Review: The Book of Lost Tales: Part I

The Book of Lost Tales: Part I by J.R.R. Tolkien

My rating: 4 of 5 stars



People who have enjoyed The Lord of the Rings often stumble when they turn to The Silmarillion, since the two works are so different in tone and perspective. The books in The History of Middle-Earth series are different again. They contain sixty years of stories we've never seen before because Tolkien abandoned them completely, as well as abandoned, early versions of the stories we have met elsewhere. These books are the archaeology of Tolkien's subcreation of Middle-Earth. Through alternating passages of text, notes, and commentary, Christopher Tolkien lays out how his father developed this world, tale by tale and word by word.

If that sounds interesting to you, then you may well find great pleasure in The Book of Lost Tales and the other books in this series. I know I have. That's not just because I have always been a big fan of Tolkien, but because I have also always been someone who studies books as much as I read them. I found it fascinating to discover how his conceptions of this world and these tales changed over time.

If you do decide to give this book a try, I'd suggest you also lend an ear to the Mythgard Academy's free online course on this book, which is available from Mythgard's website and iTunes, and is terrific. Even for the knowledgeable fan, it's nice to have an expert guide along.

Mythgard Academy



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Review: Mr. Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore

Mr. Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore by Robin Sloan

My rating: 2 of 5 stars



odd, fluffy, mildly amusing, could have been better



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Review: The History of the Hobbit

The History of the Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien

My rating: 4 of 5 stars



this is no light read. it is a work of serious scholarship intended for serious students of Tolkien.



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Review: Ajax Penumbra 1969

Ajax Penumbra 1969 by Robin Sloan

My rating: 3 of 5 stars



a decided improvement on "Mr Penumbra's 24 Hour Bookstore," which is too transparently clever for its own good. The pacing here is better and the storytelling more persuasive.



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Review: The Long War

The Long War by Terry Pratchett

My rating: 2 of 5 stars



I can only repeat here what I said about The Long Earth, except to add that The Long War is even less interesting.



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Review: The Ice Palace

The Ice Palace by Tarjei Vesaas

My rating: 4 of 5 stars



lovely and slow, dreamlike, full of sorrow and grief and hope again after.



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Review: A Canticle for Leibowitz

A Canticle for Leibowitz by Walter M. Miller Jr.

My rating: 4 of 5 stars



This is a beautifully done book about what fools we human beings are. Our folly defies and defines both faith and reason. The climax of the book, which is melancholy but not without a glimmer of hope, is heartbreaking.



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Review: The Long Earth

The Long Earth by Terry Pratchett

My rating: 1 of 5 stars



This was not a bad concept, but a middling execution, and a disappointment after all the good things I've read by Terry Pratchett in the past. I don't know whether to put it down to a partnership that just didn't work (unlike the successful partnership with Gaiman in Good Omens) or whether Pratchett, stripped of the humor of the Disc World novels, just doesn't have much to say.



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Review: Atonement

Atonement by Ian McEwan

My rating: 4 of 5 stars



In which the innocent atone for the sins of the guilty, but isn't that always the case? Beautifully, brilliantly written.



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Review: The Great Book of Amber

The Great Book of Amber by Roger Zelazny

My rating: 3 of 5 stars



The first five are pretty darn good, a lot of fun, the second five merely okay.



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Review: Possession

Possession by A.S. Byatt

My rating: 4 of 5 stars



What a wonderful book, both fun and literarily impressive. Byatt weaves together many voices through letters, journals, books, and poems written by the characters, in addition to a third person narrator who sometimes addresses the reader and sometimes shows the reader things that most of the characters will never know. It's a good story well told, and it's even more fun if you know something about literary criticism and the academic world.



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Review: Red Harvest

Red Harvest by Dashiell Hammett

My rating: 4 of 5 stars



Often crime fiction has a romantic glamour cast over it, as if there were honor among thieves when all there really can be is a doubtful truce. Red Harvest has no such illusions.



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Review: American Lion: Andrew Jackson in the White House

American Lion: Andrew Jackson in the White House by Jon Meacham

My rating: 1 of 5 stars



shallow and facile, what you'd expect from a magazine article.



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Review: The Unabridged Devil's Dictionary

The Unabridged Devil's Dictionary by Ambrose Bierce

My rating: 4 of 5 stars



some of the entries are so acidic you expect the pages to hiss.



