BOOKS: Guns Of August

Rare color photo from WWI. The trenches French Army.

Winston Churchill called it a “drama never surpassed.” WWI changed the face of Europe. Shattered was the idyllic peace created in 1815 at the Congress of Vienna by Talleyrand, Castlereagh, and Metternich. Europe had enjoyed 100 years of peace, gone in an instant with the coming of the “Guns of August.” Of all the books written about WWI, Barbara Tuchman’s Pulitzer Prize winning 1962 classic, “The Guns Of August” still remains one of the best. This was an influential book. How so? John Kennedy drew from it as his inspiration and guide in dealing with the Cuban Missile Crisis. Tuchman’s analysis of WWI showed Kennedy how unforeseen circumstances and implications could lead to a rapid escalation of a situation. He regarded the, “Guns Of August,” so highly that he recommended it be read by every officer in the army. Subsequently copies of the book were sent to every military base in the world. The heart of the books influence was its implications for the proper study of decision-making in warfare. The circumstances that caused WWI escalated quickly and Tuchman’s analysis was spot on. “Guns Of August,” concentrates mainly on the beginning of the war and the causes and the decisions that led up to it. This book is not so much about the soldiers in the trenches, although the horror of that is there, this is a book about the decision makers. It’s a grand sweep of a book pulling together much of the international decision making process and putting into a coherent whole. Essentially, it’s a book based on folly, the folly of those decision makers who caused the “great tragedy” that wiped out a generation of European youth. The period of August 1914 receives the most detail in the book, almost an hour by hour account. Why? It was in August that many of the fatal decisions were made. But these fatal decisions extended beyond the war itself, for they were the decisions that set the stage for WWII and caused the breakdown of European nobility and society. Tuchman’s book brings this all to light. Here described are the mechanics of war and how it got started. The books value? It teaches the lessons of history, still shunned by some decision makers today. Maybe it should be read again and marked up with a pencil. In terms of style the, “Guns of August,” is easy to read and moves quickly, if anything it ends to soon. A must read for any military history fan.

BOOKS: Library At Night

State Library, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia

"These evil white scabs" says Argentine writer and bibliophile Alberto Manguel, referring to the price stickers affixed to books. In a marvelous book about books, “ The Library At Night, “ Manguel explores the magic of books and libraries. To some books are a comforting factor, a connection to a wider world and the opening of vistas that can’t even be imagined until the pages of a book are dipped into, read, felt, even smelled. Some people are like that, just slightly off when it comes to books, it’s a, “gentile madness,” as Nicholas Basbanes calls it. Alberto Manguel is like that, “gently mad” about books and libraries and it shows in this book of contemplation and observation. “Library At Night,” as a whole is kind of a plea for the appreciation of the printed word in an age of digital information. Books have served us well and Manguel sets out to show us why and to stir the emotions and memories of anyone who loves books and libraries. He celebrates the joy and the solace of being a reader and has created a justification for those with an inexorable desire to collect books, order them and create a library. The inspiration for “Library At Night lies in the process of creating his own library in Loire, France. Manguel says: “Libraries have always seemed to me pleasantly mad places, and for as long as I can remember I’ve been seduced by their labyrinthine logic.” He covers just about every aspect about books and libraries, ho hum, you say__ not so, this is a well-written work with something interesting on each page. The book is a patchwork of meditations, which include: musings on the great libraries of the world, the history of libraries, anecdotes about his own personal library as well as those of Charles Dickens, Jorge Luis Borges, and the story of the struggles to maintain the freedom of thought. Other topics include: libraries of banned books, the imaginary library of Count Dracula and the library of books never written. Each chapter begins with: "The Library As...." a "Power," "Myth," "Shadow," "Chance," etc. “Library At Night” can be used as a source book as it contains many photos and extensive notes that can inspire you to read further. This is one man’s journey and his love affair with books. If you are inclined to suffer from the same “gentle madness” as Manguel you will appreciate his love of books and his life long journey to build a library. If you are book crazy read this book.

