'Bye 'Bye 1776

I am giving up on 1776 by David McCullough. Normally, I am too task-oriented to not finish a book once I start it, but I find it easier to drop an audio book than a paper book. Maybe there is something too immediately tactile about abandoning a paper book, while stopping the audio book is more of a "virtual" abandonment. In any event, I only got through about two hours of the 12 hours of 1776. Nothing against McCullough's writing, which is first rate, but I simply do not enjoy stories about battles. The guns, the tents, the weather, the food, the boots, the horses -- none of it interests me. I did not realize that this book was all about fighting the first year of the Revolutionary War. So, great book. Just not my cup of tea.

Review of the Day: The Centaur

Despite its title, I was surprised by how myth-centric The Centaur is. It is the story of a high school science teacher and his student son. It is also John Updike's re-telling of the myth of the centaur Chiron who, wounded, gives his life (his immortality) to Prometheus.

This is a book I may appreciate more in the recollection. While reading it, I was distracted by the allegory. Sometimes, the mythical references were too vague or convoluted to catch and I had to refer to the index at the back to make sure I wasn't missing something important. But at times, the myth is more than allegory -- it is right there in the middle of the action. Updike sometimes refers to the hero as Chiron and describes his hooves clacking on the school stairs, for instance. I found the switch from allegory to action to be jarring.

Also, the hero was annoying, not just to me as a reader, but to his son, wife, and co-workers in the story. I can't figure out how his unlikeability ties in with the myth of Chiron.

I read this because it won the National Book Award in 1964. I prefer his Rabbit novels.

Review: Look Great, Feel Great

Look Great, Feel Great by Joyce Meyer caught my eye at the library. I had never heard of Meyer, but a book about weight loss and fitness from a Christian perspective intrigued me. I am glad I took the time because I picked up a few pointers that I hope will pay off.

The book is well-organized and direct. Meyer sets out 12 “keys” to optimizing how you look and feel, focusing on healthy eating and exercise, but also emphasizing the spiritual side of her recommended endeavors. The keys include things like “mindful eating,” limiting stress, drinking water, and taking personal responsibility.

After discussing each key, Meyer provides a list of five suggested ways to implement each idea. She urges readers to chose just one of the five, write it down, and do it every day until it becomes a habit. In fact, her suggested plan is to go back after reading the book and focus on one key each month, making a habit out of one of the implementation tips, with the idea that you would have a different, healthier life in a year.

The book is definitely aimed at those at a “beginner level” of health and fitness. Some of her information is pretty basic (deep fried food is bad for you, stress causes high blood pressure) and some of her tips are hackneyed (get more exercise by taking the stairs, herbal tea counts as drinking water).

But there is enough substance there for those who have reached the “intermediate level” to make it useful. She does a very good job of explaining the science behind diabetes, for example, instead of simply propounding a ban on sugar and starch. Her chapters on how stress leads to overeating and the health benefits of water have similar depth. And her menus of implementation ideas provide something for everyone – either as a first step or a gentle reminder.

For me, the ideas for how to be a “mindful” eater made the reading worthwhile. Ideas like “stop eating if you are no longer hungry” may seem mighty simple, but that alone could make a huge difference.

Cookbook Library: The Silver Palate

Other than The Joy of Cooking, which I bought when I was still in high school just because I loved it so, The Silver Palate was the first cookbok I ever owned. The recipes now seem “so Eighties” to me — but that isn’t a bad thing. I am often nostalgic for those ‘80s treats I used to make, like these “Toffee Bars” that are easy and very good: 1 cup butter (2 sticks) 1 cup light brown sugar 1 egg yolk 2 cups flour 1 teaspoon vanilla 12 ounces semisweet chocolate chips 1 cup chopped pecans or walnuts 1. Preheat oven to 350. Grease a 9×12 baking pan. 2. Cream butter and sugar. Add egg yolk; beat well. 3. Sift in flour, mixing well, then add vanilla. Spread batter in greased pan. Bake for 25 minutes. 4. Cover cake layer with chocolate chips and return to oven for 3 or 4 minutes. 5. Remove pan from oven and spead melted chocolate evenly. Sprinkle with nuts. Cool in pan completely before cutting. About 30 bars. The only change I made was adding a little salt to the batter because I used unsalted butter.

Review of the Day: Hard Times

Hard Times by Charles Dickens is one of the many Victorian Era classics that I had never gotten around to reading. But thanks to an audio version new on the shelf of my library branch, it made it to the top of my TBR pile. In equal parts good old fashioned storytelling and outdated social criticism, Hard Times is the tale of the Gradgrind family and their struggle to reconcile the rational, fact-based side of life with the emotional and imaginative side. Thomas Gradgrind, Sr. is proud of his “system” of raising children – his own and those in the school he runs – to know and depend only on facts, with no “wondering” or amusement. The ultimate failure of his system leads to the final showdown and resolution of the story. Dickens packed the book (first published in installments in 1854) full of his usual extraordinary characters. These really came to life in the audio version. Along with some Victorian moralizing, he mixed in plenty of humor and even a little intrigue and adventure. None of the characters are particularly likeable, perhaps especially to a modern reader with less sympathy for the outmoded social constraints under which the characters labor, but they all get their just deserts – for good or ill – in the end. Despite its age, Hard Times remains thoroughly entertaining.