Books and Movies of 2012

Although I didn't do it last year, every year before, I listed all the books I read and the movies I saw the previous year.  It's time to revive the tradition.  I read 69 books, including 25 that I listened to in the car or on my phone.  That double counts Infinite Jest by David Foster Wallace, because I read it twice.  It made more sense the second time, so I raised my rating from 3 to 4 stars.  I still don't understand it.  I think I'm ready to tackle it a third time to see if I can figure out why the literary experts think it is the greatest book of fiction in the 20th century.  There were 27 nonfiction and 42 fiction books. I watched 46 movies, including 12 that I watched at home, either on Netflix, Amazon or rental DVD's.  Thirteen of the movies I saw were at Ebertfest.  I give stars indicating how much I liked each book or movie, with the highest being five stars and truly exceptional books, or movies, that make me say "wow!" at the end getting five plus stars.

Books

Five Plus Stars

The Book Thief, Markus Zusak
The Pickup, Nadine Gordimer

Five Stars

The Devil in the White City, Erik Larson
Vanity Fair,  William Makepeace Thackeray
Without Conscience, Dr. Robert O. Hare
The Psychopath Test, Jon Ronson
Wildlife, Richard Ford
Behind the Beautiful Forevers,  Katherine Boo
March, Geraldine Brooks
The Maytrees, Annie Dillard
Essays From My Life, Miriam Maust

Four Stars

Please Look After Mom,Kyung-Sook Shin
No Country For Old Men, Cormac McCarthy
Dear Husband, Joyce Carol Oates
Anatomy of a Murder, Robert Traver
Middlemarch, George Eliot
A Boy Called "H", Kappa Senoh
Pearl Buck in China,Hilary Spurling
Infinite Jest, David Foster Wallace
Yours in Truth, Jeff Himmelman
No One Knows My History, Fawn Brodie
By Nightfall, Michael Cunningham
A Visit From The Goon Squad, Jennifer Egan
Half A Life, V.S. Naipul
The Double Bind, Chris Bohjalian
The Heart Is A Lonely Hunter, Carson McCullers
The Men Who Would Be King, Nicole La Porte
The House of the Spirits, Isabel Allende
The Art of Fielding, Chad Harbach
There Are No Children Here, Alex Kotlowitz
Swann's Way, Marcel Proust
Sybil Exposed, Debby Nathan
Newspaper Days, Theodore Dreiser

 Three Stars

Working, Studs Terkel
Broom of the System, David Foster Wallace
Born Round, Frank Bruni
Pulphead Essays, John Jeremiah Sullivan
Die Free, Peter Rooney
Home on the Prairie, Garrison Keillor 
The Man Who Owns The News,  Michael Wolff
The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo,  Stieg Larsson
Hijacked:  Responding To The Partisan Church Divide,  Mike E. Slaughter, Charles E. Gutenson and      Robert P. Jones 
Atheist's Mass, Honore Balzac
The Keep,  Jennifer Eagan
The Lady's Not For Burning, Christopher; Fry
The Girl Who Kicked Over the Hornet's Nest, Stieg Larsson
Men's Wives, William Makepeace Thackeray
Higher Gossip, John Updike
Hannah Coulter, Wendell Berry
The Girl Who Played With Fire,  Stieg Larsson
Hollywood Hills,  Joseph Wambaugh
The Artist of Disappearance, Anita Kisai
How To Make People Like You, Nicholas Boothman
Alexander's Bridge,  Willa Cather
The Communist Manifesto,  Karl Marx
The Wild Things, Dave Eggers

Two Stars

Talking to Myself, Studs Terkel
The Country Doctor,  Honore Balzac
A Cup of Friendship,  Debra Rodriguez
Beautiful Outlaw, John Eldredge
Pushups In The Prayer Room,  Norm Schriever
O Pioneers,  Willa Cather

One Star

Motor Mouth, Janet Evanovich
Answering The New Atheism,   Scott Hahn and Benjamin Wiker
Strategic Moves,  Stuart Woods

Movies

Five Plus Stars

A Separation  

Five Stars

The Descendants
Kinyarwanda
Higher Ground
Sidewalks
Queen of Versailles
Vernon, Florida
Life of Pi
Anatomy of a Murder

Four Stars

Today's Special
Big Fan
Take Shelter
The Exotic Marigold Hotel
Europa Europa
Queen to Play
Moonrise Kingdom
Your Sister's Sister
Hope Springs
The Campaign
Days of Heaven
The Words
The Perks of Being A Wallflower
The Master
Arbitrage
Samsara
Lincoln
The Heart Is A Lonely Hunter

