When the Light Goes

A short little book, short little chapters, a slight read. The book got savaged in reviews when it came out, but I enjoyed it. I identify with Duane and his late life crisis. He comes back from a trip to Egypt to find a new young secretary in his office, and the book revolves around his involvement with her and with his psychiatrist. A lot of raunchy sex--although that's not quite right since he has a lot of trouble with his arousal. It is an old man's fantasy, I guess, and it really leaves Duane disoriented. On top of it, he has heart problems and ends with open heart surgery. And he's still depressed, but there's something appealing about the dysfunction that is his life, his family, his friendships, and his towns. Probably Roth does a lot better in this territory, but then he's not nearly as funny as McMurtry. Parts of the book, even or especially when Ruth Popper dies, made me laugh out loud. Honor hits the nail on the head when she tells him that he never let anyone, including Karla, come close to him in his life, and maybe that's what makes him all the more appealing to me. In any case, I had to finish the book before I could move on to Rhino Ranch, which the reviews say brings the whole Thalia saga to a close.

Author: McMurtry, Larry

Date Published: 2007

Length: 195 pp

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A History of the Medieval World

It was an interesting listen, but in the end there was just too much information to digest in one book: from Constantine's conversion to the First Crusade. By the time we got to the first crusade, it seemed as though Bauer was racing through the material. But by coming on the back of Bury's book, I do feel that I have a better feel for the movement of the Germanic tribes, first out of the Baltic region to the Danube basin and the Black Sea, for those peoples that we have come to recognize as Gothic, and also for the northern people who moved across the Rhine--the Franks, the Lombards, the Alan, Allemany, Vandals, Suebi and the Saxons.

The material on China, Japan, Korea, India, and the Americas, while making the book comprehensive in scope, really seemed extraneous to the telling of the story, which really centered around Europe and the Mediterranean. And really, what it came down to, was one king following another king, trying to establish some kind of dynastic succession, whether in Byzantium or somewhere in Europe. The Germans seemed more resistant to the idea, dividing their lands among the sons to see who would come out stronger.

The whole idea of papal supremacy, developed during this time, was total bullshit, of course, made very clear when Otto came down from the Eastern German lands and established his own popes on the apostolic see in 964. I had thought of the Huns as sweeping out of the Asian steppes, but really they were a part of the whole political intriguing and scheming going on at the time. And as the Turks and the Mongols demonstrated, they were just one of many peoples to cross the steppes and appear on Europe's doorstep. But overall, it comes down as good story telling.

Author: Bauer, Susan Wise

Date Published: 2010

Length: 22hr 44min

Narrator: Lee, John

Paul: The Mind of the Apostle

Art Cunningham gave this to me years ago, and it's been gathering dust on my shelf, but I decided to give it a whirl after reading Karen Armstrong's book on the Bible.

Paul made Christianity into a mystery religion, similar to Mithraism and the salvation found through Hercules, where salvation comes though faith in the cross. It was a much different movement from that of the Way, the church in Jerusalem, or from that of Jesus, a devout and fervent Jew and faith healer in the backwater ports of Galilee. Paul was an urban citizen of the empire who claimed to know Jesus better than Paul  or James, because he had had visions and prophecies of the "true" word of god. This led to his break with the church in Jerusalem as well as from Judaism.

Paul also made it clear that man is utter depraved and unable to do good by himself, for himself. It is only through the love of god through the crucifixion that man can be saved. For Paul, that meant the imminent coming of Jesus where the saved would escape the wrath of God when the kingdom is re-established in Israel and all the gentile worship the one true god. This leads to a poignant scene when Paul is whisked away from Jerusalem and taken to Caesarea without the end having come. 

Wilson makes it clear that Christianity would probably not have lasted without Paul's stamp, although it was not a religion or a movement that Jesus would have recognized or endorsed. It was a fascinating book that read much like a novel.

Author: Wilson, A. N.

Date Published: 1994

Length: 258 pp

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The Invasion of Europe by the Barbarians

This turned out to be an old set of lectures that Bury made when he assumed the chair at Cambridge. It has all the makings of the sage on the stage but was still enjoyable.

I really did begin to consolidate some knowledge about the movements of the Germanic peoples during the later stages of the Roman Empire, from the movement of the Eastern Germans into the transRhine and transDanube region. Then it appears that the Visigoths moved into the empire first, in the 370's or so, followed roughly by movements of the Vandals across the middle part of Europe, through Spain, and thence to Africa. Turns out that a much of the "Germanic invasion" comes through the miscalculation of Stilicho as he removes legions from the Rhine to meet the advance of the Visigoths under Alaric. The Ostrogoths followed roughly a hundred years later, and essentially brought the empire to an end, although Bury is quick to point out that they just saw themselves as federati and protectors of the western empire under the dominion of the Emperor in Constantinople. 

I was surprised that Bury did not cover the reconquest of the west and the extinction of the Vandals and the Ostrogoths under Justinian. But he does clarify the movement of the Burgundians, the Franks, and finally the Lombardi into Germany, France, and Italy, with the growing ascendancy of the Franks, especially after Clovis made close deals with the Roman Catholic Church. The abrupt ending and the gaps, especially the lack of material on Justinian's recapture of the Western empire, make me wonder if not all the material was made into this book.

Author: Bury, J. B.

Date Published: 1928

Length: 8hr 3min

Narrator: Griffin, Charlton

One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest

Another rereading of a classic from my early 20's. It's hard to realize that the novel is really Chief Bromden's book, whereas the play belongs almost solely to Randall P. McMurphy. It's easy to picture Kesey himself in McMurphy's role.

One of the highlights, I think, is Bromden coming out of electro-shock. It has imagery that could come straight out of Kesey's drug experiences. Also, the Chief stops hearing voices and the noises of the combine pretty much when McMurphy gets him to talk. Nurse Ratchid also comes off as much colder and more calculating in the book than she does in the play.

Using the Chief really changes the tenor of the book, and I think it may be one of the great narrators of literature, especially as he is able to spy on the Nurse's meetings with the staff and give so much more background to the book. The chief goes back to Addy Brundren or even to Sound and Fury. (Brudren = Bromden???) And Mc Murphy comes off as a Christ figure in the book. Although he may seem a selfish pigface, it's clear that he sticks around for Billy's soiree. And it's clear that that's why he attacks the nurse. The chief says that it was inevitable, even if McMurphy had left. It is a great anti-establishment novel as well as a great novel of drug stream of consciousness.

Author: Kesey, Ken

Date Published: 1962

Length: 13hr 26min

Narrator: Hammer, Mark