Clear

Finished August 8

Clear by Carys Davies

This historical novel is set in 1843, which is the year when about one-third of the ministers in Scotland rebelled against the patronage system whereby landowners would confer the position of minister in their parish or on their estates. This breakaway group was known as the new Free Church, and the ministers had to leave their homes (the manses the ministers lived in) and their church buildings and start from scratch. At first many held services in the open, with their parishioners asked to give what they could towards renting or building a new place for services and supplying an income for the ministers to live on. 

This was also towards the end of the period of Clearances, which had begun in the mid-eighteenth century. The Clearances consisted of landowners forcibly removing whole communities of the rural poor from their homes and livelihoods to make way for crops, cattle, and sheep, which would be managed centrally by the landowner. The landowner could then call on these desperate people for labour during the busier seasons and the people would be forced to make do with smaller, less fertile pieces of land, and piecemeal work. Some died, some went to larger industrialized cities, and many emigrated to North America or Australia. As the author notes in the afterward, when the potato blight began in 1846, these people still in Scotland began to starve. 

One of the three main characters here is John Ferguson, a minister that has chosen the Free Church, and is struggling to find money for a place for his parishioners to worship. He is middle-aged, well-read, curious, and recently married. Another character is Mary, his wife. She is also middle-aged, and had given up on ever marrying until chance brought the two of them together at a lecture. They are very much in love, and had spent money on two items that showed this. For Mary, it is a wedding ring that was important to her, and for John it is a calotype picture of Mary that he can take with him when he is away from her. John had made his decision to resign his living in Edinburgh a few months after their marriage.

The third central character is Ivar, a man living alone on a remote island near the edge of the Hebrides. Years before a storm had taken most of the young men on the island when they were fishing. There were two families, and one had left soon after. Ivar's mother, sister, and grandmother left a few years later for a new life, but he refused to leave, staying with his small horse, Pegi, his cow, his sheep, and his chickens. He made a living for himself, but barely survives, and spends his time when he isn't out on the land spinning yarn and knitting. 

Desperate for money, John accepts a favour from his brother-in-law and goes to work for a landowner. One of the tasks that has been given to him is to go to the island Ivar lives on and give him the notice of clearance. He is provided with documents, some scant help with the language Ivar speaks, food, and a pistol in case of trouble. A ship drops him off and will return for him in a few weeks. But John falls in an accident soon after landing on the island and it is Ivar who finds him, and some of his drenched possessions, and takes him in and cares for him. We see how the two form a relationship, a friendship, and how John learns his language gradually as he recovers his strength and decides how he can deliver the news he has been sent to deliver. 

After he has been gone a while, Mary worries about his safety after hearing stories of some of the more violent encounters during the Clearances, and sets out after him. 

The book description gives us these basic elements of the plot, but the way that Davies puts it all together is beautiful. There are many surprises, delights, and disappointments, but the characters here are so wonderfully drawn that I found it hard to leave the story. The book is short, but not fast-paced and the language is lovely. 

In the afterward Davies explains what she based Ivar's language on, and how she came to the idea for the book, which are related. 

Because Internet

Finished July 1

Because Internet: Understanding the New Rules of Language by Gretchen McCulloch

This book was fascinating. I've always been interested in language, poring over my mother's old linguistics textbooks when I was a kid, but this book brings a lot of linguistic theory into the now with its focus on how the internet changed the way we use language and the way that we communicate.

It sometimes looks back further at how other technology changed communication as well and looks at how societal change feeds the way language changes. For instance it looks at the telephone and how greetings were suggested and adapted for that new broadly adapted form of communication and compares that to the way that different pieces of the internet changed language and communication.

It looks at both formal and informal types of communication and generational differences between broad groups as the internet grew and changed and became part of everyday life. 

There was so much here in terms of ideas that made me think and bits of communication history I hadn't been fully aware of before. 

