Reading in Shelter

During a recent phone conversation with a friend from my past, I was asked what books I had read recently. That is one of my favorite subjects and if you ask my wife you will hear about my habit of going into a painfully long dissertation of my latest read. This time, however, my voice failed me. I had to stop and think. 

"I read one about the history of rock 'n roll," I answered

Hello. I thought later. Even at the time it sounded pretty lame.

My old pal on the other end of the line had just explained the powerful impact he had taken from Isabel Wilkerson's book, The Warmth of Other Suns about the Black migration from the South between 1915 and 1970.

"It's a part of our history that I was not familiar with," he said, recalling the little we had learned about the "Jim Crow" South in our high school history class.

"Chicago's crime problem is not he result of Democratic mayors," he added. "It's disgraceful."

When I got off the phone, I Googled "Isabel Wilkerson" and discovered that she is a Pulitzer-Prize winning journalist and best-selling author. How did I not know that? I went to Amazon and ordered The Warmth of Other Suns.

I confess, although I read books, I don't buy many. However, due to our confinement during "sheltering" and the closure of our libraries, I have recently discovered the ease and pleasure of purchasing books online.

So what have I read recently? I had to stop and think. Following is my list, to the best of my memory, of the books I've taken to bed with me at night, with a brief description of where I found the book and what I took away from it.

The Pearl (1945) and To a God Unknown (1937) by John Steinbeck. For my birthday last year we visited the John Steinbeck Center in Salinas where I purchased these two books that I had never read. A novella, The Pearl is a wonderful story of human nature, good and bad, based on a Mexican folktale. To a God Unknown is one of Steinbeck's first novels and also explores human nature and the forces of good and evil. The setting is California's central coast region, an area that has become home to me and that Steinback has gracefully immortalized.

The Overstory by Richard Price (2019 Pulitizer Prize winner for Fiction). Recommended to me by a friend, this is the story of trees, their long history, usefulness to mankind and collective nature for survival. It includes individual stories of idealists who sacrificed their lives to save trees, loosely based on real people. Dense, detailed and over-written.

The Goldfinch by Donna Tarrt (2014 Pulitzer Prize winner for Fiction). A coming of age novel about a boy who survives a terrorist's bomb in a museum that kills his mother. He steals a prized painting from the museum that travels with him amidst a range of unique characters and circumstances. A fun, well-written but very long yarn.

Aloha Rodeo by David Wolman and Julian Smith (2019).  Cowboys in Hawaii?! Paniolos were roping steers long before Western cowboys had their spurs. I found this book on my front porch, dropped off by a surf buddy with a barely legible note. Penned by two outdoor writers who obviously did their research, it's an historical account of  the origin of Hawaiian cowboys, paniolos, and their triumph at the 1908 Cheyenne Frontier Days. Includes a profile of Buffalo Bill Cody and the settling of Cheyenne, Wyoming. Also references the sad  takeover of Hawaii by the U.S. from Queen Liliuokalani. The great-but-humble paniolo, Ikua Purdy, may well have been the best cowboy ever! 

Everybody Had an Ocean: Music and Mayhem in 1960s Los Angeles by William McKeen (2017). I found this book on my bookshelf while searching for something to read. It was a gift from my daughter Vanessa who knows I enjoy a good book. I had placed it on a bookshelf and forgotten about it. I am glad I found it. This well-researched work contains not only a history of rock n' roll from Little Richard and Fats Domino through the Sixties, it concentrates on the contribution of the Beach Boys, more specifically Brian Wilson, to the rock music compendium during the 1960s when every rock 'n roll artist with a guitar and aspiring music producer migrated to Los Angeles, because that's where it was happening. (Except for Motown.) Within this LA glam, McKeen weaves the ugly undercurrent, so close by you can taste it, of the Manson Family and their would-be rock 'n roll star guru, Charlie. Great historical info here, especially regarding the music-production genius of Brian Wilson and his idol, Phil Spector. I read this hard-bound book with my computer nearby, so that I could see and listen, through YouTube, to many of the seminal songs that are dissected here. Great multi-media.

Beartown by Fredrik Backman (2016). I don't know much about hockey but I am familiar with how a sport, in my case high school football, can run a community, This fine novel is about a small hockey town and its people, their wisdom, morality, politics, mob-thinking, male-female struggles and more. Remember the Kavanaugh hearings and the brave woman who testified about being raped?  Backman's philosophical asides are treasures. I came to this book through a good friend who has read every Backman novel published, and there are a few. This was my first. I have already placed a hold on my next Backman novel through my local library.

The King and Queen of Malibu: The True Story of the Battle for Paradise by David K. Randall (2016). This is a well-researched story about a forgotten father of early Los Angeles, John Ringe, and about a slice of earth that has become as iconic to LA as Hollywood. Anyone who has spent time in southern California should have some interest in this true tale of early Los Angeles about a business man, his wife, homesteaders and the struggle for prime real estate. I found this book at my mother-in-law's house during a visit this year. An avid reader herself, Bettelu, 95-years-young, told me to take it: "Just bring it back. I haven't read it yet." I returned her book last week.