Three Stars

Joe Versus The Volcano
On Borrowed Time
Wild and Weird
Patang
Citizen Kane
Chimpanzees
Arranged
Beasts of the Southern Wild
Happy, Texas
Guilt Trip
2 Days in New York

Two Stars

The Truth About Beauty and Blogs
Phunny Business
Wuthering Heights
Anna Karenina

One Star

Sherlock Holmes       
 




 

The Story of My Life

I was asked to give a "testimony" in church this morning.  This is what I said:

    As I understand my assignment, I have five to seven minutes to give my testimony on vocation, particularly as it relates to my having retired from my vocation several weeks ago.  I won’t even attempt to relate it to the scripture passages, although, if I had 20 minutes, it would be interesting to talk about the fishing story and especially about becoming “fishers of men.”
    Both of my sons are way smarter than I am, as demonstrated by oldest son, Jeremy’s, answer some 30 years ago, when he was five or six years old and he was asked by a relative what he’s going to do when he grows up, is he going to be a lawyer like his father.  Jeremy considered the question carefully and then said, “No, I think I’ll be a client.”
    Jeremy understood, even at that age, something I didn’t grasp in my mid 20s when I decided to go to law school.  That is, that the big enchilada; the swizzle stick that stirs the drink; the king of the jungle is not the lawyer, but the client.  And, then, of course, even above the king of the jungle is the judge, who, to extend the metaphor too far, is “God.”  And, so I spent more than 35 years, trying to please my clients, successfully occasionally; unsuccessfully occasionally, with mixed results usually.  It was frustrating to have to argue with clients about what was in their best interests; what the likely outcome of their cases would be, why they should be willing to accept less than the maximum outcome in order not to be stuck with the worst outcome.  Most listened; some did not.
     As Jeremy noted, even at the age of 5, that involved an awful lot of late nights and weekends, even a number of all-nighters (admittedly some of that was due to my own procrastination,) trying to please the King (and Queen).  And, trying to please the even almightier judge.   True, I could and did fire some clients, but that is not a way to make a living if you do too much of it.  I caught a few fish; a lot got away and a few caught me.
    I sued the University of Illinois many times, mainly because I was one of the few lawyers in town so stupid as to try.
    I guess at my age, 66 and counting, I would be expected to offer some words of wisdom to the younger generation.  Something to help you avoid the mistakes I made.  I actually don’t think that works.  Everyone has to make their own mistakes.  Advice from the elderly goes in one ear and out the other, as it should, because circumstances are different for everyone. 
    But, being old, I’m going to give you advice anyway.  We just can’t help it after we pass 60.  Along with the hearing aids and the Depends, we give advice.  The first piece of advice is,  if you can make a living at it, try to do something you like.  I remember going to work, whistling, and thinking, “Man, this is fun.”   I remember saying to several people over the last 35 years that making a closing argument to a jury is better than anything– well, anything we can talk about in church. (That isn’t exactly how I said it, but it’s the gist of it.)   I won a few of those battles, gloated too much when I did, then bloodied my head in trying again.  Not enough wins and too many losses or draws to consider myself a great crusader for justice.
    But, I would have gone out much happier if I had made my exit 10 years ago.  That’s when it stopped being fun.  My head was bloodied from banging it against the wall of injustice; I had become cynical when I saw how often the law was manipulated to protect the powerful and screw the little person.  I had fished too often with nothing to show for it in my net except a few little shrimp.  So, my second piece of advice (which I fully expect you will disregard, as well, but you really shouldn’t) is quit while it’s still fun. 
    Everyone asks me what I’m going to do now. (By everyone, I mean Rosalee – and others.)  Well, I’m going to be retired.  I have worked since I was 13 years old.  It’s almost unbelievable that I am getting checks deposited into our bank account for which I don’t have to do anything.  It really brings home to me the advantages of being born rich.  
    After it stops being fun sitting around, I hope to do occasional mediations.  That’s when two parties in a lawsuit, usually shortly before the trial, agree to meet with a mediator, with their lawyers present, and try to agree to a mutual resolution they are willing to accept.  Amazingly, to me at least, 85 percent of mediations, nationally, are successful, and with really good mediators the percentage is more than 90 percent, approaching 100 percent.  I’ve gotten the training; I’ve had lots of experience participating in mediations, now I just need other lawyers to refer appropriate cases to me.
    Martin Luther King said in a famous speech that when he is gone he wants to be remembered as a “drum major for justice.”  Obviously, my career should not even be mentioned in the same breath at Martin Luther King’s career.  But, if someone could just call me a “piccolo for justice,” I would be deeply honored.

