BillP's Book\Miniature\Wargame Blog

I just finished my umpteenth reading of one of my favorite books, Soldier of the Great War by Mark Helprin. The book is a fictitious autobiography of Alessandro Giuliani a WWI Italian soldier, as it is told to a young man, in the course of a multi-day hike in the hills around Rome.  The book takes place in the summer of 1964, when Giuliani, now a retired professor of aesthetics, is taking the last trolley before the weekend to visit his granddaughter, who lives 70 km away. During his ride, Giuliani sees the trolley driver intentionally avoid picking up a young man seeking a ride. Be claiming to want to disembark, he forces the driver to stop the trolley long enough for the young man to catch up. When the young man catches up and enters the trolley, Giuliani “changes his mind” and sits back down. This of course enrages the driver, who throws both of them off of his trolley.  Faced with returning to Rome or walking the 70 kilometers to the house of his granddaughter, Giuliani convinces the young man (a 17 year old illiterate named Nicolo) to make the walk. Over the course of their trek, Giuliani tells Nicolo the story of his life, his loves and his participation in the Great War.

While this is in itself an interesting premise, the real value of the book lies in Helprin’s writing. Helprin is a “magical realist” writer in the same vein as Garcia-Marquez and he has an enormous mastery of English, particularly the use of imagery and metaphor. The writing is very dense, at times bordering in florid, but rewards the patient reader with images that haunt them for the rest of their life. For instance, at one point Giuliani, as punishment for desertion, is sent to a marble quarry and set at hard labor. Helprin waxes lyrical about the labor of the men, and the quarry, which had historically furnished the material for legendary renaissance statues but was now being used to create headstones for Italy’s million war dead. I don’t want to give too much away, but I can only say that this book has much to say on life, love and war. The lessons Giuliani learned, and attempts to impart to Nicolo resonate deeply with me.

I recommend this book very, very, highly but with the qualification that prospective readers should try at least the first couple of chapters of it,  Helprin’s dense imagery and magical realism aren’t for anyone.  If you aren’t grabbed by the first 30 pages, put it down because it doesn’t get any better.

50 for the year.

This time it was Living Dead in Dallas by Charlaine Harris. Although this is the second book chronologically, I wound up reading it 6^th. It covers Sookie’s expedition, at Eric’s request, to Dallas where she hopes to use her telepathic powers to find a lead in the disappearance of a vampire from the Dallas nest. As with the other books in the series, Harris has written a good serviceable little mystery here. The characters continue to develop; the plot is fairly tight with no gaping holes and her writing continues to be lively and interesting.

Although the HBO series True Blood does follow the books in a many respects, there are a number of divergences which make reading the books rewarding, even for loyal watchers of the TV show. Another point that should be made is that the books really should be read in order if possible. The story lines and characters really do develop from volume to volume and although each book has a self-contained story, readers will miss quite a bit by not taking them in order.

So, after 7 volumes of Sookie and her pals, I’m not sick of them yet, so expect to see more on the last three volumes in this space.

50 for the year.

I knocked off two more of Charlaine Harris’ Sookie Stackhouse books this week; Dead as a Doornail (#5 in the series) and Definitely Dead (#6). I am happy to report that these were just as good as the first three I read. The books continue to be humorous and well written with fairly good character development.  They also continue the formula of a mystery or murder at the beginning which is solved by Sookie with the help of one or another of her “supernatural” friends.

It is interesting that the HBO series True Blood seems to be back to following (more or less) the books. The first season of the show tracked more or less with the first two books, the second season seems to have gone more or less completely off the books plot wise. Now it seems (based on the first two episodes) that they are back to the books (again, as much as television adaptations ever are).

At any rate, I enjoyed the books immensely, but they do build upon previous events and characters introduced in previous volumes. If you’re interested, do yourself a favor and read them in order. Oh, and have ordered another couple from Amazon, so expect to see more of Miss Stackhouse and her pals.

49 for the year.

Military Innovation in the Interwar Period, Edited  by Williamson R. Murray and Allan R. Millett is a very interesting little book covering a variety of technical and doctrinal innovations that were pivotal in how WWII was fought.  The book is essentially a series of essays, each of which forms a chapter of the book and provides a detailed analysis of one technical or doctrinal issue. Doctrinal topics addressed include: Armored Warfare, Amphibious Assault, Strategic Bombing, Close Air Support. Technical issues of RADAR, Aircraft Carriers and Submarines are also examined. Finally three essays on innovation in general tie the book together thematically.

Each of the essays is written by a historian and each provides a very thorough but concise examination of its topic. I was particularly impressed with the chapter on Aircraft Carriers and the one on RADAR. The Aircraft Carrier chapter examined the parallel development tracks of the USN, the RN and the IJN. The thesis of the chapter is that the different development path taken by the RN (heavily armored flight/hanger decks which resulted in restrictions on the number of aircraft the carrier could operate) while influenced by the expectation that British Carriers would operate within the range of land based air, was primarily driven by the fact that the formation of the RAF toward the end of WWI, stripped the fleet of “air enthusiasts”. Once all of the air minded naval officers transferred to the nascent RAF, there was no one left in the fleet thinking about carriers as major weapons systems in their own right. Instead the carriers were relegated to scouting and air defense roles.

