July Booknotes

 

“The greatest gift is a passion for reading.” – Elizabeth Hardwick

Fiction: Speculative Fiction, Politics

2030: The Real Story of What Happens to America by Albert Brooks

The year is 2030, and there is “good news” and, of course, “bad news.” The first Jewish U.S. President has been elected, but the national debt has spiraled to insurmountable depths. Cancer has been cured and the elderly are living longer but this is draining tax dollars and straining the health care system. All of this has created a civil war, of sorts, between the young and the "olds." Then, just when things could not possibly look grimmer, a devastating earthquake rocks Los Angeles, reducing the city to rubble.

Brooks relates all these events through a cast of characters:

• President Matthew Bernstein is a position in which no president wants to find themselves. 
• Kathy Bernard, in her 20s, and her father, Stewart, are faced with financial hardships, as Stewart has been forced to take low-paying jobs, after losing his job with General Motors. 
• Dr. Sam Mueller is world famous for having cured cancer but faces growing enemies in the younger generation. They vilify him because he has extended the life span of the “olds.” The repercussions cause the youth to shoulder the growing financial burden of the elderly. 
• Brad Miller is an “old. His condo was destroyed in the quake of Los Angeles, forcing him to live in a make-shift triage tent, not knowing if he'll be able to recoup the insurance money owed to him on the condo. 

The Chinese are the only government with the resources to bail out the United States and help rebuild L.A. They are unwilling to loan even another dime to the U.S., as the U.S. is already indebted to the Chinese for trillions of dollars. Instead, they make a “deal” that has enormous implications for Americans and our system of government.

2030 starts off a little slow, as central characters are established. Each one comprises a separate storyline. Brooks has decades of experience in film and television which are evident in his use of dialog. The dialog, in fact, is what moves the story, rather than the story being driven by narrative. Fortunately, Brooks also throws in some humor, to help offset the overtly tragic overtones of the story.

2030 is a speculative look into the future of America, which is somber, yet plausible.

Nonfiction: World History, Archeology

 Apocalypse: How Catastrophe Transformed Our World and Can Forge New Futures―A Transformative Exploration of Humanity's Resilience Through Cataclysmic Events by Lizzie Wade

Publisher’s Description: “A drought lasts for decades, a disease rips through a city, a civilization collapses. Apocalypse begins by traveling deep into the past, to when Homo sapiens went from being one of many to the only human species on the planet - the apocalypse of extinction that in some ways started it all. Global sea levels rise with devastating speed, and natural disasters shape the landscape in new ways...  the end of Old Kingdom Egypt, the collapse of the Classic Maya, the Black Death, etc.

History is long, and people have already confronted just about every apocalypse we’re facing today. But these days, archaeologists are getting better at seeing stories of survival, transformation, and even progress hidden within those histories of collapse and destruction. Apocalypse offers a new way of understanding human history, reframing it as a series of crises and cataclysms that we survived, moments of choice in an evolution of humanity that has never been predetermined or even linear… The more we learn about apocalypses past, the more hope we have that we will survive our own. It won’t be pleasant. It won’t be fair. The world will be different on the other side, and our cultures and communities, perhaps even our species, will be different too.”

Wade is a journalist who has covered archeology and anthropology for many years. Most of the chapters start with a fictional story of what the author thinks life was like for a person living during the historical period being discussed. Some readers may find the “first-person”, fictional vignettes objectionable. However, Wade does refer to archeological evidence which was analyzed by archeologists and presents their interpretation with the “first-person” vignettes.  Thanks to new archaeological tools (and Wade’s storytelling), we get a whole new look at the past and a possible future.

“Embracing apocalypse doesn’t mean resigning ourselves to the worst-case scenario or giving up on the idea of progress. It means believing that destruction can be a gateway to progress, societies can and should change … just because we’re used to something doesn’t make it right.”

Fiction: Classic, Historical Fiction (Pulitzer Prize Winner)

The Bridge of San Luis Rey by Thornton Wilder

On Friday noon, July 20, 1714, the finest bridge in all Peru broke …

The Bridge of San Luis Rey tells the story of Brother Juniper, who watches the “finest bridge in all Peru” break and toss “five travelers into the gulf below.” He decides “that it was high time for theology to take its place among the exact sciences,” and sets out to discover why the bridge chose this time to fall, and how it came to be that these five specific people were on it at that fateful moment.

“If there were any plan in the universe at all, if there were any pattern in a human life, surely it could be discovered mysteriously latent in those lives so suddenly cut off. Either we live by accident and die by accident, or we live by plan and die by plan. And on that instant Brother Juniper made the resolve to inquire into the secret lives of those five persons.”

Brother Juniper spends six years interviewing people about the five dead people. They are the rich Dona Maria; her companion, Pepita; the orphan Esteban who was raised at a convent; the valet Uncle Pio; and the young Don Jaime. The connections between these five are vividly presented in brief vignettes.

Published in 1927, The Bridge of San Luis Rey is from a different era of literature, when it was possible to be both the biggest selling book of the year and win the Pulitzer Prize. I think it was worthy of both honors. This is a story with universal appeal told through beautiful writing. Nearly 100 years after it was written, this tale is still moving and insightful today,

“There is a land of the living and a land of the dead and the bridge is love, the only survival, the only meaning.”

