Chunkster Challenge -- wrapping up . . .

Well, I admit it: I'm proud of myself.   Not only did I get back to blogging again, but I actually finished the one book challenge I signed up for.    The Chunkster Challenge (see my Challenged page) seemed like something I could handle, and as it turned out, I totally could.   I had signed up for the: Do These Books Make My Butt Look Big? level and was surprised by how many pages some of my choices actually had.

Looking back at what I read, I realized that some of these books were ones I picked up because of my book groups.  Catherine the Great was a re-read (and I liked it just as much the second time through) for a book group, and so was Reamde.   Out of all of the books, I think I enjoyed the ones by Stephen King and Joe Hill the most: NOS4A2 and Doctor Sleep.   And out of all of the big books, those are the two, along with Lonesome Dove, that I plan on re-reading in the future.

Now that I've finished the year, I think I'll probably take a pass on this challenge in 2014 (although if it turns out that I'm picking up big books, I might sign up after all.  I see there are no levels in 2014, which might make it easier for me).   But, it was a great challenge -- I did feel challenged to find some books, and it made me expand some of my reading boundaries.  Many thanks to the challenge hosts!  

Review: Five Days at Memorial by Sheri Fink

Summary (courtesy of Goodreads): Pulitzer Prize winner Sheri Fink’s landmark investigation of patient deaths at a New Orleans hospital ravaged by Hurricane Katrina – and her suspenseful portrayal of the quest for truth and justice

In the tradition of the best investigative journalism, physician and reporter Sheri Fink reconstructs 5 days at Memorial Medical Center and draws the reader into the lives of those who struggled mightily to survive and to maintain life amid chaos.  After Katrina struck and the floodwaters rose, the power failed, and the heat climbed, exhausted caregivers chose to designate certain patients last for rescue. Months later, several health professionals faced criminal allegations that they deliberately injected numerous patients with drugs to hasten their deaths. 

Five Days at Memorial, the culmination of six years of reporting, unspools the mystery of what happened in those days, bringing the reader into a hospital fighting for its life and into a conversation about the most terrifying form of health care rationing.

In a voice at once involving and fair, masterful and intimate, Fink exposes the hidden dilemmas of end-of-life care and reveals just how ill-prepared we are in America for the impact of large-scale disasters—and how we can do better.  A remarkable book, engrossing from start to finish, Five Days at Memorial radically transforms your understanding of human nature in crisis.

And here's what I thought:  This book was a big mix of scary and fascinating.  The author, who did exhaustive research, writes the first half of the book, which focuses on the five days at the hospital like a tension-filled thriller.  As a reader, you feel like you don't want to keep reading .... but you must.  And this is the stuff of nightmares, at least, for me.  

In the second half of the book, the tension is relieved somewhat, but it still retains some of it, but reads more like a half legal novel/half legal examination.  That's not to say that it didn't remain a page turner, but I felt the pace of it slowed down a bit (which makes sense).  

The author really delves into a lot of different facets of what happened in the aftermath of Katrina, when the floods brought the worst devastation to the hospital.   She details not only what the doctors and nurses were facing, but what some of the patients, themselves, went through.  She includes detailed floor maps at the beginning, so you can go back and reconstruct what you're reading about. Because she brings in so much detail, it all felt very vivid.   Which is great ... and kinda awful at the same time.

Reading this book gave me insight into many things, including how poorly not only this hospital, but other hospitals, have been prepared for disaster.  The events caused by Hurricane Katrina shone a spotlight on just how poor communication was, and how awful planning was.   It's an eye-opening read just for this.    Is it a book for everyone?  Definitely not.  However, I found it to be fascinating, and a worthy read.

First lines:  At last through the broken windows, the pulse of helicopter rotors and airboat propellers set the summer morning air throbbing with the promise of rescue.  Floodwaters unleashed by Hurrican Katrina had marooned hundreds of people at the hospital, where they had now spent four days.  Doctors and nurses milled in the foul-smelling second-floor lobby.  Since the storm, they had barely slept, surviving on catnaps, bottled water, and rumors.  Before them law a dozen or so mostly elderly patients on soiled, sweat-soaked stretchers.


Note: This book, which weighs in at 486 pages (and that's not including the acknowledgments and notes) will go towards my goal in the Chunkster Reading Challenge

Catherine the Great: Portrait of a Woman - review

Summary (courtesy of GoodReads):  Born into a minor noble family, Catherine transformed herself into Empress of Russia by sheer determination. Possessing a brilliant mind and an insatiable curiosity as a young woman, she devoured the works of Enlightenment philosophers and, when she reached the throne, attempted to use their principles to guide her rule of the vast and backward Russian empire. She knew or corresponded with the preeminent historical figures of her time: Voltaire, Diderot, Frederick the Great, Empress Maria Theresa of Austria, Marie Antoinette, and, surprisingly, the American naval hero, John Paul Jones.

