Read: 1776 by David McCullough, 2005, 0743226712.
I had wanted to read 1776 and several of the other Revolutionary War/Founding Fathers books that were popping up left and right over the past several years. 1776 is the first book I've gotten to.
This a short history of, roughly, the first year of the Revolutionary War. McCullough concentrates on Washington and the main Continental Army with little coverage of political matters except how they relate to Washington's command. McCullough mentions the campaigns in Canada, Northern New York and the South only in how they affected the work of the Continental Army in Massachusetts and New York.
The Continental Army was very fortunate to survive the year. Poor finances, limited enlistments, multiple setbacks and defeats, poor supplies, and on, and on and on. Washington made several blunders that the British exploited, but he learned from each one and improved his command. After being in retreat for several months the defeat of the Hessians mercenaries at Trenton on December 26th was a much needed boost after the defeats of the summer and fall. Trenton was dismissed by the British as a skirmish not a battle. But, the shocking victory against the Hessians by a ragtag army was a tremendous morale boost to the soldiers and their supporters.
I'd like to read some of the other books McCullough lists in his extensive bib. but I probably will not get to them for a while.
Sunday, January 21, 2007
Saturday, January 6, 2007
Just Finished: "The Guns of Heaven" by Pete Hamill
Just finished The Guns of Heaven by Pete Hamill, 0843955953, 2006 (originally published 1983).
Not bad. Another Hard Case Crime novel. The only thing I knew about Pete Hamill is that he is a journalist and wrote a memoir about being a drunk. The bio on his webpage lists additional fiction work by Hamill. I figured he only wrote this one and a couple other novels. Guess not.
Sam Briscoe is a journalist on a writing assignment to Belfast, Northern Ireland. He's also in town to visit his Uncle Frank who used to be an active bigwig in the Provisional IRA. Briscoe is sympathetic to the IRA side of the conflict and after Frank arranges an interview with a shadowy Provo commander the commander asks Briscoe to deliver an envelope to a IRA colleague in New York City.
After the interview Briscoe's Uncle Frank is murdered and three days later Briscoe travels on to see his teen daughter who attends boarding school in Geneva, Switzerland. While in Geneva, Briscoe recognizes a tail from Belfast and goes into high alert. Briscoe does not know who is following him. Is it the SAS? The Provos? The UVF? But, he figures the tail is related to the envelope he carries and that his life in in danger.
Briscoe flees with his daughter, drops her at her mother's in Spain, and travels to NYC where he delivers the envelope to an Irish bar. After delivery he spots another tail, beats the guy up and the sees the Irish bar blown up. Things get worse from there. Briscoe knows too much and someone is trying to shut him up. Briscoe's daughter is kidnapped, Briscoe himself is captured, and people get shot.
Not that bad overall but it read like a part of a series. The character refers to past history and events that explain Briscoe's background and add interest to the character. But, Hamill does not expound on those events like a one-off novel usually does. The strong part of Guns are the discussion of Northern Ireland politics and the extremists. A tough guy journalist just doesn't fit the genre.
Not sure I'll take another of his books if something else is available.
Not bad. Another Hard Case Crime novel. The only thing I knew about Pete Hamill is that he is a journalist and wrote a memoir about being a drunk. The bio on his webpage lists additional fiction work by Hamill. I figured he only wrote this one and a couple other novels. Guess not.
Sam Briscoe is a journalist on a writing assignment to Belfast, Northern Ireland. He's also in town to visit his Uncle Frank who used to be an active bigwig in the Provisional IRA. Briscoe is sympathetic to the IRA side of the conflict and after Frank arranges an interview with a shadowy Provo commander the commander asks Briscoe to deliver an envelope to a IRA colleague in New York City.
After the interview Briscoe's Uncle Frank is murdered and three days later Briscoe travels on to see his teen daughter who attends boarding school in Geneva, Switzerland. While in Geneva, Briscoe recognizes a tail from Belfast and goes into high alert. Briscoe does not know who is following him. Is it the SAS? The Provos? The UVF? But, he figures the tail is related to the envelope he carries and that his life in in danger.
Briscoe flees with his daughter, drops her at her mother's in Spain, and travels to NYC where he delivers the envelope to an Irish bar. After delivery he spots another tail, beats the guy up and the sees the Irish bar blown up. Things get worse from there. Briscoe knows too much and someone is trying to shut him up. Briscoe's daughter is kidnapped, Briscoe himself is captured, and people get shot.
Not that bad overall but it read like a part of a series. The character refers to past history and events that explain Briscoe's background and add interest to the character. But, Hamill does not expound on those events like a one-off novel usually does. The strong part of Guns are the discussion of Northern Ireland politics and the extremists. A tough guy journalist just doesn't fit the genre.
Not sure I'll take another of his books if something else is available.
Friday, December 22, 2006
Read: "Fade to Blond" by Max Phillips
Read: Fade to Blonde by Max Phillips, 2004, 0843953500.
Excellent. This is a Hard Case Crime paperback. An original novel, not a reprint. I have a couple more Hard Case books checked out and one is an Ed McBain from about '58. Another is by Pete Hamill but I do not know the vintage.
