“Kenbei—contempt for America. […] The chief executive of a giant electronics company said he wouldn’t buy American semiconductAN AMAZING FAMILY MEMOIR
“Kenbei—contempt for America. […] The chief executive of a giant electronics company said he wouldn’t buy American semiconductors because they were shoddy. A Japanese novelist said the noble America she had once admired had turned into a self-centered bully.� (p.20)
I very much enjoyed reading Leslie Helm’s family memoir, Yokohama Yankee: My Family’s Five Generations as Outsiders in Japan. In it he offers a ground-level perspective of history through the eyes of those who lived it.
The Helm family of Germany, Yokohama, Virginia, Brooklyn, Seattle, et al were an incredible and incredibly interesting clan who populated very interesting times and places. The story of their lives opens up worlds of cultures, cultural biases, and cultural conflicts; and emphasizes the benefits to societies of openness vs. close mindedness.
Recommendation: Anyone who enjoyed Lisa See’s On Gold Mountain will certainly enjoy this generational tale. So will history, cultural and sociology buffs.
“The newspapers say that every soldier dies shouting, ‘tennoheika bonsai!� (long live the emperor!), but they all die crying for their mothers.� (p.186)...more
INTERESTING AND INSIGHTFUL. INFORMATIVE AND DELIGHTFUL.
“We are moving away from the world of fixed nouns and toward a world of fluid verbs.� (p. 11)
�INTERESTING AND INSIGHTFUL. INFORMATIVE AND DELIGHTFUL.
“We are moving away from the world of fixed nouns and toward a world of fluid verbs.� (p. 11)
“In the intangible digital realm, nothing is static or fixed. Everything is becoming.� (p. 12)
Although parts left me puzzling: what the heck was what I just read all about?, Kevin Kelly’s deeply insightful book, THE INEVITABLE: Understanding the 12 Technological Forces That Will Shape Our Future, is a futurist's delight. Kelly offers cogent and reasonable glimpses into what the impact of technology—Artificial Intelligence, Virtual Reality, Streaming, and more—might be over the near future (30 years or so) on each of us, on society, and on humankind. Absolutely fascinating.
The twelve forces? They’re his chapter titles: Becoming, Cognifying, Flowing, Screening, Accessing, Sharing, Filtering, Remixing, Interacting, Tracking., Questioning, Beginning. Admittedly, my reach often exceeded my grasp as I grappled with some of the concepts presented—but, oh, what a wonderland of ideas to get lost in. My highlighting was going crazy.
Personal frosting on the cake� My, almost ten year old, grandson stood in line at a book talk/signing in San Francisco (See the YouTube video of this author's talk, at: ) to get me a personally inscribed copy of this book; and my soon-to-be daughter-in-law received a shout-out in the Acknowledgements because she “assisted in research, fact-checking, and formatting help.� She becomes only the second person I’ve personally known whose name appears in a published book. As if I needed something more for which to be proud of her.
Recommendation: Definitely read this book. Extend your reach, expand your world view, and catch a peek at what amazing things might be coming down the silicon ’pike.
“…crap constitutes 80 percent of everything.� (p. 248)...more
“There is absolutely nothing inherent in the structure of the universe which dictates that any free man should be expectENTERTAINING AND ENLIGHTENING.
“There is absolutely nothing inherent in the structure of the universe which dictates that any free man should be expected to obey authority unless he wishes to—for his own benefit, and by his own consent.� (p. 16)
I can’t, for the life of me, figure out why it has taken me—self-professed lover of epic historical novels—so long to get around to reading my first novel by the “godfather of historical novelists,� John Jakes. The Bastard (Kent Family Chronicles #1) was first published forty-one years ago. So where have I been?
Although some of the contrivances for getting protagonist, Phillipe/Philip into and out of peril seemed forcefully contrived, the story was engaging, moved well, and had a very credible feel for time and place. The characters, all vividly drawn and very likable, made it that much easier to enjoy the reading. Minutia, like Paul Revere revealing “My father’s people were Huguenots.� (p.257) and the fact that the revolutionary, rabble-rousing, firebrand of the 1770s, Samuel Adams, was already old, and palsied, and virtually a pauper at the time; kept me feeling like I was gaining new insights.
