Abigail (Magda Szabo, 1970)

(333 pages)

I picked this book because Hungary's positioning between the two world wars always seems like an interesting setting, and the review was favorable.

Then I became a little nervous that the plot might be too focused on life in a girls boarding school.  And there was quite a bit of that, but it fit into the story line quite nicely and I ended up enjoying the book quite a bit.

Protagonist is the 14 year old daughter of a Hungarian army general; spoiled, willful, enjoying life in Budapest; sent off to a provincial boarding school without much explanation and has a hard time fitting in.  Abigail is a statue that somehow seems to intervene when the girls have severe troubles.

Meanwhile the alliance with Hitler is going poorly, the Hungarian army is getting pummeled in the Stalingrad fighting, Germany is taking over in Hungary, tension and difficult decisions.

Author does a good job developing characters among the school girls, the faculty, etc.

Recommended.

The Kingdom of Copper (S.A. Chakraborty, 2019)

(609 pages)

Book club selection (via Emily; session held (via Zoom) 19 July 2020).

Second in a trilogy; we had read the first as a book club selection. 

Lots of action, actually violence - often rather heavy for my taste these days.

Mostly the same characters as in the first book.

Emphasis on tribal groups does remind of current political climate - where identity politics seem to attract votes - ugh.

The use of words and concepts from India, Persia, and what I'll call the Middle East is interesting. 

The plot not so much.  And I have trouble remembering what form of magic which characters can use, and what tribal characteristics apply.

The British Are Coming - The War for America, Lexington to Princeton, 1775-1777 (Rick Atkinson, 2019)

I very much liked the author's World War II trilogy (discussed here).  He seems to be bringing the same effective touch to the Revolutionary War - this is a great read.

I've never read much about the Revolutionary War, not sure why.  Hadn't realized there was so much action action prior to issuance of the Declaration of Independence.

Lexington, Concord stories (1775) - genuinely exciting; tough times for the Americans at Lexington but a sense of accomplishment in Concord.

The author's way of making many people (officers, rank and file, home front) come alive in just a few words; of supplying enough details (for example attaching numbers to supplies - gives a sense of scope); always without bogging down or losing the larger narrative.  Readable, interesting.

I had never read much of anything about the 1776 campaign in the southern states (only recalling the cannon balls embedded in the palmetto fort) - mostly a costly diversion for British, interesting discussion.

Benedict Arnold was so talented, involved in so much up north.

Scope of the war was impressive - south, Canada, New York (where British had great successes in 1776, perhaps only wanting for follow-through)  But the immense difficulties of sending an army across and sea, and supplying it.

In general, 1776 as a pretty dreary year for the Americans after the Declaration.  But then Trenton and Princeton - crossing the Delaware on Christmas night, 1776 - this was a much more difficult, and important, undertaking than I had ever realized. Lots of information throughout on the Hessians (who happened to be the target at Trenton, unfortunately for their reputation).

The so-often-repeated error (committed here by the British) of assuming that the local population will rise up in support with just a little success and encouragement - this shows up in invasions in many locations and time periods.

A lot went wrong for England; quite a few decisions that were bungled; but the scope of England's late 18th-century international activities is really impressive.

The colonies as having so much to work out in terms of governance; such variety among them.  An amazing intersection of ideas emerging in English colonies protected by oceans - a chance to work out governance in a new way.

Our Mutual Friend (Charles Dickens, serialized 1864-65)

(832 pages)

Miserly old man (Harmon) makes fortune in dust business; breaks family bonds; creates odd incentives in his will; events follow.

Hexam and Riderhood families - working out a rough life on the waterfront - heavy stories.  Charlie Hexam getting a chance at education; Lizzie getting a chance; the schoolmaster is intense.  The honest public house owner.

Wilfer family - mother and younger daughter (Lavinia) - effectively comic (Bella is older daughter favored by Harmon the original old dust man).  Wilfer father a "cherub."

Boffin family - loyal to Harmon; somewhat reminded of the Bleak House character (the guy who ran the shooting gallery).

John Rokesmith.

Lawyers Mortimer Lightwood and Eugene Wrayburn.

Inspector - reminds of Bottle from Bleak House.

Wegg - the "man of letters" - reading Decline and Fall to Boffin - not a nice person, but presented in an amusing way.  Interested in contents of the dust mounds, enlists Venus.

