A Night to Remember (Walter Lord)

Exactly 100 years ago (14 April 1912), the Titanic sunk on her maiden voyage across the north Atlantic.  Billed the unsinkable ship, man was reminded just how frail we (and our creations) really are.  A Night to Remember, written in 1955 by a descendant of a survivor, pulls together research from dozens of interviews with survivors and thousands of pages of testimonies regarding the event.  In just 170 pages, it covers the ship striking the iceberg at 11:40pm, the events between the strike and the final sinking at 2:20am, to rescue of the the survivors a few hours later.  It attempts (and achieves) a certain breadth, taking in accounts from passengers of all classes, as well as the crew.

The book is good.  It does pack a lot of information into those pages, and conveys the general trend of events and the different impressions people had of them.  You can lose yourself in the names at times- the author lists names of the source at every turn, so you'll read things like "Jack Thayer remembered it being this way, while Mrs John Astor remembered it this other way."  If you don't get too tied around remembering the different names (there are a lot of people referenced), you get a good overall idea of the horrors and events of that fateful night, as well as the rescue and subsequent happenings.  A worthy retelling of a horrible tragedy.

Rating: A

All Things Bright and Beautiful (James Herriot)

Herriot's All Things Bright and Beautiful continues his recollections of life as a vet in Yorkshire.  In the first compilation, All Creatures Great and Small, he moves to Darrowby and begins his career, marrying Helen at the end of the book.  In this work, he's living with Helen on the top floor of Skeldale House, and carrying on as a relatively young vet in the country.

It's more of the same here- if you liked the first book, you'll like this one.  He tells a variety of stories- humorous, uplifting, self-deprecating- and in each you see his awareness of how blessed he is shine through.  Herriot did not live an extraordinary life- but he realized his blessings, and we can all learn from that.  As I read this, I was struck by the notion that all of us could write stories like this (had we the talent for the pen)- we all encounter joys, blessings, and trials in our careers, and though we're not famous or extraordinary, we each have stories worth telling.

Rating: A

The Da Vinci Code (Dan Brown)

The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown was an instant worldwide bestseller and sparked no end of controversy.  The story centers around noted symbologist Robert Langdon, whose colleague's murder launches him on an unexpected quest to seek the holy grail, which may not be at all what the legends claim.

The story was a bestseller for a reason- it's amazingly well told, and moves at breakneck speed.  Brown has a knack for maintaining suspense throughout a 500 page novel (he also pulls it off in Angels and Demons and The Lost Symbol).   This novel is full of multi-layered codes (which are plentiful and brilliant), word origins, and Church/Templar history- very good stuff.  The prime locales are Paris and London, and anyone fortunate enough to have toured those cities can enjoy the novel on another level.

I don't want to reveal too much, but the controversy concerning the book revolves around a claim about Christ.  The Church, obviously, has spoken out against it, and several authors have penned novel-length responses to The Da Vinci Code, debunking some of its claims.  Here is my amateur take on the issue: this book is a work of fiction.  There are many historical elements, yes, but that does not mean the work in its entirety is to be taken as truth.  Enjoy the story for what it is, and if you question the accuracy of a statement, research it.

The Da Vinci Code catapulted Dan Brown to superstar status, and rightfully so.  Still, I feel another of his works- Angels and Demons- is actually better.  I believe this opinion is shared by many, and the story is a prequel to The Da Vinci Code, so if this sort of thing is interesting to you, read Angels and Demons first.

Rating: A+

On Sherlock Holmes

Arthur Conan Doyle penned several stories concerning Sherlock Holmes, the most famous detective in literature, and his faithful assistant Dr. Watson.  His stories are presented as both novels and short story collections, and all are relatively short reads.  I've read four so far, and all are excellent.  In chronological order, I list the works below, with ratings for those I've read to date.  Collections of short stories are shown in Italics.

