In Part One, I highlighted three long books. Here, there is only one, but an important book, Eve: How the Female Body Drove 200 Million Years of Human Evolution. If you have a serious reader friend, take up this book together and discuss the sections. There is so much to learn about the author’s take on how women became who we are via evolution. Bohannon’s writing is colloquial, her footnotes are often funny, and we don’t have to spend even a minute going through the extensive bibliography.
I met a new, important author: W.G. Sebald. He writes about Germany, pre- and post-WWII. His books are short, with a different style of writing. Be adventurous, read an older book treasure.
The King at the Edge of the World by Arthur Phillips (Random House 2020)
This is a good book for lovers of historical fiction. Set at the end of Elizabeth I’s reign in England and Scotland (the Edge of the World), the protagonist is a doctor from the Ottoman Empire sent with a delegation to learn about the strange red-haired queen and her strange country. After six months, he is abandoned by his compatriots and left to fend for himself.
He does well because he is a skilled scientist. Eventually, the doctor becomes trusted enough to infiltrate the Court of the Scottish king, James VI (later James I of England) and must determine if James is a true Protestant or a closeted Catholic. Tangled webs are woven. Enjoyable.
The Hypocrite by Jo Hamya (Pantheon Books 2024)
There’s no one to root for in this father/daughter entanglement. Even the ex-wife/mother disparages both. I could not get engrossed in the plot.
There are two settings. First is the summer that the father and daughter spend in Sicily when she is a teenager serving as typist while her father dictates his latest novel. Hard work is made harder by her father’s lack of empathy.
Second is a small theater in New York where the daughter’s first play is premiering. Of course, it’s about her father and the summer, focusing most on the father’s long sex scenes in the bedroom adjoining the daughter’s. He always assumed the daughter was fast asleep. There is little love lost here; both may be hypocrites, but the father is an idiot.
Eve: How the Female Body Drove 200 Million Years of Human Evolution by Cat Bohannon, (Knopf 2023)
Don’t be turned off by the 624-page count – 1/3 of that is notes, bibliography, and index. Eve is written like a scholarly text, but it is interesting, colloquial, and fun. OK, Bohannon drags on a bit at times, but you can skip ahead at your own risk. And don’t skip the footnotes. They are full of great bits of information and often funny.
This is a take at the presumed evolutionary biology of the female body – from the first chest-feeding rat-like critters to us. You learn lots about mammalian behavior, how we became upright, how women developed wide hips (thanks for that one), and the power of nurture.
I did not enjoy the end of the book which tried to rationalize why if women are the key to success of our species, we are so often mistreated (consciously and unconsciously) by the male of our species. I did learn from Dr. Bohannon’s distinction between sex and gender. This is a book you can easily read a section at a time, read another book, return to Eve. You will benefit from having a fellow reader with whom to discuss the material.
A History of the World in Twelve Shipwrecks by David Gibbins (St. Martin’s Press, 2024)
History wonks will enjoy this book. From the 2nd millennium BCE to WWII, Gibbons shows how archeologically exploring shipwrecks expands the known history of the world at the time of the wreck. This is especially true regarding the extent of trade. We underestimated the ability of our ancestors to build ships capable of sailing to the most distant locations in search of metal, grain, wool, cotton, and slaves. There may be no written history, but you can’t deny the objects preserved below the water.
This book cries out for maps and there is not one. I read it with the atlas at my side. It needs more and better illustrations. Gibbins often spends several sentences describing a painting of a ship in such and such museum but does not show the painting. The pictures included are meagre in relation to the amount of information in the book. Still, I enjoyed the book and often found it difficult to put down. (I’m a history wonk.)
Austerlitz by W. G. Sebald, (Random House 2001)
Not a book for the faint-hearted reader, but a stimulating read because of the manner of writing. Be sure to get the version with the forward by James Wood who describes how Sebald writes.
There are no chapters. There are seldom paragraphs. The writing is in the twice removed third person, “he said that he said …” of the narrator. It’s translated from German, but I didn’t feel that bore on the story or the style.
The story is about a survivor of Kindertransport at the beginning of WWII. This child, Jacques Austerlitz, is sent to Wales from Czechoslovakia, and his former life disappears. We meet Austerlitz through the retelling of his life story by a friend Austerlitz randomly meets.
Sprinkled throughout are amateur photographs (fictional) that illustrate a bit of something or a bit of nothing. They added to the lost, sad tone of the story. Though this sounds dreary, the writing and the book are fascinating. Give it a try.
The Emigrants by W. G. Sebald
Originally published in German in 1992 – English translation, New Directions Press, 1997
As melancholy as Austerlitz but written in a different style. There are four essays about family and acquaintances of the storyteller – all emigrants. They left Germany for England or the United States due to the pressure built up on German Jews. But there is no flaunting of Jewishness. These are our neighbors, our cousins, our friends. The stories are told simply. Illustrations are unposed snap shots taken in the 20s and 30s. A much easier read than Austerlitz and more engaging.
Let’s Talk Books:
What is your latest read? Do you prefer longer or shorter books? Do you read books from the same author? Which non-fiction genre is your favorite?
