March missteps — and milestones

I am a bit disappointed in myself with this month’s misstep. Enough so that I feel some need to make amends. Therefore, rather than simply identify the books that fail me in a month, I will add those that surprise me or are better than anticipated.

Why am I disappointed about the one book I [...]

FacebookGoogle+Google ReaderDiggRedditStumbleUponTechnorati FavoritesBookmark/FavoritesTwitterFarkShare

What I’m Reading: Russia

Yes, Russia is a broad topic but it’s true. Entirely by coincidence both books I’m reading right now deal solely with Russian history.

A couple months ago I saw Martin Sixsmith’s Russia: A 1000-Year Chronicle of the Wild East on the shelves at the local B&N. Although I remain doubtful anyone can really tell a [...]

FacebookGoogle+Google ReaderDiggRedditStumbleUponTechnorati FavoritesBookmark/FavoritesTwitterFarkShare

Microreview: Red Plenty by Francis Spufford

Francis Spufford’s Red Plenty may be the most fascinating book I’ve read in a long, long time. It’s the rare book where you think about the subject and have a hard time believing you are so involved with it.

On the surface, Red Plenty is, for lack of a better term, a literary history of [...]

FacebookGoogle+Google ReaderDiggRedditStumbleUponTechnorati FavoritesBookmark/FavoritesTwitterFarkShare

Recommending a “worst” book?

Several years ago I blogged about how I thought some of Amazon’s music recommendations for me were a bit wacky. Now its got me wondering about the general emails it sends out recommending books in various subjects.

Yesterday I received an Amazon email suggesting some history books I “might be interested in.” Listed twice — [...]

FacebookGoogle+Google ReaderDiggRedditStumbleUponTechnorati FavoritesBookmark/FavoritesTwitterFarkShare

Book Review: The Heartbreak of Aaron Burr by H.W. Brands

I grew up in an era when people still wrote letters. In fact, I remember my mother sitting down at least once a week writing to friends and relatives out of town, many on a weekly or biweekly basis. Today, though, letters are more rare. We tend to rely on email or text messaging to [...]

FacebookGoogle+Google ReaderDiggRedditStumbleUponTechnorati FavoritesBookmark/FavoritesTwitterFarkShare

Book Review: The Commandant by Rudolf Hoess, edited by Jürg Amann

War crimes trials are a 20th Century invention. Although a vehicle for punishment and, perhaps, the reestablishment of the rule of law, one has to wonder the extent to which individual defendants truly acknowledge any real guilt.

This is seen in the autobiography written by Auschwitz camp commander Rudolf Hoess while in prison following [...]

FacebookGoogle+Google ReaderDiggRedditStumbleUponTechnorati FavoritesBookmark/FavoritesTwitterFarkShare

Reading Impressions: Two biographies

Although I’ve only read three books this year, my early effort at spontaneity over planning in my reading selections means two of those books were biographies of two women at about the same time. They resulted in impressions as different as the subjects.

On the disappointing end of the spectrum was Eva Braun: Life with [...]

FacebookGoogle+Google ReaderDiggRedditStumbleUponTechnorati FavoritesBookmark/FavoritesTwitterFarkShare

Book Review: Stasiland: Stories from Behind the Berlin Wall by Anna Funder

Early into reading Anna Funder’s Stasiland: Stories from Behind the Berlin Wall, I came across a passage that made me think, “That is truly Kafkaesque.” For some reason, that sent my mind on a digression into the difference between something being Kafkaesque and something being Orwellian. While I eventually sorted it out in my own [...]

FacebookGoogle+Google ReaderDiggRedditStumbleUponTechnorati FavoritesBookmark/FavoritesTwitterFarkShare

Book Review: A History of the World Since 9/11 by Dominic Streatfeild

The main ramifications of historic events are frequently easy to see. Often, though, we overlook the ripples that produce unexpected, or even untended, effects. Take 9/11, for example. It didn’t take a great deal of thought to realize it would bring the U.S. into direct armed conflict with al-Qaeda. And it was barely six weeks [...]

FacebookGoogle+Google ReaderDiggRedditStumbleUponTechnorati FavoritesBookmark/FavoritesTwitterFarkShare

Book Review: Death in the City of Light by David King

World War II is often seen as the last “good war,” a clear-cut conflict between good and evil. And there was plenty of evil to go around, not just in the Axis forces. Take, for example, the case of Marcel Petiot.

Petiot, a French physician, was convicted of murdering 26 people in Paris during World [...]

FacebookGoogle+Google ReaderDiggRedditStumbleUponTechnorati FavoritesBookmark/FavoritesTwitterFarkShare