August Booknotes

“That’s the thing about books. They let you travel without moving your feet.” — Jhumpa Lahiri

 Non-fiction: Memoir, Walking, Travel, American History

American Ramble: A Walk of Memory and Renewal by Neil King Jr.

Neil King, Jr. was a reporter for The Wall Street Journal. During his years in Washington, DC, he served as chief diplomatic correspondent, national political reporter and, finally, the Journal’s global economics editor. Now he is a walker and writer.

After two bouts with cancer and as our nation was coming out of COVID, King decided to walk from his home in Washington, DC to New York City – 330 miles. He had only an 18 pound backpack and, of course, his cellphone. He walked about 20 miles a day and the trip took 3 weeks. He didn’t listen to music, podcasts nor audiobooks along the way. King wanted no distractions from what he was seeing and experiencing as he walked.

All along his route, King had carefully planned stops. He visited a variety of fascinating places and met with people who could help him understand the histories and meanings of each place. He visited ruins, museums, historical sites like Valley Forge and even a garbage landfill. King rambled through small towns and stopped and talked with people. He got to know Amish, Quakers, eccentric historians as well as memorable Airbnb and Bed & Breakfast hosts.

However, many of his most memorable experiences were with total strangers he stumbled upon and who were open to engaging with him. My favorite encounter was the one he had with “Ted” – who was rolling his trash cans up his driveway. After King told him about his ramble, Ted encouraged him telling him that with each step he was “adding positive energy to our troubled nation.” Another encounter with a young man in a neighborhood of McMansions wasn’t as encouraging. First, the young man warned King that the neighbors may call the police on him simply because he was walking with a backpack. Then, when King asked where he could refill his water bottle, rather than simply offering to walk up his driveway and refill King’s bottle, the young man directed him to a plant nursery a mile away! When King arrived at the nursery an employee directed him to a water faucet but the manager refused to let him fill his bottle, kicked him out and threatened to call the police! Fortunately, the majority of King’s interactions were positive including a motel desk clerk who, upon hearing about his ramble, handed King 2 ice cold beers from the motel’s mini-store ...“on the house.” Ted and the clerk give me hope that we really are a nation of hospitable people.

👉 "Offer hospitality to one another without grumbling." 

- 1 Peter 4:9 

I absolutely loved American Ramble! The majority of people dream of and take cruises or chartered tours. Meanwhile, this “ramble” is my version of fantasy travel – walking, history and inner renewal! I totally agree with Ken Burns’ review of this book: “This is a near perfect book, an exquisitely seen and felt memoir of an American journey; it’s not just a geographic journey, full of keen observations and thoughtful insights, but a spiritual one, finding in our complex and sometimes contradictory landscape a mirror in which King’s own inner life awakens as he wanders. Amazing.”

Non-fiction: Philosophy/ Psychology/Sociology

Assholes: A Theory by Aaron James

*NOTE: Obviously this book uses the word “asshole” an almost infinite number of times. I really don’t like the word, it’s “yucky.” However, last month, I managed to read Humans: A Brief History of How We F*cked It All Up which uses tons of f-bombs and I survived. So I thought, “Why not give this book a try?” So I did.

Amen, brother! But what exactly is an “asshole”? Are there different types? And what can we do about the overabundance of assholes?

Here is James’ working definition of an “asshole”: “Our theory is simply this: a person counts as an asshole when, and only when, he systematically allows himself to enjoy special advantages in interpersonal relations out of an entrenched sense of entitlement that immunizes him against the complaints of other people.”

For me the key words are: “systematically allows himself” … “special advantages” … “out of an entrenched sense of entitlement”. In other words, “Screw you. I can do this because I am special and I deserve preferential treatment in any and all circumstances. So stop your whining.”

The author then goes on to describe various types of assholes: royal, political and delusional. Then he gives examples of each. He also distinguishes between the common asshole and those who suffer, and by extension, cause others to suffer due to mental illness (psychopaths and narcissists). Then there is your garden variety of jerks, schmucks, clowns and those who do not act out of a systematic character, but who simply, and temporarily, “act like an asshole”.

In contrast to the anti-social and maddening behavior of the asshole, James also introduces us to the anti-asshole, the cooperative person. This person, comprising the great majority of humans, is that person to whom standing patiently in a line, or volunteering for the common good, is juxtaposed with the self-centered and insensitive grouch.

Finally, James explains his theory of asshole management and stoic acceptance. “Assholes are a given fact of life. They are a fact of life we must somehow make peace with if we are to be at peace with life itself.”

James draws on such great philosophers as Plato, Kant, Rousseau, and Hobbes to explain his theory. The asshole may in fact be a given and inescapable part of life. Yet to the extent that we can, I think we should strive to support a society that discourages assholes and encourages cooperation. 

