English Creek

 Doig, Ivan. English Creek. New York: Antheneum 1984. Print

First Sentences:

That month of June swam into the Two Medicine country. In my life until then I had never seen the sidehills come so green, the coulees stay so spongy with runoff. A right amount of wet evidently could sweeten the universe.


Description:

Sometimes I need a book just to curl up with and sink into like a soft, downy comforter, sitting in a comfy chair near a good light in front of the fireplace. At these times, I need a book that describes real people living in interesting locations, doing ordinary activities. But the writing and the people must be so genuinely honest and clear, like a cool zephyr breeze on a muggy summer day. With these conditions, I cannot help but sit back and relish everything about such a reading experience. It is unique, calming, and highly enjoyable, no matter how all too brief the warmth and clarity of the people, setting, and writing exist with me.

Such a book is my highly recommended novel by Ivan Doig, English Creek. It tells of life in an isolated Montana community in 1939, an area surrounded by forests, a river, and sheep ranches run by neighbors whose families have been in the area for generations. Narrated by 14-year-old Jick McCaskill, he decribes what he lives through one paticular summer: moving sheep to the high fields, a Fourth of July rodeo and dance, ice cream making, youthful friends and loves, and a frightening forest fire (his father is the local ranger). Jick shares his philosophical thoughts behind moving an outhouse which required breaking virgin sod for the first time and prying up unending amounts of rock from the stony field. He felt his outhouse-moving experience justified the county's reputation as "a toupee of grass on a cranium of rock." 

 

Has there ever been a better description of a small town July 4th celebration and its affect on those who join in the festivities as Jick's summation below:

If a sense of life, of the blood racing beneath your skin, is not with you at a Fourth of July creek picnic, then it is never going to be.

While this plot description may sound rather tepid, I prefer to call it "quiet," "immersive" and "deeply satisfying." It's not a book to breeze through. It is a pleasure to languish in Two Medicine county for as long as possible to watch Jick face challenges, understand his family better, and learn of the history of that small community. And the people he lives among each has a story to tell in their manner and actions, and in their spare, well-considered words. Here are a sampling of his neighbors:

• Ed Heaney, who "served in France during the war...[but] didn't want to squander one further minute of his life talking about it."
• Earl Zane, who was "built as if he'd been put together out of railroad ties"...with a face "as clear as the label on a maple sugar jar [that] proclaimed SAP."
  
• Velma, with her tiny pearl button earrings "as if her ears could be unbottoned to further secrets even there."
  
• Toussaint Rennie, who was "one of those chuckling men you meet rarely, able to stave off time by perpetually staying in such high humor that the years didn't want to interrupt him." 
• Perry Fox, who was "slow as the wrath of Christ, but steady."
  
• Jink's mother, of whom his father said, "I think that being married to you is worth all the risk." 
  

I simply loved this book, its attention to quiet detail and its clarity of writing. Conversations seem easy to listen to, people appear subtly complex, and the environment always presents a force that beckons to be explored and appreciated. I think everyone should indulge in this encompassing look into a world we rarely glimpse, much less easily comprehend today.

Best of all, this is the first in a trilogy of the McCaskill family life in Two Medicine, Montana: Dancing at the Rascal Fair and Ride With Me, Mariah Montana. Can't wait to indulge myself in these next two absorbing books.

Happy reading. 

Fred

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If this book interests you, be sure to check out:

Doig, Ivan. The Whistling Season.   

A Chicago woman in 1909 answers an advertisement for a housekeeper for a widower and his three young sons living in an isolated Montana town. She writes that she "Can't cook, but doesn't bite," and gets the job sight unseen (by both of them). She brings her brother with her on the train and he reluctantly becomes a unique schoolteacher. Simply wonderful, a great read not to be missed.  (previously reviewed here)

We Die Alone

 Howarth, David. We Die Alone. Guilford, CT: Lyons Press 1955. Print.

First Sentences:

Even at the end of March, on the Arctic coast of northern Norway, there is no sign of spring. 

 

By then, the polar winter night is over....There is nothing green at all: no flowers or grass, and no buds on the stunted trees.


Description:

As we drift into the fall months of cooler temperatures, of warmer jackets, and maybe a few snowflakes, it's a bit shocking to read a true story revolving around really, and I mean REALLY COLD weather. David Howarth's We Die Alone: A WW II Epic of Escape and Endurance

is exacly such a gripping, historical adventure set in the frigid temperatures of northern Norway. But be warned. When you read this book, it's best to have on warm clothes and a hot drink nearby, preferably sitting in front of a roaring fire with a cozy blanket wrapped around you.

