As Comic Book Guy would say

Worst final episode ever. Although it should be noted I never watched Lost or the Sopranos. Chuck what was that? More when I can think coherently.

Now I remember why I enjoyed blogging

To point out stupidity such as this. Nice? Nice? What is being taught at Eton?

While doing some reading on this I discovered that "Git" is not considered parliamentary language. So nice to have Wikipedia back.

Dancing with Colonels: A Young Woman's Adventures in Wartime Turkey by Marjorie Havreberg

Dancing with Colonels: A Young Woman's Adventures in Wartime Turkey
by Marjorie Havreberg

This book is excellently described by the subtitle with one minor quibble, Turkey was never actually at war. It was neutral, which gave the Allies and Axis ample opportunities for espionage and the like. Unfortunately, we don’t hear about any of that in this book. The letters are those that the author sent home, first, from her job working for a United States Senator, later as a civilian working for the war department as a secretary for the military attaché in Turkey.

As the substantial introduction points out, she didn’t talk much about her job which is understandable. There is a comment in one of the letters that they passed through a government censor. However, there is little here about the wider war either. The book is interesting in that it describes just what was served at a cocktail party in the 1940s, but beyond that I found myself not caring who was a good dancer or who was funny over dinner. A few of the people mentioned are relatively famous. Luckily, there are end notes that give short biographies for those that I had not heard of. The book concludes with a biographical note on her later life and a remembrance from one of her relatives.

So who is this book aimed at? Honestly, I am not really sure. There is not enough here for someone looking for an in depth look at the diplomatic service in Turkey. The writing in and of itself is decent enough, more geared towards travel writing than anything else. They took a few memorable trips into the mountains, for instance. Possibly if the introduction had not been so thorough, I would be more forgiving towards the text.

Strangely, this is one case where there is too much academic apparatus, at least for me. I felt that I could have simply read the introduction and that would have been enough, making the next 180 pages or so almost superfluous.

Not recommended.

 Note:This book was provided through Librarything's early reviewer Program.

Catching up on things.

So what did I miss while I wasn’t posting to the blog? Well, we had a federal election. We also had a royal visit and, come to think of it, a royal wedding. Ok, I really haven’t blogged in a long time. Like I said, I will try to do better.

Instead of discussing those things, we are going to talk about Harry Potter and Chuck. Saw the last Harry Potter movie, like most people. I am amazed that some online are considering it for Oscar nominations. Sure, in the technical categories I see their point, just not in the acting ones. Come on, guys. Get real here.

We are down to the last two episodes of Chuck. This final season has been a bit of a mixed bag. I am not sure why they are doing characterization heavy episodes at this point—the entire kidnapped baby subplot, for instance. I do like that they are acknowledging what the series was based on, mainly a mix of action, comedy and, yes, T and A. Sarah’s comment that on missions she has had to wear cat suits and platforms was probably the funniest example of breaking the fourth wall I have come across in years.

When the series concludes in two weeks, I will be down to watching new episodes of the Simpsons and Big Bang Theory.That’s it. They are just not producing shows these days that I am interested in.

Oh, well, this just leaves me more time for reading.

Brushing off the dust

After a very long absence I figured I may as well fire this thing up again. Partly that's because of a review opportunity I'm excited about. The other reason is that it feels like time. Just for the record I only read 100 books last year. A large number of them rereads. Important lesson don't move into a new house that still has daily visits from contractors. Other important lesson moving 2600 books up one flight of stairs and down two flights of stairs is a lot of work.

I'm not going to guarantee how frequent I will be posting. Except to say that the next one will be sooner then a year from now. So what have you been up to?

Jim Hooper

The following was posted as a comment. I'm not going to let it through. As such because it contained multiple links.  I don't need the search engines thinking I'm a link farm.  Also it was posted to the wrong review. I do feel that I have to address it though.  For those of you playing at home Jim Hooper is the author of  A Hundred Feet Over Hell: Flying With the Men of the 220th Recon Airplane Company Over I Corps and the DMZ, Vietnam 1968-1969.  Which I reviewed back on March 22, 2010.  Since the following was posted as a comment for public consumption I don't feel any obligation to keep it confidential.  This is the complete text minus links.  I've broken it up to make commenting on it easier for me. 

Interesting that of the 70+ reviews across a range of media, yours is the only one lacking a 5-star rating or that recommends it to readers

Actually I did recommend it.  "if you have an interest in an unusual facet of the Vietnam War give it a look."

But among those to whom you wouldn't recommend it are half-a-dozen female bloggers born after Vietnam and with no military or aviation background at all, who gave the story their highest marks, too. You really know who likes what. I'm impressed.

