books Archives - Page 22 of 23 - Ramblin' with Roger

Book Review: Where Did Our Love Go?

Georgia slave owner Jim Gordy had a son named Berry (b. 1854) by his slave Esther Johnson.

One of the strategic things I did on my train ride to Charlotte (and back) is that I did not bring any electronic items – no headphones and music, no laptop, except, necessarily, my cellphone. What I did bring were three books.

The first one I read, actually by the time I reached Washington, DC, was Where Did Our Love Go? – The Rise and Fall of the Motown Sound by Nelson George, which I purchased at a library sale. I should say that I’m a big fan of George, who has written about American black music (r&b, soul, hip hop, rap) for a number of years. Back when I had a subscription to Billboard magazine, he was a writer there. I even supported his recent Kickstarter project, Brooklyn Boheme: Fort Greene/Clinton Hill Artists Documentary.

The fact that the book was a tad disappointing may not be George’s fault. The reason I wasn’t as engaged as I might have been is that I had heard most of the narrative – about Berry Gordy writing music for Jackie Wilson, utilizing his family in the business, future stars serving as office workers or, in the case of Marvin Gaye, as a session drummer, the power of the songwriters to lay the same tracks on several artists, the ultimate push for more autonomy by Gaye and Stevie Wonder, and Gordy’s special relation with Diana Ross – before, quite possibly in articles written by Nelson George. So it wasn’t new, though it was complete and well written.

What WAS new for me was the ancestry of Berry Gordy. Georgia slave owner Jim Gordy had a son named Berry (b. 1854) by his slave Esther Johnson. Berry married Lucy Hellum, a woman of black and Indian heritage, who conceived 23 times; nine children survived, including another Berry, born in 1888. He married teacher Bertha Ida Fuller, and in 1929, they had Berry, one of the youngest of their seven children. These first two chapters about race in America were largely new to me, and, therefore, quite fascinating.

The book I recommend to people who know less about Motown than I do, which, immodestly, I suggest is most people.

Civil War books

Blight helps to explain why America today continues to wrestle with the seemingly endless and divisive issue of race, even while a black man resides in the White House.

Late last year, Glenn W LaFantasie came up with The top 12 Civil War books ever written for Salon magazine. A bold list with a lot of caveats (no biographies, no series or multivolume works, no fiction.) And if you’re interested, you can check out his choices, and the four dozen comments about the same.

But I came to a dead stop when he described his #5 book, “Race and Reunion: The Civil War in American Memory” by David W. Blight (2001), which I have never read. It’s because the description seems so important to our 21st-century lives in America:

[It] explores how the past is connected to the present by looking at the ways in which Americans have remembered the Civil War. His deeply researched and carefully crafted study argues that after the war white veterans, Union and Confederate, facilitated the reconciliation of the two sections by consciously avoiding the fact that slavery had brought on the sectional conflict, choosing instead to celebrate the courage that they and their comrades had brandished in battle. Less consciously, they and their fellow Americans found this new narrative — this rewriting of history based on a kind of historical amnesia — comforting and restorative. Reunification became a joyful event, but it came at a steep price. After Reconstruction, Northerners and Southerners alike took hold of a “Lost Cause” ideology that showed pity toward the South in its defeat, accepted Jim Crow policies that deprived blacks of their civil rights, and pushed for policies and practices that would ensure white supremacy across the land. Blight carefully avoids grinding axes as he makes his argument, which taken as a whole helps to explain why America today continues to wrestle with the seemingly endless and divisive issue of race, even while a black man resides in the White House. Here is a powerful book, artfully written by a scholar of learned poise who believes that by knowing the past we might better know ourselves.

I was wowed by the description, and if the book is as good as its review, it seems evident that I, and perhaps many of us, should be reading it.

Editing literature and the N-word Questions

As usual, The Daily Show addresses the Mark Twain controversy well.

