Up in the Tree Fort: Daren's perspective

Up in the Tree Fort:

For those who might in interested in what my husband is reading.


January 6, 2014:

The Orphan Master’s Son, Adam Johnson

 

            The setting is present day North Korea. This is the tale of Pak Jun Do, an orphan, whose remarkable journey takes him from worst to (almost) first in the social hierarchy. Like Woody Allen’s Zelig, he is a chameleon of the highest order. After he spends his childhood in an orphanage, we witness him advance through a series of state-run occupations: tunnel soldier, professional kidnapper, communications expert (spy) on a fishing vessel, unwitting diplomat to the United States, and finally political prisoner in a North Korean uranium mine labor camp, where citizens are worked to their death. But wait, this is only the first part of the story. Deep in the dark, steamy tunnels of the prison mine, Jun Do meets the venerable Commander Ga, there on an official visit. Using his training, he overpowers and kills the Commander, then assumes his identity. Second only to the Dear Leader himself, Kim Jong Il, Jun Do/Commader Ga is accepted by state dignitaries and, eventually, his movie star wife, Sun Moon, and her two children. Here the plot takes a turn as Ga focuses his instincts for self-preservation toward his wife and children. Together, they plan a dangerous and elaborate defection attempt that seems doomed to fail.

 

            The descriptions of North Korean society and the day-to-day activities of its citizens seem utterly absurd: the Gestapo-like labor camps, state assigned occupations, arranged marriages, the government’s paranoid suspicion and intolerance of “seditious” behavior. Yet, just last month we heard about Kim Jong-Un’s execution of his uncle and former protector. He was fed to a pack of starving dogs, if we are to believe some of the news reports. Maybe, Johnson’s imagination is not too far from the truth. Still, some of the circumstances are too fanciful and improbable and the story can only be viable if viewed through the prism of magical realism. It is mostly a chronicle of suffering and loss, but there are scenes of breathtaking beauty. The transformation of Jun Do from the ultimate survivor to self-less martyr is an amazing testament of the incorruptible human spirit.  

 

16.) Why Does the World Exist? An Existential Detective Story, Jim Holt

 

            This book is a collection of essays and interviews attempting to answer the question: “Why is there something instead of nothing?” Jim Holt extensively researched this topic and cites opinions from philosophers and scientists from the ancients to the present time. Based on our current understanding of the universe, the crux of the issue boils down to the question, “what, if anything, preceded the Big Bang?” At this moment in history, the answer is unknown, and frankly, it looks like it will be unknowable for some time. For now, without evidence to the contrary, people may choose to name this singular natural event the work of a divine creator, or God. I believe this was Einstein’s conception of God: the supreme laws of physics that lead to the creation of the universe, and continue to govern its mechanics. However, the leap from this idea to the notion of an avuncular figure in the sky who knows our thoughts and actions before we do and intervenes in human day-to-day affairs is absurd and something that Einstein would not have condoned. To be honest, I couldn’t finish the text. It never occurred to me that philosophers were so much like lawyers. Their arguments are intricately related to the definition of terms, so there is a lot of exposition and statement of assumptions. It was a bit boring.

October 30, 2013:

The Bat, Jo Nesbo

This is the first in the series of Inspector Harry Hole novels. Harry is a homicide detective from Oslo, Norway. He is an alcoholic who suffers frequent relapses. The choices he has made when drunk have lead to misfortune, even death, of those close to him. Because of this fact, and the nature of his work, Harry bears a heavy burden.

            Despite being the first in the series (The Bat was published in 1997), it was just recently translated from the Norwegian. I have read other Harry Hole adventures The Redbreast, The Nemesis, The Devil’s Star, all of which take place later on the timeline, but had been translated before this one. So, when I saw this at the bookstore, I was intrigued. It is clear the author has honed his craft and figured a few things out over the years. He shows, in this first novel, that he is naturally gifted at creating and building suspense. But, the Harry of this book is a bit primitive compared with the complex character he becomes in the later works. Also, the dialogue is very clunky. I kept thinking: “Harry would never say that.” I enjoyed reading it, but will stick with the later version of Harry that I have come to know.

