The Art of Racing in the Rain by Garth Stein

If you are from Seattle this is a book that you really must read. Not only does the novel evoke the very essence of the area but manages to maker her a co-star. You will find yourself walking the streets of local neighborhoods as you remain ensconced in your reading chair.

Not surprisingly the author Garth Stein makes Seattle his home. But Stein's use of a dog as his narrator allows him a descriptive freedom that creates an almost three dimensional world for his reader. It also will likely make you look at your dog in a whole new way.

The story is narrated by a Labrador mix named Enzo. As he nears the end of his life Enzo tells the story of his life and introduces us to the family of people that it revolves around. His owner Denny Swift, his wife Eve, and his daughter Zoe.

Denny is a race car driver who has to work in an auto shop between gigs to pay the bills. Enzo is his biggest fan and together they watch tapes of his races while Denny shares the tactics and tricks to getting around the track successfully. Enzo believes in them utterly and uses Denny's driving advice as a guide to getting around the sharp corners that come upon you in life.

Listen to Enzo as he talks about how Denny looks upon a particular aspect of racing. "This is something that I'd heard him say before: getting angry at another driver for a driving incident is pointless. You need to watch the drivers around you, understand their skill, confidence, and aggression levels, and drive with them accordingly. Know who is driving next to you. Any problems that may occur have ultimately been caused by you, because you are responsible for where you are and what you are doing there."

And it is a good thing that Denny and Enzo have this to fall back on because their lives provide more sharp corners than an octagon. The book is relentless in placing challenges in front of our two heroes. Even as the young family settle into their new home in the Central District Enzo senses that something is wrong with Eve.

Feeling helpless Enzo describes the agony of Eve's illness and the repercussions that ensue. His desire to help is almost painful to him at times and he laments his lack of thumbs and wishes for a tongue that would allow him to speak. When Enzo himself begins to decline he refuses to give up hope because he is convinced that he will come back as a man.

"I am ready to become a man now, though I realize I will lose all that I have been. All of my memories, all of my experiences. I would like to take them with me into my next life - there is much that I have gone through with the Swift family - but I have little say in the matter. What can I do but force myself to remember? Try to imprint what I know on my soul, a thing that has no surface, no sides, no pages, no form of any kind. Carry it so deeply in the pockets of my experience that when I open my eyes and look down at my new hands with their thumbs that are able to close tightly around their fingers, I will already know. I will already see."

This book will have you in tears but it will also open your eyes to new possibilities. It provides us with some unexpected insight on life from a truly unique source.

High Endeavours by Miles Clark

If you have read any of my other posts you know that thanks to the author of A Passage to Juneau I became curious about a couple named Miles and Beryl Smeeton. I followed up be reading 3 of Miles Smeeton's books about their travels together. They were all fascinating but they left me wanting to know more about the Miles and Beryl themselves.

As the author of those books Miles Smeeton was always self-deprecating when describing himself or his actions while he often wrote of his wife Beryl as the real hero in their stories. Also because his books most often described single voyages they were not helpful in understanding how these people came to be who they became. Thankfully Miles Clark tries to do that very thing in his book "High Endeavors, The Extraordinary life and adventures of Miles and Beryl Smeeton."

Penned in 1991 it is a deeply researched and compelling look at one of the most interesting couples of the 20th century. Miles Clark was born in England in 1960 and his Godfather was Miles Smeeton. Since the Smeetons were either travelling or in Canada most of the time the relationship between Godfather and Godson was mostly via the letters they exchanged. This did not prevent them from developing a lasting appreciation and respect for each other and this radiates throughout Clark's book.

As an adventure book it does not have the flavor of an "Into Thin Air" or even Smeeton's own "Once is Enough." It represents the entire story of these two interesting people from their childhoods until their deaths. Fortunately for we adventure book fanatics they spent their entire lives, whether alone or together, doing the most amazing things. As an example Beryl Smeeton undertook solo journeys on foot, on donkeys, in trains, and ships in China, Burma, Russia, India, Persia, Turkey and freaking Patagonia! (And may I just add that when forced to use the convenience of a train or ship she always paid the lowest possible fare so she could sit in the dirt with the rest of the poor people.)