Reaching the throne fired by Enlightenment philosophy and determined to become the embodiment of the “benevolent despot” idealized by Montesquieu, she found herself always contending with the deeply ingrained realities of Russian life, including serfdom. She persevered, and for thirty-four years the government, foreign policy, cultural development, and welfare of the Russian people were in her hands. She dealt with domestic rebellion, foreign wars, and the tidal wave of political change and violence churned up by the French Revolution that swept across Europe. Her reputation depended entirely on the perspective of the speaker. She was praised by Voltaire as the equal of the greatest of classical philosophers; she was condemned by her enemies, mostly foreign, as “the Messalina of the north.”

Catherine’s family, friends, ministers, generals, lovers, and enemies—all are here, vividly described. These included her ambitious, perpetually scheming mother; her weak, bullying husband, Peter (who left her lying untouched beside him for nine years after their marriage); her unhappy son and heir, Paul; her beloved grandchildren; and her “favorites”—the parade of young men from whom she sought companionship and the recapture of youth as well as sex. Here, too, is the giant figure of Gregory Potemkin, her most significant lover and possible husband, with whom she shared a passionate correspondence of love and separation, followed by seventeen years of unparalleled mutual achievement.

And here's what I thought:  While the size of this book may be a bit daunting, it has a fast pace, which makes reading it pretty enjoyable.   It also has enough drama and intrigue packed into it to make anyone who loves soap operas or telenovellas a fan of Catherine the Great.  

Robert Massie does a great job of packing in a lot of information, while at the same time making Catherine very human.  Using a timeline approach for the first part of the book, you learn about her upbringing and history, and the events that bring her to Russia, and then, about halfway through the book, when she takes over the throne, the author switches to a writing style that sometimes jumps a bit back and forth in time, but which shows some of the decisions Catherine made, and the history surrounding them, as well as the impact they had.   She really was an extraordinary woman, who was clearly ahead of her time, and whose leadership brought Russia into the enlightened age.   She certainly wasn't afraid to be herself, an intelligent women with a strong will, and it's pretty impressive to think about all she accomplished.   Considering that she was a contemporary of some of our founding fathers (she died in 1796), it's intriguing to think about how  they would have received her here, in America --- basically, I like to imagine her sitting at a dinner with Benjamin Franklin and having some pretty lively conversation.

While I don't think that every reader would love this book, if you're interested in history, especially that of women rulers, I think this book is quite good.  It's written in a way that makes nonfiction read like fiction, which is appealing, and it really brings the history to life.

First lines:  Prince Christian Augustus of Anhalt-Zerbst was hardly distinguishable in the swam of obscure, penurious noblemen who cluttered the landscape and society of politically fragmented eighteenth-century Germany.  Possessed neither of exceptional virtues nor alarming vices, Prince Christian exhibited the solid virtues of his Junker lineage: a stern sense of order, discipline, integrity, thrift, and piety, along with an unshakable lack of interest in gossip, intrigue, literature, and the wider world in general.


Chunkster Challenge info:  This is the first book I read for this challenge, and it weighs in at a hefty 625 pages.

I've decided on the one book challenge for me for 2013

I tend to hopelessly fail at book challenges.   At the beginning of every year, I'm all enthusiastic, and ready for a new, fresh year of reading, and I feel like I can definitely handle a book challenge .... or two ... or three.     Woo Hoo!!!!!!

Librarian by day; reading super-hero by night

And inevitably, by October, I'm looking at the challenge, and my time left in the year, and know that by the end of December, I'll have to admit defeat.

Even if the challenge sounds like it's completely within reason, I can reach the end of a year without completion.   That happened with the one challenge I signed up for in 2012, The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen challenge.   I started out all happy and primed for some good reading .... and I got through a few books, and thought oh yes, the challenge is there and I shall be triumphant!   And ... no, actually .... um, not.

So, I had vowed to stay away from book challenges in 2013.  I would resist the temptation and instead, admit my inability to maintain my momentum and stick with it.   Until I saw the Chunkster Reading Challenge.

This is right up my alley.   In fact, in January, I'll be reading Catherine the Great for a book discussion, and Reamde for another.   These books alone weigh in at 625 pages, and 1044 pages, respectively.  And I had thought seriously about starting George R.R. Martin's Song of Ice and Fire series (and look at that --- Game of Thrones is 694 pages!).   So.....   I think I can do this one.   And because I can't help myself, I'm aiming big and signing up for this level:   Do These Books Make my Butt Look Big?     oh yes, if you knew the size of my booty, you'd see this was a natural choice on my part.

So, that's it.  One challenge.  One big book challenge for 2013.   Stay tuned for the reviews.  

And if you'd like to learn more, or sign up, please visit the Chunkster Reading Challenge.