My Antonia (Willa Cather, 1918)

This is another delightful re-read, though my initial read would have been prior to blogging about books.

Antonia is the daughter of Czech immigrants to Nebraska; she arrives with her family (the Shimerda family) on the same train bearing newly-orphaned Jim Burden, who will be living with his grandparents on their Nebraska farm just a short distance from the Shimerdas.

Jim is four years younger than Antonia; helps her learn English at the request of her father (a strong character who didn't adapt well to moving across the ocean); he admires and falls in love with Antonia after a fashion, though separation by age and life trajectory didn't permit anything to happen (other than a lifelong friendship, if often separated by distance).

The book is rightly famous for its descriptions of the Nebraska prairie and of life in those frontier days.  The Shimerdas were not well prepared and received quite a bit of help from Jim's grandparents in the early going.

The story isn't quite as interesting once Jim and his grandparents move into town (as they aged off the farm); arrangemenets are made for Antonia to get off her farm (overworked by her brother) and take domestic jobs in town.  We meet several other immigrant girls.  Antonia with a bad experience with a railroad guy that promised marriage. Jim eventually comes back to Nebraska and meets Antonia's husband and children.

Cather an absolute favorite of mine.    

The Importance of Being Earnest (Oscar Wilde, 1895)

Kindle offered this as a free item; we had joked about it with my dad; so why not? Entertaining, light.  Two Londoners claim to be named "Ernest" as they woo two separate young women who have a thing about marrying someone named "Ernest". 

There is a butler of course, but not nearly as entertaining as Wodehouse's Jeeves.

I liked it but was hoping for more. Very quick read.  

Oedipus Trilogy (Oedipus Rex (429 BC), Oedipus at Colonus (406 BC), Antigone (442 BC)) (Sophocles)

Re-read - first time would have been freshman year at Notre Dame, so 1974 or 1975.  I got the idea to read this from a book gifted on Father's Day from Paul Jr. and Nedda ("Papyrus" - lots of interesting thoughts on the ancient Greeks).

Pretty quick reading, the story lines are familiar.  Oedipus runs into some bad luck and is made eternally famous; in his old age he is supported by Antigone in particular and then protected by Theseus; one of his sons, slain in battle, is left to the jackals by Creon (an incredible insult in those days, perhaps any time) - at least until Antigone defies Creon.

Kind of amazing that folks were doing this quality of literature this long ago, I hope I don't take it for granted.  I hadn't realized the sequencing of the three works, how far apart in time.

The "Papyrus" book indicates that Sophocles was one of the big three of that time period (with Aeschyles and Euripides). 

War and Peace (Leo Tolstoy, 1869) (re-read)

After finishing Lonesome Dove - I much enjoyed the "big canvas" type of very-long-book - so seemed like a good time to re-read War and Peace.  Last time was in 2012, summarized here.  It continues to delight.  Partly because it's interesting how much of the details, even some key plot items, get forgotten over the years (at least by me).

I won't repeat the 2012 thoughts. A couple additional items - 

There is a super-charming minor scene - the hunt - Natasha and Petya accompany Nicholas.  “Uncle’s” low-rent borzoi catches the hare. Later they gather at Uncle’s home for food and music. Natasha dancing to the peasant music.  Everyone happy.

The hunt scene is followed pretty shortly by another charming evening - Nicholas, Natasha, Petya, Sonya accompany some of the serfs etc as “mummers” on sleigh ride across the snow to a neighbor’s house.  Nicholas charmed (re-charmed?) by Sonya just when getting pressured to marry a wealthy heiress (Julie Karagin).

Prince Andrew facing death after Borodino, encounters Natasha.  Looking to the next world rather than this one. These passages are really well done.

I had forgotten the parts about Natasha growing up a lot between packing up the Moscow house and caring for post-Borodino Prince Andrew. I had remembered her mostly for immaturity, which wasn't complete.

Re-reads are great pleasures. 

Lonesome Dove (Larry McMurtry, 1985)

Book club selection via Chris (session held June 8, 2025).

It's a really delightful read.  It's also really long, so here I'm going to include various notes I jotted as I read (rather than a more traditional write-up).

