In the Garden of Beasts

In the Garden of Beasts: Love, Terror, and an American Family in Hitler's Germany by Erik Larson  448 pp.

Evidently this is my month for WWII books, having already blogged about Prague Winter. This book is about the years leading up to the war. William E. Dodd was appointed the first U.S. Ambassador to Hitler's Germany in 1933 and served until 1937. Dodd was not the first, second, or even third choice to hold that post. He was a quiet, frugal man who essentially found himself way over his head in dealing with the Nazis and the powers that be in the U.S. State Department. He believed his job would be an easy one that would give him plenty of time to work on a book he was writing about the "Old South." Dodd's daughter, Martha, dove into the Berlin social scene attending parties and events with a number of different suitors including Rudolf Diels, the first head of the Gestapo. Some even wanted her to become Hitler's girlfriend. As Dodd became more horrified at the treatment of the Jews, those who opposed the Nazis, and even some Americans, he found it increasingly difficult to convince his superiors in Washington that the problem was a serious one. Soon even Martha realized that the Nazis were frighteningly evil and found a sympathetic Russian Communist as her next paramour. There were times while reading I wished I could go back in time to give both Dodd and his daughter a good shake (or a Gibbs head slap) to wake them out of their naivete.

As with his other books, Devil in the White City and Thunderstruck, Larson has taken a serious non-fiction topic and made it as readable as a novel.

Batman: Court of Owls/Scott Snyder

Batman:  The Court of Owls by Scott Snyder (New 52 Batman v. 1); graphic novel; 176 pages

This is my first adventure into DC's New 52, and I have to say I'm a little confused.  The reboot saw dramatic changes in a lot of places in the DC 'verse, but Batman seems to have carried on right from Morrison's run on it a few years ago--Damian is still around (unfortunately), Dick is still Nightwing, Tim is still Red Robin.  Snyder even carried over a couple of the elements introduced in The Black Mirror, his pre-reboot story (the most noticeable are the face-changing electronic mask used by Batman & Co., and the appearance of James Gordon, Jr. in the background at Arkham).  The story here was good, and very, very creepy:  a shadowy secret society controls Gotham, and anyone who looks too closely into its affairs winds up dead by their pet assassin.  So of course, Batman has to investigate.  The climax of this book is creepy and disturbing, and I completely can't wait for the next collection!

I do have to raise a few complaints (all minor):  the art was excellent (the Owls themselves were super creepy), but for some reason, Dick Grayson seems to be drawn as a perpetual teenager, and a tiny one at that.  I get that Batman's a big guy, but Dick's got to be 25 at this point in the story (there have been three other Robins since him--I assume that part's unchanged), and he's his own superhero now.  So why is he drawn a good 18 inches shorter than Bruce in every panel in which they appear?  Unless Bruce is meant to be 7 feel tall, in which case no amount of disguising in the world is going to conceal his identity.  Other (itty bitty) complaints:  the nursery rhyme about the owls was off--the meter didn't fit the verses, and it kept tripping me up; also, Alfred makes a comment about his father telling him Gotham legends--why was Alfred's father, who I assume lived and died in England, telling him stories about Gotham legends? 

Anyway, despite my grousing, this was a fun read.  I'm looking forward to the next installment. 

The Crown of Embers/Rae Carson

The Crown of Embers by Rae Carson (Girl of Fire and Thorns book 2); fantasy, young adult; 416 pages

Elisa is a war hero, beloved by her people; she's also the bearer of the legendary Godstone, which means she's destined for even more greatness than she has already achieved.  But now she finds herself the queen of a country that's been economically devastated, and she's learning that being a good ruler is much, much different from being the leader of a ragtag group of rebels.  She may even face a new set of rebels within her own capital city.  Worse, religious fanatics from the north, supposedly defeated a year ago, have returned, demanding Elisa as a sacrifice for their god.  Are they behind the recent attempts on Elisa's life?  Or could it be someone within her own court? 

This book is every bit as wonderful as its predecessor!  Elisa is a strong, smart heroine without being a sword-wielding warrior woman (a refreshing change, I have to admit).  She's a brilliant strategist, and has the foundations of a good ruler (including genuine caring for the welfare of her people), but with her own Quorum fighting her at every step, there's only so much she can do.  Now her council of advisers demands that she marry and produce an heir, and Elisa feels as trapped as she was before she escaped to the desert.  The call to marry is especially difficult, as Elisa has been fighting her attraction to Hector, the commander of her personal guard.

