2024 Book List: Q2
Highly Recommended: Top Picks (10) in order of highest reco to lowest (and still ahead of all the rest)
Fire In The Lake, Frances FitzGerald (pub’d 1972, narrated by Jeff Bottoms in 2018?): Masterful, relevant today for illustrating the arrogance of one culture oblivious to its impact on another (so not woke!) as the US attempted to stop the dominoes from falling in Asia to the communists in what is now known as the American War, then called the VietNam war.
Cold Mountain, Charles Frazier (novel, read by the author, pub’d 1997): A lush version of the Odyssey as the main male character, after a serious injury in the Civil War, struggles to return to his native area in the South and resurrect his “engagement” to a naive Charlestonian young woman. THB’s third go with the novel (second audio version), as thrilling as ever.
We Were Once A Family, a Story of Love, Death and Child Removal, Roxanna Asgarian (read by Suehyla El-Attar): Asgaria, reporter in Houston, was randomly selected by editors in California to dig into the story of the families whose children when driven off a cliff onto the rocks adjacent to the Pacific; six children and the two adoptive parents (married women) died. The story focuses on the vagaries and trauma of the protective services for children, foster care, and the impact on all concerned.
Between Two Kingdoms, a Memoir of a Life Interrupted, written and read by Suleika Jaouad: A woman of 22 is struck by a rare cancer that requires a bone marrow transplant in the attempt to save her life, with slim odds of survival. Several years later, in the throes of despair, she undertakes a “100 day project” of driving across America visiting those that reached out to her during her convalescence (she wrote a widely distributed serialized column of what it meant to be treated for her illness). Note: after the time period covered by the book, Jaouad is a significant part of the documentary American Symphony, featuring Jon Batiste, bandleader of The Late Show With Stephen Colbert.
Everyone Who Is Gone Is Here, the US, Central America, and the Making of a Crisis, Jonathan Blitzer (read by Andre Santana): a well crafted review of the impact the US had on El Salvador, Honduras, and Guatemala with the story starting in the 1980s through to DJT’s presidency. Much of the “official” story is augmented by following 3 individuals as they emigrated to the US and returned to their home countries.
Being Dead, Jim Crace (pub’d 2008, read by Virginia Leishman): not quite a police procedural, a couple is murdered on an isolated part of a beach (in the dunes!) and goes unnoticed for a week. Much detail on how the bodies decay, a bit of their backstory, and their adult daughter’s lack of remorse (or, hatred) of her parents demise.
James, Percival Everett (novel, read by Dominic Hoffman): a retelling of the Adventures of Huckleberry Finn where the slave Jim is the future of freedom.
Master and Commander (book 1 in Aubrey/Maturin series), Patrick O’Brian (novel, read by Patrick Tull, pub’d 1969): THB is amending his analysis: Simon Vance is far superior to Patrick Tull so that’s the version you want to listen to. If you end up with the Tull version, keep looking for the Vance versions as he is far the better narrator.
Fortune Of War (book 6 in Aubrey/Maturin series), Patrick O’Brian (novel, read by Simon Vance, pub’d 1978): This is a highlight of the entire series (which in its entirety is a THB top 20 all time fave): intrigue, a sinking ship, a rescue at sea, a near wedding at sea, a tremendous sea battle, medical miracles, and ugly Americanss.
The Wide Wide Sea, Imperial Ambition, First Contact, and the Fateful Final Voyage of Captain James Cook, Hampton Sides (read by Peter Noble): Based on historical records and research into Cook’s life and voyages, this is an easy listen doing justice to those contacted by Cook and his ships. Many instances are used to great effect by Patrick O’Brian’s fictionalized sea battle books.
Recommended: Top Picks (18) in order of date read, earliest in the quarter to the end of quarter except for Duck, which was the last book completed in Q2
Duck, Newburyport, Lucy Ellman (novel, pub’d 2019 read by Stephanie Ellyne, 45 hours at 1.0, more like 40 at 1.3x): Yep, really really long, and it’s one long monologue of the interior stream of conscious thoughts plus dreams of a 43 year-old mother of 4. She goes unnamed (why use her own name, asks THB) and is fretful, stressed, timid (by her own reckoning) and THB found the book mesmerizing. Has a Hollywood ending and lots of recounted dreams, otherwise would be Highly Recommended, most likely only for the audio version. Ed. note: has anyone else even attempted to read this book?
Jimmy The King, Murder, Vice, and the Reign of a Dirty Cop, Gus Garcia Roberts (narrated by Marc Vietor): How dirty can one cop be? Apparently unbelievably dirty, super ambitious, and surrounded by evil smelling, filthy cops and prosecutors. How do you get rid of corruption? The corrupt have to destroy themselves.
