Asleep by Molly Caldwell Crosby

Because I enjoyed her "Great Pearl Heist" and I prefer nonfiction I wanted to read another of her books.  Asleep showed up on recommendations for me based on my preferences and I read this in March 2014.  I was not disappointed although it is different than the Pearl Heist, it is intriguing and an account of the 1918--1927 sleeping illness plague that  became the forgotten world wide epidemic.  I had not known nor read of this before so found the account fascinating. Published in March 2010 by Berkley it is only 229 pages but reading on various case studies world wide of those who have this sleeping sickness, some die, some survive and some are confined to institutions.  Doctors still do not know what causes this condition diagnosed as encephalitis lethargica.  

Pages 11--16 begin with detail of the brain study  presented  at Vienna Psychiatric Society by Dr. Von Economo whose theory would be considered and 70 years went by  before "advanced medicine" proved his theory correct.  Dr. Cruchet a French physician and pathologist met with an unknown soldier from the battle of Verdun and was struck by unusual symptoms which he wondered might have been after effects of mustard gas or another chemical weapon.  Cruchet would go on to see 64 more similar cases , some with fever, some without, most had headache and nausea, strangest of all to him was the excessive amount of tine all these soldiers spent sleeping.  The soldiers were not comatose but simply asleep.    Pg 19,  in 1918  doctors were preoccupied with the  epidemic of influenza worldwide which would kill between 20-100 million worldwide.  The sleeping sickness had to take  a backseat to medicine's research into  curing the influenza that swept the globe.  Pg 25 details how the symptoms began to change as the  sleeping sickness spread.  The history of medicine documented through this work is a good reference to the times of that era and mentions that in the 1920's  the decade of rapid technological changes  began. (pg. 84).  Josephine B Neal was a bacteriologist and neurologist who led the Matheson Commission.  She was  born and raised in Maine she had  been a school teacher but applied for medical school.  (Pages 162--165)  She was considered an expert on polio and  was one of the first people to be injected with the anti polio vaccine in New York in 1934, the results of the trials were kept out of the media and the vaccine campaign stopped until renewed in the 1950's by Dr. Jonas Salk. Chapter 19  details Josephine's pioneering involvement as a woman in medical research  in New York where she lived. 

The sleeping epidemic diminished but the book leaves one wondering if it might not return with different symptoms.  I give this book a 5 ***** and will share it with a friend who spent a career at the bench in medical research.  I will be interested in her comments.  

Tisha BY/as told to Robert Specht

Tisha is the true adventure love story  of Anne Hobbs, who at 19 years of age in 1927 ventures to Alaska to teach school.  It is her memoir as told to Robert Specht.  After we spent weeks in Alaska last year I have a very deep appreciation of it's natives and history and cannot read enough about it.  I was browsing in the Goodwill book section and had a conversation with another woman who is also a self confessed reader junkie, she spotted this book, paperback, published by Bantam Books in March 1977 on the very low priced bargain shelf and handed it to me declaring it one of the best books she had ever read.  I had told her I am fond of history and memoirs and prefer non-fiction.  I recognized this book from our Alaskan trip as one I considered buying  while there but did not because I had a box full already to ship home.  I snatched it up.  At  first I thought Tisha was an Indian name but learned it was the way the Alaskan Indians pronounced "teacher" and the name that stuck with her.  

The first sentence transported me immediately to the wild country of Alaska and  this frontier, places we visited that  preserve the same structures as the  gold rush times and before--Eagle,  Chicken, Dawson, deep Yukon territory and the vastness of the land  and reawakened  my appreciation for those who ventured there way back then.  Anne begins,  "I have lived in the Forty Mile country of Alaska for a long time, but even now, every so often when I'm out rock-hunting or looking for fossils< I get lost."  It was not an easy life and had Anne not been venturous and head strong she would not have made it and lived to tell, it was not a time for timid or weak people but for survivors.  It begins September 4, 1927, "Even though it was barely eight o'clock and the sun had just  come up, practically the whole crew of Eagle had turned out to see the pack train off.  ...Mrs Rooney tells Ann, One thing you'll learn  is that it doesn't take much to collect a crowd in Alaska..."   

