Eugene weekly., December 08, 2016, Page 16, Image 16

city where she is literally surrounded by millions and millions
of people. It’s the soul’s plight of the post-Industrial Age:
How can people be lonely when they’re stacked on top of each
other in gleaming metropolises?
Laing finds company in the work of artists who themselves
wrestled with loneliness, self-imposed as well as thrown down
by society — the likes of Edward Hopper, Andy Warhol,
Klaus Nomi, David Wojnarowicz and Henry Darger. Her
descriptions of Hopper’s suffocating walls of glass (à la his
1942 oil painting “Nighthawks,” and more) raised the hairs on
the back of my neck.
And while there are no glossy art images in the book, she
describes artworks with such care, such heightened attention
to detail and to each artist’s set of codes, that seeing them
through her eyes is almost better than seeing for yourself.
Laing finds that loneliness is “a city in itself,” and it’s
populated by many. — Alex V. Cipolle
The Nordic
Theory of
Everything:
In Search of
a Better Life
by Anu Partanen.
Harper, $27.99.
Nothing in U.S.
politics surprises me
more than a seeming
universal lack of
imagination in
exploring potential
alternatives to how
we do business and
government. This
likely has some
correlation with
the widespread
negative resignation
and fatalistic resolve that seem to have rotted the core of
our meager political culture. Are there alternatives? Why
not explore? Nordic Theory is a perfect book to inspire
consideration for how nations that are more developed and
modern than the U.S. manage their resources. Written by a
Finn who has immigrated here, the book is full of interesting
comparisons between Nordic countries and the United States.
It offers perspectives and statistics that are fascinating and
telling in their revelation of how the Nordic countries became
more egalitarian, progressive and stable than the United
States, partly through adopting some practices borrowed from
us in the first place. An expanded theme is how providing
citizens with the basic requirements for life, like education
and health care, actually creates more individual liberty
and autonomy, rather than dependency. Partanen grapples
with some of the most common generalizations Americans
make when claiming we cannot utilize Nordic approaches
and maintains a realistic critique of some issues the Nordic
countries currently face. — Paul Quillen
A Week in
Yellowstone’s
Throrofare:
A Journey
through the
Remotest
Place by Michael
J. Yochim. Oregon
State University Press,
$19.95.
Park ranger Michael
J. Yochim’s account of
a 2014 kayaking trip
through the wilderness
of Yellowstone’s
Thorofare takes on a
sobering new meaning
when, fairly early in the book, he reveals that he’s been
diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), or
Lou Gehrig’s disease. Having spent a lifetime exploring
nature, hiking thousands of miles over wild terrain, Yochim
documents a final journey through his beloved Yellowstone
with a group of friends who help him make the journey
despite his rapidly failing body.
By turns poetic, musing, historical and descriptive, A Week
in Yellowstone’s Thorofare communicates Yochim’s deep
love for nature and his concern for its future in the face
of climate change. He recounts historical details from
Yellowstone’s past, explaining how one of Yellowstone’s most
wild areas was protected from development over the years.
The book bears black-and-white photos from this breathtaking
area of Wyoming, with sweeping valleys and snow-clad peaks
that stun even without color.
“Writing this book was a way for me to cope with
the isolation forced upon me by ALS: not only isolation
from the landscape I have always found so invigorating,
but also isolation from those that I love, as my speech grew
increasingly slurred and unintelligible,” Yochim writes. “The
12 months that I spent writing and revising this book were the
longest time period in a quarter-century that I did not set foot
in Yellowstone, and I have no realistic hope of ever getting
there again.”
Though replete with elegant prose about Yellowstone’s
wild forests and waters, perhaps the most touching and
emotional passages of the book emerge in Yochim’s
reflections on his condition, the inevitability of his disease and
his bittersweet gratefulness to see the wonders of Yellowstone
one last time.
