The One with Christmas Books

171. Title & Author: Christmas Books by Charles Dickens (482 pages)

Genre: Fiction—Classic Literature

Completed: 25 December 2010

Summary & Review:

This book contains five of Dicken’s novellas that he included in this one volume, entitled Christmas Books. These include: A Christmas Carol, The Chimes: A Goblin Story of Some Bells that Rang an Old Year Out and a New Year In, The Cricket on the Hearth: A Fairy Tale of Home, The Battle of Life: A Love Story, and The Haunted Man and the Ghost’s Bargain. While not all of the five stories were entirely Christmas-themed, they all dealt with issues of redemption and forgiveness.

A Christmas Carol is clearly the gleaming gem in this collection, even though all the stories are very good. But, there is a reason that A Christmas Carol has become the enduring classic is has: it is a work of genius. It is entertaining, beautifully written, emotionally charged, and has a lesson that all can learn from.

I read A Christmas Carol last week while in the hospital with our newborn son. He is only two months old and it was as if my own little Tiny “Tom” (his middle name, Thomas) was right there in front of me. Thankfully, his health improved and we were able to have him home with us for Christmas.

Rating: 8.0 (10.0 for A Christmas Carol)

The One with Guardian of Lies

170. Title & Author: Guardian of Lies by Steve Martini (595 pages)*

Genre: Fiction—Thriller

Completed: 14 December 2010

Summary & Review:

A chance encounter with a young Costa Rican woman at the grocery store, ends up causing attorney Paul Madriani to be charged as an accomplice to two murders that woman accused of committing. As he investigates the case, he realizes that not only is the woman innocent, but the murders were more than a simple robbery. Someone is trying to cover up a secret in the young woman’s family: a Russian grandfather who has been hiding a nuclear weapon in the Columbian jungle for over 40 years.

I thought Martini’s writing style was pretty intelligent and entertaining, and the plot was an interesting premise. But, as I was reading, I kept wondering why Martini needed 595 pages to write this book? John Buchan (The Thirty-Nine Steps, #168) was able to write just as exciting a thriller in only 88 pages. I didn’t think the excessive length was really necessary for Martini to develop the characters or story. However, that was really the only downside to this book.

The Author’s Note at the end was actually one of my favorite parts. Martini offered some very interesting historical details and insights.

Rating: 7.5

The One with The Braindead Megaphone

169. Title & Author: The Braindead Megaphone: Essays by George Saunders (257 pages)

Genre: Nonfiction—Essays

Completed: 11 December 2010

Summary & Review:

This volume contains a random assortment of self-important slop that the author calls “essays.”

A few years back I read an article by this writer about his trip to Dubai in a magazine. The article was hilarious and well written and just extremely entertaining, so much so that I wanted to read it again. I researched and eventually found out that that article was included in this book so I got the book and read it. First of all, the Dubai essay is still funny and well written and entertaining, but the rest of the book was so terrible that, as I was reading it, I told my wife, “This book has almost stolen my love of reading from me.”

This book was published in 2007 and you can tell by the whiny, childish, “Bush and Fox News are the devil” tone that permeates every single essay included within. Saunders mentions that he was supposedly once an “Ayn Rand-ish Republican,” and if that is true he has actively turned a blind eye to reality, or suffered some sort of terrible accident that left him slightly “braindead,” to use his word. I think what probably happened is that he left the real world and entered academia, where he remains, and therefore lost any need to actually come up with solutions when he could just theorize, pine for utopia, and whine about how terribly unfair the world is. Whatever the case, I could hardly stomach these idealistic, nonsensical “essays.”

Rating: 0.5

The One with The Thirty-Nine Steps

168. Title & Author: The Thirty-Nine Steps by John Buchan (88 pages)

Genre: Fiction—Classic Literature & Adventure

Completed: 30 November 2010

Summary & Review:

Just as the boredom of city life in London is getting to him, Richard Hannay is approached by a skittish American who warns him of a conspiracy that could throw all of Europe into bloody conflict. After the American is cruelly murdered, Hannay knows that he must carry on in his place to prevent the sabotage about to occur.

This book was very much in the vein of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. It was a great adventure filled with twists and turns set in the appealing landscape of late-nineteenth and early-twentieth century Britain. I thought it was interesting how Buchan was able to fit such a full-bodied adventure in only 88 pages. If you updated some of the details of the plot, this could easily have been a contemporary thriller that would be 400 plus pages. Buchan was able to distill this adventure down to the necessities, without really losing much of the fun of reading a thriller.

A “thank you” goes out to my grandfather-in-law, John Taylor, who gave this book to me as a Thanksgiving/early-Christmas present. We share some common interests in that he is, like me, both a bibliophile and an Anglophile.

Rating: 8.0

The One with Wassily Kandinsky

167. Title & Author: Wassily Kandinsky by Hajo Düchting (92 pages)

Genre: Nonfiction—Art History

Completed: 24 November 2010

Summary & Review:

The life and art of Russian abstract artist Wassily Kandinsky are presented in a biographical format. Along with the text are numerous color images of Kandinsky's work, from his early years to his time at the Bauhaus and beyond.

Even though this book was only 92 pages, it was hard for me to get through. First of all, the art of Kandinsky really does nothing for me. When I encounter his work at a museum I pause and say, “Oh, there’s a Kandinsky.” Then I move on because after about three seconds of looking at it I’m bored. My wife seems to like him (she is the one who bought this book, after all), but she has always been a little more into early twentieth century modern art than me. Anyway, even if I don’t find Kandinsky’s art particularly appealing, a good analysis of it could have gone a long way. However, such an analysis was not to be found. Düchting’s text was dry and devoid of any intriguing observations about who Kandinsky was or why his art has been so important to modern and contemporary art.

Rating: 4.5