The Stopping Place: A Journey Through Gypsy Britain

 The Stopping Place: A Journey Through Gypsy Britain by Damian Le Bas
2018
Weight: 1.02 lbs
Method of Disposal: Giving Away

I bought this book on my last trip to England, along with too many others.  I am just trying to collect all the information I can about all the things I do not know and, of course, read anything that brings me closer to Harriet.  Not that her upbringing has much to do with Gypsy Britain.  It has very little, though people identifying themselves as Romani did stay on her grandparent's land periodically, there were horse sales, and sometimes caravans of people passing through in the North.

I have occasionally heard about gypsies.  In Russia, in England, in Ireland, in Victor Hugo.  It is not uncommon to hear a sneer along with the word.  When pressed, people will tell me about theft and people who leave trash in their wake, but these same people seem to know very little about where the people they label "gypsies" come from, what motivates them, what they find important, how they identify.  Now, clearly not all gypsies are the same or come from the same bloodlines or even countries, so why all the generalizations.  Like all other groups of people, there is so much more than the stereotypes  you were raised with.  Look around you, take a peek into history.  All I know for sure is that, if anyone claims to be able to sum up a group of people in a few sentences, you should not trust them.

I have so many questions.  This book is just a scratch on the surface, but it is a start. More to come!  I will leave this book in a lending library because you never know who might pick it up without a care or a thought and then learn something new.

Frankissstein

Frankissstein by Jeanette Winterson 2019
Use This Book: The Only Book You'll Ever Need! by Melissa Hecksher 2006
Adult Doodle Book
Very Hungry Caterpillar Coloring Book by Eric Carl 2003
Weight: 3.5 lbs
Method of Disposal: Sterilizing/Sending to a friend

I have a compulsive need to read everything that Jeanette Winterson publishes and have ever since I was 16 years old, working at Waldenbooks, and my coworker/dear friend introduced me to Written on the Body.  When I saw it was called Frankissstein in bright pink lettering with a triple x on the cover I did get concerned about if I would enjoy it, but even that title could not put me off reading it.

In true Winterson form, she was fluid about time and gender.  Her characters were extreme representations and the writing would sometimes get extra lyrical.  I ended up enjoying this book much more than I thought I would, and it made me want to revisit the original Frankenstein and read up on Mary Shelly and her crew.  I felt that if I could remember more it might mean more, but I suppose it is possible that it might also take away.  I appreciated frankenstein's many reincarnations.

I was surprised by some reviewers outrage at Winterson for the book being transphobic.  I am not transgendered, unfortunately, and cannot say that this book should not or could not be offensive to someone else.  I am just reading more and grappling with it.  I am about to do that here so please feel free to stop reading if you need to.

The number one reason I saw for it was that being transgendered was represented as a choice the trans character made.  One person was emphatic that it was no more a choice than being a lesbian woman is a choice.  I have always wondered about the choice argument though.  Why should I not choose to be a lesbian?  Why would I not choose to do so?  Isn't it a heightened form of freedom if I could live in a society that allowed me to CHOOSE my sexuality?  Now, that being said, I do not feel like I ever did choose it.  As young as I can remember (and my mother too, for that point), I have been fascinated with women and have never felt drawn to a boy or a man.  I do think many people are "born that way," and I am one of them.  Other women I have dated, though, have fallen on a spectrum of sexuality, and the woman I have loved for the last 7 years only recounts being attracted to boys/men, but she was attracted to me and fell in love with me.  If there is more than one fish in the sea and if "the one" is not just one person then did she not sort of make a choice?  And is that not ok?  Many people are born trans and maybe some "would not choose it."  If given the choice nowadays, where I live, I would absolutely choose to be queer and not heterosexual.

Given that Winterson seems drawn to the middle, the grey, the ever-changing area no matter what her subject area is, makes me feel this was not an offensive representation of someone choosing their gender.  The trans character also describes feeling both masculine and feminine all their life and making different choices at different times given both those gender identities where embodied within them in different capacities.  Winterson writes, "I'm a woman. And I'm a man.  That's how it is for me.  I am in a body that I prefer.  But the past, my past, is not subject to surgery.  I didn't do it to distance myself from myself.  I did it to get nearer to myself."  Now, other characters do react in a transphobic way to them.  That happens and is representative of the transphobia we see in life.

