So many books, so little time


I've been on a reading frenzy, but have had no time for thoughtful reviews

So, how do you feel about a series of brief thumbs up/downs blurbs on a bunch of books?

Oh, you like the idea? Great! Here goes:

Non-fiction:

1. Basic Black by Cathie Black (President of Hearst Corporation)
"The Essential Guide for getting ahead at work (and in life)"

My take: I like Black's style and her advice. She tells short, punchy stories that illustrate her points, and a lot of the advice seems actionable for everyday people in the working world. Is a lot of it common sense that we all should sort of already know? Yeah. But who couldn't use a good reminder?

Bottom line: I liked it. I'd recommend it.

2. Eat Pray Love by Elizabeth Gilbert

My take: She is an excellent writer, no doubt about that. She is also entirely self-involved and self-absorbed. but you know that going into the book...it's her quest for self-discovery after all.

Bottom line: if you are intrigued by how faith and spirituality is developed and evolves in some already adult and supposedly set in their spiritual ways, then I think you would like her take on it. If you tend to get jealous of people who find something to whine about even when they're dripping with privilege? Stay away!

3. Broken Music by Sting
A memoir of his childhood leading up to just when the Police started to get popular.

My take: It's an interesting story, and one with which I was pretty unfamiliar. Sting is a good writer, but if you find his lyrics pretentious rather than artistic you'll probably feel the same about his prose. he's obviously got a sequel in mind, given where the story leaves off, but as a fan of his work with the Police and as a solo artist, I appreciated this inside look at his development into the guy he has now become.

Bottom line: Sting or Police fan? Maybe not *required* reading, but definitely good reading!

4. Born Standing Up by Steve Martin
Another limited-scope memoir, this time of Martin's development as a stand-up comic, ending when he ended that part of his career and began to focus exclusively on film and writing.

My take: Martin is a really talented writer. Wry, self-deprecating, impeccable, delicate. He doesn't go in for lots of emotion or deeply personal stuff. This is not a soul-searching book, but it is an interesting look at the development of talent and skill from an artist who is an undisputed master. It's is also a very quick read. I think I read it start to finish in 2 or 3 hours.

Bottom line: I didn't know much about this part of Martin's life, and being a fan, I found it very interesting. If you're a fan, you probably will too.

5. Antiquity Norman F. Cantor
From the birth of the Sumerian civilazation to the Fall of the Roman Empire

My take: Again, I like history, so much of this I enjoyed. I'll be totally honest about what bugged me about this book. The author occasionally made me uncomfortable with the judgements he made on civilizations. He seemed quite invested in discounting the contributions or culture of some peoples, and the facts he presented about those peoples didn't seem to support the disdain. let's just say he is a big big fan of the traditional "Western" cultures.

Bottom line: I don't know what to say. I thought it could be very educational: if you could trust there was objectivity. I felt just a little uncomfortable about that assumption, though.

6. A World Lit Only by Fire by William Manchester
The Medieval Mind and the Renaissance

My take: I'm a fan of historical books that make it palatable for non-historian readers. This is of that ilk and does a good job of illuminating a period I knew very little about. And boy, what a cruel, cruel period. This book really makes you mull over what exactly is wrong with the human race. We are an incredibly cruel species. And religion seems to have always been at the root of much the cruelty. For example, of course I knew abut the Spanish Inquisition, but I had no idea that warring Protestant factions during the reformation were equally brutal to one another...torturing and killing people who were adherents to the other sect. Luther? Apparently a total whack job! Anyway, I read this book in bits and pieces over several months, but I did enjoy it and always looked forward to going back to it.

Bottom line: If you're interested in history, then this is a definite good read.

7. Candy Girl by Diablo Cody
A memoir form the Juno screenwriter about her year working in the sex industry

My take: Cody is a very engaging writer, and sheds light on the behind-the-scenes workings of various types of sex work in a humorous and vivid way. I'm not sure she's representative of the typical sex worker, but that's not the point of the book. It's one woman's snappy, idiosyncratic memoir.

Bottom line: Sure, quick, fun read, why not?

Fiction:

1. The Gravedigger's Daughter by Joyce Carol Oates

My take: This is the first Oates I've ever read, and I've no idea if this is representative or a departure. It's sort of a bleak and raw look at one woman's life...and I have discovered that I'm not really a fan of the bleak and raw. Consequently I read this book in small chunks over a relatively long period of time. I al wasn't convinced the main character held together...she seemed more like a construct than a flesh and blood person, so I had a hard time really getting into her struggles (and normally I would say triumphs, but there really weren't any)! We never got under the skin of any of the characters, actually. And the ending? tacked on and unnecessary...IMHO. The book was slow to start, compelling in the middle and then disintegrated at the end.

