“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
