Blogging about Books

Thanks to a request from Michael Bowman-Jones, this week’s Free Ebook of the Week is more Russian fiction — “The Mantle and Other Stories”. “The Mantle” is known as “The Cloak” in other translations. This collection also includes The Nose, Memoirs of a Madman, A May Night, and The Viy (a horror story). According to Wikipedia: “Nikolai Vasilievich Gogol (19 March 1809 – 21 February 1852) was a Ukrainian-born Russian dramatist and novelist. Considered by his contemporaries one of the preeminent figures of the natural school of Russian literary realism, later critics have found in Gogol’s work a fundamentally romantic sensibility, with strains of Surrealism and the grotesque (”The Nose”, “Viy”, “The Overcoat,” “Nevsky Prospekt”). His early works, such as Evenings on a Farm Near Dikanka, were influenced by his Ukrainian upbringing, Ukrainian culture and folklore. His later writing satirised political corruption in the Russian Empire (The Government Inspector, Dead Souls), leading to his eventual exile. The novel Taras Bulba (1835) and the play Marriage (1842), along with the short stories “Diary of a Madman”, “The Tale of How Ivan Ivanovich Quarreled with Ivan Nikiforovich”, “The Portrait” and “The Carriage”, round out the tally of his best-known works.”

In future weeks, I’m considering sending out more Russian works — Liza by Turgenev, Precipice by Goncharov, Creatures that Once Were Men by Gorky, A Hero of Our Time by Lermontov, Tolstoy on Shakespeare, and A Short History of Russia (1907) by Mary Platt Parmele. Please let me know if any or all of these interest you.

Also, please let me know if you’d prefer to receive these books in .prc format (for the Kindle) or .epub (for the Nook, Sony and other ereaders).

Meanwhile, the Kid’s Book of the Week is “Fables for Children” by Leo Tolstoy. And for next week I’m planning “Country of the Pointed Firs” by Jewett. Please let me know if you’d like me to add you to that list (and whether you’d like .txt, .epub, or Kindle).

I’m considering doing something new with book collections on CD and would appreciate hearing your suggestions and preferences. Today more people are reading books on ereaders (like the Kindle and the Nook) rather than on computer screens. So I’m thinking about making collections of files in .prc (for Kindle) and .epub (for Nook, Sony, Kobo, iPad, etc.) formats — both formats for each title, so when you change your ereader or if you have one of each kind you can continue to read your books regardless of the device. Since you would not be reading the books on a computer, there would be no need for a hyperlinked index page. Rather each file would have a clear and complete name. I might include dozens or even hundreds of files on a single CD. In the case of great authors, there would be a single file with all the works and also separate files for each individual work. Would this be of interest to you? What suggestions do you have in this regard, as to how it should be done and what kinds of collections you would like to see?

Richard Seltzer seltzer@samizdat.com

I used to envy those born with perfect pitch.  They could appreciate music to its fullest, unlike me.

I couldn’t tell if a piano was out of tune.  I couldn’t distinguish great from mediocre performances.

Then I realized that perfect pitch is a curse and a tin ear a blessing.

To someone with perfect pitch anything less than a perfect performance is painful to listen to.  Yes, such a person can appreciate subtleties beyond my ken, but that same person cannot appreciate and enjoy the vast majority of what passes for music for the rest of us.

I can enjoy a flawed performance on a piano that is out of tune.  I can enjoy sing-a-longs and amateur singing and informal musical events.  I delight in whistling while I walk.  My opportunities for musical pleasure are far greater because of my tin ear.

And, similarly, I am blessed not to be a genius or an expert at anything.  I can appreciate and savor ideas that don’t quite work or that aren’t thoroughly developed and proven.  I can enjoy a story, a book, a movie that is good but not great.  I can speculate and get caught up in possibilities in fields that I have little understanding of, because there is no field that I have mastered (regardless of efforts to do so).  My standards are not high.  I have everyday, non-professional expectations.  And now I’ve reached an age when instead of being ashamed of my limitations, I’m proud of them.

The world is far too complex to understand accurately and in detail.  And I’d rather dabble in many subjects and arrive at a practical working understanding from a variety of perspectives than devote myself to one narrow field and still never arrive at certainty or complete knowledge of it.

So let’s enjoy what we can know and how we can know.  Let’s enjoy life as best we can, glorying in the imperfection of our tin ears.