Emptiness of the plains; the gap moment when the Indians had largely been removed but the settlers were not yet numerous.  A good job communicating this.

Whore with a kindly heart appears - Crime and Punishment, From Here to Eternity, etc. - a classic character.

Prevalence of whoring as profession for women in this part of the world - I think it's probably correct on the leading edge.  Mining camps.

Grasshoppers - a good description of the swarm - these don't seem to happen anymore?

Rough characters sloughing off from the Civil War.

Life in Lonesome Dove, Call's increasing restlessness.

The whole idea of uprooting everything, for many folks including folks not fully capable of making independent decisions, to run some cattle up to Montana - unknown territory, relying on Jake's comments in the early going. 

Wilbarger is funny in his opening scenes. A favorite character. Reading John Milton. 

Sean O'Brien and the snakes

Louisa's proposal to just-arrived Roscoe

Jake and Lorena

The cattle drivers (Call and co)

Roscoe pursuing July, picks up Janey

July (accompanied by Joe) pursuing Jake, switches to chasing Elmira

Elmira pursuing Dee

July, Roscoe, Joe, Janey take the two robbers to Ft Worth jail

Blue Duck takes Lorena. Gus follows. 

Jake falls in with the Suggs brothers. Chapters involving them were not pleasant.  They get Wilbarger.  Gus and Call get them and Jake whew.  Another rough passage.

As i get to the 75% area I'm feeling like I need a break.  So much heavy stuff happening.  Much lighter earlier in the novel.

Law and order, peace and prosperity, these are not the default condition anywhere in the world at any time. Action on the plains!

Was Clara right - her long speech about Gus and Call - just two guys who couldn't resist a ramble - leaving behind women, Newt?

All these folks relocated to Montana.  For what? Their future?

Call witnesses Blue Duck's death, then he runs into settlers.  Change.

Call - the world for which he was suited didn't exist anymore.

His pleasure in watching Newt.  His failure to tell Newt. The author didn't give us what we wanted. Leaves more of a sting at the end.

Wrapping up the book with Wanz committing suicide over Lorena. Her power over Dish. Gus spending time with her.

The scene of Gus's death is very long but works very well.

Lots of death; Newt's reaction.

Numerous characters with "why did we leave Texas?" Pretty normal.

Deets - most gifted helper. Very sad to be drawn north.

Many highlighted passages.

Trying to understand the wistfulness, or ?, as conclude the book.

Maybe because McMurtry didn't tie up loose ends.

Gus dead, didn't end up with Clara or anyone. Killed by an arrow.

Deets dead, sad to be far away.

Call not feeling any purpose, disappointed in himself for not speaking with Newt. (Call pretty deep throughout)

Newt very disappointed with Call.  But he's young.  With a ton of responsibility.

Clara up in Nebraska; no Gus; seems accepting of the dud July Johnson but why; just rationalizing about why she didn't accept Gus, or did she mean it? 

Lorena - felt pretty shallow to me, also stuck in Nebraska.

The whole group of hands up in Montana - are they OK? How long can they ranch up there when no surrounding towns or ranches? Loneliness plus plus.  Indians probably less of a threat.

Charles Goodnight!

The old cook; Bolivar.

Pea Eye pretty simple. 

Jake Spoon - also shallow.

One of the best passages in the book was Gus telling Pea Eye that he wouldn't have missed the drive for the world - a fine horse in a fresh country - and that Call was just the same.

Call and Gus like a married couple.

Mason Dixon - Crucible of the Nation (Edward G. Gray, 2023)

(374 pages)

Grok's summary below.  I liked the book but it was kind of a slog in spots. Here are some ideas I took away - 

The idea of uncertain boundaries in the early colonial era, sometimes continuing quite a while.  Vague land grants, inexact or nonexistent maps. Settlers who don't know if they have title, don't know who is entitled to tax payments, etc.  Challenges of surveying - in merry old England you could line up a bell tower or whatnot whereas in this area it was a bunch of trees and other ephemera.

