2014-05 - Illusion Dweller, by Stimson Bullitt

5 - Illusion Dweller, by Stimson Bullitt
WHY I PICKED IT: Alia thought it would be a good read for me, as I am really getting into climbing.
ELAPSED TIME: 3 days
RATING: Not Good

This book is a collection of thoughts and experiences by and of Stim.  Early on, he writes about how mountaineering and climbing are his way of proving his manliness (to himself?), and then seemingly uses much of the book to list his accomplishments in short paragraphs, leading me to think: “Yes, I get it, you’re manly!”  Not an enjoyable read.

His chapter on the personality of the mountaineer is poorly written – simply his thoughts on their physique, mind, and so forth.  Not really a compelling read – for a budding climber, or likely anybody.

He does make a great points about risk:  A recreational climber is more likely to take unnecessary risks because they are more likely to view the experience as a one-off, less willing to return and try another day, and therefore more willing to push themselves beyond where they should.

All in all, I would not recommend this book.

2014-04 - This is the story of a Happy Marriage, by Ann Patchett

4 - This is the story of a Happy Marriage, by Ann Patchett
WHY I PICKED IT: I read everything by Ann Patchett
ELAPSED TIME: 9 days
RATING: Good

This collection of essays is almost a memoir.  Almost, because there is other stuff too (want to know how to be a writer? write!) and also because it doesn't follow a standard narrative, rather it weaves various topics together that only just brings it to the title at the end... The essay of how she and her husband got together is good, that it is followed by an essay about her and her dog and ends with one about her friendship with a nun is fantastic.

What keeps this book from being Very Good is that the first few essays were more of a grind. A better way to frame it is to reverse the question: What keeps this book from being Meh is that the final few essays were truly a joy to read.

(as an aside, I LOVE that she started her own independent bookstore; I now want to do the same!).

2014-XX - The Lazarus Project, by Aleksandar Hemon

XX - The Lazarus Project, by Aleksandar Hemon
WHY I PICKED IT: Something else by him hit my to-read list, and I found this at a used book store
ELAPSED TIME: 2 Weeks
RATING: Meh

In 1908 Lazarus Averbuch, an Eastern European Jewish immigrant is killed by the Chicago Police Chief.  100 years later, Brik, an Eastern European immigrant decides to write about what happened.

Hemon does a great job with some things: Cultural differences between Brik and his American wife are beautifully described (the American need for Truth, versus the Bosnian willingness to believe a good story). The description of feeling at "home" in Sarajevo versus Chicago is evocative and relate-able.

Despite those real strengths, but that wasn't enough to overcome a fatal flaw: Brik is written as a weak character, and that makes him someone hard to root for.  And it was because of that that I skipped most of the second half of the book...

2014-03 - How Bad Are Bananas?, by Mike Berners-Lee

3 - How Bad Are Bananas?, by Mike Berners-Lee
WHY I PICKED IT: Recommended by my friend Chris
ELAPSED TIME: 1 Week
RATING: Good

This is an interesting read.  Advocating for people to make smart decisions that impact their carbon footprint, Berners-Lee takes a cut at identifying the carbon footprint of various items.  He shows quite well how you might be missing the point if you spend ages worrying about how you dry your hands (<10grams of CO2e) if you also own a pool (>100 tons).

He makes the case for eating food that is less CO2 intensive in multiple ways:
a) Veggies are less carbon  intensive than meat in multiple ways: Not just amount of space required for animals, but also the gases that come out of cows and sheep.
b) Local is generally better than transported in, but the manner of that transport is also important (bananas come by ship, asparagus comes by plane), and also the seasonality (greenhouses growing things out of season in your own locality aren't good either!).

I appreciated that he starts by acknowledging the limitations of his methodology, but accept the argument that the logarithmic scale when comparing things that are dramatically different is more than sufficient in the context of decision-making.

This book is probably best read in short chunks rather than front-to-back (as I did).

