The Paperboy by Pete Dexter

Pretentious and unfocused

Published in 1996.

This meandering, self-important book meanders from north Florida to south Florida in search of a plot and in search of a theme. Is it justice denied? Is the theme the importance of family? Is it the value of good journalism? Yes, no and maybe.

The Paperboy is about three newspapermen - two are brothers. One of them has no personality and one can't figure out what he wants to do except hang around the newspaper for a lack of anyplace else to go. The third newspaperman is their father - he's just as annoying as his sons - maybe more so - because at one point he has a personality but by the end of the book he's faded, too.

It's also about corrupt local politics that, in the end, did the right thing when they stuck a man in jail with inconclusive evidence. It even includes a sexism, racism, class-bias and even gay-bashing. Dexter tries to write the "Great American Novel" and it shows. He tries too hard and, in the end, he gets nowhere because he is unfocused. Too many themes and none is developed.

A bit of unasked for advice to Dexter - keep the story simple to make the point better. Look to the example provided by "Of Mice and Men" - a simple plot full of simple, living characters that illustrate deep and profound thoughts on life. By contrast, Dexter flounders around so much with his ghostly characters that he just irritated this reader.

I rate this book 1 star out of 5.

This book can be found on Amazon.com here: The Paperboy

Reviewed on March 7, 2005.

Pursuit of the Mountain Man by William Johnstone

This will be unpopular - but I just couldn't finish it!

Published in 1996.

I know Johnstone's Mountain Man series is extremely popular - I used to work in a used bookstore and we had a hard time even keeping them on the shelf! So, I was really looking forward to delving into this new series of books.

I was really disappointed. Not because Pursuit of the Mountain Man was not readable - it was. But, because I quickly lost interest in the main character. I did not see the point in reading about him. So, I stopped after 65 pages since...

He is unstoppable - he cannot be outdrawn in a gunfight.

He can't be outfought in a fistfight.

No one hunts better than him.

No one rides better than him.

No one tracks better than him.

No one shoots better than him.

No one is smarter than him.

No one can beat him.

In fact, no one is even a challenge to him at all.

Well, if that's the case, why even read the book?

I knew who was going to win and there was no point to reading anymore. There was no challenge for him to overcome. There was no compelling reason for me to continue.

I rate this book 1 star out of 5.

This book can be found on Amazon.com here: Pursuit of the Mountain Man.

Reviewed on March 5, 2005.

The Court Martial of Daniel Boone by Allan W. Eckert

Not your traditional piece of historical fiction

Originally Published in 1973.

Nominated for seven Pulitzer Prizes in literature over his career, Allan W. Eckert brings us the little-known true story of Daniel Boone's court martial in Kentucky during the American Revolution.

The bare facts are that Boone and a great portion of the fighting men from Boonesborough were captured by Shawnee raiders who took all of them back into modern day Ohio and eventually some were taken to Detroit to meet with the British Lt. Governor Henry Hamilton, known as the "Hair Buyer" for his policy of buying scalps of settlers.

Boone behaved so strangely during this entire episode that when he finally escaped the Shawnee he was brought up on charges and court-martialed.

Daniel Boone (1734-1820)

The Court-Martial of Daniel Boone narrates the court martial and not the actual events. Eckert tells the story much like a modern courtroom drama. Boone had an unorthodox defense style that allows the prosecution to lay out their entire argument and puts Boone in the worst possible light. Of course, Boone would not be the celebrated figure he is today if here were found guilty so the outcome is never really in doubt. But, Eckert does allow a great deal of tension to build in the form of indignation on the part of the reader.

An enjoyable piece of historical fiction. I rate this book 4 stars out of 5.

This book can be found on Amazon.com here: The Court-martial of Daniel Boone.

Reviewed on January 28, 2011.

Paths of Glory (audiobook) by Jeffrey Archer

Sometimes exciting, sometimes tedious

Published in 2009 by MacMillan Audio
Read by Roger Allam
Duration: 11 hours, 6 minutes
Unabridged

Paths of Glory is my first Jeffrey Archer book. I used to work in a bookstore and we would sell quite a few of his books so I was looking forwards to experiencing both a rousing adventure and an Archer book. But, based on this work, I doubt I will be looking for more by Archer.

The book is about the man who may have been the first person to to get to the top of Mount Everest, George Mallory and who is, perhaps, most famous for saying, "because it is there" when he was asked why he wanted to climb Everest. Paths of Glory is a historical fiction of his life and shows evidence of a lot of research and care.

This audiobook runs 11 hours on 9 CDs. It could use some serious editing. The climbing and personal life details of the book are, for the most part, interesting. Some of the particulars of his academic career slow the book. The in-depth re-creation of meetings of the Royal Geographic Society (with the accompanying interjections of "Here, here!" and "God Save the King!") reminded me of being in most of the meetings I've had to suffer through throughout my career - I kept wondering if I could have just skipped the meeting and received the abbreviated memo version instead.

George Mallory (1886-1924)

The last CD is solid. The extra attention to detail is dropped in favor of a quicker form of narration: a summary letter from Mallory to his wife. The ending is satisfying even if the reader is quite aware of the way it has to end.

So, in sum, the book is too long for its own good. At least two hours could have been edited from it without hurting the story - in fact, it would have helped. If you are interested in the topic but want to devote less time, I suggest instead the documentary The Wildest Dream: Conquest of Everest.

