The Death of Santini

The Death of Santini: The Story of a Father and His Son by Pat Conroy
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I love spending the holidays sitting back to relax and spend some much needed quiet time with my nose buried in a book. Luckily for me, my family must also, because they continue to fill my Christmas stocking with wonderful books year after year. A newly released gem by our very own Lowcountry powerhouse Pat Conroy was released in November. “The Death of Santini,” is the sequel to a previously released best seller called the “Great Santini.” Although, this new release is not his best book to date, it certainly delivers what Pat Conroy worshippers (like me) want to read. Essentially, the memoir retells many of the stories that Conroy fictionalized in his greatest works. He recounts them in depth and gives the reader a glimpse inside how each story made him feel and impacted his life. The largest subject in the book was Conroy’s father Don. Portrayed in the movie “The Great Santini,” by Robert DuVall, the mere thought of Don Conroy in real life brings back feelings of hatred to his son Pat. This book is different because he attempts to forgive his father and the rest of his family for their shortcomings and admit many of his own. The title of the book is not the only journey the reader receives. Conroy delivers a strong message about the death of his brother, his dysfunctional sister and his up and down relationship with his mother after her divorce. I enjoy reading Conroy’s books because of the language. As you read you can feel the effort and devotion he puts toward selecting each and every word on the page. These words connect with the reader in a unique fashion. As Conroy works his way through the characters in his life you start to believe them as your own. The book really has no plot. A shortcoming that will keep it from the bestsellers list, but the reader will walk away with a better understanding of themselves. I am able to resurrect my own childhood memories while reading his stories. A constant juxtaposition of hope, depression, hate and fortitude make Conroy’s novels worth the read.

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Mrs Whaley and Her Charleston Garden

Mrs. Whaley and Her Charleston Garden by Emily Whaley
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

It is the time of year to start planning the garden for spring in Charleston. To help inspire me this year I decided to re-read Mrs. Whaley and her Charleston Garden. Even though Mrs. Whaley passed away several years ago her legacy, passion and most importantly her enthusiasm for gardening lives on. If you are tired of the same old plants and are looking for a little change this year Mrs. Whaley will help inspire you. She gives great tips on how to trim Azaleas and how to give to create visual interest in your gardening space. Mrs. Whaley has also given me the courage to tear out the old and try something new in my outdoor space. If nothing else check out her recipe for the shrimp casserole she share with us in the book, it is amazing. I am considering placing a copy in my gardening drawer and rereading it every year when is time to plant.

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Sing you Home by Jodi Picoult

Sing You Home by Jodi Picoult
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This is the first book that I read by Jodi Picoult and I would say the best book I have read this year. This was 5 star reading material but the middle to the end of the book slowed slightly for me. The courtroom trial part of the book was not my favorite. It seemed to drag on and lacked some of the creativity and suspense. I enjoyed the character of Zoe the most. Her role as a musical therapist was inspirational. I would read a follow-up novel with her character in a heartbeat. Issues of homosexuality and infertility and abortion are at the forefront of this book and the author does hide the characters opinions. Picoult also displayed enormous skill by tackling these issues without sounding cheesy or preachy. I think the character of Max could have been better developed. The outcome of Max seems a little forced at the end of the book. I fear that this book fit my emotions and beliefs just right. And therefore I may not like Picoult’s other novels but I am definitely going to try

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Bossypants

Bossypants by Tina Fey
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Tina Fey is hilarious. I have never been a huge fan of the show 30 Rock. But seeing her personality come out in this book makes me want to follow it to see her next move. I always enjoyed her humor on Saturday night live and I found I could not stop laughing in certain parts of the book. Her laid back lessons on work-life issues and parenting were very informative. I particularly enjoyed the begining of the book but thought she jumped around near the end with less flow. This book lets you sit in on brainstorm sessions of writers and tv producers. It makes you appreciate how hard it is to produce SNL or 30 Rock week after week. I will never look at the men the same now that I know they pee in cups and leave them around their office.

