A Book a Week

 Finished May 30, 2022 Everyone knows this is a classic, and for the life of me, I can't figure out why.  I know that every literary character doesn't have to be like me -- in fact, that's what's great about literature ... that you get to experience other lives -- but the main character's "angst" (self-pity) became so tedious by chapter 2. It never occurs to him that his disappointments and failures are his own fault. He blames others for all his problems, and justifies his own cruelty. He has very low standards for himself and very high standards for everyone else, to the point where he cannot enjoy a movie, a museum, a live music performance, or even a prostitute, because he accuses everyone and everything of being "phony," which apparently he finds intolerable. This is the antithesis of a Bronte or Austen novel, in which all the feelings and experiences which are examined and explored ad nauseum are negative. I keep trying to understand why S...

 Finished in April sometime I thought I had listed this book to the ones I had finished, but apparently not. This was recommended to me by a dear, new, smart friend and predictably, I loved it. It's the story of George Dawson, who, at the age of 98, learned how to read. He then meets someone who helps him write his autobiography, spanning the entire 20th century.  Dawson reflects on his view of America during the war years, the civil rights era, and the modern world. Importantly, he has an irrepressive optimism and cheerfulness. In spite of having to use separate bathrooms, train cars, and water fountains in his youth, he doesn't blame anyone or harbor any resentments.  Only once in the book did he mention that someone cheated him because he couldn't read. Any other time he's treated with disrespect, his attitude is, "It doesn't matter. I'm doing alright."  He married four times, cared for his wives until they died, and had children who love him into a...

 Date finished: 5/24/22 This is a book whose time has come. Author David Barton meticulously chronicles the history of the Democrat and Republican parties in America through the lens of how they each view race, and what each has done to end slavery, advance opportunities for black Americans, give them a voice in government at all levels, and abolish laws that violate their civil rights. It's a startlingly different tale than the one most Americans believe today. The Democrat party -- as demonstrated by what they do, not what they say -- has historically (and even today) been the party of racism, division, hate, and yes, stolen elections. This is a book everyone should read, because it uses facts to demolish the pretty packaging told to us by the culture, the Democrat party, the Democrat media, and the Democrat-dominated education, mental health, and entertainment industries. They cannot prove their claims. Barton does.

 Finished May 20 I never knew that Arthur Conan Doyle, author of the Sherlock Holmes books, wrote a book about dinosaurs alive in modern day. I think Michael Crichton borrowed heavily from him when he wrote Jurassic Park and his own book with the same title, The Lost World . Doyle lived at a time when Darwin's hypotheses were all the rage among the intelligentsia. Doyle seems to have fallen in with the nuveau evolutionary thinking, because it shows up in his Sherlock Holmes books, and of course, this one. One might think that a book about humans and dinosaurs existing together at the same time would be more in line with the Biblical account, but not so.  In this novel, a newspaper journalist accompanies a professor, an anthropologist, and an adventurer on a journey up the Amazon to verify the professor's story that dinosaurs live atop a tall plateau inaccessible to man or beast. When they get there, they find a way to ascend the cliff-face of the plateau and discover not only...

Finished May 9, 2022 John Grisham is a master storyteller, and part of the reason for that is his voice. He walks that delicate line between description and action that brings the reader into the scene, yet keeps things moving at a pace modern readers find irresistible.  In this novel, we are treated to an intricate plot to get justice, dish out some come-uppance, and get very, very rich in the bargain. The title is in itself a puzzle; who, exactly, is running a racket, the guy in the Federal prison who's got information that could get him released, the murder, the murder victim, or the FBI? Or maybe all of them. The complex plan, which I won't summarize here, is told with enough foreshadowing to keep the reader involved in filling in the blanks. The reader is not given the full picture until the end. At one point, I remember wondering what in Tarnation the main character was even doing, spending all this time, effort, and money on something that seemingly had nothing to do wit...

  Finished May 3, 2022 Anytime anyone says, "That's my favorite book," I immediately read it. This book, published in 1861, is the author's favorite of the books she published. Mary Ann Evans, using the pen name George Eliot, write some of the finest fiction in the English language. This book was her favorite of the books she wrote. So I knew I had to read it.  This delightful tale examines a man's journey away from God and people, and back again. The titular character is accused of a crime he doesn't commit. When he realizes his best friend committed the crime, he is disillusioned about relationships, and crushed that God does not reveal his innocence. So he moves to Raveloe, a small town in need of a weaver such as himself, to start again.  In Raveloe, he is bristly, keeping mostly to himself and stowing away his money for the future. Money, he discovers, is reliable. It is something he can literally count on, unlike people. So he makes no close friends beyo...