Books Blog

The Song Before It Is Sung (2007) - Justin Cartwright and the film Valkyrie (2008)

HRevvdon@evpl — Sun, 04 Jan 2009 21:23:00 GMT

I like to read historical novels about World War II, not about the battles, politics, or war tactics, but stories about the home front, resistance, and the historical figures involved. Usually what I have read has been about the Allied side of the conflict. The Song Before it is Sung was recommended to me as a novel about a "good German" and the German resistance. It is the story of a friendship between a professor at Oxford and a German nobleman. They met as young men when they were both Rhoades Scholars at Oxford. Total opposites physically and in temperament, they build a relationship based on their intellect, indulging in late night conversations and arguments about theories and life itself. With the war looming they struggle to maintain a relationship that is splintered by Mendel's strong opinions about the Third Reich and the German people's complicity and von Gottberg's strong German nationalism. Mendel is Jewish and of course this has an impact on his feelings. Von Gottberg believes that the real Germany is a good Germany and if he can rid the country of Hitler by working from within he can help prevent the war. Von Gottberg returns to Germany and when the war begins he resists joining the party but does become part of the government.

The narrator of the story is a student of Mendel, to whom Mendel has entrusted all his papers in regard to von Gottberg upon his death. The story is told through the student's research and interviews, and the secondary plot line is about his personal life.

I was about a third of the way through the book when a friend of mine asked me to go see the film Valkyrie (2008) with Tom Cruise. The film, which was better than I expected, tells the story of the attempted assassination of Hitler on July 20, 1944. The attempt almost succeeded as did the coup that was in full swing before it was halted upon the realization that Hitler was not killed. The man who engineered the plot and attempted coup was von Stauffenberg.

When I continued to read The Song Before it is Sung this weekend - the next section was about this plot and von Gottberg's involvement in it. This is when I realized and confirmed (thank you Google) that the novel is based on the real friendship between Isaiah Berlin, an Oxford scholar, and Adam von Trott who was deeply involved with von Stauffenberg in the attempted assassination. Von Stauffenberg and von Trott were executed as a result of their involvement.

The book is well written and the characters are well developed. It takes the historical facts of this friendship and the assassination plot and weaves a story that is compelling through characters that are a product of the historical events and atrocities of that time. The book tells a story not often told of the good Germans that tried, albeit too late, to prevent the horror of the Third Reich

Possible Side Effects - Augusten Burroughs (2006)

HRevvdon@evpl — Sat, 03 Jan 2009 23:08:00 GMT

Possible Side Effects is a collection of short memoirs by Augusten Burroughs, as his previous books are. Augusten Burroughs has had one of the most interesting and bizarre childhood and young adulthood ever. His family puts the dysfunctional in "dysfunctional family."

His life, and writing skills, makes for hilarious reading. I have read two of his other books. Running With Scissors (2002) is about his childhood in which he describes among other things how his mother gives him to her psychologist to raise in his own very bizarre household. Magical Thinking (2004) continues the memoirs into his early adulthood with stories of his drug use, alcoholism, and career in advertising; a successful career despite his lack of formal education beyond elementary school.

Possible Side Effects has no chronological order, jumping from a "current" story about him and his partner at a Bed & Breakfast infested with creepy dolls to stories about his southern grandparents to childhood chronicles of his mother, father, and brother (a genius and author himself). Don't try to make any sense out of his method of reasoning and thinking - you can't. Just sit back and enjoy the read - let go of the dark underpinnings of the stories that obviously have made him the neurotic man he has become. If you can do that you will laugh out loud at how different he sees the world!

The Shack

bookchick@evpl — Sat, 03 Jan 2009 21:19:00 GMT

The Shack by William P. Young has literally left me speechless. I have no idea how to describe this novel in a few short sentances. And yet, here are some of my attempts.

It is a story of:

...redemption.

...how to be truly loved.

...how life is in relationships.

...forgiveness.

...how we reconcile a God of goodness with the evil that exists in the world.

...comfort and rest.

Although I read the book as a novel, front to back, I think I will re-read and chew these words slowly. It may be that as my life experiences change the book will mean something completely new to me. What it means to you may be different than what it means to me. What richness! What depth!

To read more visit http://theshackbook.com/

Garlic and Sapphires: The Secret Life of a Critic in Disguise - Ruth Reichl

HRevvdon@evpl — Sun, 28 Dec 2008 22:08:00 GMT

Daphne Durham (Amazon.com) says “Ruth Reichl is a wonderful memoirist--a funny, poignant, and candid storyteller whose books contain a happy mix of memories, recipes, and personal revelations.” This is a great description of Reichl's book Garlic and Sapphires: The Secret Life of a Critic in Disguise (2006). Reichl was the New York Times food critic for several years, a coveted job considered to be the top of the profession.