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Steve Jobs by Walter Isaacson

Steve Jobs by Walter Isaacson
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Reading the biography of Steve Jobs literally made me rush out and buy and iPad. Walter Isaacson’s portrait of the Apple creator isn’t picturesque. However, he does help us understand how and why Apple became the largest publicly traded company in the world. This book has everything from how to start a computer company in your garage to how to think outside the box and create totally new ideas. Apple has had its ups and downs, but whenever Steve Jobs was involved, success followed. The biography was very extensive in parts and slightly boring, but Isaacson felt every detail was important to paint the correct picture of Jobs and I respect that. Jobs as a person does not appear to be the heroic figure we always saw at a product launch. He is anal, reserved, “smelly,” and not the most friendly person. Jobs has one of the most bizarre personalities from running away from his first born kid to his vacillating food binges. The book does not hold back the criticism either. Steve jobs has a dark past, but somehow it is easily overlooked when he begins producing life changing products. Isaacson displays Jobs as an unbelievable creator of intuitive products.
I sat on the plane the other day pushing the touch screen in the head rest in front of me trying to scroll through the available music and movies. Immediately I became frustrated with the device. The touch pad did not work well and it took me ten minutes to figure out how to go back to the previous screen. Why did Delta not consult Steve Jobs. He would say that his airplane touch screen was “shit” and create a new version that worked and was intuitive. Or maybe Delta should just let you use iPad during take-off and landing and then I wouldn’t even need the stupid device. From Pixar movies to iTunes to my new iPad, Steve Jobs will be truly missed. I just hope there is a successor out there to fill the weird guys shoes because I hate new technologies that are “shit.” Until then I will continue to spend hundreds of dollars on new Apple devices, because I trust foundation Steve Jobs created of great intuitive products.


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Unbroken

Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience and Redemption by Laura Hillenbrand
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I have never been a huge fan of war stories. To me it always seems a large collection of dates and events that are un-relatable to anything that I have experienced. Probably the same reason I don’t read a lot of science fiction or fantasy novels. Unbroken is different. A few months ago a local builder mentioned in his office that he had picked it up and was fanatical about the book. He couldn’t put the book down. He said that it was so good that he was losing sleep trying to finish it each night. So I picked it up and figured I would give it a try. Likewise, I felt the story of Louis Zamperini to be a non-stop rollercoaster of emotions.
As an Olympic runner Zamperini learned never to quit and he took this mantra to its extremes in his journey in the South Pacific. Zamperini and Phillips survive over 47 days at sea after their plane crash with no food, water, or shelter. To me the best part of the book was their experiences at sea. Hillenbrand managed to describe all these boring days at sea with pristine accuracy and a hunger for what comes next. I had a strong sense of being on the raft with them in the middle of the ocean. Just a year ago on a sailing journey to Bermuda I was left without wind for about 30 hours straight and had to bob up and down in the middle of the ocean. It is scary and would make anyone sick and stir crazy. On a 40 foot boat I felt that I could barely handle the anxiety that we might be stuck out there. My circumstances are not very relatable but Hillenbrand makes you feel like you are part of the story. I took a bite of an apple while reading one morning and the apple tasted different, better. I absolutely loved when Zamperini began to describe his mother’s cooking to Phillips and they could taste the food and it satisfied their hunger. I was amazed that their number one tool for survival was optimism. This gives me a whole new perspective on our daily walks in life. It has been mentioned before that stress and depression will kill you and Zamperini is proof that hope and optimism will keep you alive. Zamperini has out lived all his family members following this advice.
The courage that the POW’s displayed once captured was unbelievable. How any of the prisoners survived the brutal beatings, torture and dehumanization is beyond me. Hillenbrand does not hold anything back when describing the horrible conditions that the POWs had to live in while in the prison camps. I could picture these men racing across the camp with rice in their pants risking their lives to survive. The guards would beat them until they bled and work them until they could no longer stand up.
When Louis finally returns to California he is delusional and slips into an alcoholic haze. After marrying and having his first child Louis remains unchanged haunted by his experiences in POW camp. It takes an act of GOD to interfere and bring him back to reality. Louis is given another chance accepting Christ and forgiving all those that were haunting his dreams.
Zamperini is now 95 years old and has given me a whole new perspective on a true American hero. We typically look at celebrities as our modern day heroes. Alex Rodriguez who is worthy of a $275millon baseball contract or Tiger Woods who earns nearly $90millon a year for playing golf and endorsing products. These celebrities represent modern day America as selfish and greedy. Zamperini’s story deserves the same notoriety and Hillenbrand does her best to describe the courageous celebrity without the selfishness and greed.


