Hocus Pocus – Kurt Vonnegut

Eugene Debs Harte (named in honor of the Socialist and labor organizer Eugene Debs) is writing his life story from a college library that is serving as his prison. It’s complicated. After a spectacular failure at his high school state science fair, Eugene gets recruited by West Point. Four years and a “B.S. degree in Physics” later, he finds himself serving in Vietnam. When “the excrement hit the air-conditioning,” he returns home like all other veterans – misunderstood, jobless, and verging on a destructive outburst. Fortunately, his former-commanding-officer-turned-college-president offers him a teaching position and a place to live at the university. He spends quite a few undisturbed years teaching, philandering, and hiding his insane wife and mother-in-law from the rest of the world. Then he suddenly gets fired, and just as quickly finds a new job as a teacher at the prison across the lake from the college. A few more years pass, then the convicts pull of a mass prison break and take over the college. In the next few days, Eugene finds himself dubbed Mayor, Brigadier General, Warde, and, finally, prisoner at the same college where he spent so many years teaching. With not much else to do besides read books that nobody will ever read again, or probably never read in the first place, he writes his life story on scraps of paper.

The quirk about “Hocus Pocus,” on top of all the usual quirks of a Vonnegut book, is that Vonnegut positions himself as the editor. The story was written by Eugene Debs Hartke on scraps of paper he finds in the library, and Vonnegut says he has compiled them to put the whole story together. The different pieces of paper are distinguished in the book by lines, so each section of text, sometimes almost a whole page, sometimes only one word, represents each supposed scrap of paper the author wrote on. My mind made a big deal about this in the first few chapters, but eventually I pretty much stopped seeing the lines altogether.

This is the second time I’ve read “Hocus Pocus” in less than a year, and it only got better. Largeley because I understood it more. In case you missed it, go back and read my summary. It’s a complicated plot to follow, especially when the narrator skips around between history and present day. The other reason it got better is because this is a truly fantastic book. Vonnegut comments on everything from the institutions of war, education, and prison, to racism, to the ability to guess at what the future holds. Though his view of the world is only cynical, he points out human short-comings so blatantly that the only option is to laugh at the stupidity of it all. His statements range from politically incorrect to harsh-realities, but he doesn’t shy away from topics others would generally ignore in an effort not to offend. Scathing, hilarious, and brilliant. Must read.

The Places In Between – Rory Stewart

In a trek across southern Asia (including Iran, Pakistan, India, and Nepal), Stewart returns to Afghanistan in January of 2002 to complete his journey. Due to visa restrictions, Stewart was unable to walk across Afghanistan when he first reached it, so after leapfrogging it to complete the rest of his journey, he returns to Afghanistan 18 months later to finish his last route. Walking from Heart to Kabul, west to east, Stewart literally follows the footsteps of Babur, an emperor who conquered the region centuries earlier and trekked the same route across Afghanistan in winter. Relying on the hospitality and compassion of villagers, Stewart spends a month walking hundreds of kilometers through mountains, valleys, and snow to complete his journey. Along the way, he encounters everything you would expect – no electricity, sickness, all kinds of people with guns – and many things that get lost in the places in between – ancient ruins undiscovered until the middle of the 20th century, then abandoned again, remote villagers who know more about European geography than most Europeans, and a part wolf/part dog who makes for a surprisingly faithful travel companion. He is accommodated, hosted, escorted, assaulted (both verbally and physically) and quietly observant the entire way.

Having walked across southern Asia for months, Stewart is relatively fluent in many of the languages spoken in the region, varying from Dari, Pashtun, and Urdu, although he does not speak Arabic. He has an intimate knowledge of the region and culture, and knows what to expect of the people he meets. He knows how interactions will play out on the surface, but is familiar enough to know the truth lies underneath. Familiar with cultural customs, he knows how to enter a village, how to request accommodation, how to approach people for personal knowledge and history, and how to walk away from tense situations by literally just walking away. Overall, Stewart gives us what feels like an accurate picture of post 9/11 and pre-invasion Afghanistan. By talking to villagers without preconceived stereotypes about which ethnic groups are welcoming, cruel, or should be avoided altogether, he draws attention to the unnoticed lives of Afghans lost in the middle.

Stewart’s writing is calmly reflective. He somehow manages to get in the exciting information while still drawing attention to the beauty of footprints in the snow, particularly drawing attention to the way the snow feathers out behind the heel of a footstep. He brings out the quiet beauty of solo travel, showing how walking really can be meditation, and subtly observes his interactions with others without making many judgments. The book is calm, relatable, and well-informed. He inserts footnotes throughout to clarify names, histories, documentation, and occasionally add his own slightly sardonic opinions. An excellent read, and much more informed and observant than “The World From Islam.” This is what I was looking for.

The Poisonwood Bible – Barbara Kingsolver

In the global upheaval of the 50s and 60s, a zealous Baptist missionary moves his family – his wife and four daughters – to the Congo. While they were only contracted to stay in the Congo for one year, the Congolese push for independence and subsequent US-backed overthrow of the new government, the contract is thrown out the window, and along with it any support from the Baptist missionary service. Apart from the eldest teenage daughter, the family willingly throws themselves into this new and foreign lifestyle, encountering all kinds of problems that they could never have predicted. In attempting to come prepared for a year in Africa, they find that their cake mixes don’t survive the weather, precious clothes are worn to shreds, and even a hammer is useless against mud walls. Slowly, the mother and daughters adopt a new lifestyle and learn the ways of the jungle, but the father keeps pushing his will against the world, causing continual problems for himself and his family. As the mother quietly fights for herself and her daughters, they each fight their own demons, find their own identities, and take away the indelible lessons of jungle life. Ultimately, the wild, continual motion of Africa triumphs any effort to maintain one position, and everything gets moved along, willingly or not.

The bulk of the novel is narrated alternately by the four daughters, with the mother providing a reflective preface at the beginning of each chapter. Kingsolver expertly creates unique voices for each character, and grows with them throughout the story as they learn, struggle, and overcome – or not, depending on the character. Although it is a work of fiction, Kingsolver did thorough research on the era and the particular situation of the Belgian Congo, which became Zaire after the US stepped in, and in her preface, she admits that her story is largely influenced by the novel “Things Fall Apart,” by Chinua Achebe, and it is easy to see how. It is a beautifully crafted work of historical narrative that shows how the personal is political as the characters find their voices, their position, and their own story against the backdrop of a churning nation that is doing exactly the same thing.

Absolutely beautiful. That is the only way I can describe the book. It is one of my absolute favorite books, and I brought it with me to Samoa knowing that I would want to read it while I was here, and it was fantastic reading it as a Peace Corps. The lessons about attempting to prepare for a completely unexpected life, only to arrive in a foreign country and realize that nothing you could have possibly thought of would have actually helped you are so familiar I could have written it myself. Their struggles adapting to a less-than-luxurious life also resonate, and they take on a new relevance now that I have experienced the same thing. Despite being thoroughly exhausted from Mother’s Day dance practice, I found it practically impossible to put this book down, and even at the end, I desperately want it to keep going. There is so much more she can tell about the story! I had a hard time choosing another book to read after I finished this one – what could possible come close to being as good as The Poisonwood Bible? You must read it.

