avidmom reads avidly in 2012

Hello to you all. I have been a member of LT since I stumbled across it quite by accident in 2009 but just found Club Read a few days ago. Usually I AM an avid reader, but then I went and enrolled in a Medical Coding class through my local University and well, there went that! Sure, I still read A LOT, but my reading over the last few years has consisted of (and still does) coding books, A & P texts, and medical dictionaries. Interesting reading, for sure, but none of them have much of a plot! The list of 2011 books I read can be summed up in two words: NOT MUCH! But since it's so small I'll go ahead and list it here:

1. The Saturday Big Tent Wedding Party by Alexander McCall Smith - Am a fan of the series so had to read the latest one.

2. Mr. Monk and The Blue Flu by Lee Goldberg - Took my kids to the library & spotted this on the shelf. Love Monk and my brain needed a break. Think I read this over a cup or two of coffee in the backyard. Fun and easy.

3. The Help by Kathryn Stockett- I had been busy either working and/or studying and hadn't attended any book club meetings for quite a while when the librarian who heads up the book club called and said she thought I would enjoy this particular bookclub pick. She also told me that she had a copy waiting for me at the front desk! Well, how can you say no to that?! At that point I was headed for a study-induced nervous breakdown and the simple act of reading probably kept me from slipping over the edge! I really enjoyed the book and then got to see the movie with my book club.

4. Gifted Hands: The Ben Carson Story by Ben Carson - I am hoping to read more autobiographies on doctors. This one was very interesting.

5. For One More Day by Mitch Albom - This was a Christmas present from my closest friend. Read it in one sitting.

6. Gene Kelly by Clive Hirschhorn

I finally finished my class in December and am now currently studying for national certification test. Hopefully, I will have more time to read - and read avidly - this year :)

Space for 2012 list!

2012
1. Crazy Love: Overwhelmed by a Relentless God by Francis Chan (Christian, NF)
2. Destined to Reign by Joseph Prince (Christian, NF)
3. Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck (F)
4. The King's Speech: How One Man Saved the British Monarchy by Mark Logue (NF)
5. Cannery Row by John Steinbeck* (F)
6. The Wayward Bus by John Steinbeck**
7. America and Americans by John Steinbeck (NF)
8. The Big Sleep by Raymond Chandler (F)
9. The Winter of Our Discontent by John Steinbeck** (F)
10. The Moon Is Down by John Steinbeck** (F)
11. The Book Thief by Markus Zusak*(F)
12. Happyslapped by a Jelly Fish by Karl Pilkington (NF)
13. Don Quixote by Miguel Cervantes (F)
14. The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot (NF)
15. Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck*/** (F)
16. Unmerited Favor by Joseph Prince (Christian, NF)
17. The Red Pony by John Steinbeck** (F)
18. When I Left Home: My Story by Buddy Guy (NF)
19. Evita by Evita by Eva Peron (NF)
20. Dracula by Bram Stoker (F)
21. Starting Your Best Life Now by Joel Osteen (Christian, NF)
22. The Limpopo Academy of Private Detection by Alexander McCall Smith (F)
23. Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet by Jamie Ford (F)
24. Evita: The Real Life of Eva Peron by Nicholas Fraser (NF)
25. Rocket Boys by Homer Hickam, Jr. (NF)
26. Carrying the Fire by Michael Collins (NF)
27. In Dubious Battle byJohn Steinbeck** (F)
28. Evita: In My Own Words by Eva Peron (NF)
29. Silence by Shusaku Endo (F)
30. Tortilla Flats by John Steinbeck** (F)
31. The Vivisector by Patrick White *** (F)
32. The Faraway Horses by Buck Brannaman (NF)
33. Forgotten Tales by Edgar Allan Poe (F)
34. Batman: The Killing Joke by Alan Moore and Brian Bolland (F/GN)
35. Soldier Dogs by Maria Goodavage (NF)
36. The Christmas Box by Richard Paul Evans* (F)
37. Revelation of the Magis by Brent Landau (NF)
38. The Gift of Acabar by Og Mandino (F)
39. Sweet Thursday by John Steinbeck (F) *, **

*A re-read
**Steinbeckathon
***group read (baswood)

1. Crazy Love: Overwhelmed by a Relentless God by Francis Chan

Normally I do not read what I call "Christian-ese" books. This book, however, found its way back to me. It was given away as a Christmas gift a few years ago to my best friend in hopes that it would cheer her up through a rough time she was having. She read it recently, liked it, and gave it back to me so I could read it and give her my opinion on it. I so wanted to like this book! My opinion on it is, unfortunately, lukewarm.

While I agree wholeheartedly with Francis Chan's philosophy that if the Church would rise up and be the Church a lot of the suffering in the world would be alleviated; I part ways with him on what being a "hot" Christian is. Certainly there is a place and time for self-reflection on whether or not the life you're living is reflecting your spiritual convictions - which I gather is the main point of Chan's writing. His examples, however, of the people doing just that left me rolling my eyes. There was the man who donated his house to Chan's church and moved back in with his parents (I wonder how the man's parents felt about THAT!) Then there was the family outing to a play where Chan asked one of his elderly in-laws if she was enjoying herself. Her reply: "Oh, honey I really don't want to be here right now. ... I just don't know if this is where I want to be when Christ returns. I'd rather be helping someone or on my knees praying. I don't want Him to return and find me sitting in a theater." Chan found her comments convicting; my friend found them convicting. I thought it smacked of legalism; and I dare say, a little rudeness.

There were many points brought up in this book that I thought were spot on - the "going through the motions" of church; the insatiable 21st century want for entertainment to the detrimental neglect of things that are much more important; and whether or not our love for God stems from who He is or the "stuff" He can give us. The message of God's grace and love, however, seemed, IMHO, to be glossed over despite the book's title - which is unfortunate for I think an understanding of the breadth, height, width and depth of the love of God is the cure for the apathy Chan is railing against.

Quotes: "I wrote this book because much of our talk doesn't match our lives." (page 168)

TBR LIST/WISH LIST

Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck - My son read this for his English class this year and absolutely loved it. Right now he's reading my favorite Steinbeck, Cannery Row, and I've promised him I would read this since I haven't yet.

John Steinbeck (Any/All)

When I Left Home: My Story by Buddy Guy
The King's Speech
December 1941: 31 Days that Changed America and Saved the World by Craig Shirley
All My Patients Are Under the Bed by Louis J. Camuti
The Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet by Jamie Ford
Expecting Adam
Waking Up the Karma Fairy
(These last two were recommended by my aunt.)
Space Chronicles by Neal Degrasse Tyson
Soldier Dogs by Maria Goodavage
The Master and Margarita by Mikhail Bulgakov
The Warmth of Other Suns by Isabel Wilkerson
Two Rings: A Story of Love and War

Received today: Principles of Anatomy and Physiology by Gerard J. Tortora & Bryan Derrickson. $7.36 off Amazon! Love it :)

2. Destined to Reign by Joseph Prince

My mother had specifically asked for this book one year when I asked her what she would like for her birthday. So I special ordered it through our local bookstore, waited patiently, plunked the $ down, wrapped it up and gave it to her. And what happened? It sat on her bookshelf untouched and unread! What prompted me - a self-professed non-reader of Christian books to read it? Maybe it was the principle of the thing. I went through all that work to get it; somebody should read it! Or maybe it's because for the past year or more I have been enjoying watching Joseph Prince early in the A.M. with my morning cup of coffee. Or maybe I needed an antidote for my first "Christian-ese" book of the year listed above. Whatever the reason, I am so glad I finally took the initiative and cracked it open.

With a title like Destined to Reign I wondered if it was going to be another book of formulas or another book of positive thinking/attitude adjustment? It turned out to be neither of those (although I did find my attitude adjusted and my thinking more positive). Prince manages to bring a "new" perspective on what the love of God really is - a simple message that I think the Church, on the whole, has gotten away from. He backs up his writing with plenty of references to Scriptures. This turned out to be a wonderful, eye-opening Bible study on the amazing grace of God. A simple read, yes, but profound in its message and impact.

Quotes: "Even as you read this book, I don't want you to take my word for it. I want you to crack open your Bible and study the Word of God for yourself and see the grace of our Lord Jesus in the new covenant coming alive. Grace is not a doctrine. Grace is a person and His name is Jesus." (Page 32)

3. Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck

This book was a reading assignment given to me by my son, a freshman in high school. (How cool is that?!) It was required reading for him and he really liked the story. Having read two Steinbeck novels before , The Grapes of Wrath and Cannery Row, I was more than happy to read another Steinbeck. The book is not long at all - I think my copy ran about 172 pages total. My son said he liked the story because the end was thought provoking. True enough. I found myself asking the typical question - "Did George do the right thing?" And finding myself surprised at my own answer. An enjoyable, thought provoking, bittersweet read.

4. The King's Speech: How One Man Saved the British Monarchy by Mark Logue and Peter Conradi

When the movie, "The King's Speech" came out, I was very keen to see it. Half of my first grade year was spent with the school's speech teacher to overcome a terrible lisp. As soon as I saw this movie, it instantly became one of my all time favorites and it was quickly bought and added to the DVD collection. During the holidays my much younger cousin came to visit. She had suffered from such a terrible stammer when she was younger that her speech therapist said it was one of the worst she had ever seen. My cousin, thankfully, conquered her stammer and is now on her way to a career as a speech therapist. When we found out she had never seen the movie, "The King's Speech" we immediately played it for her. She, of course, loved the film. Later I found out there was a book about Lionel Logue and my curiosity got the better of me. It occurred to me to pass the book on as a gift to my cousin - but I wanted to read it first. Fortunately, the library had a copy so I got to "test drive" it for free!

The book itself is not too exciting (IMO). I picked it up, started it and then set it aside (and renewed) it numerous times. Half of the book is a history of Lionel Logue; half of the book is a history of "Bertie" and how their paths (fortunately) crossed. It's hard to read the story and not think "Divine Providence" had a part in putting these two men together. It was interesting to see the development of the friendship between Logue and the future King through mutual correspondence and Logue's journal entries. I especially loved the fact that Logue would send his friend and patient a letter and a book every year as a birthday gift. What struck me most, however, was how hard working, humble, and thoughtful King George VI was. The book became so much more interesting to me and seemed to pick up speed when World War II broke out. It is fascinating to think how this man in his lifetime went from a stammering, shy prince to a beloved King whose subjects clung to his every word during a time of international crisis.

I loved the fact that there were actual family photos of the King and Logue in the book along with photos of their correspondence and Logue's journal entries. I wish the author would have given more of a description on how the country reacted to the King's death but not much was said except for a few newspaper articles included.

This was one of those rare cases where I was left thinking the movie - which came before the book - was better. Apparently, many aspects of the story were dramatized for effect in the film. The reality of what really took place was not as exciting as the movie portrays. For fans of the film and/or history buffs, this may prove an interesting read. I consider myself both so I am glad I read it.

Quotes: "... the Queen Mother was equally fulsome in her praise of Logue . 'I think I know perhaps better than anyone just how much you helped the King, not only with his speech, but through that his whole life & outlook on life,' she wrote. 'I shall always be deeply grateful to you for all you did for him. He was such a splendid person and I don't believe that he ever thought of himself at all. ...'" (page 225)

Quotes: "... The King took two steps to the table, and Logue squeezed his arm for luck. The gesture spoke volumes about the closeness of the two men's relationship; no one was meant to touch a king unbidden in that way." (page 176)

Interesting that you say the dramatic qualities of the film are better than the book in this instance. I have seen the film and I loved it.

Interesting comments on The King's Speech. I too thought the movie was terrific.

Cannery Row by John Steinbeck

"How can the .... dream {Cannery Row} be set down alive? When you collect marine animals there are certain flat worms so delicate that they are almost impossible to capture whole, for they break and tatter under the touch. You must let them ooze and crawl of their own will onto a knife blade and then lift them gently into your bottle of sea water. And perhaps that might be the way to write this book - to open the page and to let the stories crawl in by themselves." (page 3)

Just as the place, Cannery Row, is unique, so is John Steinbeck's book of the same name. Cannery Row is simply a collection of little stories about the larger than life characters who take up residence on the Row. Each one of them is flawed in some way; all of them are funny and lovable. We begin our tour of the Row at Lee Chong's grocery store, "a miracle of supply" where a "man could find everything he needed or wanted to be happy." (page 4) What Lee Chong doesn't supply is supplied by Dora and her "girls" at the Bear Flag Restaurant. We then are slowly introduced to the cast of characters on the Row through little stories about each one of them. Quite a list of characters make cameo appearances on the Row. Amongst them are a lady who throws parties for the neighborhood cats, a mysterious Chinese man who makes a daily trek to the Row - who knows why - and Henri the painter who "had so steeped himself in stories of the Left Bank in Paris that he lived there although he had never been there." (page 134) Our attention, however, is mostly directed toward Mack and the boys and Doc.

Mack is the leader of a ragtag group of hobos ("the boys") who live in the "Palace Flophouse" together and Doc, their neighbor, a marine biologist living and working on the Row. Doc is the heart of the story and the heart of Cannery Row itself - although he doesn't seem to suspect that. Doc, despite being a nice guy who actually has quite a few friends, is a "set-apart man" who "seemed always alone" even in a crowd (page 100). Mack decides early on in the book that they should throw a surprise party for Doc because Doc's simply a nice guy. But before the party can come to be, Mack and the boys need to come up with some $$$. This leads to some funny complications for Mack and the boys, a group of unsuspecting frogs, Lee Chong, and poor Doc himself.

Steinbeck's excellent writing and wry wit is what makes this book a wonderful read. Here you'll find wonderful similes like: "Cats drip over the fences and slither like syrup over the ground to look for fish heads (page 85)". Here's Steinbeck writing about the dawn: "It is the hour of the pearl - the interval between day and night when time stops and examines itself." (page 86) But what makes this book one of my all time favorites that I have read probably 3 or 4 times by now, is Steinbeck's witticisms that are scattered throughout the book: "Hazel (one of Mack's boys) grew up - did four years in grammar school, four years in reform school, and didn't learn anything in either place. Reform schools are supposed to teach viciousness and criminality but Hazel didn't pay enough attention. He came out of reform school as innocent of viciousness as he was of fractions and long division." (page 32)

Cannery Row is a slow paced little book full of wonderful characters, incredible writing and humor. IMO, always worth the trip!
5 Stars.

You know, I've never read any Steinbeck, but I think I really need to get to Cannery Row sometime. You've made it sound highly appealing. And I do remember really liking the movie version, which I saw many, many years ago.

>8, 9, 12 Thanks for stopping by my little thread :)

>12 This was the first book on the list for the Steinbeckathon ( http://www.librarything.com/topic/130105) and I was more than happy to have an excuse to re-read it. It seems everyone participating in the Steinbeckathon has really liked it too.

The movie version of Cannery Row is what led me to the book. I'm a fan of the movie and watched it again for the first time in years a few weeks ago. I love hearing John Huston narrate! The movie, in spite of its title, is based more on Sweet Thursday, the sequel to Cannery Row than on Cannery Row itself (Suzy, Fauna, and Joseph & Mary are characters from the second book).

I've seen so many positive reviews of Cannery Row this year and yours is pushing me over the edge to give it a try. I read East of Eden years ago and loved it, but last year I read Grapes of Wrath which I really did not enjoy. Maybe Cannery Row would be a good Steinbeck palate cleanser for me!

Loved your enthusiastic review of Cannery Row. A book I have not read yet but it is now on my wish list.

Great review of Cannery Row, thanks for providing the link to it and thanks also for posting the link to the Steinbeckathon here!

Your review of Cannery Row reminds me how much I love Steinbeck. Since I last read his works as a youngster, maybe it's time for some re-reads. Thanks for the nudge!

>15 I've been following your thread baswood & look forward to reading your comments on CR.

>16 & 17 Thank you Smiler69. I am loving the Steinbeckathon & good ole' Steinbeck himself! Didn't realize I was such a big fan till now.

The Wayward Bus by John Steinbeck
(This is 2nd on the list for the Steinbeckathon)

Steinbeck let's us join him for a leisurely stroll on the beach in Cannery Row. Here, on The Wayward Bus, he picks up the pace and takes us for a ride!

The plot is pretty typical: strangers from different walks of life are thrown together through unhappy coincidence and are left to deal with their unhappy circumstances and each other. Usually, in stories like this, we travel a bit with the crew before the unfortunate circumstances befall them; here we join our group already stranded.

"Sweetheart," the bus Juan Chicoy operates out of the gas station/diner he and his wife, Alice own, has broken down the night before. "Rebel Corners" is also Juan and Alice's home. Juan and Alice have done everything possible to accommodate their human cargo by letting them spend the night with them - including giving up their own bed to one couple. Still, accommodations at Rebel Corners aren't exactly a suite at the Radisson Hotel and everybody is a little uncomfortable and understandably, a bit grumpy. Juan and Sweetheart don't need to take the passengers far - just to the Greyhound bus station in the next town over. These people are on their way to more exciting places than Rebel Corners ever hopes to be. Mr. and Mrs. Pritchard, a well-to-do businessman and his wife, are on their way to Juan's homeland, Mexico, for a vacation. Mildred, their 21-year-old daughter, is accompanying them. Ernest is a traveling salesman on his way to Hollywood. Mr. Van Brunt is a cantankerous old man on his way to court (presumably to sue somebody - again). Nobody is too happy about the delay. They wait it out in the Chicoy's lunch room while Sweetheart gets some TLC from Juan and his awkward adolesent mechanical apprentice, Pimples. Fortunately, Juan and Pimples get Sweetheart up and running.

While the group is waiting to get back out on the road again a new person, Camille, joins them. Camille is an intelligent, beautiful, voluptuous strip-tease artist who makes her living at conventions. She is used to men fawning over her; she is used to women hating her. "She knew why, but there wasn't anything she could do about it." Camille wishes for a differrent kind of life but she seems to charge the air with sexuality - whether she wants to or not. Once, someone had told her "You just put it out in the air. ..." When she arrives at the diner, she brings along with her her usual metaphorical storm of sexuality and, it seems, a literal storm. The weather outside is changing, just like the atmosphere inside among the group is changing. A few more passengers have decided to get on the bus. Pimples, because he wants to get closer to Camille, has joined Juan on his usual trek to the next town. Norma, the starry-eyed waitress who dreams of Hollywood - and most notably Mr. Clark Gable, has also joined the group after having a falling out with Alice. The passengers have to decide a few things at this point: do they brave the storm? what route do they take - the one that takes them over the shoddily built new bridge over the river or the old, abandoned twisty, bendy road that follows the course of the river? Our travelers decide to carry on, of course, and what route to take. It is soon after they take off in Sweetheart on the trek that Juan has probably driven more times than he cares to count, that he makes a surprising decision that affects the whole group's itinerary.

It's the surprises here that makes this book a fun read. At first glance, the characters seem stereotypical, but they eventually do and/or say things that surprise you. The character you can't stand in chapter one may be the one you like the most by the end of the book and vice versa. Or maybe not. Steinbeck throws enough curve balls here to keep you guessing about each character and makes this book a bit of a page turner. You know he's playing games with you; and it's fun! He also seems to be inserting a bit of social commentary here about how he feels about maintaining society's status quo, hypocrisy, and sexual repression (he's against these things).

This is the most entertaining and fun Steinbeck I've read. It surprised me that a book published in 1947 could be so bawdy. As a matter of fact, in Henry Seidel Camby's book review inserted in the front of my library copy he writes: "Mr. Steinbeck here and there may write too freely for the taste of some readers, particularly parents who may have teen-age children about whose reading they are concerned."

Oh, Mr. Steinbeck, behave!

Enjoyed your review of The Wayward bus. Sounds like fun.

I may have to pick up some Steinbeck this year. The only novels of his that I have read are The Grapes of Wrath and Of Mice and Men. Your reviews make his other books sound great.

Your two excellent reviews of Steinbeck are tempting me to join the Steinbeckathon (I have starred the thread). I suggest you post them as reviews on the respective Work Pages, so that more people can benefit from and enjoy reading your reviews. Very well-written and very enticing.

>20 It is!

>21 Please do. Cannery Row and The Wayward Bus are worlds apart from TGoW & Of Mice and Men

>22 Thank you! I took your suggestion and posted my last review on the Work Page. I hope you do join us for the Steinbeckathon.

Since I'm reading so much Steinbeck this year, thought I'd reserve a spot here to list them according to my faves ...
FICTION
1. Cannery Row
2. Sweet Thursday
3. Tortilla Flat
4. Of Mice and Men
5. The Wayward Bus
6. The Winter of Our Discontent
7. The Red Pony
8. The Moon is Down
_______________________________
Nonfiction

America and Americans

Collected Poems of Emily Dickinson by Emily Dickinson

This is a beautiful hardcover book that was recently found hiding on my bookshelves. Inside is a very old-fashioned looking Christmas sticker that says "To Inez, Because you liked it. Love, Tia" "Christmas 1989." How Inez's Christmas present ended up in my world is a mystery to me. I am not the biggest fan of poetry, but I do like it - just not all of it. Sometimes I run across a poem and/or poet that I really like. Years ago my English teacher aunt gave me a copy of Laughing Down Lonely Canyons by James Kavanaugh which I loved but where that book ended up is also a mystery to me.

This book of Emily Dickinson's poems has been picked up every once in a while over the last few days. Although I am not loving every one I read, I have a few I really like:

LOVE is anterior to life,
Posterior to death,
Initial of creation, and
The exponent of breath.

*******************************
WHO has not found the heaven below
Will fail of it above.
God’s residence is next to mine,
His furniture is love.
*********************************

Somewhere is my copy of Laughing Down Lonely Canyons and someone is wondering how that book showed up in their world. A case of poetic justice! ;)

My favorite Kavanaugh poem:

LAUGHING DOWN LONELY CANYONS

Fear corrodes my dreams tonight and mist has greyed my hills,
Mountains seem too tall to climb, December winds are chill.
There's no comfort on the earth, I am a child abandoned,
Till I feel your hand in mine-and laugh down lonely canyons.

Snow has bent the trees in grief, my summer dreams are dead,
Flowers are but ghostly stalks, the cloud drift dull as lead.
There's no solace in the sky, I am a child abandoned,
Till we chase the dancing moon-And laugh down lonely canyons.

Birds have all gone south too soon and frogs refuse to sing,
Deer lie hidden in the woods, the trout asleep till spring.
There's no wisdom in the wind, I am a child abandoned,
Till we race across the fields-And laugh down lonely canyons.

Darkness comes too soon tonight, the trees are silent scars,
Rivers rage against the rocks and snow conceals the stars.
There's no music in the air, I am a child abandoned,
Till I feel my hand in yours-And laugh down lonely canyons.

