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| 985 ADA |
Dutton, 2011. 333 pages.
History and Travel
In 1911, American academic,
explorer, and treasure seeker Hiram Bingham III ascended high into the Andes Mountains
of Peru and “discovered” Machu Picchu, the majestic and mysterious bastion of fifteenth-century
Inca civilization. History has since declared
Bingham a bit of a looting scoundrel who pilfered artifacts and exploited the remarkable
archaeological site. Wondering about
this sad indictment—and formulating some questions of his own-- unadventurous adventure writer Mark Adams sets out to re-create the explorer’s
original expedition, wondering and wandering across remote South American landscapes in search
of knowledge and truth. Accompanied by
an intractable Australian survivalist guide, Adams describes his journey in
narration that is at once humorous, thought-provoking, and insightful into the
lost ways of the Inca and the ruins of their society. Resolved for 2014: More adventure, armchair and otherwise.
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| FIC ATK |
Reagan Arthur Books,
2013. 529 pages.
Fiction Favorites
Poised
on the brink of a new reading year, it is fitting and proper we
revisit a novel that asks and answers the sublimely ridiculous existential
question, What if you could live again and again, until you got it right?
On a wintry night in 1910, Ursula Todd is born to an English banker and his wife. Before our definitively resilient heroine draws her first breath, she dies. Begin again. On that same wintry night, 1910, Ursula Todd is born, lets loose a robust howl, and commences a life-after-life that writes and re-writes the laws of time and space as the narrative clock winds and re-winds across the twentieth century.
On a wintry night in 1910, Ursula Todd is born to an English banker and his wife. Before our definitively resilient heroine draws her first breath, she dies. Begin again. On that same wintry night, 1910, Ursula Todd is born, lets loose a robust howl, and commences a life-after-life that writes and re-writes the laws of time and space as the narrative clock winds and re-winds across the twentieth century.
As a child, Ursula drowns. She takes a fatal
tumble from a roof. She succumbs to
influenza. In due course, she commits
suicide. She is murdered. She is killed during the World War II
Blitz. She perishes in the war-ravaged
residue of Berlin in 1945. Each and every time Ursula departs this-or-that
life, Atkinson restores her to another life and sends her on a familiarly
different trajectory, a new permutation of her singularly pluralistic destiny. This is good stuff. It is poignant, darkly
witty, imaginative and, despite the sound of it, not at all confusing, thanks
to Atkinson’s brilliant craftsmanship (and dated chapter headings). Resolved for 2014: Begin
again. And again. And again.
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| FIC BEN |
Delacorte Press, 2013. 402 pages.
Fiction Favorites
Ah, biographical fiction. So much fun in the moment, so fraught with
problems moving forward. On one hand, this well-imagined account of Colonel Charles Lindbergh and
Anne Morrow Lindbergh’s extraordinary partnership and marriage moves us on many
levels—beyond the headlines and history to the hardships and heartbreak, beyond
the fairy tale to the not-so-happily ever after. On the other hand, this
book does for Lucky Lindy what Loving Frank did for Frank Lloyd Wright and The
Paris Wife did for Ernest Hemingway.
Namely, it puts them in a rather off-putting light and, fair or not,
we’re a bit creeped out by all three of them now.
On one hand, it is entertaining to immerse ourselves in research-based conjecture and/or outright speculation about the emotional lives of prominent individuals by an author who so obviously enjoys such exercises. On the other hand, it is irresponsible to immerse ourselves in research-based conjecture and/or outright speculation about the emotional lives of prominent individuals, especially by an author who so obviously enjoys such exercises. But on yet another hand, reading biographical fiction inspires us to look beyond the book at hand—to dig deeper into the non fiction story. By digging deeper, we mean something beyond “Lindbergh Kidnapping” on Wikipedia, although we did that, too. That’s too many hands. Resolved for 2014: Revisit Hour of Gold, Hour of Lead: Diaries and Letters of Anne Morrow Lindbergh, 1929-1932.
On one hand, it is entertaining to immerse ourselves in research-based conjecture and/or outright speculation about the emotional lives of prominent individuals by an author who so obviously enjoys such exercises. On the other hand, it is irresponsible to immerse ourselves in research-based conjecture and/or outright speculation about the emotional lives of prominent individuals, especially by an author who so obviously enjoys such exercises. But on yet another hand, reading biographical fiction inspires us to look beyond the book at hand—to dig deeper into the non fiction story. By digging deeper, we mean something beyond “Lindbergh Kidnapping” on Wikipedia, although we did that, too. That’s too many hands. Resolved for 2014: Revisit Hour of Gold, Hour of Lead: Diaries and Letters of Anne Morrow Lindbergh, 1929-1932.
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| FIC BOH |
Doubleday, 2012. 299 pages.
Historical Fiction
With a few deft strokes of
the pen, a few wicked taps of the keyboard, Bohjalian changed forever our view
of Vermont farmhouses and residential births in Midwives—and Jay Gatsby and
bicycle rides in The Double Bind. And so
we brace ourselves: what psychological angst, what emotional torment, what
haunting plot twists await us in The Sandcastle Girls? Much to our reading
gratification, Bohjalian gives us a gripping historical love story, enriched by his visceral connection to the subject: atrocities visited upon Armenians during World War I.