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Review: Norse Mythology: A Guide to the Gods, Heroes, Rituals, and Beliefs

Norse Mythology: A Guide to the Gods, Heroes, Rituals, and Beliefs by John Lindow

My rating: 4 of 5 stars



A solid work of scholarship. The introduction provides essential background material for the culture of the mythology, and an interesting, if brief, discussion of the nature of time in Norse mythology. Since the body of the book is arranged alphabetically by topic or character, it helps to have some grounding in Norse mythology to start with. So if what you're looking for is a narrative of the tales of the Norse gods, this not the right book.



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Review: The First Man in Rome

The First Man in Rome by Colleen McCullough

My rating: 3 of 5 stars



I enjoyed this book. It was well researched and not implausible, a tale well told, but each succeeding book in the series declined. When I reached the point, three or four books in, where Julius Caesar began talking to his masculinity, I just gave up.



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Review: The Perfect Summer: England 1911, Just Before the Storm

The Perfect Summer: England 1911, Just Before the Storm by Juliet Nicolson

My rating: 2 of 5 stars



There's a great deal of very interesting information here, which Nicolson might have used to great effect.



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Review: The Fall of Arthur

The Fall of Arthur by J.R.R. Tolkien

My rating: 3 of 5 stars



The little bit that survives of this tale shows Tolkien deftly managing the alliterative meter, and developing the story and characters in interesting ways. It's a pity he never finished it. Definitely worth reading for those with an interest in Arthur or Middle Earth.



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Review: Wait Till Next Year

Wait Till Next Year by Doris Kearns Goodwin

My rating: 3 of 5 stars



A deftly done, clearly written memoir of growing up in an America that seemed idyllic, but was on the crest of change. It's nice to be reminded that memoirs needn't be sopping with narcissism, and the lurid fascinations of shipwrecked lives.



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Review: A Dictionary of Modern English Usage

A Dictionary of Modern English Usage by H.W. Fowler

My rating: 4 of 5 stars



a wonderful, funny, knowledgeable, opinionated book, for those who love words and language. But beware of the ebook version. It seems to be a poor scan of the text, which no one ever bothered to proofread.



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Review: Troilus and Criseyde

Troilus and Criseyde by Geoffrey Chaucer

My rating: 4 of 5 stars



This is a very nice and useful edition, with the text of Boccaccio's Filostrato -- the source of Chaucer's poem -- on the facing page. This allows the reader to compare both texts closely, and to see where Chaucer departs from and expands, often greatly, on his source. In the second half of the book is a selection of scholarly articles on the poem. The only fault I can point to is one that this edition shares with too many editions of poems with explanatory notes -- that where a note is most needed, there almost never seems to be one. The story itself is marvelous, funny, sad, vexing, and enlightening. I look forward to re-reading Shakespeare's Troilus and Cressida to see what he did with Chaucer's story.



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Review: Oedipus at Thebes: Sophocles' Tragic Hero and His Time

Oedipus at Thebes: Sophocles' Tragic Hero and His Time by Bernard Knox

My rating: 4 of 5 stars



An excellent work of literary criticism, yet written in lucid prose with eminent logic. It illuminates the play, the myth, and fifth century Athens. It is worthy reading for the student and the teacher of Sophocles and Athens, and I have been both.



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Review: Siddhartha

Siddhartha by Hermann Hesse

My rating: 3 of 5 stars



I loved this book when I was a teenager and read it several times while in high school. Years later, remembering it fondly, I made the mistake of trying to read it again. I couldn't get through the first chapter. I don't know whether that says more about the book or about me. The odd part is, I still remember it fondly.



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Review: Erections, Ejaculations, Exhibitions, and General Tales of Ordinary Madness

Erections, Ejaculations, Exhibitions, and General Tales of Ordinary Madness by Charles Bukowski

My rating: 3 of 5 stars



I give it three stars on the quality of the writing. The man really knew how to put words together. Often, though, and this is more often true of his prose than his poetry, which can be quite striking, what he had to tell was repulsive and left you feeling the need of a shower.



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Review: American Gods

American Gods by Neil Gaiman

My rating: 1 of 5 stars



This is the fourth book by Neil Gaiman that I've read, and the only one so far that I've found disappointing, very much so in fact. This was quite a surprise to me given how I liked Stardust, and loved both Good Omens and The Ocean at the End of the Lane, and given how many people whose opinion I respected had told me good things about it. I found the basic concept of the book intriguing -- when immigrants bring their gods to a new land, and then stop believing in them, what happens to those gods? -- but was seldom charmed by, and often shook my head at, the execution.



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Review: Of Human Bondage

Of Human Bondage by W. Somerset Maugham

My rating: 4 of 5 stars



A well written, but strange book, though I suppose the same could be said of its author. The first two thirds of the book remind me of a Thomas Hardy novel, with all the grim foreboding that entails, and you reach a point where you think it can only end in two gunshots. Then suddenly, with the turn of the page, a character who could have sprung from the forehead of Dickens appears, complete with an appropriate family, and you know somehow that all will end well.



