Your Heart, My Hands

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by Arun K. Singh, M.D., with John Hanc, 2019, Center Street, Hachette Book Group, New York

This is the story of a person who started his life as a delinquent boy in India who immigrated to America and became one of the preeminent cardiac surgeons in the United States.

He spent most of his career at Rhode Island Hospital in Providence and was a professor at the Brown University Medical School.  He performed over 15,000 cardiac surgeries during his career.

I graduated from Brown and have lived in Rhode Island (seasonally) for over 17 years, but I had never heard of this individual.  His story is inspiring.  He is a living tribute to the argument for immigrants in this country.  He is also an advocate for providing quality health care to those who cannot afford it.

This is a really inspiring story. 4.0 stars

The History of Rome

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by Mike Duncan

There are 189 podcasts by Mike discussing the history of Rome from about the sixth century BC until 479 AD, when the western empire fell. These podcasts were recorded over a five year period from approximately 2007 to 2012.

Mike does a great job walking his listeners through this history. He not only told the story of each emperor, but he also devoted several episodes to discussing Roman culture, society, laws, etc., to provide the reader with a backdrop of the events that transpired. He had no formal training as an historian (or a podcaster) but managed to bring some fairly dull history to life. I greatly appreciated his sense of humor and down-to-earth manner of addressing the events that transpired made it very enjoyable to absorb the history of Rome from the earliest formation until its eventual demise. I never much liked ancient history as a subject in high school but I enjoyed this a lot.

The last episode was devoted to summarizing all that had been discussed and Mike did a very nice job of pulling it all together. This was a herculean effort and he executed it very well.

Justine

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by Lawrence Durrell, Kindle Version, originally published in 1957, this edition published in 2012 by Open Road Integrated Media, Inc., New York

I have always wanted to read this book as I recall my father thought very highly of it and the other three books in the Alexandria Quartet.  In addition, it appears we will be visiting Alexandria next spring on our cruise, so I thought it would be nice to get some history and flavor of the city before we go there.  Alas, I was disappointed and didn’t enjoy it very much at all.  The characters seemed to just pop up, one after the other, and I didn’t get much sense of who they were or what role they were playing in the novel.  After reading a while, I started to get some sense of what was going on, but, as soon as I did, the novel suddenly came to a halt.  It was over; the end.

Toward the end it started getting a bit interesting as some of the events that unfolded had some potential for suspense, but to no avail as the events didn’t lead to anything at all.  There was basically no plot at all in this book.

Durrell’s vocabulary must have been voluminous as there were words that I had never seen before.  Luckily, I was reading the novel on my Kindle so I could instantly look up the meaning.  I’m not sure that was very helpful, however, as once I looked it up I immediately forgot it as the word usually wasn’t used again in the book.  Also, there were several times when my Kindle dictionary didn’t even recognize the word so no definition was available.

I was glad I read the book as it gave me a sense of Durrell’s writing style which seems to have been popular at the time he wrote it.  I will not be continuing on to the other three books in the quartet, however.  I might give some of his brother, Gerry’s books a try as they seem pretty interesting.2.0 stars

The Innocents Abroad or the New Pilgrims’ Progress

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by Mark Twain, originally published by Mark Twain in 1869, Kindle Version,2011, Digireads.com Publishing

This book was on the reading list for our upcoming trip to Israel, Jordan, and Egypt so I decided to read it.  Most of the other books were travel guides, art history books, or dealt with some other cultural aspect of these countries.  I recall reading some pretty interesting books prior or during our trip to the Greek Isles and Turkey so I thought this would be interesting.

The book is a travelogue of Twain’s trip that he took in 1867 with a number of other individuals.  His voyage started in New York and they stopped in the Azores before landing in Gibraltar.  He then proceed to spend time off the ship in France and Italy before rejoining the ship and then travelling to Greece, Constantinople, Russia on the Black Sea, thence to Syria and Holy Land.

The book is pretty fascinating as it depicts how travel was done at that time but it bogs down and becomes a bit of a slog to read.  Also, Mark Twain did not mince words about the pitfall conditions and people he encountered, particularly in Palestine, but just about everywhere he traveled.  He also goes off on tirades sometimes as when he wrote about Lake Tahoe in comparison to a lake he encountered on his trip.  The books is 409 pages and, if he had had an editor, it probably would have been a lot shorter.

Twain’s humor and satire do come through, but it becomes a little tiresome at times.

Overall, I am glad I read it as it covered a lot of the areas that we will be visiting next spring.  I do wish I had referred to a map when he was traveling around the Holy Land as he constantly referred to the events in the Bible that occurred in these various places. 3 stars

Stolen Prey

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by John Sanford, 2012, Audiobook narrated by Richard Ferrone, Penguin Audio

This book caught my eye because it was about the murder of a family on Lake Minnetonka in Wayzata, Minnesota.  Wayzata is where my two children graduated high school, so I had an interest in the locale of the book.

The book is essentially about a drug gang from Mexico that was perpetrating murders in the Twin Cities.  The plot is somewhat interesting, but there is very little “Minnesota-like” color about the book.  It could essentially have been written with the backdrop of any city in the U.S.  The book is, in my opinion, a typical series crime novel that provides not very much that is unique or would serve to distinguish itself. 2.0 stars

The Handmaid’s Tale

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by Margaret Atwood, originally published in 1985, Audiobook read by Claire Danes, released in 2012, Audible Studios

As we began listening to this audiobook, I initially didn’t think I was going to like it.  The beginning of the book is a series of short, low-key sentence fragments amid a few complete sentences.  Claire Danes, a very accomplished actor, reads the book in a very subdued voice, not generating much emotion or  excitement.  As the story unfolds, however, the mood is in keeping with the creepy dystopian society that Atwood has created.  It was a little difficult for me to piece together all the events that had occurred as there are many flashbacks, but eventually the full picture comes together.  When it does, it is horrifying.

