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  I think that some of the historical documents reflect seeing the same event in different ways and, frankly, I think it is fair to expect individuals to have some bias.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.

The Life of Johnny Reb and The Life of Billy Yank, Bell Irvin Wiley

The Life of Johnny Reb and The Life of Billy Yank by Bell Irvin Wiley is a collection of short descriptions drawn from soldier's letters during the Civil War.

Started:  6/20/2011
Completed:
Recommendation:
Recommended By:  I saw this at a yard sale and thought that it would make for good bathroom reading since the sections were short.
Words I looked up:

embrute -- To degrade or sink to the levels of a brute.
fillip -- Something that acts as a stimulus or boost to an activity.
purlieu -- The area near or surrounding a place
tippling -- Drinking alcohol, especially habitually
vitiating -- Spoil or impair the efficiency of

Review:


I will write one when I'm done.

Moonwalking with Einstein, Joshua Foer

Moonwalking with Einstein: The Art and Science of Remembering Everything by Joshua Foer is a book about a journalist's adventure into becoming a world-class mnemonist.  I picked this up as an audio book.  I've listened to other audio books before, but this is the first I've added to this blog.  I decided that audio books should be recorded here as well.  Oddly, I started this blog to help me remember which books I'd read and when I'd read them...

Started:  5/23/2011
Completed: 7/24/2011
Recommendation: Strong recommendation to everyone.
Recommended by:  I saw this as an audio book in the library and I thought it would be a good thing to hear as I commuted to and from work.
Review:


This book reminds us why memory is valuable.  Not so much that memory is necessary in today's world, but that it has value.  The experiences of the author and his examination of memory are mildly inspiring, but his recounting of why memory has been important throughout history is without parallel in value.  I'd also throw out that learning how to memorize certainly has its place in our society and I like very much that I've learned some of the techniques just from reading this book.

The Adept, Katherine Kurtz and Deborah Turner Harris

The Adept by Katherine Kurtz and Deborah Turner Harris is a book that I picked up at a library book sale (I picked up several in the series).  I know Kurtz from the Deryni series which I enjoyed during my high school years.  The fact that several books in the series were published suggested to me that the books were well received.

Started: 6/5/2011
Completed: 7/1/2011
Recommendation: Probably not worth the read
Recommended By:  Nobody, just saw this series at a library book sale.
Words I looked up:


aspergillum -- a brush or instrument for sprinkling holy water
fortalice -- a small fort
garret -- a small, wretched attic
nacreous -- lustrous, pearly
Sephiroth -- a manifestation of God.
shrift -- an act of confession.  In this case, I think the word was misused as it related to removing or putting on clothing.
temenos -- a piece of land cut off and assigned as an official domain.
widdershins -- in a direction opposite the movement of the sun; counter-clockwise.


Review:


I'd like to point out that this book ends at Loch Ness.  That should be enough.  I'm likely to read the remainder of the series and it isn't that this book is without value, but, geez.  The list of cliches is long and annoying.

The City of Falling Angels, John Berendt

The City of Falling Angels by John Berendt is the story of the loss of the Fenice theater to a huge fire in Venice, Italy.

Started:  February 7, 2011
Completed: October 27, 2012
Recommendation: Not recommended
Recommended By:  I found this in the office book exchange while I was waiting for coffee to brew.  The title intrigued me and my mother and sister had read Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil and raved about how good it was.  I figured I'd give it a try and just leave it at work to fill the spare moments while I was waiting for a meeting to start or coffee to brew.

Words I looked up:


exigent -- pressing or demanding

Review:


This book ends up being more of an adventure through Venice then just about the Fenice.  It feels to me that the Fenice story was just a short story and the author went to great pains to explore other avenues related to his tracking down the Fenice story in order to make this a book.  This is, in part, a mystery...why did the Fenice burn down?  There is a resolution to this mystery, but it seems as though the author is very much an observer.  Not a fly on the wall, but someone who recounts interview after interview without an ability to fill in most of the gaps between interviews.  It is as though we have a series of newspaper stories about an event intermingled with an autobiographical journey through Venice.  To me, it is an odd mix.

