The Star Machine (Jeanine Basinger, 2007)

(553 pages)

Divided into two parts - the first discusses the rise and workings of the Hollywood studio system's "star machine" - as at least the author calls it - the second part (which is 75% of the book) goes into extensive discussions of individual stars - I barely skimmed this second part.

But the first part was quite interesting.  PJ and I much enjoy movies of the 1930s and 1940s as well as some of the 1950s stuff.  She's much more knowledgeable than me - much better exposure to this content in her growing-up years - in Iowa we only saw an occasional late-night movie.  I think our tilt toward this era reduces our interest in more modern movies - we're neither used to, nor looking for, graphic content (whether violence or otherwise).  Anyway, we continue watching lots of shows from this era.

Hadn't appreciated the factory-level scope of the big studios - they handled everything - author states that MGM could put out a full-length movie every nine days (1950).  In addition to the big-name folks - fleets of people ready to be put into a scene on short notice.  In a world without TV, the demand for the product was there.

Hard work for the most-used actors - in addition to full days on the set, time required at night to memorize the next day's lines.  Discussions of the seven-year contract, lack of control by the actors, etc. - probably tough, but seems like "first world problem".

Finding a "type" for each star - then putting that star in a movie where he or she could play to type repeatedly - this is what the audience wanted (or had been trained to want).  I've mistakenly criticized some of those stars along the lines of "he can only play himself" - but that was exactly how the studio wanted me to feel.

Author spends a lot of time on Tyrone Power (and they put him on the book's cover) - considered so handsome that he was a little hard to typecast (plus he later (perhaps too much later) wanted more serious roles, which wouldn't then have played to his "type") - anyway we're interested in Tyrone because EMG was compared to him pretty relentlessly in the 1940s.

The New Sorrows of Young W. (Ulrich Plenzdorf, 1972)

(139 pages)

Author does a take-off on Goethe's famous work.  Set (and written) in GDR days, and the story line includes Communist Party-era frustrations and jokes.  Somewhat uses the epistolary method (a la Goethe's Werther), though with cassette tapes.

Protagonist at first seems an annoying rebel-without-a-cause type, but turns out to be delightfully self-aware and an attractive character.  The hopeless love interest is handled just fine - she plus husband did track the original story quite a bit - Charlotte is a nice character here (kindergarten teacher), the husband more wooden than in Goethe's version.

The plot didn't track the original story as much as I had expected, which was a plus.

[Minor item:  protagonist liked joking/punning/offering up aphorisms with his buddy Willi - including "a loaf always has two ends" - reminded of Pete Kirsch humor in 1970s Iowa (among his sayings - he would solemnly intone "everything has an end" if a serious subject was being discussed; then the punch line:  "but the sausage has two ends.")]

Recommended by Martine Lanners; I'd recommend it as well.

Ants Among Elephants - An Untouchable Family and the Making of Modern India (Sujatha Gidla, 2017)

(306 pages)

This very recent book received lots of attention; it was billed as a valuable resource to learn something about "caste" in India.  I'm interested in the topic, haven't read much about it; "caste" wasn't evident during our two weeks in India, for what little that vanishingly small sample size is worth.

Not clear to me how much the caste system differs from societal sorting elsewhere (whether based on race or income or whatever).  Perhaps the system runs deeper given the longer history and because there is a religious aspect?  Don't know.

Anyway, this book ends up not helping very much on what I think of as traditional "case" issues, at least for me.  It is an interesting story of a family - Christian - where the lead figure (the author's uncle) becomes a Communist agitator.  All this is taking place in the turmoil of the 1940s and following.  Many difficulties for the family are attributed to caste and I don't doubt that it mattered for them - but I think it's difficult or impossible to separate caste issues from difficulties arising from the family's Christian and Communist characteristics in India at that era.

The lead family figure (author's uncle) seemed to have the usual crusader personality - self-centered.

Helps explain why Subhas Chandra Bose would have had appeal - typically presented as some version of "evil" in Western histories due to his dalliance with Nazi Germany and imperial Japan, but desperation (probably too strong a word but you get the idea) to escape British domination was real in the 1940s.  Author's uncle supported him.

So all in all the book has value to me:  it gave a different look at 1947 and the surrounding years in an area of the country I seldom read about - Andra Pradesh, with some of the action in Telangana (adjacent in south/central India); describes trying to work up through the educational system for those starting out without any advantages; poverty as very real and difficult; earlier generations in this area as "forest people;" zamindars under British rule; etc.

The Dog Stars (Peter Heller, 2012)

(319 pages)

Book club selection (via Zach; session held 11 July 2018).

Book club seems to find its way to dystopian-future books somewhat regularly.  I liked this version well enough.  Spare writing style that worked well.

We don't receive a lot of explanation, but earth's population has been decimated by plague; plus it's getting much warmer/dryer.  A few survivors seem to be doing fine health-wise.  But life has become nasty, brutish, short - civil order entirely broken down - folks doing what they need to do, or want to do.  A few survivors still have the disease.

Protagonist and his dog live with an older gent who goes about the business of survival with enthusiasm and, perhaps, coldness.  Older gent is well-armed.  Protagonist has a plane and does some flying around (with dog) - for enjoyment, and for perimeter control; lost his wife to the plague, has remained relatively normal, doesn't quite know how to approach the world in which he finds himself.  They encounter some additional folks and the story develops.

For some reason this book brought home, in a different (and effective) way, a familiar concept - that civilization is really fragile; that the order that has taken so long and required so much effort will break down so quickly under stress.  Simultaneously reading a Tom Holland book about Europe circa 1000 A.D. - Roman order had broken down, in many areas it was a free-for-all - made me think of this book.

Shantaram (Gregory David Roberts, 2003)

(933 pages)

OK it's long - but the author has a pretty good knack for story-telling and the tale does tug the reader along.

What I liked best - and perhaps this is because our recent visit to India is fresh - he gives what seems to me to be a pretty faithful description of how India (Mumbai in this case) would appear to a Western visitor.  (He's from Australia or New Zealand and supposedly spent 10 years in Mumbai on the lam following a prison escape while serving time for armed robbery.)

Mentions so many little things that resonate with what we saw: mango lassi; "challo!"; stainless steel cup and plate; driver with jasmine garland in his car; the head wiggle (if that's the right term); serve meal on banana leaf; he visits a village that seldom had non-Indian visitors; Mumbai street scenes; many more.

He also spends a bunch of time describing Mumbai slums - which I've never seen anything like - this felt a little idealized, the slum seemed to have better governance than most municipalities.

Two things I didn't love:  #1 - not that he did them badly, but he tried to do too many things - offering philosophical observations, taking the plot in all sorts of directions, so many characters.  Perhaps many readers like this, but I would have preferred tighter.

#2:  author comes across as narcissistic - pretty much everyone he encounters just loves him, several literally want to adopt him; plus he is consistently awesome at dealing with pretty much any situation (and there are a lot of situations over this many pages).

But I kept turning pages and was entertained throughout.

I think the author genuinely loved his time in India, which is kind of neat.