Weird seizures
I have about two hours to kill - and that feels such a good word for it. Lets see if writing makes me feel better. It usually does.
I am pleased that I changed the name of this blog to Books etc. It will be mostly about books, but also about my life, my thoughts and my feelings and my opinions. Lets not forget them. As Shakespeare put it "I can not put off my opinion so easily."
"This far and no further", said an Irish poet/terrorist in Colombo about drinking. I say it about what I wrote yesterday. I think I shall delete what came after the first two little paragraphs. Who would want to read about my sweating - not even me, even if it made me feel quite good writing about it. So lets go to fresh pastures: "So graze as you find pasture." (Shakespeare) My mood continues to be a bit weird, but I am in good company. "Myself too had weird seizures." (Tennyson) My online dictionary is brilliant, coming up with these quotes when I check that I have a correct spelling for words. And I do not even have to go on the web page as this Linux operating system enabled me to put a little box on the bar at the top of the screen. There I type a word and it gives me meaning. The only trouble with it is that if I get a spelling wrong it comes up with nothing. So I have to try a different spelling until I get the word right. Enough of this! ...
Now for something else ... a book I have read. I read this novel quite a while ago, but have not written about it yet as I wanted to find out more about one thing in it and did not get round to doing it until yesterday. The book is devil bones by Kathy Reichs. I have read quite a few novels by per and liked them. This one was different for one reason. Still a good read, but that one thing has put me off Kathy Reichs and pers novels.
The main character in the novels of Kathy Reichs is a forensic anthropologist, like the writer perself, by the name of Dr Temperance Brennan who is an alcoholic mostly in control of pers alcoholism. Like the writer Dr Brennan divides pers working life between two countries, Canada and USA. In Charlotte per is employed by the university and by the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner. In Canada per consults for the Laboratoire de sciences judiciaires et de medecine legale in Montreal. In pers working life Dr Brennan, like the writer, sees the worst of what we humans are capable of. Dr Brennan, like the writer, wants to unmask these monstrosities and to bring the perpetrators to justice.
In this book the bones found were those of a child, aged between 14 and 17. Dr Brennan feels sad for the loss of a young life and horrified at the thought of what may have brought the bones to the table in front of per. From these grisly discoveries Dr Brennan hurries up to meet pers daughter for dinner at a restaurant. There per orders veal and the daughter comments that per always eats that.
I find it strange that a person cannot see the similarities in the violence. Veal comes from a young calf, sometimes only a couple of days old, often a male calf - surplus to requirement in the dairy industry. These calves are often separated from their mothers after birth, living their short lives often in grates alone where they are artificially fed with all kinds of things that they would not normally eat. This is torture for the calf and the mother. Cows have been known to cry after their young are taken from them.
The juxtaposition of the order of veal with the following enquiry from the daughter, "So. Voodoo, vampires, or vegan devil worshippers?" to me indicates that the writer is aware of the suffering in veal production and does not care. In fact it feels to me that the writer is taunting vegans for their care for animal suffering.
It is strange how we humans can live with such contradictions. We love animals yet we kill them to eat them. I believe, I have to believe, that most of us want world peace like Miss Congeniality and yet we invest in violence. I think all violence is related. As long as we accept some forms of violence others forms will also persist. In many of the novels I have read murderers start by tormenting animals and end up killing human animals.
The World March for Peace and Nonviolence is attempting to create global awareness of the urgent need to condemn all forms of violence and to bring about real peace. With my whole being I wish it success.
Sunday, November 22, 2009
Thursday, November 19, 2009
Speedy Pensioner
Not Speedy Gonzales but Speedy Pensioner - that's me! The wood finally arrived yesterday in high winds and drizzle. Two cubic meters of wood was dumped on the pavement outside our house - not quite outside the door as our neighbour's van was there. The whole lot was inside the house in about an hour - truly! And now all my muscles hurt and still lot to do as I have piles of wood around the house that need to be stacked in their proper places. But that is another story for another day...
Today's story is about the book which I read in the cold house while waiting for the wood to arrive - Speedy Pensioner in this too as I read the whole book in one day. You Can't Hide is the first book by Karen Rose that I have read. One more of those serial killer books that seem to abound nowadays. I am trying to think of a book with just one murder in it, but cannot remember one single one.
The main character is a medical doctor and a psychiatrist, Dr Tess Ciccotelli, working with suicidal patients. Per also works for the police giving assesments of the criminals being tried in court. Per testifies as to their competence to stand trial. Sometimes that brings per to the conflict with the police. One such case where, according to the police Dr Ciccotelli helped a child and a police killer get free, had happened just before the beginning of the story and had caused the most of the police force to hate Dr Ciccotelli. The police believed that the killer had pretended to be mentally ill, whereas Dr Ciccotelli had pronounced the killer not responsible for pers actions, being continually tormented by demons attacking per.
