Book Read - February
14. Kings of the Road, Cameron Stracher
15. Death Comes for the Archbishop, Willa
Cather
16. Andrew’s Brain, E.L. Doctorow
17. This is the Story of a Happy Marriage,
Ann Patchett
18. The Invention of Wings, Sue Monk Kidd
19. March (Book One), John Lewis and Andrew
Aydin,
illustrated
by Nate Powell
20. The Dead in Their Vaulted Arches, Alan
Bradley
21. The Pagan Lord, Bernard Cornwell
22. Catch and Release, Lawrence Block
23. A Compendium of Collective Nouns, Woop
Studios
24. Orfeo, Richard Powers
25. Tom’s Town, William M. Reddig
26. The Kept, James Scott
27. This Dark Road to Mercy, Wiley Cash
28. The Free, Willy Vlautin
29. Granta #124 Travel
Books Bought – February
B.B. King's
Lucille and the Loves Before Her by Eric Dahl
A Land More Kind
Than Home
by Wiley Cash
The Free by Willy
Vlautin
The Grapes of
Wrath
by John Steinbeck
Sue
Monk Kidd’s The Invention of Wings is an early entry for the best book of 2014.
This fictional account of the Grimke sisters, daughters of the confederacy who
became leading voices in the movement to abolish slavery, and of a slave, who
valued freedom more than life, is a powerful and moving novel.
Kidd’s
prose is crisp and clean with impressive flights of lyricism.
Reading
Wings and John Lewis’s autobiographical
March during African American History
Month was unintentional on my part. But whether serendipity or the subconscious
at work, the timing brought a depth to my reading in February.
March Book One (I eagerly
await Book Two) demonstrates how the graphic novel – or in this instance a
graphic autobiography – can tell a story simply, yet powerfully. Nate Powell’s
illustrations are the perfect complement to Lewis’s voice.
The Kept, This
Dark Road to Mercy and The Free
all fall into the same nebulous category of books that elude easy
categorization. The Free, the newest
novel by Willy Vlautin, is the best of these three books. You may have passed the books protagonists on
the street today, as you checked out at the supermarket or visited a friend in
the hospital.
Not
literally, of course, but Vlautin draws an affecting portrait of everyday
people – a kind-hearted nurse, a dying soldier, a man holding down multiple
jobs yet still schuffling to survive.
Vlautin
is largely unknown as a novelist. Those who have read his books, such as Lean On Pete, know that he writes
simply, yet powerfully. Perhaps, he’s little read because we see ourselves too
clearly in his characters.
After reading This Dark Road to Mercy I rushed out and bought Cash’s first book. Dark Road is the story of two sisters
who have been kidnapped by their father. Dad has stolen some money and is being
followed a murderous fellow intent on reclaiming the money and taking revenge for
an eye injury suffered years before in a baseball game.
Events
converge in St. Louis with the Mark McGwire-Sammy Sosa home run chase as a
backdrop. It’s not great literature, but entertaining as hell. Cash is a writer
to watch.
Revenge
also figures in The Kept, which
follows a mother and son, the only survivors of a family mysteriously
slaughtered by three men. In uncovering the motive for the murders, the son
learns a disturbing truth about his mother.
Death Comes For
the Archbishop by Willa Cather continues my 2014 plans of
re-reading one great book each month. I don’t think this is Cather’s best book
-- that status is held by My Antonia
– but it’s close. Cather’s respect for the archbishop, his work and faith, for
the people of New Mexico and for the country’s landscape, infuses the book with
a palpable grandeur.
New books
by Alan Bradley and Bernard Cornwell are each part of a series that I recommend without reservation. Both
characters – a 12-year-old sleuth with a disturbing knowledge of poisons and a
Saxon warlord who wields a mean sword – are vivid characters. I am always, always, ready to read their next adventures.
E.L.
Doctorow’s new book, Andrew’s Brain,
was hugely disappointing for a work by a major American author. The same was
true of Orfeo by Richard Powers.
Catch and
Release,
a collection of short works by Lawrence Block is uneven.
Ann
Patchett’s collection of essays and articles, This is the Story of a Happy Marriage, illustrates Patchett’s range
as a writer. Frankly, I’m a fanboy. She’s funny and insightful in equal
measure. Plus she owns a bookstore. No wonder I’m crushing on her.
Tom’s Town, a
history of Kansas City and boss Tom Pendergast, is a product of its time.
Despite showing its age, it remains a fascinating read and told me a lot about
the town I now live in.
I enjoyed Kings of the
Road, about Frank Shorter, Bill Rodgers and Alberto Salazar, but was left
wanting more.
No such disappointment with A Compendium of Collective Nouns. If you’re a word person, this is
a delightful book, best enjoyed a few pages at a time.
