Keith, Naked

Read from Tuesday, November 23 to Thursday, November 25.

Juliet, Naked by Nick Hornby.  Read this book pretty quickly over the first few days of my Thanksgiving vacation in Asheville, North Carolina.  I read High Fidelity a couple of months ago and really enjoyed it, and this book was similar in a lot of ways.

Once again, Hornby centers his books around music and relationships.  Annie and Duncan are in a failing relationship in England, and Duncan is obsessed with Tucker Crowe, a singer-songwriter who was popular in the 80's and then dropped out of the spotlight suddenly and mysteriously.  Duncan and other fans post comments on a website, and when Annie makes a thoughtful critique of an album, she is contacted by Tucker Crowe himself, who is living in Pennsylvania with a son, a failing marriage, and a long line of ex-wives and other abandoned children.  Annie and Tucker begin an email correspondence, while Annie cuts off ties with the obsessed Duncan.  Annie struggles with the feeling that she has wasted so much of her life in a pointless relationship, and is desperate to finally live again.

Eventually, Tucker visits England, and spends some time in Annie's small seaside village with her and his son, while he is recuperating from a heart attack.  Annie has had a big crush on Tucker, and finally is able to get him into bed with her.  However, Tucker must eventually go back to the U.S. due to his obligations to his son and ex-wives.  The novel ends with Annie throwing off the constraints the society has placed on her and trying to emigrate to America to be with Tucker. 

It was a quick and easy, but fun read.  Nothing too difficult, but very enjoyable nonetheless.  I loved some of the characters, such as Tucker and his son, Jackson, and the obsessive Duncan can be amusing at times as well.  Annie was strange, but realistic, being very impulsive and indecisive at times.  I also liked the theme of music from both the perspective of the emotionally unstable musician, and at times clueless fans, who over-analyze every lyric and gesture.  The ending left more to be desired, however.  It ends abruptly with nothing actually happening, except for a change in Annie.  I actually hoped that her and Duncan would get back together.  Otherwise, a fresh, light read.  Three and a half out of four stars.

A Little History of the Keith

Read from Sunday, November 21 to Monday, November 22.

Actually, the world.  E.H. Gombrich's A Little History of the World originally written in German in 1935.  I picked up this book after a visit to the Corcoran Gallery of Art in DC.  Gombrich is most famous for his History of Art masterpiece.

This was a quick read.  Finished it in a little over 24 hours.  Admittedly, I was hurrying to finish it before my Thanksgiving travels, so I would have one less book to bring.  (Update: Just bought 15 books in North Carolina.  I've got a lot of plunder to haul back.)  It is quick mostly because it is aimed toward children, so I was able to fly through it.  Although that is not to say it was poorly written.  It was wonderful to soar through history and to see how everything fits in the proper context and timeline.

Gombrich takes the reader through the entire history of Western Civilization.  He briefly discusses cavemen, the Egyptians, Babylonians, Assyrians, Phoenicians, Greeks, Romans, Judaism, Christianity, Islam, Eastern religions, the Migrations after the fall of the Roman empire, Middle Ages, Age of Chivalry, Renaissance, Enlightenment, Reformation, Revolution, Industrialization, Imperialism, and ends with WW1.  Each chapter is short and simple, but Gombrich does not talk down to the reader.  He paints a beautiful picture of events and famous characters, using the art of storytelling.  Even though it is for children and most of the information I already knew, there are plenty of other facts that I learned.

It is from a German perspective, however, and so it gives special attention to the history of that land.  The East, China, Japan and India and the Middle East are briefly touched upon in certain chapters, and the Americas and Africa were barely mentioned, except in the terms of European colonialism.  Also, from a German perspective, it ends with a negative characterization of the Allied powers and Woodrow Wilson after WW1, and says that they screwed over the Germans.  Gombrich does have a final chapter that was added thirty years later, in which he apologizes for his impartiality, and explains the rise and terror of Hitler, which he did not expect to happen when he wrote the book originally.  Gombrich escaped the Nazis, and was able to move to England before war broke out.

Will definitely show this book to my kids someday.  Three and a half out of five stars.

The Picture of Dorian Keith

Read from Tuesday, November 16th to Sunday, November 21st. 

The Picture of Dorian Gray, is the classic only novel by Oscar Wilde.  I had always wanted to read something by Wilde, so I was excited to read this novel and see all his clever witticisms.  I also chose to read this because it was free on my Kindle, and I haven't read anything on my Kindle in a long time.  The story did not disappoint. 

