Books for an Unexpected Vacation
Welcome! Here is post No. 1.
Claremont McKenna has joined many other colleges and universities by adjusting the Spring 2020 term on account of the COVID-19 virus. We’re extending spring break and going online (as you can see in this official announcement: here). Like most professors, I’m sad that this has happened, but also grateful to work in a place where the administrators, staff, and faculty members have responded quite well to this situation.
Shifting online impacts our courses directly — this term, I’m teaching Govt 50, Public Administration, and Govt 65, Public Opinion, as my regular courses; fortunately, both will adapt well (I think) once I figure out how to make Zoom work (“is this thing on?”). I would hope, though, that it is not just through my in-class teaching alone that I would have an impact on our campus. I will really miss having students I haven’t yet had in class, or students I’ve had in the past, just stop by my open door and chat. We do not have a great channel set up to facilitate that sort of interaction (at least, yet), so I thought I’d launch this blog as a way to be present in a community which really means a great deal to me. Since CMC has gone online, I’m going online too.
It is going to take a bit to fully start the flow of course content. Classes are set to resume on March 30th. In the meantime, though, many students are home, and likely not as busy as they planned. That got an idea going: a list of interesting books to read for the unexpected break.
Since my wife, Elissa Gysi (CMC ‘08), also loves books, these suggestions come from both of us. They are divided into two categories: (1) books somewhat on-topic for the crisis at hand and (2) books meant for an escape from the crisis at hand.
On-Topic-Ish
Barbara Tuchman, A Distant Mirror. Tuchman is a great writer, if not a great historian of the 14th century. A hilariously mean (I do not have enough knowledge myself to say “accurate”) academic review of her book described it as "... the result of her relative ignorance of medieval history combined with an unerring sense of what will be popular." I enjoyed it all the same, and suspect you might too.
Lizzie Collingham, The Taste of War. This is a book about food in the Second World War. It’s fascinating... and puts waiting in line at Costco in some perspective. This book will change the way you think about the Second World War too.
David Benioff, City of Thieves. It’s a surprisingly elegant novel written by one of the show-runners from (and this surprised me) Game of Thrones. The New York Times review of this book began: “I want to hate David Benioff. He’s annoyingly handsome. He’s already written a pair of unputdownable books…” I am not making this up. I think we both liked it. Put below The Taste of War because the opening involves WWII and a search for eggs.
Mary Ann Shaffer Annie Barrows, The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society. Elissa has talked me into adding this to my own ‘to read’ stack. It’s a historical novel. I’m also sympathetic with one of the authors, who reportedly (by wikipedia kind of “reportedly”) said, “all I wanted was to write a book that someone would like enough to publish.” … speaking for every Assistant Professor…
Charles Wheelan, Naked Statistics. This is, as far as it goes, a very readable introduction to statistics. At a time when we consume a lot of quantitative information, it can be helpful to have some way of putting that information into an intellectual framework for understanding it. Anyone can read this book; these are accessible explanations. I have often assigned it in courses that I teach; Elissa recommends it too.
Emily St. John Mandel, Station 11. This is a work of fiction about a flu that wipes out a large part of humanity. Elissa must not be the only person recommending it, because sales are up.
Off-Topic-Ish
Trevor Noah, Born A Crime. This autobiography (by the host of The Daily Show) goes into the category of something profoundly political… but also very funny. If you do the audiobook version, he also is the narrator, which is pretty cool. Elissa recommended adding it to this list.
Elizabeth Wein, Code Name Verity. When we started talking about this list, I had no idea this book existed (with two small kids… it’s amazing we ever get to talk to each other). But I’ve added it to my reading list too. Elissa says it’s just a well-constructed plot; in that, she seems to agree with the NYT critic who wrote: “I’m in a bit of a predicament… I have to review a book in which even the hint of plot summary could ruin everything.” As I’m making this list, I’m also wondering if there is something about how WWII is to us as the age of sail was to an earlier generation — an earlier heroic age, close enough to our own, but still gone, and ready for fiction.
Raymond Arsenault, Freedom Riders: 1961 and the Struggle for Racial Justice. My general rule was to avoid university press books on this list… but… this really is a book I wish I had a place to assign the entire thing for one of my courses (I use a bit in Govt 116, but only a small fraction). The problem: it’s roughly like War and Peace in size, and I’m already having my Govt 50 (Public Administration) students read The Power Broker. But this is a fantastic book, full of detail, about a great American epic story.
J.R.R. Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings (link to one-vol edition). This is a great and classic story, and appropriate for times when it may feel like you are going on your own epic journey. I read it for the first time when I was quite young, discovering my mom’s old and tattered paperbacks, which added to the sense of discovering some ancient manuscript. It holds up well when you are older, too, though. I actually re-read The Lord of the Rings during my first year of graduate school.
Amor Towles, Rules of Civility. Another book Elissa found and talked me into reading some years back (this came out in 2011? Is it already 2020?) and it’s “just” a well-constructed novel. If you’re looking to escape into a piece of fiction, it’s a good choice.
Ruth Reichl, Garlic and Sapphires: The Secret Life of a Critic in Disguise. A food critic. Wearing disguises. Another one of Elissa’s that I will have to put on my own list, just because the idea is so off-the-wall. (The NYT says: “Food Critic in Funny Hat.”)
Louise Penny, Still Life. This is the first in a series of murder mysteries. Let me tell you: Elissa is the most frustrating person to watch or read these sorts of things with, because she is too sharp-eyed and always guesses the ending well in advance. We both like them; Elissa particularly recommends these.
John le Carré, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy. Described on NPR as “the greatest spy story ever told.” I recently listened to this on audiobook, only set to a normal speed, and it was an awesome experience — it lends itself well to audiobook, but take your time and think about it. It is a subtle story.
W.E.B. Griffin, Semper Fi. This recommendation actually comes from my grandfather; this is the first in a series of ten books, by an author who churned out something like 60. It’s not high-brow stuff (but, I’m honestly shocked this hasn’t been turned into an HBO series yet). My grandfather really enjoyed the books in part because he knew all the places; he had a long military career, and told me that Griffin would often capture the details of a place, at a point in time, that really rang true. Griffin had served in the military himself; he ended up as an official war correspondent in the Korean War, and there is a sense that he just told a lot of stories that were thinly fictionalized stories of ones he’d been told himself.
P.G. Wodehouse. Any of the Jeeves and Wooster stories, a full list: here. To be clear, there are many of these, yet they are all basically the same. Can you really tell the difference between Aunts Aren’t Gentlemen and Joy in the Morning? I mean, sure, to some extent… but… it’s also just a mood, an expression of joy and innocence, when the worst thing is a rampaging aunt. There is also a splendid television adaptation, but the books, you see, capture the thing in a different way; the television series cannot do what the books do: tell the story from Wooster’s perspective. As the great bard once said, “it is a tale, told by an idiot… who hates to get up before 11.” These are some of the greatest works every written in the English language. They have also ruined my vocabulary (“what ho!”). I have saved the best for last.
This list is far from a complete guide to “things someone should read.” Looking over the list, there are some obvious gaps — I am sure “reviewer 2” will locate them. It’s funny that neither Elissa nor I thought to add any Dostoevsky (these translators!), given that we really got to know each other over a conversation about things we happened to be reading. So, there you go. Here’s a list of books. You never know where reading will take you.
Feel free to add your own suggestions below. I’m always up for a new book.
— Andy Sinclair
ps. If you can, order your books from Vroman’s Bookstore — an outstanding independent bookstore here in Pasadena.