By James Kavanaugh

" ... we seem to be in a state of turmoil all the time, both physically and mentally. We are able to believe that our government is weak, stupid, overbearing, dishonest and inefficient, and at the same time we are deeply convinced that it is the best government in the world, ... (page 29)

Fans of Steinbeck's novels know that he was an astute observer of the individual psyche. In America and Americans, a collection of nine lengthy opinionated essays and American landscape photos, he attempts to analyze the collective American psyche by trying to answer some very interesting questions: How did our history make us who we are as a people? How did the actual physical landscape of America impact our ancestors and us? How did our eventual prosperity as a country affect us? What are our dreams for the future? What do our aspirations say about us? He handles all these questions with his typical tact and humor, but in no way does he ever sugarcoat the truth as he sees it.

No stone is left unturned here. Steinbeck seems to have a lot to say about a variety of subjects. He tackles politics, child rearing, and the problem of having too much leisure time. He writes passionately about the connection between criminal behavior and its sometime root, drug abuse. "Where need for money is the mother of the violence, the reason is again sad and sick and destructive, this time self-destructive, the need for drugs to abolish consciousness or stimulants to give shape and substance to a schizoid twin, hallucinatory aids in the creation of another world to take the place of this hated one. This too is a kind of murder ... another kind of murder of the self ... (page 142)" So much of what Steinbeck writes here, some 40 plus years ago, seems so apropos for today that it's downright eery: "... Americans have a love for the President that goes beyond loyalty or party nationality; he is ours, and we exercise the right to destroy him."

This is not a fawning love letter to the land of the free, home of the brave. It is a brutally honest look from one of its accomplished authors who chose not to see it through rose-colored glasses but with clear sight. The love and pride Steinbeck had for his country is clear though. It's almost as if he loved his adolescent country with a fatherly type of love. Steinbeck, who would pass away two years later after this book was published, seems to be calling it home for a family meeting to impart his wisdom and blessing. "If I inspect my people and study them and criticize them, I must love them if I have any self-love, since I can never be separate from them and can be no more objective about them than I am about myself. I am not young, and yet I wonder about tomorrow. How much more, then, must my wonder be about the tomorrow of my people, a young people. Perhaps my questioning is compounded of some fear, more hope, and great confidence."

I would highly recommend this coffee table book, not only for the history and insight Steinbeck imparts on a variety of topics, but also for the wonderful photography included.

I have really been enjoying your Steinbeck reviews. I am also participating in the Steinbeckathon, but plan on reading some of his books not included in that venture. Currently, I am reading Once There was a War and very much enjoying this behind the scenes look at WWII. I starred your thread so that I can find my way back.

>24 Where does Of Mice and Men fit in?

Excellent review of America and Americans

Thank you, Crazymamie, for pointing that out to me. It gets to be #3 on the list - at least for today. I am reserving the right to change my mind.

27 - Great review. I'm a little lukewarm on Steinbeck, but have added this to the wishlist.

I've never read an Ann Patchett book but I am a fan since this interview on Stephen Colbert. Here the Barnes & Noble in our "mall" closed which left us with only two tiny independent bookstores - one Christian, one secular.

http://www.colbertnation.com/the-colbert-report-videos/408775/february-20-2012/a...

>31 The great thing about America and Americans is that if you're not exactly thrilled with Steinbeck's writing, the pictures will most likely make up for it :) Here's my favorite

Yikes! I know exactly where that photo was taken! I've been to that drive-in!

>34 Poquette, that's so great that you've actually been to that drive in. Drive ins! I remember those ..... *sighs* Where IS that drive in? It said in the book but I don't remember now. Knowing what drive ins were ... forgetting things .... am I dating myself or what?

That drive-in (the name of which I do not remember) was in Salt Lake City and was owned by my neighbor girlfriend's grandfather when I was a teenager. We spent many a summer's evening there watching movies because we could get in free. It is on the lower slopes of the Wasatch range (locally known as the East Bench), which fronts on the Salt Lake valley. In the distance on the upper right you can see the sliver of a lake, which is the Great Salt Lake, and that is Antelope Island just behind it. Amazing to see that here on LT!

One of my son's favorite video games is "L.A. Noire" and I was curious to find out where the genesis of the genre was. I figured Raymond Chandler was the place to start looking.

The Big Sleep was middle-aged Raymond Chandler's first novel and the introduction of Philip Marlowe to the world. According to the little intro. in my library's paperback copy, Chandler wrote only seven novels and a collection of short stories in his lifetime yet ace detective Philip Marlowe, thanks to Hollywood, is ingrained in my consciousness. I knew him although I'd never really met him. Even though I had never - when I picked up the book - seen Humphrey Bogart as Philip Marlowe, it didn't stop me from imagining Bogey as Philip Marlowe, so I got to live a few days with Humphrey Bogart's voice in my head. OK by me.

So-called "hard boiled" detective Philip Marlowe is sent to meet with wealthy, elderly and paralyzed General Sternwood who wants Marlowe's P.I. skills to deal with a blackmailer. The book begins with Marlowe's trip to meet the General at his Hollywood mansion for the first time. "I was neat, clean shaved and sober, and I didn't care who knew it. I was everything the well-dressed private detective ought to be. I was calling on four million dollars." Before going in to meet the General, we get a good account from Marlowe on what a four million dollar mansion looks like. When he spots a stained-glass panel of a knight trying to rescue a naked lady with "very long and convenient hair" tied to a tree he says "he was fiddling with the knots on the ropes that tied the lady to the tree and not getting anywhere. I stood there and thought that if I lived in the house, I would sooner or later have to climb up there and help him. He didn't seem to be really trying." Marlowe agrees to take Sternwood's case and Sternwood's little blackmail mystery leads to more convoluted mysteries. The body count rises, the plot thickens as the pages turn, and our intrepid hero finds himself in the middle of a tangled web of blackmail, pornography, murder, shady characters and cover-ups. Marlowe needs to not only solve the case but keep from becoming a victim.

Marlowe is more than up to the task. He seems to be able to know right away when someone is trying to play him and doesn't fall for anybody's (male or female) manipulative tricks. Our shamus here is as clever as a fox, able to think about two or three steps ahead of everybody. He has to walk a fine line of keeping certain information from the police due to his loyalty to General Sternwood, after all it's Sternwood he's working for, while keeping them on his side. Or at least off his back. He needs to do the same with some shady mob-like characters so he can stay alive. There are a few close calls for Marlowe here. Quite a few times he finds himself at the wrong end of a gun. He also, of course, has to deal with the feminine wiles of both Sternwood sisters who are trying to find out what exactly their rich daddy has hired him to do. The youngest is ditzy and naive and the oldest is very worldly and sure of herself. One night he finds himself alone in his car with the elderly Sternwood sister: She turned her body a little away from me as if to peer out of the window. Then she let herself fall backwards, without a sound, into my arms. ... "Hold me close, you beast," she said." (That last line cracks me up.) After fighting big sister off - somewhat reluctantly - he goes home only to find ditzy little sister waiting for him. "The Sternwood girls were giving me both barrels that night."

We travel all around the Los Angeles and Hollywood area with Marlowe as he works on solving the case(s). Chandler does a pretty decent job of describing the places in and around L.A. where Marlowe travels and the characters Marlowe meets. The author also uses rain quite a bit to paint a pretty gloomy picture. If you didn't know any better, you would think it does nothing but rain in Los Angeles. This certainly would be a perfect book to read on a rainy Saturday afternoon.

Philip Marlowe is a great character who I liked right from page one and the mysteries were a bit complex and not that easily solved. It was fun to try to make the connections between one mystery to another (i.e. one murder to another). This is not only a "who done it" but "why" and "how does this relate to everything else" mystery. The reader has access to Marlowe's private thoughts but we still have to wait until the end for Philip Marlowe to fill us in on the cases' solution. While I probably wouldn't put this book on my list of all time favorites, I enjoyed it quite a bit and will probably read another Raymond Chandler book one of these days. This was his first novel which makes me curious to see how his writing may have changed and/or improved with his subsequent novels.
3 & 3/4 stars


A few days after finishing the book "The Big Sleep" came on TCM here. Humphrey Bogart is his usual excellent Humphrey Bogart self and gorgeous Lauren Bacall plays the elder Sternwood sister. It really impressed me to see how so much of the scenery in the movie matched the pictures I had formed in my head from the book. I attribute that to Chandler's decent descriptive writing. For the most part the movie did the book justice, although it had to be cleaned up here and there and a few changes were made. Some things, I guess, we just did not talk about in those days. There's an inference to a homosexual love affair in the book that you'll not find in the movie and the subject of pornography (in this case simply nude pictures) is pretty well glossed over. The complexity of the plot wasn't though. Classy Hollywood flick well worth checking out.

Stopping by for the first time. I love all you Steinbeck reivews, great stuff.

It is a great film and the books are fun too. Excellent review

If I remember correctly The Big Sleep contains an unsolved murder (I think it's the chauffeur) - when he quizzed about it Chandler said he didn't know who committed the murder either.

There are two versions of The Big Sleep - the 1945 pre-release and the 1946 cinematic release. The 1945 makes more sense but the 1946 version is much snappier. There is also a 1978 version starring Robert Mitchum as Marlowe - it's not very good, although it is more faithful to the novel (with the exception of setting it in modern-day England).

>38 Thanks dchaikin. Thanks to the "Steinbeckathon" I am becoming quite a fan of Steinbeck.

>39 & 40 Mysteries aren't usually my cup of tea (I had the misfortune of reading a bad one in my teens) but I did like The Big Sleep. After I finished the book I sat for a few minutes and thought "Ok, this guy killed this guy, that guy killed that guy ... but who killed that guy?!" I thought I missed something. When the movie came on cable I thought "Now I'll figure it out!" No such luck. If Chandler doesn't know who killed him, how can I? Glad it's not my missing IQ points (this time) that are keeping me in the dark! LOL!

***This was the March pick for the Steinbeckathon. I finished it quite a while ago but the story still sticks with me.***

The Winter of Our Discontent by Steinbeck is a story about a man in a moral quandary. Ethan is from a wealthy family that has long been established in his native New England community. Unfortunately, Ethan’s father lost the family fortune and now Ethan finds himself working as a clerk in the very grocery store his family used to own. Ethan’s immediate family, his wife and teenage son and daughter, are anxiously waiting for Ethan to regain the wealth and status that they see part of his rightful inheritance. Ethan seems to be content as a clerk; however, he wants to make his wife and kids happy and here begins his mission to reestablish his family name, fortune, and standing in the community.

And here’s Ethan’s problem. He can see ways to reestablish his wealth and status, but it would require doing things that while not illegal per se, one could certainly argue that they are unethical if not downright immoral. The characters surrounding him are no saints either so Ethan starts “looking out for number one” as he is advised to do.

It’s no coincidence that the story starts on Good Friday. Ethan makes a choice here to crucify his moral self and, after he accomplishes his goal to get back on top, to resurrect his old moral self. The question is how far will Ethan go to regain his wealth and status in the community? Is anything or anyone off limits? What consequences will Ethan’s actions have for the people around him? Will his temporary suspension of his usual code of conduct affect his kids? How? More importantly, how will Ethan’s actions affect him? How severe will those effects be? After operating in the darkness, can Ethan come back into the light?

This offering from Steinbeck is not the most entertaining novel I have read of his so far (for that see Cannery Row or The Wayward Bus). The story is a little slow at the beginning but Steinbeck’s excellent writing keeps the reader engaged. What I liked most about this particular novel was Steinbeck’s alternate use of the third person and first person narrative. We get to see the self Ethan presents to the world and Ethan’s true inner self. We get a firsthand account of the internal struggles he goes through as he plans and plots his comeback. Because of this, we get a three-dimensional view of Ethan that makes him incredibly human and likeable despite his actions.

The Winter of Our Discontent is not a book you simply read and then place back on the bookshelf. It’s a book that makes you think .

The Moon is Down is a very short story that starts with an invasion by an unnamed Enemy of an unnamed Town. The Invaders, who are there under orders of their Leader, set up headquarters in the Mayor's house. We get to see both sides of the crisis - the Invaders and the Invadees, and how each side reacts and operates under the circumstances. The question brought up here is simple: which side is stronger? The side whose people have faith in and/or fear their "Leader" or the side whose leaders have faith in their people? From reading other reviews I learned that The Moon is Down was written as propaganda during World War II so it's very easy to figure out who the "Invaders" and the "Leader" is. Someone also said in one of their reviews that being caught with a copy of this very short novel (about 112 pages in my book) in certain countries could have drastic consequences for the reader. Amazing how powerful words and ideas are!

Here's a very interesting article on the circumstances surrounding The Moon is Down: http://fairlee.wordpress.com/2009/09/27/john-steinbecks%E2%80%99s-propaganda-nov...

Your Steinbeck readings are causing me to increase the size of my wish list. It sounds like you are enjoying them.

Enjoyed your review of The Winter of our Discontent

Oh good, more Steinbeck reviews. Great stuff, especially your review of The Winter of Our Discontent.

>44, 45, 46 Thank you all for your kind words. :)

A few summers ago one of the ladies in my local library’s book club recommended The Book Thief by Markus Zusak as the monthly selection. She explained to our group, comprised mostly of retirees, that TBT was a “young adult novel but I think you’ll really enjoy it.” She gave a quick overview of what the book was about: a girl growing up in Germany during WWII whose family takes in a Jewish man to hide him from the Nazis. I had read books along this same vein before. When I was 13 or so, I had read The Hiding Place, Corrie Ten Boom’s autobiographical account of her Christian family’s years of hiding Jewish families in their house until they were caught and taken to the concentration camps. The Diary of Anne Frank was read during my first years of high school. Given the subject matter, I thought I knew what to expect from The Book Thief. Copies of the book were passed out that day at the end of our meeting and I flipped to the first pages. The first chapter is titled “Death and Chocolate.” And this is how this novel begins: “First the colors. Then the humans. That’s usually how I see things. Or at least, how I try. HERE IS A SMALL FACT. You are going to die.” This book was going to be different.

On the first pages Death introduces himself to us. He will be our guide and narrator. He’s not someone to fear. No. Death is not the creepy black-hooded, scythe carrying character from Halloween. He is simply doing his job, which is to deliver the humans to the “conveyor belt of eternity.” He is not the cause of human demise, he is “a result.” It is a relentless job and he is feeling burnt out. Death needs a vacation, but that is impossible, so he tries “to make distraction my vacation.” Enter Liesel Meminger, the infamous book thief herself. Death invites us to hear Liesel’s story: “If you feel like it, come with me. I will tell you a story. I will show you something.”

Death first meets Liesel when she is around nine years old. She and her family, a sickly mother and an even more sickly little brother, are on a train traveling to Munich, Germany. The occasion is not a happy one. Liesel’s mother, unable to care for her children, is taking Liesel and her brother to a foster family there. This is where Death first meets Liesel . He is sent to carry Liesel’s little brother away. For some reason, Death is fascinated by Liesel and admits that “Curiosity got the better of me…” and he lingers and watches Liesel. He stealthily accompanies Liesel and her mother to the graveside where they bury Liesel’s little brother. It is here, in this most unlikely of places, that Liesel steals her first book.

Immediately after the burial of Liesel’s little brother, she is taken –stolen book and all – to live with her foster family, Rosa and Hans Hubermann. The Hubermanns live on the poor side of town. Hans is a painter and accordionist. Rosa takes in the laundry of their more affluent neighbors. Liesel has a hard time adjusting to her new life on Himmel Street. Hans proves to be her lifeline. He helps Liesel through her loneliness and the unrelenting nightmares of her brother’s death. “Trust was accumulated quickly, due primarily to the brute strength of the man’s gentleness, his thereness.” Events unfold and Liesel’s foster father discovers her stolen book. He also discovers that Liesel cannot read so Hans, who is not that educated himself, embarks on teaching Liesel how. “She was the book thief without the words. Trust me, though, the words were on their way and when they arrived, Liesel would hold them in her hands like the clouds, and she would wring them out like the rain.”

The reading lessons with Papa continue and she learns how to read. The bond between her and her foster parents deepens and Hans and Rosa become Mama and Papa to her. She slowly adjusts to her new life on Himmel Street. She plays with the neighborhood kids and becomes best friends with her next door neighbor, Rudy. She goes to school. She helps Rosa with her customers. Life is pretty normal until the arrival of World War II and Max, the Jewish man who Liesel’s family helps by hiding him in their basement. Max soon becomes one of the family and a friendship develops between Liesel and Max. Liesel reads books (stolen and otherwise) to Max and hunts for old newspapers with unfinished crosswords so Max will have something to do. Max repays Liesel for her friendship by writing his own books to give to Liesel (the illustrated versions of Max’s books are included in the novel ). Through them Max gives the book thief a lesson on the profound power of words.

This is easily one of my very favorite books and I cannot recommend it highly enough. The story is uniquely told and beautifully written. It has a chronological pattern that is all its own and Zusak’s prolific use of metaphors throughout give it a poetic feel. While unavoidably melancholy and tragic in spots, The Book Thief has a lot of joy to offer. The deep loving relationships that develop over time between Liesel and her foster family (especially her Papa), her best friend Rudy, her neighbors, and Max, are simply beautiful. The characters written here seem very real. I could easily imagine Liesel’s neighbors and neighborhood as my own. Readers will definitely identify with Liesel’s love of books and the joy she feels when she finally learns how to read and is able to use her skill to help those around her.

This is the only book I have ever read that I got to the end and immediately started reading again. It is also the only book that received unanimous praise from all the members of my book club. I must confess that it took me a while during that first reading to get used to the rhythm of the book, which would be my only criticism. It takes a while (at least it did for me and most of the members of my book club) to get into the chronological groove here. The second time through, though, was to simply enjoy Zusak’s writing style. Recently, I sent The Book Thief as a gift to my aunt. She is a retired English teacher and most of our conversations center around books and this book is one I would like to have her opinion on. Since it had been a while, I read the novel again so it would be fresh in my mind when we finally get around to discussing it. I really thought my opinion of it would be lower after a third time through; happily, though, I found I enjoyed it just as much – or maybe even more - than before.

Apparently there will be a movie version coming out in the near future, a fact I found out after doing a little internet digging. I am happy that The Book Thief will be translated to the big screen, but I sincerely think folks will be missing something if they merely see the movie and not read the book.

Excellent review of The Book Thief. I am usually put off by a young adult handle to a book, but so many people love the book and so I am tempted.

Great review of The Book Thief, avidmom. I have it sitting on my TBR pile and bought it without knowing it was considered a young adult novel. I often wonder what criteria is applied to earn a book that label. Like Barry, I usually avoid such books, but perhaps that reaction is overly simplistic.

Thanks, baswood & Linda, for stopping by and reading my rather lengthy review!

I often wonder what criteria is applied to earn a book that label.

Over on the "Adults Should Read Adult Books" thread I learned (thanks to bostonbibliophile) that The Book Thief is not marketed as Young Adult lit. in Zusak's native Australia. Apparently, here in the States, the only thing needed to make a book YA is a young adult protagonist.

So this is where my reading has mostly been for the last year and a half or more. Yesterday I got up bright and early, drove about 40 minutes to the testing site, and sat for the grueling 5 hour and 40 minute CPC exam giving through AAPC (American Academy of Professional Coders). Hopefully I passed the first time around! Fingers crossed.

ETA: I passed!!!! CPC-A!

<SRC IMhttp://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/518FvxuN9rL._AA115_.jpgG=>

And now for something completely different ...



This book is good for a chuckle. Sometimes I see Pilkington's point. And at those times I question my sanity.

Here's some of it about his trip to Disneyworld in Orlando:

"The other ride I went on was "Living with the Land", where you float on some sort of raft and go past green houses, plants and veg. No one was really interested in this ride. It was just me and three old women who were like the Golden Girls. They were going on about the size of a massive eggplant that we passed. ... Everything is massive in Orlando. The problem is though, cos everything is so big, nothing looks big, if you get me. People always have a go at Americans, saying they are too big and fat, but I put it down to the fact that Americans make everything so big that they don't realise how big they've got themselves, until they visit a small village in somewhere like England where they can't fit into a normal-sized shop."

And, for you poetry lovers, here's Karl's ode to a herd of suicidal sheep:

Sheep Off A Cliff
Thousands of sheep fed up,
So they jumped off cliff into bay.
They shouldn't survive,
But it just goes to show,
Where there's wool there's a way

OK. So maybe not great literature but a fun, lighthearted read. Great book to go to for a de-stresser!

Don Quixote by Miguel Cervantes
(Book 1)

This is a reading project I have wanted to take on for quite some time but was reluctant to tackle . Published originally in 1605 by Miguel Cervantes, a contemporary of Shakespeare, I was worried that Don Quixote would present me with the task of having to decipher some archaic language. The length alone was a bit intimidating, and more importantly, the one and only copy our library has here is a gorgeous illustrated Franklin library leather bound edition that looked as if no one had ever breathed on, let alone read. After vowing to myself that I would be extremely careful with the library’s copy, I mustered up the courage and Don Quixote came home with me.

Don Quixote (not his real name) is a voracious reader who only reads tales of knights errant. He reads so many of them, in fact, that he becomes quite delusional and his “wits dry up” and he decides to quit merely reading about the famous knights errant of old and become one. He seems to believe wholeheartedly that this is his Divine mission; the world is in need of him. He changes his name to Don Quixote, the Knight of the Sad Countenance, and makes preparations to go into the world and make it a better place by living by the code of chivalry found in the massive amounts of books he has read. A proper knight needs certain things and Don Quixote tends to these one by one. Antique armor is taken off the wall and repurposed, his horse is renamed “Rocinante,” a name more fitting for his former nag turned now a chivalrous steed, and a poor girl that Don Quixote has seen once but never spoken to, is chosen and given the name “Dulcinea” - for all knights need a lady to pine over and to honor with their acts of courage. A knight also needs a squire and Sancho Panza, his poor neighbor, is recruited.

Sancho Panza doesn’t have much “salt in his brain pan” and he more than happily agrees to go with Don Quixote on his adventures. Sancho is not all altruistic in his endeavors. Although Sancho seems to go with Don Quixote to help and protect him, Don Quixote has also promised Sancho that when he wins an island, he will grant Sancho governorship of it. Sancho cannot resist the chance to rise from his station as peasant and become governor so he agrees to sneak off with Don Quixote (the two stealthily go under cover of night so as not to alert Don Quixote’s live-in niece and maid) on his mission to search for adventure, to right wrongs, and to help the oppressed just as the famous knights errant of old did.

It doesn’t take long before Sancho discovers the level of his new boss’s delusions. Sancho tries to be Don Quixote’s voice of reason to no avail; Don Quixote is too steeped in his delusions: windmills are giants, common inns are enchanted castles, Dulcinea is Don Quixote’s true love, although the two have never even spoken. Everything Don Quixote does is to honor Dulcinea, his lady. All things done must be done according to the code of the knights errant. And if Sancho says that the giants Don Quixote are battling are in reality simply windmills; Don Quixote is quick to point out that Sancho has fallen under some sort of enchantment. Everything and everyone Don Quixote encounters is elevated to its or his/her highest, most chivalrous glory. This leads to many adventures for the intrepid duo and poor sweet Don Quixote and faithful Sancho (not to mention those in their path) are left to suffer (thankfully temporarily and comically) for it.

