101 Books to Read Before You Die discussion
What are you reading?
World of Trouble by Ben Wintershttps://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
This is the final book in the Last Policeman trilogy. I don’t know why I enjoy Winters so much. Except for the novel setting, this is a pretty typical detective story. Against all odds and relying only on his wits, the young policeman tracks down the bad guy and wins. But despite any implausibility, I am totally sucked in to his novels. Guilty pleasure?
A Better Man by Louise Pennyhttps://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
This series has become a bit like drinking a cup of instand hot cocoa with marshmellows. It is sweet and comforting and just feels good, but it is rather insubstantial, has no depth of flavor or grand qualities. These books might not win great literary acclaim, but they are still a pleasure, a treat in the midst of life that can be all too harsh.
If On A Winter’s Night A Traveler by Italo Calvinohttps://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
This book wins points for creativity, but loses points for its success at engaging me. A man reads a book, but just when the story begins to engage him, something prevents him from continuing. His attempt to rectify the problem and continue with the story fails and he finds himself immersed in a new tale. Between encounters with new stories, the author speaks to the reader about the act of reading, about the way a reader engages with the written word, the way narrative and reader mutually impact each other, about the work of writing, the way story stands independent of and dependent on both author and reader, and… By the time I reached the end, I really wanted this unnamed reader to take up motor cycle racing or hang gliding or just about anything that he would have to complete or die trying, something other than this endless string of first chapters.
The Anchoress by Robyn Cadwalladerhttps://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
In 13th century England, 17 year old Sara encloses herself in an anchorage. Some painful life events combine with a naturally pious spirit to cause Sara to desire to run from the world, fearing the evil it holds. But, the world encroaches on her seclusion. Through the visits of the villagers, the lives of her maids, the advice of her confessor and the discipline of her prayer, Sara learns that sanctity does not come from fear and the safety of isolation, but from freedom and the willingness to love which is never safe.
This Tender Land by William Kruegerhttps://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Four children, 3 adolescent boys and a 6 year old girl, flee an abusive residential school in Minnesota. Others have tried to run away in the past, mostly Native American children, but all were quickly captured and returned to savage punishment. But like some 19th century novel, these orphans are braver, more generous, honest and hard working than other youths. They never express jealousy or pettiness or lash out in PTSD toward one another. And they possess extraordinary skills, one is a mechanical genius, another an outstanding musician, etc. Their adventures as they canoe down the river serve as a history lesson of the Great Depression: shanty towns and hobo camps, itinerant faith healing tent shows and families that worked the Mississippi, anti-Semitism and discrimination against Native Americans. Between the simplistic depiction of the interactions, the explanations of common cultural elements, the preternaturally wise youth and the moralizing, I started to wonder if this book was written for the younger reader. If so, I am unfairly judging it. But it did not work for me. The children and their situations were not believable, the weaving in of the fantasy story too juvenile and the storytelling without depth. 1.5 stars
Waiting by Goretti Kyomuhendohttps://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
This novella narrates the tension and the hope of a family and their neighbors as they await the liberating forces to arrive in their Ugandan village. As they hide from Ugandan soldiers, life and death, prejudice and kindness, promise and regret crowd their lives.
The Friend by Sigrid Nunezhttps://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
The narrator of this book is mourning the death of a friend by suicide. In a rambling, stream of consciousness monologue directed at the dead friend, she narrates experiences they shared and prior conversations about authors; she discusses topics as far ranging as his history of womanizing and her students, dog poop and of course, suicide. Because the narrator agrees to adopt the deceased’s aging Great Dame, pet owning, dog cognition, this dog’s behavior, etc. are given significant space. This felt more like a series of interlocking essays than a novel. For readers who appreciate a more philosophical book, this should be appreciated. The literary references will be of interest to many readers. But, I am not a fan of the stream of consciousness style nor am I interested in musing on pets. For the most part, this felt a bit too naval gazing for my taste.
