Reading Log: December

Happy New Year, everyone! Having some time off for the holidays has been great--I got a chance to celebrate Christmas with my family, run around Point Reyes with Eli and his parents, catch up on Six Feet Under (4th season now), bake macaroons, and sleep in most days. New Year's Eve was spent enjoying the triple threat of brunch, shopping, and Keyvan, followed by some Chinese takeout, Korbel (Ronni, we thought of you), and a shockingly graphic History Channel documentary. Though I can't say I'm quite ready to go back to work, I've had a pretty good run.

I also got a chance to read! I really didn't think I was going to make my four-book goal this month--I blame caffeine withdrawal and the glacial plotline of Never Let Me Go--but a chunk of sweet, unstructured time came in and saved the day.

Bad Girls of Japan, edited by Laura Miller and Jan Bardsley
Grade: A- A fascinating collection of essays on how traditional female gender roles have been turned on their heads in Japan, from the cannibalistic mountain witches of Japanese folklore to the brand craze that had modern-day shoppers hooked on luxury goods. I did find some of the analysis to be a stretch (schoolgirls making ugly faces in photo booths equals subversion?), but academia must be indulged here and there.

Never Let Me Go, by Kazuo Ishiguro
Grade: B- Creepy and atmospheric, yes. "Wrenchingly desolate", no. This book got great reviews from critics, but I should have known it was going to be less than awesome when Amazon recommended it to me. :)

The Basque History of the World, by Mark Kurlansky
Grade: A-. I have always wanted to travel to Spain, and to San Sebastian in particular, but I never knew very much about Basque or Spanish history beyond a few proper nouns seared into my memory from my high school Spanish textbooks. I was totally drawn in by Kurlansky's obvious love of his subject (Basques are cool, seriously--did you know they were expert whalers and were the first to bring chocolate to Europe?) and his cheerful attention to detail.

The Audacity of Hope, by Barack Obama
Grade: A- Obama lays out his stances on "the issues" with elegant, emotive prose. I found myself unsatisfied at times with some positions that appeared precariously balanced--in seeing both sides, the cynic in me alleges that he's simply trying to stay marketable to as many people as possible. But one of Obama's core themes that resonated with me is that the real world's complex problems demand nuanced treatment and substantive, empathetic debate, in place of the stark and oversimplified polarizations that are so common in today's politics.