During World War II in 1943, twelve Norwegian resistance fighters embarked on a mission of sabatoge in the northernmost part of Norway, an isolated outpost controlled by the Nazis and vital to their control of sea routes. The saboteurs' goal was to blow up key Nazi munitions depots and organize Norwegian resistance in that area. 

Unfortunately, the men were betrayed and eleven of the Norwegians were killed upon reaching their target.

But one man escaped, Jan Baalsrud, by running across frozen fields that night partially barefoot (he'd lost a shoe when jumping from their boat into the sub-freezing water). On top of that, he was hobbled by a bleeding foot where one of his toes had been shot off. 

To avoid capture, he had to swim (again in the sub-freezing water) from their target on an island to the mainland of Norway, then set out on foot (deep snow, no shoe, bleeding toe, remember?) for dry clothing, shelter, food, and help to reach safety in a bordering neutral country. 

And so begins his journey of months filled with isolated countryside, high mountains, deep snow, German patrols, an avalanche, and, of course, the unrelenting, freezing temperatures.

In the valley bottom were frozen lakes where the going was hard and smooth; but between them the snow lay very deep, and it covered a mass of boulders, and there he could not tell as he took each step whether his foot would fall upon rock or ice, or a snow crust which would support him, or whether it would plunge down hip deep into the crevices below.

For the escaping Baalsrudven, finding any form of help was difficult and dangerous for all involved. Anyone he contacted could be a Nazi supporter or at least an informer. The few local Norwegians in the area had to protect their families and lives, since assisting a Nazi fugitive was punishable by death to the entire family, slaughter of all livestock, and destruction of the farmland. 

 

Yet many gladly helped him. Word had slowly spread through the desolate countryside that one man had escaped the Nazi sabeteur killings. Through this grapevine, Baalsrud became a secret hero to the quiet Norwegian farmers, a symbol of their national pride, strength, and resistance to the occupying Nazis. And so they helped in small, but vitally important ways, especially when several times Baalsrud was on the verge of death.

As one Norwegian farmer reflected:

At last it was something which he and only he could possibly do. If he could never do anything else to help in the war, he would have this to look back on now; and he meant to look back on it with satisfaction, and not with shame. He thanked God for sending him this chance to prove his courage....[He told Baalsrud] "If I live, you will live, and if they kill you I will have died to protect you."

Challenge after challenge presented itself to Baalsrud. Wearing only grimy rags of frozen clothes, starving, and suffereing from painful injuries and frostbite, Baalsrud continually astonishes us readers with his perserverence. Example after example of his courage, will, and seemingly endless supply of optimism drives this adventure tale forward, forcing readers to bundle up and continue following Baalsrud to his ultimate journey's end. Absolutely highly recommended.

[P.S. There is also a film called, The Twelfth Man (available on DVD and Amazon Prime) that is a breathtaking representative of the book, especially in portraying myriad of challenges and undying perserverence of Baalsrud ... and the unbearable, unrelenting cold.]

Happy reading. 

Fred

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If this book interests you, be sure to check out:

Rawicz, Slavomir. The Long Walk: The True Story of a Trek to Freedom.   

Incredible true story detailing the author's 1941 capture, prison life and eventual escape from a Soviet labor camp in Siberia. His route took him through China, Tibet, the Gobi Desert, and India, all while experiencing desperate cold, hunger, thirst, and fear of recapture. 

Project Hail Mary

Weir, Andy. Project Hail Mary. New York: Ballantine 2021. Print

First Sentences:

"What's twp plus two?

Something about the question irritates me. I'm tired. I drift back to sleep.

A few minutes pass, then I hear it again.

"What's two plus two?

The soft, feminine voice lacks emotion and the pronunciation is identical to the previous time she said it. It's a computer. A computer is hassling me. I'm even more irritated now.

Description:

When I heard last year that Andy Weir, author of The Martian, had finished another science fiction novel (emphasis on the "science"), I marked my calendar for its publication date. Haven't ever done that before. So when Project Hail Mary finally came out, I was already on my library's "reserve" list and one of the first readers of that book in our area.

What a writer Andy Weir is: imaginative, scietific, ingenious, snarky, and best of all, a page-turning story-teller. And Project Hail Mary is a lulu of a tale.

Ryland Grace wakes to find himself in a strangely sterile room, unable to move his limbs, listening to a computer voice. Where is he? Gradually, his memory and body begin to return and he realizes he is the sole survivor on a space ship heading to a distant star. And not to just any star, but one that holds a secret that might mean the survival of a doomed Earth.