October 17, 2013:

The Son, Phillipp Meyer

            My brother recommended this and I was hooked the instant he read me the back-cover review from Chris Cleave: “. . . if you took One Hundred Years of Solitude as your mare and Blood Meridian as your stud, then spooked the resulting herd of horses and had the cast of the The Wire dress as Comanches and ride them hard through the gates of hell, you’d have some kind of idea [of this book].” Now that sounds interesting. After reading the book though, I wonder if Mr. Cleave had an abridged copy. No doubt, his description refers to the activities of Eli McCollough, only one of three narrators whose stories are interwoven. In addition to Eli, Peter, his son, and Jeannie, his great-granddaughter, tell the story of six generations of McColloughs in Texas from 1830 to 2012.

            Eli was living as a teenage boy with his family on the Texas frontier. When Comanche Indians raid his home, they brutally kill his family and kidnap him. He is adopted by the tribe and learns their way of life: tracking, hunting, war with other tribes. He eventually becomes a raider himself. Later, he returns to society. Ultimately, he amasses a huge fortune with vast land holdings, but he makes some harsh choices and his methods are pitiless at times. Because of his unique up-bringing, his moral blind-spot seems authentic, a function of his environment and training. Yet, you just know that someone is going to pay for his transgressions.

            The rest of the McColloughs tell the tale of the rise and decline of one of the most powerful families in Texas. First cattle ranchers, then oil barons, they are wealthy, powerful, and respected. Peter, Eli’s son, is a misfit in the family. The Texans around him universally see him as weak, for possessing what can only be called a conscience. This leads to his downfall. Jeannie, Eli’s grand-daughter, inherits the ranch and its oil empire. As a woman in a male-dominated field, she is assertive and confident, like Eli. In the end, events set in motion before she was born, fall squarely upon her shoulders and the house comes crashing down.



September 22, 2013

The Yard, Alex Grecian

           

            I’m back to reading fiction again after a hiatus devoted to studying for my 10-year board re-certification exam. I definitely missed reading for pleasure . . . This book is set in London, 1889. In the aftermath of the Jack the Ripper murders, the detectives of Scotland Yard are forced to play catch-up as they attempt to understand a new breed of criminal, the serial killer. The city, the largest and most important in the world at the time, is a willing accomplice to this new depravity. A vast criminal underclass and working poor have evolved intricate systems of commerce and cooperation, right under the noses of the privileged society who share their enormous city. One character observes: “London is growing to fast for the poor and the dead, the children of the simpleminded to keep up.” There is ample evidence that it also is growing too fast for the police to keep up. While the governmental oversight and regulation ushered in by industrialization can be cumbersome, the current state of affairs if far preferable to the hazards, injustice, neglect, and corruption that was pervasive in Victorian London. These immoral and unfit conditions are a major theme in the book. Against this backdrop, the detectives or Scotland Yard must come together and collaborate to solve a series of murders, the methods of which seem to indicate a lone, serial killer. They use new technologies such as “finger marks,” and systematic forensic examination of the bodies to narrow the field of suspects. This is a fast-moving, fun book.

1.) The Disappearing Spoon, Sam Kean

 

            This is a non-fiction book about the periodic table of the elements. Overall, I think it is very good. There are some dense topics here: nuclear fission, quantum mechanics, radioactivity, etc. The author does not always explain these phenomena in a way that most people can understand (me included, with a decent science background), and I get it: the book would become unwieldy. He is mostly concerned about the stories of the elements, the scientist who discovered them, and the drama contained in successes and failures of these passionate, dedicated individuals. There are some fascinating anecdotes and we quickly appreciate that the periodic table, with its imperfections and idiosyncrasies, truly governs our day-to-day lives. The author has a straightforward style and is humorous at times. He is great with metaphors and is able to boil (most) concepts down to real-world nuts and bolts.

