Becky's Books –

I read this again slowly along with the Allnonfiction group discussion –   I’m sure I didn’t really get it the first time – for some reason.   There are three strands which are really only loosely connected although they are related,  so it feels a bit choppy.   As I reread it (and did a bit of outside sleuthing) I discovered that the major “connection”  between Gutrhie and Dylan is in the music itself – not the lyrics  – but the tune of 1913 Massacre which Woody Guthrie which wrote in 1941 is similar to  Song to Woody by Bob Dylan written in 1960.   (Links to Youtube)

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Grown-Up Anger:  The Connected Mysteries of Bob Dylan,  Woody Guthrie,  and the Calumet Massacre of 1913
by Daniel Wolff
2017 / 345 pages
read by  Dennis Boutsikaris  8h 49m
rating:   8.5 / nonfiction – history/biography 
*******

There is no Introduction as such in this book,  but  I suppose the first chapter is supposed to serve as a “context” or overview of sorts.  It introduces Woolf, memoir style,  as well as the times of Dylan  and Guthrie, who died in 1968,  and the Calumet Massacre  which occurred in 1913,  so in a way it does cover what the book will cover in more depth.

In the last paragraph of Chapter 1 Wolff says,

There’s a line from Dylan to Guthrie to Calumet: a string of interconnected mysteries. Figure out what happened to those kids in Calumet—what’s buried up there—and maybe it helps understand why Guthrie wrote a song about them. Why Dylan used the same melody for his song to Guthrie.

And, fan that he was,  Wolff was interested in to digging into the history of Dylan,  What he found was old blues tunes and something called “Song to Woody,” which led him to Woody Guthrie.

On the second reading I realized there is really a lot packed into this book going back to old Louis Agassiz of the 18th century whose son, Alexander,  ran the C&H  mining company in Calumet where the massacre of 1913 occurred.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Italian_Hall_disaster
(at the end of this article there is more info on the tragedy itself)

Guthrie read about the massacre in 1940 in a book by Ella Reeve Bloor, (aka Mother Bloor), an activist at the time –  So basically  Dylan came across Guthrie’s song and wrote his own “Song to Woody” in about 1960 – the tunes are essentially the same, but the lyrics are completely different.

Woody’s lyrics are about the Calumet Massacre of 1913: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Calumet_and_Hecla_Mining_Company
Fwiw – C&H closed all of its copper mines in 1970.

The thing is that those threads,  Dylan,  Guthrie and the Massacre, didn’t came together quite as I expected.  Oh well, I truly enjoyed the history throughout as well as the more recent events described in Chapter 13. Even if I already “knew” quite a lot of it, the thing is seeing those tidbits put together from a different perspective or in a different context and possibly providing a different meaning to them.  The history goes from Gilded Age to Golden Age and beyond  –  lol – the economics of America’s  boom times and decline.

The most respect is paid to the union folks and activists, next goes to Guthrie who took up the cause of the union folks and those socially and economically beneath that, and finally to Dylan inspired musically by Guthrie,  but who was forging his own way – as usual.  (just my opinion)

A couple decades ago a good teacher friend recommended Lisa Scottoline so I read one and wasn’t too impressed but I wasn’t reading crime novels at the time – I think I read one of her Rosatta novels.  One Perfect Lie is a standalone,  a moderately new release (2017) and it was on sale –  okay fine – I needed a break from the political stuff –  I was a bit bored –

It opens as such a mellow book – nice – and after 3 1/2 hours of pleasantly getting acquainted with the characters and their situations – some tension there  –   this reader was sucked into the idea that it was different from what the blurbs said.

Oops!   Because then came the shocker – What the heck is going on?   Yikes!

*******
One Perfect Lie
by Lisa Scottoline
2017 / 366 pages
read by George Newbern  9h 11m
rating –  A / mystery- thriller 
*******

I’m not going to spoil it by going further but there is a murder and a few other crimes involved as well as a bunch of nicely developed and interwoven characters.  The book very slowly works through some twists and turns with the mystery related to how  he victim died and then jacks up the tension to fairly intense and bursts into thriller mode. It seems like everyone involved is up to something but … this?  A fun ride –

It’s more of a procedural with lots of family drama including the tiniest touch of romance.   I’ll keep an eye on Scottoline,  but not necessarily pick up on everything I see.

Still in the mood for something else – don’t know what –  trying this and that – I love the setting here,  northern Minnesota woods –  I’ve visited many times since childhood but never lived there although my dad was raised nearby.

This is the first of a highly acclaimed and really long-running series which is another reason I read it.  It reminded me a bit of some other series I can’t remember the name of (I think I might be reading too much.)

Finally,  the Native American thread of the book intrigued me –  I’ve read quite a lot of Indian literature – both fiction and nonfiction and I’m kind of always interested in that subject.

*******
Iron Lake 
by William Kent Krueger
1998 / 464 pages
read by David Chandler 11h 57m
rating:  B+ /  crime series
(#1 in the Cork O’Connor series) 
*******

Sad to say I wasn’t all that impressed  with this first of the series but I may be tempted to give the second book a shot –

A Indian boy disappears on the same day a local judge commits suicide –  Huh? –  Yup –  and Cork, who  was relieved of his position as sheriff in the last election and is also separated from his wife but sleeping with a young waitress,  gets involved because his wife is seeing the new senator who seems to have some less than honorable associates.  Cork can’t help it – he’s an inquisitive soul.   (This makes for a good series.)

There’s a fair amount of thriller to this book,  some Indian lore including legends and spirits (but no spooky stuff) and quite a lot of relationship material.  It sets up a for a solid series –  as does the setting.   So here we are in 2018 and Cork O’Connor has been around for 20 years and 16 books (the 17th will be released tomorrow –  8/21/2018.)  I might just give it a try.