You’ve probably heard about someone wanting to take the works of Mark Twain and republish them, replacing the word N@$$%! with the word “slave”. I think this is pretty lame as I have previously indicated.

Yet, while I’m not crazy about the word, I’m less bothered by it when it’s 1) used in historic context or 2) to make a particular point. Film critic Roger Ebert got into some hot water using the word recently. He didn’t bother me, but some of the comments I’ve seen in response to his use – “well, he has a N@##%! wife” – seems to justify my general antipathy for the word.

Should Huck Finn and other works of Mark Twain be edited to remove a word current sensibilities might find offensive? If so, how should such a book be labeled?

When, if ever, are racially charged words acceptable? There’s a John Lennon song that I believe is making a larger point of social commentary.

As usual, The Daily Show with Jon Stewart addresses this well. NSFW, if the use of N@##$! might get you fired.

December Ramblin’

Hit me with your rhythm stick/Je t’adore, ich liebe dich
Hit me with your rhythm stick/Das ist gut, c’est fantastique

I’ve enjoyed seeing composer Steven Sondheim, lyricist for West Side Story, A Funny Thing happened on the Way to the Forum, and many, many other musicals, a couple of times on television recently, promoting his book “Finishing the Hat: Attendant Comments, Principles, Heresies, Grudges, Whines, and Anecdotes.” I’ve ordered the book if only for the lyrics themselves, and what he’ll have to say about them. I enjoyed hearing about the strong tutelage of family friend Oscar Hammerstein. He has appeared on Stephen Colbert‘s program and on The Newshour on PBS. Part of the latter interview is here:
JEFFREY BROWN: And the greatest focus is on words that rhyme…He uses an old rhyming dictionary and a 1946 edition of “Roget’s Thesaurus.”
STEPHEN SONDHEIM: A rhyme draws the ear’s attention to the word. So, you don’t make the least important word in the line the rhyme word. So, you have to — and also a rhyme can take something that is not too strong and make it much stronger…
BROWN: And…he believes words that are spelled differently, but sound alike, such as rougher and suffer, engage the listener more than those spelled similarly, rougher and tougher.
SONDHEIM: I think we see words on — as if they’re on paper, sometimes when you hear them. I don’t mean it’s an absolutely conscious thing, but I’m absolutely convinced that people essentially see what they’re hearing.
BROWN: Yes. So, I’m hearing rougher and suffer rhyme…then I quickly think…
SONDHEIM: And that’s a surprise… I have got a rhyme in “Passion,” colonel, and journal. Now, you look at them on paper, they seem to have no relation to each other at all. So, when you rhyme them, it’s, ooh, you know? It’s — it — I really may be wrong about this. It’s just something that has struck me over the years.

So what lyrics immediately, and I mean IMMEDIATELY, come to mind? Hit Me with your Rhythm stick by Ian Dury and the Blockheads, a staple on my favorite radio station of the late 1970s, Q104.
Specifically:
In the wilds of Borneo And the vineyards of Bordeaux
Eskimo, Arapaho, move their body to and fro

But also the foreign language rhymes:
Hit me with your rhythm stick/Je t’adore, ich liebe dich
Hit me with your rhythm stick/Das ist gut, c’est fantastique
Here are a couple of recordings HERE with some misspellings, and an odd ending and HERE, after an ad.

Jaquandor found this nifty cartoon that explains climate change.

Eddie shares this Go Go’s video. Eddie notes that Belinda Carlisle’s memoir states their repertoire was limited to the songs on the first album in
their early touring days. This confirms my recollection that when I saw them at JB Scott’s in Albany in 1981, or late 1980, around the time of their 1st album, they played every song on the album plus one non-album B-side.

The Playing For Change Foundation’s new Song Around the World – John Lennon’s “Imagine”

The Twilight Zone Marathon is on again. The December 31 lineup has been posted at syfy.com. But the Marathon will be interrupted for two hours that evening by one of those dopey wrestling shows.

