Midnight's Children (Salman Rushdie, 1981)

Book club selection via Nicole (October 18, 2015).  Interesting to see that it appears on lists of "100 greatest novels" or all time.

I wouldn't say I loved the book, but I would say that I think I benefited - a lot from reading it.  My main downside:  I just couldn't really care about, or connect with, any of the characters.

I did care about the story arc  - India around the time of the partition - but that wasn't enough.  And the virtuoso writing doesn't move me so much.  Same problem for me as with Laurence Stern (Tristram Shandy - which I gave up on pretty quickly so haven't included on this blog) or Marquez.

The protagonist was born at midnight on India's independence day from Britain (Aug 15, 1947).  He had a huge nose (reminiscent of Sterne book, with same humor on that point).  He had super-powers to communicate with others born at the same time - "Midnight's Children."

But even that conceit didn't entirely work - seemed like Midnight's Children didn't really end up doing much of anything, and fell out of the general story line.

Something I liked:  author knew how to tell us about history without telling it directly or pedantically - I think he assumed his readers weren't looking for a direct history lesson - but he gives so much of it.  One example of a clever device:  where the protagonist is cutting letters out of the newspaper headlines as part of a plot sequence.  Guess what:  lots of history is communicated this way.

A glimpse, rare for me, of 20th century India/Pakistan/Bangladesh.

Reminder of Britain's hasty exit - no real preparation - the awful movement of peoples; what real for east-west Pakistan given geographic separation?  The depth of the antipathy Islam/Hindu.

Also liked how he revealed a lot about India/Pakistan geography:  author moves characters around:  Bombay, Karachi, Kashmir, Bangladesh, Delhi.

The Rational Optimist (Matt Ridley, 2010)

Via Paul Jr.  Had read the reviews and it met high expectations.

Essentially:  it recounts, skillfully and inventively the narrative that gets severely underplayed. That things are good; have gotten better; in all probability will continue to get better; it's rational to be an optimist!

Media gets clicks and ratings by emphasizing trouble.  Politicians chase votes by emphasizing the negatives.  Skeptics/cynics come across as smarter/more clever than optimists.

Yet the world is an immensely better place than it's been at any time in history - not even close - and there's no particular reason to think that progress will halt, let alone regress.  Even chronic bad governance - which certainly has held back, or contributed mightily to holding back, so many countries - can't overwhelm the innovation machine in all the places where it is deeply grounded.

The Fountainhead (Ayn Rand, 1943)

This author of course provokes all sorts of reactions.  Complicated by efforts to shape, or modify, her legacy.

My reaction after now reading four of her novels:  she's continually thought-provoking and highly worthwhile.  The characters and the story lines do seem over the top, but I have to believe that's intentional on her part.

The Fountainhead is the story of Howard Roark (the architect).  I've seen most of the movie version (Gary Cooper, Patricia Neal) but for whatever reason hadn't picked up the book before.

Ellsworth Toohey, Peter Keating, Dominique Francon, etc.

The Winter of Our Discontent (John Steinbeck, 1961)

Book club selection (via Chris; August 30, 2015).

As discussed here, I'm a fan of this novel.  Well-received in the book club.

Before the Industrial Revolution - European Society and Economy 1000-1700 (Carlo M. Cipolla, 1993 edition)

Trying to get a little better handle on stuff going on in Europe in this period.  Helpful book (probably primarily intended as a textbook); but the topic is so vast that I don't know that I'm making any progress.

As is true with so much historical reading - one is struck with the idea that "they lived so much like us" - certainly rings true for this fairly recent, increasingly commercial era.

Interesting stuff about the growth of what I'll call commerce - "fairs" in various European locales; towns; free towns; trading leagues; interruptions via plague, war; amazing outliers such as Italy and - perhaps my favorite - Holland.

I keep thinking that Dierdre McCloskey is onto something with her focus on innovation (and governments that allow it to flourish).

Useful, hard to summarize (in part because there is so much variance by geography even within Europe).

Dreyfus - A Family Affair: 1789-1945 (Michael Burns, 1991)

Another - and highly interesting/effective - take on the Dreyfus story.  This author provided a significantly broader view of the situation than anything I've previously read, well worth it.

A highly useful part of the background included Dreyfus family history going back to their days in Alsace and beyond.  In terms of Jewish experiences, very complementary to this book (which by coincidence I was working through at the same time).  Anti-Semitism intensifying as 20th century dawns - almost unbelievable, except that it somehow continues to this day.

Dreyfus family intensely patriotic notwithstanding everything - true believers in the ideals of the Revolution (if grievously tarnished).

It's really a truth-stranger-than-fiction situation - hugely interesting, very helpful in thinking about the 20th century.  Defining for France, etc.  No wonder folks like Proust were so focused - everyone was.

One other reaction:  the recent historical fiction version was really quite well done.

The Story of the Jews - Finding the Words - 1000 BC - 1492 AD (Simon Schama, 2013)

I need to know more on this topic, but was a bit reluctant to pick up this book as it is linked to a PBS TV series.  But not to worry - very readable, full of useful information, changed my understanding on a number of topics.  So I hope the author is credible.

