Navel Gazing by Michael Ian Black

Reviewed by Ambrea

When I first picked up Navel Gazing, I realized I recognized the author’s name.  He was relatively famous, I knew that; I’d seen him on a screen somewhere, even if I couldn’t remember exactly where.  However, I’d never recognized him as a writer.  It surprised me, and I couldn’t help wondering if this wasn’t just another memoir by a celebrity with a ghost writer.

Except Michael Ian Black isn’t just another celebrity writing a book about his career; rather, he’s a man writing about the trials of everyday life with a terminally ill parent.

He discusses his family and his life as he grapples with his mother’s deteriorating health; he discusses his health and what he’s not doing to improve it; he discusses his beliefs, his religion and how it impacts him as his mother struggles with one medical diagnosis after another.  It’s a candid account on life in general and full of humorous musings on health, happiness, and faith.

I loved reading Black’s memoir for the simple fact that I could relate to him.  When he talks about his health and his worries regarding growing older, yet he doesn’t want to schedule another appointment with the doctor, I understood his fear of disease and his subsequent reluctance to do anything about it.  I mean, it sounds exactly like something I would do; in fact, it sounds like something I’ve done.

Likewise, when Black discussed his floundering attempts to become healthy and, for instance, decided to take up jogging as a healthier alternative to binge watching Netflix, I understood and connected with his experiences.  I understood his struggles with weight and physical exercise (it’s exhausting), and I recognized his desperate desire to discover something deeper, more important in his running routine.

“The toughest thing about training for the half marathon was the time commitment:  hours per week, hours that could have been more fruitfully spent not running.  Why did I persist, week after week, through the summer heat and into the chilly days of autumn?  What was my fascination with running?  [...]  What did I want?  The truth is, I knew what I wanted from running, but I couldn’t quite bring myself to admit it:  I wanted enlightenment.  And this is where are all my convoluted feelings about my body and Mom’s declining health and aging and my own fear of death and praytheism congeal into a goopy sludge.  This is the nexus.  It is a stupid nexus, to be sure, but I could not quite shake the idea that running could save me.”

I laughed at his self-deprecating humor, of course, but I enjoyed his candor and I connected on a personal level with his experiences.  I know what it’s like to struggle with weight and health concerns (doesn’t everyone?), and I know what it’s like to hope that you can find something—anything—in physical activity.  You hope to find enlightenment, contentment, peace—you know, something you can’t quite name—and it’s always a little disappointing if you don’t.

 
Overall, I loved the reading Navel Gazing.  It’s fun and humorous, like it’s intended to be, but it’s also insightful and relatable.  It connects on a deeply human level, exploring our individual foibles and disappointments, our worries and fears and insecurities.  Personally, I came away from Navel Gazing with a familiar, ‘intense...almost electrical connection” to another human being.

It’s a feeling that I’m sure any reader will appreciate after finishing Black’s memoir.

Red Planet Blues by Robert J. Sawyer

Reviewed by Kristin

It’s not the mean streets of Chicago, but it is the mean streets of New Klondike, a domed city on Mars.  Gumshoe Alex Lomax is a one of a kind private investigator, the only one working the red planet.  In a near future world where space travel is fairly common and the option to transfer to a mechanical body is possible, people can go a long way from their lowly beginnings on Earth.  For the adventurous soul, prospecting for fossils on Mars can be the key to extraordinary wealth.  Yes—fossils!  Proof of Martian life was discovered only forty years earlier by Simon Weingarten and Denny O’Reilly.  The ensuing flurry of fortune hunters could only be compared to the California Gold Rush.

Cassandra Wilkins is a newly transferred mind residing within an android body.  Her husband Joshua (never Josh) Wilkins also recently transferred, but he has disappeared.  Cassandra is desperate to find Joshua, and thus engages Lomax’s services.  New Klondike is small and there aren’t too many places to hide or be hidden.  Sure enough, Lomax soon enough stumbles on Joshua’s body, apparently a suicide.

