UNBROKEN by Laura Hillenbrand

You could quantify my interest in reading a story about a WWII POW, or really that of any war's Prisoner of War, with the number zero. Just not something that interests me. On the other hand, if you asked me my interest in reading a book about paint drying, I'd say I'm totally for reading a book about that as long as Laura Hillenbrand wrote it.

I finally got around to reading Hillenbrand's book on Seabiscuit last year and it was the best book I read in 2010. Although I had no interest in the topic matter of her second book, Unbroken, I opted to read it because she is such a fantastic writer.

A good choice it was as I expect this will fall in my top ten books of 2011 come next December.

The book follows the story of Louie Zamperini. Zamperini was an obnoxious kid until he took up running. He developed into an incredible runner and became one of the world's best, competing in the Olympics for the United States in 1936 at age 19. He went on to set the collegiate record in the mile two years later and was training for the 1940 Olympics. The host city was Tokyo and with World War II, the games were initially transferred from Tokyo to Helsinki and then canceled. Zamperini joined the U.S. war effort in 1941 and became a bombardier.

One of the more fascinating things I read in this book was the primitive state of aircraft during the war. The number of crashes and injuries during training activities was incredibly large. Zamperini ended up a victim of such a mishap. He and his crew were sent out to look for a missing plane in the Pacific, their plane suffered a malfunction and they ended up crashing. Zamperini and two other crew members survived and were afloat at sea on a life raft for 47 days during which they were shot at by a Japanese plane, attacked by sharks and suffered from starvation and dehydration. The one crew member died but the other and Louie washed ashore in Japanese occupied territory.

The two were then placed in prisoner of war camps where conditions were probably worse than they were on the raft. Zamperini was regularly abused by a camp guard, the prisoners were starved and suffered from diseases, and when the Allies appeared to be winning the war, the Japanese killed many prisoners of war rather than letting them be rescued.

Somehow Zamperini survives all his ordeals and returns home. He marries but suffers from alcoholism and is tormented by his memories. Through religion, he overcomes his hauntings and he is still alive and well today at age 93.

Insprining though this book is, I also continue to be inspired by Hillenbrand herself. She suffers from chronic fatigue syndrome and is often bedridden. Her being able to conduct the research for this book and write this book is amazing given her condition.

As I said, I love her writing. She also does a great job with research and thoroughly cites everything. My one problem with the book is that it does rely primarily on interviews with Zamperini (over seventy of them in total, yet, amazingly, they have never met in person). Memories are tricky things and there were many times in the book where I had to question happenings as being exaggerations or faulty memories. The instances weren't too bad (Zamperini didn't invent the internet while he was a POW or anything) and primarily involved his youth. And I may be wrong and every bit of them may be true. I'm a documentation kind of guy, though, and would like to have some sort of corroborating evidence.

Nonetheless, this is an incredible book and is a definite recommendation.

VIVALDI'S RING OF MYSTERY

Vivaldi’s Ring of Mystery is an audio (CD) story set to the music of Vivaldi. Not really sure what I was getting when I came upon this on the library shelf, I thought it worth a try since my ten-, seven-, and four-year olds all like audio books, and, though I am mostly ignorant about classical music, I do recognize and love Vivaldi’s Four Seasons.

The music is a beautiful, goosebump-inducing backdrop for this tale, set in Vienna during Carnival, about an orphan girl. Katarina, a gifted musician, searches for her origins as she studies violin under the composer Antonio Vivaldi.

Vivaldi’s Ring of Mystery is one of those rare things that parent and child can equally enjoy and appreciate.

JJ

THIS BOOK MADE ME DO IT cool things to make, do, and explore

This is the best book of children’s do-it-yourself crafts/recipes/games I have ever seen. I occasionally borrow or buy craft and recipe books for my kids, but they (we) generally find one or two things of interest in each book and then the book either goes back to the library or to the dusty, lonely world of kids' forgotten treasures.

I checked out This Book Made Me Do It  by John Woodward from the new juvenile nonfiction section of the library and now am quite conflicted. It’s a new book so I should return it for others to use, but it’s so jam-packed full of fun stuff that I (and my kids) want to keep it longer.

Published by DK Publishing, which specializes in illustrated reference books, This Book Made Me Do It is has some of the following activities:

Make an ice bowl

Make a piñata

Make a water bomb

Raise caterpillars

Dissect an owl pellet

Cook for birds

Pan for gold

Find constellations

Paddle a kayak

Jump higher

Squeak like a mouse

Avoid a shark attack

Climb Mt. Everest

And it goes on and on, with 192 pages full of intriguing ideas and neat illustrations. Even if your kids don't end up using this guide to climb a mountain (ha! I hope they don't!), they will most likely have a lot of fun exploring this book.

JJ

BLOCKADE BILLY by Stephen King

Blockade Billy kept drawing me back to it. I would see it on our new book shelf at the library, pick it up, see it's baseball theme and it's slim size, think about it, then set it back down. Stephen King has never done much for me. The only work of his I can say I enjoyed was Needful Things. I have his book on being a Red Sox fan on my shelf, Faithful (bought at the Strasburg-Heisler Library book sale before I became a resident of Strasburg!), which is co-written by Stewart O'Nan, another author of which I am not fond, and it will likely remain unread.

Getting back to Blockade Billy, I was transitioning it from the new book shelf to the general fiction shelf, changing stickers, altering the location of the book in the computer system, and I finally opted to take it home and read it.

The best thing I can say about this book is that it is a quick read. I read over half of it as I cooked dinner and knocked out the remainder soon after.

The book is perplexing. It is set during the 1957 baseball season and King mixes actual major league teams and players with fictional ones. In the opening game of the season, Ted Williams inexplicably steals a base. Williams never stole a base that season and rarely stole any over the course of his career. The timing of said stolen base is baffling and is followed up by him being removed by a pinch-runner who tries to score from second on an infield hit. Really? When does this happen? Oh, wait, in the movie Major League, the game is won in that fashion. Otherwise, I don't see it happening. It's not like the pitcher is in the on-deck circle. Even if he was, the game was in the ninth inning. Pinch-hit. You don't try to score from second on an infield hit. Ridiculous.

Needless to say, I wasn't keen on the baseball content of the story. I wasn't keen on the story in general. The book is told like one big oral history coming from the coach of the team who King has gone to interview at a retirement community, or as the coach likes to call it, a "zombie hotel". I worked for a firm that surveyed elder care communities and in thousands upon thousands of surveys, never came across anyone who called it a "zombie hotel". It almost seems like a phrase a horror movie writer might make up, doesn't it?

