A Long Petal of the Sea

It was with a good deal of enthusiasm that I began reading A Long Petal of the Sea by Isabel Allende. The reasons behind this enthusiasm were threefold:
1)  The novel came highly recommended by someone of whom I have great respect.
2)  The story begins during the Spanish Civil War of the 1930s, and continues on into the Second World War. Several of the novels I had read without the past 30 days dealt with the terror of living under the Fascists and Nazis of that era and this novel looked to be in my wheelhouse.
3) While researching Isabel Allende, I learned that her writing is considered by many to be in a style known as Magic realism. The Japanese writer, Haruki Murakami is seen as one of the most important authors of this genre, and to have one's name mentioned alongside Haruki Murakami is high praise.

Sadly, I was disappointed in the novel.

Although Allende is critical (and rightly so) of the Fascist General Franco, who was supported by Hitler and Mussolini,  Allende appears to be less than critical of the Spanish Republican army which was being supported by the Soviet Union. As we see with the modern day Antifa movement, being "anti-Fascist" isn't enough. Joseph Stalin was the ultimate anti-Fascist.

Each chapter in the novel starts with a line from the work of Chilean poet, Pablo Neruda - an unapologetic Communist. Allende also praises, through out the novel, her cousin Salvador Allende, the first Marxist to be elected president in a "liberal democracy" in Latin America.

From a political standpoint, Isabel Allende cannot be viewed as an unbiased observer of history.

A Long Petal of the Sea  is, after all an "historical novel", so comparing this work to Haruki Murakami's Magic realism might be a bit unfair. One review called the book "a trifle facile", and wrote "Allende tends to describe emotions and events rather than delve into them, and she paints the historical backdrop in very broad strokes, but she is an engaging storyteller".

More than one reviewer called the storytelling "forced", with much of the story being told, summarized after events have occurred rather than being experienced as they happen. Another reviewer at Goodreads said reading the novel was like reading a newspaper.

Oh, did I fail to mention that the novel is rife with anti-Catholic bigotry? Of course, that's to be expected in a novel in which most of the heroes are Marxists.

A New VW Post

 

Having discovered the ends and outs of the road I called "entrance X" [And it Comes Out Where? ] the road has become a semi-regular part of my morning bicycle ride. The first time I traveled that road, I had come down Rovira Drive from Camanjac - the second time, from the Xuekashi Motorparts store and then left down Rovira Drive to Pulantubig. Today, it was my intention to enter at the motor parts store, then cross Rovira onto Boni Catarata, and ride to my friend's place on Motong Rd.

Unfortunately, my friend wasn't home, but the trip was not a total washout. While on Boni Catarata, I happened upon a old VW Beetle parked along the road.

Anyone familiar with my other blog, sorryalltheclevernamesaretaken will recall that a regular feature was my blog posts and photos of Volkswagen Beetles I came upon while wandering through Dumaguete.

With the coming of COVID, I spent less time driving around Dumaguete and I had not taken a new photo of a VW Beetle since March 04, 2020.

So naturally, coming across this VW this morning, I had to take a few photos and post them.

This post will be published in both blogs - sorryalltheclevernamesaretaken and robertsimms.blogspot.com.

 

And it Comes Out Where?

 

If one travels along Motong Road from the Motong Brgy. Hall to the Morning Star Gas station, you'll run into Boni Catarata. Taking a right on Boni Catarata will take you to Rovira Drive. A left turn onto Rovira takes you to Brgy. Camanjac - a right turn takes you to Brgy. Pulantubig. Looking directly across Rovira, one sees an unnamed road. This road can be seen in the first photo of this blog post. In this post, I will refer to that road as "entrance X".

One day, my friend Ken R. and I were talking about entrance X (although we didn't call it that back then). Neither of us had traveled down that road and we were both mildly interested in where it might lead. I had my own theory about that.

My Theory

Although I may change up the route from time to time, my usual bike ride takes me along Dionesio Calbat. I'll turn right at the Tubtubon Brgy. Hall and head toward Rovira Drive at the old Alymae intersection. The road coming from Tubtubon ends at another unnamed road - left goes (after a fashion) to Rovira. I had hitherto never taken a right turn there - I had no reason to, but it was this right turn which I believed might come out at entrance X.