The book is interspersed with her own recipes – usually very simple and delicious sounding. If I cooked I would certainly try one or two of them. The humor is in Reichl's equally delicious disguises in which she visits New York’s most famous restaurants to avoid being recognized. She loses herself in the characters she develops and quickly learns how differently she is treated dependent on the costume. She also learns much about herself and grows from the experience. She describes New York’s harsh restaurant reality with humor and personal observations that are at times touching. Actual published reviews often follow the stories in the book as well. The reviews are humerous and different than most restaurant reviews that I have read; they are not pretentious or condescending.

This book is a memoir that reads like a funny novel. I am anxious to read her other books. A great light read for everyone – foodie or not.

"Revolutionary Road" by Richard Yates

MediaPhile@evpl — Fri, 26 Dec 2008 22:04:00 GMT

I just finished this 1961 novel by Richard Yates. The paperback edition's cover, published to coincide with the release of the new movie, caught my attention.

Directed by Sam Mendes of "American Beauty" fame, "Revolutionary Road" stars his wife, Kate Winslet, and Leo DiCaprio. It is in the running for all the top Golden Globe Awards in drama, including Best Motion Picture, Best Performance by an Actress, Best Performance by an Actor, and Best Director.

The setting is a Connecticut suburb in the late 1950's. Frank Wheeler (DiCaprio) and his wife April (Winslet) have settled into tame middle class existence (due to an unexpected early pregnancy), but feel like they are play-acting. Frank delights in skewering all the people who live in their suburb, as well as those he works with in Manhattan. April seems resigned to her fate but has hidden depths. Will the Wheelers' make a "revolutionary" move to Europe or continue their humdrum existence? "There's the rub," as Hamlet would say.

Just put into limited release, the movie has yet to make it to Evansville. As always, I am looking forward to seeing how closely my understanding of the novel coincides with the movie version.

Strong at the Broken Places

wag.mado@evpl — Tue, 23 Dec 2008 22:55:00 GMT

This book's preface begins, "These are the faces of illness in America. Do not look away.......Quite simply, they are us." If you have ever known someone with a chronic or terminal illness, you probably already know that each person approaches their difficulties in a way that is all their own. Strong at the Broken Places by Richard M. Cohen is a book that demonstrates this. He features 5 people who have been given life changing diagnoses. Cohen interviews them over several years, asking them questions and observing them in their everyday life. The interviews speak of fear, loneliness, and anger - but also show the personal strengths that allow these people to thrive, revealing the common ground they all stand upon. Although it may sound depressing, I found this book full of life. To me the stories are all about living in the truth, with as much hope as one can muster. And after all, isn't that what we are all trying to do?

The Oxford Project

bookchick@evpl — Mon, 22 Dec 2008 16:00:00 GMT

From the very first page this book had me hooked.

Photographer Peter Feldstein lived in Oxford, Iowa his whole life when in 1984 he decided to photograph every person in his small town. Peter describes this project as a "...social experiment, a way to give equal, democratic billing to every single resident- rich or poor, young or old, respected or reviled." (Oxford Project p. 16) After a showing of his work in the American Legion Hall he put the negatives away and went back to everyday life.

For twenty years he went back to everyday life. In 2005 Peter decided to rephotograph as many of the original residents as he could find and to invite Stephen Bloom to interview them, to tell their stories.

What emerged was a book called the Oxford Project. A fascinating look into the lives of the residents in a rural Iowa town. The 2005 photos are curiously the same as the 1984 photos with people standing the same general way heads tilted or arms folded. The stories are poignant.

The book made me wonder what stories were behind the people that I see every day. Would I understand them better or treat them differently if I knew? I'm going to let just knowing that there is a story make a difference.

A Gentleman's Guide to Graceful Living: A Novel by Michael Dahle

HRevvdon@evpl — Sun, 21 Dec 2008 19:32:00 GMT

I read about this novel on the Barnes & Noble website as one of THE books to read this year. It was described as darkly humerous.

It is somewhat humerous - I would not call it dark humor. More like blue blood slapstick. The main character is a "bumbling blueblood" that has just divorced and lost the family business through his ineptitude. The book is one whine after another with situations that should have been funny should the main character have been better developed. Arthur should be an affable character that you would begin to like despite his odd choices and getting himself into predictiments that the you can easily see are going to be disasterous. I had a vision of an American Berty Wooster of the Jeeves series. But, Arthur is just a shallow character study that is predictable and pathetic. In fact none of the characters are very well developed.

The book title and the book jacket are misleading at the very least.

