Genesis: Translated by Robert Alter

I was assigned this translation for a class on the Book of Genesis. I really enjoyed it because Alter gives concise yet complete footnotes and excellent added info, like charts and a comprehensive forward. 

Why only translate the Book of Genesis? Well, it's a pretty debated text. Aside from the oft-argued tale of creation (of which there are 2 in here, so look closely), Genesis was traditionally seen as written by Moses on Mt. Sinai. However, theologians and some scholars have argued that Genesis was compiled by 4 different authors; this was called the historiocritical approach. They were able to tell this by variations in the writing style, such as language and where emphasis was placed, and added/removed/corrected details from the author. 

All these things in a story add up to what a reader is supposed to take away from a text. The morals in the stories have different political and societal connotations. For instance, some think the Rape of Dinah (Gen 34) was written by a rabbi or a patriarch; it was a warning to women who strayed from home. On the other hand, Rebecca's tale (Gen 24) was likely influenced by a feminist and/or woman writer. This approach assumes historical context comes into play and also explains why some stories have two different versions (like Noah and his ark- check again how many animals he took into it).

It likely was a lot more than what most believe.

Alter writes more historiocritical than traditionalist, but even a steadfast Jew/Christian can appreciate this thorough translation for the added perspectives of religious heroes. Nonbelievers can come away from this book with a better understanding of what it meant to live in this time. 

For those who would do better with an illustrated version of Genesis, I highly recommend this little project- The Bible in Legos. Who says smiting can't be fun?!

Goodreads link

Real Ghosts, Restless Spirits, & Haunted Places by Brad Steiger

Yes, yes, this book is slightly ridiculous. However, I like ghost stories, especially the ones in which people claim they have evidence to support. Steiger's book collected stories from around the world on all kinds of great ghost stories, including poltergeists, shadow beings, mediums, and haunted houses.

I wouldn't wanna wake up to this. 

Some of the more famous cases include the Bell Witch, who haunted a Tennessee family for years, and the Amityville House in New York where all sorts of poltergeist activity supposedly happened.

Not nearly as scary-looking as the movies make them out to be.

I enjoy these books because the amount of "evidence" collected on this stuff ranges from the ridiculous, like photos of what is clearly fog, to the tentatively reliable, like transcripts of conversations with possessed people. I certainly don't believe every ghost story I hear, but I read books like this and watch shows like Ghost Hunters because I can't say they don't exist, so I look for plausible evidence, like everyone probably does, and hope to see something trustworthy soon. As long as I don't see stuff in my own home, I'm ok. Steiger's collection is comprehensive and hefty, with all the variety of ghost stories I could ever want.

Goodreads link

The Word Made Flesh:Literary Tattoos from Bookworms Worldwide by Eva Talmadge & Justin Taylor

This book obviously needs to be seen more than talked about; one can't summarize each tattoo that's shown.  The authors have collected pictures of tattoos and threw them into a book; their website is here. I picked this book up in Columbus because I thought it was a cool concept to divide these tattoos into a "literary" category. "Literary" can be a quote from a piece of prose, book, or song; it can also mean an image related to a book. I submitted an article relating to this book to my university's literature review, featuring a picture of my own literary tattoo, which I got for my best friend. Enjoy!

Goodreads link

Bibliophiles for Life: Exploring Literary Tattoos

For a long time, the majority of the American public believed the only people who would get tattooed were the slum of society. But despite the old-fashioned adversity to the trend, it is important to remember that tattooing is first and foremost art. Famous satirist Oscar Wilde said, “Art is the most intense mode of individualism that the world has ever known,” It’s almost guaranteed you know someone with who has been “inked,” so you know the amount of dedication it can take. Someone subjects themselves to being pierced repeatedly with an inked needle into their dermis, which is beneath their epidermis (Wilson). It is painful, expensive, and permanent. It has also been viewed by the majority of society as detrimental to one’s professional appearance. However, there is a drastic change happening for this art form. Not only are there forty-five million Americans who have tattoos, but the majority of them are between eighteen and forty years old (“Tattoo Statistics”). The figures highlight the fact that tattoos are no longer for the poor degenerates in society who likely could get a disease from the process. Now the list of Americans who have tattoos do not  exclude people who are in higher education programs or have successful careers; moreover, with the improved regulations from the CDC and FDA, tattoos are less likely to cause blood-borne pathogens. I have recently become interested in literary tattoos, which display the connection between a reader and their love of a story.

