The Year of the Death of Ricardo Reis - Jose Saramago

A quiet novel from the Nobel Prize winning Portuguese author. The protagonist, Dr. Ricardo Reis, returns to his native city of Lisbon after 16 years of self-imposed exile to Brazil. A poet friend has died. He spends a rather uneventful year in decline, talking to the ghost of his dead friend, mostly living in a hotel where he reads newspapers, wanders the streets, falls in love with a young guest and, of course, sleeps with a maid. With a mixture of magical realism, historical references (it's 1936, war in Europe is eminent and wealthy Spanish refugees slowly clog the city) and careful prose this story has potential to be a captivating and beautiful read. Unfortunately the plot is so stationary in its subtlety that the novel leaves instead an impression of painful tedium, which festers and grows to a near spite by the end when, as throughout, nothing happens. His death, portrayed as his taking his coat and following his dead friend to the graveyard, is a good demonstration of the book as a whole: an old man's detouring, distracted, procrastinated walk to the grave. For readers in reflective, time-abundant situations (patient old people) or academics where each minute detail can be reconstructed and massaged until it releases whatever point is to be found, this book may be good fodder for your arrogance. Otherwise, well worth skipping in a world so full of nourishing drive-thru wisdom.

Um?
2.5 out of 5
Buy this Book: The Year of the Death of Ricardo Reis

The Insider

The true story surrounding CBS's 60 Minutes interview with ex-tobacco executive Jeffrey Wigand (played by Russel Crow) who, despite signing a confidentiality agreement upon his termination, took the higher moral ground, risking everything to expose the extreme corruption, lies and underlying health hazards hidden by a powerful business based in greed and dishonesty.
60 Minutes producer Lowell Bergman (Al Pacino) is the ideal reporter, operating under a strict code of ethics and doing anything to make certain his promise stays true in an otherwise flexible field. Can these two unlikely moral champions successfully take on the ugly world against them? Watch to find out! A well acted, frightening story of good versus evil that makes you question which side America is set up to foster.

Worth Watching
3.5 out of 5
Buy this Film: The Insider

Plot: 4
Imagery: 3
Originality: 3
Soundtrack:3 Buy the Soundtrack
Overall: 3.5

News of a Kidnapping - Gabriel Garcia Marquez

A nonfiction account of the kidnappings of affluent Colombians by the Pablo Escobar-led "extraditables," so called for the new controversial policy that allows for their extradition to the USA if caught or surrendered. The story begins in 1990 by recounting the latest abduction in a string of high profiled hostage taking - the cartel's angry response to the new policy. Next the tale drops back in time to explain the circumstances surrounding the kidnappings of other people held by the cartels. Marquez's gentle (Nobel Prize winning) prose presents the facts in a careful, believable story teller voice with none of the usual stuffiness of nonfiction. The guerrillas' behavior is neither vilified nor condoned. Their lower echelons are gentle, misguided and confused, while the top monsters appear oddly human and surprisingly unevil. The victims, for the most part, are not tortured or harmed; the pain of their experiences lies mainly in their captivity and absence from their loved ones.

The insight into Colombia's struggles proffered by News of a Kidnapping is priceless and the suspenseful story is difficult to put down. A must read for anyone interested in learning about the further effects of America's War on Drugs.

Important and Highly Entertaining
4 out of 5
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At War With Asia - Noam Chomsky

This highly academic collection of essays from the early 70s is not exactly light reading. Pick this up if you have a serious interest in American foreign policy and the patience to wade through the facts and undecorated analysis. Chomsky examines - in great detail - the military involvement of the United States in the Southeast Asian nations of Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos, drawing on extensive research and his own visits to the area. He is, of course, relentlessly critical of the American government and its policies - the general point seems to be that claims of good intentions and benevolence were/are all bullshit, and that US interventions there and throughout the world were/are really aimed at maintaining the dependence of developing countries on the United States (for the sake of expanding both military and markets). But he also looks home to America, contemplating the health (or existence) of a democracy that allows its government to wage wars against poor nations, especially when against public opinion. "Either the war will have to go," Chomsky says, "or the democracy." While these essays are mostly over thirty years old, they may offer more than just a critical look back in time, as the US has moved on to different regions but its motives remain essentially the same.

