Still Alice, by Lisa Genova

At the peak of her career, Alice Howland, a Harvard Professor and published author is developing early-onset Alzheimer’s a degenerative disease for which there is no cure. Very early in the progression she gets lost when she is out running and at that point still doesn’t know what is coming, but of course more challenges come.

She loses her job as a teacher, and her relationship as a wife and mother changes. At each step in the progression of this disease we feel it with her. We feel her hope and disappointment in the testing and attempts to help her. It is especially interesting to see her prepare for a talk with the Alzheimer’s Association Annual Dementia Care Conference not long before she really fades past being able to do that.

Lisa Genova, is an online columnist for the National Alzheimer’s Association and brings her own experience in dealing with the facts of the disease. The writing is done so well that you feel like you really know more, maybe too much, about the disease. 

Still Alice became a movie in 2014. Alice was played by Julianne Moore and Alec Baldwin played her husband

About the Author

Lisa Genova  was born November 22, 1970.  She self-published "Still Alice" in 2007 and as the book became successful Simon & Schuster acquired it.  It was then published in 2009 by Gallary Books and today here are over 2.6+ million copies in print, and it has been translated into 37 languages.

Still Alice

By Lisa Genova

Human Acts A Novel, by Han Kang

First Line: “In early 1980, South Korea was a heap of dry tinder waiting for a spark”

Park Chung-hee had ruled since 1961 but he was assassinated by the director of his own security services. Another army general, Chun Doo-hawn, stepped in and brought martial law that closed universities, banned political activities and further curtailed the press. Riots and protests followed.

During the Gwangiu violent student uprising Dong-ho goes to search for a friend. He then volunteers, much to his family’s concern, to help a team that was entrusted to guard and care for the bodies of the demonstrators who were killed. His job is keeping a ledger, creating a number for each corpse, and helping the bodies be prepared for coffins.  

Dong-ho’s own ultimate death becomes the connection to the rest of the characters, and their stories make up 6 of the 7 chapters of the book.

These chapters cover from 1980 to 2013. The author, Han Kang, brings us a unique understanding the terrible torture, the survivors, the suffering of families broken, and even the feelings and thoughts of spirits who look back after their death. In one chapter we travel with a body to a holding area where it is laid on other bodies in a pile. Even as they are burned, the spirit of the body is telling us of thoughts and feelings, and it appears he is really alive.

Hans own story is told in the last chapter. She was nine years old at the time of the Gwangiu Uprising, but her writing captures it as if she was right there and she talks us there as well.

See Past Review Tab for a great book on North Korea, "Nothing to Envy by Barbara Demick"

Human Acts: A Novel

By Han Kang

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Book Review: Beartown, Fredrik Backman

Author Fredrik Backman

FIRST PARAGRAPH: “It is Friday, in early March in Beartown, and nothing has happened yet. Everyone is waiting. Tomorrow, the Beartown Ice Hockey Club’s junior team is playing in the semifinal of the biggest youth tournament in the country. How important can something like this be? In most places, not so important, of course. But Beartown isn’t most places."

This small Sweedish town is located in a forest, near a lake, in the middle of nowhere, where the people are “tough as the forest and hard as the ice.” Everyone knows that it is a Hockey Town.  The boys grow up wanting to play, and the town lives for the games.

To understand what really happened when the coaches daughter is raped before a big game, you have to understand the characters of this story.

The coach, Peter, grew up in the town and was the most successful player they ever had, up to know. He went on to the NFL and came back to be the coach. Sune used to be Peter’s coach and, after 50 years, he is still working at the club. Peter’s wife Kari is not from Beartown and sees things very different than Peter and the locals.

Kevin is the best player the team has had in years, but for Kevin’s dad it is all about winning. For his mother she see’s things very differently, since the big game and the rape.

The book keeps you on the edge of your seat until the very end, but the overall story does finally come to a conclusion. I especially appreciated, as part of the ending, learning where many of the characters wind up 10 years later.

I thought Backman’s book “A Man Called Ove” was one that presented deep insight into characters, but this book brings many characters together with even deeper insight for them individually and collectively.

A powerful book and far more than just a hockey sports story, for sure.

