It is very interesting to me to compare books that have been made into movies. Why did the screenwriters/director/producers decide to delete or modify parts of the book? I understand that there is no way for a complete book to transferred to the screen because the movie would last many hours, but it is interesting to look at and think about the differences between movies and the books they are based on.

With that said, one of the first things that surprised me about this book was its length. I listened to the unabridged audio book version and it was a little over 18 hours long. My wife and I listened to the book on our car trip to Arkansas (a 12 hour trip) and we listened both going there and coming back. Obviously we didn’t listen the whole 12 hours there and back because when we got home there was still about 2 hours left in the book. I finished the ending on my own.

On to the review itself. The basic plot is similar to the movie. A scientist at CERN in Switzerland has discovered AntiMatter which is a little free floating speck of light in a tube. There is a polarity in everything. If you have matter you must also have antimatter. If antimatter were to touch matter (anything solid, liquid or gas) a huge explosion would occur. Well it is discovered that the scientist who discovered it is found murdered and the antimatter tube is stolen. The hero of the story, Robert Langdon, is called to CERN because he is a Harvard professor who specializes in a secret, ancient cult called the Illuminati. Apparently the scientist has been branded on his chest with an ambigram (a symbol where the words can be read either right side up or upside down) of the word “Illuminati”. Here is the first time where the book detours from the movie. The movie shows the scientist at CERN murdered and the antimatter stolen and Langdon goes straight to the Vatican. In the book, Langdon goes to Switzerland, examines the scientists body, meets his daughter, is given a tour of the Hadron Collider where the experiments take place, learns the antimatter has been stolen and then he and the daughter, Vittoria, fly to Rome.

Once Langdon and Vittoria are in Vatican City, the real action begins. The pope has died and everybody is gathered at St. Peter’s Basilica to see the new pope become elected. However, four cardinals who are the top contenders for pope have been kidnapped and each one will be murdered and branded with the ambigrams earth, wind, fire, and water an hour apart starting at 8 pm. Langdon must use his Illuminati knowledge to follow the path to the four churches in Rome where the murders are to take place and try to save the cardinals from being murdered.

I wish I could say I loved reading Annie’s Ghosts. On the other hand, I can’t say that I disliked reading it, either. The book chronicles author Steve Luxenberg’s research into a family secret he discovered at the time of his mother’s death. She had a sister that she had never mentioned to him, or anyone else in their immediate family. In fact, Luxenberg has clear memories of his mother’s frequent proclamations of being an only child. So why did she keep her sister hidden? By the time Luxenberg learned of the secret, he was left to try and solve the mystery on his own. Luxenberg employed many of the skills he had acquired as a professional journalist in hunting down his aunt (Annie, for whom the book is named). He traveled cross country and even to a small Ukrainian town, to try and dig up clues about why Annie had been kept a secret by his mother. He interviewed family members, acquaintances and many others who might’ve been able to provide some insight into the situation. In turn, he uncovers even more family secrets that he was unaware of (specifically, his father’s somewhat questionable discharge from the military, and another relative’s abandoned pre-Holocaust marriage). Annie’s Ghosts is full of captivating family drama and intriguing historical information. There were times when I was very riveted by the story of what would be, on the outside, a seemingly typical 20th-century American family. But I must admit, I was glad when I had finished the final chapter of this book. I can only imagine the whirlwind of emotions Luxenberg must’ve experienced while writing this book. Just reading it at times was an intense experience.

I really didn’t know a lot about Abraham Lincoln before reading this book other than that he was president during the Civil War, he was an Illinois lawyer, and he was assassinated by John Wilkes Booth. I’m not usually a fan of historical nonfiction, but this was a fascinating look into the life and presidency of Lincoln. Part of why I liked the book is that I listened to a good audiobook reading, and partly because Goodwin is a really good writer.

The focus of the book is on how Lincoln when running for the 1861 election ran against Bates, Seward from New York, and Chase from Ohio for the Republican nomination. When Lincoln won the presidency he ended up hiring all three of these men for his cabinet. Seward became Secretary of State and was the first chosen for the cabinet, Chase became Secretary of the Treasury, and I can’t remember what cabinet position Bates got. Seward was disappointed about not winning the presidency, but as soon as he got to know Lincoln and when Lincoln appointed him Secretary of State, Seward grew to have a tremendous amount of respect for the man. Chase on the other hand was always resentful about not winning the presidency, tried to resign the post 4 different times during Lincoln’s first term in office and Lincoln finally accepted his resignation the 4th time. Chase also may have been involved in the circulation of slanderous circular against Lincoln when Chase wanted to run again in 1864. This time, because Lincoln had garnered so much popularity and respect among Northern voters, the circular backfired on Chase and he had to pull out without getting any recognition in the party primaries.