So,what tattoos are people getting? More often than the stereotypical names of lovers, tattoos of quotes from books and poems are showing up in the population of young people. Exploring this topic, Eva Talmadge and Justin Taylor wrote the book The Word Made Flesh: Literary Tattoos from Bookworms Worldwide. Gone are the days of seeing ink on only bikers and gang members; this book shows some of the most popular and influential literary works being forever marked into people’s skin. The book compiles images from works of Franz Kafka, James Joyce, E.E. Cummings, and other literary greats. Illustrations from Kurt Vonnegut, ravens for Poe’s famous poem, and portraits of writers also decorate the skin of fans. The book's affiliated website, TattooLit.com, also collects submissions from tattoo enthusiasts around the world who also display their love for the written word.“[Tattoos] are mainstream now…so it comes as no surprise that people you might label ‘bookish types’- those librarians among us who know the Dewey decimal number for poetry by heart…would join the not-so noncomformist wave, inking a permanent declaration of love for books and writing into their very skin”(Talmadge & Taylor ix).

Why are they doing this? The answers vary; it can be anything from a memorial to another person, a reminder of an idea or moral, or strictly for the aesthetic appeal. William S., English major here at WSU, feels the personal nature of his chest tattoo makes it more appealing. “Some people are perfectly fine with going to a museum or buying a painting and hanging up on a wall, but I like waking up and seeing a unique work of art in the reflection, one made specifically for me and that represents me.” Snell’s tattoo is a quote taken from the Bible, and reflects his morality. Though Snell is longer a Christian, his tattoo reminds him that all points of view deserve a voice.

(Fig. 1)

However,many have balked at the idea of getting a tattoo because of the negative response in some workplaces. Kendra N. is a client services specialist at County Corps, a government agency that helps people with foreclosures, and she has two tattoos: one on her shoulder and one on her wrist. “When I got a tattoo that was visible with some of my work wardrobe, I was surprised at the number of older coworkers who complimented me and didn't have any issues with it.” For a government worker this was surprising to me because they tend to have the strictest employment regulations.

To further contradict my assumption, a social worker I interviewed, Josh C.,says, “I see them being more acceptable in the workplace than even five years ago but in the ultra professional world (doctors, lawyers, etc.) I still do not see them at all.” Also keeping the idea of academia in mind, I inquired whether his wife Megan, a sociology professor at Sinclair Community College, was ever scolded for her own tattoos. He said that she’s never gotten any negative comments, either from her students or her coworkers. From these interviews and my own personal experience, I know some professors (likely more than I know) have tattoos; it’s simply a matter of keeping them hidden in a professional setting so no one is offended or doubts the professionalism of the workplace.To hide a tattoo, some use jewelry (Kendra said she uses a bracelet to hide her wrist), makeup, or clothing. As Josh says, “I am certain that they exist there but they are not yet peeking from under a hem line just yet.”

There is no limit to the kinds of literary symbols inscribed on people’s “natural canvas.” Poems, novellas, lyrics of songs, and famous quotes are the most typical, but the languages they may be found in are as varied as the number of literary genres which exist. There are also excerpts from kids’ books and poetry, like Shel Silverstein’s Where the Sidewalk Endsand Alice in Wonderland.  Kendra N. got her first tattoo of a fox to immortalize the famous French novel The Little Prince. She writes, “There is something deeply innocent and emotive about children's stories. The Little Prince himself is the embodiment of a child's mind- it loves, it wonders, it learns. And it does every single aspect wholeheartedly.It so hard to find that in anything catered to an adult audience.” Being reminded of innocence in the hectic world of computers and violence that we see on the news everyday can definitely give one some peace of mind. Indeed, according to Gabe Habash of the Publishers Weekly website, of the top five books which have inspired tattoos, three are children’s literature:The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak, and Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll. I, myself, got a Winnie the Pooh quote on my arm to remind myself of friendship and the importance of maintaining it in my life: “’We’ll be Friends Forever, won’t we, Pooh?’ asked Piglet. ‘Even longer,’ Pooh answered.” Maintaining the light spirit and unconditional happiness and love which readers can feel in a kid’s book is an important part of life, and for some getting tattoos of that genre remind others and myself of that.

