Books: November 2020 Update

I am aware that I never got around to writing Part 2 of my July 2020 Books update. In the spirit of not leaving myself a list of backlogged book reviews to write, I am listing here all the books I have read since my quarantine in the basement ended. I have chosen to write about a select few books instead of writing about all of them.

As the literary-minded of you may notice, I am indeed on a long quest (which will take years) to read all of the Pulitzer Prize-winning novels.

The Overstory

This novel is on a higher plane than the average novel that I pick up. It thoroughly deserves its Pulitzer Prize. It is about trees. More specifically, it is about nine characters whose lives interact and overlap, but the central force in each of their individual and collective stories is the trees in their lives. Some have reverence for trees to begin with, others know nothing about them. Either way, trees slowly, irreversibly, become the driving, motivating factor in each of their lives and bring their stories together. The first chapter (about a chestnut tree) was one of my favorite parts of the book because it was so beautifully sad and set the tone for much of the rest of the novel. It hooked me right away. A friend of mine in the Peace Corps described The Overstory as "bleak" when he was partway through the novel. I do not disagree with this description, but I would like to add that there are notes of hope mixed in, though they come in somewhat unexpected ways. If you are a lover of trees or a lover of the outdoors, you must read this book. If you consider yourself a steward of the environment and the earth's forests, you must read this book.

The Fault in Our Stars

I heard about this novel when I started listening to John Green's podcast, The Anthropocene Reviewed, about a year ago at the suggestion of a volunteer friend in Senegal. In his podcast, Green satirizes the ubiquitous five star rating system that has weaseled its way into our every purchase by rating aspects of the human-centered era on a five star scale (each episode consists of two reviews which each take 10-15 minutes). Topics include Tetris, plagues, the human capacity for wonder, the Indy 500, and many others. Even more engrossing than the interesting facts that Green displays about the topics of review du jour is his candidness about his own life and thoughts about the world that are woven in throughout the podcast. Green is forthcoming with his own mental illness and the existential dread and anxiety that sometimes come along with it. Although his show is based on a satire of modern society, there is something deeper inside that is real. This genuine discussion is what makes me a repeat listener of his podcast. John Green is outside my normal "circle" of podcasts and interviews that I consistently listen to (The Rich Roll Podcast, This American Life, The Rewatchables, other NPR podcasts), so listening to The Anthropocene Reviewed was also great for the different perspective it provided. Now onto the book review.

I began reading The Fault in Our Stars at 10pm on my Kindle one night. I read for three hours, continued reading voraciously the next morning, and had finished the book by the time I went to sleep that night. It was not a page-turner because of its action-packed, thrilling scenes, but because of its depth and its truth. The novel is about two teenagers who have cancer and the relationship that blossoms between them. The characters deal with problems that we all face: grief, loss, uncertainty, anxiety. We readers get to watch them navigate these channels, make difficult decisions, and live happy moments. I could relate my grief from evacuating Senegal to some of the grief that the characters were feeling throughout the novel. In a similar way to his podcast, Green's open discussion of challenging issues (all fictional in this novel, of course) is what makes this a compelling read. 

Cannery Row

I should read more Steinbeck. Whenever I start one of his novels it seems as though it will be a slog, then I get a couple chapters in and I cannot put the book down until I finish. Set in Monterey, California, Cannery Row weaves together the lives of a marine biologist, a group of squatters in an abandoned warehouse, a grocery store owner, a madam at a brothel, a man who sleeps in an old boiler, a broken-down truck, and stray cats as they make their way through life in the 1940's. We see the marine biologist walk over to the grocery store to buy two quarts of beer every morning, we see the squatters try and good-naturedly scam a pint of liquor from the store or a few dollars doing an odd job (sometimes the others play along, sometimes they do not), we see the animals feasting on and fighting over cannery refuse. Whereas The Grapes of Wrath was filled with an underlying sense of dread and gloom, Cannery Row is filled with a low-burning optimism. In the grand scheme of things it is not important whether the squatters get their whisky or the marine biologist has a few of his vials broken at a party because there is a sense that everyone is in this together. Life on Cannery Row continues, and it is fine. There is no sense pitting yourself against your neighbors because tomorrow there will be another quart of beer to share, another odd job to rustle up.

