Daniel James Brown has written an engaging, fascinating, touching book. The Boys in the Boat is the best book I've read in a long time. We're reading it for one of my book clubs and I remember voting for it when we selected our books for the year (I like boys, I like boats, what's not to like?) but I had no idea what a wonderful experience I was getting myself into. Well done, me.
The subtitle says it all: Nine Americans and Their Epic Quest for Gold at the 1936 Berlin Olympics. What more do you need to know? A few more things, actually. Yes, there were nine of them in the boat as it raced toward the finish line, but then there were the amazing coaches who pushed them beyond any imaginable limits, the rowing genius who built their lightning fast shell, their families and their girlfriends who struggled and hoped along with them as the country was clawing its way out of the Depression. There were also the countless fans who followed their races and cheered them on in an era when rowing was one of the biggest sports around.
Brown's writing is so rich in detail and relevant facts that it feels like reading Eric Larson, which is high praise indeed. I have no interest in sports in general, but rowing has such a aura about it. It's a sport of the monied and well-bred. But as Brown shows us, sometimes it pays off to be an outsider. The boys in this particular boat were from humble origins, some of them working every free minute to earn their way through school at the University of Washington. By the end of it, you'll want to shake hands with every last one of them or maybe hug them and bake them pie.
Check out the book trailer on Goodreads.
Rating: 5 stars
Genre: nonfiction
Recommended for fans of: nonfiction, history, WWII, sports, the Olympics, the Pacific Northwest, manliness, America
Showing posts with label Goodreads. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Goodreads. Show all posts
Tuesday, February 2, 2016
Sunday, August 31, 2014
Houdini House Party
Yesterday, I hosted a Houdini House Party courtesy of houseparty.com. And we got to watch an advance copy of the first half of The History Channel's Houdini special that is coming on this labor day. It stars Adrien Brody and we enjoyed it quite a bit. I wasn't sure how my friends would react because I'm a huge Houdini fan, but that doesn't mean everyone around me shares my interest. It helped that most of the ladies in the group find Adrien Brody easy on the eyes.
One of the highlights for me was Houdini trivia. The winner got a Houdini martini shaker from House Party and The History Channel. I laid out my Houdini books on the refreshment table and we looked at pictures of him and his wife and his many amazing tricks. My guests had tons of questions about "The Needle Trick" which is pictured in my oldest Houdini book, Houdini: His Life-Story by Harold Kellock, originally published in 1928 just a couple of years after the magician's death.
In preparation for the party, I've been reading my various Houdini books and have reacquainted myself with some of the stranger facts about his life. I'd forgotten than when he was a teenager, he paid to have his picture taken with a chest full of medals he'd won in athletic competitions. Except he'd only won some of them. The rest were borrowed or were fake medals he'd made himself. Even at a young age, the man who would become Houdini was a master of advertising. I'd also forgotten that he was the first person to fly a plane in Australia. How weird is that?
If you're looking for a short read that will make you an expert on Houdini's early life and career, look no further than Houdini: Escape into Legend by Manny Weltman. It's only 51 pages and includes a lot of photos of Houdini and his family, as well as some of his birth certificates and passport documentation which show his attempt to shed his original name (Ehrich Weiss) and change his birthplace from Hungary to the US. The book wasn't listed on Goodreads yet, so I had to enter all the info on their website and create an entry for it. I've done that before for several other obscure books, but there's always some pressure involved since you are responsible for describing the book to the entire Goodreads community. Not something you want to screw up.
One of the highlights for me was Houdini trivia. The winner got a Houdini martini shaker from House Party and The History Channel. I laid out my Houdini books on the refreshment table and we looked at pictures of him and his wife and his many amazing tricks. My guests had tons of questions about "The Needle Trick" which is pictured in my oldest Houdini book, Houdini: His Life-Story by Harold Kellock, originally published in 1928 just a couple of years after the magician's death.
