Rubicon: The Last Years of the Roman Republic by Tom Holland

Published in 2005 by Anchor

Rubicon: The Last Years of the Roman Republic is a well-written fact-filled narrative interpretation of the end of the Roman Republic. Interpretation? Of course - all history books are the author's interpretation. Holland has his biases, but it does not distract from the power of the book. With the exception of a slow bit in the middle, this is an entertaining read and worthy to sit on the shelf next to other histories of Rome.

I wholeheartedly recommend this one for enthusiasts (his spin on things should pique your interest) and also for newcomers to Roman history. It is a fine springboard for further study.

Tom Holland

That being said, I do have a little bone to pick with the author, on a topic that has little bearing on the text as a whole. On p. 21 (paperback) Holland claims that the Circus Maximus, the chariot racetrack, was the largest sports arena in the world (200,000 spectators) and it still holds that title today. That is an oft-repeated by British authors and documentaries. As an Indianapolis resident I must correct this - the Indianapolis Motor Speedway has permanent seats for more more than 250,000 and more than 400,000 have been known to cram in to the track in May to watch the Indy 500. Around 300,000 come to the Brickyard 400 as well.

I rate this book 4 stars out of 5.

This book can be found on Amazon.com here: Rubicon: The Last Years of the Roman Republic.

Reviewed on October 22, 2007.

A Scanner Darkly [Graphic Novel] by Philip K. Dick

I was expecting more

 Published in 2006 by Pantheon

I may be living in a box because I had not heard of this book or the movie before I found the graphic novel. When I saw it was based on a Philip K. Dick book I was hopeful - after all, he is the author of such thought-inducing works as Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep (A.K.A. Blade Runner) and he is the inspiration for The Minority Report and Total Recall (Not that Total Recall is as deep as the other two, but there are some themes that the three share, including a caste system based on birth, be you an android, a mutant or someone who can see the future).

What I hoped would be a thoughtful commentary on the "War on Drugs" and/or the damage that drugs do to the user turned into a rambling work of several episodes in the lives of some druggie pals and the undercover narc officer who has caught himself in the web of addiction. Sometimes funny, usually odd, this book just never lived up to the other Philip K. Dick works mentioned above. It never gelled, it never reached that critical mass where it started to make commentary on the folly of drug use, or the folly of empowering our government to go after users, etc.

Much like its characters, this book never really got off the couch and did anything, despite a series of fits and starts in which I thought that it might finally be going somewhere.

I rate this graphic novel 2 stars out of 5. This graphic novel can be found on Amazon.com here: A Scanner Darkly (graphic novel).

Reviewed on December 13, 2006.

Deogratias, A Tale of Rwanda (graphic novel) by J.P. Stassen

An important tale to be told - unfortunately this one fails to tell it well enough

Published by First Second in 2006.

Deogratias is the name of a young man from Rwanda. The story dances back and forth between pre- and post-1994 massacre Rwanda. Pre-massacre Deogratias is a likeable young man. Post-massacre Deogratias is insane. As one reads this graphic novel one finds out what drove him insane - in a climax that is not all that surprising or shocking (just sad), especially if one knows any of the detail of the Rwanda massacre.

An image from the graphic novel

Great works take the story of one person or group of people in a tragic situation and somehow make their story universal. For example, the Civil War movie Glory is the story of the first all-Black Federal regiment in the Civil War - it is also the story of every soldier - black or white, Union or Confederate. In Saving Private Ryan, the Tom Hanks character epitomizes the average man stuck in a terrible situation doing the best he can and dying in the process.

Deogratias fails to do this. It is too personal. The story is too small. Not to say it isn't important, but rather to say that it fails to become a universal story of the Rwanda tragedy.

My copy of the book has an introduction from Alexis Seigel, the translator. He does an exceptional job of explaining the Rwanda tragedy and its aftermath. I would give his introduction 5 stars.

However, the grade has to go to the graphic novel, not its introduction. So, I give this graphic novel 3 stars out of 5.

This graphic novel can be found on Amazon.com here: Deogratias: A Tale of Rwanda.

Reviewed on December 11, 2006.

This book was listed on a "banned book" list in Florida. Ugh.

And it was put on a book ban list in Tennessee. The article has a searchable database because the list has more than 1,100 unique titles.

The Glory Field by Walter Dean Myers

Published by Scholastic in January of 1994.

The Glory Field is the story of an African-American family and their tie to a piece of land on Curry Island in South Carolina over the course of 250 years.

Reminiscent of the James Michener sagas that follow the same format, The Glory Field is not nearly as detailed or as rich as a Michener selection. However, Michener's primary audience was adults and Myers' intended audience is young adults, most of whom would not have the patience or the courage to pick up a 1,000+ page book.

Myers has broken this book up into a series of six stories, snapshots of the Lewis family throughout nearly 250 years of history. The quality of the stories goes up and down. The 2nd, 3rd and 4th stories are so-so. The first is vivid, strong and way too short. The last two are so strong that, in my mind, they saved the book. I was considering not including it in my classroom library because of the middle stories - they drug along and just didn't have any pizzazz - they were historically accurate - just with no zip.

So, final grade: 4 stars out of 5 (and a place in my classroom library!)