It really took me awhile to pick a book this time – I thought maybe I’d gone into a slump but finally …  half-heartedly maybe …. I picked up a good old crime novel which had been  tempting me a bit.  I need some kind of leisurely reading

I don’t keep a TBR pile – I buy as I go looking at my wish lists, reading group schedules,  new releases, and so on for my options when I need a new book.  I’m always on the lookout for possibilities and stick likely candidates on one of my wish list or I download a sample.  But I don’t bother with the wish list part for Audible’s bona fide sale books – I just get them and try to have a little stash for slow times – Only 1 lonely book waiting for me at the moment.   (Oh!  But there is an Audible sale going on … )

*******
The Disappeared
by C. J.  Box
2018 / 398 pages
read by David Chandler – 11h 14m
rating:   B+  /  crime series
(#18 in the Joe Picket series)
*******

Back to the book at hand – (or at ear as the case may be).  This is the 18th book in the Joe Picket series –

Picket is a game warden in Wyoming and in that capacity he comes across a variety of murders and other crimes.

This time it seems a prominent British woman has disappeared on her way home  from an exclusive guest ranch in Wyoming.  She’s single, rich, fairly famous,  very nice looking and she apparently had a completely wonderful time at the ranch, so .   – what could have happened to her to disappear? And she’s been missing for two months now.   The British media gets wind of a juicy story and that gets to the ears of of Wyoming’s  new governor who he calls in Joe Pickett demanding it get resolved pronto.

Meanwhile,  Joe’s buddy Nate has a friend,  a fellow falconer,  who, for some inexplicable reason, is unable to get the specialty permit he needs for his hobby/business.   This doesn’t seem like an urgent matter,  so Joe kind of puts it on a back burner – until the two cases seem to be oddly related.

It’s an okay book –  it heats up slowly.   I’ve not read anything by Box prior and I don’t know why I picked this up except I think I thought it was by CB McKenzie whose novel Bad Country is about desert living and has a similar cover.  That was a fairly good listen.

One thing about some of these series books is the settings are very important –  there are series set in Wyoming, Arizona, upstate Minnesota, Montana and other kind of wilder or more natural places.  That’s done well enough here – not outstanding but it’s feels like Wyoming what with falconry and ranches and all.  .   Another important thing about crime series is the personality of the lead detective(s) and the ongoing relationships he has with other characters.  I can’t say about Joe Pickett because this is the first one I’ve read.

I might have a few others similar to this on my Audible wish list –  Minnesota I know is there.  lol

I started to read Auster’s most recent novel last summer,  2017,  but it got so boring I put it down thinking I’d pick it back up when the Booker Group had it scheduled.  I’d got to about 25%,   page 216 on Kindle –  (No Audible because I couldn’t stand the sample sound of Auster’s voice.)

(MY RESTRUCTURED NOTES – SPOILERS!!!)  

Okay fine –  I picked it back up a few days ago and tried to read on thinking I might remember enough to squeak by.  Nope – not quite.  But I had also decided to keep notes this time because it is a very confusing book even if the writing is rather plain and straightforward.   Ach!

*******
4 3 2 1 
by Paul Auster
2016/ 867 pages
rating:  9.25     / contemporary fiction
(read and listened)
*******

The confusing thing is that there are 4 guys named Ferguson (the protagonist)  starting in 1.1 and there are 7 different timeframes in which different things happen to each of them –  different lives, actually,  from ages 6 or so to about age 24.

The thing is it’s a kind of memoir but with the idea that if Ferguson had chosen something else he would have had a different life –  in some cases that works – in other cases it’s not about his choices,  it’s about life on life’s terms –  other people’s choices (like those of his uncles or parents or girlfriends) or a matter of timing – an accident.

The book goes from 1.1 to 1.2, to 1.3,  to 1.4 and so on to 1.7 then starts with 2.1, and 2.2 and 2.3 –  up  to 4.7.   This is each different Ferguson in one time frame and then a change of time frames.  –   The first number is the time frame,  the second number is the version of Ferguson.

Reading this way,  with a basic understanding of what was going on, I realized before long that I’d better keep some notes.  I started over and kept notes by section and chapter – the way it is in the book.

It’s a reasonably good book if you can stay focused but Auster’s writing is full of lists and 2 page sentences and although it scans nicely –  it gets boring unless you get interested in some aspect of Ferguson’s life –  there is lots of information about sports and the Vietnam war for instance,  with the themes of pre-adult life and love and loss and so on – the usual things you could think of as literary themes,  but nothing original there.  It’s a coming-of-age story with an imaginative twist built into the structure.

Okay – so I started over and it was easy enough reading so I skimmed some keeping notes about important things.  I kept notes in my own order –  see above –  so I could put each Ferguson back together after I’d finished.   (This is NOT a criticism of the book – Auster’s structure is perfect. I was just wanted to understand each Ferguson on his own and where the versions differed and branched.   (And this isn’t a spoiler because the reader gets it before 10% of the book – page 85 or so.)

So after I re-sorted the scramble,  I started feeling like a needed a spreadsheet so I could see not only what happened to the different Ferguson’s individually,  but so I could look at the years in which these things happened –  what all happened in 1967 in the various incarnations of our hero?

I didn’t do that -although it would have been interesting because issues of the day,  from the end of WWII (p 16) to the Attica riots in 1971 (p 855,  for one) are a huge element in the plots –  how political events can affect our lives big time.  The Vietnam War is paramount but there was the Columbia Student Uprising which is quite important in the book.

Auster’s novel is memoir-ish,  it’s a fictionalized autobiography in that he was there in the places and at the times he writes about in many cases (maybe most).   He grew up in New Jersey where he was classmates with Mark Rudd (Columbia SDS leader) and he likely wanted to be a writer from early on.  He was probably a sports enthusiast, too.