Collision Of Power, Truth, Bezos, and the Washington Post, Martin Baron (narrated by Liev Shreiber - the actor); Baron was the Executive Editor at the Washington Post during an extremely tumultuous period: a new owner (Jeff Bezos), a declining profitability of the paper edition, Covid, and Trump. Somewhat redundant, it is worth listening to just as a reminder of what the country is in for whether Trump wins (awful, Putin, etc) or loses (another potential loss of democracy). Good insights into what a hard job it is to be in the midst of the media shifts and what a great owner Bezos turned out to be.
Post Captain (book 2 in Aubrey/Maturin series), Patrick O’Brian (novel, read by Patrick Tull, pub’d 1972): THB read the entire series many, many years ago. Now revisiting via audio, and still awesome. SEA BATTLE!!
The Mauritius Command (book 4 in Aubrey/Maturin series), Patrick O’Brian (novel, read by Patrick Tull, pub’d 1977): Same as above.
Desolation Island (book 5 in Aubrey/Maturin series), Patrick O’Brian (novel, read by Simon Vance, pub’d 1978): combo of sea chase, sea battle, and political machinations among Americans and the Brits. Both Vance and Tull narrated the entire series, and they are so hard to tell apart that THB researched if they were one person with two names. Nope, two guys. Note: THB and DB have been to this Antarctica island twice!
HMS Surprise (book 3 of the Aubrey/Maturin series), Patrick O'Brian (read by Simon Vance): THB has not listened to books 2-6 in order, not a problem since he has read the entire series many years ago. All very good, and this is one of the best.
The Worst Journey In The World, Apsley Cherry-Garrard (pub’d 1922, narrated by the incomparable Siimon Vance): THB’s third time with the harrowing story of Scott’s last attempt to reach the South Pole, and this time THB saw the futility in praising the folly of putting Scott (or any foolhardy explorer) on a hero’s pedestal.
The Silence Of The Girls, Pat Barker (novel read by Kristen Atherton - 85 % - and Michael Fox - 15%): Barker is most famous for her WWI trilogy focussing on how psychiatry learned about PTSD. This book focussed on Achilles and Patroculus in the last year of the Trojan War as told by the young woman (daughter of a king) “given” to Achilles as a prize for his part in destroying her city. Brielis becomes his slave, used for sex and anything else he desires. She is befriended by Achilles best friend, Patroclu and the reader gains insight to the role of women slaves.
Kantika, Elizabeth Graver (novel, read by Gail Shalahin): A story surrounding a family living in Istanbul in the early 1900s that had carried their Ladino language (hybrid used by the Sephardic Jews of Spain 400+ years ago) who migrate back to Spain in the 1930s, anticipating the anti-semiticis spreading across Europe. The widowed heroine eventually migrated to NYC with her two young children, marres a widower with one child and then they have three more kids together.
The Ionian Mission (book 8 of the Aubrey/Maturin series), Patrick O'Brian (read by Simon Vance): Aubrey gets the Surprise back, and takes on the Turks this time, overcoming the odds in an awesome sea battle.
Treason’s Harbour (book 9 of the Aubrey/Maturin series), Patrick O'Brian (read by Simon Vance): Aubrey gets the Surprise back yet again, and Maturin is caught in a deep intrigue with French intelligence service as well as a mole in the English admiralty.
The Far Side Of The World (book 10 of the Aubrey/Maturin series), Patrick O'Brian (read by Simon Vance): Aubrey and Maturin find themselves floating in the ocean with little hope of rescue (the series goes on for a number of books so there is fear that they will be rescued) and come upon the American vessel they have been sent to find and capture.
The Reverse Of The Medal (book 11 of the Aubrey/Maturin series), Patrick O'Brian (read by Simon Vance): Aubrey find himself caught in the British legal system while Maturin continues to be bedeviled by the mole in the British political maelstrom amid the war with Bonaparte.
The Letter Of Marque (book 12 of the Aubrey/Maturin series), Patrick O'Brian (read by Simon Vance): Aubrey is removed from the Navy, Maturin inherits a fortune, and two team up to purchase a naval ship (Maturin) and Aubrey conducts several successful battles resulting in much prize money coming to the two of them and their extremely capable and loyal crew.
The Thirteen Gun Salute (book 13 of the Aubrey/Maturin series), Patrick O'Brian (read by Simon Vance): More a bridge to the next book, Aubrey is reinstated and Maturin is helping an unknowing envoy to get a treaty signed. No sea battles and a “how did we get here” ending.
The Nutmeg Of Consolation (book 14 in Aubrey/Maturin series), Patrick O’Brian (novel, read by Simon Vance, pub’d 1981): Another highlight of the series: much action, and final a very depressing trip to the penal colony of New South Wales.
The Truelove (book 15 in Aubrey/Maturin series), Patrick O’Brian (novel, read by Simon Vance, pub’d 1983): A more subtle episode with a woman aboard escaping from the penal colony.
Neutral (4) Something of value, not enough to actively encourage reading (or listening)
SS-GB, Len Deighton (novel, narrated by James Lailey, pub’d 1978): What if the Germans had completed a successful invasion of England in 1941 and made peace with Russia? Would the race to build a nuclear bomb impact the British royalty? Very contrived and very frightening.
