Book Recommendations

 

Here are some of the books that we read separately from our discussions and would recommend to other members.

 

Edward Achorn, Every Drop of Blood: The Momentous Second Inauguration of Abraham Lincoln. A detailed and engaging view of Washington, D.C. as the Civil War was drawing to a close and Lincoln prepared for his second term in office. The major events of the time are interwoven with portraits of politicians, soldiers, abolitionists, Confederate sympathizers, artists and citizens of every social level. The book is especially relevant today, as the United States continues to struggle with full equality for African-Americans and the respective roles of the federal and state government. ML /15.6.2020

 

Benjamin Balint, Kafka’s Last Trial. Franz Kafka (1883-1924) was a secular Jewish, German-speaking Czech novelist. Most of his works, written in German, were published posthumously. The book traces their fate and the individuals and institutions in Germany and Israel that fought over their ownership. Kafka’s close friend Max Brod ignored his request to destroy all unpublished documents on his early death (from tuberculosis), emigrated with them to Palestine in 1939 where he spent much of his life editing and publishing them. Had he not done so; Kafka would not have come to international acclaim. Brod in his own right was a mediocre writer.

The author recounts the legal battles that ensued on the provenance of art and how much it matters. Does it belong to the country of origin (Czech Republic- never claimed), the country where it is located (Israel), the country where the language originated (Germany), or is it private property (Israel)?

https://www.theguardian.com/books/2019/jan/05/kafka-last-trial-benjamin-balint-review

EK / 11.6.2020

 

Rutger Bregman, Humankind - a Hopeful History. I can’t remember ever reading a book that gave me so much hope for the future and a better understanding of so many misinterpretations of past events. My look at history and how we consume news will never be the same. https://www.theguardian.com/books/2020/may/12/humankind-a-hopeful-history-by-rutger-bregman-review
DD / 19.5.2020

 

Bill Bryson, The Body - A Guide for Occupants. Non-fiction. The author takes us on a brisk journey through our body, from conception to death. In an engaging, accessible style, we learn in 25 chapters about everything from the immune system via sleep to nerves and pain. Examples include:

- Why for a man the average journey time from mouth to anus is 55 hours. For a woman it is more like 72. With what consequences we do not know.

- According to the British Nobel Laureate Max Perutz, vaccination many have saved more lives in the twentieth century even than antibiotics.

- A meta-analysis showed that for older people the risk of a heart attack was raised for up to three hours after sex, but it was similarly raised for shovelling snow, and sex is more fun than shovelling snow.

- It is a sobering thought that poor Augusta Deter, if she presented herself to a doctor today, would be no better off now than she was with Alois Alzheimer (psychiatrist and pathologist), discoverer of the disease, almost 120 years ago.

- Surgery, e.g. breast removal, without anaesthetic (1810) was a barbaric process.

- William Harvey (1578-1657) realized that blood circulates in a closed system but did not understand respiration, so could not explain what purpose blood served.

- Adolf Butenandt (1903-95) needed the ovaries of 50’000 pigs to isolate progesterone.

Our body is utterly amazing.

EK / 16.6.2020

 

Bill Bryson, The Body - a Guide for Occupants. A most enjoyable read about our own microbes, chemistry, immunity, linguistic skills and the many other wonders of our bodies and minds from one of my favourite authors. A good review is here: https://www.theguardian.com/books/2019/sep/26/the-body-guide-for-occupants-bill-bryson-review
DD / 19.5.2020

 

Richard Ford, editor, The Granta Book of the American Short Story. Ranging from the 1950s to the early 21st century, practically every one of these stories is a gem that is worth rereading. ML /15.6.2020

 

Jill Lepore, These Truths. This is a big, sweeping, one-volume history of the United States by the Harvard historian and New Yorker staff writer. Widely praised as a masterpiece, it tells the story of the American experiment beginning in 1492 until today. It is aimed at a mass audience and is not only informative but a joy to read. “Between 1500 and 1800, roughly two and a half million Europeans moved to the Americas; they carried 12 million Africans there by force; and as many as 50 million Native Americans died, chiefly of disease. … Taking possession of the Americas gave Europeans a surplus of land; it ended famine and led to four centuries of economic growth.” MH / 22.5.2020

 