A Study in Scarlet- A
The Sign of the Four- A-
The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes- A+
The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes
The Hound of the Baskervilles- A+
The Return of Sherlock Holmes
The Valley of Fear
His Last Bow
The Case-book of Sherlock Holmes

If you read only one, choose The Hound of the Baskervilles.  A Study in Scarlet introduces the characters Holmes & Watson to each other, and The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes is quite well known, but every work here is of top quality, so you can't go wrong.

If you enjoy Sherlock Holmes stories, check out the BBC's recent television show Sherlock.  Starring Benedict Cumberbatch as Holmes, it's a modern take on the classic writings (to include being set in modern-day London).  Two series (seasons) have been released so far, each containing 3 episodes.  Each episode follows the spirit of one (or more) Holmes story, so if you read the stories first, you can better enjoy the references.

Journal of the Plague Year (Daniel Defoe)

I didn't realize the extent of the Black Plague's reach in history.  The largest outbreak occurred in the 1350s, but the plague continued to affect regions intermittently for the next three hundred years.  This book deals with the outbreak in 1665, called the Great Plague of London, which is believed to have claimed 100,000 lives.  Written by Daniel Defoe (though perhaps based on his uncle's journal), it offers a detailed account of life in London and the immediate surroundings during this dreadful time.  Defoe himself was alive during the plague, but was only 5 at the time, so though his writings are first-hand presentations, he relies heavily on other accounts, and no doubt at times presents fictionalized or unreliable material.  That has led some to question how this novel be classified- whether pure history, fiction, or a mixture of the two.  Personally, I'm inclined towards historical fiction.  There's a brief discussion of this here.

As an aside, this plague occurred shortly after the English Civil War, and the Great Fire of London occurred the very next year after the plague, in 1666.  And we think our lives are difficult.  But, I digress.

This book is a mixed bag.  There is a lot of good information here, from an account of (and daily life during) the situation itself, insights on humanity's behavior in times of crisis, to a brief discourse on the will of God, and determining His will in a stressful circumstance (the author wrestles with whether or not it's God's will that he remain in London during the crisis, or leave).  There's also good discussion of the secondary effects of such a plague- how even healthy people, with no loss of immediate kin, had their lives changed by sudden loss of employment, etc- and I feel I gained a lot from reading this work.

The novel had several deficiencies, too- with no chapters or breaks of any kind, the narrative was flowing in seemingly random directions, repeating concepts several times, and circling back on topics already covered; the details (ex: the number of dead per parish, per week) were overwhelming and at times distracted from the story.  With proper editing, the length could have been chopped in half with little loss of content, leaving me just waiting for the book to end.

Overall, there is value here, but there are probably better plague accounts to read, if the topic is of interest to the reader.

Rating: B

The Man Who Was Thursday (GK Chesterton)

GK Chesterton is going on my list of favorite authors.  His works were first brought to my attention while perusing "100 best" lists, and I was further intrigued to see him mentioned as a large influence in CS Lewis' life (in fact, Lewis' conversion back to Christianity has been attributed, in part, to Chesterton's writings).  That said, I was very much looking forward to The Man Who Was Thursday: A Nightmare, and I was not disappointed.

The story deals with themes of anarchy and order, chaos and design.  Thursday is a detective who manages to infiltrate the anarchist's council, a group of seven who champion the demise of structure in government/society.  Each of the seven are given a title that corresponds to a day.  As Thursday looks to bring down anarchy from the inside, he's confronted with a number of surprises and ideas that leave him reeling.  I'll say no more- this is a thriller best enjoyed with no foreknowledge.

The novel is a quick read, at ~150 pages, and while the beginning is a bit slow, it picks up steam quickly, to the extent that I didn't want to put it down over the last 100 pages.  Upon finishing, I immediately wanted to go back and start over- there's a lot there.  It's deep, it presents several ideas for further contemplation, and it leaves you wanting more.  I'm sure I missed some (or most) of the meat in the book on my first go-round, but I'm looking forward to seconds, as well as more writings by Chesterton.

Rating: A+