Richard Seltzer seltzer@samizdat.com

Thanks to a suggestion from Owen Lowe, this week’s Ebook of the Week is “The House of the Dead or Prison Life in Siberia” by Fyodor Dostoyevsky. According to Wikipedia: “The House of the Dead is a novel published in 1861 in the journal Vremya by Russian author Fyodor Dostoyevsky, which portrays the life of convicts in a Siberian prison camp. The novel has also been published under the titles Memoirs from the House of The Dead and Notes from the Dead House. The book is a loosely-knit collection of facts and events connected to life in a Siberian prison, organised by “theme” rather than as a continuous story. Dostoyevsky himself spent four years in exile in such a camp following his conviction for involvement in the Petrashevsky Circle. This experience allowed him to describe with great authenticity the conditions of prison life and the characters of the convicts. After his mock execution on the 22nd of December 1849, Dostoevsky was spared his life in exchange for 4 years of servitude in one of Siberia’s prison labour camps. Though he was often met with hostility from the other prisoners due to his status of “gentleman,” his views on life had changed and this precious gift, he did not take for granted. Ten years later, Dostoevsky returned to Russia to write, The House of the Dead. This novel mirrors several of the horrifying experiences he witnessed while in prison. He recalls the guards’ brutality and relish in performing unspeakably cruel acts, the crimes that the convicted criminals committed, and the fact that tousled amongst these great brutes were good and decent individuals. However, he also displays admiration for the convicts’ abilities to commit murders without the slightest change in conscience. It was a stark contrast to himself and his high sensitivity levels. It was during his time in prison that he first began experiencing his epileptic seizures. House of the Dead led Dostoevsky to include the theme of murder in his later works, a theme not found in any of his works preceding House of the Dead.”

Please let me know if you would like me to send out another Dostoyevsky book or another Russian novel next week.

Also, please let me know if you’d prefer to receive these books in .prc format (for the Kindle) or .epub (for the Nook, Sony and other ereaders).

Meanwhile the Kid’s Book of the Week is “Robin Hood” by J. Walker McSpadden. Please let me know if you’d like me to add you to that list (and whether you’d like .txt, .epub, or Kindle).

Suggestions always welcome.

Best wishes.

Richard Seltzer seltzer@samizdat.com

In Douglas Adams’ Hitch Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, a space ship is powered by a ludicrous, hilarious “improbability drive.”

And I have often been amazed by the improbability/unlikeliness of chains of events that have had great influence on my life, that have led to me being me.

Now it finally occurred to me that improbability isn’t the exception — it’s the rule.

Everything that happens has an infintesimally small probability of happening.  Only when you generalilze and thereby lose the specificity of events do they seem probable.

Example of a specific event: At 7:53 AM on January 1, 2012, George Smith bumps into Frank Jones (someone he doesn’t know) at the corner of Main and Forest Streets in Dayton, Ohio.

Example of generalized event: On the morning of January 1, 2012, George Smith will bump into someone on the sidewalk somewhere.

The more you generalize, the more probable the event; and the more you know about the near-term circumstances, the more accurately you can determine the probability of specific outcomes.  In other words, the probability of an event is not an inherent property of the event, but rather depends on the perspective of the observer.

All events are infinitesimally probable.

Some infinitesimally probable events are more probable than others, but the distinction is academic.  The distinction could become a subject for mathematical analysis (like sorting out which kinds of infinity are large than others). But focusing on such distinctions masks the reality that confronts us every moment — everything that ever happens to every individual is infinitesimally probable.

Reality is continuous and unending and absolutely unique.

Probability deals with static discontinuous views of events from variable distances in time and space.  In other words, probability is a convenient fiction.  That’s a basic truth that it’s very easy to ignore or forget.

Everyone is absolutely unique.  And every moment of every life is absolutely unique.  Statistics do not apply.

And, ironically, our uniqueness attracts us to one another and bonds us together, in totally improbable ways.  That’s the true “improbability drive.”

Richard Seltzer seltzer@samizdat.com

Every day I’m confronted with the question — “What is the meaning of life?”  My life is the sum of what I do and did; so did I do anything worth doing today?

Yes, relationships are important — interacting with those who matter to you, enjoying being with them, even if not doing anything with them, and hopefully helping them to enjoy.  Also enjoying the the pleasurable sensations of life, of living, of being alive.  But the question isn’t “What are the pleasures of life?” but rather “What is the meaning of life?”  What of what you do — aside from your direct interactions with others — matters?  Aside from maintenance activities — the things that you do to stay alive and to continue living at your accustomed level of comfort — what that you do matters?  You should be able to figure that out by looking at what you in fact do and how you value those activities.

