Month: August 2013

Beyond Bogota

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Leech, Garry. Beyond Bogota: Diary of a Drug War Journalist in Columbia.Boston: Beacon Press, 2009.

I think if goes without saying Columbia is one of the most dangerous places to be a journalist. Why an independent journalist would go there specifically to be a “drug war journalist,” as Leech has called himself, is beyond me but it is a story that needs to be told. Beyond Bogota is about the eleven hours Garry Leech was detained by FARC, Fuerzas Amradas Revolutionarias de Columbia (Revolutionary Armed Forces of Columbia). Interspersed between the eleven hours is Leech’s past history traveling around Latin America. Incredible as it seems Leech’s eleven hour detainment wasn’t his first. In 1982 he was captured by militants in El Salvador because he didn’t have permission to be investigating their drug trafficking operations. But, it his mission to research the effects of landmines on small communities in Columbia that was especially moving. In 2002 he visited the town of Zaragoza and met landmine victims. His description of how a landmine is built and detonated is devastating, especially when you consider how easy small children can set them off.

Reason read: Columbia won its independence in the month of August.

Author fact: Leech is a family man (with a wife and small child at the time of publication).

Book trivia: There are no photographs in Beyond Bogota except for the cover.

BookLust Twist: from Book Lust To Go in the chapter called “Hail, Columbia” (p 90).

Burning the Days

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Salter, James. Burning the Days: Recollection. New York: Random House, 1997.

I think I would only have enjoyed this more if James Salter had read it to me. His writing; his way with words is intoxicating! In reality, Salter could have written separate two books about his life. The first being about his time serving in the Air Force as a pilot. His descriptions of war are frightening and exhilarating all at once. The second book could have covered the time in his life as a New York writer.  As an accomplished writer his world was opened up to film deals and movie stars. Again, terrifying and exciting all at once. Both are fast paced lives but so very different! The second section seems to be a who’s who in the entertainment industry.  Salter makes coy references to the passions he shared with lots of women, “We sat on the couch and studied. The vocabulary was not that of school” (p 245). Salter could have written a third about his friendship with Irwin Shaw. You could tell from the tenderness in Salter’s words that he truly enjoyed Shaw’s company.

Lines worth mentioning: “There is your life as you know it and also as others know it, perhaps incorrectly, but to which some importance must be attached” (p 3), “Nothing is as intense as unconsummated love” (p 121), and “There is a feeling Faulkner probably had – I have had it myself – that somewhere the true life is being lived, though not where you are” (p 182).

Reason read: August is aviation month.

Author fact: Salter also wrote A Sport and a Pastime which is also on my list. I’m looking forward to it.

Book trivia:  Despite this being a memoir it does not contain photographs. Bummer.

BookLust Twist: from Book Lust in the chapter called “Above Clouds” (p 90).

Conspiracy and Other Stories

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Kross, Jaan. The Conspiracy and Other Stories. Translated by Eric Dickens. London: Harvill Press, 1995.

Eric Dickens, the translator for The Conspiracy and Other Stories felt it was necessary to stress the fact these six stories were written then Estonia did not have independence. The political climate of World War II is woven into the fabric of every story. The title of each short story is a major plot twist in each tale. For example, “The Wound” is about Peeter Mirk’s relationship with a woman named Flora. Flora suffers a life altering wound after taking a nasty fall. “Lead Piping” is another tragic tale involving a death by a lead pipe and “The Shahl Grammar” is a sad tale about a writer sacrificing his friend to save himself.

Reason read: The Baltic Singing Revolution took place in August.

Author fact: Conspiracy and Other Stories is a bit autobiographical. Jaan Kross is a lot like his main character, Peeter Mirk: a law student in and out of prison for various crimes.

BookLust Twist: from Book Lust To Go in the chapter called “The Baltic States” (p 33).

Diving Bell and the Butterfly

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Bauby, Jean-Dominique. The Diving Bell and the Butterfly. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1997.

My father died of a massive stroke. When I first opened Bauby’s book I thought I knew what the life of a stroke survivor would be about. I was wrong.