 

2.) Anna Karenina, Leo Tolstoy

 

            This epic classic of an impossible, timeless love affair is short on romance. Besides hand-holding and a couple of tender kisses, the book contains no description of other physical contact between Anna and Vronsky. I found the lack of this content detracted from the authenticity of their relationship. Perhaps it is a period thing, like how Romeo and Juliet maintain their passion with glances and talk. Or maybe people really did express themselves differently in 1870s Russia: they frequently became “flushed” when embarrassed or “vexed,” and their “eyes shone” with anticipation and excitement. There are some beautiful passages (Levin mowing his fields with the peasants) and you certainly get a good feel for society life in Russia during this time period. But, overall, I didn’t really see what the big deal was.

 

3.) Endurance: Shackleton’s Incredible Voyage, Alfred Lansing

           

            My daughter was reading about Shackleton in her seventh grade language arts class. I knew the basics of his adventure, but was intrigued to learn more. This book is about Shackleton’s 1914 attempt to be the first to make a trans-Antarctic overland trek. His ship became trapped, and eventually destroyed, in dense pack ice of the coast of Antarctica prior to landfall. He and the crew were stranded with no way to send for help. This is the amazing account of his escape. As a decision maker, you see Shackleton run the gamut from enlightened non-action (don’t just do something, stand there) to split-second, reckless daring based on instinct. The amazing thing is that all of his decisions were correct. I highly recommend this book.

 

4.) Billy Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk, Ben Fountain

 

            My brother recommended this book. It is about a company of Iraq War soldiers (Bravo company) who are honored for heroism with the VIP treatment at the Dallas Cowboy’s Thanksgiving Day game. They are hailed as heroes after a video of their intense firefight with Iraqi insurgents goes viral on YouTube. The game is the final stop on a two-week goodwill tour. It has been a whirlwind tour of rallies, including a stop at the White House where the President presented them with medals. At the stadium, Bravo meets the players, owner, cheerleaders, and participate in an elaborate, star-studded halftime show.

           

            Reviews of the book call it a modern-day Catch 22 and I can understand that. There certainly are several moments when the absurdity of military command is laid bare and recall the famous “He has to be crazy to keep flying combat missions . . .” epiphany of that classic novel. In addition, the author points to other unbecoming disparities in his juxtaposition of these combat grunts, tweaked from the stress of battle where deadly force is omnipresent, with the star football players, pop music divas, and Cowboy corporate executives whose way of life is unattainable to 99/100 Americans. The Bravos appropriately wonder what they are being asked to die for.   

 

            I thoroughly enjoyed this book. The dialogue rings true. The work feels original and in-touch. I had the same sense when I read Coupland’s, Generation X, years ago. The author has a fresh, new voice and thoughtfully considers the issues of the day.

 

5.) In One Person, John Irving

 

            Anyone who is an Irving fan will recognize familiar themes in this book: a child growing up in a single-parent household, a New England private school campus, wrestling, a novelist protagonist, bears (not the animal in this case, but gay men who, apparently, don’t focus too much on their appearance and often are big and hairy). To me, this was The World According to Garp 2.0, the trans-gender version. The main character, Bill, is a bi-sexual male who we meet as a teenager. He has many questions about his sexuality and confides in various other characters, many of whom have gender identity issues of their own. Bill grows up to be a confident, well-adjusted bi-sexual, but things don’t turn out so well for some of the others. As the book begins in the 1950s and follows Bill into old age, the AIDS crisis is a menace that rears up and takes the lives of many of his friends and lovers. In Garp, Garp himself states that the epilogue is “more than a body count.” Well, the last third of this book, beginning with a chapter titled “A Word of Epilogues,” is littered with the dead. Though at times painful to read, I found this part to touching testimony of that tragic era.

 

6.) The Secret Sharer, Joseph Conrad

 

            Thinking of Garp, I set out to read his favorite work of fiction: The Secret Sharer, which he read more than twenty times. It is compact and subtle. Just the thing a writer would enjoy.

