Last Minute Barnes and Noble Run

Tonight we went to Barnes and Noble for a last minute gift run, and ended up with several treats for ourselves. Webster couldn't find two books he wanted, so he went over to the self-serve kiosk and ordered them. (He even had them gift-wrapped for himself!) The kiosk was easy to use and he double-checked that his credit card number was not accessible to the next user. It's nice to see B&N having some self-service. I remember reading an article once about Borders having self-service and B&N not, purposely, but I'll take a couple minutes with a computer rather than a sales associate any day.

I picked up another sci-fi book by Robert Sawyer, Nigella Lawson's new cookbook, and a book by Doris Lessing.

I forgot my B&N gift certificates, so Webster paid for my books and I paid him back in gift certificates when we got home.

Body and Blood by Michael Scheiefelbein

This book was ok. It was about two Catholic priests who were reunited after growing up together. They were in love as young men and find love again as adults. The story wasn't incredibly well-written, but the plot was interesting.

What I enjoyed most about reading it was that it was gay literature. It gave me a window into what it is like for gay people to read heterosexual literature. I thought a lot about
how I felt like I was reading something foreign, which made me sad to feel like gay people always feel like outsiders reading the literature I usually read.

I thought it was weird that the other books by this author were about gay vampires.

Top Books of 2007

This was a great year for me for books! Writing full-length reviews of each book I read (with a few Robert Ludlum exceptions) made me like many books more than I would have otherwise. It was a great way to really "engage with text" and think more about each book. You can click on "Recommended" on the right to see a list of the ones that at the time I thought were notable. Below is a list (in no particular order) of the creme de la creme. Sci-fi played a prominent role in what I read. I am clearly obsessed with Michael Lewis.

I've begun to experiment with the blog this month, posting more general thoughts and ideas about books and booklists, not just book reviews. Let me know what you think. Never fear, there will always be a "Best Books" list independent of the format of the blog.

Fiction (in descending order):

Rollback by Robert Sawyer
Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro
Galapagos by Kurt Vonnegut
What is the What by Dave Eggers
Suite Francaise by Irene Nemirovsky
Book of Common Prayer by Joan Didion
Timeline Michael Crichton
Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood
When Madeline was Young by Jane Hamilton
Sweetness in the Belly by Camilla Gibb
The Madonnas of Leningrad by Debra Dean

Nonfiction (in no particular order):

Blind Side by Michael Lewis
Angela's Ashes by Frank McCourt
Moneyball by Michael Lewis
Another Bullshit Night in Suck City by Nick Flynn

Going back to the library

Several books are overdue at the library so they are going back Friday (or Saturday) even though I didn't read them and would like to at some point.

A Madman Dreams of Turing Machines
Out Stealing Horses
The Teahouse Fire
To Say Nothing of the Dog

Perhaps To Say Nothing is not the right Connie Willis book to read next, but Passages is still in my head from years ago, so something by her would be good.

Gifts

Webster bought me The Physics of Football this week.

At my birthday, Dave got me 1001Books, which I page through for inspiration guilt around classics I haven't read. I was happy to see that I've read many of the more recent picks towards the end of the book.

I gave Webster the New York Times 2007 Notable Book List to give to his parents for ideas for a gift for me. I'm excited to see what they pick.

We got Webster's mom a Dean Koontz book about a woman and her relationship with a Golden Retriever. I hope it's not too creepy, since he usually writes about killers and ghosts. Apparently, Dean Koontz had a dog for a long time, and now writes a beyond-the-grave blog from the dog's point of view. Weird.

To be read

Again, I have a backlog of books around the house. Towards the top of my list:

Rigged, by Ben Mezrich - heard about at NPR, bought in hardcover!

Next, by Michael Crichton - on sale at Costco

Wild Fire, by Nelson DeMille - on sale at Costco

Random Walk Down Wall Street, by Bernard Malkiel - I think I agree with his point of view, but I have to start this book over again. I gave up a few chapters in last time.

The Last Life, by Claire Messud - hated Emporer's Children but I'm willing to give her another try.

