I'm taking Monday through Wednesday off this week for my annual August "readcation." It looks like stormy weather--perfect for curling up on the couch and reading to my heart's content. I even bought a new shirt to celebrate!
Last week I finished:
Years and years ago--in fact, last century--I watched the movie October Sky. (In the late 1990s, it was considered a date movie.) And at that time I knew it was based on a memoir called Rocket Boys. So I guess this book has been on my TBR list for 20 years. I found a copy in a used book store a few months ago, and I finally fit it into the rotation, and I'm so glad I did. It's a wonderful book about another time and place, specifically, the late 1950s in Coalwood, West Virginia. Homer Hickam, Jr., known to all as Sonny, is growing up in a mining town as the son of the man who runs the coalmine. All of the houses, churches, and everything else in the town are owned by the mine. It's a boom time for coalmining, but changes are coming. On the world stage, too, there are changes. The Soviets have launched the first satellite, Sputnik, and American pride is wounded. With this as the backdrop, Sonny decides to start building rockets. He knows absolutely nothing about rockets, can't weld or cut metal, doesn't know the math needed (he has trouble even with algebra), and can't put his hands on a single book about rockets, but he teems up with five friends to design, build, and launch rockets anyway. Many in the town stand behind the boys; some don't. Sonny's father is set on him becoming a company man, someone to follow in his footsteps. Of course, Sonny has decided that after high school, he wants nothing more of Coalwood; he's on his way to Cape Canaveral if he has anything to say about it. This is a book I love for so many reasons. First, I love books with a strong sense of place, and if there's one thing this book gives you, it's a look at what a coalmining town looks and feels like. Second, it's about nationalism and pride, and boy do we all need a boost of that at this point in our American history. Lastly, it's about someone doing something spectacular from the ground up. While there's a fair amount of grimness in this book, there's still great hope. It's the American story in a microcosm. And I absolutely love it. But the best part is, there are two more memoirs in the series! My rating: 4.5 stars.
One note: I think this would be a great book for families and especially teenage boys, but there is a bit of swearing and crudity amongst the boys. Because, you know, boys will be boys. I really wouldn't let that stop you from reading it, but I wanted to put it out there.
The Perfect Horse has been on my TBR since it came out last year at this time. I kept reading great reviews, and I'm a sucker for war stories with good endings. I started it once months back, but I just couldn't get into it at the time, and I finally decided to try it on audio. I don't normally like my nonfiction on audio because it's much harder for me to follow the "plot" and keeps names and places straight, and I did have a lot of trouble with that with this one. Still, had I waited to read the book, I think I would have ended up waiting a long time. Something had to give. The (true) story, roughly, is the rescue of the royal Lipizzaner stallions of Austria during World War II. The horses, bred for fine skill and show for centuries, fall into Nazi hands during the war and are rescued by American troops (with the permission and blessing of General Patton) and brought to America. I'm of two minds with this book. While it's a good adventure story, I felt that the first half, pre-American intervention, is much too long and slow. I think the whole book could have been cut by a third. But mostly, I have a problem with the dramatic, moralistic tone of the book. I enjoy animals. I find horses regal and honorable creatures. I value them for the joy they bring and the work they've done to build America. There would be no Midwest, especially, without the horse. But in a war that claimed 60,000,000 soldier and civilian lives (2.5% of the world population), and aimed to exterminate the Jewish race, I feel too much emphasis was put on the importance of saving the animals. So many civilians were malnourished and homeless, many had no security whatsoever, many ended up refugees, but people gave their lives to save the horses. I'm glad they did it, and I'm glad over 150 of the horses made it safely to America, but I don't know that it was worth the lives risked to save these animals. It reminds me of folks who fight for animal rights but also fight for abortion rights. The book made me uncomfortable in that regard, because I just cannot reconcile those priorities. But then, I'm writing this after white supremacist attacks in Charlottesville, Islamic terrorist attacks in Spain, and a report that Iceland is proud of its 100% elimination of Down Syndrome through abortion--all in one week. Maybe my tired mind can't care so very much for horses. My rating: 3 stars. 
Thomas Jefferson and the Tripoli Pirates. I did not do this book justice. I listened to it--on only 4 CDs--while doing other projects, and I'm not sure I got much out of it. I really enjoyed Brian Kilmeade's first book, George Washington's Secret Six, about General Washington's spy ring during the Revolutionary War. If you're looking for a refresher on that war, that is your book. I put this, Kilmeade's second book, on my TBR as soon as I knew about it, but I knew I wasn't very interested in the subject. I'm a huge American history buff, but I do prefer modern history. But, in order to clean off my TBR as much as possible by the end of the year, I decided to listen to this one. The title pretty much tells you what the book is about. Thomas Jefferson took office in 1801, and one of his tasks was to try to free merchant sailors held captive by pirates in Tunis, Algiers, and Morocco. America had been trying to negotiate their release for 15 years. So there was a little war, things happened, eventual happy ending, and America is a world power. Like I said, I listened to this one, but I didn't necessarily hear it all. I kept getting confused with the names of sailors and admirals, and which mission was being launched, etc. If you like old war stories, I think you'll enjoy this short book. It wasn't bad on any level, but it just didn't hold my attention. My rating: 3 stars.
This week I'll be reading:
I saved the two lightest reads on my August book list for this week. I plan to be reading both of them on my days off and see how far I get. One is the fourth Flavia de Luce book, I Am Half-Sick of Shadows. The other is the brand new Jen Hatmaker book, Of Mess and Moxie, who writes a lot about being a grown-up girl of faith.
And I hope to finish one or two of these:
I'm thoroughly enjoying Billy Collins' Ballistics. In fact, I'm enjoying it more than I have the last several of Collins' collections.
I'm almost to the halfway point of Man's Search for Meaning, where it will switch from Frankl's memories of the concentration camp to the examination of suffering and one's reaction to it.
I'm up to the desserts chapter in 101 Asian Dishes You Need to Cook before You Die. Asian desserts ain't my thing, and I realize after starting this section, it's because most Asian cultures don't incorporate dairy into their diet. Therefore, no milk, cream, butter, or chocolate. What a revelation.
My new audiobook:
I need an easier audiobook after the last three that were rather heavy (lots of war and strife). I chose Louise Penny's A Fatal Grace, the second in her Chief Inspector Gamache series. While it is a murder mystery (not exactly light), fiction allows my brain to rest a bit.
Whew, and that's it for this week. What are you reading?
No comments:
Post a Comment