 

7.) The Hot Country, Robert Olen Butler

 

            This is a “Christopher Marlowe Cobb Thriller.” It is the first book in what I presume will be a series featuring war correspondent Christopher Marlowe “Kit” Cobb. It takes place in Veracruz, Mexico, 1914. Kit is there to report on the US invasion of Mexico and the Mexican Civil War. His journalist’s instincts lead him to a mysterious German official who, Kit discovers, has plans to meet with Pancho Villa. Following this lead, Kit is pulled into the action himself. He befriends a Mexican rebel leader in Villa’s band and soon is matching his wits against seasoned bandits, spies, and assassins. The style reminded me of Hemmingway, especially the cadence of action scenes. This was an excellent read and I look forward to the rest of the series.

 

8.) Kook, Peter Heller

 

            Kook is a term of disrespect that signifies a beginner surfer. It is used by the more experienced surfers at breaks to intimidate and discourage beginners from spoiling their chances of catching waves. There is etiquette to surfing in crowds and beginners must learn it or suffer abuse. In my experience, however, the rules are relative and fluid. If a beginner makes a certain mistake, he is insulted. If a local pulls the same move, it is his prerogative as the better surfer.

 

            The book is the true story of adventure-writer Peter Heller who decides to learn to surf at 43 years-old. He starts by taking lessons in Southern California and then hits the road with his girlfriend (they later marry) for a trip down the coast of Mexico. They surfed almost everyday for several months at a variety of world-famous breaks and made excellent progress.

 

            I started surfing at age 38 and was able to identify with many of Heller’s experiences: the initial disorientation on a board, “popping up” for the first time, wiping out, the first (and second, and third, etc.) long, fast ride on an overhead wave . . . going from kook to surfer. 

 

9.) The Gardner Heist, Ulrich Boser

 

            This is a detailed report of the 1990 art heist at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum. The robbery to date is the largest in history: priceless Rembrandts, a Vermeer, and other important works were taken in a daring midnight raid. The author reviews the evidence of the crime and chases down leads, old and new, in this cold case. It is fascinating to think where in the world the stolen masterpieces might be. After reading this, however, I have the feeling that the much of the art has been destroyed, intentionally or by neglect, never to be seen or appreciated again.

10.) Little Wolves, Thomas Maltman

 

            A small Minnesota prairie town is shocked when a local high-school boy commits a grisly murder-suicide. The boy’s widowed father, his English teacher, the local pastor, and other citizens of the town react to the tragedy. Indistinct supernatural forces guide the actions of some of the characters. The story is interwoven with legends and mythology. The author also is a poet and this tendency is clearly evident in his lyrical prose. Beautifully written, I think the plot was relatively undeveloped. The book was good, but could have been great.

 

11.) The Dog Stars, Peter Heller

 

            After Kook, I was interested in checking out Heller’s fiction. The setting is post-apocalyptic town in Colorado, nine years after a pandemic eliminated almost the entire population. There are a few human survivors. Hig, the narrator, is a pilot who lives in an abandoned community airport with a tactical and weapons specialist named Bangley. The two have developed a successful partnership for their mutual survival, as roving bands of marauders target the airport and the precious resources that Hig and Bangley have been able to cultivate. The book is written in a stream of consciousness from Hig’s point of view. His feelings of loneliness, loss, regret, desire are powerfully rendered. Yet, he still is able to recognize and appreciate beauty in the scorched and scarred places he inhabits. Like McCarthy’s The Road, we are forced to imagine the end of the world as we know it, go out way beyond our comfort zone, and wonder what it might be like just to survive and go on living day-to-day. This is a powerful and majestic work.

12/16/12

Superfreakonomics, Steven Levitt and Stephen Dubner

In this follow-up to Freakonomics, the team of Levitt and Dubner use the dispassionate analytical methods of economics to delve deep into a variety of current topics: the profile of a terrorist, climate change, medical errors, and gender gap issues. Their motto for the Freakonomics brand is “the hidden side of everything.” In this book, they again give us many examples of how the conventional wisdom often is biased or flawed in serious ways. The epilogue (less than 10 pages I’m happy to report) is hilarious and fascinating. It is reason enough to read the book.