Paula McLain, Love & Ruin. I enjoyed this book and would certainly recommend it. Martha Gellhorn, would-be journalist and writer comes across as strong and fearless, well able to assert herself at a time when women were not expected to be either and capable of standing up to Ernest Hemingway`s powerful persona. The emotional turmoil of their relationship is clearly drawn and there is no doubt that Gellhorn loves Hemingway deeply, though well aware of his darker side. She also knows that, as his wife, she will be bound to live in the shadow of his fame and success as an author. I find it hard, therefore, to understand why she decides to marry him, as it seems inappropriate to her pragmatic character. That is my only quibble. After reading the vivid portrayal of the Spanish Civil War and its effect on the civilian population, which was an eye-opener for me, I look forward to reading Ernest Hemingway's For Whom the Bell Tolls. DS / 25.5.2020

 

Paula McLain, Love & Ruin. The way Gellhorn's youth, her parental home, her development was described by Paula McLain drew me into the story. But in the course of the book Gellhorn became more and more unsympathetic to me. It seemed to me that she was in constant competition with Hemingway - as a writer, as a journalist. For me the book had lengths. The reports from Spanish War especially did not interest me here. I would rather read her original articles and not a rendition by McLain. Since Hemingway's other marriages were mentioned in the book, I continued with McLain's book The Paris Wife and then Hemingway's A Moveable Feast. I liked both of them much better. I didn't like Martha Gellhorn's character (as described by McLain) which made it unattractive for me to read the book. A question I have to put up with: Why do I find the character of Hadley Richardson – The Paris Wife, supporting her husband, loving mother, tolerant wife – more likeable than that of Martha Gellhorn – a woman in her own right? Although Love and Ruin focuses on Martha Gellhorn, I'm less interested in her work than in Hemingway's other books –  and I'll certainly read more books by Paula McLain. UA / 22.5.2020

 

Paula McLain, Love & Ruin. I enjoyed this novel following closely the life of the amazingly courageous journalist Martha Gellhorn and of her romance and clashes with Ernest Hemingway. I got so fascinated with the story that I followed it up by reading also the author’s The Paris Wife then Hemingway’s own A Moveable Feast.  https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/books/reviews/love-and-ruin-paula-mclain-book-review-martha-gellhorn-ernest-hemingway-novel-a8397471.html
DD / 19.5.2020

 

David Nichols, Us. It deals in a very witty way with the dreadfully serious challenges even a so-called normal family has today in getting along, raising children, the new sexuality of teenagers, juggling jobs and family demands, and, best of all, traveling in Europe together. It’s more than just male chic lit, a good mirror of our times. DD / 7.8.2021

 

Richard Rhodes, John James Audubon: The Making of an American. I would recommend this book not only to bird-watchers but to anybody who is interested in U.S. history of the early 1800s. Rhodes follows Audubon’s development as a painter, an explorer, a husband and father, a merchant and finally a world-renowned expert on ornithology. Arriving from France when he was 18, he delighted in exploring the wide-open country but lived to see native Americans expelled from their lands and the beginning of the Industrial Revolution. I especially enjoyed the explanation of the laborious process of transferring Audubon’s paintings into published works. ML / 15.6.2020

 

David Sinclair, Lifespan: Why You Age and Why You Don’t Have To. The author is a professor at Harvard Medical School who considers ageing as a disease which can be cured. Our lifespans can easily be extended to 120 years of healthy living. This can be achieved by modifying factors which determine which parts of our DNA are turned on or off. We can start with our nutrition (eating less, interval fasting, more plant protein) and exercising more. In the not too distant future we will have gene therapy (early on for eyes) and medications currently being tested. Sinclair addresses the social repercussions if we all live that long: imagine being retired half your life. A further issue is that the first beneficiaries would probably be the rich and famous rather than the poorer members of society. EK

 

Elizabeth Strout, Olive, Again. I just finished this sequel to Olive Kitteridge, which our group read some years ago. We follow the prickly but lovable Olive after her husband’s death to the present time. It’s funny and moving like everything I’ve read by Strout. 

https://www.theguardian.com/books/2019/oct/25/olive-again-elizabeth-strout-review

DD / 23.5.2020

 

Simon Winchester, The Professor and the Madman.

A non-fiction book that reads like a thriller, "The Professor and the Madman" tells the story of the 70-year undertaking to publish the first edition of the Oxford English Dictionary. At the heart of the book is the twenty-year relationship between Professor James Murray, a Scotsman who served as the first editor, and William Minor, a reclusive American surgeon who provided thousands of meticulous entries. ML