The Remains of the Day - Kazuo Ishiguro

It is sometimes said that butlers only truly exist in England. Other countries, whatever title is actually used, have only manservants. I tend to believe this is true. Continentals are unable to be butlers because they are as a breed incapable of the emotional restraint which only the English race are capable of. Continentals- and by and large the Celts, as you will no doubt agree- are as a rule unable to control themselves in moments of strong emotion, and are thus unable to maintain a professional demeanour other than in the least challenging of situations. If I may return to my earlier metaphor- you will excuse my putting it so coarsely- they are like a man who , at the slightest provocation, tear off his suit and his shirt and run about screaming. In a word, 'dignity' is beyond such persons. We English have an important advantage over foreigners in this respect and it is for this reason that when you think of a great butler, he is bound, almost by definition, to be an Englishman.

I wanted to like this book- it is well-written and received good reviews. Unfortunately, I found the book uninteresting. Not only does little happen in this book, but the characters are unappealing and we learn little about them. I finished the book feeling uncomfortable with the system which created nobility and its servants, but little sympathy for any of the characters. The butler at the center of the book is dedicated to his job, but not to a real life. How sad it is read about servants who must live lives only slightly better than slaves. But rather than exploring the contrasts betweent the two classes, the author chooses to explore things like the proper cleaning of silver for several pages.

The Wasteland and Other Poems - T.S. Eliot

Because I know that time is always time
And place is always and only place
And what is actual is actual only for one time
And only for one place
I rejoice that things are as they are and
I renounce the blessed face
And renounce the voice
Because I cannot hope to turn again
Consequently I rejoice, having to construct something
Upon which to rejoice
(from Ash Wednesday 1930)

This small collection contains much of the famous poet's most respected works. A winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1948, he was very influential in the poetry world. The poems are both intellectual, often with complex references, and emotional, often reflecting on aging and the passage of time. It is quickly apparent why TS Eliot is revered as a poet when you read the first couple lines of this book, "Let us go then, you and I,...When the evening is spreadout against the sky". Like all good poetry, TS Eliot composes many lines you want to reread and savor. His playfulness and originality in style and form, influencing many who followed.

Europe 101- History and Art for the Traveler - Rick Steves & Gene Openshaw

We've kept this book grunt-simple. Historians and scholars will be appalled at all the names and dates we've left out. But our goal is not to make you feel like you just ate an encyclopedia, but to explain clearly just what's necessary to appreciate the Europe you'll see in your travels.

I have enjoyed this book as much as Rick Steve's travelogues on Europe. He really knows how to relate to those travellers who want to experience and understand other countries and cultures. In preparing for a trip to Europe, I checked out several books about European history and art. Most were too much like textbooks and didn't span the areas or timeframes I wanted to prepare for my trip. This book exactly fit the bill. It is a great primer that will give the average traveller a much greater understanding of Europe. The book can also lead to further study in areas of special interest.

Like Rick Steves on television, this book is filled with humor and a folksy style. At the same time it respects the great historical events, art and architecture of Europe. If you are travelling to Europe, get this book.

Black Dogs - Ian McEwan

Turning points are the inventions of storytellers and dramatists, a necessary mechanism when a life is reduced to, traduced by a plot, when a morality must be distilled from a sequence of actions, when an audience must be sent home with something unforgettable to mark a character's growth. Seeing the light, the moment of truth, the turning point--surely we borrow these from Hollywood or the Bible to make retroactive sense of an overcrowded memory. June's 'black dogs'.

This book is a pleasure to read- dense like fine dark chocolate; McEwan evokes so much with language. The book entices the reader into the inner realms of the characters, places, and events without complex plots and action. It all seems slow and simple in this short novel, but the complexity lies in the perceptions.

Evil is examined in this book. An interesting marital relationship is viewed through the inlaws of the main character. We see how time changes events and how events can change us forever. A great read for a comtemplative, rainy afternoon.

West of Kabul, East of New York - Tamin Ansary

In 1948, when I was born, most of Afghanistan might as well have been living in Neolithic times. It was a world of walled villages, each one inhabited by a few large families, themselves linked in countless ways through intermarriages stretching into the dim historical memories of the eldest elders. These villages had no cars, no carts even, no wheeled vehicles at all; no stores, no shops, no electricity, no postal service, and no media except rumors, storytelling and the word of travellers passing through. Virtually all the men were farmers. Virtually all the women ran households and raised the children. Virtually all the boys grew up like their fathers and all the girls like their mothers. The broad patterns of life never changed, never had as far as any living generation could remember, and presumably never would. People lived pretty much as they had eight thousand years ago.

This book is part San Francisco's One City, One Book project in support of the community-wide reading programs, initiated by the Washington Center for the Book in 1998. An excellent choice of a San Francisco writer with parts of the book taking place in the city.

I loved this book. It is a very readable memoir balanced with thought-provoking ideas, travel, intrigue, an inner search for understanding, and complicated relationships. The story-telling style makes the reader feel like he is sitting in a cafe with the author listening to a fascinating tale.

The book focuses primarily on Afghanistan and the Muslim religion. The author straddles two worlds- America and Afghanistan culture. His intrigue in his native country's history and religion lead him on an exploration of what he missed growing up in mixed cultural, non-religious family. The book is both enjoyable to read as well as enlightening. We learn of an Afghan culture that will never exist again in a changing world. The author introduces the reader to characters who personalize opposing views, but primarily focuses on his views as an observer.

A Concise History of Germany - Mary Fulbrook

A book such as this is infinitely easier to criticise than to write. The attempt to compress over a thousand years of highly complex history into a brief volume will inevitably provoke squeals of protest from countless specialists, who see their own particular patches distorted, constrained, misrepresented, even ignored. Yet a brief history of such a large topic can make no attempt at comprehensiveness. At best it can provide an intelligent guide to the broad sweep of developments.

This book is part of a series of concise histories of various countries written by various authors. The author has a done a fine job of compressing German history into 277 pages. She nicely puts historical events into perspective taking a middle road on controversial topics. I like the style of her writing finding it both easy to read and still appropriate for a text on history.

I chose to read this prior to travelling to Germany. Visiting many older towns, I had hoped to learn more German history to add to my enjoyment of my trip. This book did little to help me. It is basically a condensed history book. Too often when history is condensed tightly, it becomes too much of one war and one king after another with little space for understanding the issues surrounding these changes. Perhaps I should have read a book on medieval Germany or perhaps find a book on history for interested travellers. For a good overview on German history, this book works. To read before you travel to Germany, don't bother.