Many years ago we had listened to an audiobook that Margaret Atwood had authored.  I believe it was The Blind Assassin but I don’t remember the story.  What I do remember is the excellent command of the English language that Atwood displayed in that novel.  I often thought I should partake of another of her works, but I felt that the themes of some of her books were either too depressing or too fantastical.

Lately, there has been renewed interest in  The Handmaid’s Tale due to the release of her sequel,  The Testaments, so I decided to pick up it up so we could listen to it in the car on our trip.  I later discovered from an article in my college alumni magazine that there is a TV series on Hulu (which we don’t get) that is written and produced by Bruce Miller, a Brown University graduate.  The article also indicated that some of the renewed interest is related to our current political environment which some feel is beginning to feel like a dystopia.

In contrast to my previous experience with one of Atwood’s novels, when I was impressed with the writing, in the case of the  Handmaid’s Tale, I was mostly impressed with the story itself and the world that Atwood creates.  The book definitely lends itself to a sequel as it left so many questions unanswered in the end.  I look forward to reading  The Testaments.4.0 stars

The Last Days of Night: A Novel

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by Graham Moore, 20167, Kindle Version, Random House LLC

This is an interesting book as it depicts the war between George Westinghouse and Thomas Edison over the future distribution of electricity.  We all know that Westinghouse’s system won in the end and we use alternating current instead of Edison’s direct current plan.  This book is a fictional account of how the war was fought and the central character is a young lawyer that Westinghouse hired to defend him against Edison’s lawsuits.

The story is interesting and the book is well-written.  At the end of the book, however, there are voluminous nn otes that describe every deviation in the novel from what actually occurred.  I was amazed at how much Moore altered the facts, even to the extent of altering the timeline when various things occurred.  There didn’t seem to be a reason for many of the alterations other than fitting the events into the timeline of his story.  It seems to me that an equally interesting story could easily have been told without nearly as much alteration from true historical facts.  After I put down the novel I wondered a bit if I had read either a gigantic conspiracy theory or an outright hoax.

Another questionable aspect of the novel was the totally negative portrayal of Edison.  I have visited the Edison Museum in Fort Meyers twice and walked away with the impression that Edison was a pretty amazing individual.  This book portrayed him pretty much as a greedy, low-down thief.  While the Edison Museum might stretch a bit far on putting Edison on a pedestal, I still think my opinion leans toward their portrayal versus what I read in the novel.3.5 stars

The Invisible Bridge

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by Julie Orringer, 2010, Kindle Edition, Random House LLC

I read this book while on vacation overseas when I had some long airplane flights to read it.  It is a long, long book (786 pages).  I think it would have taken me many more weeks if I hadn’t had the time to kill on the flights (the movie selections weren’t that great).

The book proceeds at a somewhat slow, but reasonable pace.  The author does a great job with the characters, particularly the main character, Andras, who, at the beginning of the book, is young and somewhat foolish.  Events transpire so that, by the end of the book, he has developed into an entirely different person.  The book starts out in Hungary prior to WWII and proceeds until the end of the war with devastating accuracy in accord with the actual history of the times.  The author did a great job in researching the events and places that surround the story and that is perhaps the most outstanding aspect of her writing.

The book does require some patience on the part of the reader, particularly in the first half of the book as the author sets the tone for the book.  I am glad that I read it and even somewhat happier that I finished it. 4.0 stars

Just Mercy: A Story of Justice and Redemption

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By Bryan Stephenson, 2014, Speigel and Grau

This is the story of a young man who founded a non-profit organization in Atlanta to fight for overturning prison sentences for individuals who were unfairly convicted or sentenced in the South.  The book relates many instances where the justice system failed because the police, court system or the prison system was focused on getting a conviction and sentence rather than meting out proper justice.

There are many cases in the book where the individuals affected weren’t entirely blameless, but the system, because of racial bias and community pressure, ignored the facts of the case and proceeded to obtain a conviction and also subsequently ignored facts to grant an appeal.  The author also provides statistics and numerous instances where juveniles were given unduly harsh sentences.

The book provides numerous instances that should cause the reader to respond with outrage.  It’s unfortunate that in today’s world these situations are mostly ignored as there is so much injustice that it makes it difficult to fully engage with these situations unless someone close has been affected.

This book is definitely worth reading to understand the extent of the abuse that our justice system can impose on individuals in our society.3.5 stars

The Great Halifax Explosion: A World War I Story of Treachery, Tragedy, and Extraordinary Heroism

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By John U. Bacon, audiobook narrated by Johnny Heller, 2017, Harper Collins Publisher

This is a detailed account of the disaster that occurred in 1917 when a ship, loaded with ammunition to be sent to Europe, blew up in Halifax Harbor, killing about 4,000 people.

I wasn’t aware of this event so it was interesting to hear the story. I was surprised at the level of support and disaster relief that the City of Boston provided and that Halifax in thanks has sent a Christmas tree for display on Boston Common every year since the mid-1970’s.

The book goes into great detail regarding the stories of many individuals who were impacted by this disaster. While this level of detail seems too much at times, it helps relate how so many of the residents were affected. The book also analyzes the factors that led up to the explosion and how the results could have been prevented.

The narration of the audiobook was well done. I believe that the author is a great supported of Canada and I felt that the narrator conveys the same spirit.

Overall, I am glad I listened to this as it gave me an appreciation of the ties that bind our two countries, but I am not sure I would enthusiastically recommend the book to others. 3 stars