Is your work more than a maintenance activity?  Do you do it simply to make the money you need to keep functioning as you are accustomed?  Or do you believe that what you do and how you do it has real merit, such that you are proud to do it, feel that it needs to be done, and believe that you do it uniquely, such that it wouldn’t be done as well, if at all, if you weren’t doing it?  And what do you do in your “leisure” time that isn’t just a matter of relaxation, change of pace, pleasurable sensation (which could be seen as maintenance activities — necessary breaks)?   Is there anything you do in your leisure that might contribute toward what you consider the meaning of your life?

In my case, I am fortunate to be in a posiiton where I make a living publishing books.  And in my leisure — as a way of relaxing and in addition to relaxing — I read a lot of books and write some, as well.

So for me, the question “What is the meaning of life?” amounts to “What is the meaning of writing and publishing and writing the kinds of books that I do?”

To me, these activities are a form of communication that extends beyond the realm of those I know and care about directly — to others remote in space and time, from previous generations and in future generations, the vast majority of whom I could never meet.  It’s a connectedness with the fabric of humanity, through time.  Reading and remembering and trying to understand what has mattered to others and, through writing, trying to communicate to others what has mattered to me, and also acting as a signal booster, translating to contemporary terms what mattered to others long ago, and converting their words to physical forms that make them more accessible today and hopefully passing them on toward the future, where others can pick up the baton and run more laps.

Given this penchant of mine, the question of “What is the meaning of life?” translates to “What is the meaning of humanity/mankind?”  Is there a purpose, a mission, a reason for being for all of us collectively?

And at that level, the question is transformed — I don’t need to know what that meaning is.  I doubt that I could ever decipher it from the mass of data.  I doubt that anyone could.

But I can accept and believe in mankind — as a multi-million-year endeavor.  We are all in this huge boat (Ark) that seems so small in the context of the universe and in the context of eternity.  Simply on faith, I believe that mankind has meaning and that it matters for me to live, just as it matters for mankind and whatever mankind evolves into to continue to live and to continue to be bound together by word and image and memory across all inhabitable space and through all inhabited time.

Richard Seltzer seltzer@samizdat.com

This week’s book is The Red Acorn, a Civil War novel by John McElroy. According to Wikipedia: “John McElroy was born to Robert and Mary Henderson McElroy in Greenup County, Kentucky. When his father died, he traveled to St. Louis to become an apprentice in the printing business. As a sixteen year old in 1863, McElroy enlisted in the Union Army as a private in Company L of the 16th Illinois Cavalry regiment, having earlier served with local Union troops in operations near St. Louis. In January 1864, he was among dozens of men captured in a skirmish near Jonesville, Virginia, by Confederate cavalrymen under William E. Jones. McElroy sent to a variety of camps before being assigned to Andersonville prison, where he remained for the rest of the war. After the war ended, McElroy was released from captivity and transported back to the North. He settled in Chicago and resumed the printer’s trade. He became a local reporter and newspaperman before moving to Toledo, Ohio, to become an editor of the Toledo Blade. He married Elsie Pomeroy of Ottawa, Ohio, and raised a family. In 1879, he wrote Andersonville: A Story of Rebel Military Prisons, a non-fiction work based on his experiences during his fifteen-month incarceration. It quickly became a bestseller and remained popular for the next twenty years. In 1884, he moved from Toledo to Washington, D.C. to take over as editor and co-owner of the National Tribune. He was active in the local Grand Army of the Republic, serving as commander of the Department of the Potomac in 1896. In 1908, McElroy wrote The Economic Functions of Vice. The following year, he published Struggle for Missouri, a history of the bitter division over slavery that split the state’s loyalties and led to armed conflict within its borders. In 1910, he wrote a Civil War novel entitled Si Klegg: His Transformation from a Raw Recruit to a Veteran.”

Next week I plan to send out “The Little Regiment and Other Episodes of the American Civil War” by Stephen Crane (author of The Red Badge of Courage), together with the Civil War short story “An Incident at Owl Creek” by Ambrose Bierce.

Also, please let me know if you’d prefer to receive these books in .prc format (for the Kindle) or .epub (for the Nook, Sony and other ereaders).

Meanwhile, thanks to a suggestion from Betty Bandy, the Kid’s Book of the Week is “New Treasure Seekers or The Bastable Children in Sesarch of a Fortune” by Edith Nesbit.

