The Mind's Eye - Oliver Sacks

I am fascinated by neurological disorders - and the idea that because they are often so difficult to diagnose, people often think other things are going on, like failing eyesight or general insanity. Alas, I am not a very scientificly minded person (brain disorder, I guess), so I really appreciate the accessible way that Sacks writes his books - with colorful characters and interesting anecdotes. The Mind's Eye presents individuals who have suffered the loss of one of their senses - from the seemingly straightforward loss of sight to the strange loss of the ability to read (while maintaining the ability to write) and the sense of three dimensional space. Sacks spends a good portion of the book writing about his own struggle with the inability to recognize faces. This I found incredible, and gave a whole new understanding to people who consider themselves "bad with faces" and provides an excuse for that person you've met 10 times but still doesn't seem to recognize you when you run into them on the street. As with his other books, the mind's ability to adapt and compensate for loss is explored. This book also raises the fear in me that one of these incomprehensible afflictions could strike me at any time...but also gives me hope that there are brilliant minds like Dr. Sacks out there studying the brain and hopefully finding solutions to these crazy problems.

The Man Who Loved Books Too Much - Allison Hoover Bartlett

The synopsis for this book reminded me of Edward Dolnick's books about art theft. Though this time, with books as the object of desire, I figured it was even more up my alley. This book focuses on John Gilkey, a man obsessed with books - not necessarily for their stories, but for their value. He fancies himself a sort of aristocrat who deserves the life and respect he believes comes with owning rare first editions and other highly sought after collectors items. He makes his way through book shows and used bookstores swindling owners left and right. The author meets with him in prison in an effort to understand why he steals. In addition she meets with the man who hunted Gilkey down, as well as various booksellers to understand the world of bookselling, and to uncover how such a wide-spread deception could occur. While the fundamental premise of this book is fascinating to me - unfortunately, I did not feel completely satisfied with the execution. I thought that the author touched on the psychological problems Gilkey suffered from and made an effort to speak to his family hoping to uncover more. In the end, however, I thought the book posed more questions than answers. This did, however, open my eyes to an entirely new world with respect to book loving. I don't really understand the value in old books - I just like them for their stories - though I do appreciate some good cover art. I'm not a collector of objects, so paying large sums for books that will never actually be touched or read is foreign to me. I thought the author explored this well - why Gilkey would become enamored with such a world, and how the various players in this world interact. I think so much more could have been done with the book, but it is an interesting story about a very strange character.

City of Thieves - David Benioff

I normally like to write my blog posts within a day or two of finishing a book, so I can be really true to how I felt upon finishing- instead of after having too much time to reflect on it - though sometimes that reflection is a marker of how "good" I thought a book was. Unfortunately, my schedule lately had preventing me from keeping up to date on my posts...so hopefully I'll be able to report reletively honestly about what I've been reading. City of Thieves was given to my by my friend Eleanor - and it was a perfect book to read with a newborn in the house - not because of the subject matter, but because of the ease with which the book is written. I thought perhaps this was Young Adult novel (and maybe it is), but it's a bit graphic in its discussion of violence and sex. The book is set during the German siege of Leningrad during WWII. The story is narrated by Lev, a young Jew who is imprisoned for looting a dead German paratrooper. While locked up, he meets Kolya, a charismatic soldier imprisoned for desertion. The two of them are promised their freedom and ration cards if they can somehow locate a dozen eggs to bake a cake for the wedding of a colonel's daughter. The impossible quest takes the two men through Leningrad and the countryside, as the encounter the best and worst of humanity brought out by the war. The story is filled with hilarious moments - as a reader I almost felt guilty laughing given the setting of the book. It reminded me of the movie Life is Beautiful in this way - a mix between gallows humor and trying to make the best of a truly bad situation. A real gem in the midst of tremendous tragedy.

Slam - Nick Hornby

I always read Nick Hornby's books - even when they are about soccer, which I have little to no interest in. I bought this one for Jake when it first came out - excited that not only was it a Nick Hornby book, but that it was also a Young Adult book. Two great favorites together! I had only a vague idea of what the book was about - a teenage kid who is in to skating (a.k.a. skateboarding!). And boy, was I in for a surprise. Sure, this kid loves skaring - and has a very weird relationship with his poster of Tony Hawk. But, this book is mostly about the boy's intense relationship with his girlfriend and the worst mistake he could make as a 16 year old. Given the subject matter of the book, I can't say that I found it "enjoyable" - and the cynical humor that is Hornby's trademark, while hilarious when spouted by jaded adults, is just uncomfortable when coming from a teenager. The plot of this book is an enormous train wreck - you can't stop reading, are in disbelief that whole time, and in the end everything is just tragic and depressing. Not at all what I was looking for from Hornby or from Young Adult fiction.

Dead and Gone - Charlaine Harris (Sookie Stackhouse #9)

I took a break from reading this series which I think was a good idea. Coming back to it, I was reminded of how fun it is - and it made me excited for the next season of True Blood to get started. As you can imagine, by the time you get to book 10 in a series about vampires and werewolves, things are bound to get a little nonsensical and crazy. And so in this installment, things focus a bit more on the faeries, Sookie's connection to them, and a was among them that leads a faction of the faeries to want to harm Sookie. In this book, also, the wereanimals/shifters finally come out to the population in general - leading to some violence as a result of discrimination agains the half-man/half-beasts. As usual, Sookie finds herself in the middle of the supernatural beings' wars, and while she'll never be my favorite character out there, I am still managing to have fun with this series.

Ape House - Sara Gruen

I enjoyed Gruen's previous book Water for Elephants. I wouldn't say I loved it as much as book clubs across the country seem to have, but I did enjoy her writing style, the ease of her characters and plot, and generally found it to be the kind of book I enjoy relaxing with in a cafe with a nice hot latte. When I read the jacket cover for Ape House the subject matter did not appeal to me at all. It's about a researcher studying the behavior of bonobo apes - and their facility with sign language and ability to communicate with humans and others. It wasn't something I thought I would be particularly interested in. But, I decided to pick it up anyway. I was hooked after the first chapter. The plot goes a little haywire as the research facility is bombed and the apes escape and are then captured and televised in their own reality show. But, it was the relationship between the main researcher and the bonobos that I found truly endearing. Their conversations (apparently based on real conversations) were so touching, not to mention fascinating. It made me want to read more non-fiction on this subject- and I was just recommended a book by Ashley's mom called Bonobo Handshake which I have requested from the library. This was a fast good coffee-shop read, though some of the characters were annoying and their relationships with each other seemed superficial (strangely, perhaps more so in comparison with the relationships they had with the apes). This was one I liked more for the big picture story than for the details of the actual narrative.

The Old Capital - Yasunari Kawabata

Kawabata won the 1968 Nobel Prize for Literature - and this was one of three of his novels cited by the Nobel committee. It tells the story of Chieko, the only child of a kimono designed in Kyoto. According to her parents, they kidnapped her when she was a small child and raised her as their own. As their stories never quite match-up, Chieko knows there is more to it. As the story unfolds, Chieko slowly learns more about the reality of her past. Simultaneously, she is faced with her role in her role as a daughter and a woman in Japanese society and the choices she has to make, as well as those that are foisted upon her. The plot itself moves slowly and was not that interesting to me. What I did love was the lyrical language of the story - I've said this before on my blog, but I am always fascinated by books that have been translated from another language - I wonder how much is lost in translation and how the translators manage to convey the feelings and emotions of the book in its original language. However it's done, it worked in this case. A perfect book to read in the last couple days of rainy weather, sitting by my window and looking out at the falling white blossoms from my plus tree.