Alternating chapters between Grace's backstory and his current deep space mission, Weir unravels the current situation. An unknown microbe is slowly sapping the energy from the Sun, and at such an alarming rate that within a few decades the heat and light the Earth require will be extinguished. Astronomers have also discovered other stars in the galaxy which are experiencing similar energy loss -- all but one, that is, and this is the star Ryland Grace is heading toward.

But as these pieces slowly unfold in his memory and he arrives at this unique destination, he notices something strange. There's another space ship in the same area. Friend or foe? Similar purpose or unknown intentions? Grace knows he will have to meet this other ship and crew, and then deal with ensuing consequences. 

He also realizes his mission is designed to be only one-way. He is to find out why this star is not losing its energy, send his conclusions back to Earth via robot pods, and then live out his days in space since there was no room on his ship to carry food for the 18-year return trip.

Each chapter leaves Grace in a new quandry, facing a dificult decision, wondering what decisions to make, and how to deal with an alien. All these challenges are cleverly presented via Grace's stream of consciousness and self-discussions as he works through each obstacle with scientific reasoning, logic, and common sense.

It is an incredibly readable book, chock full of reasonable-sounding science that make data and complex operations understandable to laymen like me. It's truly a gripping story that will keep you guessing as to how Grace can possible find success with yet another challenge. Right up to the last pages, it is impossible to predict what he will face next.

That's all you get. If you want more, you'll just have to sit down for a few days and immerse yourself in this future environment where one man tries to save the world. Sounds like a hackneyed topic, but in the hands of author Weir, the story is anything but formulalistic. Read it. Read it. Read it. I give Project Hail Mary my highest recommendation.  

Happy reading. 

Fred

Other book recommendations
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If this book interests you, be sure to check out:

Weir, Andy. The Martian.   

Accidentally left alone on Mars by his fellow astronaut team, Mark Watney must learn how to make his presence known to them and Earth so a rescue mission might be created... and he has to figure out how to survive for the months before any hope of another ship could come for him.  (previously reviewed here)

Stephenson, Neil. Seveneves.   

"The Moon blew up without warning and for no apparent reason." Has there ever been a better first sentence? The people of the world realize the end of life on Earth will be caused by fallout of pieces from moon in less than two years. Therefore, they must work together to mount a rocket with representatives from Earth to preserve the species for eons until the planet becomes inhabitable again. Incredible, scientific yet readable, and thoroughly engrossing. My highest recommendation.  (previously reviewed here)

 

Insomniac City

Hayes, Bill. Insomniac City. New York: Bloomsbury, 2017. Print

First Sentences:

I moved to New York eight years ago, and felt at once at home. 

 

In the haggard buildings and bloodshot skies, in trains that never stopped running like my racing mind at night, I recognized my insomniac self. If New York were a patient, it would be diagnosed with agrypnia excita, a rare genetic condition characterized by insomnia, nervous energy constant twitching, and dream enactment -- an apt description of a city that never sleeps, a place where one comes to reinvent himself.


Description:

From these very first words, I loved Bill Hayes's Insomniac City: New York, Oliver, and Me  Who could not fall in love with such captivating language to describe a unique environment? Clearly, this book promised to be full of wry, thoughtful and unique observations, so I was all in.

 

Author Hayes moved to New York from San Francisco after the sudden death of his long-time partner, Steve. As an insomniac, Hayes began to wander his new city in the late and early morning hours, both observing and conversing with people who were similarly sleep-challenged.

In the summertime, late into the night, some leave behind their sweat-dampened sheets to read in the coolness of a park under streetlights. Not Kindles, mind you, or iPhones. But books,. Newspapers, Novels. Poetry. Completely absorbed as if in their own worlds. And indeed they are.

Hayes also brought along his camera, his "travel companion," during day and night city walks. He shot photos of people for his own private enjoyment. Unwilling to intrude on some intimate scenes, Hayes shot body parts that reflected the person's essence.

Couples captivated me -- on the Tube, on park benches, arm in arm on the street. Couples so in love you could see it in their faces....Their smiles were heartbreaking. I took pictures of their hands, laced together as if in prayer, or their feet -- the erotic dance that is a prelude to a kiss.

Hayes records these episodic meetings, observations, and photos in his diary, entries which he compiles into Insomniac City. And oh, the joy, hope, and humanity each piece presents to us lucky readers fortunate enough to share his everyday sights, elegant writing, and imagery. 

