The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri

“It ain't what they call you, it's what you answer to.” ― W.C. Fields

“What's your name,' Coraline asked the cat. 'Look, I'm Coraline. Okay?'
'Cats don't have names,' it said.
'No?' said Coraline.
'No,' said the cat. 'Now you people have names. Thaat's because you don't know who you are. We know who we are, so we don't need names.” 
― Neil Gaiman, Coraline

“Names have power.” ― Rick Riordan, The Lightning Thief

“I read in a book once that a rose by any other name would smell as sweet, but I've never been able to believe it. I don't believe a rose WOULD be as nice if it was called a thistle or a skunk cabbage.” 
― L.M. Montgomery, Anne of Green Gables

The Namesake is the story of Gogol Ganguli. But like all of us our stories don't begin with us, we are just the next chapter in a very long book so this story begins with Gogol's parents.

Ashima and and Ashoke are paired together in an arranged marriage in India and then spend their life together in the U.S. settling in Massachusetts where Ashoke is working on his Phd at MIT. Even with beginning with them, this is still really Gogol's story. His name is the thread that ties his to theirs. His parents don't have a good name for him, they are waiting a letter from Ashram's grandmother with the name to arrive from India. The letter doesn't come and they are told they need to name their son before they can leave the hospital (this is 1968). They do have a pet name for him so they put that on his birth certificate. And the name becomes a cross for him to carry for the rest of his life.

There is another thread that runs through Gogol's story, who is he apart from his parents and the rest of the Bengali community they are a part of, what does it mean for his life to be an American child but not feel like he is fully American but also to not feel like he is part of the Bengali side either. He is floating in some middle ground trying to find out what and who he is, as a child, a teen, and a man.



Something I particularly love about reading Lahiri is the way she can make the reader feel. In The Namesake you can feel the tension between Gogol and his parents, between Gogol and his peers, between Gogol and the weight he feels from his name.

A commonality between all of her books and something else I really love is the snapshot way she writes. Whether it is in her short stories (Unaccustomed Earth and interpreter of maladies) or her novels (The Lowland and The Namesake) you don't get all of the details. You get glimpses of moments in time and she makes them count. In the novels you get to spend some important moments and learn some of the story then you jump ahead and time has passed, months or even years, and the story picks up again. In the short stories the moment is jump into and there is never any backstory and then when the moment ends so does the story, these aren't typical beginning, middle, end stories just shorter than novels, these are just bits of the lives of the characters, just the part they want to share with you. While that sounds jarring or abrupt it isn't. It is an interesting way to tell you about the people on the pages. There is no back story and we don't find out where they end up you just get in intimate glimpse into a brief time. And I promise it is enjoyable.


This was my fourth Jhumpa Lahiri read:
Unaccustomed Earth
interpreter of maladies
The Lowland


(Finished January 24, 2016)

In the Garden of Beasts: Love, Terror, and an American Family in Hitler's Berlin by Erik Larson

In the introduction to In The Garden of Beasts Larson writes "There are no heroes here, at least not of the Schindler's List variety, but there are glimmers of heroism and people who behave with unexpected grace. That's the trouble with nonfiction. One has to put aside what we all know -now- to be true, and try instead to to accompany my two innocents through the world as they experienced it."

That is very important as you read this book. It is the telling of William E. Dodd who was U.S. Ambassador to Germany during the rise of Hitler and his daughter Martha.

When they arrive in Berlin in the early months of Hitler's time in power they are enchanted with Berlin and with Nazism. They are buying what is being sold even as there are more and more incidents of attacks on foreigners and Jews reach Dodd.

While part of me wanted to condemn them and their early praise I had to go back and remind myself of the quote above. And they were hardly the only ones to fall under the Hitler spell.

Dodd was a man of modest means in a core of diplomats with great personal wealth. This class divide put him at an immediate disadvantage. He was also seen as being not right for the job and so when he began to see the truth of what was going on he was largely dismissed.

This turned out to be a fascinating inside look at what was going on in 1933 and 1934 as the world changed. By the end my heart went out to Dodd and I felt so bad for him, a man shouting into the wind. Of course we all know what happened but think for a moment what could have been had Dodd's warnings been taken seriously.

