Book Log 2015 #8: What If by Randall Munroe

A scientist by training, Munroe is the mind behind xkcd, described as "A webcomic of romance, sarcasm, math, and language." An offshoot of the webcomic is What If?, where readers submit wacky questions that Munroe answers using his knowledge of physics. This book is a compendium of such questions and answers, accompanied by drawings and occasional asides.

It may surprise you (or not, given how the Internet goes) that most questions result in some sort of grievous harm, either to the individual attempting the action in the question or to the planet at large (and in cases where there isn't such harm, Munroe is keen to take the answer to it's most grisly end). But it's all done with tremendous wit and humor, in both the writing and the drawing.

I took this book on vacation, thinking its short entries would make it a perfect book to fill the gaps. It did that in spades, but I found that I usually couldn't read just one or two questions. I finished the book about halfway through the trip. Very enjoyable, with added appeal if you have an interest in science.

(Popsugar Reading Challenge: A book written by someone under 30)

Book Log 2015 #7: Midnight in Europe by Alan Furst

So in juxtaposition to the previous book we have the latest from Alan Furst, who has developed a solid framework on which to build his war novels. In this outing, our protagonist is a Spanish lawyer working in Paris for a firm that often sends him to New York, where he has a regular, if not particularly committed, girlfriend. His comfortable and quiet world changes when he agrees to work for his homeland to acquire weapons for use against the well-supported Nationalist forces who are on the offensive. This leads him down a dangerous path where he puts his life in danger on a long-odds attempt to turn the tide of Europe's slide into fascism.

And then there's the required romantic entanglement, this time in the guise of a woman who claims she is a link to the aristocratic heritage that the lawyer's mother continues to try to prove is her family's right. But there's something not quite right about this new lover, and if it's what he suspects, she's in as much danger as he is.

I tend not to like novels where the author is working off of a well-worn formula, but the quality of the writing in Furst's books helps to get past what problems might arise (though there is a certain level of predictability with the romantic story lines that I'm beginning to find troubling). Anyway, another solid outing worth a read if you like wartime thrillers.

(Popsugar Reading Challenge: A book you can finish in a day. Read quickly.)

Book Log 2015 #6: Warburg in Rome by James Carroll

The Warburg of the title is a Treasury Department lawyer who, mistaken for a member of the more aristocratic branch of the Warburg family, is tapped by the secretary of the treasury to go to Rome and head up a war refugee board whose purpose is to help Jews avoid (or get out of) concentration camps. Once there, he meets an American priest - the right hand man to Cardinal Spellman - who is looking to help his boss get a toehold among the Vatican elite.

The pair find ways to collaborate, but often find themselves at cross-purposes, especially after the war when the Vatican is doing everything it can to cover up some of the less savory aspects of its operations during the war and Warburg has become more involved with finding war criminals, enacting the occasional reprisal, and supporting Zionism. Both men are looking for the same thing - justice for Jews and atonement by those who let the Nazis implement the final solution - but have different impediments towards continued collaboration. Both are also caught up with women - Warburg with a Jewish member of the Italian Red Cross, the priest a nun who helps him get information - who add personal moral dilemmas to the more global ones.

The book is well written, but the story doesn't quite rise to the level of contemporary World War II thrillers written by authors like Alan Furst. I wonder if the book doesn't split its time too much between Warburg and the priest, rather than focusing on Warburg as a main character. So not a bad read, just not one I'd unreservedly recommend.

(Popsugar Reading Challenge: A book set somewhere you've always wanted to visit.)

So the organizing committee behind Boston's 2024 Olympic bid had its first public meeting a while back, and presented materials that were part of its presentation to the USOC. And while the documentation was described as a "proof of concept" rather than a finished plan, it does give a clearer idea of how the organizers are trying to make these a walkable Games.

Venues are planned within a "waterfront" cluster that centers on South Boston and Dorchester, and a "university" cluster which includes facilities at BU, MIT and Harvard. There is then a "midtown" location which would be the location for the main stadium. Lowell would host boxing and the Merrimack River would host various canoe/kayak events. Even so, there are a number of events that seem to fall outside of this arrangement. Here's how it looks sport by sport, and what I think might work better.

Archery - a temporary venue in Killian Court, which is the area in front of the main building at MIT. Great choice for atmosphere between the dome and city views over the Charles. It's only going to seat 1000, which seems small. The venue for London seated 6500. My personal choice here is Fenway Park, as it's a way to include an iconic sports venue at a minimal impact to the venue.

Athletics - centered on the main stadium, which is located on the Widett Circle parcel in South Boston. The committee says they want to acquire the land from the food wholesale co-op that is currently there by sale rather than eminent domain. We'll see how that goes. In any event, this is probably the best location that's available.

The marathon will use a route centered on Boston Common. This appears to be different from the route used in the past when Boston hosted Olympic trials. Which makes sense, as it will finish at the stadium.

Aquatics- This will be a temporary venue at something called Allston Landing, which is part of Harvard's stake in that neighborhood. Seems doable, and at 18500 people the size is right. Not sure how well this will go with Allston residents still sore over Harvard's expansion into Allston. Note that this venue includes swimming, diving and synchronized swimming.,

There's also a marathon swim course in the Charles River, with Magazine Beach being the focal point on land (this is closer to BU than Harvard, but on the Cambridge side of the river). This is not the most accessible location, something farther down the river (maybe by the Hatch Shell) would work better and provide more options for getting there.

Badminton - Agannis Arena at BU. The only event located at BU, which is a little surprising but their other athletic facilities may not be big enough (they all tend to seat under 5000, which looks like the minimum). The Green Line runs right by it, which you think is helpful but it's notoriously slow. I do think that Agannis would be better suited for basketball prelims or handball, with badminton going to the BCEC or Hynes.

Basketball - the final is at TD Garden, but with gymnastics taking up most of the time here the prelims would need to be held elsewhere (Agannis and the Conte Forum would be reasonable local options, while the DCU Center and Dunkin Donuts Center are a little farther out but bigger). All of these venues have reasonable transit options, with Worcester and Providence allowing for more car use.

Boxing - Tsongas Center in Lowell. Lowell has some solid local boxing history (thank Mickey Ward for this, I suppose), and it creates a decent cluster with the various rowing events.

Canoe - temporary venue in Lowell using the Merrimack River. I'm assuming the slalom course will be built in the same area, but it's not mentioned in the plan.

Cycling - the road course is centered on the Boston Common. Track cycling would be in a velodrome crammed into one end of Assembly Square in Somerville. After the Games it would be repurposed into some sort of multi-use facility (the area is redeveloping as a shopping and entertainment district, so probably along those lines). I hate this site, as I think it will be hard to get to. There is a new Orange Line station close by, but it's tight quarters for surface traffic and relying on Route 93 to get anywhere is magical thinking.

Oh, and the BMX track is going to be in Assembly Square, too! Ugh.

A better option would be using either Suffolk Downs or Wonderland. Both have Blue Line and bus access already, and both are in more desperate need of redevelopment than the Assembly Square area.

Equestrian - the horses will take over the William Devine golf course in Franklin Park. Suffolk Downs is available, and you'd think the horse infrastructure there could be used. I'd go there instead, but at least the Franklin Park site is close to the Orange Line.

Fencing - temporary venue on the Alfred Gordon track site at Harvard. There are a lot of temporary venues at Harvard, it would be better to spread some of them around, especially as the area where they're going is not as transit friendly as the plan suggests.

Football - final will be at Gillette, which is a pain in the ass to get to (poor road access and limited rail access), but it is the home to the New England Revolution. No talk about preliminary sites, but I expect they'll be scattered around the northeast (my guess would be using NFL stadiums with temporary turf as needed, though both the Yale Bowl and Rentschler Field are big enough to host as well).

Golf - The Country Club in Brookline. Still think TPC Norton is better choice logistically. Getting there for the Ryder Cup in 1999 was a pain. It'll all be shuttle buses and satellite parking.

Gymnastics - artistic at TD Garden, rhythmic at the Boston Convention and Expo Center (BCEC). Artistic includes trampoline, for which TD Garden seems like overkill. The BCEC gets quite a workout in this plan, which is concerning given how hard it is currently to get out of the Seaport district. There are plans to improve transport (including a rail line running from the BCEC into Back Bay station), though recent events may push money towards fixing existing service.

Handball - There's nothing about handball in the documentation. which is weird. I don't know how your plan can ignore an entire sport. I'm guessing handball will use some of the same venues as basketball, though maybe some of the smaller arenas (like Matthews Arena or the Bright Center) could be used as well.

Hockey - Harvard Stadium, putting more pressure on that part of Cambridge and Allston. London had two areas for hockey, perhaps Nickerson Field or Alumni Stadium could host this as well.

Judo - BCEC, whose use is pretty clearly modeled on how the ExCeL Center was used in London.