My favourite part was in the section on memes where the author talked about an embroidered piece that she made based on a common meme, that she then adapted to be more personal to herself.  She comments

Both memes and needlework are collective folk texts that spread because people remix and remake them. The words "text" and "textile" have a common origin, from a Proto-Indo-European root teks, "to weave." Writing and weaving are both acts of creation by bringing together. A storyteller is a spinner of yarns, and the internet's founding metaphor is of a web. If we go far enough back, before printing presses and cameras and photocopiers introduced the notion of faithful reproduction, all transmission is re-creation. Teks is also the root of the word "technology," which at one point meant a systematic treatise on an art or craft, or even a grammar, before it referred to a study of mechanical or industrial arts (a 1902 dictionary gives the examples of "spinning, metal-working, or brewing") and then to digital tech.

Since I am a needleworker, this really hit home for me. Since I also work with a lot of internet pieces, and have helped others navigate the internet as part of my job, this all connected for me. 

A fascinating look at language, social change, and human adaptation. 

The Songlines

Finished January 26
The Songlines by Bruce Chatwin, illustrations by Simon Pemberton

I've had this one on my shelf for a while, but Australia being in the news lately made my pick it up. It was a relatively easy read, with most of the book being a fictionalized version of the author's short time in the Australian outback among aboriginal people and those working with them. In particular it features a man whose parents emigrated from Russia, and who is working with aboriginal people to identify sacred places so the railway they are building can avoid causing more damage than it naturally will just by existing.
The idea of songlines as a birthright and a responsibility is made very clear, and I liked the way that the people were shown to be intelligent and with real character, not stereotypes. There was recognition of the struggles they are facing, and the harms done to them.
As the book progresses, when Bruce spends some time alone in a small outback town, stranded by the rain, he delves into his journals and notebooks and pulls out a bunch of quotes, anecdotes, and other passages that look at man's relationship to the world, to animals, to nature, to the idea of moving around as a way of life. This was also interesting, but these sections took more time to separate ideas and make connections.
My edition also had a very useful introduction by Nicholas Shakespeare that gave me background and context for the book, that made my reading more meaningful.

Don't Buy It

Finished October 16
Don't Buy It by Anat Shenker-Osorio

I found this book fascinating. It deals with two subjects I find interesting, economics and language. The author talks about the use of language around the economy in the United States and how that use feeds the political arguments around the economy. She is progressive politically and shows how the conservatives language is dominant right now and how progressives can work to change that.
Right now the dominant view of the US economy (and indeed economy in general) is as an entity unto itself. Some refer to it like a god, with people being asked to sacrifice for the sake of the economy. Some refer to it as a living organism that does what it does without outside influence. Neither of these are true, but they work to the conservative's agenda.
One of the biggest problems is the lack of understanding by most people about how the economy actually works, that what we do changes the direction of the economy. One common fallacy is that spending is using up money. Spending money transfers that money to someone else, who can also use it and that can continue again and again. 70% of the US GDP is from consumer spending, which means that consumers have a huge influence on the economy. Another common fallacy is economic mobility, which conservatives sell as the ability of anyone to move up. Mobility actually works both ways, but no one mentions downward mobility. Financial literacy has actually decreased in recent years, with fewer people with a good understanding of how even basic finance like mortgages work. This makes it easier to create false stories that influence these people. As the author emphasizes time and time again, the economy is NOT an independent entity, but the result of our collective endeavours.
Progressives can change this in several ways. One, is changing the language to one that uses metaphors of man-made things like cars (i.e. drive the economy) to indicate that some control is needed and that the economy is something we created. Another is to tell people what they can do as individuals to change the economy to something that works for the people and the planet.
Many talk of economics as a science, with rules that govern it, but the author shows in vivid ways how these "rules" aren't rules at all, but merely convenient constructs to illustrate behaviours.
She also suggests four things that can be done to move the economy in the right direction, a direction that will  work for the majority of people and for the planet. If only everyone from politicians to those that vote for them would read and understand these lessons.

On an Irish Island

Finished July 24
On an Irish Island by Robert Kanigel

This book looks at the legacy of the Blaskets, islands in the north west of Ireland. As the Irish language was vanishing throughout Ireland, these islands drew scholars and writers to them. A pocket where Irish was still the language spoken daily, this area drew a variety of visitors that elevated the islands both nationally and internationally. From J.M. Synge, the playwright to Carl Marstrander, a Norwegian linguist, the area drew both writers and scholars of the Irish language.
Some of these visitors encourage the local inhabitants to write of their lives as well, creating a body of work about their lives that is still studied.
I hadn't been aware of the role this area played in Irish nationalism, language, and literature. Part of their legacy is the language that is still spoken and studied today, but the Blaskets also represented a dying way of life with the move from rural to urban, the growth of modern conveniences, and the decline of community.
A very interesting study that provides many insights.