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Don't Stop the Carnival

Don't Stop the Carnival by Herman Wouk


Have you ever sat at your desk wondering if you owned the place how great life would be? Or have you ever gone on vacation and wondered what it would be to pick up from a 9 to 5 routine and move to the islands. Norman Paperman takes you on both these adventures at the same time. Don’t stop the carnival is a great island read. The characters in the book are memorable and very relatable. I have read many books about Caribbean island living and this is one of my favorites. It is one of those novels where you take away what you put in it. Norman is going through his version of a midlife crisis and he is bringing us along for the ride. There are no in your face moral take-aways in the end of this book, but we do see a world where the fun never stops. This novel shows the world from several different perspectives. What Norman wants in the beginning and what he decides he wants in the end are two very different things. I love how realistic some of the mishaps that Paperman goes through on Amerigo. My only disappointment was not being able to witness Normans’ final transformation first hand. In play form I believe shock would be enough but I still wanted to know what he was thinking and why he had changed his mind. If you see island travel in your near to distant future take this book with you and you can appreciate it when the power goes out for several hours right in the middle of your dinner.

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Freedom by Jonathan Franzen
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Jonathan Franzen is a very good writer. There were parts of this novel that I liked, but other parts where I was bored out of my mind. Part of my boredom stemmed from the characters being unlikeable. Patty is the most relevant of the main characters because she lets us in on her feelings and transformation throughout the book. We could have been spared the boredom and read a 200 page book entitled Patty’s Autobiography. This novel has everything that is needed to keep the reader interested; infidelity, tragedy, poop and a whole scene where a “dick” does the talking. Most of the time I still wasn’t laughing. It is like watching a stand-up comedian on TV. The jokes are funny and you see the person on TV laughing but there is a disconnect and you can’t seem to laugh. In fact some of the scenes were not even believable. Could you image Jessica’s brother Joey purposely having sex in the adjoining room to make his sister angry when he was a teenager. Or Joey moving in with their neighbors? Walter changes in the novel from his early shy complacent self to a raging madman and we are not really told why. Believe me I was ok with it because learning why could have been another 200pages. The point being, among all the drama and crazy stream of conscious-like descriptions Franzen still leaves out some major character development necessities. Some of the descriptions in the book are worth reading but don’t fit the soap opera style drama that unfolds.
Franzen set out to create a novel about everyday life in upper middle class America and mostly succeeded. Our lives are not always predictable and ordinary but other times teeter on the threshold of monotony. However, I read this book to be entertained and this novel teeters on being unentertaining and confusing. In fact to me the number one flaw is that the books chronology is so confusing I caught myself checking to make sure that I wasn’t rereading a passage more than once, or skipped a section. It made me think Franzen had a surprise to his ADHD timeline but in fact there was none. Just a ending with everyone living happily ever after.


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Operating Instructions

Operating Instructions: A Journal of My Son's First Year by Anne Lamott
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I am a huge fan of Anne Lamott's writing. She is so matter of fact and witty in her delivery. In college I read bird by bird and truly enjoyed how she made it seem easy to write create and imagine. I would reference the book often when tackling a paper or exam. "Just take it bird by bird" I read this book because I figured it would be a relief from all the boring baby books about what to do and not to do with an infant. I feel like I sit awake at night stressing that I am going to inflict irreversible damage on my child-to-be even before it is born. Well I am finally relieved. Anne gives it to you straight and doesn't hold back in saying that parenthood is difficult especially as a single mother. She cites many examples of things they don't tell you before you are pregnant or a parent for that matter. I also enjoy her thoughts on faith. She makes you feel like Christianity is not a cult but just something that you believe in to get you through the hard stuff. You have to make it what you want. There is no right or wrong way to be faithful to GOD as going to church will sometimes make you believe. Lastly, her stories are so memorable and some roll on the floor funny. There are many takeaways in all her books that help get us through our everyday lives. And one of my favorite lines of the book is always remember to start the day of slow and taper off. We need to always remember that life is there for us to enjoy it and not live for the future but live in the now.

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