Worth paging through multiple times.  A key takeaway - like other religions, this one is continually writing and rewriting its own history based on needs or objectives of leaders in various situations and geographies.  Meaning:  don't assume anyone's pronouncements are dispositive.

Author goes through biblical times, then into New Testament; the strange, and sad, manner in which persecutions flowered.

1492 is a logical breaking point given events in Spain, I will look forward to the next volume.

The Things They Carried (Tim O'Brien, 1990)

I believe this is a considered a novel, and properly so.   But O'Brien mixes in his own Vietnam experiences and the effect is really powerful.

I was a bit too young to grasp much of anything about the war while it was taking place - a constant topic, but we never talked with any returning veterans or did much of anything beyond following news accounts and listening to politicians blather on.  The author here permitted my imagination to kick in.

Part of the effectiveness - his Midwest roots.  The story of Norman Bowker is heartbreaking.

Recommended.

The Education of Little Tree (Forrest Carter, 1976)

Book club selection (via Zach; session held July 19, 2016).

Interesting back story - a white supremacist wrote this book recounting childhood experiences of a young orphan boy who spends a few years living with his Cherokee grandparents.  Despite this - I think it works.

The author did display an incredible amount of "local knowledge" - interesting to think that this deep local knowledge exists for any type of place occupied by humans at any time period, I don't think about this enough.

Sometimes too smug - wears out the noble Indian, bad whitey, evil businessmen themes; also the five-year-old seems unrealistically mature and capable throughout (although this is set up as a memoir, so an adult writer might so interpret things).

I did appreciate Grandpa's attitude toward politicians and guv'mint.  Wise man.

Chapters are somewhat repetitive, but as the book goes on this contributes to the effect.  Sad as they look at Sirius.  The Jewish peddler.

Also made me think about the loss of the Nations - which was more than loss of a political subdivision, it led to the loss of a particular way of life - story of John Willow - different than voluntary emigration.

Key characters die off pretty quickly at the end, and then a 8-10 year old goes wandering?

Danube - A Journey Through the Landscape, History, and Culture of Central Europe (Claudio Magris, 1986)

Continuing to try to get a better feel for MittelEuropa.  Much more obscure to me than Western Europe.  Some of my interest was prompted by this so-interesting travelogue.

But what was the author up to here?  This is a travelogue that is nothing like a travelogue, at least as I conceive the genre.  The author - an Italian professor - has all sorts of consistently interesting things on his mind - but they don't always connect well with the Danube theme.

And the Danube is a very long river - as he proceeds east - away from Germany and his areas of familiarity - Austria, Hungary, Bulgaria, Romania - he seems progressively less knowledgeable, and relies more and more on narratives about selected writers.

Endless literary and historical references.  I read enough to make sense of some, which is pleasing.  But . . . so many . . . must leave readers with questions, at least it did for me.

But I like the book, an awful lot.  Would have preferred more straight historical-narrative style information, but once I gave up on that, I just enjoyed the ride.

Some ideas:

1.  The Danube as an east-flowing, Asiatic, river.  Compare the Rhine (Germanic purity).  At the end of the Danube line:  Attila and his ilk.  This notion reinforced by the Roman experience - barbarians across the Limes.

2.  Large zones where armies from major powers constantly traverse - with endless consequences for the affected populations.  The Turk.  Magyars getting hit from every direction.

3.  German settlers and influence.  German colonists in the Banat.  Bringing some order into places that lacked it.  Interesting.

4.  Lots of discussion on Regensburg.  I still want to see this.  Passau, maybe?

5.  Hungarians compromising with Austria in 1862 (Dual Monarchy).  Obliterated by Turks in 1526 (Mohacs).

6.  The "Military Frontier" - described as a thousand kilometers - borderlands, somewhat lawless, first line of defense against the Turk.

7.  1986 Bulgaria - "Oppression, he writes in his novel-epic of Bulgaria, has the privilege of making peoples happy; for when the political arena is closed, society seeks consolation in the immediate good things of life, in wine drunk under the trees, in love, in generation.  'Enslaved peoples have their philosophy which reconciles them to life.'"

8.  He has an idea that folks living in landlocked areas are more conservative, less adventuresome, less liberal and adaptable in comparison to folks living nearer the sea.

Author is a colleague of Umberto Eco!

There's just a lot here, and I need to spend more time with it.  Many glorious passages.  Dense.  Requires slow reading.  Worthwhile.

Leningrad - Siege and Symphony - The Story of the Great City Terrorized by Stalin, Starved by Hitler, Immortalized by Shostakovich (Brian Moynahan, 2013)

This book fit very well with this excellent overview of the Leningrad siege; this discussion of Sergei and Lina Prokofiev; and this novelistic presentation on the siege and its effects on ordinary folks.

I expected the book to be more focused on Shostakovich and the process of writing his 7th ("Leningrad") Symphony, but the author also mixed in a great deal of information about pre-war terror by Stalin and the military aspects of the Leningrad situation (siege, etc.).  And in the end it all fit together pretty well, much worth reading.

The overall story arc is entirely amazing.