BOOKS: Burma The Longest War

British Jungle Headquarters, Burma 1945

It was the “Longest War. A brutal campaign that was waged in Burma from 1941-1945. Many considered it the most brutal campaign of WWII, fought in the unbearably hot and humid Burmese jungle and immortalized in such films as: as “Bridge on the River Kwai,” and “Operation Burma.” Malaria, typhus, dysentery, anemia and foot rot racked the troops. Hardened and fanatical Japanese troops fought tenaciously in battles that took the allies 3 years to win. Burma in 1941 was hell and no one better portrays the horror of the Burmese theater than Louis Allen in his 2000 book: “Burma The Longest War 1941-1945.” Allen a Japanese linguist and veteran of the Burmese campaign takes special care to portray the gritty reality of life in the hostile Burmese jungle. This is a thick book, 720 pages long and 2 and a half pounds and considered the definitive account of the Burmese campaign. If you are into WWII history, especially the Southeast Asian Theater read this book. It’s fascinating. Unfortunately it is out of print and used copies can run from $60 to $150. It’s that good. Local libraries may have a copy. The plus about Allen’s book is that it is balanced. Both the Japanese and the British perspectives are presented. Allen drew not only from British and Allied sources, but also from official Japanese documents and personal interviews with Japanese troops. He is quite adroit at presenting the Japanese perspective, especially in the Battle of Kohima where the beleaguered Japanese were driven from India and back into Burma where they were eventually defeated. Allen’s book is poignant because today the Burmese campaign is mostly forgotten. It was a brutal and hard fought campaign and it is the war that saved the Indian subcontinent. Past accounts of about the Burmese theater have been fragmentary and based mainly on personal interviews with a few participants, but Allen has done a magnificent job of bringing it all together and giving the war a unified perspective. Most importantly Allen gives Burma the treatment it deserves and the book is a memorial to the suffering and sacrifice that has long been forgotten. Rarely do you find a book so well written by someone actually in the right place at the right time. If you’re interested in WWII, trying to obtain a copy is well worth it.

BOOKS: The Great Game

Kashgar, The Pamir Highway. Cradle of

Kipling's Great Game

“Now I shall go far and far into the north, playing the Great Game…” so said Rudyard Kipling in his 1901 novel “Kim,” speaking about the imperial struggle for power in Central Asia between Russia and Great Britain. Things haven’t changed all that much in the 21^st century__ does Afghanistan or Pakistan sound familiar? If you want to know the historical and cultural background of this region in Central Asia the book to read is Peter Hopkirk’s, 1992 work, “The Great Game The Struggle for Empire In Central Asia.” Actually, the phrase, “Great Game,” was coined by Captain Arthur Connolly of the East India Company, before he was beheaded in Bokhara for spying in 1842. Central Asia has been a troublesome spot for Western powers for centuries. Today the players have changed, but the trouble remains. And it is a deep-rooted trouble historically explained by Hopkirk’s fascinating book. The historical struggle for Central Asia is full of intrigue, ambition and military adventure, it’s a fascinating story with relevance today and Hopkirk doesn’t deliver one boring page. What happened after the demise of Czarist Russia? Afghanistan and the surrounding area erupted into a decade of bloody fighting. Sound familiar? Hopkirk has done amazing research for this book and gets into the details of the actual intrigues and spies plying their trade for influence and gain. The Russians at the time wanted to expand their territory and the British wanted to protect their interest in India. The wild and untamed land between the two countries was the chess board on which the Great Game took place. Ironically, much of the world today is now focused on this same region as troubles in the area once again threaten world security. But the real value of of Hopkirk’s book is that it focuses on the culture and history of Central Asia providing today’s readers with much needed background on an area little understood by Westerners. This book is easy to read, well-researched and well worth reading. Highly recommended.

BOOKS: Olives

Olives may surprise you! I know you think, well __green or black, stuffed or pitted, so what? Not so according to, Mort Rosenblum, Olives, "have oiled the wheels of civilization since Jericho built walls and ancient Greece was morning news." In an engaging book, simply named, “Olives,” Rosenblum shows how the olive and olive oil is akin to and as richly nuanced as grapes and wine. Yes wine, some olive oil tastes so good that is drunk as a liqueur. There are 700 varieties and olives are native to and most widely grown in Italy, Spain, France, Greece and the Middle East. Acidity and taste are affected, just like grapes, by the variety of the olive, the soil, seasonal weather and the presence of pests. Rosenblum covers in great detail the pressing of olives and the manufacture of olive oil. Olives and olive are a 10 billion dollar a year business and Rosenblum covers the business side of the humble olive as well. The biggest producer: Spain at 37% and Italy at 19%. And if your bottle of olive oil says, ‘product of Italy, “ well perhaps not. Many growers from countries around the world ship their olives to Italy to be blended and bottled so that the bottles can wear the “product of Italy” tag that helps them sell. And don’t forget the graft. No not the plant graft, but the corruption kind, Rosenblum examines the seedy side of the business from organized involvement to adulterating the oil with seed oil. There’s even cheating that goes on to gain EU crop subsides. Olives are serious business and the consumption around the world is quite high with Greek per capita consumption topping 5 gallons per year. Olives have also gained a new found respect among the the medical community as studies have proven that olive oil is good for the heart. Once this was discovered the demand for olive oil rose as well as the price, as you may have noticed. So if you want to read about olives this is the book. It’s witty, engaging and interesting. Next time you see that olive floating in your martini give it some respect.