Similar - vague wording of authority granted to proprietors of the various colonies. In this immediate area - conflict between Lord Baltimore and successors (Maryland) and William Penn and successors (Pennsylvania).

Meeting the actual Mason and Dixon - very little biographical information, few details of their surveying expedition.  One of them later became obsessed with figuring out longitude (though I don't think he was part of the famous contest, per this). 

Interesting discussion about Lancaster (Charlie & Beth's area) - always part of Pennsylvania, a bit to the west and nearing Maryland; Pennsylvania ultimately succeed in pushing its border a bit south (at Maryland's expense).

Low Counties become Delaware.

Mason Dixon line as fraught for blacks - I hadn't thought about it but because getting into Pennsylvania was a very useful step in escaping - southerners very watchful in this area - tough for free blacks. 

Fugitive slave acts. Roger Taney and James Buchanan.  

Maryland and Delaware south of the Line and both permitted slavery; but they did not secede.

I didn't appreciate how exposed Washington DC was during Civil war times.  Maryland with slaveholders and mixed feelings about this; if it seceded, no way to get federal trips to DC without passing through rebel territory.  

Author with a couple obligatory potshots at capitalism as driving slavery. Does not mention that slavery existed pretty much always and everywhere, before any idea of capitalism was conceived; or that capitalist countries were the first to ban it.  Oh well.

Grok is kind of generic - 

Mason-Dixon: Crucible of the Nation by Edward G. Gray traces the history of the Mason-Dixon Line, a boundary that resolved a colonial dispute and became a symbol of America’s divisions. Established in 1767, the line settled a conflict between Pennsylvania and Maryland, sparked by Pennsylvania’s 1681 founding, Dutch settlers in Delaware, and rapid agricultural growth. This led to jurisdictional chaos, violence, and ethnic clashes with Lenape and Susquehannock natives. Historian Gray frames the line as a geopolitical border where colonial, imperial, Native, and U.S. sovereignties collided.

The book highlights the line’s transformation into a cultural and political divide. Pennsylvania’s 1780 abolition act positioned the Mason-Dixon as a boundary between free and slave states, intensified by the 1850 Fugitive Slave Act, which made it a federal tool to recapture enslaved people. Gray details the region’s history of imperial intrigue, Native dispossession, and settler violence, featuring colonial grandees, Native diplomats, Quaker abolitionists, and Underground Railroad conductors navigating a volatile borderland.

Gray excels in analyzing the line’s role in pre-Civil War tensions between abolitionist Pennsylvania and slaveholding Maryland. Initially meant to end conflict, the line became a metaphor for a divided nation, reflecting struggles over slavery, freedom, and identity. Its significance faded post-Civil War but lingered through Jim Crow oppression. Deeply researched, Gray’s narrative reframes U.S. history by centering this overlooked region, revealing its national impact. Praised for its vivid storytelling, the book underscores the Mason-Dixon Line’s role in shaping America’s colonial roots, nation-building, and enduring racial divides.

The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (Mark Twain, 1885)

I had never read this one and found it worthwhile, if mostly because of its place in American literature. 

Not a favorite, and there were plenty parts where I just blew through it.  But entertaining.

A sequel to Twain's novel Tom Sawyer (also never read by me); Huck has some money, is living with an aunt, runs into problems with his alcoholic father.  Escapes the father by faking his own murder and getting to an island in the river.  A slave named Jim (familiar to Huck) escapes upon hearing of a plan to sell him downriver, is thought to have murdered Huck, escapes to the same island.  They meet up and decide to head downriver to Cairo, from which they will get Jim to a free state.

But they sail past Cairo in foggy conditions.  Keep heading south, which is risky.  Encounter the King and the Duke - a couple grifters preying on river towns - Twain spends quite a bit of time with those two.  Jim eventually is captured and held for return to his owner.

Huck ends up with Tom Sawyer's relatives somewhere pretty far south; then Tom shows up; they work out an elaborate plan to free Jim.  All ends well.

Twain clearly knew the river; antebellum South descriptions are good; it's a useful way to think about slavery.