The World From Islam – George Negus

In the aftermath of September 11th, the world was stuck on the idea of radical Muslims engaging in terrorist acts against “The West.” In an attempt to uncover the differences between Islam as a culture vs. Islam as a religion and how much extremists adhered to Muslim principals, George Negus set out on a journey around the Middle East to find the opinions and attitudes of everyday, “normal” Muslim. Negus, a famous Australian media personality known for his news reporting and travel pieces, embarks on his travels in the immediate aftermath of September 11th, then follows up two years later after Saddam Hussein had been ousted from Afghanistan. Armed with a list of references from friends and his own journalistic ability to talk to strangers, he has conversations with everyone from oil millionaires, sheikhs, lower class businessmen, and nomadic Bedouin about their religion, what it will take to get the Muslim and the non-Muslim world to interact peacefully, and how to settle the chaos that has consumed the region for as long as anyone can remember. He discovers a mixed world, almost a culture clash between a modernizing global world taking root in the midst of strong religious tradition. Ultimately, he finds that every Muslim he encounters is nothing other than your average human being, looking for a balanced life of spiritual fulfillment and worldly fun and rooting for peace and against suicide bombers. Curiously, there is basically unanimous agreement among the people he talks to about the solution to the Middle East chaos: a two-state solution to Israel and Palestine.

I was not a fan of this book. After reading A Thousand Splendid Suns, I was looking for something with more information on the region, but despite the title, the book did not provide that. Negus has strong journalistic credentials, which he doesn’t hesitate in sharing in the book, but this didn’t feel like an investigation of Islam. His other renowned book, The World From Italy, was apparently an excellent travelogue on the life, culture, and architecture of Italy, and this book felt like it could be a sequel to his first (not that I’ve read the first, nor am I planning to). Rather than exploring the nuances of Islam as a culture vs. Islam as a religion, or even really explaining the fundamental beliefs of Islam, Negus tells us about the architecture, sites, and attractions in the Middle East. Since his travels extended over several countries, I had trouble keeping track of where he was, who he was talking to, and how it all related.

The writing style also bothered me. He kept asking rhetorical questions that were meant to emphasize how Muslims in the Middle East are normal people, but came off sounding patronizing. His 13-year-old son was one of his travel companions, and he kept referencing him in his questions and answers. Yes, the innocent questions of a child often force us to face harsh realities that don’t have simple explanations, but that tactic loses its effect after the first or second time. He also refers to himself as “the author” on multiple occasions. I was confused by this at first, then understood that he was talking about himself, but preferred to do so in third person rather than saying “I was talking to…”. Furthermore, his flowery language is full of embellishments that sound more like tangential wanderings than drawn-out explanations. It wasn’t easy to follow, it didn’t address the topic I thought it would, and was not written in the style I was expecting from a renowned journalist. The one credit I will give this book is that it is interesting to read it in the current context of the Middle East in a post-Osama Bin Laden and post-Arab spring situation. But really, don’t bother.

A Thousand Splendid Suns – Khaled Hosseini

Mariam is a harami, an illegitimate child, but she doesn’t understand why she can’t live with her father, his wives, and all her other brothers and sisters. In the innocence of adolescence, Mariam tries to force her way into her father’s family despite her mother’s warnings, and the results are immediate and disastrous. Shortly afterward, Mariam is married off from her rural hometown of Herat to a shoemaker in Kabul, over 650 kilometers away. In Kabul, Mariam learns about modern life, covering herself with a burqa, and the responsibilities and trials of being a woman and a wife. When revolution hits Afghanistan and the government crumbles to chaos, Mariam and her husband, Rasheed, take in the young girl across the street who was orphaned by a stray rocket just as her family was planning to leave Afghanistan. Rasheed makes this new girl, Laila, his second wife, and she also quickly learns what it means to be a wife, woman, and mother. Feeling betrayed by the decision, Mariam keeps a cold distance from Laila, but extraordinary circumstances bring about unusual actions, and Mariam and Laila slowly become friends. Eventually, they join together to fight for friendship, love, and life in their struggle to survive the revolution and an abusive husband.

A Thousand Splendid Suns tells the story of women working together in revolutionary Afghanistan. Overall, the writing is clear and understandable, although Hosseini has a tendency to tell tangents before making a point. There is one chapter in the story that starts off with the women digging a hole in the backyard, and then Hosseini digresses into at least eight other vignettes before he tells us what the hole is for. By the end of the chapter, I almost forgot what he had been talking about. Otherwise, it is straightforward and easy to understand. He doesn’t throw in too much Arabic, and he translates most of what he does put in.

This book has been on my list so long that I couldn’t really tell you what happens in Kite Runner – his other book. I never heard a compelling summary or argument from anyone else as to why I should read it, so it was never a priority book, but I would say it deserves priority status. This story is amazing. In a world where women are so often fighting against each other to get ahead, Hosseini gives us a beautiful, heartbreaking story of two women who find friendship and strength from each other. This book tells the story of disrupted lives coming together, forced to unite amidst chaos, and somehow finding strength to overcome hardship. The story itself is compelling enough, but set against the background of a country caught between competing warlords and the government of the Taliban imposing Shari’a law, it is almost unbelievable that someone could endure (endurance is a key theme in the book) such hardships and still find beauty and meaning to life. Well worth the read.

Because it is Bitter and Because it is My Heart – Joyce Carol Oates

It’s rural New York in the 1950s and Iris Courtney is growing up on the wrong side of lucky. Her dad has a gambling problem, and while it occasionally brings in luxurious gifts, it more often results in unpaid debt. They move frequently, trying to stay in the nicest neighborhood they can afford while avoiding the streets that everybody knows are the territory of white trash. There is no concern about living in a black neighborhood because racial divides are so embedded that the possibility of having black neighbors is unthinkable even when they don’t have enough money to get by. For a white family, maintaining the semblance of class is what matters. Iris’s mom concerns herself with brands, labels, keeping the right company, and maintaining her reputation above all else. Constantly seeking upward mobility without acknowledging her lack of opportunity, she denies or ignores every problem she encounters. Rather than aiming for a good reputation, Iris’s father focuses more on a good time, causing the demise of their marriage. Meanwhile, Iris tries desperately to figure out her relationships with other people within the context of her race and class boundaries. Her life is forever altered and continuously redefined when the black boy she loves kills a white boy from a white trash family who had been threatening her. (Don’t worry, that’s not much of a spoiler – it happens in the first section of the book and is the impetus for every other major plot point). Iris comes of age while trying to find her identity amidst all her struggles of how to relate to people and why.

Because it is Bitter is the first…anything, I think…that I’ve read by Joyce Carol Oates, so I don’t know much about her background and I can’t compare it to her other work. She writes not quite in stream of consciousness, but her sentence structure tends to reflect natural thought patterns with some fully formed, grammatically correct sentences, but most of them with a few errors, some incomplete thoughts, and some consisting of just single words. It took me a while to get used to this style of writing because I am one of those people who have to read every word of every sentence, but after the first section, I stopped noticing it. The bulk of the novel is written from the perspective of Iris, but she switches between characters occasionally and convincingly builds different patterns of thought and speech, different behaviors, and different perspectives. I was very impressed with the character development.

