Damn Good Books (or not)

4:00 pm 11 January 2013

I'll have to think about this. My first reaction is 2 stars. I might change that.

January 16 ~

Okay, I've thought about it and my star rating remains at two stars. The following are my reasons why:

- First, I want you to know I am an Ian McEwan fan, but this book disappoints. I find all the characters glib, unlikable and unbelievable, full of themselves, predictable and boring. The writing seems, to me, to be self-conscious and contrived and the narrative is sterile, lacking any warmth. Sweet Tooth takes place in the London of the 1970's. The Cold War is ever present. Serena Frome, fresh out of Cambridge becomes a spy for the British government. She has not a whit of common sense. Strange that she managed a degree from Cambridge. She is passive, incredibly immature, and constantly looking for her next sexual liaison. Sound like a MI5 operative to you? Certainly not to me. She is asked to take part in an operation named

4:00 pm 3 January 2013

Another great Mary Oliver collection. If you like poetry just read this!

4:00 pm 2 January 2013

First of all, this is another post-apocalyptic vision of the world. But, in the Dog Stars, the writing itself sets this book apart: the language is robust and experimental, with short machine gun like bursts and haiku-like prose. It is also dream-like and often beautiful. It is about loss and survival and hope and it scared me, made me cry, and sometimes gave me a laugh. There are no zombies, no vampires, no monsters...just us and we're terrifying enough. It's also a story about finding love in what seems a loveless world.It is about friendship between men when it seems all men must be feared. I love the part of the book that is about the bond between a man and a dog. There are some truly gruesome elements to the book and quite a bit of violence but there is also the beauty of the remaining natural world. It's streams, flowers, trees, and animals; all disappearing but in enough evidence to invoke nostalgia and appreciation. In the end this book is about what it really means to be a human in and of itself. Recommended to anyone but especially those who admire post-apocalyptic novels.

4:00 pm 18 December 2012

In Life Class, Pat Barker explores the nexus between art and war. The first half of the book concerns three young people studying in a prestigious art school in London. These students are suffering from the anxieties typical of youth. Class barriers, the pressures of the school's demands, their professional futures, and ever at the forefront, their sexual desires? They spend their time going from class to cafe to night club ignoring the war clouds on the horizon. When it becomes impossible to ignore, it presents a way to question the purpose of art given such death and destruction. Each character finds a different way to answer the question.

The second half of the book takes us into the hell of war in the front line hospitals and the trenches of World War I. Each young friend must find their own way through this dreadful time. Along the way they will find themselves leaving their former selves behind. The core of this book is how people are changed by what they see, how they behave, and how their relationships will survive, or not. Good book.

1

Master of the Mountain: Thomas Jefferson and His Slaves

4:00 pm 12 December 2012

This book has forever changed the way I will think of the guy who wrote the Declaration of Independence. It's a compelling and utterly damning picture of a man we have been taught to admire on the most lofty plain. When it came to slavery, he said one thing and did quite the opposite. History books, especially those used in classrooms, need to be revised to show his true beliefs about the economy and commerce of slavery.
This is a very good book, well-researched and written in a very accessible manner. Recommended for folks interested in American history and the lives of the 'founding fathers'.

2

4:00 pm 26 November 2012

Flight Behavior is compelling novel where climate change is the main theme tucked into the story of the domestic life of a rural Tennessee family. It is also about the social fabric and class struggles of contemporary Appalachia. This is a story with realistic characters, not always likable but always interesting, who have problems that seem to overshadow the tragedy of an environment run amuck around them. Climate change is the real tragedy that is presented in this book along with the seemingly insurmountable problem that science has in presenting information to people who don't want it, feel inconvenienced by it and are afraid of it? Flight Behavior deals in important issues, but addresses them on the personal level. It's clear that Kingsolver is passionate about portraying the fragility of nature, and why we should care about it. I recommend this fascinating book.

