Posts Tagged 'Books'

Books! Everyone is named Thomas

Published May 10, 2013 Cannonball Read V , reading 3 Comments
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Oh Cannonball, how I have missed you! Usually spring semester is not so busy but usually I am not taking a class while teaching and working full-time. Oh well. Here’s to summer…

The one fun book I read this semester was Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel. I bought the book when it first came out and just now got to it as part of my Mount TBR Challenge. It was definitely a highlight of my semester though.

Thomas Cromwell is our guy in this chronicle of the early years of King Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn’s love affair. From humble beginnings, he starts his professional life as an assistant to Cardinal Wolsey but after Wolsey’s death he becomes a minister to the King. Along the way he meets Cranmer, Anne and Mary Boleyn, the rest of the Boleyn gang, Thomas More, and a very young Jane Seymour. As it is a planned trilogy, with Bring up the Bodies out now of course, it ends on the cusp of the shift in Henry’s feelings towards Anne and the disgrace of Thomas More.

The book reads beautifully and Cromwell is an extremely sympathetic character. Mantel’s writing has a nice cheekiness to it that often feels self-referential. The quote “Some of these things are true and some of them lies. But they are all good stories” is  a nice commentary both in relation to action in the story but also to the process of telling this particular story.  While she absolutely must take liberty with the characters’ comments and actions to tell this story, she tries to stay true to life as much as possible (very much unlike the tv show The Tudors that took many liberties). In contrasting the two approaches, I prefer this Thomas Cromwell to his small screen counterpart, but I was surprised at how petty and irritable she made Thomas More as he is typically portrayed with more nobility. Honestly, it was quite fun.

The book slows a bit toward the end, but most of it has a nice pace. If you know nothing about the Tudor period at all, it could be potentially difficult to read, especially keeping track of the characters. Nevertheless, it is one of my favorite of the year. Historical fiction at its finest!

Books! When Germany waited and a man fell from a mountain #cbr5

Published March 23, 2013 Cannonball Read V , reading 1 Comment
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I tend to read books in pairs. I get restless with one so I need something different to switch my focus. I thought it might be fun to write about the two I just finished even though I can’t find much in common between them. The two from this week are dissimilar on so many levels.

I just finished In the Garden of Beasts: Love, Terror, and an American Family in Hitler’s Berlin by Erik Larson. I enjoyed Larson’s Devil in the White City quite a bit, so I was excited to see a new book from him. I read a few negative and lukewarm reviews but considering it was Larson I thought it had to be good. He’s a great writer! Well, I was wrong.

Don’t misunderstand me, Larson’s writing is a pleasure to read. The problem is the subject matter. Larson is focusing all of his excellent writing ability on an American family that moves to Germany after the father becomes the first American ambassador in Hitler’s world. They arrive in the mid-1930s, right when things start going downhill. This is a great set up, right?! But what happens? Not a darn thing. They go to parties. They drive around. The daughter has sex with everyone and supposedly (maybe, not really) becomes a potential Russian spy (we think). The father pines for his farm and his unwritten masterpiece on the Old South. To his credit, he tries to warn the US that something is going to happen, but is ignored. The mother perseveres in the face of the stupidity around her and then dies. A cast of German (to be) killers passes in front of us looking like a bunch of clowns and buffoons for the most part. Basically it is the chronicle of when Germany waited…and waited…for something to happen.

There are moments when it becomes more exciting. The Night of the Long Knives is the most interesting part of the book. The problem is that this episode came after I had read through 2/3rds of the book. As my husband said, no one should have to wait that long before getting to something interesting. I kept with it because I like Larson. If I hadn’t read him before I might have given up like so many others. If you are really interested in Hitler’s Germany and REALLY want to know what the American ambassador was doing then (and who his daughter was doing), this is a book for you.

Sad to say, but I got so bored with this book that I kept picking up Sanctus by Simon Toyne. While I’m not a fan of religious conspiracy thrillers, I have read my share of them (cast offs from my mother and yes I will read most anything). I have to say this one is pretty good. In the story, a man throws himself off of a mountain monastery in an ancient city in Turkey and it goes live on television. Through some convoluted detective work they find his long lost sister in America who journeys to Turkey to find out what happened to her brother. She then becomes the central character in an attempt by the monastery to cover up everything (and basically kill off anyone involved). Ultimately the monks are covering up the true nature of the Sacrament inside the walls of the monastery, which if uncovered would change the world. Basically it is the set up for his next book in which the sister gains some bad-ass powers and stuff happens (haven’t read it yet).