Since it is one big story, there are no chapters. It's 112 small pages that just run on. The story is about a catcher, Blockade Billy Blakeley, named so because of his blocking the above mentioned runner from scoring. Triple B is brought up to the big leagues from Iowa after both catchers for the New Jersey Titans are hurt at the end of spring training. Triple B is an instant star even though he's obviously not all there in the head. His dark secret is exposed which results in all the games in which he has played to be expunged from the official record (perhaps the stupidest thing I've ever heard).

You know what? I'm going to spoil it for you. If you don't want to read the big secret, just move on. I really didn't like the book and even given it's length, I don't want you bothering. Blakeley isn't Blakeley. He's a farmhand who kills the real Blakeley, his family, and their cows to take Blakeley's place and become a big leaguer.

Oh, I forgot. This book also has creepy black and white illustrations.

--Jon

THE NAMING OF TISHKIN SILK by Glenda Millard

I admit I chose The Naming of Tishkin Silk by Glenda Millard to read to my children based on the book jacket description, which says that Griffin is an uncommon boy who meets a once-in-a-lifetime friend, Princess Layla, and “just like the mythical beast whose name he bears, Griffin discovers that he has uncommon courage and the heart of a lion.” That lead me to believe the book would contain some magic and fairy-tale elements.

In that way, the book was rather disappointing, like it was oversold. BUT once I had digested three or four chapters and figured out it was a book based very much in reality, I began to be drawn in by its charmingly good writing and delicate story.

Griffin Silk is the lone boy in a family of girls. He had believed he was the last of the children until a new baby, another sister, was born. The sister and mother are gone away when the story begins and Griffin has a secret that he holds inside.

He meets a best friend who happens to be a girl named Layla. She is able to draw things out of Griffin that no one else even knows enough to care about. The innocent friendship of children is portrayed beautifully through Griffin and Layla’s frolics in nature and other antics.

Griffin’s secret as you may have guessed is about his mother and sister, but I’ll stop there so the ending won’t be revealed. This sentimental story’s end was enough to make my four-year-old cry. Bittersweet. Sad yet happy. Friendship and family give strength.

Typically, I read one chapter (out of eleven total chapters) a day to my three children. They BEGGED to hear more at each chapter’s finish, which confirms the appeal of this tale.

JJ

THE POSSESSED by Elif Batuman

If you like to read, there are few websites as wonderful to browse as The Millions. It was on there that I came across this review/interview with Elif Batuman, the author of The Possessed, that motivated me to read this book. Elif is a six foot tall Turkish woman who is a scholar of Russian literature. Her book is about her experiences as a graduate student in that particular field.

As a wee lad (OK, in high school and college), I enjoyed Russian literature. So I thought I would enjoy this book. The title comes from Dostoevsky's book of the same name (which also goes by the title The Devils or The Demons, depending on your translation) and Dostoevsky is my favorite Russian author so all the more reason to like it.

I was right. I really enjoyed it. Two thoughts kept running through my head as I read it, though. My first thought was, "How on earth did this book get published?". While it is incredibly entertaining and does not require a vast knowledge of Russian literature, I do think knowing a bit about Russian stories helps increase the enjoyment level. That being said, who would pick this up? Why would a publisher think this topic had enough appeal to be made into a book? I'm still not entirely sure but I know how it got published.

It got published because Batuman is a very talented writer who has written for a number of publications including n+1 and The New Yorker. As a matter of fact, some, if not all of this book, has been previously published in those publications. Batuman also knows how the academic system works. She seems able to finagle grants and funding for her projects and I don't think it's a stretch for her to be able to finagle a book deal as well.

Regardless, it got published and it is good. The book is part travelogue, part literary criticism, part autobiography. The stories are very entertaining, if sometimes a little self-absorbed. Batuman shares details about herself and her friends that sometimes seem a little too personal or a little too unnecessary.

I had also hoped that this would make me want to read more Russian literature. It did. Unfortunately, much of the literature unfamiliar to me that she mentions is unfamiliar because it hasn't been translated into English. That's a bit of a problem. And as usual, I'm disappointed that a non-fiction work is not cited. She lists references used at the end but I like citations, darn it.

Which brings up my second thought that plagued me during this read, "How good is this book?". I did like it a lot. It made me laugh. It made me want to learn more about the subject. It is well-written. I could, and did, put it down quite often, though, opting to move onto other books. Maybe it was the mindset I was in, maybe it was something lacking in the book. Ultimately, I think it's good, not great. But it's close. I think it's a fun read for anyone but a must read for fans of Russian literature.

Oh, and the magazine The Week, one of the few I enjoy, named it among their top-five non-fiction books of the year. So there's that, too.

--Jon

FAVORITE BOOKS OF 2010

I keep track of what I read. In 2010, I read 62 books. My ten favorite that I read this past year were:

10. Sixpence House by Paul Collins
9. Ex Libris by Anne Fadiman
8. Wild Child by T.C. Boyle
7. The Art Detective by Philip Mould
6. A Fraction of the Whole by Steve Toltz
5. Straight Man by Richard Russo
4. The Unnamed by Joshua Ferris
3. Super Sad True Love Story by Gary Shteyngart
2. The Book Thief by Markus Zusak
1. Seabiscuit by Lauren Hillenbrand

BONUS HOLIDAY CONTENT!!!

The reason we post these reviews is to hopefully provide some suggestions as to things to read (or avoid). So here are some of my favorites from over the past couple of years. Hopefully you'll find something you like.

My Favorites from 2009:
1. Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert
2. Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close by Jonathan Safron Foer
3. Ballad of the Whiskey Robber by Julian Rubenstein
4. Everything is Illuminated by Jonathan Safron Foer
5. Art of Possibility by Rosemund and Benjamin Zander
6. The Women by T.C. Boyle
7. The Cheese Monkeys by Chip Kidd
8. The Soloist by Steve Lopez
9. Provenance by Laney Salisbury and Aly Sujo
10. Double Fold by Nicholson Baker

My favorites from 2008:
1. Remainder by Tom McCarthy
2. Sharp Teeth by Toby Barlow
3. Peak by Chip Conley
4. Tender is the Night by F. Scott Fitzgerald
5. Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen
6. Run by Ann Patchett
7. Let the Northern Lights Erase Your Name by Vendela Vida
8. Apex Hides the Hurt by Colson Whitehead
9. The Game: Penetrating the Secret Society of Pickup Artists by Neil Strauss
10. The Haunted Bookshop by Christopher Morley

--Jon

MOLOKA'I by Alan Brennert

I read Moloka’i by Alan Brennert for my book club. Even though we officially discuss our books at a monthly meeting, my clubbies and I occasionally (always) chat up our current book while we’re reading it (just can’t keep our mouths closed). So I kept hearing from my friends that this book, set in Hawaii in the late 1800s–early 1900s, was beautiful. I couldn’t figure out how the word “beautiful” could be used to describe a book about lepers being banished to a rugged island. But then I read the book.

