“Conclave” by Robert Harris, (Knopf, 2016)

Continuing my light reading spree, I enjoyed the world of Conclave.  It’s about the election of the Pope, following the sudden death of a Pope with the liberal leanings of current Pope Francis.  The protagonist is Cardinal Lomedi, Dean of the College of Cardinals—a man who the former Pope declared his “manager”, but Lomedi doubts his personal spirituality.  There are 118 cardinals, various lesser administrators, the Sisters of Holy Something or Other, who handle the cooking and housekeeping at the hostel built to house the cardinals.  It’s a vast cast of characters and Harris does a good job of not confusing the reader with too much background on such rich personalities.

The main plot is the election, with various sub-plots on why prime suspects for election have clay feet.  The winner is not a total surprise, but Harris does pack a good punch into the end.  As a Catholic, I enjoyed revisiting the rituals of the Vatican and all the inter-Nicene conflicts between European, new world and third world cardinals.   Best of all, a great map of Vatican surrounding St. Peter’s begins the story.  
 

“The Whistler” by John Grisham (Doubleday, 2016)

I enjoy a good Grisham thriller.  They aren’t too thrilling, but have enough complexity and great characters to make them enjoyable “popcorn” for the mind.  This one not so much.  I disagree with the NYT and Wash Post which gave The Whistler rave reviews.  Enjoyable and informative, yes.  Among Grisham’s best, no. 

The plot involves the Florida Board on Judicial Conduct, a corrupt judge and an Indian casino.  The FBJC is a state agency that endeavors to uncover state, county and municipal judges engaging in corruption and maleficence.  I assume most states have such bodies.  The protagonists are all charming, the antagonists suitably despicable.  My problem with the book is that Grisham “tipped the wink” as to who was guilty and why within the first third of the book.  From that point, it was must a nice narration of how the case played out, all tied up in a neat bow at the end. 

“The Private Life of Mrs. Sharma” by Ratika Kapur (Bloomsbury Publishing, 2015)

The intimacy of Ratika Kapur's writing drew me into a spellbinding conversation with the protagonist, Mrs. Sharma.  She is perhaps typical of a modern Indian woman, educated, but not too well because her family ran out of money.  She is married with a 15-year-old son, but her husband, a physiotherapist, works in an Arab country so they can save money to purchase their flat.  Her son, Bobby, is not in sync with his parent’s goals for him and listless in that undirected adolescent manner.  What’s a respectable woman to do?

Mrs. Sharma has an affair.  Written in an intimate first person voice, the book reads like a good friend sharing something, than a bit more and yet a bit more.  She meets a nice man.  They have ice cream.  They visit the mall.  They visit his flat when his mother is out.  Oh, by the way, we slept together three times.  Kapur’s descriptions of Mrs. Sharma’s physical longing for her absent husband is tender and beautiful.  

Is this the essence of the East Indian woman today?  I can’t say because I only visit the culture. But it is a well written book.  Short.  Some reviewers did not care for the ending.  I felt it was unimportant to the overall beauty of the writing and the story.  
 

“Max Perkins: Editor of Genius” by A. Scott Berg, originally published 1978 by Dutton, re-released in 2016 by New American Library, and “Genius” a movie based on the book, starring Colin Furth, 2016

I didn’t know what to expect of this book.  It was recommended by an author-friend as a worthy read.  How could editors have a life worth writing about?  They are the background people who nurture a book to maturity.  

Max Perkins nurtured genius.  He began working for Scribner’s in New York shortly after graduating from Harvard.  His genealogy is full of tough New Englanders, who forbore rather than enjoyed.  His gift was connections; his talent was loyalty and the ability to shape a manuscript.  Through connections, he brought the cream of the Jazz Age, the Depression, the Recovery, and WWII to Scribner’s--F. Scott Fitzgerald, Ernest Hemingway, Alice Roosevelt, Thomas Wolfe, Sherwood Anderson, Erskine Caldwell, James Jones, William Faulkner, Ring Lardner, Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings—the list goes on and on.  

Perkins did not have a happy personal life—a loveless, long marriage and a stoical approach to any adversity or rejection.  He did revel in his five daughters and in his mercurial clients who counted on his devotion and guidance.  This is a worthy read, especially if you want to understand book development.  Berg won a well-deserved National Book Award for biography.

Aghhh, the movie, Genius, starring Colin Furth as Perkins, Jude Law as Wolfe, and Nicole Kidman as Aline Bernstein—and a host of other luminaries.  I could only endure one hour during which the movie agonized over the “lover’s triangle” among Perkins, Wolfe and Bernstein.  Could watch no more because it would have completely trashed the memorable images from the book.  Forget it.
 

