My Top 10 Books of 2011

Friends:

With this post, a goal of mine is fulfilled. You know I do a tremendous amount of reading, but I have never, in all my years of reading, put together an end of the year list. You see them everywhere; everyone has their Top 10 List of the year and now I get to join the ranks… yes, this is my soon-to-be annual list of the Top 10 Books in 2011.

First, the statistics. When I finish the book I am currently reading, that will make 50 books finished in 2011, which does not take into consideration the two books I did not finish. In all fairness, they were not 50 books by 50 different authors. They were:

Six books by Dennis Lehane; Five books by Lee Child; Three books by Tom Clancy; Two books by Michael Connelly

With that being said, here goes, from 10 to 1:

10) And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie. This book was the basis for the board game (and movie) “Clue.” 10 strangers, summoned to an island by an unknown host, are killed one by one. Which one of them is the murderer and who will be next? Written in 1939, it still holds up today. The suspense, the “creepiness” factor, the twist at the end. It holds its own against any of the current mysteries and thrillers.

9) Nuremberg by Joseph Persico. A non-fiction treatise on the Nuremburg War Crimes trial, this thought-provoking and suspenseful book showed not only the attempts made by the Allies to create fairness, but it also humanized the monsters who created such atrocities. An important book to ensure that such genocide does not happen again. I blogged about the book and my thoughts from the lawyer’s perspective in August and you can find it here:

http://robcohen13.com/2011/08/08/justice-justice-shall-you-pursue-that-you-may-live-and-inherit-the-land-which-the-lord-your-god-gives-you-deut-1618-20/

8) The Sherlockian by Graham Moore. Earlier in the year my interest in Sherlock Holmes was renewed and I found this first-book by Graham Moore to be a pleasant addition to the Holmesian library. A Sherlock Holmes scholar comes upon a murder seemingly perpetrated by another Holmes devotee. A good twist at the end and a wonderful use of the jumping between present and past kept the book moving and thoroughly enjoyable.

7) Crooked Letter, Crooked Letter by Tom Franklin. Not just a murder mystery but also a commentary on race relations and the pain that can be caused by childhood antics. Two kids who were best friends take divergent paths to adulthood, only to meet yet again on opposite sides of a crime. While not a lengthy book, a haunting book, one in which both characters are sympathetic, but is one of them a murderer? I’m not telling, but I guarantee it will shock you.

6) The School of Night by Louis Bayard. I am a sucker for historical fiction especially those which weave famous historical figures with crimes and intrigue and Louis Bayard has never failed. This novel ably weaved a mystery taking place in the present day with a storyline from the past. Louis Bayard receives special recognition because this is his fourth novel and each one has been spectacular. Check out “The Pale Blue Eye” for a mystery involving Edgar Allan Poe…

5) Tripwire by Lee Child. A suggestion from a colleague led me to the books of Lee Child and his literary hero Jack Reacher (soon to be played by Tom Cruise). I read the first 5 books in the Reacher series this year and by far the best of the five was this one, Book 3. A missing Vietnam veteran, a villain with unknown motives, and Jack Reacher right in the middle. What made this one so good is how bad the villain was. How do you make a story really good? Make your villain really bad… This one succeeded on all levels.

4) In The Garden of Beasts by Erik Larson. Another non-fiction, this one about the United States Ambassador to Germany in 1933 just as Hitler is coming to power. I didn’t expect to like this book as much as I did. 1933 Germany just didn’t seem to be the hotbed of excitement as, say, 1939-1945. But this book had it all. Mystery, intrigue, suspense, and best of all, it was all true. Amazing how even in 1933, the US was aware of Hitler and his capabilities, but it took nearly a decade to do anything about it. Look for the movie starring Tom Hanks to debut in the next couple of years.

3) Darkness, Take My Hand by Dennis Lehane. In 2011 I read the entire series of books by Dennis Lehane featuring private investigators Kenzie and Gennaro. This book, while not the best of the series, was second best and also second in the series. The best book in the series was book number 4 called “Gone Baby Gone” but since I had already seen the movie, the suspense of whodunit was absent so this one gets the prized spot as Number 3 of the year. What makes this book so good? The darkness. You can feel the darkness closing around you as the pages flip by. It was one of those books where you don’t want to put it down because you can’t wait to see what happens next, but the eeriness of it begs for sleep as an escape from the suspense. Truly spine-tingling and fantastic.