Fiction: Classic Mystery

The Circular Staircase by Mary Roberts Rinehart

People often called the prolific author Mary Roberts Rinehart the American version of Agatha Christie. She was writing mystery novels fourteen years before Agatha Christie began her successful career. Mary Roberts Rinehart invented the "Had-I-But-Known" genre of mystery writing. The Circular Staircase was first published in 1907 in magazine installments and as such has cliffhanger chapters.

The story revolves around Rachel Innes, who rents a house in the country, for her and her adult wards – nephew Halsey and niece Gertrude. Rachel is one of those formidable women, who tend to be extremely practical and was accustomed to dealing with the hysterics of nervous people. This is useful, as the house she rents from the Armstrong family, “Sunnyside,” is not well named. Rather than offering a pleasant home for the summer, the house is large and isolated; causing her maid, Liddy, to be extremely nervous.

Liddy, it turns out, has good reason to be nervous, as the house is full of bumps and noises, with strange figures appearing at the windows. Before long there is a murder and a convoluted and confusing tale ensues, involving embezzlement, mysterious events, love stories, melodrama and a sense of impending disaster.

I must admit that I did not like the characters at first and found nervous Liddy irritating. Plus, the plot seemed to careen from one event to another but that is probably because it was first published as a serial, one chapter at at time. I persevered though because it is an interesting example of an early crime novel. Many of the original elements of older mysteries are included in this story - secret rooms, ghostly rappings, creaking doors, a visit to a cemetery at night, odd-looking strangers, and terrifying deaths. Even though most of the characters have an Edwardian sense of propriety, Rachel has wit, curiosity and pluck – just the qualities an amateur sleuth needs. The Circular Staircase is worth reading simply due to its historic role in the development of the mystery genre. 

Non-fiction: History, World War II

Fatherland: A Memoir of War, Conscience, and Family Secrets by Burkhard Bilger

When Burkhard Bilger began the lengthy process of investigating the life of his maternal grandfather, he didn’t know what he would find. His grandfather, Karl Gonner, had fought in the German Army during World War I and was seriously wounded. After the war, his wounds healed, and with a glass eye, Karl became a schoolteacher, married and had a family. He watched all of the changes in Germany as Hitler rose to power, consolidated that power and finally set about recreating a new world. How did Karl live in/with this Nazi world? 

Bilger’s mother, Karls’ daughter, who was only a young child during those war years also wanted to know more about her father and his relationship to the Nazi Party. It seemed impossible to connect her loving father with Nazi evil.

Bilger, a writer for the New Yorker, took a circuitous route to find his answers. First he describes Europe at the turn of the Twentieth Century, the mindset of some of the nations and the people who would soon be heading to World War I. What a shock that war was to so many, and the extreme cost that hit all of Germany after the Treaty of Versailles. Seeing his grandfather’s place through all of this sets up the next stage…the arrival of the Nazis.

What was Karl’s relationship to the Nazi Party? He definitely joined the party but was Karl a fervent Nazi? Bilger interviewed the few people still alive and their descendants, plus he scoured archives in Germany and France. (His notes and a bibliography are included in the book.)

From a historical standpoint, Fatherland is about his grandfather’s wartime experiences in Alsace-Lorraine as a Nazi Party official/school administrator. It provides a nuanced narrative that counters the simplified narratives of pop culture representations and as such is valuable.

Fatherland reminds us that not all those who were initially attracted to the Nazi party were “monsters”, but rather ordinary people wanting “the best” for their families. Most converted to Nazism because of the promise of jobs, job security, and a better future free from the hunger and shame of the post-WWI years. They focused on the Nazi economic programs and dismissed the party’s antisemitic rhetoric as “bombast.” And when it became evident that the Nazis were killing millions of innocent people, they continued to turn a “blind eye.” Today, we think how they could have been so blind? However, as the author notes: How much really has changed since the Holocaust? How cyclical is history and man’s inhumanity to man? What, if anything, did we learn from the mistakes of our parents? Our grandparents? Our ancestors?

Even as the author researched and wrote about his grandfather’s initial attraction to the Nazi party and his subsequent disillusionment with it, millions of our fellow citizens pledged “Make America Great Again.” They too long for a “restoration” of national pride and unprecedented economic success. Like a past generation, way too many Americans dismiss hate-mongering comments as “bombast.” They ignore or deny political party leaders’ hateful comments about immigrants, mocking of disabled persons, vilification of anyone who thinks differently and, most importantly, their encouragement of violence. This drift to the far right and white nationalism begs the question, have we learned anything from our past?

Perhaps a future author will be writing a book like Fatherland about their MAGA grandparents!