“Samskara: A Rite for a Dead Man” by U. R. Ananthamurthy, translated by A.K Ramanujan (Oxford University Press 1976

An insightful, short morality tale about a small compound (agrahara) of Brahmins living in South East India around 1930 or 1940.  A FAB (Fallen-Away Brahmin), who lives among them with his concubine, dies.  As he is unclean, there is indecision about burial rites and cremation—if they should perform the rites then who should perform them.  And, no good Brahmin can eat until this corpse is disposed of.  Days go by, the corpse rots in the heat.  The Brahmins begin to sneak food by visiting “lesser Brahmins” in nearby compounds.  The leader, Praneshacharya, consults with their special deity, Maruti, to no avail.  But his overnight consultation brings about his fall from purity and eventually from pride. There is no salvation or reincarnation in this book, only revelation for Praneschacharya about his sins of pride. 

Samskara includes an excellent Afterward, Notes, and the Conversation with the Author.  As a western reader, I do not expect to pick up a book based in the Hinduism and understand it as I would a Catholic book.  My comprehension would be superficial without the excellent explanations following the book text.  So, thank you, Oxford Review Press, for publishing a book that is entertaining and informative. 

A good read if you are into East Indian culture. 

"Knight with Armour" by Alfred Duggan (Cassell & Company, 1950)

Alfred Duggan was born in 1903 in Argentina.  The family moved in 1905 to London where Duggan enjoyed an upper-class environment and education.  His first love was archeology and he visited and excavated at many of the famous middle-eastern sites.  Knight with Armour is his first book, so he came to writing at 47 and wrote a book a year until his last in 1971.  Scanning his bibliography, most deal with the Middle Ages either in Britain or the Crusades in the Middle East.  

Knight with Armour is an good read if you love history.  Meticulously researched, Duggan excoriates the false patina of courtly love and Catholic faith, exposing the realities of the First Crusade—boredom, filth, starvation, rivalries among the troops, dismemberment, death and no salvation. Our Norman knight, Roger, is an 18 year old second son who must leave his family’s small holding in newly conquered Britain to seek fortune elsewhere.  He is earnest and naïve.  But he is a knight and is given the family warhorse, his personal cache until the horse is killed.  And so it goes. Roger is now only a bit above a foot soldier, saved repeatedly by his heavy armour.  

There is a love story, which was off-putting at first.  But, true to form, our Roger is cuckolded by his trusted friend.  Most interesting were the battle strategies and their execution and the role of the war horses.  They were trained to battle, not just deliver the knight to engagement with the enemy.  

It’s likely I will read more of Duggan’s books. I only wish there had been a map in this one showing the Crusaders’ journey.  
 

"Pioneer Girl: The Annotated Autobiography" by Laura Ingalls Wilder (South Dakota Historical Press, 2014)

I never watched “Little House on the Prairie” on television, nor did I read any of the Little House books on which the series was based.  But when Laura Ingalls Wilder’s autobiography was published two years ago, I vowed to read it.  Written in longhand on seven Big Chief tablets around 1930 at the age of 63, she recounts her family’s amazing lives in Wisconsin, Minnesota and the Dakotas in the last quarter of the nineteenth century.  More memoir than autobiography, she shapes their experiences as she remembers, not always reflecting the facts.

Her father was the embodiment of American frontier lust for property, and he kept on the move most of his adult life, homesteading in many locations and working to feed the family.  They survived, barely at times.  But there is nary a discouraging word from the writer.  It is a tale full of wonderful characters, lived in amazing times.  I loved every word.

Most effective is the layout of the 370 large format pages.  The original narrative fills the center with all the “footnotes” directly in line with the text rather than at the bottom of the page or in the back.  Your reading is constantly informed not only with photos and maps but with the research on all the places, characters and historical events.  The “Little House” books were written after the autobiography, and the notes show which sections were used as parts of which books.  

Highly recommended for anyone who is a student of American frontier history and for those who are fans of the books and the television series.

"The Lower River" by Paul Theroux (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2012)

Reading a Paul Theroux book is like a visit with an old friend—no matter when you see her, you pick up where you left off, even after many years.  We have read most of Theroux’s books (46 of them), from his great, misanthropic travel adventures (The Great Railway Bazaar), through his excellent fiction (The Mosquito Coast) to his more recent, and often less satisfying books.  