 

One morning, I decided to test my theory. It turns out that I was mistaken. Rather than take me to entrance X, the right turn ended in what can best be described as a pig trail. A path. One could, of course follow the path on foot, motorcycle or bicycle. I was not inclined to do so.

Yesterday, I decided to settle the question, once and for all. I would enter entrance X from Rovira and see where it takes me. It could very well end at a pig trail too.

Most of entrance X is a paved road, although it will convert to a gravel road in spots. That's par for the course here.

 

When I reached the end, I could not have been more surprised. It wasn't a surprise that the road would run into Capt. A Cornelia Rd., but I never suspected the road would end at the Xuekashi Motorparts store. Heck, I ride by there almost every day and never noticed a road directly across from the motor parts store. Well, live and learn.

 

Das Boot (the Novel)

Having finished reading Günter Grass' Danzig Trilogy , it appeared that I hadn't gotten enough of reading about the events of WWII as seen from a German point of view. With that in mind, I placed Lothar-Günther Buchheim's novel, Das Boot into the queue. Reading it would come immediately following Hannibal and Me by Andreas Kluth. Ironically, Kluth tells stories (in his book on Hannibal) of his grandfather's brother, who was also a German living through WWII.

I had originally seen the movie based on Buchheim's novel when it was released in the earlier 1980s and I look at it as a truly classic film. It's been years since I've seen the film, so even if it should follow the book exactly, I knew that what I was about to read would be new to me.

What can I say about the novel that hasn't already been written? Daryl Carpenter has written an excellent review for subsim.com. There are more than 200 reviews for the book at goodreads.com with the vast majority of reviewers giving it either a 4 or 5 star rating out of a possible 5.

The novel is very realistic, and one can feel the tension, anxiety and claustrophobia present in a U-boat patrolling the Atlantic during the Second World War. One reviewer at goodreads.com called Das Boot the Moby Dick of submarine novels. I couldn't have said it better.

The way the story unfolds, you know that the man telling the story has to survive - otherwise the story could not have been told in the first person. Never the less, I was anxious to learn how the narrator could possibly make it. 

Although a work of fiction, Buchheim draws heavily on his own experiences during the war as well as the stories of persons he actually knew.

Although the book drags on in places - it took much longer to finish than I anticipated - it is an amazing book which I give two thumbs up.

Americans Reading Fewer Books

 

According to a recent Gallup poll, Americans are reading fewer books than in the past. This conclusion is based on a Dec. 1-16 poll where Americans were asked how many books they has "read, either all or part of the way through" in the past year. Those questioned were told to include all printed books, e-books and audiobooks.

The average number of books read went down to 12.6 in 2021, from 15.6 in 2016. This is down considerably from the 1999 average of nearly 19 books a year.

I've been keeping lists of the books I've read each year since January, 2011. In the eleven years from Jan.2011 to Dec. 2021, I've read 419 books. That's an average of 38 books each year. Of course, my situation is a bit different than the average American. I've always been a "reader", and now that I'm retired, my three main hobbies are reading books, riding bicycles, and listening to R&B.

I do, however, have to question the reliability of that particular Gallup poll. The numbers are derived from the respondents being asked to self report the numbers. From my personal observation, I believe that most of the people answering the question picked "one book a month" as their answer because most were embarrassed to admit to having read no books the entire year. As much as I hate to admit it, most of the people I know are not readers. According to the poll, 17% of U.S. adults say they did not read any book in 2021 - I'd say, in my view, it's more likely than only 17% of U.S. adults actually read a book last year.

I'm sure there may be some reading this post who think that I'm bragging, or otherwise looking down on the adults who don't read. I'm not. I realize that reading really isn't something everyone enjoys doing. I know that very few people are going to read 152 books a year as I did in 2021, but surely, it wouldn't hurt to pick up a book from time to time.

Back in the Saddle

I mentioned in last Thursday's blog post that after 2 weeks, I was finally able to have my bicycle repaired. I went for a nine kilometer ride Friday morning and noticed that the mechanic had not properly adjusted the gear cables. He came to the house Friday afternoon and took care of that.

