Shadow Divers: The True Adventure of Two Americans Who Risked Everything To Solve One of the Last Mysteries of World War II

Shadow Divers: The True Adventure of Two Americans Who Risked Everything To Solve One of the Last Mysteries of World War II by Robert Kurson is a true adventure tale in the best sense of the word. The men, John Chatterson and Rich Kohler, are deep sea divers, attracted both by the challenge and thrill of the dive. They dove separately to what they believed were all of the great dives in the North Atlantic ocean, when a friend of John's, a boat owner, who makes his money from these divers, hears about one more, a site where the fishing is good. The men go to investigate the wreck. What they find changes their lives. Robert does a fascinating job of exploring both how these men's lives have changed as a result of the boat, and explaining about the art of the dive, and the history of the boat, its inhabitants, and what life was like for the men aboard the U-Boats during World War II. I have previously read books by Mr. Kurson, and believe him to really study his subject writing books that are not only informative but also engage the reader in the sport of participating with him in learning. The book is about not only a boat and a couple of men who dive, but all the intricacies of a deep sea dive, and the relationships and bonds that develop between the various people on the dive team. He discusses their relationship, both on and off the boat. It was exciting to read their exploits, and for the time I read the book, pretend that I also could deep sea dive, and explore the wreck with them.

Foie Gras Wars: How a 5,000 year old Delicacy Inspired the World's Fiercest Food Fight

Foie Gras Wars: How a 5,000 year old Delicacy Inspired the World's Fiercest Food Fight, by Mark Caro provided a look at the controversy around the production, eating, and ethical issues of Foie Gras. I didn't expect to read such a balanced book about the subject, because it is so controversial. The debate made national news starting right here in Chicago when the 49th ward Alderman Joe Moore proposed a ban on the sale of Foie Gras in Chicago. The ban was successful and the restaurants of Chicago were no longer allowed to serve Fois Gras. I expected either a straight expose about the evils of the subject, and how Joe Moore was such a good person for introducing a ban on the product, or an narrative about how wonderful the product was and we should all go out and eat it. I got a bit of both, and neither at the same time. Mark not only speaks with both sides of the issue, but reviews their materials and takes a serious look at the claim that each makes. He visits national, local and international producers of various styles of foie gras, from a manufacturer in Minnesota to a small farm in France. I appreciated that he discussed the issue with Joe Moore, although the book did not leave me with a positive feeling towards my former alderman. Mark, with journalism as his primary profession, does an excellent job of not pushing any particular opinion on the reader, but allows the reader to start seriously thinking and possibly drawing his or her own conclusions on the matter, or at least desiring to do more research on the matter for the readers self. At the end of the book, I'm not sure of where I stand on the matter, but I feel that I am beginning to grasp the basics of the arguments and am in a position to go do my own research and make my own judgements.

I feel as if the goal of the book, is not to enjoy a nice narrative about an experience with foie gras, but to head out there and learn more, and become ready to draw personal conclusions about the product.

Rooftops of Tehran

Rooftops of Tehran by Mahbod Seraji is another coming of age story that is told almost like poetry. The words create a small little block of Tehran in 1973 where rooftop gardens abound, and they are places where people hang out.

When Pasha, the narrator of the story, paints the pictures of his friends and neighbors, you can almost hear them calling, from his mother with her herbal remedies to his best friend, and the local geek. Each of these characters helps him become the man for whom he will become in adulthood and what challenges he will have to face. Not only does he have to deal with the challenges of falling in love for the first time, but his parents hopes and dreams, and the bigger challenge of the Iranian Secret Police... trained by the American CIA.

When things change because of an encounter with the police, Pasha is thrown into a world that he had not considered for himself. He would like to study to become a story teller, and through the authors poetic words of the narrator, if he had not been a fictional character, a rich tapestry of life experiences would provide him with just the right amount of "THAT" to quote the book, to make excellent movies and the ability to see things from an entirely different perspective.

Mortal Coils

Mortal Coils by Eric Nylund was a fantastic science fiction novel. I was not and am still not a fan of really out there science fiction, but science fiction that have some grounding in things I understand, I really appreciate. I also enjoy when the footnotes explore other issues and expand upon the book. It makes the book more colorful and fantastic to read.

The coming of age story presented in the book is one that readers of all ages can identify with. How do you deal with your new body, your new feelings, and your new--new because they are different-- relationships with your family. How do you remain the same, how do you change, and how do you handle it. What problems and challenges are addressed by this book and do the main characters solve it?

Those questions are the ones that the main characters are faced with, and I feel that Eric has written characters that explore those challenges and use the skills that they've learned throughout their lives to help them, as well as learning new skills quickly and working on identifying with adults and the new world they are sent to help shape.

Shaping the new world, something that the main characters are not originally out to do is something that they get involved in, and shapes who they are and whom they are to become, goddess, hero or something else all together. The book leaves us wondering if they will be able to fulfill the roles set out for them by the adults in their lives, or if they will go on, as many of us have to destinies unknown to all.

The New Annotated Dracula

The New Annotated Dracula, with story by Bram Stoker, and annotations edited by Leslie Klinger, is a fascinating read. Usually I don't go for particularly scary stories, but having seen the stage show Dracula in high school, put on by a high school cast, I at least knew the plot. Having been bored by the long introduction that Leslie and a few others give to the book, and having skipped ahead to the story itself, it was not until nearly the end of the book, that I realized that while Leslie was aware that Dracula was a work of fiction, and his annotations were to give us additional light into the book. I personally don't recommend this, being the annotations for a first read through Dracula. For someone who had never read the book, sometimes the annotations were helpful, but sometimes they got in the way. I think I would have rather picked an UNABRIDGED version of Dracula for the first read. I also think that the book would have been scarier that way. Reading it with all of the attached annotations, it was easy to get lost in the annotations and at times, hard to follow the story. The annotations came in surprisingly helpful when the characters spoke a language other than English or a heavily accented English, that would be difficult for the modern reader to understand.



Bram Stokers book was a good book, however, and I was able to Imagine the kind of fear Dracula would have certainly caused in the 19th century. I really enjoyed the fashion the story was told in, a found collection of journals. This made it easier to believe these characters existed and allowed for them to comment and feel for each other but not have it be traditional thought box. For me I feel that it helped to eliminate some of the fear. Mina was my favorite character. She had the most detailed diary.