Outside Reading Quarter 3

I want to read One Hundred Years of Solitude

1. I want to read this because its a classic, and I think its important to read the classics. Also I have heard many good things about it, including in a book I read for outside reading earlier this year.
2. I got it today from Half Priced Books.

Under The Radar

Under The Radar is a music magazine, and their most recent issue includes their Top 50 Albums of 2008 according to it's writers. They also rank and review the Top 20 Debut Albums, Top 20 Songs, and Top 20 Overrated / Disappointing. This brings me to my dilemma. They write that many albums I thought enjoyable, well composed, and worht while were overrated and disappointing, while things, one album in particular, that I did not enjoy at all, were ranked highly and got good reviews. This is not to say I think my musical opinion superior to professional music critics. I simply believe they shouldn't only have the writers opinions published, and maybe ought to have had readers submit their top 50 or top 20 lists and reviews. The reasons I can think of that some of these so called 'disappointing' albums were named as such extend to the said unliked (by me) album (liked by them) in my opinion just as greatly. I was just listening to this album in question today, giving it a chance, and now when I reread their review, nothing is fitting. They say it "broke the mold on the actress-turned-singer stereotype" which is a fair claim, but not enough, in my mind, to give it a #6 ranking out of all the albums released in 2008. Is this to say that if one of the singers in the 'disappointing' albums had been an actor or actress previous to their singing career, they would too have been ranked at #6? This is unfair. Music critics should not be judging on the breaking of social stereotypes, but the quality of the music. They go on to say the album was a "boy-meets-girl musical duet" which I find little to no evidence of while listening. When looking at the back story, yes, this claim makes sense. But while listening to the music, as I said before, the only thing that should matter when critiquing MUSIC, I don't hear that. I hear a girl. Singing. About girl issues. None of this 'boy-meets-girl' duetness. They finish off the review saying that Volume Two wil soon be on the way. But after listening to Volume One, do we really want to hear more?
Yes, I am being rather critical here, and its not an awful album. I just think its silly that such an opinionated matter is controlled completely from the inside, and that the reasons they give for their choices are unjustified in the terms of musical quality.

the ghosts appear

Now that I am more than halfway through the tale of The Turn Of The Screw by Henry James, it has certainly become apparent that it is indeed a ghost story. The ghosts in question are the previous deceased governess, and a friend of the master's, Quint, a suspicious creepy man who stayed at the house during the previous governess's term, and died mysteriously on a roadside. Not only do they share the curious death affairs, but they may have been something close to lovers during their time in the physical world. The new governess is frightened, not of them themselves anymore, but of the affect they seem to be having on previously conceived innocent Flora and Miles. She repeatedly catches Flora peering out of her window late at night, and on one occasion discovers it is Miles, out in the yard, with whom she is communicating. Convinced that the children are being corrupted by these evil spirits, the governess tries to figure out a way to protect them.
Another conflict that may have something to do with her suspcions is that Miles was expelled from his school, even though she has only ever thought of him as an angel (now an angel being corrupted). Could it really be the sinister ghosts slinking around the mannor, or is it possible that Flora and Miles are corrupt of their own accord? Perhaps it is simply another one of their fantasies, merely a game to them, while in reality these 'playmates' are going to lead to their ultimate demise. Only time will tell who is innocent, and who will live to tell of these other worldly encounters.

The Turn Of The Screw

I just started reading The Turn Of The Screw by Henry James. I already read The Aspern Papers by James, so I am somewhat accustomed to his style at this point. The Turn Of The Screw is supposed to be a ghost story of sorts, which I think will be interesting, as I've never read a quality literature ghost story. So far the characters that have been introduced are the original narrator, Douglas, the owner of the story, and their various friends who gather to hear the spooky tale. In the tale itself are the new governess, the children Flora, who is a very beatiful child, and her brother, said to be at least equally beautiful but whom we have yet to meet, Miles, as well as the maid, and the briefly mentioned master of the household. Some of the foreshadowing seems to hint at trouble with Miles' disposition, the curious death of the previous governess and what that means for the new one, the mistaking the maid's mention of a "he" for someone other than the master, and the children being eerily beautiful. These all may or may not have some affect in the overall plot line.
I wonder why James chose to start the story outside of the tale itself. Perhaps this was to build the background and the suspense, to introduce the idea to the reader that what they are about to read is indeed a ghost story. I wonder if the narrating will periodically shift from the governess back to the original so we can see how the group is enjoying it's telling. Maybe this would give the reader more insight when necessary, and allow for suspenseful breaks in the progression of the story. I do hope, however, that the end is not as aggravating as that of The Aspern Papers.