Of course he wasn't the only one back there trying to tell the world the truth, but this book is his story.

(Finished January 20, 2016)

Hard Choices by Hillary Rodham Clinton

Reading about our leaders isn't just about learning about the ones you are a supporter of. Depending on the author of course, you can end up getting insight you may not have had before, learn something you didn't know, and maybe even gain an appreciation for the person even if you aren't won over. It isn't about being won over it is about having a clearer picture about a moment in time and an influential person from that time. As a matter of fact one of the books I am going to be reading this year in the new book by Jon Meecham about George H.W. Bush or as Rachel Maddow calls him, Poppy Bush. It's a good example of how I choose what to read about people I am not necessarily a fan of, I pick an author I trust to be honest and objective. If you are going to have an opinion it is a good idea to arm yourself with as many facts as possible to support your ideas.


So as for Hard Choices. I have had this book for some time, started it awhile ago and then got distracted and pulled away but not because I wasn't enjoying the book, it was just kind of heavy and it made it hard to take anywhere with me. So read this but get it in paperback or e-book.

It doesn't matter if you like Hillary Clinton or not. It is an interesting glimpse into life as Secretary of State, an insider view of what was happening at the time, and really well written (her writing style is very readable). And like her as a politician or not, there can be know denying she is an advocate for women's rights and LGBTQ rights around the world and her passion for these issues is evident every time they come up.

If you don't like her at all you probably won't get the warm fuzzies from this read, but you will get a really interesting and informative inside view on what she was doing around the world. If you do like her then you will find yourself seeing more reasons to support those feelings. This is not a tell all about her personal life, this is a book about her role during her 4 years serving as Secretary of State so if you are looking for her to spill her guts about her marriage or other intimate issues you won't find them here. The only exceptions are her mother's passing which brought tears to my eyes because you could, like her or not, feel her pain at the loss, and the excitement she shares about finding out she is going to be a grandmother. In those moments there is a bit of letting her guard down and a glimpse at the woman underneath the pants suit.

And after all, all politicians are at the end of the day, only human. I think we forget that sometimes.

(finished January 16, 2016)

Death Comes to Pemberley by P.D. James

I have never read anything by P.D. James before but after reading this I will seek out more.

I grabbed this from the Buy 2 Get 1 Free table at Barnes and Noble because I love that table and because I was intrigued by the idea of a sequel of sorts to Pride and Prejudice.

Having, as I said, never read James before I do not know if this is her normal writing style or if this was written in a way to make it feel like it was part of Jane Austen's story of Elizabeth and her Mr. Darcy.

It had the feel of Austen without what might be called excessive wordiness. The dialogue feels authentic to what you would expect of Mr. and Mrs. Darcy.

But at the heart of this book is a murder mystery. Who killed Denny and why? Was it Wickham?
I thought I knew who the killer was but I was wrong. I love when I think I have it figured out and turn out to be wrong but don't end up feeling cheated by the reveal.

It was nice to visit Elizabeth again even if it was under such unfortunate circumstances.

(Finished January 9, 2015)

Career of Evil (Cormoran Strike #3) by Robert Galbraith

This is the third in a series written by J.K. Rowling using the pseudonym Robert Galbraith.
Corcoran and Robin are introduced in The Cuckoo's Calling. They were met again in The Silkworm. Now they are back for round 3.

This is I think the most grisly of the three. Robin is being hunted by a guy out to get even with Cormoran. The guy happens to be a murderer who likes to cut up women and keep souvenirs. While Robin and Cormoran are hunting the killer they uncover a child molester and encounter cops who don't want to work with them because they feel bitter about being shown up by the pair in the last 2 books.

Besides the well crafted mystery, I didn't catch the twist before the revel, this story gives up quite a bit of Cormoran's back story which was interesting and made him a more well formed character. I still don't like Robin's finance Matthew and hope he doesn't stick around for too many more books. Speaking of more books, I hope Rowling continues to write these stories.


(Finished January 6, 2016)