Fiction: Post-apocalyptic

The Flood by David Sachs

When geologic activity beneath the oceans creates a huge destructive tsunami that engulfs the East Coast of the United States, coastal cities must be evacuated. Travis, his former wife, Corrina, their young son, Darren, and Corrina’s current husband, Gerry, find themselves with thousands of other refugees on a huge cruise ship in the Atlantic Ocean to ride out the incoming wave. They quickly discover that the wave is not much of a threat to them on the ship. However, the people are.

Criminals board the cruise ship and kill most of the ships’ crew. They also destroy the communications equipment, steal much of the ships’ food and rob valuables from the refugees and passengers. Travis’ family survives the mistreatment by the pirates, but the ship has suffered devastating damages and a serious shortage of food. A small group of the passengers and refugees organize to try to cope with the situation and leaders take charge. However, with lack of electrical power, potable water, and especially food, intolerable conditions and ruthless violence erupts on the ship. Travis and his family desperately fight to try to survive.

The overall premise of the disaster was unique as I have not read about an undersea earthquake disaster before. While the transitions between characters and scenes in some chapters were abrupt, it still was a page turner. I was invested in some of the characters and raced through the second half of the book.

Of course, the violence was nauseating at times, but what did I expect from a post- apocalyptic thriller set on a cruise ship with one man taking power simply because he is the only one with a gun?! When I finished the book, the ending was NOT what I expected! MOST. DEPRESSING. BOOK. EVER. Yet, I kept reading …

Audiobook Fiction: Mystery/Thriller

I Am Not Who You Think I Am by Eric Rickstad, Steven Weber (Narrator)

The story starts with a statement from the police department of a Vermont town concerning a manuscript they’ve recently received in the mail. We’re given scant detail but warned that some of the content is disturbing. What follows is the story contained in the document.

Eight-year-old Wayland comes home sick from school one day only to walk into his parents' bedroom and witness his father taking his own life. The only clue his father left was a note that said "I am not who you think I am". Wayland panics and wanting desperately to hold onto something of his father, he keeps the note hidden away until he is sixteen-years-old and still haunted by the events of that day. He sets out to discover the truth behind the note, and whether his memories are playing tricks on him. His search ultimately changes his life forever.

Told in adult Wayland’s vocabulary but from his sixteen-year-old point of view, this book is full of suspense and an abundance of misdirection. There were some disturbing elements in the plot: a gun that is handled carelessly by teen-age boys; the killing of animals; and a fifteen-year-old girl dating a twenty-year-old “dipshit.” This is a rough read in those aspects but ultimately they help to explain Wayland’s obsession with the mystery of his father’s note.

The audiobook reader was excellent and the pace was quick. I kept hitting the 30 minute timer repeatedly, I couldn’t stop listening. I was fully engaged as I felt a part of Wayland’s intense investigation.

Dark, gritty, twisted and incredibly clever – almost more of a psychological thriller than a mystery - not a book for the faint-hearted!

International Fiction: Book Club Selection

Kim Jiyoung, Born 1982 by Cho Nam-joo, Jamie Chang (Translator – Korean)

Publisher’s Description: “In a small, tidy apartment on the outskirts of the frenzied metropolis of Seoul lives Kim Jiyoung. A thirtysomething-year-old “millennial everywoman,” she has recently left her white-collar desk job—in order to care for her newborn daughter full-time—as so many Korean women are expected to do. But she quickly begins to exhibit strange symptoms that alarm her husband, parents, and in-laws: Jiyoung impersonates the voices of other women—alive and even dead, both known and unknown to her. As she plunges deeper into this psychosis, her discomfited husband sends her to a male psychiatrist.”

This book has been described as sitting “at the center of our global #MeToo movement” because it captures the common daily life experiences of women who are subjected to systematic sexism and misogyny, whether at work, at home, or anywhere else, and how it has been trivialized since childhood. The lack of a face on the cover is due to the fact that Kim Jiyoung may be anyone, including you, me … any woman because we've all been in similar situations at some point in our lives. 

I was expecting a more heartfelt story, but the story's dry tone makes it more relevant and powerful. It is told by Jiyoung’s male psychiatrist, so he is retelling her story – hence the lack of emotion.

The author includes several footnotes and stats to remind us that what was happening in the novel is actually happening now. This is reality. I was hoping that the ending of the book would provide at least a ray of hope but as the saying goes, “men will be men.” It was an unexpected ending and a harsh reality. A must read for everyone – women and men!

Science Fiction: Humor, Science Fiction

On Earth as It Is on Television by Emily Jane

What is the connection between aliens, plastic, bacon, cats, and cheese?