Part Five of Darkmans

I am currently on part five of Darkmans by Nicola Barker, and the plot just keeps thickening, and keeps adding more twists and turns. I would like to make some predictions as to what will happen in the latter half of the book.

For one thing, I think that the John character is the man Dory becomes when he is not himself, which is why he does not recognize anything, even his wife, and why he is crazy. Fleet is aware of this, and Elen is at least aware that he is not himself at these times, because she gets very upset when Fleet calls Dory John. Peta and Ann are somehow in cohorts with John, perhaps having something to do with the mysterious painting. And perhaps the main character being the past is actually refering to John, who is from the past. John is also abusive to Elen. We learn this when Fleet tells Charles, "No. He's not my friend because he hurt my mama." And then, the assurance of the fact, when "Fleet pushed up the sleeve of his mother's jacket, revealing the fading ring of bruises around her wrist." The only thing that confuses me on this topic, is if Elen got those bruises from Dory while he was John, what was she doing hurting herself with the lighter in an earlier scene? And why was she hiding the trian schedule from Dory in the first place?
Since I'm pretty sure that the special thing about Gerry was that she had some STD, that leaves Kane, Gerry, Gaffar, and Kane all as insignificant characters in regards to the past. However, I don't think that they will end up as such, or maybe they will represent the future overcoming the past in a necessary advancement. If so, why is Fleet, certainly, as the more youthful, the more future representative, more involved and aware of the presence of John and the past than any of them? Kane is catching on when he witnesses the dark bird, but he could have been halucinating, or thought he was. We will just have to wait and see what roles these less informed characters have to play as the book comes to its close.

http://sks.sirs.com/cgi-bin/hst-article-display?id=SMN0307H-0-2383&artno=0000014119&type=ART&shfilter=U&key=&title=Rage%20in%20the%20Cage&res=Y&ren=Y&gov=Y&lnk=N&ic=Y

http://sks.sirs.com/cgi-bin/hst-article-display?id=SMN0307H-0-2383&artno=0000282746&type=ART&shfilter=U&key=&title=Solitary%20Confinement%3A%20An%20American%20Invention&res=Y&ren=Y&gov=Y&lnk=N&ic=Y

http://solitaryconfinement.org/resources

ethics sites/cites

DeMartini, Alayna. "Long Terms in Solitary Can Warp Minds, Critics Say." Columbus Dispatch Sept 2007. SIRS Researcher. SIRS Knowledge Source. Edina High School. 7 Dec 2008 http://www.sirs.com.

Alayna DeMartini is a reporter for The Dispatch which is a respected newspaper. In the article, she quotes a director of Human Rights Watch: "For the mentally ill, it can be torture," Fellner said. "You cannot just be locked up with your own mind because it can be very scary and damaging." This suggests the idea that solitary confinement, at least at great length, is neither healthy, nor productive, as, she argues, it can make violent teens even more so. The other end of the arguement is brought up as well, quoting Brian Lane from the Marion County prison, "the confinement teaches youths to change their behavior. They seldom return to the unit." The general ideas the article leaves you with about solitary confinement are that it can be good to calm a person down for a few hours, but at great lengths, it is not good for the prisoner, or society when the person is returned to it, because of the estrangement and isolation and what it does to the human mind, especially when said mind already has emotional issues.

Laughlin, Meg. "Does Seperation Equal Suffereing?" St. Petersburg Times Dec 2006. SIRS Researcher. SIRS Knowledge Source. Edina High School. 7 Dec 2008 http://www.sirs.com.

Meg Laughlin is a reporter for the St. Petersburg Times. She brings up many good arguements towards solitary confinement being cruel, focusing on one prisoner, Ian Manuel, who was 14 when first imprisoned, and even after appologizing to the victim, and her forgiving him and wanting to help him get educated, was not allowed any rehabilitation, because of his solitary confinement. She brings up the fact that "cutting and watching the blood flow is how hundreds of inmates 'relieve the boredom and stress of isolation.' " This quote was from Don Gibs, a psychiatrist for the Department of Corrections, who also states that "It takes from two to six months for inmates in solitary to start exhibiting signs of mental illness, if they are not already mentally ill." So not only is it a cruel experience for the prisoners, the fact that they receive no rehabilitation and have a good chance of becoming mentally ill bodes poorly for society as a whole when they have served their time.