Book Log 2010 #45: Conspirata by Robert Harris

The second book in his series featuring Roman orator and politician Cicero, it picks up at the start of the consulship Cicero won at the end of the first book. The joy of gaining the position is quickly dashed when a ritual murder leads to the uncovering of a plot that puts both Cicero and Rome in peril. How Cicero deals with the plot colors the rest of the book, which covers a span of five years (his one year consulship and four years following).

Harris does a great job of showing the precarious nature of Cicero's existence at this point, as he aligns with the patricians who don't really accept him against the populists whose quest for ultimate control offends his belief in a republican Rome. We also see how individual decisions can completely change one person's life, as Cicero faces increasingly realistic threats to his life based on those choices.

Balancing it all are the glimpses of Cicero's home life, his cool but absolutely critical marriage, his love for his children, and the dependence he has on his slave Tiro, who is the narrator. This adds emotion and depth to what, in lesser hands, could wind up as an average historical thriller.

It's been four years since the first book in the series came out, which was way too long (he interruped writing this one to write The Ghost, which didn't really justify the delay). Thankfully, the final book will be out next year. If Romans and/or political intrigue are your thing, read this series.

Book Log 2010 #44: Resurrection by Jim Dent

Notre Dame defined college football success in the 1940s, producing four national titles under coach Frank Leahy. The only problem, from the school's point of view, is that the team became bigger than the school. The players - and their head coach - were national celebrities, and consorted with the types of people not generally approved of by stern clerics trying to mold young Catholic men in deepest Indiana. Thus, when a new president was named in 1952 he led the charge to de-emphasize football. This opened a bleak decade of football, when incompetent coaches led ill-prepared teams to few wins.

While this was going on, a young coach named Ara Parseghian was leading a football revival at Northwestern, then as now not considered a powerhouse. He led the team to 36 wins in his eight seasons, including four straight wins over Notre Dame. Even with his success, Parseghian was squeezed out in 1963, and Notre Dame saw an opportunity to get back to winning with a coach used to working at a school with a strong academic focus.

This is the set-up for this book, which takes us through the down period of the '50s and into Parseghian's inaugural season in 1964. We get a great deal of recollections from Parseghian, his assistants, Notre Dame staff and alumni, and from players who were reborn when Parseghian took the helm. We then go through the '64 season game by game. You can guess based on the title how things went.

There's a lot to like about this book (unless you're a Notre Dame hater, in which case you'd never pick this up, would you?), especially in seeing how Parseghian ticked. There was much to his personality that feels similar to what we get from current coaches, from round the clock work during the season to tightly planned practices to his handling of the media. It's also interesting to see how Parseghian dealt with two prejudices that seem quaint by today's standards - his not being of the Notre Dame family and not being Catholic.

It's not all wonderful - the writing gets a little hokey for me at times - but Dent's familiarity with college football, especially of the period, comes through clearly (he also wrote The Junction Boys about one particularly hellish summer training camp that Bear Bryant held when he was coaching Texas A&M).

Clearly one to read for college football fans who aren't ND haters. Though I suppose the haters could read the early parts about the team's down years and then stop once Parseghian is hired.

Book Log 2010 #43: Mint Condition by Dave Jamieson

Great book about baseball cards and collecting, giving a good history of the giveaway (and its place alongside other cards and novelties), with stops along the way to meet collectors, printers, artists, independent graders, and other people who populate - and potentially ruined - the pastime. There are also a few forays into non-baseball cards, with the most entertaining tangents looking at a gruesome set of Civil War cards and "counterculture" sets like Mars Attacks! and Wacky Packages.

The one thing I would have liked more of is the one thing that most books like this overdo - personal input from the author about his collection. His taking repossession of his cards from his parents frames the start of the book, and he does write personally about cards throughout, but I would have liked more, or perhaps more concentrated doses at appropriate points. Still, it's a very minor quibble. Very much recommended.