Recommendation: If you haven’t read The Bastard by now, you should. I’m certainly not planning to let another forty-one years lapse before I delve into my next John Jakes novel, nor should you.
“I often think that far too many Americans today do not know how and why this country came into being—and, more tragic, do not care. Perhaps in some small way, these novels will help remedy that unhappy situation—and prove, at the same time, as entertaining as only an epic adventure of the spirt can be.�—from the Afterword (p. 487)
Barnes and Noble, NOOKbook edition, 538 pages ...more
“Look at this place. I didn’t come to America to live in a place like this—stuffed like pigs in pens. What does the government think wHARSH NOSTALGIA.
“Look at this place. I didn’t come to America to live in a place like this—stuffed like pigs in pens. What does the government think we are? Animals? � You and Sumiya are American citizens, for God’s sake, and you get pushed around, put into a prison camp. What kind of a life is this? Soldiers with rifles, stupid searchlights �?� (p. 124/125)
In her very creative memoir, Gasa Gasa Girl Goes to Camp: A Nisei Youth Behind A World War II Fence, octogenarian, watercolorist/author, Lily Yuriko Nakai Harvy looks back seventy years to share some sad and poignant reminiscences of her youth imprisoned at the Granada War Relocation Center at Amache Camp, Colorado. She presents an illuminating perspective of the camp experience; through the eyes of someone old enough to understand the experience, yet young enough not to be too permanently scarred by it.
She also shares memories of some of the interesting stories she heard of her mother’s childhood, growing up in Pre-WWII, Hiroshima Prefecture, Japan.
A selection of photos of some of her water colors augment this edition. Very dark, yet somehow beautiful. Especially so on my iPad.
Recommendation: I’ve a soft spot for gasa gasa girls, always have had, so reading this one was a no-brainer for me. Once the price came down to within reason. This is a solid four star read—for the genuine first-person (oral history) perspective. The photos of the author’s water color painting are a big bonus.
“By the third year in Amache, it became hard to remember that life had ever been any different. Living in a single room in a barrack in a barren desert, eating meals in a noisy communal mess hall, attending school and church in yet another common barrack, interacting only with other Japanese, washing and bathing in a separate building, shopping for necessary commodities with government coupons at the canteen—all the while supervised and watched by Caucasians and some recruited Japanese police, those inu—this life began to feel normal…� (p. 147/148)
“How sad to end one’s life in a concentration camp!� (p. 153)
I've had a longtime fascination with the 'idea' of the Grand Duchess Anastasia Nikolaevna, soLOVED IT.
"This is more than art. This is magic."—page 123
I've had a longtime fascination with the 'idea' of the Grand Duchess Anastasia Nikolaevna, so a novel entitled, THE LAST ROMANOV (not about Anastasia, this time, but about her younger brother, the Tsarevich Alexei Nikolaevich Romanov), by Dora Levy Mossanen, seemed a good choice. It was. An excellent one.
With fetching characters and compelling prose, Ms Mossanen weaves an engaging tale of historical fiction, legend, myth and fantasy in the mode of magical realism—not one of my favorite modes, but in this instance it is captivating. I'm still in love with, the forever seventeen-year-old, Anastasia, but now there's a fictional hundred-and-four-year-old, Darya Borisovna Spiridova competing for my affections.
Recommendation: This is one I was sorry to see end. This would make a great book club read.
"In these unstable times, when people are either afraid to talk or have no qualms about convicting innocent citizens, everyone is suspect"—page 41
"They were absent children, absent of personality, absent of presence, and, except for holidays, largely absent from the house."—page 10UNFORGIVABLE.
"They were absent children, absent of personality, absent of presence, and, except for holidays, largely absent from the house."—page 10
Perhaps no effort or experience is ever really a complete waste of time, but reading this novel, MAY WE BE FORGIVEN, by A. M. Homes—the narrative of which mostly oscillates in a range from 'lame and unpleasant' to outright 'stupid and disgusting'—comes very close.
