Finished two books. Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil, John Berendt. This non-fiction novel has lots of parallels with The Great Gatsby, though it’s set in Savannah, Georgia instead of Fitzgerald’s NYC. I did enjoy the immersive tour of Savannah and learning about the picturesque southern city. Unfortunately I was only lukewarm on the book’s principal characters, despite how colorful and distinct they all were. Rating: 3 stars In Cold Blood, Truman Capote. Not nearly as good as Other Voices, Other Rooms. It might be a bit unfair to compare the two stories (they’re so very different), yet I can’t help doing so. Dick and Perry (the murderers) were compelling, but none of the other characters were. The chapters featuring the actual cold-blooded crime were exceptional, though. Disturbing. Rating: 3.5 stars
Read A Writer's Guide To Breaking Bad : The 10 Commandments last night. A very short book, equivalent of about 50 pages, because every time I flipped a digital page it went up by 2 percent. These were mostly the author's personal notes as he examined the writing of the show, and he's an amateur writer and musician. But he figured out some of the strategies they used to make it so powerful (some of them he discovered through interviews with the writers on YouTube). If you enjoyed the show, and especially if you're curious about how they approached the writing, I highly recommend this, as short as it is. Some strategies and ways of thinkiing about characters I've never heard of before, that you can use if you want a story to be as over the top and extreme as Breaking bad.
Sounds fantastic! I might get that. I love that show. IMO, it's the high-water mark for televised story, and also a perfect example of why you should understand the ending before you approach the beginning. I can think of another series, which will go unnamed, that famously did not plan its ending, and its season 8 ended in a travesty of story. It got the viewers though. Maybe that's all that matters. I can also think of a movie series that didn't plan the ending and its final trilogy was a grand cinematic shart in Dolby3D. I have the power of all the Heisenbergs! And I have the power of all the DEA agents! (deflects the blue meth beam) Raagghh! (a billion lightning bolts LARP across the screen, the star fleet is destroyed) Compare that accurate recreation to the ending of Breaking Bad. Night and day.
Since TV shows have been brought up. I would recommend Downton Abbey, for a character driven story. Even the supporting characters are well fleshed out. The conflicts are on a verity of levels from world events to personality clashes. It is one I look to for characterization when I have trouble with a character. Those oh so polite clashes between the old ladies are a model for subtle conflict.
Ordinary Men: Reserve Police Battalion 101 and the Final Solution in Poland. "Christopher R. Browning’s shocking account of how a unit of average middle-aged Germans became the cold-blooded murderers of tens of thousands of Jews" A slow read because of the extreme level of detail, but fascinating and terrifying. (Available through Kindle Unlimited.)
Required reading in both Holocaust and Nazi studies. I think I was assigned it 3 times in college. Read Hitler's Willing Executioners by Daniel Goldhagen next. Identical source material, diametric conclusions. It caused quite a feud in the academic community at the time. It got to the point where both authors had to react strongly to each other to justify their conclusions. I might be wrong but I think several universities had to restructure their Nazi programs based on those two books. Like you either taught one, taught the other, or used both to illustrate how Nazism was impossible to define academically.