A Shocking Case of Malpractice

Sybil Exposed: The Extraordinary Story Behind the Famous Multiple Personality Case by Debbie Nathan

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


This really is an extraordinary story, as the title says.  I have never read the book, "Sybil," nor seen the movie, but I was vaguely aware of it and its subject matter.  The author writes very well and has done an exceptional job of digging up and presenting the actual facts of the matter.  The only reason I cannot give it five stars is the author uses too much "must have thought," "would have" acted in a certain manner and other speculative devices.  Also, she tends to hype her story a little more than she would need to.  Just the facts, ma'am, let the facts speak for themselves.  The facts alone present a startling indictment of certain members of the psychiatric establishment, and unnecessary editorializing distracts from the story.

What Is Romney Thinking? (Or is He?)

I haven't posted any political diatribes in about four years; but it's that time again. All the pundits are talking about the latest Romney "gaffe" in which he told $50,000 a plate donors his dismissive view of nearly half of Americans.  I don't think it was a "gaffe," I think it was Romney being honest about what he believes.  The fact is what he believes is not only wrong, it's stupid.  The 47% of the American people who are dyed-in-the-wool Obama supporters are not all moochers.  I'm not.  I support Obama and I pay income taxes -- lots of them.  The best discussion I've seen about Romney's comments are by John Cassidy in The New Yorker.  They're worth your while to read.

Beyond the Beautiful Forevers by Katherine Boo
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This is a very well-written book. Although non-fiction, it reads like a story. The author tells about the lives over several years of some of the people in one of the slums around the airport in Mumbai, India. Real names are used and the stories are not pretty. The book pretty much demolishes the romantic notion that poor people help each other and live a good life without money. The people she describes live a miserable life and they know it. Several characters commit suicide by drinking rat poison. The book is so detailed with conversations and thoughts that I have some questions about whether liberties were taken for the sake of the story. The author claims not. Time will tell. If it is a work of fiction, it is still extremely well done.

Richard Ford: Wildlife

Wildlife by Richard Ford
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This is a great example of the kind of writing I like to read. Nothing fancy, just a straightforward story told in simple prose. It's about three days in the life of a 16-year-old in Bozeman, Montana. His life seems to fall apart when his father goes off to fight a forest fire and his mother has an affair with a wealthy man in town. Ford doesn't insult his readers' intelligence by spelling out for them how as characters are feeling. The reader figures it out by the characters' speech and actions. I need to read some more of Ford's books.

Book Report: You Must Read; This Book

The Book Thief by Markus Zusak
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This is an extraordinary book -- unlike any I have ever read. The narrator is Death and the story is about a family in a suburb of Munich in World War II. This is not a book I would pick up to read on that description. I read it because our reading group is doing it and I'm glad I did. Somehow, despite the subject matter and the narrator, the book is compelling. One feels oneself a better person after having read it. This is one of the few books that I rate higher than five stars, when the maximum is five.

JACK Report: Free Concert Sunday on Governor's Island

I have been fairly quiet lately about one of my passions, the JACK Quartet; not because they haven't been active but because I've been doing most of my publicizing on Facebook.  But for those few readers I have left who are not Facebook friends, you should know that JACK is playing twice on Saturday (rain date, Sunday,) at 1 p.m. and 3 p.m. on Governor's Island in New York City and you can listen for free.  Here is one of the pieces they will be playing. 

And here is an interview with Ari describing the show. Here is another article describing the show. The Wife and I will be there,so come say "Hi," if you make it.

Book Report: I Am Not A Fan of Mormons

No Man Knows My History: The Life of Joseph Smith by Fawn M. Brodie

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


Who was the first Mormon to run for president?  No, not Willard "Mitt" Romney, but the founder of Romney's church, Joseph Smith.  I wanted to read this book precisely because I am curious about the origins of Mormonism, considering that the Republican candidate for president this year comes from an illustrious Mormon family and was a bishop in the church, the head of the Boston "stake" (what would be a diocese in Catholic terminology.)

