Rose City Reader

Mailbox Monday

2009-11-09T06:00:00.000-08:00

Just in time for Mailbox Monday, the mail man delivered:

Sarah's Key by Tatiana de Rosnay

This is my Book Club book for November. It might be horribly sad, since it is the story of the July 1942 roundup of Jews from Paris. Over 6,000 Jews, mostly children, were arrested by French policy acting on orders from the German occupying army, kept in a sports arena for several days, then shipped to camps, eventually Auschwitz where they all were killed. The book goes back and forth between the tragic events of 1942 and modern day Paris.

This could be rough going.

Review of the Day: The Man Who Loved China

2009-11-07T17:29:00.000-08:00

Joseph Needham’s Science and Civilization in China is still the definitive work on the subject, in continuous print since the Cambridge University Press published the first introductory volume* in 1954. In The Man Who Loved China, Simon Winchester turns his inquisitive eye and keen wit to Needham’s life and accomplishments, wrapping personality, history, politics, and science into the kind of irresistible story only Winchester can produce.

Needham was a biochemist, not a Sinologist. He became interested in the Middle Kingdom only after falling in love with Lu Gwei-Djen, a Chinese scientist in Cambridge to study with Needham and his biologist wife Dorothy. After learning Chinese, he obtained a pre-WWII diplomatic post that allowed him to explore China and send truckloads of books and documents about China’s scientific and technological history back to Cambridge.

As with his wonderful books about the making of the Oxford English Dictionary, The Professor and the Madman and The Meaning of Everything, Winchester uses the compilation and publication of Needham’s masterpiece as the backbone of this biography. He branches off from the central story to discuss the Needham’s socialist politics, his unconventional love life, and his role as one of Red China’s most “useful idiots.”

This last item concerned Needham leading a commission to investigate allegations that America used biological warfare during the Korean War. In 1953, he issued a report substantiating the claims, although it was later determined that the Chinese government, with Soviet help, staged the whole thing. As Winchester put it, “Needham was intellectually in love with communism; and yet communist spymasters and agents, it turned out, had pitilessly duped him.” Needham was under a cloud for years as a result. America refused him a visa until the 1970s. Only the quality and stupendous success of Science and Civilization finally redeemed his reputation.

Simon Winchester could write an interesting book about garden mulch, so it is no surprise that The Man Who Loved China, based on a fascinating life, is a fascinating book. This is one of his best.

* Science and Civilization in China is now a 25-volume set, although many volumes were written by others under Needham's direction and still others after his death.

OTHER REVIEWS
Age 30+ . . . A Lifetime of Books

(If you would like your review of this book listed here, please leave a comment with a link and I will add it.)

Blogging Blackout

2009-11-06T06:00:00.000-08:00

No blogging today while I am traveling for work. I put in some late posts from my hotel room the last couple of days, but I hope to finish work and drive home to Portland tonight, so no time to blog.

I do hate it when my job interferes with my hobbies.

The Bio-Sphere

2009-11-05T18:43:00.000-08:00

This week's Booking Through Thursday asks about a preference for biographies or autobiographies.

My answer: both, depending on the subject.

I prefer professional biographies of famous people, including historical figures, politicians, and celebrities. For instance;

Thomas Paine: Enlightenment, Revolution, and the Birth of Modern Nations, by Craig Nelson (reviewed here)

The Age of Reagan (Vol. II): The Conservative Counterrevolution, 1980 - 1989 by Steven F. Hayward (which I am just finishing now)

Paul Newman: A Life by Shawn Levy (reviewed here)

But I prefer autobiographies, or memoirs, of non-famous people. This is a new interest of mine, which I can trace back precisely to when Hubby gave me a copy of Oh! The Glory of it All!* by Sean Wilsey when we lived in San Francisco (Wilsey being the unsung son of San Francisco socialites). Since then, I have enjoyed several "random memoirs" -- as I think of them -- about non-famous people living interesting lives. These include:

7 Wheelchairs: A Life Beyond Polio by Gary Presley (reviewed here)

Forbidden Bread by Erica Johnson Debeljak (reviewed here)

* One of my favorite book titles of all times.