An unusually high average ranking this month. I'm not a generous reviewer. It's just that I read two Pulitzers and four classics, and so they naturally score high. Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides (★★★★★) Through the Looking-Glass and What Alice Found There by Lewis Carroll (★★★★ 1/2) Alice's Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll (★★★★) Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison (★★★) The Netanyahus by Joshua Cohen (★★★★) Moonraker by Ian Fleming (★★★★ 1/2) ------------------------ Moonraker by Ian Fleming (★★★★ 1/2) James Bond must investigate a murder at a rocket test site. The Moonraker must be launched successfully and a sinister force wants to interfere. Ian Fleming is an excellent writer. The descriptions from this were absolutely beautiful. The book is often moving at a very introspective pace, and you really get a feel for what the time and place are like. I also found it interesting that it's mentioned that only 3 double-ohs exist: 007, 008, and 0011 (eleven, haha. they actually do that). The others can be presumed to have been KIA, I suppose. Bond believes he'll die too. There's a point in the story where he calculates the number of useful years he has left in the service and how many missions he'll be sent on. He believes the odds are against him. It's what he does though. He's very willing to die to finish a mission. I thought the stakes were pretty high in this one. They ramp up quite a bit once Bond figures out what's really going on. Maybe it's weird that the foxy-girl interest in the story didn't care for him and then suddenly fell for him completely, but that's how it is when you're suave. ------------------------ Alice's Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll (★★★★) Through the Looking-Glass and What Alice Found There by Lewis Carroll (★★★★ 1/2) Kids books from the past fascinate me. They don't talk down to their readers. They don't assume the reader is childish. They're filled with subtle humor, these two especially. There were so many times I laughed at what was being said. I feel that modern books have forgotten how to do this. Most people would rate the first book higher, but I laughed more at the second. ------------------------ Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison (★★★) A black guy rejected by white society finds purpose in his life. Pretty potent. I think the "Battle Royale" chapter is rather famous. It's even mentioned in a book I'm currently reading. That might have been my favorite chapter too. It was brutal and depressing, but there was a strange joy from the MC too. I think that's what made it work. The MC climbs out of his current state and becomes a political agitator in Harlem. The book ends with crazy riots reminiscent of '67 Detroit. This book was very strange. There were chapters I found utterly amateurish. We're talking one-star efforts which I could revise deeply. Very clumsy, but they would be followed by a chapter that bordered on the sublime. I don't understand it. I mean, I understand the difference between a casual voice and a voice with stature and how those can be used by a writer for effect. But I can't grasp why the casual voice was so . . . ? It was structurally weak, I suppose. And look, a pro can bend amateur structures to proper purpose. I love it when I see one of those because it corrects my own false assumptions. But when every single sentence is clunky, you lose cohesion. I wasn't impressed with that aspect. The best parts were when the MC gives his rally speeches. It goes into something of a Malcolm Xish sermon and hits hard. Those were the powerful sections. Also, the chapters that felt like Doestoevsky were great. The ending chapter, for instance. I really think "Notes from the Underground" was a major inspiration. The MC is also unamed, invisible to society, and describes himself as living "in a hole." That's too close to be a coincidence. ------------------------ The Netanyahus by Joshua Cohen (★★★★) A Jewish professor in upstate New York must welcome the polarizing figure of Dr. Netanyahu to his campus. Netanyahu hopes to teach there too. Can the prof endure him? Or will all Jews be shamed? Pulitzer 34 for me, I think. I sometimes count "Swamplandia!" as a Pulitzer, because it should have been one and there was no winner that year, but I guess I'll have to quit doing that since it confuses my count. I'll say this about the Pulitzers since I've now read so many: The last decade has been particularly bad. Pulitzers should average four stars or higher. They are after all the best of the best of American books showing the American experience. Maybe a three star is understandable if it just didn't reach me, but that's just not the case anymore. The quality has really dropped. There seems to be a focus upon certain themes rather than a quality that resonates. (see also, The Hugo Award) The worst Pulitzers I've read are from the last decade. There are a couple of genius works mixed in too. I would consider this one of the better ones. I'd probably rank it 4th out of those 10. The quality drops precipitously after this title. Be warned. Netanyahu from this book is related to the Netanyahu whom you know. The novel is based on a story related to the author about the Netanyahu family in America. It's not kind. If I had to describe them, I would say they're closest to Cousin Eddie and his kin from "Christmas Vacation." I'm not kidding. Netanyahu isn't as dumb. He is, in fact, a genius on many levels, but there's so much chaos around him that the resemblance is impossible to ignore. I was somewhat put off by this. Many readers