The Diary of a Young Girl - Anne Frank

Riches, prestige, everything can be lost. But the happiness in your own heart can only be dimmed; it will always be there, as long as you live, to make you happy again.

Whenever you're feeling lonely or sad, try going out to the loft on a beautiful day and looking outside. Not at the houses and rooftops, but at the sky. As long as you can look fearlessly at the sky, you'll know that you're pure within and will find happiness once more.

After thirty years, I have re-read this book following my visit to the Anne Frank house in Amsterdam. The diary has changed since I read it as a teen. Parts of the diary were edited out by her father when they referenced difficulties between Anne and her mother or involved sexuality. Now you can read a completely unedited version. The book was amazing the second time through, especially having walked behind the bookcase and standing in her room with the black-out curtains.

Anne was an excellant writer and talked about pursuing that as a career. I was very impressed with her maturity and the growth in character she developed over the years hidden in the annex. Her study habits were intense and perhaps helped contribute to her optimistic outlook under such difficult circumstances. I was surprised that she expressed so little anger or hatred toward the Nazis. The book is an incredible testiment to the human spirit.

Vanishing Point - David Markson

A seminonfictional semifiction.

Obstinately cross-referential and of cryptic interconnective syntax.
Probably by this point more than apparent-- or surely for the attentive reader.

As should be Author's experiement to see how little of his own presence he can get away with throughout.

At the recent milennium, Sylvia Plath would have been sixty-eight.
Anne Sexton, seventy-two.

Arnold Schoenberg's father was a shoemaker.

I was sure I would enjoy this book after reading 20-30 pages. It first seems to be nothing but a collection of quotes and historical tibbits. While many of the short statements were fascinating, it didn't seem like I was reading a novel. Referred to as an experimental novel, the author has only a few combined pages where he speaks. However, patterns begin to evolve in the statements. There is a focus on art and critics as well as death. Most of the statements refer to artists and it becomes apparent the author is struggling with his art, his death, and the meaning of both.

I enjoyed reading the book, partly for the interesting facts filling each page. Markson is intellectually stimulating and provides plenty to think about.

Amsterdam - Ian McEwan

He stood up from the piano, exhausted, satisfied with the progress he had made but apprehensive: he had brought this massive engine of sound to a point where the real work on the finale could begin, and it could do so now only with an inspired invention--the final melody, in its first and simplest form, badly stated on a solo wind instrument, or perhaps the first violins. He had reached the core, and felt burdened.

This is McEwan's Booker Award winning book, although I like some of his other books better. Like everything I have read by McEwan, this book is extremely well written and a pleasure to read. Some criticize McEwan's works for being thin on plot. Not so with Amsterdam with has a large amount of plots twists and turns.

Two friends, a composer and an editor, are drawn into situations which make each examine their moral values and judgements. Ethical decisions are pondered and interesting repercussions arrise. Throw in deep evaluations of life and death, art, music, and the nature of friendship and you have the makings of a rich novel.

The Body Artist - Don DeLillo

The stories she told herself did not seem her exactly. She was in them so heedlessly they seemed to come from a deeper source, whatever that might mean, a thing that was overtaking her. Where did they come from? They did not come from the newspaper. She hadn't read a paper in some time. She looked at a paper in town, at the general store, front page only, and it seemed to be another framework altogether, a slick hysteria of picture and ink, the world so fleetingly easy to love and hate, so reliable and forgettable in its recipes and wars and typographical errors.

A beautifully written short novel. This book is complex in only its 124 pages. It took me some time to get established in what was going on, but I enjoyed the writing and mystery from the beginning. DeLillo is one of those writers who could write prescription drug warning labels and I would read them.

The book invokes thoughts of love and death in a surreal manner. Mysterious interactions with a character that is difficult to determine if he really exists in the material world. This is one of the more intriguing and ingenious books I have. It takes the reader into another realm to look back at one's life and life in general. Plan on reading this short book slowly without feeling rushed to understand what's going on in the first part. I thoroughly enjoyed this book.

The Headmaster's Dilemma - Louis Auchincloss

And so Michael liked to think about it. He had been headmaster for three years now, appointed as a result of the successful efforts of younger members of the board to convince the others that a leader was needed to make some adaptations to the exigencies of change in educational thinking. And he had already achieved some of these: girls had just been admitted; the limits of courses widened.