The Calculus Wars, by Jason Bardi - bought on impulse at Barnes and Noble

And many more...

Catching up on Reviews

Ugh. So I'm deathly behind on reviews of books. Here's what I've been reading:

Incompleteness by Rebecca Goldstein

I was supposed to learn what Godel proved with his Incompleteness Theorem during my senior year Logic class in college. No-go. I tried but that was the most difficult course I took and I definitely did not understand the grand finale. To be fair, I'm not sure anyone in class did. Then I tried to read Godel, Escher, Bach, but gave up a few times halfway through. The Theorem haunted me. I knew that it was the basis of how we understand not just numerical systems, but all systems of information based on axioms. I noticed this book at Barnes and Noble over the summer, and while I didn't want to take it to France with me, I went back for it a few months later.

Given all my background with math I was anxious to understand the Theorem. However, this book delved into a biography of Godel for the first two thirds. I learned about his loneliness, his background in Platonic philosophy, and his friendship with Einstein at Princeton (before it was Princeton). I understood for the first time why people study the history of science, as the author wove Godel's interest in different topics and the historical backdrop for his lifetime into his development of this theory. And, ultimately, I did understand the incompleteness theorem, at least for a few moments while it was all in my head at one time. I wouldn't have minded a slightly more mathematical book, but unless you are a mathematician, even this may be too technical or obscure.

The Almost Moon by Alice Sebold

I was hoping to love love love this book but I didn't. Sebold's previous books (Lucky and Lovely Bones) were both shockingly good so my expectations were high. The story followed the days after a middle-aged woman kills her invalid mother. While I thought the writing in this book was superb in certain places, the plot was reasonably predictable and the characters mostly archetypes. The book wasn't particularly memorable, although I enjoyed it while I read it.

Fair Game by Valerie Plame

I heard Valerie Plame interviewed on NPR and decided to reserve her book at the library. I knew embarrassingly little about her story (other than her name and some connection to Scooter Libby), so I figured it would be a good current events lesson. In case you are not familiar with the story: Members of the Bush administration leaked her name to the press as a spy in retaliation for an editorial her husband wrote that did not support Bush's entrance into the Iraq war. To complicate things, Plame worked in the part of the CIA who sent her husband on an expedition to investigate whether Iraq sourced uranium in Niger.

What I found was an incredibly political book in many ways. First and foremost, because Plame was a CIA agent, the book had to be vetted by the Agency, and a good quarter of the book was redacted (blacked out). Often sections were blacked out that did not seem to contain classified information. Sometimes, Plame seems to write sections she knows will be redacted. There is an afterword that explains a lot of the redacted sections with information that is in the public domain but that Plame could not write as a narrative based on CIA guidelines. It made for annoying reading and good commentary.

The story is mostly about Plame's background and training as a CIA covert operative, leading up to the events that outed her as a spy in mainstream media. She takes an inexplicable twenty page detour into her postpartum depression, but otherwise the story is interesting and well-formed, if not well-written. The anger and betrayal that she feels towards the government is clearly emotional, albeit justified, which in some cases is far too much telling and not enough showing. Someone who is not inclined to dislike the current administration would probably find her to be protesting too much. (Interestingly, though, Plame was on the CIA team seeking evidence of WMD's to justify invading Iraq in the early 2000's.)

Despite these criticisms, I did learn from the book, which is always a recommendation unto itself.

Beyond Fear by Bruce Schneier

I bought this book over the summer but left it half-read at the end of vacation. I've known Bruce Schneier's work since studying cryptography and math in college, and recently started reading his blog. This book takes his knowledge of security, as it has matured since his days of traditional crypto and addresses today's current events. Rather than take a purely political or economic view of topics such as airport security or online credit card usage, Schneier teaches and applies a five-step evaluation for any system to determine if it is a worthwhile security measure.

