Book Log 2012 #10: Radio Shangri-La by Lisa Napoli

I have an odd fixation with Bhutan, so this book was right up my alley. Napoli, a journalist based in Los Angeles, took a major detour at a crossroads in her life by agreeing to move to the Bhutanese capital of Thimphu to help start a youth-oriented radio station. Considering Bhutan only allowed television and Internet access in 1999, this was a bigger deal than she expected.

The bulk of the book covers her time in the country, getting used to her youthfully exuberant, if not particularly skilled, station staff, learning about the pervasive nature of its Buddhist culture, and trying to get used to the spicy cuisine. As interesting (and often humorous) as this is, I think the last part of the book, where Napoli goes back to California and eventually hosts one of her former radio personalities, speaks best about the author's personal journey in comparison to the changes in Bhutan (which was introducing elections for some positions) and in the Bhutanese, who have the unenviable task of trying to balance traditional living with the desire to be more involved with the outside world.

Certainly worth a read if you're interested in Bhutan or cross-cultural sorts of books.

Book Log 2012 #9: How Italian Food Took Over the World by John Mariani

So it turns out that I didn't lose my list of books, so now I can go back and report on books like this, which I more or less forgot I'd even read. Which, in and of itself, tells you something about the book. I don't have specific criticisms, but do remember being less impressed with the book than I expected. Could just be I didn't connect with the writing. Probably worth a peek to see if I'm off base.

Book Log 2012 #8: Code to Zero by Ken Follett


A man wakes up in a public restroom, and can't remember who he is or how he got there. While he looks like a common bum, he quickly realizes that he's not, and as he builds up a base of knowledge about himself he also becomes aware that his condition is related to the coming launch of the Explorer I, the rocket that put the US into space in 1958. This leads to his wife and old friends from Harvard, and the realization that someone is out to stop him, and perhaps the rocket launch itself.

It was the basic premise of the book that led me to pick it up, but I have to say I was somewhat disappointed in the actual story. Certain things happened to quickly for my taste, or enjoyed a coincidence that stretched credulity a bit too far. I'm also not sure I understand why the characters who worked for the KGB joined the other side in the first place. There's a half-hearted attempt to explain at least one character's change, but I'm not really buying it.

The other issue I ran into is that there are things that the characters have done that I would have preferred to read about. Several characters worked for the OSS during World War II, some behind enemy lines. Another fought in the Spanish Civil War. There's the potential for some interesting flashbacks, but we don't get any. Most of the flashbacks we do get are to when most of the characters were students at Harvard or Radcliffe.

So, no, I don't think I'd recommend this book, which is a shame, as I still think the premise is a good one.

Book Log 2012 #7: The Hypnotist by Lars Kepler

Another drop in the torrent of Scandinavian crime fiction hitting the US, this novel follows a psychiatrist and police detective as they work a multiple murder where the doctor uses hypnosis - a practice he'd sworn off years before - to get information from the only surviving family member. A number of new crimes follow, and both protagonists have to work to figure out the how and why they're connected - if at all - in order to stop the killings and save a kidnap victim.

I was not a fan of the book to start, as things seemed pretty stilted - there were more formal introductions of characters and information in the first 75 pages than you'd find in all of pretty much any other mystery novel - but as things moved along the writing moved away from its Billy's Pan Pizza stiffness (perhaps an artifact of translation?) and picked up steam.

I'm still unsure that some of what passed would actually happen - the publicity over the doctor's use of hypnosis seemed to happen too quickly and too strongly, though I know little enough about Sweden to say if hypnotizing victims of crime would be that controversial. On the plus side, I did find that the typical world-weariness of the detectives in Scandinavian crime fiction was tempered somewhat, a positive effect of his doggedness.

Kepler is a husband and wife team of writers, and I wonder if that's to blame for some of the uneven tone at the start of the book. In any case, I did enjoy the book once it started rolling, and I think I'd pick up either of Kepler's other two books once they show up in the US.

