The Old Spice Guy weighs in on libraries. Thank you!
Tuesday, July 27, 2010
Sunday, July 25, 2010
In Other Rooms, Other Wonders and Lahore With Love: A Collection of Short Stories and a Memoir
Mueenuddin, Daniyal. In Other Rooms, Other Wonders. NY: Norton, 2009.
1st Floor Smith Memorial PR 9540 .9 .M84 I52 2009.
Afzal-Khan, Fawzia. Lahore with Love: Growing Up with Girlfriends, Pakistani-Style. Syracuse, NY: Syracuse University Press, 2010.
Burling 2nd Floor HQ1745.5.Z9 L332 2010
R. Stuhr
I have, in the past month, read two books by Pakistani authors. I read Afzal-Khan's memoir at the request of the Multicultural Review and Mueenuddin's collection of short stories because he was a Pulitzer Prize finalist and I was recently browsing through some lists of award winning (nearly award winning) authors. Both books are collections of discreet chapters, connected through time, place, characters, and theme.
Afzal-Khan's book is a memoir of her years growing up in Pakistan with a close circle of female friends. As she and her friends progress through childhood and school, Pakistan's political climate changes ineluctably to restrict the rights of and opportunities available to women. In Afzal-Khan's privileged world, the reality of these changes are slow to sink in. Afzal-Khan recounts the stories of her friends, several of whose lives ended tragically in no small part because of the oppressive conditions under which they lived. Afzal-Khan's life turns out differently, if not without her own inner darkness, in part because of her rebellious nature and in part because she leaves Pakistan for the United States to attend graduate l, ultimately marrying and settling there.
Afzal-Khan does not presume to have the answers; she is humble. She honors her friends and recognizes that she would not be the person she is if they had not been part of her childhood.
Mueenuddin's collection of short stories are all connected through the presence of the character K. K. Harouni, an industrialist and landowner. Mueenuddin writes about a Pakistan where the social heirarchy is a determining factor in one's well being. The wealthy thrive and the less fortunate derive ways to prosper through the largesse and inattention of their wealthy employers and benefactors. Success is as much about scheming and plotting as it is about birth and connections--it must be one or the other. The status of women is a significant aspect of each story. Mueenuddin's women rely on their intelligence and instinct to survive, but also prosper and fail according to the desires and whims of the men in their lives.
Some of the stories revolve around the lives of the servants of K. K. Harouni and others focus on his far flung family and others in the land owning classes. Rich or poor, no one has what they want and disappointment accompanies death. Power and peonage with their attendant and relative privileges and hardships provide a structure to each story.
Both Mueenuddin's and Afzal-Khan's books can be read as a whole or dipped into for a chapter here and there. But, if you start at the beginning, you are certain to want to read both in their entirety.
Afzal-Khan writes on literature and the condition of Muslim women. This is Daniyal Mueenuddin first published collection. His stories have appeared in Granta and The New Yorker.
1st Floor Smith Memorial PR 9540 .9 .M84 I52 2009.
Afzal-Khan, Fawzia. Lahore with Love: Growing Up with Girlfriends, Pakistani-Style. Syracuse, NY: Syracuse University Press, 2010.
Burling 2nd Floor HQ1745.5.Z9 L332 2010
R. Stuhr
I have, in the past month, read two books by Pakistani authors. I read Afzal-Khan's memoir at the request of the Multicultural Review and Mueenuddin's collection of short stories because he was a Pulitzer Prize finalist and I was recently browsing through some lists of award winning (nearly award winning) authors. Both books are collections of discreet chapters, connected through time, place, characters, and theme.
Afzal-Khan's book is a memoir of her years growing up in Pakistan with a close circle of female friends. As she and her friends progress through childhood and school, Pakistan's political climate changes ineluctably to restrict the rights of and opportunities available to women. In Afzal-Khan's privileged world, the reality of these changes are slow to sink in. Afzal-Khan recounts the stories of her friends, several of whose lives ended tragically in no small part because of the oppressive conditions under which they lived. Afzal-Khan's life turns out differently, if not without her own inner darkness, in part because of her rebellious nature and in part because she leaves Pakistan for the United States to attend graduate l, ultimately marrying and settling there.