In preparation for the party, I've been reading my various Houdini books and have reacquainted myself with some of the stranger facts about his life. I'd forgotten than when he was a teenager, he paid to have his picture taken with a chest full of medals he'd won in athletic competitions. Except he'd only won some of them. The rest were borrowed or were fake medals he'd made himself. Even at a young age, the man who would become Houdini was a master of advertising. I'd also forgotten that he was the first person to fly a plane in Australia. How weird is that?
If you're looking for a short read that will make you an expert on Houdini's early life and career, look no further than Houdini: Escape into Legend by Manny Weltman. It's only 51 pages and includes a lot of photos of Houdini and his family, as well as some of his birth certificates and passport documentation which show his attempt to shed his original name (Ehrich Weiss) and change his birthplace from Hungary to the US. The book wasn't listed on Goodreads yet, so I had to enter all the info on their website and create an entry for it. I've done that before for several other obscure books, but there's always some pressure involved since you are responsible for describing the book to the entire Goodreads community. Not something you want to screw up.
Thursday, August 7, 2014
Too many books!
I'm sure I've said this before, but there are too many books and not enough time to read them! I sincerely hope that Heaven has a giant library because there's no way I can read everything I want to before I die. My list of books to read on Goodreads is well over 100 and that's with me really restraining myself.
And it's not just books I personally want myself to read. There are the books I need to read for my book club, most of which I'm actually looking forward to. There are the books friends tell me I need to read (I never read The Giver as a kid and so I've been instructed to do so by my friend Angie). And then there are the books I started reading and refuse to give up on now even though they're terrible. So what if I only read a couple of pages a week? I'll have it done in a year or two, tops.
It's a delightful problem to have, but a little frustrating because I know I can't possibly get to all the books I want to. Even if I quit my job and read in a cardboard box, there aren't enough hours in the day.
One of my goals is to at least read every book I own. Ok...maybe not every book I own because I still have tons of books in my bedroom at my parents' house and a collection of nautical books in our second home. I'll read every book at my house for starters. Ok...maybe not every book at my house because some of them aren't even mine; they belong to my husband. So I just need to read the 100 or so books that I own and that are currently in my house. In addition to the book club books and the ones I can't resist downloading onto my Kindle because they're free. In other words, I might read all of them by the end of the decade if I'm lucky.
And it's not just books I personally want myself to read. There are the books I need to read for my book club, most of which I'm actually looking forward to. There are the books friends tell me I need to read (I never read The Giver as a kid and so I've been instructed to do so by my friend Angie). And then there are the books I started reading and refuse to give up on now even though they're terrible. So what if I only read a couple of pages a week? I'll have it done in a year or two, tops.
It's a delightful problem to have, but a little frustrating because I know I can't possibly get to all the books I want to. Even if I quit my job and read in a cardboard box, there aren't enough hours in the day.
One of my goals is to at least read every book I own. Ok...maybe not every book I own because I still have tons of books in my bedroom at my parents' house and a collection of nautical books in our second home. I'll read every book at my house for starters. Ok...maybe not every book at my house because some of them aren't even mine; they belong to my husband. So I just need to read the 100 or so books that I own and that are currently in my house. In addition to the book club books and the ones I can't resist downloading onto my Kindle because they're free. In other words, I might read all of them by the end of the decade if I'm lucky.
Sunday, January 2, 2011
My Best and Worst of 2010
My goal for 2010 was to read 100 books. I joined the Goodreads.com group "100 books + in 2010". I didn't meet my goal, but did read 86 books last year. Here's a run-down of the best and worst:
Best
Non-fiction
Portrait of a Killer by Cornwell
Spook by Roach
Killer Colt by Schechter
The Turk by Standage
Pulitzer by Morris
The first three listed are all about death and murder--fascinating subjects. Cornwell and Schechter explore murderers of the distant past and not only dig up new facts, but place before the reader a complete picture of the time and place in which the crimes were committed. Roach's work is a search for proof of the afterlife. She travels across the world to speak to the family of a reincarnated boy and then to my own North Carolina to see the descendants of a man whose ghost informed his heirs of a hidden will. But it's not Roach's experiences and research that provide most of the entertainment; it's her own sharp and hilarious wit. Nearly every page seems to have an outrageous footnote of what she was thinking while researching or writing that particular chapter.