This is an objective book, as objective as a book can be whose subject is a fraud, a liar, a convicted swindler and a child molester.  Smith started out his career by swindling land owners into paying him to locate buried treasure.  He was tried and convicted for that.  Even if you believe his preposterous story about finding golden tablets, which he could never show anyone, which contained stories pretty much plagiarized wholesale from other accounts extant in his day of the lost tribes of Israel being the ancestors of the Indians, the proven lies he repeatedly told as head of the Mormon church makes any straight-forward account of his life seem like it's picking on him.

Some of the more egregious lies were the ones he told about his sexual practices.  It is well documented that he repeatedly seduced women by convincing them that God had commanded them to "marry" him and that it included girls as young as 14 and 15.  These "marriages" were not conducted as one might think a religious prophet who believed he was commanded by God to engage in polygamy would conduct them.  These were not marriages conducted in the open "in front of God and these witnesses" with women who then became part of his household. They were done in secret, some with women who were already married and who continued to live with their "earthly" husbands, and he repeatedly denied that he was doing it to his wife and the bulk of his church members.

Although Mormons claim to be Christians, Smith didn't teach the familiar Jesus who urged his followers to renounce earthly possessions and to turn the other cheek when oppressed.  Smith had his own militia, with himself as the "Brigadier General" and they were ordered to turn the earth red with the blood of those who persecuted them.  At Nauvoo, IL, the scene of the death of Smith at the hands of an outraged mob, he controlled all of the land.  He bought it at low prices and sold it at inflated prices to followers coming to the town.  Smith ran for President of the United States and told some of his followers that God had told him he would be "King of the World."

So, what does all this have to do with Willard "Mitt" Romney?  He comes from a background and religious tradition where deception is part of the heritage.  Look at the way he is running for president and then read this book. It's all part of who Romney is.

Yes, I believe in freedom of religion.  I don't have a problem with electing a man president of the United States who believes in myths which I cannot accept.  I don't have a problem with electing a man president who believes in or even practices polygamy.  Polygamy has at least as much support in the Bible as monogamy.  But, I do have a problem with electing a man as president whose religion is based on fraud, lying and sexual predation.

Book Report: The Truth and Nothing But The Truth

Yours in Truth: A Personal Portrait of Ben Bradlee, Journalism's Legendary Editor by Jeff Himmelman

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


Jeff Himmelman has raised a mini-storm in Washington and New York among the journalistic elites who can't believe he betrayed the two great icons of modern journalism, Ben Bradlee and Bob Woodward by writing the truth. No one has claimed that Himmelman fudged the facts, only that he should have protected Bradlee (and Bradlee's wife, Sally Quinn) and Woodward by not including things that might make them look bad.

None of what Himmelman wrote is actually that negative about the great gods of journalism.  There was an instance he found where Woodward lied about his sources in his Watergate stories and a letter that Bradlee wrote but never sent in which he questioned the motives of his wife, Ms. Quinn.  Neither "betrayal" was any great shock to anyone who has followed the careers of Bradley, Quinn and Woodward.  I lost any confidence that Woodward could be relied upon as a "truth teller," in the book, "Veil" about William Casey's time at the CIA in which he quotes Casey on his death bed.  There were guards at the door to Casey's hospital room 24/7 who denied that Woodward was ever in the room.  It didn't pass my "smell" test that the hospital staff, the guards and the Casey family would allow Woodward into the room.  There are many other instances of Woodward reporting, particularly his account of the Supreme Court in "The Brethren" that have not passed my "smell test."

Himmelman's book is not a chronologically organized book of biography of Ben Bradlee, but more of a character study.  Many of the facts about Bradlee were already known, since Bradlee had already written an autobiography (which I have not read.)  Himmelman shows a charismatic man whom many people (and I count Himmelman among them) adored.  But he was not exactly a genius, he didn't have the attention span for that.  His gift seems to have been to find good reporters, give them a chance to produce and then support them to the hilt.

I got this book in a Good Reads giveaway.  It is not a "great" book, but it is a very good book, one that entertained and informed me.  I recommend it for people who are interested in journalism and politics.  I don't think I would want Jeff Himmelman for a friend though.

JACK Report: A Smash in Bali

In April, I linked to a JACK fund raising event in connection with a trip to Bali to play with traditional local musicians and dancers.  I am happy to report that the trip was successful beyond what they had hoped for.  The Jarkata Post has a review here in which they say the audience was "stunned" by JACK's performance.  I am told the quartet played to a crowd of 3,000, their biggest crowd to date.  There is a DVD and CD being made of the performance.  I'll let you know when and where they're available.

