June, 2017 reading: books, bugs and sunblock

Starting off June with a huge pile of library books staring at me, including Paul Auster's latest doorstop. At least nine books and only three weeks to read most of 'em.

Jeez...

Isn't anyone reading this month?

I'm still making my way through ZBIGNIEW HERBERT: COLLECTED POEMS and browsing Ron Miller's gorgeous THE ART OF SPACE.

Hi Cliff and others,
I feverishly entered June completing a Nora Roberts Novel, Chasing Fire, and now am working my way through two novels by David Baldacci: The Match Club followed by the sequel, The Collectors. Both are good Washington, D.C. political power novels written a few years ago but still ring current. I wish you well with your bundle!
David Russell

What I was reading last month is what I'm still reading this month, unfortunately. Not a fast one at the best of times, and (in terms of reading time) this is not that.

We've all given up on reading.

Just kidding. Still working on Orwell's essays, and Love Poems from God.

I am reading Moby Dick and The Peabody Sisters: Three Woman Who Ignited American Romanticism.

I know it may be heresy, but I am not enjoying Moby Dick! I know it is written in a conversational style. I know it is a grand adventure, and yet I am forcing myself to go back to it each day! My husband thinks I am insane, how could you not love Moby Dick?

Exactly! How could you not love Moby Dick? Possibly my favourite classic. Maybe it's a guy thing? Or maybe it's my nostalgia for reading it in 7th grade, just because it was big and I was feeling ambitious. I was entirely swept up in the adventure of it, I felt fully present on the voyage. I really, really ought to take it again sometime to see if it grabs me in a similar way now, but what a shame if it didn't. I may just stay satisfied with the glorious memories.

The whaling details chapters ... yes. Those are tough. Think of them as building reader sympathy for the whale, and infusing some reality to balance the unreality. Noting that, feel free to skim them.

>8 Cecrow: I know! I know! I feel like I am missing a "literary" chip in my brain on this one. I am two thirds of the way through and can only think - yes, this is a guy thing. I also really didn't like Catch 22. Again, the husband thinks he married a mad woman!

I didn't like Catch 22 all that much, either, don't worry! I haven't gotten around to Moby Dick yet.

I have been reading at a brisk pace lately. The largest English-language bookstore in the city is, coincidentally, a 5 minute walk from my house, and it also seems to have some of the best (i.e. working) AC in the area. So I'm there a lot.

I recently read Numero Zero by Umberto Eco, one of my favorite authors. Not perfect, but worth reading.
Read Nadirs by Nobel-prize winning Herta Muller, but was put off by what seemed like unnecessary and frequent descriptions of things like foot corns, sagging bellies, and the private parts of grandma and grandpa (and more).
Read a little volume of poetry by Hafez... as well as some other books that aren't so literary snob-esque, like "Heads in Bed" - a snarky memoir about working in hotels. I couldn't find the touchstone, but it's by Jacob Tomsky.

I am still working my way slowly through Red Mars and Lonesome Dove.
The first I am struggling through, the second I am savoring.

OK I am going to go ahead and jump in here - I thought Moby-Dick was a slog but I also thought it was well worth it. I also loved Catch-22 and thought it was an easy and fun read. There are some books I think are overrated naturally. For classics that I found both a slog and arguably would have rather spent the time reading something else, I would go for Les Miserables.

Finished LENIN ON THE TRAIN, a mildly interesting account of Lenin's historic train ride from Switzerland to Petrograd.

Lots of political intrigue and schisms, leading to the Russian revolution.

>13 CliffBurns: I picked a copy up of that at Hay Festival last week. Looking forward to it, though there are many more on the TBR pile ahead of it. BTW, the picture of the "Empress Carriage" is nothing of the sort; it's a bog-standard Prussian corridor coach from the 1910-12 period, and was sent to the Lenin Museum st Sassnitz when the East German authorities wanted to create a Lenin Museum there but didn't really have much substantial to put in it. Although it has no connection with Lenin, or even any other Important Personage, it remains something of a museum piece, although after re-unification the Lenin Museum closed and the coach was handed over to the state railways. It has ended up in a museum at the Kaiserbahnhof in Potsdam, with the interior modified to make it into a conference coach, and painted up to look like a coach from the sealed train, whilst not actually purporting to have been any part of it.