Theroux began writing fiction about his experiences in Africa as a Peace Corps volunteer in Malawi.  He loved his work, but viewed situations through a fatalistic lens. He became politically active and was deported from Malawi and the Peace Corps. He returned to Uganda as a teacher for two years, then again left during political turmoil. In the last ten or 15 years, he returned to Africa. First with the starkly realistic and depressing journey from North Africa to Cape Town, Dark Star Safari.  He found no hope or joy to report.  The Lower River is the fictionalized account of a Peace Corps volunteer who returns to his “home” in Africa as a retiree and finds no hope or joy. It is traditional, dark Theroux.  

On the good side, Theroux is an excellent writer and you sink into his easy prose style and float through the journey in the hands of a master.  It’s a dark story well told, and so much better and meatier than what passes for Best Sellers today.

"Incarnations: A History of India in Fifty Lives" by Sunil Khilnani (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2016)

What an interesting way to explore complex history.  Each biography is about six pages long. There are a few representative photos in the middle (more would have been appreciated).  An outline map of India in the front identifies birthplaces.  An actual map of contemporary India with major cities and states would have been helpful.

My interest in this book never flagged.  From Buddha through Dhirubhai Ambani (one of the world’s richest men today), the author illustrates the nature of the complexity of contemporary India and Pakistan by examining briefly the lives of those who shaped it.  You see how traditions in locations still influence economics and politics–the everyday lives of citizens.  Though no one endorses the caste system today, it is still reinforced by special benefits from the government for lower caste members. 

If you enjoy history, this is a good read.

Paul Beatty – Audacious African-American Author

A black American winning the Man Booker Prize in 2016?  I didn’t think Americans were welcome in those august circles.  Then I read The Sellout by Paul Beatty (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2015).  And I listened to Slumberland (Bloomsbury, 2008).  Paul Beatty is a genius.  

His first published writing was poetry.  The rhythm of his prose reflects this.  It was noticeable in The Sellout, but Slumberland, when read aloud, is narrative poetry, sans rhyme.  Some credit also goes to the excellent narrator, Kevin Free.  

Sound too highbrow for you?  Think again.  Beatty is an audacious satirist.  In The Sellout, he turns political correctness on its head.  The plot is so far over the top that there might as well not be any, unless it is homage to negritude.   Slumberland takes you into the murky nightclub world of African-American jazz in Berlin 1989, through the eyes and ears of D.J. Darky and his phonographic memory.  Again, not much in the way of plot, but mesmerizing and funny and oh, so funky.

My humble take on the inclusion of American authors for the Man Booker Prize—keep the U.S. out.  Man Booker has always been the doorway for us to great writers in English from the U.K. and Commonwealth countries.  Conversely, Paul Beatty would likely be unknown to me if he had not won.

“Midnight's Furies: The Deadly Legacy of India's Partition” by Nisid Hajari (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2015)

Recounting the year prior to the August 15, 1947 partition of India and Pakistan, Hajari draws the main characters in precise detail: the passionate Nehru, the otherworldly and ultimately ineffective Gandhi, the austere, recalcitrant Jinnah, and the arrogant Mountbatten.  Years ago, I read Train To Pakistan, an historical novel by Khushwant Singh, published in 1956.  Singh radically simplifies partition into the story of one village on the Indo-Paki border -- a most memorable book.  I was looking to Midnight’s Furies to provide the backstory.  To a degree it does, but it seems to gloss over or ignore the reasons why such extreme violence would erupt, ending with at least a million dead and 15 million displaced.  

India was home to three major religions -- Hindus, Muslims and Sikhs -- and numerous sects of each religion.  For hundreds of years they lived in comparative harmony, a syncretic culture. Confronted with the opportunity for independence from Britain, every memory of oppression, bullying, favoritism, and discrimination rose up in the factions (mostly instigated for political gain) and became fodder for murder and mayhem.  Bankrupt from WWII, Britain was desperate to get out of the imperial business and become more a benevolent leader of the consortium of former colonies, then continue funding the black hole of India.  To this end, the time from announcement of the withdrawal of Britain to the partition was eight months.  In fact, Mountbatten announced the actual partition plan June 2, 1947 and it was implemented August 15th.  No time was allotted for establishment of functional government and systems for either country, though India had the upper hand because their government remained in Delhi while the Muslims had to move from Delhi to Karachi.  And, the stories go on and on.  I’d appreciate hearing from readers who have found other informative books on this period. BTW, I have read Midnight’s Children by Rushdie – a magnificent book, but not written to be a history of partition

T. C. Boyle, "The Terranauts", (Harper Collins, 2016)

I've read every book that T.C. Boyle has written.  There are at least 16 novels and many collections of short works.  For me, the quality varies, and I expect that from an author that I value enough to read their entire bibliography.  The last books, three of which focus on the ecology and history of the Catalina Islands and this one that focuses on synthetic ecology in the Biosphere, are not up to his previous standards.  

