I can't tell you how many times I have handed this book (with the earlier cover) to library patrons over the years. Yet, I had never read it! Not sure why.
It is a simple story covering less than a week, and focusing on a three-day battle between an old fisherman and a fish (shark). It includes a story of the interactions between the fisherman and a young man who spends time with him.
I am still parsing the meaning of the metaphor/analogy presented. I will need to think some more.
One of the speakers at the Louisiana Library Association (LLA) Conference this year was Robert (Bob) Mann. He is a a professor emeritus of mass communication at Louisiana State University. He held the Manship Endowed Chair in Journalism at the Manship School of Mass Communication at LSU for 18 years. He is the author of ten books, including critically acclaimed political histories of the U.S. civil rights movement, the Vietnam War, American wartime dissent, Ronald Reagan, and the 1964 presidential election. {source: https://www.robertmannbooks.com/about-robert-mann} He worked as a journalist and then for several prominent Louisiana political figures.
This book is a combination of history of the song and its popularity, biography of Jimmie Davis, and commentary both on aspects of Louisiana politics and the societal issues from the 1920s to the present. It is exceedingly well written.
So many of us have sung or heard this song sung with no understanding of the origin story. I did not know very much about the two-time governor Jimmie Davis before I read this book. As I noted above, one of the foci of the book is his complicated story.
As part of the analysis of the song, Bob Mann includes discussion of the various "covers" of the song over time. Someone who is more musically astute than I could make a great web site linking to all the different versions which have been recorded over time. I would enjoy listening to some of these while reading the stories of how they came about.
It is a well researched work with 17 pages of footnotes (technically end notes), seven pages of bibliography, and an index. Anyone doing work on Jimmie Davis or the role of this song in the American pantheon would find this a seminal work. I am very glad that I read it!
P.S. I commend reading this article about his departure from LSU. It has some interesting, pointed perspectives including on the brain drain from the state: https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2023/10/why-robert-mann-quit-lsu.html
Updated 6/26: Calendar synch completed ... But still very much a work in progress.
The US edition was published in 2021 -- so I am a little late to the game. But this is a great read. It does not delve deeply into math, but could be a companion to discussion on web evaluation ("fake news") as well as basic math literacy.
Here are the ten easy rules ... but I strongly recommend reading the book:
And ... the golden rule: Be curious
And while he has a web site [https://timharford.com/] in my initial wandering around, it does not say much about this work on statistics [although you can readily purchase the book on his site] ... he has moved on to other topics.
Updated 6/12: Calendar synch completed ... and photo from Midwinter added for visual interest.
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Here is my tentative schedule for ALA Annual -- in Chicago! Note that it is still tentative! There are Thursday events for me ... I have events in the official ALA Scheduler which have yet to migrate to my Google calendar -- but they will!
If you have previously viewed this, you may want to refresh to be sure that you have the latest version of my calendar.
(Note: I have figured out how to make "Agenda" the default view.) Clicking on any event will show details. I have also mastered having the time zone correct, but this time I am again living in the Conference time zone!
Here is my tentative schedule for LibLearnX (formerly known as ALA Midwinter). Note that it is still tentative!
I am driving to New Orleans on Friday, and will be leaving (perhaps with an airport stop) after the closing ceremony on Monday (Note: I have figured out how to make "Agenda" the default view," I think.) Clicking on any event will show details. I think I have the time zone correct, but this time I am living in the Conference time zone!
Of particular note, I am the "moderator" for Willie Mae Brown who will be talking about her new book My Selma. I am nervously looking forward to that event. (Saturday at 4.)
There are themes to this past year's reading. First, this list is in reverse chronological order. The last read is the first.
Actually there are two themes and they are biography/autobiography and lengthy (fat) books. Other than Cheever's writings, what I read was all biography/memoir. Some might argue that even the Cheever writings are memoir-like. He certainly drew on his life experience and the places in which he had lived. [Reading Cheever was the completion of a sequence that I started in 2021 by reading his daughter's works, including ... wait for it ... biographies she had written and her memoirs.)
