The Rooster Bar, by John Grisham
Pat Conroy, A Lowcountry Heart & Reflections on a Writing Life
This book was put together as a final collection of interviews, articles and letters from Pat Conroy's long literary life. The book attracted me because of the sub-title "Reflections on a Writing Life".
Pat is well known for the 11 books he wrote but I have not read any of them yet. The Great Santini and Prince of Tides are perhaps two of the better known books of his and were made into movies. The movies didn't make me want to find out more about Pat as finding out more his life has. I do love this quote of his: "the most powerful words in the English language are, Tell me a story."
There is much about this author that interests me, the least of which is that we are the same age and he passed away in March of 2016.
The cover page of his web site, www.patconroy.com , states that he "uses stories to explore the great themes of life". The book reveals much of his conversations over the years and it also shows how very many different authors he as read. As with so many great writers you find out they are amazing in how much they read.
He liked to portray himself as a Southern gentleman but he said of his reading that, "If I can't understand it then who the hell can? He loved to gather stories and to talk with his readers. He told them openly that he was collecting stories. He referred to himself as one of the ones in life who was a "designated rememberer".
He was known for the way he would do book events for new books at stores across the country He would talk to each person and even listen to their stories and would go late into the night to finish all that came.
The Pat Conroy Literary Center has a web site and one of the first things you see on it is that one of it's purposes is to "honors his fierce love for the diverse voices that tell our crucial stories, the teachers who call those stories forth, and the readers who keep the stories alive." A quote on the site I really liked was:
"I was born to be in a library"
www.patconroyliterarycenter.org
The book helped me get to know him better. I wanted to learn what made him tick and the book was useful.
Neil Gaiman, the View from the Cheap Seats
In this book, Neil Gaiman talked about fantasy and imagination. What he learned from his trip to China is very interesting regarding this subject.
Neil Gaiman is a fiction writer, especially for young readers, and he went to a worldwide meeting for fiction writers in China. He knew that over the years, China didn't even allow fairy tales and fiction in their schools, so he was surprised that this event had invited him to China for this event.
He asked an official of the event what had happened and why the interest now is in fantasy and fiction. He was told that top Chinese officials had toured all the big companies they did outsourcing work with within the United States and asked those they met "what they read.” They all said science fiction was a top choice, and fantasy and fiction went along with this. They were looking for why these plants excelled in creativity. It seemed clear from their findings that creativity was sparked by imagination. Fiction and fantasy were added to the school curriculum in Chinese schools.
The author ponders the truth of fiction and the power of the stories. The book contains speeches, articles, introductions, and essays. His first chapter sets the tone with his focus on "Why Our Future Depends on Libraries, Reading and Daydreaming.” He said in the introduction that he liked fiction because he wanted to "tell the truth without ever needing to worry about the facts."
This guy might find things will clear up for him if he starts doing some regular reading.
Some favorite Neil Gaiman Quotes
"You can no more read the same book again than you can step into the same river.”
“Fiction is the lie that tells the truth, after all.”
“Albert Einstein was asked once how we could make our children intelligent. His reply was both simple and wise. “If you want your children to be intelligent,” he said, “read them fairy tales. If you want them to be more intelligent, read them more fairy tales.”
If you already know Neil Gaiman's work this book is a real treat. If you are new to him this will be a great introduction.
Among The Gently Mad, by Nicholas A. Basbanes
This book, Among The Gently Mad, Strategies and Perspectives for the Book Hunter in the Twenty-First Century follows the authors previous books, "A Gently Madness and Patience & Fortitude".
The book is ahow-to guide for the aspiring bibliophile. It explores all sides of this hobby and obsession. Some of the authors own history comes through especially as he comments on places visited around the county.
"Every book collection is a form of narrative. It follows a plot line that emerges as much as a reflection of personality as purpose". Basbanes adds that;
"A shelf of books bespeaks the soul whose hands have put it there."
The insight into why this is the case is very interesting. These thoughts are why the book was so appealing to me.
A short trip to my own library confirms the truths spoken here. You might find yourself rearranging your own library shelves in order to put the best story together, because it is indeed there on the shelf. It tells who you are.
