Books I Read in 2022, Vol. XIV

 

THE KILLING OF CRAZY HORSE
Thomas Powers

He was the greatest Indian warrior of the nineteenth century. His victory over General Custer at the battle of Little Bighorn in 1876 was the worst defeat inflicted on the frontier Army. And the death of Crazy Horse in federal custody has remained a controversy for more than a century. [This book] pieces together the many sources of fear and misunderstanding that resulted in an official killing hard to distinguish from a crime.

I picked up this book at the library to read during our recent vacation in the Black Hills of South Dakota and the Bighorn Mountains of Wyoming; a fitting setting since the action in this book takes place in those places. However, there really isn't a LOT of action taking place. While the information Powers provides is fairly interesting, it seems to take him forever to get to the subject implied by the title.

I say "seems to take him forever" because I didn't actually finish the book. However, I appreciated the insight I gained into Indian/White interaction, even though it left me with a decidedly unpleasant taste in my mouth. I find myself in agreement with Chief One Stab: "We are talking today on our own grounds. God Almighty made this ground and he made it for us. Look about you, see how he has stocked it with game. Your homes are in the east, and you have beef cattle to eat. Why then, do you come here to bother us? If you will go away to your homes and leave us, then we will be at peace, but if you stay, we will fight. We do not go to your homes; then why come to ours?"

First Line: It was nearing midday on the shortest day of the year in 1866 when Indians attacked a detachment of soldiers sent out from Fort Phil Kearny in northern Wyoming to cut firewood for the post.

Page 56 / Line 5: Among them, the story goes, were Crazy Horse and his friend Little Big Man.

Last Line: But at other moments it seems that Theresa's story is plainer in meaning, and marks a divide between the things that have been lost and the things that survive.

Pinocchio: Tom Hanks in a Wig Surrounded by Pixels

 

Yes, Beloved and I have watched the new part-live-action/mostly-animated movie, Pinocchio, on Disney+.

Yes, it was beautiful to see.

No, it wasn't worth the time we spent.

I find myself in complete agreement with the New York Times September 8 review by Amy Nicholson: "Under [Director] Zemeckis’s attentive eye, Pinocchio’s yellow cap appears made of felt and his white gloves, affectionately hand-knit. When the marionette spirals his head like a pinewood Linda Blair, his joints make a satisfying creak. But boy oh real boy, is the script by Zemeckis and Chris Weitz a lifeless chunk of wood."

Don't get me wrong, I usually am of the opinion that Tom Hanks can do no wrong, but he comes across as just as much of a cartoon as in the 1940 original.

One Bright Spot: The Disney-themed cuckoo clocks in Geppetto's workshop are clever.

Books I Read in 2022, Vol. XIII

 

UNSCROLLED: 54 Writers and Artists Wrestle with the Torah
Edited by Roger Bennett

Fifty-four writers and artists grapple with the Torah and the 54 portions read during the year. In an eclectic array of forms - from stories, poems, memoirs, scripts, and plays to a graphic novel and even an architect's rendering - these entries bring new meaning to the Torah, its value, and its place in the life of anyone interested in Jewish culture and identity. Read Damon Lindelof, creator of Lost, writing about Abraham's decision to sacrifice his son - as Abraham is observed by psychiatrists after the fact. Or Sloane Crosley, imagining Pharoah's neurotic fury as he researches "boils," "lice," and "plague of frogs" on WebMD.

The first thing of interest about this book I want to say is that it cost me all of twenty-five cents. Yeah...the library was having a sale (four books for a dollar) when I was picking up the first season of Happy Days I had on hold, and this looked interesting. And it is! The second thing of interest is that all 54 of the writers have a Jewish heritage, but I'm pretty sure that only a few of them actually have a Jewish faith. From the editor's introduction: "The conversation forced the group to confront a number of questions, most glaringly, how long it had been since they had last read a biblical text. The majority had stumbled through the Tibetan Book of the Dead, The Prophet, or Siddhartha in their college years, but if they retained any sense of the Bible, it was typically a vague memory, forged in youth, of crudely constructed, sanitized tales badly told - a stark contrast to the nuanced narrative they now grappled with."

That being said, I gained quite a bit of insight, both theological and sociological, by reading this collection. Feel free to borrow it.

First Line: Every book has a founding story.

Page 56, Line 5: But he should not have worried.

Last Line: Now I imagine they are engrossed as Jacob's vengeance-seeking sons brutally massacre men who had raped their sister, or marveling when Bezalel is miraculously able to procure the dolphin skins necessary to complete the Tabernacle in the middle of the wilderness, or stunned as the earth opens up to swallow the leaders of Korah's rebellion whole: realities that are even more chaotic, complicated, and engrossing than the most colorful rush-hour subway car in New York City could possibly be.

Lightyear: Why All the Fuss?

 

Thanks to Daughter Buckeye's subscription to Disney+, Beloved and I watched the latest Disney/Pixar movie, Lightyear, last weekend. [Disclaimer: everything I write from here on reflects my views and opinions and shines no light on what Beloved thought or thinks.]

First of all, the concept of making the movie that inspired Andy's love of the Buzz Lightyear action figure in the Toy Story franchise is brilliant.