Modern Pentathlon - White Stadium in Franklin Park and the aquatics center for the swimming part.

Rowing - also in Lowell on the Merrimack.

Rugby - Gillette Stadium,which I assume can host the entire tournament given that it's modeled after Rugby Sevens, whose events only take a weekend.

Sailing - off of Castle Island in the Boston Harbor. I understand why that's desirable, but getting to and from there is going to be murder. The closest thing to public transit is "anticipated" Silver Line service. It's all surface transport, so this may wind up being a walkable venue by necessity.

Shooting - OK, this is a weird one. A temporary venue seating 7000 will be constructed on Long Island, with access by shuttle bus over the one bridge connecting the island to the mainland (which will be restricted to Olympic traffic) and ferry. I thought 7000 was way too high for shooting, but the London venue was 7500, so maybe it's fine. There's also spectator areas to watch sailing, which is good as this is probably still easier to get to than Castle Island.

Table Tennis - BCEC

Taekwondo - BCEC

Tennis - temporary venue at Harvard on their playing fields. Planned capacity is at 20000, which I assume is mostly center court. So with the planned swimming capacity, you could have almost 40000 people in a fairly small section of Allston if the events aren't timed right. Forget walkable, that would be crawlable at best.

Triathlon - swimming at Magazine Beach, with cycling and running legs in Cambridge (hopefully away from everything else going on at Harvard). I'd move this closer to downtown as with the marathon swim, and the cycling and running can use parts of the courses for the road race and marathon.

Volleyball - beach is on Boston Common, in an attempt to recreate the atmosphere of Horse Guards Parade. I don't think it'll work, and while I don't think it's the worst location it drew most of the criticism at the first open forum. There probably isn't a great downtown location for this.

Indoor volleyball is at the BCEC, I'm assuming in the part of the facility that's proposed for expansion (Olympics or not).

Water Polo - also at Harvard (Allston Landing) in a 5000 seat venue.While it makes sense to have this a the same location as the other aquatic events, but I do think Harvard is overloaded. Not sure where else this could go, though.

Weightlifting- at the Blue Hills Bank Pavilion (ne Bank of America Pavilion and Harborlights), good harbor views but it's open to the elements (the stage and most seating is covered). I'm pretty familiar with the venue (my employer holds a graduation ceremony there every summer), and it looks like they're going to build something out into the harbor for athletes to use for warm up, locker rooms, etc. At least I don't recall there being anything there now. Also, another transit issue as the Silver Line is your best non-car option.

Wrestling - BCEC

As a proof of concept I suppose the original plan works, but if there's any hope of actually landing the Games there's work to be done. The waterfront cluster has significant transit issues, while the university cluster is too focused on the least accessible part of Harvard's campus.

Book Log 2015 #5: The Anatomy Lesson by Nina Siegal

Set in one day in Amsterdam, this novel tells the story behind The Anatomy Lesson of Dr. Nicolaes Tulp, one of Rembrandt's best-known works. Each of the characters - Rembrandt, Tulp, the man who became the cadaver, his woman friend (and mother of his unborn child), the man in charge of the corpse, and Rene Descartes - are referred to by an anatomical term (Rembrandt is the hands, for example), and each section is told from that person's point of view. There is also a series of present day observational notes by an art restorer, who uses the examination of the painting and some recently-discovered historical documents to make a significant discovery about it.

While I liked the book overall, I did feel like there was probably one character too many (I'm going with either Descartes or the steward who procured the body). I also found the modern day notes didn't really work with the rest of the book. It should have had a more prominent place in the novel or none at all. Still, if you're interested in art or 17th century Europe, this is well worth reading.

(Popsugar Reading Challenge: A book by a female author)

Book Log 2015 #4: Brick by Brick by David Robertson

Confession time: I picked this book up thinking it was a history of Lego rather than an examination of how the company almost innovated itself out of business and then innovated its way back to the top. I didn't finish the book, and skimmed the more business-heavy sections, but got the general idea that innovation for innovation's sake is bad, while innovating while staying true to your core values and honoring your relationships with customers and retailers is good.

There were significant parts of the book about the company's history and product lines, and these I enjoyed quite a bit. So in the end I did enjoy the book, but it's probably more enjoyable if you're actually interested in the business end of things.

(Popsugar Reading Challenge: A non-fiction book)

Book Log 2015 #3: La Place de la Concorde Suisse by John McPhee

Switzerland has followed a policy of neutrality for centuries, but that doesn't mean that they're pacifists. The Swiss have carefully prepared to fight, developing a citizen army and creating an infrastructure where bridges are pre-wired for detonation and mountains contain bunkers for artillery, hangars for jets, and barracks for soldiers and citizens alike. The general staff (who represent the bulk of the Swiss military professionals) are confident that they can use their training, planning, and terrain to successfully defend themselves.

On the other side is a recon battalion whose citizen soldiers are much less optimistic about their chances. They fulfill their service requirement, but when asked about an actual war have little doubt that the enemy (at the time of this writing, likely the Soviets) would be successful. It's this juxtaposition that is so well examined, the way in which the Swiss plan so meticulously but rely on semi-interested conscripts to carry out their plans.

This book was published in 1984, when the assumption was that an invasion would come from the east (be it the Soviets or other Warsaw Pact forces). It'd be interesting to see how (or if) the end of the Cold War has changed Swiss planning. Still, an informative book about an unexpected topic, which is kind of McPhee's thing.

(Popsugar Reading Challenge: A book set in a different country)

Book Log 2015 #2: You Might Remember Me by Mike Thomas

I don't have strong memories of many celebrity deaths, but I can still remember clearly when I heard about the killing of Phil Hartman. I was at work, and got an email from a friend about it. I spent the rest of the afternoon surfing the Web, reading stories and trying to make sense of what happened to one of my favorite actors. I didn't know much about Hartman other than his performances, which I universally enjoyed, and the news didn't fill too many gaps other than those specific to his death.

Filling many of these gaps is this biography, which paints a picture of Phil as someone, from a relatively early age, used humor and a laid back attitude to get attention and forge relationships (in some way, I think, to compensate for parents who were distracted by a large family and financial insecurity). As an adult, he used these talents to work his way into improv, where his work with the Groundlings set the stage for his work on SNL and The Simpsons.

And while Phil didn't have what you could call a dark side, there is the suggestion that he had a kind of a veneer, that what you saw from Phil was a persona cultivated for public use. Whether he used that to keep a distance from others, or to mask insecurities lingering from his past, it seems like there were few, if any, people who could claim to know Phil. There was also the part of this persona that manifested itself in having nice things and keeping the company of beautiful women. You can see where this would lead to his ultimately fatal choice for a third wife.

There are places where I'd have liked more - the section about his time on NewsRadio seemed especially short - but I do feel like I have much more complete understanding of Phil's life and death, and what made him such a unique performer.

(Popsugar Reading Challenge: A book by an author you've never read before)

Book Log 2015 #1: Back Channel by Steven L. Carter

A Cornell student is recruited by a professor (who has a mysterious link to her dead father) to escort Bobby Fisher to Bulgaria, ostensibly to cover the tournament he is playing in but really to make contact with a Russian who has information about missiles his country is putting in Cuba. So begins her descent into the world of Cold War espionage in this thriller.

This is the most audacious of Carter's novels that set African-American women at turning points in American history. In this case, the student becomes the US end of a back channel communication line that officially does not exist. putting her very life in danger. She is surrounded by the sort of calculating political and intelligence officers that can make that determination in good conscience and cold blood, which makes her even less sure of who, if anyone she can trust. And on top of all of this, she risks her personal reputation when her meetings with the President to deliver information are disguised as being of a more intimate nature.

For its portrayal of the lengths to which both sides would go and its continued examination of upper class African-Americans in the 20th century, this is a very highly recommended book. It's also recommended as Carter helps to connect some of the characters in this book to his earlier works, from minor characters making a repeat appearance to the supporting character of Jericho Ainsley, who as a disgraced - and retired - CIA director is the focus of the action in Jericho's Fall.

(Popsugar Reading Challenge: a mystery or a thriller)

Book Log 2015: The Popsugar Reading Challenge

So I saw this challenge on a friend's Facebook timeline, and thought it would make a good overlay to my reading this year. The challenge is to read books to meet these categories:

 

I'll have to go back and see if it's cheating to have a book complete more than one category.

Book Log 2014 #40: The Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins


So while this is easily the best book of the trilogy - what with the revolution in Panem and its aftermath, it would be hard for it not to be - I still found myself somewhat disappointed with the book. I think what I've found is that the books have all been so focused on Katniss that there's not room for anything else, character or plot line, to develop fully. Everything else feels like a stage set upon which Katniss acts, limiting what could be a much more fulfilling universe. Consider we still know almost nothing about the districts, and what we do see of the capital depicts it a nothing more than another arena for a revolt that doubles as the ultimate Hunger Games.

