A couple more done

Sarum: The Novel of England by Edward Rutherford is a sweeping historical novel about Salisbury England told over the period from the time when rising sea levels separated the Island of Britain from mainland Europe to just a few years ago. The book follows the fortunes of several families over the ten thousand years since the last ice age. This book kind of reminded me the books that James Michener used to write about localities in the US. I quite enjoyed the book and I would recommend it, but at 1059 pages, its not really for the faint of heart.

Valhalla Rising by Clive Cussler was your common garden variety Dirk Pitt book, with and evil villain threatening disaster while Dirk and his pal Al Giordano stepping in the save the day with panache and aplomb. The book features the usual near death situation for Dirk and Al, the destruction of a classic vehicle (in this case a bonus destruction of a Ford tri-motor) and a beautiful damsel in distress for Dirk to rescue. If you like Clive Cussler, this one is pretty much like all the others, if you haven’t read any, this is as good a place to start as any.

75 for the year.

An Eclectic Bunch Done

Over the past couple of weeks I’ve finished four books that were quite an eclectic mix.

First up was Neil Gaimen’s American Gods. I picked this up after seeing the first couple of episodes in STARZ TV miniseries of the book. Basically it’s the story of the old gods who were either believed in by the indigenous peoples of America or who were brought here from the old country by immigrants. As the number of people who believe in these old gods has waned, so has their power and influence. They are now so marginalized that the new gods, Media and Technology, whose strength has increased because of people’s belief in them, have decided to eliminate the old gods once and for all. Wotan, one of the old Norse gods, is trying to recruit the other old gods to resist the new gods and in that effort has recruited a human, Shadow Moon, who was recently released from prison, to assist him. It was a very good book and I enjoyed it immensely. If the premise is at all interesting to you, you should check it out.

Fifth Avenue, 5 A.M.: Audrey Hepburn, Breakfast at Tiffany’s, and The Dawn of the Modern Woman was a fascinating look at the making of the iconic movie. The book goes behind the scenes to show how the producers secured the rights to the book from Capote (they mislead him about casting), how they got the basic storyline (a female prostitute and a male prostitute bond) past the censors, and the trials and tribulations of dealing with the stars (Hepburn, under the influence of her jealous husband lacked self-confidence, while Peppard thought he knew everything), shooting in New York, and getting the music for the movie sorted out (Mancini wrote Moon River specifically for Hepburn’s limited vocal range and the studio tried to cut the song from the movie). The book also showed how Breakfast at Tiffany’s contributed to the development of the romantic comedy genre from films featuring busty women with clueless men (called “Boobs and boobs” films) to smart witty dialog driven films. If you’re at all a fan of the movie, or Hepburn, or film, I think you’ll enjoy this book.

One Continuous Fight: The Retreat from Gettysburg and the Pursuit of Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia, July 4-14, 1863 by Eric Wittenburg, J. David Petruzzi, and Micheal F. Nugent is an outstanding book about the aftermath of Gettysburg. It’s the third book in Savas-Beatie’s “Emerging Civil War” series that I’ve read and I’m really beginning to appreciate the series. After the battle Lee sent his 10,000-12,000 wounded back to Virginia under the care and supervision of John D. Imboden in a wagon train some 20 miles long. This train took a more circuitous route to Williamsport MD from Gettysburg, while the main Army, departing later, took a more direct path. The book covers both operations in great detail using both primary and secondary sources (included in the rather excellent bibliography). In fact the great strength of the book is integrating the two types of information into one seamless and compelling narrative. The book also covers Meade’s pursuit of Lee and clearly illustrates the problems he faced in trying to accomplish Lincoln’s demand that Lee be destroyed before he could return to safety across the Potomac. Finally the authors wrap up the book with both a fair and objective assessment of Meade’s performance in the pursuit (about as well as can be expected given the state of the AoP and the weather) and detailed driving tours of the retreat routes of both the main army and the wagon train of wounded. I can’t say enough good about this book. If you’re at all interested in the Civil War, you need this book. It is one of the best ACW books I’ve read in a very long time.