Cordially,
Jim Hooper

Guess what?  I'm here to give my personal review.  Take it or leave it.  They liked the book good for them.  I don't think less of them because they do.  I do think that a book on an obscure topic, artillery spotting discussing a certain geographical area within a conflict is going to be of limited outside interest.  For the casual reader of military history or the Vietnam war.

Instead of sniping at me [seriously that review was posted 10 months ago and now you're upset?] perhaps you would be better served by taking this opportunity to go write your next book.

Vulcan 607: The Epic Story of the Most Remarkable British Air Attack since WWII by Rowland White

Vulcan 607: The Epic Story of the Most Remarkable British Air Attack since WWII by Rowland White come to think of it there's only a slight hyperbole in that title. Covers the Stanley airfield attack although mostly talks about the frantic planning and training that went on. The aircraft were actually being phased out and they had to relearn a bunch of things including aerial refueling. Popular history that at least tries to demarcate between dialog he knows took place because of transcripts and dialog he's made up.

Recommended.

Best of the Best, Volume 2: 20 Years of the Best Short Science Fiction Novels edited by Gardner Dozois

Best of the Best, Volume 2: 20 Years of the Best Short Science Fiction Novels edited by Gardner Dozois contains 13 novellas. Unfortunately the only criteria for selection was if Dozois enjoyed it. Like most people there's a particular type of story he enjoys. There's a lot of the same here. Themes of extended life span and perception of reality. I'd be OK if they at least treated the themes differently but they often use the same plot devices (alien biological material invading humans is probably the most glaring). LeGuin's hand wringing about gender roles in Forgiveness Day was almost a relief. There is some great stuff here Sailing To Byzantium by Robert Silverberg, The Hemingway Hoax by Joe Haldeman and Mr. Boy by James Patrick Kelly. Beggars In Spain and Oceanic by Greg Egan both completely failed to work for me. For different reasons. By the end the repetitiveness was taking its toll. I'd probably think better of New Light On The Drake Equation by Ian R. MacLeod and Turquoise Days by Alastair Reynolds if I had got to them earlier. If I would have it to do over instead of reading it all in two weeks I probably would have read one novella every week.

Recommended with caveats.

Band of brigands: the first men in tanks by Christy Campbell

Band of brigands: the first men in tanks by Christy Campbell superb history written by as far as I can tell a layperson. Campbell is a journalist. The story is mostly about the development of the tanks and it's deployment. What I especially liked was that he's not looking forward to WWII so he doesn't overemphasize the rather limited success they had.

Highly recommended!

Happy New Year

Happy New Year let it be better than last.  Didn't really do enough reviews here to make it worthwhile to do a best of post.  So this is more a placeholder to remind myself that I did read 218 books in 2010.

grigorian.com do you want my money or not?

Perhaps if one is trying to sell someone a product they should make sure that their shopping cart actually works instead of deleting items when you navigate away.  This is not a browser or cookie issue because it fails to work in FF, IE and even on my iphone.  I used their contact form but it's been 72 hours still no reply.  Pathetic.

Goodbye Stargate Universe

It's official. Not that I'm surprised or for that matter particularly care. It was telling how little John Scalzi would talk about it. Considering he does like himself some self promotion.

Nelson's spy by A. J. Scott

Nelson's spy by A. J. Scott a rather curious reprint. This is the biography of Nelson's chaplain written by his children. The modern addition slaps on a controversial title and an introduction which does its best to make mounds out of molehills. Scott by his own admission in letters and diary entries included the text describes translating documents, interrogating witnesses and performing activities with friends of England. He seems to have been much closer to a intelligence officer than anything else.

Recommended only for the Trafalgar obsessive.

The Man in the White Suit: The Stig, Le Mans, the Fast Lane and Me by Ben Collins

The Man in the White Suit: The Stig, Le Mans, the Fast Lane and Me by Ben Collins let me put it to you like this. There are few books I read that could be longer and I would enjoy them. This could be 5 times longer and I would. Collins gives a lot of dirt on Top Gear. Clarkson is that much of a jerk, Hammond is that crazy and yes May is that boring. Interspersed throughout the show stories are vignettes about his military service, racing career and private life. This is simply a must have for any Top Gear fan.

Highly recommended!

What do you mean I still have a blog?

Ok, ok, ok I know it's been pretty dead around here. I'm not going to make any grandiose predictions about how it'll be in the future but I will try to do a little better. In the spirit of that and because I need more page views Emma Watson's legs.