Miracle Creek by Angie Kimhttps://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
A fire at an alternative treatment center specializing in children with severe disabilities leaves two people dead and several with significant physical injuries. The book takes place over 4 days during the trial of the person accused of setting the fire. Told from the standpoint of multiple characters, the evidence against the defendant is quickly called into question. The author makes this more than a who-done-it by incorporating themes such as the immigrant experience, the struggles of parents with severely disabled children, and the alternative treatment industry. I was pleasantly surprised that the varying viewpoints never became confusing. The reveal of each new piece of the story of that fateful day did not strike me as manipulating the reader. The book was a quick read as it managed to draw me in immediately and to keep my attention throughout. 3.5 stars
The Life We Bury by Allen Eskinshttps://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
What happens when a young college guy, made extraordinarily caring and responsible from a lifetime of looking out for his Autistic brother and bipolar mother meets a dying man recently paroled after serving 30 years for the rape and murder of his young next door neighbor? Things open: an old murder case, a door to romance, and several hearts in need of healing. This was in turns quite sweet and a bit suspenseful.
Temples, Tombs and Hieroglyphs by Barbara Mertzhttps://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
This is a popular history of ancient Egypt. It covered an enormous amount of material: current archeology, rulers and politics of ancient Egypt, a bit of religion, a bit of medicine, a bit of bogus theories. It was too much for me to take in. I think I left more overwhelmed than informed.
Ham on Rye by Charles Bukowskihttps://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
This was very well written, but extremely depressing. Although the narrator does not share a name with the author, it felt like a memoir. I don’t know to what extent this might be autobiographical. It is the coming of age story of a young man growing up in California of the 1920s and 1930s, with a physically and emotionally abusive father, surrounded by neighborhood bullies, educated in schools populated by over-sexed juvenile Delinquents. Needless to say, he grows into a bitter, angry, violent, alcoholic young man.
Fools Crow by James Welchhttps://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
This is a great bit of historical fiction. It brings us into the life of a community of Native Americans in the 1860s & 1870s in the northern plains, a time of transition as the arrival of white settlers threatens them on so many levels. The author did a wonderful job of bringing characters and a culture to life.
Gods of Howl Mountain by Taylor Brownhttps://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
This is a story of revenge set in rural North Carolina in the early 1950s. The characters are all hard talking, tough acting, fiercely independent survivors. At times, they came a bit too close to stereotypes, with the protagonists possessing a tender heart beneath the tough exterior. The prose was a bit showy and the story took a familiar trajectory. But, it kept me engaged throughout. 3.5 stars
City of God by St. Augustinehttps://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
What happens when you cross a brilliant, highly detailed, philosophical classic with a lack luster reader with a short attention span? A gigantic yawn. I know this 1,100 page tome is a cornerstone of Christian theology, but it left me beyond uninspired. The world view, the intellectual approach, the scientific and experiential underpinnings were so alien to my context that I never found an entry point or a moment of interest.
The Conservationist by Nadine Gordimerhttps://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Set in South Africa just before the anti-Apartheid uprising, this novel of one English speaking white man is symbolic of the inevitable collapse of this unjust system. This is a smart book, brilliant dialogue, impressionistic descriptions, strong prose, a book that respects the intelligence of the reader. This is one of those books that I can appreciate while not enjoying. For the protagonist, women are for his sexual desires, blacks are for his service, creation is for his pleasure, wealth is for his hording. He is so unaware of his arrogance that he gave the reader no point for sympathy or understanding. I suspect that Gordimer modeled him after many she knew in her homeland, but for me he was flattened by his vulgar attitudes and actions. I loved the ending. It was the key that unlocked the rest of the novel for me.
Mudbound by Hillary Jordanhttps://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Set on a family farm in Mississippi in the mid-1940s, this is a story of family and racial struggles. I generally do not like novels told in varying voices, but it did not bother me here. The author managed to convey a uniqueness for most of them. Several characters did not come across as fully as others did. I wonder if the number of points of view contributed to this. Overall, I enjoyed the book. 3.5 stars
Carthage: Uncovering the Mysteries and Splendors of Ancient Tunisia by Howard David Soren and Hedi Slim https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
I read this for a challenge in a GR group. This is not a book I would have picked up on my own, but I ended up learning quite a bit. This is a quick overview of the culture and history of Tunisia for about a thousand years beginning in the ninth century BCE.