The Inimitable Jeeves (P.G. Wodehouse, 1923)

(225 pages)

I really want to like Wodehouse's books.  He has such a funny way of writing (always coming up with a phrase or word that I wouldn't expect); I think the books are considered to have aged well; I want to keep trying; but I usually end up wondering why I'm spending any time reading them.  Hmm.

My last Wodehouse attempt was 10 years ago.

This is the first volume in what became a lengthy series of books centered around the unflappable problem-solving butler, Jeeves. He is employed by Bertie Wooster - a youngish gentleman who is independently wealthy. In this volume, Bertie is beset by Aunt Agatha; deals with multiple romances experienced by his friend Bingo; deals with two miscreant cousins (Claude and Eustace).

With Jeeves around, everything turns out well.  

OK I will try the next Jeeves volume before deciding on whether to give up.

Excellent Women (Barbara Pym, 1952)

(231 pages)

Paul Jr. recommendation. 

Miss (Mildred) Lathbury is the protagonist - she (and several of her acquaintances) are "excellent women" - single, perhaps a bit frumpy, unlikely to ever attract a husband, reliable when it comes to church functions, etc.

During the period covered in this novel, Mildred experiences an unusual level of activity due to Mr. and Mrs. Napier moving into the flat immediately below Mildred's; Mrs. Napier's anthropologist connection Mr. Everard Bone; Mildred's close friends Father Julian Malory (who almost ends up marrying widowed Allegra Gray) and his sister Winifred; etc.  Mildred nonetheless remains an "excellent woman".

I liked this book; it was thought-provoking.  Something striking is the near-poverty experienced by the British in these postwar years - food choices, shortage of housing - this is seven years after victory.

More striking is the description of life for people who just generally aren't considered what later came to be called "cool", know it, and don't see a path to anything different. Yet they, or at least Mildred, is living a valuable life.  Descriptions of selecting clothes, hairstyle, eating meals alone - lowkey heartbreaking stuff.  Jockeying for position when it comes to determining flower arrangements for the altar; working through the "jumble" (rummage sale). This part was very effective, probably is the main driver of the book for me.

Things feel kind of dreary for all the adults involved - then I realized (only after reading A.N. Wilson's foreword) - that there are utterly no children in the story - none on the horizon for any of the adults. That seems like kind of an odd choice. 

Focus - The ASML Way - Inside the Power Struggle over the Most Complex Machine on Earth (Marc Hijink, 2023)

 (337 pages)

ASML today is a world-famous company.  Its core product is photolithography machines, used to print intricate patterns on silicon wafers, a key step in chip manufacturing. ASML is the sole supplier of extreme ultraviolet (EUV) lithography machines, enabling the production of smaller, faster, and more powerful microchips.  Largest tech company in Europe.

Their machines are critical to production of pretty much every single advanced chip - for AI or whatnot (Invidia and the like). I don't understand all this so well, I do see that the price of newest machine is nearly $400 million per unit.

I'm deeply interested in the company because I was lead lawyer for ASML's US operations (based in Phoenix) from 1991 - 1996 (working with the senior partner who had initiated the relationship).  It was fascinating work at the time.  The newly-released (1991) PAS 5500 wafer stepper cost an astounding $1 million per unit.  We were doing purchase agreements with Micron and Advanced Micro Devices (AMD).  And a new customer - Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Corporation (TSMC).  It was interesting to read that many 5500s continue in operation to this day.  I'm wondering about the service contracts we wrote for those machines in the 1990s!  ASML's big competitor was Nikon.  Karl Zeiss lenses were a big selling point, that was a new relationship for ASML when I was involved.

My then-law firm had initiated the relationship with ASML in approximately 1984. ASML was a pure Dutch start-up funded by Philips (big Dutch electronics company), but didn't fit well with Philips.  Tech entrepreneur Arthur del Prado - founder and CEO of Dutch corporation Advanced Semiconductor Materials International (ASMI) - talked Philips into a 50-50 joint venture with ASMI.  My then-law firm already represented ASMI in the US, so took over the joint venture (soon named ASML).  