Audiobook Fiction: Classic, Humor (Reread)

A Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole

NOTE: If possible, listen to the audiobook! I tried the print version but the audiobook reader, Barrett Whitener, does an excellent job with the varied and unique New Orleans dialects and accents. The dialogue in this comedic farce is funny, but when it is spoken aloud it becomes hilarious.

Set in New Orleans in the 1960s, A Confederacy of Dunces follows the fortunes of 30-year-old Ignatius J. Reilly, a lazy scholar of medievalism who still lives with his mother, Irene. Ignatius is unemployed and spends most of his days in his bedroom contemplating (rarely writing) his” literary opus.” 

There are several characters in this book who make small entrances and exits before circling back to enter the story repeatedly. The cast of characters are memorable: 

• the cantankerous Claude Robichaux, who believes everyone to be a communist; 
• the police officer, Mancuso, who is the butt of all jokes at his precinct; 
• and the put-upon mother, Irene, who seeks solace in the wine she hides in the oven. 

But none compare to the pompous Ignatius, always pontificating about a world he believes has lost its standards while overlooking his own gluttony and idleness. Asked by Officer Mancuso about his lack of employment, Ignatius replies, conceitedly: “When my brain begins to reel from my literary labors, I make an occasional cheese dip.”

Listening to A Confederacy of Dunces is a welcome, humorous break from reality. 

Nonfiction: True Crime

London Falling: A Mysterious Death in a Gilded City and a Family's Search for Truth by Patrick Radden Keefe

Publisher’s Description: “In the early morning of November 29th, 2019, surveillance cameras at the headquarters of MI6, Britain’s spy agency, captured video of a young man pacing back and forth on a high balcony of Riverwalk, a luxury tower on the opposite bank of the river Thames. At 2:24 AM he jumped into the river.

In a quiet London neighborhood several miles away, Rachelle Brettler was worried about her son. Zac had told her that he had gone to stay with a friend, but then he did not come home. Days later, a police car pulled up and two officers relayed the dreadful news: her son was dead.

In their unbearable grief, Rachelle and her husband, Matthew, struggled to understand what had happened to Zac. He had his troubles, but in no way seemed suicidal. As they would soon discover, however, there was a lot they did not know about their son. Only after his death did they learn that he had adopted a fictitious alter-ego: Zac Ismailov, son of a Russian oligarch and heir to a great fortune. Under this guise, Zac had become entangled with a slippery London businessman named Akbar Shamji, and a murderous gangster known as “Indian Dave.” As the Brettlers set about investigating their son’s death, they were pulled into a different and more dangerous London than the one they’d always known and came to believe that something much more nefarious than a suicide had claimed Zac’s life. But to their immense frustration, Scotland Yard seemed unable—or unwilling—to bring the perpetrators to justice.”

London Falling isn’t just an investigation of an inexplicable death. It is also about how a family tried to solve a double mystery: HOW did their son die and WHO was he really. This secondary investigation probes the nature of parental love and the challenges of being a parent. 

“The truth about parenthood, he concludes, is that it abruptly catapults us into a permanent relationship with a stranger.”

Fiction: Mystery

The Night in Question by Susan Fletcher

I really like books with late-in-life characters such as Fredrik Backman's A Man Called Ove and Rachel Joyce’s The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry. This book was “right up my alley” and was un-putdownable!

“… how on earth had it come to this; how was she looking at care homes for the elderly when she still felt twenty years old inside, still believed she could do headstands, and when there was still so much that she wanted to do with her life – like swim the English Channel or ride across plains with proper cowboys, learn the trumpet or walk the Camino de Santiago with all her belongings on her back. How might she do these things now? Where had the time gone? What was left of her one, brief life?”

Florrie Butterfield is 87, has one leg, and lives in Babbington Hall, an “old folks’ home.” She believes there can't be any more adventures or surprises in life to experience. Yet one summer evening, there’s a strange and shocking event at Babbington Hall. Florrie is suspicious; is this really an accident? Or is she being lied to? Is she, in fact, living alongside a potential murderer? In search of the truth, Florrie begins to look back on her own life, with all its desires and regrets. She must confront her own secret and, at last, forgive herself. With the help of her new friend, Stanhope, Florrie learns that you’re never too old to have the life you’ve always dreamed of. 

The Night in Question is about the solving of a mystery… sort of. Mostly though, it’s a celebration of the different stages of our lives. It’s a reflection on the nature of the various sorts of loves one may be fortunate enough to encounter throughout a lifetime. It’s a reminder to grab hold of life and make the most of it. It’s the gift of friendship and love that may surprise us at a time when we least expect it. The Night in Question is an emotionally engaging novel which is both a mystery and a meditation on love, friendship, and the power of forgiveness.

Two Books About Aspen

These two books were on the coffee table of the condo we were staying at during our recent visit to Aspen, Colorado. I read them and recommend them to anyone who travels there or is interested in learning about the history of this unique American town.

Nonfiction: American History 

Aspen Journey: Past to Present by Susan Dalton, Anthony Kinne (Illustrator), Judy Haas (Editor)

Aspen Journey tells the story of the transformation of a pure and pristine valley into Aspen, Colorado, a town that is like no other place! Beginning with the Utes and then moving through the silver boom (1879-1893), the quiet years (1893-1936), the revival years (1936-1970) and, finally, modern Aspen. The book includes an eclectic assortment of graphics, including antique prints, historical photos, memorabilia, and vintage postcards. It is a large coffee table book. 