Rachel is five years old when her mother discovers a sore on her leg that won’t heal. Fearing the worst (Leprosy, now called Hansen’s disease), her mother makes Rachel wear long skirts to hide the bandages. Eventually Rachel’s ailment is discovered and she is taken away by the health inspector, as was the procedure. She was for a time at a hospital near her family but was sent to Kalaupapa on Moloka’i when she was seven, totally removed from her family and the life which she had known.

Rachel begins her life at Moloka’i with rebellion and sadness but eventually grows to accept her fate. She has a slow-growing form of leprosy and must experience the death of many friends as we watch her grow into a teen, young adult, married woman, and beyond.

She develops special bonds with different women - Sister Catherine, a nun who cares for young girls at Kalaupapa; Haleola, her uncle’s long-time girlfriend and native healer; and the very unusual, worldly woman named Leilani. The friendships inspire and force one to examine morals, beliefs, inner strength, and relationships.

The idea of banishment to an island of lepers sounds sickening, but Moloka'i is really full of love, self-discovery, growth, hope, sacrifice. It’s a very dramatic story, but also gives the reader some Hawaiian history. Because Kalaupapa was indeed a real leper colony on Moloka’i, truth touches.

So, why the word “beautiful”? Well, of course, who can argue the beauty of Hawaii… but that’s not what makes this a story of beauty. The beauty comes from the people - their resilience and hope.

(And don't stay away from this, thinking it melodramatic from my language - hope, love, resiliance, strength. It is a genuine piece of work, no sappy melodrama.)

I must come clean and admit I didn’t like the ending. I would have chosen a different path for Rachel. But when I recall the book (now a month after reading) what shows up in my memory is the beginning and middle story, not the end. Others in my club did however find the ending apt and moving. I must also admit that at least one person in the book club did not enjoy this book. But she will have to write her own review for you to find out her reasons!

JJ

BRINGING DOWN THE HOUSE by Ben Mezrich

Didn't intend on reading this again. I signed this out for my oldest son who has developed an interest in counting cards. It's such an easy and entertaining read, though, that I plowed through it again.

I'm a good father in that I encourage the understanding of mathematical "games of chance". Blackjack is a game in which the player can occasionally have an advantage over the house and have a positive profit expectancy (the others are poker, sports handicapping, horse racing and the stock market. Anything else is gambling and playing any of the games where you can have an edge without knowing what your edge is also is gambling). Trying to beat blackjack by counting cards solo, though, is a grind (as is trying to beat any of the above mentioned games). You have to play a lot, be patient for your edge to come, and then get your money in. Given that the edge in blackjack probably tops out at as little as two percent...ugh, just thinking about trying to make a living doing so is painful.

Bringing Down the House is a true story about a group of MIT students that formed a team of card counters in the 1990's and made a quite successful run on the casinos of the world. Ultimately, their success was their downfall as more and more casinos banned them from play when they discovered what they were doing. Casinos don't like losing and they treat card counters as cheaters even though they don't do anything to affect play. They just bet more when the likelihood of getting good hands is in their favor.

The team structure is what made the group successful. By having a handful of people counting cards at different tables and signaling a "Big Player" to join the table and place bets when the decks were advantageous, the team reduced some of the grind involved and also kept the counting hidden from the casinos.

Like many such "success stories", timing is everything. One of the reasons the group was able to pull it off was because most of the players were Asian. The casinos weren't suspicious of young Asian players because you had such folks heading up tech companies in the 1990's during the tech boom. Casinos were seeing young Asians all the time. Likewise, one of the big solo card counters cited in the book was an African American who dressed and acted like a pimp/drug dealer. The biases of casino personnel led them to believe such a person could not be a card counter.

Another interesting aspect of the era which would be extremely difficult to overcome in 2010 is the transportation of money. The team would strap wads of cash under their clothes when they flew to Vegas. Carrying large sums of cash (tens of thousands) would be highly suspicious so they tried to hide it. In this era of heightened air travel paranoia, no one's getting by with that amount of cash on their bodies.

This book was made into a horrible movie starring Kevin Spacey called 21. VERY loosely based on the book. Don't watch it. Read the book. Mezrich writes plainly, keeps it exciting and moving along, and captures the story and characters well.

--Jon

A TRIO OF BOOK REVIEWS

I decided to review these three books at the same time because they all involve older guys lusting after younger foreign girls and all take place around present time. It wasn't my intent to read three straight books with similar characters, it just happened that way.

Super Sad True Love Story - The main character is 39 year old Lenny Abramov. He longs for the 25 year old Korean, Eunice Park.

Sunset Park - Miles Heller is 28 years old and is in love with 17 year old Cuban Pilar Sanchez.

Next - 52 year old Kevin Quinn has a 35 year old girlfriend named Stella but chases an Asian woman named Kelly around Austin, Texas. Kelly is in her mid-twenties.

I couldn't finish Next. In reviews, I read that it was slow going until the end but it just wasn't worth it to me to keep going. The book is supposed to be a satire but I found it sad and desperate. Quinn is in Austin for a job interview and sits next to Kelly on the plane. She reminds him in certain ways of an ex-girlfriend and when he stumbles across her again upon landing, he begins to chase her around town (he's really early for his interview). Along the way, he is reminded of other relationships and for eighty pages (when I finally gave up), we get a glimpse of those relationships, but it's extremely hard to care, he's so creepy.

At the other end of the spectrum, Super Sad True Love Story is a fantastic satire. I'll be posting a top ten books of 2010 list at the end of the week and this will be among them. I read Shteyngart's first book, The Russian Debutante's Handbook earlier in the year. A friend of mine and my pediatrician both read Shteyngart's second book, Absurdistan. Between us, we all felt that Shteyngart was a good, not great novelist. SSTLS may have changed my opinion.

But first, a trailer for the book. Didn't know books had trailers, did you?


The trailer really has nothing to do with the book but I did find it entertaining. I think book trailers have a way to go before they catch movie trailers in being engaging and inspiring.