Sometimes I'd sit in the kitchen in the dark and gaze out at the Empire State and Chrysler buildings. Such a beautiful pair, so impeccably dressed, he in his boxy suits, every night a different hue, and she, an arm's length away, in her filigreed skirt the color of the moon. I regarded them as an old married couple, calmly unblinkingly keeping watch over one of their newest sons. And I returned the favor; I would be there the moment the Empire State turned off its lights for the night as if to get a little shut-eye before sunrise.

But there is yet another part of this wonderful book besides late night observations and photographs. Hayes meets Dr. Oliver Sacks, the neurologist and best-selling author. The two men connect and become romantic partners, a first for Sacks in decades. Their loving relationship is also reflected on in Hayes' diary as he records bits of their conversations, random thoughts from Sacks, and a peak at the new life they spend together.

...last night the clock chimed,..O[liver] and I counted the chimes carefully. A big smile broke out on his face. "Oh! That's very eccentric! Earlier, it did ten chimes at four o'clock, and now, seven at nine."

We laughed how this is like having an aging parent in the house, one who's a little "dotty," gets a little lost, misremembers, from time to time ... 

I could keep on giving examples of Hayes' narrations, but I have to stop and leave so many more for you to experience. Suffice to say, I fell in love with both these men, New York City, and the beauty of descriptive writing that will stay with me for a long time. Highest recommendation.

I have come to believe that kindness is repaid in unexpected ways and that if you are lonely or bone-tired or blue, you need only come down from your perch and step outside. New York -- which is to say, New Yorkers -- will take care of you.

Happy reading. 

Fred

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If this book interests you, be sure to check out:

Sacks, Oliver. The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat: and Other Clinical Tales.

Highly unusual cases recorded and commented on by Sacks, detailing his experiences in a New York neurology clinic depict some of his patient' symptoms and treatment, including: a man with no recollection of any events in the last sixty years; a man who cannot recognize faces (including his own); an autistic, but brilliantly gifted artist; a woman who has Irish songs from her childhood constantly running through her head; and of course, the title character who grabbed his wife's head and tried to put it on his own head. Incredible, readable, and wonderfully entertaining as you try to imagine the reality of these patients.

 

To Serve Them All My Days

 Delderfield, R.F.. To Serve Them All My Days. New York: Simon & Schuster. 1972. Print

First Sentences:

The guard at Exeter warned him he would have to change at Dulverton to pick up the westbound train to Bamfylde Bridge Halt, the nearest railhead to the school, but did not add that the wait between trains was an hour.

It was one of those trivial circumstances that played a part in the healing process of the years ahead, for the interval on that deserted platform, set down in a rural wilderness, and buttressed by heavily timbered hills where spring lay in ambush, gave Powlett-Jones an opportunity to focus his thoughts in a way he had been unable to do for months, since the moment he had emerged from the dugout and paused, rubbing sleep from his eyes, to glance left and right down thee trench.

Description:

When I began The First Sentence Reader blog, one of my first choices of books to make sure that every one of my reader knew about was R.F. Delderfield's To Serve Them All My Days. Now, three years and over 300 book recommendations later, I am finally getting around to telling you about this wonderful novel.

This book has everything I want in a great read: strong, personable characters; interesting setting; compelling plot; and honest, straightforward writing. It tells the story of David Powlett-Jones, a shell-shocked survivor of the World War I trenches in France. There he was severely shaken by a mortar blast and forced to recover in a hospital for months. P-J, at the urging of his doctor, applies to the English boys school, Bamfylde, under the able leadership of the Rev. Algy Herris. With no experience teaching but finding the clear air and quiet were immediately clearing the fog and lingering fears in his brain, the young Powlett-Jones takes a history teaching position at Herris' school and the story begins.

Here you could almost reach out an touch the quiet. It was a living thing that seemed to catch its breath up there in the hanging woods and then, at a wordless command, slip down the long hillside and gust over the rails to lose itself in the wood opposite. Its touch was gentle and healing, passing over his scar tissue like the fingers of a woman.

The Bamfyld staff has been pulled together helter-skelter due to the enlistment of every other able man into the English war effort. Aged, old-school teachers are coaxed from retirement to work alongside war dodgers and those rejected for physical or mental shortcomings. The school is filled with privileged boys ready to challenge any new teacher, so P-J, a former miner's son, knows he has his work cut out for him.

But under the headmaster's loose but purposeful guidance, P-J begins to blossom into a solid, popular teacher. Nicknamed "Pow-Wow" by the boys for his tendency to talk things over in class and listen to the opinions of the boys, he becomes a rarity in the age of memorization and the punishment cane.