Of course, a big part of the book centers around the Civil War because that was the dominant issue of the day. There are some amazing stories uncovered by Goodwin about General McClellan who was in charge of the Potomac army. McClellan liked to lay blame on everybody but himself. Whereas General Ulysses S. Grant in the West could live with the clothes he had on and a toothbrush, McClellan needed a staff just to haul all of his stuff to the campsites. Also, Lincoln would advise McClellan to move forward against the enemy, and McClellan would wait several days saying his troop weren’t ready, thus giving the South and General Lee time to either retreat or build more troops. There were at least two occasions where if McClellan would have moved, the war may have ended sooner. Lincoln was always very humble and gracious with McClellan even if he started to get annoyed with McClellan’s inaction. What was also very interesting was that McClellan won the Democratic party ticket in 1864 and ran against Lincoln. Lincoln won in a landslide electoral votes with something like 200 to 20. The popular vote was a little closer, but Lincoln still won a second term.

There were so many interesting facts and stories in this book. When Lincoln was working on his emancipation proclamation, for example, he decided he wanted to talk to some of the free blacks in Washington so he invited them to a conference at the White House. Some people in cabinet had this idea that whites and blacks couldn’t live side by side with each other, so Lincoln tested this idea out in the meeting that once the slaves were free they could be exiled to a shore in South America. The blacks at this meeting basically said that they were born here, worked here, died here, and even though they were brought against their will to this country they were not about to leave. Frederick Douglass was also very angry with Lincoln for awhile about this idea. Lincoln eventually got to spend more time with blacks and came to empathize more with their position later and he and Douglass came to respect each other.

I won’t give anymore away about the book except to say that the assassination part at the end was fascinating and I may read another book just about that aspect of Lincoln’s life. It was very interesting that Wilkes Booth had this plan to not just assassinate Lincoln, but also Seward and the vice president Andrew Johnson. Booth would handle the president at Ford’s Theater while his two friends would handle the other two murders. Needless to say, his friends weren’t as successful. You never hear about that aspect of the assassination in school and I thought that was very interesting. Overall I ended up enjoying the book even though I didn’t think I would. I think that is a testament to the writing of Goodwin and her meticulous research.

Just what is the lie?

Ramona Smollons, just seventeen, huge fan of Rita Hayworth, meets a man with fingers that each look like a penis. Of course, she doesn’t say that out loud. This fiction book takes place in “1950′s America”, and nice girls don’t say, or even think, those sorts of thoughts. Ramona finds herself enamored with this man, despite his odd looking fingers, and even becomes a bit obsessed about him. She loses interest just as fast, but marries him anyway. So, perhaps “The Lie” is that true love never fades. Or maybe “The Lie” is that thoughts of a sexual nature are bad, wrong, and something nice girls never conceive of. “The Lie” could be that once you get married, your life effortlessly becomes the “happily ever after”, just like it says in the storybooks from childhood.

The book is written in a stream of consciousness that allows the reader to watch as Ramona quickly goes insane. She is haunted by her dead father, and the memories of things that happened between him and her. What exactly happened is left a bit vague, and it is not something Ramona talks about. It is something her mother adamantly denies ever happened, which makes Ramona confused and upset. Ramona believes that her dead father is haunting her, that she can see his ghost, and that he is forever disapproving of her. Maybe “The Lie” is the difference between reality and what you see when you are losing your mind.

Ramona’s mother is one of the most narcissistic characters I have encountered in a book in a long time. This woman is content to sit and stare into mirrors, gazing into her own reflection, for hours at a time. Ramona lives to please her, hoping for affection that her mother is simply not capable of giving to anyone other than herself. Between her negligent mother, and her abusive father, it’s clear that Ramona had a horrible childhood. So, maybe “The Lie” is that parents always do what is best for their children, and love them unconditionally.

Ramona has a problem that she cannot talk about with anyone, and has difficulty even thinking about. She feels “like a block of wood” “down there”. In short, she does not enjoy sex, never orgasms, and feels that this means she is damaged goods. But, instead of seeking help, she decides to fake it, in order to make her husband feel good, and protect his self esteem. Ramona compares herself unfavorably to Rita Hayworth, who, to her, represents female sexuality itself. If Rita can become so sexually responsive in the movies from one kiss, or one touch, then something most be seriously wrong with Ramona, who feels nothing, or so Ramona has convinced herself. Maybe “The Lie” is that women never fake orgasms, or conversely, “The Lie” is that ALL women are as easily aroused as film starts appear to be.

Naturally, Ramona starts having problems in her marriage. She becomes convinced that not only is her husband cheating on her, but that he is cheating on her with none other than Rita Hayworth. He, of course, denies it. So now, “The Lie” had become Ramona’s husband’s denial of an affair she believes he is continuing to have.

This is not an easy book to read, due to the style of writing. However, I like how Wagman puts the reader inside Ramona’s head, as she loses her mind. It’s intense! On the other hand, whenever you sit that far inside a character’s head, especially a character that is going crazy, things become unclear. Readers might find that they love how they can come to their own conclusions about what is truth, and what is a lie in this story. Or, they might find themselves going just as nuts as Ramona, trying to sort it all out. This is a book that doesn’t fit easily inside a genre, or easily inside the boundaries of “real” and “imagined”.