Jean-Dominique Bauby was 43 years old when he was the victim of a rare kind of stroke that occurs in the brain stem. While he survives the event he is basically a prisoner in his own body. His body was completely paralyzed to the point where he could only move one eyelid. From this meager movement he learned to communicate with others and, amazingly, write this memoir. The title of the book comes from Bauby’s description of his condition. While his body felt as weighted down as a diving bell sinking in the sea, his mind was as free as a butterfly floating on the breeze.
There is a sense of stoic realism in Bauby’s tone and while it is impossible to believe, there is also a touch of humor in Bauby’s heartbreaking story. When he talks of everyone gathering for physical therapy and those same patients being uncomfortable with his plight. He describes their eyes skidding away from him as “…feeling the sudden need to study the ceiling smoke detector. The “tourist” must be very worried about fire” (p 33).

Other quotes that grabbed me: “She would take a vacation from life for five minutes or several hours” (p 67) and “I can weep discreetly. People think my eye is watering” (p 78).

As an aside, Bauby’s hospital room was #119. Go listen to Natalie Merchant’s “Verdi Cries.” The opening lyric is “The man in 119 takes his tea all alone.” I wonder what Natalie would have thought about this man in 119?

Reason read: There is a day in August when you are supposed to acknowledge guilt. I can’t remember where I learned this but I am reading The Diving Bell and the Butterfly because it definitely makes me feel guilty.

Author fact: Jean-Dominique Bauby died just two short days after the French publication of The Diving Bell and the Butterfly. Did he have any idea how many people he would touch with his memoir?

Book trivia: While The Diving Bell and the Butterfly is short, less than 150 pages, it is huge on emotion. It has also been made into a movie. Now, there’s a tear jerker!

BookLust Twist: from More Book Lust in the chapter called “Other People’s Shoes” (p 181).

Blood and Chocolate

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Klause, Annette Curtis. Blood and Chocolate. Read by Alyssa Bresnahan. Maryland: Recorded Books, 1997.

I don’t usually get into werewolf/vampire/warlock stories but this one had me spellbound, if you pardon the obvious (cliche) choice of word. Vivian Gandillon is teenage Rougarou (or werewolf, although Klause doesn’t use the name). She is trying desperately to fit in with other kids at her school when she meets Aiden. Convinced Aiden is a fellow Rougarou based on a poem he wrote, she befriends him only to find he is a sensitive human fascinating with witches and the like. Vivian falls for him even though he is what her kind call a “meat-boy.”. While trying to balance her social life as a human Vivian is also dealing with conflict in her “fur” world. The pack has fallen apart after the death of their leader, Vivian’s father. They are out of control and in need a new leader. The story escalates when Vivian decides to reveal her true identity to Aiden at the same time she is chosen to be the new pack leader’s mate. There are two things that struck me as I read Klause’s werewolf story. One, there is an adult sexual tension with all the characters within this story. Second, Klause does an outstanding job describing the mannerisms of a canine.
As an aside: I didn’t enjoy the actress who read Abide with Me. She couldn’t pronounce the Maine towns (Hallowell is NOT Holly-well). However, Alyssa Bresnahan reads with a sensualness that is almost too adult for this book for teenagers.

Reason read: August is Hero month and there are a few heroes in Blood and Chocolate.

Author fact: I mentioned actress Alyssa Bresnahan reads with a certain sexiness but what you also need to know is that Annette Curtis Clause writes with that same sexiness. The combination is startling for a book written for kids.

Book trivia: the novel was adapted into a movie in 2007.

BookLust Twist: from Book Lust in the chapter called “Best for Teens” (p 24).

True Crime

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True Crime: Real-Life Stories of Abduction, Addiction, Obsession, Murder, Grave-Robbing and More. Lee Gutkind, ed. Pittsburgh: InFact Books, 2013.

I think one would think I was sick to request a book about true crime. Why would anyone want to read about murder, rape, abuse, and all the other terrible things we as humans do to one another? My sister grew up fascinated by FBI profilers and real life crime. Maybe some of that fascination rubbed off on me even though I am the older sister. Come to think of it, lots of people share my fascination with true crime. It’s the reason why there are a multitude of crime shows, both real and fiction, to chose from every night.

