Banger's Blog

Down the Rabbit Hole Hanging Man: The Arrest of Ai Weiwei by Barnaby Martin Almost any time I read an interesting book, I find myself going down rabbit holes: looking up words, tracing down quotes, researching events, concepts, and people - you could call it cross-referencing or simple distraction. I suppose I just do it because I can - I feel that the internet exposes endless nests and warrens beneath the rabbit hole.  I almost never do anything with the results of these detours; in fact, I rarely even save the links, let alone any of the information I dredge up. Yet I realize that the rabbit holes have become the most meaningful part of the experience of reading for me of late, so I feel I should do something with the results of my diversions. I picked up Hanging Man at the National Gallery of Art because I am interested in China and Ai Weiwei. I thumbed through it and there were some interesting quotes, so I grabbed it. Full disclosure: I wouldn't have bought it...

I enjoyed the first Binti book, so I was excited to see that Ms. Okorafor has published a new one. Binti was the story of a sheltered young woman going into a very big world and eventually making her mark on it. The world expanded over the course of the first novel, as new worlds and characters were introduced.   While most series continue to expand their universes by taking their protagonists to more a nd more new worlds, Binti: Home constricts the universe by taking us back  to Binti's home village, where she must face the consequences of defying the social norms of her culture. The story begins with Binti, our protagonist, in a blue funk.  She is feeling guilty that she has not completed her tribal coming of age ceremony because she is attending school on a faraway planet. Members of Binti's Himba tribe, especially Himbi, don't go to school and they don't leave their village, and they certainly don't leave earth .  Even though the university that Binti atte...