Henceforth, I will try to publish my reading lists on time
and say something intelligent only when I have something intelligent to
say.
On the other hand, my guilt over the delay in posting this
list is significantly mitigated by the fact that I do not seriously believe that
anyone is waiting to read it with baited breath.
Once again, the list is in chronological order. (I have no explanation for the weird changes in fonts in this post but I am unable to figure out how to fix them. I have managed to make them weird in a slightly different way from how they first appeared.)
Books Finished
A Call to Arms
(Manticore Ascendant series Book 2) by David Weber; Timothy Zahn; Thomas
Pope
I read
all off Weber’s Honor Harrington books when they first come out. He has started—in conjunction with a couple
of co-authors—yet another related series this one taking place several hundred
years before the events of the main series of books. At this time, the Manticore Star System is an
independent slightly primitive colony in an isolated location. It faces external threats from space pirates
and internal threats from politicians who do not adequately assess the danger
of the external threats. This is, unfortunately,
a very Republican party (at least in American terms) view of the world. The difference is the threats Manticore faces
are real threats that actually threaten the survival of the Manticore colony
and its current government.
This
series of books will, presumably, trace how Manticore fought off the invaders
who wanted to seize control of their system.
Since we know, from the primary series of books, that Manticore
successfully fought off these threats and became a very wealthy Star Nation there
is some reduction in the suspense because we know everything is going to turn
out alright at least for now.
I
cannot exactly explain why I enjoy reading military science fiction but I
do. Certainly, Weber’s future history is
more interesting and plausible than most and for whatever reason I enjoy his
writing. That being said, this is not
the place to start reading David Weber’s books.
The place to start is the first Honor Harrington book, “On Basilisk
Station”.
Pacific Crucible: War
at Sea in the Pacific, 1941-1942 by Ian W. Toll
The Conquering Tide:
War in the Pacific Islands 1942-1944 by Ian W. Toll
For no
particular reason that I can explain, I decided I wanted to read this new
series coving the history of World War II and the Pacific. The focus is on the navy and the naval
battles rather than on the army and the land battles. Anyone who is a fan of Douglas McArthur will
feel short changed.
On the
other hand, I had not read any World War II specific history since I was a
teenager so there was much that was “new” for me. The author’s style is quite readable and when
the third and final book of the series comes out next year, I am confident this
will be one of the better complete histories of the war in the Pacific.
I am in
no position to judge whether there are historical controversies in which he is
taken a side that is, perhaps, not well supported. For example, his summary of the events
relating to the code breaking process that led to the significant United States
advantage at Midway emphasizes the critical importance of the code breaking
operation in Hawaii and makes the code breakers in Washington D.C. look
incompetent as code breakers but highly competent as political creatures who
were able to take credit for the Hawaiian group’s success. I really do not know if that is what happened
but Toll certainly makes a good case for it.
I am
looking forward to the final book so I can see how the war ends.
Ancillary Sword by
Ann Leckie
Ancillary Mercy by
Ann Leckie
Much to my surprise, the Ancillary series may
be the best science fiction trilogy I have ever read even including the
foundation trilogy by my all-time favorite author, Isaac Asimov.
As you can see I finished the second and third
book in the trilogy this month having elected to reread Ancillary Sword so as
to be fully up to date on events for my reading of Ancillary Mercy. (I did not feel the need to go back and read
Ancillary Justice although I did reread it right before I originally read
Ancillary Sword.)
Leckie does a tremendous job of creating an
alien feeling future universe where humans are both basically the same and very
different. One of her techniques is to
create a subculture of the human civilization in which the generic pronoun is
female and make the narrator a member of this subculture. As a result, throughout most of the book, it
is not entirely clear what sex any particular character is—although, I suspect,
that if you were intensely interested in this subject the clues would be
there. The importance of this is not
that the series becomes focused on gender issues but in the way it makes them
completely irrelevant to what is going on.
Nevertheless, I found that I still assigned genders to most of the
characters although I have no clue as to whether I got any of them right. (A friend of mine started reading the first
book in the series and, in his mind, assigned the opposite gender to the main
character. On the other hand, he did not
like the book (my friend—not the main character) so what does he know.)
The books take place in a future human
universe where the technology is available to take prisoners of war and political
prisoners and replace their thought patterns with those of the space ship for
which they serve as Ancillaries. The main
character is the only surviving Ancillary of a ship that was destroyed by the
Emperor of the Human civilization for reasons that are revealed in Ancillary
Justice. As a result, this Ancillary,
the narrator, contains all that is left of the ship’s personality and memories
and has something of an axe to grind.
My discussion is not doing the series
justice. I cannot recommend these books
highly enough. If you have any interest
in current science fiction, you should read these books.
Life in Motion: An Unlikely Ballerina by Misty Copeland
Misty Copeland is the first African American
woman to become a principle dancer at the American Ballet Theater. This is her autobiography.