True confession: I had to take my time reading True Crime. The violence was best in small doses. Of the thirteen stories Gabrielle Giffords stayed with me the longest because it was the play by play of the victims were doing before the shooting. Like a slow motion camera detailing the day to day-ness of their ordinary lives. All of the stories stuck with me in little ways. I think they represented the senselessness of our society.
Lee Gutkind has compiled a collection of true crime stories. Interestingly enough, there are thirteen stories. Thirteen being a supposedly unlucky number is a good parallel for the unlucky victims in each story. Gutkind claims his brush with crime made him question his own capabilities. Could he commit murder? In the end we as readers don’t really know the answer, but does Gutkind?

Abide With Me

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Strout, Elizabeth. Abide With Me. Read by Gerrianne Raphael. New York: Random House Audio, 2006.

This was a reread for me. Before I started the challenge I picked up Abide With Me as a recommendation from LibraryThing. I liked Amy & Isabelle so why not give Strout’s next novel a try? I didn’t get too far and the reason I gave for giving up was I couldn’t take the run on sentences. Listening to the audio is definitely better. My mind is not tangled up in sentences that seem to go on forever.

In the late 1950s, in the gossipy and close-knit community of West Annett, Maine lives Tyler Caskey, a minister who is floundering on the pulpit after losing his wife to cancer. With two small children to care for, Caskey relies on his mother for help. But, Strout writes with wide strokes. Her story take in details of many people and places no matter how minute their importance is to the storyline. You meet many different parishioners.  Luckily, after a while they sort themselves out and Strout concentrates on a select few. That being said, character development didn’t really happen for me. I found myself not really caring about any them. The plot plods along slow enough to make me wonder about its direction. Peppered throughout are quiet social commentaries on Freud and sex, Khrushchev and the Cold War.

One pet peeve. If you are going to read a story that takes place in Maine, please take the time to learn the pronunciations. Bangor is not Banger. It’s Bang-gore. Augusta is not Ooh-gust-a it’s Ah-gust-ah. Enough said.

Reason read: Maine celebrates a lobster festival the first week of August.

Author fact: Strout won a Pulitzer for Olive Kitteridge, a collection of short stories. This is also on my list.

Reader fact: Gerrianne Raphael has also performed opera.

Book trivia: Abide with Me was met with mixed reviews when first published. For the most part, people loved it. I read one review where the reviewer was put off by the bitter and catty community. I wasn’t a fan of the characters either.

BookLust Twist: from Book Lust To Go in the chapter called “The Maine Chance” (p 132).

Cat Daddy

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Galaxy, Jackson. Cat Daddy: What the World’s Most Incorrigible Cat Taught Me About Life, Love, and Coming Clean.New York: Tarcher, 2013

If you have seen Jackson Galaxy on Animal Planet you know how he talks and how he thinks, for the most part. Reading his book is more of the same. More or less. He has a way of wrapping words around a deeper meaning and in the end you more than know what he is talking about. You get it and hopefully, you get your cat, too. Because that’s the whole point. But, watching “My Cat From Hell” is no substitute for reading Cat Daddy. Jackson bares his soul and lays his demons to rest as he recounts how a broken cat named Benny came into his deeply scarred life. Just as the title hints Jackson abused drugs and alcohol while struggling to find his way as a musician in Boulder, Colorado. Finding work in a shelter was the beginning to his saving grace. He found solace among the animals, more so than with his human counterparts. As Jackson learned to understand animals he began to sort out his own life. Identifying with addiction with the first step in recovery.

Reason read: I have been watching Animal Planet’s “My Cat From Hell” and was intrigued by Mr. Galaxy. He seemed to have a story all his own lurking beneath the strange exterior of piercings, shaved head and piercings.

Author fact: According to Jackson’s memoir he used to weight 400 lbs. I can’t picture it at all.

Book trivia: there are no pictures in Galaxy’s book which was sad. I would have like to have seen the dreads with various things woven in them. Or better yet, the cats! Most people reading his book are cat people to be sure. They would definitely want to see the cats!

The August August List

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The list is getting shorter and shorter. Hard to believe the year is almost over. Year seven is now three quarters over. Here are the remaining books for September, October and November. Just three short months. I’m sure I will add to this list because it seems entirely too short.

