The Empty Quarter

The Empty Quarter by David L. Robbins
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

This tries to be a fast moving suspense novel. It is paced ok. I liked learning about the PJs. But the plot seemed silly and ultimately unsatisfying.

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My Dad is Fat

Dad Is Fat by Jim Gaffigan
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Jim Gaffigan is hands down one of my favorite comedians. He is clean, and talks about kids and food, two things I relate to well. But being a stand up comedian doesn't always translate to a book. Half of what is funny is the delivery,and while there are a ton of funny episodes, it's not the same as hearing the "voices" and seeing the "faces". Also, some of the jokes get a little trite after 100 or so pages of the same "my kids drive me crazy but I love them" or "yeah, so I'm just a big kid, what do I know about parenting?" However, there are definitely some funny stories, and parents raising younger kids would probably really relate and find it even funnier.

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Wheelmen

Wheelmen: Lance Armstrong, the Tour de France, and the Greatest Sports Conspiracy Ever by Reed Albergotti
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I don't have a lot of "heros" per se. I enjoy Marvel movies purely for my kids reactions. I don't watch major sports, and definitely don't think anyone in Hollywood is above reproach. But I couldn't help but admire and root for Lance Armstrong. He won the Tour de France so many times! After he had cancer! I watched the PBS special about his unique body chemistry, which allowed him to win so much. I followed his training for the NY marathon, and chuckled when he admitted it was harder than it looked. I admired his Livestrong campaign and bought all the hype of him being an amazing athlete, a caring Dad, a survivor of cancer who gave back and inspired others. When he went on trial for doping, I was among the many who rolled my eyes and called it a witch hunt. When he confessed to doping, I was shocked and saddened. And I thought I could just shake my head and move on. But I've always wondered how and especially why...so when I saw this at the bookstore on vacation, I picked it up to get some answers.
This book is great at going inside the inner workings of a bike team, how it is run, the competition and jealousy within the ranks, how the peleton works. It also explains how the doping worked, and how it was funded. So now I knew how and a little bit of why, but the book tries to sell an Armstrong so demanding, so controlling, so duplicitous, that it strips it's own credibility to describing what Armstrong was really like. Yes, I am sure previous books by and about Armstrong filtered out the negative, but this one filters out any good. They downplay his dedication and relentless training and imply any advantage was solely on doping. But they also imply doping was prevalent among all the team leaders, but there was never any in depth coverage on that. Was Armstrong winning against those who were also doping? Or were they clean? The book talks about doping among all the top teams, but never makes this clear. Also, the doping charges were a bit of a witch hunt in the fact that they focused entirely on cutting Armstrong down. He doped and so they were not happy until he was fired from his nonprofit and banned from any and all professional sports. The authors painted the prosecution as David going up against the evil Goliath with zealous righteousness and justice. But by focusing so much on Armstrongs failings, the book came off as one sided and the prosecution came off as those who wanted to kick a man when he is down, again and again.
I am still disappointed that there Armstrong did not turn out to be the image he projected, but I can hardly believe he was as evil as the book would like you to believe. He is just an amazing athlete who got caught up in the trappings of professional sports. He is intense and at times unlikeable, but not a monster. If anything, I am cynical now of any athletes accomplishments. Is there any sport that is truly "clean"? And if everyone is doping, can we truly single out one athlete as "cheating"?

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Our Kind of Traitor

Our Kind of Traitor by John le Carré
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Oh, le Carre! I am delightfully devastated once again. Some may find le Carre's description of every eyebrow raise, every rubbing of hands, every cough and hiccup to be slightly overdoing it, but to me, it makes me feel like I am there, breathing the same air, tasting the cheese, sweating on the beach. I become invested in the characters like they are my family. I save le Carre for vacations because I become immersed so fully in his world, and at the same time, somehow see and feel my own reality more deeply. Sometimes the endings don't tie up so neatly, but that makes the endings just as real as the rest of the book.

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Supreme Justice

Supreme Justice by Max Allan Collins
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

I was surprised that Collins was not a first time author. I felt like the story was WAY too predictable. I caught the mole and his betrayal almost as soon as he had done it. The motive of killing justices to reform the court was identified early on and then the story went nowhere. There was a whole chapter of his daughter deliberating about sleeping with her boyfriend...for no apparent reason. The only reason I gave it 2 stars was because it was set in DC and I was in D C when I read it, so that is always fun. And the quotes ahead of each chapter were thought provoking. But if you are in oh, say, KY then maybe you should skip it.

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A Corner of White

A Corner of White by Jaclyn Moriarty
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This was a cute, quick read. In this YA novel about Madeline living in this dimension and Eliott living in another dimension in the land of Cello, who end up connecting via letters transferred thru a crack between their worlds. At first I found all the characters a little too eccentric. It was like Moriarty was trying to recreate a Neil Gaiman book, but without subtlety. Then I was afraid it was turning into a cheesy YA romance. But somewhere in the middle, the characters developed some depth, and I came to enjoy reading about these teens grappling with what truth is. Just like white light contains all colors, sometimes it is too bright to look at, and like objects that absorb certain wavelengths, and create color by rejecting other wavelengths, sometimes truth is too hard to see, and we see only what we want to. I loved the bits of trivia about color, Cambridge, Newton, and Byron. It is a Y A novel that has a bit more to it than it first appears.

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I, Claudius

I, Claudius by Robert Graves
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This was a very well written "autobiography" of Claudius as he witnesses the rise and fall of the emperors of Rome before unexpectedly becoming one himself. I will admit I got bogged down a little in the just how wicked everyone seemed to be. There was killing to get gain, killing to get money, killing to create fear, killing for revenge...so much killing...how was anyone alive? On that level, it was a bit depressing, but the fact that it was based on history was very interesting...if I were to teach ancient history, this is how I would do it. I loved the quote "“, that there are two different ways of writing history: one is to persuade men to virtue and the other is to compel men to truth.” And “And if by serving the cause of truth we admit our revered ancestors to have been cowards, liars, and traitors? What then?" I loved that discussion of history...wouldn't that be a great thing to discuss in a class? Do we really want our heros to be human? Lots of great history, ideas, and writing.

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