The Clash of the Cultures: Investment vs. Speculation

Contrarian. Mutual fund veteran and Vanguard founder John C. Bogle’s latest book is titled, The Clash of the Cultures: Investment vs, Speculation. Here’s his premise in a nutshell: “when a value-destroying culture of salesmanship overwhelms a value-enhancing culture of stewardship, of course there’s a clash.” (p. 217) Bogle encourages individuals to be long term investors and not speculators. He calls for regulated fiduciary duty by financial intermediaries because those entities routinely place their own interests above those of the individuals they serve. Bogle’s views are cogent and consistent with his position held over decades. For better or for worse, he remains a contrarian. Bogle packs the book with data and examples to illustrate his viewpoint. Readers interested in finance are those most likely to enjoy this book. Rating: Four-star (I like it) Click here to purchase The Clash of the Cultures from amazon.com.

Astray

Captive. With great skill in her story collection titled Astray, Emma Donoghue takes fourteen historical events and writes a story that brings to life characters and setting. I parceled myself one story a day, and came away from each story dazzled and satisfied. The efficiency of the short story requires a writer to manage every sentence with precision. I was held captive by Donoghue’s fine writing, and found every character to be well developed and their situations and behavior believable and insightful. I found her use of the first person narrator in several stories to be particularly effective. Readers who like short stories and fine writing should consider reading this excellent collection. Rating: Four-star (I like it) Click here to purchase Astray from amazon.com.

The Child's Child

Mores. Ruth Rendell, writing as Barbara Vine, compares the mores of two time periods in her novel, The Child’s Child. Structured as a novel within a novel, we see troubled characters from the present and from 1929 struggle with the reactions of society to their behavior. Unwed mothers, same sex attraction and sibling relationships are all developed in both time settings. Rendell writes with great skill and I was entertained from beginning to end. If you like fiction with strong character development and psychological and social insight, you should consider reading this one. Rating: Four-star (I like it) Click here to purchase The Child’s Child from amazon.com.

A Foreign Country

Imaginative. Post-cold war spy novels can lack the tension that follows from the large scale deceptions that superpowers wrought on each other. Charles Cumming skillfully recreates that tension on a smaller scale in his finely written novel, A Foreign Country. Protagonist Thomas Kell had been tossed out of MI6 and doing very little for a half year when he’s called in from the cold to investigate the disappearance of the incoming chief, Amelia Levene. What follows is an imaginative and engaging story of personal and professional betrayal and support. If you like spy novels, you’re likely to enjoy this one. If you enjoy fine writing and avoid spy novels, you might want to give this one a try. Rating: Four-star (I like it) Click here to purchase A Foreign Country from amazon.com.

The Black Box

Persistence. Fans of Michael Connelly’s Harry Bosch novels will enjoy his latest installment, The Black Box. The cold case that Harry opens in this novel involves a murder from the 1992 L.A. riots in which Harry himself had been called to the scene, but someone else handled the case. In his trademark dogged and consistent manner, Harry follows one lead after another as he tries to solve the case. Harry’s persistence survives internal politics that threatens his job. Both new and longtime readers who enjoy well-paced crime fiction with strong character development are those most likely to enjoy this engaging novel. Rating: Four-star (I like it) Click here to purchase The Black Box from amazon.com.

Telegraph Avenue

Messy. I love reading Michael Chabon’s fiction because I find that the words and phrases and sentences he builds are among the best I’ve read. In Telegraph Avenue, Chabon displays all that virtuosity with language while drawing readers into caring about the messy lives of the protagonists, Archy Stallings and Nat Jaffe, and their wives, Gwen Shanks and Aviva Roth-Jaffe. Archy and Nat are partners in Brokeland Records, located in a former barbershop in Berkeley, where they sell used vinyl records. Gwen and Aviva are midwives. All these characters are facing threats to the status quo, and Chabon builds on their love, their history, and the setting to reveal a slice of humanity that speaks to every one of us. The business troubles, relationship challenges, and threats to harmony are all familiar themes that Chabon mines with great skill and precision. I cared about these characters by the end of the novel, and I thought of them as if they were my neighbors. I reread many sentences, savoring Chabon’s skilled writing, especially when he seemed a bit off track, and found those elaborations to be beautiful. Rating: Five-star (I love it) Click here to purchase Telegraph Avenue from amazon.com.

The Double Game

Dredging. Fans of spy fiction will have fun reading Dan Fesperman’s The Double Game. In some ways, this is a homage to spy novels. Protagonist Bill Cage yields to the temptation of being led by some unknown person on a trail through Europe to uncover secrets from decades earlier. Having read classic spy stories, Cage is hooked by the way he is being manipulated, and along the trail of dredging up the past, he has to face what was real and what was pretend in his own past. Cage wonders about what work his father did in his State Department job when they lived in Europe. Fesperman keeps up the suspense about who’s manipulating Cage, and which characters are out to help or harm him on his trail of discovery. The whole trope of counterspy comes alive on these pages, leaving readers entertained by the puzzle. I liked Fesperman’s craftsmanship in constructing a fine spy novel and keeping me interested from beginning to end. Rating: Four-star (I like it) Click here to purchase The Double Game from amazon.com.