The Path Between the Seas, The Creation of the Panama Canal, 1870-1914

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by David McCullough, 1977, Simon and Schuster, New York

This is a fabulous book.  Although it is somewhat detailed and requires a bit of fortitude to read it through, the book chronicles one of the greatest American accomplishments ever.  The story begins with the efforts of the French and Ferdinand de Lesseps (the builder of the Suez Canal) and their failure and ends with the opening of the canal in August of 1914.  McCullough writes a great deal about the background and personal characteristics of the individuals involved; the reader can readily detect the attributes of each individual that contributed to either success or failure.

One of the more interesting facets of the story was the lessening and, in some cases, the elimination of various diseases in the Canal Zone.  This was an absolute prerequisite to the success of the Americans.  The discovery that yellow fever and malaria was caused by mosquitoes at the time was a key element.  Even though the discovery was well documented in the medical journals, however, there were quite a number of individuals who discounted the theory and continued to believe these diseases were caused by “bad air”.  We have significant parallels today in our society who are quick to discount scientific theory in such areas as climate change and evolution.

Another interesting area was the extent of the changes in technology in a very short period of time that would have made the building of the canal all but impossible even ten years earlier.  The development of electricity and steel metalurgy in those ten years was signfiicant.  At about the time the locks were being built the first factories in the U.S. were being electrified.  The advances in technology that were employed in the design of the canal were remarkable.As we are planning to take a cruise to Panama next winter, the reading of this book will provide a great deal of insight.   The book was very readable and interesting to me. 4 1/2 stars

Dr. Finlay’s Casebook Omnibus

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by A. J. Cronin, 2010, Birlinn Limited, Edinburgh, Scotland (from Dr. Finlay of Tannochbrae published in 1978 and Adventures of a Black Bag, first published in 1943 and revised in 1969) 

I picked this book up in a little shop in Tarbert, a little village on Loch Fyne in Scotland while on vacation there.  I like to buy at least one book that I think will give me a bit of insight into the culture of the place I am visiting.  I didn’t know much about A. J. Cronin but my friends in Scotland quickly informed me that Dr. Finlay was the subject of a very popular BBC television show.  I subsequently found out that Cronin was initially a physician but wrote his first novel while convalescing on Loch Fyne.

When I was a youngster I read a book that my father had called Leaves from a Surgeon’s Casebook, written in 1938 by James Harpole.  Harpole was a doctor who, when he was cleaning out his office files as he was retiring, came across his old casebook from when he was first starting his practice.  He picked up the casebook and started reading it and immediately became aware of how much the medical profession had progressed over the years of his practice.  His book focused on how differently he would have treated many of those patients he could not save in the early years of his practice.

When I picked up Dr. Finlay’s Casebook, I thought I would get a little bit of the same as Harpole’s book.  It was, however, much more like James Herriot’s All Creatures Great and Small, being more about the characters than any medical revelations.  I was surprised a bit, however, that Cronin’s characters were so direct in their speech (maybe one characteristic of the Scots).  There were many times when Dr. Finlay let his patients and some of his would-be lady loves have a piece of his mind, sometimes putting Dr. Finlay in a somewhat unfavorable light.  As to whether the book gave me much insight into the culture of rural Scotland, I suppose that it did that a bit also.

All in all, it was a fun an enjoyable read and may lead me to read some of Cronin’s heavier works. 3 stars

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

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by Stieg Larsson, translated from the Swedish by Reg Keeland, audio book read by Simon Vance, 2008, Books on Tape, Westminster, MD

I listened to this on my MP3 player while travelling in Scotland.  This book, in my opinion, is nothing to special.  The character of Lisbeth Salenger is a bit too made-up and not all that believable.  The story was interesting but seemed to drag a bit in places.  It was somewhat enjoyable to listen to, but I’m not sure that I would get into his other two books that feature her character. 3 stars

Shutter Island

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by Dennis Lehane, 2003, HarperCollins Publishers, NY

I heard great things about this book, but it was just okay in my opinion.  The plot definately has a twist at the end, however.  The movie would lack its punch if you have read the book because you already know the answer.

 3 stars

The Secret Scripture

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by Sebastian Barry, audio book read by Wanda McCaddon, 2008 by Blackstone Audio, Inc. (checked out from the Collier County Library)

I pickup up this audio book at the library to listen to on our annual trip back to Rhode Island.  On the case was a statement that it had been nominated as a finalist for the 2008 Man Booker Prize.  The story was about a person, Roseanne McNulty, who was committed to a mental hospital in Ireland and had written a secret memoir of her life. It takes place in Skibbereen, Ireland, a place where my wife’s ancestors apparently came from, so it was interesting to learn a bit about the area and the folks who lived there.

The plot sounded pretty interesting and the fact that it had been nominated for the Man Booker Prize recommended it well.  Unfortunately, the story unfolds at a snail’s pace.  Her life was pretty interesting and how she came to be committed to a mental institution was also of interest.  The author, however, seems to have a knack for making an otherwise compelling story pretty boring.  The final twist in the story is fairly predictable early on so the final “surprise” can be described by the current vernacular phrase, “not so much”.  After plodding through the first four or five CD’s, the story picked up a bit, but not enough to redeem it.

On the plus side, the writing is great and the two main characters are portrayed very well. The narrator is also excellent.

I hope the Man Booker prize folks can find material a bit more compelling to choose from going forward.2 1/2 stars

Great Expectations

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by Charles Dickens, first published 1860-1861, Audio Book narrated by Frederick Davidson, 1993, Blackstone Audio, Inc. (checked out from the Collier County Library and downloaded to my Sansa Clip mp3 player)

I hadn’t read much of Charles Dickens other than A Tale of Two Cities back in ninth grade.  I didn’t much like my last experience as I didn’t have any knowledge of the circumstances (I didn’t even know that a French Revolution had occurred back then).  In addition, this was a chance to test my new mp3 player with a download from the local library.