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Review: The Great War and Modern Memory

The Great War and Modern Memory by Paul Fussell

My rating: 5 of 5 stars



This may be the best book of literary criticism I have ever read, and I've read a few. It's not an easy book or a quick read, and it is an old school work of literary criticism that pays more attention to the facts of the text than to theories about the facts. But it is worth the effort, and you will learn a lot. If you're interested in WWI, read this book. If you're interested in the lost generation, read this book. If you're interested in 20th century poetry, read this book. If you're interested in the history of the 20th century and western civilization, read this book. If you're.... Need I go on?



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Review: A Game of Thrones

A Game of Thrones by George R.R. Martin

My rating: 3 of 5 stars



For anyone new to this series, whether you've just heard of it, or you've seen Game of Thrones on television, the first thing I would say is that these books are certainly not for children or the faint of heart. The violence is graphic and the sex (some would say) is pornographic. Rape is commonplace (often heard of, but rarely witnessed). A Song of Ice and Fire pulls no punches. It depicts a brutal world of treachery, murder, lust, and greed, in which even the good characters have to be ruthless if they wish to survive. Time Magazine has called Martin "the American Tolkien," but that is a superficial judgment. These books are nothing like Tolkien. Imagine the Sopranos in Middle Earth, and you'll get the picture.

And yet, as dark and twisted as these books are, they are compelling. No sooner did I finish one book than I started the next, and I am looking forward to the publication of "The Winds of Winter" somewhere between now and the end of time. This is because Martin's greatest strengths are plot and character. He weaves his tale out of many threads. The perspective shifts from chapter to chapter, as his main characters take their turns at center stage in Dickensian profusion. Some of them know what the other characters are up to, some think they do, and some don't know much at all. But each advances the complex plot, driving the story and the reader forward.

There are two areas in particular where Martin does an excellent job. First, he is more ruthless to his characters than Stephen King. No one is safe. No one. Second, almost all of his main characters are quite well rounded. They can surprise you. One character, for example, commits a horrific crime early in the series, and is known to have committed another. As the books go on and the portrait of his character develops, however, it becomes more difficult to pass a simple judgment because he begins taking actions the reader wants to admire him for. I had to keep reminding myself of what he had done before, and that, as someone says in one of the books, sins can be forgiven, but crimes must still be punished. The good guys aren't simply good, and the bad guys aren't simply bad.

All in all, a good, fun read, if you're up for it. There is no middle ground.



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Review: The Uncommon Reader

The Uncommon Reader by Alan Bennett

My rating: 3 of 5 stars



a great fun read, quick, witty, and with a very light touch.



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Review: Life After Life

Life After Life by Kate Atkinson

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

If I hadn't read a review of this book before seeing the terrible cover they put on the American edition, I would probably have sneered at the book and walked on by. And the absurd endorsement that appears on the front of some editions would have only sped me on my way: "This is the best book I've read this century." It's only 2013. Maybe you shouldn't judge a book by its cover, but people choose their books that way all the time.

This is a good and interesting book, well written, well read, at times bitterly funny, at times full of horror. Don't misunderstand the description given of this book. This isn't It's a Wonderful Life After Life. No bells ring here. No angels get their wings. This book has an edge, and a sharp one. And it will leave you wondering. The chapters on the Blitz are brutal.

I'm planning to read more Kate Atkinson.

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Review: Nightfall and Other Stories

Nightfall and Other Stories by Isaac Asimov

My rating: 3 of 5 stars



the collection is good overall, but the title story is outstanding.



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Review: Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?

Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? by Edward Albee

My rating: 4 of 5 stars



When I was a kid, the Burton-Taylor movie of this play always ran on tv in the middle of the night, split into two parts shown on two nights. There's a reason for that. The play is so scalding that it's hard to endure all at once. Amazing. Unpleasant. Brilliant.



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Review: The Twelve

The Twelve by Justin Cronin

My rating: 2 of 5 stars



Quite disappointing after The Passage. In The Passage I kept turning the pages to see what would happen next; in The Twelve I kept turning the pages to see if anything would happen next. In the end my interest was held only by the hopes the first book had inspired in me. Perhaps this book is intended to be more transitional, and its virtues will be revealed by a big payoff in the third volume. But the truth is I'm not sure I'll read it.



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Review: The Passage

The Passage by Justin Cronin

My rating: 3 of 5 stars



a nicely done, nicely written, post-apocalyptic vampire story. nothing sparkles here except the story.