When All Is Said by Anne Griffinhttps://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
An 84 year old man sits at his local bar one summer night remembering his life. As he moves through a succession of 5 drinks, he toasts 5 significant people in his story. His reminiscences take the form of an internal monologue with the son who lives on the other side of the ocean. This is a slow story, the account of an ordinary life marked by death and birth, by proud moments and lingering regrets, by love and loneliness. My only quibble with this book is that the vocabulary and sentence structure of this man’s narration did not sound like that of someone who did not finish elementary school and who read very little. 3.5 stars
A Woman Is No Man by Etaf Rum https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
This was a good story but it was not well written. A 17 year old Palestinian girl is pressured into an arranged marriage and moves to the U.S. with her husband’s immigrant family. But the freedom she hopes to find there never materializes. Instead, her traditional in-laws home continues the domestic drudgery and female disempowerment she grew up with. Eighteen years later, her daughter, living in the same home, is facing a similar pressure to marry as a high school senior despite her dreams of college. The novel toggles between these two young women. I realize that most American readers are not familiar with traditional Arab culture nor the constraints it puts on women. However, most American readers are intelligent enough to understand and retain what an author tells, at least after the first 100 times. This author appears not to believe that her reader is capable of this. Not only were we told 5 times on every page that Arab families do not value girls, that females have no self-determination, that her characters loved to read, or that these young women longed to experience affection and approval, but we were often told any one of these 5 or more times in consecutive sentences. Had we been shown any of this repeatedly, it may have had the impact of moving deeply into the bones of the reader until the reader felt the frustration and pain of the character, but nothing was ever shown; everything was told and retold and retold. There were a few times when a character’s words or actions did not feel consistent with what I knew, but I will chalk that up to my flagging attention.
What A Carve Up by Jonathan Coewww.goodreads.com/review/show/3289258730
This satirical novel of the greed of the 1980s actually made me laugh out loud, something that rarely happens. From factory farms to vanity press, from conservative politics to investment banking and everything in between, pretty much every aspect of society is skewered with biting wit. The jumping around in the story line was disorienting for me. I enjoyed each scene far more than the story as an integral whole. 3.5 stars
Madame President: The Extraordinary Journey of Ellen Johnson Sirleaf by Helene Cooperhttps://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
This is an extraordinary story, the first female head of state in modern Africa, winner of the Nobel Prize for Peace, a woman who steered her war ravaged, impoverished country onto the road of recovery. The author was obviously enamored of her subject. As a result, this was a decent introduction to this international figure, but definitely not close to a definitive biography. 3.5 stars
The Sign of Jonas by Thomas Mertonhttps://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
This is several years of Merton’s journals while he was in his mid-30s. These are honest and almost too private to be read by a total stranger. But, I felt privileged to be able to read his thoughts full of spiritual fervor. I think you would have to be a Merton fan to enjoy this book. 4.5 stars
The Making of Modern Georgia ed. by Stephen Joneshttps://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
This book fulfilled a challenge; it was the only one I could find under quarantine that did. This collection of scholarly essays examines a variety of aspects of modern Georgia: national security, relationship to the EU, international trade, ethnic tensions, etc. I did not have the background or interest in the subject to appreciate this book.
Introduction To the Devout Life by Francis de Sales
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This is not the first time I have read this classic of Christian spirituality. Amazingly, it grows with me. Things that spoke to me in the past did not this time. Things that I did not recall reading before were powerful this time around.
Daughter of Moloka’I by Alan Brennerthttps://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
I was looking forward to this book after enjoying Moloka’i. I was very disappointed. Maybe the unusual setting of the first book made it more interesting to me. The plot was nothing new. Narrative events felt like filler, connecting the historical lessons being taught to the reader. The reader was told everything, shown very little, and left to discover nothing. Even those little details that offer composition to the narrative picture felt like cardboard cut outs of real life. The dialogue had none of the depth that makes a novel vibrant. This is the story of one woman’s life, growing up in a loving adoptive family of first generation Japanese Americans and continuing until her late middle-age. Both her childhood and adult families are almost too perfect to make for interesting reading. Apart from some conflict between the father and uncle of the protagonist, the happy family is as interesting as a graham cracker. There are no sibling squabbles, parents who crack under extreme pressure, petty jealousies, ordinary misunderstandings, tension with in-laws or the arrival of a birth mother, none of the normal lows that make up family life. All the tension came from outside the family, from the discrimination against the Japanese immigrants in early 20th century America, including internment camps. If you are looking for an easy, feel-good read that will demand little of the reader, maybe this book will fit your search. But it left me bored and totally unimpressed. I am glad this was not my first book by this author because I would be reluctant to give him another look if it were.