It's only 342 pages but likely out of print now, although it is a current seller in Alaskan bookstores and the Yukon territory today,   I agree that the book is wonderful and give it 5 *****.  It's a keeper. 

another catch up Confessions of a Wall Street Analyst by Dab Reingold

I read this in March and passed my copy along to our local investment broker.  It was outstanding, enlightening, and somewhat technical in parts.  Part history and part emoir.  .  Published in 2006, Hardback by Harper Collins, 315 pages followed by notes and references.   I  spend time watching our various investments and always have my eye out for a good stock tip.  I have been suckered but once by purchasing United American Petroleum, a wild cat oil drilling operation and fortunately did not loose that much; I  keep that stock today which I call my casino stock, for it was my gamble at which I lost, as a reminder that I am not so smart, regardless of research and   after reading Dan's enlightening memoir about his time as an idealist analyst on Wall Street, I was affirmed.  The small time  investor simply is not able to compete or be as aware as the biggees, so since  one cannot run with the big dogs best to stay on the porch.  We have 2 investment brokers both of whom have done well for us and now I will be content to follow their advice and watch our  various funds grow.   

Most of this occurs during the big days when the dot coms were rising and  greed was  in for the long haul on Wall Street.  Dan enters as a new  analyst recruited for his technical skills with statistics and  ability to model  metrics; while he attempts to remain a purist, not mixing with the marketing sectors of the firms where he is employed as the going gets going it becomes rougher.   He describes what "going over the wall means" in the investment Street lingo, that's when the analysts are engaged to hear marketing and insider information which if they are ethical they must ignore or recuse themselves from commenting  or analyzing the potential of that particular stock.  Dan does this ethical dilemma  straight line to his detriment.  

My tough career in state government which gave me many promotions to higher management and left me many sleepless nights pales in comparison to life on "The Street".  When I read about his real 24/7  always on the clock and flying  from time zone to time zone non stop I knew what weary really meant.  Somehow I could absolutely relate to his perhaps naivete and idealism, been there.    The strategy of stock prices on earnings day was something I had suspected.  Dan  pulls no punches especially when describing his chief rival, Jack Grubman who was the hot shot amongst the analysts but as tainted as they come.  How the firms lure the analysts or try to en mass and how those who move along are able to bring their teams with them was an eye opener.  1997 was the watershed year for the  telecom industry and analysts with the baby bells  doubling annually and growing the internet industries by 1000%,  (Pg 152) and  (Page 103)   How the internet affected  protocols and the entire telecommunications industry is  interesting history now. (pg 100.)  2001 is described as  a year of insatiable desire for bullish commentary by investors.  

Dan's altruism gets severe knocks as he learns, "it's not what you knpw but who you know."  (Pg 205) The IPO's in these early days were rift with insider games, something he finds hard to accept, but when he questions his arch rival Jack Grubman he is blown off with  the responses that " public  IPO investors are playing in a rigged game, suckers."    

(Pages 18-189) The greed and arrogance is certainly  rough to digest as well as hearing that institutional investors are preferred  over retail brokers representing individuals.  Fidelity is one big institutional that is always  ahead of the game which is  great for bigger Fidelity  clientele.  I really was intrigued as well as alarmed.  I remember the MCI World.com fiasco and the Bernie Ebbers trial well.  He was a real small guy, who became one of the greediest men; he might have lived quite well had not he  been so consumed with greed which fed his arrogance as lived the good life.  This is covered through out the book as well as pages 2-3 of the prologue.  In one year April 2003, World.cpm had amassed $11 billion in fraud.  Those numbers are unfathomable.   (Page 271 & on)    Dan ultimately retires  teaches for a time and closes by saying "I came in as an idealist and left a cynic."  I can say the same for my governmental career so I related to much of his eye opening heart breaking experiences.  

This is a 5 *****.  It  may be too technical for some and although it sat on my shelf for a year  or more I am pleased that I finally read it.   Not for the faint hearted nor for the light reader who only wants entertainment.   

Ratings and little commentary catch up

I have managed to  read a few books all good but not keep up with posting to this blog.  As  place holders because I am donating all three to the  book sales, here are two books I read in April & May:  

Published as a trade paperback by Bantam Books in 2013, 434 pages, a historical novel biography; told from the research on Anne Morrow Lindbergh as though from her eyes and voice,  it reveals her life and  her marriage to Charles.  Excellent reading as I have read much about and by the Lindbergh's. This is the first book by author Melanie Benjamin that I have read.  I would  read more. 

 Page 50, "I turned even more hungrily than usual to my diary.  I had always been like this; only able to recognize my world by reassembling it on the page."  

