Last Book You Read

[titoli]

Omar Bradley

You should know by now that I didn't ask to starrt a quarrel.

[Groggy]

I'm tempted to say Patton except he never really held an independent command as Monty and Rommel did.

[titoli]

An anthology compiled in 1968 of a good average quality. Particularly important is the first classic novel with a locked room case, Zangwill's The Big Bow Mystery, as incredible as any Christie's. Worth checking for any classic mystery aficionado, though a good PI novel by Henry Kane is featured. 8\10  

[Groggy]

1812: The War That Forged a Nation - Walter R. Borneman - Concise account of the War of 1812. Reasonably comprehensive and written in a pleasantly conversational tone; perhaps not the most scholarly book but a good intro to the subject. Borneman ably shows the political and military bungling that led to and perpetuated the war, along with the increasing viciousness on both sides. I'd quibble though with Borneman's assertion that the war solidified American unity, with the Civil War still fifty years distant

[Groggy]

Queen Victoria's Little Wars - Byron Farwell - Good overview of most of the major (and several minor) military campaigns waged by Britain during Victoria's reign. A nice companion volume to the Flashman books for those without the time to plow through Fraser's sources.

[drinkanddestroy]

Yogi: The Life and Times of an American Original (2008), by Carlo DeVito

An unauthorized biography of the great Yogi Berra.

This is a fun read, especially for me, a big Yankee fan. DeVito has obviously done extensive research, and goes to great lengths to try to ascertain the veracity of the thousands of Yogi stories and "Yogiisms" out there.

My one real problem with the book is that DeVito sometimes neglects to mention when important things happen to other people in the story. Eg. he mentions that Mickey Mantle won the 1956 MVP Award, but makes no mention of the fact that he won the Triple Crown; he says the Yanks won the '58 World Series in 7 games, but neglects to mention that they came back from a 3-1 deficit to do it; and he only briefly makes mention of Mantle and Maris going for Ruth's home run record in 1961, on what is often considered one of the 2 or 3 greatest Yankee teams -- and baseball teams -- of all time. I know this a biography about Yogi and not a history of the New York Yankees, but when something of huge importance, as the examples I've mentioned, happens to peripheral characters, it should be mentioned. And DeVito is wrong when he says the '72-'74 Athletics were the last team to win 3 consecutive World Series; the Yanks did so in '98 - '00.

If you are the kind of person who doesn't like to see an author write so unabashedly in an admiring manner -- DeVito is openly a HUGE Yogi fan -- this may grate on you. But he is fair in pointing out when eg. Yogi made questionable moves as manager. So he is very admiring but very fair.

 Yogi Berra has gone from baseball player to one of the most recognizable American characters. So many of the stories and quotes attributed to him are of questionable authenticity, and DeVito should be commended for poring through thousands of original works in an attempt to find out the truth about whether Yogi "really didn't say everything he said." he cites original sources for, and alternative versions of, each individual quote and story that happened -- and provides skepticism on those that didn't.

Overall, this is a very fun read, about one of the most famous and interesting characters of the 20th-21st Centuries.

[Groggy]

Mr. Kipling's Army - Byron Farwell - Entertaining social history of the British Army between Waterloo and Mons. This sort of book can be very dry and tedious (see Douglas Porch's French Foreign Legion) but Farwell invests it with his customary wit and lively prose.

[Groggy]

Eminent Victorian Soldiers: Seekers of Glory - Byron Farwell - Here Farwell profiles an octet of British generals, some well-known (Charles Gordon, Herbert Kitchener), others more obscure (Evelyn Wood, Hector Macdonald). They're a diverse lot, some gifted amateurs, some career soldiers, others "rankers" who fought their way to a commission. Farwell shows their military successes but also their personal foibles, some more severe than others. I found Wood the most fascinating, a man who couldn't get out of bed without breaking a limb, and whose sister was the infamous Kitty O'Shea. Garnet Wolseley comes off as a hateful jingo, Kitchener a cold-hearted ladder-climber, Macdonald a shamed pederast. A fascinating survey.

[titoli]

A very good collection of medium lenght stories of high quality except for the Hoch one. The Carr story is, as usual, only for devotees of the only extremely possible cases, but Pronzini and Rawson offer more credible dishes, Pronzini playing very fair with the reader. 8\10

[Groggy]

Armies of the Raj: From the Mutiny to Independence - Byron Farwell - Farwell examines the reconstruction of the Indian Army after the Mutiny of 1857 and its service over the next 90 years. As usual he's very perceptive when it comes to makeup of the Army, the casual racism of British officials, the loyalty of the Sepoys, the ambivalent relationship between the Indian races/religions. His description of events both well-known (Siege of Kut, Amritsar) and obscure (the Singapore Mutiny during WWI) are fascinating. Less appealing are his constant disparaging remarks about Gandhi, Nehru and anyone associated with the Indian independence movement.

[Groggy]

Empire: The Rise and Demise of the British World Order and its Lessons for Global Power - Niall Ferguson - This book makes an interesting case that the British Empire, for all its excesses and cruelty, was on the balance a boon to humanity. The book is vintage Ferguson: sociologically and financially-oriented, self-consciously provocative, often wrong but always thought-provoking. His ultimate conclusion is debatable but it's hard to quibble with the particular arguments. It's also nice that unlike Farwell and other Empire apologists, he doesn't underplay British atrocities or smear anti-British nationalist movements. Cautiously recommended.

[Groggy]

The Destruction of Lord Raglan - Christopher Hibbert - Rivals Woodham-Smith as the best narrative history of the Crimean War. Hibbert provides lively, graphic accounts of the war's major battles, the sufferings of the foot soldiers, the fractious Anglo-French-Turkish alliance, the mind-staggering administrative muddle and incompetence. Hibbert tries to rehabilitate the hapless Lord Raglan, arguing he was a convenient scapegoat for government malfeasance. Even with Hibbert's sympathetic portrait however, Raglan comes off as a nice guy who had no business leading an army. Still very readable.

[Groggy]

The French and Indian War: Deciding the Fate of North America - Walter Bornemann - Like his 1812 book, Bornemann offers a quick, conversational overview of the titular conflict. Given that much of this war took place in my figurative backyard, it probably behooves me to read more about it.

[titoli]

Cheyney's use of an invented american slang still sounds funny, though I was irritated by his writing "and" substituting the d with an '. The storyline is absurd (all the american gangsters, with their incredible "italian" names, seem to have moved to London) but this is meant to entertain. Some cuts would have been in order. 6\10

[Groggy]

The Fifty Worst Movies of All Time - Harry Medved - One of the pioneering looks at bad cinema, full of amusing trivia and biting sarcasm. Medved's choices are decidedly eclectic, ranging from the obvious (The Conqueror, Robot Monster) to the head-scratching (Alfredo Garcia? Last Year at Marienbad?). It's certainly a fun read though, funny and informative, with plenty of interviews to boot. No book that includes a long chapter on The Trial of Billy Jack can be all bad, save Tom Laughlin's autobiography.