Would-be aristocrats receive a lot of shots; lawyers not very well thought of, either.

Jewish character involved in money-lending business, portrayed sympathetically

I enjoyed throughout except for one significant oddity (weakness) in the plot (G.K. Chesterton's note (included as an Appendix) explains what happened, but don't check that until after finishing the novel).   Notwithstanding - recommended.

[Gift from Paul Jr & Nedda]

Arrival - Stories of Your Life and Others (Ted Chiang, 1990-2002)

Book club selection (via Lon; session held (via Zoom) 31 May 2020).

Liked this; didn't love it.  Notes on a few of the stories follow.

First story - about Tower of Babel - probably my favorite.  I of course love the original Bible story - this is very creative in describing the tower construction - ending a bit of a letdown, not understanding the water business going in a circle.

"Story of Your Life" - per the Arrival movie - all the back-and-forth with the daughter who died in an accident.  The idea of their written language as differing from verbal - didn't have to waste time with sequential-ness - that made a glimmer of sense as thinking of listening to a reader (or video/TV narrator) as compared to reading.  Knowing the future.  Interesting.

"Seventy-Two Letters" - trying to generate human life via automata; kabbalist; didn't care about anything in this story line.  Hugo movie . . . don't know what the 72 letters/nomenclature thing refers to.  Gilgamesh.

"The Evolution of Human Science" - just a few pages, something about metahumans taking over scientific research because humans can't keep up

"Hell Is the Absence of God" - angels visit; some cured, some harmed, protagonist's wife is killed and he wants to go to heaven to be with her.  another character is harmed then cured then harmed.  storm-chasing the angels.  didn't care about the characters

"Liking What You See: A Documentary" - perception of beauty; the Neanderthal who points out the next step will be suppressing appreciation for musical or athletic talent; and what about height?  probably supposed to draw parallels to other PC situations.  at the end, suggestions of software that will make speakers charismatic/effective.  follows thwarted romance of a girl that grew up with calli, turned it off at 18, now wants to go back.   referendum at the college.  This was pretty interesting.

Sometimes it feels like the author is showing off knowledge in science or math areas - doesn't add much to the storyline.

Three Comrades (Erich Maria Remarque, 1936)

(480 pages)

Book club selection (via Chris; session held (via Zoom) 24 April 2020).

Hadn't read this since 2011 (description here); I liked it even better this time around.

a favorite love story; cf'd to PJ - author got it right - the uncertainty in the early going, the mystery, the girl-part, the "that's sufficient" part
_______________

a favorite buddy story - the scene where Otto hands the pill to Robbie; the scene where Robbie thinks to contact Koster when needing help at the seashore; fundraising in what had to be a painful way
________________

WWI endlessly interesting in part because the soldiers had such a mind-blowing experience.  of course it's hard to compare from war to war - but the jump in firepower and technology (gas, planes, etc.) relative to what soldiers were familiar with, and how tactics were used - not sure what would be like this.  and they hadn't seen newsreels or really anything that would prepare visually.

survivors then come back to Weimar situation . . . after all the sacrifice and suffering (including home front folks like Pat) - no jobs, no hope

demagogues arise per usual
_________________

the spare writing style works for me - similar to All Quiet OTWF

Magic Mountain - sanitarium scenes

Foundation Trilogy (Isaac Asimov, 1951, 1952, 1953)

(607 pages)

The three books:  Foundation; Foundation and Empire; Second Foundation.

Famous, pioneering work of science fiction.  Entirely unknown to me prior to this read.

By coincidence I read it at an ideal time - right after finishing Gibbon's Decline and Fall - Asimov supposedly had just read Gibbon and modeled lots of the story after it.  Which is evident - imperial decline; generals rising through the ranks (with accompanying dynamics).  Bureaucracies.  Periphery weakening (though lacking external stimuli like Huns (since this Empire controlled the entire galaxy, while Rome didn't control the entire earth)).

Swashbuckling traders, some with souped-up starships, snappy dialogue, can-do attitude . . . hmm that sounds pretty familiar also.

Seldon Plan - story builds around this, and it works.  Too much Hayek exposure makes me way skeptical of grand plans, but I do like how this one is explained as being built around mass movements over time.

As the plot plays out over several centuries (and the author is releasing the three volumes over a few years), there are lots of characters to figure out and track.  That prevents much character development in individual cases - but again, doesn't feel like a problem.