This is a great book for visitors! Due to the plethora of illustrations, it is “easy” reading, just right for relaxing after a day of hiking. 

Nonfiction: American History, Memoir 

To Aspen and Back: An American Journey by Peggy Clifford, introduction by Hunter S. Thompson

Originally published in 1980, To Aspen and Back is an insightful chronicle of the transformation of Aspen, Colorado, from the 1950s through the 1970s. It is both a history and a deep examination of the social and cultural forces that at the same time shaped this “Shangri-La” in the Colorado Rockies while also threatening to destroy its ideals. 

In its 100-year history, Aspen has experienced the birth, death, and resurrection of the “American Dream.” In the 1950s Aspen began to attract “ski bums”, dreamers, and artists, but in the 1960s and 1970s Aspen also attracted others looking to make a profit appealing to and attracting the rich and famous.  

To Aspen and Back describes the cultural clashes between ranching families, early developers, and residents who were being priced out of their hometown. This conflict shaped the resort town we know today. 

Over 40 years after its publication, To Aspen and Back is not just as the history of Aspen the town but it is also a revelation of how we, as Americans, choose to pursue our versions of the “American Dream.”

"Peggy Clifford described the rise and fall of our illusions as well as anyone could. She was right in the middle of it and what she writes is true. ... As a writer, what I most appreciate in this book is the clarity and validity of her descriptions of people and times and places. ... She ties Aspen’s fate to America. ... Peggy was in the trenches. She’s the ultimate authority.” – Hunter S. Thompson

June Booknotes

 

“All I have learned, I learned from books.” - Abraham Lincoln

Nonfiction: China, Technology, Economics, Politics

Breakneck: China's Quest to Engineer the Future by Dan Wang

The central premise of Breakneck is that even though China and the USA are in a great power struggle, they could learn much from each other.

Wang argues that the USA has fallen prey to inertia in realizing any improvements in physical infrastructure due to a litigation driven culture. He cites the fact more than half of Congress and the many of our presidents were lawyers or held a law degree. Conversely China's 24-member Politburo contains several prominent scientists and former aerospace, nuclear, or weapons engineers and General Secretary Xi Jinping has a degree in chemical engineering. This helps to explain China’s great feats of public works leading to 11 Chinese cities having a metro network larger than New York City’s and their high-speed railway service rural areas. China is “big” on infrastructure, they have twice the number of roads built since 2000 compared to the USA. 

“China, right now, is in the midst of pursuing its own Great Society, where even its poorest provinces have impressive levels of physical dynamism. Delivering the goods is part of why consent of the governed is still pretty strong in China.”

Conversely, China is not so good when it comes to people. Among the most intense chapters are the chapters on the one-child (chapter 4) and zero-Covid (chapter 5) policies. The one-child policy was initiated by misguided demographic projections and a misunderstanding of Malthusianism theory - a demographic and economic theory suggesting that human population growth tends to outpace agricultural production, leading to inevitable famine, disease, and war. Initially, second or additional children born would not be registered meaning they would not receive free education or health care. However, the policy quickly became barbarically coercive: fines, sterilizations, forced abortions, abandonments, and infanticides. All this tragedy and agony justified in the name of meeting the *numerical targets of the government's plan regardless of the inhumanity. The lesson is the engineering mindset can be inhumane and myopic.

NOTE: *Like the current administration's immigration mindset which favors quotas over humanity.

Zero-Covid, similarly, is presented as both a demonstration of China’s effective engineering state capacity (closing borders, mobilizing resources, quarantines, digital monitoring) and of its failures (suppressing the number of cases, inability to adapt to new viral variants, disregarding human suffering). During the 8-week TOTAL lock down in Shanghai, megaphones mounted on state drones called out to citizens “Repress your soul’s yearning for freedom!"  This is just one example how an inflexible “engineering” state ignores humanity. 

China is estimated to account for 45% of world output by 2030.  We could learn beneficial lessons from China but not if we focus solely on tariffs. Tariffs are not universally good or bad, but their impact depends on who is being affected – will they enhance the lives of people? When planning for manufacturing and infrastructure projects, “engineering” has the potential to improve life for people by recognizing and embracing human rights. Wang concludes with a warning that the more Western democracies don’t deliver on the needs and wishes of their people, the more tempting it is to rely on a strongman to fulfill all their wishes.

“The ultimate contest between China and the United States will not be decided by which country has the biggest factory or the highest corporate valuation. This contest will be won by the country that works best for the people living in it.”

Tandem Read –Two books about our nation’s transition from the Gilded Age to the Progressive Era.

Here are key concepts shared by these two books.

Gilded Age – 1870 through 1890s, an era of prosperity for the rich and rapid technological advancement which masked deep societal problems like poverty, inequality, and political corruption.

Progressive Era – 1890s – 1920s, an era of political movement interested in furthering social and political reform, while curbing political corruption.

Socialism – an economic and political philosophy advocating for the collective or public ownership of the means of production, rather than private ownership.

Anarchy - a social and political movement, anarchism advocates for a society based on voluntary cooperation, self-determination, and mutual aid rather than coercive state control.