The Alchemist

A wonderful short novel about finding and following your Personal Legend, or destiny. This book is written very simply, using language similar to a parable or fable. The main character meets a host of others throughout his journey across North Africa in search of his Personal Legend. Some help him, some try to harm him, others are concurrently trying to find their own Personal Legends. The novel is mainly introspective, encouraging the reader to think about his or her own Personal Legend and how to go about finding the right path towards it. This is a book that I plan to come back to many times in the future: it is short, meaningful, fun and thought-provoking. For the Rich Roll Podcast fans out there, The Alchemist is recommended by Rich and many of his guests.

The Brothers K

Duncan's novel follows the lives of the Chance family, a husband and wife with six children. The father, Hugh Chance, was once an up-and-coming star pitcher, but his dreams of the big leagues were shattered by an accident in a mill. His four sons greatly admire his pitching ability and cannot understand why the dream of having a major leaguer as a father must die. In addition to baseball, religion features prominently in this novel. Hugh's wife, and to varying degrees his six children, are involved in the church; Hugh's lack of involvement and lack of respect for the rules of Christian life. Opposition and participation in the Vietnam War also have a lot of air time in The Brothers K. As Hugh's sons and daughters grow up, we follow the various paths they take. If you love baseball and novels about families, you will love this book.

The Goldfinch

This novel follows the life of Theo, a boy whose mother dies in a freak museum accident when he is in middle school. The novel follows Theo through his life as a young adult and into his adulthood as he moves around to live with friends and relatives. There are few morally great characters in this novel; most participants have a fairly robust shady side. Despite this, I still found myself rooting for Theo and his friends, even when their actions were despicable. The only constant throughout Theo's life and throughout the book is the title painting, a work which was in the museum at the moment his mother died. I thought the first third of the book was a little slow, a friend of mine thought the second third of the book was slow, a friend of hers thought the last third of the book was slow, and a different friend of mine did not enjoy the book. Based on these recommendations, read at your own risk (the book is also quite long, almost 1000 pages). I flew through the 600-700 pages once I really got into the characters.

A Walk Across America

Peter Jenkins was one of the first (if not the first) people in the modern era to walk or run across the country and document his travels in a book (as far as I am aware). His journey encouraged many others to follow in his footsteps, to seek self-reflection while traveling by foot across America. Peter begins his walk in the northeastern US after graduating from college because he does not know what he wants to do with his life. His goal is to meet many different people along the way. He heads south and west, somewhat following the spine of the Appalachian mountains, until he ends up in Louisiana. Along the way Peter meets many people, many of whom extend great generosity in his direction. He takes odd jobs, semi-permanent jobs, and helps out around the places he stays. Peter sometimes camps in the woods with his dog, Cooper, and sometimes settles down to live with a stranger for a few days or a year. The longest stationary stint of Peter's journey is when he lives with a Black family in Alabama for about a year (Peter is White) and takes a job at the local lumber mill to earn his keep. Reading this section of the book sometimes felt strange, as the way in which race is discussed has changed since Peter undertook his walk in the mid-1970's. While odd to read these direct discussions of race from the perspective of a young, White college graduate, it is clear that Peter is thoughtful and loving. It was also important to keep in mind while reading that in the 1970's, a 23-year-old White college graduate from New England probably had even less exposure to the life of a poor Black family in Alabama than he might today. Ultimately, Peter came to love his Alabama family as his own, and they in turn came to love him as one of their own sons. The book ends when Peter is in Louisiana and finds the woman he is to marry. In Part 2, a book called The Walk West which I have not read, Peter and his wife Barbara catalog their journey on foot from Louisiana to the west coast. A great read if this type of long-meandering, self-reflective journey is your cup of tea.