Eventually, Don Quixote’s very concerned friends and family concoct a plan to bring Don Quixote home (a funny adventure of its own). But until then, we are given the pleasure of accompanying Don Quixote and Sancho Panza on their many adventures. The book is filled with interesting characters with their own stories that cross paths with Don Quixote and Sancho. As funny and seemingly lighthearted as this book is, there certainly is no shortage of wisdom to be found. Don Quixote, however delusional, is very intelligent and one of the most lovable characters I’ve ever come across in my reading and Sancho Panza is perhaps one of the most loyal friends imaginable. This turned out to be an incredibly easy read (I had the J.M. Cohen’s translation) for me, although admittedly a slow one simply because I had quite a few windmills of my own that needed tilting at at the time. My only complaint is that I had not read it sooner.
5 Stars

This was my first exposure to Don Quixote. I watched this years ago and barely remembered it, although it's probably what sparked my interest in reading the book. Watched it again after reading the book and although not a perfect adaptation of the book(s), it does a pretty good job of it. John Lithgow plays Don Quixote to perfection. It's worth watching just for his performance alone, IMO.

Here's an interesting article about J.M. Cohen, who taught himself Spanish and Russian and quit his job to translate literary works: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J._M._Cohen

Enjoyed your review of Don Quixote, Miguel Cervantes. I agree it is an enchanting read, although I read it some time ago. I think I might read it again next year. I will certainly look for the J M Cohen translation.

Your review of Don Quixote reminded me of how much I enjoyed it. Despite its length I hated to see it come to an end, and I'm certain that I'll re-read it in the near future.

>baswood, I think "enchanting" is the best adjective to describe Don Quixote

>kidzdoc, I had a hard time parting with the book; it's definitely going to be bought and added to my own personal library so I can read it again.

Thanks for stopping by :)

Loved your review of Book 1 of Don Quixote! I recently finished it as well, and while I wasn't quite as enamored as you, I agree that it's an amazing book. I think my opinion might change after reading the entire book as I'm loving the opening of book 2. Have you started it yet?

japaul22, I'm glad to hear good things about Book 2 but I have not read it or even started. Unfortunately, the library here only has Book 1 available, but I'll probably buy an edition that has both Books included. Yep. There goes another one on the TBR list .... :)

Terrific review. I haven't read it, not quite ready too, but your review gives me an interesting sense of what to expect.

***My book club's pick for June***
The definition of HeLa cells in the medical dictionary: "HeLa c. An immortal cancer cell that has been maintained in continuous tissue cultures for decades from a patient with carcinoma of the cervix. It is named for the first two letters of the patient’s first and last names, Henrietta Lacks. HeLa cells have been used in thousands of experiments on cell growth, differentiation, and cancer, and in virology, pharmacology and other fields.” (Taber’s Cyclopedic Medical Dictionary, 21st edition)

HeLa cells. Henrietta Lacks. The rise of HeLa cells is one of the most fascinating and major contributions to the world of medical research, yet how many of us have ever heard of HeLa cells or Henrietta Lacks? HeLa cells and Henrietta Lacks crossed the author’s path while she was taking basic biology in college. The instructor, after telling the class the importance of HeLa cells, rather matter-of-factly said, “Her name was Henrietta Lacks. She was an African-American.” And then quickly erased her name off the blackboard and went on to the rest of the lesson. Skloot, however, could not leave Henrietta Lacks as a bit of chalk dust in her biology classroom; she wanted to know more about Henrietta. Thus began a rather arduous journey to uncover the whole story behind Henrietta Lacks.

Raised by her grandfather alongside numerous cousins after her mother died when she was very young, Henrietta spent her childhood on a tobacco plantation in Virginia. She had her first child at the tender age of 14 and subsequently married her first cousin. A few years later, after more children, she and her husband moved to Maryland where he worked as a steel worker. Not too soon after their move, Henrietta began to suspect something was very wrong with her and went to Johns Hopkins where she was diagnosed and treated for cervical cancer. During the course of her treatment samples were taken of Henrietta’s healthy non-cancerous tissue and of her malignancy. These were passed on to one of the lab researchers at Hopkins. As usually happens, the healthy tissue eventually died, but amazingly enough, the cancerous cells seemed to not only stay alive but multiply, and the immortal HeLa line of cells was born. Henrietta succumbed to her incredibly aggressive and tortuously painful form of cancer soon after this leaving her very young children behind. Nobody in the Lacks family had an inkling that even years after her death part of Henrietta’s tissue was being grown, sold, and used for research worldwide. Some of that research would contribute to some of the most important medical breakthroughs of the 21st century and often turn quite a healthy profit for those involved – yet the Lacks family did not receive any notification, let alone compensation, for Henrietta’s inadvertent contribution to the world of medicine.

When the family did find out about HeLa cells decades after Henrietta’s death, there was a mixed reaction of anger, confusion and fear. Left in the dark for so long, some of Henrietta’s immediate family felt that Johns Hopkins had betrayed them in the worst way possible. Some worried that Henrietta was used as an unwitting experiment; others feared that Henrietta’s illness was hereditary and researchers would be after them next. They also feared that the name, Henrietta Lacks, would be just a blip in a textbook and nobody would ever know the whole story.

Skloot, after patiently trying to win the family’s trust (mostly the youngest daughter, Deborah, who she developed quite a friendship with throughout the course of her research), did an amazing job of finding out the truth as best she could not only for us, the readers, but for the Lacks family as well. Skloot does a commendable job here of bringing Henrietta to life as a young girl, a mother, and a friend; I liked her and I admit to shedding more than a few tears reading about her battle with her painful disease. The author also does a fairly decent job of bringing the scientific part of the story to light and of portraying the researchers/doctors involved in Henrietta’s story as human and not merely inaccessible beings in white lab coats. In turns tragic and sad, frustrating, funny and surprising, The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks was a story I could not put down. Sometimes truth is stranger than fiction.

Speaking of truth being stranger than fiction, I found out through reading this book that Bill Cosby wasn't making that chicken heart story up (OK maybe the jello and smoke is an exaggeration). There really was a scientist who, allegedly, kept a chicken heart alive for years and the "Lights Out" radio program really did do a spin on the story. Here's young Bill Cosby listening to it:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3vPimtcK3-A&feature=related

Nice review of Henrietta Lacks, avidmom.

Thanks for sharing the Bill Cosby video; that was hilarious!

>63 Don Quixote is well worth the time spent.

>66 Glad you liked it, kidzdoc. Henrietta Lacks made quite a lively discussion in our book club a few weeks ago. The first time I heard that Cosby routine it actually scared me. Of course, I was about 8 at the time and my cousin made me listen to it in the dark!

>66 I can believe it! When I was a kid I used to enjoy listening to one of the NYC radio stations, which broadcast episodes of 1930s and 1940s radio programs, including Fibber McGee and Molly and my favorite, The Shadow. My parents made me stop listening after I began to have frequent nightmares that woke them up in the middle of the night, though.

We also had Henrietta Lacks for one of or book club reads. I am afraid I was the only dissenting voice.

>69 Not everybody in my book club liked it either; one lady said she made it to page 100 and quit. Truth be told, I probably would never have picked it up on my own and read it if it hadn't been a club pick. Since I've spent the last year or so studying A&P (which I found out I really enjoyed, which surprised me), the HIPAA law, and learning how to comprehend and code medical records, my interest was piqued.

>68 Listening to those old radio shows sounds like fun. I noticed youtube had the original "Lights Out" chicken heart story. Maybe I'll give it a listen. I began to have frequent nightmares I can relate. My babysitter turned on the TV one night and let us kids watch the "Trilogy of Terror." I was too embarrassed to admit to my mother that from 3rd grade on, I was afraid that the Zuni Doll was under my bed!

The source of my childhood insomnia:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rhe2OeUiQ1Y&feature=related
.... and now a good laugh. I don't think my teenage boys will ever stop teasing me now!

Maida Heatter's Book of Great Chocolate Desserts
This is my favorite cookbook. Period. End of story. I bought it for a whopping penny through one of those insane book club deals in the early 80s. I was about 14 at the time and I think I had just about mastered how to make ... toast or anything out of a box or a package that you added water to. Through this book I learned how to do some basic baking, along with some occasional not-so-basic baking because the instructions are so specific. I went from total clueless kitchen klutz to making homemade whipped cream, gorgeous layer cakes, pies, brownies and cookies, chocolate mousse, etc. I guess the greatest accolades I can give this book is that when I was a teenager, the little neighborhood kids would come knocking on my door: "Have you made any cookies?" (Somehow or other I ended up being the resident babysitter of our little neighborhood and word would always get out.) I started looking for any excuse to get into the kitchen and bake. I made the "Black Bottom Pie" included here - (a decadent layer of dense chocolate on the bottom, rum custard in the middle, topped with whipped cream in a graham cracker crust) - and took it as my contribution to a family gathering. It was inhaled. A few days later my great aunt asked me to make one for her card club and employed me in my first (and only) for-profit catering job. But I guess the highest form of praise came the last time my teenage boys asked their friend what he wanted for his birthday and he said, "Your Mom's chocolate chip cookies!"

I'm adding it here because my mother gave me a new copy for my birthday a few months ago as my 1980 copy, after so many years of use, had basically fallen apart into little sections.

5 Stars. Highly Recommended

1001 Cupcakes, Cookies & other tempting treats
This has been on my shelf a few months now as well. My best friend gave me this book; she said she saw it while she was out shopping and she couldn't pass it up. The pictures are gorgeous; haven't tried any recipes yet, although my mother and my best friend have already put in their requests. LOL! I think it's a conspiracy!

Adding this here because it was another birthday gift and because I had to rescue it! A few weeks ago I took it with me to my doctor's office and he asked me what I was reading. Come to find out, John Steinbeck is his favorite author as well, and we had a bit of a discussion about Cannery Row, the movie and the book, and had a nice little doctor/patient bonding moment over the frog scene:"You're the first person I've met who actually knows about the frogs." (I wonder if he made note of that in my medical record ;) Unfortunately I left the exam room sans book and then had to wait out the office's two hour lunch break to go back and get it. The receptionist said he told her he wouldn't have minded keeping it. Sorry, doc, you gotta to get your own copy. But I take solace in the fact that my fairly new doctor has great taste in literature!

Enjoyed reading about your favourite cookbook. It made me think of my first cookbook which was Cooking in a bedsitter by Katherine Whitehorn. I loved that book and I managed to learn to cook from it. In those days I had a Baby Belling oven with a hot plate. I still use a couple of the recipes today and I still have the paper back book although most of it has fallen apart.

> baswood, That cookbook sounds interesting. Maybe some of those tips could help me in my tiny, tiny kitchen here - which I am now more grateful for!

I'm a bit late, but nice review of The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks.

> Thanks, dchaikin. It was certainly a fascinating read. There is (was?) an HBO movie in the works.

This movie was my first introduction to Cannery Row and to Steinbeck in my early teens via cable television. It is a little sleeper hit of a movie, albeit maybe not for everyone, as the pacing, like the books it is based on, is on quite the slow side. It is narrated throughout by John Huston whose deep and lilting speaking voice is the perfect match to John Steinbeck's tongue-in-cheek humor. Perfectly cast and based more on Sweet Thursday, the sequel to Cannery Row, this movie does an excellent job of bringing the characters on the Row to life.

One of my favorite scenes from the movie. "Never occured to them {Doc and Suzy} that they weren't any good." ....
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=73U_ynmeo6g

Yes its a little gem of a movie. I like the background scenery to Cannery Row itself which looks like it has been painted, of course it has been painted but it should not look like it has been. Great performance by Nick Nolte.

>79 Agreed. Glad to find another fan of the movie here.

"Cannery Row Theme" - An accidental musical find this A.M. I like it :) Enjoy.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rJhqT9FCWVA

Going through my local university’s on-line medical coding course turned out to be more of a challenge than I expected, to say the least. Medical coding is not just simply slapping a code(s) on a form, it’s more of an exercise in reading comprehension. A coder needs to have a pretty good grasp of A&P, medical terminology, and pharmacology in order to comprehend what’s written in the record. And that’s just the beginning of it. I had taken a class in medical terminology years ago – so I knew the difference between an “–otomy” and an “–ectomy” … And that’s about all I knew. I had a LOT to learn. Still do! (I don't see how doctors do it, I really don't.) So, being the nerd I am, I took to the internet and bought a few inexpensive but helpful books to supplement my course work.

Books I Bought, Confessions of a Self-Made Nerd

I never metacarpal I didn’t like
The Anatomy Student’s Self-Test Coloring Book When I started studying A&P everything was, for the most part, pretty new to me. I didn’t know my femur from my humerus, or my metacarpals from my metatarsals. I was surprised and fascinated that we have “true” ribs, “false” ribs and “floating” ribs. Or a bone that “floats” …. Or, well, you get the picture. That’s what this book did - it helped me get the picture. The fill-in-the-blank illustrations with the answer key on the bottom of the page was the key reason I chose this book (I also like the cover illustration of the skeleton of the hand coloring the skeleton of the hand), since I was expected to be able to label all these body parts on the tests. If I had one complaint, and it’s a small one, it is that the illustrations are so detailed that it’s easy for a newbie like me to get a little confused – which is why I splurged on colored pencils with erasers on them. Also, I don’t care how old you are, it’s always fun to color! :) 4/5 stars

Anatomy & Physiology for Dummies It’s not enough, of course, to know where all the body parts are, you need to know how they work. Like all of the other books in the “Dummies” series, this book attempts to be lighthearted and fun and it does do a fairly decent job of simplifying the subject. There are a few black and white illustrations throughout the chapters but since I’m a visual learner, that’s just not enough for me. There is a set of colored pictures in the middle but they are very basic and not very detailed. This is not a bad book and it did help me a little, but by the time I got around to reading it, I had already passed the A&P part of the class and found it just wasn’t detailed enough for what I needed it for. 3 Stars

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Principles of Anatomy and Physiology, by Gerard J. Tortora, Bryan H. Derrickson
Before microscopes, X-rays or MRI machines, King David wrote “… I am fearfully and wonderfully made.” This doorstopper of a college textbook proves his point. This is not easy reading, but it certainly is fascinating. Included are tons of clearly understood colorful illustrations, tables, and graphs. Normal lab values are included here, which is a big help for a coder to know – especially when coding inpatient records. Throughout the chapters are little pictures of a stethoscope where medical procedures and/or disease processes related to the system being studied are explained. I like this book because even though it’s set up for classroom use, there is a study outline at the end of every chapter and quite an extensive and challenging self-quiz section with answers given in the back of the book. (Thank God for that!) The A&P coursework I did through the university wasn’t easy either, but it wasn’t nearly as detailed as this book is. With the transition from ICD-9 diagnostic codes to the more anatomically detailed ICD-10 diagnostic codes, the more medical coders know about A&P the easier the transition. This book, since it’s an older edition, was only $8 used, compared to the normal price of around $200 for a new copy. I do love a bargain! 5/5 Stars

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Barium: What you do when CPR fails.
Dilate: To live too long.
Taber's Cyclopedic Medical Dictionary, 21st edition by Donald Venes. This turned out to be very useful. My online class had the Dorland’s online version included but I wanted a hard copy book to reference. This was especially helpful once I reached the practicum part of the course which meant reading and coding 250 outpatient medical records with the names/dates, etc. scrubbed out. One of the most basic rules of diagnostic coding is to not code for symptoms that are an integral part of the disease. This is easy when you’re dealing with pneumonia – I knew not to code for cough and fever, but when I started reading about patients with stuff I had never ever heard of, I had to look it up. This book includes not only the definition of the disease, but a list of symptoms and treatments as well. There’s also an appendix of medical abbreviations, Nursing diagnoses, and a section called “The Interpreter in Three Languages” among others. (By the way, the definitions listed above are not directly quoted from the book. ;) 4/5 Stars.

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So, once I passed my university's coding class - with High Honors no less, which was more because of my tenacity than my IQ, for sure - it was time to sit down and study for the national certification test. The CPC exam, given through the American Academy of Professional Coders, is a five hour and forty minute comprehensive timed test. The Carol Buck study guide for the CPC exam is a pretty common tool for newbie coders to use. One of the most useful parts was the on-line timed test so you could learn how to pace yourself during the real deal (most people who do not pass the CPC their first time out do so because they simply run out of time). The practice exams were certainly helpful but the AAPC practice exams - which were more expensive than this book - turned out to be more beneficial. So, because of that, I'll give this one 4 1/2 out of 5 stars.

What is the difference between an -otomy and an -ectomy? I think that when I was looking into the options on my defective stapes, procedures involving both came up.

Robert

Robert, First of all, thanks for stopping by. To answer your question, an -otomy simply means to cut into or separate; and an -ectomy means "removal."

Fascinating avidmom. How long were you studying to get through the course?

baswood, The course is supposed to take one year, but it took me a year and a half to get through -which meant forking over more $$$ for two course extensions. Seems like a lot of students going through the class have had to do the same thing.

#82 - this is all very entertaining. Congrats on finishing the course.

Thanks, dchaikin :)

Congratulations on finishing the coding course with flying colors! We used The Anatomy Coloring Book in medical school, along with the Atlas of Human Anatomy by Frank Netter.

Your distinction between -otomy and -ectomy is spot on. A frontal lobotomy is an out of favor surgical procedure to cut the frontal lobes of the brain, whereas a frontal lobectomy is the removal of one or both of the entire frontal lobes.

Thanks kidzdoc. That's high praise coming from you. I might add Atlas of Human Anatomy to my collection soon. I have a friend, who is now a surgical technician, tell me years ago "I'd rather have a bottle in front of me than a frontal lobotomy." *groan* Horrible pun, but terrific friend (and a sober one too). Any suggestions for books on pathophysiology?

>90 That's an old joke; I remember hearing that in medical school!

I don't think we used a dedicated pathophysiology textbook. Instead, we had spiral bound manuals for each of the organ based systems we studied (e.g., Pulmonology, Neurology, Gastroenterology, etc.).

Thanks kidzdoc. I see now that AAPC offers an online course(s) on Anatomy & Pathophysiology as part of their ICD-10-CM training. Need the CEUs anyway ....

Dreams
Hold fast to dreams
For if dreams die
Life is a broken-winged bird
That cannot fly.
Hold fast to dreams
For when dreams go
Life is a barren field
Frozen with snow.
- Langston Hughes

“They all sat still, all bemused by the beauty of the thing, each mind was popped into the future when this lovely thing should come about. “ Of Mice and Men



Set in Steinbeck’s native Californian Salinas Valley, Of Mice and Men tells the story of George and Lennie, two itinerant ranch hands who have nothing in the world except each other and a shared dream. Lennie is a giant of a man who possesses the strength of a bull and the mentality of a small child. George is Lennie’s ever-faithful friend and guardian. Living in a world where most men have no families, roots, or anything to look forward to, George and Lennie’s vision for their future and loyalty to each other sets them apart: “Ain’t many guys travel around together,” he mused. “I don’t know why. Maybe ever’body in the whole damn world is scared of each other.” Things go pretty well for Lennie and George on the new ranch where they find employment until the childlike actions of Lennie threaten the dream they’ve held on to together for so long and George is called upon to make a prompt and very painful decision.

Of Mice and Men is Steinbeck’s parable which brings to light our intrinsic need for dreams and our connections to each other. Profound, beautiful and real, I cannot recommend this one highly enough.

Gary Sinise and John Malkovich star as George and Lennie, respectively, in this 1992 film adaptation of Of Mice and Men. Directed by Gary Sinise, the movie sticks quite faithfully to Steinbeck's short novel and performances by both Sinise and Malkovich are definitely noteworthy. I was blown completely away by Malkovich's portrayal of the mildly retarded Lennie. If you're a fan of literature on screen and/or Steinbeck, this definitely is one movie worth the time spent.

This is one of those "one thing leads to another" stories. This movie lead me to Buddy Guy, who I didn’t know about until this movie landed in my life. (How sad is that?) One day my shuffled-up mp3 player spit out a Buddy Guy song which lead me on a book hunt to find anything printed about him. I was thrilled to discover that he released his autobiography in May of this year. One of my favorite things to read is a good autobiography, especially ones written by people in the music world. Haven’t read the book yet but can’t wait to get my hands on it. So with Buddy’s music on my mind and his autobiography sitting on top of my wish list, I couldn’t help but to go back to the place where I discovered him and my love of the blues. With the exception of my love for all things Stevie Ray Vaughan, I had never considered myself a big blues fan. This concert pushed me over the edge.

Lightning In a Bottle, A One Night History of the Blues is just that. The star-studded list of old school and new school blues performers is just too numerous to list here. Performances are given in chronological order giving the audience a nice clear picture of the evolution of the genre. Between each performance is a little mini lesson on who these blues pioneers were, where they came from, the obstacles they had to overcome and how they influenced the next generation of blues performers. Starting with Angelique Kidjo’s powerful performance of a West African folk song at the beginning to the more modern electric blues performances at the end, this concert is what one performer called “real special.” IMO, an understatement if there ever was one. Some of my favorite performances here are, just to name a few: Natalie Cole singing “St. Louis Blues”; a very happy Bill Cosby being serenaded by a trio of beautiful blues divas; Buddy Guy taking to the stage with his trademark polka dot guitar to cover Jimi Hendrix’s “Red House” (where we get to see some concert footage of a wide-eyed Hendrix at Buddy’s feet in a moment of sheer and joyful idol worship); Shemekia Copeland’s and Robert Cray’s duet of “I Pity the Fool”; and the magical pairing of Angeligue Kidjo and Buddy Guy on “Voodoo Child.” These performances are the reason God invented the skip back button on the DVD remote. And if India.Arie’s hauntingly beautiful and sad rendition of Billie Holliday’s’ “Strange Fruit” doesn’t take your breath away and send shivers down your spine, I suggest you check your pulse.

They’re not all winners in my book and I do see a few flaws. Chuck D. and the Fine Arts Militia's attempt to turn John Lee Hooker’s “Boom Boom” into a political anthem/rap song (pleeeze!)is the reason God invented the skip forward button. Maybe it wouldn’t have been so bad but this is after we get teased with some old black and white footage of John Lee himself, acoustic guitar on knee, big foot slapping the floor, giving us the real deal. (Why mess with perfection people? WHY?) Occasionally the history lesson bleeds into the performance such as in the case of Buddy Guy’s “Red House” cover and we miss some of what’s happening on stage but this doesn’t happen too often or usually for too long. These are very minor criticisms of an otherwise incredibly great thing.