Book Log 2010 #42: The King's Best Highway by Eric Jaffe

From native footpath to blueprint for highways, the history of the Boston Post Road (which ran from Boston to New York using both inland an coastal routes) is retold here in great detail. Not surprisingly, the history of the road is a history of American transportation in microcosm, developing into a more modern road before becoming the template for new rails and roads. The book follows a similar path, as the book becomes less about the road as the American transportation system becomes less and less reliant on it. I also tended to find the book got less interesting as this happened, either through greater familiarity with the more recent history or by comparison with the really interesting early days of the road.

Still, there's a good deal here to recommend itself to anyone interested in colonial/early US history or transportation. My only quibble with the book's writing is the continued use of "the Bay" as a shorthand reference to Boston and the Boston area. I've lived in Boston or the Boston area all my life and have never heard anyone here use "the Bay" as an offhanded reference to the city or the region. Outside of that annoyance, though, I enjoyed the book quite a bit.

Book Log 2010 #41: Yellow Blue Tibia by Adam Roberts

In the post-WWII Soviet Union, Stalin brings together a group of science fiction writers to create an alien menace that can be used to give the Soviet people a common enemy when the decadent and corrupt United States inevitably falls by the wayside. The group gets to work, but several months in are told to stop working, go home, and not mention anything about this assignment to anyone. Ever. Or else.

Jump ahead about 40 years, and one of those writers finds himself being drawn in by both a group of UFO believers and another of the writers (now in the KGB) with the suggestion that the alien menace created for Stalin is actually coming to pass.

What follows is an interesting, and often humorous, story about aliens, the crumbling Soviet Union, the nature of space and time, and one man's longshot at redemption and love (the title is a reference to a group of English words that, when said together, sounds like the Russian for "I love you."). I was very pleased with how the book delivered on its unusual plot, and would recommend it, at least to other sci-fi dilletantes like myself.

Book Log 2010 #40: The Lunatic Express by Carl Hoffman

While Hoffman often travels for his work as a journalist, he decided to take one long trip around the globe on his own to experience the most dangerous forms of transportation, from ferry lines known to have boats sink due to overcrowding to dodgy airlines to unpaved mountain roads where one mistake would send an entire bus careening off a cliff. There was also danger in many locations due to crime and political instability, where being an American abroad could lead to kidnapping or murder.

But as Hoffman makes his way around the globe, he discovers two things. First, as questionable as these forms of transport are, they most often get to where they need to go, allowing people - many living on the fringes, making little money - to take necessary trips to find work or sell goods. The other thing he discovers is that even for people living a hand to mouth existance, there's a warm humanity that bridges gaps and allows for a level of understanding that's impossible on a macro level. Granted, not everyone is that friendly, but there's a connection Hoffman gets with people on his voyage that never quite occurs when traveling domestically in the US.

With travel writing I always mentally compare writers with Paul Theroux, given that I've read most (if not all) of his stuff. There's some similarity here in that both authors make strong connections with locals (natives and expats), and both take their journeys in the shadow of problems with the wife. Hoffman seems a little less willing to take a risk than young Theroux when it comes to seeing the country and how people live, but he makes up for it by being less negative about people.

I did like the book, but I admit that towards the end I may have been looking forward to the conclusion at least as much as Hoffman, as I thought the end dragged a bit. Still, very solid read.

Book Log 2010 #39: It Was Never About the Babe by Jerry Gutlon

The idea that the Red Sox went 86 years without winning a World Series due to a curse put upon the team when they sold Babe Ruth to the Yankees is, of course, ridiculous. But it was an easy and appealing way to explain nearly nine decades of futility, especially in the hands of local sports writers.

Gutlon's book aims to show how the failures of the Red Sox sprouted from actual mismanagement, from the financial problems of early owners through Tom Yawkey's racism and the poor decision making of those who followed (up until the current owners, at least). It's a good topic, one that's been broached but worthy of deeper examination.

But I don't know if this book does the subject justice, as I wound up bailing on the book. It felt rushed, like it needed one more good going over by the author and editor but got sent out to print instead. It's more an issue of mechanics than content. Not to mention the typesetting looked like it was straight out of MS Word. I swear it was set in 12 point Times New Roman with a one inch margin.