In 1915, well-heeled
American Elizabeth Endicott, armed with a Mount Holyoke diploma, nominal
nursing capability, and minimal language proficiency, arrives in Aleppo, Syria,
hoping to deliver sustenance and medical aid to refugees from the Armenian
Genocide. Enter Armen Petrosian,
Armenian engineer and soon-to-be soldier, grieving his young wife and infant
daughter, ready to join the British army battling through Egypt. Not surprisingly, despite separations and sufferings of war—and as a consequence of superb correspondence skills—the
affluent American and the bereaved Armenian fall fully in love.
Years later, in present-day
New York, Elizabeth and Armen’s granddaughter embarks on a parallel journey
through family history Compelled to
learn more about her Armenian birthright, she uncovers a legacy of love and
loss... and a heart-rending secret, hidden for decades from all involved. Recommended by NWC,
Executive Director of the Cellar Door Book Society’s Delaware Division, The
Sandcastle Girls is moving fiction that inspires us to move beyond the fiction,
to read more, to research an under-examined story from a far-flung corner of
the world. Resolved for 2014: Read The
Light in the Ruins, also by Bohjalian.
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| FIC BRO |
Doubleday, 2013. 461 pages.
Mysteries and Suspense
We know what you’re thinking. And you’re right. Reading Dan Brown is like reading Goosebumps
for grown-ups. It’s all a bit forced, a
bit formulaic, and a bit farfetched... but ultimately just so much fun to read
in the good old summertime. This time around, Our Tweedy Hero (Harvard
professor of symbology Robert Langdon) finds himself on a harrowing
run-for-his-life through Italy, taking on yet another Brilliant-if-Twisted
adversary. And this time around, the Brilliant-if-Twisted
adversary is obsessed with Dante Alighieri’s Inferno. Hence, the title. Like its antecedents, Inferno delivers a
requisite fusion of idiosyncratic history!
Classical art! Confounding
codes! Abstruse symbols! Terrifying secrets! That could irrevocably alter life as we know
it! The writing is mediocre, middling, and
unexceptional! And we can’t put it down! Resolved for 2014: Serious reconsideration of R.L. Stein’s Stay
out of the Basement, Monster Blood, and Say Cheese and Die!
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| 797.12 BRO |
Viking, 2013. 404 pages.
Non Fiction and Biographies
Testing the waters of
this hybrid sport-story-biography-narrative-history, we understand that there
will be no surprise denouement: the subtitle pretty much summarizes how it all
plays out. In 1936, the University of Washington Men's eight-oar crew
masters collegiate rowing and travels to Berlin, defeating elite rivals and
Adolf Hitler’s German team in pursuit of Olympic gold. We know, then, the
who, the what, the where, the when—it’s the why
and the how that place this among the most rewarding nonfiction we’ve
read in a long while.
The narrative's emotional
center rests with one of the boys in the boat, Joe Rantz. Shouldering a
legacy of abandonment and abject poverty, he rows not for esoteric glory but to
repair a shattered youth, to build a brighter future and to find, perhaps, a
place on some distant shore to call home. From Rantz’s storm-tossed biography,
we ripple outward to his teammates, to Pocock, and to Al Ulbrickson, dubbed the
Dour Dane by reporters confounded by the taciturn Washington
coach. We move from the Husky Boathouse through Depression-era America
and across the Atlantic to Hitler’s polished and propagandized Berlin.
These are men of
extraordinary physical prowess, to be sure. Ultimately, though, it is
each rower’s extraordinary character and unwavering trust in team that chart the course to Olympic gold. The boys in
the boat remind the world—and world-weary 2013 readers—of what may be
accomplished when everyone pulls together.
The Husky crew’s commitment and guileless optimism lift the spirit and
move the mind in potent, unexpectedly patriotic ways. Resolved for 2014: Let’s
all pull together. And let's not rock the
boat.
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| FIC BUC |
Little, Brown and Company,
1999. 422 pages.
Fiction Favorites
Throwback time: imagine our
unadulterated excitement when we find unread (by us) fiction by WFB at a
library brown-bag sale! We’re not sure
how we missed this at release, but it is delightful and diverting to
reacquaint ourselves with Buckley’s crisp style, his unsurpassed mastery of the
English language, his wily and witty plot development, his uncompromising
advocacy of the conservative cause. And
we gain insight into one of the most controversial figures in American
political history, Senator Joe McCarthy.
Not bad for a book at the bottom of a bag. Resolved for 2014: In the
absence of further fiction discovery, resurrect Blackford Oakes and Saving the Queen.
 |
| 770.92 EGA |
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt,
2012. 370 pages.
Non Fiction and Biography
In June, the mere presence
of this hardcover prompts spirited debate at Cellar Door Headquarters. As one faction expertly enfolds the
beautifully-designed jacket in Demco Polyfit Book Covering, it is casually
observed that Timothy Egan certainly wins a lot of book awards. In quick order and in no uncertain terms,
another faction opines that Timothy Egan inexplicably wins a lot of book
awards. Case in point, this faction
argues, Egan—or perhaps his editor—could have done much more with the life and
career of renowned Indian photographer Edward Curtis.