Worth Reading
3.5 out of 5
Buy this book: At War With Asia: Essays on Indochina

Into the Wild - Jon Krakauer

A true account of the adventures of 24 year old Christopher McCandless, an upper class East Coast suburbanite, who, upon finishing college, gave away and burned all his money and attempted a sort of "return to nature." McCandless travels around North America in a haze of youthful discontent, naivete and stupidity, relying on the kindness of strangers and dumb luck to survive. Eventually he heads north to the ever romanticized textbook wilderness of Alaska where his innocence becomes painfully clear as he dives into the Denali wilderness in April - his life prolonged once again by an astonished stranger who gives him some basic gear before he trudges out of sight. It is still winter, and he quickly realizes that his life is in peril; luckily, he finds an old abandoned bus which has been converted to a hunting cabin of sorts.

This is a cautionary tale, not a guidebook. The story has gathered a cult-like following worldwide since the release of the film. Everywhere we go, whenever we meet crazy, lucky-to-be-alive-for-the stupid-things-they've-done backpackers and they hear any mention of Alaska, their eyes star up and, like obsessed teeny-boppers, they gush over how their dream is to "disappear" into the Alaskan wilderness like their "hero" McCandless. Most add, as an afterthought, as though some crime of nature has been committed: "I can't believe he died." If you are one of these senseless, itchy-footed idolaters this book isn't for you. Otherwise, it is a well written story that shows many sides of America and its people: kind, selfish, idealistic, etc. and leaves questions about the honesty and accuracy of the American education system's portrayal of the West.

Worth the Read
3 out of 5
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Wild Swans - Jung Chang

This book may as well be handed out to expats in China along with their visas. It seems every foreigner associated with the country within the past fifteen years has read it. But, having been through it, its appeal and ubiquity are much easier to understand - it is essentially a crash course on recent Chinese history in a highly-readable story form. Jung Chang uses the experiences her own family as a center-point, around which she forms a general account of China's bizarre twentieth century, from the collapse of thousands of years of dynasty rule to the short-lived republic, the Japanese occupation, installation of Communism, and the tumultuous years of Mao Zedong. The result is a story that often seems impossible - the years of glorified ignorance and repression of the Cultural Revolution could be passed as science fiction, some horrifying Orwellian vision manifested. Jung Chang manages to maintain humility and composure, even while describing the most violent or painful episodes, though at times the narrative is bit too heavy with her own sentiment and, towards the end, stumbles in and out of repetitiveness. The subtitle of the book is Three Daughters of China, suggesting the presence of a definite Mom book; but, while the author relies a little too heavily on possessive adjectives (my mother, my mother, my mother...) and occasionally delves into unnecessary emotional reflexion, it is just as much a story of her father (and China in general), and is on the whole rather subdued and somber.

Worth Reading
3.5 out of 5
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Fear and Loathing: On the Campaign Trail '72 - Hunter S. Thompson

The strangest thing about his rambling, angry, often incoherent collection of a year's worth of political writing is that there are actually moments of genuine, clear insight. Somehow, the late Dr. Thompson's unorthodox journalism manages to capture - or reflect - the true nature of the American political process - maddening, gruesome, something akin to a meat grinder that threatens to destroy the sanity and stability of everyone involved, so long as they have a sliver of humanity in them. Indeed, by the final pages, Thompson himself is unwell, and unable even to write - at times bare transcripts are given in place of his trademark narration. Through his suffering he appears to have gained something of an inside understanding of how our country works, and as a self-labeled power junkie, Thompson seems to intuit (and still deplore) what motivates the maneuvers of many politicians. Alternatively hilarious (as in his account of crashing a pro-Nixon youth rally), tedious (he throws out a lot of numbers), and incomprehensible, this is ultimately an entertaining and enlightening account of a bizarre aspect of America; and readers may notice some uncanny resemblances between the events of the '72 election and many of our recent ones.

Worth Reading
3 out of 5
Buy this book: Fear and Loathing: On the Campaign Trail '72

A People's History of the United States: 1492 to Present - Howard Zinn

This heavy volume is, foremost, a history book, as it says, and so it is laden with sometimes tedious examples, excerpts, facts, and dates - but it has a distinctive purpose: to counterweight the majority of our historical works, which Zinn believes tend to be too sympathetic of states and dismissive of people. In other words, it is a conscious effort to shift the perspective of American history to those who have, in the United States' approximately 230 year history (and prior), been marginalized, oppressed, forgotten, or otherwise victimized. While he devotes plenty of space to deploring the actions and attitudes of governments, Zinn mainly focuses on People's movements - rebellions, protests, strikes, dissent - the essential motivating force behind democratic change. In a sense A People's History is a compassionate history, in that it does not dismiss war and violence and oppression as necessary events in light of our present situations. But its greatest purpose, it seems, is its attempt to override the many still-common American myths, including - but not limited to - that the country's founders had pure, righteous intentions; that politicians were once honest and fair; that unjust military intervention is a recent blemish; and that, in general, our country needs to return to its old values. This book is dense and extensive; for those looking for a shorter path to cynicism, Zinn recently released an illustrated version.

