Review: Harry Truman's Excellent Adventure

Title: Harry Truman's Excellent Adventure

Author: Matthew Algeo

Publisher: Chicago Review Press

# of Pages: 234 (Plus Index and Bibliography)

Rating: 7/10

I received this book for free to review.

Product Description
On June 19, 1953, Harry Truman got up early, packed the trunk of his Chrysler New Yorker, and did something no other former president has done before or since: he hit the road. No Secret Service protection. No traveling press. Just Harry and his childhood sweetheart Bess, off to visit old friends, take in a Broadway play, celebrate their wedding anniversary in the Big Apple, and blow a bit of the money he’d just received to write his memoirs. Hopefully incognito.

In this lively history, author Matthew Algeo meticulously details how Truman’s plan to blend in went wonderfully awry. Fellow diners, bellhops, cabbies, squealing teenagers at a Future Homemakers of America convention, and one very by-the-book Pennsylvania state trooper--all unknowingly conspired to blow his cover. Algeo revisits the Trumans’ route, staying at the same hotels and eating at the same diners, and takes readers on brief detours into topics such as the postwar American auto industry, McCarthyism, the nation’s highway system, and the decline of Main Street America. By the end of the 2,500-mile journey, you will have a new and heartfelt appreciation for America’s last citizen-president.

I have always been far more interested in European history than American history, and I've also pretty much ignored most modern history- anything post-WWI seems to bore me. But a great deal has happened in the past few generations, and life has changed exponentially (or, it would, if life could be measured in exponents). So reading about the 1950s- well, it's a bit jolting just how different life was at the time.

In reading this book, I spent some time puzzling over why the author wrote it. Does he just really like Harry Truman? Did he want to take a road trip? Does he love 1950s America? I am not sure. Also, I am not sure if Algeo really accomplished his goal through this book. He follows Truman's route through the Midwest and the East Coast, meticulously finding people who had interacted with the former president, staying in the same places, eating the same foods... but why? I think the book would be well-served by an introduction, explaining its purpose. I can't imagine someone waking up in the morning and saying, "I want to take a road trip, Harry Truman-style." But maybe this happens more than I know.

Whatever the case may be, the book is fun and interesting. It reads, for the most part, like a travel journal. The author talks about odd and interesting people he meets (and makes asides about them just like this), and shares anecdotes and facts about corollary events in American history that helped shape the nation. It's a great book because you get to know the author's personality really well (he seems to abhor Holiday Inn). But you also get to know Harry Truman. And that's the most fascinating part.

How much do people really know about their leaders' personalities? The world adores Barack and Family, but not many people can claim to know them intimately. It's one thing to base your perception of a sports star around his actions and the hype surrounding him, but what happens when it's the President? And just because someone's a great president or leader, that doesn't make him a great guy. And vice versa. George W. Bush is a good example of this. Not many people think he was a good leader at all, but most everyone agrees that he seems to be a pretty nice guy.

And maybe that's the sad part, for towering historical figures. They are remembered based almost completely on perception and reputation, generation after generation. Herbert Hoover is often vilified as being ineffective during the Great Depression. But, according to this book, he was a great humanitarian and worked tirelessly to fight global hunger. No one seems to know that. Most people know him because of a vacuum cleaner and a dam. Harry Truman is known for being president after FDR. For dropping the atomic bomb. Twice. For his whistle-stop tour. For that famous picture of him holding the Chicago Tribune. But this book shows him after all that- after he's left office and attempted to resume a normal life with his wife. It shares a much more intimate view of the President, and that was fun to see.

Review: Lords of Corruption

Title: Lords of Corruption

Author: Kyle Mills

Publisher: Vanguard Press

# of Pages: 310

Favorite Line: "I love Americans. You're always thinking of something new and better. I just wonder when you're going to stop and enjoy those things you dream up."

I received this book for free to review.

From Publishers Weekly
In this lackluster suspense novel from bestseller Mills (Darkness Falls), ex-con Josh Hagarty, who's just earned an M.B.A., but fears his tainted past is a liability, leaps at a job offer from NewAfrica, a charitable organization that operates in Africa, despite his ignorance of the continent. Shortly after his arrival in an unnamed country devastated by civil strife, Hagarty learns his new employer concealed the truth about his predecessor's death. More disturbing revelations quickly follow that place him at odds with NewAfrica and put his life at risk. Assisted by two of the oldest clichés in the genre—the cynical journalist who sees his efforts as a chance for redemption and the attractive, selfless aid worker—Hagarty fights to expose the truth about his employer and the corrupt rulers of the country where he's been assigned. Some readers will groan at the plot contrivances that enable Hagarty to get out of a tight spot.