BOOKS: Disarmed The Story of the Venus de Milo

She was discovered in 1820 by a Greek peasant on the Aegean island of Milos. She is the beauty with no arms, a cultural icon. Admired by tens of millions she now resides at the Louvre, but what is the object of her gaze? No one knows for sure. This grand lady has quite a past though and Gregory Curtis was intent on finding it out when he researched his 2004 book, “Disarmed The Story of the Venus de Milo.” Her past is indeed checkered. People have lied about her, told stories and Cutis, in his meticulously researched book, sets out to dispel some of these false stories and out right lies. Does he succeed? Yes. It turns out her tale is a convoluted one. How did she lose her arms? Many said in a wild battle on the beach at Milos between Greek brigands and French sailors vying to possess her__such was her beauty. Supposedly she was lashed about and broken in the heat of the battle. Hmm, not quite says Curtis, drawings of the statue when it was first discovered show that its arms were already missing. Well maybe she was in an earlier brawl, we just don’t know. Her beginnings are still a bit mirky and Curtis also attempts to clear things up as much as possible. The Venus de Milo was first recognized as a piece of valuable art by French naval officer Olivier Voutier, as such the French government wanted to claim its prize, however the representative of the French ambassador's secretary was a little slow of foot to arrive on Milos for the purchase and the Greek peasant who discovered it sold it to the Turks. At the last minute the French ambassador's representative arrived just as the Turks were loading it onto a ship bound for Constantinople. He seized it and today it sits in the Louvre. Sad note though, the Sultan’s representative, who lost the statue to the French, was executed in 1821. So the de Milo was fought over after all, however sans the brigands and the battle, but still with and execution in her wake. So she does have an interesting past after all and Curtis succeeds at admirably telling it. That’s the strength of this book, Curtis manages to bring to light the actual intrigue that surrounded the statue after its discovery. Not only does he set the facts straight, but also gives flesh to the odd assortment of eccentrics responsible for the statues discovery and its eventual display at the Louvre. This is a well written and remarkable book.

MILOS

Milos, Aegean Islands, Greece. Island where Venus de Milo was discovered.

BOOKS: Virginia Woolf

"Second hand books are wild books, homeless books; they have come together in vast flocks of variegated feather, and have a charm which the domesticated volumes of the library lack" So said Virginia Woolf just one of her innumerable quotes. They can fill a book. She was that intriguing. If you want to know about her, what book should you read? Her own writings are the best, they bare her inner soul, but what about a good biography? Woolf’s life has been looked at reexamined again and rewritten. Which biography should one read? I have looked at several. Hermione Lee, in her 1997 biography, “Virginia Woolf,” seems best at making sense of Woolf’s, “drifting material of life.” Lee goes somewhat beyond chronicling the unusual, the details of life, the alleged madness, the suicide. These aspects are there, but Lee gives back Virginia Woolf some of her human dimension, gone is the deified personification, the iconic myth. We see how the circumstances of Woolf’s life shaped her genius and her writing. This is a biography about Woolf as she really was, snobbish, envious, critical yet generous. This is biography that is worthy of Woolf herself, it is well written, well researched and an accurate portrait of her sharp mind. Lee makes extensive use of Woolf’s correspondence and diaries to render an accurate picture. Woolf comes off not as a fragile eccentric, suffering from madness, but as a complex, troubled, yet brilliant artist. This is a biography that will bring you closer to knowing who Woolf really was as a person as well as an artist, an artist that has been often distorted and mythologized. Still there remains something intriguing about Woolf, a women who lived passionately and dangerously and died by her on hand. Remarkably Lee has left that intrigue intact and we get a look at a very human “extraordinary person.”

