I love gorillas. As a small child my grandfather would take me to the B&I shopping center in Tacoma, Washington where I would watch Ivan the gorilla for hours. Even that young, I felt sorry for him, but I was, at the same time, happy to be able to wile away literal hours watching him. He was funny, clearly smart, and so incredibly intimidating. It was obvious he was intelligent and it forced me to think about humans relationship with animals in a way I otherwise may not have done.

The book “Ishmael” follows the story of a gorilla named Ishmael who can “speak” telepathically, and communicate vast amounts of knowledge about the aforementioned relationship between men and animals. He advertises for students in the newspaper and the story is a chronicle of his tutoring of one such man that answers the advertisement.

I find it funny that the top three reviews of this book are not only one star, but are written by people that clearly took the book at it’s word and face value. Ishmael uses his time with the narrator to explain why man is on a crash course for self-destruction. While I don’t agree with every detail of Ishmael’s explanation, I do agree with the overall sentiment. Manifest destiny, etc. lend very heavily toward our precarious place in the circle of life. Our hubris and self importance will be our eventual downfall.

This is fiction and should be read as such, but it makes you think and makes you reexamine ideals and supposed knowledge. Isn’t that what all good fiction should do? If the reader is also entertained, it’s a win-win. My copy is littered with Post-It Notes. Ishmael says many, many things that I want to look into further — things I know, but want to know more about.

Three words that describe this book: Thought-provoking, relevant, insightful

You might want to pick this book up if: You question humanity’s place in the world.

-Kandice

This reader review was submitted as part of Adult Summer Reading. We will continue to share reviews throughout the year. 

In the mid-19th century, explorers wondered about the location of the source of the Nile River. Two English adventurers, Burton and Speke, led an expedition to find the final answer. “River of the Gods” describes the extreme difficulties of their exploration including lack of funding, disappearing workers, near starvation and life-threatening illnesses that made the trek nearly impossible.

The even more interesting story was the personalities of these two men. Burton as the leader was six years older, more experienced, better able to communicate with the African people he hired, better able to understand their culture. Speke was more aristocratic, less interested in scientific investigations, more interested in hunting the African animals. Not surprisingly, although the two men had supported each other through near-death diseases, they returned to England bitter rivals. The resulting argument was nearly as interesting as the fascinating tale already told.

Candice Millard gives a detailed and seemingly historically accurate description of this expedition and its aftermath. An amazing story told in an amazing way.

Three words that describe this book: historical, exciting, adventure

You might want to pick this book up if: You enjoy true tales of adventure; you like geography; you like descriptions of interpersonal relationships and how they affect outcomes.

-Anonymous

This reader review was submitted as part of Adult Summer Reading. We will continue to share reviews throughout the year. 

“Shuna’s Journey” is a parable about societies that lose control of what sustains them. In this case, as one might expect of Hayao Miyazaki, what’s lost is a connection to the natural world, particularly to agriculture.

The main and titular character, Shuna is a prince from a village in the periphery whose people have retained this connection, living impoverished agrarian lives. He desires a better life for his people, but unlike the manhunters and city dwellers seen elsewhere who live in symbolically lifeless deserts and enrich themselves with the labor of slaves stolen from the periphery, Shuna understands that that life must come from the natural world — from the fruits of agriculture. He seeks a better cereal crop, the golden grain that sustains the city, shipped in husked and lifeless from the land of the gods. A journey through geological time into that land proves surreal and, almost literally alien, full of lavishly illustrated horrors and wonders that Shuna only escapes with the aid of slaves he freed previously in his journey.

The story is a striking tale of courage and renewal. Despite the fact that it wears its origin as a Tibetan folk tale on its sleeve, Miyazaki’s identification of the source of modern energy, modern lifeless society — our “golden grain” — in the life force of natural epochs past is a powerful and thoughtful image that ties together movements for environmental protection, worker’s rights and decolonization.

If there is something lacking in this image, it is the modern analogue of Miyazaki’s hero, Shuna. We ourselves cannot journey through geological time to gain control of the golden grain, so Miyazaki’s tale leads us to no clear path of future action to save our world.

Three words that describe this book: imaginative, thought-provoking, breath-taking

You might want to pick this book up if: you loved Miyazaki’s work on the film “Princess Mononoke” which evokes many of the same themes in a far more historically and geographically grounded narrative.

-Shane

This reader review was submitted as part of Adult Summer Reading. We will continue to share reviews throughout the year.