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Please post here about what you read this past month. Any comments or links are welcome.

What I Read in December 2011

4883. Five Chiefs A Supreme Court Memoir, by John Paul Stevens (read 2 Dec 2011) The author retired from the Supreme Court in 2010, at the age of 90, after being on the Court since 1975. This is a clearly-written account of the author's acquaintance with the five Chief Justices he knew: Fred Vinson, (who was Chief when Stevens was a law clerk for Wiley Rutledge), Earl Warren, Warren Burger, William Rehnquist, and John Roberts. Stevens says good things about all of them--even Warren Burger--but Stevens is very critical of some of their positions on cases. His comments on cases are nearly all agreeable to me--I think the only one I seriously disagree with is the flag burning case where Stevens was in the minority and voted to find flag burning unprotected by the First Amendment. The exposition of the cases Stevens discusses is so clear that one did not feel it necessary to plod through the actual opinions. The book is a real delight and I was full of admiration for the great justice Stevens has been..

4884. Salvage the Bones a novel by Jesmyn Ward (read 4 Dec 2011) (National Book Award fiction prize in 2011) This is the 53rd National Book Award fiction prize winner I've read. It is by a Mississippi-born black woman and tells of a black Louisiana family. There is Daddy, who drinks too much; the mother died having Junior; Randall, age 18; Sheet, age 17, the sixteen-year old girl who is "I" in the book, and Junior, age 5. The children were supposedly raised Catholic but give no evidence of such raising in their morals or by prayer in adversity. The girl narrator has been promiscuous since she was 12 and in the course of the book finds herself pregnant. There is a lot of crude language, of course. The most appealing character is the 17-year-old Sheet, who has China, a dog. There is dramatic dog fight but the forepart of the book is not appealing. The final chapters, when Katrina hits the family, are intensely melodramatic and lead me to give the book a good mark--even though the ending one hopes for is not explicitly furnished. A better National Book Award fiction winner than some of such I've read.

4885. The Swerve How the World Became Modern, by Stephen Greenblatt (read 6 Dec 2011) (National Book Award Nonfiction prize for 2011) This book is centered around a hunter of classical books, Poggio Braccolini, who in 1417 located in a German monastery a book by Lucretius, On the Nature of Things, written before Christ and unknown for a thousand years. Poggio caused the book to be copied and it has been an influential book ever since--though it is an atheistic book, insisting the world is made up of only atoms and space, that there is no life after death,and no God--claiming all that exists developed by pure chance . He never discusses where the atoms came from.

4886. England's World Empire Some Reflections Upon Its Growth and Policy, by Alfred Hoyt Granger (read 8 Dec 2011) This is a 1916 book which I found of much interest. It reviews the history of Britain from the time of Elizabeth I up to 1916, and does so usually critically. This is a prelude to his argument that we should not get into World War One. One of the big reasons is that we would be helping Czarist Russia--he of course did see that Czarist Russia would cease to exist in 1917. The book also includes articles tending to blame Sir Edward Grey for Britain getting into the Great War. Some of the arguments are potent. It has been some time since I spent much time on the outbreak of World War One, but his book was written right in the middle of the war and is quite perceptive. It should be noted that when we got into the war the author did serve in the U.S. Army--maybe he figured it was a good war because Russia was no longer in it.

4887. Under the Banner of Heaven A Story of Violent Faith, by Jon Krakauer (read 13 Dec 2011) I much enjoyed Krakauer's books Into Thin Air (read 25 Jan 1998) and Into the Wild (read 26 Jan 2006) and since Romney might be nominated for President, I decided to read this book. It concentrates on the murder of Brenda Lafferty and her baby daughter on July 24, 1984, by Brenda's brothers-in-law. The murderers are members of a fundamentalist Mormon sect, not in good standing with the main Mormon Church. The book spends a lot of time on Mormon history, which has long been an interest of mine. I read a biography of Joseph Smith (by Fawn Brodie) on May 11, 1979, and of Brigham Young on May 11, 1979 --as a result of my trip to Salt Lake City in July 1958. The history Krakauer sets out is not favorable to Mormonism. The murders were inspired by the nutty views of the murderers. Much of the book tells of the murderers' goofy ideas, which are not of interest and I am not sure the book was worth reading.