You also see this in some areas of plot that could be explored more. Katniss is clearly concerned with the propaganda arm of the war, and while that does pop up throughout the book, there's room to explore it more fully. We also hear that there was mutual concern over war because the loss of life could lead to permanent negative population growth. How did that happen? Couldn't Panem institute controlled immigration? Are there still countries from which people could emigrate? Spending a little less time on Katniss would allow for a broader, more interesting universe.

In the end, though, this isn't a bad book, and not even a bad trilogy. It just may not be as adult-friendly as, say, Harry Potter (which is a very high bar where crossover YA fiction is concerned).

Book Log 2014 #39: The Day of Atonement by David Liss

London thief-taker Benjamin Weaver is back, but briefly. Set 20 years after his last appearance, Weaver is the guardian of a young Portuguese boy snuck out of Lisbon after his parents were arrested by the Inquisition. The boy, now going by the Anglicized name Sebastian Foxx, follows in Weaver's footsteps, becoming a thief-taker in his own right.

And once he develops the skills -and the bankroll - that will allow him to return home to avenge the death of his parents and discover the fate of the love of his life, he does so. Young and fueled by a mix of anger and lack of concern for his own well-being, Foxx's plan is to kill the priest who had his parents arrested. But then the plan continues to grow new goals, as Foxx finds new people he needs to help and a few more than he needs to kill. His plan also grows more convoluted as it utilizes English traders working within an organization called The Factory, as well as the priest Foxx intends to kill (Foxx is posing as an English Catholic).

Of course, nothing goes to plan, in large part because Foxx, as sure as he is in his physical abilities and the righteousness of his cause, proves to be a lousy judge of character. The combination of hate and youthful inexperience combine to lead Foxx down the wrong path more than once, adding more immediate needs for atonement to those that were part of the original plan. Things culminate on All Souls Day in 1755, perhaps the most notable date in Lisbon's history.

It's another stupendous outing, with excellent use of the time period and setting, and the development of a character who is worthy of replacing Weaver if we are not to see him as the lead anymore. My only problem is that I read this too soon after release, meaning too long of a wait for the next book with Weaver, or Foxx, or both. Highly recommended unless you've not read the earlier books, in which case you should read those as well.

Book Log 2014 #38: Two Fronts by Harry Turtledove

World War II drags on, with Germany back to fighting a two front war. The Russian front is clearly the more active of the two, while fighting on the Western front has started again, but with a notable lack of intensity (though the British are now able to bomb Germany in daylight, and the Axis seems to be putting on a push in North Africa).

Japan continues to dominate the Pacific, with the US still working towards a credible response to Japanese aggression. The US homefront continues to feel little direct impact from war, at least on a macro scale.

More things happen in the various plot lines of this entry than the previous one, though it still feels like not enough progress has been made with just one book left. Still, there are some suggestions - German political instability and a reference to Oak Ridge - that suggest how the end may come.

Book Log 2014 #37: A Burnable Book by Bruce Holsinger

Richard II has a tenuous hold on the throne of England, and with all of the usual threats to his rule comes a new one - a book of prophecy purported to have foretold the deaths of the kings of England up to Richard, and one final prophecy for Richard himself.

When the book falls into the hands of a prostitute, the high and low worlds of London become entangled, Those that hold the book may have the key to fortune if they can sell it to the right bidder, but also risk being executed for treason if caught with the book. Into this falls poet and intelligencer John Gower, who is charged with finding the book by Geoffrey Chaucer, a bureaucrat in the king's service.

There's a lot to like about this book, it's a good historical and literary thriller. The jacket intimated that Chaucer would be more involved in the book than he was; Chaucer's appearances are important but the main character really is Gower. Not a huge issue.

Book Log 2014 #36: The Discovery of Middle Earth by Graham Robb

This book should have been right up my alley - using geography and various sources to demonstrate the complexity of Celtic society - but it never quite clicked for me. Spent a good 75 pages trying to get into it but never did. Not sure if I needed to go back and start over or if the book started off too quickly for my level of expertise in pre-Roman France. Either way, if you do pick this up take your time.

Book Log 2014 #35: Everything I Ever Needed to Know About _____* I Learned from Monty Python by Brian Cogan and Jeff Massey

This book seeks to explain the wide variety of serious subjects that Monty Python referenced in its TV show and movies. And there are many, many subjects to cover, not surprising given the Oxbridge background of the Pythons.

The problem is that exhaustive can often be exhausting, and I found that happened pretty quickly. The first major subject tackled is philosophy, and about halfway through covering all of the subtopics I found that I was spending more time thinking about the skits and scenes than the book. So this may be better read as a reference while actually watching Python than read cover to cover.

Book Log 2014 #34: Gutenberg's Apprentice by Alix Christie

A young scribe named Peter is recalled from Paris to his native Mainz in order to meet a man with a new way of getting words onto the page - Johann Gutenberg, whose press may revolutionize book making. Peter is then apprenticed to Gutenberg, with mixed emotions about the prospect as it will derail his promising career as a scribe and means leaving Paris for his provincial home.

Peter soon learns he has some talent for printing, and becomes a vital part of the team that will take on Gutenberg's lofty idea - a printed Bible. Producing the book will put Gutenberg's printers in jeopardy, as the city - and the churchmen who control it - have concerns about the new process. So the rush is on to produce and sell the copies before someone puts a stop to them.

All that said, the conflict in the book never quite feels like conflict. It's always looming, but even when a turning point comes, the resulting action is a little flat. That's probably more realistic - amping up the conflict is always better for sales - but it's a little unexpected.

I do recommend the book, as it's well-written and tells the story of Gutenberg's Bible from a unique perspective.

Book Log 2014 #33: American Catch by Paul Greenberg

In this follow-up to the award-winning Four Fish, Greenberg looks at three native species of seafood - New York oysters, Gulf shrimp, and wild Alaskan salmon - to answer the question of why most of the US-caught seafood is exported while most of the US-eaten seafood is imported (and how that arrangement impacts the US economy and environment).

There are a number of reasons why this has happened, from a US dietary shift away from seafood to the profits to be made selling fresh seafood in the Asian market. There's a good argument made for trying to shift the US back to focusing on domestic production and consumption of seafood, though the challenges to doing so are significant.

I liked the book, and need to seek out Four Fish in the future.

Book Log 2014 #32: The Black Country by Alex Grecian

Inspector Walter Day takes his murder-solving skills on the road, as a potential killing in a small coal-mining town in the Midlands leads the locals to call Scotland Yard for help. It's clear from the start that Day and his team - Sergeant Hammersmith, Doctor Kingsley, Kingsley's daughter, and even Day's wife - aren't wanted in the town, with residents actively working against them to protect the town's secrets, even in the face of a likely murder.

I have mixed feelings about setting the second book of the series outside of London. On the one hand, the Midlands setting allows for some very different story telling and plays on the pasts of both Day (originally from Devon, so a return to an area that's not London) and Hammersmith (whose life in the mines as a child was well documented in the first book). On the other hand, I wonder if it's too early to set a book outside of London. The first book set the tone for the newly-formed Murder Squad and the tensions between the squad and the regular police as well as within the squad. The second book could have helped develop that further, adding complexity to the relationships. By moving outside of the city, we don't get that development, which may lead to the third book having to cover old ground to get the reader back up to speed.

But that's a larger concern for the series. As far as this book goes, we do get development in the relationship between Day and his colleagues, and even between Day and his wife (though her appearance in this book is brief and a little confusing). The Midlands setting is very different from London, though the use of a small, backwards town with its own ways and superstitions could be seen as a little cliche. But I enjoyed it overall, and plan to keep up with the series.

Book Log 2014 #31: Coup d'Etat by Harry Turtledove

The War that Came Early continues, and looks like it will continue for some time when a coup changes the leadership in Britain, ending the armistice between Britain and France and Germany. Otherwise, things more or less stay the same in this book. There are some larger changes towards the end (including a cliffhanger for one of them), but otherwise this entry in the series suffers from the same issue as some of the earlier books. Not enough happens - soldiers fight another battle, pilots fly another mission, civilians suffer another indignity - and the war continues. Which may be the point - war being uncaring, cruel, and seemingly without end - but maybe not the most interesting way to demonstrate it.

Book Log 2014 #30: The Seven Wonders by Steven Saylor

Often mentioned, this book recounts the trip that Gordianus the Finder took as a young man to visit the Seven Wonders, a trip taken with his tutor under somewhat unusual circumstances. As you might imagine, at each stop Gordianus manages to get caught up in a local mystery, and uses his developing skills to solve it.

The mysteries aren't that complex - not surprising, as there's a limited number of pages for each - but they're enjoyable nevertheless. They give a fuller picture of how Gordianus came to be the Finder, and the greater forces that led him away from Rome and to Alexandria.