The LENIN ON THE TRAIN book has rather a weak conclusion, the author loses the thread, but the book is worth a read, especially since we're "celebrating" the 100th anniversary of the Russian Revolution.

Today I wrapped up THE MAN WHO LOVED BOOKS TOO MUCH, a true story of an unrepentant book thief and the antiquarian bookseller who tracked him down. Journalism rather than great writing but featuring some interesting characters.

THE CURVE OF THE EARTH by Simon Morden.

A decent science fiction offering, but idiot boy here didn't know it was part of a series. It didn't detract from the book too much, which posited a fairly plausible future and told a good tale.

At the bookshop yesterday, I read Notes on a Scandal and Revenge by Yoko Ogawa. Both were excellent.

Currently reading The First Circle, after a run of sf novels.

>12 anna_in_pdx: I liked Catch 22 better than Moby Dick but still couldn't get into it. Moby Dick was worth the slog in the end. I felt like I read the whole thing just to get to the good parts at the last twenty pages.

This week I am reading Uncle Tom's Cabin. It is good and it is horrifying. After reading Their Eyes Were Watching God last week I just sort of segued into Uncle Tom's Cabin.

Farewell My Lovely – Raymond Chandler
Book on CD narrated by Elliott Gould
3***

From the book jacket: Marlow’s about to give up on a completely routine case when he finds himself in the wrong place at the right time to get caught up in a murder that leads to a ring of jewel thieves, another murder, a fortune-teller, a couple more murders and more corruption than your average graveyard.

My reactions
I came late to Chandler’s series about P.I. Philip Marlowe, but I sure am enjoying them now! The action is non-stop, and the characters so vivid they virtually jump off the page. Chandler’s sentences are short and crisp, but he still has time to employ some of the most colorful metaphors and descriptions in the English language. There are plenty of twists in the plot to keep the reader guessing, and Marlowe is a marvelous lead character. I’ll definitely keep reading the series.

Elliott Gould does a fine job of voicing the audio version. He has great pacing and is a marvelous actor. I was a little concerned when I first noticed that he was the voice artist for this book; his voice is distinctive and I thought I would be picturing him throughout the book. But that was not the case at all.

The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry – Gabrielle Zavin
Audiobook performed by Scott Brick
3***

A.J. Fikry owns Island Books. He had run the store with his beloved wife, until she died in an accident just over a year ago. Now he lives alone in the apartment above the bookstore, eating frozen dinners and drinking until he passes out. And then, one snowy December evening he finds that someone has left a baby between the shelves in the bookstore. And just like that, his life changes for the better.

This is a modern-day fable about second chances and the redemptive power of love. Chronicling A.J.’s life over a couple of decades the novel explores the relationships he forms – with his girlfriend, his late wife, his sister-in-law, his friends, and with Maya.

It’s a somewhat quiet story, as novels go. But like most real-life stories, it is full of the drama of every day existence – deaths, births, parties, illness, success, financial set-backs, sorrow, and joy. Some of the plot elements are unrealistic, but no matter, it’s a fable after all. I really enjoyed spending time with these characters: A.J., Maya, Amelia, Chief Lambiase, Ismay and even Daniel Parish.

I also loved all the literary references. I had read several of the books mentioned, and added several more to my ever-growing to-be-read list!

We Are Called to Rise– Laura McBride
4****

Set in the Las Vegas where people live, rather than in the casinos filled with tourists, McBride’s debut novel tells the story of four different people whose lives intersect as the result of one split-second choice. Avis is a woman whose marriage is crumbling after 29 years. Bashkim is the nine-year-old son of Albanian immigrants who struggle to make do while isolated from all family and friends. Luis is a veteran, waking up in Walter Reed hospital from nightmares that hint at something awful that happened. Roberta is a social worker and volunteer, who tries to help the lost and disillusioned, the emotionally wounded and mentally fragile people who wind up in court, especially the kids.

The novel is told by each of these four characters in turn, letting the reader get to know their various hopes, dreams, disappointments, joys, failures, and triumphs. I was immediately drawn into their personal stories. I wanted to know how they got to where they are, where they hoped to go, how they planned to get there. And, having been teased by the book jacket, I was curious about how their lives would intersect.