4888. The French Portrait of a People, by Sanche de Gramont (read 18 Dec 2011) This is a 1969 book by a guy who was a French nobleman who was educated in the U.S. but in 1955 was drafted into the French Army and served in Algeria from 1955 to 1957. In 1977 he became a U.S. citizen. When the book was written DeGaulle had just resigned as President of France, and the book discusses lucidly French history and its unusual twists and turns. Also discussed is much about French life and law which is pretty startling to me. Judges work to investigate crime, and a defendant has to prove his innocence. Three judges join the jury to decide if a defendant is guilty--they usually are so found. The book has good chapters on the language as well as the government ,and somewhat less intriguing discussions on art , French food, and the like. The book lacks footnotes and a bibliography--one just has to take the author's word for so much. But it was not a struggle to read it and I feel it was worth reading.

4889. The Reluctant Admiral Yamamoto and the Imperial Navy, by Hiroyuki Agawa translated by John Bester (read 22 Dec 2011) This book was first published in 1969 in Japan. It is a biography of Admiral Yamamoto (born 1884, killed April 18,1943). I read a book on Yamamoto by an American author on 15 Dec 1874. This book, The Reluctant Admiral, is written by a prominent Japanese author and is very well done, presenting Yamamoto in a favorable light as far as showing he opposed war with the U.S. and predicting Japan would not win the war. But he did plan the attack on Pearl Harbor, once the government had decided on war. The account of the planning of the attack and of the carrying out is intense reading and I found it totally riveting. The account of Midway is not so detailed, and while the result is joyous the author clearly did not relish the telling as did the telling of the telling of the Pearl Harbor attack. Yamamoto the man is not very admirable, paying far more attention to his geisha mistress than to his wife and children. Reading this book was an exceptionally great experience and tells the story of Yamamoto's war very well.

4890. Mrs. Bridge A Novel by Evan S. Connell (read 25 Dec 2011) I much admired Thomas Savage's great book, The Power of the Dog, which I read 25 Oct 1989, and have since read all of his books that I could locate. When I heard he said this book was one of the best novels he ever read I decided to read it. It is a moist unusual book, unlike anything I think I have ever read before. In short snappy chapters the book tells of a society woman in Kansas City in the late 1930's and early 1940's who is very conventional, utterly dominated by her brusque lawyer husband, and unsure in her efforts to cope with her three kids. She is repressed and bland and at times incredibly stupid. I confess I often laughed aloud, though possibly that was unbind of me. She is so ineffectual, so dominated by life and her family and society that she is pathetic. It is an amazing novel, with a striking ending.

4891. Reconstruction The Ending of the Civil War, by Avery Craven (read 27 Dec 2011) This is a 1969 book which tries to steer a course between the old view of Reconstruction and the revisionist view. The author is hard on Radical Republicans and decries the impeachment of Andrew Johnson, as I do, even though I have read enough revisionist writers so that I look quite favorably on the Radical Republicans even though I am glad the Senate acquitted Andrew Johnson. This book sees Reconstruction as a failure, as it was since it permitted the South to oppress and deny justice to Negroes, leaving them worse off than when they were slaves since as slaves the owner had to feed and shelter them. It was an interesting time in U.S. history and this book was worth reading.

Happy New Year.

I only read 4 books this past month, half of them barely worth reading. I started quite a few that were even more worthless!

http://www.goodreads.com/review/list/...

The much-touted The Kitchen House was just plain awful.

Unfortunately, I got about 80 pages into this before realizing that it was pretty bad --- poorly written and a totally unengaging style -- and that there was a terrible thing that happened in every chapter (and there were a lot of chapters!). Slavery, for sure, but then there was death of parents, brother disappearing, indentured servitude,rape, incest, more rape, mental illness, drug use, drunkenness....you name it. Incredible stereotyping and melodrama鈥�..I got numb to the awfulness. I actually lost track of what terrible things had happened to which characters! It needed a photo of a woman with a heaving bosom on the front! As another reviewer said 鈥渁n exhaustive beating over the head of the utter subjugation of women and slaves in general, culminating in a Tara-esque ending and a two paragraph wrap-up of the final outcome.鈥�

I did quickly finish it (so it automatically gets 2 stars) but I sure would not recommend it.