Dorian Gray is a beautiful, vain, young English aristocrat, who has a portrait painted of him by Basil Hallward.  Dorian is worried that his beauty will someday fade, and makes the wish that the painting will age, and he will stay exactly the same.  Dorian quickly falls in love with a young peasant actress, and they become engaged, but when her acting falters, he breaks her heart and she committs suicide.  Dorian is distraught, and when he goes home he realizes that the painting now has a sinister smile.  It is the painting that is bearing all the look of his sin.  The painting is a visual representation of his conscience.  He hides the painting in his attic, unable to bear the sight of it. 

However, Dorian is persuaded by his best friend Lord Henry that the only way to experience life is to live by your senses.  Dorian sets off on a sinful life, devoted to experiencing every emotion and pleasure that life could offer.  Wilde does not explicitly state what these sins were, leaving it up to the reader to imagine for themselves based on their own conscience.  Many years pass with Dorian living this double life.  18 years pass, but he does not age one bit, while the painting grows hideous. 

One night, Basil confronts Dorian about his sins, and after showing him the painting, Dorian stabs him in cold murder.  He blackmails another friend into helping him cover it up and destroying the body.  Dorian by now is terrified of his conscience.  He goes off to the countryside with other nobles, but he is now hunted by the actress's brother, who vows revenge.  This man is accidently shot during a hunting expedition, and Dorian believes he is saved.  He swears a new life free from sin.  He believes he is finally changed.  However, upon viewing the painting, his soul is worse than ever, since it is all a charade and hypocritical.  Dorian stabs the painting, at which the spell is broken and his body is old and with a knife in its chest, while the painting is restored to it's original beauty.

Dorian Gray is the story of the corruption of the soul and conscience, and it caused an uproar for its indecency in 1890 London.  Many critics believed that Wilde actually practised many of these sins for himself, but they failed to see his warning in the book.  It is actually a very moral book with a strong message.  It is wonderfully written, and Lord Henry is a favorite character.  He is witty, espousing his many theories about humanity and culture.  Lord Henry lives for pleasure and critiquing all of London society.  He wants excitement, not boredom.

I have rented a movie adaptation of the book, and am excited to see its portrayal.  Four out of five stars.

NetherKeith

Read from Tuesday November 9th to Tuesday, November 16th. 

Netherland, by Joseph O'Neill.  I bought this book at a Barnes and Noble just to complete a 'buy two get one free' deal.  It was a slow book that gradually grew on me the more I delved into it.  It is the simple story of a Dutch immigrant, Hans, in New York City.  Left alone in the city after 9/11 when his wife left him to go back to London, he is morose and solitary.  But then he begins an unlikely friendship with a Trinidadian named Chuck Ramkissoon, who is charismatic, intriguing, with grand ideas and a sordid underside. 

It is the game of cricket that arguably saves Hans from himself.  He finds peace in it's simplicity and nobility.  The cricket players in New York are all South Asian or West Indian, but they take care of each other and welcome Hans.  While reading this book, I researched more about the game of cricket, because to be honest, I did not have any idea how it was played.  Gratefully, now I have somewhat of an understanding of the game and the differences and similarities to baseball. 

Chuck takes Hans under his wing, and talks about his big plans to build a giant cricket stadium and clubhouse on an abandoned air field.  He teaches Hans how to drive, and introduces him to many of the other immigrants in New York.  However, when Chuck reveals his criminal activities as a gangster, he pushes Hans away.  Hans has by now has changed considerably, and is more sure of himself, and realizes that he must go back to London to spend time with his son and try to win his wife Rachel back.  In the end Rachel does come back to him, and they work on saving their marriage.  Hans learns that Chuck had been killed in some deal gone wrong. 

It was a slow book, written as a reflection on the past by present day Hans.  He delves into his memories growing up in the Netherlands with his single Mother.  It is slow, but beautiful and rich.  O'Neill writes many lines as if they were lines of poetry.  It is an inner journey that Hans must navigate, and the relationship with Chuck is complicated and at times a little unbelievable.  However, I did enjoy the book in the end, and would look to more titles from this author. 

Four out of five stars.

The Name of the Keith

The Name of the Rose, by Umberto Eco.  This was a hefty tome that was recommended to me over a year ago.  I wrote the name down and have been meaning to buy and read it ever since.  Finally I attempted it, and although it was long and difficult book, I was very satisfied with the book by the end, having trouble putting it down. 

It is the story of a murder mystery in an Italian Dominican Abbey in 1327.  It is told from the point of view of Adso of Melk, writing the story when he was an old man, although he was a young teenage novice when the events happened.  He accompanied William of Baskerville, a Franciscan monk that was in charge of investigating the murders.  William used reason and logic to try and piece together the clues, instead of the superstition and diabolical leanings of the monks.  It takes place over the course of seven days, and there are new developments every night, as monk after monk is mysteriously killed.

