Monthly Archives: June 2012

Addendum to 2012 Summer Books to Read

Okay, this what happens every summer….I put a list of books out and then find more to read- so please add this to your first list of the 2012 bulletin of summer books to read. Note that many of the books listed are not yet published until July or August. Happy Reading! Tracy

Addendum: Bulletin Summer Books 2012

Adult Fiction

 The Art of Hearing Heartbeats by Sendker (A father disappears & leaves the family confused for years until one day they find an unmailed  love letter to a Burmese woman named Mi Mi. The oldest daught goes to Burma to unearth the puzzle.)

 Broken Harbor by French ( love her mysteries…a Dublin detective investigates the murder of a father and his children and faces his own disturbing incident in his past)

Eddie Signwriter, by Adam Schwartzman (Eddie finds that he’s a skilled artist, enabling him to work anywhere he goes. The story takes him from Botswana to Ghana, Senegal, and to Paris. What is he escaping? Who really loves him and on whom can he depend? Can he ever face his family again? Where is home? Opening like a murder mystery, we are slowly told Eddie’s story from different angles… Eddie’s real name is Kwasi Edward Michael Dankwa. His parents are from Ghana but he lived apart from his mother for many years in Botswana where his father is a professor.  As he is coming of age, his parents decide that he must live in Ghana in order to learn what it means to be Ghanaian, making him a foreigner in both countries.  Lyrical depictions of characters, scenery, and the environment of the African landscape as well as the immigrant existence in the Paris underground are remarkably written in a poetic yet uncomplicated style. This is a first novel for Schwartzman who previously published works of poetry.)

 Gone by Hanauer (this novel begins with the husband who disappears with the family’s babysitter – drama about the challenges of marriage and middle age)

 Gold by Cleave ( author of Little Bee, the new novel is about two girls who are friends and competitors going for Olympic gold in track cycling even as one of the girl’s sisters is battling leukemia.)

 Gone Girl  by Gillian Flynn- (a mystery starts with” marriage can be a killer”, about a couple who are celebrating their anniversary and the wife disappears, and the husband who manages the media circus and the scrutiny of public opinion that he is responsible for her disappearance )

 Kingdom of Strangers by Zoe Ferraris – ( mystery set in Saudi Arabia- lots of information about the culture of Saudi Arabia, women & rules)

 The Red House By Haddon ( an extended family gathers for a weekend in the English countryside with the inlaws.)

 Seating Arrangements by Shipstead ( animated summer read- a new England island,an elaborate wedding [albeit shotgun], drunken escapades, and decades old slights and grudges).

Where’d you Go by Semple ( a comic caper, full of heart…8th grader Bee has one request from her parents for having good grades: a cruise to Antarctica. Bee’s parents- father genius employed by Microsoft and mother a famous architect who is severely disabled by societal anxiety. The parents agree but the day before the trip her mother disappears. Bee gathers all of her mother’s e-mails, emergency bills and tries to figure out where her mother has gone. Written by one of the writers from Arrested Development.)

 

Non Fiction

Murder and Mayhem in Jefferson County by Farnsworth (is the understated title of a respectable collection of true crime tales set in Jefferson County, New York. In the 19th century, Jefferson County was a rugged locale occupied by hardworking farmers, upstanding citizens and just a few vicious murderers. The depraved deeds of this criminal minority are related in this short but entertaining book.)

 

No Time to Lose by Piot (When Peter Piot was in medical school, a professor warned, “There’s no future in infectious diseases. They’ve all been solved.” Fortunately, Piot ignored him, and the result has been an exceptional, adventure-filled career. In the 1970s, as a young man, Piot was sent to Central Africa as part of a team tasked with identifying a grisly new virus. Crossing into the quarantine zone on the most dangerous missions, he studied local customs to determine how this disease—the Ebola virus—was spreading. Later, Piot found himself in the field again when another mysterious epidemic broke out: AIDS. He traveled throughout Africa, leading the first international AIDS initiatives there. Then, as founder and director of UNAIDS, he negotiated policies with leaders from Fidel Castro to Thabo Mbeki and helped turn the tide of the epidemic. Candid and engrossing, No Time to Lose captures the urgency and excitement of being on the front lines in the fight against today’s deadliest diseases.)