One of the things I liked about this book was that Schneier drew on examples from many sources. He references Sun-Tzu, Ancient Rome, home alarm systems, passwords, and many other varied systems. My only criticism of the book is that in an attempt to be accessible and "common sense" it seemed a bit simplistic at times. I wish it had been a bit more technical. That said, it appealed to my skeptical side and I appreciated an apolitical way to examine each of the current security issues and form an educated opinion of my own. I'd recommend this book to a wide audience.

First Love by Adrienne Sharp

This book looked like it could have been either a beach read or a serious love story. Initially I put it back on the shelf, but something drew me back and I took it home from the library. The book was about a love story about two young ballet dancers who had been childhood friends. When the book started, the two dancers were at different ballet companies, one traditional and the other flashier. The story was obviously researched impeccably, and I enjoyed getting inside the world of ballet. Thought it took place in New York, reading it felt like being transported to a different country.

The writing was very good, although a bit melodramatic at times. I also found some of the characterizations of the dancers to be unexpectedly sophisticated and complex for their age. That said, I'd like to see the next books from this first-time author. Recommended.

Indignity

I saw a book in Barnes and Noble called, How to Talk About Books you Haven't Read.

I am - uncharacteristically - speechless. I am also determined to comment on this book, even though I have not read it. Yes, that is ironic.

What the heck? There is no way that I would want to talk about a book I haven't read. I also have no interest in talking to someone about a book they haven't read. I can barely find anyone to talk to about books we both have read. Most people want to talk about the ending, or the main character. So few people want to talk about the the writing itself, or of (for example) the symbolism of minor characters. If I wanted to talk to people about books they haven't read, I'd just go back to one of the book clubs I've tried.

I have the same feeling about this book that I do about favorite books of mine showing up on the discount table. Yuck.

The Amazon Kindle

Amazon has released a handheld electronic book reader. It has free wireless access for downloading books and some limited ability to write and send email.

AWFUL AWFUL AWFUL

Now, I admit that I have not tried this or any electronic book reader. Perhaps my snap judgement is part of why I'm not a well-known book-industry pundit. BUT, I could NEVER give up reading real books. I love paging through a book, I love hating the books that have pages with slightly different-sized pages. I am a dog-earer. I also love the weight of a pile of books as I walk home from the library. In fact, one of the best moments of my week (or month) is getting into bed with five new books from the library and re-reading their jackets to decide which one to read first.

To add insult to injury, Amazon is now SOLD OUT of this product and Michael Lewis (whom I idolize) has endorsed it as a great product. Traitor!

My Aunt Ellen pointed out that I read the newspaper online, something she would never do. Good point. Now I know how she feels.

Follett's back

Jo called me to tell me that Ken Follett released a sequel to one of my all-time favorite books, Pillars of the Earth. The new book is called World Without End, and takes place 300 years after the original. (Pillars is about several generations of people in the 12th century building a massive cathedral in England. My high school guidance counselor suggested it to me when I was freaking out about whether to study English or Math.)

Now the only question is whether to reread Pillars first. It's a 1000 page commitment, but might enhance my experience of World. I guess the other question is who took my original copy, forcing me to buy a replacement with a different cover.

Rollback by Robert J. Sawyer

This is the first book in a long time that I stayed up late (too late!) to finish. This is hard-core science fiction, a la Asimov, but absolutely readable and totally delightful.

It is the story of a married couple in their eighties, and it begins in the year 2048. The wife, Sarah, is a famous scientist who decoded an alien communique thirty years earlier. When the aliens contact Earth again, Sarah is asked to work on the new message. Sarah is offered a "rollback", a chance to return to being in her twenties, physically, so she can work on the decryption. She accepts, with the caveat that her husband Don gets the rollback as well. It works for him, but not for her. And that's all in the first few pages.

The book alternates between the time period that begins in 2048 with the second message from the aliens, and the time period that began in 2009, when the first message was received. It's funny to be in the 2048 world with all its technology and see 2009 as the quaintly simple time. The story also shares third-person narration between Sarah's point of view and Don's. Sarah struggles with decoding and aging; Don struggles with not aging and conceiving of another sixty years of life he didn't expect.