Lost Girls, An Unsolved American Mystery, Robert Kolker (narrated by Sean Pratt, pub’d 2014): THB went from Jimmy The King to reading a detailed history of one of the biggest crimes in Suffolk County’s infamously botched investigations. Moreso, the book focuses on the victims, disgraced and disregarded young women in the “independent” underworld of prostitution. Serial killers have preyed on these types: if missing, nobody cares to find them. Then along came Craig’s List, enabling a new way to find potential victims….
The Surgeon’s Mate (book 7 of the Aubrey/Maturin series), Patrick O'Brian (read by Simon Vance): Long ago, AB came up with a designation of how not to be disturbed while reading: SEA BATTLE! This book was missing the necessary number of sea battles, unfortunately.
Vienna, How the City of Ideas Created the Modern World, Richard Cockett (read by Gareth Richards in a nasally “Euro-Brit” accent): THB loves this type of book and recognizes it isn’t for everyone. A linking of the Viennese intelligentsia of the early 1900s to the diaspora of its revolutionary thoughts created by the Fascist drive of the 1930s, a great example of the law of unintended consequences.
In the Something Else Category (8):
God Save Texas: a three episode series, each episode done by a different director, all three with Lawrence Wright as executive producer. Personal views of each director, more intimate than any of Wright’s books.
The Far Country, 2 act play at Berkeley Rep Theatrer: at the very beginning, just after the play starts, THB hears a tone, intermittent, about every two or three seconds. At the same time, in the play’s the first scene is a Chinese man being interrogated on his application for citizenship, accompanied by a simultaneous translation. Given THB’s poor hearing, this is just too much for him to concentrate and enjoy the performance. After alerting DB to the tone, she too starts to hear it. As we depart at intermission, THB and DB ask what the tone was: a man in the audience using an oxygen tank! The cast had been notified as well as some of the people sitting near the man. THB upgrades his opinion of his hearing.
Stax: Soulsville U.S.A., four episodes streaming on Max: how did a small, unknown recording studio and record label create, not one but twice, a legendary outpouring of music by one neighborhood in a derelict part of Memphis using an integrated group playing country, soul, blues, rock and even classical music. Highly recommended for those of us of a similar age.
What The Hell Happened To Blood, Sweat And Tears, streaming on Apple TV: Documentary focussed on how the band came to tour behind the Iron Curtain by being blackmailed by the US State Department.
Thank You, Goodnight, the Bon Jovi Story, four episodes streaming on Hulu. THB and DB couldn’t name a single song by this group before watching this band’s 40 years of playing “arena rock” before millions of fans worldwide. More an introspective (i.e., slow and repetitive) overview, mostly focussed on the leader, Jon Bon Jovi, the band is celebrating 40 years with only one major change in the 5 member band during that time. Amazingly, this band was also blackmailed by the US State Department into touring behind the Iron Curtain. Recommended if you like arena rock and looking into the psyches of the old guys remember the good old days.
I Am A Noise, Joan Baez: A documentary of Joan looking back on her life, interweaving clips from her goodbye tour and video and photographs from her first 79 years. Highly recommended for those of us of a similar age.
McCartney 3-2-1, six short episodes streaming on Hulu: Paul and Rick Rubin reminisce about Paul’s early days and through the 10+ years of the Beatles, with a heavy emphasis on how songs were constructed. THB’s favorite quote: Paul used to think of his band mate as John (they met in their mid-teens, introduced by George Harrison), and now that he looks back on the Beatles he says he realizes he was making music with JOHN LENNON! Highly recommended for those of us of a similar age.
The Magic Behind A Hit Broadway Play and You Can Make A Killing But Not A Living, consecutive podcasts on Freakonomics focused on the new hit play Stereophonic (loosely based on the making of the album Rumours by Fleetwood Mac). The play took over 10 years from idea to off-Broadway and the host, Stephen Dubner, interviews the major creators and performers to show a) it is highly unlikely to create a big box office without known stars and b) a bit of the finances behind the scenes and c) how it takes many blended talents to bring the product to the stage.
Not Recommended - and high likely not finished (3):
Testament of Youth, An Autobiographical Study of the Years 1900-1925, Vera Brittain (pub’d 1933, narrated by Sheila Mitchell): A great book, did not translate well to audio format. When the audiobook was published, it was done very poorly by modern standards, and thus did not do well by Brittain. THB gave up pretty early in this brilliant telling of the impact of a generation of men wiped out in WWI.
Gravity’s Rainbow, Thomas Pynchon (novel,pub’d in 1973, read by George Guidall): THB remembered this being a more serious view of the V1 and V2 bombing of England by Germany at the end of WWII. Now THB sees it is full of slapstick and great sex.
Martyr! Kaveh Akbar (novel, read by Arian Moayed): Mom dies when an Iranian non-military airplane is shot down by American forces and the protagonist is just a newborn. Dad immediately emigrates to the US to start a new life for the two of them. It doesn’t go well for the kid.
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