Bible quotes, psalms, and other sacred writings give inspiration to those who look to religion for guidance, and are reminded of such when they look in the mirror at their tattooed bodies. William said, “Mine is Proverbs 21:2 ‘All a man’s ways seem right unto him but the Lord weighs the heart’…. It reminds me that I am flawed and that there are external factors outside of myself regulating what truth is, and I don’t get to decide what those things are.” In addition to my Winnie the Pooh quote, I also have the Hebrew symbol for life, “chai” and Allah in Arabic on my back because I find Judaism and Islam so inspiring. As religion is one of the most powerful driving forces for humans on the planet, finding references to it in tattooing is not surprising.

Furthermore,symbols and book illustrations from within pages or the covers of books decorate arms, legs, backs, and feet of those who saw those images over and over as they repeatedly opened up their favorite story. Alphabets and punctuation marks in all different fonts and on all different body parts are seen. Graphic novels are also earning spots on people’s arms, and I don’t just mean the Superman logo. John, an American Sign Language Major at Sinclair Community College, says his Egyptian cartouche was inspired by Johnny: The Homicidal Maniac,a dark comedy by Jhonen Vasquez. John says he loved the illustrations as well as the story, and thus got his own nickname, Johnny, in Egyptian hieroglyphs to celebrate his kinship with the novel.

This lover of semicolons writes about her tattoo, “For Virginia Woolf, who never met one she didn’t like; and for David Foster Wallace, who used them best.” (Fig.2, TattooLit.com)

Finally, there are those who feel they owe homage to their favorite authors get names, portraits, or perhaps dates from the lives of the author tattooed. Even more generally, tattoo fans who just want to exhibit their love of reading may have a book drawn on them. But for all of these tattoos, it’s important to understand that, like the inspiration itself, every tattoo “tells a story, and represents somebody's attempt to forge what Melville called ‘an image of the ungraspable phantom of life’,” according to Eva Talmadge on The Huffington Post.

So do these literary tattoos properly honor the written form of art? From the perspective of those who have been tattooed, it seems so. Those who have committed themselves to the permanence of the particular quote or image instigated by a book, poem, or author describe being inspired, encouraged, reminded of some important idea, or illed with happiness due to their tattoo. “…The tattoos themselves make their unchangeable declarations of selfhood, meaning, and literary association in a never-changing world” (Talmadge and Taylor xi). The art form has no longer become a taboo fad for only the discriminated “extremists” in society; it is now for the thinkers, believers, and intelligent lovers of self-expression and, evidently, those who have dedicated themselves to love the written word for life.

WorksCited

Habash, Gabe. "The 5 Books That Inspire the Most Tattoos." PWxyz-The News Blog of Publishers Weekly. PWxyz, 24 Jan.2012. Web. 24 Jan. 2013.

"My Semicolon." The Word Made Flesh. TheWord Made Flesh, Sept. 2012. Web. 24 Jan. 2013.

N., Kendra. "Literary Tattoo Interview- TheLittle Prince." E-mail interview. 17 Jan. 2013.

"OscarWilde Quotes." Oscar Wilde Fan Club. Oscar Wilde Fan Club, 2012.Web. 24 Jan. 2013.

S., William Quayd. "Literary Tattoo Interview-The Bible." E-mail interview. 16 Jan. 2013.

Talmadge, Eva. "15 Amazing Literary Tattoos fromDiehard Bookworms (PHOTOS)." The Huffington Post. TheHuffingtonPost.com, 12 Oct. 2010. Web. 24 Jan. 2013.

Talmadge, Eva, and Justin Taylor. The Word Made Flesh:Literary Tattoos from Bookworms Worldwide. New York, NY: HarperPerennial/HarperCollins Pub., 2010. Print.