Timely Re-Run Review: The Top Ten Myths of American Health Care

2009-11-04T19:44:00.000-08:00

In her accessible "citizen’s guide" to health care reform, Sally Pipes examines The Top Ten Myths of American Health Care and offers several patient-driven ideas for change. Pipes looks past the partisan rhetoric to explain, for example, what "46 million uninsured Americans" really means, why importing drugs cannot work, and how expanded Medicaid-type programs would make a bad situation worse.

Pipes, a Canadian native, is her most persuasive when she scrutinizes Canada’s and other nationalized medical systems. Relying on her extensive research and personal experience, she spells out why long waits, restricted access to new medications, and doctors on government payrolls are not the solution to America's problems.

In the debate over health care, Pipes has definitely chosen her side, championing free-market reforms such as allowing the interstate purchase of health insurance and revising the tax code to encourage individually-purchased, instead of employer-provided, insurance. But Pipes is no ranting demagogue. Her arguments are concise and supported by solid research as she tries deal rationally with an issue often freighted with emotion.

While aimed at policy-makers, The Top Ten Myths is lively enough for general consumption. Good reading for anyone interesting in going beyond the soundbites and understanding some of the details of health care reform.

Teaser Tuesday: Incidents in the Rue Laugier

2009-11-03T06:00:00.000-08:00

"Maud simply wanted to live in Paris, with or without a husband, preferably without. While careful not to let her thoughts show on her severe and slightly disdainful golden face, Maud had a secret desire to escape all forms of control."

-- Incidents in the Rue Laugier by Anita Brookner

I am now definitely a Brookner fan.

Teaser Tuesdays is hosted by Should Be Reading, where you can find the official rules for this weekly event.

Mailbox Monday

2009-11-02T06:00:00.000-08:00

Thanks once again to Reading Local and its monthly readers' participation contest, I have several new books to list for Mailbox Monday.

I used my contest winnings at Hawthorne Boulevard Books, a bibliophile's paradise. Rambling through several rooms of an old house, the store sells used, antique, and collector's editions. The charming owners were helpful and chatty I poked my way through the extensive literature section, master list in hand.

I finally settled on:

Death Comes for the Archbishop by Willa Cather (a pristine 1985 Modern Library edition to replace the one I read and gave to my sister)

The Counterlife by Philip Roth (winner of the National Book Critics Circle Award)

Reveries of a Bachelor by "Ik. Marvel" (a an old book from the 1800s that I bought for its fancy cover and novelty)

The Marmot Drive by John Hersey (for some reason, I keep buying John Hersey books, but I haven't read any of them yet)

Review of the Day: Freddy and Fredericka

2009-11-01T10:59:00.000-08:00

Mark Helprin’s rollicking novel, Freddy and Fredericka, follows the adventures of the Prince and Princess of Wales as, plagued by scandals that threaten the continuity of the royal throne, they set off on a quest to recapture the American Colonies. The two – clearly modeled on Charles and Diane – learn to love and appreciate each other while they both grow into their crowns.

With a mix of picaresque farce, adventure, political philosophy, and love story, Helprin weaves a captivating tall tale. While the wordplay sometimes degenerates to Abbott and Costello’s “Who’s on First” level, most of the book is witty and even hilarious. Helprin’s riffs and rants on such diverse subjects as the theater of politics, avant garde art, and whether “bosom” refers to a single object or half of a pair are worth putting up with a couple jokes that get stretched thin.

Trick or Treat!

2009-10-31T06:00:00.000-07:00

Our new neighborhood takes Halloween very seriously. Everyone has jack-o-lanterns, lights, decorations, and spooky stuff -- all geared for little kids, not teen-aged Halloween hooligans. It's great! We look like the newcomers that we are with only three jack-o-lanterns and a handful of rubber bats stuck on the window.

As is our tradition, we are having a dinner party with friends so we can all enjoy the trick-or-treaters (watching them, not eating them).

Cookbook Library: Cooking With Caprial

2009-10-30T10:40:00.000-07:00

Caprial's Bistro is one of my favorite restaurants in Portland. I also love her on her tv show and have learned a lot by watching her. For instance, I am indebted to her for fixing my pie crust -- I needed to use more water, as I learned from one show.

Too bad, then, that Cooking With Caprial: American Bistro Fair doesn't really do much for me. The recipes, like the items on Caprial's bistro menu, are deceptively simple. But the things I make never taste as good as they do at her restaurant. Of course, I'm not a world-class chef; she is. She must have secret ways (yes, called "talent") that makes things taste super yummy.