The school and boys begin to grow on P-J and slowly the horrifying sights and tragedies from the French trenches begin to fall from his consciousness. Love enters his life, as does tragedy. He shows quick-thinking in classrooms, faculty lounges, and several emergency situations involving life and death for several boys.

In all, To Serve Them All My Days gets my highest recommendation. Don't be put off that it is a fairly long book. It will bring you to a place that is welcoming, challenging, intelligent, cozy and loving. You won't want to leave that environment or its characters which you have grown to admire and love. Please read it soon.

Happy reading. 

Fred

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McCourt, Frank Teacher Man.   

Memoirs of Pulitzer Prize-winner McCourt recalls his three decades of teaching English in New York cities inner-city schools. As an Irish immigrant facing thousands of not-so-eager "students", he faces real world challenges each day, many of which he fails to overcome. But when he succeeds with telling them stories of his life in Ireland or sees the flicker of a student's respect, he is inspired to keep teaching. Extremely personable and well-written.

Plainsong

Haruf, Kent. Plainsong. New York: Knopf 1999. Print

First Sentences:

Here was the man, Tom Guthrie, in Holt standing at the back window in the kitchen of his house smoking cigarettes and looking out over the back lot where the sun was just coming up.

When the sun reached the top of the windmill, for a while he watched what it was doing, that increased reddening of sunrise along the steel blades and the tail vane above the wooden platform.


Description:

Seventee miles outside the tiny town of Holt, Colorado live two elderly batchelor farmer brothers, Raymond and Harold McPheron. They keep to themselves, tending their fields and animals in quiet seclusion, barely speaking to each other much less anyone else. They've lived all their lives since their early teens when their parents died.

But their familiar world changes suddenly in Kent Haruf's Plainsong when they are asked to accept into their household a pregnant teenage girl, Victoria Roubideaux, who has nowhere else to go and no one to care for her. These gruff, unpolished men now must deal with this tiny, quiet girl and her coming baby, privately and in their own inexperienced manner.

[Harold said]...why, hell, look at us. Old men alone. Decrepit old bachelors out here in the courtry seventeen miles from the closest town which don't amount to much of a good goddamn even when you get there. Think of us. Crotchety and ignorant. Lonesome. Independent. Sent in all our ways. How you going to change now at this age of life?

I can't say, Raymond said. But I'm going to. That's what I know.

But in a small town, no one can long keep their lives private. In Holt, that holds true of other stolid townspeople who quietly carry their own burdens. For example, Tom Gutherie, the high school teacher, trying to raise his sons alone while his wife chooses to remain alone in her room upstairs in their home. He also suffers the trials of recalcitrant students and the wrath of their parents.

You get to know and even partially understand the lives of other characters: Maggie Jones, the teacher who befriends Victoria and introduces her to the batchelor brothers; Mrs. Sterns, the ancient woman living alone amongst the items she has hoarded for years: Dwayne, the Denver boy who is the father of Victoria's baby; and Russell Beckman, the school bully.

The descriptions of this landscape and these seemingly ordinary people sets Plainsong apart from almost every other book. Take Haruf's description of Tom's sons sleeping together in one bed:

...the older boy had one hand stretched above his brother's head as if he hopes to shove something away and thereby save them both. They were nine and ten, with dark brown hair and unmarked faces, and cheeks that were still as pure and dear as a girl's.

Then there is simple, moving description of the town doctor who examines Victoria so tenderly:

The old doctor reached up and took her hand and held it warmly between both of his hands for a moment and was quiet with her, simply looking into her face, serenely, grandfatherly, but not talking, treating her out of respect and kindness, out of his own long experience of patients in examination rooms.

These are characters that make you want to cry for their realness, determination, and inner passions. Their lives intertwine as they must do in small towns. To watch their interactions first occur, then blossom, wither, or triumph, all beautifully written by Kent Haruf, makes Plainsong a truly wonderful book. Please read it. It has my highest recommendation.

Happy reading. 

Fred

Other book recommendations
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If this book interests you, be sure to check out:

Doig, Ivan. The Whistling Season.   

A Chicago woman in 1909 answers an advertisement for a housekeeper for a widower and his three young sons living in an isolated Montana town. She writes that she "Can't cook, but doesn't bite," and gets the job sight unseen (by both of them). She brings her brother with her on the train and he reluctantly becomes a unique schoolteacher. Simply wonderful, a great read not to be missed.  (previously reviewed here)

The Selected Works of T. S. Spivet

Larsen, Reif. The Selected Works of T.S. Spivet New York: Penguin 2009. Print

First Sentences:

The phone call came late one August afternoon as my older sister Gracie and I sat out on the back porch shucking the sweet corn into the big tin buckets.

