I got in some interesting reading over the holidays:
Flashman – George MacDonald Fraser
A wild romp of a book features Flashman, a swashbuckling, womanizing, scoundrel in Victorian England’s Army, on assignment to a cantonment in Kabul. A raunchy coward, he bumbles his way miraculously through thick and thin. This is the first of a series. I just started another book in the series (Flashman in the Great Game) where Flashman gets caught up in the middle of the Sepoy Revolt.
The Last Moriarty - Charles Veley
We were at my next-door neighbor’s house for a pre-Holiday soiree and got to talking with this couple who live across the street. The conversation somehow got to Benedict Cumberbatch and the BBC’s Sherlock series.
I’m a big fan of the canon, and recalled a recent A.C. Doyle story I had just downloaded from Project Gutenberg and read on my newly purchased Kindle. The main jist of my observation was about what an a**hole Holmes could be to Watson.
So this couple both start to smile broadly, and it turns out he is a UTC engineer by day, but a fiction writer by night, and a big Doyle fan. He had also recently written (and had published) a Sherlock Holmes ‘continuation’ story which fits into the canon with historical precision.
The Last Moriarty picks up after Reichenbach Falls, when Holmes finally comes out of hiding, and gets involved in an intrigue involving several industrial magnates from America, some Connecticut connections, and even a reference to Farmington’s Miss Porter’s school.
The Noise of Time - Julian Barnes
I’d read Barnes’ The Sense of an Ending after a positive review in the Economist (+ Man Booker Prize winner) and really enjoyed it. I’m also a Dimitri Shostokovich fan, so when I saw this book reviewed, I immediately ordered it and devoured it.
The book starts with Shostakovich in a panic as he has just had his first opera performed (Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk District) and the three figures in Stalin’s box seats walk out after the first act (including Stalin). Shostakovich' music is soon after denounced in Pravda.
He proceeds to dress up every night and sit in a chair next to the elevator with his kit and toothbrush, because he expects to be taken away by the secret police at night, and doesn’t want to be embarrassed in front of his wife. A lot of Soviet history mixed in with the musician's life and music.
A Whole Life - R. Seethaler
A tender read about a simple man who lives a simple life in the Austrian Alps, overcoming adversity, and yet persevering. Well written - a sad story but not a bummer.
So Nation - what have you been reading?
Interesting on the Sherlock. I was gifted the complete canon a few Christmases ago, and have read about half. I enjoyed them quite a bit, and have been wanting to read more, but my book is unreachably packed away at this time.
My reading this month has been almost exclusively work related. I tried to pick up some Louis L'amour in honor of my grandfather, but got distracted by children and such, so didn't make it too far before it ended up back on a shelf.
Good Omens
Pope Francis Rides the Bus
Thanks for pitching in, NBB. Much appreciated!
My reading lately has been pretty half baked.
I started Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie while in Japan and was really loving it, and then I got back and the book was overdue at the library so I returned it. Based on how many other requests there are and the fact that the first 200 pages were fantastic, I am thinking I just need to buy it in paperback. It was a bit of a beast to lug around in hardcover, and if I traveled more often, I think I'd almost certainly want an e-reader of some sort.
I'm now in the middle of The New Jim Crow by Michelle Alexander and--you guessed it--it's overdue at the library. I'm tempted just to push through to the end on this one though. I've seen it recommended in many places and was a bit intimidated by the subject matter, but the book is excellent. I had feared the writing would be too academic or two legal-ish (yeah, that's totally a word!) given that Alexander is a lawyer, but I'm finding it very clear and easy to follow. While I'm certainly not unfamiliar with the concept of structural racism, I feel like I'm learning far more about it thanks to this book.
AMR, thanks for avoiding me on the train platform today; it gave me more reading time. Thanks to a bit of skimming, but I finished The New Jim Crow on the bus this afternoon and finally returned it. I'll have to settle up with the library next week. It was a great read and was pretty eye-opening to me in terms of starting to understand issues I'd had only slight familiarity with--the War on Drugs, mass incarceration, the many restrictions on the rights of felons even after they've theoretically finished serving their time.
Over the weekend I came across the New York Public Library's Read Harder Challenge, and it's very cool. Just reading through the categories and suggested books got me thinking about how I could shake things up when it comes to choosing what to read.
still slowly working through Three Generations, No Imbeciles.
Powerful book. The kind of history that more of us need to be aware of and understand. And be ashamed of, and want to make sure that we as a nation and as a world do better.
Ugh
I was pretty excited when I heard George Saunders was writing a novel. It's out now, and there's an excellent review from Colson Whitehead here.
On the topic of reading the Harry Potter books to kids, the other day the jalapeno (age 6) asked me to pick up book #2. He's far more into it than when we read book #1 last year . . . to the point that he's getting upset when it's time to stop. I almost wish Rowling hadn't done such a good job crafting suspenseful scenes.
My son (8) has started reading the Harry Potter books. Flew through the first two, but the Prisoner of Azkaban is bogging him down a bit.
oh, hey, i remember this guy.
Banner photo is Edvard Munch (Scream guy) photo of painting from NBB trip to Zurich Kunsthaus in Dec 2016.