McBride does a great job of writing these characters, making them real to the reader. I thought Roberta’s story was the least developed, and she has little role in the central plot until close to the end of the book. I also felt the ending was a little too contrived. But those are really my only complaints about the book.

I also really liked the way she described life in Las Vegas. One of my best friends used to live there, and she commented how most residents lead typical lives; kids go to school, adults go to work, the casinos may be the major employers, but there are other employers and other jobs. The story really could have been set anywhere in America and still ring true.

It’s a great debut, and I look forward to reading McBride’s next work.

Catch-22 – Joseph Heller
Book on CD narrated by J.O. Sanders
3***

Satire about the futility of war, and particularly about the inanity of military bureaucracy.

I definitely see why this is on its way to becoming a classic. Heller’s story of one unit fighting in Italy during WW2, could easily be updated to today and still ring true in many respects. It’s funny, irreverent, and disturbing. While I recognize the absurdity of some of the scenarios, it hits close enough to the truth to make one take notice. And that’s what satire should do.

Still, satire is not my favorite genre. I appreciate it, but don’t necessarily like it. So, I’ll give it three stars – a good read, a worthy read, but it’ll never make my top-ten list.

J.O. Sanders does a fine job performing the audio. He brings all the characters to life, but I really liked his Yosarian.

BIG MONEY by P.G. Wodehouse.

Fun summer reading.

Like "Downton Abbey", Wodehouse's universe never existed, it is a sepia-colored photograph of an age that wasn't.

But I laughed out loud on at least five occasions, so how can you argue with that?

"I was NOT a Nazi collaborator!" Aw hell, PD wrote some clever, funny-ass stuff...

But ol' Plum certainly wasn't culpable and nasty, like Ezra Pound.

Innocent, naive, stupid, maybe, but not malicious.

Exactly.

Indeed: innocent and naïve, without a doubt, and far too trusting in the power of a sense of humour to leaven the hearts of all men of power.

But certainly no fascist fellow-traveller. Just consider the treatment he hands out in The Code of the Woosters and sequels to Roderick Spode and his Blackshorts.

Good point, Robert. He really nails Spode/Mosley.

ALL THOSE VANISHED ENGINES by Paul Park.

A hybrid novel: part alt-history, part SF, part steampunk, a meta-fictional meditation on truth, memory and imagination.

Structurally complex, it is that rare thing, a literary genre novel.

Impressive.

I love PG Wodehouse. I agree that Spode and the Blackshorts are great mockery of the emptiness and small minded stupidity of fascism.

>30 CliffBurns: that sounds like a really fun read.

I'm currently reading The Parable of the Sower and some light mysteries sort of at the same time, with The Third Chimpanzee on deck.

Anna: they have a number of Wodehouse audiobooks available on YouTube, read brilliantly by Jonathan Cecil.

Give one a listen, when you have a moment.

>31 anna_in_pdx: It's even more fun when you learn about Eulalie. ;-)

Finished Beside the Ocean of Time. A bit uneven but when it works it works beautifully.

>30 CliffBurns: Park is probably the best US sf author currently being published.

>34 justifiedsinner: I found the brochs fascinating.

>29 CliffBurns: In those more innocent times, it's instructive to see the damage that could be wrought to a political career by making it known that a wannabe (male) politician had a Day Job merely selling ladies' lingerie, as opposed to a more **intimate** connection with it.

(Edit) >33 davidgn: Sorry - was that a spoiler?

Read CONSPIRACY OF FAITH, a Danish thriller.

An okay read but occasionally implausible. I don't like this notion of "special divisions" solving old crimes. Police budgets being what they are, manpower just isn't available to give "cold cases" the kind of time and effort books like this depict.

The Perks Of Being a Wallflower – Stephen Chbosky
Audiobook performed by Noah Galvin
4****

This is a coming-of-age novel featuring 15-year-old Charlie, who tells the story via letters he writes to an unnamed friend. Via these letters he chronicles his life during his freshman year of high school. As the book opens, Charlie states that his friend, Michael, killed himself the prior spring. This paragraph from the first letter gives the reader a sense of the tone: So, this is my life. And I want you to know that I am both happy and sad and I’m still trying to figure out how that could be.