Arthur del Prado is a guy I spent quite a bit of time with, both in the Netherlands and in the US.  An entrepreneur with a vision for ASMI of developing wafer processing machines that would cover every step of the manufacturing process (from the "front end" - high science devices that mostly etched the chips atop the silicon wafers - to the "back end" - incrementally less sophisticated devices that cut the wafers into chips and then packaged them and attached lead "wires").  ASML would have filled a key gap in the ASMI front-end product line. But ASMI had too ambitious of a goal, and was running out of money trying to take on too many production segments - so it reluctantly cashed out its interest in ASML in 1988 (selling back to Philips).  A decade later, ASML alone - concentrating on a single key wafer processing machine - was worth more than all of ASMI put together. (ASML considered changing its name - it didn't like the "ASM" portion of the name once the ASMI relationship had ended - but finally decided that the confusion and hassle wasn't worth it.) (ASMI did have some product hits, including a wafer stepper that processed every single Pentium chip manufactured by Intel; we created two limited partnerships to partially finance development of this stepper.)

Even though ASMI no longer had any ownership interest in ASML, we in Phoenix were able to continue representing both companies. Per above, 35-year old me took over the relationship in 1991 with both ASMI and ASML.

The book discusses ASML hiring Peter Wennink as CFO in 1997, and how he became effectively co-CEO, just hitting retirement now.  Wennink was a Deloitte partner and I got to know him in that capacity. Philips listed ASML shares on Nasdaq starting in 1995.  I was looking to leave my law firm, and Wennink asked if I was interested in taking a general counsel role with ASML (he liked my securities law experience in addition to general familiarity with the company). I didn't want to take on the commitment - which would have involved lots of travel to the Netherlands - and I'm not sure they even wanted someone like me - after we ended the discussion, they hired a more junior person for US operations and he has worked out great. (It also wasn't clear to me how things would work with the corporate center of gravity still in the Netherlands.) Instead of ASML I ended up moving to Employee Solutions as GC/SVP (we loved titles!); sadly, it went bankrupt in ~ 2003 (I left ESI in January 2000).)

The book also discusses the hiring of Doug Dunn as ASML CEO at the same time - I got to know him, liked him, he didn't last nearly as long as Wennink.

The book goes on to describe ASML's ascension to world-class status - that happened long after I no longer worked with the company.  The discussion of TSMC and ASML in Arizona in recent years is of course very interesting (CHIPS Act as part of the story).  Also the political issues have gotten quite hot, with the US in particular interested in preventing China from getting its hands on ASML's technology. This was happening during both the Trump and Biden administrations, probably still is. 

A good read.  ASML's product is magic, unbelievable stuff.

A Man at Arms (Steven Pressfield, 2021)

(316 pages)

St. Paul's letter (epistle) to the Corinthians needs to be delivered from [wherever it was penned]; copies are entrusted to several messengers; all but one are intercepted by Roman forces (Rome considering the letter as highly insurrectionary).  The final copy is entrusted to a courier named Michael, traveling with a mute girl named Ruth. Rome enlists Telamon - former Roman legionary - as a mercenary to find the pair and bring back the letter.  Telamon has an unexpected apprentice (Michael); they are dogged by a sorceress who accompanies them for long stretches. 

Rome is not trustworthy and pursues the pair with its own forces; also chased by Jews feeling threatened by Christianity, other bounty hunters.

The tale of the pursuit and the journey in general - from Judea to the Nile and across to Greece - is very well done.

I did not see the ending coming, but I thought it was really effective.  The contrast between Roman brutality and St. Paul's messaging.  

(I don't know much theology though understand that chunks of St. Paul's writings are out of favor with some; but yes there remain many quite fine passages.) 

Having attended literally thousands of Roman Catholic Masses - St. Paul included in the readings for no doubt a large majority of them - the familiarity with the topic makes this story more compelling.  

High - A Journey Across the Himalaya through Pakistan, India, Bhutan, Nepal, and China (Erika Fatland, 2023)

 (570 pages)

Author took a journey through the areas mentioned in the title; it was divided into two segments, each lasting months.

I like travel books - they give a feel for geography and history told against a story line of things the traveler is encountering, difficulties along the way, etc.

