One of the questions Love of Reading guest bloggers were asked to respond to was ‘What are some books that have really surprised you, recently?’ I mulled it over and came up with four outstanding books and one limber audiobook, all recent releases that stand head and shoulders over the sprawling book pile competing for our attention.
First and foremost - and one that I can’t get out of my mind - is Christian Jungersen’s The Exception, which cut big swathes through European readers before its North American release. I took a while to open it - just as in the case of Alice Sebold’s The Lovely Bones, the blurb put me off. It sounded weird and depressing, or perhaps demanding too much from the reader, and I wasn’t sure I wanted to commit. But the read is well worth the effort, provoking all kinds of ideas, and musings that linger long after turning the last page. It has a great deal to say about people’s ordinary - and exceptional - reactions to evil, but also about the seeds of evil acts, which can grow from participants’ and spectators’ unquestioning acceptance of small unkindnesses and bullying in daily life.
The setting - a Danish Centre for Genocide Information - provides readers with a steady stream of thought provoking facts, report extracts, and disturbing research results. We see social bullying - something in which many engage via exclusion, picking on those who seem different, and self righteousness - in action in the office and realize how easily it can get out of control. The Internet plays a pivotal role in the novel, given its ease in unleashing far-flung communications, and the way that actions - taken quickly, without much thought - can have far-reaching, unintended consequences - with terrible outcomes. An excellent psychological character study evolves into a thriller with a powerful twist at the end. But you have to read The Exception for yourself. Just as in The Lovely Bones, words cannot convey its impact.
Another most unusual read is Jo Walton’s Ha’Penny (second in a sinister series that began with Farthing). Walton takes us to an alternate history England, in which - after the initial fighting in World War II - the upper-crust fascist Farthing set took control of the government from Churchill and came to terms with Hitler, leaving him to keep running his death camps in Europe, in exchange for peace in our time. The books have a flavor of Agatha Christie whodunits - Farthing in an elegant upper class setting, and Ha’Penny focused on a theater production - and both have aristocratic heroines. These fairly ordinary - even flighty - young women have rebeled to some degree against their upbringings (in Farthing through marriage and in Ha’Penny by occupation).
What intrigues me about the series is that it portrays a society in denial of the genocide perpetrated in Europe, and the lesser evils going on all around them via discrimination against English Jews, homosexuals, and other second class citizens. The heroines of the two books are forced to confront truths they’d rather not have recognized, and both reluctantly rise to the occasion. On the other hand, homosexual Scotland Yard Inspector Carmichael is a decent man who compromises his principles to keep his job and protect his partner - he knows he’s sold his soul to the devil but can’t see a way out and only manages to dig himself deeper. Readers ask themselves what they would do in similar circumstances, and wonder how close we are to such a society today, when events have triggered a similar - though not so draconian - reaction to restrict civil liberties and undermine freedom.
Which nicely segues into politics and the next book on my list, Richard North Patterson’s The Race (don’t miss his previous absorbing Exile either). The Race is a very timely take on both a presidential race and issues of race that the opposition ignites during the campaign. An over-ambitious establishment candidate compromises his principles at every turn, with the ‘Darth Vader of American politics’ running his campaign. A charismatic - but principled - Christian fundamentalist minister believes that God is on his side. And then there’s a maverick Senator, an ex-Gulf War Air Force pilot who votes his conscience and is propelled into the race by a public act of heroism in the face of terrorism. His candidacy is compromised by his developing relationship with a lovely and intelligent African-American movie star. The Race, a must read for anyone who values ethics and honesty in leaders, has a surprising - and satisfying - twist at the end.
One common thread running through these novels is critical thinking - the extent to which characters do or don’t engage in it - which brings me to the fourth on today’s list, Laban Carrick Hill’s coffee-table sized America Dreaming: How Youth Changed America in the ’60s (Hill also wrote the excellent Harlem Stomp!) While both are aimed at the YA audience, they work just as well for adults, especially America Dreaming, which will fascinate anyone in the boomer generation. Hill tells us that, rather than being a tale of extremes and excess, ‘The real story of the ’60s depicts the largest generation in American history coming of age in an unprecedented period of economic growth, and questioning the very basis of our government, culture, and economy.’ The author guides us through the era from Romper Room in the ’50s to Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring and the seeds of the environmental movement. In addition to informative text, the book is filled with wonderful photographs.
Reading America Dreaming made me recall the excitement and turmoil of the era. But musing about the ’60s always makes me wonder what happened to critical thinking in young people, which seems - at best - less visible today. A friend suggested to me that it might be because the boomer generation is still around and active in many of the causes they initiated. Indeed, volunteering is now so much part of the establishment that it’s a requirement to support university applications. So perhaps today’s young people are simply marching to their own drummers. Laban Carrick Hill concludes his wonderful retrospective by suggesting that ‘The lesson learned from the ’60s was that all people - young, old, and in between - could make a difference.’ A good lesson to remember and a great book for anyone who lived through this transformative time.
To end on a lighter note, here’s my Lissome Listen, The Poets’ Corner: The One-and-Only Poetry Book for the Whole Family, compiled by puckish rhymster John Lithgow, who exuberantly introduces fifty of his favorite poets - from ‘Serious Poet’ Matthew Arnold to ‘Lake Poet’ William Butler Yeats - and their works. He offers an articulate, at times whimsical, analysis of each bard’s background and body of work. But what impresses most in this anthology are the readings themselves, ‘by John Lithgow and friends’ - he has an impressive list of buddies - including Jodie Foster, Glenn Close, Helen Mirren, Morgan Freeman, Lynn Redgrave, and Susan Sarandon, amongst other notables - performing masterful narrations. This delightful collection comes in both hardcover and audiobook - the former includes an MP3 CD of the poetry narrations. Many not yet touched by the muse may well discover a passion for poetry after listening to Lithgow’s lissome analysis and The Poets’ Corner’s lyrical performances.
I hope you try some of these exceptional books - and the audiobook - for yourself, and enjoy the rest of your time browsing at the 2007 Love of Reading Book Fair!