Book Reviews: Back Again

It's been awhile, so let's look at some of the books I've read since I made a proper post:

The Family Romanov by Candace Fleming

This book recounts the fall of the Tsar and his family, while also giving context with personal accounts of the horrible state of the common Russian people and of the rise of Lenin and his followers. 

It's hard not to feel a bit sorry for Tsar Nicholas in places, but it's also impossible to not judge him as a poor ruler who let things get out of hand. A tragic history piece, though I'm left with the thought that if the more moderate replacement government had succeeded and not lost power to the communists, if his family had not been brutally killed, if we would have much sympathy at all for them, any more than we do King George of England after the American Revolution. 

The Port Chicago 50 by Steve Sheikin

Sheikin, known several other good YA history books like Bomb, writes about a little talked about part of American history: 

During World War 2, at a time when the Navy was segregated, one of the few jobs African American sailors could get was tasks like loading ammunition. They weren't properly trained however, and a deadly explosion left many dead or injured. 50 then refused to go back to work and thus were charged with mutiny. 

This tells the story of the trial of these men, but also the story of the fight to desegregate the Navy. Thurgood Marshall plays a large role, but the story here isn't entirely fulfilling. The men never really get complete justice. Still, a great work for highlighting a little known piece of history.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Ultimate Collection Vol. 1 and Vol. 2 by Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird

I'm going through the original Mirage comics of TMNT. It's a fun romp of two young artists with a chance to take a crazy concept and pour their love of Jack Kirby, Star Wars, and even Dave Sim with a suprise crossover with Cerubus. As a fan of the TV show, I'd heard about how 'dark and gritty' these turtles are but I have to say, while there is some casual swearing, violence, etc, nothing is out of the PG-13 range and most stories seem to be about an even mix of drama and humor.

These are king size versions with massive pages that play well with Eastman and Laird's love of giant splash page battles, and the commentary after each issue is enlightening.  Great fun for fans old and new, be sure to check it out.

Monthly Book Reviews

So what did I read in February?

A Wrinkle in Time by Madeline L'Engle
There's a little bit of personal history with this book I should mention first. When I was young, my brother used to play basketball at the Boys and Girls Club in Indianapolis (I think). Before the game started I'd be waiting in the sort of lobby/game room area for the kids. I remember ping pong tables, a TV with a Nintendo and explicit "do your homework first" instructions attached, a very old style free to play arcade basketball game with a Centipede style track ball controller, and a small rack of books. One stuck out in my mind. It had this cover:

It freaked me out, but entranced me. The back cover description only increased my curiosity:

It was a dark and stormy night; Meg Murry, her small brother Charles Wallace, and her mother had come down to the kitchen for a midnight snack when they were upset by the arrival of a most disturbing stranger. "Wild nights are my glory," the unearthly stranger told them. "I just got caught in a downdraft and blown off course. Let me sit down for a moment, and then I'll be on my way. Speaking of ways, by the way, there is such a thing as a tesseract." A tesseract (in case the reader doesn't know) is a wrinkle in time. To tell more would rob the reader of the enjoyment of Miss L'Engle's unusual book.

Having the book scared to spoil itself stuck in my brain. But maybe I was too scared, didn't want to ask, or something but I never tracked down the book. Yet every time the thought came to me to look into the book, I deliberately avoided spoiling anything of it for myself. So despite being aware of the book since I was young, I knew virtually nothing about it going in, aside from it being a science fiction/fantasy book of some kind. I was also aware that L'Engle including some Christian themes in her books.

Reading it, I can say the experience was certainly sufficiently weird, even dream like, though not so much I didn't understand. Some have commented that the book is basically a beginner introduction to quantum mechanics. I can't speak to that but the concepts here are rich, the story is fun, and it resists the clomping foot of nerdism, creating a captivating world without explaining everything to the point of mundaneness. I say go ahead and try it out, I enjoyed it a lot.

How to Read a Book by Mortimer J. Adler and Charles Van Doren
Been meaning to read this for a while. The style is easy, if dry at times, textbook style. Some people are going to complain that this 'takes the fun out of reading,' but I disagree. We should think critically about what we read, and do our best to get the most of our reading experience.

The Shadow Hero and American Born Chinese by Gene Luen Yang Two graphic novels. I re-read ABC and enjoyed it just about as much now as when I read it then. Shadow Hero builds on the ideas common to most of Yang's works: Chinese American history and identity, finding yourself when you're a bit of an outsider, being comfortable with how God made you. Great stuff and ABC especially is something I would recommend to people as an example of comics as literature.

January Book Reviews

The books I read in January:

The Potter’s Freedom by James White.
A response to the Norman Geisler book, Chosen but Free. Both books are a little dated by this point, I haven’t actually read Geisler’s book, just one of his apologetics books back in High School. But I’d heard a lot about White’s book as a defense of TULIP and picked it up at a bookstore a couple of years ago and decided to read through it. While some of it can be read as a basic Calvinist defense against common objections to the doctrines of grace, I can’t say I’d recommend it to someone who wasn’t looking for a response to Geisler’s book. Books like RC Sproul’s What is Reformed Theology, Michael Horton’s Putting the Amazing Back into Grace, and others are readily available.

I Hunt Killers by Barry Lyga
Definitely a page turner that drew me in, though I guess I need to emphasize that, if it wasn’t already obvious, this is for adults and mature teens, and those not easily icked or disturbed. Very much in the vein of Silence of the Lambs, Jazz Dent is the son of the world’s most notorious serial killer, who hoped to turn him into his protege. When a copycat appears in his hometown, Jazz tries to use the skills his father taught him to catch the killer. The mystery aspect was interesting, but the graphic and disturbing detail were a bit much for me. More critically, the resolution left me a bit disappointed in terms of Jazz actually solving the case, vs something that leads into a second book when I’m not sure I really want to continue to series.

Secret Missions of the Civil War by Philip Van Doren Stern
An interesting collection of espionage stories, mostly primary source collections, from the Civil War. It highlights several fascinating stories, of rogue Confederate ships in Antarctica, female spies seducing officers, and possible confederate involvement in the New York Draft Riots. Unfortunately the fog of war has left many mysteries to history and it’s likely we’ll never know the full story of what went on, even who was actually working for who. Still good for a history or civil war buff.

In Real Life written by Cory Doctorow, drawn by Jen Wang
Graphic novel dealing with girl gamers, international labor exploitation, gold farming and the best of intentions going wrong. Loved the artwork, and ends up being a feel good story but I feel like, I don’t know, something was missing.