Of course all is not as it seems, and Lomax digs up way more red dirt than expected.  Lomax chases clues inside and outside the dome.  Wearing a surface suit for life support with a fishbowl helmet and driving Mars buggies across the planitia, Lomax looks for clues to what really happened to Joshua Wilkins.  Of course, if he also finds the long lost Alpha deposit of fossils, all the better.

The old-time PI vibes and the frontier mentality of a Martian colony struck just the right tone for me in this science fiction novel.  The characters had just enough quirks to make them interesting but not so much to distract me from the storyline.  (Although I do admit that Lomax’s habit of tipping an imaginary hat as he bade others farewell was a bit much after the fifth or sixth time.)  The difference between the “biologicals” and the “transfers” was interesting, and presented philosophical questions about preserving consciousnesses and how a person could potentially live forever in a new and improved body.

After reading Red Planet Blues, I enthusiastically sought out more Robert J. Sawyer.  He has published several novels, novellas, and short stories.  The library may even have enough of Sawyer’s work (in book, e-book, and audiobook formats) to keep me busy for the winter.  See you in the spring!

Nevermore: Lost City of Z, Emory's Gift, Red Planet Blues, Heart Is a Lonely Hunter, and more!

Reported by Kristin

Our first Nevermore reader enjoyed The Lost City of Z:  A Tale of Deadly Obsession in the Amazon by David Grann.  Popular interest in the book has been sparked by the recent movie of the same name. (Available at the Main library: DVD LOS.)  Explorer Percy Fawcett trekked into the Amazon in an attempt to find the lost city of El Dorado (“City of Gold”) in 1925.  Our reader said that she particularly admired Fawcett’s incredible drive and purpose.

Yet another reader tried Brothers of the Sea by D.R. Sherman, an older novel set in the Seychelles Island, and another reader decided to jump on the bandwagon and read it in the coming week.  The reader who just finished it said that it portrayed a beautiful relationship between a sweet boy and a nice father.

The same reader absolutely loved Emory’s Gift by W. Bruce Cameron, author of A Dog’s Purpose.   After his mother dies, teen Charlie is lonely until a grizzly bear saves him from a mountain lion, then moves into the family barn.  Being in Northern Idaho, everyone else wants to kill the grizzly, but Charlie seeks to protect his friend and protector.

Turning to science fiction, another reader enjoyed Red Planet Blues by Robert Sawyer.  Within a frontier-like town set up in a bubble dome on Mars, human foibles are presented in a light breezy way.  Alex Lomax is a private eye, the only one in New Klondike.  Outside the bubble, a variety of treasure hunters are seeking extremely valuable Martian fossils.  Our reader appreciated the word play, such as someone being described as “kempt and sheveled,” as opposed to “unkempt and disheveled.”

Next up was a book published in 1917, The Grim 13: Short Stories by Thirteen Authors of Standing, edited by Frederick Stuart Greene.  These stories do tend to be on the grim side (as the title indicates,) but they are not tragic.  Our reader’s favorite one was about a man in the jungle whose job is to raise the bridge out of the way when a boat needs to pass.  Spookiness abound as the man questions what he hears.

Another classic, The Heart is a Lonely Hunter by Carson McCullers, portrays outcasts and oddballs in a small Georgia town during the 1930’s.  When John Singer, a deaf mute, loses his mute companion to a mental institution, he moves in with the Kelly family.  Rife with racial and poverty issues, our reader compared this with To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee.

A new-to-Nevermore reader discussed her recent reading of Madam Secretary: A Memoir by Madeleine Albright.  Published in 2003, this memoir takes the first female U.S. Secretary of State from her childhood in Czechoslovakia to her high ranking governmental position in Bill Clinton’s administration.  Our reader was very impressed that Albright rose to that post after a relatively late start in government—her first federal job was when she was 39 and had three children.