The story is set primarily in New York in the not too distant future. The fact that it is not too distant is part of what makes the book dark. In Shteyngart's future, everyone is attached to their äppärät, a smartphone type device that broadcasts personal details about the user. Furthermore, people use them constantly to rate others around them on their personality and, ahem, sexworthiness (a different term is used). The most important measure of a person, though, is their credit rating. This is partly because the United States has become completely indebted to other countries. The euro and the yuan have become the world currency standards. As to what people do for a living, the predominant jobs are Media and Retail.

SSTLS alternates between being told by Lenny Abramov, a 39-year old, ugly Russian immigrant (typical of all of Shteyngart's stories) who works for a firm that is pitching immortality to High Net Worth Individuals, and Eunice Park. Lenny actually keeps a diary (people complain to Lenny on a plane about the smell of a book he pulls out on a plane. Print readers of the future are treated much like smokers are nowadays) and the diary makes up the bulk of the book.

Eunice is a smoking hot Korean woman in her early twenties who Lenny falls in love with when he is sent on sales calls in Europe. The feeling isn't exactly mutual but Eunice ends up moving in with Lenny. Her story is told through messages to her GlobalTeens account, an international online communication system which seems similar to Facebook.

All in all, it's quite the satire. The obsession with the electronic devices leads to live personal interaction with people being a novelty. Having a conversation with someone is to "verbal" them. Likewise, the detachment from live interaction has led to sex being rather emotionless. Onionskin jeans are popular clothing for women that are transparent pants, usually worn without underwear, to showcase a woman's body. This, of course, helps that sexworthiness rating.

On the political/financial front, Shteyngart's world is comprised of huge corporations formed by megamergers such as LandO’LakesGMFordCredit Bank. Many countries are owned by these companies. The U.S. has become a military state with the Secretary of State being the primary political official.

Then there is the company for which Lenny works. His boss, a 70 year old man who looks much younger through the processes his firm sells, is well-connected and when the United States collapses at the end of the story, his power (and lust for Eunice) become more apparent.

I don't know how much of a love story this is. It isn't true (yet). Not even sure it's sad. I did think the book was super, though, and definitely worth checking out.

Lastly is Sunset Park. Somehow I've become a big reader of Paul Auster. I think this is the fifth book of his I have read in two years (maybe fourth). Auster loads his fiction with a lot of fact. Sunset Park is a part of Brooklyn and is the primary setting for the story. Miles Heller leaves his father and stepmother in his early twenties after hearing a conversation between them about himself. Miles is racked with guilt because he (accidentally?) caused the death of his stepbrother years before and Miles has never been the same.

Miles wanders the country and ends up in Florida where he runs into Pilar in a park. They are both reading The Great Gatsby and the two begin a relationship. Pilar moves in with Miles but when Miles has a spat with Pilar's oldest sister, Miles returns to New York to evade possible legal difficulties.

Miles moves into an abandoned house in Sunset Park with an old friend of his and two other squatters. The novel jumps around between all the characters and the story is moved ahead with each different perspective.

All in all, there doesn't seem to be much plot. It's definitely more about the characters than any particular story. Auster's attention to factual detail is amazing. He references a movie from the 1940's and the characters in it (everything true that I can determine). He talks about ex-baseball players Herb Score, Mark Fidrych and Lucky Lohrke (all details factually correct (and who writes about Lucky Lohrke?)). It wouldn't surprise me if the house in which Heller and his friends reside actually exists. Also, despite Heller being involved with a minor, there's not the creepiness of Next.

Sunset Park is a good book but definitely not as good as other works of Auster's I've read. But it's definitely closer in quality to SSTLS than Next.

--Jon

CSS3 FOR WEB DESIGNERS by Dan Cederholm

This is another book not in the library system. I thought I'd review it anyway since we're all readers here, no matter where we get our books.

If I were a web designer, instead of someone who dabbles, I'd buy this book. It's a short read, detailing about a half dozen CSS3 tricks that can really make your web design snazzy. That's it, though.

It's a bit of a question how necessary such as a book is. Much of the ideas can be done in Javascript and since Windows Explorer is lagging behind every other browser in supporting CSS3, there's no sense of urgency to utilize the techniques. The coding does seem cleaner, though, and with any luck, support for CSS3 will grow. I know I'm going to try and implement some of this stuff in a couple of personal web projects on which I'm working.

--Jon

THE BOOK ON THE BOOKSHELF by Henry Petroski

A friend of mine recommended this book to me a while back and I finally got around to reading it. It's a history of the bookshelf which isn't near as nerdy as it sounds. As a matter of fact, for someone who loves books as much as I do, it should be considered a required reading.

Petroski is an engineer who has written books on other "exciting" topics like bridges and pencils. The man knows how to research and he does a great job looking at the evolution of the storage of books and how storage is influenced by the end users, printing methodologies, and engineering. Petroski cites his book well and includes a multitude of illustrations, including many from hundreds of years ago. It is fascinating to see how books were used and stored over the years.

I found the early part of the book to be much more interesting than the latter, I guess in part because book usage was so much different pre-printing press and even into the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. Once the book hits modern day, I wasn't as captivated. Overall I still enjoyed it, though.

Petroski concludes his book with an amusing little appendix that details 25 different ways to sort one's library on shelves.

If you love books, definitely read this book. But even if you only have a passing interest, it's worth picking up.

--Jon

THE WHITE LIONESS by Henning Mankell translated from the Swedish by Laurie Thompson

I started reading Henning Mankell after PBS dramatized several of his Kurt Wallander novels on Mystery.  TV shows put me to sleep and I never got to watch a complete Wallander episode. However, what I did see was enough to start me reading.

The White Lioness begins with what appears to be a routine disappearance of a Swedish housewife. As Kurt Wallander investigates, it becomes apparent that the case is more complex and dangerous. It involves a ruthless ex-KGB agent and an international assassination plot in South Africa, following Nelson Mandella’s release from prison by president F.W. deKlerk. The two investigations run simultaneously, but come together in the suspenseful conclusion.

Mankell seems to be pointing out that Sweden’s social problems are increasing and becoming more complex, as immigration of Russians and east Europeans add a new dimension to crime. Wallander questions his ability to cope the new dynamics. He ends up frustrated and angry, just as he is portrayed on PBS’s Mystery, but the book makes his feelings understandable.

SS

DELIVERING HAPPINESS by Tony Hseih

 

It wasn't too long ago that I was struggling to find something to read. Now books are popping out of the woodwork and I have stacks that I'm trying to read. What tends to happen is that I read multiple books simultaneously. I'll have a book in the car for when I have to take my sons to rehearsals or practices, I'll have one in the bathroom for serious reading, keep one in the kitchen to read as I cook, another one downstairs for when the computers are not being used by me, one upstairs to read before bed or if I'm up early. You get the idea. When I'm not swimming in books, a single or couple of books might be read in multiple locales. Now, though.....

