Pigtown by William J. Caunitz

Pigtown by William J. Caunitz is a police procedural about a murder investigation. A supposedly retired Mafia figure is brutally murdered. A Lieutenant must find out why. The answers lead him to confront corruption within the NYPD. Like most of Caunitz's work there's quite a bit of violence and sex. With a little homophobia tossed in. The characters are exaggerated perhaps a little too much. This is still enjoyable though.

Recommended!

Is available through Abebooks.

Bitter Ocean:the Battle of the Atlantic, 1939-1945 by David Fairbank White

Bitter Ocean:the Battle of the Atlantic, 1939-1945 by David Fairbank White is a decent account of the battle of the Atlantic. The narrative is structured around the experiences of U-boats and the convoys. There's quite a bit of social history here which is fine it actually works quite well. I would have preferred more about the tactics of the attack or defense of convoys. There is a short section on the supply route to the Soviet Union. What I particularly liked was that the Royal Canadian Navy receives its fair share of the credit for the successes. Usually the Royal Navy and United States Navy is the only ones mentioned. The book contains a bibliography and notes section.

Recommended!

Is available through Abebooks.


For more WWII book reviews Take a look at My World War II bookshelf.

The Gouzenko Transcripts: The Evidence Presented to the Kellock-Taschereau Royal Commission of 1946 Editors by Robert Bothwell and J.L. Granatstein

The Gouzenko Transcripts: The Evidence Presented to the Kellock-Taschereau Royal Commission of 1946 edited by Robert Bothwell and J.L. Granatstein contains a series of extracts from the evidence given to this royal commission looking into Soviet spying in Canada during World War II. Much of this is the testimony of Igor Gouzenko who defected to Canada in 1945. The transcripts consist of his own testimony as well as those fingered through his testimony and documents. Some are more cooperative than others. The atomic spying that the Russians did in the UK and United States is also touched upon. Most interesting is the use of discussion groups to find possible agents. The introduction is a decent description of the events that took place and their historical impact.

Highly recommended!

Is available through Abebooks.


For more WWII book reviews take a look at My World War II bookshelf.

The World the Romans knew by N.H.H. Sitwell

The World the Romans knew by N.H.H. Sitwell is a history of the Peoples that surrounded the Roman empire. There are thumbnail histories of the Celts, Germans, Indians, Chinese Step peoples and African groups. A lot of the information is rather speculative. There's a discussion of the accuracy or lack thereof of Roman perspectives on the various groups but since some did not leave their own records is difficult to separate fact from fiction. This was published back in the early 1980s so there's some terminology that isn't exactly politically correct. There are notes and a bibliography.

Recommended.

Is available through Abebooks.

Wheels of Fire by Terence Strong

Wheels of Fire by Terence Strong is a thriller about the conflict in Bosnia. The narrator a British army officer is sent to help a struggling unit. His job consists of getting relief columns through the various combatants lines. This is a serviceable thriller. There isn't much here that's innovative but it does nicely kill a few hours. Some of the sex is rather gratuitous. Characters are rather stereotypical.

Recommended!

Ed Stelmach's whole lot of nothing

Could that 20 minute speech be any more content free? If being the premier is earned not guaranteed then why not call an election you coward!

Not With Guns Alone: How Hanoi Won the War by Denis Warner

Not With Guns Alone: How Hanoi Won the War by Denis Warner is an account of the North Vietnamese final assault on the south in 1975. The author a hawkish Australian journalist manages to shed some light on the events. There's also quite a bit of local color. A good thing is that this provides a non-American perspective on the final collapse. Both the Americans and South Vietnamese come in for quite a bit of criticism. The lack of support for refugees is also criticized.

Recommended.

Is available through Abebooks.

Harry Potter and the Homosexual Headmaster

I'm supposed to care about this? Really? Are you sure? OK then.

"Dumbledore is gay,"

Two thoughts spring to mind about J.K. Rowling.

1.)This is a way to screw with the rabid fans who are now going to reread the entire series looking for "hints".

2.)This will give some of the book burning types something new to rant about. The whole magic is evil thing was rather played out but homosexuality that's something else entirely. I've already seen comments along the lines of "gays are evil get the flamethrowers".

I do enjoy John Scalzi's perspective.

The Areas of My Expertise :An Almanac of Complete World Knowledge Compiled…by John Hodgman

The Areas of My Expertise :An Almanac of Complete World Knowledge Compiled…by John Hodgman is a humorous fake almanac. The problem is there really isn't enough material covered. There's sections on past events, current events, predicting the future and hobo matters. There's just too much detail on some of these topics. A section on every state for example or over 700 hobo names . The humor is very dry.

Sorry PC not recommended.

Is available through Abebooks.

Lentolaivue 24 (Osprey Aviation Elite 4) by Kari Stenman

Lentolaivue 24 (Osprey Aviation Elite 4) by Kari Stenman is an a unit history of this Air Force squadron. They participated in both the Winter war and the Continuation war. I'm always interested in more material on the winter war Finland's ability to stop the Russian advance is one of the more interesting topics in military history. This book does an excellent job describing the actions as well as the technical specifications of the squadron. There's quite a bit of information even history's of particular airframes. On every page is a picture which is standard for Osprey. There are personal accounts drawn from primary source material from the archives about particular attacks.

