The Historian, Elizabeth Kostova

The Historian:  A Novel by Elizabeth Kostova is a novel I have seen in the clearance rack in hardback for years.  I finally bought a copy and then stumbled upon this audio version.  I'm listening to the audio version while making trips to and from my in-laws.  Upon starting this book, I really had no idea what it was about.  The blurb on the back was intriguing but not revealing in the least.

Started:  7/28/2011
Completed:  8/11/2011
Recommendation:  Not worth the time
Recommended By: Nobody, I stumbled across this one myself.
Review:  This is a Dracula novel without the horror.  An archaeologists novel without the archaeology.  A mystery novel without the mystery.  I have no idea why someone would read it.  The plot lines are not woven together well insofar as the transitions are wholly predictable and rarely leave one wanting to hear more.  The most compelling figure, in my opinion, is an old lady in Bucharest who doesn't get nearly enough time.

The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, Douglas Adams

The Hitchiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams is a book I have enjoyed several times.  I picked up an audio copy to share with my youngest son while we are driving around.  What fun!  No review on this one and I imagine I'll listen to this many times.  This classic is both a fun comedy (imagine being tortured by poetry; no really bad poetry; really, without even bongo drums) and a cool sci-fi romp.  I recommend it unabashedly to even the non-geeks out there.

The Painter of Battles, Arturo Perez-Reverte

The Painter of Battles by Arturo Perez-Reverte translated by Margaret Sayers Peden is considered a slow and rambling novel.  It is known in Spanish for its effective use of language and that must make it a very challenging thing to translate.  I'm listening to this as an audio book on my commute.

Started:  7/11/2011
Completed: 7/19/2011
Recommendation: Don't do it.  Don't go anywhere near this book.
Recommended By:  I found this book at a Quaker book sale.  The irony was too strong to pass up and the quick quotations on the back didn't hurt.


Review:


This book is slow and very, very repetitive.  The effort to instill horrifying images in your mind as you go through the book is terribly effective.  There are no characters who are ones with which I can in any way associate and the only compelling character unravels at the end and becomes a shadow of someone interesting.  I am tempted to destroy the CDs.

The book is well written and the use of language, at times, engaging.  The subject matter and character development, however, seem more suited to a much shorter medium--perhaps a novelette or long story.  The subject of the awfulness of war does deserve a serious effort, but this Hobbesian look at the human condition obstructs the productive analysis that might have benefited mankind.  The conclusion (and this may or may not be a spoiler depending on how much you like the book, so beware) argues that we are all fated to do evil because mankind is basically evil and subject to an unwritten plan that guides us down the disgusting behavior of war time.  While this could be an interesting line of analysis, the book makes only the most trivial of efforts to support or examine the implications--oddly for a retrospective, the book harps upon the very conditions from within war without much in the way of analysis for how our character flaws lead us to war or how war would ever end (or, even, pause).  SPOILER:  The girlfriend who would have left had she not been allowed to step on a land mine becomes a spokesman for the reader through the book...the reader carries a certain affection for the primary character as the book starts, but realizes that the primary character is simply a caricature of evil writ small...as such not someone with whom one would care to spend time:  Don't waste yours.

Thomas Paine, Craig Nelson

Thomas Paine by Craig Nelson is a biography of Thomas Paine.  I had picked this up many years ago wandering the discount section of a book store.  It seemed appropriate to read it after reading Common Sense. This book received the 2007 Henry Adams prize.

Started: 7/4/2011
Completed: 9/2/2012
Recommendation: You have to really be interested in Paine.  There is a huge amount of interesting information, but it is very dry.
Recommended By:  Nobody.

Words I looked Up:
jeremiad -- a long, mournful complain or lamentation; list of woes
parlous -- full of danger or risk

Review:


Thomas Paine remains a larger than life figure.  Common Sense was central to both the American and the French revolutions.  As an American, I had no idea that Thomas Paine had actually been involved in the French revolution and that he had been imprisoned (all but guillotined) in the process.  I have ready other books that mentioned what happened to his body after death, so I had a sense of how he was oddly revered.  I had a sense, as well, that he was polarizing figure, but no idea that he managed to alienate virtually all his friends given enough time.  I actually read Common Sense last summer, so I had an introduction to both how vindictive his writing could be and how funny it was.  Knowing more about the man and his life helps me to understand how he came to write such an important book and how it took over his life.  The detail in this book is pretty amazing when one considers how much time has passed, but the author seems to have been careful when identifying his sources and offers, on several occasions, conflicting views of similar situations.  This comfort with seeing both the good and bad in events and in the man rings true to me.  I think that some of the historical documents reflect seeing the same event in different ways and, frankly, I think it is fair to expect individuals to have some bias.  It was a good, if slow, read and I'm glad to have read it.

Quakertown, Lee Martin

Quakertown by Lee Martin is a novel about racial issues in 1920s Texas.  It is loosely based on a real story.  Lee Martin did not receive any awards for this book, but has received several both before and afterwards.

Started:  7/1/2011

Completed: 7/5/2011

Recommendation: Very well written, but very sad

Recommended By:  I saw this book on the shelves of Vertigo as it closed.  It just called to me.  I'm a tad put off as some friends borrowed it and said it was quite sad.

Words I Looked Up:

chifforobe -- a combination of a wardrobe and a chest of drawers.

Review:

This is a poignant heart-rending story of racial discord in 1920s Texas.  The perspective of the story shifts almost constantly from character to character and the seamless, but distinct transitions are a testament to the author's ability to create characters that are both believable and have their own voices.  The sadness that punctuates the lives throughout this story is difficult every step of the way.  The characters seem to be defined by their hard times, although there are a few good times that manage to help elucidate the nature of a character or two.  The interaction of the main characters is frequent and occasionally surprising:  From children's games to hidden meetings in a theater to murder each interaction is starkly distinct from the surrounding background and the author uses these vignettes to move the plot line forward.  I enjoyed the book despite the sadness and found the book well worth the read.