I am glad to have this one in my cookbook library, but I really do not use it very often.

Author of the Day: Kate Atkinson

2009-10-29T06:00:00.000-07:00

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Kate Atkinson is a new find for me. I recently read her debut novel, Behind the Scenes at the Museum, because it won the Costa (Whitebread) Book of the Year Award. That one book was enough to make me a fan. I am looking forward to reading her other books, including her most recent three novels, a mystery series featuring Jackson Brodie.

The one I have read is in red. Those on my TBR shelf are in blue.

Behind the Scenes at the Museum (1995) (reviewed here)

Human Croquet (1997)

Abandonment (2000)

Emotionally Weird (2000)

Not the End of the World (2002) (short stories)

Case Histories (2004)

One Good Turn (2006)

When Will There Be Good News? (2009)

OTHER READERS
(If anyone has posts related to Atkinson or these books and would like me to list it here, please leave a comment with a link to your post.)

Opening Sentence of the Day: Incidents in the Rue Laugier

2009-10-28T06:00:00.000-07:00

"My mother read a lot, sighed a lot, and went to bed early."

-- Incidents in the Rue Laugier by Anita Brookner

Hotel du Lac, the 1984 Booker Prize winner, is the only Anita Brookner novel I have read. I can't say that Hotel du Lac stuck with me -- so little so that I actually read it a second time without realizing it -- but Brookner has returned to my radar screen. I recently found several of her books in nice hardback editions at library book sales and something about them appealed to me.

I am looking forward to this one.

Teaser Tuesday: The Age of Reagan

2009-10-27T06:00:00.000-07:00

The Age of Reagan (Vol. II): The Conservative Counterrevolution, 1980 - 1989 by Steven F. Hayward.

"There were important aspects of foreign and defense policy that needed immediate attention, but Reagan and his team understood that restoring the economy was the prerequisite for a successful foreign and defense policy. They also knew that the first few months of 1981 would be their only window of opportunity, since that is when any new president carries the most clout with Congress and the public, and since in this particular circumstance the Democrats, having suffered large losses in the election, would be temporarily disoriented and dispirited."

This quote exemplifies the cyclical nature of politics and the economy. Substitute "Obama," "2009," and "Republicans" in that passage and it would describe the current administration.

I am a little over a third of the way through this second volume of Hayward's comprehensive biography. He does a particularly terrific job in two areas: 1) making arcane policy and political issues understandable and even interesting, and 2) using contemporary news quotes to compare the perceived situation with what was really going on in Reagan's White House.

Teaser Tuesdays is hosted by Should Be Reading, where you can find the official rules for this weekly event.

Mailbox Monday

2009-10-26T06:00:00.000-07:00

It was shaping up to be a completely book-free week last week, until I got an invitation from a friend to go to her husband's book-signing party. Whew! Mailbox Monday saved!

I stopped by the party on Saturday to pick up my very own signed copy of The High Definition Family by Sayer Strauch. It looks like an inspiring read. Maybe I'll get my household in shape for the holidays.

I Had a Book in Africa . . .

2009-10-25T06:00:00.001-07:00

Natasha at Maw Books Blog is hosting this month's Bookworms' Carnival and her theme is "Africa" books -- those written by African authors, set in Africa, or with some other African connection. She has compiled an incredible list of books. If you are looking for inspiration, please visit. It is worth bookmarking the page for future reference.

I was pleased that Natasha included three of my book reviews in the carnival (links to reviews):

The Beggar by Naguib Mahfouz
Beethoven Was One-Sixteenth Black by Nadine Gordimer
The Life and Times of Michael K. by J.M. Coetzee

In addition to her long list of recommended books, Natasha included a few questions for carnival participants and readers. Feel free to answer the questions on your blog or leave a comment on the carnival page:

1. Do you read a lot of books that have an African focus? If so, why do you enjoy them?

I didn't think I read many books with an African focus. And I don't, at least not compared to American or British books. But thinking back. I have read quite a few and there are more on my shelves. But I tend to read books by British or American authors about Africa more than books by African authors.

