Tag: book review

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!

Ox-Bow Incident

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Clark, Walter Van Tilburg. The Ox-Bow Incident. New York: Signet Classic, 1968.

The Ox-Bow Incident was first published in 1940 but its premise could have been about modern mob mentality. It is the story of a rumor and what happens when a community is whipped into a frenzied need for self-righteous justice. In Nevada someone has been rustling cattle. When two men are pinned for the crime the mob cries for retaliation. Then they find out one of their own has been murdered. Now, they want the men lynched. While this is a western it could take place anywhere a collective group of angry people let their emotions get the better of them. It’s the story of what happens when this group takes the law into their own hands. Clark’s character development is brilliant. Each man in the story is a study in emotion. The tension that builds due to violence and bred by hate and suspicion rings true.

Lines I liked, “Whenever Gil gets low in spirit, or confused in his mind, he doesn’t feel right until he’s had a fight” (p 15), “There is a kind of insanity that comes from being between walls and under a roof” (p 50), and “He’d got beyond me again, chasing his own hate” (p 103).

Reason read: For some reason July is the best time to go to a dude ranch. Not sure why. This doesn’t take place on a dude ranch but it’s a western so…

Author fact: Clark was born in Maine but became Nevada’s best known writer of western fiction.

Book trivia: The Ox-Bow Incident was made into a movie in 1943.

BookLust Twist: from Book Lust in the chapter called “Western Fiction” (p 240).

Return of the Dancing Master

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Mankell, Henning. The Return of the Dancing Master. Read by Grover Gardner. Blackstone Audio, 2008.

I love the way Henning Mankell writes. There is something so dramatic about each and every word. A warning though, his scenes of violence are not for the faint of heart. Even if you have never been victim or even witness to a violent crime Mankell makes you feel right there in the moment. It’s as if the violence is happening to you. Very cringe-worthy material. Case in point – the brutal torture and murder of retired policeman Herbert Molin sets the stage for the Return of the Dancing Master. Stefan Lindman takes a medical leave of absence from his job as a police officer in order to battle mouth cancer. While in the waiting room of his doctor he reads about the murder of Molin. As a way to keep his mind off his illness Lindman decides to investigate Molin’s murder as Molin was once a colleague of sorts back in the day. Lindman finds himself getting deeper and deeper into the investigation when another man is murdered. As he comes to realize Molin was not the man he thought he knew, Lindman starts to question his own relationships.

Small disappointment – the crime scene of Molin’s murder is his house. Lindman breaks into the house after the real police assigned to the case have left. He is able to discover Molin’s diary wrapped in a raincoat which proves to be a vital clue. How did the real investigators miss that? There are other pieces of evidence that Lindman uncovers before anyone else, like the camping site of the killer. Again, how did the police miss that?

Postscript ~ the audio version is amazing. For starters, there is a whole cast of people reading the parts so women actually play women and so on. Also, at the end is a small piece of music so one can picture the dancing master taking a spin on the floor with a student. It’s a little eerie.

Reason read: July is the best time to visit Sweden.

Author fact: To learn more about Mankell go here.

Book trivia: Most of Mankell’s books include a character named Kurt Wallander. Mr. Wallander doesn’t make an appearance in The Return of the Dancing Master.

BookLust Twist: from Book Lust To Go in the chapter called “Swede(n), Isn’t It?” (p 232).

Home Before Dark

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Cheever, Susan. Home Before Dark: a Biographical Memoir of John Cheever by His Daughter. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1984.

With this help of her father’s diaries and journals, Susan Cheever is able to put together a personal and detailed biography of her father, famous author John Cheever. Unlike third party (clearly outsider) biographies Susan is able to insert her own recollections and feelings into the memoir. She makes no excuses for the love/hate battle she waged with her dad. As a biographer writing about a loved one it is tempting to gloss over the not so pretty aspects of one’s life but Susan tackles the tough material with grace. She does not shirk from her father’s early failures as a writer not does she make excuses for his volatile marriage and heavy drinking. What she presents is a snapshot of society and her father’s successes and failures in it.

This is the second memoir I have read about fathers this year. I was fascinated with the writers’ retreat where Cheever spent some time. Since it is in Saratoga Springs, a place I have been to before, I had to research a visit.

Quotes I liked, “Places he could enjoy without owning them” (p 32) and “Without a novel, there could be no solid literary reputation” (p 99).

Reason read: Susan Cheever’s birth month is in July (the 31st).

Author fact: Susan has a brother named Ben who also wrote books.

Book trivia: Home Before Dark is only one of Susan’s biographies about her family.

BookLust Twist: from More Book Lust in the chapter called “All in the Family: Writing Dynasties” (p 4).

Liar’s Poker

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Lewis, Michael. Liar’s Poker: Rising Through the Wreckage on Wall Street. New York: Penguin Books, 1989.