In Chapter 4 an approach to book collecting is distilled into three words. Rarity, scarcity, and value. Each of these are discussed at length.
Basbanes says that, in his opinion, you shouldn’t seek books just because they are old or expensive. Instead he present insight into many possible reasons including focusing on authors, subject, and time periods. He discusses the internet and offers some great suggestions but he points out that for all its help there is still no substitute for going out into the marketplace and meeting people at the book fairs, open shops, auctions, flea markets and knowing what to look for.
Moonwalking with Einstein, The Art and Science of Remembering Everything
Joshua Foer, a freelance journalist, wrote the book “Moonwalking with Einstein, the Art and Science of Remembering Everything”. There has been lots of positive reviews of this book. Bill Gates said it was “absolutely phenomenal and one of the best books he had recently read”. No one seems to know what Einstein or even Moonwalking have to do with the substance of the book is but it really does open up your thinking about memory.
The author in preparing to write the book also spent a year in memory training preparing for the U.S. Memory Championship and learning about memory and its importance. He points out that we don’t need to remember as much today with all the help we have and that we only need to know where to find the answer. That may explain the books focus on remembering lists, numbers, playing card numbers and other things like that. The methods of association and the fact that mental athletes are neither geniuses or savants, but just people who have mastered techniques of understanding space and image was the books focus.
It seemed to me that a most interesting question raised was if “experience is the sum of our memories and wisdom the sum of experience,” then as the author asks, what does it mean that “we’ve supplanted our own natural memory with a vast superstructure of technological crutches”?
There are many reviews of this book but my own experience has a component that for me is a little embarrassing. It leads me to rate the book a little lower and question the overall book perhaps more than I should.
I found the book in my "to read" pile. The stack of books had become a little scrambled and I wasn’t positive whether I had read it. A couple of pages should answer that question but as you may have already guessed it didn’t for me. I read almost half of the book before I remembered that I had read it already? I had just finished a section explaining that if 100 pictures where held up for a few seconds each that I should be able to remember, if shown the pictures later, almost all of them. Even a year later I should be able to remember most of them.
I can laugh at myself for not remembering having read the book right off. I didn't like discovering it while learning how powerful our brains already are. If this is going to happen to me why did it have to be with a book on memory. I can’t answer that but I rated it lower
I know Why the Caged Bird Sings, by Maya Angelou
I have read this book several times and the last time was in December 2016. This is the review from that reading
Maya Angelou writes of her first 16 years of life. She and her brother were sent to live with their grandmother in Arkansas. She said about this experience, "If growing up is painful for the Southern Black girl, being aware of her displacement is the rust on the razor that threatens the throat."
She was raped at the age of eight when in St. Louis with her mother. She dealt with the trauma with a self -imposed muteness. Each day she would escape to the library where she read everything she could and where she memorized and recited great works of literature and poetry. Reciting was her way of regaining her speech.
Discrimination was a way of life and the races didn't mix. The community lived with the fear of lynchings. Family's where she lived took care of their own. She attended revival meetings, had a strong belief in God and felt that He had a covenant with children, and this included Negroes, and those that were crippled. She had a child at age 16.
She is best known for her 1969 memoir, I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings, which made literary history as the first nonfiction best-seller by an African-American woman.
"The Caged Bird sings with a fearful trill of things unknown but longed for still and his tune is heard on the distant hill for the caged bird sings of freedom" - Maya Angelou
Maya Angelou was an American poet, memoirist, and civil rights activist. She published seven autobiographies, three books of essays, several books of poetry, and was credited with a list of plays, movies, and television shows spanning over 50 years.
Born: April 4, 1928, St. Louis, MO
Died: May 28, 2014, Winston-Salem, NC
Favorite Quote
People will forget what you said, they will forget what you did, but they will never forget how you made them feel.
The River of Doubt, by Candice Millard
Theordore Roosevelt’s Darkest Journey
After Teddy Roosevelt, the 26th U.S. president, failed his re-election effort he decided to have a great adventure. It had to be unique and something no one else had done. Exploring an uncharted river in South America fit his needs well.
The River of Doubt is a black uncharted tributary of the Amazon that snakes through one of the most treacherous jungles in the world. The rain forest was anything but easy to deal with.