I also read that the transgender character was overly sexualized, but the transgender character did not come across to me that way.  The most hyper-sexualized and potentially offensive character was Ron, the heterosexual male.  There was a lot of graphic description about sex bots, but sex bots are real and often advertised much like they were in the book.  It may be because I am hyper-sexualized myself, but I just did not see that.  There were some seriously grotesque and unappealing descriptions, but they were not geared towards being transgendered.

The sexual assault came out of nowhere, and I was not sure it really added to the book except that it is something that happens and the character it happens to fights there way out with a lot of luck, strength, and fight or flight mode kicking in.  If we are supposed to be making a comparison between humans, monsters, robots, time travellers. emotionally wounded and patched up people then the assault does show that the character is not a monster, nor a robot.  In my life, sexual assault has felt jarring and contrary to my experience, and I am jarred by depictions of it regularly.  I am okay with that.  I do not want it to ever feel normal or ordinary.

What did pull me really far out of the book was one word that I believe was maybe used twice to describe the character, Claire.  She was a "black" woman.  The only character given a racial identity, and I could not find the reason.  I do not think we have to ignore race, but it is problematic to only identify one person and no one else.  Does that mean I just assume everyone else is....white? Why?

The things that really drew me in were the fluidity of time and humanity repeating and existing in a multitude of forms and environments.  The past foreshadowing the present and the future.  The present fight to know the future.  Broken people being a patchwork piece--regular Frakenstein's monsters.  The obsession with mortality taking away life.  What is it that scares us about Artificial Intelligence and what should scare us?  What does it say about who we are when we say what we really, honestly want about our robots, our relationships with others, our monsters?

I guess there is a lot to think about and unpack here, and I do enjoy thinking and unpacking.

Rocks and Rain, Reason and Romance

Rocks and Rain, Reason and Romance By David Howe
2019
Weight: 8 oz
Method of disposal: Lending Library

I purchased this book the last time Harriet and I went to England.  Not only do I find the place where Harriet grew up in beautiful,  but there is also a sort of magic in thinking about us both growing up on either side of the ocean, living such different lives. Learning about the Lakes and Northern England just feels like one more way to help me understand my wife and, if that’s not true, then maybe it will give me a snippet of information to impress her mom with on some random day! So, win win, really.

The author tries to pack a lot in a small book, but I appreciate it. He seems to ultimately be primarily interested in the literature from and about the Lake District, but he also discusses science, geology, conservation, etc. Here are some things I have learned:

-It has some of the highest rainfall of all the UK.

-A mere is, indeed, a lake.

-There are assorted, ancient, stone circles dotted throughout England, including Castlerigg Stone Circle.

-There are 16 recognized lakes in the Lake District and some decent sized tarns (pools).

Ok, I realize that I’m impressing no one right about now. Let me try again.

-The lakes get as deep as 250 feet (Wastwater).

-I have a need to go see Blea Water in the High Street Fells.

-More than I know how to relay here on the authors; Wordsworth, Radcliffe, Ruskin, Coleridge, Potter, Ransome, and Martineau.

-It was only 7,500 years ago that Britons really began to inhabit the coast and lower valleys of the Lake District. 

-The Lake District was particularly important in the Stone Age and beyond for the production of axes due to tbd unique stone found there.  From greenstone to bronze to Iron.

-“many...major invasions of Britain have left very little genetic trace.  We see little genetic evidence of the Roman conquest, nor of the Danish Viking control of large parts of England from the 9th Century...Nor of the Norman Conquest.  These invasions have had a major impact on our history and culture, but not on our gene pool. The inference is clear. In each case there must have been control by a ruling elite, backed by superior military power, but not large-scale settlement...” Professor Peter Donnelly 

-Water flows from the Lakes all the way to Manchester via gravity (no pumps!). It takes a day and a half for water to get from Thirlmere go Manchester around 80 miles away.

-There are two villages now underwater. One of them being Mardale, which is currently emerging. https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2766498/Lake-District-s-Atlantis-revealed-A-village-drowned-1930s-reappears-driest-September-half-century.html

Okay, I will stop boring you to death but, the point is, there is a lot of history, art, philosophy, geography I need to catch up on and this was a great starter. Now, it is much to late, and Harriet has been asleep for hours. I guess that it is time for me to go lay beside her and just enjoy the closeness until tomorrow when I bore her, like I have you, with details of her homeland.

