2009 Pub Challenge: Completed!

I arrived late on the scene for the 2009 Pub Challenge, but I completed it anyway. Hooray!


Here are the books, all published in 2009, that I read:

1. Early's Fall by Jerry Peterson (fiction)

2. Columbine by Dave Cullen (nonfiction)

3. The Dark Horse by Craig Johnson (fiction)

4. Rocket Men: The Epic Story of the First Men on the Moon by Craig Nelson (nonfiction)

5. Down Around Midnight: A Memoir of Crash and Survival by Robert Sabbag (nonfiction)

6. Marine One by James W. Huston (fiction)

7. Starvation Lake by Bryan Gruley (fiction)

8. A Reliable Wife by Robert Goolrick (fiction)

9. Magnificent Desolation: The Long Journey Home from the Moon by Buzz Aldrin (nonfiction)


And here are the other 2009-published books that I read but didn't review:

10. The Language of Bees by Laurie R. King (fiction)

11. Mind Scrambler by Chris Grabenstein (fiction)


This was really fun, and I'm looking forward to the 2010 Pub Challenge!

The Writer in the Secret Annex

Anne Frank: The Book, the Life, the Afterlife by Francine Prose

While in junior high, I read The Diary of a Young Girl about 4 times. But somehow, when the “Definitive Edition” was released about 15 years ago, I just didn’t feel like reading it. But now I’ve checked it out from the library, and Francine Prose’s book is the reason.

Anne Frank: The Book, the Life, the Afterlife is a mighty fine book. The subtitle identifies the main sections of the book, and the two I enjoyed most were “The Life” and “The Book.” The section on “The Afterlife,” with its accounts of all the squabbling over who “owned” the story, dragged a bit. And actually made me a little sad.

Prose brilliantly describes the appeal and the immediacy of Anne Frank’s book: since Anne addressed her diary entries to a pretend friend named “Kitty,” she wrote in the second person, addressing “you.” And we are the “you.” I’d never thought about it, but it’s completely true.
Prose also describes Anne as a skilled writer whose style developed very quickly—and who re-wrote her diary into a form near to that which was published. (Lots of details there about what Otto Frank left in, what he chose from the old/new versions of Anne’s diary, etc. Fascinating.)

So now I need to read The Diary of a Young Girl again. And rather than read the old, falling-apart edition I read until it fell to pieces*, I’ve got the “Definitive Edition” here. So it’ll be a little bit like reading the book for the first time.

While we’re talking about Anne Frank, here are two interesting things:
First, a very short bit of film that is the only known footage of Anne Frank:



And second, the Anne Frank House is creating an “Online Hiding Place,” which is due to launch next year. So it will be possible to “visit” the Secret Annex without traveling all the way to Holland. (Though I still want to go there someday. Someday.)

* one of only two books I own that are held together by rubber bands; the other is the Spanish-English dictionary that I’ve owned since third grade

Booking Through Thursday: It's All About Me

This week's question:

Which do you prefer? Biographies written about someone? Or autobiographies written by the actual person (and/or ghost-writer)?

I am a big fan of biographies; I like it when biographers examine various angles of a person's life.

Autobiographies often don't expose the warts, and what's the fun in reading a sanitized version of things? Plus, while I appreciate the work done by ghost writers, I'm a bit put off by the idea. Kind of like how I feel about presidential speechwriters, whom I find fascinating but also somewhat disturbing. (I want the presidents to be eloquent all on their own!)

So, having said that, I'll confess that I'm a one-book woman at the moment (a rare event indeed), and the book is Carrying the Fire: An Astronaut's Journeys by Michael Collins. Yes, you guessed it: it's an autobiography! But it is a ghost writer-free one, a claim made by Collins in the introduction, which I believe with my whole heart. The voice just plain sounds like him (based solely on excerpts from interviews I've heard, granted, but still).

I have slowed down my reading pace to savor it, which also is a rare thing for this highly-caffeinated person. And I don't feel like reading anything else, not even the George Washington biography that's staring at me from the shelf right now.

So I'll qualify my first statement today by saying: Usually biographies, unless the once-a-decade autobiography comes along to dethrone them.