The Terranauts fictionalizes the Biosphere enclosures in the mid 90's and is based on the journals of participants.  Despite a compelling situation (four men and four women sealed off from the outside world for two years) the characters are flyweight, the plot simplistic and it drones on and on -- all 500 pages.  Full disclosure: I skimmed the last 100 pages just to get through it.  In its review, The Washington Post called this book,“The Bachelor: Terrarium Edition.”  There you have it! 

Can't recommend this book.  If you want T.C. at his best, pick up The Tortilla Curtain or A Friend of the Earth.

"The Claverings" by Anthony Trollope, originally published in 1867, a LibriVox Recording.

 Trollope’s books always promise good soapy stories of middle-class Brits set in the second half of the nineteenth century.  The LibriVox (free recordings of books in the public domain) version is excellent for use while exercising, cooking, cleaning – where you want some entertainment that does not require much concentration.  This particular recording featured a variety of readers, some excellent, some ok.  The use of several American readers is a bit jarring in a British book. 
The Claverings is about a gentrified family, their kith and kin, love, love scorned, marriage, death, and steadfastness rewarded.  Always enjoyable.  

"Last Orders" by Graham Swift (Picador, 1996)

It took me a while to get into the rhythm of Last Orders.  But once on board with Graham Swift’s 1996 Booker Prize novel, his quiet development of character and plot shine through this tightly constructed book.  It’s a road story about friendship and death, family and living, and how the middle class in England reconstructed their lives after WWII.  A bleak but satisfying and quick read.  

"Images of America: Bridgeport" byJoAnne Gazarek Bloom, Maureen F. Sullivan, and Daniel Pogorzelski (Arcadia Publishing, 2012)

This vintage photo album with history-laden captions and introductions evokes the characteristics that made/make Chicago great: ethnic diversity, successful businesses built on hard work and in often unclean conditions and political moxie.  Bridgeport was not a pretty place.  Even the final chapter which promises, an “abundance of truly impressive architecture”, showed dour buildings and reminded me of how unappealing the 50’s and 60’s were.
But this is a fun read through the history of one of Chicago’s 77 communities.  The early years and the creation of the I&M Canal, which ran through Bridgeport and Stearns’ Quarry, in the heart of Bridgeport, which supplied the limestone that built Chicago, were my favorite parts.

"Gulp: Adventures on the Alimentary Canal" by Mary Roach, W. W. Norton, 2014

I listened to this book hoping it would deal somewhat with the role of the pancreas in digestion.  It did not even mention enzymes in the digestive process, only how the chewed food is moved along from tongue to final, smelly end.  Roach is an entertaining writer (science-lite).  Learned more than I ever want to know about Elvis’s bowel problems -- it’s that sort of book.  

Chicago Theater Catch-up: Four of Lesser Nobility and One Big Fabulous Prince

We’ve seen so much theater lately that it isn’t possible to devote a full post to each production.  So here’s the abbreviated scoop.

C. S. Lewis: The Most Reluctant Convert written by Max McLean, starring Max McLean and produced by Fellowship for Performing Arts – This one-man show, taken from the writings of Lewis, narrates his intellectual struggle with spiritually, belief in God and organized religion.  Nominally raised as an Episcopalian, he became a professed atheist.  When teaching at Oxford (still in his early 20’s) his companions in the English Department were some of the well-known intellectual Catholics, including J.R. Tolkien.  Through his own exploration, he rationalizes that the life of a man cannot be completely without value or purpose, becomes a deist, then a Catholic.  And there it ends.  McLean has made a career of crafting the words of Lewis into stage productions.  We enjoyed The Screwtape Letters several years ago.  A worthy production, a minor prince.

Douglass created by American Vicarious and directed by Christopher McElroen – I was startled when the title character walked onto the stage and was an African-American.  I thought this was a play about Stephen A. Douglas, the politician and debater who espoused the states’ rights and slavery.  No, this was Frederick Douglass, former slave who became a unique emancipator prior to the Civil War.  This is a well-told docudrama that shows the narrow path Douglass chose between radical Blacks, who advocated a return to Africa, radical Whites, who favored full emancipation, but never thought through the results, opportunists who were eager to exploit educated Blacks for nefarious purposes and those few both black and white who, like Douglass, favored a slow approach to change.  A worthy production, but not a prince.