Basically it’s about a young boy named Archie Ferguson and his family over a period of about 15 years (1955 – 1970).  But instead of following one character named Archie Ferguson during all that time, the reader is treated to other possibilities

This reader thinks that if things happen to a character that’s how it should be for the book – –  I guess Auster doesn’t think that way because after Fergusson’s father dies tragically  in one chapter,  he’s alive and well in the next.  (Huh?)  This is NOT a spoiler – just different Fergusons.

In the stories, although he grows up,  Ferguson’s basic characteristics don’t change – he’s Jewish and he likes to read and then to write,  he’s athletic and loves sports,  and he loves his mother.

“… how different these three books are. They’re all written in their own way, and they’re all very good, which means that there isn’t just one way to write a good book. Last year, Mr. Dempsey kept telling us there was a right way and a wrong way—remember? Maybe with math and science there are, but not with books. You do them in your own way, and if your way is a good way, you can write a good book.”   p.179

I never would have found this little gem on my own but thanks to reading groups … Published in 1945 but the book still in print (or again – ?) so therefore a classic, as opposed to being just an “old book.”   Times have changed. It’s basically a coming of age story,  one in which insecure adolescent boys of the 1920s grow into manhood experiencing a deep friendship, love, loss, guilt, etc.  Basic themes.

Fifteen-year old Spud Latham’s father suffers a career setback forcing the family,  father,  mother, older sister and Spud,  to move from their apparently large and lovely home in Wisconsin to an apartment in a town just outside of Chicago.  No one is happy about this.  In school Spud is a newcomer,  but he’s athletic so he’ll be accepted.

*******
The Folded Leaf
by William Maxwell
1945 / 305 pages 
read by Mark Boyett – 9h 20m
rating   8  /   classic lit
*******

Meanwhile,  another teenage boy,  Lymie Peters has also moved into the neighborhood and attends the same high school – Lymie’s mother died not too long prior and his father is trying to raise his son alone.    Lymie is small and thin, not at all athletic,  but he’s very capable academically.

By chance in a water polo class Spud  has to save Lymie’s life –  Spud is very athletic –   but amidst the splashing, only Lymie really notices and from that point on Lymie is devoted and the two become fast friends with the smart but small and motherless Lymie becoming like a part of Spud’s family.

And the boys also meet Sally Forbes and Hope Davison who, at the end of high school,  end up at the same college with Spud and Lymie.   The boys live in the same room off campus because of finances.  They do attend a sorority dance where it is apparent that Hope’s family doesn’t have much money either.  We also discover that the athletic Spud dances quite nicely with Sally while Lymie is unfortunately clumsy.  But afterwards it’s Lymie who thinks about Sally –  his best buddy’s girl.

This is mostly Lymie’s story as he becomes aware of many things in life,  like the importance of money for social acceptance,  love.    Spud turns to wrestling and a bit of fraternity life,  while Lymie turns to academics.

I thought this was going to be an example of early gay lit  or at least seriously homo-erotic lit and I can’t dismiss the notion that it is.  Maxwell must have known what he was doing even if he didn’t come right out and say so in terms as explicit as we in the 21st century are accustomed to.

Otoh,  a main cue is on page 151 where although it appears that other boys were climbing into bed with each other in the 1920s out of natural tendencies –  I don’t think they actually kissed.

And then the thing is that consciously Lyman dreams about touching Sally and that’s who he wants to be with.

This is yet another book about Trump’s fiasco of a presidency (I’m fascinated for some reason but I need breaks between books.)    The difference here is that it’s by a solid Republican who is interested in the strategy.   about strategy.

Rick Wilson is a total Republican,  a stalwart economic conservative and a has a leaning toward the strict interpretation of the Constitution.   But he’s from Florida and supported Mario Rubio in 2016.   He’s not a racist or much of an extremist in any way –  not in this book anyway.   I still don’t agree with many of  his policies but at least moderate Republicanism is still alive –  I can work with this.

So he’s outraged about Trump,  the campaign and what Trump has done since,  what he seems to stand for and how he’s trashing the Republican party as well as a lot of good people and ideas.   hows.   But at the end,  the book is more than that –  a lot more – it’s a nice lecture to his fellow Republicans that they should really shape up and in specific ways.  This section is earnest,  heartfelt and well written.

*******

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Everything Trump Touches Dies:  A Republican Strategist Gets Real About the Worst President Ever 
by Rick Wilson   
2018 /  336 pages (Free Press) 
read by Rick Wilson – 9h 25m
rating:   7.75  – /  current events – political 
*******

His book is generally a rant against Trump, sometimes harsh and biting,  other times very clever and funny and if you get to the end you’ll learn how he’s affected some select elections since then.   Check out the Chapter titles (see below) for a sample of the tone.

It was written by a strategist for the Republican party.,  Rick Wilson,  who is an idealogical conservative (especially strong on economics and the Constitution)  and he’s mad as hell.     The book was released on August 7 and there I was, adrift about what to read next when an old friend on Facebook was wondering about it.    Okay – I bit – after I downloaded it,  my response to his post was that it was my current read.   (LOL)

Publisher’s Weekly called it “a scathing, profane, unflinching, and laugh-out-loud funny rebuke of Donald Trump and his presidency.”    Yup –  it is that – but it’s from a somewhat different perspective than what I’m used to.

NPR: “…The book has itself the intellectual rigor of a Comedy Central roast for Justin Bieber — and isn’t conscious of its own central irony: Though it calls for ascending to a higher plane, beyond Trump, it’s filled with empty insults.”

“Wilson’s insider take is hilarious, smartly written, and usually spot-on,” Kirkus Review said.