This was really well written. Nice Hammett like touches in some of the descriptions by the main character, and narrator, Ray Corson. Ray left home early, bummed the rails a few years, saw service in WWII and now, in the mid-1950s or so, he's a washed out actor/screenwriter/boxer/bodyguard in Los Angeles making do as a construction worker. One day a big chested blonde shows up asking for Ray's help as muscle. The blonde says she has been threatened with facial disfurgerment by a local porn producer. Of course, the blonde's story is not all true and Ray, not dumb but not brilliant, struggles a while before he gets to the truth.
Corson's L.A. is filled with aspiring actors, failed actors, talent scouts, and all the gaffers, riggers and set designers that make up the low end of the movie industry. The setting gives an interesting twist by showing the work-a-day world of Hollywood. No glitter in the Phillips' rented rooms and drug dealer house parties.
Phillips is spare in his writing but his character descriptions are sharp enough that we can fill in the empty spaces he leaves. One nice touch by Phillips was when Corson forcibly takes a drug dealer to see a mobster. The dealer is verbally abusive with Corson and Ray says to the reader, "He made me a recommendation."
Excellent. This is a Hard Case Crime paperback. An original novel, not a reprint. I have a couple more Hard Case books checked out and one is an Ed McBain from about '58. Another is by Pete Hamill but I do not know the vintage.
This was really well written. Nice Hammett like touches in some of the descriptions by the main character, and narrator, Ray Corson. Ray left home early, bummed the rails a few years, saw service in WWII and now, in the mid-1950s or so, he's a washed out actor/screenwriter/boxer/bodyguard in Los Angeles making do as a construction worker. One day a big chested blonde shows up asking for Ray's help as muscle. The blonde says she has been threatened with facial disfurgerment by a local porn producer. Of course, the blonde's story is not all true and Ray, not dumb but not brilliant, struggles a while before he gets to the truth.
Corson's L.A. is filled with aspiring actors, failed actors, talent scouts, and all the gaffers, riggers and set designers that make up the low end of the movie industry. The setting gives an interesting twist by showing the work-a-day world of Hollywood. No glitter in the Phillips' rented rooms and drug dealer house parties.
Phillips is spare in his writing but his character descriptions are sharp enough that we can fill in the empty spaces he leaves. One nice touch by Phillips was when Corson forcibly takes a drug dealer to see a mobster. The dealer is verbally abusive with Corson and Ray says to the reader, "He made me a recommendation."
Sunday, December 17, 2006
Just Read: "American Skin" by Ken Bruen
Just Read: American Skin by Ken Bruen, 2006, 1932112472.
I reserved this one after doing an author search for Bruen.
I recently read some definition of noir that fits this book: bad people doing bad things to other bad people. Not so much because the book fits that definition but because the main character consciouscly puts himself into the genre.
Stephen Blake, the main character here, is conscious of his own noir activities and compares them against standard noir cliches and themes. But, American is not so much about the bank robbery, double crosses, shootings, deceptions and betrayals that make up the plot. It's not a nod-and-a-wink having fun with the genre. American is more of a mix of the noir novel and the Irish novel, or the Irish novel and the American noir novel. The kind of Irish novel with the IRA, the Provisional IRA, alcoholism, the seemingly inherent depression of the people, Brit vs. Paddy, with heaping helpings of sorrow and regret.
Blake is in the U.S. after a bloody bank robbery in Ireland. His girlfriend, a banker, is back in Ireland laudering the money and due to meet him in Tucson. The reader follows Blake from New York to Vegas to Tucson with multiple flashbacks telling about him, his lifelong friend Tommy, his girlfriend, and Irish sorrow/sadness/despair/anger/blah/blah/blah..
Alongside all the Irish stuff, Bruen mixes in a couple sociopaths for good measure, and that's where it gets an American-Irish twist. Bruen writes a fair amount about the differences between the way Irish and Americans act and think. How Blake is coming to the US and happily turning his back on Ireland and creating an American accent. The American sociopaths in New York and Arizona are different than the sad and angry Irish. Bruen sets each character up according to geography.
I'm overanalyzing the novel. I liked the book. Bruen is a very good writer.
I reserved this one after doing an author search for Bruen.
I recently read some definition of noir that fits this book: bad people doing bad things to other bad people. Not so much because the book fits that definition but because the main character consciouscly puts himself into the genre.
Stephen Blake, the main character here, is conscious of his own noir activities and compares them against standard noir cliches and themes. But, American is not so much about the bank robbery, double crosses, shootings, deceptions and betrayals that make up the plot. It's not a nod-and-a-wink having fun with the genre. American is more of a mix of the noir novel and the Irish novel, or the Irish novel and the American noir novel. The kind of Irish novel with the IRA, the Provisional IRA, alcoholism, the seemingly inherent depression of the people, Brit vs. Paddy, with heaping helpings of sorrow and regret.
