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snurri1. Young Adult Novel by Daniel Pinkwater
2. Avilion by Robert Holdstock.
3. Passing by Nella Larsen.
4. A Little Yellow Dog by Walter Mosley.
5. Gone Fishin' by Walter Mosley.
6. Lavondyss by Robert Holdstock.
7. Bad Boy Brawly Brown by Walter Mosley.
8. The Devil's Alphabet by Daryl Gregory.
9. Eisenhower: A Soldier's Life by Carlo D'Este. The past month or so has been pretty male-dominated (as you can easily see above), particularly by Holdstock, Mosley, and Dwight D. Eisenhower. This mammoth 848-page volume (happily nearly a hundred and fifty pages of it was endnotes and index) only covers Eisenhower's life up to the time of the German surrender in May 1945. (There were moments of synchronicity in working through this while reading some of the above--both Easy Rawlins and Harry Keeton, the missing brother of Lavondyss, are World War II veterans.) Estes succeeds well at bringing Eisenhower's strengths and weaknesses out; a consensus-builder on the one hand, on the other a peacemaker who failed, at times, to assert his disagreement with certain actions taken by superiors and subordinates both. One of Ike's most damning moments was his reluctance to argue against MacArthur's assault on the Bonus Marchers, a small army of World War I vets who tried to claim promised benefits during the Great Depression. Ike was also a practitioner of cronyism, which mostly served him well when his pals were people like, say, Patton, but less well at other times. His strengths, though, were in organization and (although he claimed to loath the practice) politics, particularly when it came to holding the Allied coalition together, despite the double-edged sword of men like Montgomery and the aforementioned Patton. The focus of the book shifts quite a bit as it progresses into the war, and at times it seems like Este would rather have been writing a book about Ike and his generals; some of the military history ends up being a bit dry, even speaking as someone interested in World War II. I suppose, with a book like this, you're either interested in it or you're not; I personally thought it was worthwhile, but it was a bit of a slog at times.
2. Avilion by Robert Holdstock.
3. Passing by Nella Larsen.
4. A Little Yellow Dog by Walter Mosley.
5. Gone Fishin' by Walter Mosley.
6. Lavondyss by Robert Holdstock.
7. Bad Boy Brawly Brown by Walter Mosley.
8. The Devil's Alphabet by Daryl Gregory.
9. Eisenhower: A Soldier's Life by Carlo D'Este. The past month or so has been pretty male-dominated (as you can easily see above), particularly by Holdstock, Mosley, and Dwight D. Eisenhower. This mammoth 848-page volume (happily nearly a hundred and fifty pages of it was endnotes and index) only covers Eisenhower's life up to the time of the German surrender in May 1945. (There were moments of synchronicity in working through this while reading some of the above--both Easy Rawlins and Harry Keeton, the missing brother of Lavondyss, are World War II veterans.) Estes succeeds well at bringing Eisenhower's strengths and weaknesses out; a consensus-builder on the one hand, on the other a peacemaker who failed, at times, to assert his disagreement with certain actions taken by superiors and subordinates both. One of Ike's most damning moments was his reluctance to argue against MacArthur's assault on the Bonus Marchers, a small army of World War I vets who tried to claim promised benefits during the Great Depression. Ike was also a practitioner of cronyism, which mostly served him well when his pals were people like, say, Patton, but less well at other times. His strengths, though, were in organization and (although he claimed to loath the practice) politics, particularly when it came to holding the Allied coalition together, despite the double-edged sword of men like Montgomery and the aforementioned Patton. The focus of the book shifts quite a bit as it progresses into the war, and at times it seems like Este would rather have been writing a book about Ike and his generals; some of the military history ends up being a bit dry, even speaking as someone interested in World War II. I suppose, with a book like this, you're either interested in it or you're not; I personally thought it was worthwhile, but it was a bit of a slog at times.
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(no subject)
Date: 2010-02-01 12:30 am (UTC)One of my favorite Ike quotes (paraphrased): Plans are useless. Planning is essential. Sums up my feelings toward outlining.
JSR
(no subject)
Date: 2010-02-01 12:42 am (UTC)Outlines are evil! And yet. Yeah, good quote.