Still, if the subject is of interest I'd say pick it up. If it works for you, so much the better.

Book Log 2010 #38: The Italian Secretary by Caleb Carr

Written with the blessing of the Arthur Conan Doyle estate, this is a new adventure of Sherlock Holmes. Two men working on renovations to Holyrood House, a royal residence in Scotland, are killed, and Holmes and Watson are called in to investigate. Their investigation takes a turn for the supernatural when some locals ascribe the killings to the ghost of one of Queen Mary's retinue, the Italian secretary of the title.

It's been some time since I've read any of the Holmes stories, but based on my memories I think this addition holds up relatively well to the originals (moreso than Michael Chabon's The Final Solution, which wasn't bad but was too non-traditional for me). I suppose the real question is if it compares well to the other book-length stories, which I've not read in a good 20 years, so I won't make that call. But I did enjoy the book, for the most part, which I suppose is what matters.

One thing this book does do is make me wonder when (or if) we'll get a new book from Carr using the characters from The Alienist.

Book Log 2010 #37: Union Atlantic by Adam Haslett

The conflict between a financial titan and a retired teacher over the construction of a gigantic house on what was public land (donated by the teacher's family) supposedly forms the main plot of this book. But its really more of story about our transition from post-9/11 paranoia to financial crisis, as main character Doug Fanning takes us from the Gulf (he was serving on the USS Vincennes when it shot down an Iranian civilian airliner) to a bank he built into a major financial services company by means that aren't always legal.

Fanning's life unravels as the book moves along, as he gets sued over his house, encounters a major problem at work, and enters an ill-advised physical relationship with a teenaged boy. It doesn't help that the teacher's brother is the chairman of the New York Fed, and that a friend of the teenaged boy is Fanning's boss.

I don't buy that much interconnection, and I think that was the foundation of a general discomfort I had with the book. The story line involving the house didn't do much for me, either on its face or metaphorically. I much prefered the similar conflict that was the basis for a book involving a bridge that was set locally (I could swear that I mentioned it here, but I can't fid the post).

It could be that I was permanently put off by the over the top praise for the book on the inside flap of its dust jacket. I quote: "Prescient, ambitious and irrestably complex, Union Atlantic is a deeply affecting portrait of the modern gilded age - the first decade of the 21st century. It is a singular work of fiction that is sure to be read and re-read as a classic of the times." There's almost no way the book could live up to that statement, and as it predictably failed to do so I think I felt more negative about the book than I would have otherwise.

Book Log 2010 #36: The Kings of New York by Michael Weinreb

Stefan Fatsis' Word Freak set the standard for a new genre of non-fiction, where writers delve into a subculture focused on a specific game or pastime and examine on set of (usually very good) practicioners to show the depths of their particular obsession.

(OK, this may not be an actual genre, but it does seem like more of these books showed up after Word Freak. Maybe I'm just more aware of them.)

Anyway, this book takes a year to follow the chess team at Edward R. Murrow High School in New York, a group of multi-ethnic oddballs whose focus on chess is fostered by the school's open approach to learning, nurtured by city programs such as the one the brings chess into elementary schools, and guided by a coach whose interest in the game and the students eclipses his own skills.

As with many of the books, the actual events of the season pale against the personalities of the players and their interactions. For example, the growing feud between the team's top two players brings an interesting subplot, one often seen in sports that never gets considered in more intellectual pursuits. That they both seem to feel that the school team is increasingly beneath their talents turns up the tension.

There's a fine line between writing about teenagers making a serious pursuit and exploiting the kids to get good copy from their idiosyncracies, but the line is traveled well here. The result is a great balance between the "year in the life" aspect of the story - will they win another national title? - and the conflicts within each player regarding their love for the game, its impact on their academics and personal lives, and relationships with teammates, teachers and family. And, from a technical standpoint, you really don't have to know how to play chess to follow the story, as explanations are made quite clearly as needed. Very much worth a read.