The second theme/pattern - especially for about the first 3/4 of the year was length. It seems like two book, how much could that be? But if counted in pages, that almost 2,000 pages. The Grant biography was almost 1,500 pages. That's three books totaling almost 3,500 pages.
The combination of reading the Grant biography and The 1619 Project was very appropriate. Grant, as an army general and as President, tried to set the stage for a fully equitable society. His role (other than as the General) was not something of which I had been aware. I understand better why his portrait is on the $50 bill!
The end of the year introduced a new aspect: graphic non-fiction. Prior to reading Maus, I don't think I ever read a full graphic novel. While people would say that the three I read were graphic novels, they really aren't. Maus is a "told to" memoir; Monumental is a documented biography; Gender Queer is a memoir. They are not fiction ... hence my "tag" referring to them as GN=Graphic Nonfiction.
On to 2023!
Having said that, here's the 2022 list:
![Grant by Ron Chernow [book cover]](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_9cJoIQTx9OrHg1Ysh-sfw9B8-qeo-VuYhSXzyZKr4159dWFRncGLGkrhM8VhVbYWHMrAC9KQ70PWPcHgHwGC04kmVkp6pa6h8LfxJcYtCV1Pl1ER_vR5ST1XqlVN8x0N_d3Ehlo-BNZ-nffyeBQqN4UYpLZK7fWOxwNT8eDpiHM5X5x4h0jC/s1500/Grant%20-%20Book%20cover.jpg "Grant by Ron Chernow")
The book by Ron Chernow is massive. The copy I borrowed was in large print - and the text ran to 1,289. Those pages are followed by another 190 pages of notes, bibliography, and photo/illustration credits. (It is a pretty fat book at 1,479 pages!)
Grant was much more than just a general and a drunk. While this biography talks about his drinking issues, Chernow notes that whatever drinking Grant did was away from any significant activities. He was not ever drunk during a battle or a crucial time in his administration. Some of that credit belongs to one of his personal assistants, and to his wife Julia. He did have a "drinking problem," but especially at the end of his life, he seemed to be able to control it. According to this biography, he never drank leading up to and during a battle. He would occasionally go on binges. There were two people who helped reign him in, one was his wife Julia, and the other a long-suffering and long-serving assistant John A. Rawlins. It's a fascinating relationship, and there is one (much shorter) version of the story on History.net.
I strongly recommend the book. The description of Grant's political acumen and actions as President were not something I had known about. The election of his successor ushered in the era of Jim Crow, which undermined much of what Grant tried to do as both a General and as the President.
The very end of his life was sad in that he rushed to finish his memoirs (published by Samuel Clemens/Mark Twain) in order to leave funds for his wife. The next time I drive east, I will try to visit both his tomb (in New York City) and where he spent much of his final time writing in Saratoga Springs (NY). I suppose, his version of his life should be added to my reading list!
It has been a while! Here is the posting of my schedule ... Right now, this is still tentative, and a work in progress. My role in the Association has changed, and there are many fewer commitments.
And do note the time zone note on the bottom. I have entered the correct time zone in the calendar and seem to have mastered the ability to have the events show in the time zone in which the conference is being held -- even when it is not the time zone in which I am working/entering the data.
At times, the novels felt like short stories, and some of the characters from the novels either previously or subsequently appeared in the short stories.
I feel like the short story was Cheever's metier and real strength in writing. All of his works are "of a time and place." Because it represents both a geography and a time period with which I am familiar, it felt comfortable to me - and likely his writing was well received by "the establishment" since it was so much about them.
I am glad that I read all of his works, and have an appreciation for what he describes.
Many of the stories use characters and places which also appear in his novels - which gives a sense of continuity to his writings. He is clearly a gifted story teller. I had one friend ask (early on) if I had read "The Swimmer" (p. 726). I had not at that point, but it is an amazing story, and I commend it.