were. There's something of a vindictive streak in this story and at times it seems like maliciousness. That said, this is the funniest Pulitzer I've read in a while. (I love funny Pulitzers, hence, Swamplandia!) "Less" was supposed to be a funny Pulitzer but it was only barely amusing. This book though was outrageous. Really great content. Similar to "Invisible Man," it had a few lectures in it, and they might have been the best part of the book. They really hit hard. I had a feeling that at one point that was how the book was going to end, on a John-Galt inspired 50 page lecture. It only went on for 5 or so though. I was somewhat disappointed, because that would have been a daring finish. I don't think I've ever seen a book do that before. There were some twists that were pretty bold. The story went right to the end still firing off plot points. You think you're reading denouement, and then wham! This is a short book, 200 pages plus a few. Despite the obvious hostile politics, I do recommend it as a rare, deserving Pulitzer. It was the 2022 winner. ----------------------- Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides (★★★★★) A teenage girl details her life as an intersex person, recounting her family's history and then her own. She shows how and why she accepts a new gender. Pulitzer 35. I've been putting this one off for a while. Looking at the list of what I still need to read, I assumed the worst about it. If it had been written in 2023 rather than 2003, I think I would have been correct in those concerns. I'll read anything, but I want it to be good. I don't want diatribes where the author burns down strawmen and proves his fealty and ideological purity, because that is boring as hell. I want real characters and emotion. (I don't watch afterschool specials for the same reason.) This was beautifully written. Nearly flawless. I only found one slip. It was obviously a revision-rep introduced in edits. I stared at it for a long time and couldn't justify what it was doing. It wasn't being emphatic or stylistic. The editor should have caught that one. Depressing, because when I say the rest was perfect, I'm not exagerrating. 500+ pages of immaculate prose, like something John Updike would have written. The story starts with the grandparents. The MC has omniscience in the past. It's weird, but someone needs to tell the story. The escape from Smyrna might have been one of the most brutal things I've ever read. I had to set the book down for a while because it really was intense. (I think the trick was detailing specific characters, interweaving their stories, and then destroying them without a thought. It had to be done quickly. Very instructive, and that chapter would hold on its own as a short story.) When the father steps over his son's body in the street and doesn't realize that it's his son, and then he walks on . . . Something about that image (and others) were just too much for me. Good lord. The story then follows the grandparents in America. That part's fun. Lots of Greek customs and problems assimilating, trying to live through the Depression, etc. I loved, loved the point where the wife has to go get a job and she goes to the worst part of Detroit afraid she's going to be attacked. She was a silk worker in Turkey, you see. She knows all about raising silkworms and collecting silk. That's what the job is for. She's looking all around looking for the "silk factory" but sees nothing. She's being hooted at and catcalled by guys and is really scared because she barely speaks English, she's in the wrong neighborhood, but she just has to find a job. Then what does she see? A couple guys standing guard in fancy suits in front of a stone building. They've got on fezzes, and she recognizes those for sure from the old country. Yep, the Nation of Islam needs a silkworker for the African robes they're selling. Very clever of the author. It opens up so many possibilities for great story. (Yes, she gets the job.) About halfway through, the book catches up with the MC as she (he) is born. I'll say this: There are books out there that have notorious scenes which distract from the impact of the book. Schmuck: Doesn't "Beloved" have X in it? Me: (thinking) Yeah, it's a background detail, one line. It doesn't have much releva-- Schmuck: (laughing) huh-huh-huh "Schmuck." I'm still in Netanyahu mode . . . Anyway, this book is chock-full of notoriety. The MC's state is because of incest in her relatives' past which has made a dormant gene active. That is shown. There are later scenes that are . . . yeah. I can't believe the author had the guts to write them. So be warned. They're there, but the emphasis is on the MC and her life. The teen dialog is spot on too. If you chuckle over X, then this is not for you. This is what a Pulitzer should be.
I'm reading the Blood Telegram by Gary J Bass. It is a political uncovering of Richard Nixon's and Henry Kissinger's involvement and support to Pakistan during the years of Bangladesh's liberation struggle. It talks extensively about the USA's blind support to Pakistan that led to genocide and sectarian violence in East Pakistan resulting in the death of thousands of civilians. The USA saw the support to Pakistan as a geopolitical strategy to counter India, which it viewed as an ally of the USSR. It is well researched and written. Also, I'm reading a short compilation of free sources on the ecological concept - Climax Community. A climax community is an ecological term used to denote an ecosystem or community of plants, animals, and other living organisms that has achieved equilibrium or become stable. Quite an interesting read.