Book Log 2014 #29: Capital Punishment by Robert Wilson

Charles Boxer is a kidnapping consultant, hired by families to help negotiate for the release of their taken loved one. His skills, honed in the Royal Marines, Metropolitan Police, and with a private security firm, make him the perfect choice for those who want to work outside of official channels. He's also the perfect choice for those who want the additional -and illegal - services that Boxer can offer now that he's a freelancer.

When the daughter of an Indian billionaire goes missing, Boxer is hired to help get her back. But there's more to the case than meets the eye, a melding of professional skill and personal intent that leads Boxer into the billionaire's past and his connections with the Pakistani military. Compounding the professional difficulty are personal ones, between a love triangle involving his ex-wife and another woman and a very difficult relationship with their daughter.

I don't think I've read a book by Robert Wilson that I didn't like, and that continues here.

Book Log 2014 #28: The Foreign Correspondent by Alan Furst

A dangerous game is forming in pre-war Paris, pitting a group of Italians who publish a resistance newspaper against Fascist secret agents who have turned up the violence in the hopes of keeping the paper out of Italy.

In the middle of this struggle is the foreign correspondent of the title, an Italian working in Paris for Reuters. He has to balance his actual job with his increasingly important role with the paper, a role that also draws him into the orbit of the French and British secret services. On top of all of this is his reunion with a former lover, who is now married and involved with a resistance cell in Germany. Can our hero keep the resistance newspaper running and save the woman he loves?

Furst again tells a compelling story of people who, out of the spotlight, put their personal and professional lives on the line to fight fascism. He's got a formula, and it works really well.

As I mentioned in my last post, the USOC's selection criteria for determining which bid to put forward don't specifically mention two things: venues and cost. So how do the four bids stack up in those areas?

Boston, as I also mentioned, has put forward a "walkable" Games, with most venues within 3.5 miles of the city center. The only event I've seen mentioned as being held outside of Boston is rowing, which is reportedly going up to Lowell to be held on the Merrimack River (the Charles being too twisty and bridge-covered). Still not sure this is the best way to go, but I do think there's a certain logic to a dense Olympics that could allow spectators to walk between venues rather than rely on public transport for all trips.

There's a real focus on using existing venues, and on making any new venues temporary (or in some cases, convertible to office/retail/residential space). The big question is where an Olympic stadium will go. I tended to think the site of Suffolk Downs would make sense - it's on Route 1A and the Blue Line - but there's more talk now about the site of the New Boston Food Market. It's located right next to the Southeast Expressway and rail lines from South Station, which seems ideal (though the Expressway traffic is always problematic), but to get the parcel the city would likely need to take it by eminent domain. Warm up your lawyers.

As far as costs go, $7.5 billion gets bandied about quite a bit, but depending on how you count things it could go as high as $20 billion. A fairer number is probably somewhere in the middle - for now - as the high estimate includes projects in a $13 billion transportation bill that will happen regardless of how the Olympics go.

Washington has a more spread out plan if these map views are anything to go by, though it's more compact than earlier plans that saw venues spread out from Baltimore to Richmond. It looks like there will be more new building in this plan than in Boston's, unsure if the Olympic Stadium plan would renovate or raze RFK Stadium. The Olympic Village is also slated to go in an area whose most notable facility is apparently a homeless shelter. Not sure how well that will go over.

I didn't find a lot of cost projections, but it looks like they're aiming at a similar operating budget to Boston and what was spent in London. It's the additional costs that can cause the budget to bloat, which is especially concerning for Washington given that much of their governance is done by Congress rather than local officials. Good luck squeezing an extra billion out of a House committee chaired by some guy from Idaho.

Los Angeles will put the LA Coliseum back to use as their Olympic Stadium, which makes sense. Venues will be placed into four clusters, two in what I consider LA proper, one in Carson, and one in Long Beach. A walkable Games this is not, though organizers have a stated goal of having 80 percent of spectators get to venues by public transportation. It's not clear to me how many new venues are needed, but many of the ones listed in a venue map (that may have come out prematurely) seem to already exist.

Same story on costs as with the other bids, and I'm finding no estimates of costs beyond the operating budget. Given the emphasis on extending a couple of transit lines, I'm thinking the costs here may be significant.

San Francisco also seems to be taking more of a regional approach, looking at using existing facilities in San Jose, Santa Clara and Berkeley. There's also a potential $2 billion stadium deal for Oakland that could be included, but there are apparently significant challenges to that project as well. There's also talk of a temporary Olympic stadium like Boston's, and using existing venues or building temporary ones in the city (beach volleyball in front of city hall, for example).

Costs - should I even bother? Just like everyone else, as far as we know.

 It's probably a fool's errand to try to compare these bids at this stage, when so much is unknown. But from what is out there, I do think the Boston bid is the most walkable, and perhaps the one that does the best job of using existing venues (or of not talking about what will need to be built, temporary or not). It also appears to be the bid that's the most up-front about costs outside of the operating budget, for better or worse (living in the Boston area may also may be making more aware of Boston's details). I'm most concerned over Washington's bid, between the specter of Congressional involvement and the likely backlash of clearing out the homeless to build an athlete's village.

The Boston bid for the 2024 Summer Olympics was officially submitted to the US Olympics Committee yesterday. And while details are sparse as to contents of the bid, the Boston committee's website does list six selection criteria that the USOC will use to compare the Boston bid to those of San Francisco, Los Angeles and Washington DC. Those criteria?

45,000 hotel rooms - organizers claim Boston clears this minimum, but the city's tourism bureau claims 30,000-plus. The chairman of the organizing committee claims the 45,000 are in Boston proper, and that 5,000 more rooms will be added to Boston's total from hotels under construction now.

An Olympic village that sleeps 16,500 and has a 5,000 person dining hall - talk is that this will be located on the UMass Boston-Bayside Expo Center parcel, which makes me wonder how athletes and the like will get from there to venues given the usual horrific traffic on the Southeast Expressway (more on how that might work later).

Also worth noting that the UMass-Boston master plan from 2009 (warning: large PDF!) only mentions 2,000 bed spaces. At 16,500 beds, the village could house the entire undergraduate population of the school with room to spare.

Operations space for over 15,000 media and broadcasters - I have no idea where this would go, and what talk there's been about the bid doesn't mention this. I'm guessing some mix of existing and new office space will cover this.

An international airport that can handle thousands of international travelers per day - Logan's international flights mostly come from Canada, the Caribbean, and Europe. This past October Logan saw just over 420,000 international passengers. So while the volume may not be a problem, the lack of direct flights from most of the world is a concern (though one that other hosts have likely encountered).

The biggest problem may be getting people from Logan to sites around the city, which leads us to the next criterion...

Public transportation services to venues, roadway closures to allow exclusive use for Games-related transportation - this is the topic of the most importance to Bostonians, as transportation infrastructure is already strained and may not be able to handle the additional load the Olympics would bring. The bid proposes to make the Games walkable, with most venues in or near the city center.

The road closures are perhaps more problematic, as traffic in Boston on a good day is challenging. Taking away a lane from the major thoroughfares (as happened in London with its Olympic lanes) is feasible but could completely screw up what little order there is in driving in the city currently.

A workforce of up to 200,000 - a potential drawback given our reasonably rosy employment numbers, but a number that could be reached by employing a large number of retirees and students. Students may well form the backbone of this workforce, as the timing and temporary nature of the Games does lend itself to be an ultimate summer job. Whether or not these are paid or volunteer positions is kind of an open question, though I did run across some talk of using international students as free interpreters.

There's no talk among these criteria about venues or cost, but from what's come out the Boston bid will lean on existing college facilities quite a bit, which helps with the walkable theme and keeps costs down. This is also where the use of college students as volunteers or low-cost workers is implied.

Where cost is concerned, the estimated costs seems to be in the $7.5 billion range. The money seems to be 60 percent revenues (tickets, broadcasts and international sponsorships) and 40 percent other sponsorships (local biotech firms are mentioned in this context quite a bit, not sure why they'd pony up over $3 billion for this). The organizers swear up and down that no public funds will be used outside of infrastructure improvements. Considering the federal government just pledged $1 billion for a Green Line extension that will cover less than half of the total cost, you can see where this might go.

Without more specifics it's hard to tell if this bid is really feasible, or how it measures up against the other bids. But at this point, the Boston bid seems to at least meet the minimum requirements.

Book Log 2014 #27: An Officer and Spy by Robert Harris

Harris deploys his usual mastery of historical fiction in the service of the Dreyfus Affair, the railroading of a Jewish army officer on charges of being a spy. His eventual exoneration is often told in relationship to J'accuse, an open letter written by Emile Zola detailing the lack of evidence and the institutional anti-Semitism that made Dreyfus an easy mark.