The buckets were still peppered with little teeth-marks from this past spring, when Verywell, our ranch hound, became depresed and turned to eating metal.

Description:

How can I explain the marvelous characters, setting, actions and illustrations of Reif Larsen's debut novel, The Selected Works of T.S. Spivet? It's impossible to fully describe the genius mind and illustrations of its narrator, T.S. Spivet, a twelve-year-old map-maker extrordinaire. I can only offer examples which hopefully will hint at and temp you into the adventures and intricacy of this wonderful book.

Tecumseh Sparrow (T.S.) Spivet is no ordinary maker of topographical drawings of land, oceans, cities. No, he is an acute observer of the world and its patterns and behaviors. Spivet draws intricate diagrams of actions (e.g., the motions of his father drinking whiskey), objects (the history of the family phone cord), actions (the internal mechinations of how his parents met at a square dance), senses (separate freight train noises combine into a leasing sandwich of sound), emotions (The McAwesome Trident of Desire as demonstrated by McDonald's), and yes, even geography (the Yuma Bat Field #2 showing the location of Spivet's last will and testament). These and so many more are included in the margins of almost every page in the book, along with T.S.'s insightful captions. All from a young boy living on an isolated ranch in Montana.

A map does not just chart, it unlocks and formulates meaning; it forms bridges between here and there, between disparate ideas that we did not know were previously connected. To do this right is very difficult.

While these examples may sound frivilous, make no mistake: T.S. Spivet is a very serious person. The phone call he receives in the opening pages of the book is from The Smithsonian Institute in Washington, D.C., announcing that he has won the prestigious Baird Award, along with a job at The Smithsonian. He is asked to travel to Washington D.C. to receive the prize in a formal ceremony and then give a speech to a roomful of scientists regarding his drawings used by the Smithsonian in their exhibits.

The problem? The Smithsonian doesn't know he is only twelve years old. They assume when Spivet talks over the phone to them about his school, that he is referring to a prestigious teaching post at some important higher-level institution, not his middle school. Also, Spivet's parents do not know of his relationship with The Smithsonian, the prize, or the travel requirement. His father is a weathered cowboy who is right at home doing manly things around their sprawling ranch, while his mother pursues her own biological study to discover an illusive species of beetle which may not even exist.

What to do? Of course, after much careful packing and no actual planning regarding transportation, Sopivet hops a freight train for Washington D.C. two thousand miles away with just a suitcase filled with his drawing instruments and some energy bars.  

During the journey, Spivet has time to reflect on his life, his family, the world passing by, and his future life among scientists at The Smithsonian. As his mind roves, he draws fantastic sketches with explanations of various things, people, or actions from his past, present travels, and his possible future. These are the most gloriously fun, informative, and artístic footnotes you will ever read.

This is so much more than just a simple travel story. Spivet reflects and pieces together fragments (and, of course, maps) about his life on a ranch with disconnected parents, an older sister who is into pop music, the sudden death of his younger brother (in which Spivet seems to have played a role), and a family genealogy of women scientists living in the isolated region of Montana. Each influences his travel and future plans, what he can make of them.

I won't reveal any more about Spivet and his journey so as not to spoil any part of the joy I hope you experience reading this book. I cannot recommend it highly enough. It's moved onto my all-time favorite list and will be re-read by me many times to immerse myself into this brilliant, curious mind and world.

Mediocrity is a fungus of the mind. We must constantly rally against it -- it will try to creep into all that we do, but we must not let it.

Happy reading. 

Fred

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If this book interests you, be sure to check out:

Paulsen, Gary. Hatchet  

Not sure if Hatchet is exactly like T.S. Spivit, but both do focus on pre-teen narrators on an unknown journey full of obstacles they must face with their wits, bravery, and humor. Hatchet  relates how one boy survives a plane crash deep in the Canadian forests and must try to figure out how to survive. Even if these books aren't too similar, I can't miss an opportunity to get people to read Hatchet, too. It's the best. Highly recommended.

The Volunteer

Fairweather, Jack. The Volunteer: One Man', An Underground Army, and the Secret Mission to Destroy Auschwitz. New York: HarperCollins 2019. Print

First Sentences:

Witold Pilecki volunteered to be imprisoned in Auschwitz. 

Description:

Can there be a more chilling, compelling first sentence than this opening to Jack Fairweather's true history recounted in The Volunteer: One Man', An Underground Army, and the Secret Mission to Destroy Auschwitz?