2. Have you reviewed any books with an African theme? If so, feel free to highlight them.

In addition to the three listed above, I reviewed two (links to reviews):

Black Jews, Jews, and Other Heroes: How Grassroots Activism Led to the Rescue of the Ethiopian Jews by Howard Lenoff
Middle Passage by Charles Johnson (in the carnival)

3. What are you looking forward to reading next? Anything on your radar?

Limiting this question to books with an African connection, Out of Africa by Isak Dinesen and A Good Man in Africa by William Boyd are both moving towards the top of my TBR stack.

4. If you haven’t read a lot of books with an African focus, what are some books that you’d like to read?

There are several others on my TBR shelves right now that I plan to get to eventually:

King Leopold's Ghost by Adam Hochschild (in the carnival)
The Stranger by Albert Camus
Jump by Nadine Gordimer
A Sport of Nature by Nadine Gordimer
Burger's Daughter by Nadine Gordimer
The Grass is Singing by Dorris Lessing
The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver (in the carnival)
Half of a Yellow-Sun by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie (in the carnival)

5. Are there any book titles showcased in this carnival that sounds interesting to you or that you’ve read?

There are several books listed in the carnival that I have read, even though I did not review them:

The No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency by Alexander McCall Smith
Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad
Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe
Disgrace by J.M. Coetzee
West With the Night by Beryl Markham

And, finally, there are several books with an African connection that I have read that are not listed above and were not in the carnival:

Cry, the Beloved Country by Alan Paton
Scoop by Evelyn Waugh (a fictional Africa)
A Bend in the River by V.S. Naipaul
In a Free State by V.S. Naipaul (Booker winner)
The Sheltering Sky by Paul Bowles (Modern Library's Top 100)
The Alexandria Quartet by Lawrence Durrell (Modern Library's Top 100)
Infidel by Ayaan Hirsi Ali
The Heart of the Matter by Graham Greene
The Human Factor by Graham Greene
Henderson the Rain King by Saul Bellow (more fictional Africa)
Skeletons on the Zahara by Dean King (my notes are here)

OTHERS' ANSWERS AND RELATED POSTS
IMAGENATIONS (Ghanaian author Nana Fredua-Agyeman's blog)
A Senegalese Reading List (on Amateur Reader's Wuthering Expectations blog)
(Leave a comment with a link to your answers and I will list your post here.)

Review of the Day: Laughing Gas

2009-10-24T06:00:00.000-07:00

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Laughing Gas is one of Wodehouse's stand-alone novels, featuring none of his usual cast of characters up to high jinx in their usual locales. This one-off follows the adventures of Reggie, the new Earl of Havershot, who heads to Hollywood to rescue his drunkard cousin from a mis-matched marriage.

The hook for the (tall) tale is that Reggie and child star Joey Cooley switch bodies while simultaneously under gas at the dentists' office. Farce ensues.

The story has plenty going on and a full roster of Wodehouse's entertaining characters. But it falls short when it comes to clever, witty writing. It just is not as funny as most Wodehouse books.

Review of the Day: Joker One

2009-10-23T06:00:00.000-07:00

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Donovan Campbell joined the Marines after 9/11. A recent Princeton grad and first in his class at the Marines’ Basic Officer Course, Campbell was made the Lieutenant of a forty-man infantry platoon called Joker One. Campbell led his platoon on a tour of duty in Ramadi, Iraq, where they patrolled for IEDs, battled insurgents, and tried to win over the locals – often in temperatures over 120 degrees, carrying 50 pounds of equipment.

Joker One: A Marine Platoon's Story of Courage, Leadership, and Brotherhood is Campbell’s account of his time in Ramadi. He describes what he and his men did and learned, but also shares his heartfelt insights into what made his team so great. It is a riveting story of courage and camaraderie that should make us appreciate the efforts and sacrifices of our military.

NOTE: This book is on my Library Thing Early Reviewer list. One more down, five more to go as of today. I wish I had read this one earlier because it was a real treat.

OTHER REVIEWS

Return Customer
The White Rhino Report

(If you would like your review listed here, please leave a comment with a link and I will add it.)

Opening Sentence of the Day: Laughing Gas

2009-10-22T06:00:00.000-07:00

"I had just begun to write this story, when a literary pal of mine who had had a sticky night out with the P.E.N. Club blew in to borrow a bicarbonate of soda, and I thought it would be as well to have him vet what I had done, in case I might have foozled my tee-shot."

-- Laughing Gas by P. G. Wodehouse

And so begins the Earl of Havershot's tale of adventure and mayhem when he visits Hollywood to save his cousin from drink and an ill-advised splice to an American pippin.