My Last Supper: 50 Great Chefs and Their Final Meals

librarianinheels@evpl — Thu, 18 Dec 2008 17:18:00 GMT

I love food, and I am a sucker for a man who can cook. So when I heard Melanie Dunea being interviewed on NPR about her book My Last Supper: 50 Great Chefs and their Final Meals, I knew I needed to check it out, especially since the Introduction is written by Anthony Bourdain, one of my all-time favorite chefs and creator and star of the Travel Channel series No Reservations.

This is more of a coffee table book than I expected it to be - but it's still full of great interviews with great chefs like Anthony Bourdain (once again - a personal fave), Eric Ripert, Gordon Ramsay, Jamie Oliver, Daniel Boulud, Jacques Pepin, and others. Dunea is a photographer, so the book includes a wonderful portrait of each chef, accompanied by a scripted set of questions about his or her last meal. Some of the answers given are surprisingly simple meals - others are sophisticated and complex. The portraits are also wonderful and each seems to perfectly fit the character and style of the chef being interviewed. The book also includes recipes for these final meals, if you are so industrious that you want to attempt to make some of them.

I really enjoyed sitting and looking through this book, and reading what some of these amazing chefs have to say about food, life, and love. My Last Supper would make a great Christmas gift for the food lover in your life, too!

A Christmas murder mystery...and Agatha Christie...two of my favorite things.

HRevvdon@evpl — Wed, 17 Dec 2008 03:26:00 GMT

I thought I had read all of the Agatha Christie murder mysteries years ago. Then, while Becky was searching for a book of Christmas short stories for me, I found Agatha Christie's Hercule Poirot's Christmas. The only ties to Christmas are the dates and the estranged family coming home for the holiday. Pretty much the usual Christie/Poirot murder mystery - a gathering of people, a murder, and the little Belgian detective. Picture Murder on the Orient Express - only in an English manor house at Christmas, without any signs of Christmas.

I love Agatha Christie for the simple old-fashioned murder mystery - no high tech here, but unusually there is a bit of gore. Mild by today's standards though. Lots of blood and talk about the quantity of blood. The disappointment of the book is that Poirot does not demonstrate much of his expected manner, and never referrs to "the tiny gray cells." But, am I remembering that from the other books, the movies, or the great A&E movies starring David Suchet (the consumate Poirot, in my opinion)?

Sure, I thought I had figured out whodunit, but I didn't. As usual Dame Christie through in a twist that I didn't catch in the multitude of useful and useless clues.

I don't know if Murder on the Orient Express or Death on the Nile is my favorite. Do you have a favorite? Does anyone read Agatha Christie anymore? And, who is the better detective Miss Marple or Hercule Poirot?

Sherman Alexie is One Fine Poet!

Bufkinite@evpl — Tue, 16 Dec 2008 21:59:00 GMT

Another post to this blog mentioned Sherman Alexie's book The Absolutely True Diary of a Part Time Indian, which I checked out, read, and thoroughly enjoyed.

"I want more," I said to myself, and set out to discover more about this writer.

Wow! I didn't realize I'd already crossed paths with Alexie's writing when I saw the movie Smoke Signals. Alexie wrote the screenplay to that movie, which was adapted from his book The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven. I thought Smoke Signals was one of the most refreshing and honest looks at life on "the rez" that I'd ever seen.

Then, just last week, I stumbled upon another book of Alexie's while looking up another poet answering a reference question, and decided to check it out and take it home. The book is called One Stick Song, and is a mixture of poetry and short prose, and is well worth the hour it'll take you to read it from cover to cover. The short prose piece that begins the book, "The Unauthorized Autobiography of Me," made me realize just how much of the longer book The Absolutely True Diary...etc., was autobiographical, even though the book is called a novel. The title poem really does read like a song, and I could hear men playing the Big Drum in rhythm with the poem. Part sad, part funny, part melancholy, all beautiful - even when dark, gritty, and awful. Quite an accomplishment.

There are a number of books in the EVPL collections that are either by Alexie, or include contributions by him. Check them out! I'd love to see Sherman Alexie come to Evansville!