2014-02 – The Hungry Tide, by Amitav Ghosh

2 – The Hungry Tide, by Amitav Ghosh
WHY I PICKED IT: I have enjoyed lots of Ghosh’s other work
ELAPSED TIME: 2 Weeks
RATING: Good

Piya is an Indo-American marine biologist who is studying the Orcaella (an endangered river dolphin) in the Bay of Bengal.  Fokir is a local fisherman who she hires as his guide (despite not speaking any language in common.  Kanai is an Indian businessman, returning to a place he had visited as a child at the behest of his Aunt, to read a notebook left to him by his long deceased Uncle.  

 The story switches between the present day, where Piya is seeking to understand an unusual daily migratory pattern, while navigating an unfamiliar physical and social environment, and the 70s, through a tale told in the notebook, of Bengali refugees settling and forcibly removed from the Morichjhanpi Island.  That tale is a comparatively minor part of the story, but plays a key role in describing several characters’ backstory, and educating the reader on a forgotten piece of history.

As an early work of Ghosh, you can see that he is honing what has become his style – multiple, intertwined, characters and stories and a lot of forgotten history – but it is nowhere near as polished as his more recent work.

2014-01 - Confessions of a Fairy's Daughter, by Alison Wearing

1 - Confessions of a Fairy's Daughter, by Alison Wearing
WHY I PICKED IT: I loved her last book, and one of her one-woman plays.
ELAPSED TIME: 1 Week
RATING: Very Good

Wearing's new book is a biography of her father.  Growing up with a pianist mother, a political science professor father, and two brothers in Peterborough, Ontario, was fairly normal... until her father realized that he is gay.  The first two thirds of the book is her own experience.  The next quarter is excerpts from her father's diaries and newspaper articles that he had cut out.  Near the end, she shares her mother's perspective.

She describes the challenges and the mistakes... but also the warmness that comes with living your life genuinely and true to ones-self.  I will continue to seek out, and read, everything by Alison Wearing.

Hassan's Book of 2013

As with the end of every year, I look back on the books that I have read.  This year, I read 51 books.  Of which, I gave 13 a “Very Good,” rating and 8 books that I would recommend as REQUIRED READING:

• 05 - Cutting for Stone, by Abraham Verghese
• 20 - The Submission, by Amy Waldman
• 22 - The Rosie Project, by Graeme Simsion
• 27 - Americanah, by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
• 32 - Sea of Poppies, by Amitav Ghosh
• 42 - Chasing Chaos, by Jessica Alexander
• 50 - The Orenda, by Joseph Boyden
• 51 - Mornings in Jenin, by Susan Abulhawa

Having lived with these characters now, I would downgrade The Submission and The Orenda to very good (both are very good, but not quite required reading).

• Cutting for Stone is the story of (bastard) twins raised in Ethiopia, adopted, and their lives.  They are warm characters who engage with the world in an interesting way.
• The Rosie Project is told from the perspective of a professor who has Asperger’s Syndrome.  It’s a quick read, and really warm and sweet.
• Americanah is written by my favourite author.  The story of a Nigerian woman who struggles in straddling Nigeria and America.  Ultimately, it’s a love story.
• Sea of Poppies stands out as the second best book of 2013.  Telling the story of the opium industry in India.
• Chasing Chaos is the autobiography of a humanitarian relief worker.
• Mornings in Jenin is by far my favourite book of the year.  The heart wrenching story of Amal, a woman born in the shadow of Israel, in a refugee camp called Jenin.

The Hassan Book of 2013 is Mornings in Jenin, by Susan Abulhawa.

A LOOK BACK

• Hassan’s Book of 2012 was City of Thieves, by David Benioff
• Hassan’s Book of 2011 was True Notebooks, by Mark Salzman
• Hassan’s Book of 2010 was Three Day Road, by Joseph Boyden
• Hassan’s Book of 2009 was The Help, by Kathryn Sockett*
• Hassan’s Book of 2008 (and of the decade) was Half of a Yellow Sun by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

* In retrospect, I sincerely regret selecting a book that is unintentionally racist.  That attempts to write a history of a people from an outsider’s perspective.