Reading Copy Book Blog

By Steve Weinberg, via NPR:

Fit To Print: Top Five Current Affairs Books Of 2009

1) American Original by Joan Biskupic

It is unusual for a biographer to write the life of a sitting U.S. Supreme Court justice. Similarly, it is unusual for a journalist whose daily beat it is to report on an institution to write candidly about it at book length, because she might lose access. But Joan Biskupic, of USA Today, is obviously an unusual reporter. In her sharp-eyed chronicle, Biskupic details how Antonin Scalia’s formative family, schooling and workplace experiences translate into his strict constructionist reading of the U.S. Constitution — and how his self-proclaimed unwavering interpretations waver indeed, if he can help award the presidency to George W. Bush instead of Al Gore, or restrict access to abortions. The Scalia portrayed by Biskupic appears immune to what the other justices think about his jurisprudence, as he intentionally provokes those who disagree with his opinions. Yet off the bench, Scalia comes across as the charming life of the party.

2) Good Soldiers by David Finkel
As long as there are journalists willing to risk it all in war zones, there will be books that provide the kind of reportorial insights unavailable from soldiers, the Pentagon and the White House. When those journalists are capable of weaving what they saw, heard, smelled and felt into compelling narratives, their books often achieve a rare momentum and power. David Finkel has written one of those books. A reporter for the Washington Post, Finkel was embedded with a battalion of about 800 troops in Iraq. The Good Soldier focuses on the triumphs and traumas of that battalion and, particularly, on its commander, Army Lt. Col. Ralph Kauzlarich. Kauzlarich is an optimist who greets every day in gritty eastern Baghdad with the phrase “all is good,” even as the deaths and crippling injuries suffered by his troops cast shadows on the mantra. When Finkel’s narrative eventually moves to the home front, anxious families — including Kauzlarich’s wife and children — define “all is good” as the day a soldier walks in the front door, physically and psychologically unharmed.

3) Strength in What Remains by Tracy Kidder

It might initially seem strange that a book set in the central African nations of Burundi and Rwanda — a book about genocide and other forms of human cruelty — would take its title from a soothing Wordsworth poem. But in Tracy Kidder’s skillful hands, there is something unexpectedly soothing about the odyssey of Deogratias Niyizonkiza. In book after book, Kidder has immersed himself in low-profile lives that provide a window on previously misunderstood realms. This time, the realm is that of the seemingly hopeless immigrant to the United States. Niyizonkiza, aka “Dr. Deo,” is now an American-trained physician, but he endured obstacles unimaginable to most of us. His personal tale is one of triumph, but like Kidder’s spirit-lifting book, it is leavened by the misery Dr. Deo now confronts as he tries to bring modern medical care and his own heroic effort to the lives of the many still struggling in Africa.

4) The Healing Of America by T.R. Reid

As American voters try to sort out the highly politicized health care debate, many find it difficult to determine the truth about how well the health care system functions in other nations. Reid, a peripatetic Washington Post reporter, has done the research for American voters. The result: He exposes numerous opponents of American health care reform as liars, or at best, ill informed. Almost without exception, government-run health care overseas functions more efficiently and cost-effectively than the current American private-public hodgepodge. Reid is especially enlightening on health care in France, the United Kingdom, Germany and Japan. He posits that a “nation’s health care system reflects its moral values.” If he’s correct, the United States of America is morally challenged.

5) When Everything Changed by Gail Collins

Sexism isn’t dead. New York Times columnist Gail Collins knows that. But it has diminished greatly in just 50 years. The shift within airlines from pretty young stewardesses to flight attendants who cross age ranges, body types and gender is an example of progress used lucidly by Collins. Women now sit on the U.S. Supreme Court, run multinational corporations and feel comfortable working outside the house in less visible occupations — or feel comfortable staying at home with the children. Collins’ penetrating social history charts the progress of women by combining the “public drama of the era” — from bra burnings to class-action lawsuits — “with the memories of regular women who lived through it all.” Those regular women include a three-generation Wyoming trio — grandmother, mother, daughter — whose individual stories capture the rise of female independence across the United States as vividly as any longitudinal, scientific study.

Kevin Michael Connolly doesn’t like being called an inspiration. I imagine he’d be equally irritated by tears or words like ‘bravery’, ‘courage’, ‘triumph of spirit’ and the like. And it’s understandable, as that kind of talk rarely fails to sound insincere at worst, or condescending at best.

But the thing is, when you listen to Connolly, author of Double Take: A Memoir, it’s hard not to feel pretty inspired. The 24-year-old was born without legs, due to…well, being born without legs. Apparently, these things just happen. At the time of his birth, his mother’s father had been diagnosed with prostate cancer, her mother with skin cancer, and her sister had just died of brain cancer. Needless to say, giving birth to half a baby was, in Connolly’s mother’s own words, “an exclamation point on a really tough couple of years.”

Fast forward 24 years, and it’s clear that Connolly’s parents came to terms with the challenge they faced, hit their stride, adapted, and loved their son, and did a hell of a job raising him. He talks about his parents camping, hiking, whitewater rafting, and that he, Kevin, would need to keep up. He seems to be an independent, positive, outgoing man with no signs of bitterness or self-pity. He’s well-spoken, and also - really hot. Not that that’s here or there, but…damn is he pretty.

Connolly is a champion skier (with the help of a mono-ski), and won a silver medal and cash award, which allowed him to write Double Take.

Connolly, whose primary mode of transportation is a skateboard. Double Take is a book that chronicles those stares in photographs. He travelled from country to country, documenting the faces that looked at him, and put the most captivating images together in a book.

But even in this, where one might expect anger or resentment, Connolly is remarkably understanding and insightful. I guess he’s had time to think about it and puzzle it out. The thing is, the people are staring. They’re staring because seeing a man who ends at the torso, whizzing by on a skateboard, isn’t something we see every day. And aside from the perception of rudeness, aside from the polite rules of society which dictate we avert our eyes (and why?), it’s interesting. It’s fascinating, and we find ourselves wondering where’s the rest of him? What happened? Some people have even approached Connolly with their own speculations of war, shark attack, car accident, Thalidomide. But the stories Connolly recounts aren’t of menace or cruelty - only curiosity, and perhaps a very real need to understand what we see and make sense of it.

I understand Connolly’s distaste for being called an inspiration, and I’m not trying to Hallmark him up, here. But I will say it’s really refreshing to see someone be so candid, understanding and accepting of the human nature in people around him, particularly when he’s so young.

The excerpt was well-written, too. Which is also refreshing.

If someone in your life (or you yourself - admit it) could benefit from a bit of perspective and a kick in the pants, Double Take: A Memoir, might do the trick. Either way, it looks like a good read with amazing photographs.