So, what did I think?  I think it’s okay if you enjoy a good rant.  Rick Wilson was a Republican strategist for many years –  during the campaign he worked for  Marco Rubio ( I suspect because both are Florida based) and then started the movement known as  “Never Trump.”   He’s not been shy about his distaste for Donald Trump.

During the first parts I didn’t really learn much except for a few details and putting the puzzle together from a somewhat different perspective.  One huge new and totally non-partisan point to me was new: – my words:  –

The writing of executive orders is sometimes necessary but often, when it’s misused by one president,  the orders are overturned and extended by the next president and that’s repeated by the following president.  The effect is that Congress loses incentive to pass messy legislation and that, in its turn,  can have a seriously bad effect on democracy.

After I got used to Wilson’s manner of expressing his rage it started to be rather funny – if darkly so  –  like some campaigns.   The text is hugely biting and Wilson explicitly bashes almost everyone involved.

Wilson goes through several  of the Republican’s who should have and could have stood in the way of Trump’s nomination but didn’t.

Then he starts in on Trump’s lack of background and competence and even basic knowledge of facts or policy analysis.  Wilson is pissed.   He also gets after the other Republicans  who stayed or got on the bandwagon later,  out of fear of his tweets and their Trump supporting constituents.

Wilson readily admits that Trump is not a conservative –  his stand on gun control is determined whenever it’s tested,  flip-flopping if necessary and it’s the same with many ideas.  There is no ultimate Trump strategy or “vision,”  or underlying ideology –   no matter what his supporters think.

One of the funniest parts is where he follows various anonymous White House aides into their offices and plays out some scenarios blasting other aides,  Kushner,  Ivanka, Spicer, Sanders Huckabee,  etc.

Then he takes after the evangelicals and the low-income folks who voted for him because of Fox news.  He takes after the media – all sides.   He takes after the liberals and those who love Obama.  He takes after them over and over and over.

And he goes after those people who peddle and buy into conspiracy theories.   He generally goes after Trump’s base – and his cohorts Roger Stone,  Steve Bannon,  Jeff Sessions, a few Cabinet members.

This is to say nothing of the issues themselves –  terrorism and trade deals,   voting fraud, the marijuana use,  executive orders,  immigration,  race.

Of course he covers the insiders and the family – the “Syndicate”  as he calls it, Ivanka and Jared for sure.  There are insiders of all stripes to be thrashed.

Here’s the Table of Contents –  there are “intermission” type parts which are imaginary,  but they’re well noted.

INTRODUCTION:

PART I:  The Road to This Shit Show

What to Expect When You’re Working For Trump  I

Chapter 1:    Vichy Republicans –

What to Expect When You’re Working For Trump II

Chapter 2:   Furrowed Brows and Deep Concern,

What to Expect When You’re Working For Trump III

Chapter 3:   Running With the Devil

What to Expect When You’re Working For Trump IV

Chapter 4:   That’s Why You Got Trump

What to Expect When You’re Working For Trump V

PART II –   Victims of the Curse

Inside the Oval Office I

Chapter 5. What We Lost With Trump

Inside the Oval Office  II

Chapter 6:   The Media

Inside the Oval Office III

Chapter 7: –  The Trump Base

Inside the Oval Office  IV

Chapter 8:  Limited Government

Inside the Oval Office V

Chapter 9:  The Grown-Ups All Die, Too

PART 3  Surrounded by Villains

Top Secret Intercept 1

Chapter 10:   Welcome to Hell

Top Secret Intercept 2

Chapter 11:  The Trump Family Syndicate

Top Secret Intercept 3

Chapter 12:    Team Crony

Top Secret Intercept 4

Chapter 13:   Clown Princes of the Trump era

Top Secret Intercept 5

Chapter 14:   Trump’s Island of Misfit Toys

Top Secret Intercept 6

Chapter 15:   The Alt-Reich

PART 4:   After Trump

Chapter 16:   But Gorsuch

Chapter 17:   Trump Is Electoral Poison

Chapter 18:  My Party After Trump

Epilogue:   Post-Trump America –

http://theweek.com/articles/782713/trump-haters-love-rick-wilsons-scathing-new-book-everything-trump-touches-dies

Thanks to reading Snap by Belinda Bauer  (because it was on the recently released Man Booker Long List for 2018) I thought I’d look into other books by her – she has several priors.    One looked interesting and I put it on my wishlist.  Then some members of the 4-Mystery Addicts reading group mentioned it favorably in their posts. That settled it.   It got pushed up my own list and I read it when I got a break from group reads and urgent nonfiction.  (heh)

*******
Rubbernecker
by Belinda Bauer  (England)
2015 / 434 pages
read by Andrew Wincott
rating:   B+  /  suspense-crime
*******

It’s not as good as Snap but it’s pretty good for a suspense novel.

The protagonist,  Patrick Fort,  is studying with a medical program at Cardiff University in Wales for the purposes of learning anatomy.    He lives with a small group of his fellow students.

The class dissects cadavers which have been donated for the purpose.  The thing making this crime novel really different is that Patrick has Asperger’s Syndrome so he takes most  things people say literally and has to get answers to his questions.  He has a few obsessions, too –  like how his father died and what death actually is – where the people go.

One day he realizes that the cadaver which he is dissecting did not die of heart failure but was more likely murdered.  He really has to find out what happened and that gets to be a rather dicey series of investigative adventures.

There are plenty of interesting and intertwined characters here, but it’s not really a who-done-it,  that,  and a few other things, are revealed gradually (either that or I guessed it pretty early on).  The more interesting factors are the difficulties of Asperger’s Syndrome as well as amateur murder investigation –  it has a nice little shading of humor as well.

What’s up tomorrow?   I don’t honestly know.

