scilogs Gray Matters

The Shaking Woman on Twitter

from Markus A. Dahlem, 13. February 2011, 10:01
The other review of  Siri Hustvedt's "The Shaking Woman".

I wanted to read this book as soon as it came out. Well, it was first published in Germany (i.e. in German language). I decided to wait. When it then arrived, it got lost in the piles of unread or half-finished books that are all over my place.

Almost a year later, somebody at my university told me my migraine website is mentioned in the book. Not really a surprise, as I knew Klaus Podoll, with whom I run this website, had contact to her. But WOW, my name in a book of Hustvedt. Now I couldn't wait any longer.

Is it still worth to write a review? A little late maybe, but if so, I should take notes while reading, I thought.

As I started reading, I couldn't but take mental notes, that is, I interrupted reading, thought about it, then did something else. It isn't a read-in-one-sitting book as is Hustvedt's "What I Loved".

Her erudite book deepens one's wonder about the relation of body and mind

That's how Oliver Sacks praises her book on the back cover. Now you know what I mean. But don't get me wrong here, I increasingly blamed myself with every page I turned for not having read this book earlier. For one thing, I missed to write a timely review. But mainly because it is a wonderful book—as far as I can say. Page 23 that is. Out of 199.

So how come, I write a review now, too late and not even finished reading? Well, I am not. I will write something like this. On Twitter. While reading.

Why?—Take my third and forth tweets as example.

Hustvedt writes migraine changed from illness to disease and "attained a more 'robust' existence in 1982" - cf.
[Mainly a comment on page 6 and 16 with a Google Ngram linked that I searched for to verify her statement.]

Difference Between Illness and Disease - in case you wonder
[Diving deeper into the last comment.]

You see, my mental notes, my own thoughts, and my interrupting and checking things out on the Internet all these will be collected.   

You can follow the Twitter hash tag #shtsw (for Siri Hustvedt The Shaking Woman) and, that is what I invite you to, read the book with me. (What is a twitter hash tag? Simply a way to search for tweets and contribute your own to a common topic. )


[Read tweets from bottom to top!]

So read the book "The Shaking Woman or A History of My Nerves" by Siri Hustvedt, follow #shtsw (and please retweet), and share your thoughts (use #shtsw or comment here). 

 

Blogroll and further reading




  Share on ResearchGATE


Reply

Add comment
 authimage
szmtag