This novel take a different approach, centering on Georges Picquart, the new head of the army's counter-intelligence service. As he begins to settle into his job and reform the office, he comes to the conclusion that Dreyfus was innocent - and that the actual spy is still at large. The army would rather not revisit the case against Dreyfus, and Picquart winds up giving up his career - and puts his life in danger - to help clear Dreyfus and bring the malfeasance of the army's general staff to light.

This story is a retelling of actual events using actual people, giving an example that the best drama often comes from real life (especially when Harris puts his talents to work converting history to prose). You can even look at the story through some modern lenses, such as the reported rise in anti-Semitism in Europe or the inside jobs of WikiLeaks and Edward Snowden, though the book easily stands on its own. Highly recommended.

Book Log 2014 #26: Identical by Scott Turow

The latest visit to Kindle County centers on Paul Giannis, a state senator running for mayor whose campaign is ending just as his twin brother is being released from prison after serving a sentence for killing his girlfriend. The girlfriend's brother, who oversees a family fortune, is convinced that Paul was responsible for the killing, and sets his director of security - and a retired cop who worked the original case - to reinvestigate.


As their investigation rolls on, and as Paul continues to weather the very public charges made against him over the killing, there's clearly something not right with the events that led to the killing. A mix of flashback and present-day story lines help flesh out a complicated relationship between Paul's family and the girlfriend's family that also hints at the similarly complicated relationship between Paul and his brother. Less complicated are the relationships of the pair investigating the case - a woman whose girlfriend is, kindly put, unstable, and a man who seems to be marking time until he is reunited with his deceased wife.

Turow is always good, and his modern Greek drama is excellent as expected. That I read it during this past summer's Market Basket conflict (itself a real-life Greek drama) was an added bonus.

Book Log 2014 #25: Slow Getting Up by Nate Jackson

Nate Jackson embodied the Cinderella story as applied to football, working his way from a division III school to becoming (briefly) a starter for the Denver Broncos.  This memoir shows the reality behind the story, from the uncertain life of an undrafted free agent to playing in NFL Europe to injuries. Many, many injuries.

For all the talk in reviews about the book's discussion of sex and drugs (which are discussed, though not often in the sort of detail you'd expect from the headlines), it's really the injuries that frame things, as one-time injuries become chronic injuries that wind up being career-ending injuries. And yet through all of the rehab, Jackson's story underscores the idea that football players just want to play football, and will put up with the injuries in order to get back on the field. It's also notable that Jackson didn't have access to his team medical records (which he quotes from several times) until he filed a worker's compensation case against the team, and was able to get a copy via subpoena.

At a time when professional athletes rarely give more than blandishments shaped by some PR flak, Jackson's recounting of his career is refreshingly honest within certain boundaries (he rarely, if ever, speaks ill of teammates, and doesn't trade in locker room gossip that would have sold more books). The book doesn't quite reach the tell-all level of Ball Four or reflect on being a professional athlete with the clarity and depth of Ken Dryden's The Game, but it's pretty damn good, and well worth reading.

Book Log #24: Raiders of the Nile by Steven Saylor

I'm always excited to find a new Gordianus the Finder novel, but was surprised to find that this is the second in a series of prequels set during the time in his youth where he traveled and then lived in Alexandria. In this book, Gordianus is enjoying his life in Egypt with Bethesda, as he waits out the conflict that makes returning to Rome impossible. That enjoyment is cut short when Bethesda is kidnapped, and Gordianus has to use his skills to find out who took her and how he can get her back. This puts Gordianus among the titular raiders, and sees him embroiled into a wider plot involving the throne of Egypt and the sarcophagus of Alexander the Great.

Seeing the younger Gordianus in action is interesting, as he already has many of the skills needed for his profession but not the experience that would later help him navigate the twisting political currents of Rome. Otherwise, the story has the same feel and tone as the other Gordianus books, allowing it to fit into the series even with it being set well before the first Gordianus novel. Looking forward to seeing how Gordianus gets back to Rome and establishes himself.

Book Log 2014 #23: The Adjacent by Christopher Priest

A photographer returns to the UK from abroad after the death of his wife at the hands of terrorists. Her death came from the use of something called a quantum adjacency weapon, which obliterates everything within its triangular field. It's even being used within the UK, where the Islamic government can't stop it (or the extreme weather that's tearing up the country).

Meanwhile, during World War I and II we see the first ideas leading to the development of the weapon (a magician has an idea about adjacency as a way to camouflage planes). Many of the characters have similar names to those of the characters in the future story line, and you start to get the idea that the weapon doesn't so much destroy as relocate.

Not that this is ever made clear, as the book is happy to let you sort out how all of these story lines - and one set in a country that may be on Earth, but just not the Earth we're on - fit together. In fact, not much about any of the story lines is explained, underscoring that the important thing is really the characters and how they seem to find each other across the timelines. I enjoyed the inventive structure of the book, and as this is the first book by Price that I've read I'll have to start working his stuff into the rotation.

Book Log 2014 #22: & Sons by David Gilbert

I'm of two minds about this book, as while I appreciated the writing and the depiction of the the struggles sons often have establishing themselves outside of the ambit of their fathers, I never quite warmed to it. Not sure if I couldn't quite identify with the characters and their conflicts (my own relationship with my dad was much less problematic) or their place in the Manhattan of prep schools and upper classes, but I could never fully engage.

The book is narrated by the son of a life-long friend of A. N. Dyer, a Salingeresque author whose monogram is too cute by half given the title of the book. Like Salinger, Dyer wrote an influential novel while young (the title: Ampersand), whose success has colored his career and his personal life. We first see Dyer as he's preparing to give a eulogy for the narrator's father, who has recently died. Dyer is preoccupied with the whereabouts of his teenaged son, ostensibly the product of a dalliance with a Swedish nanny. Dyer sees in his youngest son a chance to succeed where he failed with his two older sons (who are contemporaries, if not exactly friends, of the narrator). That preoccupation leads Dyer to crash and burn with the eulogy, which then leads to the narrator moving in with Dyer (fortuitous as the narrator is without job and spouse given his own sexual indiscretions).

From there we get a story of Dyer trying to reconcile all of his sons, while the narrator's return into their lives leads him to learn more about his own father and the nature of his friendship with Dyer. There's probably more to say about that, but where I couldn't connect I found myself reading the book to appreciate the writing, and kind of let the story just kind of happen. So I'd say it's worth reading to at least see a well-crafted novel, and quite possibly to get more out of it than I did.

Book Log 2014 #21: The Lincoln Myth by Steve Berry

A secret passed from US President to US President is used by Lincoln to strike a bargain with the Mormons, in which Lincoln promises to leave them in return for the Mormons not antagonizing the Union while they're trying to fight the Civil War.

Jump to the present day, where a splinter group of Mormons is trying to discover that secret in order to use it to gain independence. In doing so they capture a Magellan Billet agent in Denmark, and Cotton Malone is called out of retirement yet again to find and recover the agent, and perhaps help defuse the situation with the Mormons while he's at it.

Malone is saddled with a partner, a young Magellan agent who hits most of the stereotypical points for such a character: brooding, disdainful of working with an older partner, and skilled but without the wisdom to use those skills in the most efficacious way (there are personal reasons for some of this, which wind up getting solved in a convenient and slightly mawkish manner). I will say that it's a better attempt than the two people from the Napoleon book. Cassiopeia Vitt is also involved, as she has a relationship (also convenient) with one of the more colorful Mormon characters.

All in all this is a better book about a Constiutional/Founding Fathers question that one might expect, though Berry's afterword is unusually strident about his position on the matter (I am curious to see if he does the same with the forthcoming The Patriot Threat, which is based on the semi-popular theory that the feds can't collect income tax due to irregularities with the ratification of the 16th Amendment). But I do miss Cotton shooting up World Heritage Sites.

Another election, another round of Blogalicious endorsements!

Ballot Questions

Question 1: This question seeks to repeal the gas tax law passed last year where the tax will automatically increase with inflation. Backers of the question tend to frame this as taxation without representation, which I'm kind of meh on (seems to me to be more about transparency, but we may just be dealing with semantics). Opponents say not indexing the tax will cause shortfalls when it comes to funding infrastructure projects (but do not say the real benefit to indexing is that they don't have to vote for tax increases which can be used against them in future elections).

We think anything that changes the amount of tax people pay should be approved openly, be it in the legislature or by ballot initiative. So we're actually endorsing a Yes on Question 1.

Question 2: We were in junior high when voters approved the bottle bill, putting a 5 cent deposit on bottles and cans for soda and beer. This question seeks to expand the deposit on to other beverages, most notably water and most non-carbonated non-alcoholic beverages. The beverage industry and their cronies have spent the most money on ads asking us to vote against the question.