So Miles Clark has plenty of material to work with and he makes the most of it. When he touches on their idiosyncrasies it is in a loving and respecting manner. Descriptions of Beryl's cooking being an area where he was incredibly gentle. Clark manages to capture the essence of the Smeeton's relationship so that the reader understands the glue that holds them together. He helps us in some way imagine what it might be like to live your life with the single goal of being together while experiencing the world.

Reading this book lets you inside the relationship of these two fascinating people and also takes you on a journey of the world as it was when the Smeeton's were young. From Miles in the war in Africa for the British in the 1930's while Beryl travelled the remote corners of the world to finishing their lives in the Canadian Rockies attempting to save endangered species their lives do not have a dull moment. We are lucky that Miles Clark took the time to write it all down for us. Miles Clark died in 1993 at age 32 just six years after Miles Smeeton passed in Canada.

Hold Off on Buying "Holding Fast"

Recently our local book store in Winthrop, WA. called Trails End released their Winter 2009 Readers Guide. On page 2 they listed 4 "Great New Adventure Books" coming out. This caught my eye because I just love that stuff. Ever since I read the first article in Outside magazine and then the subsequent book "Into Thin Air" by Jon Krakauer, I've been addicted to adventure books. I must be in the category of those that can't do it read about it.

Of the 4 books presented I had already read one of them called "Ten Degrees of Reckoning." It's about a sailing mishap and it's well worth your time. It must be being re-released. Of the other 3 books mentioned I picked 2, "Holding Fast" by Karen James and "The Lost City of Z" by David Grann. The reason I picked Holding Fast is because Mt. Hood is pretty local and although I've never climbed it, I have gone skiing there.

Well the book was the wrong choice because it is no more an adventure book then say Winnie the Pooh. It advertises itself as a adventure book through the extended title "Holding Fast, The Untold Story of the Mount Hood Tragedy," but it's really about the author. If you are curious as to what really happened to these climbers you aren't going to find any answers from Karen James.

What will you find? A lot about her, her feelings, her love of God, her inability to swear even in a book, the love her stepchildren have for her, the love her now deceased husband Kelly had for her, how much people love her art, etc.,etc., etc. The title of the book should be "Holding Fast, The Untold Story of Me and How I Handled a Tragedy with the Help of God." Now that would be a truly descriptive title.

This book shouldn't be anywhere near the adventure shelf in the book store but placed firmly in the religious department. I should have read the back cover reviews before purchasing it from Amazon. If you have reviews written by such literary luminaries such as Troy Aikman, Roger Staubach, Sheriff Wampler, and wife of country singer Alan Jackson then as a reader you need to "take the hint!"

Final Verdict

Journalist and author Adela Rogers St. John writes about her father Earl Rogers in this book penned in 1962. Mrs. St. John was 68 years old at the time she finally wrote her father’s biography but it was a story that had always been inside her to tell. The deep love and admiration she feels for him permeates each page of the book.

Earl Rogers was a lawyer in a small city called Los Angeles beginning in the late 19th century. I say small because that is what Los Angeles was in those days. If you click on this link it will show you a picture of Wilshire Boulevard in the period in which this book takes place. http://digarc.usc.edu/search/controller/view/chs-m14788.html. The city has seen some changes since then.

Adela is given a view of her father at work that few sons and daughters ever get to see unless they live on a farm or ranch. Instead of sending his young daughter to school, Earl Rogers kept his daughter mostly by his side as he worked each day. Adela writes that he considered her his lucky charm. Because of this Mrs. St. Johns had a front row seat on some of the most sensational trials of early Los Angeles.

You will recognize names like Clarence Darrow whom Earl Rogers defended in a jury bribery case. Adela always considered Darrow to be ungrateful for the work done for him by Rogers and his staff in getting a not guilty verdict from the jury. Even though Darrow delivered the final argument on behalf of himself most observers of the time felt that the case was won before he ever started speaking. Adela also relates that at the end both she and her father recognized that Darrow was actually guilty of the offense.

Earl Rogers was ahead of his time by being absolutely against the death penalty for any offense. His father had been a devout clergyman and he had passed on to his son a passion for fairness and justice especially for the underdogs of the world. Because of that Rogers may have represented some men that were guilty of their offenses but to keep them from the gallows he defended them in court.

