Jim's March 2013 review

The Time Keeper by Mitch Albom

Jim's December 2012 pick

Being Santa Claus by Sal Lizard with Jonathan Lane

As soon as I saw this book, I knew that I had to read it. I am a bit of a Christmas fan, you see, always have been. A book about being Santa? A natural fit for my child-like sense of awe. The cover indicates that this is about the life lessons learned by Mr. Lizard from having portrayed Santa over the years. Yes, it is about that, but there is a lot more here to enjoy. Mr. Lizard, with the help of Mr. Lane, explores the wonderment that adults and kids have for Santa. His life has changed for the better for having donned the big red suit and chuckled a few ho-ho-hos. He actually did a lot more than that and frequently I was amazed at his dedication. In this age of what’s in it for me, Mr. Lizard shows that there is something to be gained by thinking of others first. If you need a boost of Christmas cheer after a bout of shopping, I recommend sitting down with a cup of hot chocolate and this book. Merry Christmas!

Jim's 3rd December 2012

A Christmas Carol and Other Christmas Writings by Charles Dickens

I could not get away without recommending this timeless classic. It is my favorite book. I am sure that each of us as read the book at least once. If so, read it again, only this time focus on the rich details with which Dickens surrounds the central story. The scenes that always capture my heart are when the Ghost of Christmas Present takes Scrooge on a journey around London and beyond to see how common folk celebrate Christmas. Sure, they visit the Cratchit family home, but they also travel through the streets to bask in the glow of the shops and the good will shared by the throngs of people milling to and fro; then the ghost and Scrooge soar out to sea to a solitary lighthouse where within Christmas cheer is earnestly felt and then farther out to a ship on which every man hums a Christmas tune. Yeah, Tiny Tim and his dad and old Scrooge are all important, but long after you tire of them, there is still plenty to be found among the vivid descriptions with which Dickens enlivens this Christmas staple.
For a treat, you may want to consider an audio version of the story. Two good ones are the Patrick Stewart one man show version (absolutely excellent, recommends my inner Trekkie), and the unabridged reading by Jim Dale. The latter is great for Harry Potter fans; Mr. Dale’s voice for the Ghost of Christmas Present sounds a lot like the one he used for Hagrid in his readings of the Harry Potter books. Both are a great way to spend a night or two this Christmas season.

Jim's September 2013 review (1/2)

Yellow Birds by Kevin Powers


This is a terrific book. The language is powerful yet spare. Powers, a combat veteran, drew me in with hypnotic prose that reminded me greatly of Cormac McCarthy without the violence.  The story follows two soldiers, Privates Bartle and Murphy, who meet in the Army and are shipped to Afghanistan. From the start the reader knows that one of the friends dies. What kept me reading was finding out how it happens and how the remaining soldier deals with the consequences of his friend's death. One thing Powers does here is give the reader one of the best explanations I have ever come across of what it is like to be in the middle of a battle. Not to be missed!

Jim's 1st June 2012 pick

All The Right Stuff by Walter Dean Myers

If you have ever wondered why things are the way they are, this may be a book for you. Myers takes his protagonist, teenager Paul DuPree, and the reader on an exploration of the “social contract,” a political philosophy of our society. A polemic on philosophy may seem like heavy stuff for a young adult novel, but Myers, a master of the genre, handles deftly what could have been dull and distant. This is largely due to the characters that Myers creates, all of whom are flesh and blood, not clichés. Elijah, the owner of and master soup maker at the emporium, instructs Paul in the finer points of the social contract, and in so doing, helps Paul deal with the hatred he has felt for his dad.

In some ways All the Right Stuff reminded me of Jostein Gaarder’s Sophie’s World. Both use philosophy as a means to advance the plot and develop characters; however, Myers does not go into as much detail as Gaarder, yet is just as enjoyable. If you have never read anything by Walter Dean Myers, All The Right Stuff is a good place to begin.

Walking With The Wind by John Lewis

Jim's 1st May 2012 pick

Congressman John Lewis recently visited Concord to receive the New Hampshire Supreme Court Society’s Life and Liberty Award. This book, his memoir of his involvement in the Civil Rights movement, is outstanding and worthy of an award on its own merits. It traces Lewis’s life from growing up dirt poor in rural Pike County, Alabama to his election to Congress as a representative from Georgia. Even though he was met with violence throughout much of his college years and his twenties, his commitment to peace was the banner that he waved as he helped to move America forward toward equality for all. No matter what situation he found himself in, he stuck to his beliefs of non-violence and reasoning, using words as his weapons to overcome injustice. Near the end of the book, as Lewis reflects on how young people today can and should get involved in their own communities, he seems to foreshadow the recent Occupy Wall Street movement. To the point: buy this book and read about a true American hero.

