C.J. and I visited Los Angeles this past week to see the James Kerry Marshall retrospective at the Museum of Contemporary Art, the same show we saw last summer in Chicago. We’ve become big fans of Mr. Marshall’s work. It was a mad-cap three-day trip–drive down, day in L.A. and drive home–but we managed to visit three bookstores while we were there. We stayed in … Continue reading Sunday Ramble: Travels, Art and Jane Austen Challenge
Visited the local Friends of the Library book sale yesterday, in the rain, where C.J. and I managed to spend much more than we intended. He got several art books and a couple of books full of house plans while I nearly completed my Jane Austen collection. Can you name the book I still have to find. I’ve decided it’s a good time to re-read all … Continue reading Sunday Ramble and Two Books I Didn’t Like. Sorry.
This doesn’t count as a resolution, but on New Year’s Day I finally embarked on reading Kevin Starr’s history of California which currently stands at six volumes, last time I checked. A few years ago I read his single volume history California and loved it. Entertaining and informative, a clear eye-ed history of the state written by a man who’s been in love with the place … Continue reading Americans and the California Dream by Kevin Starr–Chapter I: Prophetic Patterns 1786-1850
It feels a little strange to be reading a book about the history of California when an initiative to break up the state looks like it will make it to the 2016 ballot. There’s always been an end of the world edge to California, see previous post, but reading about the state’s history while the people consider breaking the state up left me a … Continue reading California by Kevin Starr: The End
Towards the end of John Schlesinger’s film version of Nathaniel West’s The Day of the Locust a group of extras dressed as Napoleonic soldiers charge up a hill, cameras rolling. They don’t know that the set they are on has not been properly constructed until it begins to collapse under their feet. Some of them plunge through the “earth” to the studio floor 30 feet … Continue reading California by Kevin Starr–Chapter 11: An Imagined Place
In a book that has been very pro-California this chapter is gives the loudest cheer. Honestly, it felt like nothing but cheering. Though it is deserved cheering, the chapter felt weaker than previous ones for it. California has long been a leader in science and technology, from the early days of the state when Lester Pelton began working on the turbines that would make hydro-electric … Continue reading O Brave New World: Seeking Utopia Through Science and Technology; California by Kevin Starr chapter 10
There were three things that struck me from this chapter on California during World War II. The first is that there were no fatalities during the Zoot Suit Riots. Mr. Starr does a very good job covering the Japanese evacuation in California, but while there were details Mr. Starr brought to his account that I did not know, this is largely history I already knew. I knew … Continue reading California by Kevin Starr: War and Peace
I’m going to start by taking Mr. Starr to task. Chapter 8 of California is a history of California’s labor movement up through the Great Depression. California’s labor history could fill several volumes without a dull moment as Mr. Starr makes clear. It’s my hope that one of the book in his longer series spends much more time on the topic than he does in this … Continue reading California by Kevin Starr: Making it Happen
I am a little disappointed to learn that one of my favorite stories is not true. Here’s the story: After the 1906 earthquake, A.P. Giannini sat in the ruins of his produce business with his cashbox in hand giving out loans to residents trying to rebuild their businesses. He built on the profits he made to open Bank of America. Here’s what really happened: Giannini was … Continue reading California by Kevin Starr: Chapter 7 Great Expectations
I’m about halfway through California the book and the history of the state as chapter six ends with the 1906 San Francisco Earthquake. Mr. Starr’s history has left strict chronological storytelling in favor of a chronological/thematic approach. While chapter 6, The Higher Provincialism covers the period after statehood through to the great earthquake its focus is on development of how California is represented in the arts. … Continue reading California by Kevin Starr: The Higher Provincialism
I’ve been sick. School will be out in just two more days, and I’m coming down with something. “Oh, Excellent!” as Hermia says somewhere in act three of “A Midsummer Night’s Dream.” If that weren’t bad enough, I’m behind on my reviews. So, I’ve decided to post about several books and stories I’ve read in the past week in one post instead of giving each their own … Continue reading State History, Short Stories, and A Little Sex: or One of those Catch-up Posts with Lots of Short Reviews
One of the strange things about California is the sense that no one is really from California. You don’t have to be here for long before you discover that almost everyone you meet here is from somewhere else. Some may have moved here as children, others as adults, but California always feels like a collection of first generation immigrants/migrants, like a bunch of people who … Continue reading California by Kevin Starr – Chapter 4: Striking It Rich
May Contain Spoilers 