IDIOT AMERICA

by Charles P. Pierce



We hold these truths to be self-evident.

The First Great Premise: Any theory is valid if it sells books, soaks up ratings, or otherwise moves units. (p. 35)

The Second Great Premise: Anything can be true if someone says it loudly enough. (p. 41)

The Third Great Premise: Fact is that which enough people believe. Truth is determined by how fervently they believe it. (p. 43)

At a time when the "birthers" are in the news daily and Michele Bachmann represents a congressional district in my home state, I found Idiot America: How Stupidity Became a Virtue in the Land of the Free to be an extremely interesting book. It takes on the battles of "Gut v. Intellect" and "Personality v. Expertise". He talks about the above noted Great Premises as they pertain to television and the internet, Intelligent Design v. Darwinism, sensationalist media, talk radio, reality TV, global warming, Terry Schiavo, 9/11, the Iraq War, the War on Terror, the 2008 presidential election, and more. Conservatives will hate this book. Liberals will most likely love it, but they don't completely escape Charles Pierce's scathing commentary either. His irritation is not completely politically driven and therefore merrily crosses party lines here and there. It's not that Pierce believes that America has dumbed itself down, but that it is "selling off what ought never to be rendered a product, . . . and believing itself to have made a good bargain with itself." (p. 276)

I read it, and I loved it. Go ahead and skewer me as an elitist you must. I can handle it. :-)


See more LOL Dogs here.

THE LOOMING TOWER: AL-QAEDA AND THE ROAD TO 9/11

by Lawrence Wright



"A sweeping narrative history of the events leading to 9/11. A groundbreaking look at the people and ideas, the terrorist plans and the Western intelligence failures that culminated in the assault on America. Lawrence Wright's remarkable book is based on five years of research and hundreds of interviews that he conducted in Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Sudan, England, France, Germany, Spain, and the United States." (From the CD container)

The first I'd heard of The Looming Tower: Al Qaeda and the Road to 9/11 was when I was scanning the audiobook section of the library. It caught my eye, but I left without it. The next day I heard about Newsweek's 50 Books For Our Times, and there it was at #2. There was no resisting after that.

If you're looking for a very readable book that fills you in on the backstory of the horrific events of 9/11, this is the one. As a friend of mine said, it explains a lot of events and discusses many people that we've heard about but maybe didn't really understand the significance of.

Lawrence Wright talks about the early Islamic Fundamentalists and their lives. He shows you Bin Laden's childhood. He takes you into the homes of Jihadists, into terrorist training camps. You'll sit in on meetings between the CIA and FBI agents who are learning about Al-Qaeda for the first time, and follow the career of a man who ceaselessly hunted Bin Laden until his own death on that ill-fated day in the World Trade Center.

What I liked best about this book aside from it's accessibility was that Wright did not point fingers of blame. He points out mistakes that were made, some very arrogant and bone-headed, but he also explains the complexity of the situations being dealt with. I can see how The Looming Tower earned it's spot on Newsweek's list.

THIS LAND IS THEIR LAND

by Barbara Ehrenreich



"When Barbara Ehrenreich wrote her take on the Reagan era, The Worst Years of Our Lives, she had no idea that the truly worst years were still two decades away. Now she takes on modern-day corporate America, the wealthy elite, and a lopsided economy with razor-sharp wit and biting humor." (From the CD container)

I don't know anything about Barbara Ehrenreich, but if I had to guess, I would say that conservatives probably react to her much as liberals react to Ann Coulter. I'm also guessing that due to some of the aforementioned "razor-sharp wit and biting humor" Ehrenreich, like Coulter, is preaching to the choir much of the time. I'm pretty sure reading This Land Is Their Land: Reports from a Divided Nation would make certain members of my deeply conservative family spontaneously combust.