My Grandmother Asked Me To Tell You She’s Sorry by Fredrik Backmanhttps://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
This read like a very clever children’s book, the type that is supposed to be read by a parent to a child. The voice of the child narrator would not be believable to most adult readers, but would be aspirational for many children. The obvious imagery in the fairytales pointed to an audience less familiar with decoding layers of meaning. The life lessons, bullying, confronting loss for the first time, adjusting to a younger sibling, learning that the adults in your life are more flawed and more sympathetic than you realized are targeted for a young child. But, the vocabulary, designed to stretch the young reader, would be helped by an adult reading out loud. And the moments of adult humor felt like the author was winking at the parent he knew was holding the book. Evaluated as a child’s book, it was clever. But, I was not expecting a child’s book and generally do not enjoy them. So, my rating may not reflect what this book deserves.
The Ultimate Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adamshttps://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
This tome contains all the volumes that make up the quirky series. I read the first of the published books decades ago, when I was in college and loved it. It was not until November that I returned to the series. Starting with the first book, I thought it was as good as I remembered. But, even though I took 6 months to finish this, the humor began to feel a bit too similar by the end. 3.5 stars which I will round up.
Harry’s Trees by Jon Cohenhttps://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
A young woman dies in a tragic accident and, around the same time in another place, a young man dies unexpectedly. They leave two gorgeous, sensitive, highly desirable grieving widows and a precocious, independent, grieving little girl who loves books. When the fairy godmother of romantic fiction brings these two families together, the smart girl will bring these adults into the fantasy world she has created where they will find healing and out the other side to love and life. This is a tooth-achingly sweet story that is so predictable that I wrote my review, including the ending, when I was only 15% into the book. 1.5 stars
The Heartbeat of Wounded Knee: Native America from 1890 to the Present by David Treuer https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
With broad strokes, Truer recounts the history of the native peoples in the portion of North America that would become the contiguous states of the U.S.A. His focus is on how various groups responded to, suffered from, resisted, accommodated and continue to live with their encounter with those who invaded and settled in their land. Woven into this survey are the stories of contemporary individuals who are living this legacy. Although the history was familiar to me, this book filled in many gaps in my understanding.
The World That We Knew by Alice Hoffmanhttps://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
I was prejudiced against this book from the outset. It checked off so many boxes for books I avoid: one more WWII novel among a glut of them, magical realism which I dislike because I don’t understand, an author that repeats and repeats the obvious. Two young teenaged Jewish girls and a golem flee Germany for safety in France. There they meet two teenaged Jewish boys and their young housekeeper. Together and apart, these youths will become part of the resistance movement in France. My checkboxes held. As expected, I did not enjoy this book.
Arrowsmith by Sinclair Lewis
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Set in the first decades of the 20th century, the reader is given a glimpse into the medical profession at that time. We follow Martin Arrowsmith from medical school, to country doctor, to small town health inspector, to big money pathologist to passionate scientist in bacteriology. Along the way, he marries, drinks too much, struggles with the direction of his life, gains fame, loses friends and so forth. This was a bit too slow moving and wordy for my current mood.
The Three Musketeers by Alexandre Dumashttps://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Fast paced, improbable adventures, lots of violence and elicit love affairs, pedestrian prose, vile villains and less than virtuous heroes, I can see how this has entertained generations of readers. Originally published in serial format, this felt like the 19th century of our modern TV series that pits good guys against bad guys.
Four Corners: A Journey Into the Heart of Papua New Guinea by Kira Salakhttps://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
At the age of 24, the author set out with a map and a backpack and no advanced planning to traverse Papua New Guinea. She was a veteran of travels in remote or dangerous places relying only on her wits. This is her account of that trip. Her adventures and the people she met is interspersed with personal reflections on the scars from her dysfunctional family, the lingering trauma of being abducted and nearly gang raped on an earlier trip, the perils of being a single woman in a strange place. I enjoyed learning about a place and people of which I knew little. She certainly has pluck. I was less impressed by her introspective passages. Despite a horrific experience on an earlier trip that nearly got her and some locals killed when she refused to accept numerous warnings, she repeatedly rejects advice creating danger for self and others. With no plan for lodging or transportation, she counts on the hospitality and generosity of total strangers. Helicopters and airplanes make special trips to rescue her from remote villages for free. Natives make harrowing trips by foot or canoe to bring her to her next destination for a pittance. Since the only English speaking people in many villages are Christian missionaries, she expects that they will house, feed, and attend to her wounds. In payment she treats them to arrogant, self-righteous, critical tirades in print. She feels it necessary to remind the reader of her gender on every other page. I am glad that this young woman is pursuing her passion for travel and is willing to bring the reader to remote destinations. I am sorry that her upbringing left her feeling a need to prove herself. But I also found her immature, irresponsible, and self-righteous.
A Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toolehttps://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
This is generally regarded as a brilliant piece of satire. But, for satire to work, the reader has to have an experience or knowledge of that which is being satirized. Unfortunately, the outlandish characters and culture of mid-20th century New Orleans is completely unfamiliar to me. What is probably uproariously funny to those who can relate to this world struck me as cringe worthy mockery of marginalized groups. Despite my inability to catch the humor, I did appreciate the writing, the exquisite dialogue, the sparkling characterizations, the creative descriptive language.
The Huntress by Kate Quinnhttps://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
In the years immediately after WWII a team of investigators hunt down a notorious Nazi war criminal. Across the ocean, in a quiet Massachusetts suburb, a preternaturally perceptive teen becomes suspicious of the sweet and kind German refugee who her widowed father marries. Five percent into this novel, the preternaturally dull reader will realize that the new stepmother and the hunters are bound to meet and will guess at the outcome. The romances are equally predictable. The happy ending which tied up everything so prettily is not my cup of tea. Maybe if this had been shorter I might have enjoyed it more. But, when you know what is going to happen, it is hard to remain interested for 550 pages.
Conversations With friends by Sally Rooneyhttps://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Frances and Bobbie, university students, are best friends and former lesbian lovers. Nick and Melissa are married, successful 30 somethings. When a feature story brings these four characters together, Frances and Nick will hop into bed and Bobbie and Melissa will flirt. This story did not seem to go anywhere. I suspect the nature of the relationships between these four people was the point of the book, but I did not find that very interesting. Nor did I find Frances’s period as interesting as the time spent on it suggests I should have. I don’t have to like characters to enjoy a novel but I should find them compelling. These characters were immature, self-centered, pretentious, bores. The thought of spending an hour in the evening in their company was as appealing as killing the stink bugs invading my house and less valuable. This novel tapped into one of my prejudices. I have a strong aversion to portrayals of adultery as romantic or even simply acceptable.
Cannery Row by John Steinbeckhttps://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
This is a character study of a place, Monterey in the early 1930s. There is just the thinnest line of a plot on which to string the various people and places that populate the neighborhood. Steinbeck makes the reader love these drunken, sometimes violent, social misfits because he recognizes their humanity.
The River by Peter Hellerhttps://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
I usually don’t like thrillers because I am disgusted by gore and do not enjoy the sensation of being terrified. But this had just the right amount of suspense to be a page turner without crossing my line into discomfort. The two main characters were very well developed, great individuals, but not unrealistically perfect. The minor characters were filled out sufficiently to be believable, but never complicated the story. The nature writing alone was magnificent. My only complaint was that the novel ended too quickly. Wanting to spend more time in the pages of a book is ultimately a pretty high complement.
On The Laps of Gods: Red Summer of 1919 and the Struggle for Justice that Remade A Nation by Robert Whitakerhttps://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
I did not know this bit of US history. Whitaker walks the reader through a horrific history of lynchings and legal injustices perpetrated against blacks in the 6 to 7 decades after the Civil War. I don’t think it is possible to come away from this book without being ashamed and appalled, even if one is already familiar with the violence and injustice. Apparently, the Supreme Court has always been more political than just. I want to learn more about Scipio Jones, the African American attorney who brought justice for the sharecroppers. But, I left the book sad having read in the epilogue how many of the civil rights which were gained from 1919 to the 1960s have been eroded in the past 30 years.