Lightning In a Bottle is not just a concert or a musical event; it’s Blues 101, a blues party, a blues family reunion, a musical journey, and a history lesson rolled up into one. The stellar performances coupled with the brilliant stage and camera work puts this one way over the top. I Pity the blues-loving Fool who hasn’t seen it.
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Natalie Cole's homage to my old stompin' grounds: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5HmvYPvVoiU&feature=results_main&playnext...

Barny Noble recognizes the DVD but doesn't have it, or it would be on my wishlist now.

Robert

Enjoyed your enthusiastic review of Lightning in a Bottle, a one night history of the Blues I saw the movie at my local cinema a few years ago and it is certainly well worth a look.

Angelique Kidjo is singing at the Marciac Jazz Festival which starts tomorrow. I have my tickets and I am looking forward to the concert. There is also a blues night at the festival featuring Eric Bibb, Keith B. Brown and Keb' Mo' which should also be a good night.

Nice clip of Natalie Cole.

Wonderful review. I have just ordered the last one from Chapters Indigo! Can't wait as I have been a Buddy Guy fan forever. Here is a recent interview with him about his new book: http://www.cbc.ca/q/blog/2012/05/31/buddy-guy-on-q/

>97 You might want to try Amazon, Robert. They seem to have quite a few to offer for not too many $$$

>98 Angelique Kidjo is singing at the Marciac Jazz Festival which starts tomorrow. I have my tickets and I am looking forward to the concert. There is also a blues night at the festival featuring Eric Bibb, Keith B. Brown and Keb' Mo' which should also be a good night.

Wow! I'm trying not to turn green with envy.

>99 Thanks so much for the link, SassyLassy!


eta: I looked up Quinn Sullivan mentioned in the interview. This kid is AMAZING!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0S1fVY4ELSM

TBR LIST/WISH LIST

John Steinbeck (Any/All)

When I Left Home: My Story by Buddy Guy
The Master and Margarita by Mikhail Bulgakov
White Guard by Mikhail Bulgakov
The Making of Modern Medicine by Michael Bliss
Space Chronicles by Neal Degrasse Tyson
The Price of Inequality by Joseph Stiglitz
Evita by Evita by Eva Peron
The Labyrinth of Solitude: The Other Mexico, Return to the Labyrinth of Solitude, Mexico and the United States, the Philanthropic Ogre by Octavio Paz
Dracula by Bram Stoker
The Limpopo Academy of Private Detection by Alexander McCall Smith
The King's Speech by Mark Logue
December 1941: 31 Days that Changed America and Saved the World by Craig Shirley
All My Patients Are Under the Bed by Louis J. Camuti
The Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet by Jamie Ford
Expecting Adam by Martha Beck
Waking Up the Karma Fairy by Meg Barnhouse
(These last two were recommended by my aunt.)
Soldier Dogs by Maria Goodavage
The Warmth of Other Suns by Isabel Wilkerson
Two Rings: A Story of Love and War by Millie Werber
The Faraway Horses by Buck Brannaman
Carrying the Fire by Michael Collins
Silence by Shusako Endo
The Orion Nebula by C. Robert O'Dell (My uncle went to high school with this author!)

“I think about that train ride from Louisiana to Illinois on September 25, 1957, and the blues I found when I got to Chicago. Like me, that blues left home. The blues went traveling and wound up in every corner of the world.”

When I Left Home: My Story by Buddy Guy

Written in Buddy Guy’s warm conversational tone, reading When I Left Home: My Story didn’t feel like reading a book but rather like sitting and listening to an old friend tell his story - or in this case stories -because to learn Buddy’s story is to learn about the blues, the people who made them, and Chicago, one of the pivotal places in the blues world.

Coming from a family of sharecroppers who worked the cotton fields of Louisiana, Buddy fell in love with music at an early age. But it wasn’t through the radio or a record, it was through an old family friend who used to swing by the Guys every Christmas with his two string guitar. Too poor to own a “real” guitar, Buddy tried to improvise his own. Finally, Buddy’s father bought the old family friend’s guitar one Christmas day for the whopping price of $4.35. “Daddy handed over the money, and Coot handed me the guitar. Life ain’t never been the same since.” Buddy learned as much as he could on it. By this time the family had electricity, an old 78 record player and some blues records. But it was one particular record, “Boogie Chillen” by John Lee Hooker that Buddy loved. As Buddy says, “That’s the record that did it.” As a teenager Buddy was sent to live with an older sister who lived in Baton Rouge so that he could finish high school. A few things happened there that would be important to Buddy’s story. He saw a dynamic performer, Guitar Slim, who Guy would later try to emulate on stage. A total stranger walking down the street heard Buddy sitting on the front porch of his sister’s house picking out a new John Lee Hooker tune on his two-stringed guitar and offered to buy Buddy a “good guitar” – one with six strings. “What a difference between two and six! Was like I had a whole orchestra in my hands.” Then there was the day an old family friend visiting from Chicago told Buddy to come up north where the wages were better and where the blues artists he admired so much lived. “I didn’t think I was good enough to make a living picking the guitar up there, but I sure did dream of getting a glimpse of Muddy and Walter and them driving around in their fine cars. … And naturally, I dreamed of going to some beautiful nightclub and hearing them play in the flesh.”

Arriving in Chicago turned out to be quite an eye opener for 21-year-old Buddy. He showed up in Chicago straight off the train with $600, the old family friend’s address, and his guitar. The promise of wages of two to three times what he was used to making in Louisiana turned out to be elusive. He couldn’t find a steady job doing anything (music or otherwise); living arrangements with his old friend were downright uncomfortable, and after a few months of steady unemployment, the money was soon gone and he was “straight up starving” and just about to call it quits and go back home. It was at this moment that a random guy driving down the street spotted Buddy carrying his guitar and asked, “Can you play the thing?” Before he knew it Buddy found himself on stage that very night at the 708 club, “one of the hottest blues clubs on the South side,” wowing the crowd with all of Guitar Slim’s stage tricks and improvising some of his own. “Looking back at this moment in my life, I know I was possessed. Maybe I was open to being possessed because I was scared and desperate. Maybe I knew my life depended on tearing up this club until folks wouldn’t forget me.” It was at this pivotal spot in Buddy’s life that he met “the Mud” (Muddy Waters) who would ask Buddy to come play with him. “The Mud” would become a surrogate father for Buddy (as it seemed he did for a lot of other Chicago blues guys) and soon Buddy was a fixture at Chess records as a session player. The rest, they say, is history.

Rising from a life of abject poverty in the cotton fields of Louisiana to what other legendary musicians such as the late Stevie Ray Vaughan and Eric Clapton consider “the greatest blues guitarist of all time” (says Clapton at one point “I’ve copied all your old licks. How am I going to learn your new licks if you don’t have a new record?”) would be pretty heady stuff for anybody, but through listening to Guy tell his story we are introduced to someone who embodies humility on a cellular level. He wouldn’t get a well-deserved Grammy until 1991 when he was 55 for his album “Damn Right, I’ve Got the Blues" and after this a “slew of recognition. ... But when these prizes came in, I felt like they really belonged to Guitar Slim or Lightnin’ Slim or Lightnin’ Hopkins – the cats who came before me and never got the right fame or the right money.”

Guy doesn’t merely pay homage to the “cats who came before me” he also has great respect and admiration for the old 60s rockers like the Rolling Stones (amongst others) who were quick to point to the blues artist who had such a great influence on them which in turn caused a blues revival in the 60s and early 70s. In the 80s, there were artist like Robert Cray leading a bit of a blues revival and selling records to a rock audience, but according to Guy it was the late Stevie Ray Vaughan “who really led the kids back to the blues.” And why do the blues keep coming back? “They got born again because they too good to stay dead.”

Buddy’s conversational, no-nonsense style was incredibly engaging but his inclusion of a whole bunch of funny stories – about himself and others – was downright entertaining and there were times I had to just put the book down and laugh. He talks about his first club, Checkerboards, a place that was robbed so much he finally put up a sign: ” ‘Don’t break the front gate. Go around back. The door’s open there. Take what you want.’ Of course, I was in the back, waiting for them with a gun. But wouldn’t you know that’s when they stopped breaking in.” There are many funny anecdotes peppered throughout Buddy's incredible story, but there's also the heartbreaking loss of close friends like Muddy; Buddy's musical partner and friend Junior Wells; and the untimely death of Stevie Ray Vaughan. Through it all, though, good times or bad, is Buddy's humbleness, his love of people and his unwavering faith in the blues. "I'm believing that the blues makes life better wherever it goes - and I'll tell you why: even when the blues is sad, it turns your sadness to joy. And ain't that a beautiful thing?"

Really enjoyed your review of When I left Home: My Story by Buddy Guy. It inspired me to dig out my copy of "The Complete Chess Studio Recordings" which kicks off with "First Time I met the Blues" Great Stuff.

103 - Great review. My husband heard a segment on NPR about this book I think. Put it on the wishlist for him.

Great review...glad you got the book. So often these books read like a salacious day timer, so it was good to hear it was Guy just telling his story. Good to see the tribute to Stevie Ray Vaughan too.

Watched Lightening in a Bottle the other night after reading your review and thoroughly enjoyed it.

>104 Thanks baswood. Glad my review inspired you to put some great music into your day. ;)

>105 janepriceestrada, Hope your husband enjoys it; it certainly is a fun, easy read.

>106 SassyLassy, It certainly is Buddy's voice throughout the book - nothing is cleaned up grammatically or otherwise. (some of the stories here are *ahem* at least PG-13;) One of the last chapters of the book is titled "Alpine Valley"; he really loved Stevie Ray. As a matter of fact, he says the track, "Rememberin' Stevie" is his favorite off of his grammy winning Damn Right, I've Got the Blues. So glad you liked "Lightning in a Bottle!"

Superb review of When I Left Home! I'll add it to my wish list.

Thanks, kidzdoc! Hope you like it.

“The little boy, Jody," is growing up on an idyllic ranch in the Salinas Valley. His little world is comprised of his loving mother, his authoritarian and overbearing father and the humble ranch hand, Billy Buck. Jody’s world changes when his father brings home a red pony for Jody to raise and train. This is Jody’s doorway to manhood; it sets him apart from the other schoolboy friends his age: “They knew instinctively that a man on a horse is spiritually as well as physically bigger than a man on foot. They knew that Jody had been miraculously lifted out of equality with them, and had been placed over them.” Jody’s idyllic world is shattered, sadly, when the red pony is lost through some inadvertent neglect. With the loss of the pony, Jody’s childhood innocence starts slipping away. The red pony shows up in different incarnations throughout the story. Each time this happens Jody learns a lesson that is a step towards manhood. Jody is learning that life doesn’t always turn out the way we wish it too, there is loss and sorrow. He is also learning that his gods have clay feet. Billy Buck isn’t infallible and his father’s harshness is hurtful not only to Jody but to others as well and Jody has to choose between two paths: the one of pride or the one of humility.

Although I liked this story, The Red Pony is my least favorite of all Steinbeck’s works I’ve read so far. Steinbeck’s ability to paint a vivid picture of place, character, and his ability to simply drop the reader in the middle of the story are all there but the subtlety that marks his other works is missing. I felt like Steinbeck was trying too hard to be metaphorical and profound. The Red Pony was one of his first published works so for that alone, this was an interesting read, but still a so/so one for me.
3 Stars.

Interestingly enough, I stumbled onto this documentary about Buck Brannaman, "a real-life horse whisperer" while I was reading The Red Pony. Nicholas Evans interviewed Buck when he was writing his novel The Horse Whisperer and Brannaman worked very closely with Robert Redford on the movie. (I haven't read the book but saw the movie years ago.) Brannaman crisscrosses the country most of the year giving "horse clinics" where he helps people connect with their horses, "starts" colts and "... helps horses with people problems." It is fascinating to watch Brannaman deal with the horses (and their owners) and learn how he overcame his abusive childhood. The better part of my early childhood was spent on the back of a horse, thanks to my late cowboy daddy who taught me how to ride and tried to teach me, to no avail, how to rope. Brannaman reminded me of him quite a bit so I have his book, The Faraway Horses on my wishlist.

I liked the movie Buck a lot and could be interested in one of his books. It never occurred to me to check whether he was an author. How did you pick The Faraway Horses from among his works?

Robert

Thanks for stopping by, Robert. The Faraway Horses is, from what I can tell, a combo of his autobiography and an explanation of his training methods. In the movie you get to see what he does with the horses but I would like to know why he does what he does and how.

Okay, I'm going to keep him in mind.

Robert

Stopping by rather late in the year - but lots of interesting reads and reviews in your thread. It's fun to see your Steinbeckathon, and there are 1 or 2 in there I don't think I've even heard of and am now keen to find (esp. The Wayward Bus).

Hi there, ljbwell and thank you! The Wayward Bus is a fun read.

Evita by Evita: Eva Duarte Peron tells her own story by Eva Peron

This is Eva Peron’s memoir, finished just weeks before her death on July 26, 1952. Sixty years later, the musical “Evita” is being revived on Broadway, the movie version of the musical is being played on television and just yesterday (August 15) I read: “President Cristina Fernandez revealed the new 100-peso note Wednesday night on the eve of the 60th anniversary of the death of Evita Peron. She's the first woman to appear on any Argentine banknote.” (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/07/26/eva-peron-peso-note-unv_n_1705514.html) According to the appendix of reprinted newspaper articles included in the 1980 edition I have here this was the scene in Argentina sixty years ago: "Two hundred thousand … lined the two-mile street tonight from the President’s palace. When the body of Eva Peron had been placed in an open coffin covered with glass in the hall of the trade union headquarters, the people filed past 16 ft. away, a stream which will go on for two days.” (The Times, Wednesday, July 30, 1952)* Some would call her a saint. Peron’s labor unions actually attempted to have her canonized after her death. Others would call her a manipulative whore who slept her way to the top and abused the power she had as fascist dictator’s – I mean - democratically elected President Peron’s wife. I wanted to find out who this woman was who attracted such love and hate, attention and grief, who manages to garner such fascination still today.

She was the youngest in a family of five – and illegitimate. Her father was married already with a family of his own; Eva belonged to this “second” family. She was poor. At the age of 15 she made her way to Buenos Airies (and not with any tango singer as mythified in the musical, but according to the tiny research I've done, with her mother and then stayed with a family there) where she went to pursue a career in acting where she had some – and then a little more than some, especially after her association with General Juan Domingo Peron – success. None of that is written here, however, this is not Eva Peron’s life story; it is her passionate – PASSIONATE!!! – and politically charged statement on how much she loved, loved, LOVED!!! her husband, her descamisados (shirtless ones), and how much she hate, hate, hated the privileged minority of Argentina, the oligarchy, who oppressed her beloved descamisados! The book is divided into three main sections: The Causes of My Mission, The Workers and My Mission, Women and my Mission. This woman was on a Mission!

The melodrama jumps off the page immediately in the Prologue in which she compares herself to a sparrow and General Peron as a condor: “I was a sparrow… If I fly higher, it is through him. If I walk among the peaks it is through him.” And before this: “All that I am, all that I have, all that I think and all that I feel, belongs to Peron.” Needless to say the first half of the book is filled with histrionic worship of her husband - not as a man so much but more as Leader, General, President, Father and Friend of the people. She compares his rising political star to the birth of Jesus Christ: “They saw him and believed. What happened in Bethlehem nearly two thousand years ago was repeated here. The first to believe were not the rich, not the wise, not the powerful, but the humble.” The humble being, of course, the poor working class Argentinians, the descamisados. She describes the eight days Peron was under arrest in October of 1945 as her “hour of Calvary.” By the middle of this short book I had read so much histrionic, melodramatic propaganda that I didn’t know if I needed two aspirins, a nap, or a deprogramming! So I decided to quit. And then I read: “Among my readers, as in every corner of the earth, there are sure to be two classes of souls. The class of narrow souls who cannot conceive of generosity, nor of love, nor even of hope, as realities. If this book falls into the hands of a soul like that, I beg him to not continue further. It is not worth while! It will all seem futile to him, or simply propaganda. Here begin the chapters that none but those who still believe in sincerity, in faith, in love, and in hope will be able to understand.” So I continued on! (I’m still trying to figure out how I feel about being manipulated and insulted by a dead woman.)

I’m glad I continued. Because the last half of the book is filled with her “social welfare” or “social justice” work. At that period of Argentina’s history, social charity had been undertaken by a small group of rich women: the Sociedad de Beneficencia. Orphans under the care of the Sociedad had to wear a blue uniform and have their heads shaved. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eva_Peron_Foundation) No wonder she said “When the rich think about the poor, they have poor ideas.” Mother Evita had her own way of helping: “In my homes, no descamisado should feel that he is poor. … The tables in the dining room have colorful cloths, and flowers must not be lacking, as they never are in any home where there is a mother or a wife who is more or less fond of her family.” The children were not to wear uniforms, but have “clothes of the color he likes. The only stipulation is that he must have something good; because these children are accustomed to poverty, they must not choose the worst! – although this very seldom happens… good taste is the last thing lost through poverty!” She also speaks of sending pan dulce and cider to the five million Argentinians at Christmas (a traditional symbolic gift from her and her husband); of sending gifts (of what, I’m not sure) to the children at Epiphany; and of the endless letters and personal visits she received from the poor with their requests – requests that she tried to fill through her foundation - on Wednesday afternoons at the Secretariat (her office). I was amazed when I read how she wanted homemakers to receive a small “allowance” for their work as homemakers: “A salary paid to the mothers by all the nation and which comes out of all the earnings of all the workers in the country, including the women.” She thought of herself as a mother also. “For I really feel myself the mother of my people! And I honestly think that I am.” Now I understand why all the mourning and grief over her. Imagine being a poor descamisado pushed to the margin of society only to all of a sudden being elevated to the most loved group by the President and First Lady, who not only tell you that you matter more to them than the upper class, but actually personalize it with gifts and “social justice” in which all the wealth of the well-to-do minority - which should have been yours in the first place - is promised to you now. "What I give belongs to those who receive it. I do nothing but return to the poor what all the rest of us owe them, because we had taken it away from them unjustly." No wonder 200,000 people lined the streets around the President’s palace!

Of course, there is the sinister side to the story. Where did all that money for her foundation come from? And just where was it all going? At the same time sweet mother Evita was taking care of her descamisados she was wearing furs, Paris couture and expensive jewels (she had an answer to this as well - it was done so that the poor could see what they could one day have under Peronism). What happened to you if you were not a Peronista? You were a traitor, of course. At one point she defines the oligarchy she hates so much as anyone (anyone!) who opposes Peron. These are Evita’s writings from her “innermost heart”. She refers to herself quite frequently as a humble woman, the shadow of Peron, who would gladly lay down her life for her people. She does confess to having some “personal ambition”: “I would like the name of Evita to figure somewhere in the history of my country …. If only in a small footnote … And I would feel duly compensated – and more – if the note ended like this:" 'All we know about that woman is that the people called her, fondly, Evita.'"

Well, now, I guess she got her wish.

Not too shabby for a footnote.
__________________________________________________​__________________________________________________​
* Also in the articles are headlines such as these: "Eight die trying to see Eva"; "Eva crush kills 5"; "Women trampled as they weep for Eva ..."

Eva Peron


Here's a personal story I found written by someone who actually heard Evita's radio broadcasts. It's so short I copy and pasted here but this is the link: (http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address...)

"When I was living with my family in Chile in the mining camp my father worked in, we were about a hundred miles from any city where you could get radio and there was no TV. This was during the time Eva Peron was Argentina's First Lady. Yes I'm giving my age away.

My father had a shortwave radio that could pick up signals from New York and pretty much anywhere else in South America. We used to listen to Evita give speeches live from Buenos Aires. She was an actress and could really rouse the crowds. My father didn't like her. Many men didn't at that time because they felt she didn't know her place. He called her a female Hitler.

From her speeches you could believe the similarity because she brought down the crowd. The shouts of Evita, Evita from the crowds would resonate even over the radio. She often had to pause for often five minutes until the shouting subsided before she could continue her speech. It was very cultlike.

Yet, she brought health care to the poor and the vote to Argentinian women as well as other rights for the women. She housed, clothed and fed the poor often with money she had blackmailed from the wealthy. Once she rose to power, anyone who had ever slighted her became her victim. She had a very long memory. Her popularity among the poor and the working class was immense.

She was good to herself as well, wearing Paris couture, expensive jewelry and luxurious furs. When criticized about this especially because her base was the poor, she dismissed the criticism saying that they expected her to look good.

She died at a very young age, thirty by some accounts and thirty-three by others. There is evidence she lied about her age, but most women in the world at that time did the same. However, that didn't stop the near worship her admirers had for her. There are still those who want the Vatican to canonize her a saint.

Well, saint or sinner, Evita was certainly unique in her day. She gave hope to the women of South America who were very much trapped in a patriarchal culture that they or their daughters could gain the rights that Evita had brought to the table and start a movement about.

Here is a brief biography of her for those who don't know much about her.

http://www.answers.com/topic/eva-per-n"

Fascinating stuff on Eva Peron.

She's certainly got my attention. I brought home her biography, Evita: The Real Life of Eva Peron by Nicholas Fraser from the library today and will read it soon - after I get through the small pile of library books I've collected over the last few weekends.

There were a few reasons I was interested in this book. With a title like the Labyrinth of Solitude it certainly made me curious. When I found that it was a collection of essays about Mexican culture, the Mexican psyche and Mexican culture in the United States I was even more interested. It sounded quite a bit like a Hispanic version of Steinbeck’s America and Americans. (This was published in 1950; Steinbeck’s America and Americans in 1966). As someone living in Southern California, any insights into my Mexican neighbors - on either side of the border - is always welcome. And, on a more personal level, since my ex is from Michoacan, and my children carry his very Hispanic last name, I figured this would be a worthwhile read. Octavio Paz is an award winning author (Miguel de Cervantes Prize, Nobel Prize in Literature, Neustadt International Prize for Literature, Jerusalem Prize, Peace Prize of the German Book Trade) and I can see why. My only problems here are that some of the essays are lost on me since I have such little knowledge of Mexican history and sometimes the writing goes off course (one reviewer on another site called it “thick and meandering” ). Still, Paz’s prose are quite poetic and draws you in. Here are a few samples.

The Pachuco and Other Extremes ”The pachuco tries to enter North American society in secret and daring ways, but he impedes his own efforts. Having been cut off from his traditional culture, he asserts himself for a moment as a solitary and challenging figure. He denies both the society from which he originated and that of North America. When he thrusts himself outward, it is not to unite with what surrounds him but rather to defy it. This is a suicidal gesture, because the pachuco does not affirm or defend anything except his exasperated will-not-to-be. He is not divulging his most intimate feelings: he is revealing an ulcer, exhibiting a wound. A wound that is also a grotesque, capricious, barbaric adornment. A wound that laughs at itself and decks itself out for the hunt. The pachuco is the prey of society, but instead of hiding he adorns himself to attract the hunter’s attention. Persecution redeems him and breaks his solitude: his salvation depends on his becoming part of the very society he appears to deny. Solitude and sin, communion and health become synonymous terms.