Another main character is a police officer who is given the task of working the case where Dr Ciccotelli's patients are manipulated to commit suicide. It becomes clear that the killings are just tools to get at Dr Ciccotelli. From the actions it is very clear that the killer is a psychopath. Per has no empathy or any kind of feeling for any of the people per kills. Per manipulates people to get what per wants and killed even before these latest killings, without any remorse, first in an attempt to get what per wanted and later to make money.
Mental illness is an important thread in the book - has to be with a psychiatrist as one of the main characters. When killer is unmasked, but not yet caught, the fact that pers mother suffered from schizophrenia is made much of. It is almost given as an explanation for the actions of the killer. Dr Ciccotelli feels bad that per had not been able to help this person to get better or get any treatment for pers mental illness - schizophrenia. This is where an otherwise good novel falls apart. How could a person - even a fictional character - go through medical and psychiatric education and training and not know the difference between pcychopathy and schizophrenia. There is enough stigma and misunderstanding particularly of schizophrenia in the world for this to be a really bad flaw in the book. It adds to the confusion about these things and is totally inexcusable.
The writer should have researched the illness better. The way the killer is portrayed is clearly someone who is a psychopath. This is how Wikipedia defines psychopathy: "Psychopathy is a personality disorder whose hallmark is a lack of empathy. Robert Hare, renowned researcher in the field describes psychopaths as 'intraspecies predators who use charm, manipulation, intimidation, sex and violence to control others and to satisfy their own selfish needs. Lacking in conscience and empathy, they take what they want and do as they please, violating social norms and expectations without guilt or remorse'. ...
Psychopaths are glib and superficially charming, and many psychopaths are excellent mimics of normal human emotion; some psychopaths can blend in, undetected, in a variety of surroundings, including corporate environments. There is neither a cure nor any effective treatment for psychopathy; there are no medications or other techniques which can instill empathy, and psychopaths who undergo traditional talk therapy only become more adept at manipulating others. The consensus among researchers is that psychopathy stems from a specific neurological disorder which is biological in origin and present from birth."
Psychopathy is not an illness like schizophrenia is. Schizophrenia can be treated and many suffering from it can and do lead normal lives never doing any harm to themselves or others. Its characterisation is different from that of psychopathy. Wikipedia states schizophrenia "is a psychiatric diagnosis that describes a mental disorder characterized by abnormalities in the perception or expression of reality. Distortions in perception may affect all five senses, including sight, hearing, taste, smell and touch, but most commonly manifest as auditory hallucinations, paranoid or bizarre delusions, or disorganized speech and thinking with significant social or occupational dysfunction. ... The mainstay of treatment is antipsychotic medication; this type of drug primarily works by suppressing dopamine activity. Dosages of antipsychotics are generally lower than in the early decades of their use. Psychotherapy, and vocational and social rehabilitation are also important. In more serious cases—where there is risk to self and others—involuntary hospitalization may be necessary, although hospital stays are less frequent and for shorter periods than they were in previous times."
I liked this book on the whole and will read more of this writer's novels. I hope that in other books the research will be better.
Not Speedy Gonzales but Speedy Pensioner - that's me! The wood finally arrived yesterday in high winds and drizzle. Two cubic meters of wood was dumped on the pavement outside our house - not quite outside the door as our neighbour's van was there. The whole lot was inside the house in about an hour - truly! And now all my muscles hurt and still lot to do as I have piles of wood around the house that need to be stacked in their proper places. But that is another story for another day...
Today's story is about the book which I read in the cold house while waiting for the wood to arrive - Speedy Pensioner in this too as I read the whole book in one day. You Can't Hide is the first book by Karen Rose that I have read. One more of those serial killer books that seem to abound nowadays. I am trying to think of a book with just one murder in it, but cannot remember one single one.
The main character is a medical doctor and a psychiatrist, Dr Tess Ciccotelli, working with suicidal patients. Per also works for the police giving assesments of the criminals being tried in court. Per testifies as to their competence to stand trial. Sometimes that brings per to the conflict with the police. One such case where, according to the police Dr Ciccotelli helped a child and a police killer get free, had happened just before the beginning of the story and had caused the most of the police force to hate Dr Ciccotelli. The police believed that the killer had pretended to be mentally ill, whereas Dr Ciccotelli had pronounced the killer not responsible for pers actions, being continually tormented by demons attacking per.
