My New Listen

The Girl Who Played with Fire

UNABRIDGED

By

Steig Larsson

Narrated by Simon Vance

Publisher: Random House Audio

18 hrs and 38 mins

Lisbeth Salander is a wanted woman. Two Millennium journalists about to expose the truth about the sex trade in Sweden are brutally murdered, and Salander's prints are on the weapon. Her history of unpredictable and vengeful behaviour makes her an official danger to society - but no-one can find her anywhere. Meanwhile, Mikael Blomkvist, editor-in-chief of Millennium, will not believe what he hears on the news. Knowing Salander to be fierce when fearful, he is desperate to get to her before she is cornered and alone. As he fits the pieces of the puzzle together, he comes up against some hardened criminals, including the chainsaw-wielding 'blond giant' - a fearsomely huge thug who can feel no pain. Digging deeper, Blomkvist also unearths some heart-wrenching facts about Salander's past life. Committed to psychiatric care aged 12, declared legally incompetent at 18, this is a messed-up young woman who is the product of an unjust and corrupt system. Yet Lisbeth is more avenging angel than helpless victim - descending on those that have hurt her with a righteous anger terrifying in its intensity and truly wonderful in its outcome.

.

Been There, Done That

I don't teach history, but English teachers have days like this, too. Click on this LINK and enjoy. Thanks, Eddy, for sharing.

Makeover?

According to DC Comics, the 69-year-old Wonder Woman is getting a makeover. They said they are trying to "toughen her up, and give her a modern sensibility."

Well, I don't know about that, but she's certainly not showing as much skin.

You can read more about it HERE.

What's Good for the Goose

I had a post a while back on Barbie's 50th birthday that included a translation of the doll's size over to an average-height female body. Barbie, in real life, would measure 36-15-33, an unrealistic size that would require the removal of a bone and would have too low a percentage of fat to allow for menstruation and pregnancy.

But guess what? Guys are being hit with unrealistic standards, too. Rhodes reports in Beauty Bias that "GI Joe has grown increasingly muscular, and current proportions, translated in a man of normal height, would work out to a 55-inch chest, 27-inch biceps, and a 29-inch waist."

Guys, you'd better get to the gym. Like, yesterday.

Statistics, Education, & Women

These statistics come from an article by Hanna Rosin in the July/August 2010 issue of The Atlantic:

• Earlier this year, for the first time in American history, the balance of the workforce tipped toward women, who now hold a majority of the nation's jobs.
• For every two men who will receive a B.A. this year, three women will do the same
• Of the 15 job categories projected to grow the most in the next decade in the U.S., all but two are occupied primarily by women.
• According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, women now hold 51.4% of managerial and professional jobs--up from 26.1% in 1980.
• Women make up 54% of all accountants and hold about half of all banking and insurance jobs.
• About 1/3 of American physicians are now women, as are 45% of associates in law firms--and both of those percentages are rising fast.
• Only 3% of Fortune 500 CEOs are women, and the number has never risen much above that.
• While female CEOs may be rare in America's largest companies, they are highly prized: last year, they outearned their male counterparts by 43%, on average, and received bigger raises.
• Women now earn 60% of master's degrees, about half of all law and medical degrees, and 42% of all MBAs. Most important, women earn almost 60% of all bachelor's degrees.
• In a stark reversal since the 1970's, men are now more likely than women to hold only a high-school diploma.
• Women ages 25 to 34 with only a high-school diploma currently have a median income of $25,747, while men in the same position earn $32,469.
• [Many colleges and universities are] tipping toward 60% women, a level many admissions officers worry could permanently shift the atmosphere and reputation of a school.
• This is the first time that the cohort of Americans ages 30-44 has more college-educated women than college-educated men.
• In 1970, women contributed 2-6% of the family income. Now the typical working wife brings home 42.2%, and 4 in 10 mothers--many of them single mothers--are the primary breadwinners in their family.
• In 1970, 84% of women ages 30-44 were married; now 60% are. In 2007, among American women without a high-school diploma, 43% were married.

