[ad_1]
There are three longish books in this first installment of my winter book comments. I finally got my hands on Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver. It did not disappoint. The wait list at the library is short because it came out in 2022.
Then I saw a new book from Hampton Sides, The Wide Wide Sea, about Captain James Cook. A historical thriller about a voyage of discovery through the mostly uncharted Western Pacific Ocean. Several years ago, I visited the Big Island, Hawaii, and saw the small, stark monument commemorating the place of Cook’s murder. This book brought that moment to life.
Keeping with Sides, I took a chance with a book about the Korean War. Bingo! Another winner. If you don’t read much historical creative non-fiction, I strongly recommend Hampton Sides to make you comfortable with this genre.
The Exchange by John Grisham (Vintage Books, 2023)
A quick enjoyable read. Grisham still churns out a decent legal thriller in record time. In The Exchange, he returns to the protagonists from his first book, The Firm, Mitch and Abby McDeere. Now they are a middle-aged couple, successful and content. Of course, Grisham can’t leave them well enough alone, and they become involved in a prisoner exchange in Tunisia. Good read for an airplane, the beach, or lazing away time over the long Christmas/New Year holiday as I did.
Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver (Harper, 2022)
Kingsolver is such an engaging writer. Even at 560 pages, you want the story to continue. She takes us into the black holes of Oxy addiction and fentanyl death in Appalachia. Just as in Huck Finn or David Copperfield, we keep rooting for the young man who tells us his story. Highly recommended.
The Wide Wide Sea: Imperial Ambition, First Contact and the Fateful Final Voyage of Captain James Cook by Hampton Sides (Doubleday, 2024)
Here we go with another great history book by Hampton Sides. This time he takes on Captain James Cook, the great British explorer, who is assigned by George III to find the Northwest Passage. To do this, he sails East from England in 1776 and across the Pacific to the relatively unknown western side of North America. He accidentally discovers the Hawaiian Islands! They were recorded on no previous maps. In the end, he is murdered on the Big Island of Hawaii by unhappy natives.
Through his creative magic with narrative, illustrated with quotations and original journals, Sides makes the journey a page-turner. Highly recommended.
On Desperate Ground: The Epic Story of Chosin Reservoir – the Greatest Battle of the Korean War by Hampton Sides (Doubleday, 2018)
I could not put this book down. The Korean War was fought from 1950 – 1953; I was six – eight years old. My Uncle Harry was in the Marines in Korea, yet I know nothing about what he did there. I will find out.
The book is about the attempt by the X Corps, a combination of U.S. Army, Marines, Navy, South Korean Army, and various U.N. troops from the UK and other countries, to take the northern part of Korea by routing the North Korean military. Unknown was that Communist China was entering the war from the north with hundreds of thousands of indoctrinated foot soldiers. That, combined with the sub-zero weather in North Korea, overcame the X Corps advance and almost gave them no way out.
Sides provides plenty of details about the campaign and makes you care about the soldiers and officers he brings to life with personal stories. Never thought this would be a book for me, but I’m really trusting Hampton Sides to take me inside of history. I never felt this was a history book; it’s creative non-fiction at its best. Highly recommended.
Standing Heavy by GauZ’ (Biblioasis, 2023)
This is such an interesting little book. Originally written in French by an Ivory Coast immigrant to France, it tells the stories of the men who “guard” all the important retail stores on the main shopping streets of Paris. Serving as a guard in industrial areas also plays a role, but the fun is how the guards deal with tedium, bad behavior, and daily reminders of lower-class vs upper-class life in retail Paris.
GauZ’ begins the book with a slang dictionary used to describe the customers and the work. Thus, to ask a fellow immigrant if he is “standing heavy,” asks if he is in the retail guard business. Woven throughout is the story of an Ivorian immigrant, life in the Ivory Coast, life in France, and the sadness of both. Recommended.
The Vegetarian by Han Kang (Hogarth, 2016)
This novel won the International Booker Prize and lots of other top awards.
Thank goodness this book is short – 208 pages. The story concerns a youngish woman, Yeong-hye, who starves herself (maybe to death) after a dream causes her to give up animal products. The first part is told from the point of view (POV) of her husband, who married her because she was bland and would not cause trouble for his career. Yeong-hye’s vegetarianism wreaks havoc with her family and her husband.
The second part is told from the POV of her brother-in-law who lusts after her as she wastes away. Yeong-hye finds a kind of sexual release unknown with her husband.
The third part is told from the POV of her sister, mostly after Yeong-hye is institutionalized. Not really an engaging story, more morbidly fascinating. But any book that receives so many accolades deserves attention. It was written in Korean and translated. So, we must consider cultural differences. But I hope The Vegetarian is not representative of Korean culture. It does not claim to be. I think I’ll unearth another Korean novel to test the water.
Long Reach by Nancy Stevenson (The Wild Rose Press, 2023)
A good combination of natural history, history, and mystery, Long Reach reads quickly while informing us about environmental perils in British Columbia. I’ve spent a little time in BC and on the Olympic Peninsula and recall with horror my first sight of clear-cut logging. Stevenson takes us right into this and the sometimes pointless remediation attempted by the lumber companies.
The plot is tied to a couple drifting apart as they enter older age. They were work partners, running a media business. The protagonist is the wife. I would have liked a bit more development of the husband’s role in their drift. Like most mysteries, Stevenson ties the ending together into a neat bow.
Let’s Have a Conversation:
What have you read this winter so far? Are you fan of creative historical non-fiction? Which non-fiction subject fascinates you the most?
[ad_2]
Source link