The mp3 player worked fine.  I also had a painting project in the house (what’s new), so this gave me a great opportunity to listen.  In regard to the book, I think it was a much better experience listening because the narrator managed to capture a lot of the personalities with his voice.  Dickens has a good feel for certain types of individuals.  There are those who are just full of themselves, those who are humble, and those who are basically evil among others.  The story is basically about a young boy who grew up under poor circumstances who wants to become a gentleman.  He makes many choices, many of which cause him considerable misery.

Dickens has a great understanding of the brutality of growing up poor in 19th century England.  Also, in some of the passages, he demonstrates an appreciation for the fine line between consciousness and unconciousness as one drifts off to sleep.  These two aspects reminded me a great deal of A Christmas Carol.

The audiobook includes two endings, the first of which was one that was rewritten to make it much happier.  The second ending, which was actually the first one he wrote, is much more tragic.

My only criticism of the book is that Dickens seemed to lose his way a bit toward the end.  There are some passages that are drawn out much longer than necessary.  The book was originally written as a magazine series, so Dickens probably had a certain amount of space to fill for each episode.

Listening to this book was altogether a good experience. 3 1/2 stars

The Help

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by Kathryn Stockett, 2009, Amy Einhorn Books, published by G.P. Putnam’s Sons, New York

This book is really a great read.  It’s basically about black maids in Jackson Mississippi back in the late 60’s and early 70’s and how it was working for white families.  The book captures these situations well and the characters are well developed.  The only negative I can think of regarding this book is the somewhat unsatisfying ending.

As I read the book I sometimes felt that the foremost racist “villian”, Hilly, was somewhat unbelievable.  Then I thought of some of the persons and situations I had observed when I was a kid during that time, and she became much more real.  Just recently I watched a PBS documentary regarding the civil rights movement in Mississippi.  I was struck by the faces of some of the whites throwing rocks and yelling at the blacks who were marching, participating in lunch counter sit-ins, or trying to enter all-white schools.  The sheer hatred evidenced in their contorted faces was a vivid reminder of the intensity of their racist feelings at that time.  Hilly instantly became much more real to me.  I wonder, however, if some of the younger generations can generate the same feelings and understanding that I was able to muster.

Maybe the less than satisfying ending provides the stage for a sequel?4 1/2 stars

Northanger Abbey

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by Jane Austen, written in 1798-1799, revised by the author in 1803, and first published (posthumously) in 1803, Audiobook narrated by Flo Gibson, Recorded Books, LLC.

Jane Austen, what can I say?  It is horribly dated by our standards, the characters are very stereotyped, and the story seems to take forever to unfold.  Despite all that, I enjoyed listening to it very much.  The author just has a way to hold the reader’s (listener’s) attention.

It was interesting to listen to Austen’s language, written over 200 years ago, and to marvel at how modern it seems.  I did, however, catch a few dangling participles that would make any Midwestern American proud.

A fun experience. 3 1/2 stars

Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet

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by Jamie Ford, 2009, Ballantine Books Trade Paperbacks, New York

This book is a good story about childhood sweethearts (one Chinese, the other Japanese) in Seattle during World War II and afterwards.  The story focuses on the Japanese internment and it’s affects on the relationship between the two individuals and those around them.

The story is tinged with sadness and nostalgia by the primary character, Henry for his Japanese friend, Kieko.  While the novel is good, it seems to drag a bit in places and the characters don’t become as alive as they could have.  One negaative aspect that I noticed is that the author overuses physical traits of his characters.  Examples are his constant references to Mrs. Beatty’s cigarette and Keiko’s “beautiful, chestnut brown eyes”.  While these physical traits may be endearing and tell us something about the characters, their overuse begins to detract.  I was somewhat reminded of Jan Karon’s use of this technique in her Mitford series when describing Father Tim’s girlfriend Cynthia’s trait of tilting her head to one side as she talked.  It was endearing at first but by the end of the book, it was really annoying.  Contrast this technique to the example of Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird where the characters are defined so well simply by the dialogue and their actions.  An example of using this technique much more effectively, however, might be The Caine Mutiny, where Captain Queeg began shaking the steel ball bearings in his hand whenever he began to evidence his paranoia. 

As I mentioned, a good  book, but somewhat flawed. 3 stars

The Guernsey Literary and Potato Pie Society

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by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows, 2008, Dial Press Trade Paperbacks, Random House, New York

I enjoyed reading this book a great deal.  From a literary standpoint, it is probably not a great book and the characters are even a bit stereotyped.  But it is a great read.

The book is a series of letters written to and from individuals on Guernsey Island, which was occupied by the Germans during World War II.  The letters attract the attention of a writer who is looking for the subject of her next book.  The rest I will leave to anyone who wishes to read the book.

The structure of the book is a little unusual in that it is simply a collection of letters.  The author does not intervene with any prose of her own other than in the acknowledgements at end of the book.  Some individuals who have read the book did not like this format, but it didn’t bother me.  What surprised me was the power of the emotion that struck me as I read the book.  There is definitely something there that grabs at the heartstrings.  The characters in the book reminded me of Jan Karon’s  Mitford series  of books, but it’s sad that Mary Ann Shaffer died shortly before the book was published so it is doubtful that this book will be a prelude to a series.  In a way that’s a good thing, because it would be difficult to replicate this, her first book.  Her niece, Annie Barrows, rewrote the book at the request of the editors.

I would have given this book five stars had it not been for the somewhat stereotypical characters.4 1/2 stars