Well, once again I didn’t post an update on Monday as promised. So shoot me! We are moving along, though, and the electrician will make his second appearance for the week today, at which time the kitchen will have its lighting. So I’ll post a picture of that. Our dear family is being v-e-r-y tolerant of the mess. We’re in a trough right now where we can’t go ahead and finish unloading the furniture for the main living space because of the aforementioned carpet problem. Friday is the deadline for getting everything out of the pods; otherwise we’ll have to pay for an extra month.
book review
Lessons from a Wise Young Man
The Great Beanie Baby Bubble: Mass Delusion and the Dark Side of Cute by Zac Bissonnette. Visit his author page on Amazon at Zac Bissonnette.
I’ve posted about the work of Zac Bissonnette before when I wrote a review of his book Debt-Free U, about the utter foolishness of piling up thousands of dollars in debt in order to go to a prestigious university. Cuh-rae-zee! While I can’t claim any particular plan of ours in this regard, it is so great for us to know that our son Gideon has his degree from a good school and has no debt. And now he’s headed for grad school and they’ll pay him. We are thrilled!
Where Does the Self Live?
The Perpetual Now: A Story of Amnesia, Memory and Love by Michael D. Lemonick, published by Doubleday, 2016. Visit the author’s website at http://michaeldlemonick.com/ for ordering info and an audio clip from the book.
Wow, folks. I actually read a physical book. This is another product of time spent at the library while our house was being shown. I cannot tell you how fascinating it is. You must, must, MUST read it. It is so engagingly written, about such an engaging subject, that you’ll find it . . . engaging.
The book would be worth reading even without the drama of the main’s character’s loss of memory, as it centers around a remarkable family, the Johnsons. The parents of Lonni Sue Johnson, the central figure, were a world-class physicist and an equally-world-class artist. They had one of the world’s best marriages, at least as it’s presented in the book. And Lonni Sue’s sister, Aline, is an immensely-talented computer analyst and musician. As for Lonni Sue herself, she was a commercial artist whose work was published on the cover of The New Yorker magazine five times.
Three Books about Deception.
Great way to start the new year, huh? I got to thinking that I’d read these three books and enjoyed them immensely because they’re all the type of story in which you start out thinking one thing and then gradually you find out that everything you believed was wrong. Two of them are novels, and I’ve said before that I’ve sort of lost my taste for fiction. They must be pretty good! I will just issue my usual warning about strong language, for the novels at least. Having said that, if you’re just looking for some good reads, something to curl up with on a cold winter evening, these should fill the bill.
Two Great Cookbooks from My Two Great Guys.
Image from Amazon.com |
Image from Amazon.com |
We had a great Christmas at our house. How about you? I wanted to make my book(s) of the week the two cookbooks I received as gifts, one from my husband Jim and the other from my son Gideon. I love both, but they’re very different from each other. I thought it would be fun to do a comparison review for my weekly book post.
In Which I Wimp Out About Trevor Noah’s Memoir.
Born a Crime: Stories from a South African Childhood by Trevor Noah, available in multiple formats from multiple outlets. Visit the author’s website at trevornoah.com.
I have never watched The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, so it made no blip my on my radar screen when he left the show and Trevor Noah, a South African comic, was installed as his replacement. I had heard Noah being interviewed on NPR about his memoir; he sounded funny (good for a comedy show, I guess) and self-deprecating, with a lovely, lilting British-sounding accent.
At some point I needed to get an audio book to take advantage of a freebie from Audible.com; by that time we had watched a number of video clips from TDS featuring Noah and thoroughly enjoyed his eviscerations of Donald Trump and American voters in general.
Required Reading for All Lovers of Democracy
Winter Is Coming: Why Vladimir Putin and the Enemies of the Free World Must Be Stopped by Garry Kasparov, available in several formats and multiple outlets. Visit the author’s website at www.kasparov.com/.
Not exactly a happy book! I’m cross-posting this from my “Personal and Political” blog as my book of the week. But no one can be truly happy in a fool’s paradise. If I could, I would require that every single US citizen sit down and read at least the introduction to this definitive book, written by former world champion chess player and now political activist Garry Kasparov. I would also require listening to this episode of Slate’s ”Trumpcast” in which Kasparov is interviewed about his opinions regarding Donald Trump. As he says, “I hate to say ‘I told you so.’” And his perspective on the nomination of Rex Tillerson as Secretary of State is indeed frightening. (I know I keep using that word in my political posts, but I don’t know what other word to use. “Disturbing” is too mild.)
And the Author of the Week Is . . . Ayn Rand.
photo credit: Wikipedia
Normally I keep political commentary off of this page, but since I usually have a book, podcast or film of the week I thought I’d showcase a writer who may be helping to shape the worldviews of people who will be shaping our world for the next four years. So far the incoming administration is planning to nominate huge Rand fans as Secretary of Labor, Secretary of State, and head of the CIA. The PEOTUS names Rand as a favorite of his:
The president-elect said this spring that he’s a fan of Rand and identifies with Howard Roark, the main character in “The Fountainhead.” Roark, played by Gary Cooper in the film adaptation, is an architect who dynamites a housing project he designed because the builders did not precisely follow his blueprints. “It relates to business, beauty, life and inner emotions. That book relates to … everything,” Trump told Kirsten Powers for a piece in USA Today. (from an article in the Washington Post)
Three Partially-Read Books
Sounds like a ringing endorsement, doesn’t it? But I do recommend the ideas in all three books, and if you take a look at one or all of them you may find that you want to finish it/them. I feel sometimes that certain books make their main point in the introduction and then the rest of the book is just amplification that goes on too long, and that’s my opinion of two of these selections. The third one is really excellent all the way through (or at least as far through as I got) and so meaty that I couldn’t listen to too much of it at once, Then my checkout expired. I do plan at some point to go back to it and finish.Here they are in alphabetical order. The Moore book is the “meaty” one. They’re all available as audiobooks at my library.
Layers of Adversity Overcome
Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption by Laura Hillenbrand, available in several formats through many outlets. Visit the author’s website at laurahillenbrandbooks.com/.
I mentioned this book earlier this summer in a post about John McCain, but I don’t see that I’ve ever featured it in a blog post of its own. If I have, so be it–it’s worth another one. I’m not much of a crier, but I broke down and sobbed at the climax, which isn’t what you’d think.
First a little bit about Laura Hillenbrand, whom I believe I discussed very briefly in my own book. She should have a book all to herself; her article in The New Yorker Magazine, “A Sudden Illness,” tells the story of how she has struggled for years with a disorder apparently brought on by a severe case of food poisoning.