The Air-Conditioned Nightmare

The Air-Conditioned Nightmare by Henry Miller

Henry Miller grew up in New York and fled to Europe. Shortly before World War II, he returned to America and wrote this book about his journeys in the country. His tone is extremely negative, and comes across as an "apostate" from the country. He hates America and criticizes just about everything he sees. His positive views are on things like France and the Baha'i faith. 

The journey was made in 1940, shortly before the US entered World War II. The most interesting parts are the side notes about the country in the time. Hitler was rising, but it was not clear what the end result would be or whether the US would become involved. The prices at the time were ridiculously low compared today. Big tourist attractions still attracted tourists doing the tourist things. In some ways it does not seem different from many more modern road trip travelogues. 

Stuart Little

Stuart Little by E. B. White

A family has a child that just happens to be a mouse. He has some challenges with his small size. He later makes friends with some of the small animals, such as a bird and has to watch out for the cat. After a bird goes missing, he goes on a quest to find her, using a mouse sized car. The book treats the fact that he is a mouse as perfectly normal. There are plenty of fun bits related to life as a small being small.

Pippi Longstocking

Pippi Longstocking by Astrid Lindgren translated by Susan Beard

Pippi Longstocking is a little girl that lives in a big house all alone. Her mother has died and her father is out sailing the seas. She is able to take care of herself with a child's innocence and desires. She has a money and a large quantity of gold. When some robbers try to take the gold, she talks with them nicely and accepts their "stories", but is not a pushover and does not let them get it. She is quite strong and can defeat strong people. She has not had formal education and does not do well in the local school. She is just a fun girl for other kids to be with. (Though she can be annoying at times. One kid asks if she has seen her dad. She gives detailed descriptions that match him - then says she hasn't seen him.) She does occasionally tell lies, but then admits that she is lying. The book is loaded with many funny anecdotes.

If He Hollers Let Him Go

If He Hollers Let Him Go by Chester Himes

Robert Jones is an Ohio-born black man living in Los Angeles during the time of World War II. Things seem to be going pretty well for him. He has a well-to-do girlfriend, a nice car and a well-paying supervisor job at the shipyard that exempts him from military service. Then everything falls apart due to racism. It is his response to racism that causes just as much problem as the racism itself. Things start when a white Texas girl uses a racial slur. He responds with a racial slur of his own. This gets him demoted and he later gets beat up by some white guys. He plots to kill the ringleader that beats him up. He even appears a few places near him to scare him. However, sense prevails and he doesn't carry it out. Then he tries to talk with the girl. She thought nothing of the incident. Her relative then spouted off about Texas coloreds knowing how to stay in their place. He finds himself falling for her. He goes to her house and is let in. She tries to encourage him, but he ends up thinking better and leaving. He finally comes to his senses and decides to focus on his girlfriend. He has put the rage behind himself. He proposes to his girlfriend and plans for the future. He is now ready to be contrite at work and try to get his job back.

Then everything falls apart due to a fluke. As he is walking around the ship, he happens to stumble upon the very Texas girl off sleeping in a compartment. She tries to come on to him and locks the door. She later screams "rape" when she hears voices nearby. He gets beat up by the white guys. Then after waking up from his injuries, he tries to run from the law. Eventually, he is caught after a routine traffic stop in a white neighborhood. He happened to have a gun in the car and is hauled in for that. The rape charge is dropped. The judge offers to drop other charges after he serves in the military. The book ends with him enlisting.

The portrayal of war-time Los Angeles is very dark. While some periods are described as hot, it is hard not to view this as the sepia hues of detective movies. What may seem like an innocent comment by a single person ends up setting off the chain reaction that leads to the destruction of another's life. (And it came close to destroying a few other lives.) There are many steps where people could have stopped the chain reaction, but didn't. It is a challenging message for society.

The Great Divorce

In this Christian work, C.S. Lewis uses an allegorical story to discuss the afterlife and freedom. He has a character visit "lands" that have their own personal "quirks" representing various aspects of the "good" or the "bad". People that do almost everything good, yet maintain "favorite sins" will find company with others that enjoy these favorites, and will not make it elsewhere. A world where "everything is provided" will also not be a pleasant place to live.

This story form works will for explaining some complex doctrine.

Animal Farm

Animal Farm comes across as a scything critique of the communist revolution. Things start out with an old, wise pig predicting an overthrow of the cruel human opressors and the establishment of an animal utopia. Later, given a bit of human cruelty, the revolution is carried out. Two pigs end up being the primary influencers in utopian animal farm. Initially the animals are happy and the farm is more productive than it has ever been. Eventually, the "militant" pig chases away the intellectual pig. The ruling class of pigs gradually inflict greater repression on the other animals, while enriching themselves. Eventually they reduce the utopian animal rules to the immortal "all animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others." The ruling pigs eventually becoming nothing more than a more cruel class of humans.
Absolute equality may appear good at first. However, tendencies towards power and laziness will lead to to eventual problems. While the book seems to directly relate to Russian communism, the themes are also applicable to many civil rights and quests for equality.

Vampire books and Steinbeck (Vampire High, Breaking Dawn, New Moon, Eclipse, Cannery Row)

Breaking Dawn by Stephenie Meyer

New Moon by Stephenie Meyer

Eclipse by Stephenie Meyer

Vampire High by Douglas Rees

Cannery Row by John Steinbeck

Friendly vampires seem to be the rage today. I finished the Twilight series over Christmas vacation. Then Vampire High School. Both books took different approaches to 'vampire lore'. But in both, Vampires were mostly just overachievers living among us. They had some special powers, but also fragile personalities. And of course, they fell in love. (and both had a few token Romanians) And they were both told in a first-person stream-of-conscious fashion.

Vampire High was a much lighter book. It seemed to go a little overboard with cliches and stereotypes. But, it was a fun quick read. Perhaps its just a male thing. Quick and too the point. And a nice love story at that.

The Twilight books were much more serious. It seemed that each book in the series got longer and longer, but not necessarily better. Some parts were just not too believable. (Believable vampire books? Perhaps consistency is a better word.) It looks like editing was sacrificed in a rush to get the sequels out. They were good, but not great. It was a big downer to see Bella turn in to a Vampire at the end. I found myself much more interested in Alice and Jacob. The main characters (Edward and Bella) seemed to become bigger and bigger jerks as the story went on, while the supporting characters become more and more interesting. If she continues with the series, a focus on Jacob would probably be the way to go.

Finally, running out of happy vampire books, I picked up Steinbeck's Cannery row. After going to Monterrey this summer, I thought I might be able to 'relate' better to the geography. (Its always nice when you can actually identify certain locations- especially if they have totally changed since the time of the story.) I liked the way the story was told, with a series of very short chapters that could very well be stand-alone stories. Some of the chapters related directly to the main plot about "Mack and the gang" and "Doc", while others seemed to have absolutely no relationship to the main story (yet remained tangentially related to the community.)