Townie by Andre Dubus III

Jim's 3rd May 2012 pick
Sandy, here at the bookstore, recommended this book to me. Ultimately, I was glad that I took her up on the suggestion, but I wasn’t always sure why. It was interesting to read about someone who is my age. Many of Dubus’s cultural references led me to ponder my own development at that time. For most of the book I wondered what Dubus was leading to. Where was he taking me? His life seemed to be about two things: ensuring his personal safety at the cost of his identity, as if being able to beat down any opposition was a satisfactory existence, which was understandable to a degree, considering the violence that permeated his neighborhood, and figuring out how his father, who was absent a lot of the time, fit into his life.
It is how Dubus reconciles himself to both issues that is the payoff of the book. He struggles with his demons, personal and familial, to discover a new awareness of himself and the world. Check Townie out if you enjoy reading about people’s life-journeys. This one is filled with bumps, bruises, and ultimately, redemption.

Jim's April 2012 staff pick

The Greater Journey, Americans in Paris by David McCullough
     As I read this book, I wanted to pack my bags and head for the nearest airport to catch the earliest flight to Paris. I had visited the City of Light before, but  dropping into McCullough’s tale of nineteenth century Americans in search of inspiration, I had a great urge to go again, as soon as possible. Why?  Simply because the author portrays Paris as a wonderland of creativity and civility. In these times of tension and strife, who wouldn’t want a little of both.
Overflowing with museums and salons, it is no wonder that just about every American of note during the nineteenth century, from James Fenimore Cooper to Thomas Edison, made a pilgrimage to Paris. Many found it hard to leave, even during the periods of political upheaval. I found it interesting that Samuel Morse, yes, he of the Morse Code, started out with dreams of making it as an artist and that he married a young woman from little ol’ Concord, New Hampshire. Cool, yeah? If you have ever had a work of art hauntingly capture your imagination, you will appreciate Harriet Beecher Stowe’s visit to the Louvre and her encounter with The Raft of the Medusa by Théodore Géricault. If you are a lover of art, history, people or travel, this is a book for you. I recommend that you supplement the reading of this book with multiple viewings of Woody Allen’s Midnight in Paris, and then get yourself on a plane as soon as possible. Bon voyage!

Jim's January 2012 pick

It was only natural that, after The Hunger Games took off like wildfire, there would be numerous attempts by authors to capture a little of the action for themselves. It happened after Harry Potter swish-and-flicked his way into our hearts; a flood of young wizards appeared on bookshelves everywhere. No sooner did Edward's blood get all hot for Bella than writers sucked our attention away with new vampire-human romances. Now, the young adult zeitgeist brings us various dystopias run by nefarious governments to fill our quiet reading moments.

One such world is that created by Ally Condie in Matched. Here, just about every aspect of a person's life, even the portions of food received each night for dinner, is controlled by the Society, a collection of all-knowing agents and agencies trusted by all. Young Cassia, the heroine of the novel, eagerly awaits the identity of her match, the young man chosen to be her lifemate by the Society. His name and face will be revealed to her in an official ceremony. She hopes it will be her best friend Xander, a boy she has known since childhood. Yet, unexpectedly, the face of an outcast is shown to her briefly before being replaced by the image of her dear Xander. All should be well, except that Cassia cannot accept the notion that this was an accident. Could the Society be up to something? And why are her dinner portions shrinking? Or are they?What's really going on? That's what Cassia wants to know and what you, too, can find out by reading the book.

As the saying goes imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. Condie imitates the structure of Suzanne Collins's best-sellers in a number of ways: shadow government, love triangle, and nascent social unrest in the provinces, among them. What I liked best about Matched is that the author kept me turning pages without all the violence that is a hallmark of Katniss Everdeen's story. She also uses references to Dylan Thomas in an integral way throughout the book. The English teacher nerd in me finds that cool.

So I recommend Matched, and the subsequent titles in the series (the second book, Crossed, is out now in hardcover), to anyone who likes a good story, to fans of the Hunger Games, and to those who wanted to indulge in that other trilogy but was put off by the blood lust. Nothing more serious here than a manipulative overbearing government - quite timely considering it's primary season.