Elisa does a lot of growing up in this book.  She matured a lot in the last book, too, but here she's dealing with the responsibilities of queenship, including the thought that she might have to put the welfare of the country before her own.  Faith continues to play a large role in Elisa's life (which makes sense, since her Godstone gives her a tangible, physical response whenever she prays, to let her know that she's been heard).  While I'm not personally a religious person, I like Elisa's brand of faith:  trusting and humble, but also strong and unshakeable, without being preachy or judgmental.

Like many middle books, this one sets up a lot of things for the third book, and ends on a major cliffhanger.  Now comes the hard part:  waiting until next fall for the conclusion!  Recommended for fans of Kristen Cashore, Robin McKinley's Damar novels, and Tamora Pierce. 

My Mother Was Nuts

My Mother Was Nuts: A Memoir by Penny Marshall  326 pp.

My first memories of Penny Marshall were from the "Laverne & Shirley" television show. Marshall's first memories are of the dancing school run by her quirky mother who believed everyone deserved entertainment. She taught hundreds of kids how to tap in her basement dancing school, including her three children: Garry, Ronny, and Penny. Marshall is brutally honest about her life including the mistakes and successes, drug use, her failures as a mother, her love life & marriages, and the entertainment industry where she was a reluctant and unintentional pioneer movie director. She is often abrasive but also sincere when she tells about her family and the incredible number of friends she has had in "the business." And she never fails to give her brother, writer/director/producer Garry Marshall, credit for her successful start in Hollywood. There were a number of things about her I didn't know, like her decades old friendship with Carrie Fisher, her relationship with Art Garfunkel who took her on a motorcycle tour of Europe, charity work, and giving unknown actors their first big break.  I enjoyed her honesty, bluntness, and humor.

I listened to the audio version of the book, read by the author. The cadence of Marshall's reading was occasionally an issue, especially her pauses at odd moments in sentences. But you can always tell the subjects that are close to her heart when she frequently chokes up while speaking. You can hear the tears when she talks of her mother's declining health and the deaths of good friends.

The Journal of Best Practices

The Journal of Best Practices: A Memoir of Marriage, Asperger Syndrome, and One Man's Quest To Be a Better Husband by David Finch  224 pp.

Five years into a marriage that just wasn't working out right, David Finch was diagnosed with Asperger Syndrome. That diagnosis opened his eyes to the main cause of the marital problems, the inability to feel empathy that is a characteristic of the problem. Finch goes about learning to understand how his thought processes differ from most people. He then attempts to change the ways he normally acted to save his marriage. He kept track of his progress in his "Journal of Best Practices."  Finch's determination to change his way of thinking and acting to save his marriage and improve his relationship with his kids, is at times funny, very thoughtful, and sometimes heart wrenching. It's a fascinating look at coping with condition that is very difficult to deal with.

The Art of Intelligence: Lessons from a Life in the CIA's Clandestine Service

The Art of Intelligence: Lessons from a Life in the CIA's Clandestine Service
by Henry A. Crumpton ; 327 pages

If it weren't for my new, self-imposed mandate to "finish what I start", I would've closed this book permanently after I'd gotten about 20 pages into it.  If it weren't for the fact that it was a library copy that I held in my hands, this book would've inspired an impromptu bonfire in my backyard.  The inside of the back cover proclaims, "No book like it has ever been written: an epic thriller...".  I'm here to tell you that's a damned lie.  This book is as vapid as it gets, folks.  If you follow geopolitics at all, you will most likely spend the first 140 pages wondering when the "thrilling" part starts, or when the author will offer up something that you don't already know; I chose to ponder up alternative ways of using the $27.95 demanded of you at retail outlets, and at some point I decided investing that money with Bernie Madoff would be preferable.