Books: Patience and Fortitude

“Patience and Fortitude”__ These two lions, carved out of Tennessee marble, have guarded the doors of the New York Public Library since 1921. Guarded what? The knowledge within. Some people feel that way about libraries__regarding them as the keepers of knowledge, the storehouse and record of human achievement. Well Nicholas Basbanes feels that way also. In his 2001 book, “Patience and Fortitude A Roving Chronicle Of Book People, Book Places and Book Culture,” Bisbanes chronicles the history of libraries, book dealers and book collectors and the obsession that drives them. Of course the booklover inevitably emerges as an odd bird. But any obsession creates a bit of oddity. Take for example a man who in 1939 sold bottles of his own blood to purchase a rare book on Native American lanaguages. Bibliophiles are like that, but it’s a “Gentle Madness” as Basbanes calls it in his first book by the same name. A book you may also want to check out. “Patience and Fortitude,” is a sequel of sorts to, “Gentle Madness.” It opens with a history of the great libraries of the past, such as Alexandria and Pergamum, and then moves forward to the active collections held at the Vatican, Wolfenbottel and the universities of Durham, Leiden and Oxford. Attention is also given to the new library at Alexandria, National Libraries of England and France, and unique collections of monasteries. From there the reader gets a look book dealers often painted by Basbanes as just as odd as the book lover. A dealer tells Basbanes, speaking of his bookshop, "I absolutely insist on keeping the same crummy look. Every time I make the place too neat, business goes down." But the thing that stands out about “Patience and Fortitude,” is the look at the great librarians of the past, brief as that look maybe. Yes hard as that is to believe librarians were once highly regarded. In Europe of the past the position was often a royal appointment, but that's another story. The book ends on a somewhat sad note with a conversation with librarians fretting over too many old books and no one who wants to read them. This is a book for those who glory in books. Highly recommended.

BOOKS:Why This World

Until last month I had never read anything by Clarice Lispector, also known as the “Brazilian Sphinx.” Apparently most Americans have not. Although highly regarded by Latin American scholars and considered one of Brazil’s most intriguing authors, few American scholars even know of her. This is surprising because in Brazil as well as in Latin America she lived a life of mythic proportions. She was stunningly beautiful, tragic, and a mystery, but is this is what caused this obsessive fascination with her life? Partly it was the beauty and the tragedy of her brief life, but mainly it was her talent. She was arguably Brazil’s greatest writer. It is said that, “she looked like Marlene Dietrich and wrote like Virginia Woolf.” All these characteristics were rolled up into one enigmatic character__hence the name, “the Sphinx.” And she was loved for it. In a new biography, “Why This World,” Harper’s columnist Benjamin Moser, tries and does make sense of Lispector’s life and writing. Lispector’s work was born from within her turbulent life. It bubbled up and came out in her writing. Her style is impressionistic. She used what critics called an “exquisite abstraction” or language in search of its own meaning. Hard to understand? Her writings are hard to explain, you must experience them. Moser”s biograpraphy is painstaking researched and he visited many of the actual spots were Lispector spent time. He traces the details of Lispector’s life from her birth in pogrom torn Ukraine, on to her immigration to Brazil in 1922 at the age of five and then through her precocious and tempestuous rise to fame. A fame she achieved at 23 with the publication of, “Near to A Wild Heart.” And a fame that was fueled mainly by her unequaled literary talent. As she aged her persona grew more mysterious. For a while she lived in a fashionable part of Rio just off Ipenema beach. Fell passionately in love with a homosexual poet, spurned, she then married a career diplomat and joined the Brazilian Foreign Service, which took her to Italy, Switzerland and the United States then back to Brazil. All the while she continued to write and the fascination for her grew. She died on her 57th birthday of ovarian cancer. However, interest in her has never ceased and Moser’s new biography is an admirable addition to the Lispector literature that already exists. Check her out.