I read (and listened to) this last night –  it’s a  very short  but excellent  warning about where the West is headed internationally if we don’t change our ways.  Most of it is about what the West should be doing in the world instead of what it is doing.  Not much about Russia but, imo, they seem to be in the same boat as the US.  At this point,  the author says,  China and India are the real powers to deal with.  They are the ones who are growing by leaps and bounds – peacefully improving the standards of living for their people.  And Africa and Latin America are making huge strides (with the understanding that there are a couple of wayward nations in each area).

Mahbubani is not an American,  not even a Westerner.   He’s from Singapore,  born, educated and it’s where he currently lives.  His views are naturally quite different in many ways from what we usually hear here –  He says the US needs to get off its high horse and out of denial.

The West must recognize that all of humanity is one. Seven billion people live in 193 separate cabins on the same boat. The big problem is that while we have captains and crews taking care of each cabin, we have no captain or crew taking care of the whole boat.

*******
Has the West Lost It? – A Provocation
by Kishore Mahbubani 
2018 / 102 pages
read by Jonathan Keeble – 2h 21m
rating:   9.5 /  global current events
(read and listened)
*******

Mahbubani is a widely respected Singaporean professor and the dean of Public Policy as well as a former UN Ambassador and diplomat and author.

His ideas are far more oriented toward the US relation with China – not Iran,   not Russia – those are secondary concerns in the long run.    Diplomatic relations should be established with our “enemies” so we could discuss things –  that’s the way it’s been for 2000 years.   The US is too “politically correct” and we must be more Machiavellian (clever – not evil).

Mahbubani aligns with Stephen Pinker in terms of the WORLD being a better place in the 21st Century –  that certainly didn’t sink in with Americans who have essentially faced a decline in standard of living by comparison to many other nations.    Life seems poorer to US citizens,  maybe citizens of the West.   That’s not the case for most people in Asia or many countries in Africa.  Although he ignores global warming and environmental issues,   but to follow his ideas – Asia might be able to figure it out and do something – the West is too combative.

It’s a kind of “love letter” to the US but it’s in the form of advice –  loving advice.  It’s very interesting to read about all this from a guy who is a career diplomat and ex-ambassador to the UN but not from the US.  He sees things differently.

Mahbubani makes this point almost first off –  the world is a better place,  overall,  than it was a century ago.  Then he gets into the specifics in 13 chapters dealing with Machiaveli,  the blindness of Western elites,   military blunders,  international travel, Western self-absorbtion, Muslim distractions,  and then what kind of attitude and direction the US should take (less intervention).  The chapters are short and to the point.

https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/geopolitics/article/2140666/only-asia-can-save-russia-and-west-themselves

This is just to take a break from thinking –  it’s a historical mystery,  first of a series,  and rather fun.   It takes place in western China,  on the eastern edge of Tibet,  in 1708.   An exiled traveler who got in trouble in Bejing is traveling through the area and happens to arrive in a certain place at the time when the Emperor is to arrive and announce an eclipse –  a special talent of his.    Just then a knowledgeable astrologer dies.  Oops.

*******
Jade Dragon Mountain
by Elsa Hart
2015/ 370 pages
read by David Shih 11h 55m
rating:    A / crime
*******

The book is comparatively low key but full of historical detail and interesting, vital characters.  The first six chapters (about 75 pages) lead up to the real tension following the murder of an astrologer (by poison)  when our hero, who is in exile, goes against orders and  sticks around town to see what he can figure out.   So proceeds the mystery of who killed the astrologer.  It was better than I expected, well researched (I had to Google some to check my knowledge on Jesuits,  18th century China,  astrology).  There are plenty of twists and turns,  some action, and the ending was a bit of a surprise.

Enjoy.

Well I was right. By the time the discussion of this book came along I’d forgot much of it and needed to read it again.  This is my own fault,  last month was so rich in good reading I was impatient with this subtle and beautifully written book.  It needs slow careful reading.

I’ve read a number of Ondaatje’s books, all 5 of them since The English Patient which I enjoyed but didn’t think it should have been chosen the Booker Prize’s  50th Anniversary winner.  Oh well –   I found them all about equally enchanting and I think Ondaatje’s book took it because of the movie.  No matter,  I’ll  definitely read whatever he comes up with next.

*******
Warlight
by Michael Ondaatje
2018/305 pages
read by Steve West – 8h 36m
rating:  8.5  / contemporary fiction
 (both read and listened)
*******

(Caution –  a few spoilers)

In Warlight,  we have Nathanial Williams,  our 1st person protagonist,  who is 14 years old when the story opens.  It’s 1945  in London which is barely recovering from WWII but that’s where he and his sister Rachel live with their parents until first his father leaves on a trip to Asia and then his mother leaves whereabouts unknown.  They’re given over to a “guardian”  the siblings nickname “The Moth”  and who has a strange friend “The Darter.”     Nathaniel and Rachel come to the conclusions these guys are criminals of some sort and The Darter does introduce Nathaniel to some river smuggling.

Part Two is many years later – maybe fourteen?,   and Nathanial is working at some kind of intelligence archives when he realizes that the signs around his mother’s home were removed during the war in the villages around Saints in Suffolk where he lived with his mother for awhile after she returned from her travels.    Also the people of his old life have changed.  I’d say this is a kind of metaphor for having to find your way without direction –  a tortured bildungsroman.   And although Nathaniel loves maps, that doesn’t give him one for his own life.

And he’s looking for other information in the archives where he works – like where his mother was during the war and later, after she left them.

In going back through these times the reader is treated to a section on excellent chess play,  a section on fly-tying,  another one on roof-climbing and finally greyhound racing but he does make it through what probably happened to his mother – what is believable in his mind anyway,   as well as what must have happened to other people in his life.

Nathaniel –  1st person –  struggling with his past,  the abandonment by his father and then his mother.   How he and his sister survive through the help of his mother’s mysterious and somewhat dangerous feelings friends.