How cats lap up milk, in slow motion

Painting Like Jackson Pollock

I’m afraid I cannot condone this abuse of perfectly good coconut creme pies. Well, maybe for a good cause.

STAN LEE is on their side! Spidey an agent of the Illuminati? Say it ain’t so, Stan! Say it ain’t so! Especially now that you’re 88, as Johnny Bacardi notes.

I mourn the loss of Matt Staccone, SBDC advisor, at the age of 55.

A friend of mine came across this eBay sale of ‘Two Decades of Comics’ fanzine booklet from March 1981; “Fantastic Brian Bolland cover art featuring Brother Power The Geek, Nightshade & Indian? looking at book with characters heads flying out: Storm, Man-Thing, Sgt Rock, Cain, The Demon, Howard The Duck, Metamorpho, The Spectre etc.
Very scarce – Book comprehensively views A-Z of comic book titles with fan-art – notably: Dave Hornsby “The Creeper” art 1pg, Nik Neocleous “Deathlok” art 1pg, Kev F Sutherland “Iron Jaw” art 1pg, Steve Whitaker “Red Wolf” art 1pg, Steve Lowther “The Werewolf” art 1pg, Eagle Awards 1976-1979 Results feature 4pg.” And boy, did that cover look familiar. As it turns out, FantaCo published it as an inside cover in our Chronicles Annual. That Annual was based on that same magazine.

Five Sci-Fi Children’s Books, including Kirk and Spock are Friends.

55 Questions about books

I never read The Bridges of Madison County, though I started it, but I liked the movie.

From Jaquandor:

1. Favorite childhood book?

Play The Game. It’s a sports anthology that I still own, copyright 1931. It has articles by Rogers Hornsby on baseball, Red Grange on football, Grantland Rice on golf, plus articles on basketball, track, tennis, and the “minor sports” such as swimming and wrestling. I have no idea how I came to have it; I’m not nearly THAT old.

2. What are you reading right now?

Where Did Our Love Go by Nelson George. It’s a book about the rise and fall of Motown.

3. What books do you have on request at the library?

Right now, none, but I have had some.

4. Bad book habit?

Starting books and not finishing them. Do it a lot, actually.

5. What do you currently have checked out at the library?

Nothing at present, which is unusual.

6. Do you have an e-reader?

No. I’m a late adapter. I’ll get one a week before the NEXT technology comes out.

7. Do you prefer to read one book at a time, or several at once?

One, maybe two. More likely to finish it that way.

8. Have your reading habits changed since starting a blog?

I probably read less, but my “should read” list has become massive.

9. Least favorite book you read this year?

Don’t know, because I probably just gave up.

10. Favorite book you’ve read this year?

Slavery by Another Name: The Re-Enslavement of Black Americans from the Civil War to World War II by Douglas Blackmon.

11. How often do you read out of your comfort zone?

Back when I was at my former church, I was in a book club, and we had 10 topics a year. Inevitably, we’d pick topics I’d never would have picked had I not been in the group. Now, almost never leave the non-fiction range.

12. What is your reading comfort zone?

Biographies, non-fiction, generally.

13. Can you read on the bus?

I can, but I tend not to, because I’m so afraid of losing the book. Generally, I read periodicals on the bus.

14. Favorite place to read?

A chair in the living room.

15. What is your policy on book lending?

I will only lend if I am not afraid of never seeing it again. So if it’s of functional or sentimental value, no way.

16. Do you ever dog-ear books?

No, and it annoys me that others do.

17. Do you ever write in the margins of your books?

Not even in college.

18. Not even with textbooks?

Not even with textbooks. It also was a matter that I might actually SELL those books, so I wanted to keep them nice.

19. What is your favorite language to read in?

English.

20. What makes you love a book?

Learning something new, told in an interesting and honest way. Glaring factual errors will probably diminish the value very quickly.