 

 

This probably will be the last review for 2012. My top book(s) of the year . . . a tie: The Cat's Table was my knee-jerk favorite, but I feel like The Underworld should share the top spot due to its impressive complexity.

11/20/12

Cities of the Plain, Cormac McCarthy

This is the final book in McCarthy’s “Border Trilogy.” Set in New Mexico in 1952, two young cowboys work together as ranch hands. One of them falls in love with a Mexican prostitute and attempts to smuggle her across the border, into the US. This book contained more humor than I have come to expect from McCarthy, and I enjoyed that. The author continues to express the eerie fatalism that pervades much of his other work: “Men speak of blind destiny, a thing without scheme or purpose. But what sort of destiny is that? Each act in this world from which there can be no turning back has before it another, and it another yet. In a vast and endless net. Men imagine that the choices before them are theirs to make. But we are free to act on only upon what is given. Choice is lost in the maze of generations and each act in that maze is itself an enslavement for it voids every alternative and binds one ever more tightly into the constraints that make a life.” Vintage McCarthy, my favorite living writer.

 

 

Underworld, Don DeLillo

This is a serious book. Its reach is expansive and ambitious as it explores Cold War-era America from the 1950s to the turn of the century. The main character is Nick Shay, son of a Bronx bookmaker. We follow his early life in New York, his awkward teenage years, where tries on various roles, and later, his experiences as a married businessman in Phoenix. There are numerous other characters which are developed to varying degrees. There are a lot of layers to the book. It is dense and complex. Other novels in a similar vein, like Franzen’s Freedom, don’t even come close to its complexity. Even if you could compress Updike’s Rabbit series, which spans a similar time period, the scope and breadth would not be as big. As a rule, I dislike prologues and epilogues that are longer than ten (10) pages. Both here are much longer than that and both are excellent. As I understand, the prologue was published as a short story under the title “Pafko at the Wall.” It is about the 1951 National League baseball playoff game between the Brooklyn Dodgers and the New York Giants when Bobby Thomson hits a walk-off homerun to win the game for the Giants. The baseball, the only surviving embodiment of the “shot heard round the world,” is recovered by a young boy who gate crashed the game. The story of this baseball is weaved throughout the narrative.

 

11/13/12

Atonement, Ian McEwan

Ian McEwan had an entry in the The Portable Atheist (above). Also, last year, I read Amsterdam, by him, which I mostly enjoyed though I found the ending to be improbable. I was interested in reading more, so I picked up Atonement. The story takes place before the start of WWII on the Tallis family compound in England. During the course of a mid-summer’s day and night, events occur that determine the fates of several characters. The author convincingly demonstrates how a single moment in time, a few seconds of activity, can set the arc of that will inscribe one’s path in life.

 

 

Cities of the Plain, Cormac McCarthy

This is the final book in McCarthy’s “Border Trilogy.” Set in New Mexico in 1952, two young cowboys work together as ranch hands. One of them falls in love with a Mexican prostitute and attempts to smuggle her across the border, into the US. This book contained more humor than I have come to expect from McCarthy, and I enjoyed that. The author continues to express the eerie fatalism that pervades much of his other work: “Men speak of blind destiny, a thing without scheme or purpose. But what sort of destiny is that? Each act in this world from which there can be no turning back has before it another, and it another yet. In a vast and endless net. Men imagine that the choices before them are theirs to make. But we are free to act on only upon what is given. Choice is lost in the maze of generations and each act in that maze is itself an enslavement for it voids every alternative and binds one ever more tightly into the constraints that make a life.” Vintage McCarthy, my favorite living writer.

10/2/12

The Girl Who Played with Fire, Stieg Larsson

            I wanted an action-packed page-turner for a flight from Boston to San Francisco, so I picked this off the shelf. Like the first book, number two (2) in the series is hard to put down. The suspenseful plot pulls you right in. Salander is an unlikely hero: part-ninja, part-genius, damaged by her stormy past. You have to suspend disbelief somewhat when she continually bests in physical combat opponents who are more powerful and better trained than her. She tests the limits of what we might reasonably believe one can achieve by “mind over matter.” Still, it is thrilling to read . . . and I always root for her to win.