Geek-Out Attack!

Oh, good people, here is your blogger, happy--oh so happy-- (is she perhaps delirious?) at the Air & Space Museum's Udvar-Hazy Center, home of The Very Isolation Chamber Where the Apollo 11 Astronauts Were Quarantined Upon Their Return to Earth!!!

It's one of those god-awful self-portrait numbers, certain to make one appear ready for, say, an isolation chamber.

But dang. What a happy girl!

For a similar portrait, featuring Richard Nixon himself in roughly my location here, Check This Out! (You'll see Armstrong on the left, Collins in the center, and Aldrin on the right.)

Book-related note:

In my bag at the time this delightful image was captured: the remarkable Carrying the Fire: An Astronaut's Journeys by Michael Collins. (I had a bus ride, followed by a shuttle bus ride, to get there, and then a shuttle bus, bus, and subway ride to get back. Can you imagine such a haul without a book? [breaks out in hives at mere thought])

All Apollo, All the Time

A Man on the Moon: The Voyages of the Apollo Astronauts by Andrew Chaikin

While watching HBO mini-series From the Earth to the Moon on DVD (initial reaction: “Rats, it’s not a documentary!”—then, after one episode: “This is fantastic!”) we saw that the series was based in part on this book. So I hauled it home from the library and dove in. And stayed there a while—this book has 680 pages, if you count the appendices, notes, and index. And in this book’s case, 680 pages is a good thing.

One might think, “A 680-page tome on the Apollo missions… [yawn]” but boy, would one be wrong, Wrong, WRONG.

Chaikin talked with the astronauts, with their families, and with others at NASA, and the result is a book that focuses on the human experience of preparing to go to—and then actually visiting—the moon. While I have a certain appreciation for the technical whiz-bang wonders of getting humans into space and onto the lunar surface and returning them “safely to Earth” (as JFK put it), I confess I never crave the experience of reading a technical book on any subject. So this book, with its narrative tone and human-centric approach, was the right choice for me.

Though, speaking of technical manuals… While I was reading A Man on the Moon, this little news item, which includes three of my favorite things—libraries, the Smithsonian, and the space program—appeared on The Face*, and I got all excited. And then, shortly thereafter, this fine thing also appeared on The Face. But I digress...

Someone described A Man on the Moon as “picking up where The Right Stuff left off,” (Oh! It's Pete Conrad, on the back cover of the book!) and I think that’s a fair statement. (Though do the Gemini missions get lost in the shuffle, perhaps? Those poor overlooked dudes.)

I shall conclude with an ode to Michael Collins, whom I believe to be a perfectly lovely human. He seems to glow with affection for all that surrounds him, and I just cannot resist that. Just a couple of Apollo 11 quotes from the man: “Beautiful burn, SPS, I love you, you are a jewel!” and “You cats take it easy on the lunar surface.” Of him, Chaikin writes, “To reporters faced with Armstrong’s inscrutability, Aldrin’s technical relentlessness, Collins was a breath of fresh air. He fielded their queries with good humor; his face seemed to say that yes, these are interesting questions.” (p. 175) What a beautiful human being. And if, 40 years after the big event, Michael Collins chooses to express an occasional burst of discontent with the world of celebrity, I’m impressed by how un-grumpy he remains. And how lucky he considers himself.

And I’ll complete my happy talk here by thanking Andrew Chaikin for writing this fine book. It’s a world unto itself, and I’m glad I spent so many happy hours there. I gave it one of them five-star reviews on Shelfari and Good Reads; that doesn't happen every day.

*That’s how we call Facebook in our house.

Booking Through Thursday: Blurb

This week's question is a great one:

Something I’ve been thinking about lately: “What words/phrases in a blurb make a book irresistible? What words/phrases will make you put the book back down immediately?”

First: Is this a personality test? : )

The "irrestistable" part is easy: I am a complete sucker for books whose blurbs include words like "simple, starkly beautiful writing," "wry humor," and "good-humored." Also: "well-researched and compelling."

