THE SCARLET MANSION. Eckert, Allan W. March 2000.

I read this in April 2012.  Again, this was a book club selection for the First Tuesday Book Club I participate in. 

The entire time I was reading this, I thought I was reading a biography of Herman Mudgett, alias Dr. Henry Holmes, the notorious serial killer (one of this country's first) who supposedly killed over 130 people throughout the latter half of the 19th century.  The non-fiction book, DEVIL IN THE WHITE CITY (which is a better book than this one) is based partly on the murders Holmes committed in Chicago before and during the 1893 World's Fair. 
This book, however, is actually a novel based on fact.  It reads like a case history or biography though.  Having learned it was actually a novel, I thought less of it.  Some liberties are taken with Holmes' inner thoughts and of course, conversations that witnesses never heard, but I feel they could have been handled in a more intimate, creative way than those details are handled in this book.  The book again, reads like a case history, and therefore, it's tone is very dry and completely chronological. 

Other than that, Holmes' = who basically made his living swindling people, then killed many of them - including their children, just for kicks - story is a fascinating, albeit highly disturbing one.  I actually stayed up late a couple of nights reading this. 

However, I only recommend this to hardcore fans of serial killers, or late 19th century crime stories.  Read DEVIL IN THE WHITE CITY by Erik Larsen instead.  The latter is truly a fascinating, rich book. 

Saving Cee Cee Honeycutt. Hoffman, Beth. October 2010.

I read this in March 2012.  This was a First Tuesday book club selection. 

Cee Cee Honeycutt survives the tragic death of her mentally disturbed, yet free-spirited mother, only to be separated from her father to go live with her elderly aunt in Savannah Georgia in the 1960s.  There she meets and befriends many older women, all free spirits in their own way.  

This is an okay novel.  I was thoroughly engaged with the story while reading it, and read it quickly, but felt like it was geared more toward young adults, and even then, felt there is too much of a Pollyanna undertone to the some of the more serious situations in the story. 

I happened to be vacationing in Savannah when I started reading the book, ironically.  Totally not planned on my part.  It did make reading the book much more interesting, having actually been in the city and neighborhoods described in the novel. 

Recommended only for those really interested in novels about Savannah.  Really. 

Cleopatra: A Life. Schiff, Stacy. Sept. 2011

Published around the same time as Adrian Goldworthy's biography of Antony and Cleopatra.  Between the two, I found this one more of an enjoyable read.  Many details and events in both Antony's and Cleopatra's life were filled in here, that had been absent from Goldworthy's bio.  Schiff also seems more sympathetic to both Cleopatra and Antony despite their many personal shortcomings and failures.
Recommended not only for history buffs...

Antony and Cleopatra. Goldsworthy, Adrian. September 2010.

I read this book around Christmas 2011.
After reading the novel about Cleopatra, I saw this book on the new books shelf at the library (although it's a couple of years old).  This is part biography of both Antony and Cleopatra, and part historical account.  First, the good - very in-depth portrayal of not only the events in both A and C's lives, but also of the social and political fabric of the Roman empire, both locally and abroad in their colonies.  I learned much about the Roman political system, that I never knew before, just reading this book.  The entire first third of the book discusses Julius Caesar in depth as well, as it's really impossible to understand the events surrounding Antony and Cleopatra without understanding the events surrounding Julius Caesar.

Now the not-so-good - the details of Antony and Cleopatra's time spent together and decades-long love affair seem simply glossed over and generalized.  I understood, before and while reading this book that not a lot is known about the two.  However, just after reading this, I read Cleopatra:  A Life, by Stacy Schiff, and many more facts were revealed about both.
Overall, though, this was a good read, and I also believe, despite the rushed gloss at the end, that this is how more history books should be written - with lots of details about the society and culture behind the politicians and politics of the day.

QUEEN OF KINGS: The Immortal Story of Cleopatra. Headley, Maria Dahvana. c. 2011

This is the first novel published by Maria Dahvana Headley. It is a retelling of the story of the death of Cleopatra and Antony, imagining if Cleopatra had placed a spell on herself to remain immortal. The narrative is fast-paced and in the style of a thriller, although full of rich details about the period, and it's fusion of different cultures and religions across the Mediterranean and northern Africa. There is plenty of magic and witchcraft in this story, all while fleshing out each character, even the minor ones, with a fresh, modern realism.

The one problem I had with the book was that, at times, it was TOO fast-paced and breathless. The narrative rushes headlong to the story's final scenes. I felt like I had to catch my breath while reading it, and it became a little confusing keeping track of who was where, and when, etc.

Overall, though, this was an enjoyable read. Not boring in the least. Finally, the historical note by the author in the back was very helpful. It directed me to another novel about Octavian, which I've only begun, and the recent non-fiction book ANTONY AND CLEOPATRA, by Adrian Keith Goldsworthy. I'm currently making my way through the latter, and it is well written and fascinating.

