Ok, it's a day late. Big deal. I was going to write it up yesterday, but I got sidetracked.
I was scanning the shelves of the library, looking for something that wouldn't be too taxing to read, when I stumbled upon a couple of books by Yukio Mishima. I wasn't familiar with his work, but clearly he was at least good enough or popular enough to warrant someone publishing more than one book. None of the books looked too terribly long, but the graphic design of the cover of this one really grabbed my attention. Also, there were some glowing blurbs on the back of the book from The Nation and The Christian Science Monitor, so I figured it was worth checking out.
When I got home, I Googled Mishima and learned that he was quite the famous author in Japan - and everywhere else for that matter. He was nominated three times for the Nobel Literature Prize. He's a poet, a playwright and a novelist many times over, and even had a career as an actor. In 1970, he led an attempted coup in which he demanded the powers of the Japanese Emperor be restored. When the coup failed he committed suicide by the Samurai ritual Seppuku, also known as Harakiri. I was intrigued.
Book 05 - The Sailor Who Fell From Grace With the Sea - Yukio Mishima
Thirteen-year-old Noburo has been a handful lately. He's been sneaking out in the middle of the night, and hanging out with a small gang of boys whose leader goes by the name "Chief." It's gotten so bad that his mother, Fusako, takes to locking him in his room tonight, as she feels this is the only way she can control him. The boy's father died a few years back, and his mother has been raising him alone ever since. Sort of. Fusako is fairly well off financially. She runs a fancy boutique clothing store and can afford a housekeeper and a driver, but since the death her husband, she has not had a man in her life.
Then she meets Ryuji, a sailor on a merchant ship that is currently docked in the port. The relationship between Fusako and Ryuji is initially purely physical, but after he sets sail again they continue the relationship through written correspondence. Ryuji comes to realize that he is probably not going to find the glory for which he once thought he was predestined, and when he returns to port he decides to give up the sea and ask Fusako to marry him.
The locked bedroom door keeps Noburu from sneaking out in the middle of the night, but it does not keep him from hanging out with the Chief and his gang. The other members of the gang are referred to only by number, which seems to imply their standing in the pecking order. Noburu is "Number 3." The Chief possesses a strange combination of intellectualism and immaturity. Part philosopher, part military leader, he has a Svengali-like hold on the rest of the gang, which he uses to get them to commit acts of unspeakable violence. He advocates a world view he calls "objectivity" in which he and his fellow gang members are "geniuses," adults are sentimental hypocrites, and which advocates a brutally callous approach to any interaction with the adult world. This world view eventually poisons whatever admiration Noburu has for Ryuji, and once it is obvious that Ryuji is destined to be domesticated, the Chief demands a violent course of action.
I really liked the book. Initially I wondered about the stilted nature of some of the dialog, but I think this is intentional, as the rest of the prose flows so fluidly. There was one incredibly violent scene that I could have done without, but one could argue that it was necessary to show what the boys were capable of. I've read online that many think there is a fair amount of symbolism that is apparent if the reader is familiar with Japanese culture, but most of that probably slipped by me.
When I was looking at this book in the library, there was something vaguely familiar about the title. It turns out there was an American film based on the book made in 1970. They kept the title but changed the setting from Japan to England. The film stars Kris Kristofferson and Sarah Miles, in the roles of Ryuji and Fusako respectively, but of course the names are changed to Jim and Anne. I've never seen the movie so I don't know whether it is any good, but it did pick up a couple of Golden Globes, so who knows?
Sunday, February 5, 2012
Saturday, January 28, 2012
Book 04 - So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish - Douglas Adams
I have to confess, I chose this last book during my end-of-the-year reading frenzy when I was looking for books that I could read fairly quickly. I've had it for just over two months I think, and it absolutely has to go back to the library today (no more renewals), so I figured I better read it and write it up. If anyone cares, I re-read the small portion of it that I read last year, so as to have read the whole thing in 2012. I did this not so much out of a sense of honor as out of a sense of senility.
Book 04 - So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish - Douglas Adams
As the book covers so wittily notes, this is "The fourth in the increasingly inaccurately named Hitchhiker's Trilogy," which started with The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, and now encompasses six books I believe, the last of which was not even written by Douglas Adams. The first three books deal with the adventures of Arthur Dent, who with the help of his friend Ford Prefect, escapes the imminent destruction of earth by a Vogon demolition crew that is clearing the way for an intergalactic highway, and winds up hitchhiking across the gallaxy with the aforementioned guidebook to help him along.
Now after eight years, Arthur Dent is back on earth, with nothing to show from his travels except an old towel, a shopping bag from a galactic duty-free store, and a Babelfish in his ear. Wait. Did you say Earth?? Wasn't it destroyed? Well, this is just as confusing to Arthur as it is to the reader. He saw it happen, didn't he? His first hitched ride was on one of the Vogon demolition ships!
Well apparently the earth was not destroyed, but something big happened. The official explanation was that it was mass hallucinations due to the accidental release of an experimental psychotropic drug. It's old news now. People don't really talk about it that much any more. Heck, they don't even talk about the disappearance of the dolphins that much, either.
Wait. Did you say the dolphins are gone?? Where did they go? Arthur can't help but look for answers, especially after receiving the mysteriously magnificent fish bowl with "So Long, and Thanks for all the Fish" engraved into its side. Fortunately, he finds a soulmate in Fenchurch, an odd but beautiful girl who is also looking for answers, the difference being that she doesn't even really know the questions. Together, they seek out Wonko the Sane, who knows more about the dolphins and their disappearance than anyone. They learn that God's Final Message is located on a distant planet, and with the help of Ford Prefect, once again Arthur hitches across the galaxy with Fenchurch in tow, looking for this great piece of cosmic wisdom.