I read this book on the recommendation of another PCV (I love reading books recommended by others, please let me know what you think I should read!). She was a high school English teacher before she came to Peace Corps, and she said “I was reading this book, and I thought it would have been great for my class. Then it got kinda sexy, and I realized why we would never have read it. So I thought you might like it.” It certainly fits her description, and I really enjoyed the book. I wouldn’t make a blanket recommendation that everyone read it, but I can think of some people who would also really enjoy it.

The Scarlet Letter – Nathaniel Hawthorne

Everybody knows that Hester Prynne has committed adultery because the bright red A she is sentenced to wear everyday announces it to the world. The result of the act, her daughter Pearl, is the living example of a fit of passion. Alternately referred to as an elfin child, spirit child, or fairy, Pearl bounces her way through life displaying none of the usual manners of children her age and disregarding all social norms. Meanwhile, the mystery of the father remains a secret – at least to the town. As the reader, we know that the minister Mr. Dimmesdale has been screaming his guilt in silence, faithfully performing his personal penance away from the eyes of the public because his position in the community does not allow him to make it known. Even when he tries to make it known, his role as a minister makes it seem as if he is merely finding fault with himself, not admitting to a crime of passion. Further complicating matters, the physician by the name of Roger Chillingworth vindictively exacerbates the minister’s personal agony while publicly appearing as his closest colleague. In a previous world that remains unknown to the town, Roger Chillingworth was the husband of Hester Prynne, so he is a private victim of the public scandal, but he expertly channels his anger into the demise of the minister. In a tangled circle of love and hate, God and Satan, grudges and forgiveness, how can the matter be settled? The Scarlet Letter is a study of dualities. After her public humiliation, Hester moves to the edge of town and lives on the border between wilderness and civilization. Removed from society, she has a new perspective from which to observe and criticize the institution that forced her out, but she does so in the same way she bears her public shame – silently and without show of emotion. Hester’s public appearance, aside from the scarlet A she wears, is limited to shades of gray, while her daughter Pearl is always decked out in the most elaborate fashions. The minister dutifully carries out his responsibilities during the day, but announces his guilt and punishes himself in the night. Above all, there is the distinction between God and Satan. In the story, Roger Chillingworth takes the part of Satan as the hateful, despicable man who seeks to destroy others in ways so subtle that it only makes them more painful. God takes the role of God because the minister cannot forgive himself – he is constantly seeking a Higher expression of mercy. While this makes for excellent literary analysis, it sometimes felt contrived and too blatant. The author goes so far as to point out the lack of civilization in the wilds beyond town leading to questionable activities like witchcraft and personal conversations between sinners. I loved The Scarlet Letter the first time I read it because there was so much to analyze – I felt like I was finally understanding my 11th grade English class! – but I liked it more this time for the issues that weren’t quite resolved. Hester bears her public shame without complaint for the rest of her life – how does the public shame contribute to and limit her future actions and choices? Alternately, why is the minister incapable of forgiving himself? This ultimately leads him to self-destruction (although it he is aided in the process by Roger Chillingworth), but does he have to admit guilt publicly in order to find peace? Could the minister eventually have forgiven himself without making a public confession? How important is public acknowledgment of personal lives? And how do we balance all those dualities to find a life that suits us personally? How important is it to follow all those social expectations? The last chapter is written in a way that tries to inspire speculation about the veracity of the story and characters. The story mostly resolves itself, but I like that it leaves some issues open to questions and interpretation.

Female Chauvinist Pigs – Ariel Levy

My apologies, I am writing this two weeks after finishing the book, so it will be an abbreviated review. The rise of raunch culture has produced a society in which women now objectify themselves and other women in the same way men do and call it feminism, but is it really feminism? While institutions like Playboy, Girls Gone Wild, and the porn industry have added new ideas and definitions of what it means to be sexy, they have also redefined and restricted what it means to be sexy. After decades of attempting to make women equal to men, women now attempt to be like men to achieve the highest status in society. Levy points out how this is not equality, constricts the spectrum of “sexy,” and does not qualify our society as “postfeminist.” This book is excellent for discussion, and after reading it, I forced it onto some other PCVs in my group so they could read it and we could all discuss it. The discussion happened over a holiday weekend at the beach, and lasted for hours. We talked about everything from how social dictates for how men and women act impact your personal experience, how to buck the system, why women still feel the need for male approval and how that approval has shifted, and whether there was any solution to it all. This was our main problem with the book – it doesn’t present a solution to raunch culture. So Playboy, porn, and Girls Gone Wild claim to “liberate” women by offering a shockingly scanty way to reveal themselves, but what can we do to counter these trends? How can we remind everyone about the goals of the feminist movement? Is it possible to incorporate raunch culture into feminism, and how? What can we do about it? She doesn’t tell us. But she sure is thought-provoking.

Catch-22 – Joseph Heller

It’s the lose-lose situation. There’s no way around it. Yossarian is stuck in a war he doesn’t want to fight, but he can’t get out of the war because he is sane enough to think he wants to live. His only responsibility is to fly in missions, and the number of missions required to complete his service is continually raised by a crazy Colonel who will do anything to get published in The Saturday Evening Post. People have to be crazy to fly in missions, and showing that you are insane is the only way to get you disqualified from service. However, you cannot make this request of a doctor, because asking to be grounded from missions in order to remove yourself from danger is obviously the process of a sane mind. Therefore, you are sane and must fly interminable missions. Catch-22.

Catch-22 also applies to every other situation in the book. From a dead tent-mate that was never officially recorded, so he can never officially be moved out, to a permanently high fever and a non-existent liver condition that qualify Yossarian for a stay in the hospital whenever he wants to get away from it all, nothing has a simple solution. Throughout the book, we learn about all the friends in his squadron who, by the end of the book, have all been killed in some fashion or another, and about the harebrained Generals and Colonels who are only following their personal obsessions and their orders from higher up. Then there’s also the guy in charge of the mess hall, who serves gourmet meals with products he runs on the black market. The whole operation spans all across Europe and down into northern Africa, and he plans everything at the expense of government money. He runs all the products, and then he sells everything to himself from a different location at a loss, but somehow manages to make a profit for everyone involved because everyone has a share of the syndicate. Catch-22.

Nothing makes sense, but there is nothing anybody can do about it because every argument is made with such infallible illogic that there is no reasonable comeback. The most compelling argument of all? Why not? This is the second time I’ve read Catch-22 and it only got better. Heller’s word play isn’t quite as lyrical as Nabokov, and his satire isn’t quite as sharp as Vonnegut, but when you combine those two with the inevitable “why not?” you come out with one of the best books since…sliced bread. The world of Catch-22 is a little difficult to keep track of, which is kind of the point. Each new chapter tells the reader about a different character, and overall we learn a little more about what has happened to Yossarian each time we meet someone new. The story circles around on itself, so it is hard to remember what happened in what order and which characters you should keep track of, but eventually it mostly makes sense. It is also an excellent lesson in SAT and GRE words. You must read this book. If I had to rank my favorite books ever (Harry Potter aside to give others a fair chance), Catch-22 would probably come in first. I love it, so you must as well.