The author is a prolific writer who received the National Medal of Arts in 2005. He has published over 60 books. Maybe I picked one of his worst as I can't recommend this book. The story is predicable and full of cliches. The characters are shallow and not differentiated from each other. The dialogue detracts from the characters rather than developing them as unique individuals. Apparently, Auchincloss mostly writes about society's upper class. In this book, the headmaster and his wife are a younger generation being challenged by older conservatives. They are not convincing as written. Don't waste your time with this book.

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.

The Ghost Road - Pat Barker

It's evening now, and everybody's scribbling away, telling people the news, or as much of the news as we're allowed to tell them. I look up and down the dormitory and there's hardly a sound except for pages being turned, and here and there a pen scratching. It's like this every evening. And not just letters either. Diaries. Poems. At least two would-be poets in this hut alone.
Why? you have to ask yourself. I think it's a way of claiming immunity. First-person narrators can't die, so as long as we keep telling the story of our own lives we're safe. Ha bloody fucking Ha.

This final book in the Regeneration Trilogy is the most powerful. It is no wonder it was a Booker winner. An intense story about humans and war-all told in a most unusual way. Barker writes in a very clear, easily understandable style, yet she conveys intense feelings and thoughtful observations. Most of the characters are based on historical figures which she has brought to life in a convincing manner.

We may think we know the horrors of war, but after reading Barker it becomes personal on a very human scale. Her book is less about the war than about the myriad of effects, all negative, it has on everyone involved, both directly and indirectly. There many levels of experience in these books- soldiers, girlfriends, wives, patients, nurses, doctors, lovers, friends, etc. The bondscreated and enhanced by the war and displayed in their intensity.

Night Train to Lisbon - Pascal Mercier

When we talk about ourselves, about others, or simply about things, we want--it could be said--to reveal ourselves in our words: We want to show what we think and feel. We let others have a glimpse into our soul. In this understanding of the case, we're the sovereign director, the self-appointed dramaturge as far as opening ourselves is concerned. But maybe this is absolutely false? A self-deception? For not only do we reveal ourselves with our words, we also betray ourselves. We give away a lot more than what we wanted to reveal, and sometimes it's the exact opposite. And the others can interpret our words as symptoms for something we ourselves may not even know. As symptoms of being us.

The quote above displays what I didn't like about this book. It is from a book within the novel written by a hero of the author. If you are like me, it is either a poor translation, or it actually says very little. Mercier is a philosophy professor and this novel spends way too much time on circular mental gymnastics with little meaning to life. Maybe if you are looking for a way to experience more melancholy, which the author admires, this book would work for you.

This is another case of me being drawn to read a book by its jacket (As Dylan sang "When will they ever learn?"). The rave reviews said things like "the best book of the last ten years" (does that reviewer really read books?) "incomparable talent" (To what, philosophy professors?)

The story in this novel has an interesting premise and the author has some unusual characters. I was not, however, enraptured by the deep philosophical ramblings that are the main focus of the book. That is in spite of my typical enjoyment of ideas.

Flaubert's Parrot - Julian Barnes

I don't care much for coincidences. There's something spooky about them: you sense momentarily what it must be like to live in an ordered, God-run universe, with Himself looking over your shoulder ad helpfully dropping coarse hints about a cosmic plan. I prefer to feel that things are chaotic, free-wheeling, permanently as well as temporarily crazy--to feel the certainty of human ignorance, brutality and folly. 'Whatever else happens,' Flaubert wrote when the Franco-Prussian war broke out, 'we shall remain stupid.' Mere boastful pessimism" Or a necessary razing of expectation before anything can be properly thought, or done, or written?

A collage of writing styles and ideas related to Flaubert make this a most interesting and enjoyable novel. Barnes is an excellant writer who shows off his abilities in this book. Centered loosely around a mystery with a parrot, it is mostly wild thoughts and ideas presented by an amateur Flaubert scholar. The book is filled with sharp wit and sarcasm. It is both funny and thought-provoking. Each chapter takes the reader on an entirely new adventure that may seem to have little relationship with the surrounding chapters. But that is not a negative and keeps this book moving along whenever it starts to dive too deeply into details.

I will read more of Barnes because of his intelligence, writing ability, and largely for his fresh and fun ideas. He is a writer who really lets you feel you are with him as you read his words. Now I must go read some Flaubert.

Pontoon - Garrison Keillor

Evelyn was an insomniac so when they say she died in her sleep, you have to question that. Probably she was sitting propped up in bed reading and heard the brush of wings and smelled the cold clean air and the angel appeared like a deer in the bedroom and Evelyn said, "Not yet. I have to finish this book."

