Some people absolutely adore trains while others are crazy about insects. Some love puzzles and others live for sports. We all have the one thing that really gets us going, the one thing we hold above all of our other passions. Mine just happens to be language, all of it. Spoken, written, foreign, colloquial, I love it all. I find it utterly fascinating that the linear patterns we put onto a page can weave through our thoughts and create such overwhelming reality that we positively forget that which is physical and what only lives in our imaginations. I also find it intriguing that throughout our worldly languages there are reoccurring phrases and sayings that take root in countries we may not even be able to locate on a globe. Their etymology ranges from a simple folk tale to an epic battle that has spanned generations.
My older brother recently came to visit my family as well as attend a friend’s wedding in our area of residence. During his stay, he came into the knowledge that a good friend of mine practices the Jewish faith. Being the absolute hilarity that he is, my brother sent for my birthday Talk Dirty: Yiddish so as to “entertain my Jewish friends.” Little did he know that my Jewish friend speaks Hebrew or that I would actually appreciate the opportunity to learn about a language and a culture that I know very little about. Ilene Schneider is one of only six female rabbis in America and jumped at the suggestion of writing about the colloquial street language of the Yiddish speaking population. Not only is this book a naughty word dictionary, it also provides a history of Yiddish and Jewish people as well as an etymology for many of the sayings and popular phrases within the Yiddish culture.
Written clearly and with plenty of very useful explanation, Talk Dirty: Yiddish was one of the most educational and truly beguiling gag gifts I’ve ever received and I would definitely recommend it to anyone wishing to learn about their roots or merely to swear in public and not get reprimanded.
Saturday, March 27, 2010
Monday, March 22, 2010
Beyond the Glass by Antonia White
Clara Batchelor is a well-brought-up, upper class, Catholic girl from a highly respected family and recently got married to a charming young man of just as high a social stature. There’s only one problem; Archie can’t have children. The newlyweds decide quickly that the only way for either of them to be happy is to get the marriage annulled. Clara’s family doesn’t agree quite as much as she’d hoped but the church will agree to an annulment and that’s all that matters. Clara is then left to move back into her old life with her parents in her childhood London home.
As Clara become aware of the hole she has fallen into, trapped within the walls she had been so eager to leave, she begins to go completely mad. Slowly at first but with the precipitous interruption and additional complication that is Richard, she falls further and further into insanity.
The twists and turns that her thoughts take are startling and give us a basic and harrowing understanding of the make-up of the human mind and the boundaries that it invariably has.
The third and final story in a trilogy, Beyond the Glass is a fascinating examination of a mind falling apart at the seams. Told with easy to follow sequence and clarity of understanding this book was a rather curious insight into what a mind goes through with such added stress and the utter ease in which it all will crumble. The pace of the story was somewhat irregular with the beginning stretching out and the ending rushing in far too quickly. The final chapters also leave you wondering if Beyond the Glass really is the last volume in the series.
A definite “must read” if you’re looking into the human psyche, but otherwise Beyond the Glass is a little too tough of a story for the gently browsing type.
As Clara become aware of the hole she has fallen into, trapped within the walls she had been so eager to leave, she begins to go completely mad. Slowly at first but with the precipitous interruption and additional complication that is Richard, she falls further and further into insanity.
The twists and turns that her thoughts take are startling and give us a basic and harrowing understanding of the make-up of the human mind and the boundaries that it invariably has.
The third and final story in a trilogy, Beyond the Glass is a fascinating examination of a mind falling apart at the seams. Told with easy to follow sequence and clarity of understanding this book was a rather curious insight into what a mind goes through with such added stress and the utter ease in which it all will crumble. The pace of the story was somewhat irregular with the beginning stretching out and the ending rushing in far too quickly. The final chapters also leave you wondering if Beyond the Glass really is the last volume in the series.
A definite “must read” if you’re looking into the human psyche, but otherwise Beyond the Glass is a little too tough of a story for the gently browsing type.
Sunday, March 7, 2010
Bloodstain: the Vanishing of Peter Falconio by Richard Shears
Most people know the old saying “Truth is stranger than fiction.” The accuracy of that statement becomes abundantly clear when you compare your classic fictional murder mystery with the real life one in Bloodstain.
Along a barren stretch of the Stuart Highway in the outback of Australia, a woman hails a truck driven by two everyday truckies and hysterically demands that they help her find her boyfriend. This seemingly ordinary night in July 2001 throws the entire world deep into a “whodunit” the likes of which they’d never seen.
From the very beginning, Joanne Lees's story of what happened when the caravan that her and her boyfriend, Peter Falconio, were travelling in across Australia got held up at gunpoint seems like something out of a horror movie. Slowly, people begin to notice the cracks in her witness account. But just as slowly, Joanne changes her story, filling up the cracks only to create others that she simply has no explanation for.
Where’s Peter’s body? Why did her attacker’s description change so drastically from her original portrayal? How did she get from the front of the truck to the back? Why is there such a lack of physical evidence that proves there was someone else around during her so called hold up? All of these questions and absolutely no answers.
Maybe she’s suffering from shock and she just honestly can’t remember the exact details of that horrifying night. But then, maybe her missing boyfriend isn’t as shocking or unexpected as she claims.
As it stands now, the courts and the legal system have stood by Joanne’s side and put her accused attacker, Brad Murdoch, behind bars but maybe it’s not as easy as that. The twists and turns of truth in this saga are bound to cause most people to raise their eyebrows and question the credibility of the end result.
A real life detective novel that demands you to question every little ‘fact’, Bloodstain is a read for those of us who don’t always like to see a happy ending and enjoy a few loose ends.
Along a barren stretch of the Stuart Highway in the outback of Australia, a woman hails a truck driven by two everyday truckies and hysterically demands that they help her find her boyfriend. This seemingly ordinary night in July 2001 throws the entire world deep into a “whodunit” the likes of which they’d never seen.
From the very beginning, Joanne Lees's story of what happened when the caravan that her and her boyfriend, Peter Falconio, were travelling in across Australia got held up at gunpoint seems like something out of a horror movie. Slowly, people begin to notice the cracks in her witness account. But just as slowly, Joanne changes her story, filling up the cracks only to create others that she simply has no explanation for.
Where’s Peter’s body? Why did her attacker’s description change so drastically from her original portrayal? How did she get from the front of the truck to the back? Why is there such a lack of physical evidence that proves there was someone else around during her so called hold up? All of these questions and absolutely no answers.
Maybe she’s suffering from shock and she just honestly can’t remember the exact details of that horrifying night. But then, maybe her missing boyfriend isn’t as shocking or unexpected as she claims.
As it stands now, the courts and the legal system have stood by Joanne’s side and put her accused attacker, Brad Murdoch, behind bars but maybe it’s not as easy as that. The twists and turns of truth in this saga are bound to cause most people to raise their eyebrows and question the credibility of the end result.
A real life detective novel that demands you to question every little ‘fact’, Bloodstain is a read for those of us who don’t always like to see a happy ending and enjoy a few loose ends.
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