He Was There

Counselor: A Life at the Edge of History by Ted Sorensen

While I enjoyed learning about Ted Sorensen’s life before and after his years working with John F. Kennedy, I’ll confess that the most compelling part of the book was also the heart of it, which focused on the Kennedy years. Often referred to as John F. Kennedy’s speechwriter, Ted Sorensen actually served in a much larger capacity as an adviser to the President. Sorensen wrote a Kennedy biography back in 1965 (Kennedy), but here he speaks much more freely (no longer any need to feel constrained by the opinions of Robert F. Kennedy and Jacqueline Kennedy, and also, I suspect, because the decades have given him new perspective). I was struck by Sorensen’s continuing fierce allegiance to JFK – which leads him to maintain that Kennedy truly was the author of Profiles in Courage – though he actually does qualify this statement in such a way that there’s an opening for us to realize how likely it was that Sorensen did much of the heavy lifting. He also sidesteps extensive commentary about JFK’s womanizing and other faults. So, you might ask: Then where’s the good stuff? Here’s one lovely example. My favorite moment of the book is the scene where Sorensen gets separated from his luggage on the campaign trail, and Kennedy aide Dave Powers loans one of JFK’s ties to Sorensen, telling him that Kennedy never wears that particular tie. When Sorensen arrives at the meeting, Kennedy’s first words to him are: “Is that my tie you’re wearing?” It doesn’t get any better than that.

Reading about the Cold during the Dog Days of Summer

Swimming to Antarctica: Tales of a Long-Distance Swimmer by Lynne Cox

I completely expected this to be one of those books where I wonder throughout: How can this person choose this crazy pursuit? Fortunately, Lynne Cox is nearly as good at weaving a tale as she is at swimming at high speed in ice-cold-freezing water – so she tells us how she developed her overwhelming love of swimming in open water, even (especially?) under tough conditions. Her description of being 11 years old and choosing to swim for 3 hours in the midst of a hail storm rather than do 2 hours of calisthenics is just plain beautiful. And the part where she’s crossing a New Zealand strait accompanied by dolphins… I confess I felt a twinge of envy that made me realize all that training could result in some mighty lovely moments. You still won’t find me swimming in water where there be sharks, but Lynne Cox’s writing helps me understand why she would.

This One Stands the Test of Time

The Westing Game by Ellen Raskin

The Westing Game is, hands down, the book I’ve re-read the most often. Since age 10, I’m guessing I’ve re-read this book about once every 2 years. And it’s still magical. Plus, with every reading, I pick up on a new clue the author dropped very cleverly into the story. It’s a puzzle mystery of the finest sort. Here’s the set-up: A wonderfully diverse and quirky group of people receive invitations to move into a beautiful new high-rise building along the shores of Lake Michigan. While they appear to have little in common with one another, the 16 new residents all soon are summoned to the Westing mansion, where they learn they are all potential heirs to the Westing fortune… if they can solve the puzzle Sam Westing has devised for them. They are divided into unlikely-matched teams of two, and they tackle the clues they have been given. Young Turtle is perhaps the main character, and she’s the kind of person a reader can grow up with; she was a good friend when I was 10, and I still like her today. Why can’t all books be this good?

He Was Underrated

Truman by David McCullough

I have no problem with biographers admiring their subject. McCullough clearly thinks the world of Harry S. Truman, and I can understand why. Truman was the real deal: a great politician who was also a great – and good – man. He worked hard, failed, succeeded, used great intelligence and common sense, and made tough choices. He loved his wife and considered her his sweetheart all his life. He inspired great devotion from his staff. And throughout everything, he remained cheerful! (Though he vented by writing very angry letters he never sent. Thank goodness he did something; otherwise he’d be a bit too good to be true.) When it comes to Truman, I think the more we know about him, the better we like him and the more we respect him. And here, McCullough gives us 1117 pages of Truman, so by the end, you can’t help but think well of him. He was, as they say, a very uncommon common man. If you cannot get enough of McCullough on Truman, or if you want the very brief version, check out the Truman Presidential Library's podcast of a speech delivered by David McCullough on June 13, 2007.

A Sad Business, These Shipwrecks...

Exiles by Ron Hansen

A fascinating premise: Hansen takes a real historical event – a shipwreck – about which a famous poem was written, and writes a novel about both the shipwreck and the writing of the poem. While at times it almost felt like a nonfiction novel, the author’s evocation of the tragedy of both the shipwreck and the early death of the poet (Gerard Manley Hopkins) are masterful. The novel alternates between the story of Hopkins, a Jesuit priest who has chosen to keep his poetic skills under wraps in deference to his religious calling; and the story of five German nuns, en route to America, who die in the shipwreck. While the nuns may be the primary exiles of the story, it seems that Hopkins, too, is an exile from his own true calling as a poet. The quiet details about the characters bring them to life, even as we watch them die. Haunting.