Once again Keillor takes us to Lake Wobegon and once again leaves the reader smiling with a more cheerful mood. I always hesitate to read a new Keillor book thinking I may have tired of his not dissimilar stories. But then it seems I never tire of good humor told with a good style. Just like you can watch a funny comedian do the same bit over and over, Keillor's ongoing tales of Lake Wobegon never fail to make me smile and even laugh out loud at times. Great summer reading.

Photocopies - John Berger

A crowd. So large that one can't imagine it, even when one is part of it. A crowd in which all that the past has left is bursting out, searching, cheating, acheiving, hoping, waiting, despairing, for a future.

The crowd is there because of the market. Getting richer. Getting poorer with the hope of getting a fraction richer later. The market has nothing to do with the wealthy. Here a voice and a glance of the eyes can still make a difference. Everything glistens because it may be a bargain. Everything sold is a little gain because it has been sold.

Berger has used the term photocopies to describe his written impressions of people, places and moments in life. Most of the short chapters, photocopies, are 3-6 pages long. The book is short, but thoughtful. If you like John Berger, as I do, you will find this book an enjoyable read on a relaxing afternoon. While I prefer his novels (see my review of Here is Where We Meet), I always find Berger worth my time- like sinking into an old leather chair.

V - Thomas Pynchon

As spread thighs are to the libertine, flights of migratory birds to the ornithologist, the working part of his tool bit to the production machinist, so was the letter V to young Stencil. He would dream perhaps once a week that it had all been a dream, and that now he'd awakened to discover the pursuit of V. was merely a scholarly quest after all, an adventure of the mind, in the tradition of "The Golden Bough" or "The White Goddess".

The first of Pynchon's novels launched him into the literary spotlight. Many call this a precursor to his most-acclaimed novel- Gravity's Rainbow. This is my first reading of Pynchon and the book is quite dazzling. The writing reminds me of a blend of Kerouac with its fast pace and irreverance and Joyce with his mastery of language and style. The novel is vast and dense. The reader is challenged by characters too numerous to count, wild scenes, and exotic locations. Still, Pynchon is able to pull together this menagerie into a compelling and smart novel.

Great writers are always a pleasure, albeit a challenging one at times, to read. Pynchon belongs on the list of great writers. Nearly every page of this book had phrases, sentences, or entire paragraphs that caused me to pause and read again to savor.

Books - Larry McMurtry

Here I am, thirty-four chapters into a book that I hope will interest the general or common reader --and yet why should these readers be interested in the fact that in 1958 or so I paid Ted Brown $7.50 for a nice copy of The Anatomy of Melancholy? How many are going to care that I visited the great Seven Gables Bookshop, or dealt with the wily L.A. dealer Max Hunley, who little store at the corner of Rodeo Drive and Little Santa Monica in Beverly Hills is now a yogurt shop....A fair answer would be that few readers are engaged by this kind of stuff, unless the writer can somehow tap deeper sentiments.

Unfortunately, McMurtry fails in his efforts to engage the reader with this so-called memoir. By the time you finish the 98 chapters, many only a half-page long, you feel like a bored listener to stories with no emotional or intellectual impact. If you happen to have a deep-seated interest in the buying and selling of rare books, you may find the book interesting.

The book starts out like a typical memoir with reminiscences of the lack of books in his childhood. The book quickly moves to the writer's adult life with dozens of unconnected tales of books that were bought or sold often for amounts too small or too large. Even the ending comes off as disjointed where it seems that after 95 chapters the writer simply decides to hurry up and end it. McMurtry is a fine writer and this the only saving grace of this book. Very disappointing.

The Call of the Wild - Jack London

(The pictures on the right were taken at Jack London's home, not far from where I live. The top one shows his summer sleeping area with writing notes hung on a line. I highly recommend a visit to Jack London State Park if you are ever in this area.)

Buck's first day on the Dyea Beach was like a nightmare. Every hour was filled with shock and surprise. He had been suddenly jerked from the heart of civilization and flung into the heart of things primordial. No lazy, sun-kissed life was this, with nothing to do but loaf and be bored. Here was neither peace, nor rest, nor a moment's safety. All was confusion and action, and every moment life and limb were in peril. There was imperative need to be constantly alert; for these dogs and men were not town dogs and men. They were savages, all of them, who knew no law but the law of club and fang.

