Catching Up - The books so far

A good part of what we do in Colorado during the summer is read. Couple that with the fact that we've already been here a week and a half and you can figure that I'm starting this blog a little late. So, this posting will be a little dense with mini-reviews of the eight books that I've already gone through. Nice thing is there hasn't been a true clunker yet! Putting them all together like this will also make it pretty clear that I don't stick to any one kind of book.

Here we go --

The Last Kingdom by Bernard Cornwell -- Cornwell is known for writing a whole lot of historical fiction. In fact, his series about King Arthur is one of the best on the subject. This one is also historical -- about 9th century England in the days leading up to the reign of King Alfred the Great. Like Cornwell's other books, The Last Kingdom doesn't glamorize the era. The book focuses on a boy, Uhtred, whose family is killed by the invading Danes. He survives and is raised by a Danish lord and, essentially, spends his early years deciding whether to be truly Danish or return to his English roots. There's lots of action and some good history -- Cornwell is well known for his research -- but I found the writing style a little below Cornwell's standard. It felt like he was trying to write for a teenage audience even though most teens I know who read this kind of book are pretty sophisticated readers (thank you Harry Potter!). All in all a good read, but not one of Cornwell's best. A warning -- you don't realize until almost the end of the book that this is the first of a new series so be prepared to committ to 3 or 4 books. The first book of the summer reading seasons was good, not great.

Rage by Jonathan Kellerman -- OK, I admit to being biased. As soon as either Kellerman, Jonathan or his wife, Faye, publish a book, I'm there. This isn't literature, but they're well written thrillers with terrific plots. This new one, Rage, is one of JK's Alex Delaware series. Delaware is a child psychologist who works a lot with the LAPD. In this one, an old, and fairly brutal, case that Delaware had worked on comes back when one of the perps is released from prison and fairly quickly murdered. This reopens the case and takes you through all kinds of twists and turns. Its a good, quick read -- you know you're not reading the classics, but this falls in to the "guilty pleasure" category. If you like character-driven mysteries, this is a great one.

The Men Who Stare at Goats by Jon Ronson - strange, strange book. Ronson a young documentary film maker who likes to uncover things. This books details the things he uncovers about the attempts, inside the US intelligence community, to develop super-warriors with paranormal abilities -- walking through walls, stopping the enemies hearts with your thoughts -- things like that. He manages to find some retired high-ranking military folks who were pushing psychic projects when they were active. There appears to have even been a lab where hundreds of soldiers were assigned for years trying to do "distance viewing" and thought control. They tried to play a part in the battle against Noriega in Panama. There's not a lot of success to report although he does find a guy who claims he can make a goat fall down with his mind! You feel like you're reading some of the better conspiracy theory books, but Ronson seems to have facts and interviews to back up his claims. Still....

A Thread of Grace by Mary Doria Russell -- I've been waiting for a good 10 years for Russell to come out with something new. Her first books, The Sparrow and Children of God, were "thoughtful" science fiction about an order of jesuits who head out in to space. A Thread of Grace was not the book I was expecting. Her topic this time is definitely earth-bound without a trace of sci-fi -- the plight of refugee Jews in WWII Italy. Her style of writing is still stellar and the story she tells is fascinating following a small number of Polish and German families as they try to escape the Nazis. Russell does a great job of making the stories come alive and especially making clear that there were many, many small heroes among the Italian people. Its the holocaust so this is not an upbeat story. Russell makes you care about characters who aren't going to make to the end of the book. Thread of Grace is a fairly complex novel with lots of characters to follow but, this is the first unqualified recommendation of the summer.

The Professor, the Banker and the Suicide King by Michael Craig -- a quick warning -- if you don't like poker, skip to the next review. If you do play or watch or at least appreciate poker, try this one. There have been a rash of books lately trying to capitalize on the poker craze, but this is a pretty good. Its a non-fiction look at what happens when a billionare, Andy Beal of Dallas, comes to Vegas with boatloads of money and a desire to go against the best poker has to offer. All the gods of poker are here -- Brunson, Lederer, Binion, etc. There's a lot of high-stakes Texas Hold-'em being played here with pots containing millions of dollars, but there's great stories about what it takes to be a poker player at this level. Mini-bios of poker heroes are scattered through the book, too. Makes watching the World Poker Tour on TV much more fun and really has me stoked for next week's trip to Vegas! Again, if you're in to poker, you'll love this one. If you're not, you'll think that reading this is a complete waste of time.