I liked this book because I liked the plot and the characters. The story of Earth's communication with a distant galaxy, including the message with which the galaxy replies, is creative and unique. Sarah, her husband, and the other ancillary characters are likable with realistically familiar hopes and fears. That is what I love about good science-fiction writing: once you suspend your disbelief, there are complex characters in interesting circumstances with a good dose of social commentary thrown in.

The social critiques in this book were not severe. The rollback obviously critiqued our society's adoration for everything youthful, physically. There wasn't that much negative discussion of technology replacing humans or replacing interpersonal interactions. There was even a friendly heroic robot. This book did offer a theme of universal values across not just people, but galaxies. The aliens, who we never meet (well, not exactly), still develop strongly as characters with valid desires. In that way, it reminded me of how Star Trek can suddenly make you think about the universal nature of existence.

Perhaps my favorite line from the book, in all its campyness, is spoken by Sarah: "The Aliens from Sigma Draconis have responded to the radio message my team sent all those years ago." It was such a throwback to a 1950's sci-fi movie that I had to chuckle at how out of place it seemed in an otherwise well-written, serious book.

Broken Paradise by Cecelia Samartin

I was out of borrowed books and vacation books and I-need-a-treat books so I cruised the library's newest acquisitions. This is the first of five new books I took out. Given my affinity towards books set in foreign places, as well as my affinity towards Latin American topics, it was surprising to me that this is first book I can remember reading that is set in Cuba.

The book follows the lives of two best friend-cousins, Nora and Alicia. Growing up, Nora is quiet and compliant, while Alicia is beautiful and wild. During the Batista reign in Cuba, the girls live a charmed, upper-middle class life. However, when Castro comes to power, Alicia's father is accused of being anti-Communist, just one of the many things that convince Nora's parents to emigrate to the United States. Nora adjusts (with a few hiccups) into life as a Cuban-American. Through her correspondence with Alicia over the years, we can see how different her life would have been if she hadn't left.

I was really struck by how bad things got in Cuba and how quickly they got bad. I suppose I had always throught of Cuba as run by Castro, who we are not supposed to like, but otherwise sunny and full of good cigars. This book really taught me a lot more about the history and about how poor the living conditions became when he took power through current times. Some of the descriptions of people waiting it out and in denial when he first took over, as well as the seemingly random violence towards citizens reminded me of Hitler's rise to power. The book also opened my eyes to Cuban-American sentiment about returning to Cuba with Castro in power; many Cubans don't see it as their country as long as he is in power.

The writing in the book was not as good as the story or the descriptions of Cubans. It switched haphazardly between a poetic and a matter-of-fact style, sometimes within the same chapter. It also was structurally confusing in a few places when significant amounts of time had elapsed without the reader knowing.

Overall, I enjoyed the process of learning more about pre-Castro Cuba, Communist Cuba, and Cuban-American attitudes towards Cuba. The friendship between the girls was touching and I did want to know how the book would end (although I had a hunch that was right). However, I was not sold on the book as a whole because the writing just wasn't good enough to support the contents.

The Dissident by Nell Freudenberger

I found this book on an old booklist of mine, so I'm not sure who recommended it to me. The ending of this book came out of nowhere and I really disliked it, so overall I'd say that I didn't like the book. However, there were aspects of the experience of reading the book that I did enjoy. I just wouldn't recommend it.

The book is about a Chinese artist named Yuan Zhao who comes to the United States for a year-long experience. He is sponsored by a local university who expects him to exhibit his work in two shows during the year. Zhao lives in Los Angeles with an American family, the Travers, and teaches art at an all-girls high school.

Freudenberger could have written a book exclusively about the Travers and the high school, which the mother teaches in and the daughter attends. There were complicated relationships within the family, as well as between family members and other characters. The situations these characters faced, and their decisions, were compelling and well-crafted.

However, the book also covers Zhao and his life, both currently in Los Angeles and in a burgeoning artists' community in China in the early 1980's. Zhao's difficulty in adjusting to his role as a guest at the Travers' and a teacher is palpable. The descriptions of the artists' colony he becomes a part of in China are clear and evocative. It was a window into a time and place I had never seen or even thought about.