2012 Book Log #6: In the Garden of Beasts  by Erik Larson


Larson is best known for his books that contrast technological marvels with criminal events that happened concurrently (Devil in the White City, for example), but this book harkens back to Isaac's Storm, the story of a man who had his beliefs changed due to a seminal event (in this case, a deadly hurricane that more or less destroyed Galveston, Texas).

This book moves on to a bigger stage, as it covers the tenure of US ambassador to Germany William Dodd, a history professor who winds up being the first American ambassador to Nazi Germany. He takes the job believing that he can use the power of his intellect (and the US government) to help steer Hitler and his friends into less radical waters. As his time in office unfolds, he has to battle both the Germans - who continue to act out, occasionally beating an American citizen who didn't stop to salute marching SA members - and internal enemies in the State Department, who seemed to spend as much time deriding Dodd for his lack of Ivy League credentials and frugal way as they did working on actual diplomacy.

Dodd's daughter is a sort of co-main character, a vivacious young woman whose own intellect and writing gets her into literary and higher society. She's also a bit of a romantic adventurer, between her marriage to a much older New York banker and the on-again, off-again romance she kindled in Berlin with a Russian intelligence agent who was working to turn her into an informant (a task of which she was apparently unaware).

I don't know if I really enjoyed the book as much as his others, but I did find it fascinating to see how the common if often casual anti-Semitism among American diplomats (including Dodd) and the common belief that the Nazis would moderate or be replaced led to a number of missed opportunities. I don't think another ambassador could have done more to push the Nazis to a more moderate position - Dodd did as well as he could, I think, and anyone trying to do more would likely have put US-German relations in a more difficult position - and I don't think anyone would have really succeeded in doing anything to make things better. Anyone and everyone could have done more to get Jews out of Germany while the getting was good.

All that being said, I do think the strength of the book is the inside look into the early days of the Nazi regime, and it's well worth a read for that alone.

Book Log 2012 #5: The Flanders Panel by Arturo Perez-Reverte

An art restorer, working on a 15th century painting of a chess match, discovers a question painted under the surface of the work - the Latin equivalent of Who killed the knight? - and in doing so decides to solve the mystery posed by the question, with the help of her long-time mentor and father-figure, a former boyfriend and art historian, the agent selling the painting, and a reserved chess master. This quickly spreads into a modern day murder mystery, as members of the group begin to drop. Muddying things is the potential transfer of the painting to another firm, as the value of the painting becomes greater in the face of all the killings.

It's a pretty good mystery, but I was disappointed in the ending. Suffice it to say I didn't quite buy into why the guilty party's motivation. But I did enjoy it overall, just a little less than some of his other books.

Book Log 2012 #4: A Lily of the Field by John Lawton

So I got a new phone recently, and in the process of transferring information from my old phone I managed to delete the file where I'd been keeping all of the book titles I'd not yet logged here. It was a solid dozen, so well done by me.

This is actually one of the more recent books I've read, and to add annoyance to annoyance it's the eighth book in a series featuring a London police detective and cases he's picked up before, during and after World War II. There's one, maybe two previous books to which I likely now know who the guilty party is, so even more well done by me.

Even so, I am glad that I picked this one up as I enjoyed it quite a bit. The set-up is a little odd, in that the main character of the series doesn't show up in the book until it's well underway. The first third of the book (if not more) follows a group of characters who become important to the actual crime. It was a little confusing at first, but given where this book is in the series it's not like you have to trot out the main character on page one.

The actual murders in the book are secondary to the great period detail, from the social and musical life pre-war Vienna to post-war London and its rationing. I would certainly recommend this book, but I'd also recommend starting from the beginning (and to throw another wrench into things, the books take place in a different chronological order than their published order).