  1. At Home in the Heart of Appalachia by John O’Brien – September
  2. Burma Chronicles by Guy Delise – September
  3. Child that Books Built by Francis Spufford – September
  4. Deafening by Frances Itani – October
  5. Going Wild by Robert Winkler – October
  6. Guardians by Geoffrey Kabaservice – November
  7. Light Infantry Ball by Hamilton Basso – September
  8. Ocean of Words by Ha Jin – October
  9. Old Friends by Tracy Kidder – September
  10. Panther Soup by John Grimlette – November
  11. Southpaw by Mark Harris – October
  12. Time, Love, Memory by Jonathan Weiner – November
  13. What you Owe Me by Bebe Moore Campbell – November
  14. Wolves of Willoughby Chase by Joan Aiken – September

ON DECK FOR AUGUST:

  1. Abide By Me by Elizabeth Strout
  2. Beyond the Bogota by Gary Leech
  3. Burning the Days by James Salter
  4. Conspiracy and Other Stories by Jaan Kross
  5. Diving Bell and the Butterfly by Jean-Dominique Bauby
  6. Nobody Knows My Name by James Baldwin

FINISHED:

  1. Adventures of Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carrol
  2. Ancient Athens on 5 Drachmas a Day by Philip Matyszak
  3. Apollo: the epic journey to the moon by David West Reynolds
  4. Apples Are From Kazakhstan by Christopher Robbins
  5. Arctic Grail by Pierre Berton
  6. Ariel by Sylvia Plath
  7. Author, Author by David Lodge
  8. Beautiful Swimmers by William Warner
  9. Before the Knife by Carolyn Slaughter
  10. Bellwether by Connie Willis
  11. Beneath the Lion’s Gaze by Maaza Mengist
  12. Big Mouth and Ugly Girl by Joyce Carol Oates
  13. Billy by Albert French
  14. Brass Go-Between by Oliver Bleeck
  15. Breakfast with Scot by Michael Drowning
  16. Brush with Death by Elizabeth Duncan
  17. Brushed by Feathers by Frances Wood
  18. Camus, a Romance by Elizabeth Hawes
  19. Cardboard Crown by Martin Boyd
  20. Cat Who Ate Danish Modern by Lillian Jackson Braun
  21. Churchill, a life by Martin Gilbert
  22. City of Thieves by David Benioff
  23. Crossing to Safety by Wallace Stegner
  24. Death in Verona by Roy Harley Lewis
  25. Descending the Dragon by Jon Bowermaster
  26. Diamond Classics by Mike Shannon
  27. Difficult Young Man by Martin Boyd
  28. Dining with Al-Qaeda by Hugh Pope
  29. Domestic Manners of the Americans by Fanny Trollope
  30. The Evolution of Jane by Catherine Schine
  31. Edward Lear in Albania by Edward Lear
  32. Fanny by Edmund White
  33. Fear of Flying by Erica Jong
  34. Final Solution by Michael Chabon
  35. Fixer by Joe Sacco
  36. Flamboya Tree by Clara Olink Kelly
  37. Footnotes in Gaza by Joe Sacco
  38. Full Catastrophe Living by Jon Zabat Katz
  39. Full Cupboard of Life by Alexander McCall Smith
  40. Gabriel Garcia Marquez by Gerald Martin
  41. Galton Case by Ross MacDonald
  42. Gentlemen Prefer Blondes by Anita Loos
  43. Girl in Landscape by Jonathan Lethem
  44. God: a biography by Jack Miles
  45. Gold Coast Madam by Rose Laws
  46. Golden Spruce by John Vaillant
  47. Good City edited by Emily Hiestand
  48. Good Thief’s Guide to Paris by Chris Ewan
  49. Good Thief’s Guide to Vegas by Chris Ewan
  50. Good-bye Chunk Rice by Craig Thompson
  51. Grand Ambition by Lisa Michaels
  52. Her by Christa Parravani
  53. Hole in the Earth by Robert Bausch
  54. Hole in the World by Richard Rhodes
  55. ADDED: Home Before Dark by Susan Cheever
  56. House on the Lagoon by Rosario Ferre
  57. Iliad by Homer
  58. Idle Days in Patagonia by William Hudson
  59. Imperfect Harmony by Stacy Horn (for LibraryThing’s Early Review program
  60. Joy of Cooking by Irma Rombauer
  61. Kalahari Typing School for Men by Alexander McCall Smith
  62. Liar’s Poker:  Rising Through the Wreckage on Wall Street by Michael Lewis
  63. Lives of the Painters, vol 2, 3 & 4 by Giorgio Vasari
  64. The Long Walk by Slavomir Rawicz
  65. Mom & Me & Mom by Maya Angelou for the Early Review Program
  66. Mortality for Beautiful Girls by Alexander McCall Smith
  67. No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency by Alexander McCall Smith
  68. Of Human Bondage by William Maugham
  69. Other Wes Moore by Wes Moore
  70. Outbreak of Love by Martin Boyd
  71. ADDED: Ox-Bow Incident by Walter Van Tilburg Clark
  72. Path Between the Seas by David McCullough
  73. Patrimony: a true story by Philip Roth
  74. Playing for Keeps by David Halberstam
  75. Points Unknown edited by David Roberts
  76. Rabbit Hill by Robert Lawson
  77. Ready for a Brand New Beat by Mark Kurlansky
  78. Return of the Dancing Master by Henning Mankell
  79. Rosalind Franklin: Dark Lady of DNA by Brenda Maddox
  80. Scar Tissue by Michael Ignatieff
  81. Scarlet Pimpernel by Baroness Orczy
  82. Scramble for Africa by Thomas Pakenham – did not finish
  83. ADDED: Star Beast by Robert Heinlein
  84. Strong Poison by Dorothy L. Sayers
  85. Suzy’s Case by Andy Siegel (as recommended)
  86. Tatiana by Dorothy Jones
  87. Tattered Cloak by Nina Berberova
  88. Tea Time for the Traditionally Built by Alexander McCall Smith
  89. Tears of the Giraffe by Alexander McCall Smith
  90. This is Paradise by Kristiana Kahakawila for LibraryThing
  91. Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini
  92. Unpleasantness at the Bellona Club by Dorothy Sayers
  93. Vanity Fair by William Makepeace Thackery
  94. Viceroy of Ouidah by Bruce Chatwin
  95. When Blackbirds Sing by Martin Boyd
  96. Wholeness of a Broken Heart by Katie Singer
  97. Widow for One Year by John Irving
  98. Women of the Raj by Margaret MacMillan
  99. Working Poor by David Shipler
  100. Year in Provence, a by Peter Mayle

