Cities of the Plains

The third book of Cormac McCarthy's border trilogy, Cities of the Plain brings together John Grady Cole from All the Pretty Horses and Billy Parham from The Crossing in an evocation of the dying cowboy way of life. Set in far west Texas, the Sodom and Gamorrah here is Ciudad Juarez, a town where the cowboys go to get drunk and to get laid. The books is more descriptive than narrative, overlaid with a sense of loss and of sadness. In west Texas of 1952, the cowboy way of life is almost completely dead. Those days are dead and gone, and yet the boys try to live on and make the best of it they can. But events are set in motion for tragedy when John Grady falls in love with the whore Magdalena. John Grady becomes a Christ figure who tries to redeem his little part of the world. And the epilogue stands all story telling traditions on their heads.

Author: McCarthy, Cormac

Published: 1998

Length: 8hr 46min

Narrator: Adams, Alexander

The Kite Runner

I’m not sure what to think about this book. On the one hand, I found it to be a powerful work and, especially the second half, gripping. On the other hand, sometimes there were just too many coincidences. To have the most brutal scene in the book, the stoning of the adulterers in the stadium, become ultimately attributed to Assef, Amir’s old tormentor, might be satisfying as fiction but seems unrealistic in retrospect. And to have Sohrab shoot out Assef’s eye with a slingshot, as Hassan threatened to do, was another. Having Amir end up as a harelip was a good symbol, yet was it pushing the symbolism too far? And yet the book seemed so realistic that both Sara and I wondered how autobiographical it was. Afghani culture and the brutality of the Talib certainly come through strong.

Author: Hosseni, Khaled

Date Published: 2003

Length: 12h 2m

Narrator: Hosseni, Khaled

American Creation

Is it one of the great american novels? It certainly feels like it right now. Timshel - “Thou mayest!” It is a call to freedom and ultimate responsibility. Does it fly in today’s preoccupation with brain neurology and biologic determinism? It was the force that gave Samuel Hamilton the ability to look forward to living when he knew that he was just preparing to die. It was the only blessing that Adam could give to Cal. It was the great lesson that Lee pulled from the elders. It is Lee’s book, after Samuel Hamilton dies, as far as I am concerned. There are times that Cal and Aron don’t ring true in their thinking, and I’m not sure what to make of Cathy. But right now it feels heads and shoulders above any other novel I’ve read or listened to, with only a couple of exceptions. A call to a heroic life in fiction.

Author: Steinbeck, John

Date Published: 1952

Length: 25 hr 26 min

Narrator: Poe, Richard

East of Eden

Is it one of the great american novels? It certainly feels like it right now. Timshel - “Thou mayest!” It is a call to freedom and ultimate responsibility. Does it fly in today’s preoccupation with brain neurology and biologic determinism? It was the force that gave Samuel Hamilton the ability to look forward to living when he knew that he was just preparing to die. It was the only blessing that Adam could give to Cal. It was the great lesson that Lee pulled from the elders. It is Lee’s book, after Samuel Hamilton dies, as far as I am concerned. There are times that Cal and Aron don’t ring true in their thinking, and I’m not sure what to make of Cathy. But right now it feels heads and shoulders above any other novel I’ve read or listened to, with only a couple of exceptions. A call to a heroic life in fiction.

Author: Steinbeck, John

Date Published: 1952

Length: 25 hr 26 min

Narrator: Poe, Richard

Basket Case

Not the best Hiaasen, this one tended to go on too long. Also, I’m not sure how many first person narrators that Hiaasen has had. The journalist assigned to writing obituaries after insulting the owner who has been steadily watering the newspaper down. A lot of similarities with “Our House,” the play that we saw last month. Chasing down the murderer of the Slut Puppies. A good enjoyable story and listen.

Author: Hiaasen, Carl

Date Published: 2002

Length: 13 hr

Narrator: Wilson, George

The Story of India

I find Wood to be fascinating, and that he is preoccupied with India at present is OK with me. I learning much about the general scheme of history in India, realizing that much of early India is Pakistan now. But Wood makes clear that India is a British idea, anyway. Some idea of the first civilizations of the Indus and the invasions of the Aryans--cementing what Karen Armstrong had to say about the development of Vedic religion. Did not quite realize the Siddartha was not a “heterodox” sect as claimed, but a reaction of strict Brahmanical rites. Ashoka as the first great modern empire, followed by Mauryas and then sometime later domination by Afghans in the north, leading eventually to Babar and the other Moghuls. Makes clear that India will be the world force/economy of the future.

Author: Wood, Michael

Date Published: 2007

Length: 9 hr 37 min

Narrator: Dastor, Sam

The Shadow of the Wind

While I did not want to quit altogether, there were times that I wished I were listening to something else, I guess most particularly when Daniel doesn’t come to the aid of Beatrize. And then his meddling has the woman killed. The ends do get wrapped up in the end, I guess, perhaps too much so. A lot of surprising twists, especially around the character of the author. Anyway, much of seemed just plain silly. An attempt to be Davinci Code for books set in post war Barcelona complete with steamy sex and incest and some truly evil characters.

Author: Zafon, Carlos Ruiz

Date Published: 1995

Length: 18 hr 8 min

Narrator: Davis, Johnathan

The Greco Roman Moralists

I didn’t think I would care much for these, but I got into the lectures on the philosophers of roman antiquity. Especially moving to me were the lectures on Cicero, Seneca, and Plutarch. The emphasis is on stoicism, and philosophy as a way of life, emphasizing self control. Epictetus, Rufous Musonius, Dio Chrosotom, Philo and the other Jews, and even Marcus Aurelius left me a bit mystified and cold. Johnson makes it clear that philosophy was not about abstruse ideas but about the attitude toward life to know what could be changed and what could not, and about the formation of habits and character--character is habits formed over a long period of time. Philosophy is about choice.

Author: Johnson, Luke Timothy

Date Published: 

Length: 12 hr 10 min

Narrator: Johnson, Luke Timothy

The Looming Tower

Wright tries to explain the rise of bin Laden and the Moslem Brotherhood and their joining forces before the attacks of 9-11. He goes back to Qutb’s visit to America and Greeley in 1947 and the brutality that accompanied the repression and death of Qutb. He describes in detail the background and development of al Zawahiri and bin Laden but also the growing obsession of their thoughts first in Afghanistan then Sudan, leading to the bombings in Kenya, the USS Cole, and eventually the World Trade Center. He also makes clear the turning of their thoughts of excommunicating everyone who disagrees. Really scary was the failure of American intelligence and lack of cooperation between the CIA, FBI and NSA. The story of John O’Neill was especially ironic and poignant.

Author: Wright, Lawrence

Date Published: 2007

Length: 19hr 17 min

Narrator: Sklar, Alan