Current books, March 1, 2012

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I only have three books going now, probably because my main book, Flashman on the March, George MacDonald Fraser’s final Flashman book, includes several of the characteristics I like: history, adventure, humor, great storytelling.  “Flashman on the March” is set during the British military expedition into Abyssinia in 1868 to rescue European hostages held by the mad emperor Theodore.  I haven’t read a Flashman book in quite a while, but I read that MacDonald Fraser published this one shortly before his death, and fortunately the library had a copy.  There is a formula to these books:  Flashman - cad, coward, womaniser, shameless self-promoter – finds himself thrown into a real 19th century historical event and experiences the utmost of intrigue, seduction, danger, torture and battle that the history will allow.   Flashman is a bigoted, foul-mouthed untrustworthy witness to history, so the author provides lengthy historical notes at the back of the book with accurate information on the real people and situations that appear in the story.  All very clever and entertaining, although the author sometimes lets Flashman run off at the mouth too long. 

  • MacDonald Fraser is one of the best swashbuckling adventure writers ever:  he wrote the scripts for the great 1973 “Three/Four Musketeers” movies with Michael York and Faye Dunaway.  
  • Theodore and the British rescue mission make up most of The Blue Nile by Alan Moorehead, a classic of history.  It, along with Moorehead’s The White Nile are coincidentally in the revolving bookcase, high on the reread roster. 

My other two books are Underfoot in Show Business, by Helene Hanff, a paperback ragged from repeated reading, and Horrible Histories Ireland by Terry Deary.  Horrible Histories is a British series of smartass, irreverent history books for children, usually pretty accurate, with lots of funny drawings, silly quizzes, disgusting historical recipes and suitable amounts of blood and gore.  I always pick some of these up when I’m in the UK, and have quite a collection.

Books on hiatus (March 1, 2012)

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I usually have several books going at once: history, mystery, thriller, short stories, how-to, humor, old favorite.  It’s good to have several strings to my need-to-read bow so I always have something at hand to suit my mood.  A book, usually a new or new-to-me book, goes into hiatus when I’ve started it, like it, want to finish it but it gets put aside so long that it’s due back at the library or vanishes into a big miscellaneous pile of reading material.  Books on hiatus can be identified on my bookshelves because they still have bookmarks in them.  Hiatus books on Kindle are harder to track, as their titles slip farther and farther down on the list.

I only have three books on hiatus now, which is pretty good.  We Meant Well: How I helped lose the battle for the hearts and minds of the Iraqi people, by Peter van Buren, is almost a current book.  When I turn on my Kindle, it still opens in this book, but the Kindle itself slid to the bottom of a pile of books, magazines, catalogs, and paid bills, which is how it got into hiatus status.  Kindle says I’ve read 90% of the book, it’s written in a very readable style, the subject is compelling and the author is a Foreign Service Officer, so this one has a good chance of getting finished soon.  I think I put it aside because it just got too depressing to read about how State and other USG agencies can mess up in spite of the best of intentions and the many (too many?) management controls in place.

I tracked down a copy of Away all Boats,  by Kenneth Dodson, after I found out that my beloved Uncle Ralph served on the real ship that Dodson, an officer on the ship, based his novel on.  The story is so realistic and so detailed that the storyline gets overwhelmed at times, and I got bogged down in it.  This beautiful 1950s vintage paperback is in the revolving bookcase, waiting for me to take it up again.  I think I’ll dip into another book about WW2 in the Pacific, Tales of the South Pacific, by James Michener, as a step back into Dodson.  This is a favorite of mine, with fascinating details about Michener’s experiences in the Navy giving an authentic voice to some great storytelling.  “Away all Boats” has some compelling voices too:  Dodson’s, and my uncle’s voice that echoes in some of the anecdotes included in the book.

I’m surprised that Midnight Rising, by Tony Horwitz, is also a hiatus book, also shelved in the revolving bookcase so I don’t forget about it.  Horwitz is an excellent writer, and his nonfiction books are favorites of mine, so I’m surprised this book about John Brown and the raid on Harper’s Ferry is in hiatus.  The first part of the book has fascinating information about John Brown’s life that was new to me, but the book slid into hiatus at the point where Brown and his band are getting ready to go into Harper’s Ferry.  I know that things are not going to turn out well for Brown and company, and Horwitz is so good that he’s made me care about all of them.  I need to trust Horwitz to not just tell a harrowing story, but put it into historical perspective so the sacrifices these men made, which includes sacrificing some high ideals, make sense.