 

 The Second Book of General Ignorance, John Lloyd and John Mitchinson

            This is another “second” book. It is a compilation of trivia that focuses on common misconceptions. There are 187 entries on various topics from history, science, geography, sports, etc. Each question seems obvious, but you soon find out that the “conventional wisdom” or “rule of thumb,” can be wide of the mark. There are many fascinating (but useless) facts that make it fun to read.

9/5/12

The Sense of An Ending, Julian Barnes

This is a book about memory and the obstacles that frustrate our attempts to achieve an unbiased, pure recollection of past events, not only from history, but our own lives. It is told in two parts. The first part describes the life of the narrator, Tony, and his school-boy friends growing up together in London. The second part takes place decades later, when Tony has retired, and he is forced to remember details of the time he spent with his childhood friends. He is challenged to recall specific conversations, imagine the motives of others, and recreate scenes from years ago. We see the impact of bias, selective memory, and denial. The author probes the various sub-divisions in the emotional spectrum of nostalgia, regret, and remorse. The book reminded me of Roth’s Everyman without his preoccupation with physical illness and the loss of virility and self-esteem that occurs with age.

The Tennis Partner, Abraham Verghese

A friend recommended this book to me after we both read Verghese’s Cutting for Stone, my favorite book of last year. This is actually a biography or memoir (the Library of Congress catalogue entry classifies it a biography.) Yet, the book reads like fiction. It is the story of two friends, both physicians: young infectious disease attending Dr. Verghese and medical student, later intern, Dr. David Smith. The foundation of their friendship is tennis, which they play together. Tennis becomes a metaphor and counter-point for much of the off-court action. David is the better player, once a professional. But, he has a serious addiction problem that lurks very close to the surface, always a threat to overtake him. Abraham’s failed marriage and self-doubt as a foreign medical graduate create challenges for him. Like Cutting for Stone, the book is filled with references to the practice of medicine, which I enjoyed.

7/10/12

Billy Budd, Herman Melville

It has been a little while since the last entry, so I have three (3) books to review. I re-read Billy Budd because it was on my mind after I read Moby Dick and In the Heart of the Sea earlier this year. In college, I studied the true account of Philip Spencer on board the US Brig-of-War Somers, which was Melville’s basis for the short story. Despite being less than one hundred (100) pages, it is not a quick read. I don’t think I will need to open it again.

13.) 1776, David McCollough

Like the title suggests, this is a historical report of the events of 1776, during the first year of America’s War for Independence. The book details the General Washington and the Continental Army’s victory at the Siege of Boston, its demoralizing defeat in New York, and redemption later that year in Trenton, New Jersey. We all know the outcome of this conflict. Yet, it is sobering to understand that many times, chance, weather, and other seemingly minor forces, influenced the action, and ultimately, the result of the war.

14.) The Art of Fielding, Chad Harbach

Both my wife and my father recommended this book to me, so I was eager to read it. A book about baseball that prominently features Melville is right in my wheelhouse, to use the baseball term. The setting is a mid-western college and their division III NCAA baseball team. The main character is an undersized, gritty, dirt-dog of a shortstop who immediately reminded me of Dustin Pedroia. He elevates his game under the guidance of a veteran catcher (Varitek) to become a legitimate MLB prospect. The book had a John Irving, Richard Russo feel to it: multiple “main” characters that are eerily interconnected, the college town familiar and important enough to itself be a “character”, a single split-second event have far-flung unintended consequences that ripple throughout the narrative. I absolutely loved it at first, but then it seemed to stall out. It felt to me like it could have used some paring and editing. Overall, though, I enjoyed it very much.

5/19/12

The Cat’s Table, Michael Ondaatje

This is new fiction from one of my favorite contemporary authors. It is a “coming of age” story of an eleven-year boy during a three-week ocean voyage from Colombo to England. He quickly meets some boys his age, along with other interesting and quirky adults. The boys basically are unsupervised and have the run of the ship. They make some unusual discoveries and find themselves in a few sticky situations. As usual, Ondaatje creates some very tender and poignant moments. His prose is lyrical and compact; another beautiful piece of writing.