The Mule plays a huge role starting with the second volume.  Only two female characters of particular note (maybe three), they do end up with important roles.

Fun read for me; I never seek out science fiction.  Paul Jr. recommendation.

Range - Why Generalists Triumph in a Specialized World (David Epstein, 2019)

(291 pages)

Recommended by Nick Gales, who I suspect was interested in the topic as he and Maeve think about child-raising stuff.

Book primarily is taking a look at what's become conventional wisdom lately - the idea that focused training for a kid (10,000 hours or whatever) will yield results.  Author argues that greater effectiveness is gained by folks with a broader "range".  Not that we don't need the experts - we just need to recognize that - as knowledge-specialization inevitably gets deeper and deeper in each specialty area - there's more risk of tunnel vision.

Which I think we are seeing happening in the COVID-19 response (among plenty of other fails).

I liked this book, perhaps because it reinforces my priors?  Could have been edited down quite a bit, however.

Tiger Woods early years compared to those of Phil Mickelson.

Interesting discussion about early specialization/focus for music students (author thinks it's overrated if not a negative).

He discussed Phil Tetlock and superforecasting - seems more bullish on all that than say twitter-tyrant Nassim Nicholas Taleb.

Good examples of specialist organizations getting stuck on a project, putting it out on the web, getting useful solutions from non-specialists.  Maybe it seems obvious, but I think it's widely overlooked - grabbing additional perspectives works.

Fortune's Distant Shores - A History of the Kotzebue Sound Gold Stampede (Chris Allan, 2019)

(159 pages)

Gift via Carol and Jim.

Book focuses on a window of a year or two where it was believed (entirely erroneously) that fortunes could be made mining gold in Kotzebue Sound (the name is familiar to us as our flight to Nome way back when had a short stop there - just north of the Arctic Circle).

I liked it - fascinating or almost exotic in that the story is remote in both time and geography - yet not so remote in either category - so it's possible if not easy to relate to folks getting caught up in a news cycle and wanting to have a go at gold mining.

Kotzebue as an alternative to the Klondike - where plenty of gold had been found, but there were some Canadian border issues for US citizens in particular.  49ers euphoria from California not so distant; plenty of appetite for this kind of thing, so a few well-placed stories go a long way.

Bernard Cogan ran ships up there and was a primary promoter - pretty clearly a crook.  Makes money transporting suckers and their goods; then he goes whaling farther north to make some more money (perhaps the suckers should have noted that Cogan himself wasn't doing any mining).

Near-complete absence of gold - at best, enough for a hard-working miner to match wages that could have been earned in a much easier job back home - even suckers could figure this out pretty early and most don't bother with much digging; some return to the lower 48 within weeks or months, others are stuck through the winter.  Interesting stories as they celebrate Christmas, fight scurvy and boredom, etc.

What wasn't funny:  a significant number of deaths and illnesses, this is dangerous work and travel in a rough country, with most stampeders understandably un- or under-prepared.

Missionaries already in place in Alaska; the gold rush to this area accelerates the pace of changes for the locals - difficult in so many ways.

Author places significant reliance on diaries of an interesting fellow (named Grinnell) - he was primarily interested in birds, signed onto the gold-mining role as an excuse to do field work up north (but nonetheless seems to have done his tasks with the gold miners, such as they were).

Photos are a pleasure throughout the book - b/w, evocative.

After an ill-fated year - real gold strikes at Nome, so some move on to there - interesting background on Nome area at this time.  A few continue to work the Kotzebue area notwithstanding no meaningful successes there.

Recommended.

The Brothers Ashkenazi (I.J. Singer, written 1933-35)

(427 pages)

story takes place mid-19th century into mid 1920s

set primarily in Lodz; the town springs up from something of a village; much heavier Jewish concentration than most places; commercial and manufacturing center for textiles

