Middle Passage (audiobook) by Charles Richard Johnson

Winner of the 1990 National Book Award

Published in 1990.
Read by Dion Graham.

Duration: 7 hours, 4 minutes.

Unabridged.

I have rarely heard a narrator's voice so well-suited to a character as is Dion Graham's voice is to Rutherford Calhoun. Middle Passage (winner of the 1990 National Book Award) is written in first person as a personal journal of a ne'er-do-well former slave from Illinois who lives in New Orleans in 1830. Calhoun is forced to go on the run. He stows away on a slave ship bound for West Africa. It is captained by a diminutive American explorer and adventurer with a strong personality and an insatiable desire for new experiences.The crew is discontented and on the edge of mutiny.

Along the way, Calhoun discovers that the slaves and the cargo in the hold are not normal, in fact they might be more accurately described as paranormal. I would say more but I want to avoid spoilers.

Charles Richard Johnson

In reality, this book is not a good piece of historical fiction - historical anachronisms abound. Rather, it is an exceptional piece of fiction full of good old-fashioned literary themes, adventure, personal growth and literary allusions, like other, more famous novels about the sea, including the obvious ones such as Moby Dick and Homer's Odyssey.

One of the larger themes is freedom and servitude. Most obviously there are the slaves, but Charles Johnson also explores the debts we owe one another, society in general, employer/employee, men and women, parent and child, god and man and the way our past binds us to our future. Looked at in all of these contexts, the reader may wonder if any of us are really free?

I highly recommend Middle Passage, especially the audio version, since it so perfectly narrated.

I rate this book 5 stars out of 5.

Reviewed on October 23, 2008.

This book can be found on Amazon here: Middle Passage

The Intellectual Devotional: Modern Culture: Converse Confidently about Society and the Arts by David S. Kidder and Noah D. Oppenheim

Learn a little every day. 

Read by Oliver Wyman and Helen Litchfield
Duration: a little more than 17 hours.

Published in 2008.

The Intellectual Devotional: Modern Culture is designed on the same format as a religious devotional - a small bit of inspiration every day. In this case, it is designed to be a small bit of learning every day. It is not set up with specific dates (Such as Thursday, October 23), but it starts with Monday of Week 1 and works it way through the year. There are 16 CD's in this set, with an estimated length of a little more than 3 minutes for each day and a little more than 17 hours overall. There are Intellectual Devotionals with other themes as well, such as American history.

The topics vary widely. The first CD ranges from Sigmund Freud to Hal Roach (the man behind the Little Rascals). The topics are interesting and I found myself dispensing with the intended one-a-day format and listening to upwards of 20 of them as I putter around the kitchen.

The only complaint I have is that there is no index included to remind the listener of the location of interesting entries. Unlike the book version, I really can't easily go flipping through it until I find the entry I'm looking for.

Nonetheless, this one comes highly recommended by this reviewer.

This audiobook can be found on Amazon.com here: The Intellectual Devotional.

I rate this audiobook 5 stars out of 5.

Reviewed on October 23, 2008.

The Judas Field: A Novel of the Civil War by Howard Bahr

Majestic and Poetic - an Outstanding Experience

Published in 2007 by Picador

Howard Bahr

If you pick up The Judas Field give it about 30 pages. Up to that point I was fairly confused and lost. Then, it suddenly comes together and this book became one of the most powerful books I've read all year.

The book features two story lines - one set approximately 20 years after the Civil War and one that consists of flashbacks about the Battle of Franklin. Both are interesting. Bahr's descriptions of the battle contain some of the most poetic descriptions of the most awful things that men can do to one another that I've ever read. Truly beautifully written.

On top of that there is an ongoing discussion about the role of God in war. Does he take sides? Has he forsaken both sides? This discussion is not done lightly. These are not post-modernist characters - they believe in God but they must reconcile that belief with the awful experience of war - what they did, what they saw done, what they prayed for, and why God has allowed it. Here's a snippet of this discussion:

Confederate soldiers at the end of the war.

" 'What do you ask for then?' said the boy.

Roger pulled the quilt around his shoulders. 'To be forgiven,' he said.

They were quiet then. The snow swirled around them, borne on a cutting wind, and through it ghostly shapes began to pass, bending, searching, speaking softly." (pp. 168-9)

The dialogue works. The descriptions are so thorough that I could almost hear the horses stamp and the men groan and stretch. This book is an outstanding experience.

I rate this novel 5 stars out of 5. It can be found on Amazon.com here: The Judas Field: A Novel of the Civil War by Howard Bahr.