BOOKS: Bury My Heart At Wounded Knee

Canyon de Chelly, Arizona, The Navajo Nation

In 1864 the Navajo Indians escorted by the US Army walked from their ancestral lands in Arizona to a 40 mile square internment camp in New Mexico. Two hundred died along the 300-mile journey. The management of the reservation was inept and in 1868 declared a failure. The Treaty of Bosque was then signed and the Navajo were relocated back to their original lands in Arizona. Again they made the 300-mile journey back. Such stories were not given much thought in America until a University of Illinois librarian, Dee Brown, wrote the 1970 book, “Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee: An Indian History of the American West.” A nerve was touched; 5 million copies were sold. “Bury My Heart At Wounded Knee,” broke onto the national conscience. Accustomed to stereotypes of American Indians, white Americans were shocked by the suffering that many Indian tribes endured. Thirty years later the book still has not lost its impact. Reading it is still an emotional experience. The period covered by the book is from 1860 to 1890 with a brief introduction on the early European contact with Native Americans. The thing about “Bury My Heart At Wounded Knee” is that it gives so much more information about American Indian history than is in a standard American textbook. This is a well-written meticulously researched narrative of a series of brutal events. It’s a raw tale that can disturb. Characters that appear in the book are familiar to most Americans: Geronimo, Sitting Bull, Red Cloud and Crazy Horse. The difference is that this book is written from their perspective, the perspective of the American Indian. That was a shocking reversal at the time of publication. Less shocking today__in the 40-year interval since its publication, other books have appeared, such as “Trail of Tears,” and an HBO movie adaptation of “Bury My Heart At Wounded Knee” in 2007. After 40 years, “Bury My Heart At Wounded Knee,” is still worth reading, not only because it is written well, but also because it will remind another generation of a shared past. Is “Bury My Heart At Wounded Knee,” a fair retelling of the Native American story? It seems so. Cheyenne Chief Black, said "There are bad white men and bad Indians…the bad men on both sides brought about this trouble."

BOOKS: Invisible Cities

"Invisible Cities" has no plot, no beginning, no end, no middle and no character development. It is a fictional account of a surrealistic conversation between Marco Polo and the emperor Kublai Khan. Khan is bored and all other story tellers won't due except one Marco Polo. The thing is Marco talks as if he has been sniffing glue. He talks of nothing but strange magical invisible cities. Places seen in dreams. Is there a meaning here? Yes. Sit back and read this book slowly and carefully__ you are in the hands of a master here, Italo Calvino, Italian fantasist extraordinaire and contender for the Nobel Prize for Literature. Calvino's style is hard to classify except to say he has extraordinary writing ability, especially in the Italian, but don't worry many serviceable English translations exist. If a literary pigeonhole must be put on Calvino's work it can be called magical realism, but there is more to it than that__ each of his marvelous stories is a fable and fables are meant to teach a lesson and as such, "Invisible Cities" teaches a lesson. Calvino's lessons are often hard to figure, but the riddle is usually worth the solving. It may take you several days to read "Invisible Cities." It will make you stop, think and then ponder some more. What is this guy trying to say? The motive that drives most readers on is that Calvino's writing is quite beautiful, even in English translation. It's writing that pulls the reader in and pushes him forward as he tries to figure out what lesson Calvino is trying to teach. Fifty-five different invisible cities are described, each in a short fable, but alas at the end they are all the same city. Calvino means to say that cities are not their physical structure, the set up of streets or the height of the buildings, instead cities are literally the inhabitants that move within them__a life force, a combination of personalities that literally hums between the cracks. If you think about it a minute, cities are like that, each one has a different feel beyond and above mere physical place. Calvino is one of the great discoveries a reader can make. Give yourself a treat.

BOOKS: Western Canon Part3

My recommendations for those who want to read the Western Canon. (Part 3) These are the essentials. Most are available free online (see links below left) or via Amazon. There are many more than are on this list, but this is the core (see also Part 1)(Part 2)

Cervantes Don Quixote

David Hume An Inquiry Concerning Human Understanding

Adam Smith Wealth of Nations

Henry Fielding Tom Jones

Jean-Jacques Rousseau Confessions, Social Contract, Discourse on the Origin of

Inequality

Gibbon Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire

James Boswell The Life of Samuel Johnson

Hamilton, Madison, Jay Federalist Papers

Thomas Jefferson & Others Declaration Of Independence, U.S. Constitution

Kant Critique of Pure Reason, Groundwork for the Metaphysics of

Morals

Goethe Faust

William Blake Complete Prose and Poetry

William Wordsworth The Prelude, Shorter Poems

Coleridge The Ancient Mariner, Kubla Khan, Writings on Shakespeare,

Biographia Literaria

Newton Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy

Jane Austen Pride and Prejudice, Emma

Stendhal Charterhouse of Parma, The Red and the Black

Honore de Balzac Pere Goriot, Eugenie Grandet, Cousin Bette

Hegel Phenomenology of Mind, Philosophy of History

Flaubert MadameBovary, Three Tales

Ralph Waldo Emerson Complete Works

Nathaniel Hawthorne Scarlet Letter

BOOKS:

