Sunday Update – Week 2

I hope everyone had a happy Valentine’s Day week. I did. I even spent it with someone, which is rare for me. My fiancé wasn’t as much of a fan of the Viking Blod as I was, but he loved the chocolate covered strawberries.

This wasn’t a great reading week for me as I have been drifting between hypomanic and depressed all week. However, the incumbent insomnia inherent to bipolar disorder meant I had plenty of time to listen to my audiobook while silently sitting, sulking away in the dark. As selfied here:

Yup, that’s me listening to Shadow Land, while trying to fall asleep without waking up the fiancé.

And these (the words you’re reading) are me writing while hypomanic in the middle of the night. Ah, mania is so fun. I wish it weren’t unhealthy. Alas!

My step-daughter-to-be and I baked cupcakes on Thursday, while watching Frozen:

This week I have finished 0 books. But I watched:

Watched

My step-children-to-be, nephew, fiancé, and I watched Wonder and played Apples to Apples Junior as part of a family night last Sunday. Wonder was an amazing movie. The fiancé and I watched Bridget Jones Diary on Valentine’s Day. And the fiancé, nephew, and I watched X-Men Origins: Wolverine on Friday night after the kiddos went to bed. That was a sucky movie, but since we’re watching all the X-Men movies in order we had to check it off.

I played:

I acquired:

Acquired

I am currently reading:

Don Quixote Prologue – Chapter 7

DQWEM

This is not a review, it is notes and an analysis of Don Quixote. Therefore, it will contain spoilers.

So far, there are two issues that make me cringe about Don Quixote. They are: the book burning *shudder, and the way the characters treat a mentally ill man. We’ll start with a discussion of the book burning.

The prologue makes fun of writers of the day – how they are pedantic and (Cervantes claims) list off references in their works of fiction in alphabetical order from Aristotle to Xenophon. It would also appear from the prologue that the purpose of Don Quixote was to make the readers laugh by satirizing chivalric works of the time.

After Don Quixote’s first sally forth, his friends (who in the past encouraged the old man’s interest in works of chivalry) decided to burn his books and wall off the library, so that even the room where his madness overtook him could no longer be accessed by the erstwhile knight errant. I was a little confused by this book burning at first. Surely Cervantes felt the pain of destroying something so valuable as that library? So what was his point? Then I realized that he was making fun of the completely arbitrary way Don Quixote’s friends chose which books would be burned and which saved. They would look at a book, rattle off some preposterous monologue about whether the story were worth saving, and then decide whether to burn it. Then, they got really lazy, and just burned the rest. This is not the act of a caring friend, but someone who wants to solve a problem quickly, despite what damage he may incur.

Then, they walled off the library, and told the madman that an evil wizard had whisked it away to spite Don Quixote. Really? They’re encouraging the madness? These are his friends. At this point it seems like they care more about appearances (keeping Don Quixote from indulging in his madness) than about the actual health of their friend/uncle. But this is not the only terrible way he had been treated in the story. It seems that everyone he runs into, except for Sancho, is cruel. They mock him and encourage the madness. At the moment, I wonder whether Cervantes was also making a social statement about having compassion for the mentally ill, but that may be a bit forward thinking in the early 1600s. I will make a more educated guess as I proceed with the book.

American Psychosis, by E. Fuller Torrey

Synopsis: In this strongly stated book, Torrey describes how the formation of the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) took place, accompanied by well-meaning, but ill-planned federal programs for the out-patient care of mentally 9780199988716_p0_v2_s550x406 ill patients and the emptying of state-funded mental hospitals. Due to terrible conditions in state hospitals and to the discovery of antipsychotics, many well-intended people wanted to improve the condition of mentally ill people by giving them independence and better living conditions through outpatient treatment. So the founders of NIMH, with the help of President Kennedy, began a federal program intended to care for patients on an outpatient basis, as well as providing resources which were intended on reducing the onset of mental illness in future generations. Unfortunately, as the state hospitals closed en masse, these federal programs didn’t do their job as intended. The federal programs focused too much on trying (and failing) to reduce the new onset of mental illness, and not enough on taking care of people who were released from hospitals. Many people from the hospitals had nowhere to go and/or stopped taking their meds (for various reasons). The populations of homeless and jailed/imprisoned mentally ill people skyrocketed. Violence by and against people with mental illness skyrocketed. Chaos ensued.