And the ads have been as effective as they've been inaccurate. Backlash has led to some differently worded ads, including what might be the first #whitepeopleproblems ad, where a suburbanite bemoans having to sort bottles and find recycling machines (hint: they're at the entrance to your supermarket).

There is one thing that our 30 years of experience with the bottle has shown, and it's that containers with a deposit are recycled at a much higher rate than those that don't have a deposit. So go take a second and find your recycling machines, as we're endorsing Yes on Question 2.

Question 3: We're just on the cusp of actually having casinos in Massachusetts, so the timing is perfect for a question that would stop casino gaming in the state. This is one of those crazy questions where "yes" means "no" and vice versa.

Proponents of the question say the legislature's decision to allow gaming doesn't reflect the will of the people,  gaming is bad, the license-granting process is flawed/corrupt, casinos won't help the economy, etc. Opponents mostly tout job benefits and the idea that the money spent by Bay Staters in Connecticut and Rhode Island casinos should stay home.

We don't particularly care about casinos, but generally feel like there's been enough discussion to continue with approving and building them. So we endorse No on Question 3.

Question 4: there's actually been very little talk about what, to us, seems like an important question. If passed, Question 4 would require most employers to give sick time to employees (based on hours worked). Most opposition comes from food service, where employers can pay sub-minimum wage but would have to pay sick time at minimum wage. Connecticut has a similar (but more lenient) law, and costs have not risen greatly for most employers. And while we don't necessarily want to pay more for meals, we do like the idea that our server didn't have to choose between working sick and not getting paid. Vote Yes on Question 4.

Offices

Governor: We have five candidates for governor, though the focus is on Charlie Baker, the Republican taking his second shot at the office, and Martha Coakley, who won the Democratic primary due to what can only be assumed was widespread amnesia regarding her Senate campaign.

Baker is a slightly more affable candidate this time around, but his message is still one of tax cuts, pro-business policies and reforming welfare. That's still more of a plan than what Coakley's presented, as her ads have been very vague outside of a call to provide more mental health services (which is a personal issue for her based on her brother's suicide).

Any way you look at it the major parties are offering us leftovers, and it looks like those of us at the buffet are tending towards Baker (even the Globe endorsed him).

But we cast our eyes towards the three independent candidates, and find one that's more appealing than Baker or Coakley. Evan Falchuk is running as a member of the United Independent Party, which he is hoping to get past the threshold where the party gets better ballot access, etc. And it's not a bad time to try this, as neither of the major party candidates are inspiring and the majority of Massachusetts voters continue to be unenrolled in a party. We also like the deeper thinking Falchuk has presented on improving quality of life in Massachusetts by addressing how the high costs of housing and health care make living here difficult for many. So we're endorsing Evan Falchuk for Governor, to at least give us more choice among candidates.

Treasurer: The main candidates have basically run one ad each. Democrat Deb Goldberg ties her being an adoptive mother to understanding how important it is to give people opportunities to succeed. Republican Mike Heffernan's mentions his private business experience and showcases his wacky family. Given those choices, we endorse Green-Rainbow Party's Ian Jackson for Treasurer.

Attorney General: Maura Healey for Attorney General based on her experience in the AG's office.

Secretary of State: While we've given him the occasional mocking for being a lifer, we'll endorse William Galvin for Secretary of State.

Auditor: As last time, we're going to endorse the candidate with actual auditing experience gained outside of being state auditor. So the GOP's Patricia St. Aubin for Auditor

US Representative: We don't have anything against Richard Tisei, but don't like the idea of giving this particular set of House Republicans another member to obstruct with. Or, perhaps worse, a member who'll be marginalized as a RINO. We also have to admit to having a liking for someone whose big reveal about his military past is that he doesn't talk about the medals he was awarded. So it's Seth Moulton for MA-6.

All the other races: we really don't care who you vote for in any of the other races, so we'll endorse voting for all the third party candidates who may be listed, or the non-incumbent if it's a two party race.

For any unopposed race (like 2nd Essex State Senate), we endorse writing in Mark Coen.
 Though that might prove tricky if he doesn't live in your district.

Book Log 2014 #20: Dark Invasion by Howard Blum

It's 1915, and Germany is looking to keep the officially neutral United States from trading with the UK and France, but can't do so openly for fear of pushing American into the war. Thus begins what might be the first modern use of state-sponsored terrorism, as the Germans use their own agents, and Germans located in the US (either as immigrants or sailors stuck in US ports) to strike at US shipping, horses, and other potential materiel of war.

To fight this, the US only has a unit of the New York PD, built off its bomb squad, to track down and stop the saboteurs, combining police tactics with a brand of counterespionage that they learn on the fly. It was surprising how much success Germany had given the ragtag (and often unstable) cast of characters they had carrying out attacks, though it does demonstrate that proper planning and attention to tradecraft can overcome other obstacles. And given the security state we live in now, it was interesting to see the way a group of determined but decided amateurs developed tactics to combat the growing threat.

This isn't a corner of World War I we've often seen, and this is a suspenseful and well-paced accounting. I only wish that the book didn't come to a sudden stop once the US entered the war. The book could really use an epilogue, if just to give some closure to the spy ring and the eventual fates of the individuals involved.

Book Log 2014 #19: The Stolen Ones by Richard Montanari

A string of killings linked to an infamous - and now closed - asylum is the latest in this series featuring Philadelphia detectives Kevin Byrne and  Jessica Bolzano. Once again, I've stumbled into a series in the middle and didn't realize it until I'd started reading, and while there were clearly references to earlier books you can read this as a stand-alone.

And it's worth the read, as the partnership between Byrne and Bolzano is mature and well-defined and the story is complex without being needlessly convoluted. I do plan on going back to start at the beginning, but if you did want to jump in with this book it's worth the read.

Book Log 2014 #18: A Darkening Stain by Robert Wilson

The last of the books in the Bruce Medway series is also the darkest (hence the title), as our anti-hero gets involved (and helps engineer) a complicated plot involving smuggled gold, human trafficking, police corruption, organized crime, and murder. Medway's involvement, fueled by the inclusion of loved ones, takes him to places he'd previously avoided (figuratively and literally), and by then end forces him to make decisions on his life, his work, his relationship with his longtime girlfriend, and his whole reason for being in Africa in the first place.

It's a fitting end piece for the series, probably the best book of the four. It also reminds me that Wilson's new series, featuring a kidnapping consultant named Charles Boxer, is two books in and I need to get to the first one.

Book Log 2014 #17: The Purity of Vengeance by Jussi Adler-Olsen

This fourth Department Q novel takes as its starting point a period in Danish history where eugenics were in vogue and young women - often girls, really - were put into facilities and often sterilized against their will. From this Adler-Olsen creates a convoluted case that involves one of the women subjected to this treatment, a doctor forming a "purity" party on the far right of Danish politics, and a number of seemingly unrelated people who went missing.

While this use of painful recent history makes this a more somber case, there is still a fair bit of humor pulled from the department and Carl Morck's personal life (though that even gets pulled down a bit as Carl is implicated in both the drowning death of his uncle years before and the shooting that left one of his coworkers paralyzed). I do look forward to learning just a bit more about Rose and Assad with every book, and this one certainly moves things forward for both of them.

If you're not reading this series, and you like Scandinavian crime fiction, you should start reading these. It'd be timely, too, as the fifth book in the series was released in the US just this week.

Book Log 2014 #16: Mastering the Art of Soviet Cooking by Anya Von Bremzen

I went into this book taking the title in a more literal sense, that the book would be about Soviet food and whatever passed for social realism cuisine. And while that's in there, this book is really a memoir about the author's life in the USSR and eventual emigration to the US. Food plays a prominent role, weaved into stories about family and life under communism.

The most interesting parts to me, though, come once the author and her mother relocated to the US, as their joy at being out from under the Soviet thumb is often tempered by the realities of being in a place where you don't speak the language (or don't speak it as well as you'd like) or understand the customs. Watching the pair adjust and get used to the US (and even begin to miss the USSR) is pretty amazing. I don't know if I'd have the guts to do that, even with the daily indignities that were part of Soviet life.

I'll admit to having wanted a little more straight food talk (I'm always interested in goofy products and the like), but that's just me. This is a really well-written memoir that's got plenty of food talk (on top of the usual memoir topics) and is worth a read.

We were at the dinosaur pool in the middle of a warmish late August afternoon, our week-long vacation at its tipping point. It was pretty much as advertized - a large, pink dinosaur with a slide surmounting its middle was in the center of the pool, with various non-dino attractions at the edges. The water was a foot deep, perfect for a five year old who loves the water but has demonstrated in swimming lessons a tendency to sink rather than float.

The boy was enjoying the pool quite a bit, going down the slide as often as possible while exploring the other objects in turn (and getting told off more than once for climbing on the top of a blue tube that seemed tailor-made for climbing on). And every once in a while, he'd come out so I could towel off his face.