Another main character is a police officer who is given the task of working the case where Dr Ciccotelli's patients are manipulated to commit suicide. It becomes clear that the killings are just tools to get at Dr Ciccotelli. From the actions it is very clear that the killer is a psychopath. Per has no empathy or any kind of feeling for any of the people per kills. Per manipulates people to get what per wants and killed even before these latest killings, without any remorse, first in an attempt to get what per wanted and later to make money.
Mental illness is an important thread in the book - has to be with a psychiatrist as one of the main characters. When killer is unmasked, but not yet caught, the fact that pers mother suffered from schizophrenia is made much of. It is almost given as an explanation for the actions of the killer. Dr Ciccotelli feels bad that per had not been able to help this person to get better or get any treatment for pers mental illness - schizophrenia. This is where an otherwise good novel falls apart. How could a person - even a fictional character - go through medical and psychiatric education and training and not know the difference between pcychopathy and schizophrenia. There is enough stigma and misunderstanding particularly of schizophrenia in the world for this to be a really bad flaw in the book. It adds to the confusion about these things and is totally inexcusable.
The writer should have researched the illness better. The way the killer is portrayed is clearly someone who is a psychopath. This is how Wikipedia defines psychopathy: "Psychopathy is a personality disorder whose hallmark is a lack of empathy. Robert Hare, renowned researcher in the field describes psychopaths as 'intraspecies predators who use charm, manipulation, intimidation, sex and violence to control others and to satisfy their own selfish needs. Lacking in conscience and empathy, they take what they want and do as they please, violating social norms and expectations without guilt or remorse'. ...
Psychopaths are glib and superficially charming, and many psychopaths are excellent mimics of normal human emotion; some psychopaths can blend in, undetected, in a variety of surroundings, including corporate environments. There is neither a cure nor any effective treatment for psychopathy; there are no medications or other techniques which can instill empathy, and psychopaths who undergo traditional talk therapy only become more adept at manipulating others. The consensus among researchers is that psychopathy stems from a specific neurological disorder which is biological in origin and present from birth."
Psychopathy is not an illness like schizophrenia is. Schizophrenia can be treated and many suffering from it can and do lead normal lives never doing any harm to themselves or others. Its characterisation is different from that of psychopathy. Wikipedia states schizophrenia "is a psychiatric diagnosis that describes a mental disorder characterized by abnormalities in the perception or expression of reality. Distortions in perception may affect all five senses, including sight, hearing, taste, smell and touch, but most commonly manifest as auditory hallucinations, paranoid or bizarre delusions, or disorganized speech and thinking with significant social or occupational dysfunction. ... The mainstay of treatment is antipsychotic medication; this type of drug primarily works by suppressing dopamine activity. Dosages of antipsychotics are generally lower than in the early decades of their use. Psychotherapy, and vocational and social rehabilitation are also important. In more serious cases—where there is risk to self and others—involuntary hospitalization may be necessary, although hospital stays are less frequent and for shorter periods than they were in previous times."
I liked this book on the whole and will read more of this writer's novels. I hope that in other books the research will be better.
Sunday, November 15, 2009
Escape
I am a rarerity among pensioners - I am more comfortable with the computer and the internet than with the older form of communication - the telephone. In fact I have come to the conclusion that I am slightly phone phobic. I am ok taking calls, but making one is always difficult. Like now, anyone else would have sorted the trouble with the wood delivery by now. Me - I sit here by my computer typing in the cold house hoping that the company has finally read one of my many emails and will send the wood I ordered and paid for (all done on the internet) before I freeze. This is the fifth day without the heat. The wood was supposed to be delivered on Wednesday. Yesterday I escaped into a book - after making my moves in scrabble. I read a book from cover to cover and I will write about that book in due course. Now I will escape to The Western Shore....
The Western Shore is a world born in the imagination of Ursula Le Guin and revealed in the Annals of the Western Shore comprising of three books: Gifts, Voices and Powers. The Western Shore, as its name implies, is a western part of the world by the sea. It has a mountainous region in the north called The Uplands inhabited by people with dangerous gifts living on farmsteads or domains scattered around the mountains. On the far south there is Ansul famous for its university and library and peaceful people engaged in commerce. In between there are the warlike City States fighting each other and sometimes people further away taking slaves. On the east there is Asudar, on the edge of a desert. Alds live there and from there send their armies to Ansul determined to destroy demons they believe inhabit the place.
All the various peoples of the Western Shore originally came over the desert from the east and first settled in Ansul speaking the old language which then evolved into what is spoken in all the various nations of the Western Shore. In the library in Ansul there are books written in that old language.