I do recommend this for fans of historical fiction, of Antony and Cleopatra, and anything regarding ancient Rome.

THE LACUNA. Kingsolver, Barbara. 2009.

I read this, or tried to, this past winter, 2010.

I have loved Barbara Kingsolver's previous books. THE POSIONWOOD BIBLE is a contemporary masterpiece, and her other novels have been compelling and well written as well.

THE LACUNA - not so much. And I'm not sure why.

Once again, Kingsolver creates a character and sets him in the midst of history being made - in this case, in the household of Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera, Mexico City, early twentieth century. It is a politically and artistically radical household, contrasted with the mild-mannered-fade-into-the-background narrator and main character, one Harrison William Shepherd. Shepherd is an American citizen, son of a single mother that uses men for social climbing, being raised in the current turmoil of Mexico City and the rising specter of socialism. He becomes a household assistant and errand boy for Frida Kahlo and later, Leon Trotsky.
However, Kingsolver renders her main character too pale and passive amongst his brightly colored surroundings, I think. Shepherd spends his days recording and observing the ideas and actions of those he works for - the Riveras and Leon Trotsky - but does not reveal enough of himself amid this narrative. This, in my opinion, makes for a very boring story and a boring narrator. In the latter half of the novel, when Shepherd is living on his own, it seems he isn't fleshed out enough to really care about. I honestly couldn't finish the book, simply because I was so bored with it and didn't care what happened to Shepherd. We already know what happened to Trotsky, Kahlo and Rivera. In order for this novel to be successful, we have to also care about Shepherd too in his role as narrator. What does he learn, what does he become, what does he love? Kingsolver makes William so wishy-washy and passive, one really never discovers the answers to the above, as well as what he seeks in the first place. He's homosexual and hides it. So what? It doesn't define who he is, and niether, really, does the lives of his artist/revolutionary friends.

That's the best I can do to describe why the story fails to compel me to keep reading. I was disappointed as I bought the 1st ed. hardcover of this, certain that Kingsolver would be worth it. It wasn't.

Not recommended, even if you're really, really into B. Kingsolver. Definitely do not make this your first read by her. I'm hoping this is just an uncharacteristic snag for her and she will once again grace us with one of her compelling, insightful novels.

COLLAPSE. Diamond, Jared. 2005

I read this last winter, but forgot to post a review here.

The complete title reads Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed.

The book chronicles the rise and fall of the following civilizations: the Anasazi of the American Southwest, the Vikings of Greenland, Easter Island, and the Mayans.

I mainly read this book because I wanted to learn more about Easter Island and it's demise, and I did glean some pertinent, yet too brief, information from this book.

However, the book's premise is not really to be a detailed history of the above civilizations, yet to give an overview of their strengths and weaknesses, especially in terms of how they used their surrounding environment. In the above cases, the societies collapsed or, more accurately, dwindled away to nothing, because of their gradual, yet unrelenting depletion of natural resources.

One of the things that strikes me, personally, about Easter Island, is the question of when the inhabitants finally realized their days were literally numbered, and their resources would, indeed, disappear by the very next generation (if not sooner) - and they had to have undoubtedly realized it at some obvious point - why they didn't try and do something to turn the situation around. Why weren't some trees set aside to make rafts or boats to escape to another island? There is apparently no indication of it. All evidence suggests that the inhabitants simply bided their time while continuing to do the very same things that brought them to their demise - cut down trees, raise pigs and chickens and non-native crops in an environment that was not naturally set up for it, engage in petty tribal warfare and build huge, time and labor-consuming monuments that no one today really understands.
Sound familiar?

COLLAPSE apparently has offended quite a few folks, I'm not sure why. Doomsday predictions based on true events hurts?

Overall, a well-researched book, clearly and concisely written for the layman, with some hard lessons to swallow. I recommend it whether it depresses you or pisses you off.

The Book of Job

Like in the Bible - *that* Job.

Maybe I should put this in my book blog, but thought, since Job is - well- he epitomizes Everyman, in a great sense - that I'd post my thoughts on Job here. Because I know everyone's dying to know what I think of Job, :).

I read Job recently with a study group at the UU church I attend. I've read Job before, partly in eighth grade, then again, my senior year in high school. both of those times I was at different places in my life. I'm not sure how much I got out of it in eight grade at all, but I have to admit, in high school, reading Job (and Exodus) was one of the factors in my ultimately "losing my faith". I realize now, after a third reading at the age of 44, how my current interpretations of Job might even have left me a believer, after all - although not at all in the same way I was,then.

