JUDY'S (from Payson, Utah) 50 BOOKS READ IN 2015

[Bentley, Group Founder, Leader, Chief]

Judy (from Payson, Utah), here is your new thread in 2015. Happy reading in the new year.

Our Required Format:

JANUARY

1. by Winston S. Churchill
Finish date: January 2015
Genre: (whatever genre the book happens to be)
Rating: A
Review: You can add text from a review you have written but no links to any review elsewhere even goodreads. And that is about it. Just make sure to number consecutively and just add the months.

[Judy]

FEBRUARY

1. by Gretel Ehrlich
Finish date: February 2015
Genre: history, memoir
Rating: A
Review: I can't imagine trying to understand the Japanese earthquake/tsunami disaster of 3/11/11 without reading this book. The short, episodic chapters recount the author's visit to the area after the disaster and her encounters with survivors and their stories. She narrates her growing understanding of how the larger picture of radiation contamination and the ecological disaster continues to affect the people, the land and the future. It was a very sobering, personal look at an event I can't even begin to imagine facing.

The theme of fear, and facing fear, is a strong line of thought throughout the book. I was struck by her emphasis on talking to the fishermen who survived the tsunami wave by running to their boats as soon as the earthquake happened, getting into their boats and rushing *into* the oncoming wave. By facing that wave, that fearsome wall of deadly water, their boats were carried over the crest and behind the wall of water that slammed into the coast, destroying everything familiar about their lives on land. I found it an apt metaphor on facing fear in life and how meeting fear head on is almost always the way through it.

I was easily fascinated by many of the Japanese art, history and cultural references that the author included. Buddhist tradition and Shinto religious practice were incorporated into the narrative of disaster recovery and radiation exposure, and 17th-century haiku and other Japanese poetry became relevant to the present day survivors and historians. It is a rich source of further reading and research about Japan.

[Jill H.]

Sounds fascinating. BTW, great job with the format.

[Judy]

2. by Paul Scott
Finish date: February 2015
Genre: Historical fiction, India
Rating: A-
Review: This darkly humorous novel is an addendum of sorts to The Raj Quartet series. "Tusker" and Lucy Smalley, minor characters in the Quartet, are basically the last of the old British Raj, staying on after everyone else has gone. The novel begins with Tusker's sudden death, but then circles back around to how the Smalleys found themselves in this predicament of hanging on to a tradition and lifestyle that was finished years ago.

Paul Scott writes his characters so well, and this book is another experience of his mastery of developing characters and observing small details that speak volumes. There is more humor in this book as compared to the Quartet series, and I suppose that comes because the characters *are* performing roles that became useless or irrelevant long ago. I often think that reading characters like this is more helpful to someone studying human psychology than any textbook, and this book reinforced that view.

The book does a remarkable job of portraying an aging couple with all their quirks and accommodations made over a lifetime, and the people who they have come to rely on to keep their story intact, even after that story no longer makes sense.

by Paul Scott

[Bentley, Group Founder, Leader, Chief]

Good job Judy.

[Judy]

3. by Kazuko Kuramoto (no photo)
Finish date: February 2015
Genre: Memoir, Japan, Manchuria, World War II
Rating: B+
Review: An engaging autobiography of a young Japanese woman coming of age in a colonial outpost of Manchuria and her family's struggle to survive the war years and the aftermath of Japan's defeat.

The political and cultural upheaval going on in Japan during these years is described in very personal terms through this woman's memoir and I came away from reading it with a deeper sense of how a country's drive for power and territory can affect people and families in ways that aren't obvious or predictable.

These Japanese colonial families were basically in limbo and forgotten for the years when the Soviet Union and China were at war over Manchuria, then forced to repatriate to Japan--a country they had never seen or even visited, but was technically their "homeland"--when WWII ended.

Don't bypass the detailed afterword at the end of the book, written by the translator of the memoirs. I felt it gave some necessary context and structure to the story.

[Judy]

4. by Elena Ferrante (no photo)
Finish date: February 2015
Genre: Fiction, Italy
Rating: A
Review: The second book in the Neapolitan Novels series, following Elena and Lila into their young adulthood and continuing the story of how they each try to break out of the world of poverty and social upheaval that surrounds Naples, Italy in the late 1950s through the 1960s.

I'm astonished at the powerful writing in these novels. Multiple themes of family entanglements, gender inequity, poverty and relationships all serve to make a reading experience that leaves you wanting more from this author.

Book One:
Book Three:
by Elena Ferrante(no photo)

[Bentley, Group Founder, Leader, Chief]

Very good Judy - wonderful progress - one thing I noticed is that underneath the month message 2 - there should only be one blank line.

As far as your choices and progress - very good and I am looking with interest at your message three choice for the Japan challenge. Also your first entry. Both ones that I will also consider.

[Judy]

5. by Tara Smith
Finish date: February 2015
Genre: Philosophy
Rating: A
Review: An in-depth exploration of the seven specific virtues advocated by Ayn Rand's egoism philosophy and the value basis of rational self-interest.

I thought the book was extremely well-written and organized. The author took care to bring up counter-arguments and ways Rand's philosophy is misunderstood in relation to these virtues, then proceeds to logically defend Rand's ideas with clear references to what Rand actually wrote or said.

Reading the book has made me much more aware of how I define ethics and values for myself. I'm encouraged to become less reliant on "pithy" generalizations and oversimplification that seem to be prevalent these days in the media. I made lots of notes while reading this book because I was surprised at how little I had really thought about just what a value or a virtue is, or what justice means, for example.

The book is an example to me of good writing in philosophy. I plan on reading more of this author's books and looking up the sources she used.

[Bentley, Group Founder, Leader, Chief]

This sounds like a great book Judy - thank you.

[Judy]

MARCH

6. by Natsume Sōseki
Finish date: March 2015
Genre: Fiction, Japan
Rating: B+
Review: A sad, haunting little novel tracing the relationship of a young Japanese man with his reluctant mentor, Sensei, as they both deal with the cultural changes in Japan as the Meiji Restoration comes to a close.

The interior worlds of these characters are the most compelling feature of this book. Spare and realistic inner conversation drives the self-delusion and conflict avoidance that leaves these two men full of guilt and despair. There is no "happy" resolution at the end of this story. We are left to consider whether the same stories we tell ourselves about other people and their intentions might not be just the same kind of delusions these characters lived under.

[Jill H.]

Very interesting review, Judy. Thanks.

[Judy]

7. by Henry Petroski
Finish date: March 2015
Genre: Nonfiction, Engineering, Technology
Rating: C
Review: A somewhat repetitive collection of case studies and essays on how past engineering failures become a driving force for innovation and invention, not events to avoid or hide.

I appreciated the emphasis on failure as a fact of life and that creativity is an iterative process driven by failures. "An engineer will always know more what not to do than what to do." pg.105

The case studies give interesting tidbits about engineering concepts and terminology, but it isn't a book *about* engineering as a profession or what an engineer does on a day-to-day basis. It was more focused on bringing out the nuances and complexities a designer might face when trying out new ideas or visions.

A final chapter warns of the loss of experiential wisdom by rapid technological change. Relying on computer models that perform all the right calculations and spit out the perfect blueprint is no substitute for an experienced designer who can bring real-world knowledge to the design problem.

In general, a nice little book to learn about the history of some noteworthy engineering design failures and see the connections between failures and progress in engineering designs.