Abarat, Days of Magic/Nights of War by Clive Barker -- and now for something completely different. I still read a lot of fantasy and most of the best, these days, can be found in the teen or "young adult" sections. Clive Barker is an extremely successful horror writer (who I actually don't like very much), who is now trying his hand at fantasy. This is actually the second book in his Abarat series, the story of a girl who finds another world where everything is different. Barker really just let his imagine completely run wild in this book. You can almost here him chuckling as he makes up character names like Cindy Quackenbush (the heroine) and Malingo (her geshrat sidekick -- don't ask). While not the best writing -- he is aimed at 13 year olds -- the story is a wild ride. Barker also decided to illustrate this one himself so there are pictures of strange scenary and characters every few pages. Usually I don't like illustrations to intrude on my own visualizations, but they really do add something to the book. While you need to read the first Abarat book before this, I do recommend this, especially if you've got a teen who likes to read fantasy or an adult who still likes to read like a kid.

1776 by David McCullough -- by now, you're getting the drift that, genre-wise, I jump around a lot. McCullough is one of my favorite historians. His biographies of Truman and John Adams are classics and both won Pulitzers. This book veers from his norm in a couple of ways. First, its pretty short coming in at under 300 pages, about half the length of his typical book. Second, it focuses on a time period instead of a person or, in his older work, an event. This was a pretty eventful year and most of the stories tend to be left out of the history books. The year begins and ends well for the Americans - starting with the battles around Boston and ending with Trenton, but, for most of the year, it really looked the whole "United States" thing was going to come crashing down. McCullough does a good job of spending part of the book looking through British eyes -- some good detail of George III and his generals, but, as you'd expect the focal point of the book is Washington. At this point in his career, Washington's personality made the U.S. possible, but certainly not his military skill. Washington definitely comes across as more human than god-like the more you read about him, but never less important. I highly recommend reading lots of things about the American Revolution. I'm not sure there was ever a period in history where so few men, extraodinary though they were, changed the world quite so much. In high school, we're taught the facts of the revolution and, frankly, we're mostly bored by it. The story is, in fact, pretty incredible. That said, if you haven't read on the revolution, save this book for later. It's a little too focus for a general history. You'd be better off starting with books like Founding Brothers or the excellent recent biographies of Washington, Adams, Hamilton or Jefferson. But if you haven't read about his period and you like history at all, definitely learn more.

The Portrait by Iain Pears -- this is a tiny novel (about 200 pages) by the author of "An Instance of the Fingerpost", an absolutely incredible book (even though it may have the worst title I've heard). The Portrait is the kind of book I usually don't like -- its told completely as a flashback as the narrator, an artist, paints a picture of his former best friend, a powerful art critic. The book is essentially the monologue given by the artist as, over a period of a few weeks, he paints the critic's portrait. Sounds dull? It definitely started that way. If I hadn't read Pears before, I'd have probably put this book down after the first few dozen pages. If you pick it up and are inclined to quit, don't! You feel like you're riding a train that slowly -- very slowly -- accelerates, but by the end you're flying through this book in totally unexpected directions. Pears is a "literary" author - he's never tried to be a bestseller -- and this book is no exception. Its language is a little stilted, but, if you can get through, this one is terrific. Best of the summer so far.

And just like -- we're caught up. Hopefully, I'll make entries every day or two now and only talk about one book in each posting.

Please add comments! Even if its just to let me know there's somebody out there. But I'd especially like to hear if you've read one of the books and agree or disagree or if, based on the few words here, you decide to try it yourself. Finally, if, based on what you see here, there's some "must-read" that I should know about, let me know.