I rate this audiobook 3 stars out of 5.

This audiobook can be found here on Amazon.com: Paths of Glory.

Reviewed on July 4, 2009

Don't Know Much About the Civil War: Everything You Need to Know About America's Greatest Conflict But Never Learned by Kenneth C. Davis

A great introduction to the Civil War

Originally published in 1996 by William Morrow.

First, I need to tell you something about me. I am a Civil War buff. I can go into long expository speeches about nearly any topic of the war at the drop of a hat. I think it is a great moment in TV when the local PBS station shows Ken Burns' Civil War mini-series. The movie Glory is my favorite movie and I personally own more than 80 books on the Civil War. I love to debate any number of topics about the war and I truly believe that it is the pivotal moment in the history of our country in any number of topics including race relations, the growth of government power and the growth of the industrial might of the United States.

Don't Know Much About the Civil War is a very solid introduction to the Civil War, the issues and events that led up to the war and a much smaller section on the results of the war. Davis has a very approachable, easy to read style and I would gladly hand this book to anyone who was a Civil War newbie and wanted to learn more. Just about any topic that could be covered in the war is covered in this book at some point or another, maybe not in depth, but it is covered.

Each chapter begins with a series of questions. For example, Chapter Three begins with 10 questions, including:

-Where Did the Underground Railroad Run?
-Who Was Uncle Tom?
-What Happened at Harpers Ferry?

Kenneth C. Davis

Davis then spends the next 50 pages answering those questions, including a couple of timelines that repeat some of the same information as the text, but puts the information in a slightly different format.

This book would benefit from maps and pictures, but this should not detract a potential reader.

I rate this book 4 stars out of 5.

This book can be found on Amazon.com here: Don't Know Much About the Civil War.

Reviewed on January 22, 2011.

The Afghan Campaign by Steven Pressfield

"This is the devil's country...and you are fighting the devil's war"

Published in 2007 by Doubleday

The Afghan Campaign is one of two pieces of historical fiction that Steven Pressfield has written about Alexander the Great (the other is The Virtues of War). Pressfield has written about several historical eras but his real area of interest seems to be the Greek and Hellenistic eras. His most famous and, in my opinion, his best novel is Gates of Fire: An Epic Novel of the Battle of Thermopylae.

Alexander the Great (356-323 B.C.)

The Afghan Campaign is a solid novel. Pressfield does his best to put us on the ground with the troops, much like he did with Gates of Fire.  The reader follows a group of young Macedonian recruits as they ship off to join Alexander's army as it approaches what is now known as Afghanistan.  Pressfield's choice to view the war from the level of a raw recruit (Matthias) as he learns to fight and eventually becomes a sergeant is an interesting one - and a good one. The reader gets a chance to learn all as he learns and gets a real feel for the Alexander's army and the difficulties they experienced.

One of more interesting aspects of the novel is Pressfield's choice to incorporate what I assume is made up Macedonian slang into the story. Every profession has its slang and the military seems to create more than most. In this novel, Alexander's army is no different. It gives it a more authentic "feel" even if the slang is not authentic. Fortunately, Pressfield provides a glossary in the back that I used heavily until I learned the expressions.

So, what do we learn in this book? Nothing new, but lessons that seem to have to be re-learned with every generation like war is brutal, ugly and terrible. People will die defending their homes and their ways of life, no matter how worthless they seem to outsiders. War changes the people that experience it, including the woman and children in the war zone.

I would be most interested in hearing any comments from soldiers who have served in Afghanistan and also read this book.

I rate this book 5 stars out of 5.

This novel can be found on Amazon.com here: The Afghan Campaign.

Reviewed on January 16, 2011.

Luther (LCA School of Religion series) by Robert H. Fischer



Excellent beginner's history to Luther and his times

Published in 1966 by Lutheran Church Press.

Fischer's book on the life and works of Luther is obviously intended to be a school-age biography of the great leader of the Reformation. I would suggest it for Middle or High School age students. Luther has several simple pencil illustrations spaced throughout the book that neither add nor detract from the text as a whole. This would also be an appropriate book for anyone new to Martin Luther or the Reformation.

Martin Luther (1483-1546)

Fischer starts by setting the scene for the reader. His description of life and politics in pre-Reformation is Europe is one of the best short summaries that this world history teacher has ever read. Fischer sets the scene wonderfully for the reader to understand Martin Luther and the magnitude of his demands for the Church to reform itself.

Fischer takes great care not to cast the Catholics as devils and Luther as an angel. All of Luther's warts are exposed (anti-Semitism, etc.), but Fischer lingers longest on Luther's positive achievements and qualities. This is appropriate since those are the things that have had such a large influence on Western history.

Fischer includes lots of quotes from Luther and his contemporaries, letting them speak for themselves (and to his credit, Fischer doesn't overquote and just supply us with an endless string of long quotes, as some historians do).

The last 30 pages of the book are quotes and comments on Luther's teaching and writing about a number of topics, including "The Lord's Supper", "The Christian and his neighbors" and comments about what Luther really wanted to do when he begin the Reformation movement.

I rate this book 5 stars out of 5.

This book can be found on Amazon.com here: Luther.

Reviewed February 19, 2005.