I read the first three books many years and many brain cells ago, so my recollection of them is not perfect, but I remember them as much funnier than this. For one thing, with Earth as the setting most of this book, there does not seem to be as much opportunity for new zaniness, and so many of the things that were so funny from the books - the Babelfish, the improbability drive, Marvin the depressed robot - are either missing, mentioned in passing, or simply seem played out. Don't get me wrong. There are still some very funny parts in this book. The humor has a Monty Python style to it, which is not surprising, as Adams has connections to the British Comedy troop. Adams has written at least one sketch for Python, and he has had cameos in others. Also, Terry Jones wrote Starship Titanic based on one of Adams' ideas. If you haven't read any of Adams' work, though, you are much better off starting with The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy.
Book 04 - So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish - Douglas Adams
As the book covers so wittily notes, this is "The fourth in the increasingly inaccurately named Hitchhiker's Trilogy," which started with The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, and now encompasses six books I believe, the last of which was not even written by Douglas Adams. The first three books deal with the adventures of Arthur Dent, who with the help of his friend Ford Prefect, escapes the imminent destruction of earth by a Vogon demolition crew that is clearing the way for an intergalactic highway, and winds up hitchhiking across the gallaxy with the aforementioned guidebook to help him along.
Now after eight years, Arthur Dent is back on earth, with nothing to show from his travels except an old towel, a shopping bag from a galactic duty-free store, and a Babelfish in his ear. Wait. Did you say Earth?? Wasn't it destroyed? Well, this is just as confusing to Arthur as it is to the reader. He saw it happen, didn't he? His first hitched ride was on one of the Vogon demolition ships!
Well apparently the earth was not destroyed, but something big happened. The official explanation was that it was mass hallucinations due to the accidental release of an experimental psychotropic drug. It's old news now. People don't really talk about it that much any more. Heck, they don't even talk about the disappearance of the dolphins that much, either.
Wait. Did you say the dolphins are gone?? Where did they go? Arthur can't help but look for answers, especially after receiving the mysteriously magnificent fish bowl with "So Long, and Thanks for all the Fish" engraved into its side. Fortunately, he finds a soulmate in Fenchurch, an odd but beautiful girl who is also looking for answers, the difference being that she doesn't even really know the questions. Together, they seek out Wonko the Sane, who knows more about the dolphins and their disappearance than anyone. They learn that God's Final Message is located on a distant planet, and with the help of Ford Prefect, once again Arthur hitches across the galaxy with Fenchurch in tow, looking for this great piece of cosmic wisdom.
I read the first three books many years and many brain cells ago, so my recollection of them is not perfect, but I remember them as much funnier than this. For one thing, with Earth as the setting most of this book, there does not seem to be as much opportunity for new zaniness, and so many of the things that were so funny from the books - the Babelfish, the improbability drive, Marvin the depressed robot - are either missing, mentioned in passing, or simply seem played out. Don't get me wrong. There are still some very funny parts in this book. The humor has a Monty Python style to it, which is not surprising, as Adams has connections to the British Comedy troop. Adams has written at least one sketch for Python, and he has had cameos in others. Also, Terry Jones wrote Starship Titanic based on one of Adams' ideas. If you haven't read any of Adams' work, though, you are much better off starting with The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy.
Saturday, January 21, 2012
Book 03 - Shutter Island - Dennis Lehane
Another week, another book finished on time. I seem to be making a habit of this. No preamble today, just straight to the review.
Book 03 - Shutter Island - Dennis Lehane
Rachel Solano is missing. She has disappeared from a locked room in a locked building in a high security Federal facility for the criminally insane, on a island off the coast of Massachusetts. In order to escape, she would have had to get through multiple locked doors, past multiple guards, and then somehow make it off the island and cross an icy expanse of water to make it to the mainland. It's like she evaporated into thin air.
It is the mid-1950s and Teddy Daniels is a U.S. Federal Marshal sent to help recover the missing inmate. Teddy, a highly decorated soldier in World War II, has not been the same since his wife died in a fire a few years back. He drinks too much, and clings too hard to the memory of his late wife. She invades his dreams, and he frequently converses with her in his mind.
Together with his new partner Chuck, they venture to the island, and are met with lies and stonewalling. They are unable to interview the woman's primary psychiatrist, as he has been allowed to leave the island on a planned vacation. There is a bit too much alignment in the stories told by the staff of the facility, like they have been coached as to what to say. To add to the mystery, a strange coded message has seemingly been left behind by Rachel.
Ted and Chuck explore the island looking for clues to explain what is going on. After a brush with the beginnings of an impending hurricane that is bearing down on the island, they return to discover that Rachel has miraculously been found, although there is still no good explanation as to how she came to be missing in the first place.
Ted's encounter with Rachel precipitates a brutal migraine attack, and after that things continue to go poorly for Teddy. His already tenuous grip on reality is starting to slip. When he does sleep, he is plagued by intensely nightmarish dreams. Several encounters he has with people on the island start to feed the seeds of paranoia, and Ted starts to wonder who he can trust. He continues on though, not so much because he wants to solve the mystery of Rachel, but for an ulterior motive that brought him to the island in the first place. Learning the truth about this motivation threatens to undo the remaining portion of his sanity. But is he really going crazy, or is this part of a plot by the doctors to protect the highly experimental and morally questionable work that seems to be going on in the lighthouse and the mysterious Ward C? And just who *is* Patient 67?