1

4:00 pm 14 November 2012

Louise Erdrich is, in my opinion, one of the best contemporary writers. One of the aspects of Erdrich's writing is that her narratives are loose and sprawling, yet the language is always tight and lyrical. She has done much to help readers consider the position of Native Americans in a country that continues to denigrate and dismiss them. This story is set on an Ojibwa reservation in North Dakota (a location used in other Erdrich novels) in the 80's. There is a terrible crime, a hate crime really and its aftermath. A mystery is presented and the 13 year old boy at the heart of this novel must make a journey from innocence to experience in the unraveling of it. The plot hinges on laws that hinder the prosecution of rapes by non-Indians on reservations. It weaves together the reservation's history of familial and political battles by inserting details of the traditions and stories of Ojibwe culture into the narrative. Erdrich has given us a book with complicated moral and legal situations, a rich cultural history, and a long history of abuse on the people who are the original Americans. Though 'The Round House' travels a dark road there is enough sunlight to keep the reader from succumbing to the darkness. I recommend this book to everyone.

4:00 pm 27 September 2012

Telegraph Avenue: A Novel - Michael Chabon

How could I not love this book? For the past twenty years I have lived a half block off Telegraph Avenue in Oakland. With this book Michael Chabon makes my world a colorful and vital place to live (which it truly is). It is a perceptive portrayal of life in a 21st-century urban American neighborhood full of cultural misunderstandings and larger than life personalities. It is a moving story about class and race, parenting, marriage, and friendship written with warmth and humor and enthusiasm. Telegraph Avenue is a mesmerizing read and I highly recommend it. (Oh, by the way, there is one twelve page sentence!)

4:00 pm 1 August 2012

Silent Spring - Rachel Carson, Linda Lear, Edward O. Wilson

I first read this book around 35 or 40 years ago. I will say there is a good reason it is a classic. A pivotal book that was treated unkindly in the 60's but has endured all these years. It now seems to be the most oft quoted book regarding the environment and the birth of the environmental movement.

1

4:00 pm 19 July 2012

I have, somewhat reluctantly, given this book three stars. The first 80% of the book deserves three stars. It is a well written treatment of war, bravery, so-called cowardice, and sexual confusion and conflict. It was intriguing enough to keep me interested. But, the last two chapters came very close to undoing everything I was feeling about this book. So contrived...so unbelievable. It is difficult for me to recommend this but many others have really loved it. So, judge for yourself.

4:00 pm 8 July 2012

This book opens with two very provocative sentences, "First, I

4:00 pm 1 July 2012

Very fine storytelling. Freeman is a gripping tale of the post-civil war south from a point of view too often overlooked - that of the newly freed slaves. Recommended..

4:00 pm 21 June 2012

God's Hotel: A Doctor, a Hospital, and a Pilgrimage to the Heart of Medicine - Victoria Sweet

So well written and engaging, this is an entertaining, informative, and inspirational book and I loved it. It demonstrates how health care used to be and How it should/could be now. Every legislator, bureaucrat, and consumer involved in health care, especially in the framing of policy and in the decision making process should be required to read this book. Actually, everyone would benefit from reading it. Highly recommended.

4:00 pm 14 May 2012

4:00 pm 20 April 2012

This book is gripping. It won't let you go. It is also sad, sad, sad. It's not easy to read for those of us who lived through this time. It's about war in all it's toughness, it's dirt and muck and death, what it does to the souls' of men, and why we must find some way to advance beyond the "need" for war. An important book.

4:00 pm 5 April 2012

This book got a lot of good reviews but I'm afraid I just didn't like it at all. I found the narrative device to be way too contrived. I found the narrator to be so creepy as to be repulsive to me. Each of the main characters was filled with so much self-loathing that I could not muster up any degree of concern for them. But, I did read the whole thing, so something about it was compelling. It's just that when I finished I was left feeling like I had wasted my time.

Damn Good Books (or not)

Master of the Mountain: Thomas Jefferson and His Slaves

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