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Steve rated a book 4 of 5 stars

The Fault in Our Stars
by John Green (Goodreads Author)

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Steve rated a book 4 of 5 stars

Ex Libris: Confessions of a Common Reader
by Anne Fadiman

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Like many a Goodreader, no doubt, I have a thing for books about books. In this particular case, there’s a chapter in the book about books about books. (It might be tempting someday to write a book about such books about books about books, but let’s...more Like many a Goodreader, no doubt, I have a thing for books about books. In this particular case, there’s a chapter in the book about books about books. (It might be tempting someday to write a book about such books about books about books, but let’s not get silly, or meta-silly for that matter.) Anyway, Fadiman’s essays are as elegant and well-written as my introduction is awkward and inane. She’s the kind of bookworm friend we’d all ‘like’ to the stratosphere here on this site.

Fadiman is the daughter of renowned literary critic, Clifton Fadiman, and former author and WWII correspondent for Time Magazine, Annalee Jacoby Fadiman. She had a very bibliocentric upbringing, as you might imagine. As a kid she was allowed to build a playhouse out of her dad’s 22-volume set of Trollope books. You might say she was to the omnibus manor born. She grew to love sesquipedalians (a great self-descriptive word meaning ‘long words’) like everyone else in her family, and shared an obsession for editing grammatical flubs with her “captious, carping, pettifogging” relations.

Her essays cover a variety of topics that are bound to interest booklovers. She begins with a personal story of how she and her husband, after five years of marriage and a child, “were ready for the more profound intimacy of library consolidation.” The challenge was how to decide between her “French-garden” approach (ordered and well-tended) and his “English-garden” style (abundant but more haphazard). In other essays we learn her thoughts on:

* Classifications of book people into those who keep their volumes as pristine as possible out of respect (“courtly lovers”) and those who might dog-ear pages and delight in marginalia (“carnal lovers”)

* The joys of reading out loud

* The art of the inscription (with great examples among literary giants)

* The pleasure of buying 19 pounds worth of used books (as opposed to fungible new copies from big box stores)

* How, to the reading obsessed, even a roommate’s 1974 Toyota Corolla Owner’s Manual will do

This is a small appetizer of a book, but one full of literary flavor. While it’s not what I’d call LOL funny, it is amusing in a clever and scholarly way. Fadiman writes very well, too –- never a word wrong, never a cacophonous beat. I’m tempted to buy a bookplate that says “Ex Libris Steve” to print inside its cover. Oh wait, an ex libris of ex libris books is too much like the twaddle in my intro. I can’t be seen as a one-shtick pony even though I am.(less)

Steve rated a book 4 of 5 stars

The Orphan Master's Son
by Adam Johnson

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Literature is a fiction that tells a greater truth – so somebody wise once said. But the truth is a tricky business. This epic story set in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (that’s the bad one) offers frequent reminders of that fact. First,...more Literature is a fiction that tells a greater truth – so somebody wise once said. But the truth is a tricky business. This epic story set in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (that’s the bad one) offers frequent reminders of that fact. First, there’s the question of where the genuinely dire straits of North Koreans end and the semi-satirical abstractions begin. Did Johnson exaggerate the atrocities? Did his fiction indeed tell a greater truth? Then there’s a related question about Jun Do, the book’s central figure. At some point he becomes the subject of the ultimate in unreliable narrators: the DPRK propaganda machine. Fortunately for the reader, the parts handled by the omniscient narrator dominated, and they made for quite a story!

In various post-publication interviews Johnson said he conducted extensive research for the book (it took him 7 years) including talks with refugees and a visit to Pyongyang. He mentioned that, if anything, he had to tone down some of the brutality that he’d heard about from former prisoners. Jun Do, as the North Korean everyman, was unrealistically amalgamated, but this was an effective device. Making him a composite with a wide variety of experiences was a convenient way to drive the plot. The action begins at an orphanage where his father was the orphan master, but one who showed no favoritism to his son. Jun Do’s first official duty was as a soldier specializing in tunnel combat (taekwondo in the dark), then he was recruited to help kidnap Japanese civilians. After language school to learn English, he worked as a spy doing radio surveillance on a fishing boat. He gained national “hero” status sacrificing himself for the sake of a lie that kept the fishermen out of prison. This renown got him placed as one of the delegates for a state visit to Texas where cultures inevitably clashed, often humorously. (For instance, dogs in this strange land were somehow deemed to be venerable creatures.) Then, as the dark side of governmental caprice would have it, he ended up in prison doing hard labor. This was no picnic, unless you consider the protein-rich moths the cagiest survivors gathered when the lights went out to be nice alfresco fare.