My greatest dissatisfaction with the book is
an inevitable one. She is only 33 years
old so we do not really know how her life turns out. Given that I am 24 years older than her, I
will probably never find out how her life turns out in the strictest sense of
the word.
On the other hand, she has led an interesting
life including becoming famous as a child both because of legal struggles
between her mother and her ballet teacher and because she was such a great
ballet prospect despite starting dancing at a relatively old age.
Her journey is certainly an inspirational one
which should offer hope that the apparent racism inherent in ballet can be
overcome—although that is not the primary focus of the autobiography. On the other hand, I did not respond to this
book by running out and going to the ballet.
In fact, I am no more likely to attend the ballet now than I was before
reading the book although I am more likely to watch Misty Copeland if she
appears on a television show.
Rogue Lawyer by
John Grisham
This is another of John Grisham’s many novels
in which an ordinary lawyer struggles against the oppressive legal system and
triumphs—at least in part. Since I too
am an ordinary lawyer struggling against the oppressions of the legal system,
his books serve as a kind of wish fulfillment for me. Fortunately, my cases do not put me in any
significant physical jeopardy (at least so far) and I have not found a need to
take the numerous ethical shortcuts that seems to be second nature to Grisham’s
characters. I continue to buy and read
Grisham’s books whenever they come out so I am not complaining. His books are not set in California so I have
no idea how accurate the procedural technicalities are in his books and whether
what happens is actually plausible or simply narrative expedient. This book is different from Grisham’s other
works in that it has multiple cases and plots instead of focusing primarily on
one major case. I am not convinced the
disjointed nature of the book was worth the experiment by Grisham. I certainly do not recommend that you start
reading Grisham here.
Just Mercy: A Story of Justice and Redemption by
Bryan Stevenson
This book provides an interesting
juxtaposition with Rogue Lawyer.
Stevenson is in many ways a real life version of a John Grisham
character. He has spent his entire
career representing the victims of the American Justice System—persons who have
been sentenced to death even when they are innocent and people who did not
receive a fair trial because of the inherent corruption found in most
prosecuting attorney offices and police departments.
In a sense, Stevenson does the same kind of
work I do but for higher stakes and, I assume, less money.
My primary reaction to reading this book is a
combination of admiration and frustration.
I do not think I would have had the patience and work ethic to go
through everything Stevenson has gone through.
On the other hand, I am continually surprised (even though I should not
be) by the inherent injustice in the American justice system and reading Stevenson’s
story just added to my frustration.
I highly recommend this book for anyone who
suffers from the delusion that the American criminal justice system works
pretty well but I suspect relatively few people with that delusion will be
reading my blog or care to have their misinterpretation of reality corrected.
Books Started
Ancillary Mercy by
Ann Leckie
The Dread Hammer
(Stories of the Puzzle Lands—Book 1) by Linda Nagata
Ancillary Sword by
Ann Leckie
The Conquering Tide:
War in the Pacific Islands 1942-1944 by Ian W. Toll
Life in Motion: An Unlikely Ballerina by Misty Copeland
Fortunate Son: My Life, My Music by John Fogerty
For no particular reason other than his
appearance on a talk show, I decided I was curious about John Fogerty’s
life. However I got distracted and have
not progressed very far into the book. I
certainly anticipate finishing it because he claims to have been betrayed by
his band and his musical publisher and I am curious as to what happened.
Career of Evil by
Robert Galbraith (J. K. Rowling)
The biggest surprise about this book is that
it did not immediately catch my interest and I did not finish it in a day or
two. That was my reaction to the Harry
Potter books and to the earlier books in this series by J. K. Rowling. I certainly anticipate that I will finish the
book.
America’s Bank: The Epic Struggle to Create the Federal
Reserve by Roger Lowenstein
I have read Roger Lowenstein’s non-fiction
books about the financial system in the past and thought it would be interesting
to read a historical book about the creation of the American Federal
Reserve. I was surprised that the book
seemed much less interesting than his earlier books I have not completely given
up on finishing it but it did not enthrall me.
Rogue Lawyer by
John Grisham
Illuminae by Amie
Kaufman and Jay Kristoff
This science fiction novel is told in the form
of a hodgepodge of documents which, presumably, come together to tell a whole
story. The idea appealed to me more in
concept than, so far, in execution but it is not fair to criticize the book yet
because I have not read enough of it.
Keep Moving: And
Other Tips and Truths About Aging by Dick Van Dyke
I
bought this book because I enjoyed Dick Van Dyke’s previous book—a memoir of
his life. I am not enjoying this book
nearly as much.
An Appetite for
Wonder: The Making of a Scientist by
Richard Dawkins
The Football
manager’s Guide to Football Management by Ian Macintosh
War Dogs by Greg
Bear