Reviewed on October 24, 2008.

Worlds at War: The 2,500-Year Struggle Between East and West by Anthony Pagden

Disappointed

Published in 2008.

Anthony Pagden's Worlds at War: The 2,500-Year Struggle Between East and West was a book I was really looking forward to reading. It sat on my wish list for months and when I saw it just sitting there at my local library I greedily snatched it up and considered myself lucky to even have found it checked in.

Thank goodness I did not waste my money buying it.

I suppose the problem with a book of this nature is that it is bound to disappoint - some things will be "too" highlighted, some left out. Even worse for this book, niggling factual errors crop up that bother the careful reader and throw into doubt the validity of the more complicated interpretations of the work as a whole.

Positives:

The book is quite readable and you must give a tip of the hat to anyone who undertakes such a large and sweeping history.

Negatives:

The anti-religious comments taint large sections of the book: "...nor have I made any attempt...to disguise the fact that I believe the myths perpetrated by all monotheistic religions - all religions indeed- have caused more lasting harm to the human race that any other set of beliefs..." (p. xix) In my opinion, his anti-religious bias does immeasurable harm to this history because holders of religious belief are held in disdain. This is a history full of religious beliefs, perhaps even based on it. Viewing all of those beliefs as despicable and marginalizing them leads to some of the more simplistic interpretations noted in other reviews of this book.

-The author comments that in this book Christianity "seems to fare slightly better than Islam in this story..." (p. xix) but I really doubt that. At least he spent several pages on the life of Muhammad and the early history of Islam. He doesn't even bother to tell about the life of Jesus (not even a "supposed" version) or a history of St. Paul (whom he refers to in passing several times, but the uninformed reader is left, well, uninformed.) Imagine, a history of the West without even a page devoted to the beginnings of Christianity. The closest we get to an outline of Christ is a brief comparison to Mithraism (pp. 130-1). Christians are often slighted, such as on page 519 when he opines that Christians would like to make Shari'a law for the United States if only they could figure out how.

-Judaism fares even worse. It is rarely mentioned. Even then it has inaccuracies, such as on pages 151-2 when he notes, incorrectly that Moses was only given 10 laws. A passing glance through the book of Deuteronomy would tell the most casual of reader that dozens and dozens of laws were given to Moses.

-The Persian-Roman conflicts. I was looking forward to learning more about the Persian empire(s) that fought Rome to a standstill. Usually in this type of history there is just one paragraph that tells you little more than I've already mentioned - that the Persians fought the Romans to a standstill and an accomodation was made. He includes a fancier explanation, but it is still just the one paragraph. (pp. 175-6) I was hoping for much more - especially since this accounts for roughly 500 years of the 2,500 years of conflict that is discussed in the book.

--Refers to the year 1098 as being a part of the "ninth-century". (p. 231)

Martin Luther (1483-1546)

-Luther's teachings are misstated at times. "Mankind did not need to labor to win God's favor, as the Church had always maintained; it could be vindicated by faith alone. To be justified in the eyes of God, one had only to believe and lead a true and godly life." (p. 297) The part about leading a true and godly life would be the same as laboring to win God's favor. It is not Luther's theology. He stated the godly life would proceed from one's faith, it would not, in and of itself, do anything to get one into heaven.

Some might find the point about Luther trivial, but this is not a small thing. In the last 500 years there have been two large-scale organized religious movements in the West and both were inspired by Martin Luther - the Reformation and the Counter-Reformation (aka the Catholic Reformation). Failing to understand this simple part of Luther's theology means that those two movements are not understood as well. If you were reading a book that mentioned the philosopher Socrates and the author failed to grasp the concept that Socrates wanted people to question everything you'd have to question the author's competence as an authority on the topic. If the author also openly ridiculed philosophers in general and Greek philosophers in particular you'd question why he even bothered to write on the topic in the first place.   

-On page 74 there is a reference to "brothels in Pompey" (p.74). Pompey was one of Julius Caesar's rivals. Pompeii is the standard spelling for the city he is referring to.

-On page 249 he refers to the Afghan War of 1991. 2001, perhaps?

-There is a complete failure to mention the clash between Communism, Fascism and the East. The Ba'ath Party was influenced by the Fascist movements. Afghanistan was nominally Communist when the USSR invaded it to support the floundering government in 1979. He expounds on the murderous history of religious movements but blows off the terrible history of secular movements like Communism with one really long sentence (pp. 533-4) that fails to address the issue or the scope of their own murderous pasts.

