Biographies & Memoirs Cheap Books Reviews

All too often here on Amazon, we review only those books and authors with which we totally agree…or totally disagree…and give little regard to the quality of the actual contents of the book. And then, our fellow Amazon viewers come along and rate our reviews strictly on the basis of their own partisan biases. This is not very helpful.

I set out to read and review Senator Barack Obama’s latest book, not because I agree with everything he has to say, but because I respect and admire him as a thoughtful and eloquent American with a compelling story.

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There is little suspense (in the traditional sense of the word) in Krakauer’s Into the Wild, as anyone who reads the synopsis or picks up the book instantly learns that it is the story of a young man, Chris McCandless, who ventures into the Alaskan Wilderness and who never gets out. Chris’ body is found in an abandoned bus used by moose hunters as a makeshift lodge, and Krakauer skillfully attempts to retrace his steps in an effort both to understand what went wrong, and to figure out what made McCandless give away his money, his car, and head off into Denali National Forest in the first place.

His book was one of the most haunting, unforgettable reads in recent years for me. I was mezmerized by passages in the author’s other best-selling masterpiece Into Thin Air, such as the passage involving stranded and doomed guide Rob Hall, near the Everest summit, talking to his pregnant wife via satellite phone to discuss names for their unborn child. However, I was unprepared for the depths of emotion felt in reading Into the Wild - it literally kept me up at nights, not just reading but thinking about the book in the dark.

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As a physician I have my fill of non-fiction with an abundance of journals so when I read for relaxation I want a story that keeps me excited, interested and sleepless until it is finished. Bringing Down the House is such a book and reads like a Clancy or Pollock with a little lower body count, but with no less excitement.

Ben Mezrich is superb writer and story teller with the amazing ability to weave the excitement of a Las Vegas casino, the mathmetics of card counting with enjoyable interpersonal dynamics so that this is a consuming story with people you care about. His description of the high roller lifestyle in Vegas takes you to the tables playing sums you watch others wager with the adrenaline rush like you were part of the team. I bought the book in Boston having just missed him at a book signing and had a hardtime finishing the conference. I found myself in the room reading a book I could not put down instead of going out in one of the towns in which the story was set. It was that engrossing.

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Reading the subtitle of Elizabeth Gilbert’s latest book, "One Woman’s Search for Everything Across Italy, India and Indonesia," one can only think well, she certainly knows where to look! Also, upon learning that this is her chosen way of recovering from a particularly acrimonious divorce and a trying-to-make-up-for-that-loss romance that didn’t work, we might think how fortunate she is to able to seek solace in such intriguing places.

Whatever our opinion of her reasons for this journey it has been established that she’s a super writer (The Last American Man), and she brings all of her wit, intellect and stylish pen to Eat Pray Love. More than that, she brought a great deal of courage to her chosen task of traveling the world alone at the age of 34. She felt she needed a dramatic change, and it may be that she has found it.

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 I couldn’t put this book down. It was such a compelling read that I kept turning page after page wanting to know what came next…eventhough I already knew how it ended. It is beautifully written, almost like reading a fiction book, and yet, of course, frightenly real. It is tragic that this actually happened, but I’m thankful to each family that they have chosen to tell their story. To share with us the grace and mercy, and abundant love that these two families have for one another.

They have been a wonderful example of how we, too, can love and forgive, and have compassion towards one another when life doesn’t play out how we would like. This book makes me want to live a deeper faith-filled life and always love and have faith…no matter what!

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