Scientists are cool! (and other observations on the way to getting more big cat books)

Scientists are cool.

Having married one, I've known this for awhile, but I thought I would use this post to reaffirm their coolness and discuss its relation to getting more books about big cats.

Last year I was trying to purchase a book about the Amur tiger that wasn't available in the States. Just as I clicked on the button to buy it, it was purchased by someone else. I contacted the seller to see if he had any leads on tracking down a second copy. He generously replied that he would be traveling back to Russia in the coming weeks and would purchase another copy for me.

Lest this should seem a quirk, there's also this title:

In my searches, I found a copy in the Smithsonian. A scientist and researcher there generously agreed to scan it and send it to me.

Then there's this title. I didn't even know there was an Arabian leopard, so when I found out about this book I had to have it. Unfortunately, it's out of print everywhere. So I tracked down the writer, whose brother was traveling to New York. While in the city, he sent me a copy of the book! For free!

Finally, I came across this work on an Amazon hunt, but the used copies were upwards of $800. I wrote to the author, who said a new version was coming out (you can check it out here) and emailed me when it was available for purchase.

So, what I have taken from these cool encounters is that scientists want me to expand my big cat bookshelf and that if you need help in finding sources, they are very nice people to write to. I can't wait to see what they write about next!

Slowly but surely - recently finished titles

For my GoodReads challenge this year, I pledged to read 175 books, but it doesn't look like that's going to materialize! Nonetheless, I have finished a few titles in the past few weeks!

You can't make your home with half a dozen amazing and very individual felines without wanting to read about cats, so I've been searching for some well-loved cat literature. These short pieces were both great finds. Smith's work drops you into a fully realized science fiction universe with no explanation, and leaves you loving its feline fighters! Saki's "Tobermory" was more sobering, as it suggested our quickness as a species to destroy any other species that threatens or competes with us, even if we professed to loving them only moments before.

 I've been an avid Dana Simpson reader since I first encountered Marigold Heavenly Nostrils and her best friend Phoebe, but these two titles did not live up to her previous work. Ozy had a few good chuckles in it and definitely tangled with diversity (pretty ambitious for a comic) but it didn't have the sustained storylines of the other Phoebe books. The latest Phoebe offering just didn't live up to its predecessors. It seemed far thinner, for one thing, and only dealt with one small arc; a forced effort, I think.

 My Early American Literature class finally made it through the first volume of the Norton. I hope the slightly more modern readings will be of greater interest to them. I'm asking them to compare "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" with Partridge's Dark Harvest, so fingers crossed for good results on that front.

And, finally, some seasonal reads. Unseen Attraction was more atmospheric than truly scary, conjuring up damp London fogs and sinister figures lurking in alleys. I picked it up as a fun read, but it won me over with the study its author clearly gave to Victorian taxidermy and the literature of taxidermy (the topic of my dissertation!).

Behind You is somehow adorable (in drawing style) and terrifying at once. It doesn't scare you while you're reading it, but it sure makes you jumpy afterward!

Birthday Books

I was going to try to post images with the vast amount of books that fell down around (into?) my birthday like leaves, but my friends and family members are too generous, so there are too many of them (one of my favorite problems)! So, in place of a highly decorated post, you're going to have to settle for more of a list!

The Great 2018 Birthday Book Pile (aka proof that I am loved) ;)

This is an Amur Leopard, the rarest big cat in the world. To learn more about Amur leopards, go here!

1. Big Cats: 13 new titles!

 My big cat collection is now larger thanks to the addition of: Relentless Enemies, a book about the lions of the Okavango Delta, A Cheetah's Tale (Princess Michael of Kent), Path of the Puma (Jim Williams), Living with Leopards (Nils Kure), Sundarbans Tiger (John Brooks), In the Shadows (Vince Gibbons), Shadows of a mountain lion (Mikki Terzian), American Lion (R. Timothy Rush), Living with Tigers (Valmik Thapar), Old Three Toes (John Joseph Mathews), Sariska: the tiger reserve roars again (Sunayan Sharma), Scent of a Game (Raghav Chandra), Wild Cats of the World (Luke Hunter).