Our Lady of 121st Street by Stephen Adly Guirgis, directed by Sarah Moeller, produced by Eclipse Theatre Company, written in 2002 – This is our third Guirgis play and his earliest for us.  It’s a series of vignettes, conversations (usually angry ones) with two or three of the show’s 12 characters.  It reminded me instantly of Balm in Gilead by Lanford Wilson, except that in Blam, everyone is talking at once and the featured conversation is spotlighted and all other conversations tone down.  In Our Lady, the conversations are sequential, but because of the excellent set combining a bar, a funeral parlor and a confessional, most of the actors are able to remain present on the stage, but not engaged.  Excellent acting, even though the play itself lacks a dramatic arc.  A prince.

The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde, produced by The Dead Writer’s Collective – who present the works of dead writers exactly as they were produced during the writer’s life.  And this production clocked in at almost three delightful hours.  All the characters were played in “earnest”, no hamming.  The ensemble was all matched in diligence and style.  Enhancing it were stunning costumes and a tiny set that appeared to be a pop-up style Victorian greeting card.  Just as in the days of Oscar, this was a prince. 

Company, music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim, book by George Furth, produced by The Writer’s Theater of Glencoe and directed by William Brown, was splendid.  We’ve always loved this musical, chock full of memorable songs and story lines.  But this production was the best ever.  For the first time, I felt this was homage to marriage, not a sad story of a man who can’t find a mate.  Brown adapted the book, originally produced in 1970, so it did not feel dated.  The changes were flawless and only enhanced the emotional impact.  The only drawback was the performers were miked – which would not have been a problem except the sound engineer was asleep.  When the big solo numbers came, the sound was way too loud, uncomfortably so.  Ah well, those with low hearing were grateful.  This show was a Grand Prince!

"Chronicle of the Narváez Expedition" by Alvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca, written in 1542, translated by Fanny Bandelier, published in 2002 by Penguin Books

Oh my! Shipwrecked on the west coast of Florida in 1527, Cabeza de Vaca and three other survivors spent the next nine years seeking “Christians” in the midst of Indians as they traversed the U.S., ending in New Spain, what is now Arizona.  There were none.  This small band was the first.  In the beginning, they were reviled and enslaved.  By the end, they were worshipped as healers and gods.  In Arizona, they were discovered by a group of Spanish soldiers on an expedition to capture Indian slaves.

A rare first-hand account and an easy, short read -- a “must” read if you are interested in American history – and how completely populated the entire south of the now U.S. was with native tribes.  

"A Doubter’s Almanac: A Novel" by Ethan Canin, (Random House, 2016)

What a roller coaster ride this book is!  The first half tells the tale of a brilliant, self-absorbed, alcohol addicted, misogynistic, mathematician, Milo Andret, who goes from child wonder to adult ass.  The second half is told from the POV of the son, Hans, yet another mathematician, addicted to pills, but with manners, morals and the wisdom to make and save real money.  It is his role to try to explain his father to the reader.  It almost works, but the bow at the end is tied a bit too prettily.  
None the less, I loved this book.  I made me think about choices we make.  Helena, Milo’s secretary and then wife, when asked by her son why she stayed in the marriage so long and without apparent bitterness replied, “We make choices, then we make them the right choices”.  When I discussed this with my niece, Tracy, a teacher of mathematics, she enlightened me how that phrase describes the world of quantum physics and mathematics.  That every second in the universe is based on decisions and we can’t have a “do-over”; everything moves forward (or in whatever direction) as a result of each decision.  I hadn’t expected Helena to be describing her life in her husband’s terms – but it is so fitting.  And a good take away for anyone who agonizes over life choices.  

"City on Fire" by Garth Risk Halbergs (Knopf,2016) - A long read...

Weighing in at 911 pages, this book can’t hold a candle to A Little Life (see previous review).  I listened to it – 38 hours!  City on Fire is a monumental first novel from a young writer, with a bright future.  It’s all about New York City, from 1960 to approximately 1990, most of it focused around 1977 and the New York blackout.  (Side note – I was stranded in an airplane at the end of the runway at LaGuardia when the lights went out.  I buddied up with some other industrious travelers, found a cab to take us to a nearby motel, helped to empty their bar and slept in a sort of ok bed, rather than the floor at the airport.  Made it to Miami the next morning.)

The saga is multi-generational, multi-class – stretching from middle class Long Island, to the drugs and anarchy of Hell’s Kitchen and Alphabet City, to the rich and bereft in the Upper East Side and Wall Street.  As with any good fiction, these element all link together in epic fashion, most of it plausible.  The “fires” of the title are set in abandoned buildings in the Bronx by the punks who want to show up the injustice of the haves vs the have nots.  What they end up doing is devaluing the properties even further so financiers (Wall Street and Upper East Side) can have huge blocks of property condemned for blight.  Then they step in, buy it for pennies and build anew.  Ah, the naiveté of the young.