My Thoughts: First of all, I think Torrey’s book was too strongly stated. He puts a lot of blame on the US federal government when these same problems with deinstitutionalization and ensuing homelessness/incarceration-of-mentally-ill occurred in other countries around the same time. The book was also long on problems, short on solutions – even in the chapter whose title suggested that solutions would be presented. Despite these flaws, I enjoyed reading American Psychosis. It was full of interesting facts that I didn’t know about what the federal government was doing during the deinstitutionalization of state hospitals.

I give this book 3.5 snowflakes for interesting information and research. 3 and half snowflakes

Virtual Hike Up the Appalachian Trail: Week 0

Please forgive this and a few more reposts from my old blog, which I’m slowly seeding into this blog for the sake of continuity on this blog.

I’ve always wanted to hike the Appalachian Trail. Big dreams – out of shape woman. (In my defense, I used to be in much better shape, but those days are gone.) So instead I’m going to hike it in my mind, as I try to lose weight for my upcoming wedding. Unfortunately, as well as being out of shape, I’m recovering from leftover breathing problems from the flu, so it may take some effort to start really moving.

Daily goals:

Get up to 1 hour exercise bike (Except weekends)
Either lift weights or do an ab workout (Except weekends)
88 oz water

Weekly goals:

>11,500 calories
14 or fewer Diet Mountain Dews

Longer term goal: get to 140lbs by the end of December

Starting weight: 172lbs

Starting Waist Size: 35.5in

What I will do is keep track of how many “miles” I travel on my exercise bike, and log it as if I were hiking the Appalachian Trail. I will start on Springer Mountain in Chattahoochee National Forest (Georgia). I’m at altitude 3771 feet.

Classics Club 2018 – 2023

classicsclub

This is my list for the Classics Club, which is a fantastic group of people that read and write about the classics. They choose a list of 50+ books that they want to read in the next five years. Then they share their reviews with each other.

Don Quixote, by Miguel de Cervantes
Roots, by Alex Haley
The Pilgrim’s Progress, by John Bunyan
The Island of Doctor Moreau, by H. G. Wells
Gulliver’s Travels, by Jonathan Swift
The Picture of Dorian Gray, by Oscar Wilde
Fahrenheit 451, by Ray Bradbury
Handmaid’s Tale, by Margaret Atwood
Foundation, by Isaac Asimov
Oliver Twist, by Charles Dickens
The Scarlet Letter, by Nathaniel Hawthorne
The Merchant of Venice, by William Shakespeare
Much Ado About Nothing, by William Shakespeare
Twelfth Night, by Wiliam Shakespeare
Moby Dick, by Herman Melville
Uncle Tom’s Cabin, by Harriet Beecher Stowe
Madame Bovary, by Gustave Flaubert
Crime and Punishment, by Fyodor Dostoyevsky
The Return of the Native, by Thomas Hardy
The Portrait of a Lady, by Henry James
Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, by Mark Twain
The Red Badge of Courage, by Stephen Crane
Heart of Darkness, by Joseph Conrad
The House of Mirth, by Edith Wharton
The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald
The Trial, by Franz Kafka
Native Son, by Richard Wright
The Stranger, by Albert Camus
1984, by George Orwell
Invisible Man, by Ralph Ellison
Seize the Day, by Saul Bellow
The Bible
Mahabharata
The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, by Edward Gibbon
Room of One’s Own, by Virginia Woolf
Swann’s Way, by Marcel Proust
The Souls of Black Folk, W. E. B. Du Bois
A Tale of Two Cities, by Charles Dickens
Master and Commander, by Patrick O’Brien
The Divine Comedy, by Dante
The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood, by Howard Pyle
The Jungle, by Upton Sinclair
Far From the Madding Crowd, by Thomas Hardy
Catch-22, by Joseph Heller
The Witches of Eastwick, by John Updike
The Complete Sherlock Holmes, by Arthur Conan Doyle
Paradise Lost, by John Milton
The First Men in the Moon, by H. G. Wells
The Island of Doctor Moreau, by H. G. Wells

Sunday Update: Week 1

Mom and Dad Until recently, I’ve been living with my parents – helping them when they needed it. But now it’s time to move on: I’ve moved in with my fiancé and am slowing transferring my books from their house to his. This week was very productive in working out some details in how my sister and I will keep my parents safe and happy now that they are living alone. It was a good week for getting stuff done. It was also a good week for my step-children-to-be, who have been in Disney World for the week – though my heart goes out to their mom who must be exhausted!