Recommendation: I'm sorry I read it. And, now that I have, I'd be ashamed to recommend it to anyone else.
Despite the strangeness of interviews with her dentist and with ILLUMINATING, INSIGHTFUL & DELIGHTFUL.
“The lady was a wowser.”—Scott Stanley, page 153
Despite the strangeness of interviews with her dentist and with her cats� veterinarian, Scott McConnell’s �100 Voices: An Oral History of Ayn Rand,� is a magnificent love letter to the memory of one of the loveliest ladies who ever lived. I was especially pleased to read the interviews with Mickey Spillane, Robert Stack and Duane Eddy; and the interview about her (incredibly expensive) lunch with James Clavell.
Ayn Rand was one of those enormous personalities whose verve and vivacity would light up (albeit sometimes enflame) an entire auditorium—an entire generation. Even now, almost three decades after her death, her memory still excites the heart and mind of this, aging, fan—and probably many more, longtime and newly acquired.
Recommendation: For Ayn Rand fans �100 Voices� is a definite ‘SHOULD READ!�
“She never disappeared into the background. She sparkled.”—Alan Toffler, page 221
“There is no book on women by a man that is not a stupendous compendium of posturings and imbecilities.”—page 105
H.VERY ENTERTAINING (ALBEIT TOO TRUE)
“There is no book on women by a man that is not a stupendous compendium of posturings and imbecilities.”—page 105
H. L. Mencken’s ‘In Defense of Women� is, indeed, “a stupendous compendium of posturings and imbecilities� that begs the platitudinous question: ‘Who will defend them from their defenders?� In a hundred and twelve pages of lively sesquipedalian loquacity, Mencken manages to lampoon most of mankind and offer up a handful of backhanded kudos to the ladies.
Recommendation: Read for the fun of it, and for its vocabulary expanding potential.
“If the work of the average man required half the mental agility and readiness of resource of the work of the average prostitute, the average man would be constantly on the verge of starvation.”—page 16
A Project Guttenberg eBook [] edition, 112 pages ...more
“Self-respect: The secure feeling that no one, as yet, is suspicious.”—page 70
Why is it that when reading Mencken one feels GILBERT-AND-SULLIVANESQUE.
“Self-respect: The secure feeling that no one, as yet, is suspicious.”—page 70
Why is it that when reading Mencken one feels that they’d be more comfortable if they were wearing a flak jacket?
Once again, in his ‘A Book of Burlesques,� Mencken, the master of irreverence, gives forth a collection of philosophical dog-droppings running the gamut from downright boring to uproariously hilarious.
Now I’m looking forward to reading his ‘In Defense of Women.� I’m sure that women-hood will never be in more need of defending than after reading what H. L. has to say in their defense.
Recommendation: ‘A Book of Burlesques� offers a glimpse into the warped mind of Mencken. That may not be everyone’s cup of pomegranate wine. Read at your own risk.
“Man weeps to think that he will die so soon. Woman, that she was born so long ago.”—page 72
A Project Gutenberg ePub edition [], 84 pages. ...more
“It is the misfortune of humanity that its history is chiefly written by third-rate men.”—page 13
“He [Washington] had no beliefA ROLLICKING GOOD READ.
“It is the misfortune of humanity that its history is chiefly written by third-rate men.”—page 13
“He [Washington] had no belief in the infallible wisdom of the common people, but regarded them as inflammatory dolts, and tried to save the republic from them.”—page 2
None other, I am convinced, has ever been as skilled at the use of words in the American language, as the ‘irascible curmudgeon,� H. L. Mencken. Certainly Boyle, Michener, Twain and Robbins all competently aspire—but Mencken is the master.
‘Damn! A Book of Calumny� is an assortment of forty-nine commentaries—many about the “average man� (of whom H. L. was never wont to champion)—some riotous, some banal that overall offers up a rollicking good read.
Recommendation: Mencken is an acquired taste, but once acquired can be addicting.
“The average man does not get pleasure out of an idea because he thinks it is true; he thinks it is true because he gets pleasure out of it.� –page 41
“Marriage is always a man’s second choice.”—page 29
At a very young age, Mary Antin exhibited an incredible facility for using words to capture and illuminate experience. In her narratA DELIGHT TO READ.
