Is This Thing On?

As much as I probably should apologize for my absence, I actually have a legitimate reason for not blogging the past month. My full-time writing contract eventually became a full-time career job, and as such I went from working at home to working in an office. Said office was actually a 45-minute bus ride from where I was living, so I have sunk quite a bit of time trying to find a place much closer to work. Fortunately, I did! It’s a great place, and right in the middle of downtown Houston, too! So the whole act of picking out an apartment that suited my needs, moving my possessions, and now having to furnish it has been exhausting my body and my schedule alike. Everything should be complete – or at least mostly complete – by the end of the month, hopefully.

There’s still a number of drafts sitting on my little WordPress dashboard right now. With as exhausted as I’ve been, I just didn’t feel right cranking them out when I wasn’t able to give them as much concentration as they deserve. I’ve done the tired reviews before and have always ended up disappointed with the results. By this point, I feel it’s better to leave gaps between good critiques instead of firing off a quick succession while running practically on empty. Maybe your opinion differs on the matter, though. Heh. My apologies, of course, but moving is a relatively major hiccup in one’s life.

I have gotten a little bit of writing done, though, and blips that require less in-depth analysis than literary criticism. Being that I am now surrounded on all sides by a number of fascinating, influential skyscrapers, I launched an ongoing project to discuss my thoughts regarding Houston’s architecture over at Yelp. It’s a slow-going process, as you can probably imagine, and so far I’ve only written about two buildings. There are at least 3 more queued up, however, so be sure to check back for any updates! I love this city quite a bit and want to promote the frequently overlooked architectural elements the only way I know how. Hopefully those of you who don’t live here will learn something about Houston and, well, maybe those of you who do might as well.

-Riot

Book Donation in Houston

Happy holidays, you guys! Hope everyone is having a good one…or at least tolerable. Since the last half of the year was unexpectedly busy, I sadly didn’t have a chance to finish the Diversity Rocks! Challenge – though I did read about 17 out of 24 books and reviewed 15! I can’t say I am disappointed in myself. My main goal this year was to land a full-time job – and I at least accomplished that! Hopefully in 2010 I’ll have more time to read and make it through the pile.

Anyways, that really isn’t the point of this post. Obviously, literature, books, reading, and writing make up the entirety of Burning Leaves’s content. Almost nobody would argue that literacy is a fundamental skill necessary to succeed in nearly every level of nearly every career. Not everyone has the time to volunteer or the money to donate when it comes to promoting reading and the nurturing of all the skills necessary to process, enjoy, and learn from literature. However, one of the simplest things anyone can do to help their communities is donate their used books to local organizations! Literary critics and book bloggers who cannot legally sell their ARCs (advanced review copies) may also want to consider giving their books to charities or nonprofits in their area.

The following list focuses on places to donate used books in my adopted home city of Houston. If you would like for me to post information for your area, feel free to leave a comment with a request! I can’t promise I’ll be able to find everything in smaller cities, but I can promise I’ll at least try. Feel free to bring any similar lists from other websites to my attention as well. I’ll be sure to post a link to it and help spread the information to a (hopefully) wider audience.

Friends of the Houston Public Library -They accept not only new and used books, but CDs, DVDs, and magazines as well. Be sure to check the website for their guidelines and preferences.

Houston Public Library -Alternate site should the FHPL 404 for whatever reason.

Goodwill Houston – Find your nearest location center in the Houston area – or visit their international site for more places to donate. They do not take magazines.

Texas Children’s Hospital – Only accepts new books, though donors with used books in pristine condition may want to call and ask what is currently acceptable. I have had friends donate used but entirely unmarred books here in the past. Thanks to Vincent Dacak for the tip!

St. Christopher’s Episcopal Houston Hospice Thrift Shop – Takes donations to sell for the benefit of Houston Hospice.

Methodist Hospital – Needs both volunteers and donations of books and magazines for their Service Corps library and carts.

St. Luke’s Episcopal Hospital – Take books and magazines for their waiting rooms and accept volunteers to distribute them.