This week I completed:

Completed

I acquired no new books.

I am currently reading:

Currently Reading

I’m about 500 pages into the Storm of Swords tome, and will probably take another palate-cleansing break at about page 750. I just started No One Cares About Crazy People as my general nonfiction and Freeing Your Child From Anxiety as my adulting book. I also just started listening to The Shadow Land for my real-life book club, and am studying Don Quixote in my Well Educated Mind project.

This update is posted in the Sunday Salon and Caffeinated Reviewer’s Sunday Post.

The Well-Educated Mind: reading through the novel

9780393080964_p0_v1_s550x406 I have started a new project: I will be reading through the novels (and histories) as suggested by Susan Wise Bauer in her popular book The Well Educated Mind. (I intend on reading through the other categories, too, but later.) I have completed an outline for questions I’m going to ask myself while reading the first book on the novel list – Don Quixote:

Bauer suggests three levels of study:

Inquiry Level 1: Grammar

This is the first read-through, during which I will take important notes from biographies and blurb, and list the characters and relationships to each-other. She suggests dog-earing and underlining the book. Instead, I will take notes in Evernote, and share them here on Saturdays.

Inquiry Level 2: Logic

After reading through the book, she wants me to come up with my own title and subtitle for the book, describing the major event or point. I should also take note of:

👽What is the most central life-changing event?

👽Am I transported? Do I see, feel, and hear this other world?

👽Can I sympathize with the people who live there? Do I understand their wants and desires and problems? Or am I left unmoved?

👽Is this a fable or a chronicle?

If the novel is a chronicle, how are we shown reality: Physical? Mental?

If the novel is a fable, what was the intent? Is it an allegory? If not, is it speculation?

Is the novel realistic with a few fantastic elements? If yes, it’s not simply a fable. What is the phenomenon being described that can not be described in real terms?

👽What does the central character want? What is standing in his or her way? What strategy is pursued to overcome this block?

👽Who is telling you this story? Is this person reliable?

Is it first person? Second person? Third person limited? Third person objective? Omniscient?

👽Where is the story set?

Is it natural or human constructed? If natural, does nature reflect the emotions and problems of characters? Or is the universe indifferent? If human constructed, do those constructions set a mood?

👽What style does the writer employ?

👽Images and metaphors

Are there any repeated images? If so, is this a metaphor, and if so, what does it represent?

👽 Beginnings and endings

Does the beginning sentence/scene come with meaningful imagery that represents where the story is going?

Does the end have a resolution or a logical exhaustion?

Inquiry Level 3: Rhetoric

👽Do you sympathize with the characters? Which ones, and why?

Did the author choose characteristics to make a statement about the human condition?

👽Does the author’s technique give you a clue as to her argument: her take on the human condition?

👽Is the novel self-reflective?

👽Did the writer’s times affect him?

👽Is there an argument in this book? If so, do you agree?

Welcome to Hibernator’s Library

Path Split

Welcome to Hibernator’s Library! This year I am beginning a new life. I’m getting married, beginning to raise my two new step-children, and being a homemaker for the first time in my life. I have explored many options for a career, and somehow being a homemaker right now feels right to me.

I have been a book blogger on and off for several years, but the reason I’m making this sudden leap to WordPress is that I’d like to try out freelance proof-reading and editing. So I decided to (yet again) start a new blog with a new feel to it. This blog will feature mainly book mini-reviews, but will have some personal notes on a bi-weekly basis. So welcome readers, old and new!

Jacob earns Rachel as his wife

After Jacob steals Esau’s blessing, he flees Esau to journey to the land of his maternal uncle Laban. At a well, Jacob sees and falls in love with Rachel, Laban’s daughter. He asks Laban for Rachel as a wife, offering to work for Laban for seven years in order to earn Rachel. After the seven years are up, he has a wedding, and only discovers after the consummation that he had been tricked into marrying Leah, the older (and less attractive) sister of Rachel. Laban points out that Leah is the older, and should be married first, so Jacob offers to work for another seven years for Rachel. After his marriage to Rachel, Jacob fathers several sons by Leah, a couple by Leah’s servant woman, and a copule by Rachel’s servant woman. Finally Rachel bears Joseph (Jacob’s favorite son) and Ben.