At a very young age, Mary Antin exhibited an incredible facility for using words to capture and illuminate experience. In her narrative, ‘From Plotzk to Boston,� with lucid and luminescent prose, she shares an insider’s view of the Russian-Jewish emigration experience—its agonies and its joys—during the late nineteenth century.
Recommendation: This is a very highly recommended, short read. Read also Mary Antin’s ‘The Promised Land,� a more comprehensive look at the emigrant/immigrant experience. If you have an ereader, and/or software, these books are available to download free of charge (see below).
[ePub edition] A free ebook from �46 pages [see also: ...more
“Add up all the rivers never swum in, cakes never eaten, and by the time you get my age, Will, it’s a lot missed out on.”—page DARK, BUT ENTERTAINING.
“Add up all the rivers never swum in, cakes never eaten, and by the time you get my age, Will, it’s a lot missed out on.”—page 70
“…since when did you think being good meant being happy?”—page 70
I’ve long been convinced that Ray Bradbury is wired quite differently than most people. ‘Something Wicked This Way Comes,� reinforces that conviction. It is dark, which is not my favorite thing to read, but none-the-less hard to put down entertainment.
Recommendation: Especially for those of us who are—not necessarily weird—perhaps in need of just a bit more understanding.
The novel, ‘True Grit.� By Charles Portis deserves to be on every recommended reading list of American literature worth AN AMERICAN NATIONAL TREASURE.
The novel, ‘True Grit.� By Charles Portis deserves to be on every recommended reading list of American literature worth being called a ‘recommended reading list�.
“…she [Mattie Ross, 14-year old protagonist/narrator of True Grit] is less Huck Finn’s little sister than Captain Ahab’s.”—page 140 [from the ‘Afterword� by Donna Tartt]
Adobe Digital Reader ePub edition, 143 pages ...more
“Lyrical prose and deft story telling”—Chicago Sun Times (front cover)
EXCELLENT. ENJOYABLE. ENLIGHTENING.
“Iris Rose had started her life with a soul t“Lyrical prose and deft story telling”—Chicago Sun Times (front cover)
EXCELLENT. ENJOYABLE. ENLIGHTENING.
“Iris Rose had started her life with a soul that wanted to die.”—page 218
“Medical training, scientific method, modern knowledge…these things have never been part of their daily lives, they have no use for them…but heaven forbid they show it.”—page 112
Being part French-Canadian myself, me, and having grown up among friends and relatives with last names like Benoit, Comeau, Crepaux, Landry, Masse, and Thibodeau, most things Arcadian (/Cajun) hold a measure of fascination for me.
So it was that the character name, ‘Marie Babineau�, is what drew me to read Ami McKay’s excellent and insightful novel: ‘The Birth House�. I’m glad it did.
Sociology, human nature (“Grace Hutner could make a man want to go blind, just so he could better hear her lies.”—page 44), provincialism, practicality (“In our plain corner of the world, romance is nothing but awkward. Better to leave it between the pages of books.”—page 121); folk medicine, fear of change, the sadness of war (“…miles upon miles of waste brought on by man’s devotion to war.”—page 179), even Spanish influenza� its all here in, the 19-teens, remote, Scots Bay, Nova Scotia; and, oh yes, a bit of very practical Arcadian midwifery, too.
And what of the young men who didn’t rush headlong off to the war in Europe? “As President of the Scots Bay Chapter of the White Feather Brigade, I present this token to you, for your undying dedication to being a traitor, a menace and a coward. May all the starving orphans of Europe curse your name.� –page 102. I’d never heard of this practice, before. So I Googled it:
“The Order of the White Feather�, 1914 British women, known as “White Feather Girls�. It was the tactical objective of this group to shame civilian men into joining the armed services. This aim was to be accomplished by public humiliation -- the women handing out white feathers to any man who did not wear a uniform. (See the very interesting essay, "White Feather" Feminism: The Recalcitrant Progeny of Radical Suffragist and Conservative Pro-War Britain, by Robin Mac Donald, at: )
Recommendation: I obviously liked this novel very much and highly recommend it. With such a myriad of vital topics, ripe for group discussion, it should make an especially good book club selection.
