The Invention of Hugo Cabret by Brian Selznick
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Impressive. I was surprised to see my daughter reading this thick book, so I decided I needed to read it also. Very clever. I bet kids are pulled along by the artwork.
It is a historical fiction about one of the first film makers Georges Melies who made films from 1888-1923. I learned that many of the first film makers were magicians who saw film as another medium for illusion. George also had a fascination with automatons (robots).
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Enlightenment Now: The Case for Reason, Science, Humanism, and Progress by Steven Pinker
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
It amazes me that this was written by one person. It is so dense with information that I would expect a team of academics producing it. Each chapter is packed with citations and references across multiple fields of study. Consequently, I cannot write my typical summary/review. Instead I will just note that I really like it and I completely agree with his central message: that humanity is getting better in a multitude of ways. Each chapter is a different topic or metric that can be used to measure human progress. Every topic ends positively, but a few are not cut and dry so he spends a lot of time wading through the black and white of issues to finally identify the nuanced gray which is nonetheless positive. The only topic that seemed a bit shaky to me is the chapter on happiness; I’m not sure that the arc is as positive as he concludes.
This book is long and dense (definitely not going to be hit among young readers) but I recommend reading or at least skimming chapters of interest. I am now a big fan of Steven Pinker. He is the epitome of the word erudite.
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Red: The True Story of Red Riding Hood by Liesl Shurtliff
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
I listened to the audio with my 8 and 10 year old daughters. We all liked it and I think they loved it. I bought it from audible not knowing that the central theme is about dealing with death. Red’s grandma is dying so she goes on a quest to find a magical cure. In the process she comes to grips with the reality of death. This was a timely message because we were driving to visit my mom who had recently had an accident that sent her to the emergency room and ultimately to assisted living. I think the book helped my daughters (and me) cope with the situation.
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Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
I thought this book would be about the ills of censorship, which it is, but it seemed to me his bigger point was the ills of mass media, such as TV, radio, and even print that is not “literature”. After I finished I found he in deed felt that many people misinterpreted his main point which was more about how mass media and social conformity makes us bland, ignorant, and zombie like. I listened to a talk where he said he was “worried about people turning into morons by TV”. Montag’s wife is addicted to watching soap operas on huge TV screens that surround her in 360 degrees. She even suffers from withdraw and overdosing. Worse yet, she seems out of touch with her husband at her side. This is perhaps similar to what smart phones can do to people.
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Catch-22 by Joseph Heller
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
I read enough to get the idea and writing style. I can see why it is a classic of black humor. Not only for the famous catch-22 concept but also for the antiwar message and the quirky non-chronological story and character development. I read in wikipedia that the circular dialog and circular story development (the timeline goes in circles) reinforces the circular catch-22 concept. By the way, the concept is pervasive. For example in the very first chapter Yossarian has “almost” jaundice so the doctors are disappointed because they cannot cure him since he doesn’t have it, but they cannot let him go because he might get jaundice. There are more of these paradoxes. The famous catch 22 is on page 56: You can be grounded from flying, which Yossarian wants, if you are crazy, but if you want to be grounded then you must be sane, and if you are sane then you have to fly more missions.
The dialog is absurd, satirical, dark, funny, and existential. For example, when he is arguing with someone about how he thinks everyone is trying to kill him. The other guy says he is crazy. And he responds by asking but “why are they are they shooting at me?” Which of course is absurd because they are at war and the enemy is shooting at everyone.
Perhaps in another time and place I could get through 500 pages of absurd circular dialog. I don’t think I will ever return to this book, but instead I’ll watch the movie.
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Being Mortal: Medicine and What Matters in the End by Atul Gawande
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
Depressing and difficult to read, but has an important message everyone should hear. I would have rather read a magazine article than a whole book. It was page after page describing various people dying. Medical professionals might like the details, but I did not.
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The Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
This is the longest book I have ever read (for page count), but surprisingly I was sad to have it end. Sometimes his writing was excessively detailed (for example describing a person’s step by step walking around the cathedral or within a castle. Likewise some of the details of the rape scenes seemed unnecessary to me).
I learned a lot about the Middle Ages. It is during the “High Middle Ages”, specifically 1123 to 1174, from the sinking of the White Ship that killed the heir apparent to succeed King Henry I until the murder of Saint Thomas Beckett by King Henry II’s henchman. The period between these events is considered a civil war called the Anarchy in which Henry I’s nephew Stephen and daughter Maud fought for the throne. In the meantime ruthless Barons and shady Bishops exploited peasants to get more power and wealth. It was interesting to see how the church and state ruled as two separate power systems. At one point it made me think of two dancers pushing, pulling, and spinning around each other -both in control through a kind of dynamic tension.
I read this book with some overlap with Pinker’s Enlightenment Now. One thing is for sure–we live in a much better world for the average human.
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The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
Listened to audio with my 8 and 10 year old daughters. We all liked it.
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Wish by Barbara O’Connor
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
Listened to the audible with my 8 and 10 year old daughters. We all liked it. The voice performance was really good.
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Under the Banner of Heaven: A Story of Violent Faith by Jon Krakauer
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
I understand that for continuity he wanted to connect every chapter back to the Lafferty murders, but this had the result of conflating mormonism with violence (which, who knows, might be somewhat true for the persecution period between the murder of JS up until the Utah War). I can see why the LDS response was “One could be forgiven for concluding that every Latter-day Saint, including your friendly Mormon neighbor, has a tendency to violence. And so Krakauer unwittingly puts himself in the same camp as those who believe every German is a Nazi, every Japanese a fanatic, and every Arab a terrorist.” As someone who grew up in the church, attended BYU, and has polygamous cousins in Canada, I think I can say with credibility that the chasm between modern Mormons and the Lafferty brothers/Dream Mine/FLDS/Polygamy/etc is much wider and disconnected than this book would lead an outsider to believe.
Nevertheless, there is a lot of interesting Utah history and some interesting perspective on LDS beginnings. The discussion in the final chapters about religious zealots and legally defining mental insanity was also interesting–I think he could have even explored that topic more. To me the Lafferty’s are clearly insane, but I know other religious zealots that would be a more challenging determination.
I liked the book, but be warned the murder scenes are repeated and gruesome (I had to skip past them each time).
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read it. read it. 