Tag Archives: books

summer-reading

Round out summer with easy-reading presidential history

Reading history books is tough. Even the most voracious readers often find it difficult to dive into a history. History books have a tendency to be overly academic, and even fans of the subject may have a difficult time with these works. What follows is a list of presidential biographies that are mostly easy to read and teach history in a way that is simple to follow. These authors turn their revered subjects into human beings, complete with flaws, problems, and goals.

American Lion: Andrew Jackson in the White House by Jon Meacham

Andrew Jackson is a pretty controversial president, and Jon Meacham captures perfectly the profound, contradictory nature of the nation’s seventh chief executive. Jackson is credited for expanding the very scope of democracy, yet he ruled with an iron fist, spit in the face of the Supreme Court, and owned slaves. He was a rough, rugged, angry, and vicious man who could also shake hands and behave cordially with the elites of Washington. Jackson is known for forcefully removing the Cherokee from their lands, yet he adopted a native boy as his son. He hated violently, and he loved sincerely.

Meacham displays the contradictions of Jackson’s personality and the drama that defined him by dividing the book into chapters based on each soap-operatic episode of the man’s life. You are able to more easily understand Old Hickory’s nature by learning about his courtship and loss of his wife, Rachel, his feud and friendship with Thomas Hart Benton, the Peggy Eaton affair that led to the resignation of Jackson’s entire cabinet, the fight over the National Bank, and his vicious, personal disputes with John Quincy Adams, Henry Clay, and John C. Calhoun.

Meacham’s American Lion is a great read that displays the evolution of a nation through the lens of the life of one controversial man — a man who lived through the American Revolution and died trying to prevent a Civil War.

Lincoln at Gettysburg: The Words That Remade America by Garry Wills

Lincoln at Gettysburg is a much more intellectually challenging book than the rest on this list, but it is an important one to recommend. The book is short but dense, so take your time when reading this work.

Garry Wills sets out to explain the historical, political, philosophical, and even literary context of Abraham Lincoln’s famous speech on a hallowed Pennsylvania battleground. You will learn the influences on Lincoln’s mind, from Daniel Webster to Ralph Waldo Emerson, as well as his intentions when making the Address: Lincoln’s goal was to change the purpose of the war, to reclaim the Union’s status as righteous warriors from a Confederacy that was close to gaining help from European powers. And while Lincoln’s short speech was actually right in line with what was expected of him, it achieved a level of notoriety that revolutionized American literature and set the stage for writers like Mark Twain.

Wills makes you think harder about a speech that many Americans know snippets of without understanding the meaning behind the words. The book ties together 100 years of American history in dissecting a single 272-word speech by viewing it from every angle. The reading is demanding but also enlightening and incredibly satisfying.

Destiny of the Republic: A Tale of Madness, Medicine and the Murder of a President by Candice Millard

When concocting a list of the most interesting presidents, few would rank James A. Garfield among the Top 30. But that is almost exclusively due to his short time as the nation’s leader. Candice Millard does a masterful job of explaining the story of Garfield’s presidency and its abrupt end at the hands of an assassin, making it a much more compelling tale than any history class has been able to tell.

Garfield, more than perhaps any other commander in chief, is a victim of boring history classes. To many, he is just a name in a list of 44 presidents. And Millard even highlights this fact to capture the true tragedy of the nation’s second presidential assassination: Garfield just didn’t have enough time to make a real impact. The assassin Charles Guiteau’s pulling of the trigger robbed us of a good man with good intentions who could have gone down in history as one of America’s greats.

This book is not just about Garfield. It is just as much a book about Guiteau and Alexander Graham Bell. They were all men on a mission: Garfield is determined to end the spoils system and the corruption running rampant in the government. Guiteau is on a mission to gain a government post, which he believes he deserves for a single speech in which he praised candidate Garfield — and when he is not awarded the job, he begins a new mission: to end the president’s life. Bell’s mission is to save the life of the president by quickly inventing an early version of the metal detector to track the bullet that came from Guiteau’s gun barrel; Garfield stays alive long enough for Bell to use his invention, but due to the doctor’s arrogance and monarchical control of the situation, Bell is unable to find the bullet.

Garfield’s America was in a state of change, and much like Meacham’s American Lion, Destiny of the Republic displays the country’s tremendous technological advances on display at the end of a presidency: Jackson was the first president to leave office in a train, and Garfield was the first president who could have been saved by modern science, including antisepsis, which was gaining popularity in other countries at the time.