While heartbreaking, Yochim’s story strikes deep in that
profoundly human part of the soul that connects us with
nature and our own fleeting mortality. — Amy Klarup
k Teacher: Two Years in the
Mississippi Delta by Michael Copperman.
University of Mississippi Press, $25.
Before local writer Michael Copperman began to teach
writing to low-income, first-generation college students of
diverse backgrounds at the University of Oregon, he spent two
years in the Mississippi Delta having his illusions shattered.
His memoir Teacher: Two Years in the Mississippi Delta
chronicles the joys, but mainly the heartbreaks, of being sent
to teach fourth graders by Teach for America with all the hope
in the world but very few of the tools he needed for success.
Copperman’s writing is wryly personal and brutally honest,
and his goals, failures and successes of Teach for America are
worth pondering. — Camilla Mortensen
Charlotte Brontë:
A Fiery Heart by
Claire Harman. Penguin
Random House, $30.
While reading Claire
Harmon’s excellent biography
of Charlotte Brontë — famed
author of Jane Eyre — I found
myself wondering how the
Brontës would have fared
in the 21st century. Harmon
intimately describes the
siblings’ faults and talents,
creating a tangible portrait
of the Brontë family in all
its oddball charm. Would Branwell Brontë have sought help
for his opium addiction and alcoholism, I wonder? Would
Charlotte Brontë have found true love on eHarmony, crafting
her image through writing to supplement her abysmally absent
social graces? Would all four siblings have lived to a ripe old
age, producing mountains of literary genius, instead of dying
tragically young from tuberculosis?
I have always been intrigued by the Brontës and their
churning creativity, so this glimpse into their world proved
fascinating. Harmon depicts Charlotte Brontë with warmth
and fondness, while keeping honest about the darker sides
of her nature. Brontë’s blatant obsession with her professor
is cringe-worthy, an unrequited infatuation that clung to her
for years. But Harmon’s descriptions of Brontë’s sensitivity,
her bluntness, her ability to craft fantasy worlds to which she
mentally escaped, truly shed light on the complexity and deep
intelligence that characterized the life of this great novelist.
With every success Brontë encounters, I felt cheered, and with
every obstacle, I despaired for her. As a woman and author
in the 19th century, she faced difficulties at every turn, and
Harmon’s biography portrays the full contextual magnitude of
Brontë’s accomplishments.
If you’re looking for a book that makes you want to reach
back through time and hug its subject, Charlotte Brontë: A
Fiery Heart fulfills every wish. — Amy Klarup
Tesla for Beginners by Robert I. Sutherland-
Cohen, illustrations by Owen Brozman. For Beginners,
$15.95.
I knew the name Nikola Tesla, but it was my love of
grammar comics that led me to discover the story of the
genius inventor. I avidly read “The Oatmeal” online (and
Read Electronically
with the Eugene Public Library
T
he Eugene Public Library says when it comes to reading, it’s going to stay
out of the fray over print ebook versus audio. “In practice, most people enjoy
books in each of these ways at different times,” the library’s director, Connie
Bennett, says, adding: “At Eugene Public Library, we believe in freedom of
format!”
She says that while every week “thousands of Eugeneans browse and borrow hundreds
of thousands of printed books from the library’s shelves. Simultaneously, thousands more
enjoy eBooks and online audiobooks free with their library cards.”
Bennett suggests trying out “eBooks and Streaming” on the library website to start
using Library2Go (OverDrive) and Hoopla. She says, “These large, constantly updated
collections offer something for everyone: current bestsellers, classics, fiction, nonfiction,
graphic novels and comics, and more.” And for kids there is Tumblebooks, “which includes
read-along animated picture books.”
Bennett says the services are easy, save money and are convenient for travel, and, she
says, “an absolutely delightful option when you’re snuggled in at home on a cold winter’s
night.”
For more info, contact the Eugene Public Library at 541-682-5450 or eugene-or.gov/
library.
illustration by Sarah Decker
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December 8, 2016 • eugeneweekly.com