Readers and Reading discussion

What I Read in June 2011

4828, The Invisible Bridge, by Julie Orringer (read 3 Jun 2011) This novel tells of a Hungarian Jew who in 1937 goes to Paris to study architecture, Just from those words you can guess what the book is about--the awful era of the Holocaust looms over the story. The book tells of the activities of Andras Levi as he spends two years in Paris, falls in love with Klara, an older Jewish woman, and the war comes on. He returns to Budapest where he marries Klara and then Andras is put in the Hungarian labor corps and he undergoes frightful things. It is a very intense book, and one is always fearful of what will happen. The story was unfailingly attention-holding and one never loses interest or thinks it too long, though it is 602 pages. I have no idea how true to actual events it is, but one gets the idea that it is based on the life of the author's grandfather. A stunning and engrossing book indeed!

4829. "Co. Aytch," Maury Grays, First Tennessee Regiment, or, A Side Show of the Big Show, by Sam R. Watkins (read 5 Jun 2011) The author was a Confederate soldier all through the Civil War and in 1881 wrote this book. It is told simply as what he remembered of his Civil War--with no attempt to tell anything except what he experienced. He has a sprightly writing style, does not hesitate to criticize his officers, has touches of humor, and can wax poetic at times as he tells of events and men with whom he served. He had many close escapes, was wounded but not seriously, and only 12 of the men in his Company--all from Maury County, Tenn.--survived without serious wounds. The most disturbing thing about the book is that he was and remained an avid Confederate, had not a clue as to the evil of slavery, and admired Jeff Davis--though he bitterly assailed him for replacing Joe Johnston with Hood. The book is a memorable work and as good a war memoir as I have read from the Civil War.

4830. When I Was A Child Based on a true story of love, death, and survival on the Kansas prairie, by T. L. Needham (read 6 Jun 2011) This is a 2011 apparently self-published book which tells the story of the family of Alex Pfeifer and his children, especially his son Louis and his daughter Jerry. The author is a nephew to Louis and Jerry. It is a non-professional book, and tells stories of high interest--of blizzards, deaths, tornadoes, crime in Kansas, and of Louis on D-Day, when he parachuted into France and was soon a POW, The family had much hardship, and Alex went to prison for assaulting his eldest daughter (who later became a sister with the Sisters of the Most Precious Blood). With all its defects the book does tell some amazing things about the family--some which some of the family no doubt would have preferred not be told.

4831. Then Everything Changed Stunning Alternate Histories of American Politics: JFK, RFK, Carter, Ford, Reagan, by Jeff Greenfield (read 11 Jun 2011) This is alternative political history. I have read little alternative history--the book I remember is For Want of a Nail (read 25 May 1974) which changed the outcome of the 1777 battle of Saratoga, and which I did not like at all. I also read Fatherland (on 19 Jan 2002) which had Hitler winning the war and it was better but really thriller fiction. This Greenfield book projects three scenarios: What if JFK had been a assassinated in Nov. 1960 (when an actual attempt on his life failed)? LBJ becomes president and this account was well done, though I was relieved that it never happened. The next scenario: Bobby Kennedy is not killed, and is elected president. This was a pretty satisfactory account, maybe because it was agreeable. The third scenario: Jerry Ford does not flub up in the debate with Jimmy Carter and goes on to win in 1976. It goes on to show a failed Ford term so that Reagan loses in 1980--to Gary Hart. This piece did not entrance, especially since I thought it so improbable--though it ends with a scene reminding us of "Monkey Business" and what Clinton did when he was president. This book had its moments but all in all it was not as much fun reading as I expected.

4832. The Eichmann Trial, By Deborah E. Lipstadt (read 15 Jun 2011) This is a 2010 book by the author whose book, History on Trial, I read Dec 1, 2005, with much appreciation.. On Nov 18, 1989, I read Hannah Arendt's famous book on the Eichmann trial, and this book takes issue with some aspects of that book (and says Arendt only attended parts of the trial!). While Lipstadt is vigorously anti-Eichmann, she shows the trial judges were fair though Jewish and thus bound to be personally hostile to a Nazi. The book might have been better if by a lawyer looking at the trial more objectively, but this is a worth-reading account, and shows well the significance of the trial in regard to Holocaust history.

4833. The Talented Mr. Ripley, by Patricia Highsmith, (read 16 Jun 2011) This is a most absorbing work of fiction.. It was first published in 1955. It tells of Tom Ripley, who after a long-winded start suddenly kills Dickie Greenleaf and the book goes into high excitement from then on. It is laid in Italy and oddly one found oneself hoping the murderer would not be caught! I think this was because the book is told totally concentrating on Tom Ripley. As I read I felt I had not been so caught up by a murder story since I read Dostoyevsky's Crime and Punishment on Nov 22, 1948. This book utterly caught me up and held my highest interest to the surprising conclusion. I decided I would have to read its sequel.

4834. Becoming Queen Victoria The Tragic Death of Princess Charlotte and the Unexpected Rise of Britain's Greatest Monarch, by Kate Williams (read 20 Jun 2011) This is a 2008 book telling in clear and careful prose of the death of Princess Charlotte (George IV's daughter) in 1817, the scramble by George IV's potty brothers to discard their mistresses and sire a legitimate child (George III had 62 grandchildren, almost all of whom were illegitimate), and the life of Victoria till she became queen in 1837 and married on Feb 10, 1840--just 74 years to the day before my parents married--to Albert, and had her first children. The book is very well-done and is really pleasant reading for one such as I who enjoys royal biography. It is an amazing 25 years in English history (from 1815 to 1840) and the earlier part of the book was treading somewhat less familiar territory for me. An enjoyable well-written book.

4835. Ripley Under Ground, by Patricia Highsmith (read 21 Jun 2011) Because I was so impressed by The Talented Mr. Ripley (read June 16, 2011), I read its sequel, this book, published in 1970, It has some of the tense excitement of its predecessor volume, but the plot is so convoluted and so suspicious that it cannot be judged a success. Ripley is some six years older than in the first volume, is living the good life in France, but of course involved with a money-making scheme concerning paintings being attributed to a painter who is actually dead. To protect this scheme Ripley again kills and has a heck of a time with the body. The story meanders on with French and English police questioning Ripley, etc. The denouement reeks suspicion and is not at all convincing nor explained neatly as in the first book. So the book disappoints.

4836. Before I Go to Sleep A Novel by S. J. Watson (read 25 Jun 2011) This is a 2011 novel which I think had a front page review in the New York Times Book Review. It sounded interesting so I read it. It is laid in England, is fiction and tells of Christine Lucas, who cannot remember anything each morning when she wakes up. Her husband is Ben and she finds he lies to her. It is kind of syrupy and in fact a bit tiresome as it goes on and on but the ending saves the novel and one has to admire the concept and how thoroughly the author leads the reader on and then in the final pages shows what the actual situation is. An interesting concept. The story is told with crude words at times which repulse and detract from the book, but I suppose people feel we should expect that in 'modern' fiction..

Schmerguls, I am going to move your post to the "books Read in June" thread...