The Old Man and the Sea (Pulitzer Winner)

He always thought of the sea as la mar which is what people call her in Spanish when they love her.

The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway is beautiful, sad, and haunting.  The wonderful experience of reading this 1953 winner of the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction makes suffering through some of the other winners worthwhile. The story is short, perfect, powerful, and complete.

The old man is Santiago, who hasn’t caught a fish in 84 days. The villagers consider him unlucky. He eventually even loses his apprentice because the boy's family is concerned that the bad luck will rub off.  So one day Santiago goes out alone and finally catches a fish, a huge marlin, and the two of them dance/battle. The interaction goes on for days, with the marlin dragging Santiago further and further away from shore. In the end, the sea takes its toll on Santiago.

The Old Man and the Sea reminds me of a Native American hunting story, yet it is the story of a Cuban fisherman. Deep in his heart, Santiago know the sea. He feels love and respect for the marlin, referring to him as “brother.” Yet, the story acknowledges the sea's dangers. Santiago isn’t puffed up with bravado. He accepts that he is an old man, yet all his years of fishing have made him masterful.

The Old Man and the Sea touched my heart and changed it. Part of me knows the story is also metaphorical, but I don’t want to think about that. I am content to let the metaphors reveal themselves in their own time.

Anything You Want (Business Book)

When you make a business, you get to make a little universe where you control all the laws. This is your utopia.

Anything You Want: 40 Lessons for a New Kind of Entrepreneur by Derek Sivers is filled with advice for an entrepreneur. Often running his business contrary to conventional thinking, Silver created the successful CD Baby, which gave musicians a way to sell their CDs on-line. The book is inspiring and easy to read. Because it is small, it is perfect for throwing into a purse, briefcase or backpack to read in spare moments. But, I am skeptical about how easy the ideas would actually be for most people to apply and be successful. I suspect it would take a person with an unconventional personality, who is comfortable in their own skin. Still, it is well worth reading and pondering.

The Caine Mutiny (Pulitzer Prize Winner)

The sea was the one thing in Willie’s life that remained larger than Queeg. The captain had swelled in his consciousness to an all-pervading presence, a giant malice and evil; but when Willie filled his mind with the sight of the sea and the sky, he could, at least for a while, reduce Queeg to a sickly well-meaning man struggling with a job beyond his powers.

If I had read the ending of The Caine Mutiny by Herman Wouk first (as I have sometimes done in the past with books), perhaps it would not have taken me over three months to finish reading the novel. I was seriously considering giving up my goal of reading all the Pulitzer Prize winners. Something within me rebelled against the story. Perhaps, I couldn’t stand yet another war novel. Perhaps I was convinced that at the end of the book a likeable character would be hung for mutiny. Perhaps I am too tired of reading real-life stories of the abuse by people in power. This week, I finally forced myself to finish the last three hundred pages of the 500+ page book in one day. In the end, I appreciated Wouk’s storytelling ability and felt that I had a glimpse of the 1950’s mindset. While The Caine Mutiny is a novel about war, it is also a “coming of age” story.

Even before The Caine Mutiny was a film, it read like a 1950’s movie. It contains the classic scenes of love, bravery, and courtroom drama. The novel takes us from Willie’s first days in the Navy to his last. For me, Willie is sometimes an antihero and other times a hero. What impressed me most about the book was how, scene by scene, Wouk builds the events that lead to the mutiny aboard the Caine, a minesweeper. In the courtrooms scenes, Wouk helps the reader understand Captain Queeg, the captain the men rebel against, as well as the nature of command in the Navy. The courtroom scenes and the conclusion of the novel made me question the perspective I originally had about the mutiny.

I keep on feeling that I am comparing apples to oranges when I compare my experiences of reading the Pulitzer winners to my experiences of reading other types of novels. The Caine Mutiny, the 1952 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction winner,  is a thought provoking, well-crafted novel. My escapist fiction loving personality did not enjoy reading the novel, though toward the end I found my reading rhythm. The Pulitzer winners provide a different type of pleasure, one of experiencing admirable craftsmanship.