Any value found in this book is anecdotal rather than substantive, and even those parts are few and far between.  For example, it was interesting to note that the author, a former high ranking official in the intelligence community, who served for over two decades, can further attest to the fact that Iraq not only had no affiliation with Al Qaeda or any other radical Islamic group, but that certain members of the Bush administration, like Paul Wolfowitz, were intent on a war with Iraq even before 9/11.  But of course, we already knew that.  Furthermore, a few pages provide a genuinely enthralling account of the clandestine operations in Afghanistan before and after 9/11, which Mr. Crumpton commanded; he recounts the fruition of the UAV and Predator drone systems, even providing a command center perspective of actual operations that took place on the ground.  When I said a "few" pages provided interesting material, I meant that literally; these ideas were communicated in sparse passages scattered throughout the  middle of the book that would add up to around three pages in total; there are 327 pages, meaning this book has about a .9% success rate.  

Fail.

The other 99.1% of the book is full of meaningless repetition of the importance of intelligence as a tool of statecraft (We know, that's why we picked up the book...), and a patriotic sentimentality that was cool the first time it was expressed, but after its continual reiteration took on a sickly sweet character and began to make me feel uncomfortable.  This latter element is made worse by dialogue pulled straight out of a B-grade action flick.  I couldn't decide whether I was more bothered that Mr. Crumpton decided to attribute gung-ho, hokey phrases to his colleagues, or the notion that his colleagues may have actually spoken in such a manner.  One may never know.  Nevertheless, this book convinced me that a career government official should hand his/her story off to a ghost writer, someone with a little more literary flair, rather than write it themselves.  After all, it's not the story one tells, but rather how the story is told that counts.

In summation, unless you have absolutely zero knowledge about the CIA or geopolitics, I recommend that you learn from my mistake and steer clear of this book, which is minimally (very very minimally) stimulating in terms of ideas or entertainment to anyone who maintains an active interest in the subject, or, for that matter, anyone who has payed attention to the news at any point between now and 2001.

Lulu in Hollywood

Lulu in Hollywood - Louise Brooks 109 pg.

After reading The Chaperone and loving it, I had more questions about Louise Brooks.  Louise is featured in The Chaperone as a fictional character but the character is clearly based on the real Louise and is historically accurate  as far as her activities during the time period.  After reading the Louise Brooks Wikipedia entry, I found out she had a second career as a writer and was well regarded.  This book is a collection of her essays, mostly talking about how distaste for Hollywood but also talking about some of the people she worked with during her acting career.  Louise was a very outspoken person and harbored many radical ideas for her time.  Reading her own words about her experiences and ideas was great and I enjoyed filling in the "fictional" Louise.

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I'm Dreaming of a Black Christmas

I'm Dreaming of a Black Christmas by Lewis Black  178 pp.

Curmudgeonly comedian Lewis Black gives his take on all that is wrong with the holidays, including Thanksgiving and Christmas. He bemoans large family dinners and other get-togethers, holiday shopping, choosing not to buy gifts for the friends of children and being looked down on because of it, and other aggravations of that sort. I think everybody can relate to at least some of his rants. I know I certainly did. But the book is not all gripes and kvetching. Black gives a wonderful account of his experiences performing USO holiday shows in the Middle East and Spain and how he was impressed by the service men and women he met there. Because it is Lewis Black, be prepared for profanity in this book. He is an acquired taste, but I enjoy his humor.

Batman: Gotham County Line

Batman:  Gotham County Line by Steven Niles, et al.; graphic novel; 160 pages


Batman.  And Zombies.  Together in one book.  What more can a girl ask for?

The Curiosities

The Curiosities by Maggie Steifvater, Tessa Gratton and Brenna Yovanoff; short stories, horror, fantasy, young adult; 304 pages

Steifvater, Gratton and Yovanoff share a blog and writing project (The Merry Fates) where they share ideas, experiments, and critiques to help each other perfect their craft.  This book collects some of the best stories from the project, as well as commentary from the authors, and sketches and doodles to illustrate each. 

I love Yovanoff's work, and while I didn't love Stiefvater's recent books as much as everyone else, I enjoyed it (I also blame the lackluster narration on the audio books for putting me off the writing).  I found myself loving every single story in this book, which is a HUGE rarity for me (at the moment, I can't think of another short story collection that fits the bill).  I definitely need to revisit Stiefvater (fortunately I have her newest book checked out at home), and will check out Gratton's work soon, too!  Wonderful, creepy, magical collection of dark fantasy fiction.