Rachel –  Nathaniel’s sister – very angry with their mother – has epilepsy –

Rose –  Nathaniel’s mother –  very bright (brilliant?)  a spy of some sort,  she doesn’t seem to be very nurturing,  but in her own way …

Nathaniel’s father –  mostly absent ,  very bright,  older,  fought in WWI and possible permanent damage from that.

Agnes Street ( ) –  Nathaniel’s 1st girlfriend – very much like his mother in many ways

The Moth – Rose’s friend for a long time –  protective of Nathaniel and Rachel – guardian of them while parents are gone – possibly an ex-criminal

Felon Marsh –  another ex-criminal,   friend of The Moth and helps with the children but leads Nathaniel into a life of petty crime

I suppose it was better the 2nd time but I’m not used to quite this much romance in my favorite books.

This is,  in my opinion,  the clearest and most comprehensive book on the background to the current state of affairs in the ongoing confusion regarding Russian interference in US election 2016 –  at least that I have read so far.  It was published a bit earlier than some of the book I’ve read, (from Fire and Fury by Michael Wolff – link to my review)  but it is also less specialized in content.  It does a wonderful job of filling in my blanks on the whole thing –   and I have more books to go because I’m definitely interested in the matter.

Russian Roulette was first published back in March of 2018 – (so it only goes up to about the July G20 Summit of 2017, a bit olde now perhaps,  compared to some others on the market (is there a new one every day?),   but from the reviews I skimmed,  it seemed valuable as a “first step … toward putting together a complete story,”    so I picked it up and started reading.

*******
Russian Roulette:   The Inside Story of Russia’s War on America and the Election of Donald Trump – 
by Michael Isikoff and David Corn
2018 /  353 pages  –  Twelve (publisher)
read by Peter Ganin
Rating:   9.5  / current events (politics) 
*******

By Chapter 3 I was so impressed – the subtitle reads,  “The Inside Story of Russia’s War on America and the Election of Donald Trump.”  And that’s what it is –  a lot of background from Trump’s desire to do more and bigger business in Russia,  the 2006 assassination of Putin’s Russian critics Politkovskaya and her London-based friend Litvinenko;   the early attempts by the Obama administration to reset the Russia/US relations via Hillary Clinton;   Putin’s political doings in Moscow;  the Ukraine issue (that’s a BIGGIE!);  spies and contacts;  the Magnitsky Act;   ex-ambassador Michael McFaul’s difficulties;  cyber-warfare and espionage with its multitude of forms, sources and victims;  Trump’s unsavory business acquaintances including Felix Sater,  Roy Cohn, Paul Manafort and others –  American and Russian;  –  even Maria Butina as well as Michael J. Flynn.    And then it goes on to tell the stories of the Democratic headquarters break-in,  WikiLeaks,   Comey and Clinton’s email,  Carter Page,  the Republican Convention,   Clinton’s campaign,  Trump’s personnel changes,  etc – and so on – with more … the Obama administration’s failures.

It fits well with the other books I’ve read and it’s a somewhat more balanced view of the situation as a whole.

Nicely written,  both Michael Isikoff and David Corn are knowledgeable journalists,  in clear language and using a basically chronological organization, the book uses some good technique in building suspense within a tension driven story arc.   It keeps the reader turning pages,  listening for hour after hour as more is revealed and put in place.

I got a couple hours into it on the Audible version and realized I wanted to see the Notes and Russian names and other material –  so I got the Kindle version.   It was a good move and I started over although I was generally pretty clear about it to that point.  It’s hard to do any kind of careful reading with Audible alone.

The authors do not spare Barack Obama or Hillary Clinton,  but the emphasis is definitely on the Russian game and how Trump himself apparently willingly,  eagerly (?),  made himself available as a big player.  At first he still wanted a Trump Tower in Moscow,  later he also wanted revenge on Obama and losing his big deals.   That said,  Trump was never all too clear about what was going on regarding Russian/Putin goals or motives.

Some of it is repetitive of what’s in other books,  but by no means all or even most.  Quite a lot of it is different –  the relevant Miss Universe pageants,  the Magnitsky sanctions,  various social media hoaxes,  Roger Stone and that bunch,  etc. plus the Christopher Steele dossier and Lieut. Gen. Michael Flynn.

The book adds details not appropriate to other narratives I’ve read   (The Road to Unfreedom by Timothy Snyder,  A Higher Loyalty by James Comey,  The Death of Truth by Michiko Kikutani,  The Perfect Weapon by David E. Sanger). –  (Links to my reviews on this site.)

Trump’s ties to seriously unsavory and possibly organized crime is outlined throughout the book along with his increasing.appeal to the Evangelical Christians. Isikoff and Corn cover the secret “meetings” with Russians,  the infamous Billy Bush Hollywood tape,  and the Comey re-opening of the investigation into Clinton’s last lost emails and finally,  the beginning of the Robert Mueller investigation,  it’s pretty comprehensive –

This all led up to and into the election of 2016 and the firing of James Comey.

In my general interest in the US political situation these day (omg) I keep reading –  there seems to be more and more revealed – more developing as well as uncovered and so … more published by reliable reporters,  participants,  etc.  I have to alternate regular fiction/nonfiction and crime novels with these current events books.

I read this for the 4-Mystery Addicts reading group – I’m trying to alternate between fiction and nonfiction right now because reading too much about the unfolding current events gets quite draining even though I’m fascinated.

*******
A Rising Man
by Abir Mukherjee
2017/ 390 pages
read by Malk Williams 11h 36m
rating B- / historical crime
(1st in Sam Wyndham series)
*******

It’s 1920 and after surviving the trauma of WWI, went home to England where his wife died from the Spanish Flu. After a short time Sam got the opportunity to go to Calcutta as an investigator – which suited his new opium habit just fine.

