Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte *****

What do you think of men who coerce teenage girls into subservient relationships with luxuries or bible verses? Would you like to read about a girl who is strong enough to repel these attacks? Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte is just such a teenager (as described by Joyce Carole Oates) “unprotected by social position, family, or independent wealth…without material or social power.” In one word, she is FIERCE. She is also from the 19^th century.

Speaks her mind

Jane Eyre was not bashful or accommodating.

When her sole guardian tells her children, “[Jane] is not worthy of notice,” Jane replies, “They are not fit to associate with me.” When this guardian calls her, “a naughty child addicted to falsehood and deceit,” Jane replies, “I am not deceitful; if I were, I should say I loved you; but I declare I do not love you.”

When the master of the charity school for orphans (Lowood) lectures her on her behavior and closes with the rhetorical, “What must you do to avoid [hell]?” she replies, “I must keep in good health and not die.”

Recognizes the patriarchy

Jane Eyre grows up surrounded by men who take their power for granted.

Her step-brother: “I felt him grasp my hair and my shoulder: he had closed with a desperate thing. I really saw in him a tyrant; a murderer.”

The master of the charity school for orphans (Lowood) starves and abuses her for his personal profit.

When her fiancé, offers fancy dresses and jewelry, Jane replies, “I shall furnish my own wardrobe…you shall give me nothing.”

When another man urges her to marry him with, “God and nature intended you for a missionary’s wife,” she steadfastly refused with “I scorn your idea of love…and I scorn you when you offer it.”

The wrath of Charlotte Bronte

In this world constructed by Charlotte Bronte, everyone who crosses Jane gets punished in the end with death or misery or both, and everyone who is nice does well.

If you like strong, female leads—women taking on the patriarchy, resisting power, and rebutting mansplaining—and happy endings, this is the book. Hope for the 21^st century from the 19^th.

Note about eReaders: The conventions of the 19^th century did not expect the translation of foreign languages. This book included (untranslated) French, German, and Latin. Fortunately for me, my eReader conveniently provides translations which were often useful to full understanding. This book also contained many English words which belonged to the 19^th century. Again, my eReader conveniently provided definitions.

Check out https://amazon.com/shop/influencer-20171115075 for book recommendations.

A Discovery of Witches by Deborah Harkness ****

A Discovery of Witches by Deborah Harkness is a 579-page epic with witches, vampires, romance, and ageless battles—something for everyone. Some of my favorite parts were the explanations of witches and vampires through DNA sequencing and the research of ancient manuscripts. I also liked the vampire cuisine: nuts, raw meats, and wine…especially wine. On the negative side, I felt that the pervasiveness of paranormal abilities and events, left the characters as victims, rather than in control of their fate—I found it hard to celebrate a success that happened by magic.

The book unfolds in stages. It is told by Dr. Diana Bishop, a historian of alchemy. She is a witch related to Bridget Bishop of Salem fame (1692).  It begins with her discovery of an ancient manuscript, Ashmole 782, which has been lost for 150 years. Next is her forbidden romance with Matthew Clairmont, a vampire over 1,500 years old. He does research into the DNA of witches, vampires, and daemons.

This romance put them afoul of the Covenant that forbids such interspecies relationships. The battle starts in Oxford, but quickly moves to Matthew’s home in France, and finally to Diana’s home in upstate New York. The home in New York is haunted and introduces some comic relief when the house makes editorial comments by slamming doors and hiding and revealing things such as important documents and serving dishes. It also foresees visitors, and if they are favored, the house creates new rooms for them. Many of Diana’s relatives occupy the house as ghosts. The house and the ghosts have the most agency of the characters.

This is my first vampire book, so I can’t compare these vampires to others. The vampires have superhuman physical strengths and abilities, like speed of movement. I liked that this extended to speed reading. Now when I meet someone who reads quickly, I’ll wonder whether they are part-vampire.

Diana is often seen as strong, but in spite of this everyone feels the need to protect her. She has many witch powers but is unable to use them to her benefit. She was my favorite character and I kept expecting her to learn how to use her power. This is book one of a trilogy, so maybe that breakthrough comes later.

If you like the supernatural romance, and epic struggles, this is the book for you. If you expect characters to surmount their challenges through intelligence and perseverance, not so much.

Check out https://amazon.com/shop/influencer-20171115075 for book recommendations.

