Books: January 2020 Update (Part 2)
More book reviews!
A great short novel about a 14-year-old girl who goes on a manhunt through the woods to avenge her father's death. The book is written from the girl's perspective; her distinct narrative voice is evident immediately and makes the reader emphasize with her. The girl teams up with the one-eyed hard-line sheriff Rooster Cogburn to go and find the man who killed her father. Now that I have read the book, I am looking forward to watching the newer version of the movie to see how Jeff Bridges plays mean old Rooster.
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
I enjoyed Harry Potter 5 a lot more this time than when I was a kid. I think it is the most confusing of the Harry Potter books because of all the new characters and old plots that it references. At 24, I am finally able to follow most of it. I am consciously holding off on reading Harry Potter 6 because I want to save it (and HP 7) for a long car ride or other similarly difficult time in the future.
Into Thin Air
Jon Krakauer's thrilling true story of climbing Everest in 1997 and the ensuing tragedy that occurred. Even though you know the ending (many climbers die), discovering the backstories of the climbers and watching how the details unfold are incredibly compelling. I read almost all of Into Thin Air during one long car trip--I couldn't put it down. If you are a fan of Krakauer's other works or a mountaineer, you will love this one.
The Big Short
A little denser than I expected based on the easily-digestible movie, but it hits much deeper and is thus much more worrying. In the aftermath of reading The Big Short, I am vary wary of many forms of Wall Street investment. In short (as of the writing of this book), stocks are reasonably safe from fraud because they are heavily regulated by the government and publicly traded; bonds (which make up a much larger portion of the Wall Street investment market) have little to no regulation and are full of blatant fraud. Recommended to anyone who invests a lot of money; read this book and then do some research before you continue to invest to see how many of the fraudulent Wall Street practices that caused the 2008 financial crisis are still being practiced today. Not an uplifting book by any means, but definitely important.
Fisherman's Blues
While this book was about an interesting topic--fisherman on Senegal's western coast--unfortunately it did not rise to the occasion. There were parts of the book that were fascinating and I learned a lot about the lives of career fishermen, a segment of Senegalese life that I do not experience in Kedougou, but the overly dramatic and flowery prose left me rolling my eyes at least once every chapter.
Room
A compelling thriller about a mother and her child who are being held captive in a backyard storage shed. The novel is written from the 5-year-old boy's perspective--he has never left the shed so has a unique worldview that is at once logical and heartbreaking. A major theme of this book is how people adjust to major changes in life. The movie was great, but as usual the book was better.
Slaughterhouse Five
I read this book in high school and really liked it; I just reread it and enjoyed it again. Slaughterhouse Five is a novel about the firebombing of Dresden during World War II. Vonnegut, the author, was present in Dresden at the time of the bombing. This book follows the fictional soldier Billy Pilgrim as he time travels to moments in his life before, during, and after the war. Slaughterhouse Five is full of Vonnegut's signature absurdity and matter-of-fact prose. Though it is definitely about the war, this book does hardly falls into the same category as other well-known war novels because of the sci-fi twists and Vonnegut's voice. I think there is still more I can learn from this book; it will stay on my shelf for another read a few years down the road.
ReplyDeleteDear Tavish,
Thanks for the latest installment of your book reviews. Some of the texts on your list are familiar to me, e.g., Dreams from the My Father and Sapiens. I’ve read each of them in the last 8 or 10 years. Room I’ve never read, but a few years ago in a freshman seminar on slavery and freedom that I was teaching, I asked students to name some books that they felt could be included in the reading list for the course, and several mentioned Room. So I watched the movie, which was pretty impressive, though its point of view isn’t that of the little boy who grows up in the room, which is, I understand, the point of view of the novel. That’s an inventive way to tell the story. I also read True Grit 47 years ago. It was quite an absorbing read. The two movie versions are also good.
In my book group we just finished The Overstory (Richard Powers), a 500-page novel that’s won a bunch of major awards. It’s one of the most unusual novels I’ve ever read, both structurally and thematically. A friend asked me a couple of days ago what the novel is about. I said, “Trees.” I don’t know how you come by the books you get to read, but if this one comes your way, I recommend it highly.
As always,
Uncle Bill