Just as he arrives there is a murder. Alex-ander MacCauley, a high official in the British colonial establishment, is found outside a brothel – murdered – and with a threatening handwritten note in his mouth. The threat is that there will be wide-spread rebellion to the English occupation if they don’t leave. Windham has to find those responsible for the murder and hopefully prevent the rebellion before it’s too late.

Basically this is a police procedural set in the historically fascinating city of Calcutta, India in late colonial times. Windham is pretty typical of fictional police detectives the world over these days – the vet of a war, single for some reason, and with a serious drug or drink habit. Nevertheless, he’s a good guy – sympathetic Even Windham’s co-worker (not quite partner, but not side-kick) Surendranath (aka “Surrender-not”) Banerjee has counterparts in other crime novels. (One of the best is in the book Detective Emmanuel Cooper series by Malla Nunn [link to my review], which has the South African Samuel Shabala, a Zulu tribesman and local constable paired with Afrikaner Emmanuel Cooper in the days of apartheid – or maybe see the Scandi-Noir novels of Jussi Adler-Olsen.

The plot(s) are good and a bit twisted. There are some good lines of humor every once in awhile. The writing is nice, smooth. The characters are pretty stock though – imo.

Why the “B-“? Most reviewers have been very favorably impressed but … maybe I just wasn’t in the mood or maybe the narrator didn’t suit me or perhaps I’m familiar enough with the general history, who knows? It didn’t work for me. It wasn’t awful – it was just never very interesting.

(But now maybe I’ll get on with another current events novel – or maybe not.)

A Rising Man by Abir Mukherjee

Fascinating – amazing –  book – I mean REALLY!   It’s kind of philosophically heavy but … and needs careful reading,  but it’s definitely worth it.  (I had to read many sentences and paragraphs at least twice.)   I both read and listen in order to do that very thing.  .

Snyder examines how Russia went down the path from the fall of the Soviet Union to the kleptocracy and then oligarchy under Vladimir Putin. He examines Putin’s ideas and where they came from and where they are leading.

*******
The Road to Unfreedom:  Russia, Europe, America
by Timothy Snyder
2018 / 346 pages
read by Timothy Snyder – 10h 9m
rating:  9.5  /  history 
(both read and listened)
*******

There’s quite a lot about the fascist (not Nazi) philosopher Ivan Ilyin – going back to Marxism – Stalinism – and Hegel.   This is as background for what Snyder will mean when he talks about Inevitability vs Eternity politics.

Americans and Europeans have been guided through our new century by what I will call the politics of inevitability – a sense that the future is just more of the present, that the laws of progress are known, that there are no alternatives, and therefore nothing really to be done. In the American, capitalist version of this story, nature brought the market, which brought democracy, which brought happiness. In the European version, history brought the nation, which learned from war that peace was good, and hence chose integration and prosperity.

The collapse of the politics of inevitability ushers in another experience of time: the politics of eternity. Whereas inevitability promises a better future for everyone, eternity places one nation at the centre of a cyclical story of victimhood. Time is no longer a line into the future, but a circle that endlessly returns the same threats from the past. Within inevitability, no one is responsible because we all know that the details will sort themselves out for the better; within eternity, no one is responsible because we all know that the enemy is coming no matter what we do. Eternity politicians spread the conviction that government cannot aid society as a whole, but can only guard against threats. Progress gives way to doom.

See –  https://www.theguardian.com/news/2018/mar/16/vladimir-putin-russia-politics-of-eternity-timothy-snyder

Then there’s the attack on the individual – an underpinning of the  ideas of the West – individualism was apparently a sign of decadence to Ilyin and his followers.  The state should be the correct focal point of identity.

So what we have is the innocent Mother Russia in her pure form as a Christian Eurasian Empire,  while the world,  especially homosexual alliance,  the Economic Union and other obvious signs,  are opposed to it – oppressing it – over and over – eternally.

Much of the narrative deals with the background of Putin and the Russians – their tendency toward autocracy and what happened after the Soviet Union collapsed.   There were no  institutions to click in and the assets of the whole country were essentially sold to the oligarchs.   Putin came out on top.

The Russians have been ruled by authoritarian regimes for almost all of their history and in recent years have flirted with fascism of various kinds.  Since 2010 they have broken with any idea of joining the EU working instead toward forming their own empire of alliances as Eurasia.  Snyder says that Russia (Putin) wants to destroy the EU.

Gender politics is important here –  homosexuality has been demonized and there are huge factions in both Russia and France  (Marine Le Pen) which see things that way –  as does Donald Trump.  Trump’s associations with the Russians is outlined in brief – the Miss Universe pageant to the Trump Tower meeting in June 2016  and the elections.

In Putin’s thinking (according to Snyder) “factuality” is not a concern.   There is no “objective” history or news –  therefore,  here’s our made-up version –  and we’re honest because we’re admitting it.   Trust us. –  LOL!

What happened in the past makes today possible – probable –  not inevitable but if not,  something new will have to happen –   Ukraine.

The hardest chapter,  boring in some ways,  is Chapter 5,  “Truth or  Lies,”  details  the ongoing Ukrainian war with all it’s violence,  lies and propaganda and aggression and so on – the extent and the effects of the propaganda –  right down to Brexit and Paul Manafort (Trump – with his “alternate facts and daily lies).   It’s all about undermining factuality.

But Chapter 6 makes it worth getting through Chapter 5 because Chapter 6 brings us right up to today –  how the US was kind of primed and ready (for a multitude of reasons both liberal and conservative)  for something like what has happened  –  that  we have a Russian puppet as president.  The book ends with blame on Russia,  Trump and the US for being so ready for something like this in so many ways.