When the Emperor Was Divine was just so-so...I gave it 4 stars, but it was more like 3.5. It was too short and provided just a cursory glimpse into what internment camps were really like.

Madame Bovary's Daughter: A Novel was pure trash. I cannot figure out why I finished it.

The best of the lot was Exposure even though it was a bit too Jodi Picoult-ish for my taste.

I had a good reading year. I read 96 books. 35 fiction and 61 non fiction. It's the most I read in one year by far.

My December reads were:

Cutting for Stone~Abraham Verghese
Fiction
Rate: 4 minus
I liked this book about twin boys. However, it was way too long.

An Amish Christmas~Cynthia Keller
Fiction
Rate: 3 +
I enjoyed this simple tale of what Christmas should really be about.

Losing Mum and Pup~Christopher Buckley
non-fiction
Rate: 3 minus
Memoir by Christopher Buckley about his famous mom and dad. It was a sad to read of William F. Buckley's decline. The writing is full of black humor.

A Reckoning: A Novel~May Sarton
Fiction
Rate: 5
I've read a lot of Sarton's non fiction but this is the first fiction book by Sarton that I've read. It was a Buddy Read GR-Book Nook Cafe. Thank you, Deborah, for sharing this wonderful book with me. Even if I had to read the last 10 pages through my tears ! Well written and thought provoking.

Wishin' and Hopin'~Wally Lamb
Fiction
Rate 2
If you grew up in the 60's you will probably enjoy all the references. I thought the plot was just fair. I was expecting more from Wally Lamb.

EcoMind: Changing the Way We Think, to Create the World We Want~Frances Moore Lappe
Non fiction
Rate: 3
Well done book on ecology. It was a joy to see Lappe on Book TV. She gives one hope for the future.

Gretel's Story~Gretel Wachtel
non fiction
rate: 3
I came upon this book by browsing my libraries new book shelf. It was an interesting look at WWII from the perspective of a young German women.

Happy New Year to all at Readers & Reading !

Happy New Year!!!

December turned out to be my best reading month of the year quality wise. Here are my December reads:

Top Reads

When the Garden Was Eden: Clyde, the Captain, Dollar Bill, and the Glory Days of the Old Knicks
Harvey Araton
The championship Knicks teams were before my time but this book conveyed what great teams they were and how the city fell in love with them during their championship runs.

Spin
Robert Charles Wilson
Very interesting and well written science fiction with great ideas, an intriguing mystery, and realistic characters that I really cared about. This book won many of the major science fiction awards for the year it was published and I can see why.

Three Hearts and Three Lions
Poul Anderson
Loved this classic fantasy that had great characters and a thrilling plot with no excess filler. Listened to the audio version read by Bronson Pichnot who really threw himself into all the different accents and dialects.

Case Histories
Kate Atkinson
I really enjoyed this book. While not the most reality based detective story, the characterizations, alternating POV's, and changing time lines really drew me in.

The Boy in the Suitcase
Lene Kaaberb酶lAgnete Friis
Excellently written and paced crime and suspense debut by two writers from Denmark. From the first page, I was completely engaged and the action did not let up until the satisfying conclusion of the book.

Rules of Civility: A Novel
Amor Towles
I thought this was a great read. The main character, Katey Kontent, was smart, engaging, and the perfect guide through the high society of New York City in 1938. The writing seemed effortless with a fantastic flow and the audio, narrated by Rebecca Lowman, was a joy to listen to.

Good Reads

Another Man's Moccasins
Craig Johnson
A solid entry in this series. When a young Vietnamese woman is found dead along a rural highway in the county Walt finds himself confronting memories from his service during the Vietnam War in 1967-68. I really like the characters and enjoyed learning about their back stories though the contemporary plot was not quite as strong as usual.

A Stitch in Time
Emma Lathen
Wall Street banker and enthusiastic amateur sleuth John Putnam Thatcher is one of my favorite characters and this book, like all the previous ones I have read, was very entertaining.

I Want My MTV: The Uncensored Story of the Music Video Revolution
Craig Marks
Rob Tannenbaum
A very readable oral history of the founding of MTV and the video revolution. Lots of intriguing anecdotes from the various executives and talent.