I like YA fiction like this. Charlie is very real. He has good days and not-so-good days, as he struggles to come to grips with has happened around him. His parents seem genuinely caring, though somewhat clueless about his use of alcohol. He finds new friends who also help him adjust to his new school. He is a great observer of teenage and family life. As he describes events and how he reacts to them, he gives the reader a pretty accurate view of high-school dynamics.

This is Chbosky’s debut novel. Since its release he seems to have concentrated on screenwriting and directing. I hope he writes another novel; I would definitely read it.

Noah Galvin does a superb job of performing the audiobook. I totally believed he was a teenaged Charlie. He is in turns excited, apprehensive, despondent, eager, cautious, frightened, and hopeful.

Knots and Crosses – Ian Rankin
3***

This is the first in the Inspector John Rebus mystery series. Edinburgh is plagued by a series of kidnapping/killings of young girls, and Rebus is on the investigative team. When he realizes that the anonymous messages he’s been receiving coincide with the kidnappings, he is forced to consider that he may have a personal connection to this killer.

Rankin writes a fast-paced thriller with several twists and turns in the plot. Rebus is a complicated character, turning to alcohol to lessen the pain of his past experiences, including a failed marriage, but still clearly an intelligent and resourceful detective. His former work as a member of Britain’s elite SAS adds a certain mystique to his background. A subplot involving his brother, Michael, and an investigative reporter, Jim Stevens, adds both tension and a distraction from the killings. Makes me wonder if these characters will also appear in later books.

I’ll definitely read more of this series.

>39 BookConcierge: I have read all the Rankin books. He has written some non-Rankin mysteries that are good too.

Finished The Tiger's Wife. Nicely written but a bit of a mess.

Cops And Robbers – Daniel E Westlake
3.5***

Tom and Joe are New York City policemen. They are also planning a grand heist that should net them two million dollars. But they have to outwit the Mob to keep the money and their lives.

This book doesn’t include the kind of zany antics that Westlake is known for in his comic crime capers, but there’s plenty of action, quite a few surprises and plot twists, and a great sense of time and place. The “heroes” may be crooked cops, but they do have certain standards, and they are very smart about how they go about planning and executing the robbery. They anticipate many obstacles and are quick to compensate and adjust their plans for those things they did not think of in advance.

It was a fast read, and I enjoyed going along for the ride.

Jane Steele – Lyndsay Faye
Audiobook narrated by Susie Riddell
3.5***

Opening line: Of all my many murders, committed for love and for better reasons, the first was the most important.

Thus begins Lindsay Faye’s re-imagining of Jane Eyre. Readers of the classic will recognize some plot elements: an orphaned Jane, a mean guardian and her children, a stay in a boarding school, work as a governess, fascination with the lord of the manor, a dark secret (this time in the basement rather than the attic), etc. However, Faye has let her imagination run wild.

The story is still set in the same era as Bronte’s classic novel, but this Jane is a serial killer. If that makes you gasp is horror … well give the book a chance. It’s great fun to read, especially if you’ve read the original (though I think those who haven’t read the classic, will still find this enjoyable). The classic Jane Eyre has been adapted to film several times; I would definitely watch a film adaptation of THIS work!

Susie Riddell does a marvelous job of voicing the audio book. She has good pacing, and I just love her Jane Steele character.

Finished SHADOWBAHN, Steve Erickson's latest.

Bizarre, surreal, original, everything you'd expect from the author of DAYS BETWEEN STATIONS (love that book) and TOURS OF THE BLACK CLOCK.

How's this for a premise: one day the twin towers of the World Trade Center mysteriously materialize in the midst of the South Dakota badlands. Not an apparition, solid as stone. What's the message? Why are they there?

Not for all tastes but a challenging, rewarding, literate read.

Read a big collection of Rumpole of the Bailey stories. Also reread my Jane Austen collection.

Next up is The Third Chimpanzee.

Finished TROUBLE BOYS, the biography of one of the most dysfunctional bands ever, Minnesota's The Replacements.

These guys were their own worst enemies--Mehr's biography shows them at their worst...and at their very worst.