Lord of the World by Robert Hugh Bensonhttps://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Published in 1907, the author of this novel projects the narrative a century into the future, a future that he finds very troubling. Precisely because human ingenuity has brought comfort, prosperity and the end of international conflicts, humans have begun to put their faith in collective humanity rather than in God. The Catholic Church is the only religious group in the West that remains, and many of the faithful have fled to Rome where the world resembles a medieval city with its squalor and its religious pageantry, its exiled European monarchs and its peasants. Soon the veneer of peace and good will is peeled away to reveal a world where life is readily cut short by euthanasia, where the murder of Christians is a necessary sacrifice, where a charismatic dictator can acquire absolute power. Although the plight of believing Catholics steadily worsens, their faith intensifies and that faith is not disappointed. Although many devout readers will find Benson’s predictions sadly prophetic, I saw far more dissimilarity between the early 21st century I know and the one he imagined. I also do not share his longing to return to the 13th century. Although the writing is good, I did not enjoy his literary vision.
The Great Believers by Rebecca Makkai
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This novel explores the impact of the AIDS crisis on a group of friends in the mid-1980s and its lingering impact on several of them 30 years later. The story unfolds in two alternating time frames. The mid-1980s is a heady time for the urban gay scene; bars and bath houses, pride parades and closet doors swung open. If families reject a gay son or daughter, one can find a new family among friends. For every act of anti-gay violence, there is a progressive straight person who wants to be part of this coming out. But, there is also the scourge of AIDS. People are dying horrid deaths, often alone, without insurance, stigmatized. Despite knowing that AIDS is a sexually transmitted disease, the hook-up culture prevails; innocent partners are infected by selfish and careless lovers. Straight friends and family members could find themselves carrying the weight of care-giving, of grief, of guilt, a weight that could be crippling long into the future. The author invited the reader into a place where sympathy might develop. Unfortunately, the longer I spent in this novel, the less sympathetic I was. Living through a pandemic with a potentially fatal virus for which there is no cure, I know the sacrifices so many are making to try to protect vulnerable loved ones and total strangers from this disease. People have lost their livelihood, quarantined in their homes for months, foregone even the slightest touch of an elderly parent or other loved one. Watching these characters refuse to use protection, reject monogamy for 10 minutes of anonymous sex, casually cheat on and then infect someone they claim to love made me so angry. And I was no more comfortable with the recreational sex 30 years later.
Memoirs of Hadrian by Marguerite Yourcenarhttps://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Maybe at a different time in my life I might have appreciated this more. The author assumes the voice of the Emperor Hadrian looking back on his life, narrating his rise to power and his accomplishments. At times, it read like a class report, listing various civic projects or military campaigns. At other times, the philosophical musings on the nature of the soul, the beauty of the male body of his young lover, the similarity between sleep and death, and so on seemed to drag the narrative. It never had the feel of an ancient Roman text, although that may be reflective of my prejudices. 2.5 stars
Paradise of the Blind by Duong Thu Huonghttps://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
This has the feel of a memoir. The narrator recounts her story growing up in Vietnam in the decades after the war, a story that begins years before her birth. The war fractured lives, families and communities. As those fractures healed, they often did so in ways that created new stress fractures, even breaking some. There is a blindness, a refusal to see, among the generation that lived through the war. Some are blinded by anger or grief, some by their insistence on clinging to ancient social rules, some myopically focused on revolutionary ideals that had long been proven stillborn. As a result, they are like flies feudally flapping their wings in amber, slowly petrifying. I know little about Vietnamese culture or life in the decades immediately after the war. But, this author brought the characters and world to such vivid life that I understood and sympathized with these people. 4.5 stars
Bringing Down The House by Ben Mezrichhttps://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
As the subtitle to this book indicates, this is the story of a group of math wizzes, most associated with MIT, who use the science of probability to win millions at Black Jack. It was an easy read that kept my attention. 3.5 stars
A Hundred Summers by Beatriz Williamshttps://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
This is a predictable romance both in its story line and in the description of its characters. Fans of romance novels will probably enjoy this book. I thought it dragged, that the flowery descriptions were hokey, that various details were questionable. The introduction of anti-Semitism seemed to be an attempt to give the book a more serious feel, but it was treated in too superficial of a fashion to accomplish that.