Review of the Day: The Ice Chorus

2009-10-21T07:00:00.000-07:00

Sarah Stonich’s sophomore novel, The Ice Chorus, is one of those rare books in which all the parts come together seamlessly. The ideas, plot, characters, and images all work to entertain the reader with the rich story of Liselle’s life-changing romance with Charlie, an artist she met in Mexico.

Liselle, living in a nondescript Irish fishing town, films and interviews her new neighbors for a nascent documentary about love, waits for her artist lover to return, and mulls over her affair with Charlie, her marriage, and her tragic relationship with her father. It is a romantic story that looks beyond mere romance to examine the way passionate love affects every part of life, including where people live and the direction of their careers.

OTHER REVIEWS

Book Blab
Rundpinne
Vulpes Libris
The Crowded Leaf
Today is My Someday

(If you would like your review listed here, please leave a comment with a link to your review.)

Mailbox Monday

2009-10-19T06:00:00.000-07:00

I only have one Mailbox Monday book, but it is a good one! While on a business trip to Chicago last week, I had time for a quick visit to the Art Institute where they had the most incredible special exhibit on Victorian Photocollage. Being an avid scrapbooker myself and fascinated by collage in particular, I was mesmerized by the exhibit.

So I was very excited to pick up a souvenir:

The Marvelous Album of Madame B: Being the Handiwork of a Victorian Lady of Considerable Talent, a replica of one of the main scrapbooks on display.

Here is an example of "Victorian Photocollage":

Review of the Day: Forbidden Bread

2009-10-18T06:00:00.000-07:00

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Slovenia was a toddler of a country when Erica Johnson arrived there in 1993 to marry her black-haired poet lover, Aleš Debeljak. Slovenia had only won its independence from Yugoslavia two years earlier; war still raged in Croatia and Bosnia to the south. What was she thinking?

Johnson Debeljak answers that question in Forbidden Bread, her engrossing memoir about abandoning the life of a Manhattan commercial banker to move to a nascent post-communist state where most people still grew their own cabbage and considered themselves lucky to have a tiny Soviet car to drive. She uses her own story as the backdrop for Slovenia’s story, with its tumultuous history and rich, poetry-filled culture.

From her battles with power-abusing bureaucrats, to worries about bombs falling on her wedding, to ethnic jokes and fussing in-laws, Johnson Debeljak provides layers of detail that let the reader really understand what it would be like to live in a land so foreign. This is arm-chair travel at its best – a trip to the true heart of a country.

NOTES:
First published in the Internet Review of Books.

In addition to being a terrific book, reading this one allows my to scratch it off my LibraryThing Early Reviewer list.

OTHER REVIEWS

Library Cat

(If you would like your review of this book listed here, please leave a comment with a link and I will add it.)
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Opening Sentence of the Day: The Age of Reagan

2009-10-17T06:00:00.001-07:00

"Most of his senior aides didn't want him to say it."

The Age of Reagan (Vol. II): The Conservative Counterrevolution, 1980 - 1989 by Steven F. Hayward.

This opening sentence refers to Reagan's most famous line, "Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!" Hayward goes on to observe that many of those who opposed the line now claim to have been all for it -- some even claim to have written it. He uses this incident to illustrate a central thesis of his book, which is that Reagan spent as much effort working on his own team as he did battling the Democrats.

Like the first volume of Hayward's biography, this book is dense, but eminently readable. It is as entertaining as it is edifying.

State of the Blog, Part Two: The Authors

2009-10-16T06:00:00.000-07:00

This is the second part of my two-part autumnal assessment of my 2009 reading progress. The first part tallied up the total of books I have read so far in 2009 from the lists in the right column. This post looks at progress on my author lists.