I run, screaming, in the opposite direction when I see these words: "angry, embittered rant" and "heartwarming." (I really gag on "heartwarming." Does that make me terrible?)

The Supremes

The Nine: Inside the Secret World of the Supreme Court by Jeffery Toobin

When I first heard of this book, my initial impression was that it would be dull. This displays my occasional utter idiocy, because what book with the word “secret” in its subtitle is ever dull? I should have suspected it would be titillating!

Well, this book is neither dull nor titillating. It’s better than that: it’s compelling.

Toobin’s great gift is in humanizing the justices. He provides details about the way they interact with each other (which is surprisingly minimal) and with their clerks, about their background, and about their interests (opera, Salzburg, NASCAR, etc.) He shares information about which justices are congenial, combative, reclusive, or sunny in disposition. (How can a person not be wildly fond of a sunny justice? I mean, honestly!)

And, having recently quit a book that failed at this next bit, I can truly appreciate Toobin’s approach to introducing the justices to the reader: he weaves their individual stories into the narrative about the final years of the Rehnquist court (the latter years of which he claims were actually the O’Connor court, in terms of influence) and the first year or so of the Roberts court. None of that simple, lazy method of devoting a chapter to each person, thank all goodness. The result is a richer, more complex and rewarding book for the reader, and I am thankful for it.

Here’s my favorite anecdote of the book, and I think it’s perfectly lovely. Apparently people have often confused David Souter and Stephen Breyer. In one instance, Souter was driving home to New Hampshire from Washington, and he was recognized in a restaurant by a couple who approached him and addressed him as Justice Breyer. Being a kindly sort of person, Souter nodded and continued the brief conversation, which included this question: “’Justice Breyer, what’s the best thing about being on the Supreme Court?’ The justice thought for a while, then said, ‘Well, I’d have to say it’s the privilege of serving with David Souter.’” (p. 246) I love this!

Snap quiz: Can you name all nine justices?* If so, buy yourself a giganto treat from the DQ: you deserve it, dagnabbit.

I really should have read this book before visiting the Supreme Court during oral arguments (which is one doggone fascinating thing to do; I highly recommend it. I was darn near stunned when they appeared from behind that curtain; there was a moment of, “Is that really them?” and it was then that I realized just how much of a dork I really am. Starstruck by the Supremes.)

So at least now I’ve read it, so on my next visit, I’ll be cleverer. And, yes, I’ll admit it: I’ll be even more agog than before.

*Stevens, Scalia, Kennedy, Thomas, Ginsburg, Breyer, Roberts, Alito, Sotomayor

Presidents: Retrospective Reading

For the U.S. Presidents Reading Project, we're allowed to include books we have read before we began the project. (hallelujah!)

Here are presidential books I've read but not reviewed:

About John Adams: John Adams by David McCullough

About Abraham Lincoln: With Malice Toward None by Stephen B. Oates

About Ulysses S. Grant: Ulysses S. Grant: The Unlikely Hero by Michael Korda

About Theodore Roosevelt: A Bully Father by Joan Paterson Kerr

About Franklin D. Roosevelt: No Ordinary Time: Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt: The Home Front in World War II by Doris Kearns Goodwin

About Richard Nixon: The Final Days by Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein

About George H. W. Bush: All's Fair: Love, War, and Running for President by Mary Matalin and James Carville

About Bill Clinton: The Survivor: Bill Clinton in the White House by John F. Harris

About George W. Bush: Smashmouth: Two Years in the Gutter with Al Gore and George W. Bush by Dana Milbank

Plus about twenty hundred books about Kennedy. Why, I do not know. It just is.

U.S. Presidents Reading Project

Here's the home base where I'll track my progress on the U.S. Presidents Reading Project.