Saturday morning, I rode out to a friend's place where he was able to take a few photos for this post.

When Ken sent the photos to me I thanked him, but had to ask, "Who's the old guy on my bicycle?"

My wife often tells me that I have an angry look on my face - which I couldn't believe. It's just my "normal" expression. When I saw these photos, I had to agree that I do look angry, but I'm not.

 

Hannibal and Me

The complete title of this book by Andreas Kluth is Hannibal and Me - What History's Greatest Military Strategist Can Teach Us About Success and Failure , so it would be logical to assume that this book is more than just a typical biography.

Of course, this is the story of the Carthaginian general who sent shock waves through Rome, setting off the Second Punic War, by doing what had previously been considered impossible. The Romans were absolutely certain that no human - much less an army with 38 North African elephants - could cross the Alps into Italy.

This book is, however, more than a biography. The book is essentially Kluth's examination of the nature of "success" and "failure" in the lives of us all. Not only is Hannibal's life a part of this examination, but Kluth looks into how success and/or failure affected other famous people, like Albert Einstein, Eleanor Roosevelt, Harry Truman, Paul Cézanne and Carl Jung. He even found a way to include Cleopatra, Steve Jobs, Tiger Woods and Meriwether Lewis (of Lewis and Clark fame) into the mix. The book is Kluth's explanation as to why some people overcome failure, while some never do and why many people fall victim to their own success (i.e. Tiger Woods).

On his website, Kluth writes:

Every chapter is about one particular theme relating to success and failure in our lives, corresponding to a life stage: the influence of parents, confusion between tactics and strategy, the redefinition of success in midlife, et cetera.
The big idea–an old one, started by Plutarch–is that the lives of others, told in the proper way, offer lessons to me, to you, and to almost everybody. I invite you to see yourself in these stories, just as I see myself in them.  

Many of the lessons Kluth writes about are lesson I wish I had learned many years ago.

As an aside, the only negative comment I can make concerns what I believe is Kluth's misinterpretation of portions of The Bhagavad Gita ,where Kluth believes Arjuna refuses to engage in battle due to his cowardice. I've read The Bhagavad Gita several times over the years in many different translations and none have explained Arjuna's reluctance to fight in this way. I believe Kluth is using a translation by Gandhi (which is one I haven't read) and Gandhi may have had a different interpretation compared to others.

All that being said, I enjoyed Kluth's book and it has led me to download other traditional biographies of Hannibal which will be making their way into the queue.

Bicycle Repaired

A day or so before Christmas, my bicycle was damaged while I was on my morning ride. It's difficult for me to explain exactly what happened. I was just past the Tubtubon Barangay hall when I felt a problem with the bicycle chain.

The chain had come loose, with the end result being a flat rear tire and a damaged derailleur. Whether the loosened chain was the result of the flat tire, or if the chain problem ultimately led to the flat is hard for me to determine. It's like the question of the chicken and the egg.

So, I'm about 2 kilometers from home, with a damaged bicycle. How was I to get back to the house?

Fortunately, I had not been down long when I a saw a pick-up truck heading my way. I flagged the driver and offered him php200 to take me and the bicycle to the Magatas Barangay hall. He was kind enough to take me and the bike where I needed to go.......refusing to accept the php200. It was almost Christmas, he said.

The end result of all this was that I've been unable to ride my bicycle for two weeks. I had to wait until after payday before I could have the necessary repair work done .

This morning, I was finally able to get the bike back on the road. We managed to locate a bicycle mechanic who came to the house today.

He replaced the derailleur, put in a new tube and rotated the front and rear tires. Naturally, I've a few photos.

 

More Strange Behavior from Facebook

Anyone who has read this blog for any length of time knows of my occasional disagreements with Facebook. Heck, this blog was created, due to Facebook having banned another blog for allegedly going against community standards. I dare anyone to objectively read either of my blogs and find anything offensive.

Today, I received another message from Facebook informing me that a link I had posted last year from dumaguetemetropost was also being removed today because it "violated community standards".

