Krakatoa: The Day the World Exploded: August 27, 1883, Simon Winchester

This book would be better titled "Plate Tectonics." Simon Winchester leaves no stone unturned in his valiant effort to ensure that we understand everything (and I do mean everything) about the massive eruption of Krakatoa in 1883. Massive it was, wiping out entire towns and an estimated 30,000 people, cooling the earth's atmostphere and destroying completely the island Krakatoa. Sounds interesting, no? Too bad the book isn't. Winchester took a highly analytical, researched approach to the subject, which stook him well in chapters about how volcanos come to erupt, and very light on detail in the chapters devoted to describing the devastation caused by Krakatoa. The book cover's lurid promise is no means fulfilled. Winchester's painstaking research is obvious, and the book is peppered with footnotes adding facts that even he recognized were off-topic and esoteric. Here's my favorite:

A pair of fast ships set out from Macassar, *...

* From whence came the eponymous sweet-smelling hair oil, the bane of countless English chairbacks and the cause of the creation of the protective lace furniture shroud called, somewhat unoriginally, an antimacassar.

I expected to thoroughly enjoy this book, but was instead bored and frustrated, while still respecting the scholarship that went into producing this dry-as-dust version of one of the most exciting natural catastrophes of modern man.

Every Secret Thing, Patricia Campbell Hearst

"Every Secret Thing" is Patricia Hearst's attempt to explain what happened to her after she was kidnapped in the '70s by the Symbionese Liberation Army, a leftist militia group. The thing that made Hearst's kidnapping so bizarre (besides the fact that she was part of the Hearst family) was that she chose to join the group and, in fact, participated in bank robberies and other criminal activities. Hearst claimed brainwashing as a defense during her trial (bank robbery), which neither the judge nor the jury bought. The president (Carter), however, did, and she received clemency. Frankly, Hearst's explanation for her behavior is not all that convincing, perhaps because her defense -- brainwashing a la the kind suffered by prisoners or war -- is an intensely strange, unusual and hard to understand phenomon. Hearst, though a victim, is by no means an expert. An explanation by a medical expert would have added a lot to the average reader's understanding of why Hearst behaved as she did. In fact, I kind of think that Hearst was in a terrible position in trying to explain herself what happened. Having said all that, I now have a much better understanding of the political environment of the time, and the circumstances that led to extremist groups like the SLA. The book, overall, is boring and pedantic, poorly written and much too long. Somehow, despite her sensationalist topic, Hearst fails to engage the reader or even to create sympathy for herself.

If I Live To Be 100, Neenah Ellis

Neenah Ellis' book is an off-shoot of her NPR interviews of centenarians. I never heard any of the NPR pieces, but when I read about the book's concept, I was interested in what might be learned from people who reach such an age. Ellis, however, does a cursory job at best with the book. It's too short and vague for you to gather much insight, and actually turns out to be more of a diary of Ellis' thoughts and reactions to her subjects. Sadly, it's not a very interesting diary either. You won't learn much here about about age and experience, and very little about what it's like to live that long.

I Am Madame X, Gioia Diliberto

I was seduced by the cover of this book, and the concept -- a biography of Madame X, subject of John Singer Sargent's infamous portrait. Diliberto uses this novel to reconstruct the life of this society darling. It's a neat idea, but it's only a so-so book. Diliberto tries to give us an idea of what Paris was like at the time, but succeeds only in putting together a lukewarm bodice-ripper. The book isn't bad, but it isn't interesting either.

Bare: On Women, Dancing, Sex, and Power, Elisabeth Eaves

ok, this will come as a shock to you, but try to retain your grip on reality. apparently working as a stripper isn't a great job! apparently being viewed as a sex object and only a sex object all the time affects the way in which you think about yourself. apparently it affects your body image. and --this was the real kicker -- it can even have an impact on your relationships with men! "bare" is a first-person account by elisabeth eaves of her adventues working as a peep-show dancer, and her two days as a club stripper. i read a review of this book that accused eaves of dallying with stripping as a passtime, and i think there is a certain amount of valid criticism in that. eaves' book tells her story, and those of a few other strippers (many of whom were much more heavily involved in the sex industry than eaves herself). she discusses her feelings about herself and her body, and reveals a well of ambivalence for men caused in part by her experiences. ultimately the book is unsatisfying and i found myself angry with eaves' distress over her experiences. i don't buy the argument that victims are in part responsible for what happens to them, but eaves put herself by choice into a damaging industry, and she had every opportunity not to.

Versailles, Kathryn Davis

"Versailles" reads more like poetry than a novel. This short work of fiction is a collection of vignettes, snapshots from the life of Marie Antoinette. Davis' language is lyrical and evocative, but don't expect a solid storyline. It's helpful to have at least a basic familiarity with Marie Antoinette's life before you begin. "Versailles" is more the idea of a book than a finished product -- experimental perhaps, but I think not really a successful experiment. I didn't know what to expect, and yet I am disappointed. The cover, however, is beautiful.

Sleepyhead, Mark Billingham

I picked this one up for its interesting premise: the killer doesn't want his victims to die, but to put them into a permanent vegetative state (a coma) yet still cognizant of everything happening around them. He's not all that successful, however, and manages to kill all but one of his young, female victims. Sadly, though the book begins well, it spins off wildly into trite detective fiction standards, including flashbacks, intuitions and surprise endings. There is little new here besides the initial premise, which is never fully explored. Nonetheless, "Sleepyhead" is competently written and keeps you turning the pages.

The Last Man (Book 1), Brian Vaughn

This is a graphic novel premised on an interesting idea -- what happens if every man and every male animal on earth dies simultaneously. Who runs the government? What kind of social structures come into play? And then it falls apart when it becomes apparent that really what the book is about is the sole remaining man on earth. Oh, and his pet monkey. Do I really need to say more about this?

Enchantment, Daphne Merkin

This book reminded me of how I felt after reading Angela's Ashes, which is to say, damn depressed. The main character, Hannah, is the ultimate in unsympathetic heroines. She's whiny, self-centered and fixated on an abusive relationship with her mother. I'll admit that her mother does pretty much seem like a bitch, and was certainly cold, but I also spent the entire book (during which no real action happens) mentally screaming at Hannah to grow up and get a life. I suspect that the book is highly autobiographical, and if I don't ever get to meet Merkin I think I'll be fine with that.

What Should I Do with My Life? : The True Story of People Who Answered the Ultimate Question, Po Bronson

Po Bronson spends a great deal of time protesting that he doesn't know what you should do with your life and doesn't want to influence you, he then spends pages explaining how he talked with lots of lost people who were asking themselves what they should be doing and cleared that question right up for them. The book is an exploration around the idea we seem to have that we all have a vocation waiting or us if we could just figure out what it is or how to get to it. Bronson interviewed many people in an effort to explore these issues, and tells us way more than we want to know about how he himself has dealt with them. I was annoyed with Bronson's tone in this book, and with his all-knowing attitude. Moreover, the book doesn't really come to any real point, much less any conclusions. Bronson can't possibly answer that question for all the people who will read the book, but neither does he give his readers any real tools for doing so themselves.