Book Log 2015 #22: Our Man in Havana by Graham Greene

Greene's novel The Third Man is a classic in the espionage genre, with its tense depiction of postwar Vienna as it segues from hot war to Cold War.

This is not The Third Man.

Instead, this novel takes a humorous look at spying (if I remember correctly, Greene called this an entertainment rather than a novel in the forward to the edition I read). A vacuum salesman in Havana is approached by British intelligence to serve as their eyes and ears in the Cuban capital. While he doesn't quite have a head for espionage, the salesman does have a head for fiction, and creates a network of fictional contacts (and drawings of imaginary weapons, which are actually close-up drawings of vacuum parts). At first this helps him pad his income (which he needs to keep his daughter in school and on her horse), but things quickly turn dangerous when the Brits, the Russians, and the Cuban police start to take his lies seriously.

I really enjoyed this, as the humor and satire balanced out well with the more serious back end. It's a quick read, too, as it's on the shortish side (more of a long novella, really).

(Popsugar Reading Challenge: nothing I haven't used yet, but it would count for a book that became a movie and a book set in another country)

Book Log 2015 #21: One Summer: America, 1927 by Bill Bryson

Charles Lindbergh crosses the Atlantic. Babe Ruth keeps hitting home runs. Calvin Coolidge tours the west and announces he won't be running for re-election. There are some of the major events that marked the summer of 1927, which Bill Bryson recounts in this highly engaging book. It's not just the major events and their detailed recounting that makes the book so engaging (the in-depth review of the failures of trans-Atlantic flight is a great example of this), it's also the way that minor events (or events that were major at the time but have faded over time) are woven in to give a fuller account of the summer. Flagpole sitters, sash weight murderers, and oddly named socialites all give added color.

I brought this book on vacation, figuring that two weeks and two longish plane flights would give me enough time to finish this. I wound up blowing through it before the first week was up, stealing time during the trip to continue reading. So yes, recommended.

(Popsugar Reading Challenge: a book with a number in the title, a book you own but never read)

Book Log 2015 #20: The Bone Clocks by David Mitchell 

A girl runs away from her home in 1980s London and becomes involved in a supernatural battle between two groups of immortals in which regular humans (the "bone clocks" of the title) are either semi-willing supporters or a kind of food source. We follow the girl throughout her life, up to an old age where scarce resources is driving civilization to the edge, but with the occasional insertion into a war where she may be the key to victory.

I had similar feelings about this book as I did Cloud Atlas- I enjoyed it a great deal but felt like I was missing something. It could just be that I'm still not used to Mitchell's style of writing, which merges timelines and dimensions seamlessly.  Getting used to it won't be the worst thing in the world.

(Popsugar Reading Challenge: book with more than 500 pages, a book with magic)

Book Log 2015 #19: Why Preists? by Gary Wills

In this book, Wills examines what he calls the "failed tradition" of the Catholic priesthood.  This mostly looks at the way the church developed the priesthood using a specific - and perhaps not that accurate -reading of certain Bible passages coupled with later writings by Aquinas to create the tradition of Jesus as priest, a power then handed down through St. Peter and eventually to the popes, cardinals and the rest.

At least that's what I think it did, as (a) I had trouble following Wills' argument due to my own deficiencies in theology and history, and (b) I didn't finish the book due to those deficiencies.

I think the topic is interesting, and a version written for your average layperson would be helpful.

 (Popsugar Reading Challenge: not applicable, not going to use a book I didn't finish)