21. What will inspire you to recommend a book?

Haven’t in decades. People are so different, I find it almost impossible. And when I used to, people would sigh, “Oh, no, one more for the list!”

22. Favorite genre?

Actually, besides non-fiction, comic book packages.

23. Genre you rarely read (but wish you did?)

Science fiction, I suppose. I know lots of SF fans.

24. Favorite biography?

The Brethren by Woodward and Armstrong. Although I have a soft spot for Mayor Corning: Albany Icon, Albany Enigma by Paul Grondahl because it contains a description of the South African Springbok rugby team and the protest that I participated in.

25. Have you ever read a self-help book?

Not in a long time. The last one may have been Your Erroneous Zones by Wayne Dyer and that was in 1978.

26. Favorite cookbook?

It’s a Betty Crocker one I got when I first went to college.

27. Most inspirational book you’ve read this year (fiction or nonfiction)?

A Day Apart: How Jews, Christians, and Muslims Find Faith, Freedom, and Joy on the Sabbath by Christopher D. Ringwald

28. Favorite reading snack?

Pretzels or Wheat Thins.

29. Name a case in which hype ruined your reading experience.

Cavalier and Klay by Michael Chabon. Didn’t get past page 55, and I felt badly, because it was “my” genre. I still have it – yikes, I borrowed it from someone; well, more that she lent it to me – and I’ll try again someday.

30. How often do you agree with critics about a book?

Often, I suppose, because it usually motivated me to read it in the first place.

31. How do you feel about giving bad/negative reviews?

Not great, but I will.

32. If you could read in a foreign language, which language would you chose?

French.

33. Most intimidating book you’ve ever read?

I don’t remember. It was undoubtedly so incomprehensible, I let it go.

34. Most intimidating book you’re too nervous to begin?

None.

35. Favorite poet?

Billy Shakes.

36. How many books do you usually have checked out of the library at any given time?

One or two.

37. How often have you returned book to the library unread?

About 50% of the time.

38. Favorite fictional character?

Atticus Finch.

39. Favorite fictional villain?

Iago, for sure.

40. Books I’m most likely to bring on vacation?

Something on the shelf at home that calls to me. Plus periodicals.

41. The longest I’ve gone without reading.

Last time I was really sick. I remember when I broke my rib a couple of years ago, I could not focus to read even the newspaper for nearly a week, because of the pain and the meds.

42. Name a book that you could/would not finish.

Kavalier and Clay. But I will, by gum.

43. What distracts you easily when you’re reading?

A pile of periodicals more than anything.

44. Favorite film adaptation of a novel?

To Kill a Mockingbird. I never read The Bridges of Madison County, though I started it, but I liked the movie.

45. Most disappointing film adaptation?

Funny, nothing comes to mind. I can’t think of any others where I’ve both read the book AND seen the movie.

46. The most money I’ve ever spent in the bookstore at one time?

Around a hundred bucks, probably.

47. How often do you skim a book before reading it?

Depends on whether it has photos in the center. I often look at those first.

48. What would cause you to stop reading a book half-way through?

Boredom. Irritation. Lack of time.

49. Do you like to keep your books organized?

Yes, actually they are. Does this surprise you? Shelf of TV books, movie books, comic-related books. Shelves of music books, religious books, non-fiction, with bios tending to be together.

50. Do you prefer to keep books or give them away once you’ve read them?

I prefer to keep, but once in a while, I do a mini-purge.

51. Are there any books you’ve been avoiding?

Not particularly.

52. Name a book that made you angry.

I’m sure some sociology text in college that I thought was BS.

53. A book you didn’t expect to like but did?

Not likely to start a book I don’t think I’ll like.

54. A book that you expected to like but didn’t?

See, things that I read that don’t work tend to just fall right out of the brain.

55. Favorite guilt-free, pleasure reading?

What is this guilt thing? Je ne comprende pas.