I am generally not a fan of thrillers. I didn't particularly care for The Da Vinci Code and I can't even really think of any other ones that I've read off the top of my head. I think the pace can sometimes be too quick for me. Nonetheless, this one sounded interesting, what with Africa and corruption and charity organizations. So I thought it would be good to review.

And I think for a thriller, it's definitely a good book. I don't mean that in a negative way, as though thrillers are a step down on the literary ladder for me. I mean I think it's good, for a genre of book with which I don't have much familiarity. So, just as I did with Live Nude Girl, another genre I don't have much familiarity with, I will refrain from giving this book a rating.

I would agree with Publishers Weekly above- that there are some plot contrivances that seem quite convenient for the author and the main character. I also have trouble with a character who, when she is told that someone's sister is possibly in danger, thinks that the correct response is seduction. Really? A bit callous.

But the overwhelming tone of this book was bleak. It takes place in an unnamed African country, rife with corruption and peopled by underage kids with machine guns. It ends with a large number of characters- major and minor- dead, and doesn't really resolve much at all about the larger issues presented. The most interesting and frightening position presented in the book was that foreign aid to Africa does not help the Africans, but instead helps the foreigners and any corrupt leader in those countries. This is a point that has been brought up before in many circles and publications, but hasn't really been responded to adequately. Goodness knows, it's far too complicated an issue to solve, and a fictional account of a ficitional country is probably not the right venue for discussion. All the same- it would have been interesting for the story to delve more into that. However, there were so many other depressing issues it hit on, that I suppose one less didn't hurt too much.

The story moves quickly and is very easy to follow along- I finished the book quite easily within two days. The characters do not have much time to develop, except for a couple of the main ones, and so there isn't much on that front. But the story premise is interesting. And it certainly gives one a lot to mull over concerning aid workers and the good they do.

Review: Animal, Vegetable, Miracle

Title: Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of Food Life

Author: Barbara Kingsolver

Publisher: Harper Perennial

# of Pages: 350

Favorite Line: Thus began the plan for my half-century Birthday Garden: Higgledy-piggledy, florescent and spontaneous, like friendship itself.

Rating: 9/10

From School Library Journal
This book chronicles the year that Barbara Kingsolver, along with her husband and two daughters, made a commitment to become locavores–those who eat only locally grown foods. This first entailed a move away from their home in non-food-producing Tuscon to a family farm in Virginia, where they got right down to the business of growing and raising their own food and supporting local farmers. For teens who grew up on supermarket offerings, the notion not only of growing one's own produce but also of harvesting one's own poultry was as foreign as the concept that different foods relate to different seasons. While the volume begins as an environmental treatise–the oil consumption related to transporting foodstuffs around the world is enormous–it ends, as the year ends, in a celebration of the food that physically nourishes even as the recipes and the memories of cooks and gardeners past nourish our hearts and souls. Although the book maintains that eating well is not a class issue, discussions of heirloom breeds and making cheese at home may strike some as high-flown; however, those looking for healthful alternatives to processed foods will find inspiration to seek out farmers' markets and to learn to cook and enjoy seasonal foods.

I could start by saying something dramatic like, "This book changed my life." I don't think it did, but it certainly cemented some vague and loose-ended beliefs that I have. Barbara Kingsolver and her family decide to spend a year living only on local produce. This seems a simple notion, really- after all, didn't humans spend most of history eating locally produced food? But we don't any more. I am a hug fan of bananas; apparently, these are not native to the extreme temperatures of Chicago and as such should be reconsidered as a yummy addition to my morning meal :-)

Well, good thing I have a trip to India planned this summer. The bananas there are both local and delicious.

That's the point of this book. How often do people today stop to think about the food they are eating? How many people even know when a particular type of food is in season? I certainly don't, for the most part. I bought chives at the farmers' market the other day and probably caused the farmer some heartache when I remarked that I didn't know chives had flowers. They do. Did you know that?

Kingsolver, her husband and her daughter wrote the book and it is chockful of disturbing facts about how much fuel it takes to bring a banana to Chicago, and how many pesticides are in our grain, and how almost all the diverse and fabulous native plant varieties of the United States are slowly going extinct (that's right- extinct) because large farming corporations control our seed supplies.

Kingsolver is pretty left-wing and she clearly has serious issues with the World Bank and other organizations, but her points are valid. It is more than a little frightening to be bludgeoned over the head with the statistic that most food in the United States travels about 1,500 miles to get to your plate. That means fruit in this country has more passport stamps than I ever will.