This first sentence  is the ultimate baited hook to keep any reader reading. Who was this man, Witold Pilecki? What possessed him to voluntarily enter Auschwitz during World War II? What did he hope to accomplish? What happened to him? Did his plans succeed? All are important questions that pull readers deeper and deeper into this true account from history.

A few answers here. Witold Pilecki was a Polish farmer, a member of the Polish reserves who fought the Nazis after the invasion of their homeland in 1939. After the Polish army and people had been subdued and the country occupied, Pilecki joined a small underground resistance force. He and his team watched as the Nazis began to enforce Hitler's  emergency decree for the "indefinite detention or protective custody" of "real or imagined" enemies, including Catholics, Jews, and ethnic Germans.

The resistance noticed that neighbors were taken to a mysterious "labor camp" and rarely returned. That camp was Auschwitz, built in 1940 to hold these Polish "dissidents." Little information about this new camp was known at that time, and certainly no details were allowed to trickle to the outside world. So Pilecki's resistance group agreed it was vital to publicize what was going on inside Auschwitz to the Allied nations, hoping those troops would be shocked enough to bomb it as the heart of the Nazi cleansing movement, freeing the Polish people imprisoned there. Pilecki volunteered to enter Auschwitz to secure the information needed.

Once inside Auschwitz (it proved easy for Pilecki, a Polish man, to be captured), his plan was to recruit a resistance force inside the concentration camp, gather information, disrupt activities, and write accounts that could be smuggled to his fellow resistance fighters outside to be carried to embassies in the Allied countries.

And, of course, to somehow survive, and, if possible, escape to rejoin his Polish fighters.

The harrowing details Fairweather reveals of life in Auschwitz were taken from the recently recovered reports from Pilecki. Starvation, random selection of prisoners to be casually shot, gassings, mass burials, and other brutalities have probably never been more shockingly presented. I won't enumerate them here, but trust me much of the book is incredibly shocking as seen through Pilecki's eyes. It was incredibly depressing to read again and again of man's callous inhumanity to man.

Let none of you imagine that he will ever leave this place alive....The rations have been calculated so that you will only survive six weeks. Anyone who lives longer must be stealing, and anyone stealing will be sent to the penal company, where you won't live very long. -- [opening greeting from the camp commandant, SS-Obersturmfuhrer Fritz Seidler]

Pilecki's reports were painstakingly written and then somehow smuggled out of the camp and on to England to be read by Churchill, Roosevelt and others. These reports detailed the hourly atrocities, the evolution of Auschwitz from a labor camp to a highly-systematic mass killing site, and the potential value of an Allied bombing raid. But Pilecki's accounts were ignored and shelved for various political reasons, leaving Pilecki inside hell to wait for the Allied bombers that were not coming.

This is an important, historic book full of bravery as well as atrocities from the reality that was Auschwitz. Witold Pilecki is about the most courageous, fearless, patient man imaginable. His untiring devotion to the Polish cause and to destroy Auschwitz, his cleverness and leadership that inspire hope and pride among fellow prisoners is incredibly heartening. Despite all the Nazi horror depicted, the ignorance, the brutality, this is Pilecki's story and that of the people of Poland trying to survive and keep their country alive.

After all this sadness and loss of faith in man's nature, I felt the need to read Maya Angelou's poem of hope, "A Brave and Startling Truth." I needed to restore my faith that humans are not completely cruel and heartless, that there is good in us that will survive even the most atrocious of people and events. The poem is attached below in hopes that it will counterbalance the shock of the events of this powerful book and reinforce the reality that good people like Witold Pilecki will triumph over evil.

A Brave and Startling Truth - by Maya Angelou

Happy reading. 

Fred

Other book recommendations
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Hillenbrand, Laura. Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption.   

True story of track star Louis Zamperini as he is shot down during World War II, drifted for weeks in a life raft, only to be "rescues" by enemy  Japanese who place him in a brutal prisoner-of-war camp. Shocking and inspiring in Zamperini's stoic resolve to survive whatever the world throws at him. Brilliantly written.

Meet Me at the Museum

Youngson, Anne. Meet Me at the Museum. New York: Flatiron 2018. Print

First Sentences:

Dear young girls,

Home again from the deserts and oases of the Sheikdoms I find your enthusiastic letters on my desk. They have aroused in me the wish to tell you and many others who take an interest in our ancestors about these strange discoveries in Danis bogs.  

Description:

Sometimes you come across a book that really reaches you, one that you can't wait to read the next page, the next paragraph, the next sentence. You begrudge any task that stands between you and reading the book, regret when sleep overtakes you during nighttime reading, and can't wait to recommend it to anyone who loves good writing, character, and a sense that there is something really good in the world.