Poland then part of Russia; Lodz merchants doing business throughout Russia; growth and change

twin Ashkenazi brothers - more detailed focus on Max - feverishly working to be #1 in the local industry (textiles); Jacob less talented, less intelligent, less diligent - but natural personality and physical gifts and unnaturally good luck

two other primary characters - Nissan and Tevye "The World Is Not Lawless" - work in local factories and seek to organize them; socialist speeches, Marxist dogma that would have sounded right at home in '20 presidential campaigns (complete with deeply religious strands)

all four leading characters working hard for entirely different things but in parallel ways and with similar results

all four leading characters from deeply Jewish backgrounds; changing but some retention

lots of character development including families of the four; earlier generation deeply traditional from the countryside/shtetl (typically relatively new to Lodz, it being a new town); Hasidic; rabbis with vast authority; this changes over time

some - certainly the Ashkenazi brothers - seek assimilation; not accepted but keep trying; as shocks such as economic downturn, war, inflation hit - guess who gets blamed

boom years in Lodz; then 1905 war with Japan; WWI; German occupation (shut down businesses, strip assets and ship west); Poles reassert themselves after Versailles treaty; part of the plot moves to Russia (during the 1917 revolution and thereafter - business couldn't be conducted during German occupation)

throughout - Jews tolerated to a point especially when useful, otherwise look out;

strand about considering Palestine

Buddenbrooks comparison, which makes sense

no way to assess accuracy - but much liked that Singer painted this detailed picture of what that world must have been like - the level of detail indicates he knew all about it

recommended - there's a lot going on here

The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, Volume III (Edward Gibbon, 1781)

(527 pages)

Volume I addressed here.

Volume II addressed here.

Rankings are not easy, but I'm thinking Gibbon is definitely up there with my very favorites - Proust, Thomas Mann, Chekhov.  I'll keep thinking about this.  Gibbon's writing style really works for me.  (Also he's the only one in this group who wrote in English, not sure what that tells me.)

This volume ends with the fall of Rome and the end of the western empire - dated here to 476 - concluding the more well-known part of Gibbon's work.  (Volumes IV-VI pick up with the eastern empire through the fall of Constantinople).

This volume continues the themes from Volumes I and II - decline of civic virtue; transition from paganism to Christianity; emperor as a highly dangerous occupation; barbarian tribes moving to perimeter and then into heartlands of the empire, pushed from the east.

I keep thinking I've underrated Rome's accomplishments - a world of relative security and prosperity - sure it was selective, but isn't that always the case?  Look at how Europe lived for centuries after Rome - cowering behind walls, ruined trade (therefore lost prosperity), lost technical skills, lost learning of all types.

Amazing that Christianity entirely supplanted paganism; this volume discusses the continuation of this process, all the way through formally outlawing paganism.  Gibbon has quite the way of describing Christian hierarchy - sounding mild if not laudatory (to get past censorship) but absolutely skewering various folks.

He picks up on the martyrdom/relics scam and the many bad consequences - such a rac.ket.

Learned a bit about Ravenna - I hadn't realized that surrounding water features made it very difficult to capture (unlike Rome itself) - thus attractive to emperors in this days when "the army is our wall" no longer worked well.  Not as difficult to capture as Constantinople.

Lots of discussion about the various barbarian tribes, what motivated them to migrate.  Vandals in Africa; Visigoths taking southern France and into Spain; etc.  Many were Arian.  Then along comes the Huns - lots of discussion of Attila.

Down to Odoacer.  Talk about "end of an era."

Furious Hours (Casey Cep, 2019)

(276 pages)

Book club selection (via Nick; session held 16 February 2020).

Main hook here was Harper Lee - super trendy/popular right now in view of current politics - author researched a serial murder situation in Alabama that Lee - stuck for another hit after her one-time success - wanted to turn into another novel.  But she wasn't able to finish it.

Some interesting stuff here about Alabama in those days, but the core concept wasn't enough to carry along a book.

Or maybe I'm the wrong person - I am baffled that anyone can ever be interested in crime stories, let alone serial murderers.

Harper Lee may have written a popular book, but it seems she had trouble with life in general - sudden wealth, unclear personal connections, landing in NYC (rather a foreign place), some alcohol issues, etc.

Connected from childhood with Truman Capote - another hook for the author - but doesn't really solve the issue about lacking a coherent story line.

Quick read.

The Second Sleep (Robert Harris, 2019)

(298 pages)

I like this author's writing style quite a bit (this one, for example).

Here, a young priest travels into a somewhat remote area west of London to attend to the burial of the local priest.  The setting is a world reminiscent of the Middle Ages, but the time is hundreds of years after an unspecified apocalyptic event that caused devastation starting in early 21st century.

