Becky's Books –

The Idea of Israel: A Study in Power and Knowledge
by Ilan Pappé
2014 / 313 pages (Kindle)
rating: 9 – historiography/memoir (!)

This is an amazing book!   I decided to read it as an antidote to My Promised Land and it certainly was that!   Ilan Pappe is one of the “New Historians” of Israel and not terribly popular in Zionist circles, but his books sell well, at least in the US and in the UK where he resides.

Reading it was a fabulous refresher course (if rather grim) in the making of history as regards Israel, but for folks with some background in historiography the general points and themes are a sort of affirmation, if not a surprise, and applicable in many historical situations – the US, Soviet Russia, South Africa? >>>>MORE>>>>

My Promised Land: The Triumph and Tragedy of Israel
Ari Shavit
2013 / 464 pages
rating – ?   – memoir/history

Later:  Considering the title, I took this book to be a memoir, not a history or official anything. I took it to be thoroughly biased to Shavit’s point of view and agenda. This is part of why I originally gave it a rating of 9.5 and still might go back to that.

**   I have edited the rating because I see where there is much controversy about this book.  It was written for an American audience and many Israelis apparently take issue with the thrust.  Because I am an American (and not even Jewish) I do not know that much about the subject.  I rated it high because I felt like I learned a lot about the current situation and how it arose.  I saw that it was obviously an Israeli point of view (only) as opposed to Arab or even balanced.  But it may be that Shavit has also only used sources which support his ideas.  And therein lies the issue – what is his idea?  What is his reason for writing it – to convince the US to continue supporting Israel?  I sense that it might be very pro-Zionist to the point of fatalism – “We may have made mistakes but we’re here now, so what? We need support or the big bad Arabs will get us.”

My first impression was a serious dislike to the pro-Zionist attitude, but I thought that changed.  Apparently it didn’t quite.  ??? More later – after a group discussion at: the Yahoo All-nonfiction Group   I’ve added a link to an alternative view at the end of the main review. 

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original review:

With My Promised Land  Shavit has set himself the elusive, complex and extraordinarily difficult goal of answering some rather existential questions about Israel, a seriously threatened country which is, at the same time, occupying another people and their land. Shabit is looking for answers to such questions as “Why is Israel? What is Israel? Will Israel?” within the context of its history as filtered by his own personal life and journalistic experience.  >>>>MORE>>>>

No Place to Hide:
Edward Snowden, the NSA and U.S. Surveillance State
by Glenn Greenwald
May 2014 / 288 pages
rating  8 / current events

The first two chapters are riveting. Chapter 3 is jam-crammed full of very specific information about the programs and companies and interconnections used in contemporary government surveillance, not boring or tedious but often over my head. And Chapter 4 is about the dangers of this kind of surveillance . Chapter 5 concerns the role of the press and the dangers currently limiting the freedom of the press. Those last two chapters are journalism of the somewhat polemic variety. >>>>MORE>>>>

Troubles
by J. G. Farrell
1970 / 480 pages
rating 10 / hist fiction

Farrell is an under-appreciated genius in my opinion, and it’s especially apparent in this sad yet humorous award-winning novel about the time of “Troubles” in Ireland circa 1919-1921 with a larger view to the collapse of the entire British Empire. This is his second novel in the Empire series – (not a trilogy, joined by theme).

On the surface, this is the story of an English war veteran, Major Brendan Archer, returned from the trenches and off to Kilnalough, a small fictional town, to meet the family of his supposed fiancé, Angela Spencer. The Anglo-Irish Angela lives with her father, Edward, in an old and rambling but dilapidated seaside hotel called the Majestic along with a few >>>>MORE>>>>

Capital in the 21st Century
by Thomas Piketty
2014 / 696 pages
rating 10 (yes) / non-fiction – economics

So what’s up with this new and very hot-selling economics book, “Capital in the 21st Century” by Thomas Piketty? Published in France last year it’s become widely acclaimed and, imo, deservedly so. It’s about historic patterns regarding wealth distribution and growing associated hierarchical inequalities world-wide although the focus is primarily Western Europe, especially France.

Basically, the whole thing boils down to one major point – >>>>MORE>>>>

A History of the World in Six Glasses
by Tom Standage
2005 / 311 pages
rating 9 – history

Standage is not an historian but rather he calls himself a journalist and author. He specializes in comparing historical events and issues to today’s business methods and technology. (See The Victorian Internet or The Writing on the Wall.). But that’s not what A History of the World in Six Glasses is about. Rather, this book is about how six of the beverages we drink have influenced world history as we know it – or vice versa?  >>>>MORE>>>>

Candide
by Voltaire
1759/ 100 or so pages
rating 10 / classic-satire

The entire basis for this book is that a young man named Candide is taught by his Professor Pangloss that “this life is the best of all possible worlds. ”  He tries to remember that as he goes through life after getting kicked out of his patron’s castle for making amoré with (?) Miss Cunegonde, the daughter of his patron.  After this he and a couple of regular companions travel through a bunch of countries and scenarios (a picaresque) experiencing enormous hardship searching for Miss Cunegonde.   Pangloss is thought to have been executed but Candide travels on.  The situations are bizarre and hilarious.  >>>>MORE>>>>

