The Last Days of Night by Graham Moore

This historic novel tells the story of the conflict and competition between Nikola Tesla, George Westinghouse and Thomas Edison.  It does not make Edison look good! It is based on the actual legal battles between Westinghouse and Edison.  It is from the perspective of Westinghouse’s attorney, Paul Cravath. It has a bit of everything from espionage to attempted murder and one is always guessing who is responsible for each.

Tesla is at the center of all things. His work with electricity and the light bulb are central to the conflict. Edison was the first to patent the light bulb but according to the story actually got the patent prior to completing his light bulb. Tesla could care less about the patent as he was much more interested in creating a better product. Westinghouse wanted the patent for the better light bulb and was willing to go to great lengths to get it. Edison was backed by JP Morgan and benefited greatly for that relationship.

There was a court case over the patent of the light bulb and Westinghouse eventually won the right to produce his own light bulb without having to pay Edison for each one he produced.  Tesla would go on the produce many electrical improvements. Those are facts and the book makes the facts come alive by adding the elements of legal competition to the story.  Cravath has to run back and forth between Pittsburgh and New York to serve his client.  He focuses on his one client while letting other things slide and is taken advantage of in the process. His relationships with colleagues, with his socialite girlfriend and others have many ups and downs giving the reader a reason to continue.

I liked the book and feel it was even more interesting than The Sherlockain we read earlier by Graham Moore. 

Straight Man by Richard Russo

I am not sure I understand the title as I do not think it applies to the main character.  William Henry Devereaux, Jr. seemed anything but straight. He liked to think of his wife having affairs, had sexual thoughts about his secretary and a grad student. Maybe the fact that he thought without acting made him the straight man.  He also was not the best liked person on the campus.  His department seemed to relish filing grievances against him. This being said, I went on line to see why the book was so well received.

A straight man is the person who gives insight into a comedy. Having read that I can see the title has relevance.  The life WHD, Jr lived was a comedy, or so he thought. He might simply have been trying to rationalize his complacency in living on the reputation built by his first, and only, novel.  One might psychoanalyze him as being another man trying to live up to and make amends for the mistakes his father had.  While he had thoughts about other women and never acted upon them, his father seemed to go after many women, switching one for the next until he finally returned home to his first wife and the mother of his child when he was ill.

One thing I did like about the book was when he learned that his father was not the great teacher he though. Dad got stage fright.  WHD, Jr was surprised by this.

The relationships with his own daughters seemed to reflect the relationship he had with his own parents. Everyone in the book is flawed.  Some drink too much, some spend too much. Others are hanging on in jobs they should give up. 

As strange as I found the book, I did recognize a lot of educational politics in the book.  That made it a bit more real for me.

As this is presented as a comedy I will admit that I found the parts with the duck/goose hilarious!

The Storied Life of A J Fikry by Gabrielle Zevin

This summer I have read two books about bookstore owners and each was interesting and different. This story is heartwarming as well as fun to read.  I enjoyed the way the author began each chapter with a portion of another’s short story. It was like a prelude to what was to follow.  Every life has a story and how we tell it is unique.  AJ Fikry’s life was that at well.

He is essentially a loner. He lives on an island. His wife has died and he has no interest in pursuing anyone else.  However, when he finds a baby left in his bookstore he changes.  He recognizes that the idea of keeping the child by himself is crazy but cannot let her go into foster care.  I think he might not have been the loner he thought!  Maya brought a different story to his life and filled him with love and hope.

This book has many twists and turns.  People are not who they are first introduced as being. The policeman, Lambiase, is not a reader but reads a lot. He makes excuses to come the store so he can help with the child. He gets AJ to buy books his co-workers would read, begins book clubs and eventually takes over the bookstore. Leon Friedman is supposedly the author that brought Amelia and AJ together but when he is introduced we see that he not only could not have written the book but probably would not have written anything!  Leonora Ferris has her own reasons for writing under a pseudonym but probably because she thought no one would take her seriously. I think this is the author’s story becoming intertwined in the book.

One twist I enjoyed was finding out that Maya was Daniel Parrish’s daughter. Ismay was furious with him, a notorious womanizer, for denying her the child she so wanted.  I did not see her killing him though. Technically, it was an automobile accident but, he still died.  Doubt he would ever have changed despite his vow to do so.