If this is what happens to persons who have long since left their homeland, who can hardly speak the language of their forebears, and whose secret roots, those that connect a man with his culture, have almost withered away, what is there to say about the rest of us when we visit the United States?... we all instinctively assume a critical attitude. … when I commented to a Mexican friend on the loveliness of Berkeley, she said: 'Yes, it’s very lovely, but I don’t belong here. Even the birds speak English.'"

The Day of the Dead: "Thanks to the fiesta the Mexican opens out, participates, communes with his fellows and with the values that give meaning to his religious or political existence. And it is significant that a country as sorrowful as ours should have so many and such joyous fiestas. … Life and death, joy and sorrow, music and mere noise are united, not to re-create or recognize themselves, but to swallow each other up. There is nothing so joyous as a Mexican fiesta, but there is also nothing so sorrowful. Fiesta night is also a night of mourning.”

Paz points out the differences between the young history of North America and the ancient history of Mexico. Other later essays of Paz’s have been included to update the book. As I pick and choose my way through the essays here is I am struck by how many mythological gods, heroes and legends there are in Mexico. I’ve always been aware of this fact but never really thought about how it would affect a country’s collective psyche and how it would make it different from my own country’s way of thinking. Certainly an interesting read. I probably won't get through every essay written here but I would be interested in reading some of Paz's other work.

Differences in culture lead to all sorts of differences in the psyche. It makes life both interesting and challenging. Enjoying your thoughts on Octavio Paz

I enjoyed your comments about The Labyrinth of Solitude, avidmom. I've had that book for several years but haven't touched it yet; I'll plan to read it early next year.

121 - Interesting comments, I'll be on the lookout for it.

>122 Different cultures certainly do make life more interesting. One of the things I love about living here in So. Cal. is we have such a diversity of culture.

>123, 124 Thanks kidzdoc & jane.

Brotherhood

I am a man: little do I last
and the night is enormous.
But I look up:
the stars write.
Unknowing I understand:
I too am written,
and at this very moment
someone spells me out.

Octavio Paz

Great review of The Labyrinth of Solitude, avidmom. I recently acquired several other works by Octavio Paz and your review has made me anxious to read them.

>127 Thanks Linda. I look forward to your comments about them.

Leviticus 17:14 “ For it is the life of all flesh; the blood of it is for the life thereof: therefore I said unto the children of Israel, Ye shall eat the blood of no manner of flesh: for the life of all flesh is the blood thereof: whosoever eateth it shall be cut off.”


Dracula by Bram Stoker


Dracula has been on my TBR pile for a while but when my son rented the movie, “Bram Stoker’s Dracula,” I was so unimpressed by it that I had to know if what was presented in the film version matched the novel. So Dracula moved up a few notches.

Everybody knows who Dracula is, the Un-Dead, King of the Vampires. I thought I knew what to expect here – vampires chasing people, people chasing vampires around tombs, ancient castles and cemeteries. (Maybe I watched too many Scooby Doo cartoons as a kid.) That does happen here but it makes up a surprisingly small part of the story. There was much more to the story than I expected. Dracula is at first a psychological mystery, then a medical mystery which then slowly evolves into a creepy cat and mouse game.

The book opens with Jonathan Harker traveling to Transylvania to handle some real estate transactions with Count Dracula. Once there, Harker witnesses some strange goings-on and eventually finds himself imprisoned in Dracula’s castle. He manages to escape, but not unscathed, as he becomes physically ill with “brain fever” and begins to wonder if what he witnessed at the castle was a result of his illness. Or is it the other way round? Jonathan had kept a journal during his stay at the castle but wants so badly to hide the horror from himself that he entrusts the journal to his fiancé, Mina. She is not to read it unless circumstances make it absolutely necessary. While Mina is away tending to her fiancé, her best friend Lucy falls ill. Young, vibrant and happily engaged Lucy is becoming increasingly weaker and pale. No one can understand why. Dr. Seward, Lucy’s jilted suitor, runs a lunatic asylum next door and is baffled by Lucy’s condition. He asks for the help of his old medical school professor, Professor Van Helsing. Although Van Helsing is a medical doctor and a lawyer, it is not his knowledge of medical science that sheds light on Lucy’s situation but rather his knowledge of folk lore, superstition and his faith in the supernatural that is key to unlocking the mystery.

One of the things that caught my attention, mostly because I didn’t expect it, is all the references to Christianity. It seems as though Stoker took the basic tenets of the Christian faith and put them in front of a mirror. Like the reflection of letters in a mirror, things are the same, just reversed. Christianity, at its most basic level, is about death, resurrection and blood. It doesn’t take too much to see that Dracula is Stoker’s picture of the opposite Christ. In the New Testament, Jesus gives His blood freely so that others may have life; Dracula selfishly takes it so that he himself may live. To partake in the blood of Christ is to reconcile the believer with God; here to partake in the blood of the vampire is to be separated from Him. Sometimes the allusions to the New Testament are quite apparent, at other times they are more subtle. “Alas! how can I disbelieve! In the midst of my thought my eye fell on the red scar on my poor darling’s white forehead. Whilst that lasts, there can be no disbelief” It is hard to read that and not have the story of doubting Thomas come to mind.

The idea of a synergy between faith in the unseen and what is tangible is another theme here. Everyone has a part in defeating the Monster but the characters in the story who are key to defeating the Count are Professor Van Helsing and Mina. The Professor holds science, superstiton, and faith in equal esteem, all of which he uses to great effect. Mina is praised by one of the men in the story for having “the heart of a woman and the brain of a man.” It is easy to glean from the story the idea of logic as a masculine trait and faith as a feminine one. Just as the men and women in this story work together here to defeat evil, faith and logic work together as well. “… we each held ready to use our various armaments – the spiritual in the left hand, the mortal in the right.”

Dracula was so much better than I had expected. The characters here, male and female, are all very intelligent and strong. There is a deep love and respect between all of them. Considering the novel bears his name, Dracula has very little to say in it. He is an elusive foe whose presence is more implied and felt more frequently than seen. It certainly makes for a suspenseful story. If I have one criticism it is that the ending was a bit drawn out and anti-climatic as I expected a more fiery confrontation between the heroes and Dracula. Once again, however, the fault probably lies more with my preconceived expectations than with the novel itself. I haven’t read too many Gothic horror novels but one of the things I like about them is there is always such a deeper level of meaning than what is on the surface. Dracula is one of those novels that could be dissected and picked apart ad infinitum to find all the different levels of meaning it contains.

And, did the movie match the novel? Not even close!

How sadly ironic that on the day I finish Dracula, Jerry Nelson, the man behind my favorite vampire, passes away. : (

Excellent review of Dracula, with some insightful thoughts about it links to Christianity.

Thanks, baswood. I keep thinking there is a definite correlation between the mirrored reflection of Christianity in Dracula and the fact that the vampire has no reflection. Hmmm .......

Wow! Outstanding review of Dracula, avidmom; it makes me want to drop everything and read it straight away.

Great comments on Dracula, avidmom! The Christian angle is definitely interesting, and Leslie Klinger does mention it in his Annotated edition. He also gives a slightly different ending to the novel, which he found in Stoker's manuscript (hint: it's a lot more fiery).

One point on which I slightly disagree, is your contention that all the characters are 'very intelligent and strong': I found Lucy Westenra a bit thin as far as characterisation went. But that's a minor quibble: I really like the book, and your review does it justice.

>133 it makes me want to drop everything and read it straight away.
Thanks, kidzdoc! I see why it's considered a classic. I probably would never have read it if it weren't for some other reviews here on LT and the horrible movie I had the misfortune of being exposed to.

>134 Thanks dmsteyn. Your review of the Klinger book was one of those that gave me an incentive to read Dracula. I certainly can understand your opinion about Lucy. The Lucy that's presented in the movie is a flirtatious ditz - practically the polar opposite of the one in the novel - so when I found that the real Lucy was not anything like that I was impressed by her. And even less impressed (if that's even possible) by the movie.

> 129

Very interesting thoughts on Dracula, avidmom. Your comments on the symbols and themes of Christianity being taken but having their meaning reversed in Dracula's upside-down world were exactly what the professor on Coursera said in his lectures:

" One of the things that caught my attention, mostly because I didn’t expect it, is all the references to Christianity. It seems as though Stoker took the basic tenets of the Christian faith and put them in front of a mirror. Like the reflection of letters in a mirror, things are the same, just reversed. Christianity, at its most basic level, is about death, resurrection and blood. It doesn’t take too much to see that Dracula is Stoker’s picture of the opposite Christ. In the New Testament, Jesus gives His blood freely so that others may have life; Dracula selfishly takes it so that he himself may live. To partake in the blood of Christ is to reconcile the believer with God; here to partake in the blood of the vampire is to be separated from Him."

I would only add that partaking in the blood of the vampire brought Mina closer to him, in fact able to access his mind directly. This parallels the Eucharist, in which we partake of the blood of Christ to bring Christ into us. The act of partaking in blood - whether real or symbolic - is a transgressive act. It breaks strong social taboos (remember that consuming blood is against the kosher dietary laws of the Jewish people). But whereas consuming Christ's blood is transgression made okay by divine command, Dracula's consumption of blood is not. Both empower the drinker, whether physically or spiritually, but what they empower the drinker for (good or evil) differs tremendously.

The act of partaking in blood - whether real or symbolic - is a transgressive act. It breaks strong social taboos (remember that consuming blood is against the kosher dietary laws of the Jewish people).
I never thought of communion in that context before.

partaking in the blood of the vampire brought Mina closer to him, in fact able to access his mind directly.
Mina's ability to do that was probably the part of the book that creeped me out the most. I didn't think about it at the time I was reading the novel but now that you mention it, it got me to thinking about all the verses in the NT that mention the mind. it seems Stoker took that verse "But we have the mind of Christ" to its most literal interpretation where Mina and the Count were concerned. I never would have made the connection if it weren't for your comments.

Thanks, lilbrattyteen.

Bram Stoker's Dracula

This was my first introduction to Bram Stoker's Dracula - or so I thought. Thankfully I found it not to be the case. At all! There is a romantic story line here involving Mina and Dracula that is not in the novel. The female characters are portrayed as weak minded victims of their own repressed sexual desires, so much so that the movie borders on soft porn in spots. Anthony Hopkins makes a good Van Helsing; it's just not the Van Helsing in Stoker's book. Here Van Helsing is arrogant and lacks any tact whereas the Van Helsing in the novel is fairly humble. Hopkins does a great job of delivering some lines here that make for some much needed dark comic relief, though. Keanu Reeves as Jonathan Harker is just pitiful; his performance here is like cardboard. The reason my son wanted to see this so badly is that he is a fan of Gary Oldman and Oldman does a great job of being Dracula, it's just not Bram Stoker's Dracula. As a movie apart from its title, maybe there's some merit to it. If I never would have read the book and simply saw this I might have went along my blissfully ignorant way thinking all sorts of erroneous things about the book. So at first I was unimpressed by the movie but after reading the book, I'm more irritated by this film. My book-nerdy mind doesn't abide turning good (or possibly great even) literature into something it's not. I'll conclude my review with the words of Jonathan Harker (the real one) "Oh, my God, what have we done to have this terror upon us!"

I don't like this movie.

Great review of the movie

This unusual ”dramedy” is one of my favorites. It’s not typical Will Ferrell over-the-top comedy fare. (I don’t usually go for those.) This is a relatively slow-paced off-the-wall story. As the movie opens we hear a woman’s voice telling us all about IRS agent Harold Crick’s solitary droid-like existence. The problem here is that Harold can hear her too. When the voice starts interfering with Harold’s oh-so controlled life and speaks of his “imminent death” he sees a psychiatrist who tells him he has schizophrenia. Crick politely disagrees with her diagnosis as the voice isn’t telling him what to do but is simply narrating his life “accurately and with a better vocabulary.” He then asks her what he should do if – hypothetically – there really is a Narrator narrating his life and he really is a character in some kind of story. She half-heartedly advises him to go consult with someone who knows about literature. A very distraught Harold then enlists the help of literature professor Jules Hilbert (Dustin Hoffman) who at first refuses Harold until Harold recalls one of the last lines he heard from the voice: “Little did he know …” The two then set out to figure out what kind of story Harold is in: a Tragedy or a Comedy. Meanwhile, on the other side of town, writer Karen Eiffel is working on her next novel , “Death and Taxes,” and is suffering from an acute case of writer’s block. She can’t figure out how to kill her protagonist, Harold Crick. Little does she know that Harold really exists. (“Dramatic irony,” says Professor Hilbert, “It’ll f*** you every time.”) With the help of his wristwatch, a wrecking ball, a seafoam Stratocaster guitar, and a bouquet of flours, Harold commences living his life for the first time - one that he would like to keep living – if only he could locate the Narrator and convince her to let him do just that.

I love the literary story line here and the dry humor. I have a personal rule about not posting thoughts about movies here unless it comes from a book or leads to a book. Stranger Than Fiction is about a book so I guess it works here.

My best friend invited me and my boys over for pizza and a movie one night last week . Half-way through the movie she quickly got up, left the room, came back and handed me this pretty little book. It was an unexpected gift. (Aren’t those always the best kind?) Written on the front of this book: “A Guide for New Adventures and Stages On Your Journey;” the blurb on the back describes it as “… a primer for your most successful new beginning.” My oldest just graduated from high school, my youngest (who at 15 towers above me now at 6’3”) is getting ready to take his PSAT, and I’m looking to start a “new” career so I am certainly dealing with a lot of new beginnings in my world. All good changes, for sure, but it’s kind of left me feeling a bit like a deer caught in the headlights. This is typical fare from Joel Osteen: positive thinking with a Christian spin. I read it this morning within a half an hour (it’s a very tiny book). One little story included in the book that I found interesting was about Roger Bannister who broke the four-minute-mile barrier. Up until Bannister ran the “Miracle Mile,” experts said that it couldn’t be done. During the ten year span after Bannister broke the record, though, 336 runners had gone on to do the same. “One man proved the experts wrong and hundreds ran free.” A pleasant and encouraging read, albeit a really, really short one. I’m not sure what made me feel better, though, the words on the pages in the book or the fact that my friend gave it to me. Probably both. A tiny little book I'll treasure.

If there was one character in all of literature that I wish I could will to life it would be Mma Ramotswe, head of the only detective agency in Gaborone, the No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency. In this latest installment, Mma Potokwane has been dismissed as head matron of the orphan farm by the board of directors; Mr. J.L.B. Matekoni’s mechanical apprentice is in danger of going to jail; and, to the utter delight of Mma Ramotswe and Mma Makutsi, Clovis Andersen, the author of that most epic book “The Principles of Private Detection,” has paid a personal visit to them. Mma Ramotswe, with the help of her assistant detective and Clovis Andersen, goes about trying to set things right for all the people in her small world using her detective skills. I have been a fan of this series for quite a while now and I always look forward to at least a few days of pure escape into the African sunshine and the homespun wisdom the “traditionally built” Mma Ramotswe doles out as she solves her cases.
*******
This HBO TV series does a brilliant job of bringing the novels to life. I never in a million years would have thought of Jill Scott as playing Mma Ramotswe, but she fits the part perfectly. Actually everybody here seems to be a perfect match to the characters they play. There is a character here that is not in the books (BK), but the only way anyone would know that is if they had actually read the series, he fits in so well here. This little show added to my reading because I could hear the proper way to pronounce the names, the accent the characters spoke with, and best of all, it was filmed on location in Botswana, which makes for some gorgeous scenery. It's too bad there was only one season.

>139 Thanks baswood. Have you seen it?

Catching up here from way back, lots of good stuff. Very interesting on Eva Perone. You're review of Dracula is fantastic, especially the Christian references.

(But I couldn't read about Houston's Joel Osteen...just kind of covered my eyes there, sorry)

>144 Thanks dchaikin. Dracula was a big surprise for me. I'll probably start reading Evita: The Real Life of Eva Peron today. She's the only person in history I know of who was kidnapped and held for ransom after she was dead!

(But I couldn't read about Houston's Joel Osteen...just kind of covered my eyes there, sorry)
LOL! You don't need to apologize for that! :)

***When WWII broke out my grandfather relocated his young little family from a small town in the Midwest to Long Beach, CA, where he worked in the shipyards. (My mother would be born in Long Beach a few years later). My aunt, who would have been a young grade school kid in the early 40s, told me a heartbreaking story once of how she watched one of her school friends, a little Japanese boy, being sent off to one of the internment camps. Once I found out about this book I was interested in reading it because of my aunt’s experience. It’s not very often I can read a piece of historical fiction and think I knew someone who experienced something similar to what the characters in the book do.***


Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet by Jamie Ford


Six months after the death of his wife, Henry Lee finds himself in front of the Panama Hotel where a treasure trove of Japanese families’ possessions, stored in the basement of the hotel for safekeeping all these many years, has just been found. Henry suspects that some of those possessions belong to the family of his first love, Keiko, a love that he has never forgotten. Traveling back in time to 1942, we meet twelve-year-old Henry, a second generation Chinese immigrant “scholarshipping” at a preppy white school. As he reluctantly makes his way every weekday morning from Chinatown in Seattle to school, he is teased by the Chinese kids for being a “white devil;” when he gets to school he is teased by the white kids for being Chinese and is a target for the school’s bullies. Life at school as the only Chinese kid is pretty lonely for Henry. Part of his “scholarshipping” includes working at the school cafeteria alongside a surly lunch lady, Mrs. Beatty. One day, Keiko, a young Japanese girl, shows up to work alongside Henry. She too is “scholarshipping.” A friendship, which slowly evolves into an innocent romance, blossoms between the two.

A friendship, let alone a romance, with a Japanese girl is more than a little problematic for Henry. His father, a Chinese nationalist, disapproves of any and all things Japanese. He sees the Japanese as enemies of his beloved China and the United States. Henry hides his relationship with Keiko from him and his mother until the government starts rounding the families in Japantown up and Keiko asks Henry for help hiding some of the families precious possessions. After Keiko and her family are interned Henry finds ways to see her, but when she and her family are sent to a camp out of state, the two lose contact with each other. Henry grows up, marries and has a son of his own, but the discovery of the treasures at the Panama Hotel and his newly widowed status makes Henry confront the questions of should he and could he find Keiko again.

Although the story is mostly about the childhood romance between Henry and Keiko, I read it because of its historical context. I learned a little about the Japanese plight post Pearl Harbor: the incredible prejudice they encountered (before and after they were sent away); the vultures sweeping down on Japantown and buying real estate for pennies on the dollar and making a healthy profit after the “evacuation.” One of the most surprising things to me was the fact that the U.S. government told the interned Japanese that they were being evacuated and relocated into these camps for their “own safety.” When Henry visits the camp he wonders why, if the Japanese families are being interned for their own good, the machine guns are being pointed inside, not outside the camp. When Henry notices that the Japanese prisoners greatly outnumber the guards, he asks Keiko's father why they don't try and take over the camp. He replies, "Loyalty. We're still loyal to the United States of America. Why? Because we too are Americans. We don't agree, but we will show our loyalty by our obedience. Do you understand, Henry?"

I have never read a book about this particular scene in U.S. history, even so, this story felt incredibly familiar. I think I was expecting more here (what, I’m not sure) than what I actually got. There’s a friendship here between Henry and a black jazz musician, Sheldon, which adds a great amount to the story. It’s also the author’s way of introducing us to the Seattle jazz scene which was a pleasant and unexpected bonus. Other than that, though, some of the characters’ actions, which I assume were supposed to surprise me, felt incredibly predictable.

Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet was an enjoyable read and it kept my attention to the very end. Once I finished it, though, I felt like I had just watched a movie on the Hallmark channel. Nothing wrong with that; I think I was just expecting something more.

> 137, 138

The connection between "putting on the mind" of Christ and the vampire never occurred. It's an upside-down world, right?

I vetoed the movie as soon as you mentioned both female characters being weak. Mina was a very strong and intelligent character who made it possible for the men to do, well, anything. Pity they took that out of the movie. Stupid male director.

> 141

Regardless of a positive message, I'd be scared to read a book with Osteen and his big smile staring at me from the cover! But then we have Pope Benedict, who is not the most photogenic guy. It all balances.

Jamie Ford's book has a very interesting premise. But knowing it ends halmarky somehow makes it less appealing. Nice review.

>147 lilbrattyteen, It's a good thing we watched the movie first. If it had been the other way around I probably would have had some kind of apoplectic fit in the middle of our living room! HA! Stupid male director indeed!

Warm and fuzzy Osteen is not my cup of tea, truth be told (hey, not knocking the guy but really just not my thing). It was a nice gesture from my friend, though and it did make me feel better :) Can't argue with you about Pope Benedict there or Osteen's huge smile!

> 148 Thanks, dchaikin, Even the title, Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet sounds like a Hallmark movie, doesn't it?

Fraser and Navarro take a three-pronged approach here to their well-researched and documented biography of Eva Peron. Not only is Evita: The Real Life of Eva Peron, a biography on the lady herself, but it’s also a mini biography on Juan Peron and a nice history lesson on Argentina.

Argentina in the early 40s seemed to be in the midst of an identity crisis. With a mixed population of natives, British, Spanish, French, German and Italian immigrants, the country remained neutral most of WWII (they would eventually join the Allies in March of ’45). The divided loyalties within the population became a source of strife. “Few Argentines wanted to fight in the war, but it became the issue around which national passions about the future of Argentina developed.” It was in this atmosphere of a “ ‘cold civil war’” that the revolution of June 4, 1943 took place. In this military coup the Army replaced the current Conservative government, a government that had represented the “landed class, which had always done business with the British, and it seemed they would agree to whatever the British insisted on.” The wealthy class, known as the Oligarchy, was a minority of the population. By 1930 it was estimated that “a mere 1,804 people owned land equivalent in area to Holland, Belgium, and Switzerland combined.” So when the troops entered the Plazo de Mayo , captured the Casa Rosada and took over, the people cheered them on and the “Infamous Decade” of the Oligarchy” ended. Juan Peron, although not directly involved in the coup, held two positions in the government, Secretary of War, and Secretary of Labour and Social Security. “He was the only member of the government to have emerged as a figure of public interest.” Unlike his colleagues, who were fairly reticent and avoided the press, Peron was always “willing to talk, to explain.” When a devastating earthquake hit the city of San Juan in 1944, it was Juan Peron who organized a week-long fund raising event unlike any other. Military members, dressed in uniform, would escort actors and actresses throughout Buenos Aires collecting funds for the victims of the tragedy. At the end of this week of fund raising a gala was to take place. This is where Peron and Eva met. He was 48; she was 24. Not everyone approved of this relationship between the Colonel and the actress.