The President and the Assassin: McKinley, Terror, and Empire at the Dawn of the American Century by Scott Miller

Much like Millard does with Garfield, Scott Miller makes President William McKinley interesting by framing his life alongside his assassin and the popular figures of the era. Unlike Guiteau, who was driven by madness, McKinley’s assassin, Leon Czolgosz, was driven by philosophy — and very much understood what he was doing by killing the president.

McKinley’s presidency marked many significant changes in America, including the end of non-intervention as U.S. foreign policy, the beginning of the American empire, and the expanse of American trade around the globe — all a result of the Spanish-American War. While the book doesn’t apologize for McKinley’s actions as president, it does explain them in a way that shows McKinley as a conflicted character who honestly believed he was doing what was best for the country and the world.

Czolgosz’s path is fascinating as well, as Miller looks at a man who truly believed in anarchism and set out to bring the world closer to that ideal. In many ways, Miller leads you to better understand Czolgosz and his crusade in an almost sympathetic light: McKinley was the president of the moneyed interests in the time of the robber barons, and his death did lead to the presidency of Theodore Roosevelt, who instituted sweeping reforms aimed at helping the middle and working classes. Certainly, killing the president was the wrong course, but Czolgosz’s actions really underscore the growing sentiments of the working class at the time.

1920: The Year of the Six Presidents by David Pietrusza

Want to learn about several presidents all at once? The Year of Six Presidents tells the story of, well, seven presidents. Six of them — Theodore Roosevelt, Woodrow Wilson, Warren G. Harding, Calvin Coolidge, Herbert Hoover, and Franklin D. Roosevelt — competed for the presidency in 1920, and a seventh, William Howard Taft, was awaiting the opportunity to join the Supreme Court.

David Pietrusza takes you on a journey through the lives of all seven men as they rise to greatness and attain their respective presidencies. Along the way, you will learn about the flaws and neuroses of each president, like Harding’s love for women and Teddy Roosevelt’s belief that everybody but him did a poor job as president.

Adding to the intriguing tale are the era’s defining issues, including Prohibition, the League of Nations, and women’s suffrage, with the election of 1920 being the first time in American history that women had the right to vote in all 48 states.

Pietrusza tells of Teddy Roosevelt, who was an early favorite to return to the Executive Mansion but died a year before the election; Wilson, who was suffering after a stroke but, as the incumbent, was certain he would win a precedent-breaking third term; and Hoover, who was riding a wave of popularity following his actions in Belgium during World War I but would not be able to secure his party’s nomination until 1928. Pietrusza tells the tale of 1920’s ultimate victors, the unlikely candidates Warren G. Harding and his running mate and successor Calvin Coolidge, along with their vanquished opponents, Al Smith and his running mate, the future president Franklin D. Roosevelt.

All seven Presidents featured in this book get their stories told, and all seven certainly seem more human when Pietrusza is done.

If you’re looking for some good reads that you’ll find both interesting and educational, check out these five books, read Lincoln’s twice, and see just how incredible — and flawed — these historical demigods really were.

more-tv

Binging makes TV watching more like reading

Several months ago, I touched on how the way we view television is changing. We are no longer tied to network schedules, and the combination of DVR and online streaming has turned “binge watching” into a full-fledged revolution in media consumption.

Suddenly realize there’s a show you want to start watching, but it’s about to start its fourth season? No problem; chances are you can find every episode of that series somewhere online and catch up before the new season starts. I’ve done that for many shows in the last few years.

But binge watching doesn’t just change the way you consume a certain television series: it creates a whole new experience while you’re watching it. When you watch several installments back to back, you remember all the little details you may have forgotten from one episode to the next if you had waited a full week between them. Binge watching that show then becomes more like reading a book; you can always go on to the next chapter whenever you want.

I’m a big book nerd. I’ll read just about anything I can get my hands on, and I can’t walk out of a bookstore without buying something — even though I already have well over 100 books in my “to-read” pile. With books, I really love the stories and the way they immerse you in another place or time. Binge watching television can have the same effect in a different medium. Settling in on the couch to watch a good series isn’t much different than curling up with a good novel.

When I read a book — especially vividly written fiction — my imagination runs wild. The world of the book becomes real to me. Certain books have more of an effect than others, but each has some sort of impact. The same goes for a really well-written television show. The more you watch, the more it gets in your head, and the characters, along with the world they inhabit, start to feel more and more real.

