Snot-nosed book reviews

Home sick. Again. Drat! It's sucks a lot because the Supple Scientist will arrive to a congested, dripping, coughing, thoroughly sick girlfriend. What a romantic reunion after 5.5 months apart. Furthermore, I missed my last babytime for the season, and that is disappointing, and probably was a big hassle for all those folks at work. This is also day two of missing work. I dilly-dallied on whether I could go in until the last minute, realizing that my obvious and apparent sickness would inhibit my singing (already weak at the best of times) and also disgust mothers who will only want to shield their babies from all my germs. I still feel guilty for the hassle it causes though! We don't have a clear work culture about how sick is too sick.

So I am writing this from my bed (thank heavens for lap tops!) and I'll catch up on a few posts. Heck, I have a whole pile of overdue materials (speedreads!) right here.

Miss Smithers by Susan Juby.

Funny and delightful but not as great as the first - Alice, I Think (see previous review). I have to admit that the "zine" articles she writes are pretty great. This one was in response to her best friend who grows distant after losing her virginity (of which Alice is a little jealous):

"Some people, particularly teenage people, take pride in being the first of their friends to have s**. Those people are misguided. S** is a serious matter. A person shouldn't have s** until they are old enough and mature enough to deal with the consequences. Which can be severe.
In the final reckoning, the person who has s** with someone they love is probably the winner over someone who makes it with someone they hardly know. If you are having s** and think that makes you more advanced than your friends who aren't doing it yet, think again. Maybe that friend of yours has better things to do. Maybe he or she is active in the community for instance. In closing, just remember that just because someone hasn't had s** yet, doesn't mean she hasn't tried.
Think about it.
-P.J. Hervey"

I love how Alice is then accosted by a chastity group, which she repeatedly tries to join in with (but fails) while her mother, who believes they are a cult, rails against it. There is such a great naive sincerity about this character that really appeals! I have adjusted the word sex to s** because I have this weird feeling that I'll end up with more strange trolls dropping comments on this blog than I already have. And I don't think I've ever typed that word so many times in one paragraph in my life. I can't really remember typing that word at all, but anyhow.

Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress by Dai Sijie.

A quick story told in the tradition of a story, a single plot, a group of characters, an outcome expected and awaited. Two city boys are sent to a rural mountain village during China's cultural revolution to perform manual labour. Their quest for books, which are banned, and their daliances with the tailor's beautiful daughter are thoughtful and contemplative; the tale abounds with beautiful imagery and excellent internal dialogue.

The Birth House by Ami McKay.

I loved this book. It was unique to anything else I've read lately. Do you ever get the feeling that you are reading the same book, the same tale over and over again with perhaps different characters and different settings...? And its' CANADIAN! Hurrah!

The protagonist Dora Rare, begins the story as a young Nova Scotian girl assisting the mid-wife, an Acadian who delivers all the babies in the community and lives off the generosity of gifts left upon her doorstep, while shunned elsewhere for her "sorcery." Soon a doctor arrives promising quick painless childbirth in a sterile environment with the aids of drugs, chloroform, forceps, eschewing generations of wisdom and ringing his hands when things go wrong. Dora finds herself in an unsatisfying marriage, determined to continue aiding women in her community.

Historical fiction at it's most delicious, spanning World War I, the Halifax Explosion, medical history, and traditional medicines and beliefs, it's fascinating and well developed. Always convincing, and realistic, highlighting the loyalties that bind, and the concept of community.