The Appeal

Title: The Appeal

Author: John Grisham

Pages: 496

Genre: Legal Thriller

Grade: B+

Synopsis: There is a small town in Mississippi where the water is undrinkable and scores of people have died from cancer or have cancer.  In a related court case, a Mississippi jury hands down a huge verdict against a chemical company for polluting the ground, groundwater and contaminating the area, causing a huge cancer cluster.  The owner of the chemical company is a multi-billion dollar executive living large in Manhattan, who will appeal the verdict to the Mississippi Supreme Court.  His next task is to get a judge elected to the Supreme Court who will overturn this verdict.

My Review: This Grisham novel has generally not received very good reviews, although I found that I enjoyed it.  It preyed on the fact that many of our elected officials have to answer to the big money that gets them elected.  There probably are companies out that that act similar to the chemical company in this book, if there are, then they make me sick (both figuratively and literally).

The Sex Lives of Canibals

Title: The Sex Lives of Cannibals: Adrift in the Equatorial Pacific

Author: J. Maarten Troost

Pages: 11 discs

Genre: Humor, Travel

Grade: B+

Synopsis: When the author, Troost, was 26, he packed up with his girlfriend and moved for a couple of years to the remote country of Kiribati (pronounced Kir-i-bus). They would live on the small Tarawa Atoll, where the majority of the residents of Kiribati live. This book chronicles the authors adventures and misadventures throughout their stay on the small atoll.  The book was quite funny, although there were a few times when the humor was a bit forced.  I did find myself laughing often.

My Review: Contrary to the promise of the title, there is very little about sex in the book although there are times when the author's humor gets a little crass.  For example, the atoll is so flat that there really isn't a good sewer system. Some of the nicer homes have septic tanks, but the majority of the population is left to take care of business wherever they see fit.  This means that the residents (who are often plagued with dysentery-like diseases) will typically stick their booties out over the water and let it rip, which, of course, is the basis for many of the funnier parts of the book.

tuesdays with Morrie

Title: tuesdays with Morrie: an old man, a young man, and life's greatest lesson

Author: Mitch Albom

Pages: 5 discs

Genre: Non-fiction

Grade: B

Synopsis: Mitch Albom hears that his old, most-favorite professor from college is sick with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (i.e. ALS or Lou Gehrig's disease).  His health is declining quickly as the disease attacks his extremities and he is confined to a bed and requires assistance to do just about anything.  Mr. Albom works for a newspaper in Detroit that is on strike, so he decides to make a visit to his professor in the Boston area. His professor invites him back the following week and this quickly becomes their Tuesday tradition until the end of Morrie's life.  Morrie was a strong positive influence on many people and always had thoughts about how to live life to its fullest.  This story and Morrie's thoughts are recorded in this book.

My Review: Not a bad book, and Morrie had some great thoughts, but the book was a bit of a love-fest with the old professor. That's not to say he didn't have a lot of great thoughts and excellent aphorisms. Ted Koppel visited with Morrie and interviewed him a few times on Nightline.  You can see a few of the Nightline clips on youtube.

Mr. Vertigo

Title: Mr. Vertigo

Author: Paul Auster

Pages: 320

Genre: Fiction

Grade: B

Synopsis: Young Walter is a street boy living in St. Louis in the early part of the 20th century when he is approached by Master Yehudi, a Jew of Hungarian descent who promises the boy that he will teach him to fly. The boy agrees to be taught by Master Yehudi and is taken to the master's farm in Kansas where he will eventually learn how to control his mind and body in order to levitate.

My Review: This was a really interesting book.  It read more like a historical non-fiction book than anything fictional.  In fact, when I finished the book, in my mind I had serious doubts that the story wasn't true.  That to me is a sign of a well-written book of this style.