The Girls Who Went Away – Ann Fessler

The subtitle of The Girls Who Went Away is something like “The hidden history of women who surrendered their children for adoption in the decades before Roe v. Wade.” This book is a collection of oral histories of women who had no choice but to surrender their children for adoption because of the social mores during the 1950s and 60s. Most of the women who were interviewed were in their teens or early twenties when they became pregnant, and for one reason or another, marriage was not an option, so the girls “went away,” as the title suggests. Most of them went to maternity homes (I can’t remember the exact term) where they spent the last few months of their pregnancy until they went into labor. Some lived with family members in another state, and some were sent away to families who were willing to host pregnant girls. Wherever they went, they were not allowed to stay home because in the era of the mobile middle class, unmarried mothers were a significant blight on the reputation of a family. Certain aspects of the book were rather shocking. It was disturbing to see how unsupportive families were of daughters who found themselves “in trouble,” and how the girl was always held accountable, while nothing ever happened to the boy and his family. Multiple times, Fessler brings up the point that in trying to prevent society from being mean to their pregnant daughters, parents often treated them the exact way they did not want others to do. The other shocking aspect was the complete lack of information. The 50s and 60s were an entire different time than the 90s and 2000s in which I grew up, but I cannot fathom a time when a girl could get pregnant and not know what would happened during the birth process. Access to birth control and condoms was about as available as accurate information about sex. Overall, nobody talked about anything, and secrets were sometimes kept until family members died.

I thought this book was very well-written. A lifetime ago, I took a research methods class, so I know a little bit about what a good oral history is supposed to look like. The author provides her standpoint and perspective on the issue by disclosing her personal experience with being adopted and searching for her birth mother. She has strong research support about the era, and mixes her information with personal statements and stories from women who surrendered children for adoption. She admits that her study is limited by class and race, and speculates that it might be how she went about recruiting women to interview, and differences in relationships and socioeconomic standing. I think this book is great because it talks about an issue that most people never even think about. The only thing I would change about the book is the subtitle. The women interviewed were talking about their unacknowledged grief over being forced to surrender a child for adoption, not that they wished they could have had an abortion. Granted, with the passing of Roe v. Wade, public opinion on pregnancy shifted so that women had more options available to them, but the women interviewed did not want to lose their children. I don’t think Roe v. Wade was a determining factor in their stories. Excellently written, interesting topic, moving personal stories, highly recommended.

The Neverending Story – Michael Ende The entire story of the land of Fantastica exists in a book that is being written while simultaneously being lived by all the inhabitants of the land. The catch with Fantastica is that its existence also depends on the human world, and when humans forget about Fantastica, Fantastica begins to lose its reality. Every so often, Fantastica needs a human to visit and rename everything to continue the story of the land. Bastian Balthazar Bux finds himself reading the story of Fantastica before he is summoned to come to Fantastica and rename everything so the cycle of existence can continue. As the he joins in the simultaneous telling/living of the story of Fantastica, he finds himself caught up in unbelievable adventures. As the “Great Knower,” he has the power to name everything, and his slightest wish brings anything into being. He tells the story that he lives, so he decides what happens. Unfortunately, Bastian forgets the consequences and responsibilities of power, and he starts making decisions that lead him away from his friends into a land of uncertainty and apathy. Just as it seems hopeless for Bastian to recover from senseless and misguided wishes, he discovers his true wish: to learn to love. With this new knowledge, he returns to his friends, who show him how to return to his own home so he can remind everyone else about the wonders of Fantastica. Although this book was recommended to me by someone who ardently adores it, I was less than thrilled with The Neverending Story. I grew up with Harry Potter, so anything that can’t compare to the fantasy of Hogwarts doesn’t even register on my scale. Had I read this book when I was younger, I’m sure I would have been tickled at the idea – I’m reading a book about a book that actually turns into reality. The reader becomes part of the story in this wonderful fantasy land, what could be better, especially for a booklover? Sorry, but I’m still waiting for my owl to get here and tell me I’ll be attending Hogwarts in the fall. It seems to have a hard time finding me. (My endorsement check from all things Harry Potter also seems to have gotten lost in the mail.) Maybe because I’m in Samoa… However, I do award this book high points for aesthetics. The size and weight of the book are very satisfactory. It’s one of those hardback books that stays open on the page you’re reading when you lay it flat on the table. Also, it is printed in two different colors (also part of the book within a book within reality deal), which makes for visually pleasing reading. Overall, if you don’t already love the story (or the movie – I saw one of the Neverending Story movies, but I can’t remember which one, and unfortunately it also came after the age of Harry Potter) then I wouldn’t bother with reading it. Each new chapter brings so many different ideas, stories, histories, characters, twists and turns, adventures, etc. etc, forever, that it really felt like a never-ending story.

Man’s Search for Meaning – Viktor Frankl

Viktor Frankl is a psychiatrist (or maybe psychologist – he’s some kind of doctor, I can’t remember) who was a prisoner in the concentration camps during WWII. The first half of his book is a scientific analysis of the behaviors and reactions of prisoners in the concentration camps. Obviously, he mainly draws on his own experience, but in attempting to make a scientific analysis, he tries to remove himself from the situation and observe without feeling. From his perspective, we learn how prisoners found or lost hope within a bleak setting that offered more to the prisoners than anyone outside the camp could possibly imagine. At one point, he recalls explaining a picture in the news of the concentration camps to a friend several years after the war. The picture showed men lying down, and Frankl explained that far from feeling lost and hopeless, most men in that situation would have felt relieved and thankful because their illness had qualified them for a day of rest. Personally, concentration camps are the last place I can think of in which to find hope, but Frankl explains that sometimes it is through unavoidable suffering that people find meaning in their lives. The second half of his book is dedicated to a brief explanation of his approach to therapy. He argues for logotherapy, a practice which searches for meaning in life. Rather than assuming all people are searching for pleasure, or seeking merely to avoid suffering, logotherapy assumes people have a will to meaning (I think that is the phrase he uses). From the perspective of logotherapy, meaning can be found in one of three ways: by dedicating your life to the work you are passionate about, by finding and sharing love with another person, and by enduring unavoidable suffering. The important thing to remember is that the suffering must be unavoidable – if the source of suffering can be removed, then it should be, otherwise, as Frankl says, it is masochistic to needlessly endure suffering. I don’t know enough of Frankl’s background to know whether he studied logotherapy before or after his experience in the concentration camp, but his book clearly shows how effective logotherapy can be. By beginning with his personal experience in the concentration camp, detached as he tries to make it for a scientific analysis, he gains the sympathy and trust of the reader (although it’s beyond me if anyone can read a story of such suffering and not be moved) before he goes into the logistics of searching for meaning. The entire book inspires hope and optimism for finding some feeling of control over our lives and that greater purpose that gives meaning to an otherwise chaotic existence. I highly recommend reading the foreword, the introduction, and the afterword because they all contribute something to the story.