For some reason people can’t bring up Liar’s Poker without mentioning Bonfire of the Vanities as well. It’s almost as if Liar’s Poker is the nonfiction counterpart to the fictional Bonfire of the Vanities. Yes, they are both about the innards of life on Wall Street in the mid 80s, but one could stand without the attachment of the other and still be entertaining.
Michael Lewis retraces his beginnings with Salomon Brothers, first as a bright eyed trainee, then as a bond salesman. It is his knack for writing that makes Liar’s Poker such a treat to read. It is bitingly funny, wicked and fun. My favorite part is about the new guy, so nervous about his first day on the job that he does nothing but ride the elevator up and down until he has the courage to finally get off, exit the building and disappear forever.

Line I liked, “In the midst of the hysteria I was suitably hysterical” (p 25).

Reason read: July is job fair month. What better way to honor it than with one of the best business books out there?

Author fact: I find this really interesting. According to the author page of Liar’s Poker Lewis was at one time “a tour guide for teen-aged girls in Europe.” Hmmm…interesting. How does that work?

Book trivia: Liar’s Poker was a best seller and was made into a movie in which Flea from the Red Hot Chili Peppers had a part.

BookLust Twist: from Book Lust in the chapter called “BBB: Better Business Books” (p 33).

Star Beast

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Heinlein, Robert. The Star Beast. Read by David Baker.  Full Cast Audio, 2007.

One could call The Star Beast a run of the mill story about a boy and his pet. Think Lassie and you have the classic relationship I’m referring to. If you don’t delve into the details John Thomas Stuart XI is an average teen with a typical attachment to the family pet. However, give the story a science fiction spin and all bets are off. Instead of an obedient and almost too intelligent collie this pet defies logic. Lummox or Lummy, as John calls him, is a 100 year old extraterrestrial (was once his grandfather’s pet), has eight legs, a sentry eye that stays awake when the beast sleeps, has a high pitched girly voice and he triples in size when he eats metal. And he’s always hungry. The trouble starts when Lummy goes wandering in the night and ends up eating some roses and destroying public property. John and Lummy are put on trial and Lummy is sentenced to death…only the authorities aren’t exactly sure how to kill him. Throw in a wannabe lawyer girlfriend and another planet that is convinced Lummy belongs to them and you have a story that appeals to kids and adults alike.

Reason read: Heinlein was born in July…reading Star Beast to honor the day.

Book Audio trivia: This is the first audio I have heard where many different people read each part.

Author fact: Robert Heinlein wrote under several different pen names although Robert Heinlein was his real name.

BookLust Twist: from Book Lust in two different sections. First, the introduction (p x) and then again in the chapter called “Robert Heinlein: Too Good To Miss” (p 109).

Apollo: the epic journey

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Reynolds, David West. Apollo: the Epic Journey to the Moon. New York: Harcourt, 2002.

David West Reynolds cornered the Apollo market when he was able to get two former astronauts and a Smithsonian Air and Space Museum curator to contribute to his historical look at the race for space. In addition he used amazing photographs! Reynolds carefully outlines the humble beginnings of man’s desire to launch into space, giving credit to Jules Verne as the man responsible for sparking the imagination of men who dared to dream the impossible. The frantic competition was heightened after John F. Kennedy was elected president and he promised American citizens we would reach the moon by 1970. Kennedy’s subsequent assassination was the driving force to make that promise a reality. Reynolds states the entire nation was held responsible for Kennedy’s dream.
But, this is a gorgeous book, filled with interesting facts and photographs taken from beginning to end; from the Mercury and Sputnik to Apollo and Vostok missions.

Best lines, “…liquid fuel would be the way to get a rocket anywhere interesting” (p 19) and “They had stepped out into the void” (p 105). How dramatic is that? Final like I liked, “It was time for the human pilot to prove his worth” (p 136).

Reason read: The first lunar walk was on July 20th, 1969.

Author fact: David West Reynolds is an expert in space exploration.

Book trivia: Apollo: the Epic Journey is such a spectacular book with stunning photography it could be considered a “coffee table book.”

BookLust Twist: from Book Lust in the chapter called “The Moon’s My Destination” (p 157).

Thousand Splendid Suns

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Hosseini, Khaled. A Thousand Splendid Suns. New York: Riverhead Books, 2007.

Part One follows the story of Mariam, an Afghan child born out of wedlock to a wealthy businessman and his servant, Nana. It begins with Mariam as a five year old, full of adoration for her father although he keeps his illegitimate family hidden in the country, far away from the prying eyes of his three wives, nine legitimate children and nosy community. For ten years Mariam adores her father despite the fact he only visits her on Thursdays and regales her with stories of riches she will never see. At fifteen Mariam has finally had enough and travels to the city to visit her father, only to be banished once again – this to a prearranged marriage to a merchant thirty years her senior.