I also enjoyed that Ismay and Lambiase take over the bookstore after AJ’s death.  Many believe the print book is dying but I still love to wonder the aisles of a bookstore and actually prefer reading paper over e-readers.  I wonder if having AJ die was alluding to the death of the bookstore?

There is much more to like in this book and I look forward to our discussions.

Devil in the White City by Erik Larson

This is actually two stories in one.  Bruce read the book years ago so I was familiar with it but had not read it.  We have over the last 25 years spent a lot of time in Chicago because our friend Michael lived there.  The last time we were there was summer of 2012 shortly before his illness and subsequent death. We went to the Chicago Historical Society and enjoyed the exhibit about the World’s Fair.  I was particularly interested in the Ferris Wheel replica they had on display. I thought of that as I read just what was entailed in the creation of the ride.  Wow!  I think I would be more afraid of getting on the original than I am the improved models! I fear being stuck on the top with a cousin who likes to rock the boat. (Read that as the voice of experience!)

About all that remains of the original buildings is the Palace of Arts which is now the Museum of Science and Industry where you can see a captured German U-boat.  The back of the building is what was the front and is on Jackson Lagoon.  There is also an amusement park at the Navy Pier where the original Ferris Wheel once stood.  You can really get a good view of it all from atop the Willis (originally known as the Sears) tower.  I found the description of all that went into getting the fair off the ground and running even more entertaining that the murder mystery surrounding the disappearance of all the women!  HH Holmes was hardly a commonly known criminal until Larson’s book. 

Personally, I think Holmes was as successful as he was because people could not conceive of anyone like that in existence then. Today, we suspect the worst of everyone and are surprised by little.  Then he was a nice looking young man who seemed to exude charm. Reminds me of an earlier Ted Bundy!

I was never lucky enough to attend any of the world’s fairs. I think I would have loved them. I always enjoy the Folk Life Festivals on the mall which I consider a smaller scale world exposition. Reading about all that went into creating one from the beginning to end makes me realize that little has changed in America. If someone has an idea and it committed to seeing it achieved, it can be done. Along the way, that same idea will be scrutinized to death, altered to fit the egos of anyone who believes they thought of it to begin with and if lucky come to fruition somewhere near on schedule! 

I enjoyed the book. Thanks for suggesting it.

The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie by Alan Bradley

Delightful!  One precocious eleven-year-old who has an active imagination, above average curiosity and intelligence finds a dying man and sets about solving his murder.  There are many things to enjoy in the book.

I like that the girl is interested in science, not afraid of much and spends lots of time trying to make life miserable for her sisters.  As a child I loved reading the Nancy Drew and Hardy Boys series and this is of the same genre in my mind. Bright young people often overlooked by adults who can find solutions to things often missed by those same adults make this a great novel for all ages. Flavia de Luce is entertaining, logical, impulsive, determined and honest.

Flavia has a great way of describing those around her. While she thinks her sister Ophelia is an excellent pianist she will never tell her any more than letting Daphne know the books she reads aloud are interesting. Affection between family members is strained at best.  Father is suffering from either extreme sorrow over the loss of Harriet, his wife and mother of Flavia, or from PTSD—possibly a combination of both. Folks in the house seem to go their own ways without paying much attention to the young girl unless she is being a pest.  She takes being a pest to new heights. In many ways this seems to be a bit of a characterization of the aristocracy as Father stays to himself in his rooms while the servants look after the children. 

Her vocabulary is something that most parents would appreciate if a child today knew even half those words.  No texting shorthand in that generation! Her descriptions of everyone from the cook to the librarian to the man servant are vibrant. I could almost smell the custard pie warming on the sill and unlike Flavia, I love custard pie.  Mrs. Mullet’s ?  Flavia brings Miss Mountjoy alive and it did not surprise me to learn that she was the town busybody who informed Dr. Kissing of all the comings and goings of Bishop’s Lacey. I was surprised to hear that Dr. Kissing was still alive.  I was more surprised that he set fire to the Ulster Avenger but is retrospect this was fitting given the way the whole story of the stamp began.