Quiet: The Power of Introverts… by Susan Cain ****

Quiet by Susan Cain seems to be required reading for the one-out-of-three people who are introverts, and anyone who is a parent, teacher, partner, or friend of an introvert-yes, everyone. Cain opens with: contemporary society worships an Extrovert Ideal. A Culture of Character has been forsaken for one of Personality (a twentieth-century invention). Education, employment, and success are for extroverts. There is a whole industry, tracing back to Dale Carnegie, to convert introverts into extroverts. This book alternately praises introverts as they are or teaches them how to become pseudo-extroverts.

You might wonder: What is an introvert? One good definition is that introverts are energized by solitary activities and extroverts are energized by group activities.

This book has two messages for introverts. One, you are perfect the way you are. Two, you can pass as a pseudo-extrovert. This is a mixed message, but it might explain the book’s popularity. However, I wonder if this will change over time. It is hard to imagine a book today espousing that blacks become pseudo-whites, gays become pseudo-straights, or women become pseudo-men. A follow-on book is called Quiet Power and might represent a step beyond pseudo-extrovert.

Introvert Advantages

Introverts will appreciate the many lists and anecdotes of the advantages of being an introvert.

“…have mighty powers of concentration. They’re relatively immune to the lures of wealth and fame.”

“…high productivity is one biological basis of introversion.”

“By sticking to her own gentle way of doing things, Laura had reeled in new business for her firm and a job offer for herself.”

“College students who study alone learn more over time than those that work in groups.”

Extrovert Disadvantages

Introverts will also appreciate, schadenfreude, examples where the Extrovert Ideal backfires.

“The HBS teaching method implicitly comes down on the side of certainty. The CEO may not know the best way forward, but she has to act that way.”

“…being interrupted is one of the biggest barriers to productivity.”

“…produced more ideas when they worked on their own than when they worked as a group.”

“It’s so easy to confuse schmoozing ability with talent.”

Personal Stories

Introverts will see themselves in many of the anecdotes.

“[Introverts] think in an unusually complex fashion.”

“…highly empathetic.”

“…if you were a nice person, you’d get crushed. I refused to live a life where people could do that to me… If I wanted to be a nice person, I needed to run [the organization]”

“I could literally go years without having any friends except my wife and kids.”

Cupertino

The book spends significant time on Cupertino’s Monta Vista High School, 77% Asian-American. I lived and raised my children within 100 meters of this school. My experience was diametrically opposite to the authors. I expect this is partially confirmation bias and partially her few outsider interviews versus my day-to-day lived experience.

While the author espoused the Asian-American stereotypes of studious and shy, I found the reality much different. In this majority-Asian school, there were studious and shy students, but they were not all Asian. There were also students interested in non-academic activities, or who didn’t do their homework, or with low grades. Some of those students were Asian. I felt this was an ideal environment to combat Asian stereotypes.

If you want to learn how an introvert can better live in an extrovert world, or just want support for living as an introvert, this book is perfect. If you are an introvert who feels isolated, this book (with so many stories of introverts) will be a comfort.

Check out https://amazon.com/shop/influencer-20171115075 for book recommendations.

Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil by John Berendt ***

Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil by John Berendt is a slightly fictionalized history of Savannah, Georgia. 

“Savannah’s resistance to change was its saving grace. …The ordinary became extraordinary. Eccentrics thrived.”

The book has two parts: a catalog of eccentrics and a murder that was tried four times.

By a quirk of geography, Savannah has been isolated from its surroundings. It avoided most of the consequences of the Civil War. It also avoided the growth and modernization of the latter half of the twentieth century. While big corporations moved to Atlanta GA and Charleston SC, Savannah stayed isolated. They even avoided prohibition.

Savannah had Jews, blacks, voodoo witches, gay hustlers, and drag queens. Several of these folks are showcased in their own chapters in part one. While fascinating, in a voyeuristic way, these people are on display as entertaining eccentrics, happy people forever locked out from power.

Part two is about a murder of a young gay hustler. With the life of a rich white guy at stake, most of the part-one eccentrics are ignored and the battle of the powerful is played out. Here it becomes clear who counts and who does not.

Savannah tolerated outsiders such as Gays, Blacks, Jews as long as they stayed in their place. The powerful had their own clubs and social events where these people were excluded

If you are interested in a history of southern privilege, rich white people, parties, and power, all packaged in a narrative strangely devoid of social issues, this is the book for you.

Note: I didn’t realize that this was non-fiction until the author’s note at the end. I liked it better as fiction.

Check out https://amazon.com/shop/influencer-20171115075 for book recommendations.