2. Bill Hodges: 3 new titles!

The whole reason that I started to write is that I fell in love with characters. Today, I don't read much fiction, so that experience of finding a character to obsess over is rarer than it was. But once in awhile it happens - though I never expected it to happen with a Stephen King novel! I picked up The Outsider because it kept showing up in various you-must-read-this. I preferred the police procedural part (the first 400 pages) to the supernatural, but what I really loved was the characters. When I found out that some of them appeared in other books, I went on to get those, too. I still need one more to finish the series, but now I have: The Outsider, Mr. Mercedes, and Finders Keepers.

3. History: 3 new titles

 This is a bit of a random assortment! I've been interested in Tecumseh since I saw the outdoor drama with my parents and grandparents as a kid, so $3 seemed like a steal for Glenn Tucker's Tecumseh: vision of glory. Since I'm gearing up to teach animal studies, Sharon B. Smith's Stonewall Jackson's Little Sorrel was already on my radar. It's silly to say so, but I was introduced to Shaka Zulu through an epic rap battle (facepalm) so I thought I'd better get the full story!

4. Hard Sciences: 3 new titles!

One of the best ways I have found for dealing with difficult and painful situations is to learn more about them, so when I had to go through surgery last month I added some books about the process to my reading list: Aldersley-William's Anatomies: a cultural history of the human body and Gawande's Complications. Because the surgery then led to hormonal issues (so many hormonal issues...) I also picked up the newly published Aroused: a history of hormones by Epstein.

5. Fiction: 6 new titles!

My recent fiction reading falls into two categories: books about Rome and war fiction. I don't have a good reason for this recent and arbitrary divide except to say that I don't know almost anything about Rome... and war fiction books keep getting recommended to me!
The Roman titles are: Longward's The Oath Breaker, Iggulden's Emperor: the gates of Rome, and Quinn's Mistress of Rome.
The war titles are: Doerr's All the light we cannot see, Mason's In Country, and Mason's The Winter Soldier.

6. Some random titles that don't fit anywhere: 5 new titles!

 As a Victorianist, I ought to know more about Gerard Manley Hopkins than I do, so I added Martin's Gerard Manley Hopkins: a very private life to my pile. I also added Hopkins because I know that he struggled with why God allows terrible things to happen - and I struggle with this, too! Alongside Hopkins, I will also be reading Thiessen's Shadow of a Galilean because of its promise to come at Jesus from an angle rather than directly (like Dickinson's "tell the truth/ But tell it slant) and The M*A*S*H* FAQ because my husband and I just watched the entire series! Szablowski's Dancing bears: true stories of people nostalgic for life under tyranny was recommended by the husband of a colleague, and Cheshire's Where the animals go came up because we have been watching Blue Planet II and Planet Earth II. 

7. The Vietnam War: 3 new titles!

Because M*A*S*H* criticized Vietnam and because I've been working my way through the Ken Burns documentary on the war, I also added some reading in that vein: Marlantes' Matterhorn, VanDemark's Road to Disaster, and Musgrave's (who was featured in the Ken Burns documentary) Notes to the Man Who Shot Me.

8. Genre Fiction: Eco-Fiction: 3 new titles!

Eco-fiction is a new field for me, so I'm always finding new (sometimes quite old) gems! This birthday saw the additions of: Harkaway's Gone-away World, Kavan's Ice, and Faruqi's The Oyster Thief.

9. Genre Fiction: science fiction and fantasy: 3 new titles!

I don't read as much science fiction and fantasy as I used to (though I'm still vainly trying to write it...) but once in awhile something catches my eye. This birthday season introduced: Powell's Embers of War, Edwards' The Last Sun, and an audiobook of the long loved Winter's Tale by Mark Helprin.