One thing I never understood about Job was why God - all-powerful, all-knowing - could allow Job to suffer so, then finally appear, after much pleading on Job's part, to say, "Hey, stuff happens - stop your belly-aching and enjoy the things you have left." Because that's basically what He says! And Job's like, "Oh, yeah, sorry, God, never really thought about it like that - I'll try that approach." And all gets better. Until Job dies.

We read Ecclessiastes before this, and that's basically a long-winded, yet poetic and beautifully written question(s) about the meaning of life. Why are we here, what are we supposed to do now that we are here, never mind how we got here in the first place... ? Questions, questions, where are the answers? Does God provide them? Well, according to both Ecclessiastes and Job, yes - and no. Both books remind me of the question/statement posed by Jesus later in the New Testament - "Consider the lilies of the field..." Meaning (to me, anyway) the lilies of the field just are - they are lilies of the field, they live within the context of the field, they survive, they thrive, then at the end of their season, die, like everything else. Like us. But do they question God for their ultimate withering and dying, for their being trampled upon or picked or eaten, perhaps? No. Then, why do we?

In Job, this last question is addressed throughout the book. God makes a bet with Satan that, if Satan inflicts Job with all kinds of horrors and tragedies - the death of all of his livestock, crops, servants, and even all of his children, AND a nasty rash to boot - Job will still never denounce Him. And God wins the bet. Throughout Job's extreme suffering, three friends visit him and accuse him of being sinful and unjust - why else would God allow these terrible things to befall him? But Job defends himself throughout that no, he is very just, he has never sinned against God, he is undeserving of his punishment, and would God please show up somehow and explain why He is allowing one of his faithful servants to suffer? Because Job trusts that God has some good explanation for this.
After God doesn't show up for a long, agonizing time, however, Job loses it - sorta. He does not denounce God, but he questions, more and more adamantly, what the heck God is trying to prove. Basically "What did I ever do to you?" He still defends himself as being just and undeserving of such punishment.

Then, near the very end of the book, God shows up in a "whirlwind". And he basically says to Job - Life sucks. Get over it - and what do you want ME to do about it? Alleviate your suffering? Hey, your friends were here, that's what they were for. Do special favors for you to save your family and livestock from suffering and death? Hey, I just created the world and let it be - I don't have time for micro-management. And besides, now that you've suffered, you'll appreciate your future good health and your future children and wealth even more. In short, you'll know and appreciate real joy, because you know now what it is to suffer and to lose this joy.

Wow. Reading this now, when I'm 44 and had my own share of minor tragedy and loss - as all of us have by this age - I get this. I get Job's point of view, but I get what God is saying, too. (Of course, I paraphrased and I highly recommend you read the actual text - it's also very poetically written.) There's a long chapter in which God says, Look, I created the world, the universe and I created the good with the bad, everything coexists and that's how it is. I let it be. I let you, Man, be. Yes, I'll take care of the logistics - the air, the soil, the food chain... but the rest is up to you, really. Life is what you make it. And bad things happen to good people. And what you take from that, from your own suffering, is up to you - but, BUT - if you can take all the bad stuff that happens in the world and still think highly of the world and other men, i.e., still be "good" - then you will understand. And when you understand, you will accept life, even when you know and understand you will one day die.

Yeah, this is some heavy stuff and it reminds me of Buddha's fourth Noble Truth - the Eightfold Path, that says, Yes, we all suffer but here is the "middle path" that will let you go on and deal with the suffering. Not - here is the ultimate answer to the question why we all suffer - no, here is the path that will help you accept life with it's joy and suffering together - here is the WAY.

I also learned, in this class, that the books of the Old Testament were gathered together around 400-500 BCE (or B.C. if you're old-school) around the same time that Buddha was alive and teaching the Eightfold Path, the Middle Way. It was also the time of the "great" Greek philosophers such as Plato. In other words, the work of inventing agriculture and architecture is done, now it's time to sit and reflect. What have we gained? What have we lost?

SHUTTER ISLAND. Lehane, Dennis.

Read in early March 2010.

SHUTTER ISLAND is the suspense novel the Martin Scorsese movie was based on. I saw the movie first. The movie was, of course, excellent.
However, I wanted to read the book, as Scorsese usually does a great job of translating novels into film (and he did so here, as well) and the novels he uses are usually good.

SHUTTER ISLAND was good - not great. Nothing life-changing or genre-shattering. A quick read, and very engrossing. It is also has several thought-provoking moments that resonate throughout the story. So, it is what I'd call a "substantial" read. I didn't feel like I wasted my time reading it.