Thus, all the book reviews right now. I didn't even know about this book. A library patron returned it and I saw Tony Hseih's name as the author which automatically triggered as "Zappos CEO" in my brain. I like reading alternative business books and so I had to grab this as Zappos approach is definitely unusual.

Delivering Happiness is part biography, part business book, part inspirational. It is a very quick read and written in a very conversational tone. Hseih talks about his youth, how he always was an entrepreneur, and how his Asian parents and those of other kids in the neighborhood always pushed their children. Then there is Harvard, Oracle, and Hseih's first major business, LinkExchange. From there we go through the trials and tribulations of Zappos. Interspersed throughout are Hseih's thoughts on success and happiness.

Hseih refers to Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs, something I believe firmly in, and something which is expressed exquisitely in Chip Conley's business book, Peak. On the opposite end of my agreement with Hseih-spectrum, you have the anti-37Signals approach of running a business. Hseih is a firm believer in "it takes money to make money". I'm sure much of this stems from his success at the end of the dot-com boom where venture capitalists were throwing money at anything having to do with the internet. It was pretty clear that had Hseih not successfully cashed out LinkExchange for millions, Zappos would never have gotten off the ground. Hseih originally funded Zappos with his own venture capital firm, dumped the rest of the firms' money into Zappos when it needed it, dumped all his personal assets and money into it, and still required outside funding. This flies in the face of the 37Signals "create a business model that is profitable and don't rely on outside money" approach.

Hseih has had a good deal of luck in his life, as well as a lot of hard work. I wouldn't necessarily recommend this book if you're looking for inspiration in running a business. As a fun success story or as a primer on customer service, it's a pretty good read.

--Jon

C by Tom McCarthy

 

There has never been a book that I anticipated more than this one. I've been waiting to read C for over two years (and don't try looking it up in the library's catalog via title). I read McCarthy's first novel, Remainder and loved, loved, loved it. It's among my twenty favorite books of all-time. From the instant I read the last page, I wanted to read more by McCarthy. There is no book quite like Remainder which probably explains why it took McCarthy seven years to find a publisher for it. When I started looking for other works of his, I found that he was in the midst of writing C and so I began waiting for it. Meanwhile, another book of his was published overseas but not here. Then, finally, C came out.

Perhaps my anticipation did me in. C pales to McCarthy's first book but is still a nice piece of writing. The story is way out there, not nearly as much as Remainder, but it's odd. As a matter of fact, I doubt it would have been published had Remainder not been published previously.

The novel details the life of Serge Carrefax, a lad from rural England. The book begins in the late nineteenth century where Serge is a child growing up in a strange household. His deaf mother runs a silk business, collecting silk from worms then dyeing and selling the output. The man of the house, thought by Serge to be his father, is an inventor who is involved with the telegraph and radio but whose primary occupation is the head of a school for the deaf.

Different portions of Serge's life are depicted in each section of the book. His childhood, which involves the suicide of his sister, makes up the first. He then goes to school, joins the military as a pilot, then post-World War I becomes involved with establishing communication lines in Egypt.

Throughout, Serge is obsessed with messages and trying to link sound and radio waves to something more spiritual. This search of meaning seems to be the focus of the book. And just like signals can be crossed, muddled, or garbled, so, too, does this book often become. Communication struggles abound.

Some of this may be due to Serge. The book is written in the third-person and Serge comes across as a bit mechanical (which makes sense for someone trying to receive signals). His sister's death barely affects him. Despite being a smart guy, he never registers that his true father is his supposed father's friend. While he frequently has sex with various women, he only is ever willing to do so in a single position, one which seems to have nothing to do with the woman or his pleasure. Mostly he waits and observes life.

Through it all, you never get a sense of what on earth the point of the story is. There's no climax to the story, no denouement. Which may be the point. I don't know.

When I read, I tend to read for entertainment and/or information. While I wasn't particularly entertained by C, it was impossible to disregard how well constructed it was, almost like drinking a high-end chardonnay when you're normally a red wine drinker. You can appreciate how good it is even if it's not your usual cup of tea wine. As a result, and maybe a little bit because of my enjoyment of Remainder, I would recommend this book.

--Jon

THE BOOK THIEF by Marcus Zusak

 

Review #1

After having a few discussions with other people about The Book Thief, I realized why it was selected as the One Book, One Community selection – it gets people talking.

I never would have selected The Book Thief to read for myself. I groaned at the thought of another book set in Germany during WWII. I’ve read quite a few historical fiction set during this era, some are worthy, some are just…bad.  Yet, the war itself is not the focus. It sits looming in the background as the townspeople deal with the transfer of their lives from daily routines of work and family, to physical survival, suspicions, and paranoia.

I didn’t enjoy reading this book. I kept waiting for something significant to happen. The writer doesn’t get into the heads of the characters as much as I like. The purpose of the introduction of secondary characters never really gets through. There is not much drama or suspense. But the narrator offers an interesting twist and I’m still not sure how the colors of the sky relate to his situations. There is no explanation for why Leisel was given up by her mother in the first place. The ending is rather predictable.

I do recommend reading The Book Thief because it will leave questions in your mind, which I believe is Zusak’s intent.  Let me know what you think!

KF

Review #2

"500 page book, set in Nazi Germany, the narrator's Death, and you think, "How do you recommend that to your friends?" - Markus Zusak

Let me try, Markus. This book, which has been on my "to read" list since it was published in 2006 (which says more about my adherence to reading lists than the length of my reading list), is the best book I've read in 2010.

The reason why this is the best book I've read is because Death is the narrator and Death is a poet. Or maybe an artist. You wouldn't think that an entity that extinguishes life could appreciate the beauty of what life has to offer but Zusak's Death does. Even in war-strewn Germany in the 1940's, Death is able to see that beauty can come from ugliness, good from evil.

The story is about a young girl named Leisel and begins with Leisel, her brother and mother traveling to a foster home. The mother is unable to care for her children. On the way there, however, the brother dies. While attending the burial of her brother, she picks up a book dropped by one of the gravediggers. Leisel cannot read despite being nine years old. She keeps the book as a reminder of her brother.

Upon reaching her foster parents, she discovers that her mother-to-be is a harsh acting, profanity spitting individual. The father, however, is my favorite character in the book. Hans Hubermann is a caring individual who treats everyone kindly.