Nonfiction: American History

Murdering McKinley: The Making of Theodore Roosevelt's America by Eric Rauchway

The book begins with an account of the assassination of President William McKinley. He was known as the “handmaiden to American manufacturers” and for the McKinley Tariff which led to the panic of 1893. He is seen as the epitome of the Gilded Age. The assassination is described in detail, as is the capture of the assassin, the subsequent trial, and execution. 

Particularly interesting is the biography of the shooter, a native-born American named Czolgosz who insisted he was an “anarchist.” Czolgosz’s life story is based on research done by an alienist (we now know them as psychologists) named Briggs who was trying to diagnose whether Czolcosz was insane. 

However, Czolcosz’s story is only a portion of the book. Equally interesting is the description of what was happening in a broader American context. The larger picture of forces at play in 1901 and beyond included corporate coddling; progressivism vs. socialism; political smear tactics; criminal psychology; and social workers. Rauchway discusses how these forces led to Theodore Roosevelt’s rise to the presidency and the Progressive Era. 

The final aspect in the book was an in-depth discussion of the development of psychology as a science. There was controversy over the causes and treatment of insanity. Czolcosz’s mental condition was argued over. Many alienists promoted the idea that merely claiming to be an “anarchist” was a kind of mental illness.

This book reads like an anthology of feature articles about domestic issues in U.S. politics of the time. Murdering McKinley is a varied and fascinating picture of this period in history.

Fiction: Utopia, Science Fiction

Looking Backward by Edward Bellamy

This is the book that Czolcosz “studied steadily for eight years.” 

Published in 1888, Looking Backward was a best seller and translated into multiple languages. It sold for as little as 50 cents and was the most accessible book in the United States for many years. 

It is a tale of time travel when Julian West, a wealthy Bostonian, falls into a deep trance. One-hundred-thirteen years later, in the year 2000, he is “awakened” by a doctor into a utopian America. 

West discovers a world greatly changed from the Gilded Age he left and now experiences an America in which social classes do not fight one another but work together in peaceable recognition of their common interest. There is no private industry, the state owns all capital and manages all production, replacing competitive private business with a single, massive public cooperative. 

Citizens are part of an "industrial army," they have no money, and consumer goods are rationed via “credit” cards. This novel offers a revolution without bloodshed and a peaceful evolution of social thought. 

Looking Backward has no violence, - nothing to indicate Czolcosz, who studied it for eight years, was influenced by its content to shoot President McKinley. It is a utopian tale.

When it was published during the Gilded Age there were extensive slums, sweatshops, and unsafe factories. All this existed alongside the skyrocketing wealth of a handful of men. A social movement began when people realized the Gilded Age didn’t represent the pinnacle of human society.  There had to be something better – hence the transition to the Progressive Era and the book’s popularity.

Looking Backward is frequently assigned in history courses due to its depiction of the differences between capitalism and “socialism.” However, as literature, it reads more like a lecture from someone who can't stop pontificating. The plot is boring and the characters are flat. Bellamy imagines a future economy with mind-numbing detail. Yet, it remains one of the most influential utopian novels. 

Nonfiction: Survival, Interpersonal Relations, Biography

A Marriage at Sea: A True Story of Love, Obsession, and Shipwreck by Sophie Elmhirst

This is the true tale of a couple, Maurice and Maralyn Bailey, who couldn’t have been more different, yet so perfect for each other. He was solitary, and compulsive, and she was charming, and enterprising. Neither Maurice nor Maralyn wanted a conventional lifestyle, Maurice was looking for an escape, and Maralyn was looking for an adventure. They were going to sail, just the two of them, from Great Britain to New Zealand

They sold their home and lived meagerly while Maurice oversaw the construction of their sailboat, which took several years. In June 1972 they set sail to New Zealand without a radio and using only a compass and sextant to navigate. Maralyn didn’t even know how to swim.

After passing through the Panama Canal into the Pacific Ocean, and nine months after setting sail, a breaching whale struck their sailboat. As their sailboat was sinking, they gathered what they could into an inflatable life raft and attached dinghy, which they shared for the next 118 days...

The survival story is fascinating, and it reads almost like a novel. The physicality of their ordeal - catching sharks and birds with bare hands, fishing hooks made of safety pins, cutting eggs out of a turtle, etc. makes for some squeamish reading. But the book focuses on the most important thing that kept them going, their marriage.  The strength of their partnership was essential to their survival.  Maurice would not have survived without Maralyn; he wanted to give up but Maralyn kept him focused on their future. 

After their rescue, the press initially focused on Maralyn as the unnamed “wife” and a “small brunette” who they assumed had followed her husband rather than being the main driver behind the adventure and their survival. Maurice always corrected the reporters and flat out told them he was only alive because of Maralyn’s strength of character. 

The Bailey’s did sail again, and their marriage survived until Maralyn’s death from cancer in 2002. Maurice didn’t fare well after Maralyn was gone. Just “surviving” each day was an immense struggle on his own.

A Marriage at Sea is an unforgettable true story of extreme survival, human resourcefulness, battles with despair, and sustained hope. It's filled with details of this couple's ordeal at sea, what happened afterwards, and the years that followed. It's a fascinating read!

Fiction: Realistic Fiction, Ireland

Ordinary Human Failings by Megan Nolan

“Really, who would care about a family like theirs? Theirs were ordinary human failings, tragedies too routine to be of note.”

