Book Ratings - 300 and counting

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 315 books. 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 rating 4.5 or more. We still only have only one perfect 5.0 in The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo.

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 (4), 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, Krueger, 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 with each of us choosing what interests us at the time.

London Falling

Patrick Radden Keefe is a long-time journalist for the New Yorker Magazine that spent over two years researching the death of a 19-year-old young man in London. The book digs deeply into the criminal underworld of London and also delves into the family history of the victim.

The book explores the inflow of bad characters from Uganda and India, the Great Brinks Mat gold heist, the Russian oligarchs' investments throughout the city, the Mermaid theater, corrupt music business in Hollywood, and the systematic corruption of the banking system. In the process he exposes several con men and evil gangsters, including Indian Dave who was present when Zac meets his demise.

Keefe also digs into the family background of the Brettlers. Zac was raised in a good household; however, he went astray while attending an elite private school. He was a born con artist that was determined to make a quick fortune. He developed a persona of an abandoned son of Russian oligarchs to get in with unsavory characters. As a side, his grandfather, a respected rabbi and Holocaust survivor, lead a double life. He fathered a child out of wedlock and lied that he graduated from Cambridge.

The book is filled with lies, deception, violence, suicide, and murder. The police/Met/Scotland yard are displayed with incompetence and possible collusion. The book never proves that Zac was murdered or committed suicide, however Volinder was "heating up the knives" when he jumped to his death.

Next Book Club Meeting

The next meeting will be held on June 9th at 6pm at Stanley's house. The book is "London Falling" by Patrick Radden Keefe.

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

A World Appears

Michael Pollan begins his book by describing a 1998 wager between Koch and Chalmers. The wager was that in 25 years Koch and his other brilliant scientists would find the physical footprint of consciousness in the brain. Koch ended up losing the bet and he is still searching for the source of consciousness. Pollan then ends his book with the quote, "I open my eyes and a world appears". However, he contradicts this at the end of the previous chapter by saying "that after my five-year journey into nature and workings of consciousness, I somehow knew less than I did when I started." To which Koch says, "but that's good, that's progress.

Throughout the book, the author refers to "the big question" of what is consciousness. The book is arranged by chapters titled Sentience, Feeling, Thought, Self, and The Cave. Sentience tells us that most every living thing has senses and reminded me of the book "Overstory" concerning trees. Feelings get into "the hard problem" of pain, suffering, pleasure and life and death. Feelings can come from the brain, the brain stem, and even the gut. Next, he gets into thoughts and experiences and the "really hard problem" of who am I and what am I thinking. Descartes said, "I think, therefore I am". Phenomenology is the study of consciousness as the object of direct experience. Then there are both conscious and unconscious thoughts to consider. Finally, the author explores self as it relates to consciousness. He explores childhood development, the concept of self-confidence, and the importance of self in western civilization. Pollan explains the different emphasis on self as either a spotlight and exploitation, or a lantern and exploration. In "The Cave", he explores meditation, Buddhism, and psychedelic drugs as vehicles for transcending from oneself. No matter how you look at it, we are all very complicated creatures with our own set of neurons, experiences, and memories.

This was definitely a tough read about the very difficult concept of consciousness.

t

Vigil

Vigil is a loosely based historical fiction novel by George Sanders. The story covers the death of a famous and influential oil executive and his journey into the afterlife. K.T. Boone is an unremorseful bully that has lied his way through life deceiving and harming others while inflicting terrible damage to the world for his own personal gain. Jill "Doll" Blaine is his noble and unlucky guide to the afterlife. She tries valiantly to get him to find comfort by repenting his sins to no avail. By the time Boone admits his bad deeds, he is already dead and destined to remain in purgatory. The book has a sad message that people like Boone are "inevitable" and that guilt and innocence, accomplishment and harm, and sinner and saint get all mixed up. Let's hope that humans find a better way to sort the good from the bad. 

I tried to think of who K.T. Boone is modeled after and thought of T. Boone Pickens. Pickens was an old oil company CEO from Dallas that was a ruthless corporate raider. However, he ended up giving up much of his fortune through philanthropy and was instrumental in the development of wind turbines throughout the Midwest. Rex Tillerson was aware early on of the damage to the environment while at Exxon, however I don't see him as the bully type. Donald Trump is the ultimate destructive force to the world in the promotion of fossil fuel; however, I don't believe he understands the damage he is causing. 

Theo of Golden

Allen Levi's first novel is pretty long; however, you never want it to end. Every chapter pulls at your heart strings with its random acts of kindness and tenderness. Theo is a mysterious 86-year-old Portuguese gentleman that decides to make seemingly random "bestowments" of portraits to the citizenry of Golden. The selfless gifts endear him with each of the many recipients through his observations and caring for each one. Each receiver has a story to be told and Theo brings it out. There is a tragic ending to the story from a random act of violence and the demise of Theo. Nonetheless, goodness prevails with the discovery of the identity of Theo as the famous artist Zila, his connection to Golden and Asher, and the triumph of the people of the Promenade of Golden. The author brings to life Tony, Shep, Minnet, Mr. Ponder and Mrs. Gidley, Ellen, Lamisha and Kendrick, Simone, Basil, and many more. Overall, a very sweet book that I will likely read again.

Levi shines a positive light on a true Christian and Southern hospitality. These are two things that I believe are rare, however they can exist. Theo was a "saintly" man of faith that believed that everyone is capable of being a saint. What a pleasant thought.

The Kindness of Color

Bob's selection is a sweet memoir by a Japanese woman and her Hispanic friend. Their lives were intertwined by a shared family farm in Westminster. Each woman endured the racism of their time, one through internment and the other from school segregation. Both overcame their challenges with the aid of their families and friends. There are many stories of random acts of kindness that are emphasized by a hand with a plant and "kindness is..." The reader leans about the Japanese internment, and the inmates calm and stoic coping with the injustice. You also learn of the desegregation of the Orange County schools for Hispanic children 7 years before the federal desegregation laws were enacted. It is a lovely book about normal people making a difference through acts of kindness. Very Zen.