Page 52, " But what's it all about?...What's it all for?  We get married,  ..That's what it's all for.  We marry equally bright promising young men from Princeton or Cornwall or Harvard or Yale.  We collect silver and china.  .....Meanwhile we play tennis and golf and try to keep our figures and our sanity."   5 *****

Published 2009, St Martin's Press, hardback, 309 pages of a delightful mystery  with  the antics of Stephanie Plum, bounty hunter, investigator and the  great characters of this genre, including Diesel, Detective Morelli,  her grandma, her  mother, her sidekick Lula, and others.  It's a fast read this one about the New Jersey Devil, some magic, space shifters.  Picked it up at a sale and it is a very easy read.  Comical in parts to laugh out loud funny as well as not guessing where the villain will turn up.  Funniest part when one of her catches goes off to get married and leaves her monkey on Stephanie's door step to care for while she is on her honeymoon.  Another  amusing mystery by best selling  author Janet Evanovich.  5 *****

No Ordinary Time by Doris Kearns Goodwin

This historical work of 636 pages,  along with 72 pages of notes, a bibliography of 13 pages and a 28 page index is a monumental work that consumed my attention and  kept me reading all through the cold winter month of January.  I have been interested in the Roosevelt's  ever since I can remember. I have read other books about them and the era,  including "Too Close to the Sun"  by grandson Curtis, but  wanted a factual work devoted to FDR and Eleanor.  Since  McCullough has not written on them I searched to find a notable author and struck gold with this work. .  Doris Goodwin delivers  depth, detail, historical fact within  a treasured reading experience of biography about this historical time of our country, evidenced by the Pulitzer prize awarded her for history.  This book was right up my alley and will remain a keeper in my personal library.  First published back in 1994 it is a timeless reading experience. 

See my review on this blog of Too Close tot he Sun"
http://patsbooksreadandreviewed.blogspot.com/2013/03/five-books-read-reviews-pending.html

"No Ordinary Time" takes its title from the inauguration of FDR and a phrase Eleanor used.  It hones in a specific era,  the home front of our country immediately before  World War II  up to the death of Franklin Delano Roosevelt (FDR) as  chapter by chapter unfolds the personalities, ideals, intents and  guile of the two main characters, FDR and Eleanor.  Accompanying this in an excellent narrative of the attitudes of the population of this country, the influence of Stalin and Churchill and the WWII era with historical perspectives and analysis that contribute to understanding how the country elected FDR so many times.  It has taken me too long to post it here to my reading blog but reflecting I still savor its reading.

 Although FDR is known as the father of the New Deal, an initiator of socialist programs

Back cover

especially urged by Eleanor, his human side and weaknesses are fully explored.  His  relationship with his mother, Sara, who adored her only child and controlled their lives until she died  is fascinating.  His affair with Lucy Mercer Rutherford, that impact on his marriage. and the later complicity of his and Eleanor's  daughter, Alice, with later time spent with Lucy in his final days paints a not so devout picture of him.  After reading all this I wonder  today how he would fare under the guise of media, surely he would have been adored but how venomous would the political attacks be?  Was he simply brought up to not demonstrate emotion and there by unable to provide warmth and support to relationships, turning his back on those who could no longer give him the adoration and attention he wanted.  His personal assistant, Missy Le Hand who  suffers strokes after devoting her life to  his needs is but one significant victim of his aloofness or inability to offer comfort.  FDR is shown to be a rather needy person who revels in the company of people while Eleanor is the opposite.  He always wanted someone at hand even if ey simply sat and  watched him work on his stamp collection.   Eleanor is another distinct case study in personality without answers, was she simply crushed by her husband's  affair so that she could never again allow herself to be set up for hurt?  Was she really a lesbian or did she simply enjoy the company of intellectual women? It is fascinating from all perspectives.  She certainly was above all else, curious, committed to her ideas and generous with others.  Her almost comical pursuit of information for FDR as she  was his eyes and ears around the country is a source of political cartoons such as her descent into a coal mine to see conditions for herself, captioned by "Here comes Mrs. Roosevelt."  Eleanor was a very intriguing multi faceted person.  

Although I  wrote eight pages of notes to the book, I will not go into that depth here.  Suffice it to be a first class 5 star ***** read, a keeper, excellent scholarly historical non fiction.  