I had never read anything by Joaquim Maria Machado de Assis until a friend gave me an English copy of “The Posthumous Memoirs of Bras Cubas,” or as it is sometimes called, “the Epitaph of a Small Winner.” Written in 1881, “Bras Cubas” is quirky in style, especially for a novel written in the 1800s, but it sure packs a philosophic punch and by the end of the novel you know you have read one of the greatest of novelists. de Assis drew his inspiration from the German philosopher Arthur Schopenhauer and structured the philosophy of the main character Bras Cubas on Schopenhauer’s, “The World as Will and Representation.” Schopenhauer had the philosophy that a person’s emotional, physical and sexual desires could never be fulfilled. Sound pessimistic? Well Bras Cubas felt basically the same way. Bras Cubas, already dead at the beginning of the novel, dedicates his book to the first worm that “gnawed on the cold flesh of his corpse.” This is a posthumously composed memoir! Then the novel takes an unlikely leap back in time and the narrative picks up from there. De Assis’s carries this structure of the book off with consummate skill. Bras Cubas says at the beginning that he has a “trapeze in his brain” and that’s how his mind contemplates, with great leaps and bounds. Indeed it does__ but what pessimistic but, delightful leaps and bounds. At one point he tells the reader to insert Chapter 30 between the first and second sentences of Chapter 29. Through de Assis’s odd style and unique perspective emerges a finely tuned narrative of wit, satire and subtle story telling. I’m sure the story written in the original Portuguese is even better. The story is about a man who does essentially nothing for 64 years. Know some people like that? He doesn’t work, he doesn’t study or marry. He fails at everything and then he dies. And finally he’s glad he never had children so he doesn’t have to pass his misery on. Wow. This is all actually a subtle criticism of the Brazilian upper class of the time_ indolent and intellectually dishonest__ a comic lambasting of colonel Brazil. There is an amazing amount of social criticism here.“The Posthumous Memoirs of Bras Cubas,” is clever writing at its best, full of inverted parody and ingenious metaphors. Machado de Assis influenced just about all of the great Brazilian writers that followed him: including João Guimaraes Rosa, Jorge Amado, and Rachel de Queiroz. For English readers Gregory Rabassa’s, 1998 English translation for Oxford Press is the one to get. Oh did I mention that chapter 139 is only nine lines long.

Rio de Janeiro Calling Me Again!

Ipanema, Rio de Janeiro

BOOKS: Eats, Shoots & Leaves

Panda eating shoots thinking about grammar.

A sign in front of a car dealer says: “Car’s Van’s 4x4’s,” another in front of a burger emporium: “Burger’s while you wait,” another sign: “Car’s Parked at Owners Risk,” and then a striking nasty on the front page of the New York Times: “In the first half of the 1990’s she was Mr. Mitterrand’s lead aide on international issues.” Can anyone use an apostrophe correctly anymore? One more: “Four Season’s Nudist Colony.” Apparently grammar is the last thing on the mind of these nude patrons. Are you a “stickler?” Lynne Truss is. Hmm better watch my grammar. If British journalist Lynne Truss had her way all grammatical offenders would be thrown into hell. Truss, author of the number one bestseller in the UK, “Eats, Shoots & Leaves: The Zero Tolerance Approach to Punctuation,” suffers in her words from:” a ghastly emotional process similar to the stages of bereavement,” when she sees improper punctuation. Sound a little strong? Well it’s all done in good humor with a bit of wit and urbanity thrown into the mix. This is a fun book to read. Yes a grammar book, and one that won “Britain’s Book of the Year Award.” And yes I’m aware of my own grammar sins; my word processor underlines them in green for me. But sometimes I just feel like being bad. Truss would not tolerate any gratuitous badness. She says: “It’s tough being a “stickler on punctuation these days. One dare not get up in the morning.” So pervasive is bad grammar that the “stickler’s exquisite sensibilities are assaulted from all sides, causing feelings of panic and isolation…”Everywhere one looks, there are signs of ignorance and indifference.” And what makes it worse?“ that the world cares nothing for the little shocks endured by the stickler.” In “Eats, Shoots & Leaves,” all this grammatical fuss is overseen by a large overwrought panda who is capable of firing a gun into the air when he sees poor punctuation. That would straighten things up! Truss’s approach to grammar falls between the prescriptive and descriptive schools. She chooses the middle path and takes the light-hearted approach. So if you can take your grammatical medicine with a dose of cheer and a smattering of “Britishisms,” this is the grammar book for you. Even better still is the new illustrated edition by New Yorker cartoonist Pat Byrnes who draws the panda in all his grammatical fury.