Adobe Digital Edition, ePub, on loan from the LACPL, 316 pages ...more
“If you are Gypsy Rose Lee, you don’t have to act, you don’t have to sing. All you have to do is keep up your strengtAN INTERESTING STORY POORLY TOLD.
“If you are Gypsy Rose Lee, you don’t have to act, you don’t have to sing. All you have to do is keep up your strength so you can carry your money to the bank.”—GLR—page 83
The disorganized presentation of Karen Abbott’s book, ‘American Rose, A Nation Laid Bare: The Life and Times of Gypsy Rose Lee’—with alternating chapters leaping forward and backward between the 1910s/�20s and the 1940s/�50s, with jumps of as much as thirty years in either direction—is very annoying and confusing. Instead of looking forward in anticipation to picking up where I’d left off, and exploring what happened NEXT in this fascinating person’s exciting life, I found myself dreading the effort needed at reorientation to a different time and place, a different set of people and circumstances, and a totally different set of cultural values—than I’d just spent the last twenty minutes or so reading and learning about.
Recommendation: Lukewarm at best.
“Being poor is a state of mind. Being broke is only a temporary situation”—Mike Todd –page 21
Adobe ePub edition. From LACPL, 408 pages. ...more
“It was like being at an Arabian hoedown with a band of psychedelic hillbillies.”—page 124
Patti Smith and Robert Mapplethorpe, the principals ofBILGE.
“It was like being at an Arabian hoedown with a band of psychedelic hillbillies.”—page 124
Patti Smith and Robert Mapplethorpe, the principals of Smith’s memoir, ‘Just Kids,� are two of the least engaging, least compelling and least interesting characters, real or imagined, that I’ve ever encountered in book form (with the possible exception of ‘Freddy and Fredericka� from Mark Helprin’s horrible book by that name). Even the exciting setting of a Bohemian N.Y.C. couldn’t redeem this train wreck.
Recommendation: There’s no one that I could possibly dislike enough�
Adobe digital edition [ePub], on loan from the L.A. County Public Library, 199 pages. ...more
‘INEFFECTUAL: THE LIFE AND TIMES OF A WOMEN WHO WAS NEVER QUITE…�
“…it is a question of preventing the youth of this great country, from being debauche‘INEFFECTUAL: THE LIFE AND TIMES OF A WOMEN WHO WAS NEVER QUITE…�
“…it is a question of preventing the youth of this great country, from being debauched in mind, body and soul.”—page 17
For the first hundred or so pages of ‘Heaven’s Bride: The Unprintable Life of Ida C. Craddock, American Mystic, Scholar, Sexologist, Martyr, and Madwoman� Leigh Eric Schmidt’s narrative is mostly boring and confusing. I’m not sure whether Ida Craddock was the marginally charismatic whack-a-doo, this portrait lends me to believe, or not; but I do know that reading these pages had me questioning my own sanity in continuing.
The second hundred or so pages improved to a battle of good: freedom of expression, versus the very ugly evil of the book-burning, threat-of-imprisonment, censorship of Anthony Comstock—another whack-a-doo; culminating in Miss Craddock’s suicide at forty-five. The final thirty-five or so pages of post-mortem psychoanalysis almost redeemed the previous two hundred pages, but not quite.
“We come unbidden into this life, and if we are lucky we find a purpose beyond starvation, misery, and early death wA REMARKABLE AND COMPELLING STORY.
“We come unbidden into this life, and if we are lucky we find a purpose beyond starvation, misery, and early death which, lest we forget, is the common lot.”—page 19
In prose that is lush, lambent and lyrical, and with impeccable timing and tension, Abraham Verghese, in his novel ‘Cutting for Stone,� spins an exceptionally clever and compelling tale.
ŷ.com doesn’t accommodate fractional stars in their ratings, else I’d happily give this one at least 4-1/2 stars.
Recommendation: Don’t wait. Read this one as soon as you can.
Adobe digital edition [ePub] on loan from LACPL, 602 pages. ...more
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