Wednesday Reading Meme

[osprey_archer]

What I’ve Just Finished Reading

Carl Safina’s Beyond Words: What Animals Think and Feel, which is so good, you guys, I am resisting the urge to walk around thrusting it into people’s hands crying “Read it! Read it!”

I mean really, just look at this quote: “The three peaks in brain size on planet Earth belong to whales, elephants, and primates. Life has not selected one smartest line with humans as the be-all (though we may yet be the end-all).” THE BURN IS VISIBLE FROM SPACE.

I also really liked this one:

We’re obsessed with filling in the blank for a Mad Libs line that goes: “_____ makes us human. Why? Scratch and sniff the "what makes us human” obsession and you get a strong whiff of something that could fit into that blank: our insecurity. What we’re really saying is “Please tell us a story that distances us from all other life.” Why? Because we desperately need to believe we are not just unique - as all species are - but that we are so very special, that we are resplendent, transcendent, translucent, divinely inspired, weightlessly imbued with eternal souls. Anything less induces dread and existential panic.

What I’m Reading Now

littlerhymes and I have begun The Second Adventures of Nora (also known as Mates at Billabong). Norah is to be SENT AWAY TO SCHOOL, which filled me with excitement because there is nothing I want to see more than Norah playing cricket and interacting with other girls, but alas I think that if the books cover this period of her life at all, it will be in the next book, because this one is going to be all about the visit of Norah’s cousin Cecil, the lavender-wearing dandy.

I predict that by the end of the book Cecil will do something heroic, probably while wearing mud-spattered overalls (do Australian ranchers wear overalls? Something manly and completely un-dandyish, anyway), cured of his effete ways by the magic of Billabong.

What I Plan to Read Next

In the process of sorting out my book collection, I have discovered that I have a huge pile of unread books, so probably some of those.

Comments

[bunn.livejournal.com]

I like that Safina book already! 'so very special' indeed. I will probably buy it on your rec. I've already looked at it thoughtfully from your previous mention.

[osprey-archer.livejournal.com]

Hooray! I hope you enjoy it if you do read it.

[tamsin]

am resisting the urge to walk around thrusting it into people’s hands crying “Read it! Read it!”

The german translation comes out in march which means I can request it at my library. I'll read it then because you've made me curious.

[osprey-archer.livejournal.com]

Ooooh, good! I hope you enjoy it!

[ladyherenya]

I loved the Billabong books, and I'm excited that you're reading them. None of my friends did, or seemed to have heard of them.

Having grown up reading What Katy Did at School, I wanted to read about what Norah did at school, but I seem to remember that the series wasn't so obliging. That said, it's ages since I've read those books and I don't remember some of them at all.

My gut feeling is that overalls aren't pre-WWI Australian farming attire. But I'm just going off what I've seen in paintings and book covers and so on.

[osprey-archer.livejournal.com]

It does seem quite possible that the books will skip over Norah's school years and just focus on good times at Billabong itself. Although it looks like eventually it does branch out beyond that to send Jim and Wally to Europe to fight in World War I, so who knows?