Seeking Enlightenment … Hat by Hat: A Skeptic’s Guide to Religion
by Nevada Barr
2003 / 223 pages
Rating: 9 / spirituality, essays

This is a collection of essays dealing with the author’s ongoing path toward and life since enlightenment, which is of the Christian variety. Nevada Barr is known primarily for her detective mysteries and I’ve read and enjoyed a couple of them, so when a friend recommended “Seeking Enlightenment” by her I had to check to see if this was the same author!  Yup.  >>>>MORE>>>>

The Art of War
by Sun Tzu
2nd to 4th century BC (probably last revision)
very short – less than 50 pages
rating  10 (I guess)  – classic non-fiction, military strategy,  maybe theory
translated by Lionel Giles –

Interesting book, for the most part – it’s basically a point by point treatise on how a good leader will conduct wars.  It’s not at all pro-war – actually, Sun was often against war – but if you have to fight then fight to win.  These are the principles. Most of the printed editions  those days use some kind of annotation or explanation below the point. Those are sometimes interesting, often dull as dirt. >>>>MORE>>>>

The Ladies’ Paradise
by Emile Zola
1883/ 480 pages
rating 9.5  classic – French
(Introduction, Notes and translation by Brian Nelson)

Zola knew what he was talking about when he wrote page after page of busy and boisterous narrative about a department store, based on the first such store in Paris and the biggest in the world for awhile – Bon Marché.   He was there for the hedonistically bourgeois times of Napoleon III,  for the redesign of the Paris streets, for the establishment and growth of of Bon Marché. According to Nelson, Zola’s notes say he wanted to present all of Parisian society within the model of a department store.  This  book was to be a ” ‘…poem of modern activity… conclude with its continual labour, the power and gaiety that comes from its productivity … >>>>MORE>>>>

The People on Privilege Hill
by Jane Gardham
2008 (Europa)/ 196 pages
rating 8 / short stories

First,  only the eponymous first story in this book is related to the Old Filth trilogy.  Many of the other stories have been published elsewhere and prior to this volume.   The  story entitled “The Milly Ming” is about a situation found in Gardham’s novel,“The Queen of the Tambourine.”  The other stories in this volume are about different characters with varied settings scattered throughout Britain (I think).

Moving on >>>>MORE>>>> 

Last Friends
by Jane Gardham
2013 / 213 pages
rating 8.5 / contemp fiction
(9.25 for the trilogy)

I  have just needed to read this book ever since it came out.  I loved the prior two in the “Old Filth” trilogy and I’ve read others by Gardham – why did I wait so long?  Oh well … I’m enjoying now.

Once upon a time in dying Imperial England (and this is a VERY British novel) there were three friends, well – friends, lovers, enemies.  This trilogy is the story of their lives and loves.  >>>>MORE>>>>

The Lowland
by Jhumpa Lahiri
2013/ 354 pages
rating:  8.75 / contemp – India

This looked and felt like promising from the end of the very short first chapter where it says:

Certain creatures laid eggs that were able to endure the dry season. Others survived by burying themselves in mud, simulating death, waiting for the return of rain.

Already I could sense the themes and this was validated in the following chapters; connections between brothers,  the differences between them when they plant themselves in different environments,  etc.  >>>>MORE>>>>

Still Life With Bread Crumbs
by Anna Quinlan
2014/272 pages
rating 5 / romance

This is a pretty “fluffy” type book for me to read, but it’s not as bad as I thought it would be … otoh, it’s a lot worse than I expected. Yup, it’s a love story and I used to be allergic to them pretty much but I’ve got to where classics and other works are okay if the romance part is definitely secondary.

The plot:  Rebecca Winter, is, or was actually, a very famous >>>>MORE>>>> 

Revolutionary Road
by Richard Yates
1961 / 355 pages
rating – 8 (probably a 10 in 1961) – classic

I guess this is a classic now as it’s older than 50 years – I used to say a classic was older than I am, but there really does come a limit and I passed that marker more than a decade ago.

So here, in the tradition of The Man in the Grey Flannel Suit, The Winter of Our Discontent and The Recognitions  – Revolutionary Road is about the conformity, disillusion and decay of America and its males in the late 1950’s or early ’60’s. Sloan Wilson, John Steinbeck, William Gaddis, John Cheever and Richard Yates were all so dissatisfied with something about America, their jobs, the flighty women
>>>>MORE >>>> 

Ragtime
E.L. Doctorow
1975 / 336 pages
rating – 10 / classic (?)

Back in 1975 this was a genre changing book and I think historical fiction was never quite the same again.  I read it when it was newly released – 1975 or so,  and absolutely loved it – I loved the playfulness of it and the era of the history. I didn’t really pay too much attention to the details of the plot but still,  it shot up and stayed one of my all time favorite historical fictions >>>>MORE>>>>

May We Be Forgiven
by A.M.Holmes
2012/ 496 pages
rating 8 / contemp fiction

This  really strange (kinda bizarro) and twisty tale opens on Thanksgiving of probably “last year” when the not so All-American Silver family  attempts a traditional feast.   The story is told from the 1st person point of view of Harry Silver,  a very confused and unhappy, but fundamentally decent man.

Thanksgiving reveals some tensions but they don’t really start to unfold until right after Christmas when Harry’s brother George smashes into another vehicle injuring a young boy and killing his parents.  >>>>MORE>>>>