Above All Things

Above All Things (2012) by Tanis Rideout. This is a moving, tragic novel about the 1924 attempt by George Mallory to climb Mount Everest. The book shifts back and forth between Everest and England, first telling the story from the point of view of Mallory, then from the point of view of his wife, Ruth, who was waiting for him back in England. Needless to say, Mallory's attempt to climb Everest was unsuccessful, but the book itself is a great success, bringing to life what it must have been like to live in the 1920s in a time when English expeditions were making their first assaults on the peak. By the time the novel ended, I really felt great sympathy for Ruth, Mallory's widow, who had gone through the agony of waiting for him and then not having him come back. The book is based on historical facts, although the author has taken many liberties in order to make it flow and to give it an authentic feel. This is a very good book. Grade: B+

The Searchers

The Searchers (2013) by Glenn Frankel. This is one of the best books I have ever read. Frankel has done extensive research, starting with the history of Cynthia Ann Parker, a white girl who was kidnapped by Comanches in 1836. Eventually, in 1860, Cynthia was found and returned to white civilization -- but by then she had grown up as a Comanche, and didn't want to "become white" again. Her story, and others like it, are the inspiration for John Ford's 1956 movie "The Searchers," starring John Wayne. In the movie, a young girl named Debbie is kidnapped by the Comanches and raised up to become one of the wives of Scar, a Comanche warrior. Wayne's character, Ethan Edwards, searches for her for years and eventually finds her. But she has become Comanche, too, and he at first intends to kill her. But eventually he ends up bringing her back home. This book is subtitled, "The Making of an American Legend," and it lives up to the subtitle. From the capture of Cynthia Ann Parker, through the making of the movie, to the present-day status of the descendants of Cynthia Ann and of her Comanche son, Quanah, the book covers  the entire sweep of history. It is a magnificent achievement of research and writing and insight on the part of the author. I enjoyed it immensely. Grade: A 

After Visiting Friends

After Visiting Friends (2013) by Michael Hainey. When Hainey's father died in 1970 at the age of 35, Hainey was only 6. Years later, he became curious about his father's death and began doing some digging, going back and visiting people who had known his father, talking to people who had worked with him, etc. The reader travels along with him on this arduous journey, and is rewarded at the end by 1. finding out the answer to the mystery and 2. seeing Hainey forge a new bond with his mother, one he has never had before. This is really a great book, compulsively readable and with an emotional punch at the end. Grade: A 

The Dinner

The Dinner (2009) by Herman Koch. This book is about two brothers and their respective spouses, who meet up for dinner at a swank restaurant. It only emerges slowly that the sons of both couples, acting together, have committed a heinous act that is being kept secret by the two couples. When one of the brothers reveals that he is prepared to go public with the facts about his son's crime, the other brother's wife shows just how far she is willing to go to protect her own son. Although this is a topical and interesting book, it's also rather shallow, and my enjoyment of it was muted by that fact. Grade: B  

We Live in Water

We Live in Water (2013) by Jess Walter. Collection of pretty good short stories by Walter, the author of Beautiful Ruins. This book didn't do much for me, especially when it came to the obligatory zombie story ("Don't Eat Cat").  In general, I don't enjoy short stories as much as longer-form books, but this one was pretty good. If you like short stories, you might want to give it a try. Grade: B 

John Adams

John Adams (2001) by David McCullough. This book is a masterful biography of one of our founding fathers, the brilliant, patriotic, often irascible John Adams -- a man who excited as much hatred as admiration in his contemporaries, but who would prove essential to the founding of the United States of America. Adams rose from humble beginnings to eventually become the second president of the U.S., and McCullough does a beautiful job of describing the ups and downs along the way, the triumphs and losses, the victories and the tragedies. I just read a book about Benjamin Franklin, in which Adams was a character, and he certainly gets a more sympathetic showing in this book than he did in the Franklin book. McCullough is quite balanced in his telling, though, and many times he is obliged to describe Adams' shortcomings as well as his immense talents. I found this to be a most enlightening, enjoyable book to read, and hope to read it again, soon. Grade: A-

Judy Garland: The Other Side of the Rainbow

Judy Garland: The Other Side of the Rainbow (2010) by Michael Freedland. This biography of Judy Garland covers all the bases pretty well, but seems to me to have nothing much new to offer. It's not very well written, and Freedland's sources are mostly several steps removed from the late movie star/singer/stage performer. Garland's troubles with alcohol and prescription drugs are well documented, and Freedland covers the ground pretty well in this book. As an Englishman, Freedland seems to lack some crucial understanding of what it is like to be an American star, born in America. This is the first book I've read about Garland, so for me it was all pretty fresh, but I've got a feeling this ground has been covered before, and probably better. Grade: B-

The Painted Girls

The Painted Girls (2013) by Cathy Marie Buchanan. Beginning in 1878 in Paris, three young sisters struggle for survival after their father dies. Their mother turns to drinking absinthe, and becomes more of a liability than an asset. The girls fall back on their own talents, trying to become dancers in the Opera. Marie, the middle child, succeeds, but Antoinette, the oldest, falls into an ill-fated love affair with a brute named Emile. The book shows how young girls in Paris in that time period had virtually no protection from predators and others who would take advantage of them. Much to my surprise, I learned that the girls were based on historical characters, and that Monsieur Degas did indeed do sketches and a sculpture of Marie. The book is a fascinating mix of art, history and fiction and, much to my relief, did not end in tragedy. I have little interest or knowledge of the central subject, the dance, so I wasn't totally transported by the novel, but I did find it enjoyable enough to read it all the way through. Grade: B+ 

Benjamin Franklin

Benjamin Franklin: An American Life (2003) by Walter Isaacson. Another fine biography about one of the founding fathers by Isaacson, who specializes in humanizing and bringing down to earth those titans of American history. This is a sympathetic portrait of Franklin, but his faults are also shown, and the book comes off as a balanced look at one of the great men of the eighteenth century. Franklin was, during his 84-year life, America's best scientist, inventor, diplomat, writer and business strategist. He was, always, a practical man, interested in developing useful things, not in thinking profound philosophical thoughts. Most famously, he showed that lightning is electricity by flying a kite in a storm and drawing the lightning down to earth. He then invented the lightning rod. Franklin trusted in the "common man" far more than in those who had been born to position. This great book exemplifies his democratic ideals, and how he influenced the founding of the United States of America. Grade: A

Jujitsu Rabbi and the Godless Blonde

Jujitsu Rabbi and the Godless Blonde (2013) by Rebecca Dana. Interesting but not terribly deep account of Dana's life as an aspiring Carrie Bradshaw in New York City. Carrie Bradshaw, of course, is the character played by Sarah Jessica Parker in Sex and the City. Dana starts by telling how she got everything she wanted, and how things then fell apart, and she found herself renting a room in an apartment shared with a Jewish rabbi named Cosmo. We then take a detour into Dana's youth, in which she, a Jew herself, attended Hebrew School. She's not a natural blonde, but she is the "godless blonde" of the title, being endowed with a healthy doubt about the existence of God. This is an entertaining book, though it offers little of anything profound, Rebecca Dana does have some interesting and amusing adventures in New York City, and she has a facility with words that makes the book an easy read. Grade: B