Michael E. DeBakey VA Medical Center – Scroll down to the “Books and Magazines” section and download the .doc file for information on what is and is not acceptable.

Society of St. Vincent de Paul – Operates a thrift store accepting books and other goods to both sell and distribute.

Star of Hope – Prefer Bibles and educational literature, though it does not look like they’ll turn other books down.

Covenant House – Does not explicitly state as such on the website, though they accepted books a friend of mine donated.

The Woman’s Home  of Houston – Though not listed outright, pictures of the thrift store they operate to benefit the organization appear to have stocked bookshelves.

Catholic Charities of the Archdioces of Galveston-Houston – They will accept almost everything.

Christian Community Service Center – Do not take magazines over 1 year old, textbooks, or encyclopedias. Other donations, however, appear acceptable.

Houston Area Women’s Center – Their wish list specifically asks for books aimed towards very young children and toddlers.

“I Have a Dream” Houston – Accepts school supplies, so you may want to contact the organization and see if required reading for English and literature classes is included under that heading.

Northwest Assistance Ministries – Operates 3 resale shops for the benefit of the community that accepts any good-quality donations.

Open Door Mission – Specifically requests Bibles, though their education department may also appreciate other books as well.

Pratham USA – Monetary donations support the Read India initiative, which improves education and library opportunities to children in every district of the nation. Perhaps they take donations for some of them? They may have language preferences, so be sure to contact them beforehand.

Small Steps Nurturing Center – Accepts books in both English and Spanish for preschool-aged children.

Memorial Assistance Ministries – Thanks to Jenni Bravo for the tip. They accept a very wide variety of books and carry a huge selection in their resale shop.

Obviously, it is entirely plausible that I may have forgotten some places while compiling this list. By all means, let me know of any omissions in the comments section! I’ll be sure to add them. I really only listed places who explicitly ask for books on their websites or where my friends have donated, so it’s pretty much guaranteed that many other organizations accept books, magazines, and other literature as well even if it’s not mentioned online.

For the record, Interfaith Ministries states outright that it does NOT accept book donations for their Refugee Services department – but there are plenty of other things they WILL!

Again, happy holidays to everyone!

-Riot

Fun with the A.V. Club

This is something of a quick post since I have quite a bit on my plate right now and the electricity keeps flickering in here for some reason. But there were a few articles I figured I’d share with you guys. The A.V. Club is one of my favorite websites, and as of late they’ve been posting their “Best of Decade” lists. At least 3 of them relate to literature. I wish I could say I have read every single one of them, but I haven’t.

Yeah. I know. For shame, right?

However, most of these were already on my “to read” list anyways, so I was glad to see a review site that generally lines up with my tastes speaking highly of them. But I have read some of them, either for the blog or prior to launching it, and they are all excellent. They are as follows:

The Best Comics of the ’00s

The 10 Best Short Story Collections of the ’00s

The Best Books of the ’00s

What do you think, guys? I definitely agree about The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, which was probably one of the best works of literature I’ve read period – not just of the decade. Persepolis is a delight as a both book and a movie, and seeing Marjane Satrapi speak in person was one of the greatest experiences I ever had in graduate school. I also would have added Warren Ellis’s Orbiter and Nicholas Gurewitch’s Perry Bible Fellowship to the comic book list as well.

What do you guys think? Anything glaring omissions? Anything you don’t think deserves the honor?

-Riot

Let’s Get Talky (or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Ask, “What’s This Madness?!”)

So it appears as if I am debuting a new “feature,” as it were.

Yeah, I know. Look, if you need some time to sit down and let the implications settle, go right ahead. I’ll still be here when you get back.

Ready? Good. I knew you would be.

The “Let’s Get Talky” category is pretty much self-explanatory. With my work schedule piled on top of some other writing projects, house hunting, helping my parents and grandparents, and making Festivus Christmas presents, I unfortunately have almost zero time to read the books in my stack right now. But I do have plenty of time to at least think about literature, and Let’s Get Talky is little more than a repository for any observations or musings on the subject of either reading or writing. Maybe I’ll post up some links to other blogs and discuss the content. Simple as that! Just firing off mind bullets full of commentary.