The narrative consists of two federal marshalls in 1954 who are sent to a mental institution on Shutter Island, a somewhat remote island off the mid-atlantic coast. The marshalls have been requested to help find an inmate/patient that has escaped. What ensues from here is a mystery shrouded in the storms of both the physical world and the psychological.
The setting is perfect and reminiscent of the best Poe mysteries - an old, spooky hospital that was once a POW camp in the Civil War; a remote island fraught with thunderstorms, blowing tree limbs and wet leaves, and much creeping around dark, dripping hallways and abandoned sea-caves. Ghosts, in the form of dreams - or are they? - float in and out of the narrative. Rats even make an appearance.
The story itself, too, is very reminiscent of Poe's stories, where the stormy, violent scenery becomes a metaphor for the protagonist's mind.

All in all, SHUTTER ISLAND is very well done. I was never bored reading this.

Just one last note - I happened to have liked the movie's ending better. Although the movie closely follows the book, the ending is slightly different and more ambiguous. Personally, I feel that is more in keeping with the tradition and ambience of the gothic mystery. The novels' ending is a little more clear-cut.

I would read more of Lehane's novels, if I had a weekend or a few days in between reading something else. In my opinion, this is good airplane/beach/pool/vacation reading. Extremely entertaining, careful and thoughtful narrative, and engaging, likable characters.

REcommended for a quick, painless read.

The New Oxford Annotated Bible

I just bought this Bible from B&N online,** and have had it for a week now. I bought it because I'm taking a class on Scriptures at the Unitarian church I attend, and this season's class focuses on Ecclesiastes and Job. I'll comment later on these two texts, but for now I want to comment on this Bible as a whole.

Anyway, I am exceedingly pleased with this version of the Bible. The translation is the "New Revised Standard Version", includes the Apocrypha, and it is beautifully - and, seemingly, thoroughly - translated. So much nicer to read than my copy of THE WAY, a contemporary translation I own, published in the 1970s. I think THE WAY has it's merits and uses, being intended for a younger audience, but after reading through some of the New Oxford, I can easily see where much is left out of the translation in THE WAY.
As for the King James version - well, it's also beautifully translated, but, let's face it, it was a very political translation, and there really isn't any need for the biblical texts to be read in Shakespearean English. Although it sounds real nice. . .

The best thing about the NEW OXFORD Bible, however, is the commentary and footnotes on every single page, and the commentary before each book. This commentary focuses on the social, cultural, and political climate of the period in which a book was written, as well as citing any evidence of WHEN the book was first written. There is commentary on the translation(s) as well. All of this, of course, makes for a much easier, more comprehensive, and therefore, enjoyable read of the Bible.

I highly recommend this version of the Bible for anyone wishing to read the Bible, Christian or not.



** This is the Augmented Third Ed. by the way.

BREAKING DAWN. Meyer, Stephanie. c.2008

If I didn't know any better, I'd think that BREAKING DAWN, the fourth and final book in the Twilight series, was a parody of the series itself. It is so ridiculous and badly written it almost must be on purpose.
But, it's not. This is, indeed, the finale to the saga of Edward, Bella, and Jacob. And it's unbelievably bad. So much so, I do believe it is the worst book I have ever read. Ever. I am serious. I don't mean Robin Cook bad, or Danielle Steele bad. Meyer's first three books in this series, which I reviewed below, were actually on par with Cook's and Steele's writing. I mean, it's seventh-grade tortured, rambling diary entry and submit it to a fiction contest bad. It's THAT bad and then some.

While some of the writing in Meyer's first three books was often mediocre and amatuerish, I really enjoyed reading them because of the truly intriguing love story she wove. The story itself had depth and the characters were believable and well-developed. By the third book, ECLIPSE, the reader expected certain things from the characters and we knew their motives and desires.

In BREAKING DAWN, not only is the writing terrible, but the events that unfold are ridiculous, unbelievable, and serve no purpose to the story but to fill up pages. The greatest travesty - and the book's major flaw- is that the characters are suddenly mere shells of their former selves. Jacob and Edward no longer fight for Bella and her soul, but give into her every whim. Bella is no longer afraid of anything and does not even struggle as a new vampire. She gives birth to a creepy promiscuous baby who drinks human blood - but the babe isn't a vampire herself and is actually very sweet. Um - why? What purpose does this serve? Well, it serves the same purpose as Jacob then imprinting with Bella's baby, and Bella becoming the best and sweetest and most angst-free vampire in the world. That is, everyone gets a happy ending.

And I, the reader, am so damned bored and disappointed. What happened to Edward wanting to save Bella's soul? What happened to Jacob at all? BREAKING DAWN has minimal conflict, maximum fairy-tale happy resolutions, and zero arc.

I really wish Meyer had ended the series with ECLIPSE.

BREAKING DAWN is not recommended at all (except for a compost heap or bonfire), even if - and especially if - you read TWILIGHT, NEW MOON and ECLIPSE. Just pretend the fourth book doesn't exist and imagine your own ending for Bella, Edward and Jacob. Anything you can think of will be better than this book, trust me.