And each time he came out, he'd ask to go on one of the water rides that flanked the dino pool. One was a tandem ride whose height restriction would prevent him from riding. The other was a fairly high waterslide, built for speed more than turns, that he was just a little too short for, but could potentially buffalo his way onto.

Each time, though, I told him that he couldn't go on the rides, that he was just a bit too short, and wasn't he having fun in the dino pool? He considered this each time, and concluded each time that he was in fact having fun in the dino pool, and off he'd go.

At some point in this repeated process, I told him that the next time we came back he'd be tall enough to ride the other rides. This is almost certainly true; we've never vacationed in this part of the world (western New York) before, and it was unlikely we'd be back for at least a year, probably more. By that time he'd be plenty tall to ride, and if our return is farther down the road he may even be old enough to negotiate the rides on his own.

He ran off again, happy in the thought of future rides. While I thought of the future, his growing up and the challenges he'll face in school, developing friendships, and so on.  I thought about me, being older, eventually not having kids to take on vacation. And I thought that, as much as he wanted to go on the big rides, I would be happy with him staying in the dino pool for a little while longer.

Book Log 2014 #15: The Curiosity by Stephen Kiernan

I find it fairly easy to suspend disbelief when I read, which is a good thing with a book like this, in which a man frozen in a specific type of arctic ice is reanimated by a process developed by a well-known scientist. While the scientist looks to take the Boston-based project to the next level of funding, the unfrozen man is mainly tended to by a female scientist, who becomes his link to the modern world.

But over the course of the book, little factual errors started to nag at me. The unfrozen man and the female scientist go to a Safeway.  The closest Safeway to Boston appears to be in the Philadelphia area. There's another plot point involving the unfrozen man knowing the words to the Dropkick Murphys song "Tessie," which the book presents as the same song sung by the Royal Rooters in the early 20th century. It's not.

And then it's on to bigger questions. There's little work done to trace the man's family, which is odd given how easily a lab like this could prepare DNA samples and do some basic online research into his family. This is kind of covered by the main scientist's lack of interest in the human element of the project, which then raises an even bigger problem when you consider how thinly drawn the lead scientist and the female scientist are. The main scientist is an extreme caricature of the type, while it's a little on the nose to have the female doctor be the one to create a strong emotional connection.

Funny thing is, I still kind of liked the book. Much of it is solid storytelling, and some of the supporting characters are interesting. But one things started to cascade, it was hard for me to not get annoyed at little things, or even big things (the ending seems pretty implausible to me, which is kind of a funny thing to say about a book starring a reanimated human). You may have better luck with it if you're not from Boston, or get less hung up on the details.

Book Log 2014 #14: The Men Who United the States by Simon Winchester

Winchester, a newly-minted American, takes this opportunity to discuss the men - and it's pretty much only men - who worked to united the states that make up the US, not politically but geographically and commercially. Using the five unifying forces from Chinese cosmology, he discusses thinks like the Lewis and Clark exploration, the interstate highway system, and the Internet, and how they've all made the US what it is today.

A lot of this is familiar, but each new item helps to show how the changes to our connectivity helped to shape the other changes that fueled America's growth. I do think it lagged a bit towards the end (perhaps we're a bit too frayed now to be seen as truly unified), but overall it's an enjoyable read. Winchester peppers the history with his own personal history, which adds a personal dimension of how he became united with his new country. Worthy of a read, especially if you want to learn more about this view of American history.

Book Log 2014 #13: Tatina by Martin Cruz Smith

The latest book featuring investigator Arkady Renko sees him take on a case involving the death of a crusading journalist - or perhaps non-case is more accurate, as the death is ruled a suicide. When the case intersects with Moscow's organized crime leaders and the disappearance of a translator from a Kaliningrad beach. The clues that may help to tie the cases together and solve them both include some audio tapes and the interpreter's notebook, kept in a series of symbols and marks intended to only be legible to the author.

Renko's personal connections are stronger in this case than usual - he knew the victim, and his prodigal ward, Zhenya, gets involved when he tries to decode the notebook with the help of a fellow chess player (also a potential girlfriend). Renko's father makes a brief appearance, as he usually does, but it seems like his presence is fading, which I guess makes sense as Russia moves farther away from the socialist paradise Renko pere fought to defend.

I think I liked this one a little more than the last couple of novels, thanks to the more personal touch and the use of Kaliningrad, a sliver of Russia disconnected from the motherland and thus prone to be a little different. Certainly a worthy installment to the series.

Book Log 2014 #12: The 34 Ton Bat by Steve Rushin

Highly entertaining look at the objects that surround the national pastime, from the equipment to stadium features to what you eat and drink at the ballpark. I do wish some of the later chapters were a little less chronologically-oriented (in my memory, these chapters more or less tell the story of how the item became linked to baseball rather than looking at specific objects or people). The author's personal connection to the theme - he used to work in Metropolitan Stadium, where the Twins played before moving to the Metrodome - gave me another way to connect to the book. Recommended.

Book Log 2014 #11: The Pagan Lord by Bernard Cornwell

The continuing saga of the English born and Danish raised Uhtred sees him leading his own army of mercenaries and planning to retake his ancestral home from the uncle who took it. But the Danes, who have been quiet since the death of Alfred, seem to be plotting something. Not in favor with the new English king, Uhtred once again has to choose between the land of his birth and the land where he was raised.

A very solid outing in the series, good battle sequences and good to finally have Bebbanburg play more of a role.

Book Log 2014 #10: The King's Deception by Steve Berry

And we stay with thrillers, this one the latest Cotton Malone outing, where he and his son are involved in a plot to quash the release of a Libyan terrorist from a Scottish jail by proving that Queen Elizabeth I was actually an impostor (meaning that anything done in her name could be legally invalid, including the transfer of lands in Northern Ireland to English and Scottish Protestants). 

The story is actually told in flashback, and includes the revelation that Cotton's son is actually not his son, biologically at least. We're also introduced to two characters we'll likely see again, one a streetwise teen, the other a British cop who has a bit of a wild streak (and just may wind up being Cotton's latest romantic interest).

Things go pretty much as you'd expect, but I liked it better than his previous couple of outings.

Book Log 2014 #9: The Labyrinth of Osiris by Paul Sussman

Our favorite pair of mismatched Arab and Israeli detectives is back, investigating poisoned wells, the murder of an Israeli journalist in Jerusalem's Armenian quarter, and how they may be connected. The titular labyrinth - an ancient mine - figures prominently, as you might imagine.

But so does the personal lives of our two protagonists. Ben-Roi has lost his girlfriend - and mother to his unborn child - due to his obsession with work. Khalifa has the double whammy of being displaced due to a massive building scheme and coping with a family tragedy that has left his wife nearly insensate.

But as they work together and uncover new connections - an American energy company and the 1930s death of an archaeologist become important to the investigation - the personal issues work their way in, too, and by the time the pair come together for force a conclusion, it's not always clear where the line is between their professional functions and personal obligations to their families and to each other. There's also one very surprising twist, which led to me to wonder how it would play out in future books.

But, sadly, there aren't going to be any more books in the series. Not long after this one hit the shelves, Paul Sussman died from a ruptured aneurysm. There is a posthumous book that came out in May, not part of the series. I'm both looking forward to reading it and sad that it's the last of book his available to read.

Book Log 2014 #8: Inferno by Dan Brown

I hadn't planned on reading this - The Lost Symbol was bad enough to put me off the series - but when I found myself short on reading material and copies of Inferno readily available, I figured I'd give it a go.


Unlike previous books, Inferno takes a more direct thriller approach rather than trying to shoehorn a worldwide conspiracy into the plot. In this story, our symbologist hero Robert Langdon wakes up in a hospital with no idea where he is or how he got there. Over time he begins to figure out the where (Florence) and when (a day or two after his last memory), but is still stumped by the why, and what his visions of a grey haired woman has to do with any of it.

An attack on the hospital leads him to flee with one of the doctors, whose brilliance belies her attachment to a fairly mundane hospital. Over the course of time the pair learn what Langdon was doing in Florence - trying to stop a mysterious, Dante-loving figure from releasing a man-made plague into the world.

It's still not the most compelling writing out there, even for the genre, but it's miles ahead of The Lost Symbol. There's still too much exposition for my taste - memories of a lecture given on Dante at some point in the past pop up quite a bit to explain how Langdon makes connections, for example - and there's some unproven mumbo jumbo about how the shadowy Consortium in the book is an actual thing. But for what it is, it's surprisingly not bad. Not the most ringing endorsement, but better than what I was expecting to say about it.

As entertaining as the World Cup has been so far, the corruption allegations for Qatar's 2022 hosting linger, a specter that seems to be staying on the fringes just until the current tournament ends. That specter took center stage briefly when it was reported that FIFA had contacted the US soccer federation about taking over. That blew over after a few days, but leaves the thought: how would the US host the World Cup if it was reassigned?