The book's writing is very dense- in general, I feel that memoirs are fast reads, but this is almost more a treatise and a plea than a memoir. It is jammed with recipes and short essays and lots of information on the mating rituals of turkeys. In my opinion, all three authors can be a bit sanctimonious and overzealous in their writing. Barbara Kingsolver spends about ten pages ogling over asparagus. Her husband seems to have visited every possible organic food website on the Internet and urges us to do so as well. And Camille... well, her parts of the story just seemed a bit stiff and forced to me.

But really, the family clearly has a passion for what they do. I do not own an Appalachian farm where I make my own cheese, can my tomatoes or try to induce turkeys to mate, but after reading this book, I have visions of myself with a victory garden-esque vegetable patch growing in my parents' backyard. There are decisions we make in life, and the passive ones are often just as important and impactful as the active ones. I have recently made a very active and terrifying decision about my future career path. That will undoubtedly change the course of my life going forward. But decisions purchasing food, cooking it and eating it- those are generally decisions people make without much thought, and that behavior has gotten us into a ridiculous situation. Just because you don't think much about what you're doing doesn't mean it's not making an impact in a profound way.

This is one of those books that makes you consider those decisions. It might not change your life, but I guarantee that it will make you pause, and to really think, next time you're in the grocery store. And considering how huge the local food scene has gotten recently... it's possible that Kingsolver has helped kickstart a very important movement.

Review: The Blue Notebook

Title: The Blue Notebook

Author: James A. Levine, MD

Publisher: Spiegal & Grau

# of Pages: 224

Rating: 9/10

This review is based on an advanced reader's copy.

Product Description

A haunting yet astonishingly hopeful story of a young Indian prostitute who uses writing and imagination to transcend her reality.

An unforgettable, deeply affecting tribute to the powers of imagination and the resilience of childhood, The Blue Notebook tells the story of Batuk, a precocious 15-year-old girl from rural India who was sold into sexual slavery by her father when she was nine. As she navigates the grim realities of the Common Street—a street of prostitution in Mumbai where children are kept in cages as they wait for customers to pay for sex—Batuk manages to put pen to paper, recording her private thoughts and stories in a diary. The novel is powerfully told in Batuk’s voice, through the words she writes in her journal, where she finds hope and beauty in the bleakest circumstances.

Beautifully crafted and deeply human, The Blue Notebook explores how people, in the most difficult of situations, can use storytelling to make sense of and give meaning to their lives. All of the U.S. proceeds from this novel will be donated to the International and National Centers for Missing and Exploited Children (http://www.icmec.org).

Upton Sinclair wrote a painfully graphic book about the horrors of Chicago's meat-packing district, The Jungle. He later famously said, "I aimed at the public's heart, and by accident I hit it in the stomach."

Dr. Levine does much the same in his book, The Blue Notebook. This is one of the most difficult and painful books I have ever read. Batuk writes in a beautifully lyrical voice, and so it is all the more jarring when she turns from her happy and playful thoughts and dreams to the graphic details that form the stark reality of her life.

I do not have a favorite quote from this book. It is by turns gorgeous and terrifying. There were pages that made me shudder and I admit that there were at least two pages that I was unable to finish reading. I had to skip ahead. This is not a book to read on the train or to wile away a spare half hour. I was close to tears on my morning commute yesterday.

Levine's book is calculated to reach you in that manner. It is written almost as a series of inter-related vignettes more than as a novel. A girl from rural India who, by chance, learns how to read. The apple of her father's eye, who is then sold to a stranger. A seasoned prostitute on the Common Street of Mumbai, taking spare moments to write about the voices of old trees and wise tigers. A poor young woman who dreams about expensive and gorgeous hats. A magical story about the silver-eyed snow leopard, and the power that someone's hope can save them from a miserable situation.

All US proceeds from this book will be donated to charity. It is not an easy book to read. But while some books are read for pleasure, others are read to gain an understanding of our world. This book is in the latter category. Just as Sinclair did in The Jungle, Levine will aim for your heart and hit you in the gut.

Review: Royal Blood

Title: Royal Blood

Author: Rona Sharon

Publisher: Kensington

# of Pages: 352

I received this book for free to review. I did not finish reading this book.

Product Description
In the Tudor Court of 1518, your friends and enemies can be one and the same...During the annual celebration of the Order of the Garter, Sir Michael Devereaux arrives in King Henry VIII's court on a mission for his benefactor. The celebration's endless feats and sumptuous women delight the charismatic newcomer, who becomes captivated by the enigmatic Princess Renee of France. But evil, it seems, has followed Michael to the court. Shortly after his arrival, an unknown killer claims several victims, including the Queen's lady-in-waiting, and the powerful Cardinal Wolsey asks Michael to help with the investigation. As he searches for the killer, Michael is haunted by disturbing images of the victims - flashes of violence that lead him to doubt his own sanity. Michael soon realizes that the key to solving the crime is connected to both the Pope's Imperial vault in Rome and a mystery from Michael's own past - revealing a secret that is so damning, it could forever alter the future of mankind.

