I've been unaccountably productive today. I have no idea what's wrong with me. I guess it's that the weather's gorgeous and sloth seems a bit ... wrong. Or something. But anyway, I cleaned out most of the back porch (still the cat-piss-soaked carpet remnants, some moving boxes, and oh yeah, the fridge to go -- I'll wait til the next garbage day for them, I think) and cleaned out the guest closet (which, until now, I had barred with an army trunk to discourage guests from actually opening, as it was chock-full of stuff). Plus, I measured both closets so I can put in new hanging rods, as one is useless and the other could be much better at the moment. Now, I'm going to go through old files and shred things (shredding! Yay!) as I really don't need my HongKong Shanghai bank statements from 1993.
Who am I, and what have I done with Sarah?
I've been reading buckets this week. Bliss! Nights are cool and getting dark early, so curling up on the couch with books and cats has been way cool.
Side note -- the cats have been very very clingy these last few days. I can't sit down without Mongo tackling me and headbutting me til I scratch his ears. If I start to take my hand away, he pins to to the sofa until I start scratching his ears again. Bug is slightly less obnoxious about it, but she's living up to her full name: Bug Underfoot. (Mongo's full name is Mongo Couchweight, which also suits him admirably). I think they're letting me know that they don't necessarily approve of houseguests. Sorry, kitties -- suck it up.
Anyway, books:
Lives of the Monster Dogs : A Novel by Kirsten Bakis -- Really good, and really horrifying to think about. A madman at the end of the 19th centuy is spurned by humans, and decides to make the perfect race of soldiers from dogs -- intelligent, loyal, obidient, vicious, all the rest. His followers finally create these "Monster Dogs," but things don't work out quite as they planned. The Monster Dogs were compelling and horrifying -- they were more intelligent than most people, and knew what had been done to them, plus they could see that they didn't have a future, as no one was around to create any more of them. How were they supposed to live in this world? Reviewers compared it to Frankenstein, and I can see the parallels. Check it out.
The Parrot's Lament and Other True Tales of Animal Intrigue, Intelligence and Ingenuity by Eugene Linden -- Interestingly, one of the things the Monster Dogs talked about was the trauma of knowing that they were dogs. Real dogs, they said, didn't think about their lot in life, they just were. They didn't have the same sort of consciousness as humans, or much self-awareness at all. Linden disputes that -- not with dogs, specifically, but with "higher mammals" -- apes, orangutangs, chimps, dolphins and orcas, parrots, pigs, and cats (Hah! Take THAT, dog people!) A science writer for Time, National Geographic and other magazines, Linden has written a couple of books on apes and laguage -- you know, Koko the gorilla and Washoe the chimp learning American Sign Language, etc. He isn't getting into the science here so much as presenting anecdotal evidence that hey, these creatures communicate, lie, have a sense of humor, trust, recognize their place within a heirarchy, use tools, and generally know a lot more than we give them credit for. Fascinating, as Spock would say.
The Cat Who Covered the World : The Adventures of Henrietta and Her Foreign Correspondent by Christopher S. Wren -- OK, I'm a sucker for well-written cat books. This isn't your standard treacly "My cat is the sweetest" story, though: Wren was a foreign correspondent and bureau chief for The New York Times in Moscow, Cairo, Beijing, Ottowa and Johannesburg, and Henrietta went along for the ride. So there's some pretty amazing detail on what it was like to try to feed a cat in Breshnev-era Moscow (hint: lots of salmon and caviar, if you can believe it), how to get kitty litter in Beijing (not easy), and what birds you should not attack in South Africa. Very cool. I kept looking at my cats as I read this, mentally trying out overseas life with them. Mongo seemed to know what I was thinking, and did not take it kindly. I'm thinking I'm sticking around here for a while.
Who am I, and what have I done with Sarah?
I've been reading buckets this week. Bliss! Nights are cool and getting dark early, so curling up on the couch with books and cats has been way cool.
Side note -- the cats have been very very clingy these last few days. I can't sit down without Mongo tackling me and headbutting me til I scratch his ears. If I start to take my hand away, he pins to to the sofa until I start scratching his ears again. Bug is slightly less obnoxious about it, but she's living up to her full name: Bug Underfoot. (Mongo's full name is Mongo Couchweight, which also suits him admirably). I think they're letting me know that they don't necessarily approve of houseguests. Sorry, kitties -- suck it up.
Anyway, books:
Lives of the Monster Dogs : A Novel by Kirsten Bakis -- Really good, and really horrifying to think about. A madman at the end of the 19th centuy is spurned by humans, and decides to make the perfect race of soldiers from dogs -- intelligent, loyal, obidient, vicious, all the rest. His followers finally create these "Monster Dogs," but things don't work out quite as they planned. The Monster Dogs were compelling and horrifying -- they were more intelligent than most people, and knew what had been done to them, plus they could see that they didn't have a future, as no one was around to create any more of them. How were they supposed to live in this world? Reviewers compared it to Frankenstein, and I can see the parallels. Check it out.
The Parrot's Lament and Other True Tales of Animal Intrigue, Intelligence and Ingenuity by Eugene Linden -- Interestingly, one of the things the Monster Dogs talked about was the trauma of knowing that they were dogs. Real dogs, they said, didn't think about their lot in life, they just were. They didn't have the same sort of consciousness as humans, or much self-awareness at all. Linden disputes that -- not with dogs, specifically, but with "higher mammals" -- apes, orangutangs, chimps, dolphins and orcas, parrots, pigs, and cats (Hah! Take THAT, dog people!) A science writer for Time, National Geographic and other magazines, Linden has written a couple of books on apes and laguage -- you know, Koko the gorilla and Washoe the chimp learning American Sign Language, etc. He isn't getting into the science here so much as presenting anecdotal evidence that hey, these creatures communicate, lie, have a sense of humor, trust, recognize their place within a heirarchy, use tools, and generally know a lot more than we give them credit for. Fascinating, as Spock would say.
The Cat Who Covered the World : The Adventures of Henrietta and Her Foreign Correspondent by Christopher S. Wren -- OK, I'm a sucker for well-written cat books. This isn't your standard treacly "My cat is the sweetest" story, though: Wren was a foreign correspondent and bureau chief for The New York Times in Moscow, Cairo, Beijing, Ottowa and Johannesburg, and Henrietta went along for the ride. So there's some pretty amazing detail on what it was like to try to feed a cat in Breshnev-era Moscow (hint: lots of salmon and caviar, if you can believe it), how to get kitty litter in Beijing (not easy), and what birds you should not attack in South Africa. Very cool. I kept looking at my cats as I read this, mentally trying out overseas life with them. Mongo seemed to know what I was thinking, and did not take it kindly. I'm thinking I'm sticking around here for a while.
posted by SAJ at
5:18 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home