See Past Reviews Section for Review of "A Man Called Ove, by Fredrik Backman"

Book Review: And Every Morning The Way Home Gets Longer and Longer, a Novella by Fredrik Backman

Backman has brought a unique beauty and intensity of emotion to the words of this moving story. The expressions of feeling suggest poetry and indeed this short story moves in a magical way.

The story is framed around the conditions described so well in the very first paragraph: There is a hospital room at the end of a life where someone, right in the middle of the floor, has pitched a green tent. A person wakes up inside it, breathless and afraid, not knowing where he is. A young man sitting next to him whispers: “Don’t be scared.”

Grandpa’s memories of his grandson Noah are stronger and more detailed than his own son, Ted, but both have to say goodbye to him, even though he lives on in his mind and memories. Those memories take him to special places from his past life and he finds his wife who has passed on. They talk and remember, and she tells him that both he and Ted were given Noah as a bridge between them adding that by spoiling their grandchildren it is a way of apologizing to our children.

The story floats back and forth, from settings and dialog in Grandfathers mind, to those taking place.

Backman offers understanding in a letter to the reader at the beginning of the book. He tells us his greatest fear in growing old is that he would lose his imagination before his body gave up. The story seems to confirm that this isn’t the case.  He calls the book a love letter between a man and his grandson ,and a dad and his boy. He says he never meant for us to read it. I will take him at his word on that, as it is indeed a love letter of recognizable and familiar feelings for all of us.

And Every Morning the Way Home Gets Longer and Longer: A Novella

By Fredrik Backman

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Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad

Joseph Conrad’s trip up a river in the Congo Free State of Africa gives details as to how this state was treated under the King of Belgium’s control. Heart of Darkness condemns imperialism, but it does so through the white eyes of Conrad. The book has received some criticism for the “white point of view” assumed in some of Conrad’s observations.

Conrad uses the character of Marlow to tell his story, as they look for the ivory trader Kurtz.  The closer that Marlow gets, the more he realizes that Kurtz has been corrupted, and has become part of the savage life that he now lives with. As Marlow and his crew move up the river the danger increases, and they face a chilling ambush.

Kurtz’s camp is reached, but he is close to death. The natives are depraved and it is a dangerous situation. Kurtz, and of course, all the ivory that they can load, are taken back, but Kurtz doesn’t make the complete trip back alive and his last words, before he dies, are “The Horror, The Horror!”

The book attempts to present deep insight into human nature, but it is hard to follow. The plot and characters are similar to the movie “Apocalypse Now”, right down to Kurtz, who has the same name in both.

The movie is set in Southeast Asia, in a war setting. The book's story takes place Africa, in an overall setting of exploitation. The focus movie seems more focused on, oddly enough, “The Horror” of the situation.

Heart of Darkness (Dover Thrift Editions)

By Joseph Conrad

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Gwendy's Button Box a novella, by Stephen King & Richard Chizmar

Any book that Stephen King writes catches my attention but this one has two authors, Stephen King and Richard Chizmar.  It is only 170 pages long, but it is an easy read.

The setting is in the small town of Castle Rock, Maine. The towns name taken from the fictional fort of the same name in William Golding's 1954 novel, Lord of Flies This book is an addition to a collection of books that have been labeled "the Castle Rock saga" and deal with a world gone crazy.

Gwendy, a young innocent girl, is given a special box by a man who appears out of nowhere and is dressed in black on a hot summer day. She is 12 years old at the time and what to do with the box is a challenge. The box has enormous potential for harm but it also can do a lot of good.

The box has special compartments and buttons on the lid that can change events, destroy the world or special places in the world, as well as impact those near Gwendy. It can provide special chocolate and valuable silver dollars and helps her in many ways/  

Some of the scary moments that you would expect from Stephen King happen. The story takes Gwendy through collage and her life takes a meaningful lifelong direction because of the box.

See Author Richard Chizmar's web site: StephenChizmar.com  

Why two authors was a big question in my mind? Here is the answer:

Richard Chizmar  (Tweeter Copy)   Exactly one year ago today my friend Stephen King sent me an unfinished short story called “Gwendy’s Button Box.” We played ping pong with the manuscript and a month later we had a novella. I’ve always been a dreamer, but I never dreamed that big.

