1 Followers
1 Following
WillRead4Food

Breathe,Read,Sleep

If I could find a way to get paid to read books my life would be complete.

The Boys in the Boat: Nine Americans and Their Epic Quest for Gold at the 1936 Berlin Olympics

The Boys in the Boat: Nine Americans and Their Epic Quest for Gold at the 1936 Berlin Olympics - Daniel James Brown For many years my gold standard for non-fiction has been Into Thin Air by Jon Krakauer. Although The Boys in the Boat does not have the same life or death drama, I found it just as well written and just as compelling. It is certainly one of the best non-fiction books I have read in recent years. The book is what is commonly called “narrative non-fiction”. While this genre may be looked down upon by academic historians and some authors are criticized for exaggerating or even fabricating some facts, I believe this book is not only factually accurate but damn well written. This is a book that should appeal to a wide audience, not just sports fans or history buffs . Anyone who enjoys excellent writing should read this uplifting account of a group of young men who beat the odds and rose to the top.
The book is the story of the University of Washington eight oar rowing team who won the 1936 national collegiate championship and went on to win the gold medal at the Berlin Olympics that same year. Many of the themes evident in the book are simple ones: courage, determination, forgiveness, friendship, loyalty, teamwork, and trust. In fact when listing them they sound almost cliché, but in the skillful hands of author Daniel James Brown they jump off the pages and right into your heart. Brown took what could have been a mildly interesting bit of Olympic trivia and turned it into a riveting historical narrative.
I really appreciated the way Brown built the book around three intersecting story lines, each one increasingly broad. The first is the intimate biography of Joe Rantz, a member of the rowing team and the person at the center of the story. Rantz’s story provides the backbone which the rest of the book is built upon. Brown spent many hours interviewing Rantz and his daughter, Judy Willman and it shows in the emotional depth of the account of Rantz’s personal history. Rantz’s ability to rise above very difficult circumstances and his capacity to forgive his Father’s abandonment is truly inspirational. The second is the riveting account of the University of Washington rowing team and their march to Olympic gold. It is filled with fascinating details about the sport of rowing and the building of a group of mostly rural, blue collar young men into a team that would beat the best of the world. The third is the account of the 1936 Olympics set against the backdrop of the Great Depression and the brutal regime of Hitler and the Nazi party. Brown does a masterful job of switching from one story line to another weaving them together seamlessly. The result is a book that grabs your attention and never lets go.
I was captivated by Brown’s evocation of life in the 1930’s and struck by how different the world was then, both socially and economically What is the likelihood today of a young man, abandoned by his parents at age 15, still managing to get into college and earn enough money to pay his way through school? What would OSHA have to say about working conditions at the Grand Coulee dam site? In our media saturated environment could a dictator fool the world, even temporarily, with such blatant propaganda? Can you imagine our Olympic team traveling for 10 days on a ship to get to the event? Today if a group of young men tried to approach the President’s summer home and ring the doorbell how many seconds would it take for them to be surrounded by armed Secret Service agents and be arrested? Not to mention they wouldn’t get anywhere near the building anyway.
Brown showed his immense talent for descriptive phrases many times in the book. I could smell the wood shavings and varnish when reading about George Pocock’s workshop. His depiction of the Grand Coulee dam site at night made me feel like I was there looking at the lights shining in the canyon’s darkness. His heartbreaking description of the fate of the Jewish family who owned the clothing store in the Köpenick neighborhood bought a lump to my throat.
I also thoroughly enjoyed the sports aspect of the book. How interesting to learn that rowing was such a popular sport at the time. After reading this I have to wonder why the sport has faded to such obscurity – surely it is a sport that is tailor made for television? I know that rowing is physically challenging but I did not realize just how challenging nor did I realize how mentally difficult it is. The intense rivalry between the University of Washington and the University of California rowing teams and between their coaches was an integral part of the story and added to the dramatic tension. And of course the thrilling gold medal race rivaled anything a talented Hollywood script writer could invent. I will certainly watch the rowing events at the Olympics with a new appreciation for the athletes and for the strategy and skill involved in the races. Who knows, I may even try to find rowing on one of the many sports channels I pay Comcast a fortune for.
Read this book, recommend it to your family, recommend it to your friends, recommend it to your neighbors – they will all thank you. I promise when the 2020 Tokyo Summer Olympics come around you will find yourself searching through the TV schedule to see when the rowing events will be televised so you can be sure to set your DVR.

Subterranean

Subterranean - James Rollins Giant white sharks, velociraptor like monotremes (big word I know, look it up in wikipedia), caves coated with diamonds, sentient naked hairy primate like creatures (also monotremes!) that can communicate through dream like trances, all this in an entire ecosytem thousands of feet under ground. Really????? I like my science fiction to at least be a teeny bit plausible. If I didn't know better I'd think Rollins was writing a parody. I'm not really sure why I gave it two stars except that I was really curious to see how all this silliness would turn out so I actually finished it.

The Passage

The Passage - Justin Cronin Ok I admit it, I am a sucker for post-apocalyptic fiction and "The Stand" was one of my favorite books ever. I really did not have a chance. This book took over my life for a while - quite a while actually due to the exceptional length. I'm sure I have read longer books, but not too many. Having said that I still experienced the "was that really the last present under the Christmas tree" feeling when I read the final page. Yes, I have heard all the criticism of how the 3rd part was too slow and dissapointing and the ending was a let-down. Huh??? Were these people reading the same book? Face it, some readers will NEVER enjoy a story that has even the slightest whiff of vampires or things that creep in the night. Maybe it is because the genre fascinates me, maybe it is because the story never felt predictable, maybe I am just a shallow nerd who cannot appreciate "real" literature (do I get any credit for reading "Cutting For Stone" or "Sing You Home"?) but I thought this novel was astonishing. Yes I was skeptical, does the world really need another vampire/zombie book? However I never felt like my intelligence (such as it is) was being insulted or that the scenario was outlandish or ridiculous. If anything it was frighteningly conceivable. The characters felt real and the plot never seemed contrived. I for one cannot wait for the sequel, but I will not write such a glowing review if it does not cause sleep deprivation on the same scale as this novel did.