I agree with the vast majority of the greater points Ehrenreich makes in this book, but she pushes some of them to such absurd lengths that even I, a tree-hugging bleeding heart, couldn't stop myself from rolling my eyes and nearly tuning out of some of the diatribes, consequently almost missing the pertinent message. Maybe that's what it takes to get some people to pay attention, but I personally prefer less extremism in my partisanship. I don't mind sarcasm, in fact it's one of my favorite things, but when it starts dripping all over my hands or gumming up my CD player I find it more annoying than enlightening. However, I do think she has some important things to say that are not terribly PC but should to be addressed. As a person who is not fond of confrontation, that is all I will say on the subject. I'll let Ehrenreich handle it in writing while I make my voice heard at the voting booth.

ALL OTHER NIGHTS

by Dara Horn



"Dying for a cause is the last resort of those too weak to live for one." (All Other Nights, p. 230)

How is tonight different from all other nights? For Jacob Rappaport, a Jewish soldier in the Union army during the Civil War, it is a question his commanders have already answered for him -- on Passover, 1862, he is ordered to murder his own uncle in New Orleans, who is plotting to assassinate President Lincoln. After this harrowing mission, Jacob is recruited to pursue another enemy agent, the daughter of a Virginia family friend. But this time, his assignment isn't to murder the spy, but to marry her. (From the jacket flap)

Let me begin by stating outright that I enjoyed this book overall. Now let me explain why I'm not gushing over it:

In the early 90's, I spent a few years reading and reviewing romance novels almost exclusively, 90% of them being historical romance. I read a lot of fantastic books, and I read a lot of not so fantastic books. It took me a long time to understand the common thread that often led me to feel one way or the other. When a book revolved mainly around the relationship between the main characters with other plot elements seemingly included merely to give them something to do, I got bored very quickly. I was much more drawn to books that had a meaty plot line out of which the relationship grew.

All Other Nights is not a romance novel, but my theory still holds true. While the story focused on the Civil War and the problems Jacob faced as a Jewish man in the Union army, I was enthralled. Once the novel started shifting the focus to the relationship between Jacob and Jeannie, a relationship which seemed to me to have no basis for real strength, I lost steam. I still enjoyed the book, but it was a lot easier to put down and go to sleep. There is a decent balance between the two so I didn't lose interest completely, but then when I got to the final page I felt as if the book ended in mid-thought. I didn't feel the closure. I have to say in the book's defense that that is most likely the result of my desire to know more about what was going on regarding the retreat of the Confederacy and the plans for Lincoln's fate. Other readers who are more interested in the relationship between Jacob and Jeannie may feel differently about the ending and find it very satisfying.

Have you read this book? Which aspect did you find most intriguing? If you have not read it, do you find you have a preference for action- or plot-based stories or relationship-based stories whether they be man/woman, parent/child, or friendship?



Official Web Site for All Other Nights

THE QUIET GENTLEMAN

by Georgette Heyer



"When Gervase Frant, Seventh Earl of St. Erth, returns at last from Waterloo to his family seat at Stanyon, he enjoys a less than welcoming homecoming. Only Theo, a cousin even quieter than himself, is there to greet him -- and when he meets his stepmother and half-brother he detects open regret that he has survived the wars. The dangers of Lincolnshire countryside could never be more unexpected . . . " (From the CD container)

When it comes to reading for pure entertainment, there is very little more entertaining than good regency dialogue. I immediately want to add phrases such as, "He's a little queer in the attic, don't you think?" and "We can't leave her lying about at the bottom of the stairs for just anyone who comes along to trip over!" to my every day conversations. :-) Seriously though, dialogue in books such as Heyer's regencies never fails to make me smile and often has me chuckling out loud.

There have been a lot of Heyer reviews floating around lately due to the reissue of her books. I can only hope that readers don't pass up The Quiet Gentleman purely from Heyer-overload. I've only read a few of her books, but I have to say this one is a stand out so far.

THE ANATOMY OF DECEPTION

by Lawrence Goldstone



"In the morgue of a Philadelphia hospital, a group of physicians open a coffin and uncover the corpse of a beautiful young woman. Within days one of them strongly suspects that he knows the woman's identity . . . and the horrifying events that led to her death. But the most compelling moment is yet to come, as young Ephraim Carroll is plunged into a maze of murder, secrets, and unimaginable crimes." (From the CD container)

The mystery of the young woman's identity and what happened to her is very good all on it's own, but the coolest part of The Anatomy of Deception was easily the information regarding the history of medicine in general and of surgery specifically. It's one of those reads that had me searching the Internet to see which characters were real and if the stories of them told in this book are true. I love when that happens! And I'll tell you that while the details that make up the main story in this book are not real, it looks like much of the background story is. I'm very, very happy I didn't live when modern surgical procedures were in their infancy.