I was a bit disappointed when I started reading this, as it wasn't anywhere near the scary psychological thriller I'd hoped it would be. Even when the action picks up, it still let me down a bit. The prose is a bit mainstream and didn't hold me in suspense like I would have hoped. I'm not saying it was a bad read. It's a decent pop mystery novel that's perfect for summertime beach reading.
But it's cold outside, and I'm stuck inside, and I'm looking for a little more.
Book 03 - Shutter Island - Dennis Lehane
Rachel Solano is missing. She has disappeared from a locked room in a locked building in a high security Federal facility for the criminally insane, on a island off the coast of Massachusetts. In order to escape, she would have had to get through multiple locked doors, past multiple guards, and then somehow make it off the island and cross an icy expanse of water to make it to the mainland. It's like she evaporated into thin air.
It is the mid-1950s and Teddy Daniels is a U.S. Federal Marshal sent to help recover the missing inmate. Teddy, a highly decorated soldier in World War II, has not been the same since his wife died in a fire a few years back. He drinks too much, and clings too hard to the memory of his late wife. She invades his dreams, and he frequently converses with her in his mind.
Together with his new partner Chuck, they venture to the island, and are met with lies and stonewalling. They are unable to interview the woman's primary psychiatrist, as he has been allowed to leave the island on a planned vacation. There is a bit too much alignment in the stories told by the staff of the facility, like they have been coached as to what to say. To add to the mystery, a strange coded message has seemingly been left behind by Rachel.
Ted and Chuck explore the island looking for clues to explain what is going on. After a brush with the beginnings of an impending hurricane that is bearing down on the island, they return to discover that Rachel has miraculously been found, although there is still no good explanation as to how she came to be missing in the first place.
Ted's encounter with Rachel precipitates a brutal migraine attack, and after that things continue to go poorly for Teddy. His already tenuous grip on reality is starting to slip. When he does sleep, he is plagued by intensely nightmarish dreams. Several encounters he has with people on the island start to feed the seeds of paranoia, and Ted starts to wonder who he can trust. He continues on though, not so much because he wants to solve the mystery of Rachel, but for an ulterior motive that brought him to the island in the first place. Learning the truth about this motivation threatens to undo the remaining portion of his sanity. But is he really going crazy, or is this part of a plot by the doctors to protect the highly experimental and morally questionable work that seems to be going on in the lighthouse and the mysterious Ward C? And just who *is* Patient 67?
I was a bit disappointed when I started reading this, as it wasn't anywhere near the scary psychological thriller I'd hoped it would be. Even when the action picks up, it still let me down a bit. The prose is a bit mainstream and didn't hold me in suspense like I would have hoped. I'm not saying it was a bad read. It's a decent pop mystery novel that's perfect for summertime beach reading.
But it's cold outside, and I'm stuck inside, and I'm looking for a little more.
Saturday, January 14, 2012
Book 02 - The Rum Diary - Hunter S. Thompson
Well, it's week two, and I'm posting again on time! Last week the link closed early (unless Robin is in England), but I posted my review by 9PM EST on Saturday night, so in my book that counts as on time. Not that it really matters that much to me. I've said on numerous occasions that I'm not so worried about the individual weekly deadlines, just the overall 52 book goal. However, given my poor showing last year, and the frantic rush to successfully finish the year before, maybe I should pay a little more attention to the weekly goal.
The release of the movie, The Rum Diary, last October got me to thinking about Hunter S. Thompson. It's been a long time since I read anything of his (25 years??), so long that I considered rereading Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas. Although there have been a couple books on the challenge that I started in the past and never finished, so far I haven't completely reread any books, and those that were incomplete I have always restarted from the beginning. I needed something by Thompson that I hadn't yet read, so I settled on The Rum Diary itself. Unfortunately, due to the movie being out, I had to sit on the waiting list at the library for a while in order to get a copy, so I'm just now getting around to reading it. I haven't yet seen the movie, but I loved Johnny Depp's treatment of Thompson in the movie version of Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas.
Although published in 1998, this book was originally written in the 1960s and is apparently Thompson's second book, with one other as-yet-to-be published book preceding it. Thompson, known for his prolific drug use and his Gonzo journalishm style, is probably most famous for Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas and Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail '72, as well as his writing for the Rolling Stone magazine. His book covers and articles are often accompanied by the nightmarishly surreal art of Ralph Steadman (here's a link to some of Steadman's work), and it is said the character of "Duke" in the Garry Trudeau comic strip Doonesbury is modeled after Hunter S. Thompson.
Book 02 - The Rum Diary - Hunter S. Thompson
The novel takes place in Puerto Rico in the late 1950s. Kemp is a journalist who has hopped around from job-to-job, working in various places in Europe and most recently in New York, when he receives an offer to work at the San Juan Daily News, an English language newspaper on the island. Upon his arrival, he learns of the shaky financial status of the publication, but stays anyway. He befriends a photographer named Sala, who shows him to the local watering hole. Al's serves cheap booze and hamburgers, and tends to be a hangout for the Daily News employees. Kemp also becomes drinking buddies with Yeamon, a rather coarse and unstable reporter who lives with his girlfriend Chenault, who turns out to be a girl that Kemp fell madly in lust with on the plane trip down.