The main reason why William was at the Abbey was actually to attend a debate between a delegation of Franciscan monks and representatives of the Pope in Avignon.  The Franciscan's wanted the pope to accept the notion that Jesus was poor and owned nothing, and therefore ensure the safety of their Order.  The Pope, however, did not want to admit that, otherwise all his riches would seem contrary to teachings of Christ.  That is the underlying subtext, and so William must hurry to solve the murders so they do not interfere with the meeting, for if the meeting does not go well, the Franciscans could be found guilty of heresy and hunted down.

The web unravels for William as he discovers that the murders revolve around a mysterious book that had been taken out of the forbidden, labyrinth library.  William and Adso discover the map of the library, and decipher a riddle that allows them to enter a secret room.  There they discover the murderer, Jorge of Burgos (a reference to Jorge Luis Borges, one of my favorite writers), who had poisoned the pages of the book, so anyone reading it would touch the page, and touch their mouth, and soon die.  The book is Aristotle's lost work on Comedy, and how laughter can be beneficial.  Jorge does not believe in laughter, and thinks that it would lessen the fear and devotion to God.  He runs off with the book, eating the pages as he goes, and William and Adso give chase, but accidently set the library on fire.  Jorge burns with the book, and William and Adso escape, but the entire Abbey soon catches fire and is destroyed.

I rented the movie last week and watched it as soon as I finished the book.  It was okay, but it is impossible to fit a 550 page book into a two hour movie, so there was a lot of stuff left out and glossed over.  I didn't like in the movie how much attention was focused on Adso's brief love affair with the peasant girl.  I also wished the final scene with Jorge was elaborated, so that there was more of a reason behind his rationale of poisoning the book.  Sean Connery played William and a young Christian Slater played Adso.

I enjoyed this book immensely.  William is similar to Sherlock Holmes and his assistant Adso/Watson. Logic is the guiding force that can shine the light on the mysterious workings of the Abbey.  I feel much smarter after reading Umberto Eco.  He explains in great depth about the intricacies of European politics at the time, and the relationship between the Church and the monks and the peasants.  Of course it was difficult to understand a lot of what was being discussed.  I had to Wikipedia some bits of history to understand better, like Fra Dolcino, and the move to Avignon, and the differences between Dominicans and Franciscans.  I also did not like how much of the book was in Latin.  Whole passages had to be skipped over, and certain key lines as well. I wished they had footnotes so the reader could follow along better.

All in all it was a great read.  Started off slowly, but the tension built into a wonderful second half of the book.  Four and a half out of five stars.

The Drunkard's Keith

The Drunkard's Walk: How Randomness Rules our Lives, by Leonard Mlodinow.  Every once in a while I like to mix things up and read some non-fiction, mostly about interesting phenomena and how they influence our lives.  I've read all of Malcolm Gladwell's recent work, also Freakonomics and Predictably Irrational, all of which I highly recommend.  The Drunkard's Walk is another such book, and Mlodinow explains how purely random things can happen to change our lives everyday.  He explains wine reviews, bell curves in grading, the lottery and the stock market in the view of pure randomness.

Mlodinow gives many examples and anecdotes from his own life to illustrate the points he is making, although it is clear that it is a brilliantly gifted scientist and mathematician speaking and not an author.  Some of the stuff can be very difficult to follow and it gets very in depth.  Mlodinow also spends a lot of time speaking about the history of the study of chance, focusing on many different individuals from the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries in Europe.  I thought there was too much history and not enough real world applications at times.

However, one thing I will take away from this book is this fascinating mathematical riddle: Suppose you are on a game show, and you are shown three doors.  The host explains that behind one door is a grand prize, and behind the other two are nothing.  He asks you to make a selection.  You pick Door #1, let's say.  The host then opens Door #3, revealing that it contains nothing.  The host then gives you a second chance to change your answer.  Should you stick with Door #1, or change your answer to Door #2?  Now for many people, including myself at first, the answer seemed obvious.  There would be no difference between the doors, there is a 50-50 chance either way, so there is no mathematical advantage in switching.  Wrong.

When you first made the selection of Door #1, there was a 33% chance you guessed correctly.  There was a 66% chance you guessed incorrectly.  When the host opened Door #3 he removed it from play and manipulated the playing field.  Now, Door #1 still has that 33% chance of being correct, but Door #2 has a 66% chance of being correct, so it logically follows that you should change your answer and choose Door #2.  Unless of course, you are feeling really lucky.

Different from my normal repetoire of books, but good in it's own way.  Three out of five stars.