I just re-read Call of the Wild after last reading it in high school. It stands up well and is just as wonderful for an adult reader as a teenager. London is a classic American writer covering outdoor adventure. The Call of the Wild is considered by many to be his best novel. More than a hundred years after it was written, it remains a timeless classic.

The main character in the book is a dog named Buck. The book details the difficult life of a working dog in snow country. Humans play a very secondary role in the book. Even if you don't love dogs, the book will stir emotions and have you rooting for Buck. London knows how to write adventure that keeps you glued to the story and immersed in the setting.

The Eye in the Door - Pat Barker

You know, Rivers, it's no good encouraging people to know themselves and...face their emotions, because out there they're better off not having any. If people are going to have to kill, they need to be brought up to expect to have to do it. They need to be trained not to care because if you don't...' Siegfried gripped Rivers' hand so tightly that his face clenched with the effort of concealing his pain. 'It's too cruel.'

This is the second book in Barker's Regeneration trilogy. Depicting WWI from unique perspectives, it examines the effects of war on individuals in London society and in mental hospitals. Based on some historical facts, the fiction is gripping and haunting in its gritty details. The author has created intriguing and complex characters. Her use of dialogue is compelling. I like this book every bit as much as the first one of the series.

Central to this series are the mental effects both on individuals and society. In this book we see society striking back against homosexuals, artists, pacifists and others. While Barker's work is fiction, she includes actual events of societal discrimination. Her characters suffer from an increasingly intolerant and mentally unstable society caused by an unimaginably horrible war. Like all great books, this one will leave an impression on the reader. It will cause one to view war with deeper emotions viewing war damages on the people both directly and indirectly involved in its madness.

Shambhalla Anthology of Chinese Poetry - J.P. Seaton

Reading

When I shut a book,
I can be at ease.
If I open one, I agonize.
Books are long, and days are short,
feeling like an ant
who wants to move a mountain,
or a man who waits for dawn light
with a candle in his hand.

Of ten I read, I might remember one.
The more's the pain,
that in a thousand years
there'll be more books to read, no end.

So if I wish I were a spirit-being,
or pray Heaven for a few more years...
it's not that I want to dine on dew,
or wander fairylands...
every word that's written,
to read each one, that's all.

Yuan Mei (1716-1798)

Chinese poetry spanning over 2,000 years is presented in this beautiful anthology. It offers an insight into many generations of writers and thinkers. I am struck by the similarities in themes and styles over the milleniums. Clouds passing over a mountain always uncover hidden thoughts and emotions to those who are open to the experience. Chinese poetry is powerful through it's use of images, metaphors, and simple use of language.

This book is well organized with brief descriptions of the times and influences introducing different eras. Unlike many books covering historical periods of poetry, Seaton has not chosen to fill pages with historical facts or his thoughts, but gives maximum space to the great poetry. I very much enjoy his translations which are most challenging for the translator of poetry. He tries to capture the essence of the poem along with the embedded influences in the chinese characters used in the writing of the poems. Consequently, translations of quatrains often contain more than four lines, focusing less on style and more on the beauty and artistry of the poem.

The Man Who Created Paradise - Gene Logsdon

"I'm tellin' you, people aren't dumb or lazy. They just gotta see the possibilities--understand that they can do it. Then get outta their way. C'mon, I'll hitch up a horse and show you around."

This short book is called a fable by its author. The short book containing many photographs is a wonderful pause in reading the average book with a couple hundred pages. It is sweet and inspiring story of a man who reclaims land savaged and destroyed by coal strip mining. I love the way the farmer says he just paints a farm on top of the moonscape left behind by the profiteers. Gene Logsdon is an excellent writer composing in a folksy style that suits his writing about farming. I found myself wishing this fable was actually a longer book. Logsdon is a pleasure to read, both with the content of this story and with his refreshing phrasing and style.

The photographs in this book are great and could hold their own in a separate collection. The Ma Who Created Paradise would make a great gift- filled with hope and inspiration, very well-written, and beautiful to look.

The Forger's Spell - Edward Dolnick

This is the true story of a colossal hoax. The con man was the successful art forger of the twentieth century, his most prominent victim the second most powerful man in Nazi Germany. The time was World War II. The place, occupied Holland.
Everything about this case was larger than life. The sums that changed hands soared into the millions; the artist whod inspired that frenzy of buyinig was one of the best-loved painters who ever lived, Johannes Vermeer; the collectors vying for masterpieces included both Adolf Hitler and Hermann Goering.