Finally, there was Lincoln’s Lieutenants: The High Command of the Army of the Potomac by Stephen Sears . This book is intended as a counterpoint to Freeman’s three volume Lee’s Lieutenants: A Study in Command , and to a certain extent it is. However, readers who expect this book to conform closely to that one will be, I think, somewhat disappointed. There are two reasons for that neither having anything to do with the quality of this book. Freeman had three entire volumes to cover the biographies of his subjects in great detail, Sears has only one. There was very little political dimension to Lee’s command decisions, while there was some need to match commanders to the states of the troops in their command, I can’t recall a single instance of Davis or the Confederate Congress interfering with one of Lee’s personnel decisions. Sears’ book is replete with such interference from Lincoln and Congress and it takes up a fair amount of space. At the end of the day, this book was simply outstanding. Even after having read about eh Civil War for more than 40 years man and boy, I learned an awful lot from this book. It is simply the best ACW book I’ve read since, I guess, McPherson’s Battle Cry of Freedom.

73 for the year.

Another bunch finished

Death by Black Hole: And Other Cosmic Quandaries by Neil deGrasse Tyson is an excellent primer on cosmology, the beginning of the universe, the history of scientific thought, and the intersection of science and religion. The book is very well written, engaging and accessible. I was enthralled thoughout. I recommend this very highly to anyone who wants to know more about the universe we live in.

Collapsing Empire by John Scalzi is a sci-fi book set in a totally different universe than the one in The Old Man’s War. This human only (so far) universe is ruled by an Empire that depends on pseudo-FTL travel using a series of pathways between star systems called “The Flow”. One interesting wrinkle in this universe is that the “Flow” node to Earth has closed down and that planet system is no longer accessible to humans. Another is that all other human settled star systems (save one) lack inhabitable planets, so all of the multitude of human settlements are based on space stations. The “flow” is changing in ways that will profoundly impact the Empire and subsequently, there is a great deal of political and economic maneuvering between the great houses of the Empire

Frankly, I’ve got kind of mixed feelings about this book. It was very engaging while I was reading it. It was another one of those that kept me up when I should have been sleeping because I had to find out what happens next. But two things prevent me from recommending it unreservedly. First, it is obviously the first book in a very long series. The book just kind of stops after a major plot development creates a cliff-hanger reaching no real resolution. Second, after finishing it, and after thinking and reflecting on the book, my “suspension of disbelief” kind of breaks down and I realized that many of the premises of the book don’t actually work. I borrowed this from the library, and I’ll probably keep an eye out for future installments, but I don’t think I’ll be buying them.

The secret Trial of Robert E Lee by Thomas Fleming is one of those novels based on the premise that it is recounting an actual event that historically happened. In this case, after Lincoln’s death and resultant Radical Republican ascendency, the US Government decides to try Robert E. Lee for treason in front of a US Military Commission such as was used to try the Lincoln Assassination conspirators. The book was interesting and engaging, but at the end of the day was pretty unsatisfactory because it takes the position that secession was justified because the abolitionists supported John Brown which caused the Southrons to legitimately fear a race war leaving them no choice but to attempt leaving the Union. The book was a good read up to a point, but I’m not really into the ConfedSymp premise.

A Long and Bloody Task: The Atlanta Campaign From Dalton Through Kennesaw To the Chattahoochee and All the Fighting They Want: The Atlanta Campaign From Peachtree Creek to the City’s Surrender both by Stephan Davis are an excellent pair of books on the Atlanta Campaign. They provide a nice summary of the campaign, along with a very detailed and accessible driving tour for both halves of the campaign and a pretty good overview of available sources and the current level of scholarship. I can’t wait to take the books up to Dalton and work my way south. Readers should be advised that Davis definitely has an opinion. He’s not a fan of Sherman, who he seems to think is over-rated, he also seems to be ambivalent about Johnston and Hood. He’s kind of mildly grumpy about pretty much all the major players. Anyway, the books are excellent and a much needed update for accessing the sites of the campaign in light of growth and development of the region.

68 for the year