The overall feel of this novel is dark but not grotesque. It's not an attention-grabber that I couldn't put down, but it was fascinating every time I picked it up. I can't say I would go out of my way to look for other work by this author, but if I happened to come across another of his books, I would certainly give it a try!

THE GREAT STINK

by Clare Clark



"It is 1855, and engineer William May has returned home to London and his beloved wife from the horrors of the Crimean War. When he secures a job transforming the city's sewer system, he believes it will prove his salvation, as, in the subterranean world beneath the city, he begins to lay his ghosts to rest. But when the peace of the tunnels is shattered by a violent murder William loses his tenuous hold on his sanity. Implicated as the killer, plagued by nightmares and visions, he is no longer sure: Could he truly have committed the crime?" (From the book jacket)

Ever since I read Clare Clark's The Nature of Monsters, I've wanted to read her debut novel, The Great Stink. I finally got around to it, and I'm so glad I did, despite the silly title. Don't let it fool you!

The plot does not move along quickly, which may bother readers who prefer a faster paced read. Clark likes to explore the darker side of life, and she does it in extraordinary detail. Her settings are not opulent homes and her characters are not the rich and elite. The lives that populate her books are often from the wrong side of the tracks. They endure physical and emotional hardships I could never imagine. They live in places and times I am forever thankful I never have to live. But their stories suck me into the mire with them, and for a few memorable hours I live and breathe along side those to whom life has dealt a bad hand and I watch anxiously, hoping they'll pull through but never certain the end will be what they deserve.

I have a thing for dark, creepy, brooding novels, and if Ms. Clark keeps up the way she has in her first two books, she is going to work her way into my personal top ten historical writers very, very quickly.



A side note: Wendy at Musings of a Bookish Kitty recently had a wonderful post which brings up the fate of animals in books. My motto when it comes to this topic: Do what you want to the girl, but leave the dog alone. :-) In honor of Wendy and others who have the same enormous soft spot we do, I will reveal only a small spoiler here that has little to do with the plot: **MINOR SPOILER** No need to distract yourself through the whole book wondering if the author will let something hideous happen to the dog, Lady, adopted by one of the main characters. She is fine in the end.

THE LAST DICKENS

by Matthew Pearl



"Boston, 1870. When news of Charles Dickens's untimely death reaches the office of his struggling American publisher, Fields & Osgood, partner James Osgood sends his trusted clerk Daniel Sand to await the arrival of Dickens's unfinished novel. But when Daniel's body is discovered by the docks and the manuscript is nowhere to be found, Osgood must embark on a transatlantic quest to unearth the novel that he hopes will save his venerable business and reveal Daniel's killer." (From the CD container.)

I'm going to exhibit my ignorance right now, so bear with me a moment. Until all the buzz about Dan Simmons' Drood came up a while back, I had no idea there was an unfinished novel by Charles Dickens. Suddenly two books come out early this year only weeks apart using that very unfinished work as their premise. Does anyone know what brought this on? Just curious.

While The Last Dickens wasn't the most engrossing novel I've ever read, I did enjoy the creativity that went into it. I like books that spin off from classic novels and stories and seeing how various authors expand on the original and make it their own, how they make characters we thought we knew behave and events unfold. I have trouble thinking "outside the box", and I admire those who can do it so imaginatively.

I also enjoyed all the information about Charles Dickens' reading tour in the U.S. and the early days of the publishing industry, but what The Last Dickens mostly did was pique my interest in opium dens and the opium trade of that period. I must be in need of some dark and dingy reading material. And I must read what there is of the real Mystery of Edwin Drood!