5/3/12

The Portable Atheist, edited by Christopher Hitchens

At 480 pages, the volume really is not that portable. Hitchens samples the writings of multiple well-known free-thinkers on this heavy topic. For example, Scottish philosopher David Hume skillfully deconstructs the credibility of human eye-witness accounts to miracles. Human testimonies to miracles are the basis for entire systems of religion. Yet, according to Hume, the fallibility and biases of witnesses are insufficient to contradict the natural order that we collectively and consistently observe in our daily lives. For example, imagine if someone claimed to have been resurrected from the dead today. What type of evidence would we require in order to accept this as truth? Obviously, we would need photographic and audio-video documentation, as well as a full forensic investigation of all the physical data. Witness accounts alone would not hold up.

H.L Mencken provides an essay about a hundred or so deities who reigned supreme during their time only to be consigned to the scrap-heap of history after their influenced waned. In time, this is the same treatment we can expect for the God of Abraham: to be erased from human consciousness, not with a bang but a whimper.

I suspect that many people who identify with a particular religion don’t think or read much about the alternative to belief in a supernatural god. Though this book contains many persuasive and well-crafted essays, I’d like to mention a few that are particularly accessible and elegant. Each could be read in a single sitting and I suspect that an honest, introspective person would experience a deep epiphany after reading any one of these: “Why I am an Unbeliever,” by Carl Van Doren; “The God Hypothesis,” by Carl Sagan; “If God is Dead, Is Everything Permitted?” by Elizabeth Anderson. In addition to these, the curious skeptic may pick up anything by Richard Dawkins and start reading.

3/31/12

Everyman, Phillip Roth
The protagonist is an elderly male who relates his life story with his illnesses and infirmities the milestones. He reflects on his mistakes and successes, experiences regret and sorrow. I nearly gave up on the book mid-way through. Although the author gives voice to our collective struggle with mortality, the character’s misgivings are overwrought and, to me, did not authentically depict “everyman’s” reflections on this hefty subject.

3/15/12

In the Heart of the Sea: The Tragedy of the Whaleship Essex, Nathaniel Philbrick

This is the true story of the crew of the whaleship Essex which became stranded at sea, 3,000 miles west of South America, after the ship was rammed and sunk by a sperm whale. All hands survived the attack and loaded themselves and whatever provision they could salvage into three (3) twenty-five (25)-foot whaleboats. They make the fateful decision to head back east, through 3,000 miles of open ocean, for the coast of South America, rather than risk landfall at nearer Pacific islands in order to avoid man-eating savages. It won’t give away too much to say that some of the crew survive and ultimately return home, to Nantucket. The account of the vindictive, rampaging sperm whale provided the impetus for Melville’s Moby Dick. I have read a number of Philbrick’s books and, as usual, he does an excellent job of advancing the plot and, simultaneously, providing historical context without bogging down the pace.

3/13/12

 Success, Martin Amis

This has been on my bookshelf for years and I never got around to reading it. I saw it mentioned in an article the other day, so I pulled it off the shelf. It is put together cleverly. Two twenty-something half-brothers share a London apartment. One brother, Terry, narrates the first part of each chapter, and the other brother, Greg, tells the last part. The book spans one calendar year, with chapters at every month. When the two relate the same scene, the differences in tone, tempo, even basic facts, bring the character’s contrasts into sharp focus. You quickly understand that one is delusional, though both lack insight and self-awareness. I did not love it, but I am interested to try another of Amis’s books. 

The Odds, Stewart O’Nan

I was introduced to Stewart O’Nan in 2004 when he co-authored with Stephen King Faithful, the chronicle of the 2004 Red Sox championship season. Who could resist that cover photo of Tek smashing A Rod in the face? His latest book is fiction. A love story, he says, about a married couple on their thirtieth wedding anniversary. They appear to be on the verge of divorce and their finances are in shambles. The couple takes a second honeymoon to Niagara Falls where they risk their life savings in the casino, literally on the spin of the wheel. Also, they make a brave effort to rescue their relationship. O’Nan’s portrayal of this marriage is honest and tender. The couple has its share of awkward moments, some are almost painful to witness, but they seem real, and, in the end, you root for them.

