'The Boys in the Boat', by Daniel James Brown

The Boys in the Boat, Daniel James Brown (3.0)

I was a bit disappointed in this award-winning book. While the story is fascinating, I was let down with the story telling. All the elements were there: a group of scrappy athletes (many who had come through adversity), an unlikely winning college team, and the dramatic setting of the 1936 Olympics in Berlin. I’m glad I now know the story in more detail, but on completion I had a sense of missing a better version. The author picked wisely in his main character. He follows the story of Joe Rantz, one of the rowers of the 8-oar crew team from the University of Washington in the mid 1930’s. Joe’s childhood reads today as a harrowing abandonment, although it was likely a more frequent scenario during the Depression. His journey to get on the team and to the great success achieved should be inspiring to all and impresses on us the type of strong personal character he had. I think many people will enjoy this book. While similar and as inspiring, it’s not quite ‘Seabiscuit’ or ‘Unbroken’.

'Down to a Soundless Sea, Stories' by Thomas Steinbeck

Down to a Soundless Sea, Stories, Thomas Steinbeck (3.5)

Since we’ve moved to the Central Coast of California recently and just started to deeply investigate the area, I found these short stories particularly interesting. Mr. Steinbeck admits in the Author’s Note that his family would indulge their storytelling abilities at gatherings – led by his famous father, John Steinbeck. Most of these stories have JS’s feel of the area, the characters and often a sense of sadness you find in his famous books. The stories weave names familiar to us now (Cruickshank, Post, Pfeiffer, etc.) as they were real people who worked and lived in the area in the late 1800’s. There are also several characters from the diverse cultures that settled in this area, from the Chinese to the Filipinos and the industries that drew them such as shipping and mining. One of the longer stories (‘Blind Luck’) reminded me of ‘Two Years Before the Mast’, the excellent telling of Richard Henry Dana’s experiences in the shipping industry along the California coast. Overall I really enjoyed the history lessons palatably served as touching stories and I believe, through these stories, we are privy to the fireside stories told by and to Thomas Steinbeck.

'Seveneves' by Neal Stephenson

Seveneves, Neal Stephenson (4.0)

This book may have the best first sentence ever. I don’t want to give it away, but basically something extremely shocking happens so that people realize that earth will be unlivable in 2 years. Imagine the whole world coming to this understanding and working together to try to save the few people it can. The first third of the book covers humanity’s efforts to save what it can during those 2 years – mostly off world. The rest of the book covers both the near and long term effects of the devastation. Amazing how much was put into the details of space stations and issues with long-term space living. Stephenson also addresses many of the social issues involved with maintaining humanity. Oddly, it isn’t until two thirds of the book that the mean of the title is revealed! In usual Stephenson style, the book is long, interesting and full of technically accurate details. My only complaint is that some of the technical accounts were a bit long-winded for me, but the plot and characters were riveting and kept me reading at a fast pace.

'Out' by Natsuo Kirino

Out, Natsuo Kirino (3.0)

This macabre story of murder, cover-up, Japanese mobsters and terribly sad people is not for the faint of heart or squeamish. While I found the graphic murder and dismemberment scenes (yes, there are several) off-putting, the characters were interesting and the plot was gripping. I particularly enjoyed the depiction of the regular workers of Tokyo, who consider an office job an enviable one. This was not the Tokyo I had seen or people I had met on my many visits. The story revolves around 4 women who work the night shift at a lunch box factory – assembling the familiar rice, pork, and pickle lunch boxes seen at all corner 7-elevens in Tokyo. Each woman has her own unique reason for working the night shift.  In a private culture, such as found in Japan, you wouldn’t call these women ‘friends’, but they did form a team in order to survive their hours in the factory. This teamwork is called upon again when one of the women kills her husband. The story follows the aftermath as the characters struggle with what they’ve done, who they’ve gotten involved and what will happen next. I appreciate that Kirino-san did not take the obvious or easy way out for the guilty, though the ending was slightly mystifying to me and I found it took a bit away of my admiration for the writing.

'Shift' by Hugh Howey

Shift (#2 in the Wool series), Hugh Howey (4.0)

I rarely like a second book in a series as much as I liked the first book. In the case of ‘Shift’, I can happily say it is true. Mr. Howey has taken the prequel concept seriously and shares the up front story of the creation of the silos and describes the lives running in parallel as ‘Wool’ transpired. Once again his fast paced plot had me pouring quickly through the book. While there are a couple of hitches in the logic (which I will not mention so as not to spoil any plot points), the basic idea and linkages to Wool were ingeniously done. When we left ‘Wool’, the reader has realized that there is more than one silo and a main character has made it successfully to a second one. We still don’t know why the silos are there in the first place and what possible reason for multiple silos with no communication between them for presumably centuries. ‘Shift’ does a good job of providing explanations and has some strong hints at what we should expect to find out in the third installation. Lucky for me, I’ve waited long enough that it’s already been written.

'The Strange Library' by Haruki Murakami

The Strange Library, Haruki Murakami (4.0)

Whatever you do – don’t read this book on Kindle. Part of the charm of this very short book (96 pgs) is the format. Besides the unique front horizontal flap, almost 50% of the book’s pages are covered in strange illustrations. While Murakami is known for his enormous and interesting tomes, this book packs a strong punch as a brief parable of loss, as seen through the eyes of a small boy. This boy goes to his city library and finds a very different place than what he expected.  A nefarious man leads him into the undiscovered depths of the library, where he’s told he must memorize books in order to be released. Throughout all of this process, he hints at a recent traumatic event (bit by a large dog), and two possible upcoming tragedies (death of his pet bird and a worrying his mother till she’s sick). The message given to him by the sheep-man (a pseudo caretaker) is a good summary of what he needs to absorb: ‘You got dealt an unlucky card, that’s the long and short of it. These things happen.’ Albeit short, this story has all the good Murakami-ness: strange characters, sadness, and a little bit of magic.