2) The Drop by Michael Connelly. Michael Connelly, my favorite author. Harry Bosch, my favorite literary character. ‘Nuff said. This one still resonates with me, weeks after I finished it. If you haven’t read a Harry Bosch novel before, don’t start with this one. Go back to the beginning and read them all in order. It will make this book that much more powerful. Very few characters are as introspective and affected as Harry Bosch. Here is the blog I wrote about it just a few weeks ago:

http://robcohen13.com/2011/12/05/looking-good-billy-ray-feeling-good-louis/

And, drum roll please…

1) Dead or Alive by Tom Clancy. First, understand that this book was not written solely by Tom Clancy. He had a co-writer and it is obvious that the co-writer had significant control. This clearly is not on the same level as some of Clancy’s previous modern-day classics like “The Hunt For Red October” or “Without Remorse.” But it gets the number one position on my list for two reasons. First, no one knows how to layer a story the way Clancy does. Like peeling an onion, there are multiple story-lines, numerous characters, good good guys and bad bad guys, and Jack Ryan and team there to save the day. Second, and perhaps foremost, it was a welcome return to the characters who populated some of the best reading experiences of my life. Everything I know about the Cold War, the Middle East, and American politics I learned from Tom Clancy. This felt like old home, the warmth and comfort of my literary heroes and friends, and a welcome change back to the way a modern action and adventure can still be complex and intricate.

So there you have it, my Top 10 of 2011. If you want to see all of the books I read, they are up on my LinkedIn profile, check it out.

Now on to 2012 and more fun with reading!

Have a great New Year to all of you!!

Rob

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“Tough guys don’t do math. Tough guys fry chicken for a living.”

Last year at this time I wrote about the budget cuts that were coming from newly-elected governor Jerry Brown when he was to take office in January, 2011.  It seems just as appropriate now as it was then.  Litigation continues to be epidemic and the courts overcrowded, it seems that there may be no end in sight to the problems in our justice system.  But how do we fix the problems?  Is it through budget cuts? 

At the time I wrote this blog, I had just had a court appearance at which the judge admitted that the budget cuts would further slow down the process, the court appearances would take longer because more cases would be assigned to the morning’s calendar and any matters that could be approved prior to the hearing would simply have to be called as regular with no non-appearances.  The judge also expressed concern that the budget cuts might unfairly hinder the justice system, a system which was just as important as law enforcement and deserved the same treatment.  It makes sense– How can a society police itself effectively when the method by which offenders are punished is subject to cuts, leading to inefficiency?

I know that there isn’t enough money to go around.  It is a vicious cycle; you think that with the population at current levels there should be plenty of tax money flowing through the government.  But with more people comes the need for more services.  So there simply isn’t enough money out there and in that respect I truly do understand the balance that must be made in order to put together a budget. 

But in focusing on law enforcement first, the justice system second, leaves education a far behind third, which is unacceptable.  I have always been a proponent of the justice system as a means to address crime and civil dispute.  I still am (it is my livelihood by the way), but I think that education should receive foremost attention.

The stats are out there (although I am not going to look for them).  The vast majority of crime is committed by those people who did not succeed in their educational endeavors.  It would seemingly follow, then, that if society focused more on education crime would decrease. 

I understand this is a simplistic analysis and that other factors play a role in the shaping of the criminal element.  However there simply are less and less opportunities for the uneducated.  It used to be that a high school diploma could get you a good job; then it was a college degree; now, it seems that a higher degree is required to secure that career opportunity.  Those amongst us who do not take advantage of educational opportunities will search for other ways to make ends meet.  For some, it will be consumer service positions, hard labor, or other minimum wage jobs.  For others, the quick buck is preferable to hard work.  Rob a store, mug someone on the street, car-jack a Benz.  The benefits far outweigh the risks and I anticipate that more and more people will take those risks unless things change.

It is not going to be an overnight change.  We cannot solve society’s problems in one fell swoop.  It will be a gradual change; one which may take a generation or more to accomplish.  But it has to start now.  The cuts to education have to end.  No more furlough days; no more teacher layoffs; no more school closures.  The population is growing every day and that means that jobs will be more scarce as the current generation proceeds to adulthood and joins the workforce, unless the incoming workforce is well-educated.  There is so much work to do. 

So what is my solution?  HA! That is where I am lucky.  This is my post and I don’t have to come up with the solution.  However, it has to start in two places:  at home and in the government.  Education needs to be a priority and it starts with the parents.  School is not a babysitting service.  It is an interactive experience with three participants:  student, teacher, and parents.  And it has to be viewed that way.  As parents we are our children’s first and greatest role models.  If we demonstrate to our kids that education is important, it will be important to them and they will strive to learn and avoid temptations from the criminal element. 