Lab Girl by Hope Jahrenhttps://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
My reaction to this memoir is ambivalent. The writing was sufficiently engaging to make it a quick read. I often felt like a fly on the wall, seeing and hearing what was described. But, I left feeling somewhat disappointed despite enjoying the reading experience. Despite being drawn into specific scenes, I never felt as if I knew the author. I was not sure why I should care about most of the scenes she described while wanting to know more about parts of her story she glossed over. At the end of the day, this felt like a bit of reading escape rather than encountering a story of significance.
City of Girls by Elizabeth Gilberthttps://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
If someone approached you after her mother’s funeral and asked, “What was the nature of your relationship with my father”, would you respond with 500 pages chronicling your entire sexual history in lurid detail? I am no psychiatrist, but it strikes me that one would have to be a narcissist to think that such a question warrants this reply. Other than a passing encounter about 2/3 of the way into the story, we don’t even know the “father” until the final 20% or less of the novel. If I had to summarize this book in a word, it would be pornographic, soft porn maybe, but porn all the same. Not only did the narrator appear to be addicted to both sex and alcohol, she thought that the reader wanted to join her each time in some sort of literary three-some. This very well may be my least favorite book of 2020.
The Good Lord Bird by James McBridehttps://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Is it appropriate to describe the winner of a major literary award as “fun”? I don’t know, but that is how I feel about this novel. The narrator is a young enslaved boy, a pre-teen, abducted by John Brown. Brown believes he is setting the youth free, but the lad wants to return to his home. Brown also thinks he has freed a young girl, a misconception that the narrator thinks it is best not to correct. What follows is humorous adventures, brushes with historical figures and great commentary on human nature. The narrator is far more wise, resourceful, articulate and insightful than would be expected of a child, let alone one who had been relatively isolated. And the portrayals of historical figures are inconsistent with what I have read in nonfiction. But, the point of this is not historical accuracy but clever social commentary. It delivers that in spades with a wonderful voice filled with colorful colloquialisms.
Hawaii’s Story by Hawaii’s Queen by Queen Liliuokalanihttps://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
I found this autobiography of the last reigning queen in Hawaii before the monarchy was dismantled by agents of the U.S. quite interesting. 3.5 stars
On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous by Ocean Vuonghttps://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
I am struggling to review this memoir by a young poet. It is filled with pain, the pain of his mother’s and grandmother’s trauma that often led to violence, the pain of being bullied for his size and ethnicity, the pain of shame around his dawning awareness of his homosexuality. This is also a memoir of tenderness and love. The evocative language felt more like poetry than prose and often drew me into the emotional complexity of a scene with only a few beautifully written lines. At other times, the playing with time and mingling of memories left me dizzy and disoriented. Not being a reader of poetry, at times this also left me unsure of what the author intended to say, uncertain if the confusion was a product of my obtuseness or inexperience, or if the author had simply become too clever for his reader’s good.
A Warrior of the People by Joe Staritahttps://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
I had not heard of Susan La Flesche before. She is the first Native American woman to graduate from medical school. A bright, highly motivated, generous woman, at home in two cultures, she served as the only doctor to a large Omaha community in the late 19th and early 20th century. I enjoyed meeting this woman who broke so many barriers. But, I thought the writing lacked polish.
Pelosi by Molly Ballhttps://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
This is a political biography of Nancy Pelosi. Although there is far more talk of her high heels or the classy, understated clothes she wore than would be found in any political review of a man, a reality that I suspect Pelosi would resent, there is very little of Pelosi’s personal life in this book. This is a flattering portrait of a powerful political figure of the Democratic Party. Despite going into this book with a positive opinion of Pelosi, this felt unbalanced. Apparently Pelosi has and never had any faults. While every moment of Pelosi’s political career is recounted in glowing language, her opponents’ actions, words and motivations are described with negatively loaded language. There was nothing here that I could not have gleaned from news coverage over the past several decades. I would have appreciated either more in-depth political analysis or more behind the curtain revelations of her more private life.
101 Books to Read Before You Die
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https://www.goodreads.com/review/list...
Two women, three story lines: a single suburban mother in 2017 coming to terms with the racism in her racially mixed family, a widow in 1924 who has journeyed from slave to small farm owner despite the racism that is a continual threat, and that same woman as a child enslaved in 1854. Besides genetics, these women’s stories are connected by the sense of being guided by their female forbearers and the power of positive thinking. This was a quick read. I did not find much depth in the novel.