Maybe it’s just me, but I’ve found that many of the shows I’ve binge watched are the ones I’ve become more invested in. We formed a bond during those 12 hours spent watching episode after episode. (OK, so 12 hours of television in one sitting is a slight exaggeration, but you get the picture.) In some ways, watching shows like this can almost become an addiction: you plan your day so that you have enough time to squeeze in at least a couple more episodes — because you can’t not watch.

Then, once you’ve finished the series (or all the episodes you have access to), part of you just wants to go back and start them all over, like you do when you finish reading a really good novel. You aren’t ready for it to be over, but there isn’t anything else left, so you might as well start again from the beginning. This happened when I binge watched Doctor Who and Torchwood for the first time years ago, and when I watched the first two seasons of Teen Wolf last summer.

Some people try to tell me rereading books is a waste of time, and the same could go for rewatching television shows. There are so many other options out there, they say, why bother with something you’ve already seen (or read)? I disagree.

I often equate rereading a book with a visit to an old friend. You get to relive all the things you loved, remember all the things you forgot, and sometimes learn things you hadn’t known before. I’m currently in the middle of rereading all the Harry Potter books and am enjoying them just as much as I did the first time around. The same is true when you binge-watch a series you’ve already seen from start to finish. You’re reminded of all the qualities you enjoyed about the series the first time, and you get to experience all your favorite parts over again.

My family and I have been rewatching Gilmore Girls recently, and there are so many things that we had forgotten about the series that some episodes feel like we’re watching them for the first time. And there’s something comforting about revisiting Rory and Lorelai’s adventures. I’ve always wished I could live somewhere like Stars Hollow (though if I actually did, I’d probably go crazy in a week), and I love visiting that town through the show.

There are those who would argue that watching television is not as intellectually stimulating as reading a book in your down time, but those people apparently haven’t tried figuring out what Hurley’s lottery numbers mean on Lost or put thought into any number of other television mysteries.

One way in which binge watching a series could arguable be superior to reading a novel is with those frustrating cliffhangers. The ability to binge watch a show that has a habit of ending in cliffhangers, either at the end of an episode or at the end of a season, means you don’t always have to wait a week (or several months) in between those episodes to see what happens next. Unfortunately, in a series of novels, there’s no way to avoid the big cliffhangers between books unless you wait until the entire series is published before reading.

When each Harry Potter book came out, I started reading and did not stop until the book was finished. I read all 759 pages of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows in less than 12 hours. That’s not much different than watching an entire season of television in less than a week. Book readers have been in on this trend for decades; now, binge watching is the new normal for television.

If you’re looking for suggestions on what shows to binge watch, check out our Binge Watch column where we periodically review shows our staff writers have binged.

giving-tree

Why I hate The Giving Tree by Shel Silverstein

Reading books has always been one of my favorite pastimes. One of the most positive aspects of my own childhood was having a variety of books at my disposal. Someone, usually my grandmother, would see that I got to the library every two weeks during summer breaks, and I could borrow as many books as I could carry. On my birthday, Easter, and Christmas, I could expect to receive many books as gifts.

Not only did I have access to books, but I also had good reading role models. My grandparents always spend their evenings reading. My grandfather favors nonfiction, especially political analyses and biographies. My grandmother prefers mystery novels.

My dad spent many hours reading to me as a child. I loved how he would change his voice for each character. He has always spent days when it is either too hot or too cold to be outside with a book in his hands. He especially loves Larry McMurtry and historical fiction set in the time of the fur-trading mountain man.

In the summers, I would spend some weekends with my aunt and cousin. My aunt would usually take us to the public pool and, when we were tired of the water, we would rest on her big blanket and listen as she read us The Hobbit.

For myself, I prefer novels and historical fiction, though I do read nonfiction and biographies on topics and people who interest me. Long before I had kids, I knew that I would want to develop in them a love of books and reading. When I was expecting my first child, many books were given to me as gifts. Among them were classics from Beatrix Potter, plus Goodnight Moon, Where the Wild Things Are, whimsical books by Eric Carle and Sandra Boynton, and Shel Silverstein’s The Giving Tree.

For the beginning part of my first child’s young life, most of our time was spent with short and sweet books made out of fabric or board, which could survive near-constant exposure to baby gums and baby drool. But, after a while, I thought we’d read The Giving Tree. Everyone I knew said they loved it.

So, we began to read. The book starts out well enough. A tree loves a little boy. The little boy loves the tree. He loves her shade and her leaves and her apples. He loves to spend time with her, climb, swing, and play with her. The tree is happy. The boy is happy.

And that’s where the nice story ends and the personality disorders of the two main characters are revealed.