I don’t feel like I’m giving anything away outlining Jun Do’s experiences above. They were the basis for the first half of the book where he proxied for a molded North Korean identity. The second half of the book was structured quite differently. Jun Do assumed another role altogether as he replaced a high-ranking army official. To avoid spoilers, I’ll be vague. I will, however, mention that his assumed role included the name, the station, and the wife of the ex-commander, but not his demeanor. The second half also introduced two new narrators. One was an interrogator who was attempting to piece together the commander’s story. The other was the aforementioned propaganda machine, broadcasting throughout the land over loudspeakers. Officials told a very different story, as you might imagine. In their version of things -- a step well beyond the truthiness of Stephen Colbert -- Americans used their lights at night (which were virtuously precluded for the North Korean citizenry) to practice indolence and homosexuality, Supreme Leader Kim Jong-il shot 11 holes in one in a single round (I remember when this story really was reported, which must have stretched credulity even there), and the spin put on our commander’s story would put any self-respecting gyroscope to shame.

The book has been described variously as a thriller, a love story, a dystopian political satire and (by Johnson himself) a trauma narrative. It featured elements of each. Johnson not only conjoined these disparate styles, he told the bigger story with nuance and flair. Had he confused the old rule and made it “tell, don’t show,” his efforts would have fallen flat. Instead, the privation and torture are palpably clear, and the easy-to-draw inference resonates all the more. Johnson was clever in the way he humanized Jun Do at the same time that he obscured his identity. Making him a de facto orphan must have been a way to show the subjugation of family in favor of state. Even his name, which an American confused with John Doe, signifies the unidentified man. The reader knows different, though. We see the real man. We see how individual honesty can trump totalitarian lies for the sake of true love.

I don’t view this as a perfect book. Certain aspects of the plot seemed implausible that didn’t need to be to tell the same story. Plus, even though I just praised Johnson for showing and not telling, there were times when I felt like Jun Do was a little too remote –- like a few more glimpses into his interior life would have helped me connect. Even so, this is damn near 5-star territory. Though the greater truths about North Korea –- its people and its rule –- may be approximate, they’re a whole lot more than I’d ever known before.(less)

Steve marked as to-read:

Bad Nature, or With Elvis in Mexico
by Javier Marías

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Steve rated a book 4 of 5 stars

Still Life (Chief Inspector Armand Gamache, #1)
by Louise Penny

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This is a murder mystery in the category of police procedural. I like to throw in a few of these every once in a while for variety. After all, one does not wish to consider oneself effete for having dined on too rich a diet of purely literary fare, d...more

Steve rated a book 4 of 5 stars

Where'd You Go, Bernadette
by Maria Semple (Goodreads Author)

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I figure my best hope of getting more readers than the Cubs have victories is to mention straight away Maria Semple’s bona fides as a satirist. So here it is: she wrote for Arrested Development. Her talent for skewering plays out well in book form, t...more I figure my best hope of getting more readers than the Cubs have victories is to mention straight away Maria Semple’s bona fides as a satirist. So here it is: she wrote for Arrested Development. Her talent for skewering plays out well in book form, too, as it turns out. Bernadette, the protagonist, is creative, whip-smart, and now that her daughter, Bee, is past some pretty serious childhood health issues, able to devote herself almost entirely to snarky send-ups. The targets are primarily from Seattle where they live. Beyond the standard subjects of grunge, rain, coffee and Microsoft (where husband, Elgie, is an engineering superstar), there are also the cliquish and bothersome moms from Bee’s school. Complications arise, though, wouldn’t you know.