These areas are generally unfamiliar to me. As she moves east, even less familiar.  Lots of visits to Buddhist temples (after starting more with Hindu-Muslim mix, mostly Hindu, then Hindu-Buddhist mix).

Discussions of India-China borderlands are interesting, also India-Pakistan - fraught areas, as is well-known. Kashmir.

Discussions of Chinese control in these areas - after some intermittent resistance, now it's mostly well-controlled.  Social media monitored more closely than in modern-day Great Britain! In the short "acknowledgements" section at the end of the book the author mentions the risks that folks took in speaking with her, including on dangerous topics; she obscured their names and locations in the telling. This atmosphere won't be changing anytime soon.

Lots of Chinese tourists in various areas - as the country has gotten wealthier, they are on the move.

Some of the areas are incredibly obscure.  Shamans with lots of power.  Menstruating women sent off to a hut for days; poor conditions, unhealthy to the point of causing some deaths.  Changing, but many still stuck with this.

Dealing with altitude. She visits Mt. Everest base camp, an interesting perspective from a person not attempting the summit.

Pretty amazing to imagine throughout; I don't foresee visiting any of these places; so it's nice to at least get an armchair experience.

Gates of Fire (The Battle of Thermopylae) (Steven Pressfield, 1998)

(384 pages)

Greek survivor at Thermopylae is asked by Xerxes, seeking understanding about the courage of the Spartans, to tell the story of the battle as he understood it.  A Persian historian records the tale.

A good job of moving back and forth in time. Weaving in early childhood experiences of the survivor (and his sister), his incorporation into Spartan ways.

I wasn't as interested in the battle sequences though no doubt they are rendered effectively.

This kind of fighting - no drones; no gunfire from a distance.  

Descriptions of the Spartan training.  Their superiority. Selection of the 300; their known fate.

I appreciated that the author typically presented the Persians, even their auxiliaries, as courageous fighters. 

Ending phases of the book are remarkably good.  The speeches of King Leonidas and others on the final morning of the battle. The type of brotherhood of these men in arms; echoes of similar stories from wars throughout history; very effective. A relationship unlike any other.

This is an idealized presentation of Sparta as I understand things - though that's OK, the focus here is military matters and it seems Sparta very much excelled there.

Courage of the Spartan women is presented, an interesting angle that I hadn't previously seen; how their support mattered.

Good discussions of courage and fear; "there are rooms we must not enter" - courage doesn't mean absence of fear.

Well worth reading.

The Pioneers (David McCullough, 2019)

 (258 pages)

Quick read, enjoyable, McCullough writes engagingly.

This is a story about the Northwest Territory - which became five states with which I'm quite familiar (WI, IL, IN, MI, OH) - I don't know much about this history.  

For one thing I didn't realize the scale of the Ohio River - looking at it on the map was useful.

Also didn't realize how this followed close on the heels of the Revolutionary War; lots of veterans involved.  First settlers head for Ohio in 1787. Founding of Marietta, Ohio.  

Author kind of obsessed with the education and anti-slavery planks of the founding documents; somewhat though much less interested in the fate of the local natives.

The stories about clearing the land, building settlements, dealing with Indians, etc. seemed more familiar.  Mad Anthony Wayne's expedition ended the Indian threat (if that's the way to describe it).

Rapid growth, a lot of change is seen - flatboats, keelboats eventually steam power. Crossing the Alleghenies very difficult; early travelers sometimes had to take apart their wagons and carry the pieces through a rough spot or two (along with the cargo).

Story is told via diaries and letters that I don't think were previously plumbed to such depth.  It's an effective way to tell the story - we see things through the eyes of selected founders and their descendants. One was a doctor who moonlighted as a naturalist (Hildreth). Reminded of the approach in Holland's excellent book about WWII in Italy (though not as compelling as that instance). 

Rabbit, Run (John Updike, 1960)

 (325 pages)

Updike is well thought of, I think.  This novel (and a couple companion pieces) are considered to be among his best, I think. 

But I only made it a little over halfway.  Maybe missed something great. But I don't like this kind of book.  Protagonist was a successful high school basketball player, later unhappy with his wife, acting immature, mostly interacting with unappealing folks.