This gritty novel follows the lives of an Irish immigrant family, the Green family, in a public housing estate in 1990s London. Ten-year-old Lucy Green is suspected of being responsible for the death of a three-year-old girl, Mia. Why did this tragedy occur?

We travel back ten years and learn about the members of Lucy’s family. Her grandmother Rose, the family martyr, was the only person who displayed any affection toward Lucy, but she died a few years ago. That left her grandfather, John a recluse, and her uncle Ritchie, an alcoholic. Her mother, Carmel, became pregnant with her when she was a teenager. Carmel’s boyfriend moved away and, in the 1980s Ireland, abortion was prohibited. Carmel tries unsuccessfully on her own to end her pregnancy and fails. She then goes into a deep denial about her condition. Once Rose finally realized Carmel was pregnant, they traveled to England when abortion was legal, but it is too late and Carmel was already 5 months pregnant. So the family relocated from Ireland to London to avoid scandal. After Lucy’s birth, Carmel was distant and never displayed any concern for her daughter. Grandmother Rose was Lucy’s surrogate mother until her death.

After Rose died, 10-year-old Lucy was basically ignored by her family, and she began to have behavioral issues at school. Then Mia was found dead after playing with Lucy. She was taken into police custody, and her family was subjected to scrutiny from their neighbors, the press, and law enforcement. The scrutiny and Lucy’s plight compel each of the family members to reflect on their own lives and the dysfunction within their family. Every member of the Green family made poor choices. It was one bad decision after another.

Even though the characters frustrated me, Nolan’s intimate and intense writing ignited my empathy. I can understand why the Greens did what they did, and I found myself caring for a broken family in need of healing. This was a depressing, intriguing story which, fortunately, had a hopeful ending.

Fiction: Historical Fiction, Thriller

The Tenth Man by Graham Greene

NOTE: The last time I read anything by Graham Greene was in my English Literature Survey class in high school. I was browsing the shelves in our public library, saw this and decided it was time to become reacquainted with Mr. Greene.

The Tenth Man was written in 1944 when Greene was under contract to Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. The manuscript did not make it into production and was in MGM’s archives until 1983 when it was published with an introduction by the author. In 1988 it was made into a television movie in the Hallmark Hall of Fame series is available on Prime Video. I have not watched it, yet.

During World War II, in occupied France, a German aide-de-camp and a sergeant are shot and killed by an unknown member of the Resistance. The Germans decide to retaliate by shooting one man in every ten being held in a prisoner of war (POW) camp. The prisoners are instructed to draw lots to see who will be shot. A wealthy Paris lawyer, Chavel, draws a lot.

Chavel then offers his home and his entire legacy to anyone that is willing to take his place. Amazingly a young man suffering from tuberculosis, Janvier, accepts his offer. Chavel then draws up the legal documents of transfer and then Janvier’s will so that upon his death the house and legacy are left to Janvier’s mother and sister.

Later, when he is released from the POW camp, impoverished Chavel returns to his home where Janvier's mother and sister now live. He hides his identity and becomes their servant, calling himself Charlot. Eventually, an imposter arrives at the house claiming to be Chavel … 

At first The Tenth Man seems like a simple and straightforward story, it is only 150 pages. However, is a moving tale about guilt, love, and ultimately, the value of life. This is the story of a man who gave all his worldly treasures in exchange for his life and then had to deal the unexpected consequences of his actions.

Banned Book Club Fiction: African American, Historical Fiction (Reread)

Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston

This is a wonderful novel about an independent Black woman, Janie Crawford in 1930s Florida. She is on a quest for self-discovery, identity, and genuine love. 

The novel begins when Janie returns to her hometown after several years away. She left years earlier with a younger, scandalous lover, but now Janie returns alone and faces the town's gossip. 

“They made burning statements with questions and killing tools out of laughs. It was mass cruelty.”

Janie then tells her best friend, Pheoby, what has transpired during her time away. She begins her life story as a preteen living with her grandmother, Nanny. Nanny arranges her first marriage to an old, rich man, Logan Killicks. Her marriage is not a loving one and Janie feels treated like property. She grows restless and leaves Logan. 

Next Janie marries ambitious Jody Starks, who eventually becomes the mayor of Eatonville, Florida. While this marriage offers her social status, Jody proves controlling, silences Janie, and is abusive. He ignores her as much as possible and builds his empire in the town. Then Jody dies and Janie meets Tea Cake Woods. 

"He drifted off to sleep, and Janie looked down on him and felt a soul-crushing love. So her soul crawled out from its hiding place."

Finally, Janie finds true love with Tea Cake, a man much younger than her. Though he is poor, he treats Janie as an equal, allowing her to express her true self. Unfortunately, tragedy strikes …

"The wind came back with triple fury and put out the light for the last time. They sat in company with the others in other shanties, their eyes straining against crude walls and their souls asking if He meant to measure their puny might against His. They seemed to be staring at the dark, but their eyes were watching God."

In 1997, Their Eyes Were Watching God was banned in a Virginia county because parents objected to Janie’s relationship with the much-younger Tea Cake. It seems surprising that the age gap between Janie and Tea Cake was their big issue - not the initial loveless, arranged marriage to an older man - not the twenty years of abuse she suffered at the hands of her second husband!!