Gwendy's Button Box: A Novella

By Stephen King, Richard Chizmar

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All The Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr

It was 1944 and World War II in Europe. Marie-Laure LeBlanc and her father lived in Paris but, because the Nazis were coming, they fled to the city of Saint-Malo in Brittany, hoping to escape the effects of the Allied bombing. 

Her father had worked at the Museum of Natural History in Paris where he was a locksmith and craftsman. They settled on the top floor of a sixth story building where they lived with her father’s Aunt and Uncle. Marie-Laure was blind. Her father had brought with him a very special box with secret compartments and he gave it to Marie-Laure to keep safe. Her father made a scale model of the city so that she could learn to travel around on her own. Using her hands and fingers, feeling the model, and then walking the streets with her great-uncle Etienne, she learned how to get around the city. She made daily trips to the nearby bakery where messages were passed back baked inside bread. Marie-Laure also helped with a radio transmission from the attic of their home, sending coded messages to many who were trying to escape and to find lost family. Even though the sounds and challenges of the war were all around, it was the day to day challenges that Marie-Laure face that held our attention

At the same time the story of Werner and Jutta Pfennig, a brother and sister, who were orphans raised near Essen, Germany, was taking place. Werner as a child developed skills with radio transmitters and receivers. This skill helped him to avoid going directly into the military, but instead to a technical school. The technical school was not without challenges and it was eventually more of a military school. 

At age 18 he was assigned to the military and put on a team trying to track down illegal radio transmissions from the enemy. His team had sniper with them and they were very successful Etienne and Marie-Laure sent some of these transmissions. Werner heard the transmissions and was fascinated with what they were broadcasting and felt that they were innocent. The broadcast was a daily reading of 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea. Werner and Marie-Laure’s path does eventually cross and the importance of their lives seems to take on a special importance when they meet.

Marie-Laure’s father is captured after he leaves Saint-Malo. When it is learned who he is the focus becomes on the treasure he had hidden in the box is being sought after by a very focused German Sergeant-Major.

The author presents the sights and sounds of wartime. The goodness and innocence of the characters is important and the real message of the stories

The novel won the 2015 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction                                                                  2015 Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Fiction.                                                              The 10 Best Books of 2014". The New York Times.

All the Light We Cannot See: A Novel

By Anthony Doerr

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End of Watch by Stephen King

Holly from this story is a character in King's The Outsider. Click here to see review.

The Bill Hodges Trilogy Book 1 Mr Mercedes see review

End of Watch by Stephen King (Bill Hodges Trilogy Book 3)

This is the closing a trilogy of 3 books; Mr. Mercedes, Finders Keepers, and End of Watch. It has the same villain and many of the same characters.

Retired detective Bill Hodges, and investigative partner Holly Gibney, have worked on this case from the very start (all three books). 

"Mr. Mercedes has previously claimed sixteen lives when he drove a stolen Mercedes through a line of job-seekers at a local job fair

Brady Hartsfield, the mass murderer, has now acquired psychic powers. He wants to go after Hodges, and begins an online cat-and-mouse game between the two, that evolves to one with real-life consequences. 

Besides going after Hodges, he has found ways to convince the innocent people he failed to kill in the past  to kill themselves.  An increasingly desperate Hartsfield, becomes bent on leaving his mark on the world.

Brady doesn’t like being trapped in a unmovable body but with some technology and other creepy stuff he is more dangerous than ever. The technology used is anything but modern day and his computer like tool is really like using Pac-man, but it works and is effective.  

It is indeed the “End of Watch” for the villain and for the the hero. Each book easily could stand on its own, but they work a long plot that finally comes to be a typical Stephen King larger story.

It, A Novel by Stephen King

Stephen King’s novel IT is a horror story about good and evil. It starts in 1958 with the seven kids all living in a Derry Maine, and then what they do when they come back and do much of all again in 1985.  In 1958 they are mostly eleven year-old kids. Six boys and one girl. They called themselves the losers club.

The plot is complicated and has plenty of very scary sides to it. Of course, it does, thats what Stephen King does so well.