Blake is in the U.S. after a bloody bank robbery in Ireland. His girlfriend, a banker, is back in Ireland laudering the money and due to meet him in Tucson. The reader follows Blake from New York to Vegas to Tucson with multiple flashbacks telling about him, his lifelong friend Tommy, his girlfriend, and Irish sorrow/sadness/despair/anger/blah/blah/blah..
Alongside all the Irish stuff, Bruen mixes in a couple sociopaths for good measure, and that's where it gets an American-Irish twist. Bruen writes a fair amount about the differences between the way Irish and Americans act and think. How Blake is coming to the US and happily turning his back on Ireland and creating an American accent. The American sociopaths in New York and Arizona are different than the sad and angry Irish. Bruen sets each character up according to geography.
I'm overanalyzing the novel. I liked the book. Bruen is a very good writer.
Friday, December 15, 2006
Did not read: "Life of an American Soldier in Aghanistan" by Diane Yancey
Did not read: Life of an American Soldier in Afghanistan by Diane Yancey, 2004, 1590183290.
A YA nonfiction book. I flipped through it. Not what I was expecting. The news is filled with Iraq but there is not much of anything about Afghanistan.
Not a bad book. A good summary of the war there, with little tidbits about different jobs the Army, Navy and Marines are doing. But, it's an '04 book. I wanted something newer and more in-depth.
A YA nonfiction book. I flipped through it. Not what I was expecting. The news is filled with Iraq but there is not much of anything about Afghanistan.
Not a bad book. A good summary of the war there, with little tidbits about different jobs the Army, Navy and Marines are doing. But, it's an '04 book. I wanted something newer and more in-depth.
Tuesday, December 12, 2006
Gave up: "Black Maria" by Kevin Young
Gave up: Black Maria: Being the Adventures of Delilah Redbone & A.K.A. Jones: Poems by Kevin Young, 2005, 1400042097.
Picked this one out from either an online recommendation or review. Maria is supposed to be a noir novel told through poetry. I gave up real quick.
I found it impossible to figure out which character was speaking, what the characters' relationships were, and how the plot was developing. I had a rough idea of the plot and characters from reading the book jacket but I gave up after a few pages.
Picked this one out from either an online recommendation or review. Maria is supposed to be a noir novel told through poetry. I gave up real quick.
I found it impossible to figure out which character was speaking, what the characters' relationships were, and how the plot was developing. I had a rough idea of the plot and characters from reading the book jacket but I gave up after a few pages.
Finally Finished: "20,000 Years in Sing Sing" by Warden Lawes
Finally Finished: 20,000 Years in Sing Sing by Warden Lewis E. Lawes, 1932.
I'm not sure if this edition was actually printed in 1932 or not. I also skimmed the book for the last twenty pages because Lawes was wordy.
Lawes worked in the prison system for several years and was the first long-term, professional warden the prison had. All previous wardens were political appointees who would last from 6 months to two years.
Lawes traces the history of Sing Sing and penology theories. He then goes over his career and his and inmates daily routine in Sing Sing and how the prison works as a whole. His views on prisons and prison administration were practical and logical. Lawes talks about the comparative views on penology and the lock-em-up-forever vs. reform-them. Lawes was a practical guy; he knew that some convicts were incorrigable but that some were not and should be helped along. He saw arbitrary prison sentences and the absence of education and recreation in prisons as real good ways to start problems.
It'd be interesting to read Lawes comments about prisons today. Back then prison gangs were nothing like they are now and racial tensions were not so bad. I've read a couple books by Eddie Bunker that compare well to Lawes views on prison administration and convicts and the way to get both to live together. I read Newjack by Ted Conover a few years ago as well. Conover's experiences almost 70 years later that 20,000 are a neat comparison. Sing Sing's prison population are much different, the buildings even older, and Conover had frontline experience coping with inmates.
Lawes coverage of changing public perceptions on prison, the law, ex-convicts, and the courts are accurate for today.
I'm not sure if this edition was actually printed in 1932 or not. I also skimmed the book for the last twenty pages because Lawes was wordy.
Lawes worked in the prison system for several years and was the first long-term, professional warden the prison had. All previous wardens were political appointees who would last from 6 months to two years.
Lawes traces the history of Sing Sing and penology theories. He then goes over his career and his and inmates daily routine in Sing Sing and how the prison works as a whole. His views on prisons and prison administration were practical and logical. Lawes talks about the comparative views on penology and the lock-em-up-forever vs. reform-them. Lawes was a practical guy; he knew that some convicts were incorrigable but that some were not and should be helped along. He saw arbitrary prison sentences and the absence of education and recreation in prisons as real good ways to start problems.
It'd be interesting to read Lawes comments about prisons today. Back then prison gangs were nothing like they are now and racial tensions were not so bad. I've read a couple books by Eddie Bunker that compare well to Lawes views on prison administration and convicts and the way to get both to live together. I read Newjack by Ted Conover a few years ago as well. Conover's experiences almost 70 years later that 20,000 are a neat comparison. Sing Sing's prison population are much different, the buildings even older, and Conover had frontline experience coping with inmates.
Lawes coverage of changing public perceptions on prison, the law, ex-convicts, and the courts are accurate for today.
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