2/13/12

The Wave, Susan Casey

            Being a surfer, I was interested in this book about giant waves. The book details the adventures of big-wave surfers, mariners who brave gale-tossed seas, and scientists who study waves, weather, and forecasting. The sections on surfing were the most interesting by far. Although the marine salvage operations off the African Cape are pretty hard-core. Check out “Riding Giants” a documentary about big-wave surfing from it’s low-key beginning in Hawaii to the current multi-billion dollar global enterprise that has surfers traversing the globe to claim the $1M bounty on riding a hundred-foot wave. Since Casey’s writing, there was a new world-record: Garrett McNamara (who is featured in the book) rode a 90-foot wave November 2011, off the coast of Portugal . . . getting closer. 

Train Dreams, Denis Johnson

            I spied this while browsing the “Employee Suggestions” rack at the bookstore. I couldn’t help but think of Celtic’s point guard, now deceased, Dennis Johnson (DJ) and those great late-1980s championship teams. So, I decided to give the book a try. It is a quick read about frontier life in the Idaho pan-handle, mostly taking place in the early part of the twentieth century. 

 Zeitoun by Dave Eggers

            This is the true story of the Zeitoun family during the events of Hurricane Katrina. Kathy and Abdulrahman Zeitoun split up before the storm makes landfall in New Orleans. Kathy leaves town with the children and Zeitoun stays behind to look after his properties. In the aftermath of the disaster, hard-working and honest Zeitoun becomes a victim of men in positions of authority who betray their better natures under the influences of uncertainty, fear, and corruption. I won’t give away the details as Eggers skillfully builds the tension to its shocking conclusion. Kathy says at one point that she “can’t believe this happened in America” and I agree. As an emergency physician, I am aware that retrospective case reviews often fail to appreciate the ambient circumstances which govern real-time decision-making. Frequently, in the ED, we have incomplete information and may need to act, in what we believe to be the patient’s best interests, before we have a full understanding of the scope of the problem. In these endeavors, I am comforted by the words of Theodore Roosevelt’s “In the Arena” speech. However, in spite of the well-known dangers of passing judgment in hindsight, what happened to Zeitoun is unforgivable. Eggers opens the narrative with this quote from McCarthy’s The Road (a powerful and haunting book itself): “. . . in the history of the world, it might even be that there was more punishment than crime.” The ordeals of Zeitoun provide the proof.  

Moby Dick by Herman Melville

I just read Moby-Dick for the third time. I have always been a Moby-Dick fan and recently became a Nathaniel Philbrick fan after reading his books about Custer's Last Stand and the Mayflower. When he came out with "Why Read Moby-Dick?" I couldn't resist and bought a copy. Well, after reading that, I decided to tackle Moby-Dick again. This Penguin edition is great because the maps and diagrams in the back provide quick and easy reference for all the specialized terms related whales and whaling. Everyone has heard Moby-Dick compared to Shakespeare and the Bible and indeed these are apt as there are numerous sublime and beautiful musings about the mysteries of life. But, there is also alot of various and trivial information about whaling and whales, life at sea, etc, which is interesting, but does take up alot of time. So, to cut down on the reading, I think you could gain much of the Moby-Dick experience by reading chapters 1-40 and then skipping all the way to chapter 118 and continuing from there to the end.  Lastly, check your local library for an illustrated version or graphic novel. These will give you a good idea of the scale of a whaleboat with harpooner in the bows as he attempts to strike a whale on the open ocean. Also, you can have a better appreciation of the procedure of hauling dead whales to the deck and harvesting the oil. No matter how you go about it, you won't be disappointed after reading this great work.

The Girl with the Dragon Tatoo, Stieg Larsson

I wanted to read this before going to see the movie. Now, I understand why people are reading this series everywhere you look. It is very exciting. Salander is a totally unique character. Off to see the movie . . .