Highly recommended!

Is available through Abebooks.


For more WWII book reviews Take a look at My World War II bookshelf.

The Battle of Salamis: The Naval Encounter that Saved Greece -- and Western Civilization by Barry Strauss

The Battle of Salamis: The Naval Encounter that Saved Greece -- and Western Civilization by Barry Strauss is a history of this important naval battle. The battle was between the Greek city states and Persian Empire. Strauss uses archaeological as well as the narrative sources particularly Herodotus. He views the Histories to be basically accurate in their account. He does mention where there are clear problems with the narrative such as the number of ships on the Greek side. There are short fictional vignettes but they are easily ignored. The book contains a discussion of the sources both primary and secondary. This could be easily used for constructing a further reading list.

Recommended!

Is available through Abebooks.

Traveller in Black by John Brunner

Traveller in Black by John Brunner contains all five short stories about this fantasy character. The traveler attempts to remove chaos from various universes. Chaos is considered to be superstition based on religion or luck. The world's he travels through basically contain fantasy elements. Very thought provoking. The writing style can take a little getting used to but I like it. I'll be picking up some more by the author.

Recommended.

Is available through Abebooks.


For more Science Fiction and Fantasy book reviews take a look at My Science Fiction and Fantasy bookshelf.

When will Jesus bring the pork chops? by George Carlin

When will Jesus bring the pork chops? by George Carlin is a collection of material from this comedian. Some of this stuff is straight from his more recent HBO shows. Other bits I think probably didn't make the original cut so they ended up here. There's some good stuff but mostly it's pretty mediocre. Carlin seems to have fallen into the trap that violent imagery equals better satire. He's at his best when talking about societal foibles and euphemisms/politically correct language. The more weaker sections are invariably short fictional scenes or conversations which just don't seem to work for some reason.

Recommended only for a Carlin completest.

Is available through Abebooks.

Macdonald Hall Goes Hollywood by Gordon Korman

Macdonald Hall Goes Hollywood by Gordon Korman is a humorous young adult novel from this Canadian author. Yes this is nostalgia for me. I first read this probably in grade 5 or 6. I wanted to see how this would hold up for someone in their mid-twenties. I was actually pleasantly surprised there are still several laugh out loud funny moments.

The plot is that there is a movie production taking place at the school. Our main characters originally decide the child star must be taken down a peg but eventually combine with him to show him what teenage life is supposed to be about.

It's probably a function of the YA aspect of the book but the plot is crammed into slightly less than 50,000 words. There's a lot here there are at least three possible events that could have been the major crisis of the book. They are the dance with the girl school, the big hockey game or the wilderness survival trip. I wasn't hoping for pages of teenage angst but if the book had been slightly longer or had slightly less material I think it may have worked better. That being said the characters even though they are mainly stock are pretty funny even to this jaded twentysomething. I'll probably be picking up the other books in the series over time. This can be a nice break from more of the gritty stuff I usually read.

Recommended if you need a chuckle.

Is available through Abebooks.

I'm back

back from my vacation. With 11 new books. It was enjoyable. Regular posting should resume later tonight or tomorrow.

On vacation

I'll be on vacation October 4-14th. I'm taking a trip to the Maritimes. Won't have Internet access so no posting till at least the 15th. I'm taking 11 books with me so I should have some reviews when I return. I'll also be looking for local material out there. Try not to be to board without me.

Lawrence and the Arab Revolts 1914-18 by David Nicolle

Lawrence and the Arab Revolts 1914-18 by David Nicolle is an Osprey title. The title is somewhat of a misnomer the book is mostly about the various Arab forces. Lawrence is mentioned very rarely. Nicolle refuses to say one way or the other about the historical accuracy of Lawrence's claims. He does note that most Arab historians don't really believe him. There's quite a bit to cover. Material is given on various units from different tribes. This includes groups from Egypt, Jordan, Iraq and Yemen. There's not much given for each group. It's hard to say whether this was a space consideration or a simple lack of documentation. Thumbnail descriptions of some of the campaigns are given. This really left me wanting more. There's no bibliography or suggestions for further reading unfortunately. Illustrations and photos are on every page.

Mildly Recommended there is some good stuff butt this could easily have been broken up into two or three booklets.

Is available through Abebooks.




For more reviews take a look at My Insurgency/Counterinsurgency, Partisan and Guerrilla Warfare bookshelf.

Holidays on Ice by David Sedaris

Holidays on Ice by David Sedaris is a collection of Christmas themed pieces. Yes we are doing this in October. Probably the best of the bunch is a biographical piece about the authors time as a Macy's elf the rest are various ranges of horrible. There's satire here in droves but it's just not funny. Sedaris has no subtlety no nuance. Points are hammered home with a sledgehammer. Several pieces go on and on for no apparent reason except to reinforce the painfully clear point. If there was something profound here then maybe it would be better but there's not. Commercialism is bad. Entertainment executives are manipulative. Well wasn't that enlightening! Their also seems to be a definite attempt at shock value which tends to be a refuge of the lazy writer.

Not recommended at all!

Is available through Abebooks.