“Janie saw her life like a great tree in leaf with the things suffered, things enjoyed, things done and undone. Dawn and doom was in the branches”

This is a classic American novel expertly written about the evolution of a voiceless, impressionable teenager into a woman who finally takes control of her own destiny and speaks her mind. Throughout her evolution Janie learns the difference between societal expectations of a “stable” marriage and a true emotional connection. Their Eyes Were Watching God is a quiet, beautiful monument to a woman's strength and endurance.

Nonfiction: Literature, Politics, History

Tyrant: Shakespeare on Politics by Stephen Greenblatt

NOTE: I haven’t read any Shakespeare since college! So, I have never really thought about how many times William Shakespeare warned us about the dangers of tyrants until now! 

Macbeth, Winter’s Tale, Coriolanus, Julius Caesar, Henry VI, King Lear, and of course the play involving the most notorious hunchback in history, Richard III – all are explorations of the darkness of power that leads to malicious intentions and evil deeds.

These tyrants have no loyalty to country, and if they are ousted from power, they are quick to turn on their country, even embracing the nation’s enemies to punish those who would not let them be the dictator they dreamed of. 

Shakespeare’s depiction of Richard III brilliantly illustrates how tyrants view the world: “He is pathologically narcissistic and supremely arrogant. He has a grotesque sense of entitlement, never doubting that he can do whatever he chooses. He expects absolute loyalty, but he is incapable of gratitude. The feelings of others mean nothing to him. He has no natural grace, no sense of humanity, no decency. The tyrant is not merely indifferent to the law; he hates it and takes pleasure in breaking it. He hates it because it gets in his way and because it stands for a notion of the public good that he holds in contempt.”

The tyrant is utterly obsessed with winning, and any losses he may experience are always going to be blamed on those around him. He is too childish to accept his own missteps; therefore, valuable lessons are not learned that would help him to become a better leader. He never has to feel personal regret.

“The tyrant is obsessed by loyalty from his inner circle … the only people who will serve him are self-interested scoundrels … he wants flattery, confirmation, and obedience.”

This is a book about Shakespeare. It doesn't mention contemporary politics at all, not even once. Why would it? It is a book about how Shakespeare's plays explore the concept of tyranny, and of what happens in a country when flawed, selfish, foolish people use power for their own benefit. Any connection between the contents of this book and contemporary politics are entirely in the mind of the reader. Ultimately, I think Greenblatt is using Shakespeare to remind us of our duties not to let tyranny go unchecked. 

“Shakespeare believed that the tyrants and their minions would eventually fail … the best chance for the recovery of collective decency lay, he thought in the political action of ordinary citizens.”

May Booknotes

 

“A word after a word after a word is power.” - Margaret Atwood

Banned Book Club Fiction: Realistic Fiction

Forever by Judy Blume

NOTE: I read this book in high school, so this is a reread as a “mature” woman. Here is the author’s explanation of why she wrote Forever: "This book was first published in 1975. My daughter Randy asked for a story about two nice kids who have sex without either of them having to die. She had read several novels about teenagers in love. If they had sex the girl was always punished—an unplanned pregnancy, a hasty trip to a relative in another state, a grisly abortion (illegal in the U.S. until the 1970's), sometimes even death. Lies. Secrets. At least one life ruined. Girls in these books had no sexual feelings and boys had no feelings other than sexual. Neither took responsibility for their actions. I wanted to present another kind of story—one in which two seniors in high school fall in love, decide together to have sex, and act responsibly."

In Forever, Kath and Michael meet at a New Year's Eve party. They're attracted to each other; they grow to love each other. Kath’s parents and grandmother discuss sex with her. They advise her about sex but do not explicitly forbid it. Kath’s mother said:

"It's up to you to decide what's right and what's wrong ... I'm not going to tell you to go ahead but I'm not going to forbid it either. It's too late for any of that. I expect you to handle it with a sense of responsibility though ... either way."

Kath’s conversation with her grandmother isn’t threatening nor does it shame girls who have sex:

"Just be careful ... that's my only advice."

"Of what?"

"Pregnancy."

"Grandma!"

"And venereal disease."

"Really ... "

"Does it embarrass you to talk about it?"

"No, but ... "

"It shouldn't."

Her grandmother gives Kath Planned Parenthood brochures so Kath knows where to go for help in choosing birth control. Once Kath and Michael decide their love is “forever,” they make love. Nothing tragic happens to them even though they have sex. It's the beginning of an intense and exclusive relationship, with a future all planned ... until Kath's parents insist that she and Michael put their love to the test with a summer apart...

What I like about this book:

• There are conversations about sex between Kath, her parents, and grandmother. 
• Birth control is accessible and is viewed as a responsible choice. 
• A teenage friend of Kath’s decides to give birth not because abortion is viewed as a horrible thing to do but because that is HER CHOICE.
• It’s a portrayal of a responsible and loving teenage relationship.
• Sex needs to be two things: (1) consensual, and (2) enjoyable for both partners. Kath had the ability and the right to make informed and responsible choices about whether to have a sexual relationship or not.
• This book had a positive effect on my life! 

Audiobooks Fiction: Paranormal, Horror

The House on Cold Hill and The Secret of Cold Hill (House on Cold Hill #1 & #2) by Peter James

The House on Cold Hill is about the Harcourt family - Oliver, Caro, and daughter Jade. They move into a huge, dilapidated Georgian mansion called Cold Hill House. Although the home inspector told them NOT to buy the mansion due to its dilapidated state, Oliver insists they spend all their money on this “dream house” with plans to refurbish it as their budget allows. His plan is to live in Cold Hill House happily ever after. 