There is a short Epilogue of positive comments but …  overall,  the boo presents a scary and depressing scenario.

https://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2018/07/schizo-fascism-i-know-you-are-but-what.html

https://www.vox.com/conversations/2017/3/9/14838088/donald-trump-fascism-europe-history-totalitarianism-post-truth

https://historynewsnetwork.org/article/168945

https://www.thenation.com/article/timothy-snyder-zombie-history/

https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/review-the-road-to-unfreedom-russia-europe-america-by-timothy-snyder-why-the-west-is-losing-to-putin-xfk0cmp2x

And this is a new (7/crime novel which caught my eye due to a glowing review and interesting description somewhere.    I need breaks from the grim nonfiction and news these days and this does it for me – and I like good police procedurals with foreign settings like Ireland (or Iceland or Australia, etc.)  Besides,  the days are hot (105+) in Central California – and I’m staying in.

Prologue : –    Ireland 1993 –  Jack age 5 and Maude age 15 –  left orphans when their mother dies of a drug overdose.  Detective Cormac Reilly looks after them but Maude disappears.  –

Chapter 1 and on:     Gallway Ireland –  2013   Jack Blake age 25 was adopted and now lives with  Aisling Conroy – a surgery student.  Ashley discovers she is pregnant and  tells Jack who seems like he will get okay with it but then he is found dead –  a suicide according to the officials.

*******
The Ruin
by Dervla McTiernan
2018 / 400 pages
read by Aoife McMahon 10h 25m
rating:   A /crime-procedural
*******

Cormac is still with the police force but now assigned to a cold case task force in Gallway due to his girlfriend’s employment.

Maude shows back up for her brother’s funeral and makes friends with Aisling.  They’re interviewed and Maude makes an issue of Jack’s death.

So when it turns out that Jack is the same Jack whose mother died many years prior,  Cormac is assigned to the case – which it seems that others in the force want to keep under wraps.

There he picks up the Maura Hughes case,  a 15-year old girl who disappeared and was presumed dead.

Police procedural

David Reich is an important scientist in the area of  ancient DNA research,  that is,  extracting and analyzing the components of the genome and its parts for information as to where it evolved and developed.  The ancient part includes analyzing the DNA of very ancient bodies or body parts.

Did we all come out of Africa and wander around as prior studies have concluded?  Reich says not exactly.  He then provides background and shows how his laboratory as well as others like his have explored the subject and the conclusions they have come to over the last 5 or 6 years.

*******
Who We Are and How We Got Here: Ancient DNA and the New Science of the Human Past
by David Reich
2018 /   368 pages
rating;  8.75 /  science –  ancient genetics
*******

Much of the book makes for some fairly difficult reading with lots of terms which were new to me.  But that was mixed with fascinating ideas which kept me going.  I did NOT skim anything, but I had to read many paragraphs two or three times to comprehend the sometimes detailed material.

That’s okay – it was definitely worth it.

Reich goes through a couple of introductory chapters and then hits the details.  Which areas of settlement mingled with which other areas of settlement and how researchers came to this conclusion.   I knew the  Neanderthals had mixed with non-African tribes while in central Europe, but not much beyond that – not the specific wanderings of the ancient peoples which Reich gets into.   There are many clues but DNA as well as language and artifacts point the way.   It’s all included,  but never in so much depth as to lose track and not in unorganized breadth.

He covers other ideas, too,  and how many starts and theories were shown to be in error.  Some of those parts gets a bit wearying but they all turn out to be necessary.

The book’s last section deals with contemporary science and politics or attitudes – how it’s necessary to continue to go further in this kind of research but certain accommodations have to be to cover the mistakes made by earlier researchers.  Also,  there’s the danger of findings being glossed over by the public and then misinterpreted.

Overall it was a hugely informative book although a bit wordy in places-

The Man Booker Prize long list 2018 was published a couple days ago and there were a couple I’d read and 2 of the 13 listed (Warlight by Michael Ondaatje and The Overstory by Richard Powers -links to  my reviews).    It looks like a good list with a variety of authors from a bunch of countries and includes a graphic novel for the first time –  Sabrina by Nick Drnaso.

But Snap is a thriller –  it’s a definitely a thriller.  There seem to have been one or two on each Booker Long List for several years now,  but this one is more intense.   I first remember Snowdrops (by A.J. Miller) specifically.

*******
Snap
by Belinda Bauer
2018 / 352 pages
read by Andrew Wincott – 9h 50m
rating:   rating:  8/ A+++  – literary(ish)  crime
*******

The story concerns a woman who gets  stranded with her three young children  on a country road.  She can’t manage to get to a phone booth (1998) with the children,  so she leaves the kids at the car  –  and never returns.  Later,  they live alone with their bereaved father who is obsessed with finding the culprit,   and no mother.   Jack is angry but does his best to take care of his sisters, Joy and Mary,  and after dad disappears he homeschools them and keeps them from the authorities.    “Jack is in charge.”   The plot line then develops in a surprising way –  plenty of unforeseen twists.

But the Booker Prize?  –  There is scant evidence of what used to be known as “themes” in the way Booker Prize nominations usually have themes.  There’s no exploration of philosophical or psychological ideas,  no particular insights in terms of- love, family, memory,  loss, identity,  aging,  etc.

So … does Snap stand out in some way from the usual run-of-the-mill thriller?    Yes,   specifically,  the plot is very clever and the characters are unique and well drawn with as much fleshing out as appropriate,  especially the young Jack Bright.  The writing is nice and it flows,  but it never overwhelms the ongoing increase in tension although there is the occasional humorous line.  The suspense is excellent.  This novel does not pretend to be anything it’s not.

The dreams Jack has once in awhile through the book are an interesting device.   I had no dreams as I read this book –  it kept me up until I finished.   (YAY!)