Such a book, for me, is Anne Youngson's Meet Me at the Museum. The plot, probably the least important part, starts with a gentle Thank You note from Tina Hopgood, a sixtiesh farmer's wife to the author of a study on the Tollund Man. (The Tollund Man is an actual figure who lived around 300 BC and whose body, skin, clothes, and rope burn around his neck were found perfectly preserved in the peat bogs of Silkeborg, Denmark. Tina's letter is answered by the new curator of the Tollund Museum, Anders Larsen, and a correspondence between the two begins.

As might be expected, over the coming weeks the letters wander away from the Tollund Man into areas of their vastly different lifestyles of his cloistered academic study and her outdoor farm life. They share thoughts about the lives they chose (or were chosen for them)  as well as concerns about their families, dreams, sadness, and joys.

Throughout this epistolary novel of letters, there is an overwhelming sense of two ordinary yet sensitive people reaching out to another thoughtful person they can finally open up to. A genuine respect for each other and communication emerges in their beautifully, honestly-written notes that gently, inexorably pull you in deeper and deeper. I simply could not resist reading what the next subject/thought/words would be from one paragraph to the next.

That's all you need to know to encourage you to go out and read this touching book. There's lots more that goes on and personal revelations that are vital to understanding these two lovely people, but I won't spoil anything. I loved it, give it the highest recommendation, and hope you will read and be caught up it these lives and words as I was.

 [For further reading, check out the Tollund Museum website]

Happy reading. 
    

Fred

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Hanff, Helene. 84 Charing Cross Road.   

A correspondence blossoms between a woman in New York City seeking specific books to purchase and a rare book dealer in London. They discuss books, editions, quality of writing, authors, and many other book-related topics as their relationship grows. Lovely, warm writing.

Salmon Fishing in the Yemen

Torday, Paul. Salmon Fishing in the Yemen. New York: Harcourt 2007. Print.

First Sentences:

Dear Dr. James,

We have been referred to you by Peter Sullivan at the Foreign & Commonwealth Office (Directorate for Middle East and North Africa). 

We act on behalf of a client with access to very substantial funds, who has indicated his wish to sponsor a project to introduce salmon, and the sport of salmon fishing, into the Yemen.

Description:

Not many authors can combine the dry, hot desert of Yemen with the sport of fly fishing for the cold-water-loving salmon to create a compelling story. But Paul Torday in his debut novel, Salmon Fishing in the Yemen, manages to pull it off in the most delightful, clever manner.

In a nutshell, a wealthy sheikh from Yemen discovers the art of salmon fishing while visiting Scotland. A brilliant idea hits him. Why can't I, with my unlimited funds and passion for fly fishing, bring this sport to my home country of Yemen, making the joys of catching salmon available to me whenever I like and also promoting tourism among fishing enthusiasts?

So Dr. Fred Jones, a quiet, conservative British fisheries scientist, is contacted with the idea. Despite  his initial skepticism and reluctance to be involved in the absurd idea of flying and stocking 10,000 salmon in a desert river, Fred eventually is convinced by higher-up politicians and public relations people that creating a fishing destination in Yemen would be a great idea (and one that might distract the public from other less-desirable political issues).

Of course, tremendous barriers must be overcome, huge amounts of money are spent, and crazy logistics argued over, but impossibly the project moves forward. And along the way, Fred begins to find a new faith and belief in the sheikh, the power of dreams, and even romance.

Written completely in the epistolary style of memos, reports, emails, letters, articles, etc., Torday breathes a realism into this wacky project while poking fun at the politicians and public relations efforts that drive it ever onward. There is so much humor and satire to this quirky story that one cannot help but laugh out loud or at least shake one's head with a grin at the situations and solutions portrayed. It is absolutely delightful, one of my favorite books about when an otherworldly idea meets reality ... and the dream gains the upper hand.

(P.S. If you have seen the rather milquetoast movie version of this book, forget it. The book is wildly more entertaining, humorous, subtle, and inspirational. A really fun read.)

Happy reading. 

Fred

Other book recommendations
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If this book interests you, be sure to check out:

Hawks, Tony. Round Ireland with a Fridge  

To satisfy a drunken bar bet, author Hawks promises to hitchhike around the entire country of Ireland accompanied by a small refrigerator. Of course, it's an impossible task. Who would pick the two of them up? But miraculously the trip commences and both man and machine become celebrities, the fridge even more so than Hawks. Fantastically funny and human. Loved it. (previously reviewed here)