10. Genre fiction: Romance: 4 new titles!

I read more romance than I ever thought I would... and I'm not sure what to make of that myself. I blame those early fantasy authors (looking at you, J.R.R.) who wove romantic tendrils into their masterworks and left me to imagine how they played out... This year's crop of romance includes: Dare's The Governess Game, Charles' The Magpie Lord and Think of England and not exactly a romance but certainly about romance in popular culture: I'll have what she's having: how Nora Ephron's three iconic films saved the romantic comedy.

11. Genre Fiction: reads for the season: 6 new titles!

I love October. I love the good, good smell of leaves that gets up into your nose and makes you regret that winter should ever be allowed to sweep it away or freeze it out. I love pumpkins and pumpkin muffins and bread and pie. And I love reading books with an October atmosphere tucked between their covers. These ones fit the bill: Tucholke's The Boneless Mercies, Perdy's The Legend of Decimus Croome, Patrick's They Mostly Come Out at Night, Ankrum's The Wicker King, Polk's Witchmark and Cleaves' Rise Headless and Ride.

12. Natural History: in the ocean: 3 new titles

I'm honestly a bit frightened of the ocean, but frightening and fascinating are practically next door neighbors. New works for this shelf include: Fenolio's Life in the Dark, Robertson-Brown's Deadly Oceans (which is very handsomely made, I might add) and Riedman's The Pinnipeds.

13. Natural history: predators: 2 new titles

I love big, dangerous animals and I sincerely hope they survive all the terrible things we're doing to our world... Additions to this collection are: Sparks' Dreaming of wolves and Fallon's Vulture.

14. Teaching Texts: 6 new titles

Most of the reading I do, currently, is to prepare for teaching. These are some of the titles I'll be reading for the spring and summer semester: Kemmerer;s Animals and world religions, Alexander's Crossover, Carson's The Autobiography of Red, Brun's Cloak and Jaguar, Samaha's Never ran, never will, and Nuwer's Poached.

Final Count: it was a very literary birthday, indeed, with 63 (!!!) new titles coming into my life. Thank you very much to everyone who helped me gather this latest collection of books!

The Penicillin of Pre-Ordering

This quote used to grace the office door of a professor who really didn't care for me during my undergraduate years (the feeling was rather mutual) and I'm using it here as a sort of apology for long absences.There's been a great deal of not-good happening, so it's been a struggle to read or to write lately (to say nothing of writing about reading). Today, however, the universe has marooned me on the couch as I finish a round of antibiotics for strep throat and I'm staving off bad (and irrational) feelings by playing with books. Specifically, I'm using Amazon's "advanced search" feature to see what's coming out in the fields I love... then I push the lovely, silvery PreOrder button (less immediately dangerous than the yellow-orange order-with-one-click button).

Danger Button

Believe it or not, my book ordering has been significantly reduced by a subscription to Scribd - they get so many of the books that I want that I don't need to order them myself. And yet, "reduced" turns out to be a relative term...

I don't consider myself a reader of Batman comics so much as a reader who tunes into Batman when Joker makes an appearance. Since the title Dark Prince Charming could easily apply to either Batman or his nemesis (or both) I had to add this one to the cart and to the collection. 

I have been reading ElfQuest for twenty-four years and I love the creators' decision to release these "complete" volumes... even if I have no intention of parting with the comic books or graphic novels which contain the same content. I've been trying to re-read the original quest prior to this one's arrival, but I'm disastrously behind.

Since December is the month of Christmas books, I rarely pre-order anything. This book was originally slated for a November release and got bumped into the next month.

I don't have a solid explanation for my newfound RFK obsession. He seems good, somehow, in a way that seems gone from the present world. I can't imagine the passing of any present public figure that would incite mourning in me or compel me to stand at train tracks waiting for a funeral train. I'm sorry, of course, for those people who lost him, but sorrier for all of us, right now, that we don't have anyone that inspires such feelings in us.

Nothing makes me long for the new year like having a painful present year. This has been a hard one for my family, so we have high hopes for 2019! And, if nothing else can be guaranteed, I will enter the New Year with good things to read!

