WHAT I'M READING NOW

WHAT I'M READING NOW

Cold, dark winter days are perfect for staying indoors and reading, not that I need much excuse to do that. Just when I think there is nothing good left , along comes the kind of book I don't want to finish. In a recent spate of good reading, lucky me, I can mention the following:

"Acts of Honor"  by Richard H. Dickinson. 2008. www.booksurge.com
If I tell you this book opens in Abu Ghraib you probably won't read it,
but you should because it raises not only the Geneva Convention aspect of torture but also poses conflicts of politics, patriotism, and honor. Much of the book is set at West Point and Dickinson (Class of '73 and a Vietnam veteran) knows what he is talking about. While you are at it, get Dickinson's "The Silent Men," about a US Marine sniper in Vietnam. "Silent Men" (2002) should be a classic but despite wonderful writing and a real hero, nothing much ever came of it. It could be that people are simply not interested in reading anything about Vietnam. Both of these novels are available via Amazon, that octopus. I read "Acts of Honor" as a Kindle book and like many other electronic renditions, it is full of scanning errors, so annoying to the reader.

"The Art of Fielding" by Chad Harbach (Little Brown, 2011), is a
wonderful read, full of baseball stuff and a great cast of characters -- each one better than the next. The main characters: a naive
baseball genius who goes to a safety school on a full scholarship; his mentor, an upperclassman from a lower class background, a natural-born coach and all-round decent person; the college president, a handsome Harvard historian who has come home to the mid-west college to do the bare minimum and act as a distinguished figurehead; the President's seriously screwed up daughter who flees a bad California marriage and comes home to Dad; the brilliant, gay, roommate of the baseball player, the voice of reason and predictor of trouble. Plus minor characters all drawn splendidly. I love this book and didn't want it to end. It has a kind of "Unbroken" decency about it and the voices of Great Americans. Speaking of...

"Unbroken" by Laura Hillenbrand (Random House, 2010) is the true story of glory, suffering, triumph, redemption.. Louis Zamperini was an American Olympic runner in the late 1930s, a teenage wonder bound to set all records, when WWII began and he enlisted. Louis (still living at a great old age) was shot down, survived more than 100 days at sea in a raft, was captured by the Japanese and sent to one concentration camp after the other until he wound up in Japan, endlessly tortured by a sadistic guard. Somehow Louis survives and goes on to become a coach, a motivational speaker, and the hero of this terrific book. Hillenbrand interviewed Louis many times over a period of about 10 years. As you know, she is a meticulous writer and this book is a tribute not only to Zamperini but to her.

Broken Irish by Edward J. Delaney (Turtle Point Press, 2011) another spectacular novel that deserves a wide readership and won't get it. It is
another example of a most worthy effort slipping through the cracks, sinking like a rock, going up in smoke. I don't know why, but this happens all the time. Write a stupid dracula chick novel and you'll make millions. Set in Southy, the part of Boston that didn't go to Harvard, it features Jimmy Gilbride, a 32-year old tech writer and drunk "in decent shape, if that means thin -- someone hardly prone to eating. He's especially slack where the skin gathers around the joints. He is sustained by the nutrients of many beverages, by the gum he chews incessantly to mask his breath and by some beer nuts thrown in for a suggestion of something solid." It is a story of accident and ruin and it does not have a happy ending.

The Litigators by John Grisham (Random, 2011) provided a day-long spree of reading for fun. The sly humor and great characters plus a really smart and entertaining plot make what might be thought of as junk one of the most delicious novels around. David Zink, Harvard boy and senior associate at one of those legal sweatshops that churn out mega billings, goes haywire one day, walks out, and after 12 hours in a local bar, winds up on the couch in the office of a pair of seedy ambulance chasers. They clean up his mess and he eventually cleans up theirs. As a lawyer who has never seen a courtroom, David stumbles into a trial as the lead lawyer in a huge litigation against a major drug company during which he faces a battery of $700-an-hour lawyers from his old firm. Not to spoil it for anybody, but this one does have a (very) happy ending.