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Community News for Lyme and Old Lyme, CT

Reading Uncertainly

Reading Uncertainly? ‘The Sympathizer’ by Viet Thanh Nguyen

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How often do we take sides while harboring a suspicion that the other fellow’s view actually has some merit? Nguyen’s narrator, never named, but referred to as “The Captain,” states his position at the outset: “ ... I am also a man of two minds ... I am simply able to see any issue from both sides.” The Captain is a Vietnamese, ostensibly working for the American forces at … [Read more...] about Reading Uncertainly? ‘The Sympathizer’ by Viet Thanh Nguyen

Reading Uncertainly? ‘The Children Act’ by Ian McEwan

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“Who am I to judge?” asked Pope Francis last year, when asked about the Roman Catholic Church’s view of homosexuality. An excellent question, as our lives are full of "judgments" rendered by a wide variety of personalities. So with interest I turned to Ian McEwan’s latest novel. I’ve read most of his work, thoroughly enjoying his language, characters and situations, set in … [Read more...] about Reading Uncertainly? ‘The Children Act’ by Ian McEwan

Reading Uncertainly? ‘Sea Room’ by Adam Nicolson

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Why do islands so often seem to be symbols of disconnection when, in fact, they illustrate multiple connections to the past, present and future? Adam Nicolson, a privileged Englishman (Eton, Cambridge and Parliament) explores these thoughts through the medium of the three rugged Shiant (pronounced “Shant”) Islands, in the middle of The Minch, a rushing, spilling, tumultuous … [Read more...] about Reading Uncertainly? ‘Sea Room’ by Adam Nicolson

Reading Uncertainly? ‘How The Mind Works’ by Steven Pinker

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Why is reading, at least for me, so soothing, stimulating and confusing, all at the same time? Why does my mind react so strangely at times to what I am reading? Four years ago, I tried Steven Pinker’s monumental (some 800 pages of small type!) suggestion that we humans are actually becoming less violent, in The Better Angels of Our Nature. So it was only natural that I … [Read more...] about Reading Uncertainly? ‘How The Mind Works’ by Steven Pinker

Reading Uncertainly? ‘Amnesia’ by Peter Carey

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Peter Carey’s latest view of our future is either ominous or optimistic. I’m inclined to the optimistic -- good on ya, mate! And how could I not read this novel, since the lead character is named “Felix”? Felix Moore is an aging, cantankerous, left-leaning newspaperman, who is caught in the middle of an international computer hack, the “Angel Worm,” purportedly engineered … [Read more...] about Reading Uncertainly? ‘Amnesia’ by Peter Carey

Reading Uncertainly? Kenko, “Essays in Idleness,” from The Tsurezuregusa of Kenko, (1332?)

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Occasionally, I find myself compelled to drift into the past, seeking older words of wisdom. I was therefore drawn to Kenko, a Japanese Buddhist priest who wrote these words some 700 years ago: “The pleasantest of all diversions is to sit alone under the lamp, a book spread out before you . . . “ How true! In these Essays, he leads with repeated cautionary admonitions: “The … [Read more...] about Reading Uncertainly? Kenko, “Essays in Idleness,” from The Tsurezuregusa of Kenko, (1332?)

Reading Uncertainly? ‘Let Me Be Frank With You’ by Richard Ford

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Let me be frank with you, Frank: you are a bystander, a passive yet sensitive observer of the daily stream, but frustratingly disconnected! “Frank,” of course, is Frank Bascombe, Richard Ford’s complex and compelling character who has now reached the age of 68. Ford first introduced him to us in The Sportswriter in 1986, when he, his wife and son moved from New York to … [Read more...] about Reading Uncertainly? ‘Let Me Be Frank With You’ by Richard Ford

Reading Uncertainly? ‘The Innovators’ by Walter Isaacson

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This is the remarkable and intricate story of the computer, the Internet and the World Wide Web, all of which transformed and continue to alter this globe. It is a story of human collaboration, conflict, creativity and timing, from Ada, Countess of Lovelace in 1843 to the more familiar names of Vannevar Bush, Alan Turing, John Mauchly, John von Neumann, Grace Hopper, Robert … [Read more...] about Reading Uncertainly? ‘The Innovators’ by Walter Isaacson

Reading Uncertainly? ‘On Aggression’ by Konrad Lorenz

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Are we naturally “aggressive?”  What a way to greet the spring!  Today’s headlines seem to indicate that we simply cannot avoid creating friction among human beings.  This sent me backwards in time to re-read Konrad Lorenz’s monumental On Aggression, first published in German in 1963 and in English in 1966. Lorenz defines aggression as, “the fighting instinct in beast and … [Read more...] about Reading Uncertainly? ‘On Aggression’ by Konrad Lorenz

Reading Uncertainly? “The Sixth Extinction: An Unnatural History” by Elizabeth Kolbert

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Rats! Is there a real possibility that rats may be the species that survives the human race? Elizabeth Kolbert suggests such an outcome in her engrossing perambulation around this modest earth on which we live, since we may well be living at the start of the “Sixth Extinction.” Science tells us the earth has experienced five earlier “extinctions,” when many living creatures, … [Read more...] about Reading Uncertainly? “The Sixth Extinction: An Unnatural History” by Elizabeth Kolbert

Reading Uncertainly: ‘Fire and Ashes’ by Michael Ignatieff

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I admit to a lifelong fascination with the people and territory of that land just north of the United States.  I first drove through Alberta and the Yukon in 1952, on my way to Alaska, and then sailed up the St. Lawrence River on a Navy cruiser to Quebec City in 1954. Since then I’ve spent considerable time in Vancouver, Calgary, Toronto, Ottawa, Montreal and Quebec, with side … [Read more...] about Reading Uncertainly: ‘Fire and Ashes’ by Michael Ignatieff

Reading Uncertainly: ‘Flash Boys’ by Michael Lewis

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What on earth is “the stock market?” It is something in which I have participated for almost 60 years, first as a most modest buyer of stocks, then through the investments of growing pension and profit-sharing funds, and finally, today, trying to stretch my dwindling IRA to cover our modest expenses as my wife and I enter our eightieth years. Throughout this time I’ve … [Read more...] about Reading Uncertainly: ‘Flash Boys’ by Michael Lewis

Reading Uncertainly? ‘Average is Over’ by Tyler Cowan

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Tired of vapid novels featuring uninteresting characters that cannot manage in this complex world of ours? Then try Tyler Cowan’s, Average Is Over, (Dutton, New York 2013), which has the sub-title, Powering America Beyond the Age of the Great Stagnation, to give you a jolt of reality! I read it earlier this year. Cowan gives us a fresh, both pessimistic and optimistic, view … [Read more...] about Reading Uncertainly? ‘Average is Over’ by Tyler Cowan

Reading Uncertainly? The Narrow Road to the Deep North

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Richard Flanagan, an Australian writer born in Tasmania, whose father survived labor for the Japanese in the Second World War, has written a compelling, mesmerizing and thoroughly memorable novel of that period.  And it is the 2014 Man Booker Prize winner! The Aussies in the story are led by Dorrigo Evans while his physician officer tries to save his troops from starvation, … [Read more...] about Reading Uncertainly? The Narrow Road to the Deep North

Welcome, Felix Kloman: Our Newest Columnist

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We are delighted to welcome a new columnist to our ranks today. Felix Kloman will be writing book reviews under the column title of "Reading Uncertainly" and we are pleased to publish his first review in a separate article today. Kloman is a sailor, rower, husband, father, grandfather, retired management consultant and, above all, a curious reader and writer.  He’s explored … [Read more...] about Welcome, Felix Kloman: Our Newest Columnist