One of the themes running through all the books is the importance of stories, both oral and written. All the books are written in the voice of one of the main characters. Orrec is the narrator of the first book and an heir to one of the domains in The Uplands. Pers story is about learning about pers gift and accepting it and learning to use it. The gifts were passed on from father to son, from mother to daughter. Orrec's father's gift was undoing, a terrible, fearful gift. But not to have that gift as pers father's son was shameful and also dangerous for the whole domain, because without it there was no protection agains other domains. It was the fear of gifts that kept a sort of peace between domains.
Orrec's mother, Melle Aulitta, also had a gift, but not a kind of gift that was considered of any worth within the domains. Orrec's mother was not from the Uplands, but pers father brought per from a raid to the Lowlands. Per was not taken by force; per chose to come. Melle was an educated person who told stories to Orrec and pers friend Cry and taught Orrec to read. Pers gift to Orrect was a book per made, the only one in the Uplands, with the stories per could remember from pers youth. Orrec inherited this gift of telling stories and making up stories and poems. Orrec's gift was making, not undoing, and that was no good in the Uplands. So at the end Orrec chose to leave, had to leave, the Uplands. Cry came with per as pers wife.
The narrator of the second book, Voices, is Memer in Ansul. Memer lives in the Oracle House, which was built on the place where the people first settled on coming from beyond the desert. It has a secret library with very special books. And in the courtyard there is an Oracle Fountain, which has been dry for many years. Memer is a true daughter of this important house in Ansul, but per is also a daughter of rape. Pers mother was raped by Ald soldiers when they first came to conquer Ansul with a purpose of destroying what they called demons and the Mouth of Evil which they believed to be in Memer's house.
Alds fear written word. They worship one god to whom written word is blasphemy. When they finally took over Ansul they destroyed any book they could find and killed any people found with books. They ransacked Memer's house, but did not find the secret library where Memer's mother was hiding with baby Memer. After the initial destruction in Ansul the soldiers settled to rule and kept the people of Ansul in subjugation. Memer grew up in Ansul, not a free citizen like all the peole of Ansul were previously, but as a member of a subjugated people under the rule of Alds. Memer's mother game from hiding and put the house in as good an order as per possibly could in the circumstances. Other people of the house came back and the Waylord, the head of the household, a relative of Memer, was finally released from Ald prison and came back to live in the house also.
Memer wrote pers story at the age of 17. It is a story of Memer learning about life and pers place in the society. It is a story of how Memer met Orrec, the famous poet and storyteller, and Cry. It is a story of how Ansul became free again. It is a story of how Memer came to learn about and to accept pers special gift.
The last book in the Annals is the book about Gavir. While Orrec learnt about pers gift and purpose in life at pers home domain, and Memer did the same at pers home, Gavir started pers journey in one of the City States, a place where per was brought as a young child to be a slave. Gavir also had a gift or a power as it was called by pers people, but had to hide it, because city people were afraid of them. This gift was to see the future or as Gavir put it "to remember" something that had not happened yet.
Gavir was an indoor slave in an important house where slave children attended school with the children of their owners. The teacher was a slave and Gavir having shown aptitude was being trained to take over once the old teacher was retired. Gavir's older sister was an indoor slave in the same house and once per was old enough was given to the oldest son as a gift-girl. Per was happy about it as per loved this son who loved per back. However, being a slave the sister was badly used and killed by another son, who was not punished. So in a daze Gavir walks away and starts pers journey, to find freedom, to find perself, to find the place where per could feel at home.
The journey takes Gavir through various places and communities, from a crazy hermit, through two different communities of escaped slaves, to pers own Marsh people and finally to Urdile, where Gavir was drawn because Orrec, the poet and writer, was there. There Gavir finds the person from one of pers early "memories" who happens to be Orrec and who offers to vouch for Gavir so that Gavir can become a citizen Urdile and be free. So Gavir finally finds pers real home.
I am a rarerity among pensioners - I am more comfortable with the computer and the internet than with the older form of communication - the telephone. In fact I have come to the conclusion that I am slightly phone phobic. I am ok taking calls, but making one is always difficult. Like now, anyone else would have sorted the trouble with the wood delivery by now. Me - I sit here by my computer typing in the cold house hoping that the company has finally read one of my many emails and will send the wood I ordered and paid for (all done on the internet) before I freeze. This is the fifth day without the heat. The wood was supposed to be delivered on Wednesday. Yesterday I escaped into a book - after making my moves in scrabble. I read a book from cover to cover and I will write about that book in due course. Now I will escape to The Western Shore....