The surprise for me was how much I identified with the town, the various residents, and the seven who fought the evil of IT. I remember 1958 and this book captures it completely. You feel like your right there. The school bullies bring back memories, as those problems that brought the club together also bring back memories.  When  IT comes for them you feel like your right there with them as member number eight.

Each of the seven have their own challenging life with problems at home, at school and lack of support. When they find each other, it is so important and helpful that they did. You feel glad yourself to have found them.

Bill is a leader and he loses his younger brother to IT early in the book and then he is haunted by that through most of the book. Beverley is the only girl. She is attractive and has red hair. You can almost see her and she is in every way an equal member of the club. She may be, next to Bill, the most influential of the seven.  They really do depend on each other and grow to feel love for each other and then a special love for Beverly.

It doesn’t surprise me how well Stephen King gets into a plot that you totally accept. His dialog and understanding of the time, place, and characters is just amazing.

What does surprise me is how the one girl and her relationship with the 6 boys grows and how you really wind up feeling how she feels. This stands out to me wondering how King could really capture the nature of the feelings of this girl that are disclosed.

I liked the second half of the book best. They promised they would come back if things went wrong again.  When they did come back new characters were brought into the plot.  The events that took place when they were younger and that we went through with them are really clarified as they are relived and remembered.

It ended and I miss them.  

Stephen King Quotes

“We lie best when we lie to ourselves.” 

 “We all float down here!” 

“Eddie discovered one of his childhood's great truths. Grownups are the real monsters, he thought.”

 “Eddie discovered one of his childhood's great truths. Grownups are the real monsters, he thought.” 

The World's Strongest Librarian, by Josh Hanagarne

Josh Hanagarne’s memoir has several stories that are told with real candor and humility.  As a young boy he learned to love books and going to the library it was always a reward.  His first crush was Fern, from Charlotte’s Web. His love of reading provided escape from the teasing by his schoolmates over his tics, spasms and blinking.  

When he was in the fifth grade his mother, who had never interfered with his reading choices, was concerned over a Stephen King's novel Misery that he was reading. She asked him to not read that author for a few years. He found another book, "The Color of Her Panties, by Piers Anthony" the was the same size and  he swapped the dust jackets, but the one he used was even more alarming to his mother and he got caught.

His parents were committed members of the LDS Church.  Church has filled much of his life even to the point of going on a mission, but he has had a life long struggle with the religion.

His biggest problem is an extreme case of Tourette’s syndrome. His mission, his first love, and his desire for a college education, were marred with the need to blink, bark, and hoot.  Independent tics still haunt him and trigger uncontrolled noises and disconnected movements, which can be distressing and painful. He has his own name for his problem and refers to the visits as being from “Miss Tourette’s” or from “Misty”.

Josh has a big body at 6' 7". Weight training was something that helped him get away from “Misty”.  The more he lifted and harder he worked the longer she stayed away.  The work in finding this solution was another sub story within his life.

He is a librarian at Salt Lake City’s public library, where "Misty" has little influence. Hanagarne is quite passionate about libraries and about his family. Since Tourette’s has a genetic component, he worries about his young son.

The book is filled with the way the writer copes and his often-imaginary discourse with “Misty” is inspirational. He life in the Mormon community offers some insights into the workings of the church. The book offers some hope and insight and hope into a life shared with Tourette’s.

Quotes by  Josh Hanagarne,

“At its loftiest, a library's goal is to keep as many minds as possible in the game ...” 

 “The library has a robust collection of what I call non-cuddly hate lit. This is one of my favorite things about working here: If you believe censorship is poison, here lies paradise.”

The World's Strongest Librarian: A Book Lover's Adventures

By Josh Hanagarne

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Nothing to Envy, Ordinary Lives in North Korea by Barbara Demick →

Barbara Demick wrote “NOTHING TO ENVY, Ordinary Lives in North Korea”. This was the result of her work and research as a foreign correspondent for the Los Angeles Times. She spent 7 years assigned to Korea. She chose her subjects from a single town, Chongjin. This was as far North from Pyongyang as you could go. She interviewed over 100 people but settled on detailing the lives of 6 people and their families, all from Chongjin. She covers the history of Korea back to the Korean War and before and what stands out is how little anything has changed in North Korea.