Hans and his wife, Rosa, both dropped out of school at young ages and neither are good readers. Hans works to teach Leisel how to read after discovering her stolen book. Leisel continues to improve and learns the power and magic of words; an important lesson in Nazi Germany where Hitler relied greatly on his verbal strength to rally and unify the country.

Because this is Nazi Germany and because Hans is pretty close to sainthood, it isn't too surprising when Hans stashes a Jew in his basement. The Jew, Max, is the son of a man who saved Hans' life in World War I. Max and Leisel become good friends and over the course of the story, they each create a book for one another for different reasons. It is Death's encounter with Max's book which inspires him to tell this story.

There's so much that goes on in this story. Hans' son is devoted to the Nazi cause and is angry at Hans for not being supportive and joining the party. Leisel's best friend, Rudy, is inspired by Jesse Owens and becomes one of the best athletes in town as well as being a top student, a combination that is enticing to the Nazis. Leisel rescues a book from a book burning and then proceeds to swipe tomes from the mayor.

Given the book's length, it moves quickly. Zusak paints wonderful little stories that combine into an intricate masterpiece. It really is a beautiful book filled with emotion.

This is this year's book for the One Book, One Community project which is what prompted my reading this now. This was a great choice even though there is much debate over whether this is a Young Adult book or not. Too often, folks (myself included) dismiss Young Adult books as being "not adult enough". After reading The Book Thief, I'm definitely inclined to be more open-minded on such matters.

--Jon (Note: I initially wrote my review of The Book Thief back in September before we started the blog.)

THE PALEO SOLUTION by Robb Wolf

 This book isn't in the library system. You can't have everything, especially when budgets are tight. So if you want to see this book and others in the system, let your government officials, both state and local, know that you think providing funding for public libraries is very important. Thanks.

That's my public service message for now.

You probably wouldn't guess it by looking at me, but I work out a good bit. I have my own home gym that looks (and right about new, feels) a little like Rocky Balboa's Russian workout wonderland in Rocky IV. My own personal regime follows an affiliate of Crossfit.

My problem is that I likes me my food, particularly bad stuff in sizable quantities. Well, Robb Wolf, the author of this book, used to be the Crossfit diet guru and so I was pretty familiar with his ideas. I had to get this book because I need to make changes.

What causes people to make changes in their lives? I think for many people, and for many changes, the changes are made for them. Losing a job or suffering an illness, for example. For the most part I think people are creatures of habit and we don't like a whole lot of change.

I don't honestly know whether I like change or not. It sure feels like I go through a lot of them and I do know I need to be making some. At the end of April, I will be turning the big 4-0. Right now, I weigh about 280 pounds. My lean weight is around 205 which means I'm running around at almost thirty percent body fat. The combination of age and weight isn't exactly healthy.

I've also been stressed out because of some personal things. Stress, age and weight....not a good combination. I really need to be doing something.

Be that as it may, you have to start somewhere if you're ever going to make headway. I need to fix my diet and fro my experiences, I think Robb Wolf knows about that which he speaks. If I wasn't familiar with Robb, though, I might have chalked this book up as being something along the lines of a Kevin Trudeau book. Wolf bashes the medical community, and while he has a long list of references in the back, he doesn't footnote his research, something I think is pretty necessary when you're trying to refute "common knowledge".

What common knowledge is Wolf refuting? Well, the gist of the Paleo Solution is that our bodies have not evolved to where much of what we eat is good for it. Wolf believes that we should eat more like our early, early, early, early ancestors; nuts, berries, vegetables, meat. Grains, sugars, dairy? Out. Drinking cow milk and eating grains are relatively new concepts for our body evolutionarily speaking.

Much of what Robb espouses is what is touted for those who suffer from celiac disease. Those who suffer from that cannot break down gluten and it causes all sorts of health problems as a result. It's not a stretch to apply the same principles to a "healthy" person.

I know that when I omit grains from my diet, I feel better. The thing is, they taste pretty darn good. Pizza, cookies, all that good stuff which isn't good for you at all - it's hard to want to drop those things (which is why I weigh 280).

The book is largely about the science behind the Paleo Solution, a short chapter on working out (which is only useful for the extremely novice novice), and then it concludes with a 30 day meal plan. The thing is, it's not like eating Paleo is yucky by any means or it feels like you're lacking. As I read through the book, I experimented with the diet and it was great. I felt good, filled, and everything was tasty. But then I had Thanksgiving dinner which is loaded with grains. Then there was the siren call of pizza. It's tough to shake the cravings (and I do think there is an addictive quality to these foods).

I had toyed with the idea of trying to lose weight and getting the library community to support me. Ask folks to pledge a certain amount of money to the library for every pound I lose by the end of April. What do you think? Would you support that? Any interest in joining me? The New Year and its resolutions are forthcoming. Something to keep in mind.

As for the book, well I recommend it because I am a believer in Wolf. I look forward to putting his theories into practice and shedding the excess pounds so that I can look like I work out as much as I do and lead a long, healthy life.

--Jon

AUGGIE WREN'S CHRISTMAS STORY by Paul Auster

One night a week I'm down in Quarryville and since I don't spend near enough time in libraries, I like to hang out there for a little while. I was browsing the fiction there a couple of weeks ago and I saw a Christmas book by Paul Auster on the shelf. "Well, that's different", I said. It is very different and is intended to be so.

In typical Auster fashion, the story is told as if it were told to Auster. We don't know how much is real, how much is fictitious. The story says that The New York Times had contacted Auster to write a Christmas story and he didn't want to write a typical sappy Christmas tale. He struggled until he started talking with his cigar vendor, Auggie Wren (whose name has been changed), who tells him his Christmas story which Auster then uses. Some of that is true. The story originally appeared on Christmas Day in The New York Times. You can read the entire story at that link.

The tale involves shoplifting, a lost wallet, a blind woman, and another theft. The story makes you think. Can lying and stealing be part of a good deed? Is giving giving if there is taking?

A very unorthodox and not really heartwarming Christmas tale, just like Auster wanted. It's so short and so typical Paul Auster that I can't help but like it, though.

--Jon

CATCHING FIRE by Richard Wrangham

 

I know, I know. You were hoping that this was Catching Fire, the second book in Suzanne Collins' Hunger Games series. Sorry to disappoint. Maybe JJ will review that one in the near future. I'm sure it will be more engaging than this Catching Fire.

This is the second time now that I have been fooled by Michael Ruhlman. As much as I like what he writes, I can't go off his recommendations for reading anymore. First, his review of Anthony Bourdain's Medium Raw prompted me to read that one. Then, I saw this video of Ruhlman talking about Wrangham's book:

Had Something to Say - Cooking from michael ruhlman on Vimeo.

