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A few books I've read recently
I just finished Chike and the River by Chinua Achebe. This book, by the well-known Nigerian author, is about a boy who won't stop until he finds a way to cross the river into Midwestern Nigeria. When he gets there, he is lost, but helps bring some robbers to justice. I first found out about Achebe in college, where we were assigned to read A Man of the People.
I'm enjoying some of crime novels written by Donald Westlake. His main character is John Dortmunder, a career criminal, whose circle of friends consists largely of other career criminals. The books are part crime, part comedy, and are good, easy summer reading. I've read Road to Ruin, Get Real, and Thieves' Dozen, the last of which is a collection of short stories. My favorite of the short stories was about Dortmunder's crew's long-term attempt to tunnel into a bank vault from the basement of a neighboring building. When they finally break through to the vault, they are met by a crowd of people welcoming them and thanking them for coming. Confused, the gang of robbers discovers that the bank is currently being robbed, and the people in the vault are being held hostage there. The vault-dwellers believe the crew is there to save them.
Leviathan, by Paul Auster, is one of the best books I've read in a long time. It's about an author who befriends another author, and their friendship through the years. The book begins as the author's friend has been found dead by the road. He had created a bomb, and the bomb had gone off unintentionally.
Infernal Angels, by one of my favorites Loren Estleman, is the latest in the Amos Walker mystery series. Never a dull moment in an Estleman book, and the setting is Detroit for this book, as it is for many of his books. The old Tiger Stadium is the location of the final big scene, where the kidnapped friend is rescued, and some of the bad guys get their just desserts.
I've read a few Ernest Hemingway books, the latest of which was A Farewell to Arms. A subtle book which probably would have been easier to relate to if I had grown up during that time.
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Family Updates
There are lots of things going on here lately. I'm practicing the piano pretty regularly (and let me tell you, the kids are getting really tired of hearing me play the same thing over and over).
Yesterday, while J was out of town visiting a friend and attending a baby shower for our niece Ann, the boys and I went to Greenfield Village to see the old-time baseball game. A family friend is a player for the Chelsea Monitors, and let us know that he would be playing. Games between different teams happen every Saturday and Sunday, and it was a lot of fun to see the players in their uniforms and learn about the rules as they were in the 1860's. Rules changed a lot during the mid- to late-1800s, and even the two teams playing yesterday do not follow the same rules when playing in their own leagues. (When teams that follow different rules play each other, they use the rules of the home team.)
Top of the Park is over, but we got out there a couple of times. Not as much as we have in past years due to the weather and some other activities, but enough to enjoy it and appreciate the opportunities we have in Ann Arbor to see free, live music and sample food from different local restaurants.
The boys have been alternating between swimming, taking tennis lessons, playing in summer band, going for bike rides, and so on. They're keeping on top of their piano skills by playing their new piano and taking a few lessons here and there.
On the Fourth of July, Benjamin Franklin's ghost visited our area in the form of a big thunder storm, and two large branches of my neighbor's tree came down in his front yard. Fortunately, the house wasn't hit at all. When they returned from their vacation, I went over and helped him cut up the branches and take them to the curb for pickup. This is the same neighbor that helped me stake up my fallen tree last winter in the freezing rain, so I owed him one.
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Keep cool and have a great week!
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