Stalin always distrustful of Leningrad - some of its leaders not necessarily in his camp at selection time; plus general suspicion based on the city's proximity to the West.

Shostakovich - young, talented, popular; a symphony runs afoul of the authorities for whatever reason and is branded as "formalism" - never a good thing for one's future.

But war came along, Shostakovich did have useful allies within the government, and it was recognized that he could be used for propaganda.  One example is a famous posed photo where he serves in a fire brigade atop a building.  The photo was fake, but his service was real.  Eventually he was whisked out of Leningrad to the safety of the south - too valuable an asset to risk.  Most of the 7th ("Leningrad") Symphony wasn't written in Leningrad (though Shostakovich certainly had lived the life there).

Much more detail than I'd seen about the difficulties of keeping alive performances of classical music in siege-beset Leningrad.  Performers starved to death, or were too weak to function.  Performance halls (not to mention rehearsals) were ridiculously cold.  Performing the 7th in Leningrad itself was almost asking too much - but it was a huge success.  Military authorities timed massive barrages to reduce the risk that German bombers might hit the performance venue.

Tremendous propaganda value - Shostakovich's music helped ease fears in the Allied nations that the Soviets were Asiatic brutes, or something.

The Spy Who Came In From the Cold (John LeCarre, 1963)

Book club selection (via POC, I think).

Entertaining spy novel set in Cold War years.

It is rather amazing to think that such a thing as the Berlin Wall existed.

Even more amazing to think about the lives of the folks that worked in the intelligence services of these countries.  Though one could make the case that their services had value in those days given WWII experiences and nuclear arsenals.

Folks believed in Communism in good faith in England, at least some of them did.

Leamas, Smiley, Control.  Mundt, Fiedler.  Liz.

Final scene at the Wall.

The Ariadne Objective - The Underground War to Rescue Crete from the Nazis (Wes Davis, 2013)

Author recounts resistance activities on the island of Crete.

I think the impetus for the book is the increasing stature of Patrick Leigh Fermor - a delightful author indeed, who set out on foot from Holland to Constantinople in the 1930s and maintained a journal that has been converted into delightful books.  Fermor and some other dashing Brits work with local Crete population in opposition to Nazis.  Main claim to fame is that they abducted a German general (some minor figure named Kreipe) - utilizing a fairly simple roadside ambush using pilfered German uniforms.  The notion was that this act would demoralize the Germans - but I doubt anyone really believes it had much significance.

Author rather blithely assumes that the activities of these semi-regulars was brave, useful, etc.  I'm sure it was.  But I was rather struck by the thought of the reprisals against regular Cretans - this was nasty business - the insignificant resistance stuff is difficult to weigh against civilian suffering.  I don't know how to think about this part.

But it's fun to read about Fermor; some interesting excerpts of his writing; learned a little more about Crete and the Minotaur, labyrinth ("Ariadne").

The travels across the Cretan mountains with the overweight general in tow were interesting.  Great scene when the General is looking out at a snowcapped mountain and Fermor overhears him murmuring in Latin - figures out it was an ode of Horace - Fermor naturally continues the ode in Latin.  The two got along pretty famously thereafter.  The strangeness of two quite normal folks with a completely common cultural heritage - at war - over ??

An example of his writing - he sees all the incredible wood carving in Bavarian towns (in 1933) - attributes it "long winters, early nightfall, soft wood and sharp knives".

Beware of Pity (Stefan Zweig, 1939)

I liked this book very much.  I keep hearing references to Zweig but never have read any of his works.  Wanted to learn something about this as I try to develop a better feel for eastern-central Europe.  I find that this is Zweig's only novel.

Protagonist is an Austro-Hungarian cavalry officer stationed in a rather dreary post pretty far removed from cities; he is invited to a party at the home of a rich local landowner.  Much enjoys the change of scenery; asks the host's daughter for a dance but learns she is crippled; this creates an unpleasant scene.  But he is welcomed back to the house very shortly thereafter; tries to be helpful; it turns out badly.  Actions based on pity certainly can be dangerous.

Dr. Condor is treating the invalid.  The landowner (father of the invalid) has quite a story of his own.  Protagonist enlists for WWI and becomes a hero (though that isn't a direct part of the plot line).

Interesting beginning to end, usually compelling, very much worthwhile.  (Which is particularly appreciated as I recently seem to be encountering a higher percentage of mundane books than usual . . .)

How Adam Smith Can Change Your Life (Russ Roberts, 2014)

The author here is one of the two contributors to Cafe Hayek, a primarily-econ blog that I find continually useful.

Instead of focusing on Adam Smith's by far best-known work (The Wealth of Nations), this book is built on The Theory of Moral Sentiments.

I think Smith was an incredibly astute observer - his understanding of human nature is makes the  economic principles that he articulates so solid.  This same deep understanding comes through in The Theory of Moral Sentiments (which I've not read), as explicated by the author here.

More self-help-y than I normally prefer, but Russ Roberts and Adam Smith make for a highly useful combination.

They hammer home - effectively and repeatedly - just how easy it is for each of us to fool ourselves - so difficult to see ourselves accurately.  Not a novel insight, but expressed in a useful way.

Easy read, worthwhile.