People Eating Darkness by Parry (“The true story about a young woman who vanishes on the streets of Tokyo and the evil that swallowed her”)

What to Look For in Winter by McWilliam ( a memoir- she is “ blind, 6 foot tall & afraid of small people, an alcoholic, a Scot.” Her story of losing her sight at 51, a mother who killed herself when she was 9 , and  lives alone but is cared for by her second husband  & his partner and ex-husband and his wife and by her own children- a commentary about who she is. On my list to read) 

Yes, Chef   by Samuelsson (chef’s incredible life story, losing his Ethiopian mother, adopted by a Swedish family and to becoming a top chef. “ I have never seen a picture of my mother”…is how the novel begins)

YA

172 hours on the Moon by Harstad

The premise of the book is interesting: NASA organizing a returntrip to the moon in 2017, with 5 astronauts and 3 “lucky” teenagers who win their place on the trip in a world lottery. Publically, NASA is returning to find minerals, privately it is to check on a secret module left from the 1970’s and another very dark secret. The problem with the book is it is technically flawed and unbelievable  even in today’s technology and training of astronauts. A little too much drama in the wrong places in this book- that said I still could not put it down- I wanted to know!!!! Tracy ….…..56 going on 14 (MB1

The Final Leap, Suicide on the Golden Gate Bridge by John Bateson

The Final Leap by Bateson is about the Golden Gate Bridge and its legacy as the suicide destination. The bridge is beautiful but deadly. Bateson explores the history of the Bridge and the 1500 plus people who have taken their life by jumping from the Golden Gate Bridge. He weaves the drama, the tragedies and the politics of the bridge. I learned many facts I was unaware of- the San Francisco coroner will not rule a death a suicide unless the act is witnessed; the autopsy will say death by fall. Marin County coroner on the other side will rule  a death a suicide if the body is located in the water by the bridge and there is evidence that supports death by a fall.

An interesting fact is that for the small percent of jumpers that survived, there were no further suicide attempts by them. Those who jumped and survived reported immediate regret for jumping. Most survivors jumped because it “required no planning…didn’t need to procure a gun, hoard pills, get a rope, and did not have to worry about leaving a mess at the scene” (page.16). Motivation and the bridge make it easy with its design plus, the refusal of officials to place a safety barrier, as noted by the opinion piece below:

“The Golden Gate Bridge is a public health hazard; it doesn’t have adequate safety barriers. The Eiffel Tower, the Empire  State Building, St. Peter’s Basilica, the Duomo in Florence, the Sydney  Harbour Bridge and many other international landmarks have suicide barriers. But  not the Golden Gate Bridge.

Ironically, the original design called for a higher railing along the walkways specifically to prevent suicides. In a last-minute decision, however, the railing was lowered to enhance the view. As a result, almost anyone can climb over it, from a 5-year-old girl (the bridge’s youngest suicide, in 1945) to the 75-year-old overweight woman who jumped in 2005. Or be thrown over it: Three children were murdered that way by their fathers, who jumped after them to  their deaths (one in 1964 and two in 1993).

In 2008, bridge district officials finally voted to add a suicide deterrent to the bridge: a marine-grade stainless steel net that will stretch 20 feet below the walkways. It won’t be much different than the net that the bridge’s chief engineer, Joseph Strauss, installed to protect workers during construction — a net that saved 19 men” (Los Angeles Times May 25, 2012).

This book changed my opinion. As a psychiatric nurse who witnessed the determination of  many to kill themselves, I did not think the barrier proposed for the Bridge to prevent suicides would make a difference.  People committed to dying will still try to kill themselves but just at another location. But a barrier or net would save lives and will not cost anything to the beauty of the bridge.

Bateson writes from many perspectives- the coroners, the coast guards, the police, the families of the victims, the counselors, the survivors who somehow miraculously  live despite the fall,a movie producer who filmed the suicides on the Golden Gate  for a year, and witnesses. The anatomy of the injuries that are sustained from a fall of that height: 220 feet, 4 seconds from the bridge to the bay. The Bridge is a documentary about the suicides  captured by film over a one year period and the footage highlights the  impulsivity. I went to the author’s reading and discussion of his book at Book Passage was touched by his compassion and methodical presentation  of why there needs to be a barrier to stop suicides. I agree…that’s my 2cents, Tracy.