And, of course, I would present them with the hope that others may chime in and offer their perspectives as well. Maybe nurture some conversation, have a few more points of view opened up for others to read. Does it sound good to you? Because it sounds pretty good to me. This way, I’ll be able to offer you much more to read than only my reviews – which are a blast, don’t get me wrong, but also entirely dependent on whether or not I have time to actually read.

Right now, though, my brain bone is full of tired. I am so sleepy right now, my coherence is slipping away faster than something that’s insanely fast. So I won’t be offering any talking points tonight in spite of the debut. But why don’t you guys let me know what you think and offer up any suggestions about topics you’d like to see discussed on here?

-Riot

I Need YOUR Help! (Not the Money Kind of Help.)

Hello everyone!

As you can probably ascertain from the glacial pace of posts lately, I have been rather swamped with work and attempting to find a more suitable place to live in my beloved H-Town. But in spite of this, my brain bone has been occupied with how much I’d like to give Burning Leaves a makeover. Since life isn’t an 80’s movie, I just can’t rip off her glasses and make her magically beautiful. Or was she beautiful all along and we just didn’t see it?

So I am asking you, my readers, what kind of content you guys would like to see more of on this site? For the past year, I have been only posting reviews and the occasional diversion, but I’d really like to expand my offerings. The only thing is, I’d still like for it to relate to literature, literary criticism, and writing. You’re not going to read about my excitingly dull lifestyle, partly because I actually want you to come back instead of dying an undignified death at your keyboard with a Large Marge expression and a puddle of spilled Mountain Dew in your lap…and partly because there are other venues where I write about that sort of thing.

Aside from that, though, I’d like your thoughts on what you’d like to see around here. There are already some ideas I’ve got firing through the ole neuron network, but since I write to share my love of books and reading and writing I’d like to see what sorts of things would interest you guys the most. I would like for Burning Leaves to be as engaging and enlightening an experience as possible, and I would be unable to do so without your valued input.

Aside from keeping it within the blog’s core theme, the only thing I won’t change is the layout and relatively image-free posts. I generally avoid pictures simply so those with slower browsers or connections as well as Smartphone users can load the page as quickly as possible. Other than that, though, I am very open to hearing what you have to say on the subject and get an idea as to how I can best cater to everyone’s interests. I am looking at other blogs for inspiration, of course, but it’s always nice to hear directly from the target audience as well.

Thank you very much, guys!

-Riot

The Art of War

Review

It’s almost impossible to write a worthy review of a book with as much undeniable historical significance as Sun Tzu’s The Art of War. What more can be said about this eloquent and revolutionary tome? Even though I personally abhor war and violence, I still believe that Sun Tzu could not have picked a more appropriate title. “The road to survival or ruin” (63) is paved with intelligence, analysis, cunning, and understanding – mental factors which also play into the creation of more popular forms of art such as painting or sculpture. Though The Art of War revels in the glory of battle, Sun Tzu stresses that “to capture the enemy’s army is better than to destroy it” (77) – a provocative and reflective statement that acknowledges the core humanity inherent  even in adversaries. And that preservation of basic human dignity stands as the reason why this book has endured for more than two millenia – it doesn’t revel in violence for the sake of violence, nor does it promote war for the sake of war. Rather, Sun Tzu accepts armed conflict as an inevitability and provides richly detailed and thoughtfully penned stratagems for all aspects of armed conflict, from terrain to head count to the best times of day to strike.

Translator Samuel B. Griffith provides ample supplementary material, discussing the book as it relates to Taoism and China’s dynastic structure. Admittedly, many of his tracts were difficult to grasp, as I am only familiar with Taoist principles and have not studied Chinese history in too much detail. However, I fully appreciated his essays, as they provided a fascinating and necessary context for The Art of War. Like all classics, Sun Tzu’s masterpiece remains both firmly rooted in its time as well as sending a message that is purely timeless. Griffith’s contributions help to balance its history with its transcendence, though the main text can certainly still do so on its own accord.

