'Dust' by Hugh Howey

Dust (Silo #3), Hugh Howey (4.0)

Hugh Howey finishes his Silo trilogy with this book, a relatively satisfying ending. He answers many of the questions brought up in the first book (Wool) and not quite answered in the second (Shift). A quick recap: thousands of people are living underground in multi-level silos in order to be protected from the apocalyptic world outside. In the second book, more of the dwellers realize there are multiple silos and we are given the back-story of how this all came to be. Book three is where the rubber meets the road – will the rebels be punished for their uprising? Will the originators of this system be punished for their hubris? And ultimately, will anyone break the cycle and escape their ‘prison’? Overall I enjoyed the series for its uniqueness. I found fault with some of the logic – particularly a few things at the end – but I enjoyed the journey. I will add a warning – this is not a trilogy for claustrophobics!

'Machiavelli Goes to the Movies, Understanding 'The Prince' through Television and Film' by Eric T. Kasper and Try A. Kozma

Machiavelli Goes to the Movies, Understanding ‘The Prince’ through Television and Film, Eric T. Kasper and Troy A. Kozma (2.5)

Unfortunately the title of this book turned out to be more intriguing than the book itself. I stumbled into it at the University library and thought ‘what a great idea’. The chapter titles such as: ‘Pick a Side and Stick to Your Decisions in Politics: The Contender, Harry Potter, and House of Cards’ sounded like such a great joining of Machiavellian philosophy with modern films and TV. The book spawned from papers written by the two authors, both professors in Poli-sci and Philosophy at University of Wisconsin campuses. They used the TV show, ‘Breaking Bad’ to illustrate concepts from Machiavelli’s book, ‘The Prince’. They decided to broaden their scope with regards to other TV shows and films. I think the main negative of the book is the dry nature. Anyone who has read ‘The Prince’ knows that while many of its topics are exciting and provoking, it’s told in a chapter-by-chapter ‘how-to’ manner. This book follows that pattern to a fault. I also found some of the comparisons a bit of a stretch. While it was easy to see that ‘Annihilate While Taking Power’ would use Michael Corleone in ‘The Godfather’ as a perfect example (as he killed the Mafioso’s who tried to kill his father and killed all the family heads the day he took over for his father), it is harder to see the connection between ‘Miserliness is Better than Liberality’ and ‘Ghostbusters’. If you are a fan of Machiavelli, maybe you will read this and understand the connection. If not, you can take my word for it.

'Fire Shut Up in My Bones' by Charles M. Blow

Fire Shut Up in My Bones, Charles M. Blow (3.0)

You may recognize Charles Blow’s name as an Op/ed columnist in the New York Times. He happens to hold the distinction as having written the only op/ed to which I felt compelled to respond. His specialty is using data and graphs to illustrate his various points. In one case, I felt he had picked certain data in order to skew his results. As an engineer, I had to call ‘foul’. Needless to say, my letter to the editor was not published, but when I heard he had written a memoir I was curious to read it. Mr. Blow grew up in rural Louisiana as the last of 4 boys born to a poor and principled mother. His father reigns as the missing ingredient to much of his happiness. In addition to getting kicked out of the house relatively early in Charles’s life, he doesn’t seem capable of showing any love or attention to his children. The author is a relatively young man, so the book mainly covers his childhood and college years, as he explains their context to his ‘formative’ development. His story is clear about what possible causes led to his issues with relationships (of all types) and closeness. While I was disappointed in the quality of writing (a bit stilted given the context), I appreciated the description he brought to the times and people from the perspective of a black youth growing up in rural Louisiana. His ability to overcome hardship and broken relationships of his youth is heartening to read.