One of the few times that Earl Rogers played the role of prosecution was in the case of the Los Angeles Times bombing in 1910. Adela was 16 years old at the time and her father’s office was directly across the street from the Times. The building was blown up by a pair of union organizers who thought that the bombing would be a great way to express their views. Twenty-one men and women were killed. Unfortunately for the murderers a reporter and great friend of Earl Rogers was working in the building when the dynamite exploded. The grand jury of Los Angeles County returned an indictment of murder on evidence presented by Earl Rogers. To view of picture of the dynamited building click here: http://www3.gendisasters.com/california/2680/los-angeles%2C-ca-times-building-explosion-fire%2C-oct-1910?page=0%2C0.

This book is a tribute to a daughters love for her father. She states clearly that being Earl Rogers’s daughter was the most important thing in her life and what she was most proud of. She name drops shamelessly and allows us to follow her as she trails after her father and famous friends such as Jack London. Considering how full and exciting her own life was (she lived until she was 94 and wrote 4 more books after this one) it didn’t compare with a childhood watching her Dad.

Reading this book is a wonderful ride through early 20th century Los Angeles and the politics and crimes of the era. Mrs. St. Johns escorts the reader through the trials and characters that were a part of their lives and allows us to imagine what it might have been like. A genuinely good read.

Crazy Rich People

Recently I posted about the March issue of Vanity Fair and some of the old Hollywood stories in it. I said at the time that the articles made me want to re-read Brooke Hayward's 1977 best selling book "Haywire." I try and follow up on these things so the book was retrieved from my parents bookcase and read again.

Years ago I gave the book as a gift to my Mother mostly because I had read the review in Time magazine and wanted to read it myself. The proof is on the opening page where I have scribbled "To Mom on her Birthday! Love, Jenifer, (1977)." That means that when I originally read the book I was all of seventeen years old. I recall that I thought it was terribly tragic and I couldn't figure out what all went wrong in that family.

The book is written by Brooke Hayward about her family and all that happens to them. Her father is the hugely successful theatrical agent and producer, Leland Hayward. Her mother is famous actress Margaret Sullavan. Brooke is born in 1937, her sister Bridget in 1939 and her brother Bill in 1941. They are raised in a Hollywood that is still undeveloped where groves of orange trees are nestled next to wild fields full of snakes and rabbits and where Jimmy Stewart and Henry Fonda live down the street.

It was all very romantic to me in 1977 and it seemed impossible to me that California had ever been like that. But it is amazing what 30 years of life experience can do for your perspective. As I read the book this time I could not help but be absolutely amazed at Brooke's recall of events. Whole conversations are brought back to life from the time that she is a toddler onward. Now this is something that some people are better at than others but my belief is that Brooke's apparent ability is nothing short of miraculous.

Even more interesting is that when events become more current her memory seems to become hazier. Her description of her Mother and Sister's death, although moving, seem to lack detail. As a reader, both young and old, I longed for Brooke to find out the truth about what happened to them but she never does. The reader receives a recital of her grief and bewilderment but that is about all.

It was a different time then when if you were rich enough you could put your misbehaving teenager in a psychiatric hospital. We know now, of course, that almost all teenagers misbehave and that putting them in the hospital is probably not the best thing for them. It happened to both Bridget and Bill when they were teens. It appears that Bill survived the ordeal but Bridget did not and killed herself when she was barely 21 years old. (Bill killed himself just a few years ago at age 61 but it appears that it may have been because of a bad motorcycle accident that had left him with severe mental and physical handicaps).

I would recommend this book for a trip into the lives of the rich and famous in old Hollywood. It is a poignant reminder of what it was all like at the beginning. The writing is good and makes you want to read more but the story may leave you wishing for more answers.

Miles and Beryl Smeeton Out of Control

The book "Once is Enough" by Miles Smeeton is fine narrative of a bordering on insane adventure. Miles describes how he and his wife Beryl, and their great friend John Guzzwell take on the southern oceans around Cape Horn. Originating in Melbourne, Australia after the end of the 1956 Olympics, the Smeetons waved goodbye to the great yacht Brittania and prepared for their own journey.