Group Stage

For the eight groups, I would pair two reasonably close stadiums to host three group games each:

New England - Gillette Stadium and Rentschler Field or the Yale Bowl. Gillette is a no-brainer, as Foxboro hosted in 1994. They'd have to use the grass trays, but that's hardly a drawback at this point. The other venue would either be an expanded Rentschler Field (capacity is currently 40,000) or the Yale Bowl (which is old but a reasonable size at just over 61,000).

Mid Atlantic - Lincoln Financial Field and M&T Bank Stadium. Two newer stadiums with capacities in the high 60,000s and low 70,000s. No brainers.

Southeast - Bobby Dodd Stadium and EverBank Field. I went with Georgia Tech's home over the new stadium for the Atlanta Falcons as Bobby Dodd Stadium is open air, and I'm favoring those where I can (though the use of the Pontiac Silverdome in 1994 shows they could be used). EverBank Field hosted a pre-Cup friendly earlier this year and it went pretty well, so I'm giving them the nod. Jacksonville is also closer to Atlanta than Tampa or Orlando.

Mid-Central - Heinz Field and Ohio Stadium. I'd thought about putting both stadiums in this group in Ohio, but opted to go with Heinz Field instead. Ohio Stadium reflects the support Columbus has given the USMNT over the years and the reality that Crew Stadium is too small to host Cup games.

Great Lakes: Ford Field and Michigan Stadium. Ford Field has hosted Gold Cup matches, and is plenty big enough for the World Cup. And the idea of the World Cup at the Big House is certainly appealing. Maybe too close to each other?

Show-Me: Arrowhead Stadium and Edward Jones Dome. Kansas City gets in thanks to supporting their MLS team and to recognize Lamar Hunt's support of soccer. St. Louis, while a historically important city for US soccer, doesn't have a great venue for it. I'm reluctantly going with it for now.

Lone Star: AT&T Stadium and Reliant Field. Like Mid Atlantic, two newer stadiums with plenty of seating, as well as two cities with MLS teams.

Northwest: Levi's Stadium and CenturyLink Field. Also not particularly close, but both home to dedicated MLS crowds, Seattle especially.

Round of 16 and Quarterfinals

Also two stadiums per group, three games in total.

Garden State: MetLife Stadium and High Point Solutions Stadium. MetLife, of course, gets you New York atmosphere with New Jersey location. Getting actual New York location is a problem, as Yankee Stadium, Citi Field, and both planned soccer-specific stadiums are too small. So we do down to Rutgers to borrow their stadium, which is on the smallish side as well but larger than any other option.

Sunshine: Raymond James Stadium and Florida Citrus Bowl Stadium. You could flip these two with the Atlanta/Jacksonville pair and it would be OK with me.

Midwest: Soldier Field and Lucas Oil Stadiu. Indy can handle one game, right? Solider Field was a host in '94, and unless the renovation made the field to narrow they'd be an easy pick to host again.

Southwest: Qualcomm Stadium and University of Phoenix Stadium. OK, not particularly close, but for three games you can make it work.

Semifinals and Finals

Rose Bowl. Of course. Why would it end anywhere else? 

Book Log 2014 Extra: Esquire.com Book Lists

I suppose one could troll the Internet for lists of books that you should read and find no end to them, but these found me while I was getting my daily dose of Charlie Pierce.What's interesting is that I found lists of 75 and 80 books all men should read, and a list of 10 books men should read before they die, and there were some books on one list but not another. How does one of the 10 books I need to read before I die not get on the list with 80 books all men should read? Someone over there needs to straighten this out before I expire!

In any case, it turns out I've read very few books on any of these lists. From the 80 books every man should read (warning, slideshow), I've covered:

• A Sense of Where You Are, John McPhee's book about Bill Bradley, which I enjoyed greatly.
• The Naked and the Dead, Norman Mailer's WWII epic that I also enjoyed greatly (if you can used the word "enjoyed" in that context).
• One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, which I read for AP English about a million years ago but remember liking.
• Master and Commander, which I didn't like as much as I thought I would. Probably worth another look.
• A Confederacy of Dunces, also read a long time ago but remember enjoying.
• The Spy Who Came in From the Cold, which introduced me to the concept of the literary spy novel.
• Winesburg, Ohio, which I didn't care for all that much. 
• Lolita, which caused me some conflict between the great writing and the awful subject matter.

 I suppose I shouldn't have been surprised by the number of war books on the list. I was also reminded of the books that I'm surprised I've never read (Slaughterhouse-Five, for example). Overall it's not a bad list for something billed as "an unranked, incomplete, utterly biased list."

Moving on to the ten essential books for life (the "read before you die" tag was in the link to yet another slideshow), I seem to be missing most of the essentials, except for U.S.A. (the John Dos Passos trilogy that I never quite finished but found interesting if for nothing else than its format of mixing fiction in with news and biography from the period) and A Sense of Where You Are.

The list of 75 books took me back to the list of 80 books, which I guess is a good thing as it keeps us from having one more list floating around.

Book Log 2014 #7: Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell

Six stories, told in advancing - and retreating - order make up this novel about the human civilization and how our drive to learn, explore and conquer may lead us to places we'd rather not take ourselves.

Not that all the stories are about warfare and strife. Really, all of the stories are personal, looking at one person and their experiences within the civilization. There is some linkage between stories, but it's generally not central to the stories (though the author did state that all of the main characters, with one exception, are reincarnations of the same person, as seen in a shared birthmark).

Five of the six stories are split in two, so you get the first halves of the first five stories, then the whole sixth story, and then the second half of the other five stories in reverse order (so the first story makes up the first and last section of the book, for example). It's an interesting device, and I did find it helpful in seeing how each of the stories led to central, uninterrupted story.

Oddly enough, it's that story that I had the most trouble with. Not sure why; could be that the structure of the book made me less able to stick with the one longer story. Or the use of a local dialect was just that too distracting. Whatever the problem, it wasn't significant, and mostly manifested itself as a desire to get to the conclusions of the other five stories.

I do recommend the book, though I think it's one I'll have to revisit at some point to see if what I've taken away from it has changed.

Book Log 2014 #6: The Devil in the White City by Erik Larson

I was surprised to see that I'd never written about this, but I likely read it first before I was logging books here. In any case, this is the story of the 1893 Chicago World's Fair and the serial killer who took advantage of it (and the general population boom Chicago was experiencing) to find victims.

The story of the fair is one of triumph over adversity, between the long delay in Chicago getting the fair and the difficulties encountered in trying to build it quickly in a section of Chicago short on amenities and long on difficult, unimproved terrain. The personal conflicts are given equal attention, and proved equally as daunting, from the rivalry between Chicago and New York/Boston architects to competing interests in how the fair should be run and funded.

This is countered by the way in which Dr. H. H. Holmes is able to build "the castle," the hotel and retail building into which so many people entered and never came out. It's kind of amazing to think in this day in age that a man could con so many people into providing him goods and services without getting paid, or that so many people could disappear more or less completely, but it does demonstrate how much difference a century can make. Holmes wasn't perfect by any stretch, but the fact that no one could ever quite determine the total number of his victims suggests he wasn't off by much.

If you haven't read this by now it's worth reading, as are pretty much all of Larson's books.

Book Log 2014 #5: The Bookman's Tale by Charlie Lovett

A reclusive book seller, still reeling from the untimely death of his wife, finds himself drawn into a mystery when he discovers a painting of his wife in an old book, a painting that dates to well before his wife's birth. In trying to track down this mystery, he gets pulled into a greater one - whether or not Shakespeare wrote the plays attributed to him - that is proving to have deadly consequences.

There's a lot to like about this book - the historical chapters tracing a book central to solving the Shakespeare question are a nice change of pace - but I did find some of the story set in the present day a little too neatly wrapped, especially the ending.  Maybe that's intentional, reflecting some of the unlikely coincidences and neat endings you might find in Shakespeare. Still, it wasn't a bad book, worth a read if you're into the Shakespeare question.

Book Log 2014 #4: The Fire Witness by Lars Kepler

I didn't realize how much I'd been putting off the Book Log until I noticed we were nearing the halfway point of the year and I'd logged all of three books. Time for some catch up in the form of talking about books I vaguely remember.


This is the latest in the series featuring Joona Linna, who is investigating a gruesome pair of murders at a home for troubled girls. Progress on the case is slow, but picks up when a woman claiming to be a medium - or who had at least been pretending to be one in order to earn some spare cash - has a vision about the case.

I find I've liked each of the books in this series more than the first, and that holds here. There's a good balance between the formal investigation and the involvement of the medium, and we get more background as to how Linna wound up in Sweden and what happened to his family, which appears to be setting up the next book in the series (which looks like will be released in the US this August).