Similarly, the RADAR essay Illustrates how the Germans started with a substantial lead in RADAR technology, but lost it when they failed to undertake the technical research necessary to perfect centemetric RADAR.

All in all, this was a very interesting book on a series of topics that were vitally important to WWII. However, it is a bit dry and the topics are highly technical and fairly esoteric. Although I enjoyed it, you have been warned.

47 for the year

This week I read three of the first four “Southern Vampire Mysteries” by Charlaine Harris, Dead Until Dark, Club Dead and Dead to the World. These novels, featuring the telepathic bar-maid Sookie Stackhouse are the basis for the recent HBO series True Blood.

Harris has created an alternate universe, where the invention of “synthetic blood” has allowed vampires to emerge from the shadows and attempt to live side by side with humans. Harris’ universe respects most of the conventions of traditional vampire lore, sleeping in coffins, being burnt by the sun or silver, dislike of garlic, etc. And as might be expected from a series of novels featuring vampires, other supernatural creatures exist as well. In the three books I’ve read we come across witches, fairies, shape-shifters and various were-people.

The core of each novel is a particular mystery presented in the first chapter which Sookie and her supernatural allies spend basically they entire novel solving, placing Sookie in great danger in the process. In the first book there was a serial killer loose killing women who associated with vampires. In the third, “Vampire” Bill Compton, Sookie’s one-time lover, is kidnapped and held hostage. In the fourth novel Eric Northman, a very powerful vampire and Sheriff of “Area Five” has his memory wiped and is found wandering the back roads by Sookie on her way home from work one night

The novels are very diverting reads, well written, with good character development and well plotted, with little or no “cheating” on the part of the author. Harris does a very good job of depicting small town life and an even better job of imagining what a world with vampires and other supernatural beings would be like. She is also particularly good at writing about the interface between Sookie’s mundane life and their intersection with her adventures. I have enjoyed the three I read immensely and recommend them to anyone who can muster the requisite “suspension of disbelief” necessary to read a book about vampires in modern day Northern Louisiana.

Oh, one thing, fans of the HBO series True Blood should, be aware that there are substantial differences between the plot lines and characters of that series and these books. In fact there are enough differences that regular watchers of the series can still read the books without any sense of knowing what will happen next. I would also note that there is a lot more humor in the books than Alan Ball has allowed into the series.

46 for the year

I just finished The Gettysburg Campaign; A Study in Command by Edward Coddington. Although this book came out in 1963, it is still pretty much the definitive book on the Gettysburg campaign and the starting point for most of the more detailed monographs on the battle such as Pfanz’s Gettysburg – The Second Day. The book covers the entire campaign from the immediate aftermath of the battle of Chancellorsville to the Army of Northern Virginia’s final escape across the Potomac at Falling Waters back into Virginia.

As might be expected from the subtitle, Coddington gives particular attention to the command issues that arose from both sides. If he gives a bit more attention to the Union side, that is because they had far more command issues. Between the reorganization of the army after the defeat at Chancellorsville, the replacement of Hooker with Meade as the Commanding General (3 days before the battle!!) the efforts Meade made to concentrate the army to fight Gettysburg, and Sickles’ performance as “outstanding loose cannon” of the battle,  the Army of the Potomac had serious command and control issues. This is not to say that Coddington doesn’t cover the Southern issues. He gives considerable attention to examining exactly what Stuart’s orders were and how Lee interacted with his subordinates.

Coddington’s writing is very good, being both clear and lucid. He does a good job of keeping the reader spatially oriented in terms of where the two armies were in relation to one another. He also does a very good job of helping the reader keep track of all the major participants at any given time. He has obviously made extensive use of both the Official Records, but the numerous primary source materials left by the participants as well. In short this is an excellent book, probably the best single volume on the battle, and it is where anybody who wants to know more about Gettysburg should start.

43 for the Year.

The Price of Admiralty: The Evolution of Naval Warfare by Sir John Keegan. Like many wargamers and history buffs, I practically cut my teeth of Keegan’s Face of Battle, which was somewhat revolutionary when it first came out. It is therefore kind of sad to see an author who I once held in such high regard sliding downhill, but I’m afraid that seems to be what’s happening here.

This book seems to attempting to recreate the experience of Face of Battle for naval warfare. Keegan has taken four decisive naval battles; Trafalgar, Jutland, Midway and the Battle of the Atlantic and attempted to discern from them some sort of “evolution” of naval warfare.  The sections of Trafalgar and Jutland are pretty good. Keegan does a good job both of setting up the context of the actions and of describing the combatants. He also, as in Face of Battle, provides a good overview of what it was like for the average participant, what they saw, heard, and experienced in the battles. He then follows up each section with the effect of the battle on the overall war situation. Nicely done.