THE BORGIAS AND THEIR ENEMIES: 1431-1519

by Christopher Hibbert



Published in 2008, "[t]he first major biography of the Borgias in thirty years" (from the jacket flap), The Borgias and Their Enemies: 1431-1519 is exactly what you'd expect: A nonfiction account of the rise and fall of Pope Alexander VI and his children, most notably Cesare and Lucrezia Borgia. And it's a very readable one at that! In fact, it's so readable that I need someone in the know to tell me if this author, Christopher Hibbert, is by chance any relation to Eleanor Hibbert a/k/a Jean Plaidy, because I felt like I was reading Madonna of the Seven Hills all over again!

I don't mean that in a bad way. I found it very interesting that the research and conclusions ran so amazingly parallel and that Christopher Hibbert's fast moving style is so reminiscent of Plaidy's fiction writing. Not to mention the identical last names raising a bit of a question. :-) I'm still working on my fascination with the Borgias, but with the things I've read so far, I'm coming to the conclusion that Lucrezia may have received a seriously undeserved bad rap by being the daughter of a corrupt pope and the sister of a cruel megalomaniac. I have a few more books on the subject to investigate, but for now I highly recommend this work to anyone looking for a recent publication on this notorious family.

RANT

by Chuck Palahniuk



"The future you have, tomorrow, won't be the same future you had, yesterday." Rant Casey

"After Rant dies in a fiery blaze of glory, three of his closest compatriots -- a gang of urban demolition derby aficionados affiliated with a group calling themselves 'The Party Crashers' -- travel back to his hometown of Middleton to record an oral history of their fallen idol." (From the CD container)

What do you get when you cross a human rabies epidemic, a bee-swarmed goth funeral and a mom who booby-traps food to get people to eat slowly? Not to mention a virgin sex worker, DRVR Graphic Traffic reports ("We know why you rubberneck!"), a renegade Christmas tree Cadillac, and drivers stalking other drivers through the city streets for some "party crashing"? If you guessed "a Chuck Palahniuk novel" you are correct! And that barely scratches the surface.

Rant: The Oral Biography of Buster Casey is another Palahniuk work that you giggle and cringe your way through until all of a sudden the deeper message about humanity and society yanks you back by your chain and makes you rethink every "WTF??"-thing you just read and reinterpret them with a whole new attitude.

As before, I don't heartily recommend the novels of Chuck Palahniuk to just anyone. He takes a certain amount of fortitude, or maybe just personal derangement, to read and really enjoy. I'm learning to love him. Take that for what it's worth. :-)



Other reviews of Rant:

Bibliofreak

CALL ME BY YOUR NAME

by Andre Aciman



"Time makes us sentimental. Perhaps, in the end, it is because of time that we suffer." (Call Me by Your Name, p. 232)

Call Me By Your Name is the story of a young Italian man who falls deeply for his parents' summer guest, an American scholar working on a philosophy book. Their turbulent and passionate six weeks together is destined to end, but the emotions that memories evoke linger as each of their lives takes its own path.

Anyone who has ever had any kind of relationship will be able to identify with the angst of uncertainty that your feelings will be returned in kind, the excitement of a new love, the pain of loss, and the bittersweetness of memory. Andre Aciman so beautifully puts into words the confusion and euphoria, the loathing and adoration that I could see images of my own reckless youth in those of Elio and Oliver.

This was only the second book this year that made me cry. Not racking sobs like the first one, but earnest tears for the beauty of the tenderness that remained in the hearts of Elio and Oliver so many years after they parted. We should all be so lucky to have had such a moment in time to look back upon and smile, even if it hurts.

THE DEVLIN DIARY

by Christi Phillips



"A follow-up to the well-received The Rossetti Letter (2007), Phillips once again simultaneously follows seventeenth-century and twenty-first-century mysteries. A serial killer is loose in seventeenth-century England. Are his gruesome crimes random, or are they part of a royal conspiracy? Hannah Devlin, a rare female physician, becomes convinced of the latter. Meanwhile, in twenty-first-century Cambridge, England, Clare Donovan finds Hannah’s diary. Shortly thereafter, an academic rival is murdered. Are the crimes connected? Both women work to solve their mysteries, while also becoming embroiled in parallel romances. Although the twenty-first-century plotline and ending are the weaker, both sets of mysteries and romances are engaging. An excellent afterword answers questions about historical accuracy and literary license." -- Marta Segal Block (From Booklist as posted in the Editorial Reviews section of Amazon.com)

I liked Christi Phillips' The Rossetti Letter when I read it last year, and I was very excited to finally get a hold of The Devlin Diary, which had been delayed from it's original January 2009 release date.