I really thought I'd like this book! But I didn't at all. It is set in the Tudor court, which is such a fascinating period of British history (though in my opinion, the Tudors don't hold a candle to the Plantaganets). I realized belatedly that it is actually a paranormal romance, not straight historical fiction. This didn't sit as well with me, but I decided to read it, anyway, and make an attempt to put aside my preconceived notions about romances involving vampires. (Seriously- I don't think I need to make any more clear my violent dislike of Stephenie Meyer's Twilight.)

Review: The Tory Widow

Title: The Tory Widow

Author: Christine Blevins

Publisher: Berkley

# of Pages: 384

Rating: 4/10

I received this book for free to review.

Product Description

On a bright May day in New York City, Anne Peabody receives an unexpected kiss from a stranger. Bringing news of the repeal of the Stamp Act, Jack Hampton, a member of the Sons of Liberty, abruptly sweeps Anne into his arms, kisses her—and then leaves her to her fate of an arranged marriage…

1775: Nearly ten years have passed and Anne, now the Widow Merrick, continues her late husband’s business printing Tory propaganda, not because she believes in the cause, but because she needs the money to survive. When her shop is ransacked by the Sons of Liberty, Anne once again comes face to face with Jack and finds herself drawn to the ardent patriot and his rebel cause.

As shots ring out at Lexington and war erupts, Anne is faced with a life-altering decision: sit back and watch her world torn apart, or stand and fight for both her country’s independence and her own.

Meh. The Tory Widow is a historical novel set in Revolution-era New York- it sounded right up my alley when I saw it as an offering for LibraryThing's Early Reviewers program. However, in my opinion, it falls pretty flat. The elements of a good story are there- a war for liberty, espionage, daring characters, romance, independent women... but they just didn't come together for me. I don't think this was the fault of the plot, really. The storyline wasn't anything thoroughly original, but it certainly had enough interesting twists to keep a reader's attention. It would be very depressing for a published author to think of a plotline involving the Sons of Liberty and somehow manage to make it boring.

So this book's downfall, for me, was its characters. I just didn't like them much. Mostly because they seemed so very inconsistent. All of them seemed inconsistent to me, but the two main characters (Annie and Jack) seemed as though they suffered from schizophrenia for the first 200 pages or so. Here's a recap:

Jack kisses Annie, a complete stranger, on her wedding day (as she marries a much older gentleman).

Several years pass.

Jack and his Sons of Liberty crew come to Annie's print shop and ruin her press, as she is a suspected Loyalist. Jack, additionally, pours a pissbucket over her treasured collection of books (after he tells her that he also loves reading. Anyone who can love reading and then ruins rare books in such a callous manner should not be trusted.)

Annie stupidly walks down a deserted alley, where she is cornered by thugs and then saved by Jack (more on this plot device later).

Annie decides has feelings for Jack. (Shocking.)

Jack goes to a whorehouse.

Annie finds out, has a cry, and breaks ties with Jack.

Annie spends about ten minutes without Jack and realizes that she's in love with him. Even though he threw stale piss on her books, stole her printing press, and then cheated on her with a prostitute.

Etc., etc., etc.

I won't even get into it from Jack's point of view. Believe me, the story makes no more sense from his perspective. And the secondary characters are just as sloppily written. There is just very little consistency, and I never had any reason to believe the emotions expressed were genuine.

Also, I do not understand why the whole, "I was an idiot and went into a seedy area where I was attacked by thugs who were after my Virtue, and then a rugged man whom I previously despised came and saved me from my situation and I realized that he really was a gentleman who was willing to save a Damsel in Distress, and I fell for him because he did not take advantage of my stupidity or steal my Virtue."

Honestly.

I get very angry at these scenes as they really seem to imply that women are stupid (though, granted, the types that fall into those types of situations generally are), and they also seem to make light of the entire rape scenario. How often is a good-hearted gentleman likely to find you at knifepoint while a drunkard tries to take advantage of you?! Not very often at all. And yet, in books... it happens all the time. And somehow, after that scene, the man doing the saving is made out to be some sort of hero. Yes, it's very nice of a man to help someone else in a time of need, but that does not necessarily make him a hero.

This scene, and other smaller ones, really bothered me and lessened my enjoyment of the book. Couple that with the inconsistencies in character, and I don't think I'll be looking for much else by this author.