The Full Body Project, Photographs by Leonard Nimoy

From the first time I heard about this book, I was interested in seeing it. It is a book of black and white photographs of plus-size women; mostly posed group nude shots. It isn't very long or complicated and doesn't take a long time to leaf through. I liked the book but I didn't feel it had much diversity. Most of the women featured are young and Caucasian with tattoos and long hair. All of them were able-bodied, as far as I could tell. My favorite shots were those of an older woman, towards the back of the book. I love looking at pictures of voluptuous women, and this is a good collection. But I think it has made me realize that I find more enjoyment in photo collections that show a number of different body types, ethnicities, ages, and so on - not to mention, collections with both candids and stills, in a variety of settings. I also wished to hear the women speaking about their experiences and their feelings about their lives and their bodies. (My two favorite photo books are I Am Beautiful and Photo Sex.)
Still, I think this would be a great book for any larger women who feel they have a hard time accepting their bodies, or other folks who want to see big, beautiful women. Also, it would be a great coffee table book for an office or group that works with women of size. Three stars.

Dry Water by Eric S. Nylund

It's a little difficult to explain why I read this book. I mean, I know why, I just don't know WHY. ( Read more... )

The book is okay. The main character kind of feels like a Mary Sue to me. There are a lot of thinly veiled references to Roger Zelazney, and thinly veiled Christian myth stuff as well. It just... wasn't as clever as it wanted to be, and I don't feel it was good enough in other ways to make up for that. The best parts were descriptions of magic and historical lives. Overall, though, Nylund seems to lack subtlety. Two stars only for Dry Water.

another book about positive reinforcement - better as a column, almost

A while back, I mentioned a column here: "What Shamu Taught Me About a Happy Marriage," which was published in the New York Times. It was about applying the techniques used by animal trainers to human relationships. This column inspired me to read Don't Shoot the Dog by Karen Pryor for the first time. Now the column has generated a book of its own - What Shamu Taught Me About Life, Love, and Marriage. It's like the short, shallow, witty version of Don't Shoot the Dog. If you think it's better to have more cute anecdotes than the complete ten rules of positive reinforcement (the book explains that there are ten but only lists five), it's the book for you. Personally, I'm giving it back to the library, but I'm keeping my copy of Don't Shoot the Dog for good - and that one was written by someone who's an actual animal trainer. Also, I felt I had already seen the best parts of the book in the column, which was annoying. Still, I imagine this will expose more people to the idea of positive reinforcement, and maybe some of them will even learn to do it, and that can only be a good thing as far as I'm concerned. It also made me laugh. Three stars.

Click: One Novel Ten Authors

This is a young adult book in ten chapters. It blurs the line between "novel" and "short story collection." I enjoyed most of the pieces. The authors are: David Almond, Eoin Colfer, Roddy Doyle, Deborah Ellis, Nick Hornby, Margo Lanagan, Gregory Maguire, Ruth Ozeki, Linda Sue Park, and Tim Wynne-Jones. (If anyone knows for sure if he's related to Diana, would you let me know? So far the Internets haven't figured it out for me.) Two children have lost their grandfather, and the rest of the book explores his life as a photojournalist and the lives that they choose in the future. Most chapters are written from different perspectives - only one perspective, that of Maggie, returns.

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My favorite chapters were Annie, Lev, and Min. My least favorite were the last two - it doesn't work as well as sci fi, in my opinion. In general, the book hangs together pretty well. The various segments are all well-written - the prose is surprisingly good - and the links between the stories are deftly done. An enjoyable light read with a conscience - proceeds benefit Amnesty International. Parts of it may be too intense for younger children, unless they've been through a lot already. Four stars.