"To compensate a little for the treachery and weakness of my memory, so extreme that it has happened to me more than once to pick up again, as recent and unknown to me, books which I had read carefully a few years before . . . I have adopted the habit for some time now of adding at the end of each book . . . the time I finished reading it and the judgment I have derived of it as a whole, so that this may represent to me at least the sense and general idea I had conceived of the author in reading it." (Montaigne, Book II, Essay 10 (publ. 1580))

Monday, October 29, 2018

The Mill on the Floss (George Eliot, 1860)

(544 pages)

I really liked this.  I'm continually impressed with George Eliot; it's time for another reading of Middlemarch (it's almost been 15 years).  At the moment, this one is my favorite of hers.  It's one of her earlier works.

Characters here are so well presented - all believable, all so well sketched and  developed (with enough surprises along the way).  There were enough characters to fill out the story, but few enough so that this kind of detailed exposition could happen.  [Only exception:  Stephen Guest felt odd but in the end I felt he fit the flow.  (Interesting that at book's end there is a short discussion of what apparently was a great deal of criticism taken by Eliot for the Guest character.)]

--Maggie Tulliver
--Tom Tulliver (Maggie's brother) (these are the two main characters)
--Their parents; Mr. Tulliver likes to go to law; he wants Tom to become educated; Tom's struggles with the clergyman-teacher.

--The Dodson sisters (Mrs. Tulliver was one of these) - esp. Glegg - the voicing on these was utterly uncanny.  And often hilarious.  Also their husbands.  Easy to understand that this was a world Eliot had lived in.

--Lucy Deane - cousin (daughter of one of the Dodson sisters).

--Stephen Guest.

--Lawyer Wakem; his son Philip.

--Bob Jakin - Tom's childhood friend, more of an acquaintance.

The story revolves around Maggie and Tom, but primarily around Maggie.  Realistic, flawed, wonderful character.

Monday, October 22, 2018

Devil in the Grove: Thurgood Marshall, the Groveland Boys, and the Dawn of a New America (Gilbert King, 2013)

(464 pages (including notes))

Book club selection (via CPG; session held 21 October 2018).

This was useful, timely.  Author builds the story around the efforts of Thurgood Marshall (and other NAACP members and supporters) to assist the "Groveland boys" - four blacks wrongfully accused in Florida.  With useful background about Marshall, the NAACP, its legal strategies, the environment in the South.  Florida as a dangerous, volatile state; the local sheriff here was a rather awful character.

It's amazing how recently all this happened; how much progress has been made; I think sometimes we lose sight of this given that plenty of stupid stuff continues.  Something about groups, or tribes, or however it's best described - seems unlikely that humans will ever entirely rise above these divisions.  But hopefully progress can continue.

Some of the details help someone like me, in some tiny way, imagine how it may have felt to be treated this way.  At one of the trials - black visitors at the courthouse eat lunch out on the lawn - guess what, every one of them had brought a paper bag lunch in the certainty that no restaurant would serve them.  This was "normal."

Florida not a cotton state; but once they master frozen orange concentrate there is a big need for workers - guess who was recruited, guess how they were treated.

Also - the risk to whites not toeing the line - including abusive behavior to someone named Mabel Norris Reese (initially a mostly unquestioning supporter of the local authorities but she changed over the years).  Your family, your business, your personal safety.   Examples in wartime, in religious settings, etc.

The extreme danger of sheriffs, police, the prosecutors, the judicial system - so much depends on integrity here.  Post 9/11 adulation isn't helping accountability.

The incredible courage of folks like Marshall (and other then-NAACP staffers and their supporters) - regularly encountering genuine physical danger - difficult to imagine.

Friday, October 12, 2018

Hue 1968: A Turning Point of the American War in Vietnam (Mark Bowden, 2017)

(608 pages (including notes))

We've thought very highly of Ken Burns's (fairly) recent Vietnam War series on PBS; this book had some of the same feeling, but focused on a single battle (though with plenty of helpful surrounding detail).  I liked it a great deal.

Hue as an important historical city in Vietnam - I had no idea - pretty far north in South Vietnam.  A citadel and "old city" portion, heavily fortified.  Cultural/historical significance, meaning US couldn't bomb it.

North Vietnamese Army and Viet Cong meticulously plan to attack Hue as a featured element of Tet offensive - they realize they cannot hold it indefinitely, but believe they can make a real statement here.  And they definitely did.  Took over the citadel - thick walls, limited number of gates, defensive towers, moats - bigtime problems given that razing wasn't an option.

US planners and higher-ups tended to discount Tet in general, and discounted the situation in Hue in particular.  Meaning regular guys are sent into ridiculously dangerous situations due to higher-ups not comprehending, at least in the early going.  Author provides intimate descriptions of what can only be called raw courage - just amazing what these guys were doing - many of them truly "regular" draft fodder - many not particularly fired up to be there, but doing their jobs. 

Some of that reminded of this book - so much courage seems to be bound up with the guys close by.

North Vietnam with zero air power, limited firepower of any kind - necessitating quite a bit of courage and persistence - yet also incredible cruelty, ideological purification messes, etc.

Amazing degree of press access and honesty (and bravery - these folks were in the middle of things) - post-Vietnam I believe the military keeps much tighter control over the reporting, greatly sanitized.

Recommended.