The plan doesn’t work out. Very quickly after moving in, Oliver sees a mysterious woman in an old-fashioned blue dress floating through a room and a friend spots a presence in the background while on FaceTime with Jade. There are other “residents” in this house, and as the history of the house is unraveled, the forces start to become more malevolent.

The sequel, The Secret of Cold Hill, is about what happens after Cold Hill House is torn down and a new housing development is built on its site. The site is still under construction but the first two families arrive and they are very different. Maurice and Claudette Penze-Weedell selected their house for retirement. Across the street a much younger couple, Jason and Emily Danes, selected their house to fulfil their career dreams. Before long, both couples notice that all is not well in their new homes.

These are easy-to-listen-to because the reader is excellent. Plus, the chapters are very short. As “ghost stories” both were well written but there were some things that I found irritating. For example, the Harcourts and the Danes experience obviously paranormal events and they ALWAYS say, “There must be a rational explanation” – repeatedly, ad nauseum! 

No, a television turning on when it is unplugged or a circuit breaker physically switching off as you stand there staring at it are not “rational” events. When cockroaches pour out of the freezer, the Danes try to convince themselves that it’s their "overactive imagination" or "the stress of moving into their new house"! Finally, each time the wife suggests leaving the house (yes, please!) the husband insists that they stay. “We can work this out.” (!?) or “We are stronger together.” (?!)

Even though I rolled my eyes many, many times while I listened to these books, I did find them enjoyable. James is a gifted writer and has a talent or characterization. Plus, he adds touches of humor within the haunting plots. After listening to these books, you can bet that if I wake up and find my bed rotated 180 degrees while I slept, I am "outta here!"

Nonfiction: Memoir, Spirituality, Science 

In My Time of Dying: How I Came Face to Face with the Idea of an Afterlife by Sebastian Junger

In 2020, Junger, 58 years old, had a near-fatal health emergency (a ruptured aneurysm on a pancreatic artery; his odds of surviving, even with timely medical intervention, were around 10%), and while doctors at the hospital worked frantically to save his life, Junger had a profound near death experience that forced him to consider the possibility of an afterlife for the first time. 

“My dead father appearing above me in a trauma bay is the least of it. When I tried to find the ICU nurse who had suggested I try thinking of my experience as something sacred rather than something scary, no one at the hospital knew who she was; no one even knew what I was talking about. It crossed my mind that she did not exist. My experience was sacred, I finally decided, because I couldn’t really know life until I knew death, and I couldn’t really know death until it came for me.”

Junger shares his family history and upbringing. We can understand that an encounter with the afterlife would be a shock in his family of atheists and scientists. He goes on to share all sides of the debate: stories from those who encountered the afterlife during near death experiences; perfectly rational explanations from scientists regarding brain activity at the time of death; and stories from others, like himself, who understand and believe in the science but who nonetheless had profound near death experiences that seemed to promise a continuation of the consciousness after death. And when Junger gets to the latest in quantum physics - explaining how unlikely the existence of the universe, and our place within it as sentient beings, really is - it’s easy to be persuaded to believe in something more.

In My Time of Dying is an intriguing account of Junger’s experience: part memoir, part investigation into the nature of reality, and part personal processing of his experience and consequent research.  This book is only 162 pages, but it is well written and interesting throughout. Junger expertly blends awe and reason – an excellent book.

Nonfiction: Self Help

Keep Going: 10 Ways to Stay Creative in Good Times and Bad by Austin Kleon

Although I already knew many of the ten things listed, Keep Going is a review of good habits. 

One concept that stood out was dumping the idea that one's passion or hobby should be turned into a vehicle to make money. Kleon states, “Art is for life, not the other way around.” 

It reminds me of people, who when they learn I’m a runner, say, “You should run a marathon.” I believe, “Running is for life, not the other way around.” I don't need to turn my passion into a competition to "win." I run to run. Artists don't need to turn their creations into money. They create to create. Art is FOR life.

There were a few quips that resonated with me:

• Forget the nouns: Do the verbs. – “I don’t’ know what I am. I know I am not a category. I am not a thing – a noun. I seem to be a verb, an evolutionary process.” – R. Buckminster Fuller
• Pay attention to what you pay attention to: “Tell me to what you pay attention, and I will tell you who you are.” – Jose Ortega y Gassett
• To change is to be alive: The Dunning-Kruger Prayer – “Let me be smart enough to know how dumb I am and give me the courage to carry on anyway.”

This book is a little shot of motivation to help you stay creative and remain true to yourself. It encourages you to take time and let the creativity in your life filter through.

These basic terms lay the foundation for the life experiences in Tunnel 29 and The Wall.

• Iron Curtain: The boundary that symbolically, ideologically, and physically divided Europe into two separate areas after World War II.
• Cold War: The geopolitical, ideological, and economic struggle that emerged between capitalism and communism from 1945 to 1991.
• Communism: The ideology of the Soviet Union and other countries; a system of government in which the state controls all social and economic activity.