BOOKS: Leaves of Grass

"Leaves of Grass," was a pun, a term used by publishers for works of minor value.

“I sing my body electric,” is a strange thing for a man to write in 1867. It was a time in America when delight in the senses and the body were considered immoral at best. Yet American poet Walt Whitman, in “Leaves of Grass,” his poetic anthology and especially in the poem, “I Sing My Body Electric," explores at length the delights of the human body. Here he celebrates the primacy of the human body and its importance in forming relationships between people. In, “I Sing My Body Electric,” the body becomes scared through linkage with the soul. In the “Song of Myself’ he proclaims: “I am the poet of the Body; and I am the poet of the Soul." Shocking for something written in 1867. “Leaves of Grass.“ is like that, shocking in spots, sensual in others, but always beautiful and always celebrating the joy of life. Whitman spent his entire life writing this poem and it went through many revisions. When “Leaves of Grass,” was first published Whitman was fired from his job at the U.S. Department of Interior because the Secretary of the Interior thought the work was scandalous. Others burned the book. One literary critic called it a “mass of stupid filth.” and called Whitman a “filthy free lover.” To his credit Whitman included the review in the second printing of the book. And kept revising and kept adding to his poem expanding his ideas. Finally in Massachusetts it was declared obscene literature. Quite a change from the Massachusetts of today! But not all criticism was negative and some recognized it as a classic. Indeed it was, Whitman had invoked the tradition of Homer and Virgil by making it a grand sweeping epic that included both history and politics. Whitman had the idea that American’s were poems in and of them selves and he celebrated America’s individualism and democratic ideal. But beyond all its praise of life and celebration of the human being, “Leaves of Grass,” is just plain beautiful poetry. Whitman was a master of free verse poetic language and his ability to use language to arouse the senses is second to none. The best edition of “Leaves of Grass,” for those reading it for the first time, is the Norton Critical Edition. (2^nd ed.) This edition was prepared in honor of the poems 150^th anniversary. It has the latest textual scholarship and it comes as close as possible to reproducing Whitman’s original text. Give yourself a treat, take some quiet time and read it. It’s powerful and a never-ending source of beauty. [Related to post below, Specimen Days]

BOOKS: Specimen Days

Walt Whitman's House, Camden, NJ. Walt Whitman was the inspiration for, "Specimen Days."

Walt Whitman promised future readers: “It avails not, neither time or place…I am with you, and know how it is.” As such, Walt Whitman presides as the voice over three stories that make up Michael Cunningham’s 2005 novel, “Specimen Days.” The setting: New York City, past, present (21^st century) and future. The first story, “In the Machine,” takes place at the height of the industrial revolution. Machinery rules here. The main character is a Whitman quoting 12-year old boy who believes that the ghost of his brother lives in an iron works mill. This story is laced and interwoven with the depressing and alienating factors of the “machine age.” The next story, “The Children’s Crusade,” takes place in the 21^st century and tracks the pursuit of a terrorist band as they detonate bombs around the city. And finally, in “Like Beauty” the plot shifts to a New York 150 years in the future when the city is filled with refugees from another planet. So how do these seemly disparate stories fit together? Well, you have to work to see the connections in this book, but they are there and the discovery worth it. Essentially the same three parallel characters appear in each story and each must live and cope with the society and time in which they find themselves. All three stories are then fused together in one way or another with the presiding voice and inspiration of Walt Whitman. “Specimen Days,” draws not only its title from Walt Whitman’s 1882 autobiography, but its thematic soul. The aspect that does not work perfectly in this beautifully written book is trying to fuse the lyrical voice of the romantic Whitman with a disturbing plot. Hmm__that’s difficult, but Cunningham seems to come as close as humanly possible. Some readers may be left with a feeling of an irresolute conclusion. But life can be like that sometimes, irresolute. Is this book worth reading? Yes, but those wanting to experience an unadulterated Whitman might want to look into his life celebrating, “Leaves of Grass.”