In comparison to In the Garden, this one kept my attention. He has the Dan Brownesque style where each chapter is a ‘scene’ and drives the momentum of the reader. In contrast Toyne tends to make things up whereas Dan Brown “reinterprets” already existing reality. So, for example, the town in which all the action takes place is fictional and there are other elements created to suit his purpose. With the exception of a few groan-worthy moments (I won’t give them away), he does a pretty good job of inventing a mythology and keeping the reader invested in the action. If you like religious conspiracy action novels and are looking for a fun beach read, this is definitely one to find at your local public library.

I will leave you with this. As un-PC as this is, apparently there is a Hitler is bored video meme. I leave you with “Hitler and the bunker are really bored”. He must have read In the Garden.

Books! France’s Dirty War #cbr5

Published March 2, 2013 Cannonball Read V , reading 1 Comment
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I am taking a history class on the Vietnam wars and we just recently finished two  books on the history of France in Indochina. While both are excellent, the first Indochina: An Ambiguous Colonization, 1858-1954 is less accessible. The second, Embers Of War: The Fall of an Empire and the Making of America’s Vietnam, is a readable account of the end of the French period and sets the stage for the next war to come.

Indochina: An Ambiguous Colonization, 1858-1954 by Pierre Brocheux and Daniel Hémery is remarkable for its scope. It covers the entire range of the colonial experience from the political, economic, and cultural effects and from the beginnings of colonization to the end after France’s defeat at the battle of Dien Bein Phu.

The French authors aim to create a storyline that doesn’t take sides but shows the interaction of colonizers and colonized, and for most of the book they do this. At the same time, most of their sources are French and they end the book on a strangely sympathetic note. They write

“French colonial imperialism, in the midst of acquiring a new historical shape and a neocolonial project, finally found the political will to take on the issues concerning the development of colonized peoples. It was just then that imperial France was overtaken by Indochina by the unforeseeable: a national, communist revolution that was radically decolonizing and pregnant with another historical project (379).”

This closing commentary seems to indicate that France was going to modernize (doubtful) and that the Viet Minh emerged out of nowhere (?!?). Overall it is a wonderful piece of scholarship and worth a read if you have a strong interest in France’s relationship with Vietnam.

Embers Of War: The Fall of an Empire and the Making of America’s Vietnam by Frederick Logevall picks up at the beginning of the World War II and the start of France’s downfall and takes us through 1959 when two Americans are killed at an outpost near Saigon. Along the way he discusses not only France’s actions and mistakes, but also the place of Vietnam in the emerging Cold War and American anti-communist hysteria.

Logevall is a historian at Cornell University and is an excellent writer. He approaches the story from the level of the individuals involved and the choices they make along the way. In this sense it reads almost like a work of fiction because you have a strong sense of the main characters and how they interact with others. While it is a long book, it is so well-written and engaging that it is difficult to put down. I was actually late getting to work one day because I wanted to finish a chapter. If you are interested in the Vietnam War from the American perspective, you absolutely must read this book. It demonstrates nicely the beginnings of our involvement and why it later became America’s Vietnam.

Both books are worth reading, but I would recommend Logevall for casual history buffs. It is definitely a fave of 2013.

Books! Dragons eat tigers #cbr5

Published February 1, 2013 Cannonball Read V , reading 1 Comment
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I’m doing pretty well with the Cannonball this year, but this week may push me behind. It might be time to break out the Dresden novels and YA. Recommendations?

This week I am moving away from the historical fiction and into the histories of Vietnam. I’m taking a class on the Vietnam wars (yes, plural) and will be reading  a few books this semester. The first Vietnam: Rising Dragon by Bill Hayton was a nice introduction to the current situation in Vietnam. Keep in mind we are simultaneously reading scholarly articles on the ancient history of Vietnam, so I think the professor wanted to give us a vision of what is to come so that we didn’t all drop the class.

Bill Hayton is a journalist who works for the BBC and was working as a reporter in Vietnam, and his book provides a clear and comprehensive picture of the issues facing the country. Each chapter covers a particular area of life from a focus on the environment, to the development of democratic institutions, to corruption, ethnic relations, and more.