I almost never pre-order popular fiction, but I enjoyed this duo's last book so much that I ended up gifting it to my mom, so I'm excited for their second effort. And with a new semester starting it will be nice to have something that isn't so serious to read!

One of my colleagues teaches a class about modern world history. If I didn't always teach at the exact same time, I would enroll myself in it. I have a good grasp of the Victorian era, the American Civil War, and I'm okay up until the Second World War... then it all gets blurred and jumbled on me. I've been working to correct that with my recent reads and this seemed like a perfect addition to that particular project.

 Thanks to Lin Manuel-Miranda, my understanding of the American Revolution is in better shape these days - but there's always room for improvement! And Washington never seems to take solid form in the works I've read about him; he's too admired and lofty to seem quite human. We will see if this work gives him some of that quality back!

My Big Cat Library is second to my Civil War Library in size - but it's first in my heart because it represents something I have worked hard to teach myself. Therefore, when new big cat books come out, I feel that I have to buy them (how's that for justification?). This one examines the good work that has been done in encouraging farmers not to kill snow leopards. Nepal is currently spearheading snow leopard protection, as can be seen here, and I am excited to learn what's happening in Afghanistan as well!

T.S. Eliot famously described April as the cruelest month, but I maintain that he was having a forgetful moment; everyone knows that February is the worst month - and somehow lasts much longer than its 28 (or 29) day allotment. The holidays have ended, the snow seems as though it will never end, I'm starting to feel really bad about the weight I gained over the holiday but have no energy to do anything about it... this is a month made for staying in bed and reading books! I don't think I'll be allowed to veto the entire month, but here are the books that will be helping to make it bearable!

Next to big cats, other big predators are my favorite things to read about in the wide world of natural history. I've never heard of this wolf researcher before, but the reviews made this seem like a fascinating and wolfrider-worthy acount!

I can't even tell you how excited I am about this book (and how jealous I am that I didn't write it)! It tells the story of one of the tigers (a tigress, actually) that brought Jim Corbett his fame. Corbett helped me find my way into the world of big cats, so I am always excited to learn more about his adventures!

I've been on the hunt for this book for a long time (it connects to my research about the British museum) but it has always been priced out of reach. This March it is being reissued in an affordable (under $20!) paperback and I can't wait to give it a home next to Black's On Exhibit: Victorians and their museums!

April showers may bring May flowers, but they also, apparently, bring great publications!

As I noted above, I love books about predators. I also love this genre of "animal biography"... although I hate that it almost always ends in the death of the animal. For some other excellent examples, check out: American Wolf, Death at SeaWorld, or A Wolf Called Romeo. This one doesn't look to have a much happier ending (death being right in the title and all) but if anyone has ever encountered an example of animal biography with a positive ending, please let me know!

I always pre-order every Phoebe collection, and only the most recent one has ever let me down. I hope it was just a fluke and that Unicorn Bowling has me cracking up all over again!

I love deadly animals and venomous animals - but I also love tiny animals, quirky animals, and huge animals! This book offers a look at extremes in the animal kingdom and I can't wait to learn more wild facts about wild things!

He's blissfully unaware of the fact, but Hans Kruuk holds a special place in my heart. His scholarship in Hunter and Hunted guides and informs my own research (and makes me feel incredibly stupid much of the time), so when I found out that he had another book on predators coming out, I had to have it.

Summer presently feels like a far and impossible country (even if I am already planning my online courses!) but it will come again and when it does I will not be found beach-reading (because I don't really like the beach) but I will be found surrounded by books!

This may feel like a rather wintry title for a May release, but I'm delighted with it all the same! I love Life and Fate so I can't wait to get lost in the prequel. Many thanks to one of my wonderful colleagues for following the news about this work as it was finally translated into English!

And, finally, one more ElfQuest title. This one seems a more miscellaneous collection than its predecessors (or maybe I've just forgotten these stories?) but hopefully by July I will have refreshed my memory of the original quest and will look forward to moving forward into the story.

I don't know if all of those pre-orders had much effect on strep throat, but writing about them was a nice distraction! Happy reading for November and all the months ahead!