Like the Booklist reviewer, and for the second time for me, it was the historical chapters that I preferred over the ones set in modern times. Hannah Devlin's reluctant introduction to the decadent court of King Charles II kept me turning pages all afternoon, and I liked the way her relationship with Edward Strathern developed slowly from mutual respect of their work. In fact, it almost seemed like the modern-times chapters could almost have been completely left out and the book would have been just as good. I could live with or without the growing relationship between newly minted historian Claire Donovan and the super-reserved Englishman Andrew Kent. Their personal story didn't grab me, but it was fun to see the scholars in pursuit of their subject. I also enjoyed the behind-the-scenes look at the highly competitive world of academia.

I will definitely be looking forward to whatever Christi Phillips has coming up next, and if you want to keep track of her also, you can find more information on her Official Web Site.

BONES OF BETRAYAL

by Jefferson Bass



"Dr. Bill Brockton is in the middle of a nuclear-terrorism disaster drill when he receives an urgent call from the nearby town of Oak Ridge -- better known as Atomic City, home of the Bomb, and the key site for the Manhattan Project during World War II. Although more than sixty years have passed, could repercussions from that dangerous time still be felt today?" (From the book jacket)

And my fluff reading jag continues with Bones of Betrayal, the fourth Body Farm novel. It is much like the others in that the story is engaging, but it's not a book you can't put down. The humor still feels a bit forced, but I didn't find myself rolling my eyes at the jokes quite as often as in the previous books. This one was more straight-up mystery than forensics, but it was a great book to help me pass my day in the hospital waiting room.

Some of the characters in Bones of Betrayal find themselves wrestling with their feelings regarding the U.S. decision to use the bombs code-named Little Boy and Fat Man, and that will probably be the aspect of this book that sticks with me the most. I'm not familiar with the deeper stories of the building of the nuclear weapons used on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, so learning about things like the Manhattan Project and the beginnings of the town of Oak Ridge, Tennessee was what really held my attention. I was inspired to pick up Hiroshima by John Hersey to continue my exploration into that side of WWII.

WICKED PREY

by John Sandford



"In the nineteenth installment of the Prey series, Minnesota investigator Lucas Davenport struggles to protect his daughter Letty from a vengeful psychopathic pimp who blames Davenport for his handicap. All the while, a professional thief plans to rob the city of Minneapolis blind right before the Republican National Convention. Can Davenport protect his daughter and ensure the security of Minneapolis?" (From the CD container)

If you've read any of John Sandford's Prey series, you know exactly what you're getting in Wicked Prey, and that's not a bad thing. When you need a book you know is going to be entertaining, but you don't want to think hard about deep messages, this is a good series to turn to. It's your basic bad guys versus the justice system with lots of personal drama and guns. And a hotel fire. And the Republican National Convention. And a gunman from Oklahoma. And a paraplegic pimp. And those aren't even the main story!

Two things stood out for me in this installment: First, I liked that it didn't end all clean and tidy but not in an "obviously setting up for a sequel" kind of way. Second, I'm starting to suspect that Sandford has plans for Lucas Davenport's ward, Letty. She plays a big part in this book, and although she is only fourteen at this point, Lucas is aging and Sandford could be testing the waters regarding a future series with Letty as the main character when she gets older. It could be my imagination, but that's what it felt like. With as spirited and intelligent as Letty is, I think it might be really great if I'm right!



Other Prey books I've written about:

Phantom Prey

PERPETUAL WAR FOR PERPETUAL PEACE

by Gore Vidal



This book came out shortly after 9/11 and opens with an essay regarding that event. Considering this and the subtitle, "How We Got To Be So Hated", I was expecting a lot of Gore Vidal's opinion regarding our relations with the Middle East. Wrong. What Perpetual War for Perpetual Peace does contain is a lot of interesting information on Timothy McVeigh and the Oklahoma City bombing.

