I want to expand to the other branches. With spies stationed at at least two other branches, I cover 3/5 of the system. That's not bad, especially considering the other two locations are the two biggest and busiest. Also known as thanks for the help, mom and dad. Anyway, there's this new biography of Catherine the Great, by Robert Massie. It's supposed to be fantastic. My boss recommended it to me, and she and I have very similar interests and reading tastes, but I was like, no, it's a doorstop, I'll never have time to get to it. Then, Monday night, I was watching my favorite Russian movie, Russian Ark. And Catherine gets a little cameo. And I thought, "Well why not?" Two days later, my book hawk skills pay off and I have successfully scarpered off with one! I checked our catalogue every half an hour until someone returned a copy and then I called my spies and they nabbed it for me, the book none the wiser. HELL YEAH.
HAVE A FREAKIN' AWESOME PI DAY, BECAUSE I SURE WILL!
Thursday, March 8, 2012
Happy Women's Day!
Today is International Women's Day, and so I thought today was appropriate for me to discuss why I'm extra glad to be a woman and why I'm also extra glad to be a feminist. And perhaps to dispel some unfortunate stigmas about feminisms, or at least how I see it.
First of all, I am glad to be a woman. And especially a woman today. Here are a few reasons why:
1. Today, more than ever, women have more doors open to them. I have the option to raise a family and make a career and name for myself, all at the same time.
2. I really truly love the color pink.
3. I'll say it: babies. I want babies. I'm not super particular -- I want to make them, adopt them, love them, raise them, empower them. . .just not anytime in the next five years. Let's be a little financially secure first.
4. I loved playing with Barbies and dolls and aliens and dinosaurs and airplanes. I had the whole gamut of toys available to me. Having said that, the fiance and I have agreed that if our boys want Barbies, they'll get Barbies. Little boys need to prepare to be fathers just as much as women need to prepare to be mothers.
5. Being able to speak my mind. Take this blog, for example! But I had access to education that my foremothers certainly didn't, and I'm allowed to, say, speak in public without having tomatoes thrown at me. I really, really enjoy that.
I do love being a woman. These are only five reasons, but I could go on and on. But beyond that, I am a feminist. I believe in supporting women's rights. Having said that, I'd like to make clear that I am a third-waver. For those of you unfamiliar with feminisms' history in America, let me sum up. The first-wavers were people like Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Lucy Stone, and the lovely ladies who won the right for women to vote. So basically, founding mothers up to the 1920s or so. Then, the second-wavers were ushered in during the 1960s, with leaders such as Betty Friedan, author of The Feminine Mystique and founder of the National Organization for Women (NOW). These ladies were your typical bra-burning, outspoken protesters, and it's where a lot of people get this weird idea of feminism as something only bitter old shrews who are vastly unfulfilled are interested in. Sexless harpies who complain nonstop about how men are the enemy. Not only is this untrue and unrealistic, but it hampers the cause of feminism. Then, the modern feminists are third-wavers. We third-wavers don't see men as the enemy, but certain institutions. In many cases, men are just as oppressed as women. We embrace our sisters of all ethnicities and races, and a large part of the feminist cause is including the LGBTQQ community. We are all for protect and enhancing rights for all humans, not just women. Let's just say we often put extra focus on women's rights.
I feel that I am not a feminist because I have been pressured into it or because I have it so bad as a woman. I HAVE IT GREAT. I have a college education, a wonderful fiance, a job outside the home, and the option to be a mother AND a career woman. I am a feminist because I know that elsewhere, women don't have it so good. I am a feminist because I want to stand up for those women, and say to the powers that be, "This is not right". I am a feminist because men need help too. I am a feminist because I believe in basic human rights, equality, and justice. I am not out to get men. I am not out to trample on other people's rights just to get my own. But I am here to stand for what I believe in. And what I believe in is basic human decency. I believe in helping out others and doing what's right and taking a chance for what you believe in. I believe in you and I believe in me.
On a personal note, I want to say thank you to all my foremothers and the wonderful role models in my own family. They have shown me that the sky's the limit and I have just as much right to pursue my dreams as anyone else. They have allowed me to vote, speak in public, own property, control my own earnings, make something of myself in the workplace, have a career, have access to birth control, and still be a wife and mother. I appreciate each and every one of you for the sacrifices you have made and the efforts you have given to bettering the human condition.
And now, just for fun, here's my favorite humorous feminist song. ;)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kvk1NZDFvZU
First of all, I am glad to be a woman. And especially a woman today. Here are a few reasons why:
1. Today, more than ever, women have more doors open to them. I have the option to raise a family and make a career and name for myself, all at the same time.
2. I really truly love the color pink.
3. I'll say it: babies. I want babies. I'm not super particular -- I want to make them, adopt them, love them, raise them, empower them. . .just not anytime in the next five years. Let's be a little financially secure first.
4. I loved playing with Barbies and dolls and aliens and dinosaurs and airplanes. I had the whole gamut of toys available to me. Having said that, the fiance and I have agreed that if our boys want Barbies, they'll get Barbies. Little boys need to prepare to be fathers just as much as women need to prepare to be mothers.
5. Being able to speak my mind. Take this blog, for example! But I had access to education that my foremothers certainly didn't, and I'm allowed to, say, speak in public without having tomatoes thrown at me. I really, really enjoy that.
I do love being a woman. These are only five reasons, but I could go on and on. But beyond that, I am a feminist. I believe in supporting women's rights. Having said that, I'd like to make clear that I am a third-waver. For those of you unfamiliar with feminisms' history in America, let me sum up. The first-wavers were people like Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Lucy Stone, and the lovely ladies who won the right for women to vote. So basically, founding mothers up to the 1920s or so. Then, the second-wavers were ushered in during the 1960s, with leaders such as Betty Friedan, author of The Feminine Mystique and founder of the National Organization for Women (NOW). These ladies were your typical bra-burning, outspoken protesters, and it's where a lot of people get this weird idea of feminism as something only bitter old shrews who are vastly unfulfilled are interested in. Sexless harpies who complain nonstop about how men are the enemy. Not only is this untrue and unrealistic, but it hampers the cause of feminism. Then, the modern feminists are third-wavers. We third-wavers don't see men as the enemy, but certain institutions. In many cases, men are just as oppressed as women. We embrace our sisters of all ethnicities and races, and a large part of the feminist cause is including the LGBTQQ community. We are all for protect and enhancing rights for all humans, not just women. Let's just say we often put extra focus on women's rights.
I feel that I am not a feminist because I have been pressured into it or because I have it so bad as a woman. I HAVE IT GREAT. I have a college education, a wonderful fiance, a job outside the home, and the option to be a mother AND a career woman. I am a feminist because I know that elsewhere, women don't have it so good. I am a feminist because I want to stand up for those women, and say to the powers that be, "This is not right". I am a feminist because men need help too. I am a feminist because I believe in basic human rights, equality, and justice. I am not out to get men. I am not out to trample on other people's rights just to get my own. But I am here to stand for what I believe in. And what I believe in is basic human decency. I believe in helping out others and doing what's right and taking a chance for what you believe in. I believe in you and I believe in me.
On a personal note, I want to say thank you to all my foremothers and the wonderful role models in my own family. They have shown me that the sky's the limit and I have just as much right to pursue my dreams as anyone else. They have allowed me to vote, speak in public, own property, control my own earnings, make something of myself in the workplace, have a career, have access to birth control, and still be a wife and mother. I appreciate each and every one of you for the sacrifices you have made and the efforts you have given to bettering the human condition.
And now, just for fun, here's my favorite humorous feminist song. ;)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kvk1NZDFvZU
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