2011 Project365 (day228)

Date: 16 August 2011 21:02:02

These are books I have recently or am currently reading. The Guerrilla Gardening book I found really inspirational - it is written by the guy who lives in Elephant and Castle and started off replanting the planters at the foot of his tower block without permission and who plants on roundabouts and verges in London, and charts the origins of guerrilla gardening, detailing lots of gardening activity throughout the world (including a mention of my home town, though that particular bit of gardening was done in the 17th century. It could do with a few guerrilla gardeners to pretty it up in the 21st century too), and also giving practical advice on gardening without permission. I loved it. "How to be a Woman" by Caitlin Moran is what I'm reading at the moment. I'm enjoying it, it is designed to make feminism accessible and I do think she asks important questions alongside the more frivolous ones (like what do you call your bits? - which leads into an interesting discussion of the pressure to shave and unrealistic expectations and aspirations). I like that she frames the book round significant events in her own life growing up (puberty, periods, childbirth and all the rest) and because I'm only a few years older than her I am enjoying some of the cultural references. Sometimes I feel like the points she is making are lost a bit in the trying to be hilarious, but generally I think it makes some important points well, and - importantly - isn't po-faced. Not all of it works, I don't agree with all her conclusions, but I am enjoying reading it and am getting through it pretty quickly, which is a good thing in my book (if I don't like a book it will take me months to finish it). I have read a fair few books recently - any connection to finishing my PhD is not coincidental in the slightest! First up a few weeks ago I started "The Politics of Breastfeeding: When Breasts are Bad for Business" by Gabrielle Palmer. I can't quite put my finger on it - I love a good tubthumper, and what better than a tubthumper I am basically going to agree with? But there was something about it which left me unsatisfied. Bits of it were really good, especially when she was talking about the machinations behind big business in the developing world, and it is very extensively researched. But other sections were really badly written I felt, there was one section (on sex and breastfeeding if I recall correctly) where every sentence I found myself thinking "where did that come from?" I also felt that although it was mentioned briefly there was little acknowledgement of women who have problems with breastfeeding, and as this was something that I noticed from the beginning I think it made me irritated before I even got very far into the book (my job involves, amongst 20 million other things, supporting and promoting breastfeeding and I am very committed to that, but I also need to support women when it isn't happening for them, and I didn't feel that this book had much to offer them). It's a shame, because she has some important things to say. I was a bit disappointed (although I read every word from cover to cover, including all the endnotes). It's a good starting place, but I think I'd want to read some of her sources (one in particular, Rima Apple, I heard speak in a lecture when I first came to Glasgow and thought she was brilliant. Note to self: dig out some of her stuff). The two other books I read over the holiday were for book group. Normally we just pick a book title out and all read it and discuss it, but this time as it was summer we thought we'd have a change over the holidays, so instead picked a theme out and then each chose a book or books which vaguely relate to that theme. The theme we picked was "colours" - I know at least a couple of people were wanting to read "The Color Purple" as one of their choices, but I decided I wanted to read something nerdier. So I went for "Mauve: How one man invented a colour and changed the world" by Simon Garfield. It's a biography of sorts of William Perkin, a 19th century chemist who accidentally discovers a reliable purple dye when trying to make artificial quinine from coal tar residue, and whose invention ends up forming the basis of future developments in bacteriology, chemotherapy, photography, amongst many other things. Perkin has been almost completely forgotten now. As well as the biographical element, it also includes interviews with people in the contemporary fashion industry in order to demonstrate the continuity of the discovery of mauve 150 odd years ago with contemporary life. It was readable and pretty short (always a plus!). After that I wanted a bit of light relief, so continuing with the colour theme I (re)read the script to "Return of the Pink Panther". A very quick read, but had me laughing out loud ("even the Peup will be there"). I bought that book in a charity shop I think when I was an undergraduate (so late 80s), or it may even have been when I was at school, so I have had it for years. I don't read it that often, but it always has me in stitches when I do dig it out. I've got several books lined up, maybe I'll get into a big reading vibe. While doing my PhD I barely managed (and often didn't manage at all) to even read the book group book in a month, never mind having several on the go, but I definitely am enjoying getting back into reading stuff for fun again. I might even manage some less nerdy books sometimes :)