Afzal-Khan does not presume to have the answers; she is humble. She honors her friends and recognizes that she would not be the person she is if they had not been part of her childhood.
Mueenuddin's collection of short stories are all connected through the presence of the character K. K. Harouni, an industrialist and landowner. Mueenuddin writes about a Pakistan where the social heirarchy is a determining factor in one's well being. The wealthy thrive and the less fortunate derive ways to prosper through the largesse and inattention of their wealthy employers and benefactors. Success is as much about scheming and plotting as it is about birth and connections--it must be one or the other. The status of women is a significant aspect of each story. Mueenuddin's women rely on their intelligence and instinct to survive, but also prosper and fail according to the desires and whims of the men in their lives.
Some of the stories revolve around the lives of the servants of K. K. Harouni and others focus on his far flung family and others in the land owning classes. Rich or poor, no one has what they want and disappointment accompanies death. Power and peonage with their attendant and relative privileges and hardships provide a structure to each story.
Both Mueenuddin's and Afzal-Khan's books can be read as a whole or dipped into for a chapter here and there. But, if you start at the beginning, you are certain to want to read both in their entirety.
Afzal-Khan writes on literature and the condition of Muslim women. This is Daniyal Mueenuddin first published collection. His stories have appeared in Granta and The New Yorker.
Thursday, July 15, 2010
The Yacoubian Building
Alaa Al Aswany. The Yacoubian Building. NY: Harper Perennial, 2006.
R. Stuhr
This book is currently on display at Burling Library as part of our display of summer reading recommended by staff. Cecilia Knight recommended this along with the trio of books published posthumously by Stieg Larsson. I just finished this book too, and so these comments are mine. Written about Cairo during the time leading up to the first Iraq war, Alaa Al Aswany touches on the history and politics of Egypt, regional differences, the intensification of Islamic identity that goes beyond nationalism or simply religious ferver, the extensive gap between rich and poor, political corruption, the plight of women, individual hopes and dreams, and dashed hopes and dreams. The author, in his narrative, crosses back and forth among the stories of a range of characters, the privileged and the underprivileged. Although a dark story, it is also romantic and in the end the purest of hearts finds some happiness.
This book, in some ways, also tells the story of the twenty-first century, with one of the shaping factors of this century being the rise of fundamentalist Islam. In reading about the limitations of one society, we can recognize some of the same failings in our own society, the importance of influence (oil, pharmaceuticals two name just two for instance) and money in politics, the treatment and expectations for women, the widening gap between rich and poor... we are all implicated.
Despite my representation, this is definitely a recommended read for summer or anytime. Burling library has both the book (currently on display) and the film (wander down to the listening room).
R. Stuhr
This book is currently on display at Burling Library as part of our display of summer reading recommended by staff. Cecilia Knight recommended this along with the trio of books published posthumously by Stieg Larsson. I just finished this book too, and so these comments are mine. Written about Cairo during the time leading up to the first Iraq war, Alaa Al Aswany touches on the history and politics of Egypt, regional differences, the intensification of Islamic identity that goes beyond nationalism or simply religious ferver, the extensive gap between rich and poor, political corruption, the plight of women, individual hopes and dreams, and dashed hopes and dreams. The author, in his narrative, crosses back and forth among the stories of a range of characters, the privileged and the underprivileged. Although a dark story, it is also romantic and in the end the purest of hearts finds some happiness.
This book, in some ways, also tells the story of the twenty-first century, with one of the shaping factors of this century being the rise of fundamentalist Islam. In reading about the limitations of one society, we can recognize some of the same failings in our own society, the importance of influence (oil, pharmaceuticals two name just two for instance) and money in politics, the treatment and expectations for women, the widening gap between rich and poor... we are all implicated.