Please let me know if you’d like me to add you to that list (and whether you’d like .txt, .epub, or Kindle).

Suggestions always welcome.

Best wishes.

Richard Seltzer seltzer@samizdat.com

In the Starcraft PC game series, the Zerg are one of the races struggling for dominance.  While there are many Xerg, they act together (more or less) as a single-entity, a single horde or hive.  When they capture an opponent, they “assimilate” him or her, acquiring new strength, new powers, new perceptions.

It just struck me that reading books is a bit like that, though the “assimilation” is flawed and incomplete.

I’ve been keeping lists of the books I read (and finish) since 1958, when I was in the seventh grade.  In those 54 years, I’ve read 3321 books.  I’d like to believe that I have grown through the process.  That thoughts and emotions of authors whose works I have read have become part of me, have enriched me.

I guess this is a variation on Auden’s line in memory of Yeats, “The words of a dead man are modified in the guts of the living.”  Auden meant it ironically.  He was writing from the perspective of a poet who on death “became his admirers”, ceased being himself.

I’m looking at the same phenomenon from the perspective of the reader.  In that sense, as the words of  dead men are modified in my “guts”, they become part of me, they nourish me, they give me strength.

FYI — Complete list of books read http://www.samizdat.com/readall.html
Books read in 2011 http://www.samizdat.com/read2011.html
“Score” (record of how many books read each year) http://www.samizdat.com/readscor.html

Richard Seltzer seltzer@samizdat.com

Thanks to a suggestion from Grace Ensz, this week’s Free Ebook of the Week is Si Klegg, a Civil War novel by John McElroy, author of Andersonville, last week’s selection. According to Wikipedia: “John McElroy was born to Robert and Mary Henderson McElroy in Greenup County, Kentucky. When his father died, he traveled to St. Louis to become an apprentice in the printing business. As a sixteen year old in 1863, McElroy enlisted in the Union Army as a private in Company L of the 16th Illinois Cavalry regiment, having earlier served with local Union troops in operations near St. Louis. In January 1864, he was among dozens of men captured in a skirmish near Jonesville, Virginia, by Confederate cavalrymen under William E. Jones. McElroy sent to a variety of camps before being assigned to Andersonville prison, where he remained for the rest of the war. After the war ended, McElroy was released from captivity and transported back to the North. He settled in Chicago and resumed the printer’s trade. He became a local reporter and newspaperman before moving to Toledo, Ohio, to become an editor of the Toledo Blade. He married Elsie Pomeroy of Ottawa, Ohio, and raised a family. In 1879, he wrote Andersonville: A Story of Rebel Military Prisons, a non-fiction work based on his experiences during his fifteen-month incarceration. It quickly became a bestseller and remained popular for the next twenty years. In 1884, he moved from Toledo to Washington, D.C. to take over as editor and co-owner of the National Tribune. He was active in the local Grand Army of the Republic, serving as commander of the Department of the Potomac in 1896. In 1908, McElroy wrote The Economic Functions of Vice. The following year, he published Struggle for Missouri, a history of the bitter division over slavery that split the state’s loyalties and led to armed conflict within its borders. In 1910, he wrote a Civil War novel entitled Si Klegg: His Transformation from a Raw Recruit to a Veteran.”

Please let me know if you’d like Red Acorn, another novel by McElroy, next week.

Also, please let me know if you’d prefer to receive these books in .prc format (for the Kindle) or .epub (for the Nook, Sony and other ereaders).

Meanwhile, thanks to a suggestion from Betty Bandy, the Kid’s Book of the Week is The Wouldbegoods by Edith Nesbit, the second of her three Treasure Seeker books. Please let me know if you’d like me to add you to that list (and whether you’d like .txt, .epub, or Kindle).

Suggestions always welcome.

Please spread the word.

Best wishes.