Far From the Madding Crowd

Far From the Madding Crowd by Thomas Hardy
Weight: 16 oz
Method of Disposal: Lending Library

My honey's mother bought me this book on her last visit.  I had read and loved Tess of the D'Urbervilles in college, but I have had lingering concern about being in a classroom of women who did not think Tess was raped.  I guess that later in my college career, I would be judged by my same peers in the same way.  I did not know that at the time.

We had been discussing what books I enjoyed reading, and she was asking me about British authors.  She agreed that Tess was incredibly sad, which is why she did not like it.  A few days later, before she left, she handed my Far From the Madding Crowd because I had not read it before.  She said it was not nearly as sad, and I guess it wasn't maybe.

As I read Thomas Hardy, I find myself believing that Mr. Hardy was a sympathizer of women, and that he saw the unfairness of their situation.  Sometimes, I wonder if he really, truly saw it or if he just wrote it how it was and still, all these years, later the truth shines through and now it is at a time where we can better see it.

Bathsheba was at times a frustrating character and made some dumb decisions that stood in stark contrast of her better ones, but she always just seemed young and not vicious.  I guess we are to be happy that Gabriel and Bathsheba ended up together, but I almost am not sure it was the true ending to this book.  I thought it was misery watching this young woman get pressured and misguided by two persistent men in her life.  I am surprised that by the time she had matured enough to be with a man she still liked a man at all.  And why did she seem like such a good business woman sometimes--she had to be to be a woman in that position--and the worst business woman ever--reacting to everything like a teenage girl? 

Any who, I love my honey's mom, and I love that she thinks of me and gives me such thoughtful gifts.  She is truly an artist.  She will just tell you that she is teaching me about the greatness of the Brits and maybe she is.

Silent Night

Silent Night: The Story of the World War I Christmas Truce by Stanley Weintraub
2002
Weight: 6.4 oz
Method of Disposal: Lending Library

This was an interesting and unbelievable story from World War I that I've heard about a handful of times, but I never really understood.  This book definitely cleared up any questions I had, but I did feel like there came a point where I wondered when the book would end and how it was possible the author had so much to say about one single day.  It might have been a better magazine article--at least for me as a reader--though I appreciated all the research and hard work the author put into it.  I loved the pictures, cartoons, and first-hand accounts.

North and South

North and South by Elizabeth Gaskell
1996
Weight: 15.2 oz
Method of Disposal: Donating to AKS

This was a gift from Harriet's mother on a recent trip to the states and so I, of course, started reading it the day she left for England.  True to what I have read by other classic British women authors there was a love story between two people who absolutely misunderstood each other, talked past each other, made mistake after mistake, and the tension just grew and grew until you were about to throw the book across the room if they didn't just admit that they loved each other!  It was much more than that though.  There was an examination of class, business, labor struggle, management, strong women, human weakness, compassion, and friendship.  I found myself deeply invested and having empathy to all the characters, even the ones I initially had disdain for.  Also interesting to think about the North and South divide then and now.  I hope someone else enjoys this book as much as I did!  Thank you, Sarah!

More Shakespeare

Hamlet Edited by Barbara A Mowat and Paul Werstine 1992
Othello and The Tragedy of Mariam (Tragedy by Elizabeth Cary) Edited by Clare Carroll 2003
Weight: 1 lb 12 oz
Method of Disposal: Donating

I wonder, on average, how many books the English Major graduate owns upon receiving their degree.  Do they usually keep them or give them away?  I have given away a lot of Shakespeare on this blog.  I will say, though, that I prefer to read the editions I was assigned in school.  They are not clunky and heavy like the complete works.  They often come with helpful and insightful commentary, theory, historical background.  These two editions were well used but are still in great shape and, I know, still being assigned in school.  I am sure they will make their way into loving and/or needful hands.
 

Black White and Jewish

Black White and Jewish: Autobiography of a Shifting Self  by Rebecca Walker

2000

Weight:  1.1 lbs

Method of Disposal: Leaving somewhere or giving away to the first person to ask for it

In 11^th grade I (finally) had a lot of friends.  I had been on the periphery since coming out as a lesbian in 8^th grade, but people had started to move on and grow up.  Or get intrigued.  My close friend, Chris, ultimately lived with me, and we were always playing with fire or drinking too many screwdrivers.  I dated several beautiful and interesting women.  Some of my teachers seemed particularly invested in me, and I was doing okay despite the underage drinking.  

