2010

Books — 4 Comments
18
Sep 10

The Chronicles of Amber, by Roger Zelazny

From time to time, I go back and read some of the most memorable and influential books I read while growing up — this set of 5 books: Nine Princes in Amber, The Guns of Avalon, Sign of the Unicorn, The Hand of Oberon, and The Courts of Chaos — were hugely important to me. They told about an interesting, edgier type of universe than The Lord of the Rings, and I was pretty captivated by them.

I’d been wanting to read them again, but they’re not available in Kindle editions, so I’d been sort of dragging my feet. But I happened to be near a used bookstore the other day and found a volume with all 5 books in it — and devoured it over the course of about 10 days.

Really fun to read, really fun to remember. And there were a couple of twists that I remembered being totally shocked by when I read them as a teenager — they obviously weren’t as surprising to me this time around, but I really enjoyed remembering the feeling.

Anyway, not all books hold up 25 years later, but for me, these did for sure.

Books — Comments Off
18
Sep 10

The Education of a British-Protected Child, by Chinua Achebe

Things Fall Apart is probably the most important book I read when I was in school at Stanford — I’d really never been exposed to literature from outside Europe & America, and it was a bit of a revelation to me. I read it again a few years ago and it made just as big an impression.

This new, short, collection of essays by Achebe is interesting, but it was a struggle for me to get through. There’s a lot in it about being an African, about writing in English, about the effects of colonialism. He’s clearly writing about things he knows uniquely, and I liked it from that perspective, but not that enjoyable a read overall.

Family / Personal stuff — 2 Comments
22
Aug 10

Two Days in August

As I’ve been writing lately, my grandmother Gigi died a couple of weeks ago – I’m on a plane home now from her memorial service, which we held this weekend on St Simons Island, GA – she and the rest of Mom’s family moved there in 1962 or 63, and she lived in the house that they built ever since.

It was a nice service, and nice weekend with my family – a group that I love and admire so much. Everyone who spoke about Gigi talked about her sense of humor, and her sharp tongue. And when the church pastor, during the homily for your funeral, mentions how sharp your sense of humor is, well, that’s something distinctive. (He quoted Jack as saying, “She could bury you with a single word.”) Makes me smile to think of that – and I guess I know that I myself come by that particular character trait honestly.

And of course, books and Gigi reading them to kids, were featured prominently.

There were probably a couple hundred people there, from the island, from Brunswick, from Jacksonville and beyond. I think we had the service that she wanted. (And in fact, I know that we did, as she left extremely detailed instructions regarding, well, pretty much all the details. Also characteristic of her.)

And while only my brother David and I will really feel this, it’ll always be hard to think of this weekend without thinking about another day in August in south Georgia when we buried my dad’s father (Grandee is what we called him) 15 years ago.

The two experiences were incredibly different from each other – just as different as the two families are, really. Quitman, where Grandee lived most of his life and where my dad grew up, is a tiny, tiny town about 60 miles north of Tallahassee – and what I remember the most from those days was the funeral procession through the town, with the police at the intersections with their hats over their hearts, and then how impossibly light he was in the coffin was when we laid him to rest.

Gigi’s service was very different, though – she was cremated a couple of weeks ago, and before the larger church service we had a very small gathering of just the family and the pastor to put her ashes in the memorial garden of the church. No body, no pall bearers like at Grandee’s funeral, just us, with my uncles and brother putting her ashes into the garden. It was a good remembrance, and honored who she was.

What connects the two events most viscerally for me, other than the obvious relationship, is that I think I’ll always remember how hot and humid it was both times – a characteristic Georgia heat that makes you sweat almost immediately when you step outside – and all of us in our ties and dresses and nice clothes.

Anyway, two completely different experiences, different families, separated by 15 years. But for my brother and me, these two August days will always be connected by the heat of the Georgia summer, and of remembering and honoring our grandparents.

Personal stuff — Comments Off
19
Aug 10

Resistance

As of this week, I’m 8 weeks past my shoulder surgery, and doing great. As I’ve posted before, rehab started 4 weeks ago, and I can’t believe how much better my shoulder has gotten in that time. The first week of physical therapy was really tough, but since then, it’s gotten better nearly every day.

This week we’re starting resistance training, so having my shoulder be more active in lifting and in normal use. As a result, it’s feeling a little sore, but I’m able to do planks again, and can see that I’ll be able to do dips, pushups, rows, pullups before too long.

The last 2 months have been tough in a lot of ways related to my shoulder — much more painful than the dislocations themselves — but so far I’m really happy I made the decision to go with surgery as quickly as I could, and couldn’t really be happier with my surgeon (Colin Eakin at PAMF) and physical therapist (Paula Chan in Mountain View), plus my trainer (Ben Kenyon).

Books — 2 Comments
19
Aug 10

The Happiness Project, by Gretchen Rubin

I really liked this book a lot. The author decided to go through a year’s worth of month-long experiments to try to be happier. To adjust her behavior in big and small ways to see if they made her feel happier day-to-day. And they did.

There’s a lot in this book, and I’m going to want to go back to it to think about the concrete actions I can take in my own life. I think it illustrates, more than anything else, a couple of ideas. First, act the way you want to feel — that will tend to reinforce. Second, being mindful and focusing on the things that are important, you can always make a difference.

I think some will view this as a bit of a hokey self-help type of book, but I didn’t read it at all like that. It’s an essay on mindfulness & intentionality, and making your life the way you want it, instead of just sliding along.

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