Much of the book is back-story told in epistolary form. There are email exchanges between Bernadette and an online personal assistant, notes from Bee’s school, several catty moms opining about Bee’s parents, and various other documents of a plot-spoiling nature. From these we learn that Bee is the most outstanding student in her 8th grade class, Bernadette was an award-winning architect in earlier days, Elgie gave the 4th most popular TED talk ever, they’re planning a family trip to Antarctica to see penguins, and the gnats (as Bernadette refers to the busybody moms from the school) are out of control. The list of problems is a long one, too: Bernadette has lost her professional mojo, Elgie is married to his job, one of the gnats becomes Elgie’s admin, Bernadette has become over-reliant on her personal assistant, and another gnat has brought trumped up charges against Bernadette. Breaking points were reached. Near perfect storm status was achieved.

Bee narrates the story of her mom’s disappearance and the subsequent search. But it’s a disservice to go much deeper into the plot. Instead, I’ll mention the pleasure of the overall tone. For one thing, the social satire was done well. The supporting characters were revealed cleverly, with more than just their stereotypes to define them. It was also nice that we weren’t just told that Bernadette, Elgie and Bee were smart, we got to see the evidence of it as well. Another point in the book’s favor is that it had more than just humor going for it. There were also deeper probes into relationships for us to consider. Special mother-daughter bonds were handled deftly.

I have a friend or two out there (oddly enough, near broad-minded Boston (view spoiler)) who might be tempted to judge a book by its cover, and in this particular case assume “chick lit.” While it does have a female perspective, I personally wouldn’t defile it with such a label. If it’s smart, funny and uplifting, just enjoy it independent of classification, cover and commercial appeal.

It didn’t change my life (my new criterion for five stars), but it did lighten the load for a while. At the same time, there was more ballast than you’d expect from, say, Lucille Bluth, Lindsay and Maeby.(less)

Steve rated a book 5 of 5 stars

Muriel Spark: An Odd Capacity for Vision
by Alan Norman Bold

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I’ve been waiting for the right time to review this book. I chose today since it was exactly 35 years ago that something very memorable happened to me – the sort of first occasion that sticks with a guy. If you don’t mind indulging me, I’ll set the s...more

Steve rated a book 4 of 5 stars

Miss Lonelyhearts & The Day of the Locust
by Nathanael West

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To be honest, I was expecting something lighter. Here was the hook: Miss Lonelyhearts, an advice columnist in the early 30’s, is really a man. Sounds like a role for Jimmy Stewart at his gosh-darned chirpiest, doesn’t it? But the first few pages put...more To be honest, I was expecting something lighter. Here was the hook: Miss Lonelyhearts, an advice columnist in the early 30’s, is really a man. Sounds like a role for Jimmy Stewart at his gosh-darned chirpiest, doesn’t it? But the first few pages put a different image in mind – it was Pottersville without benefit of George Bailey. The letters in to Miss Lonelyhearts were just so bleak. Of course, it was a time when deprivations were de rigueur. Those lacking money, health, or wedded bliss had very little recourse. The joke, if there ever was one, was on him. (Note: he was only ever referred to as Miss Lonelyhearts, which makes me think we’re meant to know him as a 2-dimensional everyman.) His editor knew how hopeless these advice-seekers were, so it was a cruel act on his part to assign Miss L, a man with shaky mettle and faith as it was, to the task.

Once I replaced my rose-colored glasses with a much darker shade, I got attuned to the mood West was going for and the dystopia he envisioned. There was certainly a noir feel to it all. The book was interesting to view as an 80 year old time capsule, too. Lots of the interactions between Miss L, his editor, and various women took place in speakeasies. Fat lips were a common occurrence, and distinctions between lovemaking and rape weren’t as clear as they should have been. It was also a time when the word “gay” was used often and differently.

We’ve all seen reviews where the place is identified as a character. In this case, it seems more appropriate to say that the zeitgeist was. West, whose real name was Nathan Weinstein, was no doubt aware of the growing anti-Semitism. These were meaner times, in general, and it was easy to see how Miss Lonelyhearts, who had above-average levels of compassion and Christian good intent to begin with could become disaffected. Miss L went several rounds against the aforementioned zeitgeist, but you’ll just have to read the novella to find out how he fared.