Despite my representation, this is definitely a recommended read for summer or anytime. Burling library has both the book (currently on display) and the film (wander down to the listening room).
Thursday, July 8, 2010
Making the Rounds with Oscar
Dosa, David, M.D. Making the Rounds With Oscar: The Extraordinary Gift of an Ordinary Cat. NY: Hyperion, 2010.
Reviewed by Sharon Clayton
Dr. David Dosa was a non-believer. He didn't like cats. He was a dog person. Oscar the cat can't know when a person is dying, he's just one of several strays that lives in a nursing home. But maybe it's true...
Oscar not only comforts dying nursing home residents with dementia, but he also touches the lives of the family members who are left behind as well as the staff at the nursing home where he resides. Dr. Dosa's book documents his quest to find out about Oscar's gift by interviewing family members who lost their loved ones on Oscar's watch. The book also explains the stages of dementia which is very informative for
people who are affected by this debilitating illness.
For more of Sharon Clayton's favorite reads see The Eclectic Review.
Available at the Grinnell's Drake Community Library
Reviewed by Sharon Clayton
Dr. David Dosa was a non-believer. He didn't like cats. He was a dog person. Oscar the cat can't know when a person is dying, he's just one of several strays that lives in a nursing home. But maybe it's true...
Oscar not only comforts dying nursing home residents with dementia, but he also touches the lives of the family members who are left behind as well as the staff at the nursing home where he resides. Dr. Dosa's book documents his quest to find out about Oscar's gift by interviewing family members who lost their loved ones on Oscar's watch. The book also explains the stages of dementia which is very informative for
people who are affected by this debilitating illness.
For more of Sharon Clayton's favorite reads see The Eclectic Review.
Available at the Grinnell's Drake Community Library
Wednesday, July 7, 2010
Grinnell College in the Nineteenth Century
Joseph Frazier Wall. Grinnell College in the Nineteenth Century: From Salvation to Service. Ames: Iowa State University Press, 1997.
Reviewed by T. Hatch
Manifest Destiny required a group of eleven easy going Calvinists to set out for the frontier of the Iowa Territory to spread a Congregationalist form of Christianity and New England culture. The result of their effort was the opening of Iowa College in 1850. But their openly abolitionist and temperance positions were decidedly unpopular with many in their new home of Davenport; the trustees of Iowa College were soon looking for a new location.
In a parallel development Josiah Bushnell Grinnell, whose goal was to found a Congregationalist community in Iowa, had acted on advance inside information as to where future rail lines were to be constructed. As one of five founders of the town he imagined founding both a religious and an educational community. Starting in 1855 when purchasing land in Grinnell twenty dollars over the asking price went directly to a fund for the founding of a college. J.B. Grinnell “[who] had always evinced ...an interest in both pietism and profits” (p.92) envisioned a full-blown university. Competing with seven other towns the trustees of Iowa College chose Grinnell in 1858. J.B. Grinnell, who designated himself President of the “University” as well as Professor of History, Rhetoric, and Elocution (without the benefit of any students, faculty, or campus buildings) had persuaded a group of authentic scholars to join him in efforts at institution building. In September 1858 the merger between Iowa College and Grinnell University was official. Classes began when Iowa College opened in Grinnell in October of 1861.
While this magisterial book delineates the development of Grinnell College from its founding until the end of the nineteenth century it really does much more. It is possible over a century later to trace backward in time, from the normative ideal of “truth, understanding, and shared endeavor,” to those anti-slavery, pro-temperance, pro-suffrage forbearers who set the trajectory on which Grinnell College now finds itself. Additionally, there are a number of narratives that are both compelling and stand on their own.