Classic Christmas stories

GoldensRule@evpl — Mon, 15 Dec 2008 14:48:00 GMT

Christmas is more than shopping... something I hear myself saying more and more lately. It is also a time to pull out those special Christmas books and share them with family and friends. Here are a few that come to mind (all are very short). Truman Capote's A Christmas Memory: Set in rural Alabama during the depression, this autobiographical gem tells the story of Buddy a 7 year old boy and his eccentric and child like 60 year old female cousin. This is a bitter sweet story of love between two misfits and their annual fruit cake baking project. Another that I have just read for the first time is Philip Gulley's Christmas in Harmony. Gulley, a quaker minister, tells a delightful tale of his quirky congregation at Christmas. Lee Smith also pens an engaging tale in the Christmas Letters. These letters span a period of time as generations write to each other at the Christmas season. Smith, a noted Southern writer, has crafted a wonderful novella that portrays the spirit of Christmas. and of course there are many wonderful renditions of the Clement Clark Moore Classic A Visit from St. Nicholas which most of us know as The Night Before Christmas (it is also listed in the library catalogue that way) My favorite version is illustrated by Tasha Tudor who used her own New England farm house for the setting. I still read this version aloud to my children on Christmas Eve from a book I gave them in 1975. It is time to buy new copies for my grandchildren. All of these books and hundreds of other Christmas stories are avaiable at the EVPL. What are some of your favorites. Please let me know ! and Merry Christmas to all

Sandra Dallas - Unusual story lines

HRevvdon@evpl — Mon, 15 Dec 2008 14:13:00 GMT

I am a big reader of southern regional novels, but I stumbled on a Sandra Dallas book called The Persian Pickle Club a couple of years ago and I have read most of Ms. Dallas' books since then. Recently I finished New Mercies and really loved it. Most of the books are set in Denver, or there abouts, and are from the 1920's or 1930's. This book is partly in Denver and partly in Natchez. So it fit the bill for me!

The lead character in New Mercies is slowly recovering from a divorce and the social stigma associated with divorce at that time. She inherits an old plantation house that has gone to ruin, and she travels to Natchez to discover a world completely different from her own and loaded with characters (maybe caricactures would be a better description). It is a fun read and very enjoyable.

Next on my list of Sandra Dallas' books is Tallgrass, I am looking forward to reading it.

Authors doing good works with their written words

kiya@evpl — Sat, 13 Dec 2008 20:48:00 GMT

This week I heard about a fundraiser that author Patrick Rothfuss has been doing for Heifer International. After having run a successful contest on his personal blog, Rothfuss decided to try raising a little money for his favorite charity, Heifer International. On November 10^th, he announced the fundraiser on his blog, offering to match reader contributions dollar for dollar, hoping to raise a couple thousand dollars. In less than four days they contributed over $5000 (not including Rothfuss' matching donation), and he increased the goal again, and again. When the fundraiser ended on December 11^th, readers had contributed over $50,000 to Heifer International, and Rothfuss promises to match every dime. Rothfuss, who only quit his day job this past year after The Name of the Wind, the first book in the Kingkiller Chronicle series, sold well in the US and internationally, is delighted, and so is Heifer International.

Then I started wondering about other authors, and what similar projects they might have done. I know that J. K. Rowling's new book, The Tales of Beedle the Bard, is a fundraiser for a charity she helped found. The book is the collection of stories that Harry and friends use to reach their goals in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.

Both these stories help me feel good about the authors I love to read. Do you know of other authors who use their public attention to help others?

"The Quiet Girl" by Peter Hoeg

MediaPhile@evpl — Sat, 13 Dec 2008 17:53:00 GMT

If you read literary fiction, you might want to pick up "The Quiet Girl."

Danish author Peter Hoeg's first novel, "Smilla's Sense of Snow," is one of my all-time favorites. All his novels since then have sounded rather weird, and this one also fits that bill. Reading it is like putting together a jigsaw puzzle without having any idea of what the final picture will look like.

That said, this novel is worth the effort. It does for sound what "Smilla" did for snow -- in fact, one reviewer joked that it should be called "Kaspar's Sense of Sound." But it also, like "Smila," takes us into mystical new realms of being and thinking.

The main character is Kaspar Krone. Kaspar is a world-renowned circus clown and accomplished violinist who has a gambling adiction and unwise spending habits that have left him deeply in debt and about to be arrested. He also has an uncanny hearing ability (developed during an episode of blindness as a child) that has led to a secondary career doing music therapy with children. He is hired by an order of nuns to track down the "quiet girl," one of a number of children who have special powers. All sorts of daredevil action results, and the end leaves us begging for a sequel.

"Marie Claire" Magazine wrote, "(read it) because the kooky conceit frames a smart-but accessible look at the Big Questions, and the cinematic story will no doubt be made into a movie -- we hope starring Johnny Depp." Well, number one, if there is a movie and it stars Depp, count me in. Number two, translating this into a movie will be an accomplishment second only to that of putting Jonathan Safron Foer's "Everthing Is Illuminated" on film. And, three, I hope a movie version unravels the plot without decimating it.

Like "Smilla," the atmosphere and ambience of this Copenhagen-set novel stick with you after you put it down. If you're brave, give it a try.