Water for Elephants

2006
Book on Tape

This is a fantastic book, and, if you can, listen to it as a book on tape.

Water for Elephants tacks back and forth between a young man who had to leave veterinary school after his parents died and left him destitute in the 1930s and his older self currently residing in a retirement home where he feels useless and dignity-less. The old man begins the tale, but, as you begin to immerse yourself in his life, the younger persona takes over. In the book-on-tape version, the young man and the elderly man are played by two different narrators, and the effect is magic. After leaving Cornell veterinary school, Jacob Jankowski accidentally joins the circus, falls in love, deals with psychotic bosses and crotchety old circus hands who befriend him and protect him from the harsher circus life. I probably wouldn't have read this -- not being all that terribly interested in the circus, but Christina recommended it, so I thought I'd give it a whirl. It's truly one of the best books I've listened to in awhile, combining ideas of aging and dignity with characters who come alive, an interesting plot-line, and a love of animals and people. It's beautifully written and narrated and highly recommended by both me and The Sister (Christina).

In an Antique Land

Amitav Ghosh
1992

I read this in India as I was doing fieldwork (along with every Agatha Christie the bookstore sold - and, being a past English colony, the bookstores are FULL of Dame Agatha). I fell in love with Ghosh right then and there, and have read everything he's ever written from then on. I even gave the book to about seven people I knew at the time who I thought might read it. Not one of them did )-: So, I'm giving it another chance at life here on Arts and Literature for 1,000...

The book itself weaves together the story of an anthropologist from India doing fieldwork in Egypt with the written history of an Egyptian slave. The anthropologist has become interested in this particular slave and is following his story through letters and archives that he finds during his stay in Egypt. You get a first-hand look at some real anthropology; what it's like, what goes through one's head while they're living on a cot in a chicken coop on some family's rooftop, the excitement and boredom of trying to work in a different country and get something accomplished...At the time, anyway, it really spoke to me as I was doing nearly the same thing and could follow the emotions and highs and lows (like?) they were my own. The subtlety of the story of the slave and the clarity of the anthropological experience were magic to me, and I have since read just about everything Ghosh has written except (alas) his newest book...which I will read soon. In an antique land is his most cerebral, but he also has some really good follow-up books. I tried to get him to come to Union College to speak to my India Through Film and Novel Class, but he's not terribly interested in speaking and wanted to charge us $5,000 to take a train up from the Bronx. We read Calcutta Chromosome (which my students LOVED, despite the fact that most of them didn't really get it in the end...?). The school wouldn't pay the $5,000. I've heard he's really cool to have beer with though.

Other really good books by Ghosh

Calcutta Chromosome, 1995 (fast-paced, weird, mystery, recommended for Kate)

The Circle of Reason, 1986 (for some reason, I didn't like this one as much)

The Glass Palace 2000 (beautiful story that gives an historical overview of Burma during the 20th century, but you really don't notice the history because the story is so engaging).

The Hungry Tide, 2004 (really just a simple love story set in a really interesting place - the Sunderbans in Bengal - and beautifully written).

The Shadow Lines (I haven't read this).

Sea of Poppies (This is the next book on my list...will report)

Watchmen

Dir. Zack Snyder, Wr. Davis Hayter & Alex Tse

2009

10/10

I went to see watchmen knowing almost nothing about it; all I had was a vague notion of a comic book connection. It was refreshing to walk into a theater without knowing exactly what was going to happen. We got there early, claimed the best seats in the house, and waited for the ads to start; chatting about modern communication with the masses, intimacy and substance in the various media, and the relative experiences of going to the movie theater and staying home with the radio. As the previews started, I suddenly realized I didn't know if the film was animated or live-action. What was it about? Who's in it? Why aren't there any people here? My dad my equally clueless. It was like opening an unmarked package: mysterious present or explosive suprise? We sat nervously, watching and forgetting previews for more movies than I've seen in a year. Then it started.

Thirty seconds later, whatwver restervations I had were gone. In ten minutes, I was completely sold. By the credits, I was a walking, talking advertisement.

The story follows two generations of costumed heroes living in an alternate history with Nixon serving additional terms into the eighties. Their vigilante activities have been outlawed and the cold war society must do without. Each paladin adjusts to the the new life differently, until events conspire to pull them all back into the fray.

I'm impressed how much back story, character development, narrative, and detail the filmmakers were able to squeeze into 162 minutes of cinematic glory. The subplots are complex, the charters intriguing, and the effects mesmerizing.

