Books

I just finished Manhunt, the 12 day hunt for Lincoln's assassin. Thanks to Deborah I seem to be on a Lincoln kick. Thankfully, this book was wonderful! The author pulled together historical data to describe with detail the days leading up to the assassination of President Lincoln and the attempted escape of John Wilkes Booth and his co-conspirators. Written like a novel, I didn't find it at all dull or text-bookish. In fact, there were moments of pure adrenaline and excitement - it truly read like a novel.

I recommend it to history buffs and to those interested in an engaging read.


Cormack McCarthy's The Road however perplexed me to no end. This Oprah Book Club selection was described by the San Francisco Chronicle as "gripping, frightening and ultimately, beautiful." My reaction was quite the opposite.

Bleak, depressing and pointless are the descriptors that come to me. I am not one to shy away from dark stories - Jose Saramago's Blindness remains one of my favorite books of all time in spite of the horrendous descriptions of the cruelty of humankind. In The Road a father and son are walking through a wasteland that use to be America. They are on a journey to the south where they believe something resembling life awaits them. They are forced to hide from the other survivors and are placed in kill or be killed scenes during their journey.

I'm not sure if we're supposed to be comforted by the parent child relationship or find hope in their will to go on. Frankly, I didn't feel or see it.

And... Mr. McCarthy's technique of not using punctuation irritates me. He is a prolific writer with a skill I admire, but for fucksake man... buy a quotation mark or find it in your heart to every once in a while drop us a clue as to who the heck is speaking!!!

Oprah and others such as the respected New York Times Book Review loved this story - but I for one did not.