I was also receiving your standard anti-gay death threats, was taunted on a weekly basis in front of my entire sociology class, had my car keyed, and my nose shattered.  

The memories blur together, particularly with Mrs. Galloway, my 11^th grade English teacher.  I remember, and I fabricate.  I was dressed as Marilyn Monroe for a history class, complete with blond wig and beauty mark.  If you know me at all you will know that is a strange get-up for me, but I did love me some Marilyn.  I excitedly told Mrs. Galloway about it.  I ran to her class early so I would have a few minutes of talking time before the other students filtered in.  She was blowing bubbles into a hallway of teenagers.  A video camera was involved.  My camera, not allowed on school property.  Later that day an administrator would try to take it away thinking it was a cd player.  I remember trying to tell Mrs. Galloway about one of the worst days of my then life and not succeeding.  It was difficult to explain that day in sociology class—how they has finally found a way to wound me.  Did they even do anything different from all the other days?  I just remember that once I was away from them I started crying and could not stop for hours.  I had to leave school early.

I remember when she asked us to write about our feelings the day after 9/11.  We would then read them to the class.  I wrote about my brother, my fear of him going to war and then I volunteered to read it aloud.  I got up in front of the class and the further I went the more I choked on air.  I could not breathe.  I would never again be quite comfortable when speaking in public.

Mrs. Galloway introduced me to Kurt Vonnegut and Flannery O’Conner.  She talked about teaching during the race riots and how much she admired and worried about her students.

I hated everything about the oppressive South before I met her.  She taught me that we had some incredible literature and strong women.  I did not have to ignore the negative aspects in order to appreciate the good.  That many of The South’s shining moments arouse out of adversity.

She let us read and write about books for extra credit.  I read as many as possible and then some.  She would lend me her own.  I remember when she gave me Rebecca Walker’s Black White and Jewish and Black Like Me by John Howard Griffin.  She let me keep these, and I have kept, carried, and cherished them.

I read Black White and Jewish last week.  I read every recommendation she offered me but, for some reason, owning this book allowed me to put it off indefinitely.  It’s too bad because after I finished it I could see why she might have given it to me then.  It would be useful for a teenager, particularly one struggling to find her place.

I do not think Walker realized the full potential of her writing in this work.  It seemed like she had a lot of experiences that she knew were linked together, but that she could not work out in a rhythmic way.  As a teenager I would have loved the style, but as an adult it seemed to stretch out and periodically falter.  Sometimes she seemed to backpeddle, or she included some unnecessary details that took you out of the moment.  Maybe it was how the experiences were ordered.

This is not to say that I was ever bored.  I never was.  I was invested in every word.  I admire her courage and honesty.  I was caught off guard by how much she opened up.  This is a good book.

Unlike many wise readers, I was stunned by the inactions of her mother Alice Walker.  I naively did expect so much more out of her.

Rebecca stands on her own.  She had a strong and important voice.  I feel privileged to have been allowed this insight into her life and now it is time to pass it on to someone else.

Illustrated Shakespeare

The Globe Illustrated: The Complete Works (Annotated) by Shakespeare
2001
Weight: 7.7 pounds
Method of Disposal: Giving to Vallan when she comes to watch my dogs for a few days


*I am sad to report that I have misplaced my camera and so could not post an original picture today. This is what the book looks like, but this image is from www.alibris.com.*

I have owned The Globe since I worked at Waldenbooks. It was too good to resist, a leather-bound, illustrated, massive book of Shakespeare. I had to have it. The only problem, of course, being that it is quite intimidating at 7.7 lbs and 2,364 pages. It looks like a large dictionary. Not to mention it is Shakespeare.

It is a wonderful idea, I am sure, but I will take my Shakespeare in one play (two plays if you want to push it) form from now on. It seems a little less overwhelming, and I enjoy it more. I have not read any since school, and I am not sure if I will return to it in the future. Of course, it is wonderful to read, but it is not really where I am at right now. It has not been one of my favorite things to read since High School and as I get older I just feel more and more distant for no good reason.

Luckily, there is still someone out there who cares about classic literature. I am giving this huge, honkin’ collection of rhymes, lyrics, and puns to Ms. Vallan as a thank you for watching the pups while I am away. She wanted it once, and I hope she still does.