Books and other stuff I feel like discussing
By education and experience - Accountant with a specialty in taxation. Formerly a CPA (license has lapsed). Masters degree in law of taxation from University of Denver. Now retired. Part time work during baseball season as receptionist & switchboard operator for the Colorado Rockies. This gig feeds my soul in ways I have trouble articulating. One daughter, and four grandchildren. I share the house with two cats; a big goof of a cat called Grinch (named as a joke for his easy going "whatever" disposition); and Lady, a shelter adoptee with a regal bearing and sweet little soprano voice. I would be very bereft if it ever becomes necessary to keep house without a cat.
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Books Update - Non fiction
DOUBLE CROSS and OPERATION MINCEMEAT by Ben McIntyre
McIntyre writes very entertaining books about some of the "behind the scenes" activity of the Second World War. I previously commented on AGENT ZIGZAG in my blog entry of February 21, 2008. In DOUBLE CROSS, he details the exploits of several men and women, who for a variety of reasons, not all entirely admirable, worked for the Germans and turned around and offered their services to the allies. The finances involved were often considerable, and the effort to provide just enough believable information for the reciprocal German handlers was often dicey.
OPERATION MINCEMEAT is just as engrossing. As Allied plans were developing to invade the southern portions of Europe - a group of British intelligence agents got the idea to have a body wash up on a Portugese shore; supposedly a British airman; with documents on his person indicating complex plans to invade Greece before attempting Sicily and Italy. This involved locating a body; dressing him as an officer; filling his pockets and document cases with believable information; and arranging for him to be discovered and made available to the Germans. It wasn't easy, and it makes for a very satisfying read.
THE TRIPLE AGENT by Joby Warrick
Late in 2009, CIA agents at a military post in Afghanistan were waiting for a Jordanian operative whom they believed was bringing vital information he had learned after infiltrating Al Qaeda. Instead, as he was exiting the jeep, the man detonated a bomb strapped to his midsection, killing himself and seven of those waiting to debrief him. Warrick's book is unsettling, to say the least. Our book discussion group felt that the author often strayed too close to the line where he was fictionalizing the action. Nevertheless, we all felt we had learned a lot from reading it.
A HIGHER CALL by Adam Makos
Back to World War II, and an incident involving an American bomber crew, all very young men fresh from their training. Their first sortie over Germany went very wrong and as the young pilot attempted to get his injured plane back to his British airfield, he and the surviving members of his crew were startled to realized they were being escorted by a German fighter.
The book follows the early lives and careers of both pilots, as well as their military careers. The author heard this remarkable story in his work as an editor of a small military magazine devoted to World War II airmen. The former German pilot eventually moved to Vancouver Canada, and through a chain of emails, notes, magazine ads, and coincidence, the two men met each other in person.
There's a lot to make you feel good as you finish reading this book.
LIFE ITSELF by Roger Ebert
A collection of essays in style of personal memoir, many of them first appearing on Ebert's blog. In the years I lived in Chicago, Ebert was an acquaintance. He led a series of discussions about movies and film making at a sort of adult education center, and I went as often as I could manage it. I would never claim that we were friends, but I did feel a connection to him and his writing which continued after I moved to Denver. I was finishing reading this book during the week he died, which made the whole experience much more poignant somehow.
We were the same age, grew up in small midwestern towns of about the same size, went to Big Ten universities of about the same size, and moved to Chicago in the same year. I began reading his movie review column regularly almost as soon as he began to write it.
Especially during the last eleven years of his life, Ebert faced considerable physical challenges. You might expect that a memoir would stray to dark musings on the tragedy of the human condition. Yet if there is one word I would choose for this book, it would be "light." And I think "honest" would be a very close second. Somehow he kept a positive spin on his life experience and had the writing skill to share it. I get almost all my books from the library and although I have a lot of books in my house, there are few that I want to keep for as long as I live. I recently bought a copy of LIFE ITSELF.
THE BOOK OF MY LIVES by Aleksandar Hemon
Hemon is originally from Bosnia and lives in Chicago now. Although perhaps best knows as a writer of fiction, he has collected several essays originally published in several magazines, including The New Yorker, for this book. The chapters focus first on his childhood in Bosnia and then on his life in Chicago after he emigrated. He is the second Bosnian-American writer to catch my eye - the other is Ismet Prcic, whom I mention in my blog entry of September 28, 2012. There must be something in the water over there. Both writers are worth seeking out.
THE VATICAN DIARIES by John Thavis
The author is an American journalist who has lived in Rome for several decades, working for Catholic News Service. I heard him interviewed on NPR and sought out the book. It's a very interesting behind the scenes look at an institution which from the outside looking in can seem pristine and tightly ordered. Since the whole operation is run by human beings, the reality is hardly pristine and not tightly ordered at all.
GULP by Mary Roach
Roach is a scientific writer. Her work is extensively researched. Fortunately for the reader, her writing style is light, highly entertaining, very educational, and the two books I have read have landed her on my "don't miss" list of authors.