The boy grows up and leaves the tree but returns as a young adult. The tree invites the boy to come and play, but the boy says he wants to have fun and buy things and asks the tree for money. This is red flag number one: selfish freeloader. The tree doesn’t have money, of course, but gives the boy, now a young man, all of her apples to sell. The boy does not even say thank you. So far, the tree seems to be a helpful friend, willing to give the boy the benefit of the doubt that he really isn’t a selfish freeloader. The tree is wrong.

Years go by and the boy comes back to the tree. He is sad. He again refuses the tree’s offer to play and, without so much as a “How do you do?” asks for a house. Red flag number two: narcissism. Narcissism is a personality disorder in which an individual pursues personal gratification without regard for the feelings of others. Some traits of narcissists include (but certainly are not limited to) difficulty maintaining satisfactory relationships and a lack of empathy.

Of course, the tree has no house, but she does have branches, which she gives the boy (who is now a man) in order to build himself a house. He takes the lumber and leaves, again without saying thank you! The tree is happy.

Here’s where I begin to worry about this tree, because I’m pretty sure this tree suffers from codependency. Codependency, as defined by Wikipedia, is “a psychological condition or a relationship in which a person is controlled or manipulated by another who is affected with a pathological condition (typically narcissism or drug addiction); and in broader terms, it refers to the dependence on the needs of, or control of, another. It also often involves placing a lower priority on one’s own needs, while being excessively preoccupied with the needs of others.”

The tree now has no branches, no leaves, and no apples. It’s basically alone and naked in the woods for decades when the boy, who is now a much older man, comes back. I imagine him, during this absence, having been married and divorced a minimum of three times. He probably has foreclosed on at least one house and has developed a gambling problem and an addiction to alcohol and/or street drugs. He also has had difficulty keeping a job and is estranged from all of his kids because he never really cared enough to parent them.

But return to the tree he does, and the tree is ecstatic. Did he come to thank the tree? Did he come to visit, reminisce, or play with the tree? The answer, predictably, is a big, fat NO. Now, this guy whines that he’s too old and too sad and too miserable, and he wants to sail away in a boat. (Probably to escape those persistent debt collectors and the attorneys of his three ex-wives!) The tree offers her entire trunk to this self-centered bastard and is happy about it. If I was unsure whether the tree was codependent before, I’m not anymore. The man is not too old to carry away the rest of this tree, and he presumably makes his boat and sails away. I’ll let you guess whether or not he said thank you.

Finally, when the man is old and very near death, he comes back to the tree. The tree is actually sorry that she has nothing left to offer the man except what little remains of her stump. But he uses the tree one last time as a chair, and the tree is happy.

Really!?!?!

I hate this book because it’s not a story of love and friendship. It’s not even a story about giving, as the title implies. The Giving Tree is actually a really sick tale of a horribly dysfunctional relationship. For kids.

No, thank you. If my kids are going to learn about dysfunctional relationships, it’s going to be the old-fashioned way: by watching inappropriate movies and television shows, and by the example set by their dad and me.

summer-reading

‘Martial Mama’ shares her favorite summer reads

Ahab’s Wife: or, The Star-Gazer by Sena Jeter Naslund

This novel imagines the story of the wife of Captain Ahab (yes, that Captain Ahab). Naslund’s tale weaves literary characters (Ahab and the crew of the Pequod) with actual historical figures (Margaret Fuller and Maria Mitchell, as well as Emerson, Hawthorne, and the Alcotts). The story follows the physical and spiritual journey of Una from her home in backwoods Kentucky to the shores of Nantucket, Massachusetts. Una’s keen mind and reflections on the nature of self, others, the natural world, and beyond make for an inspiring and satisfying read.

The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien

I love this book so much because a) it is a delightful tale of adventure, b) it shows how even a small and relatively unremarkable hobbit can make a huge difference in the lives of others, c) Middle-earth is a fascinating place, d) Bard and his black arrow are way cool, and e) it brings back fond memories of my aunt reading this to my cousin and me. A fantasy tale with lessons about first impressions, facing one’s fears, loyalty, friendship, tough decisions, and good and bad, The Hobbit is a book that is worth a read and then some.

The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver

In 1959, Evangelical Baptist preacher Nathan Price embarks on a mission from Georgia to the Congo with his family. The story is told from the perspectives of his wife, Orleanna, and his four daughters, Ruth May, Rachel, Leah, and Adah. Combined, their voices weave a tapestry of experiences, sometimes uplifting and sometimes tragic. Kingsolver deftly explores the topics of culture, religion, individuality, family dynamics, and a search for truth and meaning against the backdrop of political unrest in an unfamiliar land.