'The Hand That Feeds You', by A.J. Rich

The Hand That Feeds You, A.J. Rich (3.0)

This book has an interesting genesis: two authors (Amy Hempel, Jill Ciment) got together to write a story their recently deceased friend had envisioned. She was the non-fiction writer, Katherine Russell Rich. Their take on her somewhat autobiographical tale is this book – by the pseudonym, A. J. Rich. The story revolves around a researcher who comes home to find her fiancée dead in her apartment, allegedly mauled by her 3 dogs. As she copes with his death and tries to understand how something so dreadful could happen, she realizes that her fiancée is not who he portrayed himself. He had played a long running ruse on her, with very dangerous consequences. Apparently Katherine Rich had also been conned by a boyfriend, though escaping the situation before any such tragedy occurred. The story is very fast paced, as the reader tries to uncover what really happened and why. I was disappointed in some scenes of gratuitous sex jarringly thrown into the book – I read later that the authors were told that ‘sex sells’ in fiction. Unfortunately I also figured out the big surprise before the climax of the book – which is always rather disappointing. Luckily I read this book very quickly so the disappointment was short-lived.

'As You Wish' by Cary Elwes

As You Wish, Inconceivable Tales From the Making of The Princess Bride, Cary Elwes, with Joe Layden (3.5)

If, like me, you love the movie, ‘The Princess Bride’, you’ll enjoy this behind-the-scenes look at the casting, filming and aftermath of the movie. Besides Mr. Elwes’s own recollections, the book is filled with comments from all those involved, including a forward by Rob Reiner, the director. Sometimes these comments are redundant, though that seems to be an editing problem. I really enjoyed following the sword training, film shooting and meeting all the great cast and characters involved with this fantastic movie. This is certainly not a ‘tell all’ type book, if anything my biggest complaint is that everyone involved is depicted as the nicest, funniest and most talented person Mr. Elwes has ever met. You definitely get the impression that this was a special project for all of those interviewed. I particularly enjoyed hearing about the beloved Andre the Giant and the talented Wallace Shawn – who played two of my favorite characters. Wallace Shawn had heard that Rob Reiner wanted Danny DeVito for the role and felt throughout the whole filming that he would be replaced. Nice to know that famous playwright/actor/author/Oxford professors can be insecure like the rest of us! We also learned a lot more about Rob Reiner (vastly respected for his overall skill and specific abilities with actors) and William Goldman, the author of the original book. Mr. Goldman anxiously watched as his ‘baby’ transforms into a classic movie – and there are a handful of stories of just how anxious he actually gets. Time to re-watch the movie and re-read the original book!

'The Inklings: C.S.Lewis, J.R.R. Tolkien, Charles Williams and Their Friends' by Humphrey Carpenter

Inklings: C.S. Lewis, J.R.R. Tolkien, Charles Williams and Their Friends, Humphrey Carpenter (4.0)

I cannot recommend this book for every reader, but if you have enjoyed ‘The Chronicles or Narnia’ and ‘The Lord of the Rings’, I believe you will find this biography of the authors interesting. Particularly as it discusses, in detail, their journeys to get those books written. The author spends the most time on C.S. Lewis. Lewis comes across as the lynchpin of these various teachers and scholars at Oxford in the early 20^th century, who was the magnet for others to join their non-official group, the Inklings. He liked the name as ‘a pleasantly ingenious pun in its way suggesting people with vague or half-formed intimations and ideas plus those who dabble in ink.’  They met a few times a week to discuss literature and often read the latest chapters of their writings. I was jealous of Lewis and his brother, as they were the first to hear the initial chapters of both ‘The Hobbit’ and LOTR, read aloud by Tolkien in a pub before a roaring fire. One of the most interesting facts to me was that Lewis (known for his tale of Christ in a reimagined world of Narnia) was an atheist until he was in his late 20’s. I found his transition a bit illogical, as explained by Carpenter, though he insists it was done with logic. I also was surprised to read that Lewis’s good friend, Tolkien, vehemently disliked the Narnia series. Somewhat understandably, he didn’t think Lewis took the world of Narnia seriously, as he wrote the books quickly with many glaring errors with regards to the canon. In comparison, Tolkien took painstaking care and time to define his world of Middle Earth. He did not like anyone taking a mythology casually. I wish there had been more on Tolkien in this book – as he is one of my favorite authors - but I did start a list of ‘to-read’ books written by Lewis, Williams and others based on the interesting discussions of their books.