The Big Four: A Hercule Poirot Mystery
Agatha Christie
Hercule Poirot takes on a diabolical group of criminal masterminds whose goal is world domination. The plot was frankly ludicrous but I did enjoy the banter between Poirot and Hastings. Listened to the audio narrated by Hugh Fraser who played Captain Hastings in the TV series.

Caveat Emptor
Ruth Downie
Ruso and Tilla return to Britannia and Ruso takes a job investigating the murder of a tax man. A bit darker in tone and much more focused on political machinations than the previous entries in the series.

Winter Frost
R.D. Wingfield
As usual, the Denton police force is undermanned and Inspector Frost is forced to cope with a serial killer, child abductions, a long dead skeleton, and other petty crimes. Frost is crude, unorganized, and jumps to conclusions with alarming frequency but he is fun to read about.

Ok Read

Winter's Child
Margaret Maron
Not one of the better books in the series. The two separate mystery plots were both pretty uninspired and the domestic drama was a bit much for me. I was also disappointed that Deborah's role seemed to be supporting instead of her usual lead. Listened to the audio version read ably, as always, by C. J. Critt.

Quite a month, Sandi!

Did you watch the 3-part Case Histories series on PBS? I thought it was pretty good.

My December reads:

CursedCarol Higgins Clark rating 3 Light read but what I could handle with work and holidays
Skein of the CrimeMaggie Sefton rating 3 Again this book was what I needed to read durubg this hectic time
Major Pettigrew's Last StandHelen Simonson rating 4 I enjoyed this sweet story and it was a good way to end the year

Schmerguls wrote: "What I Read in December 2011

I liked the movie,Mr and Mrs. Bridge so I got Mrs. Bridge from the library. I remember liking it. A bit different from the movie. Which starred Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward.

Alias Reader wrote: "I had a good reading year. I read 96 books. 35 fiction and 61 non fiction. It's the most I read in one year by far.

My December reads were:

Cutting for Stone~[author:Abraham V..."

So many people in my book club HATED this book it was partially responsible for the long over due disbanding! I gave up on it as there has never been a book so in need of a slicing and dicing editor!

JoAnn/QuAppelle wrote: "I only read 4 books this past month, half of them barely worth reading. I started quite a few that were even more worthless!

http://www.goodreads.com/review/list/...

The much-touted The Kitchen House...>

Sorry to read this, JoAnn. THE KITCHEN HOUSE is coming up as one of my book group's selections. Oh well, you never know. Sometimes our tastes do vary. :-)

@ R.--

Cutting for Stone~[author:Abraham V..."

So many people in my book club HATED this book it was partially responsible for the long over due disbanding! I gave up on it as there has never been a book so in need of a slicing and dicing editor!
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"Your mileage may vary" applies here! I just loved this novel! Perhaps my nursing background helped, but I thought it was a terrific book (and apparently so did quite a few others.)

JoAnn/QuAppelle wrote: "Quite a month, Sandi!

Did you watch the 3-part Case Histories series on PBS? I thought it was pretty good."

That is good to see. I have not watched it yet but DVR'd it. The series coming out on TV is what spurred me on to finally start reading the books.

Carolyn, my friend who runs her bookstore's book group said that my reaction to The Kitchen House was exactly what her group's was. But like you said, mileage may vary.

As a former editor, I could not agree more with the statement that Cutting for Stone needed serious editing. I tried it twice but could not get past the excess verbiage. And I love books about/based on medicine.

I found it interesting that John Irving, one of the kings of excess verbiage, reviewed and loved this book!

All in my most humble opinion, of course!

Sandi wrote: "JoAnn/QuAppelle wrote: "Quite a month, Sandi!

Did you watch the 3-part Case Histories series on PBS? I thought it was pretty good."

That is good to see. I have not watched it yet but DVR'd it. ..."

I have watched 2 out of 3 episodes. I keep putting off finishing the TV series as I do not want it to end. I do not, however, like her books.

I wish I could remember how to transfer from My Books to here, but I can't, so here goes:

Blue Nights by Joan Didion (Rate 2/5)
Imperfect Justice: The Trial of Casey Anthony by Jeff Ashton (Rate 5/5)
Miss Peregrine's School for Peculiar Children by R. Ransom (Rate 4/5)