Extremely Loud & Incredibly Keith

Extremely Loud & Incredible Close, by Jonathan Safran Foer.  I bought this book at the Washington Book Festival back in September, where he was one of the speakers.  I also bought Everything is Illuminated, which I am planning on reading soon. 

This book was told from a few different perspectives, but mostly centers around Oskar Schell, a brilliant but eccentric nine year old in New York City, who loses his father in the 9/11 attacks.  His father left behind a key that Oskar found, and it leads him on a quest around New York so he can find the lock that it belongs to.  Ultimately, Oskar meets many interesting characters in the city, and he also discovers more about his own family and his father.  There is also the backstory of the love between Oskar's grandfather and grandmother, who fled from Dresden during World War II.  His grandfather, who was mute and communicated with only his notebooks and the tattoos of 'yes' and 'no' on his hands, left his grandmother to raise their son (Oskar's father) on her own, and only returned after his death.

The novel was told mostly through the voice of Oskar.  There are many catchphrases that he uses often, such as 'heavy boots' for being sad, and 'a hundred bucks' for being happy.  Oskar is very naive and courageous at times, venturing all around the city by himself and meeting strangers, although all the strangers that he meets are very nice and accomodating, which gives the book a very optimistic tone, although he is very cautious about other things, like bridges and elevators.  Oskar is also extremely bright, and is a walking encyclopedia of facts.  He is pretty emotional as well, keeping a picture diary of things that happened to him (and he shows the pictures in the book, which is a great touch), and listening to his dad's answering machine messages from after the tower was hit.

My favorite part of the book is some of the magical realist stories that are told throughout.  I loved the story of the sixth borough of New York that floated away.  I loved the story of how Oskar's grandfather lost his ability to speak word by word, until all his vocabulary was gone and he had to use notebooks to communicate, and he would flip back to certain phrases used over and over again.  It is a very creative book, and Foer uses many little gimmicks, like throwing in photos, shrinking text size to barely readable, to
showing the phrases from the grandfather's notebook.

In the end, Oskar discovers that the key belonged to someone else, and his father acquired it by mistake.  But this seems to put Oskar at peace since he was able to solve the puzzle his father left behind.  It is an optimistic book, even though it deals with some weighty subjects and ends with a flip book of photos of a person jumping out of the World Trade Center.  But actually the flip book is reversed, so the person is going upwards, not down.

An enjoyable and interesting, although different, read.  Four and a half out of five stars.

Keith Shall Know Our Velocity!

Actually You Shall Know Our Velocity, by one of my favorite authors Dave Eggers.  I read this book a couple of weeks ago, I am just very backed up on these books.  I got three reviews I need to write still, although I am currently reading The Name of the Rose, which is a long book so I should be able to catch up soon.

Y.S.K.O.V. was a great read with a really interesting premise.  Will and Hand are two best friends who lost their other best friend recently in a car crash.  Will got a lot of money for some ad recently, but he has been too depressed to appreciate it, so he decides to travel around the world giving out all the money, $40,000 to the poor.  The problem is that they only have one week to do it.  There are elaborate plans of trips to Siberia, Greenland, Madagascar, Cairo and many other places, all in one week.

The plan is based on speed, and quickness of action, but realistically it cannot work.  There are not flights going at all hours of the day to each of those remote places.  Most flights need to go through the hub at London, which is time they are not willing to waste.  Will and Hand go to Senegal, then up to Morocco, then a little bit in Eastern Europe.  They have hopes of bribing someone to let them up on Cheops in Cairo for a sunrise, but that plan falls through too.  Then there is the problem of who to give the money to.  Will finds many reasons not to give the money to certain people, always thinking there is something better around the corner.

There are tensions between Will and Hand.  Hand is all about action and doing things without thinking.  Will, the narrator, is stuck inside his head.  He is hung up on their friend Jack's death, as well as a recent beating he received from some strangers in Chicago, that he blamed on Hand.  Will's Mom, who he talks to on the phone throughout the trip, serves as a voice of reason to his wild plans.  In the end, they give most of the money away through crazy schemes, such as reverse haggling, cart leaping, basketball, and pirate treasure hunts in Latvia.

I love Eggers' storytelling.  A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius is one of my all time favorites.  Keith is the Keith comes from the book What is the What, which I read recently.  I especially loved the story at the end about the natives from Patagonia who moved around trying to fly and suck in all the air that they can.  They ran and leaped, and thinking they were the fastest on Earth, left a message for the invading Spaniards: "You shall know our velocity!" 

Sometimes we are stuck in Will's head too much, and there is too much repetition of his sorrow and depression.  And sometimes the book moves too slow, but maybe that is what Eggers was trying to do, convey the frustration that Will and Hand must have felt at not being able to move as quickly as they wanted to.

Four out of five stars.