After this book was published in 2010 the Vietnamese government banned Hayton from traveling to the country. You can understand why the book would cause alarm as it covers so many of the problematic areas in Vietnamese life, especially the tendency for personal interests of elites to be predominant in decision-making. He doesn’t make any broad proclamations about Vietnam’s trajectory but sees it on the cusp of either a bright future with many changes or stagnation and mismanagement (and environmental destruction). It is a shame that he was banned because it is pretty obvious throughout the book that he loves the place and wants it to be a “rising dragon.”

This is not just for the Vietnam bound or Southeast Asian fans. Read this if you are interested in international politics and the rising areas of influence in the world. Considering Vietnam is the 13th most populous country. Considering President Obama has proclaimed a Pacific Pivot. And considering the rising dragon is nestled in the armpit of China, this is a country to watch.

Books! The Neverending Saga of Nicholas Flamel #cbr5

Published January 11, 2013 Cannonball Read V , reading 1 Comment
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I’m ahead of the game for Cannonball Read this year! Go me. The Sorceress

First off, a warning. Even if you find The Secrets of the Immortal Nicholas Flamel’s storyline frustrating or don’t like the writing, it is very easy to get sucked in to the series and keep reading. And there are six books. Approach with caution.

I came across Michael Scott’s series while trolling our public library eBook website for something new to read. Granted the series had very mixed reviews but the story sounded, well, bearable and light. Good my-brain-is-fried end-of-the-semester reading.

I just finished book #3, The Sorceress, and the truth is I have to find out what happens! And I’m starting to hate myself for that. Luckily the series has ended (at #6), so at least I don’t have to play the waiting game as with almost every other book known to modern publishing (I’m looking at you Julianna Baggott). But, anyway.

This is the story of twins who fall unwittingly into an evil plot to end the world by bringing back the “Dark Elders” who once ruled what we call Atlantis. The twins are protected by an alchemist named Nicholas Flamel and his wife Perenelle, a famous sorceress. They are pursued by, well, every baddie on earth, but mostly a magician named Dee, Machiavelli (who strangely still goes by Machiavelli), the crow goddess, the cat goddess, and a guy with antlers on his head. In each book they run into a new group of good guys and gals including (but not limited to) Joan of Arc, a ninja chick named The Shadow, and Shakespeare. As you can imagine madness ensues including the destruction of Notre Dame’s gargoyles.

bunny!

bunny!

I can’t really pinpoint anything I liked or hated about The Sorceress because everything is starting to run together. Literally the story just keeps on going like everyone’s favorite pink bunny. I also don’t want to give too much away in case you decide to go down this rabbit hole. Overall the writing isn’t great, the story is hella convoluted, and Edith Hamilton is probably rolling in her grave when it comes to the abuse of mythology. But, honestly, I can’t put it down.

Before you run out and read #1, it is my duty to warn you that the series has absolutely no connection to Harry Potter (Nicholas Flamel is mentioned at some point as Dumbledore’s friend). Nicholas Flamel was a real person who just happened to be used by both authors. Scott never meant to capitalize on the success of Harry Potter, I’m sure. ;) And all of those disappointed HP fans on Goodreads should probably read a book summary before going all rabid in their reviews. I’m just saying.

Overall reading this series is like buying white fudge covered Oreos. I can’t stop eating them, but I will hate myself in the morning for it.

Books! Thanks #cbr4 for more books in 2012

Published December 27, 2012 reading Leave a Comment
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I have to thank Cannonball Read for a great 2012. Every year I have a goal to read more and I never really accomplish that in any tangible way. I didn’t hit my Cannonball goal of 52 books and book reviews in one year, but this year I can say I surpassed my expectations. I’ve read more books this year than I’ve read in a long time, probably since college, and I think I wrote some solid reviews. I’ve also found with the help of wonderful friends some new authors and titles I wouldn’t have tried on my own. So, despite not meeting my goal, thanks Cannonball Read and here’s to 52 in 2013.

I’ve been skeptical of challenges, but I have to say that they are pretty useful and not just for racking up the numbers. Reading a large number of books meant that I had to get out of my comfort zone when it came to genres and authors. I was really bored with my usual historical fiction by March and had to branch out a bit. Writing the reviews was also an excellent way to fix those books in my mind. Obviously, the books I didn’t review (around 20) don’t stick out as much as the ones I took the time to write about. I’m sad that I didn’t review some especially Gods of Gotham and NW because they were definite highlights of the year.