Eva Peron’s tarnished reputation as someone having loose morals probably had more to do with the times she was living in than her own supposed scandalous behavior. Eva had left home at the age of 15 to pursue her acting career, a career not usually pursued by “girls from a ‘decent’ family.” Actors and actresses at that time were not paid well and were expected to pay for their own transportation and costumes. Often to survive actresses had a steady man to look after them, a “punto fijo” or a “caballero blanco, a sugar daddy.” Eva had to learn how to play the game if she was to make it in her chosen career. It’s no wonder, then, that Maria Eva Duarte, who had grown up in poverty after her father had abandoned her family and had had to learn the hard way how to survive as an actress, was attracted to Colonel Peron, a politician concerned with the rights of the working class. By the time Eva met Peron, he was enjoying some popularity among the working class. It caused some trouble. In October of 1945, Peron found himself arrested; it seems the higher ups in the military government found his popularity a threat. Eva had tried desperately and failed to obtain a writ of habeas corpus for Peron who was being held in a Navy cell. Peron had friends in the Army not the Navy; Eva was certain he would be killed. Ultimately, it was the unionized working class, the descamisados, who rallied in the streets and demanded – and got - their hero back. Evita believed that the mass of working class citizens had saved her soon-to-be husband’s life.

Shortly after his release the Colonell and Eva married and Peron was elected President. Evita was not a typical First Lady. Unlike the women before her she did not hide behind the scenes. Peron allowed Evita to sit on his political meetings, an anomaly in the patriarchal society they were living in. She headed up the Feminist party but her real passion was for her social work. She worked tirelessly at her foundation, sometimes working straight through the night and into the next morning. President Peron tried to get her to slow down but she refused: "One day I said to her: 'Eva, get some rest, remember you are my wife.' She looked at me seriously and said 'Doing this makes me feel that I am your wife.'" Her endless work and one-on-one contact with the poor at the foundation was where her reputation as saint took root. A young Catholic poet, Jose de Dios, wrote about what he witnessed at the Secretariat: “There were human beings in that room with dirty clothes and they smelt very bad. … There was girl whose lip was half eaten away with syphilis and when I saw that Evita was about to kiss her and tried to stop her, she said to me, ‘Do you know what it will mean when I kiss her?’” Ironically, it was Eva’s charitable foundation that also gave her the polar opposite reputation as cruel and ruthless since companies who did not give to the foundation when asked were often inspected , found in violation of rules and closed down – at least until they decided to give to the foundation. Evita’s reputation as someone to be feared was so great that near the end of her life when it became known that she was ill with what the people were told was “anemia,” some parents feared taking their children to the doctor because they feared their children’s blood would be taken and given to Evita because she needed “young blood.” It’s interesting to see how the same person can be revered as saint by some and hated and feared by so many others.

Most biographies stop at the subject’s death, but here Evita’s death is just as fascinating as her life. There is the hysterical mourning in the country over their “little Madonna.” One psychologist claimed that some of her patients were suffering pangs of guilt because they had feared Evita so much that they had wished her dead. Peron had basically ordered Evita to be mummified and took painstaking steps to preserve her. Even after her passing, Evita was a source of fear. The cult of personality surrounding her was a perceived and possibly very real threat to the new government that took over after the ousting of Peron and her well-preserved, embalmed body would eventually be used as a pawn in a somewhat comical and macabre political chess game.

I appreciated the history lesson in this book and the correct perspective on Evita. Even though the story makes more sense to me now, it certainly is no less fascinating.

Excellent review of {Evita; The real life of Eva Peron} and thank you for the history lesson avidmom.

Are you now done with Eva Peron and Argentina or have more to read?

Thanks baswood. Fraser's book is pretty comprehensive so I think I have most of my questions answered but there is a book, Eva Peron: The Myths of a Woman, and a movie or two that I may get around to reading/watching .... eventually.

Great review and overview, fascinating.

Bas- what would Machiavelli think of this combined mix of love and fear?

Fabulous review of Evita: The Real Life of Eva Peron, avidmom! I'll add it to my wish list.

Dan, I think Machiavelli would have largely approved of Eva Peron and her mastery of realpolitik.

>Thanks dchaikin, kidzdoc, and baswood. I'm glad you've decided to read it kidzdoc. I wish I would have read it before I read her propagandized autobiography; maybe it would have been less migraine-inducing if I knew what I was in for. By the way, Evita by Evita became required reading in secondary schools after her death. Reading both books together was quite an eye-opener.

An epilogue included in the updated 1996 version of Evita: The Real Life of Eva Peron goes into some detail how Evita the musical was brought to the big screen. It took nearly 20 years to complete the project as the script was passed around from company to company, director to director. Candidates considered for the role of Evita at one time or another were: Meryl Streep (with Robert DeNiro as Peron), Elaine Paige (star of the stage version), Liza Minnelli, Diane Keaton (?!?!) and Michelle Pfeiffer. Finally, Madonna was approached and cast for the part. Interesting choice since Evita was termed by many in Argentina as their "little Madonna." I'm no Madonna fan by any stretch of the imagination, but I think she does an excellent job here. I like Antonio Banderas' third-wall breaking musical asides as the cynical Che and the staircase scene with Peron and Eva near the end is quite a tearjerker. The song, "You Must Love Me" featured in the staircase scene was not originally in the musical but is now included in the Broadway revival.

Plans to film Evita in Buenos Aires caused some impassioned controversy among the Argentinians. They felt Madonna was "too pornographic" and the film didn't tell the real story of their beloved Evita. The President gave Oliver Stone the OK and then amidst the people's outcries, changed his mind. Eventually, permission would be given (by the same President) once more and the project allowed to proceed. An Argentine producer announced his more realistic portrayal of Evita: "Evita: The True Story." I would like to see it one of these days even if I do have to read all the subtitles.

"To get out of here, you've got to show your dad you're smarter than he thinks. I believe you can build a rocket. He doesn't. I want you to show him I'm right and he's wrong. Is that too much to ask?"

Rocket Boys by Homer H. Hickam, Jr.


I am a big fan of the movie, October Sky and looked forward to reading the book the movie is based on. As much as I was looking forward to reading Rocket Boys I wasn’t expecting it to be the great read that it turned out to be. I was a captive audience from the first paragraph. Written with a refreshing honesty, Homer Hickam Jr. writes his memoirs of his Rocket Boy days in the tiny coal mining town of Coalwood, West Virginia (population 2,000) with an amazing amount of charm and wit that made this one of those rare books that is hard to put down. Rocket Boys is the the true story of a few native sons who decide, against all odds, to do the impossible: excel in the world of science by teaching themselves how to build rockets.

Space captures the imagination of young Homer when he witnesses the Russian satellite Sputnik from his back yard one starry October night in 1957. Homer suddenly starts envisioning himself as someone who helps build the U.S. rockets that will successfully go into space. His hero becomes German rocket scientist Dr. Wernher von Braun who comes to America to help in the U.S. space program. Homer’s ultimate goal is to work on Dr. Braun’s team at the newly formed NASA. Sophomore Homer wants to start building rockets but he has no idea how. He finds a way, though, by recruiting one of the smartest kids he knows at Big Creek High School and enlisting his friends in his endeavor. Thus the Rocket Boys and the Big Creek Missile Agency (BCMA) is born. The boys spend weekends together learning everything they need to know to get their rockets to fly and gathering the necessary funds it will take to keep their rockets built, fueled, and ready to launch. With the support of their families, each other, the townspeople and a pretty young science teacher who has unwavering faith in them, the Rocket Boys, slowly but surely, enjoy success and fame in their little town. The Rocket Boys’ rockets become quite literally the launching pad out of the dead-end town of Coalwood and into a better future.

Complete with sibling rivalry, unrequited love, a son desperately looking for his father’s approval, and a small group of boys who dare to dream bigger than their background dictates they should, Rocket Boys is a quintessential American coming of age story. A great story wonderfully written and told. In a word: "Prodigious!"

I've also been wanting to read Rocket Boys since seeing the movie, and your review really wants to get it off the wishlist and onto the TBR pile sooner rather than later.

Enjoyed your enthusiastic and excellent review of Rocket Boys

>Thanks bragan & baswood.

Selected this movie as our movie to watch for our traditional family Friday movie/pizza night. I still enjoyed it, but the book IS exponentially better. Of course.

“There seem to be two moons now, the one I see in my back yard and the one I remember from up close. Intellectually, I know they are one and the same but emotionally they are separate entities. The small moon, the one I have known all my life, remains unchanged, except that I now know it is three days away.”




Michael Collins’ memoir, Carrying the Fire: An Astronaut’s Journeys is an incredibly fitting title. Here Mike takes us all the way from his test pilot days to his orbital time in Gemini 10 and then to his piloting of Apollo 11 where his job was to essentially drop the kids (Buzz Aldrin and Neil Armstrong) off on the moon and pick them up later when they were through. Whether he’s writing about his test pilot days, his astronaut training days, or his days on Gemini 10 or Apollo 11, Collins doesn’t spare any details. Sometimes the details are funny (one man wrote a letter to the Apollo 11 crew to watch out for the giant ant hills on the moon – he could tell them where they were – for a fee); sometimes they are crude (how do astronauts do that in space anyway?) and sometimes they are incredibly heartbreaking such as the loss of three astronauts in the on-the-ground fire in Apollo 1. This book is only the second one I’ve read on the space program (the first one being Lost Moon) and I learned a lot from it.

Training to be an astronaut was no easy thing. Up and coming astronauts had to spend 240 hours studying various things such as astronomy, aerodynamics, and flight mechanics. A lot of time was spent studying geology since the astronauts were expected to bring back a pretty sizeable haul of moon rocks. Since it was predicted that if a rocket was going to fall back to Earth it would crash near the equator, the astronauts-in-training had to complete a few days of learning how to survive in the desert and the jungle. Survival training included some classroom time plus a survival manual bible, “Air Force Manual 64-5’s, entitled Survival,” with its sage advice for the new jungle dweller: “ ‘Dangerous beasts – tigers, rhinoceros, elephants – are rarely seen and best left alone.’ I’ll say!”

Not only do we get to fly shot-gun with Mike on his two space flights, he also takes us with him through all those hours upon hours in simulators where he would try to solve every possible scenario the engineers could throw at him. The questions of “what if?” “what do we do if?” and “how do we deal with THAT?” were inexhaustible and it required a gigantic team of all kinds of experts to brainstorm all the contingencies. Bad enough to have to spend so much time getting ready for the space flight itself, but there was PR to tend to as well. A few months before the Apollo 11 flight, an exhausted Collins went straight from simulator exercises to flying himself to some PR event . On the way back home he realizes he has become disoriented: “With a jolt I realized it had been a long day and I was making mistakes no alert air cadet would; this guy who couldn’t tell Washington from Baltimore was within a few months of navigating to the moon and back.” He did manage to successfully navigate back home and then eventually (thankfully!) from Earth to moon and back. He probably occupies a unqiue place in the universe as the one and only person to be separated, quite literally, from the entire world: “… I disappear behind the moon. … I am it. If a count were taken, the score would be three billion plus two over on the other side of the moon, and one plus God only knows what on this side.” I remarked to my son the other day that the closer I got to the end of this book – with the astronauts getting closer and closer to actually landing on the moon - the longer the book seemed to get. That’s when I realized I was having a little-kid-like “Are we there yet?” moment! As far as adventure goes, I don’t think you can beat going to the moon.

Collins would disagree with me. In the new 1989 version there is a new preface written by Collins: "Today I look back on the moon not so much as a place, but a direction.” He talks at some length about his fascination with Mars and his belief that we need to explore it. “… I don’t think we should establish a time-table for Mars, although it seems to me a human landing could come in the first decade of the twenty-first century…." He also takes a moment to address the 1986 Challenger explosion, defend the aerospace industry, and laments the fact that the space program doesn’t enjoy the “spirit, the mood, the vitality of Apollo” that it once had.

I'm really glad to know that you enjoyed Carrying the Fire. I've heard it said that if you're going to read just one astronaut memoir, it should be Collins', and having read a fair few of them now myself, I find I can't disagree. (I'd call Lost Moon another standout, too, for the record.)

Coincidentally, I'm currently reading about about possible schemes for pulling off a Mars mission, but I'm not holding by breath waiting for one to happen.

Excellent review of Carrying the Fire: An Astronauts Journey. If ever I want to read a memoir by an astronaut I will take yours and bragan's advice and read the Michael Collins book.

I've always wondered what it is like for Micheal Collins to be in the CSM as Neil Buzz walked on the moon, but an inside look into NASA during the Apollo missions training would be fasicnating in itself I imagine. I'll keep this one and Lost Moon in mind.

I've got to read Rocket Boys if it's that much better than the movie. I loved October Sky when I 1st saw it.

Very interesting review. My aunt used to work at a NASA base and we got to see some pretty cool things - including some abandoned wind tunnels that were later bought by the Armed Forces. Sometime in the '90s NASA's funding for the wind tunnels was cut and they stopped them right then and there - literally walked into the place, told the workers their jobs were gone, and closed the doors. Tools were still sitting on tables, and a coffeepot was still out (the coffee having long evaporated), and a thick dust permeated the whole place. It was creepy.

>164 Thanks for bringing Carrying the Fire to my attention, bragan. I read Lost Moon years ago & still remember it - especially the "slingshot" method of getting into space. It seemed when I was reading CTF it seemed it took forever to get on the moon, but really it wasn't that long once we really decided to do it. Maybe Mars will be the same way but I'm not holding my breath either.

>165 baswood, I think bragan is right. Collins' book is so detailed that it reads like Astronaut 101. Fortunately, he has a wicked sense of humor so it's never boring and a lot of times laugh out loud funny.

>166 stretch, October Sky is simply a condensed version of the book. For instance, in the movie you would think they started out with their rockets the beginning of their senior year, when actually it took them a good three years (sophomore to senior) to really start seeing a lot of success. One of these days I might get around to reading the rest of Hickam's Coalwood Series. He's an excellent storyteller, IMO.

>167 That's so sad, lilbrattyteen. Back in 1989-90 and quite a few lifetimes ago I dated an aerospace engineer who worked for Rockwell International and I remember him worrying about how long he would have a job there. (Or how long Rockwell itself would be there.) Years later I met a lady who used to work at Rockwell. She was there the day the space shuttle Challenger exploded; that was quite a story!

Thanks for stopping by, everybody!

I could copy Bas's post in #165 and paste it here. Anyway, enjoyed your review.

I'm very glad it caught your attention! It's certainly a book that deserves to be read.

By the way, for anyone who might be looking for it, I'll point out that Lost Moon was also reissued as Apollo 13 when the movie came out, so you might find it under that title, instead.

Just catching up, so going back a bit. Enjoyed all the info on Eva Peron. For a view of her strange "afterlife" you might want to read Santa Evita, a novel based on a lot of research, about her body and its travels.

I confess to being a big Homer Hickam fan too. I saw October Sky and then found the books; a real testament to his determination.

Great review of Carrying the Fire, avidmom!

>169 Thanks dchaikin.

>170 It's certainly a book that deserves to be read. Agreed! I would like to put it in the hands of some of the high school students I work with who complain loudly that their higher level math & science classes are too hard and are useless i.e. "When are we ever gonna use this stuff?!" Here they get to see a real world application of "that stuff".

>171 Santa Evita was one of those books that showed up on the recommendations list for me on LT. Have you read it? By the way, I have another Eva Peron book on my dresser as we speak .... My Peron addiction is getting embarrassing. Oh, well. Fortunately, it is very, very short.

>172 Thanks, kidzdoc!

>173 I read Santa Evita about eighteen months ago, after hearing a repeat of an interview with the author (deceased by then) on CBC radio's Booktime. He told such an interesting story about the background of the book, that I had to track it down. Well worth the read.

I second Sassy's recommendation. The story is fascinating and well-told.

Thanks SassyLassy & deebee, I'll add Santa Evita to my wishlist. Martinez's other books look they're worth a look at as well.

In Dubious Battle centers around two main characters: Jim and Mac. Jim is an embittered young man looking for direction in his life. He finds it as a new convert to “the Party.” Mac, a veteran member of the Party, is Jim’s newly appointed mentor on Jim’s first assignment “in the field.” The assignment (from what I could gather) is to sow the seeds of discord in the large group of farm workers in the Torgas Valley in California. Once Jim and Mac arrive, however, they find that they don’t need to sow any seeds; a seed has already been planted. The workers are already unhappy as there has been an unfair wage cut. Jim and Mac’s job, much of it done behind the scenes, then becomes to “help” organize the strike and keep the workers fired up, well-fed and supplied so they don’t lose heart. On the surface this is a battle between the few “haves” and the majority of the “have nots” but mostly it’s a lesson on group psychology: "Men always like to work together. There’s a hunger in men to work together. … It only takes a little spark to get them going.” and manipulation: ...”Don’t you see? Every man who gave part … felt that the work was his own. They all feel responsible … It’s theirs, because something from them went to it. There’s no better way to make men part of a movement than to have them give something to it. I bet they all feel fine right now.” Mac tells Jim they need to use whatever “material” comes their way to keep the men united but what Mac sees as “material” as a way to further “the cause” is pretty eerie. Mac comes off as a very simple-natured creature but his know-how on how to manipulate a large group and how large groups are manipulated is downright creepy.

In Dubious Battle is gritty, raw, and violent. According to the introduction written by Warren French In Dubious Battle was considered Steinbeck’s first major novel, although it was the fifth one of his that was published. Its success even took Steinbeck aback: “… Steinbeck was surprised that this novel, which he thought most readers would find objectionably grim and controversial, reached the best-seller lists. It also received surprisingly few hostile reviews from critics on either the political right or left.” Steinbeck doesn’t seem to be advocating one side over another here, he is simply using the conflict as a vehicle to do one of the things he does so well: explore the human psyche.

Back to the Steinbeck I see and you have unearthed a goody here, excellent review.

Thanks baswood. IDB was the September pick for the Steinbeckathon. It is a small but powerful story.

I wasn’t planning on reading this book. As a matter of fact, I had a little argument with myself in the library (enough Eva Peron already!) over whether or not I should check it out. I guess I lost (or won – depending on how I choose to look at it) because I did check it out and read it. It’s an incredibly short book coming in at a little more than 100 pages total. Not a big reading commitment, but glad I had it while I sat for a few hours at the DMV waiting for my son to take his written driving test a few days ago. (Big fun!) This book is supposedly Evita’s supplement to her autobiography, Evita by Evita. This small book was dictated to her aides while she was in the final throws of her losing battle with uterine cancer. A dying Evita pulls no stops and vehemently criticizes certain anti-Peronist factions of the military (who had already attempted a failed coup) and certain clerics who had risen to the top in the Church and then subsequently sided with the evil oligarchy. It seems more of the same of what her propagandized autobiography was, but with the criticisms of the Church and the military thrown in for good measure. What I was most interested in here was the introduction by Joseph Page, a professor at Georgetown University. There wasn’t much in Page’s introduction that I haven’t already learned as he referenced the Fraser biography and Eva’s autobiography quite a bit. One new thing I did learn was the myth of “Evita the Nazi.” The rumor being that Nazi officers looking for a way out during the last days of WWII and afterwards would get in submarines bound for Argentina where they would bestow the great Evita with jewels, gold and other treasure in exchange for passports, etc. The authenticity of Evita’s last words came under scrutiny. Her sisters denied Evita ever wrote (or dictated) it and the manuscript didn't come to light until 1987. Page deals with this quite a bit in his introduction contending that Evita’s sisters, as faithful members of the Church, may have wished to distance themselves and Evita from the unkind words Eva said had to say about it. At the end of the book is an interview with one of Evita’s aides, a man in his 70s when interviewed in the early 90s, who said Evita did indeed dictate to him- if not alll but certainly many - of the pages that would become In My Own Words. What struck me is the man’s emotional state when remembering Evita all these years later – he broke down in tears and said “She was a blessing for Argentina.”

Eva Peron sounds more and more interesting. Praying your son has safe driving experiences!

Terrific review of In Dubious Battle, a book I'll keep in mind. and more Evita, always interesting. I don't think you had a chance in the library argument - the losing side, I mean.

Hello avidmom, just paying you a return visit! I LOVED your review of Don Quixote, which I, too, have been meaning to tackle for longer than I care to remember.

I started Santa Evita a few months ago - didn't finish it purely because we moved house and it disappeared into a box, but what I did read was worth recommending. Your thread's reminded me to pick it up again.

>181 Thanks lilbrattyteen. This will be my first time around as "driving instructor." He and I are going to need all the help and prayers we can get!!

>182 Thanks dchaikin. I would definitely recommend In Dubious Battle. You're right. I never had a chance of winning the argument. LOL! Fortunately, the school I work at is located right next door to a branch of the county library. Makes my life easy.

>183 Thanks for stopping by rachbxl. Don Quixote is a wonderful book; I'm glad I finally got up the courage to read it. It was a surprisingly easy and fun read despite its length. I have read some good reviews on Santa Evita and on the author's other books as well.

Thank you for the review of In Dubious Battle - it sounds interesting, and yet another one of his I've somehow overlooked.

Thanks lbjwell. In Dubious Battle is quite an interesting story - not one I'll forget. If it wasn't for the Steinbeckathon I probably would never have known it existed!

O lantern bye-bye-bye
If you throw a stone at it, your hand withers away
O lantern bye-bye-bye
If you throw a stone at it, your hand withers away




Set in the 17th century during the Japanese prohibition and persecution of Christianity, Silence focuses on the story of one priest’s journey into the “swamp of Japan” where the Church is forced underground. If caught, the Christian faithful would be subject to the cruelest forms of torture. The only way to avoid such a cruel fate would be to apostatize by stepping on the fumie, a sacred image. Word has reached Father Rodrigues and his companions in their native Portugal that their teacher and spiritual mentor, Father Ferreira, has apostatized in this way. Rodrigues and his companions cannot believe that their beloved mentor would be capable of such a thing so they decide to set sail to Japan where they hope to tend to the faithful underground flock there and, moreover, locate Father Ferreira.

During their long and difficult journey, Rodrigues and his fellow companion and priest, Father Garrpe, meet a rather odd Japanese native, Kichijiro, who pointedly asks Father Rodrigues about the interminable persecution of the Japanese believers:

“’Father,’” he had said, “ ‘What evil have we done?’

I suppose I should simply cast from my mind these meaningless words of the coward; yet why does his plaintive voice pierce my breast with all the pain of a sharp needle? Why has our Lord imposed this torture and this persecution on poor Japanese peasants? No, Kichijiro was trying to express something different, something even more sickening. The silence of God. Already twenty years have passed since the persecution broke out …. in the face of this terrible and merciless sacrifice offered up to Him, God has remained silent.”

