Listing: Books of 2012

This is downright embarrassing, I know.  Six books read over the course of an entire year?  I've got to do something about that in 2013. 

In my (lame) defense, two of the books were really, really long: Stephen King's "11/22/63," and Ron Chernow's "Washington."  The latter was my personal literary white whale of the year.  I began reading it on Memorial Day weekend, with the goal of finishing by Independence Day.  July 4 rolled around, and the goal became to finish by Labor Day.  September 3 came a calling, and the goal shifted to Veterans Day.  A goal that I met - hooray!

• Washington, by Ron Chernow
• Persepolis, by Marjane Satrapi
• Stay Close, by Harlan Coben
• Taken, by Robert Crais
• The Drop, by Michael Connelly
• 11/22/63, by Stephen King

I enjoyed them all, particularly the bookend epics.  King's take on the Kennedy assassination is right up there with the best of his works, and Chernow makes Washington monumental and human at the same time.

"Persepolis"

In "Persepolis," Marjane Satrapi tells the story, in graphic novel form, of growing up in Iran during the Islamic Revolution.  A clever, funny and headstrong young girl, Satrapi was wise beyond her years, but still struggled to grasp changes that perhaps only a young child could see were beyond logic and reason. 

The obvious comparison, both in form and content, is "Maus," Art Spiegelman's account of how his parents endured and ultimately survived the Holocaust.  Like Spiegelman, Satrapi was blessed with loving and supportive parents, with the common sense to understand that the change occurring in their country was turning into something even more horrible and oppressive than what preceded it.  There are some scenes in "Persepolis" that are so close to things that occurred in "Maus" that it's almost scary - and it's a tribute to Satrapi that she is able to present the story in a way that makes you understand, if not endorse, what the country was turning into.

The version I found in a used book store is just the first part of the story - "The Story of a Childhood" is the subtitle - and I look forward to reading the second part, "The Return."  Overall, highly recommended.

"The Drop"

It took me 78 days to read “11/22/63,” and three to read Michael Connelly’s “The Drop.” A flight delay of almost three hours at LAX helped, but such is the nature of Connelly’s books – once you get enmeshed in the plot, you just don’t want to let them go.

Plus, a Connelly book featuring Detective Harry Bosch is like a security blanket. Even if they’re a little frayed around the edges, there’s comfort in knowing that what you’re getting is going to be good, and make you feel just a little bit better about the world around you. “The Drop” is the first Bosch book in a while that sticks almost exclusively to the tried-and-true formula, and in this instance that’s a good thing, because it means that Connelly is again focusing on the things that Bosch does best – finding justice for those who have been wronged, proving his adage that “everyone counts, or no one counts.”

Moving Bosch to the Open-Unsolved (“cold cases”) Unit was an inspired choice by Connelly, because that is the ideal place for Bosch to exercise the code that he lives by. The cases that he works on are the ones that cry out for justice, the cases where the person who was murdered was just the first of many victims. These are the cases where open wounds remain for the living as well as those who are dead.

“The Drop” juxtaposes one of these cases with one that is entirely fresh, and reintroduces the character who has been Bosch’s greatest antagonist over the twenty years spanned by the novels – former Deputy Chief, and now City Councilman, Irvin Irving. Irving hates Bosch with a passion, but at the same time recognizes that Bosch is the best at what he does – and will pursue each case to its end, regardless of the ultimate outcome. So when Irving’s son is killed in a fall from the top floor at the Chateau Marmont, Bosch is presented with a classic “did he jump or was he pushed” case. And, as usual, finding the answers may prove to be hazardous to his career, if not his life. At the same time, Bosch and his partner are pursuing justice for a young woman killed many years before, and based on a “cold DNA hit,” they are brought to a suspect who simply could not have committed the crime. The perfect case for an obsessive like Harry Bosch.

Nothing ever comes easy for Bosch, and these cases are no exception. Throughout, he has to juggle his quest for justice with his love for his daughter, his desire to keep doing what he loves while becoming a target for those who would ruin him for political gain, and his always intriguing relationships with the women whose paths he crosses in the course of his work.

All in all, it’s a wholly satisfying mix – meaning that I can recommend, without pause, “The Drop.”

11/22/63

When you write a book about a time traveler attempting to prevent the assassination of President John F. Kennedy, you’re taking a big risk. The book has to end with President Kennedy still dead, so the only question left is whether the journey to the inevitable conclusion is worth it.

With Stephen King’s “11/22/63,” the answer is yes – but just barely. The book is 843 pages long, and I’m not sure that it needed to be. While each individual section stands well on its own, at the end it feels like the whole adds up to a little bit less than the sum of its parts. Early on, King establishes that “the past is obdurate” – it doesn’t want to be changed, and it will throw roadblocks up in the way of anyone who makes the effort. By the end, I had lost count of how many times that had happened, but whatever the number, if you’ve lost track that means it was too many.

On the other hand, I have to admit that the somewhat leisurely pace that the novel unfolds – the time portal leads back to 1958, so Jake Epping (who becomes George Amberson in the past) has a lot of time to kill, and a lot of time to plan exactly how he’s going to pull off the feat of the century without getting caught or killed in the process. And since the portal leads to Maine, there is time to spend in the familiar town of Derry, and time to try and change some bad things that happened there before heading on to Texas for the big one.

The longest section in the book tells the tale of Epping/Amberson’s years in Texas, gathering intelligence on Lee Harvey Oswald but also starting a life of his own in the small town of Jodie, just outside of Dallas. While there, Amberson meets people that he comes to value a great deal, including one with whom he falls deeply in love. And all of a sudden, he is wondering whether he has it in himself to finish the job that he came to do.

To give away more would probably spoil the book for anyone who hasn’t read it yet. I’ll just say that, as with the best books by King, some of the most effective moments tend to be the smaller ones – a chance encounter with some young kids in Derry who we met many years ago in “It,” the way a man’s wife thanks Amberson, who she instinctively sees as a guardian angel, for spending an afternoon playing cards with him, and the way a couple looks at each other as they share a dance in front of a bunch of unruly teenagers.

So how does King handle the ending? About as well as one could, I think – it’s a very sentimental ending, sad and uplifting at the same time. And at that moment, you care more about Jake/George than you do about the fate of President Kennedy. Which is why the book counts as a success – even if it did take a little long to reach its destination.

First Look: 11/22/63

One of my Christmas presents was the new Stephen King novel, "11/22/63." Based on the title alone, it doesn't take a genius to figure out what it is about. Man goes back in time, and tries to change history - in this case, stopping the Kennedy assassination. All well and good, even though given the history of the author and the subject matter we can probably guess that a happy ending is not in store.

The book is a behemoth - I mean, you could literally kill someone with this book; it's that big. As of last night I'm on Page 158, and I've barely made a dent - in total, it's 850 pages long. From a review that I read (which was a mistake, because it gave away a key plot detail), the book doesn't even begin to delve into the life of Lee Harvey Oswald for another 200 pages or so.

What you might not know - and I'm going to be careful not to give too much away here - is that the first section of the book takes place in Derry, Maine, the site of "It," which to this day is what I think is King's masterpiece. The point at which the protagonist arrives in Derry is shortly after the events of "It" (the 1958 section, that is), and before long the protagonist encounters some of the earlier book's key characters. If you haven't read "It," that will mean absolutely nothing to you. But if you have, then it should be tremendously meaningful. I know that it gave me a little chill up my spine, at the point I realized exactly what was happening.

As for "11/22/63" itself, all I can say right now is that it feels like one of King's good ones - maybe even a great one. But there's a long way to go. Stay tuned for further developments.