A warning, though: This film is intense. In every way I know. In true graphic novel tradition, it takes everything to the extreme. But if you can handle violence, “adult situations”, and realistic terror, Watchmen is well worth the $8.50 admission.

Go see Watchmen before it leaves the theaters.

The Quiet American

Greene, Graham

1955

The Quiet American was my bus book during my junior year at USF. I would keep it with me at all times, in a pocket or backpack and pull it out whenever I had a few minutes. I tackled most of it commuting from my comfy university-controlled apartment in the Richmond to my service learning volunteer gig at California Prison Focus in the heart of the Mission district and back again. It was my first Greene novel and I was so enthralled I bought two more before I had finished this one. The setting captured my interest from the beginning, and my reading was certainly informed by my visit to Sam in Cambodia and Vietnam a few years earlier.

The story is told from the perspective of a Britisher covering the early news of the Vietnam war. His personal and professional allegiances and beliefs develop and evolve when his passive journalistic role threatens a young idealistic American who comes to Saigon with more active plans. Greene based his characters and plot onchis own experiences as a reporter and government agent in various conflicts, including Vietnam.

One of these days, I'll re-read it in a nice comfy, stationary armchair; but somehow I think the bus fits this novel better.

When You Are Engulfed in Flames

Sedaris, David

2008

9/10

This book was my Christmas present to myself. As I walked into my favorite bookstore (San Francisco's Green Apple), just days before I was to leave for my holiday trip to DC, I saw it there on the most prominent display shelf, carefully placed at my eye level. It's like they knew. They knew my friend and I had recently spent lunch raving about about Sedaris's New Yorker contributions. They knew my tenth grade English teacher's reading of Santaland Diaries changed my literary life. And they knew that not twenty-four hours before; I was, myself, engulfed in flame. Needless to say, it caught my eye. That night, I added Flames to the pile of Green Apple purchases neatly wrapped in Christmas robots waiting for Christmas eve.

The book itself is a collection of essays: stories and reflections from the author's life. His accounts of ordinary life are simply hilarious. Much of what's in any of his books, this one included, is available elsewhere. I found myself recognizing several stories from New Yorker articles and This American Life appearances. But the volume is worth the repetition. It's nice to have a collection on hand to pick up when looking for a particular entry or for something to laugh at for an hour or two. A warning, though: it is addictive. I started it on Christmas eve and was done by New Year's day.

By the way, my flames may have more literal that Sedaris's. But his were funnier.

The Yiddish Policemen's Union

Chabon, Michael

2007

*/10

My copy of Yiddish Policemen's Union is the first edition hardback (the only copy the used section of Green Apple had). If you know anything about my reading habits, you might know how impressive it is that I made it all the way through. I seem to be physically incapable of reading a hardback. I will always prefer a paperback Foucault to a hardback Dr. Seuss. And yet, Chabon' s odd tale of displacement, loss, religion, politics, death, and chess kept me going from cover to cover.

The novel opens with an Edward Lear quote. I can't think of anything more fitting. The story was compelling, the writing enjoyable, and the characters engaging; but I finished it nearly a year ago, and I'm still not sure what it's about.

If you're going to read one four hundred page tale of a policeman trying to regain his identity in a Jewish Alaskan town in transition while investigating a murder no one is interested in, playing chess with dead men, and running away from his personal demons this year, than read Chabon's Yiddish Policemen's Union.

*I'm reserving rating this one until I figure it out. This might take a while.

Bleeding Kansas

OK-So I like a good detective/PI story with a strong woman protagonist, but I like the story to have the main character I have come to enjoy. Bleeding Kansas is not a V.I Warshaski novel. Not even much of a mystery. But if you can keep reading all the way through no matter how long it takes it is ok. I learned a lot about fundamentalist religion, Wicca and planting wheat. Not to mention profound depression. I'd love to talk to someone else who read it. I am holding out now for a real VI story. Linda

Neverwhere

Neil Gaiman
1996

Believe it or not, this book began as a television series on the BBC! How's that for a reversal of the book to movie stereotype. Gaiman reproduced it in novel form while the TV series was airing, and he reads the book-on-tape version himself (and is fantastic). Neil Gaiman also wrote Coraline, the just-out 3-D stop-motion animation film produced by Tim Burton (Of Edward Scissorhands and Nightmare Before Christmas fame).