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Review: Homer's the Iliad and the Odyssey: A Biography

Homer's the Iliad and the Odyssey: A Biography by Alberto Manguel

My rating: 2 of 5 stars



There are so many things to like about this book, especially from chapter 9 on (1-8 being somewhat lackluster.), that I almost don't want to point out the shortcomings I found. Manguel is clearly a broad and thoughtful reader who nicely brings together the works of many other authors to show the importance The Iliad and The Odyssey have had in the literary heritage of western civilization down to our own day. So much of what he has to say is a pleasure to read. Overall he does a good job, but there are problems. A number of head-scratching errors tend to undermine my faith in his work.

For example, on p. 50 Manguel dates the Roman civil war between Marius and "Sula" (sic) to Virgil's "childhood and youth." In fact both of these men died (in 86 and 78 BC or BCE, as you prefer), and their civil war had ended (in 82), years before Virgil was born (in 70). These facts, along with the proper spelling of Sulla, are easily checked.

On p. 128 Manguel writes of Sir Philip Sidney "in the sixteenth century," which is correct, but in the next sentence he speaks of Sir Francis Bacon "a century later," which is just wrong. Sidney and Bacon were born in 1554 and 1561 respectively. They were thus contemporaries, and the works of theirs to which Manguel refers here were published only ten years apart(1595 for Sidney, 1605 for Bacon, as Manguel knows). A different century? Yes. A century later? No. Even if we allow that Sidney had actually written his Defense of Poesy in 1579, "a century later" is still wildly inaccurate.

On p. 213 Manguel says that the action of The Iliad takes place in "less than seven weeks, a mere fifty-two days." I hope no one tells my boss that a week now has eight days in it.

On p. 235 he writes "And yet, here and there, in his books lie perhaps the inklings of a answer." A answer? A editor would be more to the point.

These errors leaped off the page at me, but I know a little bit about that period of Roman History and Tudor/Stuart England. That makes me wonder about errors that I don't have the knowledge to spot. Sometimes the mistakes just seem sloppy work, followed up by poor (or no) editing; other times he seems to be playing fast and loose with the facts in order to make a point. I don't know which is more damning. But if I can't have faith in the "facts" the author presents or the honesty with which he presents them, I am forced to doubt his interpretations. Which I regret, because I very much enjoy a lot of what he has to say.







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Review: Retribution: The Battle for Japan, 1944-45

Retribution: The Battle for Japan, 1944-45 by Max Hastings

My rating: 4 of 5 stars



Retribution is the first book I have read by Max Hastings, and I highly recommend it. It is an impressive work that provides a balanced account of the events and people involved in all the theaters of the Pacific War in 1944 and 1945, including many areas often neglected, e.g., China and Burma. Hastings writes well and clearly -- though, as another reviewer has noted, he chooses some odd words at times -- and he never seems shy about voicing his opinion either of the those who fought the war or of later historians who judge the way the war was fought.

As broad as the scope of his narrative is, it is also quite deep. He not only discusses and evaluates the famous leaders -- MacArthur, Stalin, Mao, Nimitz, and dozens of others -- but also spends time with many of the individual soldiers, sailors, airmen, and prisoners of war on both sides. He quotes often and extensively from their firsthand accounts and memories, which gives their stories an immediacy and emotional impact it could not have otherwise. What they went through, what they did, what they felt, are by turns breathtaking, horrifying, inspiring.

In the end it is this breadth and depth that make this book so good and worth reading. Others have written and will write again that, for example, it was wrong or right to drop the atomic bombs; others have criticized MacArthur or praised him. Those arguments are nothing new and will never be settled. Hastings has his opinions on the bomb and MacArthur, too. They will not be what I remember from this book. I will remember what I learned about the size of the war in China and Burma, and what I learned about the people who fought the war and how they felt about what they did and saw. This is a good book.



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Review: History of the Rain: A Novel

History of the Rain: A Novel by Niall Williams

My rating: 4 of 5 stars



This is a thing of beauty.  It is mythic and Irish (which may be redundant, or synonymous with magical realism, I'm not sure which).  It is literate and literary.  By the end it made me laugh out loud more than once and brought tears to my eyes.  It is the story of a girl and her family, especially her father, and her search to uncover their history through their books.

It also introduced me to what may be one of the funniest remarks ever made about a book in an online review: "It reminds me slightly of Ulysses except I am enjoying it."  This would be a better cover blurb than most of the over the top mail it in tripe we generally find.  My thanks to Deborah Meyler on Goodreads for that comment.



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