Perpetual Mirage: Photographic Narratives of the Desert West

This is a collection of essays and accompanying photographs that pulls together many of the earliest pictures taken in the American Southwest. Although I was not as interested in the essays, the photographs richly document the landscapes, Native Americans, pueblos and towns, buildings and architecture, rivers, and canyons in the Southwest.

Swimming in the Dark, by Tomasz Jedrowski

 

I really enjoyed this short novel (191 pages) set in 1980s Poland. It tells the story of two young men who meet and fall in love the summer after they finish university. The narrator, Ludwik, is disenchanted with communism and Soviet influence over Poland; whereas, Janusz is eager to work within the system, using his political connections to aid his rise and increase his influence. During the year after university, they clash more and more as the political situation becomes less stable, until Ludwik decides that he must make a break to live honestly. This novel demonstrates the difficulty for the average citizen living in Poland: waiting in lines to buy food, the inability to get medical care unless you have connections,  tiny apartments, censorship, and much more. The author does a wonderful job setting the scene and describing life during that turbulent time. This is his first novel, and I hope to see many more.

Photographs of the Southwest, by Ansel Adams

 

This book contains a collection of 109 photographs by Ansel Adams from the 1920s through the 1960s. They include landscapes, portraits, statuary, Native American ruins, architecture, sand dunes, flora, storms, and lots of rock formations. It includes several of his famous photos, "Moonrise, Hernandez, New Mexico," and "Aspens, Northern New Mexico, 1958." It's amazing how sand dunes look like snowy mountainsides when rendered in black and white. This collection is introduced with "The Southwest: An Essay on the Land," by Lawrence Clark Powell. Interestingly, Powell was a librarian who, according to Wikipedia, started his career at the Central Library in Los Angeles, then worked in the acquisitions department at UCLA, eventually becoming University Librarian. Later he became the first dean of the UCLA School of Library service. His career continued after retirement at the University of Arizona, which holds his papers.

Ansel Adams: Classic Images

 

This is a nice collection of 75 of Ansel Adams' most well-known photographs. It's introduced by John Szarkowski, a photographer himself, as well as a curator, critic, and historian. James Alinder, another photographer, writes a longer essay about Adams and the particular photographs included in this collection. I'm struck again by Adams interest and love of wilderness, but not wildlife. This collection includes the expected Yosemite and Sierra Nevada photographs, aspens, sand dunes, surf, and much more.

The Beekeeper of Aleppo, by Christy Lefteri

This is a powerful novel about a refugee couple from Aleppo whose son died in a bombing. Nuri and his wife Afra, who was blinded in the bombing, decide to leave Aleppo after Nuri is threatened with death if he refused to join the militia. They make their way to Istanbul, then Greece, and eventually to England. The novel tells their story in chapters alternating between past and present, revealing the danger and indignities experienced by those who give up everything to make their way to a safer country. Initially, Afra appears the weaker of the two, but as the story develops, we learn of Nuri's own vulnerabilities. This is a wonderfully written novel by Christy Lefteri, who observed firsthand the tragedy of the Syrian refugee crisis when she served as a volunteer in Athens for UNICEF.

Deacon King Kong, by James McBride

 

I loved this novel by James McBride. It's set in a Brooklyn housing project in the 1960s, when heroin is beginning to be widely available, creating tensions between generations and criminal gangs. An elderly man, nicknamed Sportcoat, shoots a young dealer in front of many witnesses; later, he claims he doesn't remember doing it. This sets in motion a series of events that changes the course of the young man's life. There are many characters who add depth and color to the story, including a Genoan smuggler, mafia drug dealers, rising Black dealers, a bunch of church ladies, and a cop nearing retirement, who just has to make it through the next few months. The writing is excellent, the plot is engaging, and the characters are interesting. All that being said, I didn't care for the style of the first two short chapters, but if you can get past that, the rest of the book is very good.

Rage, by Bob Woodward

 

To a certain extent, this book is similar to Woodward's last book, Fear, in that it simply reinforces everything you know about Trump from watching the news. I found Rage to be a little haphazard. However, one of the things I appreciated about Rage is that it delves more deeply into some of Trump's closest advisors, at least early in the book. The book begins with profiles on several of Trump's cabinet members: Dan Coats, Rex Tillerson, and James Mattis. Woodward explores their careers and why each chose to enter the Trump administration, and how they came to work closely with each other, before each were eventually fired. Interspersed with these accounts are chapters devoted to Trump's relationship with Kim Jong Un. Finally, the book almost completely pivots to how Trump has dealt with the Covid-19 pandemic. While each of these topics is interesting, the book is less of an account of the four year term than a collection of anecdotes. 

Woodward was able to interview Trump 17 times on the record for this book, so it includes a lot of direct quotes that came from Woodward's recordings. Often Trump would call Woodward, seemingly making him one of a number of people that Trump calls when he wants to chat. It's clear the Woodward was able to interview Lindsay Graham and Jared Kushner as well, adding some other perspectives on their strategies for working with Trump. Woodward's conclusion is that Trump is not the right man for the job (which I could have told him!).

Snowpiercer, directed by Bong Joon-Ho

 

I really liked this 2013 film based on a graphic novel. The film was directed by Bong Joon-Ho, who also directed Parasite. The premise is of a future where global warming has gotten so bad that scientists try to fix it by putting something in the atmosphere that will cool the earth, but it pushes the earth into an ice age. The only remaining humans are on a train that circumnavigates the globe once a year. Status on the train is reflected in what car you're in; the elite are near the front and poor people in the rear. There's now a TV series based on this as well. Thinking about getting the graphic novel...