Bibliographic Information

Tzu, Sun. The Art of War. Trans. Samuel B. Griffith. New York: Oxford University Press, 1971.

Further Reading

Griffiths speaks extensively on how Sun Tzu’s The Art of War would later come to influence Mao Tse-Tung’s writings. On Guerilla Warfare especially draws from its esteemed predecessor, garnering enough influence to be included in the bibliographies of some U.S. Army Field Manuals.

~Riot

[Diversity Rocks! Challenge Progress: 15/24]

Delay Notice: Why I’ve Been Bye-Bye

My apologies for the molasses-like pace at which Burning Leaves is currently crawling. I was devoting a goodly bit of my time to finding a job in this tempestuous economy, and I thankfully will be starting a new one in October! Suffice to say, I didn’t realize how exhausting job-hunting was, and so what little time I had to write ended up being devoted to some of my sociopolitical and local business projects. Since I will be moving within a few months, reviews will still come at something of a staggered pace until I’m back on my feet.

In spite of that, though, the love and support of my readers is most appreciated, and I once again apologize for the delay. There’s still a lot of great books in my queue that need reviewing, and I can’t wait to share them with you all!

~Riot

Critical Mass

Review

One of the most intriguing elements of Kathleen M. Henry’s provocative dissection of Catholicism Critical Mass lay in its structure. It fluidly alternates between traditional narrative, one-woman play, prayers, poetry and satirical commentaries on the mass and confession rituals. The end result is a lyrical, whip-smart exploration of the inner workings of a Catholic parish over the span of several generations – definitely not for those offended by religious critique.

Her two main themes involve the Church’s views on women and sex, deconstructing how the two intersect and the ways in which they effect the Catholic community. Henry does not narrow her focus to only one protagonist – rather, she follows multiple women through multiple decades and delves deeply into how the Church shapes and molds their lives both for good and for ill. She compares and contrasts the suppression of the feminine in religious rituals and practice with that of the priests. Not surprisingly, she finds parallels between the ways in which Catholicism attempts to regulate sexuality in the clergy with its views on women and – to a lesser extent, lesbians. It’s pretty controversial stuff, but practitioners of any given faith should be allowed to question practices they find outdated, offensive, or repressive. Henry expresses her concerns with eloquence, veiling her anger using poetic language rather than harsh words of contempt and rage.

Bibliographic Information

Henry, Kathleen M. Critical Mass. Bloomington, IN: iUniverse, 2008.

Further Reading

A deep understanding of Catholicism is absolutely necessary to fully understand the nuances of Critical Mass. Those unfamiliar with the faith can find answers to any questions they may have about the narrative using The Catechism of the Catholic Church as an informed framework.

~Riot, who is feeling very much under the weather right now and apologizes for the short review

Passeggiata: Strolling Through Italy

Review

Throughout literature, film, music, and other media, the exultation of Italy as a paragon of culture and beauty has become something of an expected cliché. Memoirs of time spent perusing the magestic ruins and timeless, influential art are a permanent staple of any travel writing section at a bookstore. G.G. Husak’s Passeggiata: Strolling Through Italy skirts the possibility of tumbling into triteness by emphasizing areas of the country that generally go unnoticed by tourists and the ways in which she and her husband Al come to an “understanding of the larger world in ways [they] didn’t expect” (68).

The Husaks take a yearly sojourn to Italy every year, and offer up a wide variety of advice on how to handle when “the unpredictable happens” (355) for novice travelers as well as information on intriguing, overlooked locales for the more seasoned. The more popular tourist destinations are certainly touched upon, but the author’s real passion for the country shines through in her descriptions of more intimate settings going largely untouched by anyone but the locals. She relates her experiences in the cathedrals, monasteries, opera houses, cafés, and other spaces with rich detail, conveying their emotional appeal alongside the physical. It’s obvious to see why the Husaks continue to return on a yearly basis, and every one of their eager immersions yield insights into the interpersonal and intrapersonal worlds.