Kemp becomes aquainted with Sanderson, an extremely well connected man who started out working at the paper, but now runs a PR firm on the island. Sanderson has his hands in everything, and starts to feed Kemp freelance work, which takes some of the edge off his worries that the newspaper will fold. So much so that Kemp feels settled enough to get a car and a place of his own (for a while, he was staying with Sala). However, this feeling of complacency makes him worry about feeling older and selling out.
Meanwhile, the newspaper is a cesspool of laziness, alcoholism and other forms of moral decay. The reporters show up drunk, drink while they are working, and drink when they get off. There was so much alcohol consumption going on that I thought I was in a Hemingway novel. And like Hemingway, there is the question of whether alcohol is the cause or the symptom of a greater problem: that of being lost in life.
Eventually the drinking takes on tragic consequences. We learn that Yeamon frequently beats Chenault when he gets drunk. Yeamon's instability under the influence leads to his dismissal from the newspaper, and shortly thereafter to Kemp, Sala, and Yeamon being savagely beaten by locals and local police and thrown into jail. Chenault turns out to be just as volatile when drunk, and a trip to Carnival in St. Thomas again turns violently ugly when both she and Yeamon act out. Finally, the financial troubles of the newspaper combine with the drunken mental instability of the employees (including Yeamon) to ratchet the tragedy up to a whole new level.
For an early effort, this novel is surprisingly good. Thompson has a fluid writing style that keeps things moving along, and because this is only the 50s, his depiction of drug abuse seems to be limited to alcohol. The book tends to mirror its characters, though. It does not move forward much. There is no great redemption. Although Kemp learns things about himself over the course of the story, it is unclear in the end as to whether any of these lessons stick. It is not even clear as to whether he took what seemed to be the immediate path in front of him. All-in-all though, I'd say it's a pretty good read.
The release of the movie, The Rum Diary, last October got me to thinking about Hunter S. Thompson. It's been a long time since I read anything of his (25 years??), so long that I considered rereading Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas. Although there have been a couple books on the challenge that I started in the past and never finished, so far I haven't completely reread any books, and those that were incomplete I have always restarted from the beginning. I needed something by Thompson that I hadn't yet read, so I settled on The Rum Diary itself. Unfortunately, due to the movie being out, I had to sit on the waiting list at the library for a while in order to get a copy, so I'm just now getting around to reading it. I haven't yet seen the movie, but I loved Johnny Depp's treatment of Thompson in the movie version of Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas.
Although published in 1998, this book was originally written in the 1960s and is apparently Thompson's second book, with one other as-yet-to-be published book preceding it. Thompson, known for his prolific drug use and his Gonzo journalishm style, is probably most famous for Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas and Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail '72, as well as his writing for the Rolling Stone magazine. His book covers and articles are often accompanied by the nightmarishly surreal art of Ralph Steadman (here's a link to some of Steadman's work), and it is said the character of "Duke" in the Garry Trudeau comic strip Doonesbury is modeled after Hunter S. Thompson.
Book 02 - The Rum Diary - Hunter S. Thompson
The novel takes place in Puerto Rico in the late 1950s. Kemp is a journalist who has hopped around from job-to-job, working in various places in Europe and most recently in New York, when he receives an offer to work at the San Juan Daily News, an English language newspaper on the island. Upon his arrival, he learns of the shaky financial status of the publication, but stays anyway. He befriends a photographer named Sala, who shows him to the local watering hole. Al's serves cheap booze and hamburgers, and tends to be a hangout for the Daily News employees. Kemp also becomes drinking buddies with Yeamon, a rather coarse and unstable reporter who lives with his girlfriend Chenault, who turns out to be a girl that Kemp fell madly in lust with on the plane trip down.
Kemp becomes aquainted with Sanderson, an extremely well connected man who started out working at the paper, but now runs a PR firm on the island. Sanderson has his hands in everything, and starts to feed Kemp freelance work, which takes some of the edge off his worries that the newspaper will fold. So much so that Kemp feels settled enough to get a car and a place of his own (for a while, he was staying with Sala). However, this feeling of complacency makes him worry about feeling older and selling out.
Meanwhile, the newspaper is a cesspool of laziness, alcoholism and other forms of moral decay. The reporters show up drunk, drink while they are working, and drink when they get off. There was so much alcohol consumption going on that I thought I was in a Hemingway novel. And like Hemingway, there is the question of whether alcohol is the cause or the symptom of a greater problem: that of being lost in life.
Eventually the drinking takes on tragic consequences. We learn that Yeamon frequently beats Chenault when he gets drunk. Yeamon's instability under the influence leads to his dismissal from the newspaper, and shortly thereafter to Kemp, Sala, and Yeamon being savagely beaten by locals and local police and thrown into jail. Chenault turns out to be just as volatile when drunk, and a trip to Carnival in St. Thomas again turns violently ugly when both she and Yeamon act out. Finally, the financial troubles of the newspaper combine with the drunken mental instability of the employees (including Yeamon) to ratchet the tragedy up to a whole new level.
For an early effort, this novel is surprisingly good. Thompson has a fluid writing style that keeps things moving along, and because this is only the 50s, his depiction of drug abuse seems to be limited to alcohol. The book tends to mirror its characters, though. It does not move forward much. There is no great redemption. Although Kemp learns things about himself over the course of the story, it is unclear in the end as to whether any of these lessons stick. It is not even clear as to whether he took what seemed to be the immediate path in front of him. All-in-all though, I'd say it's a pretty good read.
