book swap books

About a month ago I participated in a book exchange. Although most of my books are still in boxes in the back of a closet, I managed to find a couple that would be suitable for swapping with others. ("Suitable" in this context means "not something I have to hang onto in order to finish my dissertation.")

I gained two new books--a popular novel by a bestselling writer and a nonfiction novel that a friend recommended to me several years ago. Between wedding planning and teaching twice as many classes as I intended to this semester, I doubted I would have time to read them before summer. A little insomnia, however, goes a long way. I've already finished both books.

The Lost Symbol by Dan Brown
Dan Brown's books are about as satisfying as a sugary snack: they give me a temporary excited buzzy feeling, but ultimately they let me down.   My experience reading The Lost Symbol was much like my previous experiences reading The DaVinci Code and Angels and Demons. I was quickly drawn into the novel, quickly finished reading it, and almost instantly forgot most of its contents.

The puzzles Brown embeds in his books are intriguing ... for a few minutes. His characters are interesting ... for a few pages. His plots are entertaining ... for a few hours. The Lost Symbol is the sort of book I always hope to have on hand when a semester ends so I can indulge in a effortlessly easy-to-read narrative. His prose is nearly seamless. Unlike many other books, Brown's don't trip me up with awkward phrasing or bog me down in poorly constructed sentences. Also unlike other books, Brown's don't cause me to fret over a too-contrived plot while laboriously reading through the chapters. However, I also don't feel like I've gained anything when I finish a Dan Brown book.


I've begun to think of Dan Brown as Robert Jordan's polar opposite. Several years ago one of my cousins recommended Jordan's Wheel of Time series. I thought to myself, Highly derivative and ridiculously long fantasy novels in a series that goes on and on and on and ON? Why not?! I read quite a few of them, too, (and found them less derivative than I expected) until I could take no more of Jordan's convoluted prose. All of the novels are over 800 pages, and I read almost every sentence while fighting an urge to grab my red pen. I wanted to make editing marks all over the pages. Only one other writer--Kathy Reichs, author of the Temperance Brennan novels on which the television series Bones is loosely based--has had this effect on me. I also stopped reading her series because I felt compelled to read with the book in one hand and my red pen in the other. Reichs and Jordan both drew me into their stories, but their prose made me nuts. Brown's prose is smooth, but I never truly care about the characters or the plot.

Incidentally, none of these authors makes me irritated enough to toss books across the room. That distinction belongs solely to Gertrude Stein. I'll save that for another post. I need to read some more Stein soon for my dissertation.


The Devil in the White City by Erik Larson
This nonfiction novel drew me in slowly at first but absolutely fascinated me by the end. It's part true crime and part cultural history. It feels a bit like reading a novel, but it's actually nonfiction interlaced with some fiction techniques. It's similar to Truman Capote's In Cold Blood, but it has a broader focus and weaves together many narrative threads. Larson tells the stories of the architects who organized the Chicago World's Fair in 1893, a serial killer who opened a hotel near the Fair's location, an engineer named Ferris who designed a massive wheel for the Fair, a landscape artist named Olmstead who helped design the fair grounds, and several other figures.

When a friend recommended this book a few years ago, I read the back cover and wasn't interested. From the blurb I expected the book to be much more about the serial killer H. H. Holmes. Any blurbs or reviews that focus primarily on Holmes inaccurately represent the book. Though it does sketch some of Holmes' grisly activities, the  book is much more about the Chicago World's Fair and late-nineteenth-century America. Some of the most delightful moments in the book are unexpected cameos by famous folks: an unnamed architect who is fired from the Fair project is later identified as Frank Lloyd Wright; a young journalist visiting the city of Chicago for the first time turns out to be Theodore Dreiser; Mark Twain arrives in Chicago but never leaves his hotel room.

Much like Michael Pollan's The Botany of Desire, this text left my head chock full of interesting ideas and makes me want to read more by the author. In Larson's case, I may track down a copy of Isaac's Storm, which is about the 1900 hurricane that devastated Galveston.

my 2010 reading recap:
10. The Devil in the White City by Erik Larson
9. The Lost Symbol by Dan Brown
8. Blue Like Jazz by Donald Miller
7. The Botany of Desire by Michael Pollan
6. An Acceptable Time by Madeline L'Engle
5. Many Waters by Madeline L'Engle
4. A Swiftly Tilting Planet by Madeline L'Engle
3. A Wind in the Door by Madeline L'Engle
2. A Wrinkle in Time by Madeline L'Engle
1. The Magicians and Mrs. Quent by Galen Beckett