Part Two follows the story of another girl, fifteen years younger than Mariam. Laila is nine years old and living with her parents in the same Afghan city as Mariam. She has a much different upbringing than Mariam, though. Laila’s formal education is fully supported by her parents and she is allowed to socialize with children her own age. She has one special attachment, a boy named Tariq. Over the course of five years Laila’s relationship with Tariq blossoms into a teenage romance.

Part Three brings Mariam and Laila together. The same man who marries Mariam marries Laila. It is the abuse they both suffer at the hands of their husband that brings them together as friends. The bond they share takes them to a startling and devastating conclusion.

Thought provoking lines, “But all she ran into was their absence” (p 141) and “She had passed these years in a distant corner of her mind” (p 256).

Reason read: July is supposedly the best time to visit Afghanistan…when it’s deemed safe to do so.

Author fact: Hosseini also wrote The Kite Runner which was made into a movie.

Book trivia: A Thousand Splendid Suns is a best seller.

BookLust Twist: from Book Lust To Go in the chapter called “Afghanistan: Graveyard of Empires” (p 6).

Fixer

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Sacco, Joe. The Fixer. Quebec: Drawn & Quarterly, 2003.

Have you ever wondered how journalists get such up close and personal information about foreign affairs? How they get behind enemy lines to get the real scoop? This is the story of Neven, the sketchy Serbian “fixer” who, for a price, can be hired to take war correspondents behind the scenes. Joe Sacco befriends this fixer, Neven. Sacco tells his story in a short graphic “novella,” bouncing back and forth between the early 1990s and 2001 to bring to light the Balkan conflict. Neven helps Sacco paint a grim picture of the bloodthirsty warlords who ran the country and how the Bosnia government responded. Even though Neven was a mastermind at manipulating Sacco (and his wallet) they developed a friendship.

Best zingers, “Pussy is not soap” (p 8). True. “But you can’t drink bananas” (p 9). Again, true. “I must admit that I haven’t got a favorite hand-to-hand weapon” (p 33). Me neither.

Reason read: July is the best time to visit Bosnia…or not.

Author fact: Sacco is a pretty humble guy. This time, in The Fixer he makes himself out to be a meek journalist who can’t say no.

Book trivia: I could call this a graphic novella because it is a mere 106 pages.

BookLust Twist: from More Book Lust in the chapter called “Graphica” (p 104).

Scramble for Africa

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Pakenham, Thomas. The Scramble for Africa: White Man’s Conquest of the Dark Continent from 1876 to 1912. Johannesburg: Jonathan Ball Publishers, 1991.

This book comes in 738 pages long (if you read the index). I knew right away I wasn’t going to finish it. What I didn’t realize is that I didn’t even want to start it.
This is everything you want to know about the background of Africa’s beginnings from 1878 to 1912. In a very comprehensive and detailed prose Pakenham uncovers the early “scramble” Europeans made to conquer the unknown “dark” territory. In just under 30 years most of the continent was claimed and “civilized” by five different greedy European powers.

Reason read: July is the best time to visit Africa…or so the travel sites say.

Author fact: According to the author page in Scramble for Africa Pakenham lived in a “crumbling castle” in Ireland. How cool is that?

Book trivia: Scramble for Africa won the W.H. Smith Literary Award and the Alan Paton award.

BookLust Twist: from Book Lust in the chapter called “Africa: Today and Yesterday” (p 9).

Working Poor

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Shipler, David K. The Working Poor: Invisible in America. New York: Vintage Books, 2005.

You could either pick up The Working Poor and feel really good about your own situation (if you are employed and are living well within your means) or you could read it and feel absolutely terrible for a myriad of reasons; you feel guilty about your well-off situation or you, yourself are feeling the stress of mounting debt and the growing impossibility of making ends meet. Shipler takes an unflinching look at the men and women trying to stay afloat financially as well as emotionally when they are mired in a variety of debts. He interviews men and women from all walks of life; the good, the bad, and the ugly. You have no choice but to feel something for these people. The myriad of emotions range from pity to disgust and everything in between.

Interesting lines (food for thought), “For practically every family, then, the ingredients of poverty are part financial and part psychological, part personal and part societal, part past and part present” (p 11), “She could not afford to put her own two children in the daycare center where she worked” (p 39), and “Everyone’s life had a price” (p 98).

Reason read: America’s birthday…although this book isn’t about America’s finest hour.

Author fact: Shipler won a Pulitzer for Arab and Jew: Wounded Spirits in a Promised Land which is also on my Lust List.

Book trivia: Working Poor was a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award for Nonfiction.

BookLust Twist: from More Book Lust in the chapter called “Guilt Inducing Books” (p 111). Here’s the thing. Reading this book didn’t necessarily make me feel guilty about my personal situation. I am a first generation college kid and I worked hard hard to get where I am today. However, what this book made me feel more than anything was frustration. Obviously, our system doesn’t work.