Cantlivewobooks Blog

The Mysteries of the Middle Ages by Cahill vs the Pillars of the Earth, by Ken Follett. What makes a book readable?

cantlivewobooks — Tue, 16 Nov 2010 07:26:59 +0000

I enjoyed the Mysteries of the Middle Ages by Thomas Cahill. I thought the Pillars of the Earth would be a good follow up. A fictional treatment of the religion and science, church and the political rulers, and the daily life in the middle ages sounded interesting. The Mysteries of the Middle Ages presented the information in such way that I wanted to know more. I started The Pillars of the Earth with enthusiasm. The book was a disappointment. What a verbal attack on the reader!–over explaining that went on and on and on. There was no forward movement. It felt flat, overdone. According Mr Follett, the book sells quite well. What makes a book readable for one reader but not for another?

Freedom, Jonathan Franzen- why is it a bestseller?

cantlivewobooks — Fri, 22 Oct 2010 07:18:09 +0000

I read about 150 pages of Freedom by Jonathan Franzen, and stopped. It seemed pointless to go on. What was this book about? The wordy, showy style was unattractive. Details that left no room for imagination were tedious, burdensome. I have not read from Franzen before. Favorable reviews and the best seller status of the book got my attention. I was disappointed. It is not my kind of book. I am going after gems like the City is a Rising Tide-intelligent, imaginative, magical, economical.

If You Knew Me, by Anne Roiphe

cantlivewobooks — Mon, 04 Oct 2010 03:43:44 +0000

You noticed that my blog is about the books that are extra special to me. I like these books so much that I think about them long after I finish the book, and put it away. I like to share these books with you, and hear your thoughts if you had read them too.

If You Knew Me is one of those books. Characters are so unusual: Leah Rose is a biologist who is spending time at West Pine to find inspiration for her next scientific reseach in molecular matter. Ollie Marcus is an English teacher who has lived in West Pine all his life. Sally is his sister. Leah and Marcus meet. A complicated relationship develops between them. They are not very young. They are not very beautiful. They are real. They are drawn to each other. And Sally….

This novel makes Leah Rose and Ollie Marcus come alive. They are complex individuals. They have complex lives. This is good writing.

The City is A Rising Tide, by Rebecca Lee

cantlivewobooks — Mon, 04 Oct 2010 03:15:40 +0000

The City is A Rising Tide. What a beautiful name for a novel! Mysterious. What beautiful writing! Not a single word was wasted. Artfully written from beginning to end.

Such unique observations by the main character, Justine. Here is how she describes her office: “The room was so intelligently conceived….It was expansive and intimate both. The southern wall was a bank of windows, angled outward, like a prow of a ship. One expected that any day she might pick herself up and head down West Broadway, go thudding into the nighttime seas” (p. 38).

Here is her comment on nonprofits and money: “….no charity investigates fully the reasons behind its benefactors’ gifts. That would be foolhardy. Even Mother Teresa–she took her money from Pol Pot, from Duvalier. Most money has at one time passed through hands so rotten that all of it is compromised” (p.20).

The City is a Rising Tide is an amazing novel.

Madame Curie

cantlivewobooks — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 04:20:53 +0000

Another precious book–Madame Curie, A Biography by Eve Curie, first published in 1937, translated to English by Vincent Sheen. The cover has a picture of Madame Curie–a serious woman looking directly at the camera. Inside there is a portrait of her made in 1929, when she was 62 years old. Apparently, Eve Curie didn’t become a scientist like her father, mother and sister, but she brought her family, especially mother, to life in this book. Every page was radiant like the radium to which Madame Curie devoted her entire life.

The Cliff Walk

cantlivewobooks — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 03:51:25 +0000

I discovered the Cliff Walk, by Don J. Snyder, at the library book store. It is a memoir published in 1997–12yrs ago. It is relevant now that the US economy is suffering from high unemployment, and white-collar unemployment is much higher in this recession. Snyder becomes unemployed as a college professor and cannot find work. Does this sound familiar to many teachers? Snyder ends up being a laborer, then a handyman. The process he goes through in his transformation from a college professor to a handyman is revealing, touching, and empowering at the same time.

The Pickup

cantlivewobooks — Tue, 07 Apr 2009 17:14:41 +0000

The Pickup, published in 2001, is a novel by Nadine Gordimer, the winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1991. I read the Pickup years ago, and couldn’t get it out of my mind–such touching, sensitive, delicate writing. It is time for a re-read.

The following quote on the cover of the book comes from San Francisco Chronicle:

“This is a book that should be sought out not by lovers of masterly storytelling but also by readers whose attentions have been so tragically brought to focus on the relationship between Islam and the Western World.”

Wall Street and Moral Hazard

cantlivewobooks — Mon, 06 Apr 2009 17:45:27 +0000

The novel, Moral Hazard, by Kate Jennings, was published in 2002. Below is an excerpt.

“Major trouble. They’re being disemboweled, dismembered. Their money is running out.” He paused to catch his breath. “Fiscal hygiene at last. It’s gonna be interesting to see what gets flushed out. Who gets flushed out. Because it won’t stop with them.” (Moral Hazard, p. 137)

Here is a praise for the novel that can be found in the 2002 paperback copy:

“Kate Jennings writes in what some might call the minimalist mode, but Moral Hazard–the story of a woman working on Wall Street and trying to cope with her husband’s devastating illness–aches with emotion ranging from love to anger.” Jonathan Yardley, Washington Post Best Book of 2002

Moral Hazard is as relevant today as ever.

Investorwords.com defines moral hazard as follows:

The risk that the presence of a contract will affect on the behavior of one or more parties. The classic example is in the insurance industry, where coverage against a loss might increase the risk-taking behavior of the insured.

http://www.investorwords.com/3117/moral_hazard.html

bait and switch capitalism

cantlivewobooks — Sun, 05 Apr 2009 17:37:27 +0000

The U.S. unemployment rate was 8.5% as of March 2009. Many middle-aged, white-collar workers find themselves unemployed in the current “Great Recession.” (Is Kurt Andersen the first person who called it the Great Recession?) I recalled a book I read a while ago–Bait and Switch–the (Futile) Pursuit of the American Dream (2005), by Barbara Ehrenreich. Ehrenreich maybe better known for her book, Nickel and Dimed, about the life of blue collar workers. Bait and Switch is about the middle-aged, middle-class, white-collar unemployment. She goes undercover to find a job in sales, or HR (or anything), hires a career coach, prepares a resume, attends to networking events,–pretty much follows the advice from the people she meets on this journey. At the end she was struck by the hardship people had to go through–therefore, the subtitle –the Futile Pursuit of the American Dream.

John Grisham

cantlivewobooks — Sat, 04 Apr 2009 19:04:27 +0000

I read, or listened to, almost all John Grisham novels. The first book was A Time to Kill. I like the way Grisham explains the law, and makes the controversial issues accessible to the reader in a fictional setting. I didn’t find the Brethren interesting, and stayed away from his books for a while. I didn’t try his nonfiction books either, until a friend from Ada, Oklahoma, told me about An Innocent Man. I checked out the book on CD from the library to give it a try. This book was researched thoroughly. It was depressing to see the weaknesses in the justice system, going on and on for years. The small town setting, the focus on the lives of young people wandering around, the relentlessness of the writing…I pushed the skip button a lot, and was relieved when I was done with the book. Too much of too-bad news! The Appeal was pretty good, but again, Grisham didn’t make it easy for the readers by ending the novel with the message, justice prevails. Was he pessimistic about the big business or he just tuned into the popular sentiment of the times?