I suggest listening to Neverwhere as a book on tape. I haven't seen the TV series, but you can get it on two discs from Netflix. Fun for the whole family in six installments!

The novel begins as we follow protaganist Richard Mayhew outside his local bar in Scotland where he is attempting not to be ill. His friends are throwing him a going away party and plying him with strong drink, and we discover he is headed to London the next day to start a new job and a new life.

After Mayhew has been in London for awhile (long enough to pick up a girlfriend) he nearly trips over an injured woman on the sidewalk. Turns out she belongs to 'London Below' a parallel world, invisible to "real London" that exists in the subway tunnels, sewage system, and other underground archetecture. Being the good bloke that he is, he carries the woman home and helps her, against the advice of his girlfriend. Suddenly he, too -- like the inhabitants of London Below -- is invisible to all of his old friends and acquaintences from above. Having no choice other than to go searching around underground, Mayhew begins a merry (but dangerous) adventure helping the injured woman escape from assassins.

Rumors are that the lighting effects in the television version are not great. And there is apparently a comic book series based on the television series now.

Lane and I are currently listening to American Gods on tape by Gaiman.

Sunken Treasure: Wil Wheaton's Hot Cocoa Box Sampler

Wheaton, Wil

2009

8/10

OK, this post may cement my geektastic reputation, but Sunken Treasure was just too much fun not to write about. Also, I like pretending “geektastic” is a word.

For those of you who can't identify a Trek episode in 3.5 seconds or passionately debate the four basic type of superhero for hours on end, Wil Wheaton is known in certain cyber/geek circles for playing Wesley Crusher on Start Trek: The Next Generation and for being a geek authority on his blog and elsewhere (with expertise ranging from D&D to comic collections to classic arcade games).

My former roommate talked about how great Wheaton's blog was for years, but I never really paid attention until recently (I think it was a couple mentions on Boing Boing that really got me thinking). I now subscribe to the blog, follow the Twitter, and read the books.

This book is a collection of his projects from the past year. It includes a humorous sketch comedy script, a snarky (and insightful) recap of a Trek episode, reflections on growing up as an actor, and a production diary from the author's recent appearance on Criminal Minds. The writing style is conversational and comfortable, indicative of someone who developed their writing skills in a bloging environment. Pretty cool.

Its also worth mentioning that in addition to the regular “book” version, Sunken Treasure is available as a DRM-free PDF (for those who worry about such things). Just under ninety pages in PDF form, I read Sunken Treasure in several hours.

The Inkheart Series

Cornelia Funke
2003

For those of you interested in reading to the youngsters. For adults who like really good fantasy. For a really good, dark, Grimms Fairy-taleesque narrative. For anyone who gets truly lost in books...I would recommend this for both children and adults and especially for the pairing of children and adults.

Rachel and I read Inkheart together a couple of years ago and had a blast. It is the story of a man nicknamed Silvertongue for his ability to read a story so well that he makes it come alive -- literally. As he reads outloud to his daughter Maggie, things pop right out of the books he's been reading, including birds, fairys, martins, and the characters themselves. The story gets darker as you realize that, by the time you are introduced to Silvertongue and his daughter, he has already read some really bad dudes out of a particularly compelling book called Inkheart. Thus, you get to follow the adventures of Maggie and Mo (Silvertongue) as they attempt to avoid the bad guys and find a copy of the book, Inkheart, so that Silvertongue can read the bandits back into their own story.

The book has now come out as a movie starring Brandon Fraser. While I am a fan of The Mummy Series, and didn't even mind Journey to the Center of the Earth. I would suggest reading Inkheart before seeing the movie. Not to sell Fraser short, but the book is definitely better than anything he's previously done in movie form, and deserves to be read in its ink form. Out loud.

Other books in the series:
Inkspell 2005
Inkdeath 2008

The Third Man

The Third Man

Dir. Carol Reed, Wr. Graham Greene

1949

10/10

I was first introduced to The Third Man by Father Walsh, my ethics professor during my first semester at USF. I remember little else from the class, but this film has stuck with me. It was a good transition from studying film in high school to my collegiate pursuits.

The film joins writer Holly Martins as he arrives in (1949) Vienna to find the friend who sent for him (Harry Lime) has just died. Immediately suspicious, Martins is soon introduced to local politics and personal vendettas. His quest for “truth” and “justice” serves as a vehicle for Greene's ethical discourse. Third Man is known for the great performance by Orson Wells. Notably, Wells doesn't even make an appearance until almost an hour and a half into the film.