Wilson, Tracy V. "How Tattoos Work." DiscoveryHealth. Discovery Communications, LLC, 2013. Web. 24 Jan. 2013.

Founding Faith by Steven Waldman

I also recommend reading this too.

This is an extremely sensitive subject, so I'll be respectful while talking about it. The point of Waldman's book is to analyze and research the religious views of the Founding Fathers and the results of those views in the creation of the Constitution. The author is also sure to include the historical context of religious rights and compare it to the modern debates.

Understanding the then-new nation's concerns about religious freedom during the foundation of the Constitution makes reasons for certain issues clearer; for example, Baptists were a leading group for high separation of church and state in the beginning because they feared persecution from a religiously lead government. Waldman's book also clarifies why an official religion was not chosen. Personally, I appreciate that the Founding Fathers chose to learn from the mistakes of Europe's past and skip all the Inquisition and theocracy nonsense.

Quakers were also fighting hard to keep Congress from choosing an official religion. 

I had to read this book for Religion and Politics class, but I happily kept it because it was easy to read, respectful of the difference of opinions, and well-researched and unbiased (though many could very well argue differently according to their own religious views and political opinions). I'm not recommending this book because I advocate Waldman's conclusion of maintaining a high wall of separation between church and state; in an ideal world, I would rather see a low wall and let everyone do their thing. For those to look to follow in the Founding Fathers' footsteps in politics, I would prescribe this book so that a comprehensive insight into the past could be had.

Goodreads link

Interview with a Vampire & Queen of the Damned by Anne Rice

These are the classic books that ring with the kind of American romanticism reminiscent of Edgar Allen Poe. If you've only ever read Twilight, you need to pick up these two book and re-educate yourself about vampires. They're not ashamed of their bloodlust, usually eat girls instead of mooning after them, and certainly aren't sparkly.

Interview with a Vampire deals with the philosophy behind the supernatural beings, but only during Louis's reflections with the journalist. When he's telling his life's story, he's descriptive and brutally honest. I appreciated that because the "memoir" could have easily been rambling and over-analyzed. I also liked that Rice wasn't afraid to make a kid a member of the undead.

The movie lives up to the book as far as maintaining plot and casting appropriately (yes, I even like Tom Cruise as Lestat). However, I don't think the film comes close to dealing with their level of brutality as described in the book.

I cannot say enough how good of a book Queen of the Damned is; it truly was Rice's best. The book is written by Lestat in response to Interview with a Vampire and explains how he came to be as evil as he was. One event that twisted him was a brush with the mother of all vampires, an ancient Egyptian queen who is coming to avenge her attackers in modern New York City.

The movie was hokey at best, but I still own it because Stuart Townsend is an awesome vampire. The love story wasn't necessary, but Aaliyah was the perfect vampire queen.

Any other Lestat novels are terrible; the only other one I kind of liked in her vampire series was Merrick, but it wasn't good enough for me to pick up the other vampire novels in the series. I intend to read The Mummy and The Witching Hour, but the vampire novels just can't get better than the first two.

Goodreads links to Book 1 and Book 2

The Circle of Magic Series by Tamora Pierce

I can't begin to tell you how much I love these books. When I get sick, I curl up with these for comfort. They're easily my favorite young adult series (can we count Harry Potter? I don't know. Maybe I have 2 favorites).

The first 4 books introduces the characters, 4 kids who are accepted into Winding Circle, a temple which educates and houses mages in Emelan, a medieval-esque realm. Sandry is a young noble whose parents died in the plague; she has weaving magic. Tris is a weather witch whose family decided they didn't want her. Daja is a Trader, from a group of sea merchants, until her family died in a shipwreck and only her metal magic saves her. Finally, Briar is an orphaned child thief who is lucky enough to show his plant magic before he was sent to prison for life. These kids' disastrous lives are suddenly intertwined when they become roommates at Discipline Cottage maintained by Dedicates Lark and Rosethorn, sorta like the special kids' room in a boarding school. The kids have to endure 4 years of special disasters, including plague, war, and piracy.

