Book reviews: Vonnegut, Rowling, Shakespeare's Star Wars, Springsteen

The goal for the year is 115+ books. Being a high school librarian, most of the books I read are from the young adult genre. But on breaks I enjoy a few books from other realms. Here are the first five books I've read from a range of categories:

1) Slaughterhouse Five, or, The Children's Crusade by Kurt Vonnegut, read by Ethan Hawke.  I was surprised to see Hawke's name on the credits, as most audio book readers aren't nearly as well known. Then again, this is a well-known novel and in this case the actor and the novel suited each other well. In truth, I picked the book as much for the reader as the novel while browsing my public library's shelves for something to listen to in the car. The novel is about Billy Pilgrim, a World War II veteran who took safety under a slaughterhouse during the infamous, and relatively unknown, bombing of Dresden in which 130,000 people died as a result of allied bombing. The story jumps relentlessly throughout Billy's life, in part as a way to show there is no way to tell a tale about a massacre like Dresden. So it goes. At one point Billy talks about being taken by aliens to their home planet Tralfamador, where he lives in a modified zoo exhibit with a movie star. The Tralfamadorians teach Billy that time is in flux: no one really dies; they are alive when they were alive and you can always go back and experience that person at that time. Likewise, Billy's story takes place not in a linear fashion but as he drops in and out of his life, recalling and reliving his life. Vonnegut published the book in 1969, during a time when American troops were heavily involved in a questionable war in Vietnam. Reading the novel 45 years later in a much different time, the anti-war message still resonates. A great book with a stellar performance by Ethan Hawke. 

2) Cuckoo's Calling, Robert Galbraith (J.K. Rowling) First off, I read this book because J.K. Rowling wrote it under a pen name. I occasionally read detective fiction and mysteries, but I doubt this would've found me without the hype behind Harry Potter's creator as author.  British private detective Cormoran Strike lost part of his leg in Afghanistan, where he was working as a military detective. Back home in London, the lumbering giant set up shop as a private eye, working any case he could get his hands on. Unfortunately, it wasn't much work at all. As the story opens, Strike's beautiful and out-of-his league girlfriend has just dumped him, and he is forced to live in his shabby office because he can't afford anything else. He can't even afford the temporary secretary who shows up, but knows he's stuck with her as he forgot to cancel with the temp agency. Then a new client arrives shortly after the new secretary, and it's a case that could help solve Strike's financial woes. John Bristow is the brother to the recently deceased supermodel Lula Landry, and Bristow is certain her death wasn't a suicide, regardless what the police ruled.  Strike is thrust into a world quite unlike his own: designers, rock stars, and the rich and famous. The novel moves along briskly, with a seemingly limitless cast of potential suspects. Perhaps the thing I enjoyed most is the fact that it's a British novel: the setting and language are quite British, which is a wonderful departure from what I so often read.  From a librarian's standpoint, I probably will only recommend this to upper level students -- the story is quite involved and might not hold the interest of the average high school freshman. But personally, I'm rather anxious to download the next Cormoran Strike novel and see what happens next!

3) Verily, A New Hope: William Shakespeare's Star Wars, Ian Doescher As a former English teacher and Star Wars fan, this was a no brainer. Of course I had to read this! Ian Doescher has taken the basic script and story of Star Wars and set it to Iambic Pentameter. He's also sprinkled in plenty of Shakespearean language to make it plenty of fun. I listened to the audio version, which I recommend most highly because it was produced at Lucas Arts and the actors sound similar to the movie characters -- but with a script seemingly written by the Bard. They even use music from the Star Wars movies as background. My favorite moment in the book? Just before the epic Death Star battle, the commander delivers a call to arms adapted only slightly from the wonderful Henry V St. Crispin's  Day speech (We three, we happy three, we band of brothers....).  I've recommended this to our debate / forensics (speech) teacher as a potential humorous interpretation or duo acting piece. This was a lot of fun, and I've already started listening to The Empire Striketh Back.

4) Point of View, Janko Puls

Janko Puls' fun book about New York City offers wonderful visual juxtapositions from the Big Apple. Puls' unusual angles and ability to pair seemingly disparate images on facing pages forces the viewer to stop and ponder the nature of art and architecture (and the architecture art of nature).  As an outsider who's barely spent any time in New York City, it's intriguing to see well-known sites from fresh vantage points, juxtaposed on the next page with something just as striking but completely unknown. 

5) Bruce Springsteen Album by Album, Ryan White

As the title suggests, this career retrospective of the boss looks at Springsteen through the lens of each album he's released. The heavy coffee-table book traces Bruce's roots back to Jersey and provides context for each track of every album he's released, including inserted notes on tracks recorded but not released until later. For instance, Springsteen recorded The Promise between his breakout album Born to Run and his next release, Darkness on the Edge of Town. The Boss released The Promise in 2010, but White makes ample reference to the songs in the era in which they were written, as well as interesting histories about why they didn't make the cut back in the day. A very interesting read for long-time and casual fans alike, but probably nothing more than a coffee-table perusal for today's teens who didn't grow up with Springsteen's music.