All the Pretty Horses by Cormac McCarthy

I have my friend and fellow Curiata.com contributor John Butz to thank for introducing me to this book and the works of Cormac McCarthy. In general, I read books fast, eager to see how the story unfolds. This is impossible to do with All the Pretty Horses (and McCarthy’s other books as well). Despite McCarthy’s spare use of punctuation (no quotation marks signifying conversations, for example) and long sentences, his skillful use of language makes you want to slow down and savor every beautiful word. The story follows John Grady Cole, a 16-year-old Texas cowboy with a natural affinity for horses, and the loss of everything dear to him (his grandfather, the family ranch, his parents, his love, his horses, the Age of the Cowboy). While this may sound depressing (and don’t get me wrong, it mostly is depressing), there is room for hope here for “the world to come.” Even though McCarthy’s work would never be considered light reading, gems like this make it well worth the time:

The fire had burned to coals and he lay looking up at the stars in their places and the hot belt of matter that ran the chord of the dark vault overhead and he put his hands on the ground at either side of him and pressed them against the earth and in that coldly burning canopy of black he slowly turned dead center to the world, all of it taut and trembling and moving enormous and alive under his hands.

Outlander by Diana Gabaldon

In recommending this book, I really am recommending the entire “Outlander” series of which the eighth book, Written In My Own Heart’s Blood, was just released June 10. Since one generally begins a series at the beginning, though, let’s start there. It is hard to categorize this book; it is at once historical fiction, science fiction, mystery, romance, and adventure. Bear with me, because the premise sounds questionable, but the story really is amazing. Claire, a combat nurse, reunites with her soldier-husband, Frank, in Inverness, Scotland, in 1945. One afternoon, while looking for medicinal herbs, Claire comes upon a group of standing stones. She touches one of the ancient boulders and is unwittingly transported back in time to 1743. What follows is an adventure involving a sadistic British officer, a young Scottish warrior, political intrigue, clan warfare, witchcraft, and a woman forced to declare her own loyalties. If you undertake “Outlander,” do me one favor: please, please, please stay with it for the first few chapters. The beginning seems a bit uneventful, but after page 50, the action never stops.

broken-harbor

Broken Harbor pulls reader into murder case

Broken Harbor by Tana French is the fourth book in the Dublin Murder Squad series. With this work, French once again displays she is a master of police procedurals. She has created another tale of complex characters that draws the reader into the compelling plot.

French established herself at the outset as a great writer of crime fiction. The first book in the series, In the Woods, won several awards, including the 2008 Edgar Award for Best First Novel by an American Author. French, who now resides in Ireland and has also lived in Italy and Malawi, excels at writing about the “broken hero.” Her books feature an imperfect protagonist: a homicide detective with a checkered past — thought to be safely buried away, but brought to the surface by the case at hand.

In Broken Harbor, French has improved her game by introducing us to Mick “Scorcher” Kennedy, a murder detective who always gets his man. Kennedy, along with his rookie partner, are assigned a high-profile triple murder that takes Kennedy to the estate of Briantstown, formerly known as “Broken Harbor.” The place holds powerful memories for Kennedy — memories that are disturbing enough on their own, let alone in light of the recent murder of Patrick Spain and his two children, and the attempted murder of Spain’s wife, Jenny.

The appeal of Broken Harbor, as with French’s other books, is the expert way in which she manages to weave the detective’s tortured past into the present horror he or she is facing. French not only takes the reader through the process of solving the murder, but also exposes how this particular case will tear the protagonist apart from the inside out. Kennedy’s search for the truth will force him to come to terms with both his past and his present, while also making him question his future.

As Kennedy and his partner work the case, they encounter more questions than answers. French’s stories sometimes have a touch of the supernatural to them, lending them a sense that things aren’t always what they appear to be. In Broken Harbor, the unreliability of the narrator draws the reader into the search for that missing piece of the case.

The stories French creates make her books difficult to put down. As the detectives dive into the lives of the victims in order to solve the case, it is easy to forget they are dead. French’s characterizations and plot construction propel the reader on a nonstop whirlwind to the last page of the book. Don’t expect that conclusion to be a happy one, where everything is wrapped up with a neat little bow as our hero rides off into the sunset, however. Much like real life, French’s books don’t end that way.

If you are looking for a crime novel that has amazing character development, will pull you in, make you question the protagonist’s point of view, and make you think about the ending long after you put it down, then Broken Harbor is the book for you.