As for 2013 I am going to do CBR5 and try for 52 books and 52 reviews. Fifty-two books isn’t that difficult to manage, especially if I cut out the 1,000 page books, but 52 reviews is a bit different. My biggest mistake this year was not writing the review immediately after each book. This coming year I will try to keep up with each review rather than putting them off to later. We will see how that goes.

I’ve also joined two other challenges: the Mount TBR 2013 and Historical Tapestry’s Historical Fiction Challenge. Mount TBR challenges you to read from your To Be Read pile through the year and the levels are based on mountain names. I will be doing Mount Blanc which is 24 books (aiming low). The historical fiction challenge also has levels and I will be getting Medieval with 15 books. Goodness knows there will be overlap between the two! Looking forward to 2013!

2013!!!

2013!!!

Books! A hawk and a dove walk into a bar … #cbr4

Published October 7, 2012 reading 1 Comment
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and the Cold War starts and ends and throughout they remain friends.

The Hawk and the Dove: Paul Nitze, George Kennan, and the History of the Cold War by Nicholas Thompson is a fabulous double biography of two of the most influential thinkers during the Cold War. We see Kennan as he develops his strategy of containment as a young FSO in Moscow and then Nitze as he subverts it with NSC-68. We see Nitze becoming a forceful anti-Soviet crusader while Kennan becomes the more passive but eloquent anti-nuclear sage.

Thompson covers their lives from their early careers to their very last days while keeping the reader’s eye on the bigger story of the Cold War. Unlike Gaddis’ biography of Kennan, we aren’t immersed in the minutiae of the two men as much and Thompson does a great job setting the stage for readers who might be unfamiliar with details of the period. Even if you aren’t a Cold War history buff or a fan of these two men, the story of the Cold War is accessible as told by Thompson.

I have to mention my favorite line from Kennan, which Thompson quotes. You need to understand that Kennan was a fabulous and prolific writer in addition to being an authority on Russia. He wrote after the Cold War that “The suggestion that any Administration had the power to influence decisively the course of a tremendous domestic upheaval in another great country on another side of the globe is simply childish.” (pg 331)

I so wish Kennan were still around today …

Books! Wexford ain’t no Wallander #cbr4

Published July 31, 2012 reading 1 Comment
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It is so hard to write a review of a book I didn’t quite like. I’m still going strong for Cannonball Read though and should probably persevere. I picked up The Vault by Ruth Rendell randomly one day thinking it looked good from the cover and the jacket description. I know nothing about Ruth Rendell other than she writes popular mystery novels and is very British. From the sound of the descriptions her other novels might suit my tastes more (i.e., “dark and twisty”).

A rich, bratty couple renovating their fancy cottage in London discovers three bodies hidden in a small vault under their house. The “vault” is an unfinished basement that at some point was walled-over. Inspector Wexford is a retired detective who is asked to assist in figuring out this mystery. I was never entirely clear why he was involved as a civilian. Maybe because novelists seem to enjoy resurrecting their retired detectives for a final go. He helps by interviewing random people with minimal connections to the case and through his hard thinking and jaunts across London suddenly all becomes clear.

Wexford at one point describes his irritatingly immature daughter this way: “She made exasperation noises, sighs, and the kind of sound that accompanies the casting up of eyes.”  This could have easily described me as a reader unfortunately. Wexford uses strange leaps of logic to connect pieces of evidence that serve the goal of the book well (solve the mystery), but don’t ring true to this reader. For example, when they find a piece of paper with a French word and the name Francine they start looking for all the French-speaking women in London named Francine of a possible age range! Really?!? The London police have enough time on their hands to go after this random goose-chase, especially for people who have been dead for two or more years? At one point even Detective Superintendent Thomas Ede, the officer who reached out to Wexford, seems to tire of these random attempts to piece together a puzzle. In the end Wexford wins, but like his daughter, I just truly couldn’t care.

The only bright point for me was the description of London. Rendell goes to great lengths to describe the neighborhoods in which Wexford travels. A fan might find it fun to travel Wexford’s path.

Not my mystery novel. Might be yours. Check out Wallander first.