Secondly, if the government continues to cut services to education, makes the classroom sizes bigger and lays off teachers, what message does that send to the students?  It says to them that the government doesn’t think that education is important.  The government is to be trusted and revered and kids learn that very early when they hear of the heroic acts of George Washington and Abraham Lincoln.  But how heroic will our leaders look to students when education continues to suffer?

Sounds simple enough, right?

Well, a year has gone by, and nothing has changed.  Education is still far behind the justice system, which is far behind law enforcement.  It IS a vicious cycle… Darn it…

“If you build it, he will come.”

A few weeks ago I got to live out a dream and go to Spring Training as a player.  It was Los Angeles Dodgers Adult Baseball Camp and a chance to spend a week at the Dodgers’ longtime spring training home in Vero Beach, Florida, eating, sleeping, living and breathing Dodgers baseball with retired pros and Dodger heroes as the coaches and instructors.  As a lifelong Dodgers fan, a chance to rub elbows with the stars I grew up with and the legends of the past was truly a once-in-a-lifetime experience.

But what made it even more memorable and extraordinary was the special guest who made a surprise appearance at camp for a few hours. 

You may not be a Dodgers fan; you may not be a baseball fan.  Yet I would expect that more than 90% of you out there have heard of this man, perhaps the greatest Dodgers player of all time.  His name is Sandy Koufax.  A chance to meet Sandy Koufax and shake his hand or get an autograph is something fans dream about.  In many people’s eyes, there is no greater autograph to get or person to meet than Sandy Koufax. 

I want to share with you a story I heard from another camper named Stan.  Stan, had brought with him to camp a picture of Sandy Koufax with a young boy taken sometime in the early 1960s.  It was a color picture, faded a little by time, yellowing at the edges.  When I first saw the picture, I remarked that it looked like it was taken at a Bar Mitzvah.  Well, the little boy in the picture was Stan and it had been taken at the Bar Mitzvah of a friend of his.  Stan kept the picture framed in his office and had taken it out of its frame and brought it with him just in case Sandy Koufax made an appearance at camp.

As you may or may not know, Koufax was always very private and kept out of the limelight as much as possible and, since his retirement, has maintained this level of anonymity.  He doesn’t make many public appearances, is very quiet with respect to interviews, and leads an incredibly low-key and ordinary life.  Certainly not the sort of life you would expect from perhaps the greatest Dodger of all time.  But this is how he has chosen to live and that is simply the way things are.

So you can imagine the excitement and exhilaration when the rumor broke out through the clubhouse that Sandy Koufax was in the building.  Grown men, well into their 50s, 60s and 70s, giggling and laughing like teenagers—THE Sandy Koufax had made an appearance.  Stan already had his picture out ready to go…

Until the rumor spread like wildfire that Koufax would not sign any autographs…

Can you imagine the despair in the clubhouse?  You have to understand that there were about 100 campers in attendance and each one of them bleeds Dodger Blue.  These are not fair-weather fans or occasional followers of the team.  These are people who live for the Dodgers… and they had just been told that their number one hero, the greatest of them all, had said no, that he would not sign any autographs, that he had only come to the camp to visit with one of the coaches who was a close friend of his.  Can you imagine getting your hopes up so high, only to have them dashed in an instant? 

Obviously, you can understand, I was pretty upset.  How could someone that important to all of us simply shun us and act as if we didn’t matter?  Of course, I can see it from his side.  He wants to be private, he doesn’t want to be hounded by giddy and childish fanatics, having to answer the same questions over and over again and sign his name a hundred times.  I understand that.  But what bothered me was that his refusal to sign indicated to me that he didn’t appreciate how important he was to all of those campers.  Which led me to this:

Don’t underestimate how important you are to other people. 

You may not be a star athlete or a Hollywood star or a famous celeb-utante, but that doesn’t mean that people aren’t enamored with you or want to be with you or talk to you or spend time with you.  You are still important to people; in fact, you may be more important than the athlete or the entertainer or the celebrity because you directly impact the lives of those around you.  Why do I say this?  Look around.  Look at your family, your young children.  I guarantee you that my daughter doesn’t understand the significance of a Sandy Koufax, but she does understand the significance of me. 

Well, to close the loop on the story.  Either the story of his not signing was fabricated or Koufax changed his mind, but Stan got his picture signed, and Koufax made 100 grown men as excited as kids.

Don’t underestimate how important you are to other people especially when you may be feeling as if nothing is going right.  You have the ability to make someone’s day just by saying hello or giving them a few minutes of your time.  You may not even know it…

Have a great one.

“Looking good, Billy Ray!” “Feeling good, Louis!”