He took his son Kermit and they found an experienced guide, Candido Rondon, and crew.
Candice Millard said, "When he wasn't too sick to sit up, Roosevelt sought comfort and distraction in the world that he knew best: his library. For his trip to Africa, he had spent months choosing the books that he would take with him, ordering special volumes that had been beautifully bound in pigskin, with type reduced to the smallest legible size, so that the books would be as light as possible."
Vipers, piranhas, poisonous plants, insect swarms were all serious threats as were Indians armed with poison tipped arrows.
Roosevelt ended his journey sick with fever having lost 1/4 of his body weight. It was indeed Teddy Roosevelt’s darkest journey.
Quotes
“Theodore you have the mind but you have not the body, and without the help of the body the mind cannot go as far as it should. I am giving you the tools, but it is up to you to make your body.”
“In its intense and remorseless competition for every available nutrient, the Amazon offered little just for the taking.”
“Rhythmic eddies in the water betrayed the passage of anacondas, which can weigh as much as five hundred pounds.”
The Life We Bury, by Allen Eskens
Joe Talbert's life is changing. He hopes going away to collage will help, but it only adds to the challenges. He has saved his own money and been the strength in his home, helping his autistic brother and covering for his alcoholic mother. His new life at the University of Minnesota has brought him to a new apartment, a young lady friend down the hall, and a very interesting writing assignment in his English class.
For his assignment he decides to write a biography of a stranger and chooses Carl Iverson whom he finds in a nursing home. It turns out that the Carl had spent the last 30 years in prison for the rape and murder of a 14 year old girl. Carl was released from prison because he was close to death with stage 4 cancer.
Carl is a Vietnam vet with two Purple Hearts and a Silver Cross. Joe’s at first figures a short biography would be an easy A for his class. When he learns that Carl could be innocent he decides to look at the crime evidence to make the biography more accurate.
Joe's brother, Jeremy, has to move in with him because of troubles at his home are still a concern. Joe, Jeremy and his neighbor all help to resolve things as they work on the facts they find about Carl's crime.
The books characters are interesting and the plot twists with surprises. Exploring the evidence of a long past crime and getting to know the people is interesting.
A story well written and a book that is worth reading
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Maya's Story Slipping Between Time And Space A Novel by Diana Story
This book is considered young adult fantasy and it tells the story of a girl being prepared to battle sinister forces and save the world.
Vida in 1962 fled Russia and came to America. She was 17 years old at that time. She had descended from an ancient Sisterhood and is a Druidic High Priestesses. She is now training her granddaughter Maya, who is 15 years old, to become the next High Priestesses and to fight for our troubled planet. She will have to fight the Dark Menace.
Maya can be helped by the Constellations who seem like Gods watching from above, including Draco (Latin for dragon) and Monoceros (Greek for unicorn).
Vida and Maya train in the nearby forest and Maya learns, among other things,to slip through time and space. The story includes references to much of the current day world’s troubles.
A lot of her training is mind training but she does go through extensive physical training also. When the final battle takes place it results in terrible consequences. Humanity is saved in the end but remains imperfect and will need the help of the Sisterhood going forward. A lot to think about as comparisons to the world today.
Fiction and fantasy are great escapes and this story of Maya doesn't disappoint.
the Rosie Project
the Rosie Project by Graeme Simsion
Don Tillman is the narrator of this story where he thinks he has found a solution to “the wife problem”.
He is a geneticist and has developed a questionnaire to use for this project Don is challenged, almost robotic. He doesn’t understand social cues, barely feels emotion and can’t stand to be touched.
His best, and almost only friends, are Gene and Claudia who are psychologists. Gene works at the same university, thanks to Don’s help. Claudia helps Don balance her husband Gene’s suggestions for his interest in Rosie who is a graduate student in Gene’s department. Claudia, as a joke answers Don’s questionnaire for "the wife project".
Rosie is interested and Don finds her beautiful and in many ways, they hit it off right away but then she is just unsuitable as the questionnaire clearly shows. Rosie seems to see through some of Don’s perceived weaknesses.