The Western Shore is a world born in the imagination of Ursula Le Guin and revealed in the Annals of the Western Shore comprising of three books: Gifts, Voices and Powers. The Western Shore, as its name implies, is a western part of the world by the sea. It has a mountainous region in the north called The Uplands inhabited by people with dangerous gifts living on farmsteads or domains scattered around the mountains. On the far south there is Ansul famous for its university and library and peaceful people engaged in commerce. In between there are the warlike City States fighting each other and sometimes people further away taking slaves. On the east there is Asudar, on the edge of a desert. Alds live there and from there send their armies to Ansul determined to destroy demons they believe inhabit the place.
All the various peoples of the Western Shore originally came over the desert from the east and first settled in Ansul speaking the old language which then evolved into what is spoken in all the various nations of the Western Shore. In the library in Ansul there are books written in that old language.
One of the themes running through all the books is the importance of stories, both oral and written. All the books are written in the voice of one of the main characters. Orrec is the narrator of the first book and an heir to one of the domains in The Uplands. Pers story is about learning about pers gift and accepting it and learning to use it. The gifts were passed on from father to son, from mother to daughter. Orrec's father's gift was undoing, a terrible, fearful gift. But not to have that gift as pers father's son was shameful and also dangerous for the whole domain, because without it there was no protection agains other domains. It was the fear of gifts that kept a sort of peace between domains.
Orrec's mother, Melle Aulitta, also had a gift, but not a kind of gift that was considered of any worth within the domains. Orrec's mother was not from the Uplands, but pers father brought per from a raid to the Lowlands. Per was not taken by force; per chose to come. Melle was an educated person who told stories to Orrec and pers friend Cry and taught Orrec to read. Pers gift to Orrect was a book per made, the only one in the Uplands, with the stories per could remember from pers youth. Orrec inherited this gift of telling stories and making up stories and poems. Orrec's gift was making, not undoing, and that was no good in the Uplands. So at the end Orrec chose to leave, had to leave, the Uplands. Cry came with per as pers wife.
The narrator of the second book, Voices, is Memer in Ansul. Memer lives in the Oracle House, which was built on the place where the people first settled on coming from beyond the desert. It has a secret library with very special books. And in the courtyard there is an Oracle Fountain, which has been dry for many years. Memer is a true daughter of this important house in Ansul, but per is also a daughter of rape. Pers mother was raped by Ald soldiers when they first came to conquer Ansul with a purpose of destroying what they called demons and the Mouth of Evil which they believed to be in Memer's house.
Alds fear written word. They worship one god to whom written word is blasphemy. When they finally took over Ansul they destroyed any book they could find and killed any people found with books. They ransacked Memer's house, but did not find the secret library where Memer's mother was hiding with baby Memer. After the initial destruction in Ansul the soldiers settled to rule and kept the people of Ansul in subjugation. Memer grew up in Ansul, not a free citizen like all the peole of Ansul were previously, but as a member of a subjugated people under the rule of Alds. Memer's mother game from hiding and put the house in as good an order as per possibly could in the circumstances. Other people of the house came back and the Waylord, the head of the household, a relative of Memer, was finally released from Ald prison and came back to live in the house also.
Memer wrote pers story at the age of 17. It is a story of Memer learning about life and pers place in the society. It is a story of how Memer met Orrec, the famous poet and storyteller, and Cry. It is a story of how Ansul became free again. It is a story of how Memer came to learn about and to accept pers special gift.
The last book in the Annals is the book about Gavir. While Orrec learnt about pers gift and purpose in life at pers home domain, and Memer did the same at pers home, Gavir started pers journey in one of the City States, a place where per was brought as a young child to be a slave. Gavir also had a gift or a power as it was called by pers people, but had to hide it, because city people were afraid of them. This gift was to see the future or as Gavir put it "to remember" something that had not happened yet.
Gavir was an indoor slave in an important house where slave children attended school with the children of their owners. The teacher was a slave and Gavir having shown aptitude was being trained to take over once the old teacher was retired. Gavir's older sister was an indoor slave in the same house and once per was old enough was given to the oldest son as a gift-girl. Per was happy about it as per loved this son who loved per back. However, being a slave the sister was badly used and killed by another son, who was not punished. So in a daze Gavir walks away and starts pers journey, to find freedom, to find perself, to find the place where per could feel at home.
The journey takes Gavir through various places and communities, from a crazy hermit, through two different communities of escaped slaves, to pers own Marsh people and finally to Urdile, where Gavir was drawn because Orrec, the poet and writer, was there. There Gavir finds the person from one of pers early "memories" who happens to be Orrec and who offers to vouch for Gavir so that Gavir can become a citizen Urdile and be free. So Gavir finally finds pers real home.
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