Books! Wanted a duck and got a swan #cbr4

Published July 26, 2012 reading 1 Comment
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The first Peter Carey novel I ever read ended up thrown against the wall in anger. That was Oscar and Lucinda. Actually it is the only book I’ve ever thrown against the wall. Not because it was bad, but because I cared so much for the characters. Funny then that the main character of his new novel, a woman name Catherine Gehrig, does the same with a nineteenth century manuscript. Unfortunately Catherine is not nearly as endearing as Oscar or Lucinda, but I was willing to overlook her faults considering the circumstances.

The Chemistry of Tears opens with the death of Catherine’s married lover, Matthew, and we watch as she mourns, cries, and generally self-destructs, which leads to the incident with the manuscript. She works as a conservator at the Swinburne museum and to assist with her healing, her boss gives her a new project, the re-creation of an automaton (we later find out a swan). Starting the project she unpacks the notebooks of Henry Brandling, the patron who commissioned a robot duck from some shady characters in the German Black Forest. In reading these notebooks, even after stealing them from the museum, Catherine begins the process of healing and recovery … for the most part.

I’ve read several of Carey’s books and this was definitely the most difficult to finish. Catherine’s actions in her grief and self-pity are sometimes distasteful. In addition Henry’s story is a bit convoluted and confusing. I had to re-read several passages to make sure I understood the plot. Overall Carey’s themes of the constitutive elements of life and death and the lingering impact of the Industrial Revolution give the novel its heart. The quote below is one of the most beautiful paragraphs in the book as it describes this imitation of life:

“Every eerie moment was smooth as a living thing, a snake, an eel, a swan of course. We stood in awe and, no matter how many hundred hours we had worked on it, this swan was never, not for a moment, familiar, but uncanny, sinuous, lithe, supple, winding, graceful. As it twisted to look into one’s eyes, its own stayed darkest ebony until, at that point when the sun caught the black wood, they blazed. It had no sense of touch. It had no brain. It was as glorious as God.”

We imagine this imitation of life while in the background is the indescribable horror of the Gulf oil spill that Catherine’s assistant watches unceasingly on a webcam. If the book has a failing it is that Carey is trying to do too much, prove too much, so that some of the story becomes muddled and confused. But then again, is that an imitation of life?

If you are using Nancy Pearl’s Rule of Four to find a new book (which I just read today), Carey’s doorway is most certainly language with plot, characters, and setting mixed somewhere in there.  It is a beautiful book, but it may take some dedication and perseverance. Good qualities in a conservator.

Books! Running with Murakami #cbr4

Published July 5, 2012 reading 4 Comments
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I have a hard time playing the favorites game. My absolute favorite book might depend on the genre or the time in my life I read it or my mood. However, I can say that Murakami is probably one author whose works I have enjoyed most consistently. I haven’t read everything, but Kafka on the Shore was my starting point and I’ve tried to slowly read through his works since then. I say slowly because I don’t want to binge read Murakami and suddenly have nothing left. Lately though I’ve started building up quite a pile of his books and have needed to work through them. What I Talk about When I Talk about Running is one I’ve had laying around for a while and I finally decided to tackle it.

I say tackle because I’m neither particularly interested in running nor keen on reading books abut running. I like running, but I’ve been stuck in the middle of a Couch to 2K for about 2 years (didn’t even know this state had a name until a month ago). I bought it because it is Murakami and he is a pretty interesting guy. Not many people just decide in their 20′s to open a jazz club and then when they turn 33 just as quickly decide to become a writer. Around his Jesus year he also decided to become a runner. And there you have it. Now he is a marathoner and triathelete who writes amazing books that deftly combine the mundane and the surreal.

What I Talk whose title is based on a Raymond Carver short story collection called What We Talk about When We Talk about Love chronicles Murakami’s path to becoming a runner and his preparation for the 2005 New York City marathon. He reflects somewhat on his writing, but for the most part he talks about running. This may disappoint some Murakami fans, but as he describes his obsession with running we see the familiar themes of alienation and independence, especially when he runs the mythological marathon route from Marathon to Athens and later during an ultramarathon in Hokkaido, Japan. I can’t even imagine the drive someone would need to push through so many solitary miles and so much blank time.

Expect a well-written memoir/travelogue about running from one of our contemporary treasures. Not my favorite Murakami ever but it would be difficult to choose just one anyway.

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