John Brown, whom Abraham Lincoln in an Obamaesque moment referred to as a “misguided fanatic,” visited Grinnell in February of 1859. Fresh from a raid in Missouri where he had killed a slave owner while liberating his slaves, Brown was warmly welcomed by J.B. Grinnell and allowed to use his large wool-storage barn to house his company of followers. The people of the town were both eager and enthusiastic in their welcoming of Brown who spoke at the Congregationalist church on Sunday and visited the local primary school on Monday before leaving town. This was to earn both the town and its eponymous founder a reputation for radicalism around the state. Legend has it that before he was executed, John Brown requested that one of the pikes used in the Raid on Harper's Ferry be sent to J.B. Grinnell who, as long as he lived, used it at the head of the academic Commencement procession.
Professor Leonard Parker was to Grinnell College in the nineteenth century what Paul was to the New Testament. In his dual role of the superintendent of Poweshiek County Schools and later as a professor at Iowa College (it did not become Grinnell College until early in the twentieth century) Parker was in many respects the soul of the institution. He and one of the town's founders Amos Bixby resisted a mob in 1860 that sought to prevent the enrollment of four male fugitive slaves in the town school. After first being denied a leave of absence from his teaching duties he was finally allowed to lead a company of Grinnell volunteers in 1864 for a one hundred day tour of duty. And, what goes down as one of the finest moments in Grinnell history, he published an extensive article in The Grinnell Herald arguing against the imperialistic annexation of the Philippine Islands.
One tradition that did not persist (thankfully for anyone holding a Jello-shot party insulting faculty members) was President Magoun's “Come Forward” program. Any student guilty of an infraction against the code of conduct was required to make a public confession of it during chapel. Maoist self-criticism was based on the same principle and understandably the student body was not sorry to see the practice discontinued.
Perhaps the incident covered in the book that is my personal favorite had to do with finding a replacement for the outgoing President George Magoun. A leading candidate for the position was J.B. Grinnell's son-in-law David Mears. Mears also had the financial backing of Massachusetts shoe merchant Edward Goodnow. The contour of the deal was that if Mears was to become the President of the college then Goodnow would donate $50,000 (about $1.2 million in 2010 dollars). The proposal was further contingent upon the renaming of the college after Goodnow. In a classic response, the trustees declined the offer because “the sum named does not in our view by any means warrant it” and because such an action would potentially make the college the source of ridicule. The trustees, pragmatic to the end, stated: “that should the circumstances ever occur in which some larger gift, say from $150,000 to $250,000 be conditioned on a change of name, that question would be favorably considered” (p.221). Mears, who was angry at the rejection, withdrew his name from consideration and George Gates became the second president serving from 1887 until 1900.
In speaking to a retired Dean of Students who attended Grinnell College in the 1950s I learned that Professor Wall taught a course attended by all freshmen on the history of the school. Is this feasible today? It is undoubtedly more complicated than merely finding someone to write the syllabus with many more matriculates now in attendance than in the middle of last century. However, one seemingly logical addendum to Professor Wall's work would be a work entitle something like The History of Grinnell College in the Twentieth Century: From the Brink of Insolvency to Incredibly Well Endowed.
Burling Library 2nd floor LD2055.G52 W35 1997
Reviewed by T. Hatch
Manifest Destiny required a group of eleven easy going Calvinists to set out for the frontier of the Iowa Territory to spread a Congregationalist form of Christianity and New England culture. The result of their effort was the opening of Iowa College in 1850. But their openly abolitionist and temperance positions were decidedly unpopular with many in their new home of Davenport; the trustees of Iowa College were soon looking for a new location.
In a parallel development Josiah Bushnell Grinnell, whose goal was to found a Congregationalist community in Iowa, had acted on advance inside information as to where future rail lines were to be constructed. As one of five founders of the town he imagined founding both a religious and an educational community. Starting in 1855 when purchasing land in Grinnell twenty dollars over the asking price went directly to a fund for the founding of a college. J.B. Grinnell “[who] had always evinced ...an interest in both pietism and profits” (p.92) envisioned a full-blown university. Competing with seven other towns the trustees of Iowa College chose Grinnell in 1858. J.B. Grinnell, who designated himself President of the “University” as well as Professor of History, Rhetoric, and Elocution (without the benefit of any students, faculty, or campus buildings) had persuaded a group of authentic scholars to join him in efforts at institution building. In September 1858 the merger between Iowa College and Grinnell University was official. Classes began when Iowa College opened in Grinnell in October of 1861.