In the second quartet the kids grow up and get their own disciples, each with unique talents that the new mentors have to creatively finagle, in similarly disastrous events, like mass arson and terrorist attacks from drug-addcted fanatics Finally, there's two stand-alone books, The Will of the Empress and Melting Stones, in which the full adult mages have to visit the royal palace, and a story of Briar's student and Dedicate Rosethorn.

I really judge books by three criteria: interesting characters, well-thought out environment/universe, and  a well-paced plot. You have to fall in love with (or profoundly hate, in some villians' cases) the main characters, and the kids in the Circle of  Magic are not only lovable but also relatable. Despite having these awesome powers, they each have their issues which humanize them. Their interactions with their teachers, who are also awesome, make me invested in their stories. The kids also have personality flaws which make them more adorable than frustrating; Tris can really be a bitch.

Hopefully when she's old enough she can be cool and free like Storm, here.

The universe Pierce sets up has enough magic to rival Hogwarts. It also has that comfortable homey feel. The magic in Emelan is based on New Age pagan religion, sort of. Pierce heavily researched Cunningham's work, and her details adds believability.

I think she mostly used this.

Finally, each book in the series has situations, political, religious, and social, which have enough adventure and conflict to keep a reader's attention. Pierce's books have the added bonus of issues which relate to modern society, including drug abuse, underprivileged children, and tragedy handling- when there's a plague outbreak, the child mages have to learn to work together with rivals to find a cure before one of their own dies. The Circle Opens adds responsibilities to those kids and young readers can appreciate growing up from Daja's, Sandry's, Tris's, and Briar's perspectives.

I kind of wanna get the audio books so I can hear Pierce read the books; I'm almost at the point where I need to rebuy the books because their spines are coming apart. I don't think I'm going to recommend another young adult series as hard as I'm recommending this one.

Goodreads link to the series

*So, I just onticed on Goodreads that another book came out, and there's one more due next year! Even though the newest got low ratings, I'm excited to go get it!!!

The Hannibal Lecter series by Thomas Harris

   

When I say "Hannibal series" I mean Hannibal Rising, Red Dragon, Silence of the Lambs, and Hannibal. Each deal with the the famous literary serial killer Hannibal "the Cannibal" Lecter, who was a respected psychologist and doctor before he was discovered to be killing and eating people. Hannibal Rising describes his childhood and how he developed into a killer; Red Dragon describes after he was captured and focuses on a case he consults the FBI on; Silence of the Lambs is where Lecter meets young FBI Clarice Starling, who is trying to capture another serial killer, Buffalo Bill; finally, Hannibal revolves around Clarice and Lecter, and how they interact post-Buffalo Bill. Undoubtedly Hannibal is my favorite because Clarice is out of her awkward newbie stage and it is the first Lecter novel which is all about him as an adult. Readers learn more about his manipulation methods and perspective.

Hannibal's an anti-hero, meaning that readers shouldn't sympathize with him, but he's so charming and intelligent that a part of us wants him to be free; it also helps that he mainly eats rude douchebags who, some think, deserve to die. One example is Mason Verger, who was a client of Hannibal's because he was caught molesting children. Serial killers are fascinating to me to begin with, and Harris does a good job of not making it just about Hannibal's doings, but also some cases; it propels the plot at a good rate, and keeps readers preoccupied while Hannibal does things behind the scenes that we are distracted from.

Just a snack...

I don't completely follow Dr. Lecter's fascination with Clarice Starling because she isn't someone that pairs well with sophisticated Hannibal- I don't believe he likes her more than he likes toying with a supposedly incorruptible FBI agent.

Starling would totally think these would be acceptable to wear.

A warning: These are some of the more crude novels I've ever read. Harris doesn't shy away from making his evil characters as evil as possible, and nothing is off limits, including children, graphic gore scenes, sex references from anywhere on the spectrum, so be careful. Past that, Harris certainly does his research on criminology, gives deeply puzzling characters, and flips your sense of morality on its head.