I may be the only person on earth who didn't know that Vidal and McVeigh struck up a casual correspondence while McVeigh was in prison. Vidal was even invited to witness McVeigh's execution, which he ultimately did not attend. While Vidal does not in any way condone McVeigh's actions, he does not accept the media portrayal of him as an out-of-control lunatic. This book is Vidal's argument that America needs to see and understand the role that its own actions play in the development of antagonism against it -- actions toward not only other countries and cultures but sometimes its own citizens. I didn't always understand or agree with his reasonings, nor did I completely disagree, but he certainly gives the reader something to think about.

DAVE BARRY'S MONEY SECRETS

by Dave Barry



"Did you ever wish that you really understood money? Well, Dave Barry wishes that he did, too. But that hasn't stopped him from writing this book." (From the front jacket flap.)

Let me make clear right out of the chute that there is not one ounce of actual financial advice in this book. It's a satire, a joke. It makes fun of financial self-help books. Why do I say this? Because it got a whole bunch of 1-star reviews on Amazon from people who were beyond PO'd when they thought they were getting a serious finance book. If those people read the entire title and/or a single page of this book and still thought it was going to assist them on their road to riches, they possibly need more help than simply financial. You really should go read those reviews. They're almost as funny as the book itself.

And Dave Barry's Money Secrets: Like: Why Is There a Giant Eyeball on the Dollar? is funny! I'm talking laugh-out-loud-until-you-cry kind of funny. This was exactly what I needed coming off a string of way-too-serious books. Before there was David Sedaris, there was Dave Barry, and Barry still holds the title for Author of the Funniest Book I Ever Read In My Life, Dave Barry's Complete Guide to Guys, where I learned about things like urinal etiquette and man clubs like Mountain Men Anonymous who go camping together, get drunk, and try to shoot beer cans off each other's heads with bows and arrows. Trust me. It's hysterical! And so is this one. When you need a laugh, pick either one up. You can thank me later. :-)

AN ILIAD

by Alessandro Baricco



If you want to read the story of the rage of Achilles but you're not quite up to Homer, Alessandro Baricco's An Iliad is just what you're looking for. A slim volume of 158 pages, An Iliad is made up of seventeen short chapters each told by a different character from the saga. Helen, Agamemnon, Nestor, Hector, Priam, Andromache, Achilles and more all are given the opportunity tell parts of the story from their unique point of view.

Baricco does not venture far from the original. He removes the gods as characters, but otherwise follows the action and dialog of The Iliad quite closely. Where he does insert his own spin, it is written in italics so there is no question. He also includes the story of the Trojan Horse and the fall of Troy at the end to wrap things up, which many may not know is not told in The Iliad. (You have to look to Virgil's The Aeneid for a really great telling of the Trojan Horse!) He begins the book with an introduction telling why and how he wrote An Iliad, so the reader knows precisely what s/he is getting into.

I would have really liked the book all on it's own, but Baricco finishes with an essay on war that elevated it to another level. The messages of The Iliad and its timeless characters took on deeper meaning for me, and not only will I most likely be purchasing a copy of this book to add to my permanent library, I am most anxious to revisit its predecessor. I will leave you with a small excerpt from that essay:

"[T]oday, the task of a true pacifism should be not to demonize war excessively so much as to understand that only when we are capable of another kind of beauty will we be able to do without what war has always offered us. To construct another kind of beauty is perhaps the only route to true peace. To show ourselves capable of illuminating the shadows of existence without recourse to the flame of war. To give a powerful meaning to things without having to place them in the blinding light of death." (p. 157)