With their daughter Clio now safely in England attending school, Miles and Beryl chart a very southern route around Cape Horn. They have notched a few miles in their 46 foot yacht, Tzu Hang, but nothing as dangerous as this trip. Many a larger ship than theirs had been lost in the waters of the southern ocean. So with enough food and water to last a year the 3 of them sail away just days before Christmas.

Their first thousand miles they experience rough seas despite being in the southern hemisphere during summer. But what would make dread build in me seems to simply egg these people on. The rougher the better they seem to be saying, with John and their Siamese cat Pwe going along for the rugged ride. Miles describes the white capped waters surrounding their yacht in the manner of somebody who is in awe of what he is witnessing and not afraid.

His skill as a writer leads to equally impressive descriptions of his wife Beryl's breakfasts every morning. In whatever kind of weather she always pulled off porridge, bacon and eggs, and burnt toast with marmalade and in that order. Whenever I despaired of understanding these people during the reading of this book, I recalled these breakfasts to remind myself that they were not complete hair shirters.

I don't want to reveal the incredible things that happen to the crew and their ship during this voyage but I will say that it is a page turner. You will be riveted by the extreme nature of their peril and astounded at how they manage themselves and their boat. You do not have to be a sailor to appreciate this story but you better love adventure. "Once is Enough" is a book that you will want to read again.

The Sea was our Village by Miles Smeeton

I wrote a review of Jonathan Raban's "Passage to Juneau" last week and I've already followed up on one of his reading recommendations. Early in the book Jonathan purposefully sails past a tiny cove on Salt Spring Island named Musgrave Landing. Since my own Mother was raised on Salt Spring Island, British Columbia, I immediately perked to attention.

It turns out he was investigating the old farm of Miles and Beryl Smeeton and the cove where they anchored their yacht, Tzu Hang. Miles wrote several books about their yachting adventures that Jonathan keeps in his library aboard his sail boat. One of the books mentioned was "The Sea Was Our Village." In answer to my query King County Library Systems responded that they did indeed have a copy of this book at their Vashon Island branch and in due time the book was sent to my own branch for pick up by yours truly.

I just finished it this afternoon. What a page turner! In a fortunate turn of events the first book KCLS could get their hands on for me is also the book that chronicles the Smeeton's very first voyages. Even though the couple had zero sailing experience and minimal boating experience they also apparently had enough gumption for twenty normal mortals. Their plan, if you can believe it, was to fly to their native England, buy a boat and then sail it back to Salt Spring Island via the Panama Canal. My husband and I have been sailing a few years and I would never consider doing something like this in a million years.

The book captures my imagination immediately because of the way Miles describes their search for a boat. My husband and I occasionally like to go to boat shows or shop online for them and it is always very personal for us. It was also so for the Smeetons. The boat had to speak to them on some level and when they saw Tzu Hang they fell immediately in love. It turns out to have been a match made in heaven as the big boat eventually transported them all across our oceans.

From my research this book does not have the drama of some of their later voyages. It lacks in incredibly horrible things happening to them but that doesn't mean it doesn't open a window of adventure that is wonderful to look through. The title of the book reflects the many people they met during their sail. I have witnessed the camaraderie that is often apparent among boat people, although sail and motor tend to go their own way, but what I have witnessed is nothing in comparison to what it used to be. Fellow sailors and harbour dwellers went out of their way to meet and greet the Smeetons.

As a reader it is great to be in a front row seat as the Smeetons approach the Hawaiian Islands of the 1950's. Since I was just there a month ago, I can assure you that it has changed dramatically from the lightly inhabited Islands of the past. They were met by natives in original boats going out fishing and the town of Lahaina was small and cute, complete with the still standing Banyan tree, and in Miles opinion, somewhat of a declining village due to the end of the whaling trade. My husband and I were despairing of how touristy it has gotten just since the late 80's. The Smeeton's would be shocked at what has become of Lahaina except for the still beautiful Banyan tree.

The Smeeton's are adventurous almost to a fault. From climbing mountains without trails, circumventing islands, and swimming to underground caves Miles, Beryl and Clio do it all. In the course of their travels they meet sailors like themselves, fisherman, and natives all of whom enrich their travel experience and our reading experience. This book is an adventurous tale told by the crusty adventurer himself. Truly a wonderful read and I can't wait to try another. Next: "Once is Enough."