Saturday, January 7, 2012
Book 01 - Life of Pi - Yann Martel
A rather lengthy preamble this time. If you want to just read the review, you can skip down to "Book 01."
No sense dwelling in the past. I had a miserable showing last year. I read nineteen books, twenty really - but I never bothered to review Tom Brokaw's The Time of our Lives, even though I finished it weeks ago. For a while there I was frantically trying to finish books in a futile attempt to make a decent showing, but eventually I just decided to fall back, regroup and try again for 2012.
I think part of the problem I had with Brokaw's book was that I didn't buy into the premise that reporting on the news for many years qualified you to identify solutions for what ails us as a nation. I don't think it disqualifies you either - I think it's just a separate skill set. I like Tom, and I agreed with many things he said in the book, but I disagreed with some too, and just found it all to be generally uninteresting. Does that count as my review?? It doesn't really matter. I didn't get it in by the deadline, so I guess it's still just nineteen books.
But it's a brand new year, and I have a brand new Kindle! My brother gave it to me for Christmas (thanks, Kevin!), and so far I love it...for the most part. I didn't realize that the new ones are ad driven, which I don't care much for. Instead of being able to select the picture that comes up when the device has been unattended, it shows a full screen ad for something. I've learned to aggressively tune it out though, to the point where I'm not likely to consume any of the products or services by companies, simply out of spite, which might be something that advertisers should take note of. Still, it's nice to finally have an e-reader. The Kindle is pretty neat. The screen is easy to read, and I like the fact that I can adjust the font size so I don't need my reading glasses. I'm certainly not giving up on paper books, though. I still enjoy the experience of browsing though a book store or a public library, picking up the books, leafing through them, previewing them to see if I want to read them. Yes, I know, you can do that online too, but it's not the same.
You'd think that participating in this challenge would make me want to expand my collection of books, but in fact it has had almost the opposite effect. I quickly realized that if I bought every book that I read, I could easily wind-up spending $1000 dollars a year in books, not to mention the money I would spend on shelves to put them on, and a bigger place to live. Therefore I go to the library once or twice a week to see if there's anything new and/or interesting to read. Of course the first thing I wanted to know when I got my Kindle was, "Where are the free books?" Amazon has some, but clearly wants to push you towards books you pay for. I've been checking out FeedBooks and Gutenberg, and both look like they have some interesting stuff, although I don't know if FeedBooks just gets all their free stuff from Gutenberg. My library has e-books to lend as well, but I haven't yet had a chance to explore this. Given that I have a foot-high stack of physical book potential reads sitting on my desk, not to mention what's already in my Kindle, I'm not sure how soon I'm going to get to it.
After I've said all that, Amazon will be happy to know that the first full book I read on my Kindle is one I paid for, albeit not much. On the Kindle site they had a special for Life of Pi by Yann Martel, for only 99 cents, which could possibly be less money than they had to pay to process my credit card transaction. Serves 'em right for mucking up my Kindle with ads. Anyway, on to the review.
Book 01 - Life of Pi - Yann Martel
This is the story of Piscene Molitor Patel, a very religious Indian boy, from a not very religious Hindu family, who is named after a Parisian swimming pool. Pi is so religious that not one religion can contain him. He is not content to be simply Hindu, so he decides to become a devout Catholic and a devout Muslim. Not one right after the other, mind you, but simultaneously. He goes to the Hindu temple, attends Catholic mass with communion on Sunday, and kneels on a prayer rug facing Mecca and offers his prayers to Allah five times a day. Of course, everyone tells him he cannot be all three, he must choose one. To this he simply asks, "Why?"
Pi's father owns a zoo in Pondicherry. a former French colony in India. This is mid-seventies India, and Indira Gandhi's policies eventually lead the father to sell the zoo and move the family to Toronto, Canada, to start a new life. After much wheeling and dealing, he manages to sell or trade-off all the animals. Of course few of these transactions are local ones, as there are a limited number of zoos in the immediate vicinity that can absorb these animals, so when the family finally books passage to Canada on a cargo ship, they have many of the animals along with them, to be dropped off at various points along the way.
Not too far along on their journey, an unknown mishap causes the ship to sink, and Pi finds himself in one of the ship's lifeboats, seemingly the sole human survivor. Note the emphasis on human. Pi shares the lifeboat with a zebra, an orangutan, a hyena, and a 450 pound Bengal tiger. What follows is an incredible tale of survival. Note the emphasis on incredible. Pi survives 227 days at sea in a life boat with two predators and two other animals strong enough to kill him by accident. He faces storms, starvation, lack of fresh water, and a mysterious island that holds a horrible secret, all while managing not to be eaten by the tiger.
In my opinion, the book gets off to a slow start. It gets a little bogged down with all of Pi's religious explorations, as well as a bunch of seemingly disjointed information about the nature of animals in captivity vs. the wild. Once Pi finds himself on the lifeboat though, this tiger tale becomes quite riveting. Pi must battle nature on all fronts - if the elements don't kill him, the tiger will.
Although the tiger presents a constant lethal danger, Pi and the animal reach an uncomfortable detente. The tiger is dependent on Pi for food and water, and Pi is strangely dependent on the presence of the beast to maintain the will to live. Ultimately Pi finds that he cares deeply for this animal that could kill him at any moment.
