Theo of Golden by Allen Levi is a novel that a friend recommended to me. It’s too sweet for my taste. An old man arrives in a small southern town—the reason is only revealed at the book’s end—and begins buying portraits by a local artist in order to “bestow” them on the subjects of the paintings. Along the way, he does other good deeds, and most people come to love him. Unfortunately, even in the very few instances when there is conflict, it is too easily resolved. I can understand why many readers love this book, but it’s not great literature.
Culpability by Bruce Holsinger was an Oprah Book Club pick and is a fascinating look at many facets of AI. The inciting incident is an accident in the family van while AI is driving, but there is a question of possible driver interference. Meanwhile, one of the kids has a best friend who is AI, and the mother is an expert on AI ethical questions, and the rich neighbor in a vacation house is a tech bigwig who controls a lot of AI use in self-driving vehicles, drones, etc. The accident creates tension in the family and beyond and makes for a compelling read.
The Arrogant Ape: The Myth of Human Exceptionalism and Why it Matters by Christine E. Webb was my book club’s selection for June. I found it a bit tedious. The basic idea is that we’ve gone about studying other species from a biased perspective, evaluating them on how well they perform human tasks, but not on their own terms. Often studies are conducted in labs with humans present, factors that will change behavior and performance. Once the point is made, the author makes it again and again, often citing studies by her friends and colleagues, a bit of nepotism that seems to skew her argument.
Run for the Hills by Kevin Wilson is his latest novel. The premise is that a man has had a series of families across the country, and the children of those families set off on a road trip to find him. They want to understand why he left their mothers, but in the process they form a family of their own. Wilson is a fine writer, usually with great wit. I’ve enjoyed some of his earlier books more, but this is still a fun read.
Common Sense by Thomas Paine, in an edition with a helpful introduction. This was my book club’s pick for July. I probably had never read the whole thing before, but it certainly is timely.
Cork Dork: A Wine-Fueled Adventure Among the Obsessive Sommeliers, Big Bottle Hunters and Rogue Scientists Who Taught Me to Live for Taste, by Bianca Bosker, is a memoir by a former tech writer who immersed herself in the wine business in order to become a sommelier. The book is filled with eccentric (real) characters, myths and mysteries about wine-tasting, and loads of details about wine that you didn’t know you didn’t know. The writer’s voice is crisp and witty and, sometimes, annoying.