Hey, It Was Free

Pushups in the Prayer Room by Norm Schriever
My rating:  Don't bother

I got this book for free after a Good Reads give-away program (although I didn't win, the author contacted me later and offered me a free book if I would promise to review it.) So, never look a gift horse in the mouth is what I've learned from my father. I've read the book and now I have to keep my end of the bargain.

It would not be good form to trash a free book. So, I will be as kind as I can. Norm Schreiver seems like a fun guy to have a beer or two with. I would stop at two because, according to the book, he can get pretty wasted after more. He has some stories that he could tell about the year he took traveling to various parts of the world. Most of the trip is with a friend and for most of the trip, Schriever and his friend stay in one sleazy hotel after another, get wasted in one sleazy bar after another, try to find a basketball court to shoot some hoops and try to pick up women. Those are the kinds of stories that really go over a little better in a bar than in a book. In a bar, you can kind of tune in and out of the conversation, depending on how loud the music is and what's on the television monitors. As a book, you're pretty much stuck with reading every word, and in this one, an editor would probably have eliminated some of the words. (Depending on the toughness of the editor, maybe some of the chapters.)

The book is not all about partying though. About three-fourths of the way through, Schreiber has an epiphany of sorts when he sees on a train platform a boy in raggedy clothes, whom he assumes is an orphan, eating out of trash containers. The boy touches him to the point that he gives him all of his cash (the $31 he has on him) and some clothes. He also decides that there is a higher purpose to life, mainly saving the world with his writing. So, he finishes the trip, goes back to California, goes into business of some sort involving real estate and law (I would not be at all surprised if he is a lawyer, as they seem to be particularly susceptible to the need to express themselves in writing) makes a lot of money, and then, 10 years later moves to Costa Rica where he writes this book. He has now apparently moved on to Nicaragua where he is working on a sequel.

The book is not a religious book despite the title. According to the preface, the title comes from a time when Schriever was in Thailand and was in a hotel room so small he couldn't do his daily pushups so he went to some kind of meditation/prayer room down the hall and did them. It's a catchy title, and I would have liked to see a little more exposition about the incident, but it is not included in the chapter on Schriever's stay in Thailand, which is a bit odd, I thought.

The book shows the blessing and perils of self-publishing.  The world would never have seen the book if the author had been forced to find a traditional publisher.  You can count that as a blessing or a curse, depending on your personal inclinations.  I got the book for free.  It wasn't a bargain.  If you're going to read it, make sure you don't have to pay for it.

Infinite Book

Infinite Jest by David Foster Wallace
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

It took me six months, but I finally did it. All 1,079 pages, including 388 footnotes, some of which ran 10 to 15 pages and contained footnotes within the footnotes. Despite, following along (more or less) with a readers' guide, I can't say that I began to understand the book. Some of the writing is very clear, with good descriptions and laced with humor. There were many things I found infuriating about the book -- the constant use of initials for names of people, places and things; the use of obscure words after obscure words, which even a heavy reader with years of education could not decipher. The book struck me as being by and for English majors.

Why did I bother? First, I have never started a book I didn't finish. Second, Wallace is from this area and I kind of know some of his immediate family members. Third, it is praised by those in the know as one of the great works of literature of the Twentieth Century and Wallace is considered one of the century's greatest authors. No doubt, Wallace is an extremely smart person, but he is not smart enough to be able to write his thoughts in such a way that a reasonably educated person can understand them. What I would really like to do is read the book again in the Kindle version so that I could get immediate definitions of unknown words by simply pressing on the word. But not yet. First I'm going to cleanse my palate with some Proust.

A Good Read For A Lawyer

Anatomy of a Murder by Robert Traver
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This is a classic of the lawyer/mystery genre; one of the earliest. Traver is the pen name of John D. Voelker, who practiced in the Upper Peninsula for Michigan for many years and eventually was appointed to the Michigan Supreme Court. He knows how to spin a good yarn, but the book is a little dated in its references to women, particularly. Lawyers love this book but for the nonlawyer, it may get a little pedantic, particularly in his lengthy exposition on the jury instructions given in the murder case.

Help JACK Have A Ball in Bali

You haven't heard much about the JACK Quartet recently on my blog.  (That's because I've been bothering my Facebook friends.)  Here is information about an exciting new project that JACK is doing in Bali,Indonesia, and your chance to give them a boost.