Books I Have Read During Covid Part 1

I like to read. A lot. I don't get to do as much of it as I would like, plus I'm a slow reader. But still, I managed to cover quite a few during the last year. So, here we go.

Last Lent, or thereabouts, I binged on Heather King. Heather is a Catholic writer, who definitely didn't start out life Catholic. Through much of her early adulthood, she was a bad alcoholic. Somehow, she managed to get through college and even earn a law degree before she went to rehab and stopped drinking. Some years after that, she became Catholic. Her books are honest, unflinching, and spiritual. She writes a about how hard life can be but also how beautiful. Besides the three above, I've also read Redeemed, Stripped (about having breast cancer), Loaded (about money), Famished (about food), and Ravished. Heather was a good Lenten companion. She even had a Zoom gathering that I participated in. You can learn more about her at her .https://www.heather-king.com/

What Makes Sammy Run by Budd Schulberg is one of the few novels I read in the last year. Sammy Glick is a striving secular Jew from New York. He is a shyster with ambition and reminded me a lot of Trump. The action is set in the New York and Hollywood of the 1930's. Sammy uses and abuses people on his way to the top. The story is narrated by Sammy's co-worker and kind-of-friend, Al Mannheim. The author, Budd Schulberg, was a screenwriter, who wrote On the Waterfront. The book is entertaining and readable with lots of lessons. It bears a second reading, which I hope to do one day.

The author of Looking Up: How A Different Perspective Turns Obstacles Into Advantages, Michele Sullivan, is the retired president of the Caterpillar Foundation and a little person. In the book, Michele talks about her life and the obstacles she had to overcome (including many surgeries). Michele has used her life experiences to connect with people and inspire them. She is also is a regular attender of the St. Mark's School Auction. I sent Michele a fan letter and then wrote a review of her book on Amazon 

In Michele Sullivan's book, Looking Up, she generously shares the stories, challenges, and successes of her life as a little person in a way that makes you want to be a better person and look for the best in others. She has achieved so much in her life and career at Caterpillar, culminating in serving as President of the CAT Foundation. A big part of her accomplishments was helping others live their best lives too. Michele tells her story with empathy and humor and the pages turn fast in this book that you won't forget.

Some time during the past year, I picked up a Jack Reacher novel at Walmart and read the first chapter. I was hooked. Many of you may know these best selling book are in a series written by Lee Child. Jack is former military guy who travels through the world with only a toothbrush, seeing where the day and the bad guys he inevitable encounters take him. I fantasize about moving through the days so unencumbered and unplanned. For me, the Reacher books keep me wanting to finish them as quickly as possible to find out what happens. Besides The Midnight Line, we also read Never Go Back and Make Me. I say, "we" because I turned my mom on to Jack Reacher also. Like me, my mom loves to read and unlike me, she is a very fast reader. The Reacher books are good, but I found I needed a break from them after reading a few.

In 2016, when John, Luke, and I spent six weeks traveling in Europe, we visited the American cemetery at Normandy, where we saw the grave of Theodore Roosevelt, Jr. I wrote about it on my blog about our trip. Here is what I said about Roosevelt:

rig. Gen. Theodore Roosevelt Jr., son of President Teddy Roosevelt, fought heroically in World War I and II. He helped coordinate the D-Day invasion and then asked to accompany his men, even though he needed a cane to walk because of his WWI injury and he was 56. At first, his commanding officers said no, but he persisted. After Roosevelt and his men were blown a mile off course of their Utah Beach landing target due to strong currents, he reassessed the situation and said, "We'll start the war from right here." Roosevelt was the only general in the first wave on D-Day. He raised the men's morale through his presence and good humor, telling stories of his father and reciting poetry during the invasion. Roosevelt died in Normandy about a month later of a heart attack. 

When 5-star General Omar Bradley was asked to name the most heroic act of the war, he said, "Theodore Roosevelt on Utah Beach." Roosevelt's son Quentin was part of the invasion on Omaha Beach. They are the only father and son who took part in the D-Day invasion. Roosevelt is buried next to his brother, also named Quentin, who was killed in WWI.

Learning a little about Roosevelt prompted me to want to learn more, and in the past year, I read the above two books. Growing up as the son of President Teddy Roosevelt was challenging. Teddy Jr. met the challenge well. He fought heroically in both the World Wars. He helped start the American Legion and was the governor of Puerto Rico and the Philippines. Roosevelt's father was described as a first rate politician and a second rate soldier; his son was the reverse. Ted Jr. lived an excellent, productive life. His wife, children, and the men he commanded all loved him.

Really don't care for the title, The Splendid and the Vile, but boy, was the book good. This best seller tells the events of the Blitz in Great Britain during World War II and the heroism of the British people enduring the onslaught and fighting back. It focuses on the amazing Winston Churchill and his family. Churchill inspired the British, worked to get the right people in place to conduct the war, and continually courted President Franklin Roosevelt. He knew he needed to get the United States involved in the war. Erik Larson is a great writer and uses many diaries of participants to bring events to life. I was especially taken by the diary entries of Churchill's 17-year-old daughter and youngest child, Mary (later Mary Soames) and hope to read her memoir later. I enjoyed the Splendid and the Vile so much and thought its lessons of fortitude and perseverance so relevant to these COVID times, that I made it a focus of my Christmas Letter. And as you will see, it triggered an interest in Churchill.

I've read two other books by Candice Millard (Destiny of the Republic and River of Doubt), both excellent, and so decided to try Hero of the Empire: The Boer War, a Daring Escape, and the Making of Winston Churchill. It too was excellent. My predominant impressions of Churchill in this book were of his ambition, bravery, bordering on being foolish (Churchill had a sense of destiny about himself and that he wouldn't be killed), and how many near misses he did have. After the war, he returned to England a hero and won his first election.

After reading The Vile and the Splendid, I wanted to learn more about Churchill. So I turned to the first volume of William Manchester's seminal trilogy on Churchill, The Last Lion. Manchester writes with such authority and personality in this book. And with knowledge too: he provides pages and pages of helpful historical context. Little Winston doesn't make his first appearance at his birth until over 100 pages. The book is fascinating, but very long and I wasn't able to finish it before it was due back to the library. 

Good writers and like good teachers: you'll like almost everything they do. Besides writing biographies and other books, William Manchester was a veteran of World War II. He fought in the Pacific theater and his book Goodbye, Darkness, is a memoir about this time in his life. Manchester is a vivid, colorful writer. 

Steven Pressfield is one of my favorite--I hate to use the term, but--self help authors. (He is also writes great historical fiction and non-fiction). The above title encourages writers to be brief (which I have not exactly been in this post) and be respectful of the reader's time. His books are inspiring and a good kick in the pants for writers, artists, and all. I will be wrapping things up soon. 

In 2021, I decided to make a New Year's Resolution that I would keep (or at least want to keep): to laugh hard every day. These two books helped. Is This Anything? is Jerry Seinfeld's greatest hits from all the comedy notes he has kept over the decades. Here's a confession: I have not had a television show since Seinfeld. I know, pathetic.

Jim Gaffigan is similar to Seinfeld in that they are both observational comics, who are very funny. Gaffigan is the Catholic husband and father of five children. He makes fun of his size, whiteness, laziness, love of food and sleep in very funny fashion. I laughed out loud many times while reading this book.

This is the most recent book that I have read. Like Dad is Fat, I took it with me on my trip to Florida. It was a good juxtaposition. As a former counselor, I like to read books by counselors. There is something so soothing and hopeful about this book, which is written as a series of letters to a younger therapist whom Pipher was supervising. I've read a few other books by Pipher. I'd like to have her as a counselor.