Thursday, April 30, 2009

The Journey of Crazy Horse: A Lakota History by Joseph M. Marshall III

We listened to this audio book on our trip to and from Tennessee a couple of weeks ago. It is the story of Crazy Horse written by a Lakota Indian and read by the author. Since history is usually written by the winners, this was a fascinating look at a man and a culture from the inside - not the history we learned in school. I highly recommend it.

Wednesday, April 29, 2009

The End of the Alphabet by CS Richardson

Ambrose Zephyr, at age 50 or so, is told he has a month to live, more or less, and so he and his wife, Zipper Ashkenazi, take off on a tour of places that he has always wanted to visit or places he has always loved, from A to Z. It is a beautifully told sad story of love and life and death. I rate this book 5 out of 5.

Friday, April 17, 2009

The Reader by Bernhard Schlink

Fifteen year old Michael Berg becomes ill on his way home from school one day and is helped home by Hannah, a woman twice his age. Michael and Hannah become lovers, then Hannah disappears. Michael sees Hannah again several years later when she is on trial for Nazi war crimes. Much of the narrative is Michael's thoughts and feelings about Hannah, his relationship with her, and his feelings about Germany's actions during WWII. I rate this book 4 out of 5.

Something Rotten by Jasper Fforde

This is book four of the Thursday Next series. While it was enjoyable, I didn't think it was as good as the earlier books. After spending 2 years as Head of Jurisfiction, Thursday decides to return to the real world to get her husband back. I rate this book 3 out of 5.

Wednesday, April 08, 2009

The Cloud Atlas by Liam Callanan

Book 3 for my World War II Reading Challenge, and April's selection for my book club. Louis Belk, a soldier who has recently completed a bomb disposal course, is sent to Alaska on a secret mission: the Japanese are making bombs and sending them out in balloons, hoping that they will reach the US and explode here. I had never heard of these balloon bombs before; maybe because the news media cooperated with the US government in a policy of silence in order to reduce the chance of panic among Americans and to deny the Japanese information about the success or failure of their program. The story is told by Belk, who after the war becomes a priest and returns to Alaska. The story goes back and forth between past and present. This seems to be a very popular way of telling a story these days; several of the books I've read recently have used this method. It was quite effective for this story. I rate this book 4 out of 5.

Saturday, April 04, 2009

Migraine Journal Page



I had a particularly bad migraine episode Thursday night; this is my response to it. I started it Friday and finished it today.