Bel Canto by Ann Patchett

I didn't intend this blog to be a book review site, but I would like to keep a log of the books that I read. The fact that book reviews take up a large percentage of the posts just means that I am not writing non-book review entries frequently enough.

Today's review is of Bel Canto by Ann Patchett. (Here's the Amazon.com link.) In the first few pages of the novel, terrorists storm a formal diplomatic dinner party at the Vice Presidential mansion in an unspecified South American country. Their goal is to quickly kidnap the President and escape with him to the jungle. Unfortunately for their plans, the President is not there, things go awry, and they end up in control of the compound, with a houseful of kidnapped dignitaries, but surrounded by police and military forces.

Although it's not mentioned, there are many (superficial, at least) similarities between the story and the Tupac Amaru seizure of the residence of the Japanese ambassador to Peru in 1996-1997.

This could be the setup of a Clancyesque thriller. However it's actually about as anti-Clancy as could be imagined. The story focuses on the development of relationships between the hostages and each other, and between the hostages and the terrorists. There isn't really a "main" character, but the closest thing to one would be Gen, whose role as a professional translator makes him the only person able to communicate with everyone present, and puts him in the centre of most activity.

I can't say I know what it would be like to be in that sort of hostage situation, but the book doesn't have the air of realism to me. However, I don't think it's meant to be "realistic". I think the author tried to imagine what relationships could develop in this sort of situation, and went from there. In some ways, it's more like a romance novel than a political thriller.

It's certainly an OK read, but my opinion of the book went down as I neared the end and the house became more and more of a utopia. I was going to give it three and a half stars, but I'll remove the last half star.

Three stars out of five.

Part-Time Work

On Friday night, I started a new part-time job. This is the first new job that I've begun in too many years now. For tax reasons, I'm an "independent contractor", working for the television station that my brother works for. He's the one that got me the job. They have a state-wide high school football wrap-up show on Friday nights. My job is to scan various internet sites, find final scores from high school football games, and enter them into their system so that the scores will scroll across the bottom of viewers' screens.

Part of me wonders how much more automated this system can become. What would it take to read scores from a file or other internet sites, and transfer them into the system without having to type the numbers in myself? This is an interesting question and I'm not sure if there's a good solution. But, such concerns are really beyond the scope of my assignment.

There was always the feeling of being under pressure. What if I enter the wrong scores? What if I say the wrong team won? I joked that the job would have been a lot easier if their system already had the winning team on the top for each game. Also, they handed me the phone a few times when people called in to the station. I quickly learned that the caller sometimes giveth, and the caller sometimes taketh away. One caller quickly gave me a final I didn't have and hung up. (How very nice and efficient!) Another asked me for some scores. Finally, a third caller tried to give me a score, but I kind of lost him when he was saying, "I think they scored 23. Or maybe it was 25. Something like that." Could it be that the regular employees don't like taking calls? (Why else would they give the phone to the new guy on his first day on the job with no training?)

While I am getting paid, the amount will add about 3% (before taxes) to my income. (Of course I'll work a lot fewer hours at the TV station.) So why am I bothering?

• As Geddy said, "Ten bucks is ten bucks, eh".
• It allow me to keep an eye on my brother.
• It keeps me off the streets.
• It's kind of fun.
• Who know? Maybe a whole new career could spring up. I certainly don't expect anything of that sort. But, there are so little in the way of new opportunities in my current job, and also so little in the way of job security, that it couldn't hurt to try something new and meet some new people.
  

Dear John

I have been trying to figure out the derivation and meaning of the name English names John, Jonas, and Jonah. I've seen conflicting information concerning this. For example,

• Does John mean "God is gracious" or "He (God) accomplishes"?
• It's pretty clear that Jonah is from the Hebrew word for "dove", but is Jonas a variation of John or Jonah? Also, is Jonas Lithuanian or Greek?
  

I found what looks like reliable information at BehindTheName.com. That site has the following in its entry for John:

English form of Johannes, which was the Latin form of the Greek name Ioannes, itself derived from the Hebrew name Yochanan meaning "YAHWEH is gracious".