However, in spite of her overwhelming passion for Italy, its peoples, and its cultures, Husak does not lose her head in overidealizing her favorite destination. There are aspects of Italian society she yearns will find its way over the Atlantic, certainly, but she refrains entirely from declaring it superior to her home country and is unafraid to address her concerns and disappointments. Pickpocketing and the exploitation of tourists do not recieve a whitewashing treatment, and Husak relates the ways in which she and her husband narrowly avoided losing their valuables. It’s helpful information, certainly, but also fully illustrates the way in which the author does not allow herself to become fully carried away by the magic and romance of foreign travel. This cool-headed optimism and willingness to accept the ebbs and flows of a different rhythm is a great example for all aspiring globetrotters to fold into their repository of information. Without them, an exciting adventure could quickly spiral into a horrific nightmare.

Bibliographic Information

Husak, G.G. Passeggiata: Strolling Through Italy. Charleston, SC: BookSurge, 2008.

Further Reading

For a reversal of G.G. Husak’s annual Passeggiata, the similarly-titled Passage to Liberty: The Story of Italian Immigration and the Rebirth of America by A. Kenneth Ciongoli and Jay Parini tells the compelling story of Italians adjusting to the culture shock as they explored and attempted to forge a life in America. Anyone interested in putting pictures to place names and the works of art Husak describes would do well to peruse Annie Sacerdoti’s Wonders of Italy. The binding is stuffed to figurative bursting with stunning photographs of the celebrated Italian landscape and architecture that provide an excellent visual complement to undercut Husak’s beautifully textured prose.

~Riot

The Middle Fork

Review

The explicitly political novel is a delicate, tricky genre. Without delicately crafted, fully three-dimensional characterization, the figures intended to represent various stances come off more as partisan shills and mouthpieces as opposed to relatable individuals. Readers need not only see in-depth examinations about what the characters believe, but why they believe as well. That is the one sadly glaring flaw of Rick Glaze’s otherwise serviceable novel The Middle Fork.

Set among the breathtaking Bitterroot Mountain Range on the Idaho-Montana border, the novel follows a small throng of avid outdoors enthusiasts as they hike, kayak, camp, and fish the forbidding terrain. Glaze’s own personal travels provide the inspiration for the beautiful backdrop, and his obvious passion for nature shines through in his descriptions of the scenery. This stands as the novel’s greatest strength – the mountains loom threateningly over even more unforgiving whitewater rapids, lending an extra sense of dread to the main plot. Although the overarching theme involves the group learning to set aside their differences in order to search for a missing member, it’s difficult to care much about what happens to them when the individuals involved come off more as caricatures rather than characters.

Narrated by small business owner Jonathan, the central interpersonal conflict involves fiery Republican Sonia facing off against liberal author Keith over his well-received treatise on global warming. The both of them speak more in partisan talking points as opposed to expressing impassioned beliefs straight from the heart, and as a result they read as if parrots echoing their master’s speech. There is some degree of fleshing out – Sonia inherited her conservative sensibilities from her beloved father, for example – but they really only skim the surface, leaving the reader wanting much more. While I believe Glaze’s core messages of trying to find common ground between two very different political perspectives and forging mutual respect and understanding are highly commendable and necessary, they come off as somewhat limp when executed with little more than cardboard cutouts of left and right ideology.

Bibliographic Information

Glaze, Rick. The Middle Fork. Austin: Synergy Books, 2009.

Further Reading

I’m very much drawn to fiction revolving around politics. None of them have utilized The Middle Fork’s interesting device of juxtaposing their themes with a stunning outdoor scene, but they still stand as excellent examples of political novels utilizing compelling characters to drive their points home. Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird, George Orwell’s 1984 and Animal Farm, and Joseph Heller’s Catch-22 are a few of my all-time favorite books, among others. To me, they really set the standard that all political novelists should strive to reach.

~Riot