Almost halfway through Secret Historian: The Life and Times of Samuel Steward, Professor, Tattoo Artist, and Sexual Renegade. It is a fascinating a life, and a very interesting look at gay life in mid-twentieth century. Not the best written book but still very entertaining.

Love Walked In – Marisa de los Santos
3.5***

Cornelia, the “under-achiever” in her family, is the manager of a café. One day a Cary-Grant-look-alike walks in and her life changes.

This is a chick-lit, romance novel with great heart. The novel is told in alternating points of view: Cornelia, and Grace, an eleven-year-old with a chaotic home life. I loved them both, though I was somewhat incredulous at several plot points.

Grace is a wonderful child character – smart, observant, brave and caring, she is also frightened and fragile. Several of her chapters just about broke my heart. Cornelia is likewise smart, independent, caring and compassionate, if occasionally blind to reality. She does tend to rely too heavily on old movies to explain her life, or on which to pin her hopes for love. I’m reminded a little of the movie Sleepless in Seattle, where Meg Ryan’s character obsessively watched the Cary Grant / Deborah Kerr movie An Affair to Remember. (Note: several reviews have criticized the book for the references to these romantic movies of the ‘40s and ‘50s, because the reviewers had no experience with them, so didn’t understand the references. Not the case for me, however.)

De los Santos was known for her poetry before she published this novel. Her skill at poetic writing shows here. I loved some of her metaphors and descriptions. For example:
Getting the words right matters, but so did describing his voice when he talked and capturing the feeling that filled her as he spoke and after he spoke. She thought about the word “capture,” how it put a writer on par with a fur trapper or big-game hunter, and how it implied that stories were whole and roaming around loose in the world, and a writer’s job was to catch them.

The men in the story didn’t get as much attention as I might have liked, and they were not very well developed. The ending is also a little too convenient, but it’s a chick-lit romance, so I cut her some slack. It’s a solid summer-at-the-beach read.

There is a sequel: Belong to Me which continues Cornelia’s story. I’d read it previously, not realizing that this novel comes first. I don’t think it affected my enjoyment of either book, but readers should probably read them in order.

Something Rotten – Jasper Fforde
Book on CD read by Emily Gray.
3***

Book four in the Thursday Next fantasy / sci-fi “literary detective” series. The Goliath Corporation is still trying to take over the world, though this time their scheme is to be declared a religion. Hamlet is staying with Thursday and her family, while she tries to sort out the mess that all the cloned Shakespeares have made of the original play. Thursday’s father, the rogue ChronoGuard, and her mad-scientist Uncle Mycroft, both make significant, though small, contributions.

What I most enjoy about this series is Fforde’s vivid imagination and all the literary references. The plots are completely unrealistic, but that’s part of the fun. Thursday is a strong, independent, resourceful heroine, and the supporting characters – Spike, the vampire, and Stig, the Neanderthal, in particular – are delightfully over-the-top. The SuperHoop (think “Super Bowl” for croquet) match is fun and thrilling and ridiculous all at once.

If this review doesn’t make much sense … well, neither does the book. But who cares?! It’s fun to read.

Emily Gray does a marvelous job performing the audio version. She has great pacing and is a skilled voice artist, able to differentiate the many characters. I love the way she voices Stig and St Zvlkx in this installment.

Finished BOOKED TO DIE, a murder mystery involving the Denver used and antiquarian book scene.

Entertaining, but no mind-stretcher.

A good beach or backyard read. Perfect for a lazy summer day...

ETA: Noticing that this follows on from Cliff's post in >50 CliffBurns: very well!

As usual summer makes me want to read trashy mysteries, so I took a break from the Third Chimpanzee to toss off a Dick Francis I had missed previously - Proof which was, as usual, an entertaining page turner about a particular specialty field (in this case, booze production) so that one does not feel so very guilty for reading it - hey I am learning something!

The Agony and the Ecstasy – Irving Stone
Audiobook read by Arthur Morey.
4****

Stone’s epic historical novel tells the life story of Michelangelo. Stone did extensive research, living in Italy for several years, and using many of Michelangelo’s letters and documents found in various archives. He really brings the artist (and his works) to life. While most of us are familiar with his Pieta and David sculptures, and the Sistine Chapel paintings / frescoes, Michelangelo was also an accomplished poet and architect. Stone brings all these elements into the novelized biography.