-"Soviet Block"? (p. 526). The standard spelling is bloc, not block.

-On page 526 it is claimed that East Germany "took the first steps that would eventually bring down the Communist regimes of eastern Europe." (p. 526) Funny, I remember it being Poland with Lech Walesa and Solidarity being the first. The Wall came down only when Hungary and other countries had already lowered their barriers and made East Germany's Communist rulers irrelevant.

Final thought: Buy something else. Perhaps more specific histories rather than a more general, biased one that demonstrates little respect for the religious traditions of the peoples involved.

I rate this book 2 stars out of 5.

This book can be found on Amazon.com here: Worlds at War: The 2,500-Year Struggle Between East and West.

Reviewed on October 28, 2008.

The Run (abridged audiobook) by Stuart Woods

A political thriller for people who do not really follow politics

Published in 2000 by HarperAudio
Read by Ken Howard
Duration: 5 hours, 39 minutes
Abridged

Ken Howard (most famous for his TV show The White Shadow) narrates this nearly 6 hour abridgment of The Run, a below par political thriller.

Filled with undeveloped story threads that promise something interesting but rarely delivers (the VP has Alzheimer's, militias are out to assassinate the candidate, the candidate's wife is a bigwig in the CIA, there's dirt on the candidate - all for naught) The Run is a great example of a political thriller for people who do not really follow politics. Lots of things won't sit right with folks who watch politics -primaries are still happening in July and August, there is at least one brokered convention (another one is hinted at but it may have been abridged out of my version), the amounts of money spent are tiny, even by year 2000 standards.

The White House

Perhaps strangest of all, Bill Clinton is referenced several times throughout this book which purports to be about the year 2000 election. Strangely, Clinton is not the president at the time of the 2000 election in this book, nor had he been removed by impeachment in the story (Woods would have been writing this at the time of Clinton's impeachment). Why not make the election the 2004 or 2008 election? Not a big deal, but it still bothered me throughout.

Skip this one. If you want to read a good Stuart Woods thriller, read Chiefs or White Cargo.

I rate this audiobook 2 stars out of 5.

This audiobook can be found in abridged and unabridged formats on Amazon.com here: The Run by Stuart Woods.

Reviewed on November 6, 2008. 

Widow's Walk (A Spenser Novel)(audiobook) by Robert B. Parker

 

"Mr. Spenser, you are a little man in a big arena. You simply don't matter." 

Published by Books on Tape
Read by Joe Mantegna
Duration: 5 hours, 41 minutes.
Unabridged

With that comment fans of Spenser know that in Widow's Walk he's going to be digging in his heels and pull even harder at all of the loose ends until he finds something he can use. That is both the beauty and the weakness of the Spenser novels - they are formulaic. Spenser has a routine and this one touches all points: 

Help from Hawk with a tail? Check. 

Vinny Morris brought in to back up Hawk? Check. 

Bounce his case off of Susan for a new perspective? Check. 

Witty commentary? Check. 

Both the cops and the bad guys irritated with Spenser? Check. 

It's predictable but quite enjoyable. 

The case is interesting and goes all over the place. The only real problem I had with this audiobook presentation is Joe Mantegna as the reader. Mantegna does a solid job of reading - his diction is impeccable, he can deliver a smart-aleck comment pretty well but his range of different voices is limited and his Susan Silverman voice sounded like Carey Grant to me. A four-star book is reduced to a total of three stars by the narration.

I rate this audiobook 3 stars out of 5.

This audiobook can be found on Amazon.com here: Widow's Walk by Robert B. Parker.

Reviewed on November 9, 2008.

Islam: The Religion and the People by Bernard Lewis

Outstanding

Published in 2008 by Wharton School Publishing.

Islam: The Religion and the People is, without a doubt, the single best academic introduction to Islam that I have seen. It covers just about every facet of the religion for the non-expert, from what happens in a mosque on Fridays to the split between the Shiites and the Sunnis to how the Muslim world deals with not being able to charge interest to rules concerning food and the question of jihad.

This volume is short, well-written and thorough. It includes a glossary of terms mentioned in the book with more explanation (so the text does not bog down). Sidebars are included throughout the text with humourous notes that further illustrate the issues that are being discussed.

I have not encountered a better book to introduce Islam to the curious Westerner. I highly recommend this one to anyone heading off to a Muslim country, who works with Muslims or who is just curious about this popular, controversial and influential faith.

I rate this book 5 stars out of 5.

This book can be found on Amazon.com here: Islam: The Religion and the People.

Reviewed on November 9, 2008.