Fathers Rodrigues and Garrpe eventually come to a small village in Japan where they meet and minister to a small group of faithful believers. The priests are hidden by the crypto-Christians but eventually are forced to separate and flee from the authorities. Betrayed in the same way Jesus was, Rodrigues is captured and imprisoned. Until now the story is told to us in first person, but now, with his capture, Rodrigues himself falls silent as the narrative switches from first person to third. We are now witness to a Passion Play of sorts with Father Rodrigues in the center: “His thoughts turned to the fire-lit garden and the servants; the figures of those men holding black flaming torches and utterly indifferent to the fate of one man. These guards, too, were men. They were indifferent to the fate of others. This was the feeling that their laughing and talking stirred up in his heart. Sin, he reflected, is not what it is usually thought to be; it is not to steal and tell lies. Sin is for one man to walk brutally over the life of another and to be quite oblivious of the wounds he has left behind.”

Father Rodrigues will be presented with the ultimate choice. No matter what choice he makes, Rodrigues knows it will carry consequences not only for himself but for others as well. Right and wrong and faith and doubt are blurred in this story. Even the silence of God that Rodrigues rails against has been blurred: “But now there arose up within my heart quite suddenly the sound of the roaring sea as it would ring in my ears …The sound of those waves that echoed in the dark like a muffled drum; … And like the sea God was silent. His silence continued.”

This is the first book I’ve read by this author and it is considered his masterpiece. I can understand why. The story is simple, yet incredibly complex and thought provoking. The writing has a lyrical rhythm to it and the switch from first person to third person upon Rodrigues' capture, IMO, was an artistic stroke of genius. Endo was not the first author to do this, of course, but here it has a profound effect. Endo's ability to draw numerous parallels between the Gospel story of Jesus and Rodrigues’ story, sometimes obviously, sometimes less so, is uncanny. My one tiny (very tiny) complaint is that there are some Latin phrases sprinkled throughout the book which I did not know. I am grateful to whoever had this book before me as they wrote the translation to most of these above the text.

Silence is a poignant and beautifully written story; one I would highly recommend. I plan on reading more of this author's work.

Ms. Mom, you have stumbled on one of my favorite books ever. I got a copy from my youth minister when I was confirmed Episcopalian. I intend to read it again for the Shusaku Endo author theme read in the Reading Globally group.

One thing I remember about the book was Kichijiro's cowardice and how that gives away the priests to be martyred. If Christ is open to all, then should some be excluded for the safety of the community? Can God work through a faulty vessel who harms those who work for God? All these questions open up in the context of martyrdom that I can't begin to comprehend the answers to.

What a blessing that you read this!

Good review of Silence avidmom

Excellent review of Silence, avidmom.

>188 lilbrattyteen Silence is a beautiful book and probably will end up being one of my all-time favorites as well - one of those stories I could sit back and pick apart forever. I will buy my own copy (and a few more to give away) and re-read it - probably more than once. So many questions are brought up in Endo's book. If Christ is open to all, then should some be excluded for the safety of the community? Isn't that the problem Saul had after his road to Damascus experience? The apostles were not too trusting at first and could you blame 'em?!?! But then look who Paul turned out to be! Can God work through a faulty vessel who harms those who work for God? I've often felt sorry for the suicidal Judas and have wondered what would have happened to him if he hadn't ended his life and stuck around to meet with a resurrected Jesus - would he have become another Paul or Peter?

One of the things I loved most about this book is the co-existence of faith and doubt. If we believe something without questioning it, I don't think we're believing, we're following blindly. Isn't faith having all the questions and believing anyway? (Kind of like courage isn't the absence of fear, but it's having the fear and moving forward in spite of it.)

>189, 190 Thanks baswood & Linda92007! A few other people here on Club Read have read and reviewed it well but it was kidzdoc's excellent and thorough review that gave me the incentive to finally read it.

Tortilla Flat

“Anything that just costs money is cheap.”
― John Steinbeck

A man does not need money to get what he needs or wants in Tortilla Flat. Everything - from jugs of wine to the amorous affections of some of the local women - can be bartered for, begged for, shared, and borrowed. But now a wonderful and terrible thing has happened. Young Danny, unfettered by such soul-sucking things like possessions, money and a roof, has come into property. His grandfather, that viejo, has died and bequeathed to Danny, his favorite grandson – his only grandson – not one, but two houses in Tortilla Flat in Monterey. What was his abuelo thinking to burden poor Danny with such responsibilities? Danny gets used to having a roof over his head and his friends, those noble – and until now – homeless - paisanos, Pilon, Pablo, Jesus Maria, all eventually come to share Danny’s roof. They even decide that the Pirate, with his suspected hidden treasure and his ability to garner food, is also in need of Danny’s roof and their watchful eye. The Pirate’s five dogs, his fiercely loyal canines, are welcome guests too as long as they stay in their corner. This unusual family of paisanos is happy now. Adventures are embarked upon – individually and as a group. This rag-tag group of paisanos is living the life! For what does one need for happiness in Tortilla Flat but a jug of wine drunk from fruit jar glasses, a warm fire in the stove, and the lively conversations of one’s friends at day's end? The only thing needed to elevate a pleasant evening such as this to a truly great and memorable one is a nice, lively fight (after all, what is a nice little brawl between friends?). And Danny. The paisanos need Danny. It’s a shame that Danny does not know this.

Tortilla Flat has the wonderful Steinbeck humor I love. It is full of his astute and satirical observations: “Two gallons is a great deal of wine, even for two paisanos. Spiritually, the jugs may be graduated thus: Just below the shoulder of the first bottle, serious and concentrated conversation. … A thumb every other song each one knows. The graduations stop here, for the trail splits and there is no certainty. From this point on anything can happen.” In my opinion, not quite as funny as Cannery Row or Sweet Thursday, but it certainly has its moments. I loved the way the simple-minded and sweet Pirate outsmarts his paisano amigos with his – well - simple- mindedness. The story of the Pirate and his homage to St. Francisco – by both him and his fiercely loyal and, as fate would have it, spiritually devout, dogs - was the highlight of the story for me and worth the price of admission.

Recommended.
3 1/2 Stars

> 191

In his A Life of Jesus, Endo actually speculates that Judas understood Jesus' true nature before the other disciples did. The others didn't get it until after the resurrection - then all of Jesus' stuff about the Messiah dying made sense. Somehow Judas seeing Jesus' death made him understand what a special, divine being Jesus truly was. And he felt Jesus' passion, because he could see that he would be despised for generations to come for his betrayal of Christ. But he was also too cowardly once he realized what he had done and how special Jesus was, so he killed himself.

Judas understood Jesus' true nature before the other disciples did.
That's certainly a different way to look at things! A Life of Jesus is also on my ever-growing wishlist. I remember reading your review of it a while ago & then went off and read a sample of the book on amazon.com.

Excellent review of Tortilla Flat

Our book club decided to read two American novelists this month - I wish they had chosen Steinbeck.

baswood, What other American novelist did they choose? Hopefully whoever they chose is more to your liking than James Burke.

ETA: Thank you for your kind words. Tortilla Flat is another fun offering from Steinbeck.

Terrific reviews of Silence (CR loves Endo....) and Tortilla Flat.

They chose The Innocents abroad by Mark Twain, which was much more to my liking.

> Thanks dchaikin. I guess I'll have to include myself in CR's Endo fan club.

> OH, good Mark Twain! My Mark Twain reading started with The Diaries of Adam and Eve when I was in junior high. I grew up in Illinois and my aunt and uncle took me with them once when they went to Hannibal, Mo. (just an hour or two car trip from where we were). Twain's hometown (nice little tourist trap).

> 198 baswood, It was a long, long time ago but I have fond memories of our little day trip to Hannibal, Mo.


(the house on the right is Twain's boyhood home)

Ms. Mom, was The Diaries of Adam and Eve good? It was on my list for my Biblical fiction kick.

>lilbrattyteen, The Diaries of Adam and Eve is funny and has one of the best ending sentences I've ever read.

ETA: The version I read was out of this book, one of those Scholastic books I bought through school. The fact that this book and I have stayed together all these years is nothing short of a small miracle!

Great picture avidmom

>203 Thanks baswood.

>199 The uncle I spoke of here passed away this morning so glad I had an excuse to reminisce about that little trip here.

I'm so sorry Ms. Mom. I hope you had the opportunity to say goodbye.

>205 Thanks libraryteen. Nope. I'm too far away for that. My aunt got to say her goodbyes though and that makes me happy. I would like to be there for the funeral tomorrow - for my aunt's sake - but that's also an impossibility. More worried about my aunt; he was the love of her life (she told me she fell in love with him at first sight). They were married for a long time and doted on each other to the point of insanity; it was funny (and sweet).

My mother's a nice lady. I've known her all my life. A few weekends ago we celebrated her birthday. We gave her this:
Singing' in the Rain is one of her favorite movies. (Mine too. Funny how that worked out.) Last year I read Gene Kelly, Kelly's biography. Included in the book are quite a few interviews and quotes from Gene himself. There was some Singin' in the Rain movie trivia included that I thought was fun:

Donald O'Connor needed a doctor & a week to recuperate after doing this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QTkKLWW_myw

Gene Kelly was worried that he would catch pneumonia while shooting this scene; he had a fever of 103.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D1ZYhVpdXbQ

And here Cyd Charisse, a giant scarf (50 feet!) and some airplane motors make some Kelly magic:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rc16m2B2K1g
I have two questions: How does she do that? and Where is that scarf (veil) now?

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This, I think, is the book to read for anyone interested in Gene Kelly and/or Hollywood during that time period. Hirschhorn writes with a lot of respect for his subject, but still exposes Kelly - warts and all - to the reader. One of the best stories in the book (IMO) was when Gene Kelly talked about he and his family being in London for the Coronation of Queen Elizabeth. The crowds had gathered outside in the cold and drizzly weather and it seemed to be getting colder and drizzly-er and rain- ier by the minute. There was a man on a PA system informing the crowd. When he saw the crowd starting to get a little impatient and frazzled because of the weather, he said: "Please join me in singing Gene Kelly's "Singin' in the Rain." (Kelly was part of the crowd; the announcer didn't know he was there.) When everyone started singing; Gene was astonished. They knew all the words! Kelly said it was the most awarding moment of his life: better than any award he had won up to that point or ever would win in the future. I always like it when I read an autobiography or biography and find myself learning about things I wasn't expecting to (in this case the intricacies of filming dance for the big screen; the behind-the-scenes business of Hollywood then). What makes it even better for me is when someone is represented, flaws and all, and I find myself admiring them even more than when I started. Gene Kelly was a class act!

Back to that birthday bash:
This is another of my mother's favorites so we watched it with her as well:

My sci-fi fan mother and I drove to the nearby drive-in when I was *ahem* much younger and saw this when it first came out. Loved it then but wondered if I would still - all these years later. And yep. Still love it. The ending is fantastic but it does tick me off a little - Richard Dreyfuss' character is the ultimate deadbeat dad.

My youngest calls this the "mashed potatoe" movie.

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We also found this for Grandma (or "Double Mom" as my youngest calls her). She's always loved this album but only had a cassette copy which she lost. I saw this and couldn't pass it up.


The Rhythm of the Saints by Paul Simon
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9HKNAhAxMAk

re: 209: It is an amazing movie, even now. It's one I saw multiple times in the theaters back in the day, and will still sit and watch when it comes on TV.

I often think about my mother's saying what she loves so much about Close Encounters is how it is rare in that humans act positively in the face of the alien encounter - there isn't the usual government agency or suspicious mob out to capture and lock up, dissect or eliminate them. Instead, everyone - from everyman to researcher/scientist to government agent - is curious and interested, wants to communicate and learn.

At first, I just thought it was a great movie, but over the years, whenever I watch this or other sci-fi, that's what comes back to me. Close Encounters is as much a measure of us and our humanity, and for once we come out behaving responsibly and looking OK.

I agree with "Double Mom" that "The Rhythm of the Saints" is a great album.

>210 Agreed. The lack of humans acting violently is what sets the movie apart. It is a sci-fi classic.

>211 I couldn't disagree with either you or "Double Mom" on that!

So, last Saturday my youngest and I hit the "$2 a bag used book sale" at my favorite local library. The library itself is not very big so the sale was going on in the used book room, the conference room, and outside in the parking lot. There's no rhyme or reason to $2 a bag book shopping. Just a lot of meandering and grabbing whatever strikes your fancy at the moment. I ended up with (listed randomly in the order they're getting pulled out of fancy used plastic grocery bag):

MY BAG:
Chicken Soup for the Teenage Soul on Tough Stuff - I have a teenager who's going through some tough times. Ironically, I'll probably read the book and he won't. Oh, well.

Get Out of That Pit by Beth Moore - been interested in this one for a while. I tend to dig a pit for myself and then struggle to get out. (Note to self: don't dig the pit in the first place. duh) Will probably pass this on to bestie after I read it.

Finding Moon byTony Hillerman. Coyote Waits was a book club pick a few years ago and I really liked this author. This is not one of his Navajo mysteries; the story starts in the States but most of the action is set in Southeast Asia. The story looked very interesting. (Also,I liked the picture on the cover.)

The Autobiography of Malcom X. I was probably most excited about finding this one.

One Fine Day The Rabbi Bought a Cross by Harry Kemelman. The title grabbed me here. And then I remembered there's another "Rabbi Small" mystery residing on the bookshelves here. Maybe one day I'll read it ... and this one too.

The Summons by John Grisham. There was quite a few Grisham paperbacks up for grabs at the sale. I've seen a few movies based on Grisham novels but have never read a Grisham novel. The Summons was the story that interested me the most.

Vienna Prelude by Bodie Thoene. Historical WWII fiction with a Christian bent. My aunt recommended the Thoenes to me. They are a husband and wife writing team. She does the creative writing part; he does the historical research (he holds degrees in history and education). I've only read one book by them, Shiloh Autumn, a book in their Shiloh Legacy Series. Shiloh Autumn remains one of my favorite books. Thoene books are considered Christian fiction but IMO, they're not preachy or sugary.
*************************************************​
MATT'S BAG:
Seven Dials by Anne Perry
The Innocent by Harlan Coben
Rage by Jonathan Kellerman
Cat's Prey by Dorothy Eden
Blinded by Stephen White
The Bacon Fancier by Alan Isler

I think he picked out some really good ones here. The Innocent and The Bacon Fancier are already on my wishlist.

That's 13 books for $4.00 - so about $.30 a piece!

Our trip to the book sale was also a great excuse to go and say goodbye to my favorite librarian who retired this week.

I'm amazed at your restraint! Only seven books!

Given the nature of adolescence, the Chicken Soup for the Teenage Soul must be the longest one in existence. Because God knows they need it the most...

>214 Fancy used plastic grocery bags can only hold so much. If only I had had a bigger bag ..... and more change at the bottom of my purse. Yep. That Chicken Soup for the Teenage Soul is pretty big!

Baswood had written an excellent review of Patrick White’s The Solid Mandala on his thread here and I became interested in this Australian author who I had never heard of. So when basswood asked if anyone would be interested in a group read of The Vivisector I couldn’t say no. A very inexpensive copy of the book was bought and I was introduced to this brilliant author.

There were a few things about The Vivisector that made it a bit of a challenge for me to get through. It is a bit lengthy (my copy is over 500 pages) and it is by no means lighthearted, easy reading - that’s not to say it is not entertaining or devoid of humor. White’s writing style is unique and I had to get used to his rhythm (and I also had to look up words unfamiliar to me – like “jackaroo”), but once I got acquainted with his style I found myself engrossed with the life story of artistic genius Hurtle.

White does an excellent, and somewhat eerie, job of letting us live inside the mind of the artist. Even at a very young age everything – from the physical world to the world of relationships – is filtered through Hurtle’s artistic mental filter; he sees things differently than most. Without his art it seems Hurtle would simply cease to be. But is Hurtle’s artistic genius a gift or a curse? And who, really is the Vivisector here? Hurtle writes, “God the Great Artist, the Great Vivisector” – so had God gifted or cursed Hurtle with the ability to see things differently than everyone else? Is Hurtle a tool in Vivisectionist God’s hand or is Hurtle the Vivisector? Hurtle’s doomed romantic partners are subjected to his artistic knife and are fodder for his art. Or is it Hurtle himself who is being subjected to some kind of cosmic vivisection? It seems everyone wants a deeper relationship with Hurtle – to understand him; a virtual impossibility as Hurtle lives on another plane of existence. The only people in Hurtle’s life who seem to be able to handle Hurtle’s obsession, and thereby are not injured by it, are his deformed sister Rhoda and the young pianist Kathy, gifted with her own musical obsession.

Quite an interesting, profoundly layered and thought provoking read that goes beyond mere entertainment.

Great review of The Vivisector So glad you enjoyed it. You are so right about his unique writing style; it's a matter of getting your ear re-tuned to pick up on some of the complex thoughts going on.

Thanks so much for stopping by my thread to help celebrate my reunion with the modern world post-Sandy! It's good to see you there.

Great review of The Vivisector, avidmom; I'm sorry that I wasn't able to get to it last month, due to my ongoing book slump.

I agree - Great review of The Vivisector, avidmom. I am apparently going to be the last one to finish in the group read, as I am about two-thirds of the way through. Too many distractions are causing me to fall behind in my reading!

Linda, I think you might still pip me to the post... ;)

Excellent review, avidmom. I'm finally far enough into the book now to start reading the reviews you LTers have been posting, without feeling that it might spoil the suspense.

>217 Thanks baswood. The Vivisector is pretty complex! I think it's the most "literary" book I've read this year.

>218 Hope you stay part of the 21st century, Richard!

>219 kidzdoc, I don't think you'd want to tackle The Vivisector during a "book slump" as it requires 100% of your attention (at least that was my experience with it).

>220 & 221 Linda & dmsteyn, I am looking forward to your comments on The Vivisector.

Today, November 8, is Bram Stoker's birthday :)

http://www.forbes.com/sites/carolpinchefsky/2012/11/08/5-fun-facts-about-bram-st...

Vincent Price Triple Feature Gift Box (The Raven, The Pit and the Pendulum, Tales of Terror) (1974)

Both my kids said that this year, to make Halloween truly great, we needed to add horror movies to our Halloween celebration. Horror movies are not my thing at all; I get scared and grossed out too easily so if anybody around here wants to watch one, they do it without me! My kids said I'd just have to "get over it!" and watch a "real" horror flick with them (I guess Zombieland doesn't count). Mr. Youngest, the Halloween junkie around here, and I ended up at one of those big chain stores last week on the Eve of Halloween buying last-minute bags of candy (because the candy we had bought a week or two earlier had mysteriously disappeared) and looking for some kind of horror movie we could buy on the cheap. There was quite a selection but to his great credit, when given the choice of all that was available, he chose this inexpensive triple feature of movies based on Edgar Allan Poe stories with Vincent Price in the starring roles. He said it was a "no brainer": he loves Edgar Allan Poe and Vincent Price. (Or maybe he just had a moment of compassion for his wimpy mama and chose something he thought she could handle.) Either way, it was a proud moment for me. :)

The three low budget, classy and somewhat creepy films here are: The Pit and the Pendulum, The Raven, and "Tales of Terror" which is three short stories (Morella, The Black Cat, and The Case of M. Valdemar). So far we have watched The Pit and the Pendulum and The Raven. Everybody here liked The Pit and the Pendulum but Price's acting ability, IMO, is light years ahead of his costars here. The Raven is a treasure because not only do we get Vincent Price, but Peter Lorre and Boris Karloff to boot! (I kept expecting Karloff to start singing "You're a mean one, Mr. Grinch..."). I was surprised at how funny The Raven is and was even more surprised when my suspicions were confirmed that that really was a very young Jack Nicholson playing Peter Lorre's son!

Recommended for fans of classy low budget films, Edgar Allan Poe and Vincent Price.

The worst movie I've ever seen all the way through was The Abominable Dr. Phibes starring Le Price.

LOVED The Raven when I last saw it a few years back! Classy and campy and fun.

*************************************************​
Decisions. Decisions. Decisions.
My mother used to have a large book of Charles Addams cartoons; this was always one of my faves.

>225 Campy! That's the word I was looking for! Thank you, Richard.
As much as I like Vincent Price, I haven't seen that many of his movies, truth be told, and "Dr. Phibes" is one of 'em. I'll have to fix that.

Just sent the Poe cartoon to some friends. Brilliant!

>226 LOL!

"Every time I work with a horse – or a person – that’s troubled or scared, I think of how the problems and solutions relate to a human’s life, including my own. There are so many lessons, but it’s important to remember that they’re not all hard lessons and they’re not all unpleasant to learn.”

"As long as I live and can swing a leg over, the horse has a friend who'll fight for him."


The Faraway Horses by Buck Brannaman
(*I love this picture - it says it all.)

A few months ago I stumbled across the documentary Buck. It certainly was fascinating to watch this soft spoken unassuming man in a cowboy hat get these horses to almost seemingly bend to his will at his horse clinics that he conducts across the country. Most people might not know who Buck Brannaman is, but I’m sure most will remember the novel by Nicholas Evans and the subsequent movie, The Horse Whisperer starring Robert Redford. Evans interviewed and then loosely based the main character in that story on Brannman. Long before he got the call from Evans, Brannaman had been helping “horses with people problems” at his clinics. I wanted to know more about him and how he became a “horse whisperer” and the reasoning behind his actions with the horses so I was happy to find he had written a few books. The Faraway Horses is equal parts horse and people psychology and Brannaman’s autobiography.

As unassuming as Buck is, he has had a few brushes with fame. He and his brother were professional trick ropers as little kids and were cast as the “Sugar Pop Kids” in a national commercial back in the early 70s. As an adult, Brannaman would be a part of Montana’s Friendship Force and travel to Europe where he would entertain international audiences with his trick roping skills. He also, for a very brief time, played polo down in Florida which led to his introduction to Prince Charles. It sounds like an ideal life, but it certainly didn’t start out that way. Buck talks rather candidly and openly about his early life at the hands of his very abusive father - abuse which ratcheted up even more after the death of the boys’ mother. The boys were subjected to their father’s incredibly erratic and abusive behavior. Fortunately, some concerned people intervened and removed the boys from their father’s custody and Buck and his brother “Smokie” were adopted by the Shirleys, a foster couple who had raised 17 foster boys on their ranch (Buck and Smokie being the last two). There was an evening at his new home when everyone was simply visiting and watching television in the living room - nothing special going on here. It was a special one for Buck, though, who was around 12 at the time: “I was so exhausted I lay down on an old knotty pine bench and used a stack of Navajo blankets as a pillow….I closed my eyes and felt for the first time in a long time that I wasn’t going to be hurt. No matter how uncomfortable that little bench was, I felt at peace. No one was going to stumble into my room drunk and holler at me, or make me get out of bed and sit at the dining room table in my underwear and listen to ranting and raving all night long. …. It was a very special night, and I carry it with me to this day."Buck’s experience with abuse in his personal life would color the way he would work with horses later.

