First Batch of Fall Reading

I am trying very hard to finish my “assigned” reading for 2019 without getting too distracted.  Despite my best efforts, I find that I have quite the slog of dry-ish nonfiction to get through.  Since I started the fall section of reading, I’ve read eight books.  One of those was the subject of a blog post on my other blog, which leaves seven others, only one of which was fiction.

That sole fiction book was Adam Bede by George Eliot.  I generally enjoy Victorian novels in all their narrative glory.  For a while, I thought that this particular iteration might avoid the expected plot path, but it eventually succumbed to the inevitable if in a more than usually interesting way.  The writing is superb, the scenery lovely, the characters well-drawn.  I found myself fascinated by a society in which differences of religious belief could be discussed as both extremely important and as deeply deserving of respectful treatment.  It was also somewhat refreshing to dip into a world in which people on the whole did try to do the right things, even if they failed, even if it was hard.

Ben Franklin’s Book of Virtues touches, of course, on the same theme of doing the right thing.  Weird old Uncle Ben is, on one hand, completely serious in his plan to perfect himself and at the same time seems to give us a wink.  There are many aspects of Ben’s society that I am glad no longer obtain quite so much, but it would not be bad if we collectively wanted to be more virtuous, however we choose to define that term.

I read Stephen Mitchel’s translation of the Tao Te Ching at this opportune moment.  It is another lens on the virtue question and also came in handy during my visit the other day to the Asian Art Museum, where multiple works were inspired by the Tao.  The book, in its emphasis on being, contrasts nicely with Ben’s constant doing.  I see value in both approaches.

Ray Troll and Brad Matsen created the enchanting Shocking Fish Tales.  It’s kind of a picture book, kind of an extended essay on fishing, ecology, and life in Alaska.  Both prose and art inspire and inform.

In that helpful synchronicity of books, I read Back Under Sail by Migael Scherer just after that.  Scherer recounts her experience on a sailing race in Alaska as part of her healing process after being raped.  The subject matter was sometimes tough (no kidding).  I’m not a sailor, so despite her clear exposition, I found myself glazing over after a certain amount of halyards and winches and sheets.  It was worth finishing, but not worth keeping, so it went to the Little Free Library.

There is a whole pile of books on my to-read shelf that have arrived there from T.R.’s history studies.  Some of them have more intrinsic interest for me than others.  One of the ones I was dreading was Cedric J. Robinson’s Black Marxism, which sounded like it would be both depressing and boring.  It was, perhaps, a little depressing because the historical oppression of African and African-American people is not a fun subject, but it was not as boring as I feared, even in the theoretical sections.  I personally could have done with more story around some of the powerful revolts of enslaved people, but I did end up enjoying the analysis of W.E.B. DuBois, James, and Richard Wright as emergent black radicals.  It’s my responsibility as a white person of privilege to understand and work to dismantle the works of my white supremacist, heteronormative, imperialist, capitalist patriarchy, which begins with educating myself on its misdeeds.

Keith Jenkins’s book Re-thinking History is designed to help with that education.  It is an introduction to the way history is constructed and the various problems that underlie any attempt to create one unified history.  Jenkins is a little bit cranky old British professor, but I found his writing clear and informative.  I didn’t need a lot of persuading as to his points—I get it that all narrative is ideological and that power structures try to control what stories get told—but it was nice to see all the underpinnings laid out.

I still have quite the stack to work through before the end of the year; wish me luck.