Reviews

288. This I Believe II by Jay Allison and Dan Gediman

Every day we spend on this planet we learn. But how to pick out what is important from the trivial? And what have others learned of significance?

This I Believe is composed of essays about the most important things learned in life. Contributors are both celebrity and non-celebrity, old and young, brilliant and merely thoughtful.

I eagerly look forward to This I Believe III.

289. Yes! 50 Scientifically Proven Ways to Be Persuasive by Noah Goldstein, et. al.

Over and over, the authors of this book remind us readers to use this information for good, not evil. It is powerful stuff. Much of it defies common sense, yet these techniques work. They work well.

I vow to use these techniques for good, not evil. To promote reading. To promote learning. To encourage people to respect others.

290. The White Tiger by Aravind Adiga

Once people in America regarded the peoples of up and coming third world nations as incredibly hard working yet naïve. No more. The White Tiger presents the new peoples of up and coming third world nations. They are tired of being hard working and they are no longer naïve. Balram is a driver for a rich family in India. There are no good guys in this book. Corruption is everywhere and the only way to make it out of the dregs of poverty is to be corrupt yourself.

Expect no happy endings here.

291. Roads to Quoz: An American Mosey by William Least Heat-Moon

Mosey is right. Heat-Moon wanders around America and he wanders around in his writing. Was there an editor for this book? Is every word Heat-Moon writes sacred? I grew weary of Heat-Moon’s endless talking and endless wandering. This was a long book and it could have been a good book. Please, someone, apply to Heat-Moon.

292. The Trouble With Boys: A Surprising Report Card by Peg Tyre

Boys and school are a bad mix these days. Boys are not doing well in school and things seem to be getting worse and worse. What is wrong?

Tyre looks closely at several possible reasons why boys are doing poorly in school, including not enough physical activity in schools, teachers who don’t understand boys, too many video games, and not enough focus on things boys like in school.

Whew! How do we make things better? Tyre writes a short chapter on this, but we really need an entire book. A sequel?

293. Nobility of Spirit by Rob Riemen

I didn’t go to Harvard. I didn’t study the classics. I grew up in small town Texas and went to a state university. I don’t run in circles with highly literate people.

So, maybe I’m not smart enough for this book. If you liked this book, then just stop here and you can write me off as an uneducated yokel.

 

294. The Bridge of San Luis Rey by Thornton Wilder

I wasn’t overly taken with this book either. Five people are killed when a bridge collapses. Wilder takes us into the lives of the people.

I may read this again in the spring with my book group.

295. Hurry Down Sunshine by Michael Greenberg

A memoir of Greenberg’s daughter’s descent into psychosis. Inexplicably, Sally starts hearing voices, telling her family about how she is being watched, walking out into traffic because she thinks she is invulnerable. Greenberg tries to figure out why Sally has become mad and how he can bring her back.

Somehow, Sally returns to normal and life resumes a normal flavor. For a time. Again and again, Sally falls back into periods of insanity and Greenberg must jump in and save her.

I was most struck by the impact of medication on people. To an outsider, it seems a simple thing to have those suffering from mania take their medicine. Greenberg takes the medication himself and relates his experiences with it. The medication controls the mania, but it also slows everything down and has some ugly side effects.

296. The Art of Racing in the Rain by Garth Stein

A dog is telling this story. Can you get past that? I had a lot of trouble with it. I might have liked the book better if the dog had consistently remained knowledgeable of people or consistently ignorant, but that did not happen.

The family with whom the dog lives is composed of a race car driver, a mom dying of cancer, and a young daughter. There is a lot of drama in the book, with the race car driver having troubles with his career, the mom growing weaker and weaker, and the struggle between the dad and the grandparents over who will raise the child.

Not my cuppa tea.

297. All Souls by Christine Schutt

Astra is sick with cancer. Her friends and teachers at school, Siddons School, struggle to go on with their lives.

298. Praying for Sheetrock by Melissa Fay Greene

Hard to believe that this story takes place in the 1970’s. McIntosh County, Georgia looks pretty good. If you are just looking at the surface. And if you are white.

Melissa Fay Greene takes us on the inside into the world of McIntosh’s black citizens. Everyone is getting along. Everyone is staying in their place. Then one black man gets tired of staying in his place. He starts to look around and see what is going on. He is joined by two other black men. They decide they will shake things up.

The white citizens of McIntosh are, for the most part, bewildered by the actions of the three black men. For the men do shake things up and nothing stays the same.

Sadly, this is not a story with a happy ending. At the same time the three men are making changes in the town, a new interstate comes through, diverting traffic from the county. The county suffers. The leader of the group gets tired of his role and becomes tempted by power and money.

No heroes here. No evil bad guys either. Just the story of a county struggling to find its place in the new world.

299. Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe

This book is on list after list of great books. It should be. I picked it up yesterday evening and I couldn’t stop reading till I got to the end. It met my tests for wonderful books: (1) I can’t stop thinking about it and (2) I want everyone I see to read it and (3) I want to read it again.

Okonkwo lives in a village in Nigeria. He is a powerful man, but he cannot forget the shame of having a father who was weak. He always forces himself to do the right thing in the eyes of his village, even when he must take actions he despises and even when it does not seem fair and even when he suffers.

Then missionaries come to his village and suddenly everything Okonkwo has always known to be right and true is thrown into confusion and conflict.

An excellent book.

1 | Comments (3)