Books from 2012

Paradise Valley, MT, November 2012. Photo by Greg Winter

The Sermon on the Mount by Emmet Fox (1934). A classic and a must read for anyone interested in the teachings of Jesus. The interpretation is surprisingly secular, similar to New Age thinking and Eastern philosophy and thus easier to understand and accept than the traditional fire and brimstone interpretations so widespread in the US. Fox was a leader in New Thought, a movement influenced by the American Transcendentalism of Ralph Waldo Emerson (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_New_Thought).

Flirting with Mermaids by John Kretschmer (1991). Another sailing book, this one a bit goofy and certainly not good literature! I enjoyed reading it though because it's written by a guy who sails yachts to various destinations all over the world for a living, and Chris was doing just that at the time. (Chris and Jo helped sail a private yacht across the Atlantic to the Azores this past summer.)

Tschick by  Wolfgang Herrndorf (2010). Simply a good old fashioned story about a fourteen year old boy and his friend, a recent Russian immigrant to Germany, who is the protagonist's age but has wisdom beyond his years and life experience to add to the mix. The boys get into lots of trouble and learn a lot about life and growing up in the process. This is funny, intense, entertaining and enlightening.

Seven Years by Peter Stamm, trans. Michael Hofmann (2010). I got to read this because I volunteered again this year to help with the judging for the National Translation Award. This is ultimately a mood piece, I think, to be read for the writing and the nuance described in the chronicling of the main character's relationship with his wife. However, it is definitely worth reading for the story, lest you think there isn't much going on there. I thought this translation had a good chance of winning the award: when I compared it to the original German, I felt the translator had exactly captured the mood and tone.

Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert (2006). I would have thought this was schlock, but it's actually very good. The author chronicles her struggles to overcome a depression after her divorce and to learn to meditate. The writing is entertaining, and the researched parts are outstanding. At times I found her bit of smugness here and there annoying, but it wasn't enough to make me put the book down. I would never ever go see the movie of this--the book is too good.

Oblivion by Hector Abad, trans. Anne McLean and Rosalind Harvey (2010).  A heart breaking memoir about the author's father, a doctor, intellectual and social activist in Columbia during the peak of the political turmoil in the seventies and eighties. There is no spoiler here--we already know at the beginning that this man, committed to helping fellow Columbians in issues of health, poverty, and education, will be shot to death on the street by his own government. Abad gives us a portrait of his father, his relationship to him, and of his whole family, and furthermore lets us experience growing up in Medillin and the nature of the political violence that all Columbians had to live with. Mario Vargas Llosa, quoted on Amazon, says it well; the book is "one of the most eloquent arguments written in our time or any time against terror as an instrument of political action.”

Nicholas Nickleby by Charles Dickens (1838-39). You know how I love these long, drawn out nineteenth century English novels! Dickens is a really fun writer to read because he is just so clever. The stories are good, but it's his cleverness that gets me every time. When I compare him to Trollope, whom I absolutely adore (as you know), I have to admit that although they are both marvelous story tellers, Dickens is better. His social critique and his characters are always right on target.

Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell (2004). This is one of those books that makes you wonder continually while reading, "How does he do this?" The novel consists of six stories, each told in the first person by characters of different ages, nationalities, and time periods, yet all six stories relate to each other and make the novel a whole.  The author is able to become each one of his characters, and the result is completely convincing. Reviews say that this is a "puzzle book" in which the reader has to figure out how the stories and characters relate. If I had tried to do that, it would have driven me crazy. I enjoyed the fantastic story-telling and the astonishing literary quality. Later on, the connections became clearer.