The Other Writings include works about other authors (Saul Bellow, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Malcolm Cowley) and a great little essay "Why I Write Short Stories." A sentence in that essay struck me a being very important:
"...they are read by discerning and well-informed men and women who seem to feel that narrative fiction can contribute to our understanding of one another and the sometimes bewildering world around us." (p. 996)
*Mic drop*
[In my list of books read this year, I feel like this should count for more than one volume!]
Some time ago, I pulled the Road Scholar [formerly known as Elderhostel] list for their Panama Canal week-long experience.
More recently, I started reading from the list. The first book I chose was older than I expected ... Panama: Yesterday and Today by Sue Core. It was published in 1945 by North River Press. The name of the publisher still exists ... but it is definitely a different kind of publisher. [Current web site - they now focus on the writings of Eliyahu M. [Eli] Goldratt who is known as the "father of the Theory of Constraints (TOC)," a process of ongoing improvement that identifies and leverages a system’s constraints in order to achieve the system’s goals.]
I looked for biographical information about the author...and had great difficulty finding anything. WorldCat and Amazon both list a fair number of books by her, but little biographical info. I think she may also be known as Sue/Susan Oman. But that requires some further work.
On to the book ... In reading the first two chapters, I went to double check the copyright date (1945). The author's description of the way the Spanish conquistadors destroyed the existing civilizations could have been written last week (2021). She expresses great admiration for the culture which existed in the 15th Century in the Americas. She talks about the systematic destruction of that culture.
Yet, when I got to the last chapters, her descriptions of those who worked to build the canal, and the description of society is incredibly dated, and loaded with inaccurate stereotypes. It was a reminder that this was written in a particular time and place.
In between, the book was a simplified description of the building of the Canal. And, yes, if you are following my reading list, you will note that I am in the process doing some reading about the building of the Canal. All of it is in hopeful preparation for a trip (as yet unplanned) to see the Canal, and going through it.
Better late than never, I suppose ... I was updating the page with the "Currently Reading" and realized that I never posted the 2020 list. It is surprisingly short - most likely because of all the distractions of the year.
In any case, here it is:
I have read Updike before. I read several of his books prior to introducing him at the Connecticut Library Association Annual Conference in 2000. After the Conference, I also read the book he was promoting at that time (Gertrude and Claudius) as well as an older collection (Bech is Back - which he most thoughtfully inscribed to me).
This time I did the following in this order:
The action in The Widows takes place 30 years after the activities of The Witches. The Widows is an interesting take on the aging process, in addition to the other themes which follow from one book to the other. The theme of aging and those changes is a one which Updike explores in other works (most notably to me, the Rabbit series).
I was disappointed and disturbed by the movie adaptation. In both of the books, the women characters (Sukie, Jane, and Alexandra) are portrayed as strong women with a bond with each other, and having developed/found their unique skills which are most powerful when they are together. Darryl as a character arrives in Eastwick after there has already been action from the women. In the movie, however, Darryl (played by Jack Nicholson) is portrayed as the force which develops and binds the women's powers.
In the Wikipedia entry on The Witches (the book) it notes:
Updike described his novel as "about female power, a power that patriarchal societies have denied." Many scholars viewed it as strongly pro-feminist, "an intelligent engagement with feminism, and a rare case of a male novelist writing from women's points of view." Some have expressed concern that the book may be misogynistic, as it seems to reinforce the patriarchal conceptions of women as witches and of women requiring a man for personal growth; others believe that the book may be more of a satire of such ideas.
The movie clearly takes a different tack, as a vehicle for Nicholson, and focuses on his presence as the driving force - and the ending of the movie is a dramatic difference from the book - having repurposed one of the plot lines.
It has been interesting.
I will also confess, that part of the attraction for me was the setting. Eastwick is a fictional town on Narragansett Bay in Rhode Island. It is a setting with which I am familiar. I could see the setting in my minds' eye ... could hear the voices (and accents) ... could almost smell the salt air, and the mustiness endemic to older, wooden-framed homes near the salt-water coast.
I recommend the books - both of them. The movie, not so much.
Jarrett-Schell, Peter, Seeing
My Skin: (A Story of Wrestling with Whiteness)
[New York]: Church Publishing, [August 17] 2019.