Bossypants – Tina Fey

Although she may be one of the most well-known comedy figures of pop culture, Tina Fey spends her entire books trying to convince you that everything was either an accident or good ol’ blind luck, and all those pictures where she looks so beautiful? Photoshop. She dedicates a significant chunk of one chapter to praising Photoshop, and, along with all her other arguments, I find myself fully convinced by her reasoning. Except her theory on going on a cruise – I still disagree with her there.

Fey begins telling her story from her summers spent at a church theatre camp, to her extremely un-romantically involved college years, the drudgery of her one and only desk job, and her many, many, many failures before she ended up on NBC. Along the way, she gets married, has a daughter, and offers her opinion on everything from towel animals to how to achieve the maximum fun on the annual Christmas celebration that includes both sets of in-laws, and her personal advice for love, sex, and beauty.

I’m not sure what I was expecting, but I didn’t think Tina Fey would be so well-informed on various aspects of life. She makes well-reasoned feminist observations about topics ranging from the role of women in comedy to political campaigns to being a working mom. Fey is obviously a genius of a writer, and the books reads so easily you could probably multi-task while reading it. You could, but you wouldn’t want to because you spend the entire book marveling at how normal she actually is despite all her fame, and drawing attention to yourself by uncontrollably laughing out loud at her ridiculous metaphors, dead-on descriptions, and satire. It is almost impossible to put this book down. I kept wanting to rush through to know what her next brilliant observation would be, but it actually took me a long time to read this book because I really wanted to savor every word. Yes, brilliant, I think, is the best way to summarize this book.

The Giver – Lois Lowry

Jonas lives in one of many Communities that have existed in Sameness for as long as the generations can remember. As a result of Sameness, all decisions are taken away. Children are closely monitored by a committee until they are assigned a job to fill for the rest of their life in the Community. Adults apply for spouses, married couples apply for children, and anything that does not belong is Released. All decisions are made by the Committee of Elders, and when the Elders are truly stumped, they go to the Receiver, who holds the memories of the entire world so that the Community does not have to live with emotions, music, animals, love, pain, and even color. Jonas, instead of being Assigned to a job, is selected to be the next Receiver of Memory.

As Jonas progresses through his training, the memories he receives become increasingly complex and his resulting emotions become difficult to manage. Jonas causes a stir in the middle of a group of children playing a game because he has the memory of warfare, whereas they know nothing about the basis of their game. He becomes frustrated with his family, the rules of the Community, and the pretense of choice that the world has agreed to live with.

Among all the dystopian stories that are currently so popular, The Giver is one of the original dystopias. Lois Lowry is a children’s writer, so her book is aimed at adolescents, but Jonas never strikes me as a child. His naïveté and innocence are apparent in different situations in the story, but it is hard to believe that he has such insight and wisdom as such a young age, which I think is also a strategy of the book. Lowry reminds us not to disregard children merely because they are young – children still have the power to create change. They have a unique perspective on the difficulties of life which allows them to find solutions that adults may not think of.

The Giver is a poignant story about how to handle a life full of hardships, and even why hardships are necessary to a full life. The entire range of emotions and behaviors available to human beings offers endless possibilities for relationships, growth, pain, failure, and change. Although we may all lament the difficulties we sometimes face, would it really be better to live without them?

Things Fall Apart – Achibe Chenua (I think – I can’t remember for sure who the author is) Things Fall Apart tells the story of a man in an evolving African community. By his hard work farming yams, strength as a wrester, and bravery as a warrior, Okonkwo earns status, titles, and prestige in the village of his father. He sits on the council that oversees all disagreements and arguments in the village, and has three wives with multiple children. However, Okonkwo is quick to anger, and strong in his opinions and judgments. After Okonkwo accidentally kills a boy during a funeral ceremony, he is banished to the village of his mother for seven years to erase his wrong-doings from the village. Okonkwo serves his “sentence” in a new community, all the while thinking about how to make a triumphant return to the village of his father so he can regain his position. While living in the village of his mother, though, things begin to fall apart, and do so completely when Okonkwo returns to the village of his father. The traditional spirits and gods of the tribe run into Jesus, and while the first missionary to the community is patient, calm, and tolerant, his replacement takes a heavy hand toward villagers who reject the new belief system. As tradition meets colonization, Okonkwo internalizes his anger at the village’s inability and unwillingness to fight for their way of life. He ultimately hangs himself from shame about himself, his position, and his village. As with pretty much everything in my life, I couldn’t help comparing this book to my Peace Corps experience. I looked at it as a PCV, and understood why you have to make small talk with people before you come to the real reason for wanting to talk to them. I understood the ceremonies, the food, and how some things will never make sense to someone outside the community. And I compared myself to the two missionaries at the end of the book, and found many similarities between my work and the approach of the first missionary. I think my personal context helped me understand the book more because I felt that there were many things that weren’t fully explained. Spirit children came up in the book, but they weren’t called that in the book, and the only way I knew what they were talking about was from reading about spirit children in The Famished Road. There was also an entire midnight chase across all the villages in the community that culminated in nothing but a night of lost sleep, and I was unsure of what to make of that. It was a great book though. It is a quick read, a nice glimpse into village life, and a strong commentary on colonialism.

The Body Project – Joan Jacobs Brumberg The Body Project is a historical analysis of how the body of the American girl has transformed over the past century with the changing social mores from the repressive Victorian era to the largely uninhibited 1990s. Brumberg, a feminist historian, analyzes how the evolving concepts of sexuality and beauty impacted the female identity as a girl encountered adolescence. She traces various aspects of the body and adolescence, focusing mainly on menarche, notions of physical beauty, and the concept of “sexual activity” and how they added to the various “body projects” for adolescent girls over the past century. Brumberg bases her book on scholarly research and excerpts from girls’ diaries and journals over the past century. This combination allows the reader to see the impact of social changes on the individual psyche. I found it very interesting to see how systemic changes, such as medical definitions, lead to new behaviors and treatment for girls. For example, while acne has never been a life-threatening disease, it was never taken seriously until WWII and later military engagements. Since acne more often affected girls than boys, doctors made no special effort to treat it, but as it increased in severity for men serving in tropical military locations, causing scarring and infections that interfered with their service, doctors began to more aggressively address this skin problem. I also found it quite interesting how bodies became more associated with specific products that, in the past, had been marketed only for adult women, but began marketing toward a specific “junior” audience as the age of adolescence decreased. Additionally, the evolution in what products were available, and how widely available they were, was something I had never really thought about before. Throughout her analysis, Brumberg keeps track of the social movements at play over the course of the past century, but she acknowledges in her conclusion that her analysis applies mainly to middle-class white girls. Brumberg argues that neither the Victorian attitudes nor the latest sexual revolution is an obvious improvement over the other, and she points out the value and shortcomings of both eras. While the Victorian era was constituted of very modest ideas that treated girls as asexual beings, it had a built in support structure in terms of protective and nurturing female relationships. Girls today may have more freedom and more choice concerning every aspect of their body, but they lack advice and direction from role models that can lead to more informed actions. Her argument is worth considering as we move ever forward in pursuit of freedom and equality.