Knowledge of pre-deluge events is prohibited; technology is feared.  But of course there are a few folks who insist on digging around, and get in trouble with the authorities (some of whom also are interested in digging around).

Young priest encounters impoverished noble lady; wealthy local interested in improving weaving technology; various others.

I liked the book; somewhat overlapped with (but didn't run nearly as interesting) as this one (which is among my very favorites).

The Complete Works of Isaac Babel (compilation 2002; mostly written early 1920s)

(1,051 pages) (though I skipped the screenplays)

I keep seeing favorable references to Babel, but never read him before this.  His biography is compelling - war correspondent (reminded me of Vasily Grossman) so lots of access - then he becomes disillusioned and out of favor.  Rare, at least for me, reporting on the Red v. White (and other splinter groups) immediately following WWI.  Early 1920s Russia hadn't yet implemented systematic censorship so his war reporting was more open, I think, than what Grossman could have done (Grossman had to do it via his smuggled-out book).

Babel eventually executed by Soviet regime.

I'll just mention a few of the categories in this quite-wonderful collection.

***

1920 Diary - perhaps my favorite war writing (and I've read lots of this)?  Can't-miss content, and not even prep'd for publication (though this was basis for much of the Red Cavalry tales)

dense.  highly effective . . . at least at the level of battles, skirmishes, movement between towns (cart transports. horses).  towns taken and lost.  confusion, exhaustion, merely finding food or forage.  billets.

constant movement, constant commandeering of horses, provisions, shelter - locals get expert at hiding things

airplanes new - being used by the Poles - terrifying though not all that effective

just being tired, and depressed

interspersed with descriptions of age-old interactions - Poles and Jews, Cossacks, the borderlands, Galicia, shtetls, centuries of getting along and then sudden butchery.  like forever.

Babel as "more like me" - bookish, not cut out for soldiering - but somehow finds himself right smack in the middle of everything - reminds of Vasily Grossman (Red Star writer)

little context is provided (as to what was going on in the larger political/military sphere, who was backing Poles - etc) - I think this heightens the immediacy of the war reporting, limits the distractions

running throughout - author as Jew - don't know if he tried to hide it, but he couldn't in any event.  he feels connectedness to Jewish communities that he encounters.   most in dire circumstances

the excitement around communism fading for Babel . . . he eventually characterizes as "fairy tales" the grand stories he tells locals as part of his job.  as in all these settings, others are true believers and/or opportunists; discussing the International, worldwide uprisings, free everything (modern US politics might buy it, however)

***

Odessa stories - mostly about Jewish gangsters

***

Red Cavalry stories - genuinely excellent - but not quite as compelling to me as the raw notes in the 1920 Diary (though I read Red Cavalry first).  One aspect here:  Babel made the mistake of being too honest, naming commanders who were ineffective - several became leading figures in Soviet army, and they didn't forget.

**

Stories from Leningrad 1918 - just a few, great, raw

**

Stories from [Georgia?] - propaganda feel, I didn't like these very much.

Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind (Yuval Noah Harari, 2015)

(464 pages)

Book club selection (via Rose; session held 12 January 2020). (PJ and I missed - colds.)

in general I very much like this type of book

not nec new, but a useful way of discussing man's rapid ascent - competitors had no time to adjust (see e.g. large animals in North America)

slower - more deeply wired - is the group-affinity, or tribalism - need to recognize how strong this is, not fear it; at the moment it's co-opted by politicians, community organizers, grant-seekers

hadn't thought about how cooking simplified digestion, or why humans went after marrow

my twitter feed is full of controversies about genetics - this gets into it but I don't understand

idea of the Cognitive Revolution - 70-30,000 years ago - use of language to rise up.  the idea of myths and abstractions for groups >150

the ridiculousness of characterizing Peugot as a myth.  it's a nexus of contracts.  limited liability as something awesome . . . a simple way to encourage investment

similar for trade characterized as "fiction" = yes credit comes from credo

ridiculousness of forager societies as an ideal - the original affluent societies - come on "wholesome and varied diet"

faculty lounge discussion of ecological issues, capitalism in particular - yuck - bogeyman of economic growth; Adam Smith cliches

whining about how tough jobs are, how much work is required - come on

equality - look around your high school - nothing could be less natural (or more "myth")

trying to cover too much

but yes this is worth reading notwithstanding the above complaints