As a parent, the concern arises fairly often as to whether my hard work and dedication to my daughters will prove to be well-spent or a waste of time.  Will my efforts be rewarded with self-sufficient, strong, intelligent and well-adjusted women or will they choose paths that lead them to violence or crime or failure?  The question is one that has been pondered by scholars and laymen for centuries—nurture or nature?  Consider, two children, from the same womb, brought up with the same privileges and attention, same opportunities and education, and yet they turn out different.

You may be wondering why this topic is arising now and the one answer I have is:  Don’t you know me well enough by now to know that it comes from a book?  Yes, I just finished the new book by Michael Connelly featuring LAPD Detective Harry Bosch.  Bosch is my favorite character in fiction and Connelly my favorite author.  In fiction you find that some characters can be one-dimensional.  The reader is not taken into the life of the character other than the particular obstacle facing him or her in the novel and you don’t get any particular insight into what makes the character tick.  And those novels are fine.  I happen to enjoy those novels immensely; you speed through them, enjoy them as entertainment, and then move on to something else.  Some of my favorite authors write books like that, whether they are Stuart Woods or Robert Crais or David Baldacci or John Grisham. 

But Connelly and his hero Bosch are different.  Bosch is the poster child for a terrible upbringing.  The son of a prostitute and a father he never knew, he was orphaned at 11 when his mother was murdered, and he spent the rest of his childhood in orphanages.  Joining the army out of high school, he was sent to Vietnam and became a tunnel rat, the soldiers who were tasked with going into the tunnels used by the enemy as barracks, hospitals, morgues, and hiding places.  A recurring theme in the Bosch novels is how much time Harry spent in the dark, in the darkest of places.  After leaving the army, he joined the LAPD and eventually became a homicide detective, choosing this line of work to speak for the dead.  Surely his mother’s murder influenced this.

And yet with all of the hardship and heartache faced by Bosch during his upbringing, he managed to lift himself up to become a hero.  Which makes him unsympathetic to criminals, murderers, and anyone who stands in the way of getting to the truth.  And over 14 novels, Bosch has evolved, but slowly.  His victims are always blameless and his perpetrators are always absolutely bad.  There is no grey; Bosch lives in a black and white world and has come to the conclusion that nature governs how someone will turn out.  He looks to himself, struggles with his own fortitude in overcoming such adversity, and holds it against those who cannot similarly succeed. 

But in this novel, the 15^th in the series, Bosch is forced to rethink his take on nature versus nurture.  While investigating a murder, he is led to a recovery facility for sex offenders and meets and develops a relationship with the therapist at the facility.  He is immediately drawn to her… until he learns that she has a son who is in prison for a violent crime.  This stops Harry dead in his tracks.

As I mentioned before, Harry is not one-dimensional.  The reader is told that Bosch is torn, that he is struggling with his interest in the therapist.  After 14 books, the reader knows, though, the basis of the struggle.  Bosch has convinced himself that nature wins over nurture, so he is taken aback by the possibility that he is romantically interested in a woman who gave birth to a monster.  At the same time, the reader cannot help but be somewhat disappointed in his parenting skills, for he now has his teenage daughter living with him full time, her mother a victim of a violent death herself.  It is clear that he gives the victims he is investigating more attention and care than he does his own daughter.  Some of it can be written off as a father not knowing how to be a parent.  It could also be that Harry has resigned himself to the fact that no matter how much parenting he does, his daughter’s future has already been predetermined.  That nature will win out and no amount of nurturing he does will change things.

I won’t tell you how the book ends, of what revelations Harry discovers, about himself, about his job as a parent, or about the murderers who walk the street waiting for him to find them, but I can say with 100% certainty that no book has remained with me the way this one has.  It has been 3 days since I finished the book and I cannot resist the images or the discoveries.

Which leads me back to the beginning.  What is the right answer?  How much control do we have as parents in the way our children turn out?  I see teenagers on the street, at the mall and I see how they act, how disrespectful they are, how they ditch school and I immediately jump to the conclusion that their parents must not care or are not involved or simply are ineffective.  But maybe that isn’t the case.  Maybe the parents simply have no affect on the outcome.  I think of the example of identical twins who turn out so differently.  How does that happen? 

Yet even though the signs seem to point to the conclusion that nature dictates not only who we are but who we will be, does that mean that we should give up and not try?  No, of course not.  Because that isn’t my nature and that isn’t who I am supposed to be.  I am destined to be interested, involved, dedicated and focused on my girls. 

But it doesn’t hurt to at least think about it, hmm?  Knowledge is half the battle and understanding that there may be a component to our psyche that is controlled by nature, means that if we do not like who we are, then we can practice the antidote to nature—evolution.