She writes of children who were forced to sing praise for the Great Leader and had nothing.  They lived on grass, bark, and whatever they could beg and steal.  The Great Famine in the 1990’s killed millions. Death by starvation was common and the people just lived with it as a fact of life.

Mi-ran, was a girl from a poor family who became a teacher. Mi-ran’s relationship with Jun-sang, a university student, lasted 13 years before she left for South Korea without him.  Mrs. Song had always been a true party believer.  Her daughter, Oak-hee, was not a believer and was a real rebel. Dr. Kim was a female physician, and Kim Hyuck was a boy alone with no family who had survived alone on the streets. They all eventually made it to South Korea and told their stories to Demick.  

When Dr. Kim crossed a river into China she saw that dogs in China eat better than human beings in North Korea. The day to day life, living with physical challenges ,and the psychological pressure of living under a totalitarian regime, where just saying the wrong word might be overheard and could result in imprisonment or death, were made very real.

Demick shows the state of mind of each of her subjects, what their daily life was like, how they coped, and eventually how each escaped. She also reveals her subjects struggling, sometimes unsuccessfully, to adapt to life in South Korea. China and Mongolia both played roles in these people escaping to South Korea.  

Even today North Korea, seen at night by satellite, is just a dark place with little electricity. Not much has changed, but the military presence has changed and today more than ever this is an important book.

“North Korea was, at least thru 2009, the last place on earth where virtually everything is grown on collective farms. The state confiscates the entire harvest and then gives a portion back to the farmer.” 
― Barbara Demick, 

11/22/63 Stephen King, A Novel →

Jake Epping, a recently divorced English teacher, spends a lot of time at a local diner, owned by man named Al, and spends a lot of time just talking with while he is there.

He tells Al of his friend who is dying of cancer because of a lifetime of smoking and they talk about the country. Al shows Jake a wormhole, time portal, in the storeroom that will allow him to go back in time and convinces Jake to use it to stop the assassination of President John F. Kennedy in 1963.  The plan is to go back and spend 5 years carefully learning and, of course, not disturbing the future.  When he goes back to 1958 he visits his sick friend, only to find that he and the whole family are heavy smokers even then

Jake takes on a new identity. He is more positive and happy in this new reality. He finds someone he loves, but he continues to wait for the opportunity to change the present, by changing the past.

Partially because I remember those years, but more because of King writing talent, I really felt like I was looking down familiar street.  Watching the Oswald family from a rented room across the street, just made you believe you were there looking out the window.

Jake wants to find Lee Harvey Oswald and learn more about what happened. He wonders if Oswald was just a patsy.

The story is one of action, romance, drama, and even some humor. The characters make the story, and the story doesn’t really wander from the historical time line.  This is no different than other great novels by Stephen King, you just can’t put it down.

Quotes

“Life turns on a dime. Sometimes towards us, but more often it spins away, flirting and flashing as it goes: so long, honey, it was good while it lasted, wasn’t it?” 
-Stephen King 11/22/63

 “We never know which lives we influence, or when, or why. Not until the future eats the present, anyway. We know when it's too late."          -Stephen King 11/22/63

11/22/63: A Novel

By Stephen King

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Stuff Matters, Marvelous Materials that Shape Our Man Made World, by Mark Miodownik

What "Stuff Matters" is about is explained by the subtitle: Exploring the Marvelous Materials that Shape Our Man-Made World.

From this book about “Stuff” you learn that things like glass, plastic, concrete, chocolate and other materials that they are much more than you thought.  You can get a pre-look at how excited the author is about these things by the table of contents. Indomitable, Trusted, Fundamental, Delicious, Marvelous, Imaginative, Indivisible, Unbreakable, Refined, Immortal, and Synthesis are chapters that look deeply into the materials they discuss.

The book’s approach seems to be rooted in the authors experience as a young boy standing on a train bleeding from a stab wound. He had been chased, by a person who had just asked him for money, barely making it to the train when his attacker slashed the back of his coat with a razor bade wrapped with tape so that it could be used like a knife.