Rosie and Don get to know each other. He learns of her own project regarding her father. It really is a challenging and complicated “father project” and one that Don is well qualified to help with. Don of course rules her out for the wife project but agrees to help her on the father project. We watch him fall in love with Rosie, not even knowing he is. We see much of the same happen to Rosie.
Don’s nativity serves to dissect the step by steps taken in their relationship. He does seem a little nuts, but oddly we all see some of our self in his simplistic approach. We feel bad for, and laugh, as Don tries to understand his own feelings and Rosie’s. Rosie’s father project leads the two from Australia to New York. The twists and turns of that story are funny.
Graeme Simsion is a skilled writer. His scenes make you feel that you are in the story. Don in his methodical well-reasoned approach seems to be the real Don and he seems likable and believable. He changes or at least can manage change when needed as the plot goes on and it is funny but wonderful in its own way.
Graeme Simsion Quotes
“I haven’t changed my mind. That’s the point! I want to spend my life with you even though it’s totally irrational. And you have short earlobes. Socially and genetically there’s no reason for me to be attracted to you. The only logical conclusion is that I must be in love with you.”
“If you really love someone,' Claudia continued, 'you have to be prepared to accept them as they are. Maybe you hope that one day they get a wake-up call and make the changes for their own reasons.”
―
String Theory by David Foster Wallace on Tennis
David Foster Wallace died September 12th, 2008. He was 46 years old
An Art Teacher once told us that the phrase he hated to hear most was “I don’t know much about art but I know what I like”. Well I didn’t know much about Tennis but David Foster Wallace pointed the way to what is really exciting about it.
Of the 5 essays, I really liked most“How Tracy Austin Broke my Heart” and “Federer, both Flesh and Not”.
One exposure only to this writer and his love of the sport is enough to be contagious. His skill in writing made the difference in how well these ideas could be addictive.
“The Truth will set you free. But not until it is finished with you."
This quote is from Foster's 1996 novel, "Infinite Jest". Time magazine included that novel in its 2005 list of the 100 best English-language novels published since 1923. that seems to support the overall writing skill that I found in this novel. Much of what he writes in “String Theory” seems to want to look closer at the truth behind what is happening in the vairous actions and lives around tennis.
In physics “String Theory” is a term that is used to understand a theoretical framework where things described as strings interact with each other. The interaction and implication that tennis and life have was explored in an interesting way in this book.
If I finish a book and then glad that I read it, it was a success. This book was just that.
Stories of Your Life, by Ted Chaing
Stories of Your Life and Others
by Ted Chaing
"Stories Of Your Life and Others" by Ted Chiang is contemporary science fiction. The book has 8 stories that originally were published separately. "Stories of Your Life" is both the book title and the fourth story in the book. It is the story that the movie Arrival was taken from.
There is also at the end another short chapter called story notes. It may be useful to read it first? The other chapters in this book are also very thought-provoking. I liked his fictional twist to the Bible story about the Tower of Babylon. His story "Division by Zero" would for sure be fascinating except for me it left me wishing my math foundation was stronger.
Clearly Ted Chiang is a very skilled writer. His approach to science makes you think. His stories are not causal reads. The movie chapter is about a linguist expert who was called to communicate with Aliens who were" heptapods" and had two distinct forms of language. Heptapod A, their spoken language. and Heptapod B, their written language. The relevance of what time really is ,for the Aliens and then for us, was also a key component of the plot.
Both the movie and the book are very thought-provoking. When I first read the book I finished it and the same day went to the movie. I was surprised that I found myself liking the movie more. I felt that was unusual and I posted my thoughts at that time in my post titled "Are Books Always Better Than the Movie". I have thought more about the comparison since then and have changed my thinking some. For me I still would prefer the movie mostly because the story line was more exact and I felt a closer connection to the characters. The pluses for the book could be that you may find yourself sort of feeling and sensing what was happening. That may lead to your having more options for the issue of how time worked with past presence and future. The book was very good. The movie was great.
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Under The Dome by Stephen King
A science fiction novel published in 2009. I have read many of Stephen King's books so why I had not read this one may have a little to do with the fact that it is almost 1100 pages. It had a TV series built around it but I never watched it because I thought I would eventually read it, which I finally did earlier this year.