The Round House by Louise Erdrich

The Round House  by Louise Erdrich, a Minnesota author sounded interesting but tragic; published in 2012 by Harper Collins, 321 pages.   It relates the tale of  brutality and hardship, beginning innocently in 1988 as a boy and his father wait for mom/wife to return home in North Dakota on an Indian reservation.  The brutal attack of a Native woman weaves the tale.  This prolific MN  author is a member of the Turtle Mountain band of Chippewa and has written many books, articles and poetry.  

 I was disappointed in this  book and regretted that I had purchased a hard copy although it was not available in paperback.  I will be donating it to our local Library where it will either make the shelves or be passed along for the book sale. Perhaps it is the brutality and rawness that bothered me as much as some overly descriptive narrative.  The characters are very well developed and do seem all lifelike although complicated depicting difficult lives where the Ojibwe Indians and white men live together very tentatively.  

It begins, "Small trees had attacked my parents' house at the foundation.  They were just seedlings with one or two rigid healthy leaves.  Nevertheless the stalky shoots had managed to squeeze through knife cracks in the decorative brown shingles covering the cement blocks."  The writing ranges from good to adequate as the tale is told through Joe, the 13 year old son of Geraldine and Bazil Couts; Geraldine is brutally attacked and Joe tries to heal his mother but the entire family is consumed by the act.  Bazil is a tribal judge, respected but cannot attain justice for his wife. The complications of government bureaucracy and the intersection of Native rites, police investigations and conflicts between civil and Native governance  all build on the tragedy and complicate any resolution.  

Sometimes I felt there was too much detail information about the antics of Joe and his friends such as on pages 67-68 when the boys are at the Round House searching for evidence; it read almost as thought the author  tried to compensate for being female by overdoing the descriptions of the boys in their nakedness to create an over done authentic emphasis.  Another  example of the overly detailed style was on pages 106-108 when the boys are confronting and  stalking the local priest, Father Travis.      

There is interesting information about the  difficulties of tribal life, the assimilation that all but eliminates Native culture and the hard times on the reservation.  

Pg. 193 sums up the transformation in Geraldine post attack as felt by her son.  "Her voice was neutral, formal neither caustic nor falsely enthusiastic.  I'd thought she  was the same mother only with a hollow face,......I had believed that my real mother would emerge at some point.  I would get my before mom back.  But now it entered my head that this might not happen.  .....Some warm part of her was gone and might not return.  This new formidable woman would take getting to know and I was 13.  I didn't have the time.".   

 I give it a  3 stars out of 5 and read it in a week in January but am just now posting my review. 

The Heart Mender by Andy Andrews

By now I should know if I see "New York Times Best Seller" as the big draw card for a book that the book is not likely to be of interest to me, but this was a local  book club selection and one I'd not read.  It's also one sappy sentimental tale, that most of the women loved, but one I could have done without. Paperback, published 2010 and first in 2005 by Thomas Nelson, Inc, 239 pages and a Reader's Guide.  The author claims it is a true story with perhaps some embellishment.  It was a very fast read for me, started out better but kept going on and on; as I said, sappy....one of these books overloaded with sentimentality and pages upon pages about forgiveness..triteness that has been written every where before..just what some women like to read, but not me.  I thought I might learn a bit about WWII and the German submarines off the Atlantic coast and the Gulf Shores of  potential interest to me because of the disappearance of my father and his B-24 plane and crew in June 1944 and speculation to this day about a German U boat sinking it.  So there was a bit of history.  We have traveled to this area, set primarily in Foley, Alabama and those gulf shores so I was familiar with the setting.  Still, I  will be passing this book along.  Apparently this is a well liked author, but then so are many who specialize in the quick reading low information style.

It is the tale of  the people, Helen a bereft young WWII widow who moves to Alabama to care for her aunt, her only relative, Helen is a case study of hard luck; other characters,  Billy and Margaret Gilbert who own the local cafe and  hire Helen after  her aunt passes, of their son, Davey autistic or developmentally disabled, the local constable Wan and Josef Newman, the  German sailor whom Helen finds on the beach.  According to the author, this book was his greatest career disappointment  and his favorite.  It was first a manuscript, "Island of Saints"  and "through issues of bad timing, ..little previous success and zero publicity the book was quickly forgotten."   I give it a 2 or 3 **---*** although the book club members liked it.  I prefer more depth in reading so it just might be suitable for those interested in a quick non absorbing read.