Brida – Paulo Coelho

Brida is the story of one woman’s search for magic – for meaning in life, to find a way to love others, and how to relate to the world. Set in Ireland (read the introduction – I’m not sure if this is a true story or not), Brida tells us about the spiritual journey of the main character, Brida. She sets out looking for a path to follow. She finds the Tradition of the Sun, which in turn leads her to the Tradition of the Moon, commonly known as witchcraft. As she learns the secrets of the tarot, practices ceremonies and ritual dances, and learns to listen to her soul in an effort to awaken her Gift, Brida struggles with the difficulties of trying to pursue one path in light of vague lessons and a personal desire to remain free to choose any path. The story culminates with her Initiation into the Tradition of the Moon. She learns to combine both male power (the Tradition of the Sun) and female transformation (the Tradition of the Moon) into Wisdom that helps her to understand that we can’t understand the world. Brida is a great story in places, but it didn’t grab me like The Alchemist. Personally, I think the idea of magic and tarot cards and rituals are fun, but I have a hard time accepting them as reality. While I can relate to her story – especially the part about not wanting to limit herself to one path when there are so many other potential paths to take – I never really felt connected to the story the way that I did with The Alchemist. Brida goes through personal struggles, deals with disappointment, and has difficulty making decisions – everything from normal life that people can always relate to – but I was never really grabbed by a sense of pathos. I never got pulled into the story. I can relate to her, but I couldn’t relate to the book. What is the shape of the overall story? What is her primary struggle and why do I want her to overcome her challenges? There was too much emphasis on the magic and the rituals, and not enough information about Brida’s life, so I felt it lacked direction and connection. However, Paulo Coelho is still an amazing author, and it was a fairly quick read, so I would still recommend it if you find it lying around somewhere.

Hotel Babylon – Imogen-Edward Jones and Anonymous Hotel Babylon is over a decade of behind-the-scenes gossip, scandal, and excitement in the luxury hotels of London squeezed into one 24-hour shift. Set in the fictional Hotel Babylon with some name changes to protect privacy, everything else in the book, we are assured, is completely true. Hotel Babylon is told by a man working the reception desk. As the reader, we help check-out all the guests – inspecting all their bills – answer phone calls from mad hotel guests, scan the crowd for goods dealers who supply the hotel with black market wine and caviar, and keep track of anything that could potentially harm the reputation of the hotel – whether it’s prostitutes, homeless people, drunks, or angry guests. We also get to hear the back story of the VIP customers who routinely drop as much in tips as they spend on a night at the hotel, or are so regular at the hotel that it is hardly a shock when they die in their room. We learn the difference between the chambermaids and the house cleaners, why the head chef always acts crazy, and how hotels finally manage to sell all those ridiculously expensive wines that have been sitting in storage for years. Basically, the more money you spend, the more you can get away with, and this book documents all the scandal.

This book is a record of the entire day, and because it is ten years condensed into a 24-hour shift, we see how the dynamic of the hotel changes from day to night. It reads like a journal, and moves quickly from one topic to the next. Whether it is relaying stories of celebrities behaving badly or reporting actual incidents from the hotel, we get it all, and it just keeps coming. It is highly entertaining, often unexpected, and quite a ridiculous look at how people behave so differently when they are away from home and think they have no limits.

The Ultimate Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy – Douglas Adams

The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, The Restaurant at the End of the Universe, Life, the Universe and Everything, So Long and Thanks for All the Fish, and Mostly Harmless In the first five books (I discovered in Australia that there is now a sixth book out) of a three-book series (yes, it’s a three-book series – read the introduction), Adams crafts multiple universes where everything is so illogical, or blatantly obvious, that anything is possible. You MUST read these books. I read The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy by itself, but the rest of them I read together in the compiled format of The Ultimate Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. As a result, I always read them assuming it was one continuous story, but this time, I read them with the intention of seeing each book separately, and I liked them much more. Which is saying something because I already love these books. The stories follow Arthur Dent, from Earth, Ford Prefect, from a planet near Betelgeuse, Tricia McMillan/Trillian, from Earth, and the first few include Marvin the Paranoid Android and the antics of the galactic president, Zaphod Beeblebrox, also from a planet near Betelgeuse. The series starts off with a bang, literally, as the Earth is demolished to construct a hyperspace bypass. Afterwards, our heroes wander the galaxy for a few stories, accidentally getting themselves out of disastrous and deadly serious situations, eating steak from a cow that asks to be eaten, and saving the universe on multiple occasions. Everything happens haphazardly, with much miscommunication and misunderstanding, and although it seems that the characters blunder around blindly, they always end up in the right place. Eventually, Arthur returns to Earth, Ford returns to wandering, and Tricia/Trillian takes up another career. They all reconvene in a parallel universe in the fifth installment, and plenty of excitement ensues. Adams is spectacular. His characters are amazingly crafted, and his writing in general is brilliant. He has sharp satire, biting wit, and the physics of his science fictional universes makes perfect sense (as far as I can follow it, that is). His metaphors are so completely unpredictable (“the yellow constructor ships hung in the air exactly the way that bricks don’t”) or his reasoning so blatantly obvious (“the trick to learning how to fly is learning to throw yourself at the ground and miss”) that his universe makes perfect sense even if it doesn’t seem possible. In that way it reminds me of Catch-22 – so perfectly argued with illogic that you can’t make a competent comeback. Adams also creates a world so fantastic that it almost compares to Harry Potter – and that is ridiculously high praise coming from me. Read these books. They are entertaining, unexpected, and will make you laugh out loud.

Into the Wild – John Krakauer

Into the Wild details the account of Chris McCandless, a college graduate who donated his entire savings to Oxfam, burned the remains of his cash, and took to hitchhiking around the States before he was found dead in Alaska. For two years after finishing college, McCandless tramped around the US, camping, occasionally picking up odd jobs, and meeting other vagabonds. He never stayed in one place for more than two months, although there were a few locations he returned to multiple times. Influenced by Tolstoy and Thoreau, McCandless adopted an ascetic lifestyle, shunning mainstream US culture and beliefs. He was drawn to the wilderness, and told everyone he met that he was planning a grand adventure in the wilds of Alaska. He adopted the name Alexander Supertramp during his travels, but used both names intermittently. After years of hitchhiking, McCandless finally made it up to Alaska, and set out on what he thought was a remote trail to live off the land for a few weeks during the Alaskan spring and summer. Through some mistake or accident, it is thought that McCandless starved to death, and he was found dead at his camp site by some other hikers a few weeks later.

John Krakauer is an excellent writer. He is quickly making it to my list of favorite authors. His pieces are very thorough, well-researched, and always gripping. He paints pictures with his words, and though sometimes I could complain that his descriptions are too detailed, that rarely ever happens. His story about McCandless mostly pieces together his travels before he went to Alaska. McCandless kept a terse journal and had no other communication while he was in Alaska, so one can only speculate about what happened. From interviews and letters, Krakauer retells McCandless’ journeys and his relationships. Krakauer also compares McCandless to other infamous weirdos/hippies/vagabonds who wandered into Alaska and perished, and even tells his own story of stupidity on Alaskan mountains. In the book, Krakauer makes the argument that McCandless was not just another stupid hippie on a trip to lose American society and find himself in the Alaskan wilds, and his reasoning is fairly convincing. Again, it is speculation at most, but it is nice to hear someone give McCandless credit amidst all the accusations of stupidity.