IMPORTANT
4 out of 5
Buy this book: A People's History of the United States: 1492 to Present (P.S.)

A Glimpse of Nothingness - Janwillem van de Wetering

The subtitle of this nonfiction account is 'Experiences in an American Zen Community,' and it is precisely that. As you might expect from a student of Buddhism, the writing is economical and unpretentious. Dutch writer van de Wetering wastes no space as he tells of his exploration into Japanese Zen Buddhism and his visit to a commune located within the woods of the American Northeast. Residents of the 'retreat,' which is run by an unforgivingly honest master, subject themselves to strenuous meditation labor as they search for the answers to their koans; but the life of these spiritual seekers is not puritanical - they humanly indulge in instant coffee, cigarettes and booze to keep grounded. Van de Wetering's reflections are tinged with a humility and humor which suggest that he did in fact discover something, even if he beheld it only momentarily. A Glimpse of Nothingness is an interesting peek at an alternative lifestyle. Whether or not you have any interest in the modern practice of Zen Buddhism, it is a fun and light escape.

WORTH READING
3.5 out of 5
Buy this book: A Glimpse of Nothingness: Experiences in an American Zen Community

The Gate - Francois Bizot

Maybe it's a translation issue, but this meandering tale of the only imprisoned Westerner to survive the Khmer Rouge is definitively lacking. An account of the French author's capture and three month internment in the early 1970s followed by a confinement to the grounds of the French Embassy and eventual expulsion from the country is made somewhat interesting by his interactions with Douche (Duch), who is currently being tried for his later role as the director of Tuol Sleng detention center. Bizot's story is long and insipid. Though his experience was not one I'd like to have, millions of Cambodians probably would have begged for it when compared to their outcomes. Between seemingly unrelated tangents and a writing style that constantly detaches the reader from the story, this is a book worth skipping. Instead consider reading one of the Cambodians' stories.

BOOOOOOOO!
1.5 out of 5

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In Patagonia - Bruce Chatwin

A travel adventure full of historical anecdotes, myths, and curious tangents. Chatwin traces his travels through Argentina and Chile loosely following stories of his swashbuckler uncle and slowly unravels the truth of legends, some local and others world famous. His path dots around foreign outposts where most strangers accept him with open arms. Within the stories of these characters he objectively reveals a history of violence and displacement of aboriginal peoples as well as the struggles of the first Westerners as they attempted to settle in this far southern corner of the world. A fascinating and fun ride that inspires the reader to go out on their own exploration.

IMPORTANT!
4 out of 5
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The Firecracker Boys - Dan O'Neill

More than a story of unethical government scientists attempting to deceive the citizens of their country, The Firecracker Boys illustrates the decisively split interests that occur so commonly throughout American history, creating both well-defined heroes and unmistakable villains.

Edward Teller and the Atomic Energy Commission (AEC) spent years attempting to push through an unprecedentedly large nuclear test in northwestern Alaska. Ground zero of Project Chariot was to be on Native land about 30 miles from the ancient village of Point Hope. Despite overwhelming scientific evidence indicating the opposite, the scientists maintained that no damage would be done to food chains, land, or humans of the proposed area. The AEC and their Alaskan business supporters demonstrated extreme racism and disregard for the concerned local Eskimo communities, advocating partiality in the press, academic censorship, and blacklisting of scientists who tried to reveal the truth. The Firecracker Boys shows greed, carelessness, and selfishness on behalf of the government stopped only by the compassion, dedication and selflessness of a small group of citizens. At once inspiring and horrifying, the story makes you question why this behavior was tolerated in public employees, as well as how the American people can continue to trust such a corrupt institution as their own leadership. Dan O'Neill has collected and organized an amazing amount of previously classified information as well as conducted original interviews. The book is well written and captivating; a must read for anyone who considers themselves to be an environmentalist, patriot, or human being.

IMPORTANT!
Rating: 4.5 out of 5
Buy this book: The Firecracker Boys: H-bombs, Inupiat Eskimos, and the Roots of the Environmental Movement