Completed: 16/44 as of October 16, 2009

List of U.S. Presidents:

1. George Washington, 1789-97

2. John Adams, 1797-1801 (Federalist)

3. Thomas Jefferson, 1801-9 (Democratic-Republican)

4. James Madison, 1809-17 (Democratic-Republican)

5. James Monroe, 1817-25 (Democratic-Republican)

6. John Quincy Adams, 1825-29 (Democratic-Republican)

7. Andrew Jackson, 1829-37 (Democrat)

8. Martin Van Buren, 1837-41 (Democrat)

9. William Henry Harrison, 1841 (Whig)

10. John Tyler, 1841-45 (Whig)

11. James Knox Polk, 1845-49 (Democrat)

12. Zachary Taylor, 1849-50 (Whig)

13. Millard Fillmore, 1850-53 (Whig)

14. Franklin Pierce, 1853-57 (Democrat)

15. James Buchanan, 1857-61 (Democrat)

16. Abraham Lincoln, 1861-65 (Republican)

17. Andrew Johnson, 1865-69 (Democrat/National Union)

18. Ulysses Simpson Grant, 1869-77 (Republican)

19. Rutherford Birchard Hayes, 1877-81 (Republican)

20. James Abram Garfield, 1881 (Republican)

21. Chester Alan Arthur, 1881-85 (Republican)

22. Grover Cleveland, 1885-89 (Democrat)

23. Benjamin Harrison, 1889-93 (Republican)

24. Grover Cleveland, 1893-97 (Democrat)

25. William McKinley, 1897-1901 (Republican)

26. Theodore Roosevelt, 1901-9 (Republican)

27. William Howard Taft, 1909-13 (Republican)

28. Woodrow Wilson, 1913-21 (Democrat)

29. Warren Gamaliel Harding, 1921-23 (Republican)

30. Calvin Coolidge, 1923-29 (Republican)

31. Herbert Clark Hoover, 1929-33 (Republican)

32. Franklin Delano Roosevelt, 1933-45 (Democrat)

33. Harry S Truman, 1945-53 (Democrat)

34. Dwight David Eisenhower, 1953-61 (Republican)

35. John Fitzgerald Kennedy, 1961-63 (Democrat)

36. Lyndon Baines Johnson, 1963-69 (Democrat)

37. Richard Milhous Nixon, 1969-74 (Republican)

38. Gerald Rudolph Ford Jr , 1974-77 (Republican)

39. James Earl Carter, 1977-81 (Democrat)

40. Ronald Wilson Reagan, 1981-89 (Republican)

41. George Herbert Walker Bush, 1989-1993 (Republican)

42. William Jefferson Clinton, 1993-2001(Democrat)

43. George W. Bush, 2001- (Republican)

44. Barack Obama, 2009- (Democrat)

--------------------------------------------

Here are the Project's rules:

"1. Read at least one non-fiction book about each of the U.S. Presidents
2. Take as much time as you need
3. Have fun learning about U.S. history and its leaders"

An Author Named Ad

All This Belongs to Me by Ad Hudler

First, a big sigh of happiness. For the first time in way too long—a novel that pulled me right in. And whose characters got me feeling like they were real people. Real people to whom I wished occasionally to deliver a lecture.

So here we’ve got two very unlike people, whose lives come together.

Geena is fleeing her unhappy marriage, after the death of her teenage son. On her cross-country drive, she encounters a mail truck accident, from which she recovers an envelope containing a credit card bound for a man named Ellis. (Geena, baby, This is Theft! Cannot condone that activity!)

And—cha!—Ellis, of the credit card, is the other character.

So you might be thinking: romantic comedy! These two will fall in love… which, in a platonic way, they sort of do.

Ellis, a cute-Cute-CUTE! little old man, works as a docent at the Thomas Edison home in Fort Myers and devotes his free time to memorizing obscure facts about the inventor. In fact, he’s obsessed with the guy. (Ellis, buddy, you are the main character in your life! It’s OK!)

So Geena and Ellis meet… and oh, it is good, this book. There’s an is-she-as-evil-as-she-seems new director of the Edison museum; there’s the friendship—built on lies, but what the hay?—that develops between Geena and Ellis; and there are the odd details about the terribly odd Thomas and Mina Edison.

And the Geena running-away-from-her-everyday-life thing reminded me a bit of Ladder of Years by Anne Tyler, which--since I love that book--is a major compliment.

So even as I tsk-tsk-tsk about all that lying and stealing, still… I like these people.