Political commentary of ol', ethical conundrums, and excellent off stage acting: what's not to like?

PS. This film is the origin of one of my all-time favorite quotes. Ten point to whoever can guess the quote.

The Martin Beck Series

The Martin Beck Series

Sjöwall, Maj and Per Wahlöö

1965-1975 (10 books)

8.5/10

As I understand it, this series has floated around the family for years (as much for its Swedish connections as for its quality, I'm sure). It came to my dad's attention several years ago and to mine last year. I'm about half way through (in order) and my dad's trying to figure out where he is. We steal installments from each other every time we visit.

Affectionately referred to as “the Swedish series” in our house, these books follow the professional and personal activities of Stockholm's police superintendent Martin Beck. The married writing duo (Sjöwall and Wahlöö) wrote the books in Swedish, leaving the translated English version with an unusual feel. Trying to understand a paragraph in the strange writing style can be almost as much fun as following the story. Unlike most American and British mysteries and police procedurals, the Beck series has a slow, steady pace which emphasizes the grunt work involved in policework. The characters work hard and rely on developed skill rather than unbelievable arcane knowledge. They make mistakes and catch lucky breaks. They also go home at night. It's a different style of detective story than I'm used to.

Swedish intrigue, forty-five-year-old political commentary, and a new take on the modern dectctive: well worth the theft.

Books in the Series:

1. Roseanna (1965) (Roseanna)

2. Mannen som gick upp i rök (1966) (The Man who Went Up in Smoke)

3. Mannen på balkongen (1967) (The Man on the Balcony)

4. Den skrattande polisen (1968) (The Laughing Policeman)

5. Brandbilen som försvann (1969) (The Fire Engine That Disappeared)

6. Polis, polis, potatismos! (1970) (Murder at the Savoy)

7. Den vedervärdige mannen från Säffle (1971) (The Abominable Man)

8. Det slutna rummet (1972) (The Locked Room)

9. Polismördaren (1974) (Cop Killer)

10. Terroristerna (1975) (The Terrorists) 

The Inspector Rebus Series

The Inspector Rebus Series

Rankin, Ian

1987-2007 (17 books)

8.5/10

This series has earned its eternal place on not only my bookshelves, but those of both my parents. It started as my dad's obsession. He stops and starts the various books as he finds them. After ignoring his recommendations for years, I finally picked up the first one, Knots and Crosses, and was asking for the second and third installments within days. I'm only about halfway through the seventeen book series, but when I find the right one I finish it in a couple of days. Unlike my dad, I am physically incapable of reading out of order. The character (and writer) development is well worth the restraint.

The series follows the adventures of Edinburgh police inspector John Rebus. Rebus is an excellent example of the troubled, flawed hero who gets righteous results through questionable means. I often find myself praising and berating him in the same paragraph. Rankin and Rebus explore the dark and seedy neighborhoods of Edinburgh with such intensity and energy that I find myself simultaneously swearing to never step foot in the country and mentally booking my plane ticket.

Rankin is the master of mystery, suspense, and vice. Just remember to bring your Scottish slang lexicon.

Books in the Series:

1. Knots and Crosses (1987)

2. Hide and Seek (1991)

3. Tooth and Nail (original title Wolfman) (1992)

4. Strip Jack (1992)

5. The Black Book (1993)

6. Mortal Causes (1994)

7. Let it Bleed (1996)

8. Black and Blue (1997)

9. The Hanging Garden (1998)

10. Dead Souls (1999)

11. Set in Darkness (2000)

12. The Falls (2001)

13. Resurrection Men (2002)

14. A Question of Blood (2003)

15. Fleshmarket Close (published in the USA as Fleshmarket Alley) (2004)

16. The Naming of the Dead (2006)

17. Exit Music (2007) 

The Crying of Lot 49

The Crying of Lot 49

Pynchon, Thomas

1965

10/10

Crying is one of my favorite novels. It is impossible to read without giving yourself over to insanity for extended periods of time. I will never look at a post office the same way again.

The story joins Oedipa Mass, a housewife from a mid-sixties bay area suburb, as she is named co-executor to an eccentric ex-boyfriend's estate. From there, she begins to uncover what may or may not be an illicit underground postal conspiracy running across centuries and continents, now catering to obscure, off-the-wall organizations in California.

Conspiracy, self-discovery, desperate confusion, and excellent writing: what more could you ask for?