The Pun Also Rises

Finished March 22
The Pun Also Rises: how the humble pun revolutionized language, changed history, and made wordplay more than some antics by John Pollack, read by Pete Larkin
This is more than just a history of puns, it is a history of language, a history of humour, and shows that social changes over the centuries around this form of humour. Puns are rich in the use of language and that is both the appeal and the fun of them. But because they play with language, puns are also seen as a threat by some. They've definitely been used subversively and politically and have been a tool of social and political change. They are also a great tool for literacy and language learning. A few puns are included here, but the book is more about the history. Having a punster for a father, I've grown up with puns, and found the book very interesting.

One Hundred Names for Love

Finished July 24
One Hundred Names for Love: a stroke, a marriage, and the language of healing by Diane Ackerman
I admit that I've taken my time over this book for a couple of reasons. First the writing is so good (as Ackerman always is) that I wanted to take my time and really savour it. Second, the ideas she presents are so provoking that I want to take the time to think about them and how I feel about them.
The book is told over time beginning with Ackerman's Paul West (who is also an author that I haven't yet read, but am now intrigued to) having a massive stroke that resulted in global aphasia. That means he lost his language skills. He couldn't talk, or read, or understand. It begins in the hospital with evaluation and treatment. At first Paul can only say "mem" which he says over and over. He has some physical challenges as well in moving his body, relearning how to walk steadily, sit down, get into bed and hold objects. Two fingers on his right hand are cramped up into a claw.
Despite the massive brain damage, Ackerman and West refuse to give up. Ackerman details their daily life once West moves home, how they adjust their routine, how Ackerman must change her relationship with him, and what therapies they use are.
This is indeed a story of love. Because of Paul's long relationship with language as a writer, language is one of the main tools they use in their therapy. Ackerman is totally open and honest in this book, sharing her doubts, joys, and innermost feelings. A wonderful book with insights into the mysteries of healing.

Fun Word Book

Finished November 4
Ounce Dice Trice by Alastair Reid, drawing by Ben Shahn
I had bought this book for a gift, but I'm finding it so nice, I might have trouble giving it up.
It is a lovely book celebrating words and the sounds they make. From words that sound like what they describe to words the give you certain feelings, you really look at words more closely. There are some lovely circular garlands that lead you through several interesting words back to the beginning. There are lists of words to name different things and different lists of counting words.
This is a great book for any age person who likes words.

The Wonder of Words

Not Finished!!
Alphabet Juice: The Energies, Gists, and Spirits of Letters, Words, and Combinatins Thereof: Their Roots, Bones, Innards, Piths, Pips, and Secret Parts, Tinctures, Tonics, and Essences: With Examples of Their Usage Foul and Savory by Roy Blount Jr.
Okay, the reason I didn't finish this book is because it is the kind of book that you dip in and out of, that you savour in small bites, that you want to write in the margins of. And so, of course, I have put the book on my wishlist (and if I haven't got it by my birthday, I shall treat myself!).
I should have known by the wonderful title that I would feel this way about the book, but when, by page seven, he was complaining about the combination very unique, he had me.
A treat for all of those who love words, this is an absolute treasure of a book.

The Way We Communicate

Finished February 18
Um...Slips, Stumbles, and Verbal Blunders, and What They Mean by Michael Erard
This engaging book discusses the variety of verbal errors we make and the various studies that have been done about the reasons behind them. They include not only those place-fillers like uh and um, but also sentence stutters such as "I said, I said that we weren't..." and sentence correction such as "We went, some of us went to the game." It talks about the famous (the Reverend Spooner as well as George W) and the real versus the legend. Studies range from the psychological to the pedagogical and Erard shows how theories have changed over time. This is an interesting overview of a lesser-known area of language.