Olympian Louis Zamperini dies at 97

ESPN.com: Olympics

Thursday, July 3, 2014

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ESPN.com news services

LOS ANGELES -- Louis Zamperini, an Olympic distance runner and World War II veteran who survived 47 days on a raft in the Pacific after his bomber crashed, then endured two years in Japanese prison camps, has died. He was 97.

Zamperini's death was confirmed by Universal Pictures studio spokesman Michael Moses. A family statement released early Thursday said Zamperini had been suffering from pneumonia.

	War hero and Olympian Louis Zamperini, 97, ran the final lap of the 5,000-meter race in 56 seconds at the 1936 Berlin Olympics.

"After a 40-day long battle for his life, he peacefully passed away in the presence of his entire family, leaving behind a legacy that has touched so many lives," the family statement said. "His indomitable courage and fighting spirit were never more apparent than in these last days."

Zamperini is the subject of Laura Hillenbrand's best-selling book "Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption," which is being made into a movie directed by Angelina Jolie and is scheduled for a December release by Universal.
"It is a loss impossible to describe," Jolie said in a statement. "We are all so grateful for how enriched our lives are for having known him. We will miss him terribly."
A high school and University of Southern California track star, Zamperini competed in the 5,000-meter run at the 1936 Berlin Olympics. He finished eighth but gained notoriety by running the final lap in 56 seconds.

Zamperini enlisted in the Army before Pearl Harbor and was a bombardier on a U.S. Army Air Forces bomber in World War II. He and his crew were searching for a downed B-24 when their plane crashed into the Pacific Ocean, killing eight of the 11 men.
He and one of the other surviving crew members drifted for 47 days on a raft in shark-infested waters before being captured by Japanese forces. He spent more than two years as a prisoner of war, surviving torture.

	The best-selling book "Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption" is based on Louis Zamperini's life and will be released as a movie in December.

In May, Zamperini was named grand marshal of the 2015 Rose Parade in Pasadena, California, which next New Year's Day will feature the theme "Inspiring Stories."

In accepting the honor, Zamperini, wearing a USC cap, recalled that Hillenbrand, in researching the book, asked to interview his friends from college and the Army.

"And now after the book was finished all of my college buddies are dead, all of my war buddies are dead. It's sad to realize that you've lost all your friends," he said. "But I think I made up for it. I made a new friend -- Angelina Jolie. And the gal really loves me, she hugs me and kisses me, so I can't complain."

He was a guest of Jolie last year when she was presented with the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.

Zamperini was born Jan. 26, 1917, in the western New York city of Olean. A group in Olean is raising funds to place a granite marker in Zamperini's honor in War Veterans Park in August.

He was just 2 years old when his parents moved the family to Southern California, where he lived for the rest of his life. Zamperini Field, a city-owned public airport in Torrance, is named in his honor. A stadium at Torrance High School and the entrance plaza at USC's track and field stadium both bear his name.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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Man Booker Challenge

The Man Booker challenge is on.

Goal: Read all of the winners of the Man Booker Prize (formerly the Booker prize)
Deadline: whenever you finish.  Could be months for some, years for other.  This is a marathon
Rules: make your own

Why the Man Booker Prize? 

No fancy reason.  I met with someone for work who was reading the 2013 winner, and we engaged in a discussion about his wife's tradition of buying the winner every year when it is announced and immediately reading it.  It sounded right up my alley.  But first, I had to find out what this Man Booker prize was all about.

Upon researching the prize, I learned some information that made it attractive:

1. The award began in 1969, therefore the number of books on the list is a manageable 35.
2. The criteria: Best Work of Fiction for that year for books written in English by citizens of the Commonwealth of Nations.  Pretty straightforward rules.
3. No U.S. authors on the list (until now) which forces me to diversify my exposure.
4. I had not read a single winner on the list, which made starting it a fresh adventure.

My personal rules:

1. Book must be in paper form (sorry, Kindle)
2. I must have purchased the book from an independent bookstore or used in person (sorry, Amazon!)
3. If I read two books in a row that I hate, I am allowed to abandon my goal of reading the entire list.    

Interested in participating?  Join our Man Booker Group on Goodreads.

2013 Books of the Year!

Winner for Best Book of the year...





This is Bryan M.'s 3rd Book of the Year win (Cat's Cradle and Me Talk Pretty One Day)

The winner for Worst Book of the Year goes to...

This is Erica S.'s 2nd Worst Book of the Year win (People of the Book)

February Book of the Month: Paris in the Twentieth Century by Jules Verne

via goodreads.com

In 1863 Jules Verne, famed author of 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea and Around the World in Eighty Days, wrote a novel that his literary agent deemed too farfetched to be published. More than one hundred years later, his great-grandson found the handwritten, never-before published manuscript in a safe. That manuscript was Paris in the Twentieth Century, an astonishingly prophetic view into the future by one of the most renowned science fiction writers of our time . . .

Reality Imitating Fiction?

A seen out of Wool by Hugh Howey courtesy of Beijing pollution

And the Nominees are...

Next month marks the 6th anniversary of The Pleasant Hill Book Club! Moreover, this also means our Book of the Year choice is coming near!

The nominees for best and worst book of the year are...