Book Log 2010 #35: The Mask of Atreus by A. J. Hartley

Speaking of worse, we have this offering, which I picked up even though the large swastika on the cover did set off some alarm bells.

The basic premise is actually intriguing: the benefactor of a small and eclectic Atlanta museum is found dead in a secret room that houses what appears to be a wealth of Trojan-era antiquities, a hoard that is apparently undocumented and would create quite a stir... if it's all real. The museum curator notices that there appears to be one item missing, something rather large that was wheeled out. She begins to investigate the case, having to deal along the way with a very unusual pair of cops, a cleaning lady who's not what she seems, a mysterious Englishman, an amorous lawyer, a dead Russian and a person who is very determined to kill her.

The book unfolds in a fairly typical neo-Nazi thriller kind of way, and it became pretty clear to me where this was going based once speculation started that the missing item was a body. The story is put together in a typical thriller way, with enough plot twists and hard to explain actions by the protagonist to keep the plot moving.

It's probably not fair to call this book worse than Hornet Flight, as its a perfectly servicable example of its genre (and a reasonable vacation read) and pits Hartley against a very experienced thriller author. But it doesn't compare well with the previous book, and while not as limp as, say, The Overseer, it's not necessarily a book to seek out.

Book Log 2010 #34: Hornet Flight by Ken Follett

While I'm not one to judge a book by its cover, I do have one rule about choosing books based on cover art: the larger the swastika on the cover, the worse the book (fiction only). The copy of the book that I read had a small swastika on it, so i thought it worth the risk.

And, truth be told, the rule worked. The book is an entertaining story of a Danish teen who has to get information on a local radar station to England, and his only means of doing so is by flying an old plane that's been stored in an out-building for years.

Of course there's more detail to the story, such as how the boy winds up having to fly and who he has to choose as co-pilot. The story moves at an appropriately brisk pace, and the setting of occupied Denmark is a nice change from World War II novels set in the typical locations. It is based on actual people and events, which I imagine helped with developing the unique locale and personalities.

My only complaint about the book is the ending, specifically the epilogue which feels tacked on to set up a sequel that, to date, hasn't come to pass. Still, for a book I picked up to read on vacation I could have done much worse.

Book Log 2010 #33: A Game of Patience by Susanne Alleyn

The first published book in the Ravel series, it's set just after the Revolution, with Ravel working to solve the murder of a young woman and the man who was blackmailing her. The case widens to include investigations into family and friends, including a friend of the dead woman for whom Ravel begins to developing feelings, complicating matters.

As with The Cavalier of the Apocalypse there's great period detail and an engaging mystery to follow. I also like the way the characters reflect the uncertain nature of the times, especially Ravel, who is much more aware of the gravity of what he does as an investigator in this book. Looking forward to seeing how the upcoming installment bridges the time between this one and the first (chronological) one.

Book Log 2010 #32: The Pale Blue Eye by Louis Bayard

Very enjoyable historical mystery set at West Point, where a death on campus with sinister overtones is investigated by a retired detective, who finds an assistant in a gloomy cadet named Edgar Allan Poe. Reviews I've read suggest a difference of opinion about the ending - some loved it, others found it a stretch. I tend towards the latter camp, but not so strong that it dropped my overall appreciation of the book at all.

Book Log 2010 #31: All Other Nights by Dara Horn

Union solider Jacob Rappoport is given a special assignment by a secretive group of officers - sneak into New Orleans and kill a man who is plotting to assassinate Abraham Lincoln. That man turns out to be Jacob's uncle.

This is just the start of Jacob's short career as a spy, one which sees him make several life-altering choices as he balances the demands of family with his own wishes and the orders he gets from his nameless superiors. It's all balanced well and has a nice amount of period detail, though the war itself is often at arm's length. It's also interesting in its portrayal of Jewish life during the Civil War, though that theme seems to become less prominent as the book goes on.

Liked it, but may not be for someone looking for a book that's more battle intensive.