All factions
concur, however, that this is a worthwhile read, a biography bearing witness to one man’s
transformation from impassive observer to passionate advocate. Curtis is a man motivated by cause and art more than fame and fortune,
dedicating three decades of his life to documenting the vanishing stories,
rituals, and lifeways of eighty Native American tribes. There is further happy agreement that cameos by
Teddy Roosevelt and J. Pierpont Morgan add to the fun. Resolved for 2014: A picture
is worth a thousand words. Also,
replenish domestic supply of Demco Polyfit Book Covering.
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| FIC HAR |
Grove Press, 2013. 198 pages.
Fiction Favorites
Winter reading includes two novellas endowed—as
always by Harrison—with exceptional appreciation for the natural world, the
uniquely American landscape, the human condition, and his own uniquely
autobiographical condition. We enjoyed The Land of Unlikeness immensely (a dispirited
sixty-year-old art historian grudgingly returns to his family’s Michigan
farmhouse and finds renewal and rejuvenation) and The
River Swimmer (a dispirited adolescent farm boy finds comfort and otherworldly
creatures in the waters of Lake Michigan) only somewhat less. Resolved for 2014: Pick up
a copy of Brown Dog: Novellas, a compilation of Harrison’s ubiquitous Brown Dog
stories.
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| 576.8 MCC |
W.W. Norton, 2009. 422 pages.
Non Fiction and Biographies
Opening on the day of
Darwin’s funeral, this excellent read from a noted cultural historian unravels
the tangled tale of the Darwinian revolution through the lives and scientific
discoveries of Darwin and his staunch supporters, biologist
Thomas Huxley, botanist Joseph Hooker, and naturalist Alfred Wallace. Having traveled to distant lands, the men from diverse backgrounds reshape their understanding of the natural world and thereafter engage in
deft maneuvering to advance controversial theories of evolution and natural
selection. Resolved for 2014: Become more completely evolved.
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| FIC MCC |
Random House, 2013. 304 pages.
Historical Fiction
Midsummer, Our Literary Happiness is made complete
as we grasp an advance reading copy of TransAtlantic in our greedy little
hands! This delightful gift, graciously
given by a well-connected friend-and-fellow-reader, concerns itself with linkages of time and space, war and peace, justice and injustice, history
and memory. It is a distilled epic, a good and graceful
sweep across a century-and-a-half and two continents, covering three significant Atlantic crossings, and conveyed through the experience of
four generations of women from a shared family tree. Resolved for 2014: Compare and contrast tone and
emotional impact of McCann’s Let the Great World Spin and TransAtlantic in
standard essay form. This exercise will
be fun, and it will undoubtedly improve The Cellar Door Book Society’s National
Ranking!
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| 990 ROB |
W.W. Norton & Company,
2013. 368 pages.
Non Fiction and Biographies
The latest from climber-adventurer-writer Roberts attends to the under-examined
Australian Antarctic Expedition of 1912-1914, when geologist Douglas Mawson (that’s
Sir Douglas Mawson to you) is lost on Earth’s most southernmost continent and,
against all odds, finds his way back to camp. The narrative is thoroughly researched and well-written; however, we are left with a pesky view that we could
have done better by the story. The final
seventy pages are—despite dramatic setting and climate— anti-climactic, focusing
on tedious details of Mawson’s otherwise dramatic solo trek across hazardous,
heavily crevassed Antarctic landscape. Still,
okay. Resolved for 2014: Will
someone please free the Russian ship MV Akademik Shokalskiy, trapped in ice at
the bottom of the world?
 |
| FIC WIL |
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt,
2012. 295 pages.
Fiction Favorites
The instructions seem simple enough: please feed
the resident cats, please don't touch the resident piano, and
please-please-please make sure no harm comes to the resident wooden floors. Our narrator, a downtrodden British copywriter, agrees
to a stint of apartment-sitting for composer chum Oskar in an unspecified—but specifically melancholy—Eastern
European city. For summary purposes, let’s just say that the
flat and the flooring are grotesquely magnificent. Ensconced in this grotesque magnificence,
feeling comfortable and confident for the first time in a long time, our
narrator overindulges and inadvertently spills wine on the
hardwood, precipitating a week-long sequence of events that endanger both the
apartment and the British copywriter's sanity. It seems that perfectionist Oskar has left
behind a number of perceptive—and increasingly unnerving—
missives for his less-than-perfect friend: strategically placed notes offering
advice on maintenance and repair of the flat and the flooring. Care of Wooden Floors is a chronicle of
grotesquely magnificent domestic disaster and a triumph of dark humor and
psychological farce. Resolved for 2014: Read consumer information label on
Swiffer WetJet Wood Floor Solution.
That's all we wrote for 2013! Safe and Happy Reading in 2014!
That's all we wrote for 2013! Safe and Happy Reading in 2014!
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