The American Presidents: A Complete History. Kathryn Moore. I'm jumping around. Just finished John Kennedy and am reading about Lyndon Johnson now. It's an older book and only goes as far as Dubya. Rereading Rhys Bowen's Royal Flush for fun and low brain strain. It's a clever series.
Fahrenheit 451. It moves back and forth between a very ordinary straightforward storytelling approach and an inner, highly imaginative and poetic approach, mimicking the way the MC's mind moves as he develops his latent imagination, which only showed itself briefly a few times near the beginning. But it becomes more powerful and vivid as it goes on. These more poetic and vivid passages are sometimes so bizarre I can't tell what's going on or even where we are or how much time has gone by. They're ungrounded and exist solely in his imagination, and use very strong poetic metaphors and devices. I'm starting to wonder if there's a connection between his writing and that of J G Ballard, who does some of the same things. They were writing at about the same time. Sometimes the weird flowery poetic writing gets on my nerves, and sometimes it's the most intoxicating thing I've ever read. I think the difference might be whether I can understand the metaphors or not. Sometimes I get annoyed and am just like WTF is this even supposed to mean??!!
Finished three books. (1) The Time Machine, H.G. Wells. Another rippin’ — and thematically beautiful — sci-fi tale from Mr. Wells. The more I read from him, the closer I get to taking the necessary vows and becoming one of his devoted acolytes. Rating: 4 stars (2) The River of Doubt, Candice Millard. This is an account of Theodore Roosevelt’s expedition into an uncharted region of the Amazon Rainforest. It’s well written and nicely arranged; and it proved to be a compelling slice of history fraught with grievous complications, costly incompetence, and mortal danger — as I hoped it would. The Lion was definitely humbled by the great South American jungle. Rating: 4 stars (3) Jaws, Peter Benchley. Inferior to Spielberg’s version in nearly every comparable aspect, yet still a decent read. Rating: 3.5 stars Following the boat, keeping pace, were the two red wooden barrels. They did not bob. Dragged by the great force of the fish, each cut through the water, pushing a wave before it and leaving a wake behind it. “He’s chasing us?” said Brody. Quint nodded. “Why? He can’t still think we’re food.” “No. He means to make a fight of it.” For the first time, Brody saw a frown of disquiet on Quint’s face. It was not fear, nor true alarm, but rather a look of uneasy concern—as if, in a game, the rules had been changed without warning, or the stakes raised. Seeing the change in Quint’s mood, Brody was afraid.
Agree on Jaws. It wasn't bad but it didn't... soar? I can see why they dropped the subplot with the wife from the movie. It would have taken a lot of focus from the shark.
Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus. Book of the year according to Barnes & Nobles. Really? I actually finished reading it before Xmas, but I let it seat on my unconscious to see how I truly feel about it. I came to the same conclusion. I think it is a good book, it makes a good gift. I am amazed at how consistent the writing of the book is throughout the whole novel. It has a sassy voice which makes the book entertaining, every detail is accounted for. It is solid writing. But the characters tend to be limited, you feel like there is a multi-faceted person underneath, but the characters always show one prominent trait. It deals with women's cause, it makes you feel like the villains are punished and it sincerely makes you cheer for justice when it happens, and it makes you feel good (that is why I say it makes a good gift). It does bring up trauma and depression, but it is like they are not there (there is no emotionally negative stir--quite frankly if there was a negative emotional stir it wouldn't fit the style). But it is more like what one wishes went down in history, rather than a look at the 1960s--it is very much a 2020s book. It is a book I enjoyed, but the fact that is considered book of the year makes my jaw drop in confusion and shock. I think a lot of people confuse entertainment-with-a-message with value. I know I sound negative, it is because of the label "book of the year", but this book has its praises.
I'm reading 97,169 Words by Emmanuel Carrere. He's a French writer, but I'm reading the English translation done by John Lambert. This is an amazing collection of true crime essays. The writing is beautiful and the stories are interesting. I'm only part way in, but I'm already glad I picked this one up. I highly recommend this book to anyone looking to read some creative nonfiction and/or true crime stories skillfully crafted.