POETRY COMPLETED:

  1. “Golden Angel Pancake House” by Campbell McGrath
  2. “Lepanto” by Gilbert Keith Chesterton
  3. “Listeners” by Walter De La Mare
  4. “Mandalay” by Rudard Kipling
  5. “Road and the End” by Carl Sandburg
  6. “Sea-Fever” by John Masefield
  7. “Winter” by Marie Ponsot
  8. “In My Craft or Sullen Art” by Dylan Thomas
  9. The Long Hill” by Sarah Teasdale
  10. “The Road Not Taken” by Robert Frost

SHORT STORIES COMPLETED:

  1. “Here’s a Little Something” by Dan Chaon (from Among the Missing)
  2. “Big Me” by Dan Chaon (from Among the Missing)
  3. “Servants of the Map” by Elizabeth Barrett (from Servant of the Map)
  4. “The Cure” by Elizabeth Barrett (from Servants of the Map)
  5. “In the Land of Men” by Antonya Nelson (from In the Land of Men)
  6. “Goodbye Midwest” by Antonya Nelson (from In the Land of Men)
  7. “Ado” by Connie Willis (from Impossible Things)
  8. “At the Rialto” by Connie Willis (from Impossible Things)
  9. “A Tiger-Killer is Hard To find” by Ha Jin (from Bridegroom: stories)
  10. “After Cowboy Chicken Came to Town” by Ha Jin (from Bridegroom: stories)
  11. “Interpreter of Maladies” by Jhumpa Lahiri (from Interpreter of Maladies)
  12. “A Temporary Matter” by Jhumpa Lahiri (from Interpreter of Maladies)
  13. “A Few Short Notes on Tropical Butterflies” by John Murray (from A Few Short Notes on Tropical Butterflies)
  14. “Watson and the Shark” by John Murray (from A Few Short Notes on Tropical Butterflies)

NEXT YEAR:

  1. House of Morgan by Ron Chernow (as previously mentioned)
  2. Rose Cafe by John Hanson Mitchell