Later at the police station he had a chance to see the razor knife. He was fascinated that it could have cut through his leather coat and shirt to cut his back. This event became birth of the authors obsession with materials. He noticed steel everywhere. He wanted to know how it was made and what made the razor blade so strong and was fascinated with the miracle of alloys and why hammering a metal makes it stronger.

He claims the he looked deeply into the material word to show that the materials are really complex expressions of human needs and desires. The author said that “In a very real way, then, materials are a reflection of who we are, a multi-scale expression of our human need and desires.” 

If your even curious to look closer at things like concrete, glass and foam then he brings some passion and a softer writing style. You will find some surprises.  If you’re not so interested, then maybe a book about Stuff Matters isn’t for you

The author received his Ph.D in turbine jet engine alloys from Oxford University, and has worked as a materials scientist in the USA, Ireland and the UK. His focus has been on research that links the arts and humanities to medicine, engineering and materials science. That research lead to the establishment of the "UCL Institute of Making" where he is Director.

Stuff Matters: Exploring the Marvelous Materials That Shape Our Man-Made World

By Mark Miodownik

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The Whistler by John Grisham

 

The Whistler by John Grisham

 

John Grisham continues to use his "formula for writing successful books" and it is still addictive. He has written about 30 legal thrillers.  His books are just plain fun to read. Both Grisham and Stephen King are addictive authors.

"The Whistler" opens, of course, with judicial investigator Lacy Stoltz concerned about a judge on the take.  A lawyer who went to jail and is now out is going to help. (this indeed is the formula but Grisham’s)

It is a story of racketeering that combines the uppity Gulf Coast society, some brilliant legal minds, and the old Catfish Mafia now evolved into the Coast Mafia. (No one weaves legal situations and the life in the Southeast better)

Lacy’s approach is to learn how bad the judge is. The answer is very bad, and the bad guys are getting away with murder. Thank goodness for a whistle-blower and those helping her who also have plans of their own.

I have read and enjoyed all of John Grisham’s books but not often have I reviewed his books. Knowing a little more about him can help. A story about him from January 2016 gives some insight into his career.

Bookends, a popular literary TV show, had John Grisham and Steven King as their main attraction. They have been friends for 25 years and you could feel the respect that they both had for each other both personally and professionally.

In this special they both shared a lot about their career. Grisham shared his experience in writing his first book, "A Time to Kill". He said he bought the first run of 1000 copies and then worked to sell them all himself. That was back in 1989.

John Grisham was a surprise and it was interesting to see how similar his and Stephen King's lives and careers had been. Similiar careers. Both started with a break on their first book. Both talented writers.

The Way I See It by Temple Grandin, PH.D.

The book, “The Way I See It” by Temple Grandin PH.D., is especially interesting, since the author has had her place on “the spectrum”, having autism since birth. Autism is a developmental disorder with different degrees of strengths and challenges. Individuals who are very close to the same place on the spectrum may react with very different levels of severity. Every person with autism is unique and that is why it is referred to as a spectrum disorder. The issues can range from problems of being nonverbal and challenges, that can include self-injurious behaviors and mental challenges, to the higher functioning level known as Asperger’s Syndrome. At the higher level of the spectrum people are often extremely intelligent and have expressive language skills.

Grandin says that she does not think in words but instead retrieves images from memory. She says she lacks social intuition and relies on logic to guide her behavior. She is a professor of animal behavior and well-known designer of livestock equipment. She credits her autism to her success in understanding animals.  

The original title for this book was A Cow's Eye View and it was her observation of cattle's reactions in squeeze chutes that led her to design a squeeze machine that she uses daily to calm her anxieties. Her work with animals is fascinating and the book profiles much of her work.

A summary of the topics that the book looks at:  1.How and Why People with Autism Think Differently.  2. Economical Early Intervention Programs that Work. 3. How Sensitivities Affect Learning. 4. Behaviors Caused by a Disability vs Just Bad Behavior. 5.  Teaching People with Autism to Live in an Unpredictable World. 6. Employment Ideas for Adults with Autism.

The book is not just interesting, it is helpful.  If you read it you will likely find yourself looking for others books that Temple Grandin has written as I did.

The Way I See It: A Personal Look at Autism & Asperger's: 32 New Subject Revised & Expanded

By Temple Grandin

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