It is in Midway that things begin to come off the rails. Keegan relies heavily on Morison’s WWII naval history for the narrative of Midway and Morison’s work has been almost completely superseded by newer scholarship, especially Parshall and Tully’s Shattered Sword. Second, Keegan kind of abandons the idea of describing the experience of the average participant in the battle. There are occasional flashes of it describing the experiences of the aircrew, but nothing about what it was like to be once of the other 10,000 sailors in the two fleets.

Keegan’s decision to use the battles of convoys HX 229/SC 122 to encapsulate the Battle of the Atlantic is kind of bizarre. While it was a very successful German attack on an escorted convoy, the real turning point in the U-Boat war came later that spring when the surface forces began to consistently beat the U-Boats. Since the U-Boats lost the battle of the Atlantic, it seems weird to highlight one of their victories, especially once so close to their ultimate defeat.

Lastly there is Keegan’s final conclusion in the last chapter of the book “The Empty Ocean”. In this chapter Keegan predicts essentially the ultimate demise of surface combatants as they become ever more vulnerable to ever more sophisticated and capable submarines.  Now, I’m not saying Keegan isn’t right, I’m just saying that his conclusion in no way proceeds from, or is demonstrated by, the preceding material in the book.  In fact, since the U-Boats ultimately lost the battle of the Atlantic, Keegan’s conclusion seems to be contradicted.  It seemed like a strange way to end the book.

So, in the final analysis, Price of Admiralty isn’t a very good book, and it certainly isn’t a naval version of Face of Battle.

42 for the year.

I just finished Chicken Soup for the Baseball Fan’s Soul: Inspirational Stories of Baseball, Big-League Dreams and the Game of Life. This is a collection of short pieces that all draw inspiration from the sport of baseball. It is chock full of stories of little-leaguers, aging veterans and minor leaguers. It is a great book that has wonderful stories. If you’re a baseball fan or if you’re a fan of other “chicken soup for the soul” books, this will be right up your alley! If not, then I’d avoid it.

41 for the year

This week was Call of Duty: My Life Before, During and After the Band of Brothers by Lynn (Buck) Compton. This a serviceable little memoir of a very interesting member of the famous “Band of Brothers” in this case, Buck Compton. Compton was a prominent college athlete at UCLA before enlisting during WWII, after the war he served as an LA policeman, went to law school, spent many years in the LA District Attorney’s office, and finally served as a judge on the California Court of Appeals.

The thing I found most interesting about this book was that Compton seems to be unique among Easy Company members in that his WWII service didn’t represent the “high point” of his life.  Before his WWII service, Compton was a star athlete at UCLA, where he was a team mate of Jackie Robinson and played in the 1943 Rose Bowl. After returning from the War, he went to law school, prosecuted Sirhan Sirhan for the murder of RFK and became an Associate Justice on the California Court of Appeals. Compton led a very full life.

Because he had so much going on in his life, Compton’s experience with the 506^th makes up only a small part of the book (about ¼), and much of that small part seems to be an effort to give his perspective about some of the material about him that appears in the book. Apparently, Compton and Nixon didn’t get along very well, which seems to have created a certain distance between Compton and Winters. Additionally, according to Compton he only spoke to Ambrose for about ½ an hour prior to the publication of Band of Brothers, which means that most of the material about him was from the recollections of other Easy company soldiers. In fact, throughout the Easy Company material there seemed to be a subtext of Compton being, I don’t know, mildly, not disdainful exactly, but something like that. On the other hand it could be my imagination.

At the end of the day, this really isn’t a book I would recommend. Although it is a good, workman-like memoir of a full and happy life, the book is not terribly well written. There isn’t really enough detail about Compton’s pursuits as a cop, a DA or a judge to be consistently interesting, and Band of Brother’s fans will probably not find anything new here. It was simply “ok”.

40 for the year.

While I was on our Memorial Day cruise I finished The Reader by Bernard Schlink. Some of you may recall that Kate Winslet won the 2009 Best Actress Oscar for her portrayal of Hanna in the film. After watching the film I found myself unable to understand Michael’s motivation for his actions. I thought reading the book might provide some insight. I was wrong. Although the book was very well written, and much more interesting than the film, I still basically don’t understand why Michael acted as he did toward Hanna.

I don’t want to give too much away for prospective readers, but the book, set in 1955 West Germany, deals with a love affair between Hanna, a 36 year old streetcar conductor, and Michael Berg a 16 year old student, who Hanna rescues when he falls ill with hepatitis. The book also follows both characters for the next 25 years as they interact with each other in a number of ways.

At any rate, the book was beautifully written and very thought provoking. I would recommend it to pretty much anyone as a good way to kill an afternoon.

39 for the year