Churchill's War Lab (Taylor Downing, 2011) (Overlook Press!)

Gift from my brother Charlie via my goddaughter's (now former) employer - The Overlook Press.

For starters: anything involving Winston Churchill has to be interesting.  So much history is more interesting than fiction; his life is an extreme example.  The book spent a fair amount of time reviewing his biography.  I remember the Des Moines Register making a big deal out of his death and funeral in the 1960s (I just looked it up, it was 1965).  Meaning I remember a guy who was in the last large-scale cavalry attack (Omdurman), was in the Boer War, correspondent, author, heavily involved in WWI, social legislation in London, India.  And then of course there was something about him with standing up to Hitler, WWII and the Iron Curtain thereafter.  Etc.  Well beyond amazing.

The book purports to be about "Code-Breakers, Scientists, and the Mavericks Churchill Led to Victory."  And it sort of is - but doesn't go into a ton of detail about this.  Sort of a blend of biography, WWII overview, some of the technical stuff.  As far as I'm concerned, it's a good mix - a lot of the technical stuff would be beyond my understanding anyway.

Author says Churchill supported the development of "land ships" circa 1915, disguised as "water tanks", later as "tanks".  Maybe that part about naming the vehicle is true - where else would the word come from?

The cover photo is amusing, though the author reports that WC never used a tommy gun.

I liked the book.

All The King's Men (Robert Penn Warren, 1946)

I've seen bits and pieces of the movie but never read the book.  I thought Broderick Crawford was great in the (1949) movie; didn't realize it won Best Picture (and that Crawford was Best Actor).  Didn't realize there was a 2006 movie version with absolute all star cast (discussed here) that was a colossal failure.

The version I read was billed as a "restored edition" - some professor went back and assembled original version of the story, I think this means changes in chapter 1 plus some other changes.  I obviously don't appreciate if there was a difference.  The demagogue is named Willie Talos in this "restored" version (echoing some Roman from classical times); the later (and far more likely to endure) version of the book - actually the version that already has been in widespread use for 50 years - used the name Willie Stark.  Styled after Huey Long.

Though the story is really about Jack Burden anyway.

I liked the book quite a bit, more than expected.  Would definitively recommend it.

Some echoes of Citizen Kane (with the Joseph Cotten character from the movie reminiscent of Jack Burden).  Many echoes with current politics, as discussed here.  Compelling characters:  Willie Talos/Stark, his wife, his son (Tom), Jack Burden, Sadie Burke, Sugar Boy, Tiny Duffy, Judge Irwin, Anne Stanton, Adam Stanton, Jack Burden's mother and her husbands (the Scholarly Attorney, the Count, the Young Executive).  And I much liked how the time lens of the story moved back and forth, I thought that worked really well. 

There is a really effective section in the middle of the book where Burden describes his research into a family member (undertaken back when Burden was pursuing an advanced degree in history that he never finished) - Cass Mastern - this would be a great stand-alone story.  Cass died in a Confederate hospital in Atlanta during the Civil War; lover of his friend's wife before the war; very compelling how they couldn't stand when slaves had "their eyes on me" - selling Phebe away from her husband; etc.

The most interesting discussions probably occur when Talos/Stark discusses how he gets things done in politics, and why it's ok.  The ridiculous belief that "there was a time a long time back when everything was run by high-minded, handsome men wearing knee breeches and silver buckles or even buckskin and coonskin caps, as the case may be . . . who sat around a table and candidly debated the good of the public thing."  Talos/Stark understands that the world has never worked that way . . . he would say you try to make goodness out of badness "because there isn't anything else to make it out of."  Interesting.

Charles Dickens - A Life (Claire Tomalin, 2011)

Lots of folks recommend reading biographies, but I typically don't even pull them off the shelf (to use outdated terminology).   (So it makes some sense that the "biography" tag in the box at left only leads to about 15 hits - though I do admit to liking most of that group quite a bit).  I do like biographies more if the author is using the life-story primarily as an interesting perspective to illustrate the times in which the "biographee" was living.

That's a long way of saying I didn't enjoy this book very much.  I signed it out because of several glowing reviews.  And it did provide some information about 19th century London.  But I far preferred this biography and its setting in 18th century London.  And I just don't care all that much about what the research has uncovered about Dickens's specific doings, his marital problems, his girlfriend, whatever.

Not news, but amazing to think about:  the wealth of characters that he created, and his overwhelming popularity (especially in Britain and in the U.S. (notwithstanding a rocky initial visit)).  A couple factors that contributed to the popularity:  (1) his evident sympathy for the working classes; and (2) the decision to serialize his novels - making them cost-accessible to all. 

Something I hadn't thought about until this author mentioned it:  the difficulty of writing serialized novels - authors generally have the freedom to go back and revise, or to write sections entirely out of sequence.  Dickens, typically needing cash, was on deadline - he simply had to make the books work from installment to installment.  Even when not necessarily knowing exactly where the book was headed, how critical or public reaction to an installment might suggest changes, etc.