Dolnick has written a fascinating tale. He details the intricacies of creating a forged painting and the psychology behind those involved. We see that the motivations can more than simply money. In the events detailed in this book, we see that becoming a successful art forger involves much more than simply trying to copy a painting or imitate a painter. It seems strange that people paying millions of dollars could be fooled by forgers, but the author does a great job of enlightening the reader on the complexities of a successful sale- art critics, art dealers, art houses, collectors, museums, and more. Like a good magic trick, there is more than meets the eye going on with this deception.

Much of the book covers the Nazis and particularly Goering who obtained this painting in WW II. I knew the Nazis pilfered much art, but didn't begin the extent and organization behind their acquisitions. If you enjoy art, this book will keep you entertained and leave you will a greater understanding of the art world.

Falling Man - Tom DeLillo

She talked about the tower, going over it again, claustrophobically, the smoke, the fold of bodies, and he understood that they could talk about these things only with each other, in minute and dullest detail, but it would never be dull or too detailed because it was inside them now and because he needed to hear what he'd lost in the tracings of memory. This was their pitch of delirium, the dazed reality they'd shared in the stairwells, the deep shafts of spiraling men and women.

I wasn't sure that I wanted to read a book about 9/11, even after many years have passed. I am very glad I did. DeLillo has created a superb book. It is the type of book you want start all over again after finishing it. It begins with a man struggling out of the ashes of the Twin Towers. He is in a daze as is the rest of the city. The novel moves through a surreal time with life and death and the meaning of it all confronting us like a bucket of cold water thrown in our face.

The writing in this book is masterful. It is a pleasure just to see how DeLillo constructs a paragraph. This book places the reader in the minds of those who suffered after 9/11 as well as the minds of the hijackers. It didn't make me relive the terror, but reconnected me with the psychological impact that is so easy and tempting to block out. Highly recommended!

The Ten Most Beautiful Experiments - George Johnson

These experiments were designed and conducted with such straightforward elegance that they deserve to be called beautiful. This is beauty in the classical sense-- the logical simplicity of the apparatus, like the logical simplicity of the analysis, seems as pure and inevitable as the lines of a Greek statue. Confusion and abiguity are momentarily swept aside and something new about nature leaps into view.

Perhaps I should first confess that I love science, especially the history of science. That being said, this is a great little book. One that can be easily read in a sitting or two. The author avoids the failings of many science writers and knows how to tell a story. If you have any interest in science you will enjoy this book.

The ten experiments, admittedly chosen by the author as his personal favorites, all show the creativity and inquisitiveness of the famous scientists. As simple as some experiments appear, such as Galileo's ramp for measuring the speed of rolling balls, Mr. Johns delves into the complexities of thought behind each experiment. He also lets us know a little about the personal lives of these men (he apologizes for not including any women). It is fascinating to learn about the mistress of some famous scientists who called herself the "Bride of Science".

Regeneration - Pat Barker

I am making this statement as an act of wilful defiance of military authority, because I believe the war is being deliberately prolonged by those who have the power to end it.

I am a solder, convinced that I am acting on behalf of soldiers. I believe that this war, upon which I entered as a war of defence and liberation, has now become a war of aggression and conquest. I believe that this war, upon which I entered as a war of defence and liberation, has now become a war of aggression and conquest. I believe that the purposes for which I and my fellow soldiers entered upon this war should have been so clearly stated as to have made it impossible to change them, and that, had this been done, the objects which actuated us would now be attainable by negotiation.

I have seen and endured the suffering of the troops, and I can no longer be a party to prolong these sufferings for ends which I believe to be evil and unjust.

I am not protesting against the conduct of the war, but against the political errors and insincerities for which the fighting men are being sacrificed.

On behalf of those who are suffering now I make this protest against the deception which is being practised on them; also I believe that I may help to destroy the callous complacence with which the majority of those at home regard the continuance of agonies which they do not share, and which they have not sufficient imagination to realize.

S. Sassoon

July 1917

Pat Barker has written a moving and thought-provoking historical novel. The main characters, including the soldier who wrote the above letter, were real people caught in the nightmare of World War I. The book does not cover the war itself, but how it has affected the people involved. The primary focus is on the psychological effects of horrific events. A wonderful interplay between a psychiatrist, a protesting soldier, and a battle injured poet is introduced in this first of Barker's trilogy on the insanity of WWI. It is an anti-war novel developed through the experiences of a few individuals. Their experiences, sometimes described in gruesome details, show that any mind would be greatly challenged by the temporary insanity of war.

