Books Blog : biography, reviews

Love As Always, Kurt: Vonnegut As I Knew Him, by Loree Rackstraw

Bufkinite@evpl — Mon, 07 Sep 2009 06:21:00 GMT

In September of 1965 Lorree Rackstraw was a graduate student in her second year at the Iowa Writer's Workshop, apprehensive about her new teacher, a relatively unknown writer named Kurt Vonnegut. Vonnegut had published just three books: The Sirens of Titan, Mother Night, and Cat's Cradle. He'd also finished writing God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater the previous spring, and was struggling to get onto paper what he referred to as his "Dresden Book."

Love As Always, Kurt, recounts the friendship that began that summer, and lasted over 40 years, until Kurt Vonnegut died in April of 2007. To call it a friendship cheapens the care that this memoir makes clear they shared with one another. Rackstraw is now Professor Emeritus and the University of Northern Iowa & former editor of The North American Review.

This memoir of Rackstraw's forty-year relationship with Kurt Vonnegut is a very personal and deep look into both the human and the writer behind the name Kurt Vonnegut. We see clearly how, as a writer, he labors in draft after draft of everything he wrote from Slaughterhouse Five to Man Without a Country, and down to the speeches he gave at countless colleges, universities, graduations, and memorial services. We see, just as clearly, how he champions common humanity, and simultaneously enjoys the company of the famous and relatively well-to-do. We see how, despite periods of darkness and cynicism, this relationship buoyed Vonnegut, and provided Rackstraw with an escape from the pressures of her academic career as well.

We see, most plainly, a deep and abiding friendship that transcends all normal definitions. Was it love? Definitely. What it friendship? In the most useful meaning of the word, yes. But it was more: it was a collegial relationship - Vonnegut sent her page proofs of everything from Slaughterhouse Five forward; it was an intimate relationship, certainly: "Kurt and I toured the town of Key West, hand in hand like kids, and took photographs of each other beside somebody else's catch of a huge fish... Later, we danced barefoot under moonlight on that beach, to ragtime music from the piano bar;" and ultimately, it was a lifelong relationship, that saw a parting of the ways only in the death of one.

Being a long-time Vonnegut fan, I loved this book. It represents a first-hand account of four decades of his life by someone who he consistently loved, and who loved him in return. A tender portrait.

Bobby and Jackie: A Love Story

KickinLibrarian@evpl — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 20:01:00 GMT

I can't remember a time when I wasn't fascinated with the story of America's Camelot. My bookshelves are lined with books about the Kennedys- biographies, essays, coffee table books, even old newspaper articles my grandma has given me. What is it about this family that intrigues so many people?

While JFK is a unique person to read about, I always enjoyed reading more about his younger brother, Robert Kennedy. I have the impression of a younger, smaller brother always running to catch up with his older siblings, but Robert Kennedy was an intelligent man that many Americans looked towards to change the U.S. in the 1968 election.

C. David Heymann has written many biographies about the Kennedy family, and his newest book looks into the relationship Bobby Kennedy had with his famous sister-in-law, Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy. With research to back up his theories, Heymann writes about how the relationship between the two grew to a more intimate one after the assassination of JFK. The affair only ended when Bobby began to run in the presidential election.

It is stated that the relationship between Bobby and Jackie was well-known through the family and friends of the Kennedys, and it was definitely new to this amateur Kennedy researcher. The information and documentation backing up Heymann's claim is hard to ignore, and once again the Kennedys managed to shock me with another affair!

Somewhere Towards the End by Diana Athill

Bufkinite@evpl — Wed, 25 Feb 2009 18:11:00 GMT

Written in her 89th year, Diana Athill writes in Somewhere Towards the End not so much about getting old, but reflects on her life and, especially as the book goes on, about being old, and the matter-of-fact changes age imposes on one.

It gives me great hope to read something written by a 90 year old that demonstrates a sharp wit and reflective mind, not to mention a breezy and engrossing writing style. A few extended quotes may serve to whet your appetite for more:

On religious belief:

“Faith – the decision to act as though you believe something you have no reason to believe, hoping that the decision will bring on belief and then you will feel better - that seems to me mumbo-jumbo. I can’t feel anything but sure that when men form ideas about God, creation, eternity, they are making no more sense in relation to what lies beyond the range of their comprehension than the cheeping of sparrows…

…And surely the urgent practical necessity of trying to order [life] so that its cruelties are minimized and its beauties are allowed their fullest possible play is compelling enough without being seen as duly laid on us by a god?"

On gardening:

“And still, each time I’m there [in the garden], I manage to do at least a little bit of work myself; tie something back, trim something off, clear some corner weeds, plant three or four small plants, and however my bones may ache when I’ve done it, I’m always deeply refreshed by it. Getting one’s hands into the earth, spreading roots, making a plant comfortable – it is a totally absorbing occupation, like painting or writing, so that you become what you are doing and are given a wonderful release from consciousness of self.”

On fidelity:

“Fidelity in the sense of keeping one’s word I respect, but I think it tiresome that it is tied so tightly in people’s minds to the idea of sex. The belief that a wife owes absolute fidelity to her husband has deep and tangled roots, being based not only on a man’s need to know himself to be the father of his wife’s child, but also on the deeper, darker feeling that a mans owns woman… And woman’s anxious clamour for her husband’s fidelity springs from the same primitive root: she feels it to be necessary proof of her value.”