The Turk is the story of a chess playing machine built long before he days of robots and computers. But everything is not as it seems.
Pulitzer is an excellent biography of--you guessed it--Joseph Pulitzer, the man who changed America with his manipulation of the press.
Fiction
Hypothermia by Indridason
Water for Elephants by Gruen
The Vanishing of Katharina Linden by Grant
Ethan Frome by Wharton
Girl with a Pearl Earring by Chevalier
White Oleander by Fitch
An Arsonist's Guide to Writers' Homes in New England by Clarke
Other than Ethan Frome, the best fiction I read this year was all modern. Gruen, Grant, Chevalier and Fitch are all female writers who create worlds full of mystery and vivid characters. Hypothermia is a dark, chilly Nordic crime book. Arsonist's Guide is an ironic, strange work about a man who just can't get a break.
Worst
The Spy Who Came in from the Cold by le Carre
The Murder of King Tut by Patterson
The Brief History of the Dead by Brockmeier
The "Dark Side" of American Politics by Half-Lady Lisa
The Gods of Newport by Jakes
The Spy Who Came in from the Cold is, of course, THE spy novel. That must mean that spy novels make you want to tear your hair out with boredom. There was not a single character I cared about or wanted to understand more deeply, which is good because they were all one-dimensional and there simply wasn't anything under the surface for me to delve into.
The other four books on the Worst list don't even merit an individual description. They are simply either badly written or very badly written.
Best
Non-fiction
Portrait of a Killer by Cornwell
Spook by Roach
Killer Colt by Schechter
The Turk by Standage
Pulitzer by Morris
The first three listed are all about death and murder--fascinating subjects. Cornwell and Schechter explore murderers of the distant past and not only dig up new facts, but place before the reader a complete picture of the time and place in which the crimes were committed. Roach's work is a search for proof of the afterlife. She travels across the world to speak to the family of a reincarnated boy and then to my own North Carolina to see the descendants of a man whose ghost informed his heirs of a hidden will. But it's not Roach's experiences and research that provide most of the entertainment; it's her own sharp and hilarious wit. Nearly every page seems to have an outrageous footnote of what she was thinking while researching or writing that particular chapter.
The Turk is the story of a chess playing machine built long before he days of robots and computers. But everything is not as it seems.
Pulitzer is an excellent biography of--you guessed it--Joseph Pulitzer, the man who changed America with his manipulation of the press.
Fiction
Hypothermia by Indridason
Water for Elephants by Gruen
The Vanishing of Katharina Linden by Grant
Ethan Frome by Wharton
Girl with a Pearl Earring by Chevalier
White Oleander by Fitch
An Arsonist's Guide to Writers' Homes in New England by Clarke
Other than Ethan Frome, the best fiction I read this year was all modern. Gruen, Grant, Chevalier and Fitch are all female writers who create worlds full of mystery and vivid characters. Hypothermia is a dark, chilly Nordic crime book. Arsonist's Guide is an ironic, strange work about a man who just can't get a break.
Worst
The Spy Who Came in from the Cold by le Carre
The Murder of King Tut by Patterson
The Brief History of the Dead by Brockmeier
The "Dark Side" of American Politics by Half-Lady Lisa
The Gods of Newport by Jakes
The Spy Who Came in from the Cold is, of course, THE spy novel. That must mean that spy novels make you want to tear your hair out with boredom. There was not a single character I cared about or wanted to understand more deeply, which is good because they were all one-dimensional and there simply wasn't anything under the surface for me to delve into.
The other four books on the Worst list don't even merit an individual description. They are simply either badly written or very badly written.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)