February 19, 2025
Reading competes for my time with other activities, such as exercising at the gym, shoveling snow to clear the driveway, watching the Super Bowl and the four-nation hockey tournament, and keeping up with news, including Trump’s parade of executive orders announced daily. But I belong to a book club, and our get-togethers, served with a light lunch, are highly enjoyable.
The book club met to select readings for the coming year. We each recommend a book, host the group, and lead the discussion. To my surprise, many of the choices were nonfiction this year.
My selection was also nonfiction: Dr. Schwartz’s book, Grey Matter, a detailed neurosurgery biography. The book features case studies on prominent individuals, including Senators John McCain and Ted Kennedy, both of whom had brain tumors or aneurysms. Dr. Schwartz explains the treatments administered to them. While reading the book, the medical terminology, descriptions of brain anatomy, and current brain cancer treatments overwhelmed me. Though fascinating and well-written, the book’s five-hundred-page subject matter tested my patience. It was also quite time-consuming, even for someone who reads quickly.
The previous month’s selection was a science fiction novel, The Martian, by Andy Weir. This novel tells the story of a team of astronauts on Mars. The author’s captivating tale, set in 2035, is rich in scientific detail, featuring meticulous observations of Mars’s climate and surface and the challenges of surviving there for a year and a half. The plot moves much faster than the one in Grey Matter, but again, I felt overwhelmed halfway through the book by the scientific details of how to live on Mars.
While I liked these books, I considered which of the recent books I read had a significant impact on me. One was Alice Munro and a collection of her short stories. I couldn’t put the book down; the prose flowed effortlessly, and I felt a strong connection to the characters as if I knew them. While bizarre, her storylines inexplicably moved me. Despite the criticism of Munro’s portrayal of female suffering and her relationship with her daughter, I saw my life and familiar settings reflected in her work.
I was also captivated by Red Notice, Bill Browder’s account of the Russian stock market’s rise, his triumphs, and his exile under Putin. Twists fill the narrative, highlighting the dangers of life in a corrupt society, where dissent can lead to prison or even murder for nonconformists. The book brought back memories of my early years living under the communist regime in Hungary. It also reminded me of my brother, a PhD candidate at Yale under Bill Browder’s late father, Felix Browder.
Unforgettable was reading Rohinton Mistry’s Fine Balance while flying to India in 2008. Was it ever a sad book? I kept reading it and thought it could not get any worse, but it did, and the ending was terrible. But its historical and cultural context made a deep impression on me. It described Indira Gandhi’s forced sterilization program. The storytelling was smooth, and I observed characters closely resembling those in the book when we landed.
Beyond books that had a memorable impact on me, I considered the genres I was interested in and recalled all the Westerns, thrillers, and travel books I have read.
I must have read most of Louise L’Amour’s works, which are those of a popular American author of Westerns. L’Amour is a smooth storyteller with fast-moving plots describing good and evil characters in which the good people always prevail. While his stories have some historical value, they are not comparable to the scientific details in The Martian, the medical information in Gray Matters, or the cultural/historical context of Fine Balance.
Like many people, I have a fondness for thrillers. However, I now reserve time to read this genre when flying, on vacation, or resting while sick in bed. In this category, I read many books by Agatha Christie, Nelson DeMille, Dan Brown, Clive Cussler, Robert Parker, and Tom Clancy. I particularly enjoyed Parker’s Spenser adventures.
Travel writing has also interested me. Kathy and I love traveling, and reading about the countries we have visited makes it all the more interesting. My favorite authors in this genre are Paul Theroux and Bill Bryson. They both have smooth writing styles, and Bryson is humorous. When I read their books, I am right in their location; their descriptions are very convincing. Theroux’s conversations with locals add an extra dimension, providing insight into what people in different countries think about global events. For example, his book Deep South evoked memories of my North Carolina stay, particularly his insightful portrayals of villages I knew.
Thinking about my favorite authors, books, and genres, I realized how cultural and historical influences had shaped my reading preferences. My early memories include my grandfather reading Jules Verne to my brother and me before sleep when we were under ten. My grandfather’s library included every book Jules Verne ever wrote. So, of course, we read many of Verne’s works. That was in Hungary in the 1950s. In addition to Verne, our staple for reading then was the German author Karl May’s books, including the Winnetou series, stories of the American West. And while learning English, I practiced by reading Somerset Maugham. I found his easy-flowing storytelling style and his use of simple English words easy to follow. Remember Ashenden or the British Agent?
These days, I seldom read Maugham, Clancy, or Westerns. Instead, my interests have evolved toward travel writers, biographies, and nonfiction. My reading list includes a book on cryptocurrency, Walter Isaacson’s biography of Elon Musk, and “Sapiens” by Yuval Harari.
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