Richard

Richard Seltzer seltzer@samizdat.com

This week’s Free Ebook of the Week is “Andersonville, a Story of Rebel Military Prisons, Fifteen Months a Guest of the So-Called Southern Confederacy, a Private Soldier’s Expreience in Richmond, Andersonville, Savannah, Millen, Blackshear and Florence” by John McElroy. According to Wikipedia: “John McElroy was born to Robert and Mary Henderson McElroy in Greenup County, Kentucky. When his father died, he traveled to St. Louis to become an apprentice in the printing business. As a sixteen year old in 1863, McElroy enlisted in the Union Army as a private in Company L of the 16th Illinois Cavalry regiment, having earlier served with local Union troops in operations near St. Louis. In January 1864, he was among dozens of men captured in a skirmish near Jonesville, Virginia, by Confederate cavalrymen under William E. Jones. McElroy sent to a variety of camps before being assigned to Andersonville prison, where he remained for the rest of the war. After the war ended, McElroy was released from captivity and transported back to the North. He settled in Chicago and resumed the printer’s trade. He became a local reporter and newspaperman before moving to Toledo, Ohio, to become an editor of the Toledo Blade. He married Elsie Pomeroy of Ottawa, Ohio, and raised a family. In 1879, he wrote Andersonville: A Story of Rebel Military Prisons, a non-fiction work based on his experiences during his fifteen-month incarceration. It quickly became a bestseller and remained popular for the next twenty years. In 1884, he moved from Toledo to Washington, D.C. to take over as editor and co-owner of the National Tribune. He was active in the local Grand Army of the Republic, serving as commander of the Department of the Potomac in 1896. In 1908, McElroy wrote The Economic Functions of Vice. The following year, he published Struggle for Missouri, a history of the bitter division over slavery that split the state’s loyalties and led to armed conflict within its borders. In 1910, he wrote a Civil War novel entitled Si Klegg: His Transformation from a Raw Recruit to a Veteran.”

Please let me know if you’d prefer to receive these books in .prc format (for the Kindle) or .epub (for the Nook, Sony and other ereaders).

Meanwhile, thanks to a suggestion from Betty Bandy, the Kid’s Book of the Week is “The Story of the Treasure Seekers” by Edith Nesbit. Please let me know if you’d like me to add you to that list (and whether you’d like .txt, .epub, or Kindle).

Suggestions always welcome.

Please spread the word.

PS — Simple but Special Do-It-Yourself Gift for a Two-Year-Old

For my granddaughter, Lila, who is one-and-a-half, I made a picture book, with easy-to-use computer capabilities.

I took photos in which she appeared with other people and selected/copied the piece with her in it as a separate file.  Then I created a new document in Word, used “insert picture” to put the full picture in and at the end added the text “Where is Lila?”  (If under View you select Print Layout, the photo is automatically sized to fit the page.  If there is not enough room to put your words underneath, just click and drag upward from the lower right corner of the image to make space.)  I saved and printed that document.  Then I created another new document and insert the picture with her alone and added the text “Here is Lila!”  I did the same for half a dozen other photos.  Then I created a document with just the words “Where is Lila?” in very large type, and another with just “Here is Lila!” in very large type.  I taped (with shipping tape) the “Here is Lila!” to a piece of cardboard the size of a sheet for paper (the back of a pad of paper).  And to the top of that page I taped a little mirror. I put each of the pages in “sheet protectors” that I bought at Staples.  That protects the pages from smudging, makes them look shiny, and also means I don’t have to punch holes.  And I put all the pages in a slim 3-ring binder.  For a cover, I inserting my favorite picture of Lila alone and added the text “Lila’s Book.  Christmas 2011.”

You can see the book (without the mirror at http://www.samizdat.com/lilabook.html

Richard Seltzer seltzer@samizdat.com

For my granddaughter, Lila, who is one-and-a-half, I made a picture book, with easy-to-use computer capabilities.

I took photos in which she appeared with other people and selected/copied the piece with her in it as a separate file.  Then I created a new document in Word, used “insert picture” to put the full picture in and at the end added the text “Where is Lila?”  (If under View you select Print Layout, the photo is automatically sized to fit the page.  If there is not enough room to put your words underneath, just click and drag upward from the lower right corner of the image to make space.)  I saved and printed that document.  Then I created another new document and insert the picture with her alone and added the text “Here is Lila!”  I did the same for half a dozen other photos.  Then I created a document with just the words “Where is Lila?” in very large type, and another with just “Here is Lila!” in very large type.  I taped (with shipping tape) the “Here is Lila!” to a piece of cardboard the size of a sheet for paper (the back of a pad of paper).  And to the top of that page I taped a little mirror.

I put each of the pages in “sheet protectors” that I bought at Staples.  That protects the pages from smudging, makes them look shiny, and also means I don’t have to punch holes.  And I put all the pages in a slim 3-ring binder.  For a cover, I inserting my favorite picture of Lila alone and added the text “Lila’s Book.  Christmas 2011.”

You can see the book (without the mirror at http://www.samizdat.com/lilabook.html

Richard Seltzer seltzer@samizdat.com