The Day of the Locust shares a sense of alienation. The central character was Tod (the German word for dead) and the story follows him to Hollywood where his artistic ambitions are brought down a few notches as a painter of movie sets. This one was set in the Depression era, too. He falls for an aspiring actress, Faye Greener, who tells him upfront they’ll only ever be just friends because he had no pull in the movie biz. They meet an unfortunate but financially secure schlub from Iowa who was told to go West for health reasons. The guy lets Faye stay at his place which made things complicated since one of his reasons for leaving Iowa was to suppress sexual impulses. (Did West get his directions mixed up?) Anyway, this guy’s name, Homer Simpson, sent me straight to Google. As it turns out, Matt Groenig has given two answers to the obvious question, one being that it was from this character, the other being that his dad was the source.

These characters and a memorable set of others including Faye’s dad (a former vaudevillian), a hard-drinking, quick-tempered midget, a cowboy extra in movies and the cowboy’s Mexican friend (an expert in cock-fighting) existed at the margins of Hollywood. West got to know this world as a screenwriter so it seemed to ring true. It was truth at its darkest, though. Love was a sham, glamour-seekers were deluded, and the American dream failed both for its spirit and promise of riches.

West died in a car accident along with his wife the year after this was published. He was 37 years old. There’s no way we can know if a country lifted from The Great Depression would have lifted him, too. He would have at least been gratified to learn that this poignant latter work made the Modern Library Top 100 list as well as the one Time Magazine compiled.(less)

Steve rated a book 4 of 5 stars

Ficciones
by Jorge Luis Borges

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Metaphor
Infinity Sophistry Penumbra
Symbolic LABYRINTH Heresiarch
Prefigured Philology Nihilism
Maze Allegorical

This may not be the prettiest word clou...more

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Steve rated a book 4 of 5 stars The Fault in Our Stars by John Green (Goodreads Author)	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
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May 15, 2013 07:50pm · see review
Steve rated a book 4 of 5 stars Ex Libris: Confessions of a Common Reader by Anne Fadiman	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Like many a Goodreader, no doubt, I have a thing for books about books. In this particular case, there’s a chapter in the book about books about books. (It might be tempting someday to write a book about such books about books about books, but let’s...more
May 10, 2013 10:59am · see review
Steve rated a book 4 of 5 stars The Orphan Master's Son by Adam Johnson	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Literature is a fiction that tells a greater truth – so somebody wise once said. But the truth is a tricky business. This epic story set in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (that’s the bad one) offers frequent reminders of that fact. First,...more
May 06, 2013 08:26am · see review
Steve marked as to-read: Bad Nature, or With Elvis in Mexico by Javier Marías	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Apr 25, 2013 12:55pm
Steve rated a book 4 of 5 stars Still Life (Chief Inspector Armand Gamache, #1) by Louise Penny	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
This is a murder mystery in the category of police procedural. I like to throw in a few of these every once in a while for variety. After all, one does not wish to consider oneself effete for having dined on too rich a diet of purely literary fare, d...more
Apr 19, 2013 08:40pm · see review
Steve rated a book 4 of 5 stars Where'd You Go, Bernadette by Maria Semple (Goodreads Author)	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
I figure my best hope of getting more readers than the Cubs have victories is to mention straight away Maria Semple’s bona fides as a satirist. So here it is: she wrote for Arrested Development. Her talent for skewering plays out well in book form, t...more
Apr 15, 2013 07:39am · see review
Steve rated a book 5 of 5 stars Muriel Spark: An Odd Capacity for Vision by Alan Norman Bold	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
I’ve been waiting for the right time to review this book. I chose today since it was exactly 35 years ago that something very memorable happened to me – the sort of first occasion that sticks with a guy. If you don’t mind indulging me, I’ll set the s...more
Apr 01, 2013 01:53pm · see review
Steve rated a book 4 of 5 stars Miss Lonelyhearts & The Day of the Locust by Nathanael West	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
To be honest, I was expecting something lighter. Here was the hook: Miss Lonelyhearts, an advice columnist in the early 30’s, is really a man. Sounds like a role for Jimmy Stewart at his gosh-darned chirpiest, doesn’t it? But the first few pages put...more
Mar 29, 2013 07:19am · see review
Steve rated a book 4 of 5 stars Ficciones by Jorge Luis Borges	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Metaphor Infinity Sophistry Penumbra *Symbolic* LABYRINTH Heresiarch Prefigured *Philology* Nihilism Maze Allegorical This may not be the prettiest word clou...more
Mar 22, 2013 09:33am · see review

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