Recently read books (March 1, 2012)

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In no particular order, here are some memorable books I’ve read recently:

The Little Women Letters, by Gabrielle Donnelly (library book).  A novel that imagines the lives of three sisters descended from Jo March, the main character in Louisa May Alcott’s “Little Women”.  The sisters live in London near their American mother and English father, and have personalities and experiences similar to Jo, Meg and Amy from “Little Women”.  The modern day narrative is interspersed with letters from Jo that one of the sisters finds in the attic.  I enjoyed this book a lot more than I thought I would.  I recognized Jo’s voice and many of my favorite “Little Women” memories in the letters, and the modern day sisters’ lives were interesting enough to keep my attention.

  • I need to watch “Little Women” (the one with Susan Sarandon, Winona Rider and Gabriel Byrne) again.

My Year with Eleanor:  A Memoir, by Noelle Hancock (library book).  A nonfiction book about a young journalist, floundering after she loses her cool social media job, who is inspired by a quote from Eleanor Roosevelt.  Noelle follows Eleanor’s advice to “Do one thing every day that scares you”, starting with trapeze lessons and ending with a climb up Mount Kilimanjaro.  She shares some good information about Eleanor Roosevelt’s life, as well as a lot of personal information about her own.  Surprisingly, I found Noelle’s life and her search for courage pretty interesting too. 

  • I liked the movie “Julie and Julia” (based on a book I haven’t read), and this book has a similar structure and theme.

The Hunger Games, by Suzanne Collins (Kindle).  A teenage girl living in a grim and dismal future North America must participate in a game of survival to the death.  This book passed my Kindle test:  it was engaging enough to keep me reading one page after another to the end.  This is against the grain for me, and the main reason I don’t really love my Kindle.  I am a confirmed forward and back page flipper even with books I’m enjoying, and will brazenly read the end and abandon a book if I get bored with it.  I bought the other two books in the trilogy for my Kindle, but so far the second book hasn’t drawn me in.

  • After I read this book, I became aware of all the excitement and anticipation for “The Hunger Games” movie.  I’m also looking forward to seeing it.

Boy and Going Solo, by Roald Dahl (my books).  Two autobiographical books about Roald Dahl’s childhood (Boy) and his first job, in Tanzania – Tanganyika at that time – and his World War 2 service in the British air force (Going Solo).  I started rereading “Boy” as we were getting ready for our post-retirement move from northern Virginia, and brought “Going Solo” to our new home, also a reread.  I’ve read these books several times, and always enjoy them.  Dahl’s real life – his family, friends and experiences – are more engaging to me than his fiction, which I find a little heavy on the snark.  I especially liked his account of living in pre-WW2 Tanganyika, and dealing with the German population as the war began.

  • Now I need to watch “Nowhere in Africa” again, an excellent movie about a girl whose German Jewish family seeks refuge from Hitler’s Germany in East Africa.

The Killer Angels, by Michael Shaara (my book).  I’ve read this before, and agreed with the novel’s stellar reputation, but I’d forgotten what a great book it is.  Shaara selected the perfect Civil War characters from both Union and Confederate sides to tell the story of the battle of Gettysburg.  Just the right amount of detail, just the right amount of emotion. 

  • After I finished the book, I wanted to watch “Gettysburg” again, bought the blu-ray extended version and spent four-plus mesmerized hours watching it.
  • I’ve also read “Gods and Generals” by Michael Shaara’s son Jeff.  This prequel to “Angels” is good, I own a copy but it’s not high on my reread list.  The movie “Gods and Generals” is pretty bad, won’t watch it again. 

Three Day Town, by Margaret Maron (Kindle).  This is the most recent book in one of my favorite mystery series, Maron’s ‘Deborah Knott’ series.  Deborah is a judge in a rural county in North Carolina, I’ve read all the books, and always enjoy reading about her and her friends and relations.  This book is set in New York City, and combines the lead characters from Margaret Maron’s two series, Deborah Knott and Sigrid Harald, who is an NYC homicide detective.  Not one of Ms. Maron’s strongest books, but I love her mysteries so much I bought this for my Kindle the day it was published.