Book Log 2020 #46: The Imperfectionists by Tom Rachman

An English-language daily newspaper in Rome is facing the same existential crisis plaguing print journalism the world over. Dwindling subscriber base, lower ad revenue, and the constant threat of having to close up shop. This novel tells the stories of the people who work for and read the paper, and how their personal and professional choices may impact the future of the publication they're all trying to save.

Rachman has a journalism background, so the details feel realistic. The book is more written like a series of stories than as an integrated novel, not sure if that was to mimic the serial/newspaper style but it may not work for everyone. I liked it overall, though I can't say it made a great impression on me. 

 Book Log 2020 #45: Football for a Buck by Jeff Pearlman

This book looks back at the history of the USFL, the renegade spring football league that sought to challenge the NFL for top talent and fan dollars. Built off of hundreds of interviews with people formerly involved in the league, it gives an entertaining look into what was an often chaotic and amaetur operation. It's not quite as good as Terry Pluto's oral history of the American Basketball Association, Loose Balls, but it does fill in some of the missing stories from The $1 League, which tells the USFL story from more of an executive/ownership perspective.

It's worth reading if you're interested in football history, and may be easier to find than The $1 League, which is out of print.

 Book Log 2020 #44: The Glass Hotel by Emily St. John Mandel

Mandel's novels center around people who are, one way or another, lost. In this case, we have a brother and sister who drift northwards and find work at a luxury hotel in British Columbia. Their lives take dramatic and opposite turns after an incident at the hotel, where the sister meets and becomes the partner of a billionaire, while the brother goes off into a less secure direction.

Or does he? As the events of the book unfold we see their fortunes change often (in some cases literally), and in one case tragically. For all the ups and downs, though, I never feel like either sibling is ever actually "found." They just temporarily inhabit states of being more or less lost.

I know that sounds bleak, but this is a really well-crafted and engaging book, depicting just how tenuous our hold on our present life can be. I think the book also says something about resilience, just maybe not the typical lesson that good things come to those who can weather adversity.

 Book Log 2020 #43: The Human Division by John Scalzi

The fifth novel in the Old Man's War series is actually a collection of stories orginally published electronically. They chronicle the aftermath of The Last Colony, with Earth learing everything that the Colonial Union hasn't told them and mulling becoming part of the Convlave, the alliance of planets that has been fighting the CU.  The crisis threatens both Earth and the future of all the colonzied worlds that the CU started.

My only issue with this book is that I keep getting confused between the novel and the various stories. I'll see references to a Human Division "series," think that there are more books coming, and relearn that "series" refers to the stories in this book. At some point I'll actually remember that.

 Book Log 2020 #42: Midnight Riot by Ben Aaronovitch

Peter Grant is a constable with the Metropolitan police in London whose prospects are looking like he'll spend more time in the office than in the field. All of this changes, however, when in the course of an investigation he winds up interviewing a ghost. Turns out Peter has some magical abilities that he was unaware of, which completely changes the arc of his career.

Peter gets assigned to Thomas Nightingale, who is both a police officer (deputy chief inspector) and the last sanctioned wizard in England. Nightingale investigates crimes and other incidents with a magical component, and for the first time in roughly 70 years has an assistant to train and assist with investigations.

On top of his policing duties, and learning how to use magic, Peter also gets involved with a running feud between the gods and goddesses of the waterways in and around London (which is why the original title of this book, which also gives the series its name, is Rivers of London).

I'm not normally into fantasy, but I really enjoyed this book.  The fantastical and criminal elements of the story balanced well, and there's a fair bit of humor to boot. Looking forward to reading on in the series.

 Book Log 2020 #41: The Hermit of Eyton Forest by Ellis Peters

A young student at the Shrewsbury abbey school inherits his father's estate and title, as he has died of wounds suffered in the ongoing civil war. While his lands will be held in trust by the local sherrif until he's of age, the boy's grandmother looks to pull him out of school and marry him to a neighbor's daughter in order to expand their holdings. 

In the middle of this, a hermit and his helper arrive, and the grandmother give them use of a hermitage on the estate. This kicks off a series of events - murder among them, of course - that ties everything together in the usual style of a Brother Cadfael mystery.

Enjoyable as usual, though I am beginning to think about how close I am to the end of the series.

 Book Log 2020 #40: The Wordy Shipmates by Sarah Vowell

I had a much harder time getting into this look at the Puritans and how their religious outlook and experiences in the New World shapes the present US than Assassination Vacation, which was a problem given that I didn't feel like I fully connected with that book, either.  On some level it may just be that I don't connect with Vowell's writing style.

But in this case, I think the wordy shipmates can take part of the blame, too. These early Americans wrote at length and with a density of prose that is often mind-numbing. It's not hard to see how that might make a modern review of these writings similarly affected.

I do find myself in a bit of a bind, in that there was a lot I liked about the book - I do think Vowell is funny, and I appreciate how her personal visits to colonial sites provide context and contrast - but I don't know if I can recommend it. The best I can say is maybe read Assassination Vacation or one of her essay collections first and see if you want to continue on to this and other books she's written.

 Book Log 2020 #39: Rocket Men by Robert Kurson

This book tells the forgotten story of Apollo 8, the first mission in that program to reach the moon. The decision to do so was unexpected for NASA, but as the end of the 1960s loomed fears rose that the US would not land a man on the moon by the end of the decade. Or worse, that the Soviets would get there first.

This is very engaging telling of how NASA and the mission astronauts - including well-known figures like Frank Borman and Fred Lovell - accellerated the timeline for this first mission to the moon, giving themselves only four months to prepare. 

As this was the first manned mission to the moon, it was also the first time a live crew could test the procedures that would be used by future crews to make the trip and land on the moon. The book does a great job of detailing the dangers involved without being too sensational.

For anyone who is following our (eventual) return to the moon, this is a great reminder of what it actually takes to get there.

 Book Log 2020 #38: Diary of a Dead Man on Leave by David Downing

In 1938, a man claiming to have just returned from Argentina settles into a German boarding house. Fifty years later, the son of the woman who ran the house finds the man's diary, which reveals that the man had never been to Argentina, but was a Soviet agent sent to Germany in an attempt to revive the Communist party that had been ruthlessly suppressed by the Nazis.

The book unfolds as the man tries to reconnect with the people he knew in the German railroad industry and gague if they are willing to rejoin the struggle or not. We also see the man grow closer to the boarding house owner and her son, providing a personal counterpoint to his secret mission.

I enjoyed Downing's series set in and around Berlin during World War II (each book named for a different train station), and liked this one as well.