Ready Player One
Whiskey Rebels
Mr. Penumbra's 24-hour Book Store
How to Get Filthy Rich in Rising Asia
We Band of Angels: The Untold Story of American Nurses Trapped on Bataan by the Japanese
Red Shirts
Inferno
Ella Minnow Pea
Destiny of the Republic
Coming Clean
Year Zero
Candy Cane Murder
Legend


Stay tuned to see who will win this coveted award!*




*Award not actually coveted.

Jag, KEA

Saw a copy of this on a bookshelf in IKEA.

Thought 1: "I wonder if I can buy this."

Thought 2: "That's stupid."

Hooray for Dystopia!

As the Book Club embarks on yet another dystopian novel (Hunger Games, A Handmaids Tale, probably a couple more that I can't think of at the moment), it made me think back to a blog post I put up a little while back. It comes from goodreads.com and has some very interesting statistics about when books about dystopian societies become popular.

Enjoy.



http://pleasanthillbookclub.blogspot.com/2012/03/trends-in-dystopia.html

An Interesting Graphic From Our 2nd Favorite Book Website

Enjoy the data!

January Book of the Month: Legend by Marie Lu

via goodreads.com

What was once the western United States is now home to the Republic, a nation perpetually at war with its neighbors. Born into an elite family in one of the Republic's wealthiest districts, fifteen-year-old June is a prodigy being groomed for success in the Republic's highest military circles. Born into the slums, fifteen-year-old Day is the country's most wanted criminal. But his motives may not be as malicious as they seem.

From very different worlds, June and Day have no reason to cross paths - until the day June's brother, Metias, is murdered and Day becomes the prime suspect. Caught in the ultimate game of cat and mouse, Day is in a race for his family's survival, while June seeks to avenge Metias's death. But in a shocking turn of events, the two uncover the truth of what has really brought them together, and the sinister lengths their country will go to keep its secrets.

Full of nonstop action, suspense, and romance, this novel is sure to move readers as much as it thrills.

New Years Reading Resolutions

At the end of each year, I set a reading goal for the following year.  It is, in fact, the only New Years resolution I make, believing that if I want to make a life change I should do it now; waiting for the New Year is not going to help that change stick.  (My husband is now mocking me and my continuous promise to once again give up refined sugar . . . "after the New Year.") 

My goal for 2013 was to read 52 books in the year.  I hit my goal--barely.  But in looking back at my Goodreads book montage, I noticed a lot of fluff books that I enjoyed at the time but did not stick with me.  To be sure, there is a time and a place for fluff books.  I had a new baby in January 2013 and went back to a crazy work schedule in July of 2013, so fluff was exactly what I needed this year. 

But going into 2014 I have a new goal: quality over quantity.  You know the books I am talking about.  The ones that may take a few weeks or even a month to get through.  The ones you think about when you are not reading them.  And when the book ends, you feel as if you have made a new friend.  Books like The Book Thief, Empire Falls, and A Prayer for Owen Meany come to mind.

So this year, on by Goodreads goals list, I am going to make a list of books I want to read in 2014.  I will add 12 to that number (to account for the book club picks) and that will be my numerical goal for the year.  Granted, I will still read some fluff (I still need to read Allegient, and the new Debra Geary book, of course), but my focus will be on more reputationally sound books.

And to make things interesting, I have a second goal for 2014: every other book I read has to be a paper book rather than on my beautiful, lovely new Kindle Paperwhite.  The merits of Kindle reading versus paper reading can fill a separate post, but suffice to say, there is a place for both in my life and I want to embrace that this year.  The biggest factor in my decision is my 3-year old daughter, who gets very excited when she sees me reading a "real" book and comes to join me.  A Kindle is just another device to her, but a book is a book.  Going into the early reading years with her there is no better way to set an example than through good old paper and ink.

What are your 2014 reading goals?

~WMc

Super Why! Improving Literacy or Facist Propaganda?

I've been meaning to write this post for a while. Just note, I don't mean this entirely seriously because I know this is one step shy of wrapping tinfoil around my head, but it is slightly off-putting.

On the surface Super Why! seems like a great educational kids show. It's all about reading, learning letters, sounds, even rhyming. However, while watching the show with my 5 year old son I began to realize something very disturbing about the program.

This is a clip of the song the Super Readers sing when they complete their mission. See if you can spot the problem.


The mission of these Super Readers is to "change the story" and equates the original intention of the author as a "problem." The message being sent to children is that censorship is something to be encouraged and something that should be actively pursued. That if you do not like the story, you simply change it until it conforms with your personal ideology rather than try to learn from and about the author's original intent.

I tried to overlook this and focus on the reading skills being taught, so we watched another episode. Looking at this show with a new lense, I caught something more disturbing in the opening song. Pay close attention 23 seconds in.



Tsk, tsk, tsk PBS kids.

2013 Book of the Year Awards

While the Pleasant Hill Book Club has yet to vote on its book of the year, other sites have started releasing their lists.

Check out NPR's Best Books of 2013, which includes one of our book club books from this year: How to Get Filthy Rich in Rising Asia by Mohsin Hamid

Goodreads 2013 Choice Awards also includes a book club pick from this year, Inferno by Dan Brown.

And the New York Times' Best 10 Books of 2013

Many books from these lists are on my ever-growing to-read list including:

• Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
• The Interestings by Meg Wolitzer
• The Circle by Dave Eggers
• Eleanor & Park by Rainbow Rowell
• I Hate To Leave This Beautiful Place by Howard Norman

What are some of your favorites for 2013? What about must-reads for 2014?

~WMc