A word on the movies: Anthony Hopkins as Hannibal Lecter was the best casting decision ever made. Mads Mikkelsen does well in the TV series, but he can't fill Hopkins' shoes quite the same way. I enjoyed Julianne Moore (Hannibal) as Clarice Starling more than Jodie Foster (Silence of the Lambs) because Foster just comes across as dumb and cheap, though she has an excellent panicked voice. Ralph Fiennes was a scary serial killer in Red Dragon, and Edward Norton was just plain adorable. In conclusion, I would recommend you see all the movies and the TV episodes, and read all the books; Harris definitely deserves the royalties.

READ THEM.

Goodreads link to Thomas Harris

The Red Tent by Anita Diamant

This was a very magical book- those who like Alice Hoffman will love Diamant's rendition of Old Testament women. Those unfamiliar with the story of Jacob definitely want to at least Sparknotes that part of Genesis before picking this up. The Red Tent is a feminine power book with a unique spin on the story of Jacob and his wives, mainly Rachel and Leah; it also addresses the religion of the wives pre-Jacob and life within their world.

The women might have looked like this

The development of their father Laban and their mother added the background one wishes for when reading about these Jewish matriarchs. Those who can't read gory stuff or may visualize what's going on in books should be careful when reading this book. It's a girls' book, and we deal with periods and childbirth and midwifery and such. It also gives creative interpretation of why Rachel backed out of marrying Jacob at the last minute at their first wedding; those who imagined it was because the elder Leah should have gone first would not be wrong, but Diamant shows it may have been more than that.

This chart may help you with all the names.

Finally, and in my opinion the best part, the story develops the Rape of Dinah. In Genesis Chapter 34, Jacob's daughter Dinah goes to the nearby town of Shechem and is seduced by the prince. He then goes to Jacob and promises to marry her and convert he and his people to Judaism. However, Dinah's brothers took her seduction as an insult (“Should our sister be treated like a whore?”) and they slay the town of Shechem while the men lay in pain from circumcision.



It is interesting that readers never hear the story from Dinah's POV; indeed, we are never given her opinion of the event, and her mother and aunts are likewise silent. Why? Who wrote this story and what was the purpose of it? Diamant's novel seeks to portray some possible answers to these questions.

Medieval interpretation by Giuliano Bugiardini

I read this book before I took a classes on women of the Old Testament and the Book of Genesis, so I had problems separating the fictitious book from the biblical literature. However, I feel this shows the skill in Diamant's leadership; she picked details from scripture and commentary to build these images of women who began multiple religions, and made them more lifelike to modern readers.

Goodreads link

A Great and Terrible Beauty by Libba Bray

This is another Young Adult lit book where the heroine, essentially orphaned, finds out she has magical powers and hidden enemies. However, it's not just another YAL book of this overly-used plot.

Gemma Doyle, born in England but raised in India by her parents, witnesses her mother's murder when she's 16. She's shipped back to England to meet her depressed and now opiate-addicted father and sycophantic brother. However, she doesn't even stay with them for a night; a waiting carriage takes her to Spence Girls' Academy where, in true Victorian fashion, girls are taught proper etiquette, dress, household management, and entertaining skills. Along with the usual fitting-in issues young girls have, Gemma now has to reconcile her mother's death and these strange visions that keep ruing her day.

Ugh, imagine doing this day in and day out.

Aside from my appreciation of the detailed historical research Bray has done on Victorian England, I like that she also shows restraint on the telling of the story. This is book one of a trilogy, and Gemma Doyle is an international girl of the Empire; the author could have easily made the series about conspiracies with the government or military. Because of her focus, she's able to deal with more individual issues. Homosexuality, drug addiction, abuse, racism, class issues, immigrant sensitivity, and other adolescent worldly copings are handled appropriately by Bray. Her mother's death and suicides within the girls' school also give ways to handle loss in a teen reader's life. Then, add magic planes of existence and nightmares that aren't so much personal but supernatural!

Unfortunately, it's not this kind of pretty magic.

However, many wouldn't like these books for these reasons. Should a YAL book exemplify behavior on these controversial issues? It that what separates YAL from adult fiction? I'd love to hear your reactions!

Goodreads link