Very interesting . . .

My Latest Listen

Far from the Madding Crowd

By Thomas Hardy

Narrated by John Lee

Publisher: Tantor Media

13 hours 52 minutes

Publisher's Summary

Gabriel Oak is only one of three suitors for the hand of the beautiful and spirited Bathsheba Everdene. He must compete with the dashing young soldier Sergeant Troy and the respectable, middle-aged Farmer Boldwood. And while their fates depend upon the choice Bathsheba makes, she discovers the terrible consequences of an inconstant heart.

Far from the Madding Crowd was the first of Hardy's novels to give the name Wessex to the landscape of southwest England and the first to gain him widespread popularity as a novelist. Set against the backdrop of the unchanging natural cycle of the year, the story both upholds and questions rural values with a startlingly modern sensibility.

Thomas Hardy brings us an England that once existed but no more. It is rural, traditional, pastoral - a society of mannered conduct that flows like a deep river where powerful currents eddy and swirl. In this powerful novel of love and disillusion, Hardy's heroine is torn between the three men in her life. Passionate but capricious, her romantic involvements have fascinated generations of readers.

It was as a poet that Hardy wished to be remembered, but today critics regard his novels as an even more memorable contribution to English literature for their psychological insight, their instinctive delineation of English character, and their profound presentation of great tragedy.

Independence Day

Happy 4th of July, everybody. Have fun. Be safe. Read on.

50th Anniversary

Happy 50th Anniversary to my parents!

Jimmie Franklin and Martha Duke Manley are celebrating their 50^th wedding anniversary on July 3, 2010. The couple was married at the home of the bride’s parents in Marianna, Arkansas. They have two children: Stephanie M. (Terry) Eddleman of Searcy and Franklin (Shawn) Manley of Aubrey. Their grandchildren are Travis, Abby, and Trent Eddleman, Marci and Randal Manley, Mason Maynard and Tanner Henley. Mr. and Mrs. Manley have lived the majority of their married life in Aubrey where they have been active in farming and a laser land-leveling business.

The children of Mr. and Mrs. Manley invite all family and friends to attend a come-and-go reception honoring their parents on Sunday, July 11, 2010, between the hours of 2:00 and 4:00 at the Marianna Community House.

What I'm Reading Now

"'It hurts to be beautiful' has been a cliche for centuries. What has been far less appreciated is how much it hurts not to be beautiful. The Beauty Bias explores our cultural preoccupation with attractiveness, the costs it imposes, and the responses it demands.

Beauty may be only skin deep, but the damages associated with its absence go much deeper. Unattractive individuals are less likely to be hired and promoted, and are assumed less likely to have desirable traits, such as goodness, kindness, and honesty. Three quarters of women consider appearance important to their self image and over a third rank it as the most important factor.

Although appearance can be a significant source of pleasure, its price can also be excessive, not only in time and money, but also in physical and psychological health. Our annual global investment in appearance totals close to $200 billion. Many individuals experience stigma, discrimination, and related difficulties, such as eating disorders, depression, and risky dieting and cosmetic procedures. Women bear a vastly disproportionate share of these costs, in part because they face standards more exacting than those for men, and pay greater penalties for falling short.

The Beauty Bias explores the social, biological, market, and media forces that have contributed to appearance-related problems, as well as feminism's difficulties in confronting them. The book also reviews why it matters. Appearance-related bias infringes fundamental rights, compromises merit principles, reinforces debilitating stereotypes, and compounds the disadvantages of race, class, and gender. Yet only one state and a half dozen localities explicitly prohibit such discrimination. The Beauty Bias provides the first systematic survey of how appearance laws work in practice, and a compelling argument for extending their reach. The book offers case histories of invidious discrimination and a plausible legal and political strategy for addressing them. Our prejudices run deep, but we can do far more to promote realistic and healthy images of attractiveness, and to reduce the price of their pursuit."

Grammar, People!