Ruhlman sums up the book really well in this video. But his passion and excitement and the background music make the book sound more exciting than it actually was. Ruhlman makes his own leap about cooking and society around 2:22 but otherwise, what he says is what Wrangham writes.

There are some positives. The book isn't badly written. Despite being a Harvard anthropologist, the writing is very accessible. It's not like reading a scholarly journal. That being said, I had a hard time getting into it. Anthropology isn't a topic that interests me very much and I maintain a healthy degree of skepticism when we're making conclusions about how people lived thousands and millions of years ago. The remnants of life forms before us only give us some clues and from there, it's all speculation, usually based on some preformed concepts. Wrangham thinks cooking shaped how we evolved as humans. He may be right. He can fit the evidence to make it seem like it is so. And he certainly has the research to back his views. Over a third of the book is endnotes and bibliography. I'm sure there are anthropologists out there, though, that completely disagree with him, and can back their reviews with research as well.

The book certainly is different. My bias against the subject matter probably prevented me from liking it as much as a well researched and written book about another topic would. I just didn't care for it very much.And I'm going to stop listening to Michael Ruhlman when he has something to say about books.

--Jon

GOOSE by Molly Bang

An adorable picture book for children! A goose egg is swept out of the nest in a storm and comes to rest and hatch in a den of woodchucks. The woodchucks raise the goose as their own and the goose grows up thinking itself a very inadequate woodchuck.

The sad goose eventually goes away to see what she can figure out by herself.

Out in the world, she learns a lot, but in the end, she goes back home to her family, the woodchucks.

I grabbed this book out of a picture book bin, barely looking inside. The writing looked simple and the pictures cute, so it was a perfect book for me to take home to my kids.

The subject matter is so sweet. I’m considering buying a copy of this book for my friends who are adopting a baby from a culture other than their own.

It’s a good message of the strength of family. For those of you who read endless picture books to your children, this one will touch your heart. For anyone who is adopted or has an adopted child, I think you will appreciate this tender tale.


JJ

SHIZUKO'S DAUGHTER by Kyoko Mori

This book was hard to put down at first, but by the end I lost interest and skipped paragraphs of description. A poetic mind may appreciate the writing but I wanted to see what happened so I read quickly.

In the first chapter, twelve-year-old Yuki’s mother commits suicide. The book is about Yuki's life as a teenager and how she copes with not having a mother. Her relationship with her father and stepmother is strained and difficult. She adores her grandparents and they have a sweet relationship. But Yuki must deal with the passing of time and the natural progression of the aging process of her grandparents.

It’s a depressing book, but beautiful too.

On a personal note, I was shocked when I picked up this tattered paperback to learn of the subject matter. Yuki’s life is not unlike my own, having lost my mother in the same way when I was also twelve. This book would have probably helped me greatly when I was a teenager, as I felt a lot like Yuki felt in the book. A testament to the power of books!

This young adult book will give the reader much to think about. I would recommend this to any teenager who is dealing with loneliness, grief, anger, or confusion (does that describe every teenager?), but also to adults.  Many great books are hiding on the young adults shelves!

JJ

STRAIGHT MAN by Richard Russo

 

I really enjoy ESPN.com's baseball analyst Keith Law. We seem to share similar tastes in a bunch of things, especially books. Plus, he's a good writer/analyst. Shoot, I even have his Twitter feed in my RSS Reader (the only person about whom I can make such a claim (or would want to)).

In a chat of his recently, another reader, inspired by Law's love of books, stated that he wanted to become a reader and asked Law for a good first book to read. Law went with Richard Russo's Straight Man. Law is a big fan of Russo's but I had never heard him mention this book. Some of Russo's other books have been on my to-read list but I haven't gotten around to him until now.

Straight Man was fantastic. The story takes place at a college in a small Pennsylvania town. The main character, William Henry Devereaux, Jr. ("Hank"), is an English professor at the college and interim chair of the department. He is fifty years old but often behaves like a man much younger (say twelve). His father, a noted professor, left him and his mother for one of his graduate students when Hank was younger but has now reappeared in his life for the first time in decades. The department has no budget yet and Hank is suffering the brunt of the blame. The stress in his life has resulted in urinary problems. He fantasizes about his wife cheating on him. Hank has a lot of problems.

I think what makes this book great is that Russo is able to take a guy with a lot of problems (and the other characters do, too) and show the humorous side. Like in real life, there are good moments and bad. Russo balances the dark with the light extremely well. The characters are flawed. There are alcoholics, jerks, professors who sleep with students, guys who cheat on their wife, a couple who overspend their means. People who are greedy, envious, lazy. In short, they are normal.

Maybe they're a little funnier than usual. And the professors in the book might sleep with their students more than is typical (at least I'd like to think it's atypical). But really the human factor makes the characters interesting and many of them likable.

That being said, the more I think about it, the more I think the book might be a little light on plot. There's tons of conflict, the conflicts are resolved in a very nice fashion. The book moves fast with a lot happening just over the course of a week. I think the frenetic pacing coupled with the complex characters carries the book.

This was definitely one of the best books I have read this year and I look forward to reading more of Russo down the road.

--Jon

FREE-RANGE CHICKENS by Simon Rich

 

I'm not going to spend too much time reviewing this book because it won't take much for this review to exceed the length of the actual book. It's the third time I have read this book which says more about the size of the book than the quality. This is a quick read. Like twenty minutes quick. It's really funny, though. Rich is a young Harvard grad, former president of the Harvard Lampoon who now writes for Saturday Night Live. This is his second book and it provides some irreverent takes on childhood, religion, acupuncture and a host of other topics.

Come on in and sit down and read it. It takes about as long as it would a magazine (and did you know you can now sign out magazines at the Strasburg-Heisler Library? You can!) and it'll likely leave you in good spirits.

--Jon

THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO by Stieg Larsson and translated from the Swedish by Reg Keeland

I had to wait two months for The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo once I put it on hold.  Even now there are 31 holds on this book. This international best seller was published in 2009, so why all the interest in 2010? And was it worth the wait?

Mikael Blomkvist, a financial journalist who has just been found guilty of libeling a large corporation, agrees to investigate the disappearance of Harriet Vanger 40 years ago, in exchange for the real dirt on the libeled corporation. He has help from Lisbeth Salander, the one with the tattoo, who is a crackerjack investigator and computer hacker.