Long Black Veil by Jennifer Finney Boylan tackles a 1980 murder mystery when six college students looking for a thrill are drawn into a terrifying situation where someone ends up dead.  Fast forward twenty years when new evidence comes to light.  The chapters alternate between the old and the new; titles at the beginning of each section make it easy to differentiate the time periods.  Our reader found this book very entertaining, saying that it will keep you on the edge of your seat.

Next up in fiction was Big Little Lies by Liane Moriarty.  Involving three women who run in the same circles because they have children in the same Australian preschool, the storyline makes it clear right up front that someone will end up dead, but winds around and around before naming the victim.  Our reader said that if you have ever been a parent of an elementary school student, you will recognize the mommy politics in this tale.  Now an HBO miniseries, the book may resonate with many a striving, overachieving parent.

In Jamestown:  The Truth Revealed, William Kelso examines what happened to the lost 1607 Jamestown Settlement.  Historians had long believed that the original site of the James Fort was covered by the river, as the land surrounding it was a low swampy place.  After Jamestown burned, it was mostly forgotten.  In 1994, archeologist Kelso began to dig in another location and found definitive evidence of the stockade, church, and perhaps most unsettling—cannibalism.  The 13-year-old girl depicted on the cover is a representation from a found skull and leg bone which showed proof of being scraped out, and her flesh possibly eaten during “the starving period.”  Our reader’s descriptions engendered much curiosity and discussion within the group.

Neil Shubin argues in The Universe Within:  The Deep History of the Human Body that the very evolution of the universe is evidenced within the human body.  From our atoms to our sleep cycles, Shubin connects the strands that show how the universe around us influences the way our bodies have adapted.  Our reader said that she learned so many beautiful scientific things from this book.

Finally, The Jane Austen Project by Kathleen A. Flynn was enjoyed by another reader.  In this novel, two time travelers are sent back in time from the near future to 1815 London.  Their goal: recover an unpublished novel, and steal it.  (Without influencing history, of course.)  Our reader enjoyed the time travel aspect of the novel, and was amused by the fact that the travelers had not experienced “real food” in their own time period, but merely 3D replica composites made to nourish them.  The real thing in 1815 was surely a shock to their digestive systems and their sensibilities.

Molly and the Cat Café by Melissa Daley

Reviewed by Jeanne

Molly the tabby barely remembers her kittenhood except for the moment of meeting Margery, the kind lady who adopted her.  Her life is comfortable:  she adores Margery and Margery returns her love in full measure.  Then Margery begins to have lapses.  She puts mashed potatoes in Molly’s bowl and has trouble recognizing family and friends.  The next thing Molly knows is that Margery is gone and Molly is sent to live in a house with unfriendly dogs.  It’s a miserable existence, and the little cat is determined to find a better home on her own. She runs away, but she’s unused to life as a street cat: she’s cold, she’s hungry, and she’s in danger from all sides.

When things seem darkest, she finds Debbie, a struggling single mother trying to make a life for herself and Sophie, her sullen teenage daughter. Debbie is trying to run a café, but things are not going well.  Debbie may have to close up shop and move away.  Has Molly found a new home just to lose it all again?

This is a sweet, heart-warming story, narrated by a bright and sensible little feline who has pluck and love to spare.  Her tone rather reminds me of any number of British characters but for some reason Miss Read is the one I’ve settled on.  She’s a gentle but no-nonsense girl who hopes she can somehow help Debbie solve all her problems.  I never bet against the cat in such circumstances.

There’s a bit of romance thrown in for good measure, and Anglophiles will enjoy the Cotswold setting.

I was in the mood for a feel-good story and this fit the bill admirably.  I’ll be passing it along to cat-loving friends as well. A second book in the series, Christmas at the Cat Café has been published in the U.K.

Melissa’s cat Nancy has her own Facebook page:  look for Nancy Harpenden-Cat. Nancy seems a bit more opinionated than Molly, but is still very entertaining.