Next Book Club Meeting

Our next book is "Tom Lake" by Ann Patchett and will be hosted by Dave M on Tuesday November 12th at 6pm. 

The rotation is Bill, Bob, John S, Dave M, David J, Stanley, and John H.

Free and Equal

"Imagine: You are designing a society, but you don't know who you'll be within it—rich or poor, man or woman, gay or straight. What would you want that society to look like?"

This academically challenging read by Daniel Chandler applies the 20^th Century political philosophy of John Rawles to our current state of affairs. The first half explains the essential components of the Rawles liberal philosophy, not to be confused with a neo-liberal nor socialism. You will be introduced to the difference principal, equality of opportunity, the just savings principal, shared prosperity, and more. In the second part Chandler tackles issues such as free elections, progressive taxes, universal basic income, public schools, civics, climate change, fake news, money in politics, personal property, and a fair economy each with liberal solutions. 

The aftermath addresses current world trends and the ongoing struggle between popularist autocrats and pluralist democratic leaders. "A Rawlsian politics, then, would be principled, pragmatic, pluralist, unifying and hopeful." To achieve this, progressives "must also adopt a policy program that would tackle inequality and create a truly inclusive society."

When you are finished with the book, ask yourself if you are a true liberal.

Autocracy, Inc.

Applebaum's latest book is a brief description of the network of kleptocracies currently impacting the world. The liberal world order of free democratically elected countries is threatened by the block of authoritative autocracies. These autocracies include the likes of Russia, China, Iran, Venezuela, Zimbabwe, Belarus, North Korea, Egypt, Malasia, and Saudi Arabia. Each of them spread misinformation and sometimes even military support to try to undermine democracies around the world. Resisters to the autocrats are threatened, beaten, imprisoned, and sometimes killed. Their names and even their ideas are smeared and labeled as treason. The kleptocrats and their loyal supporters keep all the spoils with the aid of financially motivated enablers around the world. Applebaum ends the depressing book by calling for the democracies around the world to unite against the dictators through supporting the resistors, combating the misinformation, and stopping the enablers within.

Table for Two

Towles latest book is a collection of six short stories in New York and one novella in Los Angeles, all set in the 1930's. The six short NY stories each have cleaver plots and interesting twists. They include a capitalist communist, an unwitting forger, a likable drunk, a roller-skating breakup, an SOB ticket snob, and a battle over pieces of art. The LA detective story has a young heroin, a retired detective, and both real and made-up characters. For those of us who love LA, the story includes real places like the Beverly Hills Hotel, Hearst's Beverly Hill Hacienda, and various eateries. The real characters include the recently departed Olivia de Havilland (2020 at 104). Towles is a great storyteller, and I like the way he describes the strength and resourcefulness of Eve, the innocence and virtue of Liv, the evil of the villains, and the stable dependability of the detective. The other members of our group pointed out that Eve was in our previous Towles book, Rules of Civility, and got her scar from the auto accident in NY.

Book Ratings

The following is the link to the complete list for your entry: Compete book list. Please click on the link and input your ratings on a scale of 1-5.

We are in our 26th year and have read 296 books and counting. We have read a lot of very good books with an average rating of 3.64 on a scale of 1-5. 90% of our books received a rating of 3.0 or greater with the top 10 4.5 or more. Stanley and Dr. J are the toughest critics with and average of 3.41 with everyone else averaging between 3.68 and 3.73. On the low end we have just a few that fall below the Mendoza line established by Who Moved My Cheese at 2.86. This includes the third book chosen overall (by me) of "A Pirate Looks at 50" and Bill's "There is no Toilet Paper on the Road Less Traveled"(which also holds distinction of the longest title). We still have only read one book twice, "The Limits of Power", in 2009 and 2014 and I still can't remember it even though it rated very well at 4.13 and 4.25.

The book list covers a wide variety of books consisting of roughly 2/3rds non-fiction. Topics include the classics, politics, business, adventure, history, science, environment, humor, and morality. Multiple authors include Thomas Friedman (4), Malcolm Gladwell (3), Bill Bryson (5), Phillip Roth (3), Dan Brown (3), Sam Harris (3), Michael Lewis (3) and 2 from Russell Banks, TC Boyle, Tom Brokaw, David Brooks, David Guterson, Laura Hillenbrand, Hope Jahren, Jon Krakauer, Eric Larson, Annie Proulx, Alan Weisman, Eric Weiner and Irvin Yalom. We have branched out over the years to include a wide variety of authors and topics.

Made in America

Bryson's 1994 book is a wordy (in many ways) etymological history of America. The book is filled with his unique storytelling. He covers a wide range of topics including immigration, sports and games, sex and censorship, transportation, entertainment, business and consumption, and politics. He finishes the book with a discussion of offensive language and political correctness. I like the way he challenges America's tendency to white-wash our history and overestimate our exceptionalism. The nuggets of unusual information are fun. The reader comes away with knowledge of Pilgrims/Plymouth Rock, Bridegrooms/Dodgers, Woolworth's, Piggy Wiggly, Sears, Kodak, Kellogg, Hershey, Malls, "jumbo", Caesar salad, Conestoga wagon, Arroyo Seco freeway, Comstock Act, and many more tidbits. The book contains random historical quotes such as "I know it when I see it", that pitcher threw a "Linda Ronstadt", and a 1993 L&M cigarettes ad "Just what the doctor ordered." I have to admit I needed to hustle to finish in time and in the words of my late sister, "Whew, you are full of words."

Kingdom on Fire

Scott Howard-Cooper's retelling of the UCLA Wooden years is a steady stream of consciousness with a plethora of sports and unrelated trivia. For me, too much of the book focuses on the underbelly of college sports boosters (i.e. Sam Gilbert) and a few disgruntled players. Nonetheless, it did little to take away from my loyal fandom of UCLA and my idolization of Johnny Wooden. 

I love coach Wooden's pyramid of success and his many great sayings and lessons. Good or bad, I live my live by "Be quick, but never hurry". I respected his modesty, discipline, intensity, and fair play. He won with small, medium, and tall players. He won consistently when basketball was more of a team sport with little or no dunks and no "cross-over" dribble or "euro-step". It takes more than great players to win 10 out of 12 NCAA championships and 88 games in a row.

The book was a series of flashbacks for me, from Gail Goodrich and Keith Erickson years, the Alcindor years, Wicks and Roe, and the Walton years. The lost weekend chapter was particularly long and a brutal reminder of triple overtime loss to North Carolina State. Liz and I drank entirely too much with her college roommates in Del Mar suffering through the loss. Funny how sports can have that effect.

James

"And who are you?" "I am James." "James what?" "Just James."

Percival Everett's book is mostly a captivating retelling of the "The Adventures of Huckelberry Finn" told from the perspective of the slave, Jim. In parts 2 and 3, the author adds more to Jim's tale and the struggles of an American slave at the time of the Civil War. It is a brutal story that points to the evil of the oppressive white people and even the acceptance of some of the slaves themselves. It leaves you with an understanding of how wrong slavery is, even in the best of situations. The book has a triumphant ending for both Jim/James and Huck, however humans continue to be subject to servitude and discrimination. 

Liz and I did listen to Mark Twain's "Adventures of Huckelberry Finn" in our drive up and back to Hendy Woods. The book was a slog with too many N works, "by and by", and other flowery language. Still an interesting piece of American history and the acceptance of the evil of slavery.