The book starts slowly as the many players connected to Harriet’s disappearance are described and as the scene is set in a small Swedish town. The pace picks up as the investigation progresses. Old photos of a traffic accident on the day that Harriet was last seen are used to identify suspicious characters. Harriet’s family is linked to a series of old murders. Mikael is attacked as they get closer to the answer. This is a well-written suspense thriller that kept me engrossed to the very end. 

However, Larsson continually points out Sweden’s bad track record with regard to the treatment of women. In fact, few men in this story are respectful or even kind to any of the women. Harriet’s disappearance and Lisbeth’s quirkiness are a result of being taken advantage of at a young age. 

So was it worth the wait? It is a good read, but why not try something by Henning Mankell?

SS

WAITER RANT by Steve Dublanica

This book that started as a blog by an anonymous waiter in an upscale restaurant is a memoir of sorts. The premise: A 31-year-old ex-seminary student who was laid off from a health care job begins waiting tables during hard times and becomes consumed (sometimes for better/sometimes for worse) by the restaurant lifestyle. He writes a blog ranting about his coworkers, his customers, and his own – fragile at times and hardened at other times – state of mind. The anonymous blog eventually leads to this book, Waiter Rant: Thanks for the  Tip - Confessions of a Cynical Waiter.

The reader (or in my case, the listener – as I enjoyed this as an audio book downloaded from OverDrive) is given a glimpse into the seedy underworld of the restaurant business. The animosity between the kitchen workers and the wait staff, the illegal immigrants, the bribery and corruption between the boss and the staff, the waiters sucking up to the snooty clientele, or worse - the waiters sabotaging the dining experience for disagreeable customers.

Fascinating? Yes. But healthy for me to know? Hmmmm. Not sure. If only I could go back to a time when I didn’t know about the kitchen staff playing hockey on the floor of the kitchen with a customer’s hamburger after he sent it back twice because it lacked flavor or about two people using the restroom for lovemaking. Stories like that make this book not unlike a car wreck – I don’t want to look but I shamelessly and enthusiastically do.

The waiter does have deep insight into the customers’ behaviors. He is blessed with a philosophical slant that helps us see why some people act the way they act, which no doubt stems from his religious training. His boss infuriates him, but yet he is able to see the world from the boss’s point of view and extend a bit of grace.

The cursing in this book shocked me – it may have been because I heard the “f” word over and over. Had I been reading, perhaps I would have skimmed over the profanity. That said, I am sure a point is made with the unsavory language, like he is giving us a look at how restaurant workers speak. But for me, it was just a turnoff.

Overall, I would recommend this book to people who can handle offensive language and some aggressive references to sex, drugs, and alcohol. If you’ve ever worked in a restaurant, I’m sure you might appreciate learning of another’s view of the biz. If you like dining out, beware! You will never look at things the same way again!

JJ

THE ART DETECTIVE by Philip Mould

I didn't fool around with getting this book. One copy was entering the library system and I put a hold on it before the library even got it. It came in to their branch and went right back out to me. Art forgery is of huge interest to me. I wasn't exactly sure if The Art Detective was about forgeries or not but it sparked my interest.

The author, Philip Mould, is an art gallery owner and part of the Antiques Roadshow broadcast in England who has specialized in portrait paintings. Each of the six chapters of his book details the story of some interesting find he has come across during his career: Chapter 1 tells the story of a pack rat who hoarded portraits in a dilapidated church in rural Vermont; the second chapter talks about a Gainsborough that had been so overpainted as to be unrecognizable; overpainting plays an important part in a chapter on a Rembrandt and a lesser role when Mould covers a purchase of a Queen Elizabeth I painting. There is a chapter on Norman Rockwell forgeries and then Mould concludes with a tremendous, unfinished at publication, Antiques Roadshow tale involving an unusual Winslow Homer found in a pile of garbage.

Perhaps what amazed me the most is how much overpainting has been done on paintings of noted artists. Overpainting is what it sounds like. Another artist goes and paints over the original painting for various reasons. In the case of the Rembrandt, it was done in order to update the painting to fit the time period in which it was displayed. Sometimes it is done to cover up damaged areas of the painting. Restorers can painstakingly often remove the overpainting and bring the painting more towards its original appearance. One of the fascinating things about the book is the before and after photos of some of the paintings, especially the Rembrandt.

My only complaints about this book are petty. One, I wish the pictures were with the chapters in which they are discussed. There are two sections of photos, each about a third of the way from the ends of the book. I didn't like leafing back and forth or seeing the pictures of future chapters before I read about them. Second, the book is too darn short. Six chapters? I could have read twenty or more. Lastly, as with most non-fiction, I would love a list of references, especially for the chapters on QEI and the Antiques Roadshow where Mould and his assistant conducted a lot of research. What tools does he use?

I really enjoyed Mould's writing. He is very engaging and he realizes that the stories, and not Mould himself, are most important (at least to the reader). Just a thoroughly entertaining and fascinating read. It appears, too, that Mould will be hosting a television show in England called Art Sleuth which will be in much the same vein.

--Jon

WHALE TALK by Chris Crutcher

Whale Talk, a young adult sports novel, was over-the-top and bordered on the melodramatic because of the many circumstances packed into one book, but the themes were deep and thought-provoking. It touched on racism, adoption, child abuse, bullying, dealing with death, living with guilt, high school relationships, fear, special needs children, anger issues, murder, peer pressure, romance, and of course, sports.

In this much-more-than-a-sports-story, an adopted mixed-race boy is the only person of color in his school. He does not participate in organized sports even though he’s a great athlete. His snubbing of school sports annoys many of the athletes with letter jackets. Letter jackets are the ultimate symbol of success and status in the school and community.

The protagonist, T.J., organizes a swim team, though the school has no pool. He puts together a group of misfit swimmers (one special-needs boy, one surly student with a prosthetic leg, one overweight boy, and others) and begins the quest to earn each of them a letter jacket.

On the bus to and from swim meets, with a sage bus driver/friend/coach/homeless man and a teacher/coach who delights in bucking the system to help the young outsiders grow and succeed, the boys guardedly share bits of themselves with one another. We learn of child abuse and loneliness and more on the bus rides (think: Breakfast Club).

I loved this book. My favorite character was T.J.’s father. Overcoming a horrendous accident resulting in the death of a child formed him into a wise, gentle, forgiving person full of smart insight and advice for his son.

A complaint about this book is the overly exaggerated stereotypes (good ole boy athletes and bullies), but the author did a good job, through T.J.'s father's empathy, of explaining why the bullies are the way they are.

This story is written for young adults (teenagers). I am far from that, but immensely enjoyed reading the novel.

JJ