BOOKS: Out of Egypt

Alexandria

Andre Aciman is a cross between Lawrence Durrell and Gabriel Garcia Marquez, writing with the sensuousness of Durrell and the magical realism of Marquez. No where is this more evident than in “Out of Egypt,” Aciman’s beautifully written memoir of his eccentric family’s life in Alexandria, Egypt. This is not a self-absorbed memoir. Aciman is too skillful for that. With beauty of language and an enveloping sensuousness he chronicles his life in the cosmopolitan and the polyglot city of Alexandria during the first half of the 20^th century up until the 1960’s when his family fled to Paris. What makes these memoirs stand out is Aciman’s acute sense of observation and his ability to render it in simplistic prose. All the smells and sounds of Alexandria are here. He has achieved something very evocative. Aciman absorbed all the peculiarities of his surroundings and has painted a recollection of a boyhood and a time that no longer exists. He brings to life a marvelous collection of characters (his family) which include: Uncle Villy, the spy, the fascist, and the soldier; the very pessimistic Aunt Flora and two grandmothers who gossip in six languages. Though joyful, melancholy pervades these memoirs as the reader gets a sense that Aciman never wanted to leave. And through his story we learn the “bigger story” of how and why the “Egyptian Jews” were driven out of Egypt during the Arab-Israeli conflicts. Today Aciman is professor of comparative literature at the City University of New York. Also check out his much praised novel set on the Italian Rivera, “Call Me By Your Name.”

ITALY: Lake Como Region

Villa del Balbianello, Lake Como Italy

BOOKS:History in English Words

Eagle and Child Pub, Oxford. Meeting place of the Inklings Group.

He was the friend of both C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien, inspiration for a Society of followers and and man that lived for nearly century__Owen Barfield (1898-1997) is not widely known today, but a person who had a tremendous influence on both C.S. Lewis and Tolkien. All were members of the famous "Inklings Group," an informal literary discussion group that met for two decades in a pub near Oxford University. Barfield had a particularly strong influence on C.S. Lewis with whom he was close. Lewis referred to him as a "antifriend" someone who disagreed with his every word. In 1926 Barfield, wrote, "History in English Words," a work that analyzes how the changes in European Language (vocabulary) reflect the mental outlook and consciousness of European civilization. Through Europe's usage of words the world view of Europe people becomes evident. Barfield traces this path of consciousness linked to language starting from the Indo-European roots of English through the influence of Greek and Latin and then up to modern times. By using current English words whose derivation is from other languages he shows how the use of language is actually a reflection of our inner souls. According to Barfield European societies oscillated between using inner looking Greek words and outer looking utilitarian Roman (Latin words). This choice reflected the structure of their society. "History in English Words," has been out of print for years, but is again now available through Lindisfarne Books or "Barnes & Noble Rediscovers."

Western Canon Part 2

My recommendations for those who want to read the Western Canon. (Part 2) These are the essentials. Most are available free online (see links below left) or via Amazon. There are many more than are on this list, but this is the core (see also Part 1)

St. Augustine Confessions, City of God

Dante Alighieri The Divine Comedy

Boethius Consolation of Philosophy

Geoffrey Chaucer The Canterbury Tales

Anonymous The Thousand an One Nights

St Thomas Aquinas On Kingship, Summa Theologiae

St. Anselm Proslogion, Reply to Gaunilo

Petrarch Canzoniere

Niccolo Machiavelli The Prince, Discourses

Michel De Montaigne The Essays

Miguel De Cervantes Don Quixote

Bacon The Great Instauration, Novum Organum

William Shakespeare Complete Works

John Donne Complete Works

Galileo Galilei Dialogue concerning the Two Chief World Systems

Thomas Hobbes Leviathon

Rene Descartes Discourse on Method, Meditations, Rules for the Direction of

the Mind

John Locke Essay Concerning Human Understanding, Essays Civil Government

Blaise Pascal Pensees

John Milton Paradise Lost, Lycidas, On the Morning of Christ's Nativity,

Areopagitica

Moliere The Plays

Corneille El Cid

Johnathan Swift Gulliver's Travels

John Bunyan Pilgrim's Progress

Spinoza Theologico-Political Treatise

Voltaire Candide

Daniel DeFoe Robinson Crusoe

David Hume An Inquiry Concerning Human Understanding