GULP is subtitled "Adventures on the Alimentary Canal" and if you're wondering, yes, she discusses everything, and I do mean everything, connected with digestion, beginning with smell and taste, moving on to chewing, and then she keeps going. Far from being disgusting (well maybe a little, once in awhile) the book is laugh out loud funny on almost every page.
That's it for non fiction!
McIntyre writes very entertaining books about some of the "behind the scenes" activity of the Second World War. I previously commented on AGENT ZIGZAG in my blog entry of February 21, 2008. In DOUBLE CROSS, he details the exploits of several men and women, who for a variety of reasons, not all entirely admirable, worked for the Germans and turned around and offered their services to the allies. The finances involved were often considerable, and the effort to provide just enough believable information for the reciprocal German handlers was often dicey.
OPERATION MINCEMEAT is just as engrossing. As Allied plans were developing to invade the southern portions of Europe - a group of British intelligence agents got the idea to have a body wash up on a Portugese shore; supposedly a British airman; with documents on his person indicating complex plans to invade Greece before attempting Sicily and Italy. This involved locating a body; dressing him as an officer; filling his pockets and document cases with believable information; and arranging for him to be discovered and made available to the Germans. It wasn't easy, and it makes for a very satisfying read.
THE TRIPLE AGENT by Joby Warrick
Late in 2009, CIA agents at a military post in Afghanistan were waiting for a Jordanian operative whom they believed was bringing vital information he had learned after infiltrating Al Qaeda. Instead, as he was exiting the jeep, the man detonated a bomb strapped to his midsection, killing himself and seven of those waiting to debrief him. Warrick's book is unsettling, to say the least. Our book discussion group felt that the author often strayed too close to the line where he was fictionalizing the action. Nevertheless, we all felt we had learned a lot from reading it.
A HIGHER CALL by Adam Makos
Back to World War II, and an incident involving an American bomber crew, all very young men fresh from their training. Their first sortie over Germany went very wrong and as the young pilot attempted to get his injured plane back to his British airfield, he and the surviving members of his crew were startled to realized they were being escorted by a German fighter.
The book follows the early lives and careers of both pilots, as well as their military careers. The author heard this remarkable story in his work as an editor of a small military magazine devoted to World War II airmen. The former German pilot eventually moved to Vancouver Canada, and through a chain of emails, notes, magazine ads, and coincidence, the two men met each other in person.
There's a lot to make you feel good as you finish reading this book.
LIFE ITSELF by Roger Ebert
A collection of essays in style of personal memoir, many of them first appearing on Ebert's blog. In the years I lived in Chicago, Ebert was an acquaintance. He led a series of discussions about movies and film making at a sort of adult education center, and I went as often as I could manage it. I would never claim that we were friends, but I did feel a connection to him and his writing which continued after I moved to Denver. I was finishing reading this book during the week he died, which made the whole experience much more poignant somehow.
We were the same age, grew up in small midwestern towns of about the same size, went to Big Ten universities of about the same size, and moved to Chicago in the same year. I began reading his movie review column regularly almost as soon as he began to write it.
Especially during the last eleven years of his life, Ebert faced considerable physical challenges. You might expect that a memoir would stray to dark musings on the tragedy of the human condition. Yet if there is one word I would choose for this book, it would be "light." And I think "honest" would be a very close second. Somehow he kept a positive spin on his life experience and had the writing skill to share it. I get almost all my books from the library and although I have a lot of books in my house, there are few that I want to keep for as long as I live. I recently bought a copy of LIFE ITSELF.
THE BOOK OF MY LIVES by Aleksandar Hemon
Hemon is originally from Bosnia and lives in Chicago now. Although perhaps best knows as a writer of fiction, he has collected several essays originally published in several magazines, including The New Yorker, for this book. The chapters focus first on his childhood in Bosnia and then on his life in Chicago after he emigrated. He is the second Bosnian-American writer to catch my eye - the other is Ismet Prcic, whom I mention in my blog entry of September 28, 2012. There must be something in the water over there. Both writers are worth seeking out.
THE VATICAN DIARIES by John Thavis
The author is an American journalist who has lived in Rome for several decades, working for Catholic News Service. I heard him interviewed on NPR and sought out the book. It's a very interesting behind the scenes look at an institution which from the outside looking in can seem pristine and tightly ordered. Since the whole operation is run by human beings, the reality is hardly pristine and not tightly ordered at all.
GULP by Mary Roach
Roach is a scientific writer. Her work is extensively researched. Fortunately for the reader, her writing style is light, highly entertaining, very educational, and the two books I have read have landed her on my "don't miss" list of authors.
GULP is subtitled "Adventures on the Alimentary Canal" and if you're wondering, yes, she discusses everything, and I do mean everything, connected with digestion, beginning with smell and taste, moving on to chewing, and then she keeps going. Far from being disgusting (well maybe a little, once in awhile) the book is laugh out loud funny on almost every page.
That's it for non fiction!
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