Based on the emphasis on religion in the first part of the book, it wasn't too surprising that there is a religious moral to the story. In order to believe Pi's incredible story, one must have faith, as his tale can be neither proven or dis-proven. Once you buy into the story, one could argue that Pi's "miraculous" survival is due to his actions and his will to live, rather than any special divine intervention. On the other hand, one could argue that this strength and will to live comes from his faith. Pi would probably be the first one to do so.
No sense dwelling in the past. I had a miserable showing last year. I read nineteen books, twenty really - but I never bothered to review Tom Brokaw's The Time of our Lives, even though I finished it weeks ago. For a while there I was frantically trying to finish books in a futile attempt to make a decent showing, but eventually I just decided to fall back, regroup and try again for 2012.
I think part of the problem I had with Brokaw's book was that I didn't buy into the premise that reporting on the news for many years qualified you to identify solutions for what ails us as a nation. I don't think it disqualifies you either - I think it's just a separate skill set. I like Tom, and I agreed with many things he said in the book, but I disagreed with some too, and just found it all to be generally uninteresting. Does that count as my review?? It doesn't really matter. I didn't get it in by the deadline, so I guess it's still just nineteen books.
But it's a brand new year, and I have a brand new Kindle! My brother gave it to me for Christmas (thanks, Kevin!), and so far I love it...for the most part. I didn't realize that the new ones are ad driven, which I don't care much for. Instead of being able to select the picture that comes up when the device has been unattended, it shows a full screen ad for something. I've learned to aggressively tune it out though, to the point where I'm not likely to consume any of the products or services by companies, simply out of spite, which might be something that advertisers should take note of. Still, it's nice to finally have an e-reader. The Kindle is pretty neat. The screen is easy to read, and I like the fact that I can adjust the font size so I don't need my reading glasses. I'm certainly not giving up on paper books, though. I still enjoy the experience of browsing though a book store or a public library, picking up the books, leafing through them, previewing them to see if I want to read them. Yes, I know, you can do that online too, but it's not the same.
You'd think that participating in this challenge would make me want to expand my collection of books, but in fact it has had almost the opposite effect. I quickly realized that if I bought every book that I read, I could easily wind-up spending $1000 dollars a year in books, not to mention the money I would spend on shelves to put them on, and a bigger place to live. Therefore I go to the library once or twice a week to see if there's anything new and/or interesting to read. Of course the first thing I wanted to know when I got my Kindle was, "Where are the free books?" Amazon has some, but clearly wants to push you towards books you pay for. I've been checking out FeedBooks and Gutenberg, and both look like they have some interesting stuff, although I don't know if FeedBooks just gets all their free stuff from Gutenberg. My library has e-books to lend as well, but I haven't yet had a chance to explore this. Given that I have a foot-high stack of physical book potential reads sitting on my desk, not to mention what's already in my Kindle, I'm not sure how soon I'm going to get to it.
After I've said all that, Amazon will be happy to know that the first full book I read on my Kindle is one I paid for, albeit not much. On the Kindle site they had a special for Life of Pi by Yann Martel, for only 99 cents, which could possibly be less money than they had to pay to process my credit card transaction. Serves 'em right for mucking up my Kindle with ads. Anyway, on to the review.
Book 01 - Life of Pi - Yann Martel
This is the story of Piscene Molitor Patel, a very religious Indian boy, from a not very religious Hindu family, who is named after a Parisian swimming pool. Pi is so religious that not one religion can contain him. He is not content to be simply Hindu, so he decides to become a devout Catholic and a devout Muslim. Not one right after the other, mind you, but simultaneously. He goes to the Hindu temple, attends Catholic mass with communion on Sunday, and kneels on a prayer rug facing Mecca and offers his prayers to Allah five times a day. Of course, everyone tells him he cannot be all three, he must choose one. To this he simply asks, "Why?"
Pi's father owns a zoo in Pondicherry. a former French colony in India. This is mid-seventies India, and Indira Gandhi's policies eventually lead the father to sell the zoo and move the family to Toronto, Canada, to start a new life. After much wheeling and dealing, he manages to sell or trade-off all the animals. Of course few of these transactions are local ones, as there are a limited number of zoos in the immediate vicinity that can absorb these animals, so when the family finally books passage to Canada on a cargo ship, they have many of the animals along with them, to be dropped off at various points along the way.
Not too far along on their journey, an unknown mishap causes the ship to sink, and Pi finds himself in one of the ship's lifeboats, seemingly the sole human survivor. Note the emphasis on human. Pi shares the lifeboat with a zebra, an orangutan, a hyena, and a 450 pound Bengal tiger. What follows is an incredible tale of survival. Note the emphasis on incredible. Pi survives 227 days at sea in a life boat with two predators and two other animals strong enough to kill him by accident. He faces storms, starvation, lack of fresh water, and a mysterious island that holds a horrible secret, all while managing not to be eaten by the tiger.
In my opinion, the book gets off to a slow start. It gets a little bogged down with all of Pi's religious explorations, as well as a bunch of seemingly disjointed information about the nature of animals in captivity vs. the wild. Once Pi finds himself on the lifeboat though, this tiger tale becomes quite riveting. Pi must battle nature on all fronts - if the elements don't kill him, the tiger will.
Although the tiger presents a constant lethal danger, Pi and the animal reach an uncomfortable detente. The tiger is dependent on Pi for food and water, and Pi is strangely dependent on the presence of the beast to maintain the will to live. Ultimately Pi finds that he cares deeply for this animal that could kill him at any moment.
