a baffling case

I've been baffled today. I read an article here about how a consultant was fired (well, his contract with the school was ended before anyone expected - same thing) from a school. (I'm choosing my words carefully here).
In the interests of full disclosure, I should mention that I've never met the man who was fired. I have sympathy for him, as I would for anyone who suddenly found themselves out of a consulting position. But at the same time, his online presence (he's on some the listservs I read) has always annoyed me. He used to send out - might still, I'm behind on my listservs - reviews of books that he chose as especially good books. I mean, he sent them to literally thousands of people. I can't even imagine the arrogance that would allow someone to think that their opinion should be sent out, unsolicited, and off-topic. I mean, these posts to listservs just came out of the blue, roughly once a week - they weren't relevant to the discussion on the listserv at the moment.
I mean, if one has the need to post this sort of thing, why not have a blog, as I and hundreds of others do, where people can choose to come and be bored by lengthy and subjective chatter about books? I'd even accept one blogger's model as an improvement: posting occasionally to the listserv to mention that her website has new content (but not much of an improvement: her musings have logical gaps that drive me batty. Her blog is like For Better or For Worse - I can't stop reading it, even though I know I'll dislike it, and think it's lacking in academic rigor. To be fair, For Better or For Worse doesn't need academic rigor. I'd accept punchlines that were even occasionally funny, characters that were interesting, and, well, a comic strip that hadn't long surpassed its ideal retirement date. But the irritating blogger is, well, an academic, and so I hold her to academic standards).
But apparently people on these listservs feel more favorably about the consultant than I do, because the comments on the listservs have been uniformly supportive of the consultant, and critical of the school. There weren't any that suggested that the principal's request to talk to the consultant about the book might have been to set up a more formal hearing. (This isn't a stretch; when books are challenged at my local library, there's a quick meeting to set a date, and then everyone goes off to read the book, examine reviews, and marshal arguments for or against the book's retention/shelving in the same place).
One person on the listservs even suggested that it was out of line for the principal to reject, quickly, a suggestion from the author of the book under dispute. The author had suggested that if the school's 6th-grade teachers taught the book in the classrooms, he'd pay for copies of the book, and come to speak to the school for free. (I have seen my fair share, and more, of author visits, and I'd venture to suggest that this isn't a good deal for the school. Why change the curriculum just for an author visit and some free books?)
I work for intellectual freedom, as part of my job. I take book challenges, both mine and those in other cities, seriously. But honestly, I don't think some of my fellow listserv members read the articles about this very carefully.
Anyway, if anyone has made it to the end of this lengthy post, kudos. I haven't even mentioned this to my SO, or to my colleagues, because I didn't think I could explain it concisely. I see from the above that that was a good guess. But also: if the comments of intelligent people were so uniformly supportive, I didn't trust others not to fell for the same errors in reasoning.
Arrogant, aren't I, to assume that I'm the only one who is correct? Well, it's my blog. I can be arrogant here, if need be.

Atlas Shrugged, and so did I

Here's the thing: I don't like to read books that are all about the main character realizing she was wrong. I hate that, in fact - the reader, and the author, are in on this failure, and then we have to spend time waiting for the character to catch up. In this particular case, Rand seems to be critical of Dagny because she tries to save the railroad. I wouldn't say ambition like that is a besetting sin, myself, so I'm not sure whether I'll finish the book. That - and though I quite like Dagny, I wouldn't swear she's not a Mary Sue.
Funnily enough, I spent a few hours on Saturday alternating between reading Atlas Shrugged and playing The Sims: Hot Date. I'm not into the hot date aspect of it - my characters don't even hug very often - but I like to set goals for myself. ("Today, Phil's going to finish the expansion on his house, make a new friend, and buy new dining room chairs.") I've been playing the Maud Hart Lovelace neighborhood- everyone's named after a Betsy-Tacy character. (I also have a EJO neighborhood,but I digress).

weird coincidence

The strangest thing about reading Long May She Reign is that I was horribly sick, as I'd mentioned. Not so strange in and of itself (though the sickness made for the worst travel experience I've ever had), except that last time I was joyously reading a new addition to my Ellen Emerson White collection, I was sick then as well. At the time, I'd asked whether there was some weird karmic debt that I had to pay so that I could read a book I'd wanted for so long. Now I wonder that even more.
Funnily enough, it was the same sort of 48-hour stomach bug. Horrible.

a different, better fourth book

The last time I posted (sorry for the delay!), I'd been cranky about Megan McCafferty's disappointing fourth book. I'm pleased to report that Ellen Emerson White's fourth book about Meg Powers, Long May She Reign, is much better. I'm not sure how she maintained Meg's voice over all those years, or successfully bridged the gap between 1989 (when the third book about Meg was released) and 2007, but she did. I suspect I'll have more to say about it later, but it's late. Also, I was very sick when I read it, so I'll wait until after I finish re-reading it. I suspect I'll have a clearer view of the book then.
It really has been a long time since I posted - I don't think I've ever gone so long without blogging here. My vacation seems very very long ago. As it happens, I'd brought quite a few books along, but read only one or two. It was extraordinarily difficult to find time to read, and the vacation was tiring and stressful. (How much of the stress was due to my churlishness varies, depending on whom one asks). If I ever needed confirmation that I could never be on Survivor or Big Brother - and I didn't, I assure you - this last vacation would have clinched the matter. Reading is my default activity when I am stressed out, as an almost sure-fire stress reliever. So if I can't read - well, turns out it's not pretty. Especially with odd eating patterns added to the mix.