It was just another day when suddenly UFOs appear in the sky. The aliens made no demands, no statements, and no declarations of war. They came, briefly hovered over major cities, and abruptly left. All they left behind are questions - What does this mean for humanity? Are we not worthy enough to deserve first contact? Will they come back? And if they do, are they friends or foes? And, finally, why did all the cats run away?

The characters are lively and jump off the page, full of spirit and spunk. Oliver, suddenly conscious and alert after twenty catatonic years in a mental institution, struggles to piece together broken memories and understand why he’s following a strange cat on a westward journey. Heather is bored in Malibu, annoyed with her stepfather’s perpetual happiness so she sets off on a journey to understand why she feels so alone. Run-of-the-mill, average Blaine is married to superwoman wife, Anne. Then there are Blaine and Anne's television-addicted, half-feral children, who are hilarious delights. After the UFOs appear, Anne announces a surprise road trip to Disney World. During their circuitous travels, Blaine thinks he is losing his tenuous grip on reality.  For a novel that begins with aliens, the story is rooted deeply in humanity, and it is so heartwarming, silly and absolutely enjoyable!

I thoroughly enjoyed this outlandish, slice-of-life, science fiction adventure. On Earth as It is on Television is not your conventional first contact story. It is full of humor, cats, and bacon – lots of bacon – and the cats “talk.” It’s a NICE story. There are no murders, no psychopaths. There is a passing mention of abuse, but it’s very brief. Essentially this is a story of what it means to be human.

I smiled many times. I laughed out loud. If you enjoy quirky adventures with unique characters and a bit of ridiculousness, I highly recommend this delightfully weird book!

Science Fiction: Horror/Suspense

The Scourge Between Stars by Ness Brown

Aboard the doomed spsceship Calypso, acting captain Jacklyn Albright and her crew struggle to get their fleet back to Earth following a failed attempt at establishing a colony on a distant planet. Facing dwindling resources, poor morale, and a ship that’s barely holding itself together, things look rather hopeless, but Jacklyn isn’t about to let the last remnants of humanity die on her watch. She’s already angry at her father, the current captain, for having retreated to his quarters and abandoning his responsibilities. Now it’s up to her to guide the Calypso on its treacherous way home, a journey that will take them through a part of space riddled with pockets of storm-like phenomena that wreak havoc on the ship’s hull.

Then one day, while overseeing some repairs, Jacklyn notices some strange sounds coming from within the walls of the Calypso. Next there are alarming reports and foreboding messages from another ship – “Don’t open the door!” The odd events start to stack up, culminating in a dead body - brutally eviscerated. Something hungry is on Jacklyn’s ship and it is loose. The crew has no escape.

This is a simple and enjoyable piece of space horror. A Scourge Between the Stars borrows heavily from Alien, right down to the discovery of alien eggs and a dubious android. Don’t get me wrong, I love and monsters running amok in dark, creepy ramshackle spaceships. But this book was missing a certain, for lack of a better word, flair. This is a good novella for readers looking for a creepy space romp.

Non-fiction: Philosophy

Stoicism: A Comprehensive Guide To Stoicism and Stoic Philosophy by John Ferguson

After reading Assholes: A Theory, I realized I had not read a book about Stoic Philosophy for over 10 years! It was time for a refresher. This book is short and sweet. Although the title contains the word “comprehensive” I think the word “concise” is more appropriate.

If you are looking for a good introduction to or a review of stoicism, this is it. Ferguson begins by outlining reasons for being interested in Stoic philosophy. Then he reviews the historical basis of the philosophy and principles, identifying the key figures in the movement.

The best part of the book is a list of suggestions on how to incorporate Stoicism into your life today. Most notably is the idea that our views and reactions to life events are what makes them good or bad and not the events themselves. ( This idea is similar to the Christian Serenity Prayer.)

As Epictetus said, “People are disturbed not by things, but by the views they take of things.”

It seems increasingly common that people are attached to one worldview and have put on “blinders” to anything that doesn’t “fit” with their worldview. Their worldview is a part of their identity, their sense of self. This can make them blind to what is really happening when it doesn’t fit with their predetermined picture of the world or their line of thinking on a topic. They are more concerned with being “right” or protecting their identity. How often have you seen someone change their mind or actions because someone presented them with facts? These people, the ones who can change, are more concerned with truth and are able to live happily within reality. Sadly, today these people can be quite rare.

Stoicism has helped countless people escape anxiety and take control over the things they can actually change in their lives. There is so much valuable information in the writings of the great Stoics that you could easily spend the rest of your life reading their works and contemplating them. At the same time, the principles of Stoicism are easy enough to understand that you don’t need a Ph.D. in philosophy to learn how to apply them to your life. This short book is a good introduction to or review of Stoicism!