Based on the emphasis on religion in the first part of the book, it wasn't too surprising that there is a religious moral to the story. In order to believe Pi's incredible story, one must have faith, as his tale can be neither proven or dis-proven. Once you buy into the story, one could argue that Pi's "miraculous" survival is due to his actions and his will to live, rather than any special divine intervention. On the other hand, one could argue that this strength and will to live comes from his faith. Pi would probably be the first one to do so.
Sunday, December 4, 2011
Book 19 - The Hunger Games - Suzanne Collins
Just so you know, I do take recommendations, and I actually act on them. I don't read every book that is recommended to me, but I will almost always give it serious consideration. Please leave your suggestions in the comments section of the blog, or on my FB page.
Book 19 - The Hunger Games - Suzanne Collins
The Hunger Games is the first book in a very popular teen fiction series set in a futuristic America. Panem, the central capital, rules over twelve districts with an iron hand. There used to be thirteen districts, but one of them was destroyed in the process of putting down a rebellion, and now once a year the capital demands that each of the remaining districts send one boy and one girl to participate in a spectacle known as The Hunger Games. One might think that this is some quaint little sporting event, modeled after the Olympics or the X-Games to promote peace and harmony among the districts. Nothing could be further from the truth. It is a bloodsport in which these youngsters, aged 12-18 (not surprisingly the same demographic at which the books are aimed), are forced to fight to the death in an open-air arena. The environment is under the control of the game masters, and is engineered to present just as much of a deadly challenge to the fighters as any of their fellow gladiators. The whole affair is broadcast on live television, with nightly recaps of who died that day.
Katniss is a teenage girl from District 12, which was once Appalachia. She is very poor, and helps feed her mother and younger sister by illegally hunting in the woods outside the District 12 fence. She usually hunts with her friend Gale, a boy maybe a few years older than her. They typically bring home enough meat to feed their respective families, with some extra to trade for other goods at the local market.
When Katniss' little sister, just twelve, is selected for the games, Katniss volunteers to take her place, and is sent to the capital with the baker's son Peeta. After a brief training period, they are thrust into the arena. The game turns out to be just as much about survival against the elements as it is about battling the others. Provisions are scarce, and one must generally engage in direct battle with others to obtain them. Katniss' skills as a huntress allow her avoid these skirmishes by obtaining her food from her environment, but water sources are few as well, and are placed to help force conflict, making it difficult to survive without engaging the others. Some of the players form alliances, but these are typically short-lived and rife with distrust, because in the end there can only be one winner.
Because this is teen fiction, there has to be teen drama. Katniss has been too wrapped up in taking care of her family to notice boys, so when she learns that Peeta has had a crush on her forever, she starts to wonder about the so-far platonic relationship she has with Gale. To further complicate things, her alcoholic coach has devised a plot-line in which she and Peeta are a love interest, so she must keep up appearances by playing kissy-face with him. This "relationship" becomes incredibly popular with the viewing audience and proves to be even more advantageous than they could possibly imagine.
I can understand why these books are so popular. It's the classic theme of righteous teens against a world of either evil and/or inept grown-ups. There's silly teen romance, but it doesn't slow down the action. I thought it might be a little violent for younger readers, but I guess it's no worse than anything else they see on the movie or the video screen. All-in-all, it beats the heck out of sparkly vampires.
Book 19 - The Hunger Games - Suzanne Collins
The Hunger Games is the first book in a very popular teen fiction series set in a futuristic America. Panem, the central capital, rules over twelve districts with an iron hand. There used to be thirteen districts, but one of them was destroyed in the process of putting down a rebellion, and now once a year the capital demands that each of the remaining districts send one boy and one girl to participate in a spectacle known as The Hunger Games. One might think that this is some quaint little sporting event, modeled after the Olympics or the X-Games to promote peace and harmony among the districts. Nothing could be further from the truth. It is a bloodsport in which these youngsters, aged 12-18 (not surprisingly the same demographic at which the books are aimed), are forced to fight to the death in an open-air arena. The environment is under the control of the game masters, and is engineered to present just as much of a deadly challenge to the fighters as any of their fellow gladiators. The whole affair is broadcast on live television, with nightly recaps of who died that day.
Katniss is a teenage girl from District 12, which was once Appalachia. She is very poor, and helps feed her mother and younger sister by illegally hunting in the woods outside the District 12 fence. She usually hunts with her friend Gale, a boy maybe a few years older than her. They typically bring home enough meat to feed their respective families, with some extra to trade for other goods at the local market.
When Katniss' little sister, just twelve, is selected for the games, Katniss volunteers to take her place, and is sent to the capital with the baker's son Peeta. After a brief training period, they are thrust into the arena. The game turns out to be just as much about survival against the elements as it is about battling the others. Provisions are scarce, and one must generally engage in direct battle with others to obtain them. Katniss' skills as a huntress allow her avoid these skirmishes by obtaining her food from her environment, but water sources are few as well, and are placed to help force conflict, making it difficult to survive without engaging the others. Some of the players form alliances, but these are typically short-lived and rife with distrust, because in the end there can only be one winner.
Because this is teen fiction, there has to be teen drama. Katniss has been too wrapped up in taking care of her family to notice boys, so when she learns that Peeta has had a crush on her forever, she starts to wonder about the so-far platonic relationship she has with Gale. To further complicate things, her alcoholic coach has devised a plot-line in which she and Peeta are a love interest, so she must keep up appearances by playing kissy-face with him. This "relationship" becomes incredibly popular with the viewing audience and proves to be even more advantageous than they could possibly imagine.