In the meantime, Jacob makes a fortune in livestock by offering to work for Laban for several years, taking only the spotted and striped goats as payment. God was kind to Jacob and gave him many goats (however, Jacob did encourage the goats to give birth to spotted and striped by breeding them among sticks – I’m not sure how that works, but ok).

After a while, Laban’s sons became angry at Jacob for “stealing” their father’s fortune and Jacob decides to flee Laban with his family and fortune. Rachel steals her father’s household gods before the flight. Laban pursues Jacob, and searches for the household gods, but finds nothing because Rachel sits upon them and lies to Laban, saying she is bleeding.

Laban finally allows Jacob to leave, and he travels to his homeland. When he gets near, he fears that his brother Esau is still angry and will kill him. So he splits his group into two encampments, and sends many gifts ahead for Esau to receive before meeting with Jacob. Despite Jacob’s fears, Esau embraces Jacob and welcomes him back home.

Why did Rachel steal the household gods? Did she worship them instead of Jacob’s God? Or was she trying to anger her father? What does this show about how the ancient Hebrews viewed the worship of other gods? Did they accept that there were more gods than one, but that their God alone should be worshiped by themselves?

Why was Esau so willing to welcome Jacob and forgive him? Was this a sign that Esau had changed into a more honorable man? Or was he just pleased by the gifts provided by Jacob? It seems that the first is the more reasonable option since Esau tells Jacob to keep his gifts, for he himself had more than enough.

The story of Jacob and Esau

After God’s test of Abraham in the sacrifice of Isaac, Sarah dies, Isaac marries Rebekah, and Abraham dies. Following these events comes the story of Jacob and Esau. The story almost ignores Isaac’s life as an adult, and skips on to his sons Jacob and Esau.

Jacob and Esau were twins born to Rebekah. Esau was the first twin to emerge, and therefore the rightful heir to Isaac. But Jacob was born holding the heel of Esau, which has become a symbol of the stealing of a birthright. Later, Jacob actually steals Esau’s birthright as well as Esau’s blessing from Isaac.

Jacob was a mamma’s boy. He lived in the tents. What he did there is a mystery that is not explained in the Bible, other than that he was a quiet man. Esau, on the other hand, was a hunter. Isaac preferred Esau, because Isaac liked himself some game.

At one point in the story, Esau returns from hunting famished, to find Jacob cooking a stew. Esau asks for some of the stew (which seems fair, but maybe this is meant to portray that Esau wasn’t successful in his hunting whereas Jacob was successfully providing food for the family). Jacob refuses to give any stew to Esau unless Esau gives up his birthright. Esau is very hungry and readily gives up his birthright.

Then Isaac wants to give Esau his blessing as the firstborn and favorite of the twins. He asks Esau to bring some game and prepare it the way Isaac likes. Rebekah, who favors Jacob, encourages him to take advantage of his father’s blindness and feebleness and to steal the blessing. She tells him to bring her a goat and she would prepare them as Isaac likes. Then she gave Jacob Esau’s clothes (that smelled like Esau) and put fur on Jacob’s hands so that he felt hairy like Esau. Jacob lied more than once to Isaac, who recognized Jacob’s voice but was fooled by the food, the smell, and the fur. He thus blessed Jacob.

When Esau returned from hunting and discovered Jacob’s deception, he threatened to kill Jacob. So, with the encouragement of God, who told Jacob where to flee to, Jacob ran away from Esau.

Jacob was a mamma’s boy and lived in tents. I wonder what the ancient Hebrews thought of men who lived in tents and did not have an occupation. Were the Hebrews approving of mamma’s boys?

What are we supposed to think of Esau selling his birthright? Of course, it seems that Esau didn’t appreciate the gift given to him by God – being the firstborn. He treasured corporal things such as food. But on the other hand, what are we supposed to think of Jacob manipulating Esau into giving up his the birthright? It didn’t seem honest or fair. I’m not a fan of the behavior of either of the brothers. This story is yet another example of the imperfections of people in the Bible.

Another character flaw that comes up in the Bible is that Jacob and Rebekah are so willing to take advantage of Isaac’s feebleness and to steal Esau’s blessing. Jacob isn’t even the one who prepares the goats for Isaac. He lets his mother do the hard work. He outwardly lies to his father. Then he appears cowardly when he runs from Esau instead of facing the consequences of his actions.