Lentorama 2012: Know Your Diocese

Day 40: Archdiocese of Boston

Of course we were going to wind up here. The basics: founded in the early 1800s, split off from Baltimore. Grew tremendously with all of the Irish and Italian immigrants that came in later that century. Had a significant problem with priests abusing boys (hopefully the use of the past tense is appropriate), thanks in no small part to an enabling cardinal who got the most golden of parachutes when he was reassigned to Rome after resigning as head of the archdiocese. Current guy seems to be doing well, like that he keeps wearing his monastic robe rather than moving into fancier cardinal duds.

Honestly, this Lentorama did not go well. A couple of entertaining bits, but mostly a slog. I do already have an idea for 2013, which I think will at least be more fun to write.

Lentorama 2012: Know Your Diocese


Day 39: Diocese of Dubrovnik


While bishops sat at Dubrovnik going back to the sixth century, it didn't get diocese status until 990. For roughly 700 years it was an archdiocese, but it was demoted in 1828, which I assume had something to do with the end of the Republic of Ragusa, of which Dubrovnik was capital. There's not much else I can find about it, especially as the diocese website is (a) in Croatian, and (b) seems optimized to crash my browser.

Lentorama 2012: Know Your Diocese

Day 38: Diocese of Poona

OK, language question. From what I can tell, Poona is also Pune. I was thinking that Poona was some sort of bastardization created by the English, but when I click through to the diocese website they use Poona. But then it lists Pune as one of the areas it covers. So maybe it's the Vatican that needs to update its usage?

Anyway, the diocese was formed in 1886, developed from work done by various priests sent to the area to offer service to Catholics in the military. There aren't that many Catholics in the area, and it seems like every time there was significant growth in the diocese a chunk would get cut off and moved to somewhere else. I'd be a little irritated if I were the bishop of Poona. Or Pune for that matter.

Lentorama 2012: Know Your Diocese


Day 37: Diocese of Tulsa


This diocese was formed in 1972, freeing it from the 1930s creation of a diocese of Oklahoma City and Tulsa. It covers 31 counties in eastern Oklahoma. Not surprisingly, it can trace its history even earlier to French monks who arrived in the area to put down a Catholic footprint and convert the natives.

Really, there's not much else to say about them.

Lentorama 2012: Know Your Diocese

Day 36: Diocese of Fulda

OK, I was actually looking to see if there was a diocese of Tulsa (there is), but my inability to type led me to this German diocese, which traces its roots to an 8th century monastery that Pope Zachary put under direct papal control. St. Boniface asked to be buried at Fulda, which helped it gain standing among other, larger northern European diocese. At some point the diocese was also run as a principality, a status that lasted until 1802. The diocese also enjoyed expanded power over other monasteries and was for a time an important center of science in the Holy Roman Empire.

Things got a little tougher in the 19th century, as the diocese was run by an administrator rather than a bishop for a time, and during the Kulturkampf the bishop's seat was vacant for eight years.  Then in the aftermath of World War II, parts of Fulda were in East Germany, leading to some practical issues of governance. In 1973 a new diocese was created out of the parts of other diocese now in East German territory. They were by and large not returned after reunification. One odd outlier in the whole Cold War period is the curate of Ostheim, which is technically still part of Fulda but is actually run by another diocese.

I suspect Tulsa will not be quite so interesting.

Lentorama 2012: Know Your Diocese


Day 35: Diocese of Veracruz


See, here's what I don't get. This diocese was formed in 1962, and pretty much from the start has served a population that's over 90 percent Catholic, now numbering about two million people. Compare that with some of the diocese we've previously covered, that have had less than a thousand members. I know it's not just a numbers game, but the disparity can be a bit glaring.

Lentorama 2012: Know Your Diocese


Day 34: Diocese of Altoona-Johnstown


I had no real reason for choosing this diocese. Just searched on Altoona for some reason, and there it was. Johnstown was added to the name in the 1950s, for reasons I can't figure out (Johnstown doesn't appear to have been the seat of a diocese in its own right). Both cities have cathedrals, which I guess makes sense if they're both in the name of the diocese. Not much else to say other than that one of their bishops left to become the bishop of Scranton. Seems like a lateral move.