I just finished The Short Timers by Gustav Hasford, the book that Kubrick's Full Metal Jacket was based on. It's a dark, dark book. Much darker than the movie. One thing that's well-known about the film is that R. Lee Ermey ad-libbed a lot of his lines, but a surprising number of the very good ones were taken verbatim from the text. Spoiler But one thing that I never knew is that the book is in three acts and the movie only uses the first two. Before Joker's little "peace sign on your helmet" [SPOILERS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!] episode Rafterman gets run over and killed by an American tank. The same American tank that had previously run over a little Vietnamese girl and her water buffalo, and later assisted Cowboy's squad in Hue. As a result of the peace sign incident, Joker gets kicked out of his press job and sent to the grunts, where he's forced to [SPOILERS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!] Spoiler: [SPOILERS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!] [SPOILERS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!] kill Cowboy when Cowboy gets shot up and pinned down as bait by a sniper the way 8-Ball was in the film. It is a dark, dark book. 5/5 And last night I read The Spy Who Loved Me (Bond #10) by Ian Fleming. I continue to be amazed by what an excellent and audacious writer Ian Fleming was. His descriptions are superb, his stories so far are pretty gripping (Goldfinger has been the biggest disappointment of the lot, and also the most like the films), and to, ten books in, not even show Bond for the first ~60% of the book because it's not a Bond book, it's a book about a young lady who runs into trouble when Bond happens to be passing by... It's first person POV from a non-intel, non-spy character. That must have taken balls to put out under the logo of your tough-guy spy (although we'll discuss later how many doubts, insecurities, and failures the literary Bond has compared to his celluloid half-brother). 4/5 because I was wondering if this had somehow been mislabeled (reading via Project Gutenberg and the associated copyright laws of the internet, will not link here, google is your friend) as it kept going and going with no spy content in sight despite several opportunities for such to crop up. ETA: Regarding Fleming's prejudices I had to laugh at this passage:
Code talker by Chester Nez. I have barely started, but have been impressed by the depth of detail about his early life among the tribe. The cultural details are fascinating. The insight into life in the 1920s is detailed. The information presented is a good starting place for research.
Finished three books. (1) The Color of Magic, Terry Pratchett. Supremely fanciful and frequently amusing. But I had hoped for more. Rating: 3 stars (2) Martin Eden, Jack London. Brilliant main character development, lots of emotional ups and downs, meaty social commentary, and all of it delivered via London’s radiant prose. Admittedly the book’s ending won’t agree with everyone, but I felt it was a compelling choice. Rating: 4.5 stars (3) The Elementals, Michael McDowel. This book is unnerving from its very first chapter; and its author slowly and flawlessly simmers that mood until the last fifty pages or so, when he transforms it into a boiling horror. Unique and entertaining characters. Exquisite sense of place. Truthfully, this story does everything well. The Elementals is now one of my top three favorite horror novels, along with Simmons’ The Terror and King’s Salem’s Lot. Rating: 4.5 stars
Trust me, if you stick with the series, you’ll get more. TCOM is a strong start, but it gets much better.
Terry Pratchett's disc world series, is more accurately described as a common back drop, with multiple series set in it. You have Rincewind and his adventures, the witches with there own series, the nightwatch series, and others I can't name off the top of my head. Then you have characters and institutions that span the different series like the unseen university and lord Vetenare. I would have to say that Mr. Pratchett's true genius was the way he turned his background world into a beloved character.
Yeah, that’s a good point. One of the strengths of the series is that even though the characters do grow and change over time, each book is self-contained, so you really can pick up one at random and enjoy it (with one or two exceptions). I think the Tiffany Aching books might be my favorites, but it’s so hard to choose.
I prefer the night watch books from the series. And the Moist von lipwig books, going postal and making money.
I just stumbled across one of the greatest short stories I've ever read in my life: Leonard Richardson's "Let Us Now Praise Awesome Dinosaurs," from 2009. It's every bit as epic and brilliant as it sounds. http://strangehorizons.com/fiction/let-us-now-praise-awesome-dinosaurs/