I did find out some fascinating things about Venice--things that should be obvious, I guess, but things I hadn't considered.  There are times when the canals stink and the tides cause the experience of traffic going by outside your window to be very different (the traffic can be well below you, or literally in your window!).  There are no cars, so everyone walks.  The walking causes people to interact highly and the nature of neighborhoods to be distinctly different from most other cities.  It is generally quieter without the background drone of cars moving about.  The walking is also hard on seniors making it necessary for neighbors to help out and knitting together the community a bit more.  The lack of cars also makes construction difficult as huge volumes of materials have to come by the boatload through the relatively thin canals.  Also, fires are put out using canal water (salty and sometimes muddy).

It is difficult for me to recommend this book to anyone else.  The pace was slow in both my reading and the book.  The drama that is present isn't really about the Fenice, but largely about things only slightly related.  In the end, it just wasn't that interesting and the prose was not compelling.

Neverwhere, Neil Gaiman

Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman is a book I picked up when Vertigo was closing.  I really enjoyed American Gods and Anansi Boys.  I saw this book before I had read Anansi Boys, but it caught my eye because of the advertising for American Gods that was on the cover.  I choose to read this book now with a little trepidation, because I have since learned that Gaiman started out writing horror and that is not a subject matter I particularly enjoy.

Started: June 4, 2011
Completed: June 4, 2011
Recommendation: Highly recommended
Recommended By:  I saw this on the shelves as Vertigo was closing.

Review:


Yeah, I read this book in one day.  Start to finish.  That was not the plan.  I had a lot to do.  The stars aligned, however, and I got time to read combined with a book that made turning the page not just a way to move the story forward but a hungry demand.  There is no "good place to stop" in this book.  The writing is engrossing, the plot and sub-plots are clever, the characters are compelling, and the author's ability to engross the reader is engaging.  As I sat in the dead of night with my book light illuminating the final pages, I experienced the deliciousness of the stolen moments from my childhood when a book drew me under the covers with a flashlight.  So, I liked it.

Who should read it?  Well, those who like a clever turn of phrase, "There were four ways for the astute observer to tell them apart [4 very distinct descriptions are given]....in addition, they looked nothing alike," will likely walk away from this book satisfied that the author has leveraged his craft.  Those who would like to believe that there is no such thing as a chance encounter or a sound in the night that is not caused by some unseen and potentially malicious "thing" that could only be properly removed from the world by deft knife work will not go unsatisfied.  A geek, nerd, klutz,  or other everyday person who knows in his heart that under the right circumstances, with just a little persuasion from an indifferent universe and a troop of friends who really want to help each other any obstacle can be overcome by reaching deep down inside themselves to become something they truly are not will find in this story a parallel.  Yes, Dungeons and Dragons fans, here is the "real life" nitty gritty embodiment of your obsession without the need to go to magic or creatures that live so far from reality that one might look back to find the bridge to the real world obscured by rolling hills.

The hero of this story is so nondescript that you never find out what he looks like.  The few descriptions that appear are so distorted by circumstance as to represent the situation more than the individual.  You know that he doesn't think much of himself and the world around him agrees.  He is not very good at living and his only outspoken trait is a mild compunction for those who are homeless.  This sole characteristic, however, drives the story forward and his own ineptitude--his willingness to be swept along by events rather then to craft a life of his own--draws him via one swirling eddy into a new world where he learns to live his life because death is around every corner and drifting is tantamount to suicide.  It is a delicious joy to see this person who struggles to exist become Someone.

There is a certain sickness to readers who become engrossed in this type of story.  It is a sadness about one's own sense of one's self, one's life, and the hope that if things were just "different" one might shine.  The characters in this book, for the most part, do not understand one another, are not compassionate towards each other, and betray one another with a nonchalance that is oddly breathtaking.  The small, fleeting moments when one character reaches out to another directly (the poor comfort offered Door as she returns to her home where her family has been murdered and Richard's compassion for the rat-speaker--examples that don't ruin the story) are sufficient to humanize an inhumane environment.  The social ineptitude of the cast of characters on all levels reflects the social skills of the engrossed reader and imply that the failings of the reader himself may, in some odd way, be an advantage.

So, if you read this book and like it then you are sick.  Your sickness does not coat your life with a stench that well-meaning people cannot help but avoid.  It does, however, leave you on the fringes of society looking in and aching for the teeming acceptance that the others seem to enjoy.  This book also suggests that the acceptance is as illusory as Springsteen's "Glory Days" and the way to feed your hunger is to go live your life rather then stare from the backwaters.  In this way, this book is a self-help tome for those who have this sickness.  The question is, do you have to pick up a bleeding woman from the street to go find your life?