The article linked to is entitled "New year heroes", and I had forgotten most of the details of that editorial, but I was certain that there could be nothing in it that warranted Facebook's removal of the link.

With the help of Google, I was able to locate the editorial (linked to above) from dumaguetemetropost.com's archives.

Someone at Facebook has lost their mind.

The editorial is dealing with COVID, and Facebook is sensitive regarding anything posted about the virus, but there is certainly nothing in the editorial to justify Facebook's behavior. There isn't any false information being given, no fake news.

If anyone should be a judge of the community standards of Dumaguete and Negros Oriental, I would trust the dumaguetemetropost over Facebook.

Buddhism and Abortion

 

 

Although I've been studying Buddhism for a good many years, I haven't given much thought to the Buddhist teachings regarding abortion until recently. I had assumed that Buddhists viewed abortion in a way similar to Christians or Hindus. 

While reading about Robert Pirsig (author of Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance ) I came upon a bit of interesting information regarding Pirsig and abortion.

Not long after the murder of his son from a previous marriage, Pirsig's second wife became pregnant. Pirsig's immediate reaction was to terminate the pregnancy. Coincidentally, this was also the view of his wife. The reasons Pirsig gave for this decision were not those typically used by those in the pro-choice camp when trying to justify an abortion. His wife, Wendy had not become pregnant due to rape or incest. When they came to the decision to abort, it was too early in the pregnancy to know of any potential birth defects. Pirsig does not mention any particular financial reasons.

According to the forward in a later edition of  Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance , Pirsig simply felt that due his being over 50 years old at the time of his wife's pregnancy, he did not want to go through the rigors of bringing up another child. It was case of  "I, me, mine."

Pirsig, and again, coincidentally his wife, later came to change that decision to abort. Pirsig came to believe that the child in his wife's womb was the reincarnation of his murdered son, Chris. Luckily for their daughter Nell, the Pirsigs believed in reincarnation......otherwise she would have been killed in the womb.

After learning of Pirsig's decision, I began to look into the Buddhist teachings on abortion. I sent a message (via Facebook) to Bhikshuni Thubten Chodron asking for an explanation of the Buddhist views on abortion. Thubten Chodron is a Buddhist nun who has co-authored, with the Dalai Lama several books on Buddhism. I was referred to her website, thubtenchodron.org with instructions to type "abortion" into the website's search engine. That resulted in these links:
current-world-scenarios-ethics
ethics-politics

In an interview linked to above, Thubten Chodron says,

"In the US, abortion is actually a more controversial issue. Clearly, Buddhism does not approve of abortion, because it involves taking life. Yet, we can’t be like some conservative people, who are strongly opposed even to contraception, which is another extreme. Personally, I don’t agree with handling the entire matter politically, which has caused a lot of suffering. In cases of unwanted pregnancy, the mother, the father, the baby—everyone involved—needs compassion. Once this becomes a matter of political debate, everyone argues and scolds each other, which only increases the suffering of the people involved. We should give them some personal space to make their choice." 

 "I would encourage the pregnant person to give birth to the child, and then afterwards give up the child for adoption, but that is my personal view. My little sister is adopted. I love her very much and I am so happy that her birth mother gave her for adoption, so that she became part of our family."

In the video linked to, Thubten Chodron says that the First Buddhist Precept tells us to abstain from taking life. She goes on to say that Buddhism teaches that, due to the process of rebirth, the fetus obtains consciousness upon conception and is thereby viewed as a human being. Consequently, abortion isn't acceptable in Buddhism.

In his books, Buddhism and Abortion and Buddhist Ethics: A Very Short Introduction , Damien Keown explains that within the traditional teachings of Buddhism there is no question but that abortion is not permitted - not only going against the First Precept, but very often other Precepts are broken as well:
Five Basic Precepts
1) abstain from taking life
2) abstain from taking what is not given
3) abstain from sensuous misconduct
4) abstain from false speech
5) abstain from intoxicants as tending to cloud the mind

Keown also notes that in spite of abortion being against traditional Buddhist teaching, the abortion rates in Buddhist countries are considerably higher than in most non-Buddhist countries. In Thailand, where a more traditional, conservative form of Buddhism is practiced, abortion is illegal, but the laws are not enforced. The abortion rate is very high, particularly among married women, who at the time of the book's writing, used abortion as the primary form of birth control. Ironically, he notes that the abortion rates among pregnant prostitutes in that country are very low; the difference being due to the belief that their being women (and prostitutes) is due to previous bad karma and the birth of a child - particularly a son - is a way for them to acquire merit.