Barker has included interactions with town folk outside of the mental institution central to the book. These present the reader with other challenging issues such as class and sexism which were part of life in 1917. The book constantly challenges the reader. Barker never takes the easy or expected twist of events to make a point. She packs a lot into this great novel.

Wings of Madness - Paul Hoffman

He was a tortured genius, a free spirit who strove to escapes the confines of gravity, the peer pressure of his aeronautical confreres, the isolation of his rural upbringing, the small-mindedness of science's ruling elders, the conformity of married life, the stereotypes of gender, and even the fate of his own cherished invention.

This book is a very entertaining biography of one of the pioneers of aviation. Well-written and nicely paced throughout. It doesn't bog down in details as like some biographies on scientists and inventors. Santos-Dumont is an intriguing and idiosyncratic character whose quirks help keep the story interesting.

What a sight is must have been to see Santos-Dumont pilot the world's first powered flying machine down the camps d' Elysee in 1900. He even parked his one man helium filled airship while eating dinner at Paris bistros. A wealthy Brazilian fascinated by air travel, he was the toast of Paris, and much of the world, at one time. He is a largely forgotten, but important figure in the history of manned flight. The author has used his character and the times to create a fascinating book that is a pleasure to read.

Embers - Sandor Marai

"I hate music." His voice rises, and for the first time this evening he speaks with a hoarse intensity. "I hate this incomprehensible, melodius, language which select people can understand and use to say unihibited, irregular things that are also problably indecent and immoral. Watch their faces and see how strangely they change when they're listening to music."

Embers is written by a Hungarian writer originally published in 1942. I agree with other critics who call the writing masterful. The book is full of passion and intrigue- all dispensed by the primary character while seated in a heated discussion with an old friend. Yes, it is somewhat reminscient of the movie "My dinner with Andre", but this book delves deeply into inner thoughts and feelings on love, betrayal, revenge, friendship, anger and much more.

The story and message are timeless in this great book. The author is intelligent and original. There are great lines through out the book, such as, "When he listened to music, he listened with his whole body, as longingly as a condemned man in his cell aches for the sound of distant feet perhaps bringing news of his release." Embers is the perfect title for this about about burning passions that consume humans.

Life Class - Pat Barker

...what people don't realize is that knowing that you're your own worst enemy doesn't automatically turn you into your own best friend. Insight. The psychologist Mother had insisted on sending him to, when he was fifteen, had gone on and on about insight. Rubbish. He had insight by the bucketful and it did him no good at all.

This is a well-crafted book covering the lives of several art students as World War I is breaking out. Like other books by Barker, the interplay of war on the lives of individuals is the focus. I liked the contrast of students in a school for the arts as the inhumanity of war moves into their insular world. Barker is an excellent writer and the winner of a Booker Award for a prior book. She is intelligent and creates interesting characters.

The time period in England, and later in Europe, is depicted in a realistic style. The writing is straight-forward whether describing art or war. The horrors of war and how it changes lives is both enlightening and disturbing. The book examines how humans react to war and what compels us to artistic expression.

Chavez Ravine, 1949 - Don Normark

To Vin Scully, KTTV and the Whole Dodger Organization:

I want to let you know at the start that I am a very big fan of the Dodgers and Vin Scully, but how dare any of you call Chavez Ravine a wasteland or a dump. Every time anyone talks about Chavez Ravine before the Dodgers came along they seem to forget that many families made their homes there! No one wants to acknowledge the fact that people lived there. Maybe it wasn't Beverly Hills, but it was home to a lot of people, my family included. Doesn't anyone want to acknowledge us because we are Mexicans? Or is it because we were told that our homes would be destroyed to make room for low rent housing?

...

Great photos of Chavez Ravine before the houses were bulldozed to create a baseball stadium for the LA Dodgers. The area was referred to in the book as a "poor man's paradise". The black and white photos were taken in 1949 and are largely portraits of the residents. They are reminscient of Dorothea Lange's depression era photos, although these residents are not impoverished, but living well on modest incomes. The people lived in time and place far removed from today. Normark has done a fantastic job of capturing the flavor of the community and the personalities of the residents.

The text is composed largely of interviews of former residents. Their stories are touching and help to the reader to imagine this former community close to downtown Los Angeles. The introduction describes the author's involvement with Chavez Ravine and its people. It also explains what happened through corrupt politics, including the McCarthy era anti-communism hatred, to destroy the beautiful neighborhoods. If you enjoy this book as much as I did, I highly recommend Ry Cooder's CD entitled Chavez Ravine.