Peace to all who come here ~

WHEN THE EMPEROR WAS DIVINE

by Julie Otsuka



"Julie Otsuka's commanding debut novel paints a portrait of the Japanese internment camps unlike any we have ever seen. With crystalline intensity and precision, Otsuka uses a single family to evoke the deracination -- both physical and emotional -- of a generation of Japanese Americans. In five chapters, each flawlessly executed from a different point of view -- the mother receiving the order to evacuate; the daughter on the long train ride to the camp; the son in the desert encampment; the family's return to their home; and the bitter release of the father after more than four years in captivity -- she has created a small tour de force, a novel of unrelenting economy and suppressed emotion. Spare, intimate, arrestingly understated, When the Emperor Was Divine is a haunting evocation of a family in wartime and an unmistakably resonant lesson for our times." (From the book jacket, Borzoi Books edition)

This was another book I stumbled across while looking for War Through The Generations Challenge books, and which I read after I had already finished the challenge. I would not gush as much as the writer of the jacket blurb did, but this was a very good little book.

Like many others who forget that WWII consisted of more than Hitler and the Holocaust, I had no knowledge of Japanese internment camps beyond the fact that they had existed, and even that was a point I had forgotten about. The prose of When the Emperor was Divine is extremely sparse. The main characters lack names. Their lives before being sent to the camp are generalized. Provided only the bare necessities, their days and weeks and months pass slowly and monotonously as they wait for the end of the war from behind a wall of wire. Even after release from the camp, they are treated with suspicion. But all of that underscores the point that Japanese Americans were fused into one concept: enemy aliens with no distinction between them. Does any of this sound familiar? It should. And it should bother you.

THE SHAWL

by Cynthia Ozick



The Shawl opens with an eight page short story about a woman named Rosa who witnesses the killing of her child in a concentration camp. The novella which follows finds Rosa thirty years later in Florida still desperately keeping her daughter alive in her mind while her own life deteriorates.

In her depression, Rosa is an unreliable narrator causing the reader to call into question her version of events, intensifying her grief and denial. Rosa's antagonistic relationship with her niece, who had also been in the camp, provides what may be the truth about the past, but we never really know. In the end, it may be that it doesn't matter, because the future is the only thing Rosa has the power to change.

At only 70 pages, this would be a perfect Read-A-Thon book. While the premise sounds and is somber, the beauty of Cynthia Ozick's writing and the surrender to hope with which the novella ends make it all up to the reader. I had never heard of this author and just happened to find The Shawl while I was looking for books to fulfill the War Through The Generation Challenge. I finished the challenge before I got to it, but I'm most pleased that I went ahead with this read anyway. I will be on the lookout for some more of Ozick's short stories in the hope that she has more of this high caliber for me to discover!

SURVIVOR

by Chuck Palahniuk



"Tender Branson -- last surviving member of the so-called Creedish Death Cult -- is dictating his life story into the flight recorder of Flight 2039, cruising on autopilot at 39,000 feet somewhere over the Pacific Ocean. He is all alone in the airplane, which will crash shortly into the vast Australian outback. But before it does, he will unfold the tale of his journey from an obedient Creedish child and humble domestic servant to an ultra-buffed, steroid- and collagen-packed media messiah." (From the back cover of Survivor, Anchor Books edition.)

Survivor provides a good example of Chuck Palahniuk's bizarre humor and dry wit without making you feel like maybe you should be wearing latex gloves while reading. Contained here are his trademark quirky characters and off-the-wall scenarios with only a smattering of the blatantly offensive.

I still have the majority of his bibliography to read, but at this point I would say that this book, one of his first, does not yet have that sharpened "compassion factor" present in his later work which makes the freakishly weird almost endearing. However, one can see the beginnings of it here.

It's not a book I'd recommend to Mom or Grandma, but someone who has been interested in giving Palahniuk a whirl but didn't think a book about six hundred dudes and one porn queen was a good place to begin might want to check this one out.

Passing thought -- I wonder if the myriad cleaning tips he gives throughout the text are true. For example: how to polish chrome with club soda, how to clean the ivory or bone handles on cutlery, how to get the shine of a suit, how to stop silk flowers from fraying, how to pick up broken glass from that jimmied bedroom window or smashed highball, repairing stab holes in nightgowns and removing blood from an oriental carpet. Part of his characterization of Tender Branson could have originated from thumbing through some depraved version of one of those "How to Clean Anything" books.