THE AUTHORS

Kingsley Amis
Books read so far: 4/48
Books read in 2009: one (The Alteration)
Books on my TBR shelf: 5

Cara Black
Books read so far: 2/9
Books read in 2009: zero
Books on my TBR shelf: one

James Lee Burke
Books read so far: 13/17 (Dave Robicheaux series only)
Books read in 2009: 3

Books on my TBR shelf: 3

Lee Child
Books read so far: 11/11 (unless he has a new one)
Books read in 2009: zero
Books on my TBR shelf: zero

M. F. K. Fisher
Books read so far: 4/27
Books read in 2009: zero
Books on my TBR shelf: 4

F. Scott Fitzgerald
Books read so far: 8/13
Books read in 2009: zero
Books on my TBR shelf: zero

Penelope Fitzgerald
Books read so far: 2/9
Books read in 2009: zero
Books on my TBR shelf: one

Richard Ford
Books read so far: 5/10
Books read in 2009: zero
Books on my TBR shelf: 3

Jim Harrison
Books read so far: 19/19 (prose only)
Books read in 2009: zero
Books on my TBR shelf: zero

Nick Hornby
Books read so far: 2/11
Books read in 2009: one (High Fidelity, reviewed here)
Books on my TBR shelf: 2

John Lescroart
Books read so far: 16/18 (Dismus Hardy series and spin offs)
Books read in 2009: zero
Books on my TBR shelf: one

Elinor Lipman
Books read so far: 2/10
Books read in 2009: one (My Latest Grievance, reviewed here)
Books on my TBR shelf: 5

David Lodge
Books read so far: 2/15 (fiction only)
Books read in 2009: one (Changing Places, reviewed here)
Books on my TBR shelf: 7

Ian McEwan
Books read so far: 5/13
Books read in 2009: 2

The Innocent(reviewed here)
Saturday

Books on my TBR shelf: zero

Anthony Powell
Books read so far: 13/32
Books read in 2009: zero
Books on my TBR shelf: one

Philip Roth
Books read so far: 8/30
Books read in 2009: one (Goodbye, Columbus: And Five Other Short Stories, reviewed here)
Books on my TBR shelf: 5

Martin Cruz Smith
Books read so far: 6/6 (Arkady Renko series only)
Books read in 2009: 2

Red Square, reviewed here
Stalin's Ghost

Books on my TBR shelf: zero

Julia Spencer-Fleming
Books read so far: 5/7
Books read in 2009: 3

Out of the Deep I Cry
To Darkness and to Death (reviewed here)
All Mortal Flesh (reviewed here)

Books on my TBR shelf: one

William Styron
Books read so far: 2/10
Books read in 2009: zero
Books on my TBR shelf: 3

Anne Tyler
Books read so far: 4/18
Books read in 2009: one (The Amateur Marriage)
Books on my TBR shelf: 5

John Updike
Books read so far: 8/26
Books read in 2009: zero
Books on my TBR shelf: 9

Andrea U'ren
Books read so far: zero/2
Books read in 2009: zero
Books on my TBR shelf: zero

Simon Winchester
Books read so far: 5/16
Books read in 2009: zero
Books on my TBR shelf: one
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Review of the Day: Paul Newman

2009-10-15T06:00:00.000-07:00

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Paul Newman referred collectively to his acting roles as “the child of our time.” Shawn Levy puts it this way in his new biography, Paul Newman: A Life:

Taken as a whole, Newman’s body of work nicely encapsulated the history of an in-between generation of American men who helped their fathers and uncles conquer the world in war and commerce but who could only watch—likely with some jealousy—as their younger siblings and their own children acted out on the native rebellious impulse to overturn everything. . . . Torn by the conflicting impulses to rule and rebel, his was arguably the pivotal generation of the twentieth century, and Newman, almost unconsciously, was its actor laureate.

It is this “big picture” approach that gives depth to Levy’s book and holds the attention of readers not usually taken with celebrity biographies. Levy examines Newman’s life as a whole and in connection with cultural changes.

Levy gathered every Newman interview that he could get his hands on, in print or on camera, and studied them in chronological order. He used these interviews—Newman’s own words—for the core of the biography. While his method did not allow Levy to plow new ground, he wrings a lot out of his material. Readers who know Newman’s movies, but have only a passing interest in other details of his life, will learn a great deal about an interesting man. Dedicated Newman fans and celebrity gossip aficionados will likely know the basic story, but should find plenty of details to savor.

Levy brings his talent as a movie reviewer to this work, enriching Newman’s story. He apparently watched every Newman movie (and television show) to write this book. Instead of merely recounting which movie Newman made when, Levy analyzes the connection between Newman’s development as an actor and his growth as a person:

Newman grew and shed a series of actorly skins through the decades, but his transformations from one to the next were always subtle; watching his career unfold, taking his films as he made them, you wouldn’t necessarily think he was moving in any direction; look up, though, after twenty or thirty years, and you could see real development—improved craft, deepened humanity, palpable wisdom.