Additionally, the novel includes much of the politics of the times, from the Medicis in Florence to the various Popes in Rome, it’s a fascinating history of the era.

This man was a giant among giants, whose influence on art and architecture is almost without measure. His life requires an epic story. That being said, the novel is incredibly long in order to cover all of Michelangelo’s eighty-eight years, and his life’s opus. I found his efforts to study anatomy in an era when dissection was absolutely forbidden fascinating, but grew tired of the repetitive references to his search for “peasant models” or insistence on the male nude form.

I may have noticed the repetition more because this was a second reading. I first read the novel sometime in the mid- to late-1960s; I’m fairly certain I read it before the movie, starring Charleton Heston, was released, but maybe it was shortly after that. My rating reflects my recalled reaction at that time.

I do wish there was an “illustrated” edition of the novel, to show some of his works alongside those chapters describing their creation. But I suppose that what Google is for!

Arthur Morey does a fine job narrating the audio version. At 34 hours in length, it’s a significant commitment, but worth it (and you don’t have to carry that huge tome around).

Hmmm -- Touchstones seems not to be working. I know "The Agony and the Ecstasy" is in the data base ... it's on my shelf.

The Lowland – Jhumpa Lahiri
4****

From the book jacket: Born just fifteen months apart, Subhash and Udayan are inseparable brothers, one often mistaken for the other in the Calcutta neighborhood where they grow up. But they are also opposites, with gravely different futures ahead. It is the 1960s, and Udayan – charismatic and impulsive – finds himself drawn to the Naxalite movement, a rebellion waged to eradicate inequity and poverty; he will give everything, risk all, for what he believes. Subhash, the dutiful son, does not share his brother’s political passion; he leaves home to pursue a life of scientific research in a quiet, coastal corner of America.

My reactions
This is a dense, character-driven story, that explores both the immigrant experience and the relationships between family members. Spanning decades, we watch these characters muddle through life, changing their goals and expectations as tragedy or joy, opportunity or obstacle comes up. No one wants to make these kinds of decisions, but sometimes life forces us to do so. In this way, we can all relate to the characters. And yet, their experience is very different from my own, and while I feel for their plight, I’m not sure I understand them. And I definitely do not like a few of them.

The story is not linear; Lahiri uses flashbacks as characters remember past events or wonder about what might have happened. It is never recognized as such, but clearly several of them are suffering from PTSD, doing what they can to hide from the world and avoid further pain (a strategy which, of course, does not work).

Lahiri writes beautifully, and I kept marking passages. She has a gift for putting the reader into the setting with her descriptions. One can feel the heat and humidity of Calcutta, smell the fresh briny scent on the breeze of a Rhode Island beach, hear the sounds of a morning ritual, and taste the food served. Her characters observe what is going on around them and their hesitancy or surprise when encountering new experiences, made me look at my familiar surroundings with new eyes. For example:
The main doors were almost always left open, held in place by large rocks. The locks on the apartment doors were flimsy, little buttons on knobs instead of padlocks and bolts. But she was in a place where no one was afraid to walk about, where drunken students stumbled laughing down a hill, back to their dormitories at all hours of the night. At the top of the hill was the campus police station. But there were no curfews or lockdowns. Students came and went and did as they pleased.

I so wish this was a book-club selection, because I long to discuss it with someone.

I found these two books in the library, The Plot Against Hip Hop and The Lost Treasures of R&B, neither of which seem to have touchstones. They are both by Nelson George. The main character is a security guard with an initial for a name.

They are a kind of noir mystery subgenre that reminds me of The Wire a bit. I am enjoying the hip hop one a lot. The fact that I know very little about the music makes it read like one of those Age of Sail books where the terminology creates a sort of interesting background hum without a great deal of in-depth understanding, yet strangely evocative. I recommend to those who know a lot about rap /hip hop so they can tell me whether it is the real thing.

Also speaking of mystery series set in places / cultures I know nothing about, I recently enjoyed another book about a Singaporean cop solving a murder in Malaysia. The author is Shamini Flint. Will read more of these.