BillP's Book\Miniature\Wargame Blog

First up was another post-cold-war John le Carre novel, A Most Wanted Man. This is a story about a young Chechen refugee who sneaks into Germany to reconnect with a somewhat murky family legacy via a seedy ex-pat English investment banker and a zealous young German lawyer. On the other side is Gunther Bachman, a word weary German intelligence agent who wishes to use the young man to develop a valuable source of intelligence on the Jihadi movement. Bachman’s life is complicated by the interference of the Americans and British Intelligence. It is a great book and the writing and characterizations are completely up to le Carre’s usual high standards.

Second was Atomic Accidents: A History of Nuclear Meltdowns and Disasters: From the Ozark Mountains to Fukushima by James Mahaffey. This book is exactly what the title promises, a comprehensive, but remarkable accessible account of pretty much every major nuclear accident from the discovery of radioactivity to Fukushima. Although the book starts out slowly with a weird discursion into staged train wrecks in the late 19th and early 20th century, it soon finds its stride while discussing the fate of various early pioneers in research dealing with radioactivity and moves smoothly through the rest of history. The book is simply outstanding. The writer deftly explains how everything works, and carefully buts everything into context so we understand how things went pear-shaped, and all the scientific and technical ramifications of the situation. The writer’s slightly sardonic sense of humor and unabashed enthusiasm for nuclear power provide bonuses. If you’re at all interested in nuclear power you need to read this. As a bonus you’ll be not only educated, but entertained.

50 for the year.

The Dude Abides by Alex Beth is an “inside baseball” look at the entire process of making “The Great Lebowski” from a guy who was a production assistant. It was a quick read with lots of interesting detail on not only the making of the film, but on the Coen brothers, their creative processes and what its like to work for them. Fans of the brothers or this movie will love this book, other’s not so much.

The God’s of Guilt by Michael Connelly is the latest installment in the “Lincoln Lawyer” series. Decent for the umpteenth volume in a series, but not the place to start.

Texasville and Duane’s Depressed by Larry McMurtry are the second and third volumes of the “Thalia Trilogy” which follows the citizens of a small town in the Texas “oil-patch” from the 50s until today. This is my third or fourth time through them and I still enjoy hanging out with Duane, Karla, Lester, Sonny and the rest of the denizens at the local Dairy Queen.

Memoirs of U.S. Grant by U.S. Grant is a book I’ve been meaning to read for years but never quite got around to. A recent discussion on Consimworld about the American Civil War, finally motivated me to read it, and I can say is WOW! What a great memoir. Grant’s writing is superb. Is control of the narrative flow is excellent and he has the gift of providing the reader with exactly the right about of detail. The book also includes enough personal detail to give the reader insight into who Grant really was, or at least, who he thought he was. If you’re at all into the ACW you need to read this book.

Memoirs of William T. Sherman by William T. Sherman is unfortunately a disappointment after Grant’s work. Sherman’s work lacks pretty much everything that made Grant’s book such an excellent experience. Sherman’s book is basically a pretty bare recitation of facts. And even that is frequently interrupted for the inclusion of letters, reports and minutia. It’s as if Sherman has no idea what will interest the reader, so he throws everything in. Even worse, Sherman’s personality doesn’t come through at all.

The Pearl Harbor Murders by Max Allen Collins is a pedestrian little murder mystery set on the Friday night before the Japanese attack. A Nisei lounge singer is murdered, apparently by a jilted member of her band, on the beach near the bungalow of Edgar Rice Burroughs. Burroughs doesn’t buy the guilt of the band member and decides to launch his own investigate, with the aid of his son. Their investigation unfolds during the last day of peace, to its inevitable and clearly foreseen conclusion. As I say, it was no better than ok. I’m glad I paid only $1.99 for it during one of Amazon’s periodic sales.

48 for the year