Actually, I am guilty of calling McCandless stupid, reckless, and unprepared. I watched the movie before I read the book, and I thought McCandless was rather callous and selfish in the movie. The book tells a different story. While the movie focuses on McCandless as he drifts towards Alaska, the book brings in his relationships. By talking to the people McCandless met, Krakauer brings in another dimension to the story. I still think McCandless was rather cold in his relationships – he seemed to view the wild not quite as a replacement for human relationships, but as a source of contemplation and understanding that he couldn’t achieve through interactions with others. The wilderness had a higher priority on his list of relationships than other people. He seemed most focused on completing his own plans and not letting others interrupt or deter him. The question is, does that make him cold and self-centered, or does it make him determined and independent? It’s open for interpretation. The whole story is open for interpretation as most of it is speculation. It’s an excellent story, and one of the first I’ve read that I can’t really compare to the movie because it seems like they are different stories – or at least different perspectives on the same story.

White Fang - Jack London Following the learning, growth, and adaptations of a wolf, White Fang tells of the resilience of animals as they try to find balance between nature and nurture. From the very beginning of a newborn puppy testing the limits of the physical world to the point where White Fang becomes a father himself, the novel tells of the learning process of an animal throughout his life. When White Fang first joins humans, whom the narrator dubs “gods” because of their power and ability to dominate the world around them, he immediately becomes an outcast. Picked on by the rest of the puppies, White Fang learns the limits of the laws of the gods so he can bend the rules without breaking them, and he learns how to establish his role in relation to the pack. Eventually, White Fang becomes the dog of a new, evil god who tortures White Fang out of all his training. White Fang reverts to “the call of the Wild,” relying on a killer instinct rather than a desire to prove loyalty to a god. Just when his situation seems hopeless, White Fang is rescued by a new god, who shows him love and kindness. Under this new ruler, White Fang re-learns the laws of the gods, how to show loyalty, and how to care. I was not thrilled by White Fang. The story starts off with a tangent that eventually leads into the story of White Fang (tangents in general tend to frustrate me. According to my Kindle, I was almost 30% of the way through the book before White Fang was introduced, although it did move faster once that happened), and the way the story focuses on White Fang felt almost childish at times. I could picture it playing out as an animated movie, with White Fang voiced by some famous actor. As a result, I felt this book would be appropriate for kids – and an excellent lesson in vocabulary for them – because it focuses so much on White Fang. The omniscient narrator describes what White Fang feels without reasoning through it because he is only an animal and does not have the means to draw conclusions. The narrator talks about everything from the difference between a reproving bite and an attempt to kill, to the thrill of the hunt and the desire for meat. There were times when, being an animal lover, I felt strongly connected to and pulled in by what White Fang was doing. I felt anguished when White Fang was being tortured, truly despondent when the nice god went away, and satisfied at the fairy tale ending. Spoiler alert – it does have a happy ending. It doesn’t follow the entire life of the animal the way Marley and Me does.

The main thing I didn’t like about White Fang was how the narrator placed humans as gods. I still find myself reflecting constantly about Ishmael and how the desire to dominate leads to the destruction of the world, and by placing humans as gods in control of everything, White Fang reinforces the idea that humans are meant to dominate the world. Furthermore, the narrator talks about how white-skinned gods have more power than the dark-skinned god that provides the first home for White Fang. Yes, this book was written a long time ago, but that is not an excuse and it should not be read without acknowledging the racism. One redeeming factor I liked about the book was that the god who comes in to save White Fang from his horrible circumstances shows how those in power have the responsibility to protect those weaker than them, which in this case means humans should not torture animals. Given my personal views and opinions, it was hard for me to read the lessons of the book in just the context of an animal growing up and adapting to different life circumstances. I felt the book would have made for a great discussion because there were so many lessons in there about human relationships in general, and too many prejudiced and stereotyped ideas for my taste. However, the novel mostly redeemed itself by the end. Overall, it comes out as an OK book.

Dear Exile (I can’t remember the names of the authors) is a compilation of letters between two friends “separated for one year by an ocean.” One went off with her new husband to be a Peace Corps teacher in Kenya, and the other struggled through the post-college-but-still-pre-adult stage of life in New York City.

I found the book very relatable. The Peace Corps side of the story felt exactly like what I am going through – struggling to move from strange to familiar in a new village, learning how to make local foods by way of local traditions, making mistakes with language, and trying to do something at school. Her water problems were probably a bit worse than mine because her water constantly made her sick, and she was also living with her husband, so there was somebody there to blunt the impact of the Peace Corps experience, but otherwise, it felt familiar. Similarly, the letters from the friend in New York were just as relatable for anyone living anything remotely resembling a regular life in the States. Embarking on the journey of adulthood, she needed her own apartment, she was just beginning a new job in the city, and she muddled through the endearing and heartbreaking relationships of a tattered family and always finding Mr. Not-so-right on the search for Mr. Right

I don’t have much more to say about the book. It is a quick and engaging read because it is a compilation of letters; it’s the guilty pleasure of reading somebody else’s mail.

The Devil in the White City – Erik Larson

The Devil in the White City is a tale of the enchantment of the World’s Fair hosted by Chicago at the end of the 19th century. Amidst a quickly industrializing world, Chicago is out to prove itself to the rest of the United States of America by hosting a fair that can top all previous records of attendance and revenue. This goal is extrapolated to a national level as the US tries to put itself on the same level as European countries and cities. The fair is constructed in an unbelievable timeline, resulting in a new (or rather old) influence on architecture in the US and all sorts of innovations, from Cracker Jacks and Shredded Wheat to the Ferris Wheel, now a central part of all fairs across the States. However, just past the enthralling World’s Fair lies a charming man responsible the modern definition of a psychopath. This story tells the true story of how the World’s Fair was built in Chicago, and how one particularly suspect character took great advantage of the flurry of motion.

Larson’s work is very well researched and filled with quotes, excerpts from newspapers and letters, and interesting statistics about cost. However, sometimes his writing comes off more as a report and less as a novel. The book is known for its description of the architecture of Chicago and the fair, and it is chock full of architectural descriptions. I felt some of that could have been left out because I don’t remember the difference between the types of column, and without any background in architecture, it was hard to visualize some of his descriptions, so I found myself caught up in details. Larson also has a tendency to end sections, paragraphs, or chapters in the book with a sentence like “Later, he would realize that this was important,” or “Much would be made of this observation in the future.” Sometimes he would tell you why in the next sentence, and sometimes he didn’t address it until 250 pages later. It felt like a simple, overused method to hook the reader. The other thing that annoyed me about the book is that Larson assumes a base level of knowledge that I don’t think everybody has. He continually mentions specific locations in Chicago by giving the intersection in street names, and I don’t understand the necessity of the street names in the rest of the book. Also, he mentions three kids – Alice, Nellie, and Howard – who were so well-known that everybody in the US knew them by first name only. He doesn’t come back to tell us why until the end of the book. His methods of trying to keep the reader hooked left me a little frustrated – I felt the story could have been more straightforward and just as compelling without so many interruptions, assumptions, and details.