If you're intrigued by any of this, there is more - much more - in this delightful book. What a full and interesting life this woman has had!

"Zen and Now: on the Trail of Robert Pirsig and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance" by Mark Richardson

MediaPhile@evpl — Fri, 28 Nov 2008 03:23:00 GMT

No, you aren't seeing double. The cover of this biographical travelogue features an out-of-focus motorcyle.

I was in grad school in 1974 when "Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance" was published. I never read it or its British precursor, "Zen in the Art of Archery" -- I wasn't a big fan of either Zen OR motorcycle maintenance. Starting small, sales of the book grew by word of mouth, eventually totalling in the millions, with translation into 27 languages. It became a sort of cult classic with philosophers as well as the counter-culture.

Fast forward 30+ years, and a motorcyle enthusiast and sports writer named Mark Richardson has reproduced Robert Pirsig's 17-day motorcycle trip from Minneapolis to San Francisco. Pirsig, travelling with his young son Chris and a married couple, had roughed it -- camping every evening. Richardson, armed with GPS and a laptop, did the trip alone and stayed in cheap motels.

Richardson cleverly intersperses his narrative of his own trip with biographical information about Pirsig. Pirsig, who claimed an IQ of 170, had degrees and both science and philosophy. He taught at several colleges, but constantly rankled adminstrators with his refusal to follow the institutional rules. He was eventually diagnosed as a schizophrenic and endured a series of shock treatments, which he later claimed destroyed a large chunk of his personality.

Pirsig returned to his wife and two sons and took a job as a writer of technical manuals. He had earlier flown small planes, but now become a motorcyclist. He found he loved not only the open road, but also the connectedness that resulted from maintaining his own bike. Hence his cross-country trip and the book of philosophical ruminations that resulted. Publication brought financial independence, including an ocean-going yacht, but not peace. Both sons had their own problems, as did his marriage. And his second book, "Lila," was a relative flop.

I was intrigued enough by this book to attempt to read "Zen and the Art of Motocycle Maintenance," but I must admit that I only made it through about the first 75 pages. I guess I find Pirsig's story more interesting than his thoughts.

"Bess W. Truman" by Margaret Truman

Dewey@evpl — Fri, 12 Sep 2008 20:12:00 GMT

I’m in love with Harry Truman. I’m not talking about his politics but the fact that he was a man who rose above defeat after defeat. And he did it with humor, honesty and integrity. It’s always interesting to read biographies about presidents. It’s even more fascinating to read about them from a perspective that unrelated to the presidency. In 1986 Margaret Truman wrote a biography about her mother, Bess Truman. Bess died in 1982 and following her mother’s death Margaret found 1600 letters that Bess Truman had received from Harry Truman. Based on the discovered letters and other family memorabilia Margaret spins the story of a lifelong love. Margaret's easy writing style brings her mother and father alive but it is her father who really shines.

"sTORI Telling" by Tori Spelling

librarianinheels@evpl — Tue, 09 Sep 2008 14:41:00 GMT

Tori Spelling is the daughter of Aaron Spelling - the famous, super-rich producer of classic cheeseball TV hits like Charlie's Angels, Fantasy Island, The Love Boat, Dynasty, and Melrose Place, to name a few. In 2006, Spelling died, and his daughter Tori learned of her father's death via text message. Tabloids reported that Tori, who had recently divorced her husband of less than two years and married another man about six months later, had been virtually cut out of her father's $500 million dollar estate - her mother, Candy, received the bulk of it, while Tori and her brother Randy each received just $800,000.

In the last two years, Tori Spelling has married the love of her life, given birth to two children, co-written a book about her life, and starred in a reality show with her husband, Dean McDermott, entitled "Tori and Dean: Inn Love". One might say that Tori's making a concerted effort to continue living in the style to which she is accustomed. For that, she deserves at least some kudos...she's nothing if not resourceful.

Still, it's kind of hard for me to believe that Tori Spelling, of all people, has spent her whole life just longing to be "normal" - which is what she asserts in her recent autobiography, sTORI Telling. Even though she was given hand-delivered white Christmases in her Beverly Hills backyard, received a champagne-colored BMV convertible for her 16th birthday (when all she really wanted was a VW convertible) and was thrown a $1 million wedding - all Tori Spelling has ever wanted is to just be "normal". Finding some kind of "normal" seems to be the theme of the book. By the end, Tori seems to come to terms with her own version of "normal" and it's just difficult to not like her for that.

This book was an easy, somewhat juicy, but ultimately unsatisfying read. Tori briefly delves into the interworkings of the troubled cast relationships on 'Beverly Hills, 90210' ~ the show that made her famous ~ but not with enough detail for me. She spends a lot of time discussing her many dysfunctional personal relationships, most notably the one with her mother - who, if you believe all that Tori lays out, must be a real piece of work. sTORI Telling is OK - but I'm sure the tell-all that comes out in 30 or 40 more years will be much more interesting. Tori just hasn't lived long enough or, simply, enough to do much storytelling....YET.

There's not much else to say about sTORI Telling - it is just what you would expect it to be - fluffly, lacking substance, but it still keeps your attention - if only so you can find out what kind of weird thing Tori's mother will do next. (Spoiler alert: they make up, but Tori still doesn't get any more money from her dad's estate.) If you're looking for a quick, entertaining read, pick up sTORI Telling.