It really was not a surprise that Pemberton and Stanley were one and the same. Flavia deduced early that Twining had not committed suicide but the author did not confirm this until much later.  Once Father told his story to Flavia much began to make sense.  Once a cad and a crook, always one. I doubt anyone would feel sad to see either Boneypenny or Stanley go down. 

I also enjoyed the stamp mystery.  I used to collect stamps as a child and still love the uniqueness of the older stamps.  A little search found that these are real stamps and were the first adhesive stamps created.  The Ulster Avenger seems to be just a matter of fiction created by the author though!

The Escape by David Baldacci

Imagine you are a high level, highly skilled investigator for the US military. Your brother is also in the military, or was. He is currently serving time in Leavenworth for treason. It is a life sentence. Suddenly he escapes from this prison, something that everyone believed to be impossible.  He is on the run and you are asked to hunt him down and bring him back.  Could you? Would you?

This was the task given to John Puller. While the job went against military regulations he was asked to investigate the breakout by other departments within the US government.  Intrigue and mayhem ensue and the reader is left with a well written action packed mystery on hand.  Without giving away the story line for those who have not yet read the book, suffice it to say that in such an investigation it is best to trust no one and investigate the complete story behind everything. 

This book ties into several issues we face as a nation. With the release of classified information by Edward Snowdon and his subsequent asylum in Russia, Baldacci uses the idea that Russians may have infiltrated our own government too.  The probability he employs is believable but I hope not real.

Several clichés came to mind as I read this book. Follow the money would prove a valuable tool in solving the mystery and helping his brother set the story straight.  Keep your enemies close is another one that helps solve many things.  Blood is thicker than water also takes on new meanings as the family sets about resolving the conviction of Robert and his escape.

While this is a political action book, it is also a book about family.  Why do people behave as they do?  Is the cold, distant, military father really that detached from his sons? Can the brothers help one another without destroying all they have worked to achieve in life and their career? Can John learn to trust a woman after believing his mother abandoned him?

All these questions and more are dealt with in the book.  Well worth the read if you enjoy a fast paced, political thriller!

Deep Dark Down by Hector Tobar

 

Mining has always seemed a dangerous job. I grew up in West Virginia where coal is king.  While I did not have family members in the mines I did know people who worked there or had family members who did. A high school classmate lost her father in a mining accident and as recently as the last five years I know of someone who died in a mining accident in West Virginia. This book fascinated me, partly because of the mining connection and partly because I cannot imagine working underground let alone being stuck there for 69 days.

The 33 Chilean miners are like so many who work the mines. They are men, and now women, who go into the mines because of the money. It is dangerous but the pay is better than so many other jobs. It typically comes with health care and even pensions.  These men were individualists, company men, dedicated men, and men who really didn’t care about much.  Reading their stories was like getting to know them and their families.  

At first I could not understand why there were so many with wives and mistresses. Then we find out that Chile only recently (at the time of the accident) permitted divorce. Since many were also Catholic I wondered how all this synced with the teachings of the church. Then I realized that the majority are like many others and not terribly religious.  They became so when they had to rely on one another to survive. This did not surprise me as I remember the line from a WWII movie- “There are no atheists in foxholes”.

What would I do if I ever found myself in a life or death situation as this? I would hope I would be strong like they were.  Strengths and weaknesses abounded in the telling of their story. Like many people to whom a tragedy has occurred, they worried about how their families were faring. They wanted to live a better life when rescued.  Some would and others would not do as well. Posttraumatic stress touched most of them. Individuals took advantage and the media showed both the positive and the negative sides we often see here.  Since the 33 had agreed to keep quiet about the first 17 days, the press turned against them.  I remember seeing the reports about the wife and the girlfriend on the news here. That was life as they lived it but was sensationalized in the press because the fact that two women knew about each other and shared the same man was shocking to many and kept the ratings up.

Alcoholism, drug abuse, anger issues, fear, and the lack of food and potable water would be more than enough to permanently disable the strongest of humans. The fact that these men survived, returned to living above ground and seeming are going to be ok.  It took most of them more time than they expected but I gathered that each one has come to terms with the catastrophe and is surviving. Maybe that is their best testament.