Levy goes on to evaluate these “actorly skins,” starting with “an unformed, psychologically delicate brooder” exemplified by Brick Pollitt in Cat on a Hot Tin Roof. Then came Newman’s period playing “a knave,” starting with Ben Quick in The Long, Hot Summer and culminating with his iconic role as Hud ”the guy men wanted to be like and women wanted to eat on a cracker.” The knave then developed into “an ironist, a rascal, a scamp” with a “cocky mien” and a “cynical, breezy chuckle,” in roles from Harper to Reggie Dunlop in Slap Shot. After the death of his adult son in 1978, Newman matured as a person and an actor, in movies like Fort Apache the Bronx and The Verdict, in which his characters were no longer immune from “the scourges of age, death, disloyalty, greed, sullied honor, soured blood.” And, finally, Newman played “coots”—”crusty old customers” with a “comfortable acceptance of one’s fate”—including Governor Earl Long in Blaze and the voice of an old race car in Cars.

The book gives equal time to Newman’s off-screen life, and not just the gossipy bits about Newman’s single affair with a Hollywood gadabout or his prodigious alcohol consumption. Levy discusses Newman’s second career as a race car driver with the same level of analysis he brings to Newman’s movies. Newman, who only became enamored with race cars in his mid-forties, loved the excitement and camaraderie he found on the race track. Again, Levy goes beyond dates and events, to consider why racing appealed to Newman, concluding, at least in part, that Newman liked shedding his superstar persona and being one of the guys—especially, Levy observes, as Newman grew older and his dazzling good looks dimmed a little.

Another aspect of Newman’s life that Levy explores is the philanthropy that motivated much of Newman’s efforts, from his first commercially marketed bottle of salad dressing to his request that his ashes be scattered over the pond at the original children’s camp he sponsored. In addition to giving away several hundreds of millions of dollars to charities, Newman rolled up his sleeves and worked himself. For example, not only did he come up with the idea of a summer camp for children with cancer, he designed the first Hole in the Wall camp himself, hired the doctors to staff it, and visited at least twice every summer to play and eat with the kids. As Levy concludes:

[H]e had come, in fact, to see himself not as a major artist or a great man but rather as someone who had simply given back the least bit of what had been granted him. He believed that his legacy would not be found in films or photographs or racing trophies or salad dressings or even the stack of heartfelt obituaries and memorials. Rather, he felt, it was those camps, and the affirmation, comfort, hope, rebirth, and freedom they afforded all those endangered children, that were his greatest accomplishment. And for the opportunity to help those children he felt not so much pride as gratitude.

Levy wields a deft pen—his book is as entertaining as it is insightful and informative. He presents readers with a thorough, respectful biography of one of America’s greatest screen, and off-screen, legends.

First published in the Internet Review of Books.

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List of the Day: The Guilt List

2009-10-14T06:00:00.000-07:00

I have referred to my LibraryThing Early Reviewer list as my "guilt list" because of the number of books I have not read and reviewed yet. But a little perusal of my TBR shelf made me face up the the fact that I have a lot more books to feel guilty about than the relatively few still left to go on the LibraryThing list. Yikes!

This is a list of books that I have received from publishers, publicists, authors, or others. It includes only those books that I have not read yet. Unlike my other lists where I keep track of those I've read and those still to be read, this list only keeps track of those still sitting on my shelf, giving me the book version of the old stink eye. As soon as I finish one of these, it is coming off the list for good. No more guilty conscience; and no reminders.

In no particular order:

A Century of November by W. D. Wetherell

The Night Gardener by George Pelecanos

The Italian Lover by Robert Hellenga

The Art of Disappearing by Ivy Pochoda

Good for the Jews by Debra Spark

The Evolution of Shadows by Jason Quinn Malott

Joker One by Donovan Campbell (I'm reading this now)

The Age of Reagan by Steven Hayward (I am supposed to review this for the November issue of the Internet Review of Books)

Massacred for Gold by Gregory Nokes

Portland Noir, edited by Kevin Sampsell

The Mermaid and the Messerschmitt by Rulka Langer

Creating a Class by Mitchell Stevens (I read this fascinating book a year ago and still have not reviewed it -- major guilt)