Overall, the book was surprisingly interesting. I even found myself as frustrated about landscape architecture as one of the architects in the book. The story of the madman is sparsely interwoven until the end of the book, but makes for interesting little tidbit reads. While I can see how it relates to the World’s Fair, I would also be interested to read a book solely about him because his story encompasses much more both before and after the World’s Fair in Chicago. The Devil in the White City is a fairly compelling read, surprisingly interesting, and reads like a novel because some of the facts are so unbelievable.

The Famished Road – Ben Okri The Famished Road tells the story of a spirit child who chooses to remain in the human world. Normally, spirit children live only a short while before returning to their idyllic spirit world, but Azaro chooses to remain in his African village life. He must fight to remain in his life, for all his spirit companions are constantly trying to lure, persuade, and trick him into returning to the spirit world, and there are several occasions where they almost succeed, but with the help of his parents, herbalists, witches, and others, he is always called back to Earth. While Azaro wanders the roads of his village and the spirit world, his parents endure the daily struggles of poverty and trying to raise a family in a world of broken dreams and false promises from corrupt politicians. The Famished Road is an epic novel of struggling through everyday life. The beauty of The Famished Road comes through in every page and in every sentence. Okri’s language is poetic, and he evokes vivid imagery by crossing the senses, so that the reader feels the color green and tastes the sorrow of the villagers. His descriptions are vivid, which is needed to describe the world of the spirits and the spirits in the world. One of my favorite passages, near the end of the book, describes why the people in the spirit world are endlessly building a road that meets with destruction as much as it does progress “There are many ways to be dead…the prophet’s people are the dead. Heaven means different things to different people. They wanted to live, to be more alive. They wanted to know the essence of pain, they wanted to suffer, to feel, to love, to hate, to be greater than hate, and to be imperfect in order to always have something to strive towards, which is beauty. They wanted also to know wonder and to live miracles. Death is too perfect.” Okri’s words are lyrical, and the imagery vibrant, but because of that, I tried to find symbolism in every sentence, and I frequently had to remind myself to step back and read the book and not analyze the meaning behind every word. Also, I had a hard time following the book because the storyline was not always clear, and the book does not always obviously move towards a theme or lesson or climax. Particularly in the beginning of the novel, the spirit world mixes strongly with the real world and it is hard to tell what is really happening. There were times when the story moved quickly because it was so compelling, and times when I got completely lost because I couldn’t make sense of everything. Do you need to read this book? Probably not, but if you’re up to it (it’s 500 pages), it’s beautifully written and has some parts that really shine.

Hocus Pocus – Kurt Vonnegut

Hocus Pocus tells the story of how the narrator came to be imprisoned in the library where he is composing the novel. After graduating from West Point, he joined the war effort in Vietnam (might have been Korea, I can’t remember at this point). Upon his return to the States, he took a job teaching science at a public college to students who hadn’t been accepted anywhere else for various reasons. Across the lake from the college stood a state prison, and after he lost his job at the college, the narrator (I would tell you his name, but I can’t remember it exactly either – it’s relevant to the story, so rather than get it wrong, I’ll just leave it out) accepts a teaching position at the prison. After a mass prison break, he is then accused of providing information to the inmates (describing the lakes and trees outside) which made the escape possible, so he is now an inmate at the prison. The population of the prison expanded so much that it took over the college, which stopped was no longer a college after the prison break made it too dangerous.

This is my new favorite Vonnegut book – Timequake has been pushed into second place. The satire is noticeably subtle, and sometimes blatantly obvious. Brilliantly written, highly recommended.

Anna Karenina – Leo Tolstoy

I’ll be honest here…I don’t think my book-lover status qualifies me to summarize and comment on Tolstoy. As far as I can tell, Anna Karenina is a long story set in Russia. It reminds me of both Pride and Prejudice and Gone With the Wind because it follows many characters who are all somehow related. The uniting theme behind all these characters seems to be how they deal with guilt – how their moral misbehavior influences their thoughts, actions, and relationships and whether they use their experiences to improve themselves or just ignore anything and everything that doesn’t please them. That’s the best I can give you.

Through the Looking Glass – Lewis Carrol

The follow-up to Alice in Wonderland. I liked Through the Looking Glass better, but I still couldn’t tell you the point of the book.

River Town – Peter Hessler

A Peace Corps novel from a Volunteer in China in the mid-90s, only a year or two after China reopened its borders to the world after the Cultural Revolution and the Great Leap Forward. The author studied literature and wrote articles for newspapers, so sometimes the book gets a little dry, but he generally has excellent descriptions. He taught English at a teacher training school, and interspersed with his writing are excerpts from student papers. This enhances the story because you have the US perspective from the author experiencing China post-communism, and comments from the students that show the emerging Chinese youth perspective balancing parental demands, political propaganda, and personal desires.

I also liked this book from the Peace Corps perspective. I feel like I can relate to his story – there is the initial awkwardness, the growing comfort, what it’s like to have people visit from the States, and adjusting to a new, slower lifestyle. In terms of PCV books I’ve read, this one gets second place. I still highly recommend The Ponds of Kalambayi.

Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency – Douglas Adams

Dirk Gently has been hired to solve a murder. He believes in a holistic approach to the problem, so instead of just solving the murder, he figures out how everything about the case – even the parts that seem innocent, inconsequential, and not at all related – are connected.

Fans of Hitchhiker’s Guide everywhere will love this book. Beyond the first 3 chapters (40 pages or so) it is a quick read. The beginning introduces various characters and scenarios that don’t make a reappearance until later in the book, so it’s hard to keep track of what is going on and what information is important. Well-written, intriguing, moves fast, and plenty of satire. It’s like Douglas Adams with a hint of Vonnegut – if you like one or the other, you will probably like this book.

Ishmael – Daniel Quinn

Yes, I read Ishmael again. That makes it the second time I’ve read it this year, the third time I’ve read it total. If you take this book seriously – which you should – it’s one of those books that sticks with you. Ishmael talks about the mythology that guides cultural development; how the stories we learn and act out impact our relationships and the world. It begins with an ad in the paper – a teacher is seeking a pupil with an earnest desire to change the world. The classrooms and lessons aren’t quite conventional, but you find yourself following along with the narrator asking the same questions, struggling with the same answers, and having the same Aha! revelations. Very highly recommended book, especially for those with an earnest desire to change the world.

The Alchemist – Paulo Coelho

The Alchemist is the story of a journey. After having a recurring dream, the main character, Santiago, leaves his life as a shepherd to follow the omens that will lead him to his Personal Legend (I think that is the terminology from the book). Santiago sells his flock to leave Spain and cross the sea into Africa in search of the pyramids of Egypt. His journey stalls, but as long as he continues to listen to his heart, he can see the omens that lead him to the next step.

I felt The Alchemist was a good follow-up to Ishmael if you consider the spiritual aspect of Ishmael. It’s one of those books that sometimes you feel embarrassed about advocating because it’s a cheesy story that makes you believe in your own dreams and destiny, but I love those stories that emphasize the importance of living life. I heard a song the other day that had a line “everybody dies, but not everybody lives,” and The Alchemist is about living your life – facing the challenges and taking the risks to find what makes you happy and fulfilled.