I can understand why these books are so popular. It's the classic theme of righteous teens against a world of either evil and/or inept grown-ups. There's silly teen romance, but it doesn't slow down the action. I thought it might be a little violent for younger readers, but I guess it's no worse than anything else they see on the movie or the video screen. All-in-all, it beats the heck out of sparkly vampires.
Wednesday, November 30, 2011
Book 18 - In Defense of Food - Michael Pollan
No preamble. Time's a wastin'!
Book 18 - In Defense of Food - Michael Pollan
Michael Pollan is obsessed with food. But it's not about a particular chef, or a particular style of preparation, or a particular ethnic cuisine. He's not going to exotic locals trying to convince you to eat bugs or organs or something else the natives there eat all the time. No, Michael Pollan doesn't care so much about what particular kind of food that you eat. He just wants you to make sure that it is food.
"That's silly," you might say. "Of course what I'm eating is food. The very act of consuming it, by definition, makes it so." Mr. Pollan might take exception to that. Especially if what you are eating is the highly processed "edible foodlike substances" that comprise the modern Western diet.
"Shenanigans!" you might say. "Now Keith is so desperate to try to finish the challenge that he has resorted to diet books!" But Pollan is not trying to compete with likes of Atkins and Tarnower. His book is An Eater's Manifesto (the book's subtitle). It is a set of theses that Pollan has nailed to the kitchen door in order to get us to reclaim real food, and shun the "foodlike substances" that have been foisted upon us by the food industry. His ideas, in theory, are simple. In fact the entire gist of his manifesto can be summed up in three very short sentences: "Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants."
Pollan spends a good bit of time explaining the notion of nutritionism, which is the belief that food can be scientifically broken down into its constituent parts (fat, carbohydrates, protein, vitamins, anti-oxidants, etc), and by increasing or limiting the intake of these component parts, we can eat our way to nutritional health. This way of thinking has dominated nutritional science for years: one minute we are told we should eschew butter for margarine, the next minute we are told that trans-fat is bad. Pollan explains the drawbacks of this reductionist approach and how incorrect conclusions based on this approach have negatively affected health. Pollan also shows us how this nutritional roller coaster plays right into the food science industry, who when faced with a particular nutritional science claim are more than happy to engineer fat-free cookies, or low-carb pasta.
Right now, you might be clutching your McRib Sandwich between stubby little fingers, barbecue sauce dripping down your chins, preparing once again to defend the substance you are shoving into your gaping maw as being food. Pollan has very simple guidelines for determining whether what you are eating is food: don't eat anything your great-grandmother wouldn't recognize as food; don't eat anything with unpronounceable ingredients; don't eat anything that makes health claims on its package, etc;
Pollan is a convincing advocate for the topic. He stays away from hyperbole, and presents cogent, well-researched arguments. His message is simple and sensible enough to be intuitive. Much as The Omnivore's Dilemma made you stop and think about where your meal comes from, this book will stop and make you think about what it is made of.
Book 18 - In Defense of Food - Michael Pollan
Michael Pollan is obsessed with food. But it's not about a particular chef, or a particular style of preparation, or a particular ethnic cuisine. He's not going to exotic locals trying to convince you to eat bugs or organs or something else the natives there eat all the time. No, Michael Pollan doesn't care so much about what particular kind of food that you eat. He just wants you to make sure that it is food.
"That's silly," you might say. "Of course what I'm eating is food. The very act of consuming it, by definition, makes it so." Mr. Pollan might take exception to that. Especially if what you are eating is the highly processed "edible foodlike substances" that comprise the modern Western diet.
"Shenanigans!" you might say. "Now Keith is so desperate to try to finish the challenge that he has resorted to diet books!" But Pollan is not trying to compete with likes of Atkins and Tarnower. His book is An Eater's Manifesto (the book's subtitle). It is a set of theses that Pollan has nailed to the kitchen door in order to get us to reclaim real food, and shun the "foodlike substances" that have been foisted upon us by the food industry. His ideas, in theory, are simple. In fact the entire gist of his manifesto can be summed up in three very short sentences: "Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants."
Pollan spends a good bit of time explaining the notion of nutritionism, which is the belief that food can be scientifically broken down into its constituent parts (fat, carbohydrates, protein, vitamins, anti-oxidants, etc), and by increasing or limiting the intake of these component parts, we can eat our way to nutritional health. This way of thinking has dominated nutritional science for years: one minute we are told we should eschew butter for margarine, the next minute we are told that trans-fat is bad. Pollan explains the drawbacks of this reductionist approach and how incorrect conclusions based on this approach have negatively affected health. Pollan also shows us how this nutritional roller coaster plays right into the food science industry, who when faced with a particular nutritional science claim are more than happy to engineer fat-free cookies, or low-carb pasta.
Right now, you might be clutching your McRib Sandwich between stubby little fingers, barbecue sauce dripping down your chins, preparing once again to defend the substance you are shoving into your gaping maw as being food. Pollan has very simple guidelines for determining whether what you are eating is food: don't eat anything your great-grandmother wouldn't recognize as food; don't eat anything with unpronounceable ingredients; don't eat anything that makes health claims on its package, etc;
Pollan is a convincing advocate for the topic. He stays away from hyperbole, and presents cogent, well-researched arguments. His message is simple and sensible enough to be intuitive. Much as The Omnivore's Dilemma made you stop and think about where your meal comes from, this book will stop and make you think about what it is made of.
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