Buddhists in the West tend to be "pro-choice". Western Buddhists are usually more Liberal than Christians. Some observers see the Western Buddhist's views on abortion to be more "Liberalism covered in Buddhist garments" rather than authentic Buddhism.

In Japan, the view among Buddhists is similar to the Western view, although Japanese Buddhists, unlike their Western counterparts, acknowledge that the unborn child is fully human. Some Japanese Buddhists attempt to deal with the contradiction by participating in a ritual known as Mizuko kuyō. Reasons for the performance of these rites can include parental grief, desire to comfort the soul of the fetus, guilt for an abortion, or even fear of retribution from a vengeful ghost.

It would appear, that when it comes to living up to their religious beliefs, Buddhists can be as hypocritical as members of other religious groups.

The Danzig Trilogy

Having finished reading the three novels in Günter Grass' Danzig Trilogy (The Tin Drum - Cat and Mouse - Dog Years ) I cannot honestly say that I am close to fully understanding this monumental work. As I wrote earlier regarding The Tin Drum , the protagonist of the first novel, Oskar Matzerath writes his memoirs while confined to a German mental institution, and it's difficult understanding which portions of the novel Grass wants us to accept as "true" and how much of what Matzerath writes is to be considered part of his mental illness.

Part of that question is answered in the other two novels where there is mention of a three year old boy who plays a tin drum. Evidentially, we are expected to suspend reality and accept that Oskar somehow maintains his 3 year old body into adulthood.

For the most part, the events in the three novels occur in the Free City of Danzig during the Second World War, although there is some mention of other places and other times.

Oskar Matzerath and his "presumptive father" Alfred Matzerath appear in all three novels, although their appearances in the second and third novels are minor.

One character who does play a significant part in books two and three is the young girl, Tulla Pokriefke. In Cat and Mouse we learn a little about Tulla's personality. The best way to describe her in that book is "unruly". As a teen, the girl encourages teenage boys to masturbate while she watches. However, it is in the third novel that we learn the full extent of Tulla Pokriefke's character - or rather lack of character as she is decidedly evil in Dog Years . Her treatment of Jenny is despicable.

Of the three, Cat and Mouse is my favorite. In The Tin Drum , it's difficult understanding what's "real" and what isn't. I had some difficulty understanding many of the allegories in Dog Years , and there are also several references to political events in Germany during the 1950s which often go over my head.

In 1999, the Swedish Academy awarded Günter Grass the Nobel Prize in Literature and when I understand what he's trying to say, I can appreciate his great writing ability. Unfortunately, there is much in Grass's writing which I can't claim to fully understand.

The 2021 Book List

Beginning in 2011, I began posting, as a part of New Years, a list of the books I'd read during the year. This tradition began in my sorryalltheclevernamesaretaken blog and has been continued in this blog. Also, in January of this year, I decided to post a monthly list. That plan has actually turned out for the best.

In 2021, I read a total of 152 books - mostly ebooks - This is certainly far and away the most books I've read during any year since I began keeping track. The previous record total was 45 books - read in 2017.

In 2021 I was able to read a number of ebooks still under copyright, so I'm no longer limited to Project Gutenberg, Project Gutenberg Australia, and Faded Page. In May, I found a website that allowed me to download every mystery novel written by Agatha Christie in epub format (which I was able to convert to mobi for my Kindle). In October, I discovered another website which allows me to download ebooks by several writers which are also under copyright. That site is basically a "library".

I've decided that this year, rather than posting the 152 books in one post, I'd post links to each monthly book list of 2021.

Here, then are the 12 monthly book lists for this year.

January
February
March
April
May
June
July
August
September
October
November
December