Second of all, the execution of that concept was less than brilliant. Don't get me wrong, the movie looked amazing and had a few elements of grin-worthy humor and wow-inducing action, but the whole plot about (spoiler alert?) Buzz Lightyear learning that he can't always accomplish tasks by himself and needs to accept help from others is so cliche as to be trite and not emotionally engaging in the least.

Third of all, you may recall a relatively short-lived outcry against the film because of a reported kiss between two females. Well, let me say this about that:

       1.  Yes, two female characters got married, but if they ever kissed, I never saw it. (There was a sort of montage of scenes that showed the passage of time. MAYBE the alleged kiss happened then but was so quick that I missed it?)

       2.  And so what? Which is more damaging, a cartoon depiction of a daily reality or another round of ammunition in the fight to paint Christians as hateful bigots?

Seriously, I am so weary of bandwagons and left-bashing and name-calling...all done in the name of Jesus.

Whatever happened to "and they'll know we are Christians by our love"?

Books I Read in 2022, Vol. XII

 

PRIBBLE DIVES IN: A Professor Pribble Mystery
Sarah Hume

A sleepy college town. A brutal murder. A passel of peculiar witnesses. Meet the people of Muscatatuck, Indiana, and follow the adventures of an unlikely crime-solving duo. Detective Jackson Reed digs through conflicting evidence and contends with the town's oddball residents to uncover the truth. Professor Peregrine Pribble deploys his natural nosiness to help solve the crime. And the outcome is not what you'd expect in this hometown whodunit.

It's not every day a person can say they just finished reading a novel written by a high school classmate who also happens to be the daughter of their former minister. But today is that day for me. Sarah worked for decades at a small college in Huntington, Indiana, and has set this mystery in a similar place, full of what I am sure are personal references to the kind of folks she spent years working alongside. I love the way Sarah plays with words and says totally honest things in absolutely humorous ways. Take her bio, for instance: "Sarah Hume lives a long way from anywhere you have visited in the rural Midwest. She has been on a diet since 1995 and feeds any stray cats that wander up. Sarah is currently working on her second novel in the Pribble series. At least, that's what she tells her publisher." TWO THUMBS UP!

First Line: In the chill of early morning on Sunday, February 25, Almeda Bishop lay awake.

Page 56, 5th sentence: Services will be held there at 2 p.m. on Saturday.

Last Line: And that the instant her body was discovered, the clock in the tower of College Hall stopped dead.

Books I Read in 2022, Vol. XI

 

THE SONGS OF ROLAND: Not to be Confused with a Certain Epic 12th-Century Book-Length French Poem
Roland Trenary

Here you will find lyrics to 99 songs of humor, longing, love, despair, lament, joy, wonder, life & death, and so on and so forth, etc. The honesty will catch you, the rhymes entrance you, and the rhythms should pretty much take care of the rests. Please, fasten your safety belts as you are treated to stories of Arizona night skies, small-town revenge, joyous artistic creation, depression-era heatwaves, a dancehall Lothario, a child astronomer lost in the desert, ghosts of lost loves, and fickle fingers of fate that tickle ribcages.

Off and on for two decades, Roland and I played together on the stage of the Dakota Chautauqua as part of the Dakota County (MN) Fair. We sang. He played mandolin and guitar and banjolin. My character tried to convince his character that electricity is a good thing. A splendid time was guaranteed for all. When it comes to this book, Roland is still playing. He has words bouncing off each other and creating funhouse mirror effects that make the reading of these song lyrics a journey of delightful discovery. (Feel free to get one yourself by going to Amazon.)

First Line: We gather as a plethora, sing a single song.

Page 56/Line 5: A hawk swooped down my street.

Last Line: From my small apartment where I write, I hear birds compare the sunrise to the night.

What Abortion Is Not

 

The current hateful yelling...on both sides of the abortion issue...grieves me. I'm pretty sure no minds have been changed or hearts moved as a result of chanting slogans or screaming insults. I am convinced that very few convictions have been modified from reading a "discussion" thread on Twitter or Facebook.

And yet, here I am, wanting to make a particular point that seems to be getting missed.

It concerns me that folks seem to be labeling the argument against abortion as a religious stance...that the main reason to be against abortion is "because God says so."

Let me be perfectly clear.

Abortion is not a religious issue.

Really...it's not.

We need to set aside all the stereotypes of Bible-thumpers and Planned Parenthood money-makers and calmly consider the basics of whether the pre-born entity is human. That's the only question that needs to be answered because if it's human, then killing it is murder. If it's not human, then treat it like a malignant tumor, I suppose.

Now, I clearly have a researched answer to that question. And if you want to read more about all that, let me direct you to my inspirational blog, Truth Is..., and its several posts about abortion. (Click those links.)

But THIS particular post is about this one particular point: Don't brush off the life-and-death issue of abortion as being a matter of religious opinion. The things that matter in the discussion are scientific facts.

That being said, we must avoid living up to the stereotype of caring only about the pre-born entity. The fathers and mothers and children must be treated with compassion, empathy, and respect, or all our "pro-life" rhetoric rings untrue.

For the record, that's why I so appreciate the work done by Amnion Pregnancy Center, which cares for EVERYONE affected by an unplanned or unwanted pregnancy.

No yelling. No Bible-thumping. No slogan chanting. (Hmm...that would look good on a banner being marched down a sidewalk. Just kidding!)