'The Screwtape Letters' by C.S. Lewis

The Screwtape Letters, C.S. Lewis (3.0)

Why ‘Screwtape’, ‘Wormwood’, ‘Slubgob’ and other odd names used throughout this book? C. S. Lewis says he brainstormed nasty words such as tapeworm, scrooge, thumbscrew, slob, etc. and used them to form the names of his devils. The main devil is Screwtape and the book is comprised of letters he writes to his nephew, a demon in training. Throughout the story, Screwtape is advising Wormwood how to capture a soul for their team and not His. Lewis has cleverly made the Devil a boss micro managing his Dilbert-like nephew as if they were selling paper in Slough. He set the time during World War II, but advises not to let their charge die during the war, as he is leaning towards the other team and they could lose his soul forever. I was most surprised by the prescience of Lewis with several subjects, such as the Devil’s advice on lowering women’s self-confidence (one of his many suggestions to Wormwood to turn people to the dark side). Though published in 1941, he could have been talking about the body image issues we face with the media and girls today. Given his transition from atheism to Christianity, some of the devil’s irony and sarcasm were a bit much for me, but I could understand given the author’s journey. The book is quite short, but rather difficult to read and digest, mainly due to the language. I would have given it a ‘4’ had it been more accessible.

'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!