Bottom line: Meh. If you're a fan of this kind of style (Annie Proulx comes ot mind) then it's probably for you. not so much for me.

2. Suite Francaise by Irene Nemirovsky
Unfinished novel from a victim of the Nazis

My take: This book should have resonated with me a lot. Set in France during and immediately following the Nazi occupation it mirrors what my mother's life could have been had her parents not escaped France a mere couple of months pre-invasion, with my mom still an infant. Perhaps the hype about this book killed it for me. I expected to be much moved, and yet I was not. I did not care about 90% of the characters. They were mostly petty, unlikable people, and the book focused on that. Certainly one can get a lot from reading about ordinary people in extraordinary times, but Nemirovsky seemed to go out of her way to share the saga of people who seemed more mean and petty and unlikable than is simply ordinary!

Bottom line: I did not like it. Many have disagreed with me.

3. The Invention of Hugo Cabret by Brian Selznick
A children's novel that is told half in words and half in pencil drawings

My take: When you first see this nearly 600 page book you wonder "how can a children's book be so long, and how long will this take me to read?" But then you start and realize that this is a hybrid between a regular book and a graphic novel. I read it in two nights before bed (perhaps an hour each sitting.) The story of an urchin child in Paris, and some wondrous things he discovers, is captivating, especially when you discover that the novel is based on non-fictional elements...including the existence of "automata"...futuristic-seeming "robots" that were really created in the past.

Bottom line: OK, I don't have kids, and I enjoyed it, so I bet you'll enjoy it even more if you have a kid around to share it with!

4. The Yiddish Policeman's Union by Michael Chabon

My take: Chabon is a very good writer. Something I really liked is that his prose was vivid enough that I could see everything unfolding in my head, but not so florid that nothing was left to my imagination. The book takes a while to get going, and the mystery is frankly pretty hard to unravel, even when theoretically it's being explained. My biggest beef with the novel is how much is left unexplored about the basic foundational premise: an alternate history where, as part of resolving WW II, the Jews are all exported to Alaska. This just the basic existence of the characters in the book, and it is taken for granted, not for as much rich fodder as I think it could have been. Just my opinion: I was intrigued by the alternate history aspect and got very little of it.

Bottom line: I will definitely give more Chabon a try, because his writing style is very appealing.

5. The Scroll of Seduction by Gioconda Belli

My take: This is a novel in two time periods, mid-century Spain and 15th/16th century Spain and Europe. The modern day characters are a beautiful 17 year old Catholic School orphan and a 40-something history professor. The historical figures are the various royalty of that age, but primarily centered on Queen Juana the Mad. I liked the historical portions of the novel and loathed the more modern-day portions. The coupling of the teenager and the professor is creepy in every sense. And Belli's writing is exactly the kind of "florid" that I decry in the review just above this one. And the ending: Abrupt and a TOTAL cop-out.

Bottom line: Run away. Eww. Just not worth slogging through the framing modern-day story to rad the historical sections.

6. Divisadero by Michael Ondaatke

My take: This book lost me about half-way through. I read it all in one day, laid up with the flu, so it definitely propels you along. But i wound up disappointed. The primary set of stories it started out following was abandoned for a second set of stories, and I found myself wanting to return to the abandoned characters and their unfulfilled storylines. I don't get why the author chose to construct his novel in this way, and it made me lose patience a bit.

Bottom line: Six months later, I don't remember much about either storyline, so that's never a good sign, eh?

7. What is the What by Dave Eggers

My take: I actually really disliked A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genus, so my hopes weren't particularly high. I was wrong. THIS is the heartbreaking work! Following the long and unbelievably harrowing journey of one Lost Boy of Sudan, this book will kill you. Unlike the vast mid-section of "Heartbreaking Work", in which you were asked to care about the minute and trivial details of one 20-something's standard coming-of-age journey, the journey in "What is the What' is far more significant and epic. What the narrator and all of the other Lost Boys experienced is almost beyond comprehension, and at times is depressing and enraging...but you will never be bored, and you will learn without being lectured.

Bottom line: A definite unequivocal recommendation. Read it.

So, there you go: 7 non-fiction and 7 fiction books in about the last 4 or 5 months. YMMV, but those are my thoughts anyway.

Posted: Sat - July 12, 2008 at 11:03 AM       EmailFeedback

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