The Noisy Paint Box (Children’s Book)

“With his noisy paint box, Vasya Kandinsky created something entirely new—abstract art,”

“It took a long time for people to understand.
‘Is it a house?’ ’Is it a flower?’ ’What’s it supposed to be?’
‘It’s my art.’ Vasya answered ‘How does it make you feel?’”

When I attended an exhibit of Kandinsky’s art a couple of weeks ago, a key turned in my mind, opening the door to a wonderful room that I never knew existed.  I wanted to learn more about the grandfather of abstract art.

The Noisy Paint Box written by Barb Rosenstock and illustrated by Mary Grandprѐ is aimed at primary school aged children. It describes how Kandinsky’s synesthesia led to the creation of abstract art. The words and illustrations help the reader get a feeling for Kandinsky, an experience that is enjoyable for both adult and young readers.

I don’t have a lot of experience with children’s books, but the vocabulary level seemed a bit high to me: “cerulean point,” “Fugue,” “Improvisation.” Perhaps this is a nice book to introduce children to some new art and music concepts.

On What Grounds (Mystery Novel)

When the going gets stressful, the stressed find a fun book to read. I’ve been drinking way too much coffee to get through the day, so it was just natural that I would find On What Grounds by Cleo Coyle. The mystery is the first book in the Coffeehouse Mystery Series. The novel is as much about coffee as it is about a mysterious accident. Inspired by the book, yesterday I drank my first espresso since my college days. And, wired but very happy, I finished reading the novel.

Part of the fun of beginning to read any new series is meeting new friends. The main character is Clare Cosi, who has recently agreed to again manage The Village Blend, an over hundred year old coffeehouse that she left years ago. Madame, the owner, happens to be her ex-mother-in-law. As part of Clare’s contract, she is to be given the use of the apartment above the coffeehouse. She soon finds that her ex-husband Matt, a coffee buyer, is also to have use of the apartment when he is in the city. It would seem Madame’s motives are not totally pure. Clare's living companion is a cat, Java, who earned his name partially because of the color of his fur and partially because of his temperament. Clare and Matt have one daughter, Joy, who is in culinary school. The lead detective on the case in On What Grounds is Quinn, whom Clare feels compelled to rehabilitate from his life-long habit of bad coffee.

As for the plot of On What Grounds, after moving yet more of her belongings to the apartment above the coffeehouse, Clare finds the assistant manager, an aspiring dancer, lying unconscious on the floor of the coffeehouse. Is it a tragic accident or is it something more? Clare, with the help of her ex-husband, attempts to find out the truth. At time the plot seemed to be only a convenient excuse to introduce interesting characters and educate the reader about coffee. But, the novel ended up in fine mystery fashion, with the appropriate plot twists. The digressions didn't take away from my enjoyment of the novel, and I feel fortunate to have found a  new mystery series to take me away from the drama of my own life.

I Can See Clearly Now (Autobiographical Book)

I Can See Clearly Now is more than a title. It becomes a mantra in Wayne Dyer’s most recent book, a sort of autobiography. Over and over, he describes clearly seeing how events shaped his life and his career. He describes his progression from self-help author to spiritual author. He describes how creating programs for PBS allowed him to take his message to a larger audience. He also describes his forays into promoting new authors, acting, and leading tours.

I Can See Clearly Now helps us better understand the man who is perhaps one of the most influential self-help authors of our time. The book reveals a man with tenacity, whose sheer pluck made his first book, Your Erroneous Zones, a success. He demonstrated that same determination in promoting his PBS specials. The book also clearly shows a man determined to not follow the crowd, to be his own person.

I wouldn’t necessarily call myself a fan of Dyer’s. He is such an intrinsic part of the self-help movement that I just automatically read his books as soon as I become aware of them. I listened to I Can See Clearly Now on audiobook. The experience made me step back and look at the man behind the books. I would love to say that it helped me to see clearly how the events in my own life shaped me; it did not. But, what it did do is start me pondering the influences in Dyer’s life and considering whether they had any relevance to my own life.