And the following information appears for Jonas:

JÓNAS m
Usage: Icelandic
Icelandic form of JONAH

JONAS (1) m
Usage: Lithuanian
Lithuanian form of JOHN

JONAS (2) m
Usage: Biblical (Variant)
Greek form of JONAH

(Just another example of the kind of stuff you probably won't learn anyplace else...)

Roaring 40's Undefeated After Week 8!

I've been involved on and off with the ILCF ("Internet League of Canadian Football") for about the past decade. I'm just amazed at how my team (the Columbus Roaring 40's) is doing this year. It's not like I have good access to the goings on of the CFL or anything. Last year's 40's finished with 4 wins or so all year. All I can say is that Casey Printers is the man and I received great advice that I should consider BC's backup because Dave Dickenson was likely to be injured. I'm just happy finish out of the cellar. Here are the standings after 8 weeks of the 2004 season:

                       GP   W   L   T   Pts     PF    PA   DIFF

Columbus Roaring 40's   8   8   0   0     16    371   211   160

Yellowknife Ice Worms   8   5   2   1     11    297   226   71

Windsor Border Patrol   8   5   2   1     11    228   217   11

Nepean Killer Bunnies   8   4   3   1     9     348   312   36

Richmond Roughriders    8   4   4   0     8     357   312   45

Newfoundland Brigade    8   3   5   0     6     257   329   -72

Edmonton Mauraders      8   1   7   0     2     101   247   -146

Steel City Stench       8   0   7   1     1     171   276   -105  

Electoral College Vote Predictor

Check out electoral-vote.com. It's a preduction of the upcoming US Presidential election, updated daily. I assume the guy uses reasonable data rather than just making stuff up. Its current prediction is as follows:


While we're at it, for a completely different take on the election, check out the "Mock Election" results at Dave Leip's uselectionatlas.org.

The Corrections: A Novel by Jonathan Franzen

I recently finished The Corrections by Jonathan Franzen. (Here's the Amazon.com link.) This is a book that elicits a lot of thoughts from me, but I am not sure if I'll be able to express many of them in a coherent manner.

The book is the story of a typical(??) dysfunctional American family: two parents and their three adult children. At the highest level, it tells of father Alfred's struggle with Parkinson's disease and his slipping further and further into dementia. But, it also goes in-depth into each of the main characters, exploring how messed-up each of them really is.

At times, Franzen is quite amusing with the jabs he takes at our 21st-century capitalist/consumerist society. As an example, the only model of Sport-Utility Vehicle driven by any of the characters is the Ford Stomper. (This inspired me to call my new minivan a Ford Behemoth.)

So, what's the point of it all? In my book club discussion of this book, everyone was disappointed by the "and they all lived happily ever after" ending. After spending 592 pages describing how dysfunctional everyone was, nobody thought the final five pages were very believable. If I had to find an overall theme, it would be that the story is a confirmation of Numbers 14:18b in the Bible: "[God] punishes the children for the sin of the fathers to the third and fourth generation."

I found the book to be overly long. Also, why can't books be rated like movies? I found this one to be fuller of coarse language and sex than I prefer in a novel. It would be nice if there were some way to learn about a book's content or its "suitability for children" or whatever, othen than just reading it.

The author shows a lot of talent in this book, and I'm sure that some people will really like it and consider it to be an "example of meaningful contemporary literature". But in this case I don't think "a display of writing talent" necessarily translates into a book that I'd recommend.

Two stars out of five.

The Things You See In The Sky

I try to go camping in a tent with one or more of my children at least once a year. (Yes, I know, this is a pretty feeble goal...) Anyway, last night my son and I went camping in our spacious backyard. (Despite nothing but endorsements by me for Therm-a-rest, I'm a bit stiff today.)

I woke up at 5:00 AM and made a quick trip into the house's downstairs bathroom. When I got out, I was amazed at what was in the sky. It was a clear night, and I noticed:

• How bright the half-moon made everything. Sure, there was the light pollution of the neighborhood, but I think most of the light came from the moon.
• What I assume was Venus shining brightly in the eastern sky. (I've never seen Venus there before...)
• What I have to assume was a satellite floating by. I last remember seeing a satellite at summer camp maybe 25 years ago.

You can notice a lot in the backyard at five in the morning.