I have been a little cautious over the years in reading the Stephen King books I have read because they are just scary. Under The Dome was a mixture of some scary things, interesting plot, and especially a study of the people suddenly sealed off in a small New England town.
A force field came down over the town and the people were trapped. Families were split. There was no escape. King knows exactly what scares people and the plot covers most of them.
The cast of people is one that fits the setting perfectly. The hero is a Iraq veteran and the villain is, Big Jim Rennie, a local power broker.
The psychological insight into the minds and motives of the small town people is right on target.
The book reminds me of his book "The Stand" in how a large cast of characters bring about the plot. It is well worth the reading. Glad I skipped the TV series.
The 100-Year-Old-Man Who Climbed Out The Window and Disappeared
The 100-Year-Old-Man Who Climbed Out of the Window and Disappeared
By Jonas Johasson
Allan Karlsson climbs out of the window of the Old Folks’ Home to avoid his 100th birthday party. What happens next is funny and you would expect that to be what the book is about. It turns out that what happened before that day, over Allan’s life, is even funnier.
He climbs out of the window, in his slippers, and heads to the bus station, not caring where he will go. While waiting for the next bus without much thought about it he steals a suitcase and gets on the bus. It did occur to him that the suitcase might have some shoes in it. The suitcase’s owner is a criminal and he is very upset and works hard trying to get it back.
The story goes back and forth between the current chase and events from his prior very full life.
I must admit that for me Allan Karlsson seemed to be Alan Alda. Not just because they are both named Alan but they shared a comic aloofness.
I kept seeing and even hearing Alda as I read about Karlsson. I won’t say any more and maybe it is unfair to mention this because you may now fall into the same trap if you read this book
Karlsson was an explosive expert throughout much of his life. This skill enabled him to get the attention of many world leaders including Franco, Truman, Stalin, Mao and Kim Il Sung. He has no personal political leanings but worked for all sides inadvertently. His travels take him all over the world as he intersects with world events from Los Alamos, New Mexico to North Korea.
The book is silly. The events and coincidences are absurd. It weaves history in to a fictional life in a masterful way. The story will hold the readers interest from beginning to end. A rare accomplishment for any book. A great cure for the blues, especially for anyone who might feel bad about growing older.
Jonas Jonasson is a Swedish journalist and writer, best known as the author of the best-seller
About Trevor Noah and His Book, "Born a Crime"
About Trevor Noah and His Book, "Born a Crime"
Before reading this book I didn't know who Trevor Noah was and I knew nothing about growing up in South Africa in the 1980's and 1990's.
On the dedication page Trevor writes: "For my mother, My first fan. Thank you for making me a man." His thoughts about his mother throughout this story explain a lot.
His story of his becoming a man is inspiring, I starts with the country under apartheid and then the transition that followed it.
Trevor's mother Patricia taught him to face injustice with humor and that must have sowed the seeds for who he is today.
“If my mother had one goal,
it was to free my mind.”— Trevor Noah
His birth into this world began as a criminal act. He was "Born a Crime", to a white Swiss father and a black Xhosa mother at a time when such a union was punishable by five years in prison.
During the early years of his life he spent most of his time inside so as not to be noticed. The government could have taken him away from his mother and his dad didn't live with them and couldn't even walk by him on the street.
After Apartheid ended a time came when he and his mother began a new life trying to live openly and freely but they still had many challenges with life the different groups and subgroups.
"language, even more than color, defines who you are to people.”
“Chapter 4: Chameleon"
"it is useful to know the language of your oppressor."
“Chapter 4: Chameleon”
Trevor was smart and his education and resourcefulness was his life line to success.
The book is his memoir of growing up in South Africa. It was challenging, sad, and even funny, but the true story of the book is in his love for his mother. The Trevor America knows best is of him from the desk of the Daily Show.
If you want to buy Born a Crime through your own Amazon Account hit the buy button below and then proceed with it takes you to Amazon
He has a facebook page.
https://www.facebook.com/OfficialTrevorNoah/
He also has an instagram account.
https://www.instagram.com/trevornoah/?hl=en