Lentorama 2012: Know Your Diocese

Day 33: Diocese of Bayeux and Lisieux

Both Bayeux and Lisieux have long histories as seats of religious power. Bayeux has been the home of a bishop  since the first century (the first eight bishops of Bayeux all became saints), while Lisieux hosted a bishop starting  in the 6th century. Move ahead 1200 years or so, and you'll find that the diocese of Lisieux was suppressed during the French Revolution, while Bayeux survived thanks to its status as the most senior see in Normandy (and with no small help from hosting at least one Constitutional Bishop). After the revolution, Lisieux would not regain its status, and was merged with Bayeux in 1802.

The diocese covers the department of Calvados, which could make for some very interesting sacramental wine.

Lentorama 2012: Know Your Diocese


Day 32: Diocese of Buffalo


Formed in 1847, the diocese originally covered the western third of New York. But before the century was out, the new Diocese of Rochester would claim several of the counties that made up the eastern part of the Buffalo diocese, which to me is an early warning for Buffalo's decline in the 20th century.

Unlike most diocesan websites, it's difficult to find a history of the Buffalo see on their website. The one thing that is prominently displayed is a link to the website championing the sainthood of Father Nelson Baker, whose charitable work in the Buffalo area was impressive. No word on any miracles, though.

Lentorama 2012: Know Your Diocese


Day 31: Archdiocese of Tokyo


There aren't a lot of Catholics in Tokyo (something like 0.5% of the population), not surprising given the 300 years or so where the faith was outlawed. For those living in Tokyo, though, they have the option of attending services in the striking St. Mary's Cathedral. It's not going to be to everyone's taste - there are aspects I'm not particularly wild about - but as churches built after 1950 tend to be either dull or hideous, it's a winner.

Lentorama 2012: Know Your Diocese


Day 30: Diocese of Oran


Not surprising that there is some sort of Catholic hierarchy in Algeria, given the long history with the French, but not surprisingly things are in a bit of a decline since independence. Not sure if it makes sense to have an entire diocese for 400 people (and it's worth wondering if it's still 400 if that's been the quoted figure since 1999). but given the long history of the church there I suppose it's understandable. Though not always easy - in 1996, Bishop Pierre Lucien Claverie was killed during Algeria's civil war, probably by Islamic extremists but possibly by the sitting government (at least that's how it reads to me based on websites Google translated from French, you can imagine what reading that was like).

Lentorama 2012: Know Your Diocese


Day 29: Archdiocese of San Antonio


Nothing particularly interesting in the usual stuff, but noteworthy in that it has parishes that are also part of the San Antonio Missions National Historical Park. Even if you're not religious, they're pretty cool on historical and architectural grounds, and are worth a visit if you're in San Antonio. You can always squeeze in the Riverwalk later.

Lentorama 2012: Know Your Diocese


Day 28: Diocese of Toowoomba


You could probably guess by the name that this is in Australia, created in 1929 and covering southwest Queensland. I'd only picked this because of the name, but it turns out there's a bit of recent scandal to provide some color. William Morris was made bishop in 1992, and not long afterwards was the target of reports of unorthodoxy, which he helped fan by circulating a letter in 1996 calling for discussion of ordaining married men as priests. He was called to Rome to discuss this, but never went, citing pastoral reasons for not making the trip. 


After what amounted to an inspection in 2007 and several years of wrangling with various Vatican types (and a 2009 audience with the Pope), Morris did the "you can't fire me, I quit" thing in 2011, though the papal nuncio to Australia said the next day that Morris had been removed. He was made "bishop emeritus," a sure-fire sign that he'd been put out to pasture. There's been an ongoing war of words between Morris and the Australian Catholic Bishops Conference, and to date there's not been a new bishop named. Rome may want to get on that.