While this magisterial book delineates the development of Grinnell College from its founding until the end of the nineteenth century it really does much more. It is possible over a century later to trace backward in time, from the normative ideal of “truth, understanding, and shared endeavor,” to those anti-slavery, pro-temperance, pro-suffrage forbearers who set the trajectory on which Grinnell College now finds itself. Additionally, there are a number of narratives that are both compelling and stand on their own.
John Brown, whom Abraham Lincoln in an Obamaesque moment referred to as a “misguided fanatic,” visited Grinnell in February of 1859. Fresh from a raid in Missouri where he had killed a slave owner while liberating his slaves, Brown was warmly welcomed by J.B. Grinnell and allowed to use his large wool-storage barn to house his company of followers. The people of the town were both eager and enthusiastic in their welcoming of Brown who spoke at the Congregationalist church on Sunday and visited the local primary school on Monday before leaving town. This was to earn both the town and its eponymous founder a reputation for radicalism around the state. Legend has it that before he was executed, John Brown requested that one of the pikes used in the Raid on Harper's Ferry be sent to J.B. Grinnell who, as long as he lived, used it at the head of the academic Commencement procession.
Professor Leonard Parker was to Grinnell College in the nineteenth century what Paul was to the New Testament. In his dual role of the superintendent of Poweshiek County Schools and later as a professor at Iowa College (it did not become Grinnell College until early in the twentieth century) Parker was in many respects the soul of the institution. He and one of the town's founders Amos Bixby resisted a mob in 1860 that sought to prevent the enrollment of four male fugitive slaves in the town school. After first being denied a leave of absence from his teaching duties he was finally allowed to lead a company of Grinnell volunteers in 1864 for a one hundred day tour of duty. And, what goes down as one of the finest moments in Grinnell history, he published an extensive article in The Grinnell Herald arguing against the imperialistic annexation of the Philippine Islands.
One tradition that did not persist (thankfully for anyone holding a Jello-shot party insulting faculty members) was President Magoun's “Come Forward” program. Any student guilty of an infraction against the code of conduct was required to make a public confession of it during chapel. Maoist self-criticism was based on the same principle and understandably the student body was not sorry to see the practice discontinued.
Perhaps the incident covered in the book that is my personal favorite had to do with finding a replacement for the outgoing President George Magoun. A leading candidate for the position was J.B. Grinnell's son-in-law David Mears. Mears also had the financial backing of Massachusetts shoe merchant Edward Goodnow. The contour of the deal was that if Mears was to become the President of the college then Goodnow would donate $50,000 (about $1.2 million in 2010 dollars). The proposal was further contingent upon the renaming of the college after Goodnow. In a classic response, the trustees declined the offer because “the sum named does not in our view by any means warrant it” and because such an action would potentially make the college the source of ridicule. The trustees, pragmatic to the end, stated: “that should the circumstances ever occur in which some larger gift, say from $150,000 to $250,000 be conditioned on a change of name, that question would be favorably considered” (p.221). Mears, who was angry at the rejection, withdrew his name from consideration and George Gates became the second president serving from 1887 until 1900.
In speaking to a retired Dean of Students who attended Grinnell College in the 1950s I learned that Professor Wall taught a course attended by all freshmen on the history of the school. Is this feasible today? It is undoubtedly more complicated than merely finding someone to write the syllabus with many more matriculates now in attendance than in the middle of last century. However, one seemingly logical addendum to Professor Wall's work would be a work entitle something like The History of Grinnell College in the Twentieth Century: From the Brink of Insolvency to Incredibly Well Endowed.
Burling Library 2nd floor LD2055.G52 W35 1997
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