Nonfiction: History, Cold War

Tunnel 29: The True Story of an Extraordinary Escape Beneath the Berlin Wall by Helena Merriman

NOTE: The author, Merriman, is a journalist and podcaster. She interviewed 80-year-old Joachim Rudolph in his apartment in Berlin in 2018 for a podcast. The interview lead her to write this book detailing how 29 people escaped from East Berlin to freedom in the West by tunneling under the Berlin Wall at the height of the Cold War.

In August 1961 the Berlin Wall was erected, not to keep people from coming into East Germany but to stop the flood of East Germans leaving. If people from the East tried to escape, they were shot or imprisoned. 

In 1962 Joachim and four friends began to dig a tunnel from the West to the East to help people escape. It was an audacious plot. It took careful planning, hard work and sleepless nights to dig 400 feet of tunnel. Complicating their efforts were the border guards, the Stasi, and spies. It is estimated that 1 in 6 people in the East were spies. Who can they trust? Who can they not trust?

Tunnel 29 is so much more than an account of one escape attempt. Merriman weaves historical facts and background into the tunnel tale seamlessly. This is an eye-opening account of life in the early 1960's, the Stasi, Border Police, and neighborhood spies. Through the escapees’ stories we can learn why freedom was so meaningful that people risked their lives and the lives of their loved ones to escape. 

“Picture Book” Nonfiction: Memoir, History, Cold War

The Wall: Growing Up Behind the Iron Curtain by Peter Sís

NOTE: The Wall was the 2009 One Book One Community selection in Loudoun County, Virginia (where I was a public librarian). Even as a reread, this book is simply fantastic! The Wall is a valuable history lesson, and an emotional story of a young man whose imagination and creativity allowed him to endure the times of authoritarianism in Czechoslovakia.

Sis uses annotated illustrations, journals, maps, and dreamscapes to show what life was like for a child who loved to draw, proudly wore the red scarf of a Young Pioneer, stood guard at the giant statue of Stalin, and believed whatever he was told to believe.

But during his teen years he began to question Communist control and why he couldn’t draw what he wanted. The Czech people were denied art, music, and books unless it was approved by the government. 

Then news from the West slowly filtered into the country. Sis learned about beat poetry, rock 'n' roll, blue jeans, and Coca-Cola. He let his hair grow long, secretly read banned books, and joined a rock band. 

Slowly, the Iron Curtain began to recede resulting in the Prague Spring of 1968. Sis was a teenager who wanted to see the world and meet the Beatles. For him and millions of other Czechs this was a magical time. It was short-lived, however, brought to a sudden and brutal end by the Soviet-led invasion. 

However brief, Sis had a glimpse of new possibilities. He understood creativity could be discouraged but not easily killed. In 1982 traveled to Los Angeles, California to create an animated film about the Czech Olympic athletes. Sis did not return to Czechoslovakia. Instead, he remained in the US and was granted asylum.

I grew up during the Cold War, but it was one of those things that existed in the background of my childhood. I was told that Communists were “bad’ and "not nice”, but I never really got it. Now I get it. The Wall is a great history lesson about life in an authoritarian country.

Nonfiction: History, Memoir, Politics

An Unfinished Love Story: A Personal History of the 1960s by Doris Kearns Goodwin

I can’t describe this inspirational book better than the publishers! “Dick and Doris Goodwin were married for forty-two years and married to American history even longer. In his twenties, Dick was one of the brilliant young men of John F. Kennedy’s New Frontier. In his thirties he both named and helped design Lyndon Johnson’s Great Society and was a speechwriter and close advisor to Robert Kennedy. Doris Kearns was a twenty-four-year-old graduate student when selected as a White House Fellow. She worked directly for Lyndon Johnson and later assisted on his memoir.

The Goodwins’ last great adventure involved finally opening the more than three hundred boxes of letters, diaries, documents, and memorabilia that Dick had saved for more than fifty years. They soon realized they had before them an unparalleled personal time capsule of the 1960s, illuminating public and private moments of a decade when individuals were powered by the conviction they could make a difference; a time, like today, marked by struggles for racial and economic justice, a time when lines were drawn and loyalties tested.

Their expedition gave Dick’s last years renewed purpose and determination. It gave Doris the opportunity to connect and reconnect with participants and witnesses of pivotal moments of the 1960s. And it gave them both an opportunity to make fresh assessments of the central figures of the time - John F. Kennedy, Jacqueline Kennedy, Martin Luther King Jr., Robert Kennedy, Eugene McCarthy, and especially Lyndon Johnson, who greatly impacted both their lives. The voyage of remembrance brought unexpected discoveries, forgiveness, and the renewal of old dreams, reviving the hope that the youth of today will carry forward this unfinished love story with America.”

As I learned from reading White Trash last month, the poor were at the heart of LBJ’s Great Society reforms including programs to eliminate poll taxes and voting discrimination, and education and health funding. Many Americans benefited from the Great Society programs! This is how Dick Goodwin described working on the Great Society: “The White House was boiling with excitement and activity, … We all felt that way. This is what it was all for. We wanted to – no, not wanted to – we believed we were about to make the country far better from top to bottom. It was an awesome, intoxicating time.”

I am left with a deep appreciation for Dick and Doris Kearns’ contributions to our nation. I agree with Doris – “We are clearly in the midst of a profound ‘testing time’ today, and at such times, I have long argued, the study of history is crucial to provide perspective, warning, counsel, and even comfort.” 

I believe we will survive our “testing time” and that there are still public servants who believe they can “make the country far better top to bottom.”