Goodness, I didn't expect to disappear for so long. The baby is still happy, but we had a little trouble on the healthy part this week and I didn't even have time to read most days, much less do anything else. He's doing better now and is probably going to be totally fine, so there's nothing to worry about. And there never was a huge concern, but I'm not exactly at my mental best after giving birth. I never want to go through a week like that again, except for the holding the baby part.

And I didn't have a lot of library books that I wanted to read. I have a huge stack of fiction, but I am recalling that contemporary fiction is not my thing when I have little children. So I found my copy of Islam after Communism and am happily reading that. We'll see what happens with Melissa's reading challenge as a result. Of course, there doesn't seem to be anything banning non-fiction in the rules.

Women's Work: The First 20,000 Years: Women, Cloth, and Society in Early Times

I think this is the last book on my list by Elizabeth Wayland Barber (see here, here, and here for her other books) and it probably has the broadest appeal. There's a lot in it that's the same as what was covered in several of her other books, especially Prehistoric Textiles, but on a more general level and with the goal of learning more specifically about the lives of women in ancient times. The focus is on textiles, which have almost always been produced by women because their production is possible while caring for children. (I discovered this after our first son was born when textile arts like quilting, crocheting, and spinning became the most practical way for me to keep my sanity.)

Barber uses archaeological and linguistic evidence to detail a variety of aspects of women's work in ancient times. The types of materials they used, where they got them and how they benefited from them, and why they created what they did are all discussed. Objects like loom weights appearing in new areas show women's (not just men's) migrations. Barber interprets some myths using archaeological and textile information. If you're just going to read one of her books, this is the one to read. Her final paragraph sums up the goal of the book:

We women do not need to conjure a history for ourselves. Facts about women, their work, and their place in society in early times have survived in considerable quantity, if we know how to look for them. Far from being dull and in need of fanciful paint to make it more interesting, this truth is sometimes (as the saying goes) stranger than fiction, a fascinating tale in itself.

We Have a New Baby!

Our third son was born last Thursday afternoon. He is happy and healthy and about the most loved baby ever born.

We have waited for a very long time for this little boy to join our family and we are so happy he's here safely.

Watching TV during labor was nice. When the contractions were bad enough to keep my mind off my book (reviewed in the next post, and you should read it) I told my husband I wanted to watch football and he found a thing about the 2001 college season and then the Democrat debate. Good thing for sports and politics. :)

No pictures or name (for a boy who didn't have a name for a while, he ended up with a lot of names and I love them all) here, but for those of you who are interested, you can email me or leave a comment and I'll send you those details.

Snow Flower and the Secret Fan

I finished this one in the hospital last week, and it was lovely to have a good book to read while I was in labor.

The book is set in what is now Jiangyong County in Hunan, China, in the 19th century among the Yao. What makes it so excellent is that it accurately portrays the lives of women at the time, regular women. Lily, the narrator, and Snow Flower fit their times. I don't know why it is so rare for authors to write about women in this way, especially if the book is set earlier than the 20th century, but since it is, books like this are a real find.

But because of this, the book is quite difficult in some parts. The description of foot binding was certainly the most detailed and graphic I've ever read. Awful things happen to these women that they can't control, but when Lily responds in the conventional way, as would be expected, it contributes to Snow Flower's destruction.

There are so many fascinating topics in this book- the treatment of women, education (the whole idea of nu shu is amazing), conventionality, social class, and more. I would love to read this with a group of women and discuss it.

I didn't think the title quite captured what the book was really about, but it is a catchy title. I also wished it was clearer that the book was about the Yao. It was mentioned fairly often that the characters were Yao, I would hope that readers would be interested enough to learn more about the Yao and nu shu and its use among some of the Yao.

But these are very minor complaints about an excellent book.

It seems like I missed reviewing a book or two in the last few weeks, but I'm not going to try to sort that out today. I did poke through Frances Wood's Did Marco Polo Go to China? which I rather liked, although it hardly matters whether he did or not at this point.

There are lots of historical records like that though, like whether 123 British prisoners really die in the Black Hole of Calcutta. It doesn't matter anymore if they did; what matters is that enough people in Britain believed that they did and it contributed to changing the course of Indian history. And it doesn't matter if Marco Polo actually went to China because enough people believed he did. (George Bush and company used this tactic nicely in 2003, didn't they?)

Anyway. Check out the link on the sidebar about grayness and dreams.

The Secret of Platform 13

This was another great little book by Eva Ibbotson. This one is a children's fantasy set in London, and magical places that can only be reached from London. It feels very British- Americans just don't tell fairy tales in the same way. Recommended.

The Star of Kazan

I rather liked this book by Eva Ibbotson. I probably mostly picked it up for the title, but even though it had nothing to do with Kazan, it was a worthwhile story. It's children's historical fiction set in early 20th-century Vienna. Recommended.

Honey

I had a nasty sore throat (complete with inflammation and white spots) last week that, as usual, wasn't strep throat so the doctor couldn't do anything about it. When my throat gets inflamed, ibuprofen is the only thing that helps with the inflammation (except suffering with it for about a week; throat lozenges don't touch inflammation), but my doctor didn't want me to take that (she didn't have any other suggestions though) since I'm pregnant. So I had to figure out something else.

And for the first time ever, something besides ibuprofen helped. I'd read before and again early last week that honey is good for coughs and the throat. So I tried swallowing a spoonful of honey when my throat was keeping me awake at night. I was able to get to sleep and in the morning the inflammation was gone.

Don't think this is a particularly pleasant solution. Swallowing a spoonful of honey is worse than swallowing two ibuprofen. And just putting the honey in hot water didn't seem to be enough. But it's always on hand and you can take it when you need it. Of course, it might have just been a coincidence, but I'm grateful for anything that lets me sleep right now.

I guess that cold, gray weather reminds me of China and makes me want to go back. It happened last winter and I just figured it was because I naturally wanted to go back, but the last few days of real winter weather have brought China back to mind, especially Xi'an.

Anahita's Woven Riddle

Melissa reviewed this book about a month ago and I was very intrigued. It's set in Iran in about 1875 among the Afshar tribe who are famous for their carpets.

It's wonderful to see a book set in this time and place. There is so little written in English about this part of the world, and most is non-fiction from a Russian or British perspective. Sayres has clearly done a lot of research and it's nice to have a weaver writing about weaving (although tapestry weaving is a lot different from creating a knotted-pile carpet, as Anahita does in the book).

The story is pretty good too. Like Melissa, I appreciated that there were 3 reasonable suitors and the story wasn't completely obvious in pointing toward the one she would marry. And it was nice to see Anahita learn a little about herself as time went on, because she about drove me nuts at the beginning of the book.

Two complaints (of course): First, because of all the reform movements mentioned in the book, it felt much more like it was set in the early1900s instead of 20-30 years earlier. But this is hardly something most people would care about.

But I was very surprised and disappointed that Sayres has the Afshar speaking Persian, especially at home with their own families. The Afshar are Turkic and speak a language very closely related to southern Azeri. Persian and Afshar are totally unrelated, although Afshar has borrowed a number of Farsi words. Of course it would be expected that some Afshar at the time would speak Farsi since they live in Iran, but not at home as the characters in the book do. (spoiler) In fact, given the answer to the last riddle of the book, the Yomut and Afshar share Turkic languages, not Persian dialects. It would not have been difficult or any more confusing to have clarified this in the book, especially when Sayres is so careful to portray Iranian life well.