I didn't know that he was under cash pressure even after starting to make very good money as an author.  Grew up poor; father in debtor's prison at some point; never really accumulated capital; ended up supporting his father, his brothers, his sons, his ex-wife, his girlfriend and some of her family, etc.  He had to work very hard, right up until time of his death.

Pickwick Papers made his reputation.

Later in life, he did amazing readings from his works - scripted to his strengths, not taken directly from the books - a great way to make money, huge audiences, tremendous responses.

Met royalty, presidents, top literary folks from his era.

I (and others who know more about this than me) think that many (some?) of his characters and story lines today come across as "over the top".  Certainly hasn't impeded popularity.

The Magic Mountain (Thomas Mann, 1924)

"Your statement is incoherent, my good engineer," Settembrini said in reply, "yet its reprehensibility still shines through."  This is an entirely inconsequential quote in the book.  I jotted it down simply because I so much enjoyed the language throughout this book, and it seemed like as good an example as any.  (Maybe I'll get a chance to use this line someday.)

This translation runs a little over 700 pages, and was completely engaging throughout.  Difficult to absorb, I definitely will need to work back through this.  I can see why it appears on so many "must read" lists, and am grateful I finally got around to it.  The typical focus here is on how the book is a metaphor for pre-World War I Europe - and I can somewhat see this - but there's so much more going on.

I think it's wonderful.  Enough to where I just bought the book.

Plot is well-known - an "entirely normal" individual (Hans Castorp) leaves Hamburg and goes to a Swiss sanatorium for a three-week visit to his ill cousin who is a patient there; ends up staying seven years.  Even then would not have found his way out except for external circumstances.  He finds life at 5000+ foot elevation quite different than life in the "flatlands."

Among other things, Hans Castorp immediately notices that "time" is different in the mountains.  The setting, the role of illness, the lack of prescribed tasks (other than five meals per day and several "rest cures"), a climate where snow can (and does) fall any month of the year - make time almost irrelevant.  How time changes when one goes on a vacation or otherwise experiences a break from one's normal schedule. Mann muses about this quite a bit.  I need to think about this.  My own experience of "time" is changing - after decades of being nothing but extremely busy, I am consciously seeking not to be. It matters.

The role of illness - a very compelling way of discussing how illness can make day-to-day concerns meaningless.  But they're not meaningless.  How is this reconciled?  Similarly:  the role of death - for all, but particularly for patients in a setting where many don't survive.  Patients typically taking treatment in the "horizontal position" (including at "rest cure") - but then there also was the permanent horizontal position, often commencing before death.

Sanatorium director - Behrens - seems like a quack/salesperson - but there are genuinely ill folks at the institution, and he seems genuinely interested in helping them. Not sure how to take him.

Hans Castorp's cousin, Joachim Ziemssen - well-liked, military.

Hans Castorp is very interested in sometimes-fellow patient, Clavdia Chauchat.

Two major characters are introduced - both required to live at elevation due to poor health - Herr Settembrini - the Italian, humanist, democrat, Freemason - and Naptha - Jewish and converted to Catholicism, would-be Jesuit, now a teacher at the high school.  There are many, many pages devoted to the musings and arguments of these two folks on every imaginable topic - often directed to Hans Castorp.  Settembrini sometimes sets up Asia v. Europe, with Germany in the fulcrum.  Much of this may relate to pre-war conditions, but I don't know how to put that together.  It is all very interesting, very erudite; the more one has read, the more interesting it would be.

Then Mynheer Peeperkorn shows up (with Clavdia Chauchat) - he is typically incoherent in speech, yet dominates all - elderly, regal, Hans Castorp keeps referring to his dominant "personality" - the point being that this seems to leave the two scholarly disputants overwhelmed.  Interesting, I don't know what this is about - force of personality over strength of rationality, logic, articulate-ness?  I wonder whether the original German term translates to "personality" in the way I think of the term?

I enjoyed the description of the short (and prematurely-ended) visit of Hans Castorp's uncle.

Hans Castorp was a mediocrity when he arrived at the sanatorium, but learned a great deal during seven years.  Including a phase where he learned lots of details about the way nature works (anatomy, botany, etc.) - interesting contrast to the esoterica, interesting interplay with his interest in Clavdia.

And what was going on at the end of the book - Hans Castorp's interest in music (via a new phonograph); the girl with medium powers; the "great petulance" that seemed to lead to confrontations (this did seem to have a presaging effect).  Then, a very powerful finish.

There's something going on here - about our entirely proper focus on job, day to day responsibilities, social standing, politics and current events, the sorts of ostensibly deeper digs by folks like Settembrini and Naptha - all so worthwhile and important - yet how this inevitably gets swamped by illness, change of circumstance, falling in love, big personality, points of honor, physical attraction, the power of music, perhaps even whatever goes on with a medium.  Hmm.