Where the author veers off course a little is in her insistence on having her characters grapple with existential questions like "what is art" along all the other things going on in the book. I think she is trying to make some statements about art but I don't know what they are. A struggle with identity is one thing to cover in a novel like this; comments around performance art are better suited for an editorial in a weird magazine that I don't read.

However, I would have forgiven her the detours into art critique because I liked the characters (or at least how well-developed they were) and enjoyed learning about art in Communist China. The ending of the book, though, superseded its appeal. Most of the characters' resolutions were satisfying but Zhao's was neither satisfying nor what it should have been: a confirmation of the themes throughout the book.

ps: I just learned that this blog has at least one loyal fan, and she shares a first name with the author of this book. Hello and thanks for reading!

Intuition by Allegra Goodman

Mer A. cornered me in a bookstore and told me I HAD to buy this book. Knowing that she and I don't always agree but feeling like treating myself to a book, I bought it. It was okay, not great, but held my interest well enough. I'd try something else by this author but I wouldn't necessarily recommend this particular book.

The story is interesting enough; a researcher at an institute in Cambridge makes a shockingly good discovery in a cancer-related rat experiment. The results become public, then publicly challenged. As the events unfold, there are life-changing consequences for him, his ex-girlfriend, and the two people who run the lab, one of whom is highly political the other of whom is a true scientist.

The best part of this book was not the story, although the plot was good. The best part of the book was undoubtedly the characters and character development. Close to ten characters were incredibly well-developed, their motives and fears believable and mistakes forgivable. It was almost the inevitability of the plot that made the characters shine. Since what was going to happen with the investigation was reasonably predictable, what became interesting about the book was how the characters reacted and more so what they were thinking and feeling.

The writing was not great. (In fact, I haven't read much lately that has had great writing although I've liked the plots of a lot of books lately.) There were, however, a few passages that were noteworthy. Goodman's ability to capture her characters' essence with small, efficient notes was the main reason I would try another book by her.

Of Cliff, the main researcher, she writes, "Gently he put the book down and threw away the cardboard wrapping. Wilde's tale of the beautiful young Dorian and his dissembling might have been the last stake through Cliff's heart, except that, fortunately, he was unfamiliar with the novel."

Of Robin, his ex-girlfriend, she writes, "Clutching her black pen tightly, she bent over her journal and wrote, He actually asked if I would stay and keep him company tonight to watch him work. Then when I said no, he was surprised. She might have written more. She could have ranted on, but for Robin that was a rant. She'd wrung those few sentences from her heart, and grieved every word."

I loved how you could learn so much about the characters from such short passages.

Labyrinth by Kate Mosse

This was a fun and easy book, set in France and thus perfect vacation reading this summer. The Kirkus Review said it was "of higher literary quality than the Da Vinci Code, to which it will inevitably be compared." I didn't find the writing much better than that of DVC, although I did think the story was incredibly well-researched and well-crafted. Web was surprised that I picked it up to begin with, claiming it seemed to be more his speed than mine, but I think my tastes are widening a bit.

The story follows Alice, who is on an archaeological expedition in France and finds something unusual there. For reasons she does not understand, she is drawn to ignore the protocol of working with a partner and alerting the people who are running the dig to her findings. This item ends up putting her in danger , and we follow her through France as she tries to solve the mystery associated with this item and subsequently regain her safety.

Several hundred years earlier, we meet Alais, also a strong woman who lives by her own rules in an otherwise male-dominated world. Alice's modern day discovery is a result of Alais' membership in a secretive society, the continuation of which is still being sought by other characters in the book, some good and some evil.

While I did not find the writing exceptional, I did enjoy both stories. That is unusual; usually there is one time that holds my attention more than the other. The scenes in the past were well-described and evoked a very clear picture of the times. There were some exceptionally sad scenes that have stayed with me that occurred when Alais' town was attacked during the Crusades. Both Alice and Alais were strong, well-developed characters. As the book unfolded, and the connections between the time periods became clearer, I was anxious to know what was the resolution would be.