Buck has been around horses his whole life but it wasn’t until he was a young man that he would become a student of Ray Hunt, Bill and Tom Dorrance. Before a horse can really be taught, the groundwork between horse and owner needs to be laid – the horse needs to trust its owner. One horse, in particular, “Bif,” a troubled and dangerous horse would become very important to Brannaman. “The horse had a head that only a mother could love, and then only with a little effort. I could see he was pretty troubled and pretty scared. And I knew the reason why.” From here Brannaman talks about the way this poor horse had been “trained” before he bought him for “canner price” – the price that would be paid for the horse to be turned into dog food. Buck managed, after a lot of work on his part, to gain Bif’s trust and was able to work with him to the point that Bif would travel with Buck to the clinics. “… he’s so gentle you’d never know that he had the kind of past he had. … I’ll never be able to repay Bif for what he’s taught me about working with horses. He represents a lot of horses and people, too, who simply got a bad deal at the start. He proves to me that you don’t give up, and that even if you’re going through something that makes you think your life is over, you can still have a future.”

The last chapter of the book deals with his work on the movie The Horse Whisperer. He was called in to consult on the film and actually ended up being a body double for Redford. This is the chapter where he talks about “laying down a horse.” “A really troubled or terrified horse is pretty much convinced that the human is a predator. … When the horse lies down and finds that your response is different from what he expected, you have an opportunity to bond that you never could have gotten any other way.”

Every once in a while Buck lets his dry sense of humor out to play. There were a few occasions when a two-legged critter who was out to take advantage of him or who had disrespected him in some way and he would take some kind of (harmless, of course) action and say: “that was my way of telling him to go to hell.” One of the reasons I wanted to read Brannaman’s story was that I wanted to know “why he does what he does.” And my question was answered: “… The Horse Whisperer wasn’t about teaching people how to work with horses. It was a love story. My own story is about horses, and I guess it’s a love story, too. I do the things I do when I work with horses because I just plain love them.”

A delightful collection of Poe stories that my son checked out of the Teen Section of our city library. Included here are: "The Spectacles," "The Oblong Box," "The Premature Burial," "The Oval Portrait," "Morella," "Shadow - A Parable," and "The Sphinx." This skinny little book is only 89 pages long so IMO, the stories here don't qualify as "short stories" so much as "mini stories." Wonderful little Poe appetizers that make you hungry for more. Delicious.

Batman: The Killing Joke. The Deluxe Edition

How did this happen?!?!

My son wanted to read this book - a Batman comic of all things - so I requested it at our local library. He read it and then asked me to read it. So I did. I was impressed. First of all, this doesn't seem to be a typical comic book. It's written by Alan Moore of V for Vendetta fame and illustrated by Brian Bolland. The illustrations here are gorgeous - it's a beautiful book (even if a few of the images are disturbing). The stories here are dark and creepy (hey, it's Batman!) - not the kind of comic book you'd want your grade school kid to read. This is not the kind of thing I'd normally read, obviously, and it certainly didn't require a lot of my time, but like I said before, I was impressed by it. Makes me want to get around to reading Alan Moore's V for Vendetta sooner rather than later. Tim Burton says "It's the first comic I've ever loved."

Well, that's interesting! The things our kids get us to read, huh! Sometimes it's good for us to explore new horizons.

Enjoyed your excellent review of The Faraway horses

I've taken some stabs at graphic novels, hoping to have your Damascene Conversion moment. So far no luck. :-/

>228, 229 That cartoon is from this book Favorite Haunts by Charles Addams. Lots and lots of funny stuff in there.

>233 Thanks for stopping by, Nickelini! My kids have also introduced me to movies I probably would never have seen without them, most notably Zombieland and Scott Pilgrim vs. The World. Both of those were movies I was sure I would not like at all - but I ended up liking both just as much as them.

>234 Thanks baswood. I'm glad I read The Faraway Horses now - it'll make a great Christmas gift for a few horse people I know.

>235 Richard, I'm not sure I'd consider Batman: The Killing Joke a graphic novel as much as a comic book on steroids! To tackle a whole graphic novel, though, well, I'm working up to it. V for Vendetta has been on my wishlist for quite a while and still haven't gone there yet.

Enjoyed your review of the horse book. Some people just have a way with animals. Cats seem to gravitate toward me, but not half as much as they do toward my aunt. However, I could get never get reptiles, unlike my brother who constantly dotes on his turtles.

Some people just have a way with animals.

I think it's a gift but I also think it takes some work, study and experience. My dad could actually get his last horse, "Jack," to heel (reins free) - just like a dog! But I never saw any of his earlier horses do that.

my brother who constantly dotes on his turtles.
I love turtles but couldn't see having one (small or big) as a pet.

Once, while looking out our big picture window, thought I saw a huge rock in the middle of the road in front of our house - (we live on a fairly quiet cul-de-sac). I couldn't figure out where that large rock came from but it sure didn't belong in the middle of the road. Just about the time I had decided to go out and get it, that "rock" started to move. It was a desert tortoise - obviously someone's pet. That thing moved all the way to our front door. We looked out the peep-hole to see it chomping away at some grass that was hanging out one side of its mouth. (Maybe it thought it had made its way home and was waiting for somebody to let it in?) My little guy (he was about 5 at the time) looked at it and said "Don't open the door, Mom! Look at those big teeth." The tortoise, after it spent some time exploring our front yard, was claimed by its rightful owner soon enough - but I don't trust big rocks now.

Now cats, I've had my fair share of those!
And I've never mistaken one for a rock. :)

Catching up... for about two weeks. Your review of The Faraway Horses is fantastic. Congrats on reading The Vivisector, another great review.

>239 Thanks dchaikin!

It would be hard to mistake a cat for a rock. However I have an old comic book detailing how cats sitting down in their front-paws-curled-in position look like meatloafs from behind. I've also had some cats who were so lazy they seemed more like taxidermied statues.

That's hilarious!

I've made the stuffing. I've prepped the brussels sprouts with apples. I've got the noxious bird-meat brining in my own souped-up whiskey brine mixture. Yam nastiness baking now. Must roast the sprouts, some white potatoes with garlic, oil and rosemary, and birdie. Sweet potato pie, pecan pie, southern mincemeat pie, and apple pie all done. Life is good, but my knees and feet are killin' me! Happy holiday for you and all those you love.

Thank you, Richard. Happy Thanksgiving to you too!

Happy Thanksgiving Ms. Mom!

I don't know if I said this already, but congrats on the coding certificate. I had an aunt who did that; by the end of the career it was no fun because they had her working from home but still chained to a computer. Blegh.

I like the Steinbeck reads. There's definitely value in reading all/most of the works by one author. I intend to hit Shusaku Endo over winter break.

Happy Thanksgiving to you too lilbrattyteen!

And thanks for the belated congrats on my certificate! A lot of people get into coding so they can work at home. (Not an option given to beginners usually.) "Chained to a computer." Yep. Sounds about right. One of the guys who graduated from my class works at a hospital. He has one computer with two monitors. Holy smokes!!!! I'm not working "in the field" yet so I haven't faced that one!

I'd like to read Endo's Life of Jesus soon. (By the way, I wonder when Scorcese's movie version of Silence will be coming.)

Reading all of Steinbeck would be quite a project! He was a pretty prolific writer.

Soldier Dogs by Maria Goodavage


Maria Goodavage was a guest on The Daily Show (http://www.thedailyshow.com/watch/tue-march-27-2012/maria-goodavage) a while back promoting this book and I had been intending to read it for a long time but was afraid it was going to be a real tearjerker. I expected tale after tale (or should I say tail after tail) of heartwarming and heartbreaking stories of what Goodavage calls “Soldier Dogs.” Stories like that are in here (and having a few Kleenex handy is a good idea, trust me) but more than that Soldier Dogs is a comprehensive look into this whole other world inside the military: the world of the training of the troops and their “soldier dogs.”

Dogs in the military are nothing new and Goodavage writes briefly about the history of dogs in the American military. The most famous military dog can be seen at the Smithsonian in all his taxidermied glory. Sargeant Stubby is the most decorated “soldier dog” but he wasn’t trained to be a soldier; Stubby was an adopted stray whose owner refused to leave him behind when he was shipped overseas. It turned out to be a good thing: Stubby was able to warn the sleeping soldiers of an impending mustard gas attack and also turned out to be a great guard dog. Stubby was serendipitously snuck into the military but now the dogs are bought (mostly in Europe for reasons Goodavage explains in the book) and brought back Stateside for intensive training and turned into “soldiers.”

Military working dogs (MWDs) are trained to do a variety of tasks: patrol (i.e. guard), sniff out drugs, track down people. The list goes on. One of the most important jobs now in the war in Afghanistan is to detect “IEDs” (improvised explosive devices). MWDs and their handlers are out front to find these deadly devices when out in the field. It’s impossible to estimate how many lives have been saved due to these MWDs. These dogs do all this for a nice pat on the nose, lots of praise and Kong toys or a tennis ball. They do it for the simple doggie joy of pleasing the human half of their dog team. I guess some people would be against using dogs in this way but the dogs seem to be happy to have a purpose and are trained to do what suits their temperament (like Labs are usually not usually used as guard dogs because, as one trainer said, they’re “too goofy” and would rather “lick someone to death” than bite ‘em). Military working dogs are trained with lots and lots (and LOTS!) of positive reinforcement and praise using the “less stick more carrot” approach. Most importantly, abuse and neglect of a MWD, purposely or inadvertently – by the handler or anyone else – is simply not tolerated. God help you if you treat a MWD badly!

The respect and love that the troops have for these four-legged soldiers is quite something. Over and over again handlers (the human half of the dog team) refer to their dogs as his or her “best friend” but according to the Department of Defense, a military working dog is a piece of equipment. Some of these handlers get so attached to their soldier dog teammates that they do things like re-enlist just so they can stay united with them, or, if possible, adopt them when the dog retires. Since a dog is seen, technically, as just a part of a soldier’s gear they are not given medals officially but there are stories of soldiers “giving” their medals to their dogs or troops unofficially honoring their four-legged heroes with the usual military accolades. Since a dog is considered by the DoD as a piece of equipment, if something happens to a dog overseas and has to “retire,” (now the dog is classified as “excess equipment”) the DoD won’t pay for the transportation to get the dog back to the States. So if someone wants to give a retired MWD a nice “forever home” they would have to pay the prohibitive transportation fee to get the MWD back to the States. (There are non-profit organizations trying to help with this situation and legislation proposed to get the dogs reclassified by the DoD. http://marinecorpstimes.com/news/2012/01/military-advocates-lobby-for-status-of-...

Adopting a military working dog is no easy task. There’s quite a bit of paperwork to go through and a family needs to be approved (a dog’s handler usually get first dibs). Military working dogs come with different problems than your run-of-the-mill rescue. Some have injuries from the battlefield and some show signs of PSTD. It seems that most do well when given a comfy and loving “forever home” though.

I really enjoyed this book, even if I did have to grab my hanky a few times. There’s an incredible amount of information to be gleaned here. Goodave gives an incredibly detailed account of the how and why the dogs and dog teams are trained to the anatomical reasons why Fido’s nose works so much better than ours. She even writes about the scientific research being done on how to use the dog’s power of smell for medical purposes. I don't think I'll ever look at our four-legged pals the same way again.

I'm glad these dogs are being helpful, but I would have trouble reading about them.

Soldier Dogs sounds more heart-warming than tear-jerking.

> 249 I think I would have had trouble getting through it if I had a dog of my own - but I am currently pet-less. It did make me think about every dog I've ever loved and lost though - especially a black Lab who I still miss.

>250 That sums it up nicely :)

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I "liked" Soldier Dogs on my FB page and get to see some really neat pictures like these:


"Dog teams."


Military "equipment"!?!?


I wouldn't mess with this guy, would you?

Plans for a military working dog monument in California! http://www.globalanimal.org/2012/10/31/military-dogs-get-the-ultimate-medal-of-h...

Wonderful illo of the proposed monument!

They had a segment on 'This American Life' (I think, I spent a lot of time in the car this evening) on military dogs. I'm a dog lover so I perked up but then it broke my heart to hear of some of the things the dogs were asked to do ad what happened after their service. Still I'd like to read more.

yolana, Maybe more press will equal more people interested in the MWD's plight and things will change for the better. :)

"Richard. Have you ever wondered what the first Christmas gift was?"

It should not surprise us then that the lowly box plays such a significant role in the first Christmas story. For Christmas began in a humble, hay-filled box of splintered wood. The Magi, wise men who had traveled far to see the infant king, laid treasure-filled boxes at the feet of that holy child. And in the end, when He had ransomed our sins with His blood, the Lord of Christmas was laid down in a box of stone. How fitting that each Christmas season brightly wrapped boxes skirt the pine boughs of Christmas trees around the world. And more fitting that I learned of Christmas through a Christmas box."

The Christmas Box

The Christmas Box is so charming, sappy and sentimental you'd think Richard Paul Evans wrote the story exclusively for Hallmark. As a matter of fact, the Hallmark movie was my first introduction to the story a few years ago. Soon afterwards my aunt sent me The Christmas Box Collection book. It's become a personal tradition of mine to read and/or watch it every Christmas season.

To sum it up: Elderly widow Mary advertises for a couple to come live with her in her Victorian mansion in exchange for some household chores. Richard, a workaholic trying to get a new business off the ground, his wife, and young daughter move in with Mary. And, of course, everyone loves each other right from the start and they bond immediately and immensely. Richard's wife begins to suspect that Mary is hiding a tragic secret from them. Around the same time as his wife's suspicions about Mary's past surface Richard starts having a recurrent dream about an angel, hears inexplicable music, and finds mysterious letters in the Christmas Box he found in the attic. All these will ultimately lead to the discovery of Mary's secret and the answer to the most important question Mary poses to Richard: what the first gift of Christmas was.

>254 it is a beautiful pic, isn't it? Hope the monument meets or exceeds what's pictured; those brave doggies deserve it!

Revelation of the Magi: The Lost Tale of the Wise Men's Journey to Bethlehem, First English Translation of a Forgotten Ancient Manuscript

This rather small book was sent as a gift from a cousin of mine who has a propensity for finding books that are unusual. It looked intriguing enough and had some rather interesting illustrations in it, but I basically shelved it and went onto other reading (and life). A few weeks ago, with Christmas on the horizon and my Christmas Spirit seeming to have gone AWOL, I grabbed this book hoping maybe – just maybe – it would get me in the right frame of mind.

Revelation of the Magi is an ancient Syriac text that, though while not secret or undiscovered until now, seems to have been relegated to a position of obscurity. Brent Landau, a Th.D. from Harvard and an expert in ancient languages and biblical literature says “I was surprised that neither I nor any of my colleagues knew of this impressive text’s existence before I stumbled across a mention of it in an article.” Even other experts in the field of apocryphal biblical literature were unaware of this text. So here, for the first time, is the English translation. Questions that are left unanswered in our Gospel accounts of the Christmas story as to who the Wise Men were, where they came from and why they traveled to Bethlehem are answered.

Revelation of the Magi is (supposedly) a first person account written by one of the Wise Men himself. According to this text, the Wise Men were descendants of Seth (the third son of Adam) who settled in the land of Shir where they carried on their own religious traditions (one of them being silent prayer): “And we received the laws and commandments from our fathers, and we taught all the mysteries, and we reminded our sons: “Perhaps in your days the coming of the light of this star will happen, as we received and learned from our fathers.” The descendants of Seth have been waiting and preparing for this day for centuries and have been collecting treasure in the Cave of Treasure. (Yeah, no last minute Christmas shopping for these guys.) It turns out that when the long awaited “light of this star” shows up, it is Jesus Himself. He tells the Magi he can be at many places at once and appears to people according to their beliefs. When the Star shows up not only does the Star talk to the Wise Men, but so does His Father: “And while we were praising these things, suddenly a voice with much light and with unspeakable kindness came to our ears from the heavenly height of majesty …”

There are some interesting new twists here on the story: the Star of Bethlehem being Jesus Himself is interesting enough but there’s also reference to the fact that the Star originally hovered over the Tree of Life illuminating the Garden of Eden before Adam’s fall. There’s also a little story here where Mary gets a little upset because she thinks they are trying to bribe Jesus to come with them: “I had thought, O my beloved, that the Easterners were taking you … in exchange for the gifts they offered to you …”

It is interesting to see how this apocryphal text (and others) have had their influence. Medieval paintings (included in the book here) show that artists were well aware of this particular story. This little story also influenced the exploration of the New World. At the end of the Revelation of the Magi, the Apostle Thomas goes to Shir, baptizes the Magi there and commissions them as missionaries, a story that is, apparently, carried on in another apocryphal text: “First , there is the seventeenth-century Augustinian monk Antonio de la Calancha , who studied the Incan culture of Peru. He was impressed by the similarities between Andean traditional religion and Christianity, and he believed that the Apostle Thomas and the Magi must have missionized the region together, just as the Opus Imperfectum indicated.” In his conclusion Landau asserts that the reason this little apocryphal text is important is simply to show us how writings outside the accepted biblical canon influence our thinking to the point that we accept them as factual. For instance, the donkey (the one Mary rides into Behtlehem) in our "traditional" Christmas story never shows up in the Christmas story in the Gospels: “The famous donkey first appears in the Protevangelium of James, a second-century apocryphal Infancy Gospel.”

An odd, interesting little read, perhaps one more appreciated by readers with more of a theological bent and interest in biblical literature than yours truly. As one other reviewer has said maybe it’s best to read it cover to cover to get the feel of the story, then go back and actually study it with all the Notes included, etc. Maybe I’ll do that one day when I’m in more of a studious mood.

That sounds interesting. The Magi were always my favourite Christmas characters. How long is the book?

Nickelini, It is short! The whole entire book is only 157 pages and that includes the Notes and the Bibliography. The actual English translation of the text takes up only 53 pages of the book.

I've added Revelation of the Magi to my Waiting-For-The-Paperback wishlist, although that may be a long wait. This is apparently a different take on the Magi than the one we can adduce from Lamb by Christopher Moore, a favorite of mine. We wouldn't want to get confused in our argumentation; our former minister claimed that the Magi were astrologers.

Robert

>Mr. Durick, I'm more inclined to believe that the Magi were astrologers/astronomers than anything else. This is an interesting take on it, though.

The Gift of Acabar

I was looking for more Christmas reads and found this one on the bookshelf. I have no idea when I got it, where it came from or even how long it's been around. It is, once again, an odd but interesting read. The Gift of Acabar is a parable that includes some of our Christmas symbols: a tree, reindeer and most importantly, stars but they are presented here in a rather unique way.

Tulo is a precocious Lapp boy living with his mother, father and young sister. Tulo's family, like most, raise reindeer. Tragic events transpire over the course of a year that leave Tulo and his sister orphaned. Instead of going to live with their uncle, Tulo decides to stay at his family home and take care of his young sister himself. Soon it is the time of the year when the village will not have sunlight for a while. Not only will the town be plunged into darkness soon but a terrible storm is coming. Tulo is visited in a dream by his mother who tells him to build a kite. Tulo builds his giant kite and flies it high into the heavens and catches a Star. And wouldn't you know it? This Star just happens to have been the Star of Bethlehem thousands of years ago. This wise Star, Acabar, talks to Tulo and offers to one day give him some words of wisdom: the "Credenda". Tulo and his sister are overjoyed to have Acabar with them as the Star gives off warmth and light and they no longer have to worry about how to survive the terrible storm. Scholarly Tulo is also excited about transcribing the "Credenda" soon. At first the children keep Acabar in the Star Tree in the Meadow but then Tulo's young sister thinks it would be best to share Acabar with the Village. But how? Divide Acabar into four pieces? And who should get the Star? The school teacher, the pastor of the church, the doctor or the storekeeper?

This was a sweet little story and I admit being hooked until the end.

Northern lights in Lapland. It looks like you could actually catch a star here!
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Rumor has it that Santa actually lives in Lapland.

The Revelation of the Magi has the Star of Bethlehem as Jesus Himself, in The Gift of Acabar, the Star is a Wise Guardian. My favorite version of the origin of the Star is found here in this children's classic where the Star of Bethlehem is a simple gift elevated for all the world to see.

The Gift of Acabar sounds interesting - neat find!

nice pictures of Lapland and a great cartoon #268

>269 It was! I'm still wondering how long it's been lurking about our bookshelves here.

>270 baswood, I felt rather silly because I'd never heard of Lapland until now. What a beautiful place. Too cold for me, though, although I think I'd be more than happy to turn into a human popsicle for a first hand glimpse at the Northern Lights!

#168 - I'll have to share that one.

This was my first year on Club Read and the first year I've ever really kept track of my reading.

Total: 39
Fiction 22. Eleven of these were Steinbeck books (mostly thanks to the Steinbeckathon).
Non-fiction: 17. Five of those were Christian books; three were on Eva Peron and one was by John Steinbeck.

Favorite Fiction
Cannery Row, Sweet Thursday, and The Book Thief are perennial favorites of mine and re-reads for me so I am excluding them from my list of faves for the year.

Silence by Shusaku Endo
My first Endo book. Beautifully written story about faith, doubt and humanity. Next year I plan on reading Endo's A Life of Jesus.

Don Quixote by Miguel Cervantes
Charming book and a classic for a reason. Everybody should read, IMO, at least once in their lifetime.

Dracula by Bram Stoker
Still shocked by how much I liked this one! Once again, a classic for a reason.

Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck
Breaks your heart and makes you feel better about life at the same time.

The Wayward Bus by John Steinbeck
A fun and bawdy read by Steinbeck.

The Vivisector by Patrick White didn't quite make my "faves" list only because it was kind of an uphill climb to get through for me. A few of White's books are on my list for next year, though, thanks to baswood. I think White is a brilliant writer who makes art out of words.

Favorite Nonfiction
When I Left Home by Buddy Guy
The absolutely most FUN I have had reading in a long, long time. I was so happy to see Buddy Guy receive the Kennedy Honor a few days ago; I felt like I knew him!

Evita: the Real Life of Eva Peron by Nicholas Fraser
The most thoroughlyl researched and objective look at Eva Peron I've found so far that puts her in proper historical context. Also made me aware of how woefully ignorant I am of other country's history (not that I'm such an expert on our own).

Rocket Boys by Homer Hickam
This memoir was so much fun to read I almost put it in the fiction category - it read like a novel.

Carrying the Fire by Michael Collins
This guy had such a unique place on our trip to the moon. Carrying the Fire is also a good look at what these guys had to go through to even be in the space program. Never would have heard of it if it wasn't for bragan.

The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot
Amazing story!

America and Americans by John Steinbeck
Great old photos of America and essays by Steinbeck on who we were, are, and will be as Americans. Still relevant today.

Other non-fiction books I read this year that I really enjoyed were Soldier Dogs (which made me want to stand on my soapbox and go to bat for the rights of these four legged heroes and the two legged ones that train and love 'em) and The Faraway Horses (which is full of, what else? horse sense!). Both of these are very good books in their own right, but I don't think they'll have the staying power in my brain as the "faves" listed above.

Happy New Year everybody. New thread for 2013 is here: http://www.librarything.com/topic/147245