This book can be found on Amazon.com here: The Glory Field by Walter Dean Myers.

Reviewed on December 7, 2006.

The Shape Shifter (Leaphorn and Chee #18) by Tony Hillerman

Despite some flaws, still a strong story (and a possible explanation for the flaws- as a literary device...)

Published by Harper in November of 2006. 

There are numerous flaws in Hillerman's newest book, The Shape Shifter, including a confusing, often rambling first 100 pages or so. However, at about the halfway point in the book it catches some traction and moves forward with purpose and speed and the last half of the book reminds me of the Hillerman of old.

For those readers who are disappointed with this one, might I suggest that some of the flaws are built in on purpose. Not to see if you are paying attention to the overarching plot line, but because the story is not being told with strict and exact attention to detail. Remember, the story is being told from Leaphorn to Chee and Bernadette. Leaphorn makes several references to the old days in which the Navajo stories would be passed down from one generation to the next. Leaphorn missed out on those days because he was bussed to mandatory English school and kept there for months at a time.

Tony Hillerman (1925-2008)

I propose that the story is being told as one of those stories being told from one generation to the next: Leaphorn to Chee and Bernie. It starts and ends in Chee's kitchen with Leaphorn telling them the story. In the end, we know that Leaphorn does not tell them the complete story since they do not know all of the details of the death of the "Shape Shifter". It would be interesting to look at the details of the Navajo creation myths that Leaphorn references so many times (especially those of the brothers who defeat the evil mountain monster that represents greed) and the details of Leaphorn and his ragtag group as they ascend the mountain to take on Mr. Delos, an evil man of multiple personas. Leaphorn's story is not exact to the timeline since it is not really of the timeline - he has taken it out of the timeline and made it one of the stories that the elders teach to their children (Chee is the closest thing Leaphorn has to a son in the stories). Leaphorn's lesson might be that despite the fact that Leaphorn is the Legendary Lt, sometimes the strictest attention to the law is not necessary and does not lead one to Justice.

For those that tire of the references to "Legendary Lt. Leaphorn" and "Lt. Leaphorn, retired" - those are most certainly plot devices. He uses Legendary to poke fun in a self-deprecating way at Leaphorn when he is not doing well at detecting (as in, look at the legend - he's not doing so hot right now, is he?) and Retired when he is confronting new physical limitations. This would go quite well with my thesis of the previous paragraph. It would also explain why Bernie is so insistent on being called Mrs. Chee every time we see her - she is not the real her, she is the Bernie of Leaphorn's story - a caricature of herself, as is everyone else.

So, if my thesis is correct, Hillerman still really has it and has moved on to a higher level of storytelling. Or, he's lost it in a lot of ways and I'm just grasping at straws and seeing connections that are not really there.

Either way, I give this one a grade of 4 stars out of 5 - the last half of the book is so strong that it saves the rambling beginning.

Reviewed on December 3, 2006.

This book can be found on Amazon here: The Shape Shifter

Q-Squared (Star Trek: The Next Generation) (abridged audiobook) by Peter David

A thoroughly entertaining audiobook experience

Published in 1994 by Simon and Schuster Audio Division
Read by John de Lancie
Duration: 2 hours, 59 minutes
Abridged

I picked this audiobook up at a library sale - they were clearing out all of their audiobooks on cassette. So, I picked up a bunch of them and dusted off the Sony Walkman (literally) and gave it a listen. Back in the day (1994) most audiobooks were edited to about 3 hours. This book was originally over 400 pages long so it was edited extensively as well, although the cover does not admit to it. That being said, the editing was very well done here. This could have been an extraordinarily confusing book considering that it bounces around in 3 different universes, but the editors have demonstrated a great deal of skill. All that being said, Q-Squared is not an audiobook for the Star Trek newbie.

In the original Star Trek, Captain Kirk and company encountered Trelane, a being of extraordinary power but very little maturity who called himself "the Squire of Gothos." Trelane captured the Enterprise, verbally sparred with Spock and Kirk and finally ended up in a sword fight with Kirk. He was just about to beat Kirk when Trelane's parents interceded and took their very naughty boy away and set the Enterprise free.

Peter David goes ahead and makes Trelane a member of the Q Continuum and has Q, the character from Star Trek: The Next Generation serve as Trelane's godfather. Trelane is basically working as an apprentice under Q as a favor to Q's friends, Trelane's parents. Trelane and Q come to Captain Picard's Enterprise to learn about humans and see how they operate.

Picard and Q. Q is played by the reader of this audiobook, 
John de Lancie

But, Trelane gets a bellyfull of being told he's a nuisance and that he shouldn't use his awesome powers to make people he dislikes disappear. Trelane comes up with a plan...

There is a theory that there are actually multiple universes out there, not just one. This book follows three of them. The first is the standard Star Trek storyline. The second is a storyline in which the Federation and the Klingons are at war and the Federation is losing badly. The third is one in which Jack Crusher, husband of Dr. Beverly Crusher and best friend of Captain Picard is not dead. In fact, he is the Captain of the Enterprise, newly divorced from Dr. Crusher and Picard and Dr. Crusher are having a secret torrid affair.

Trelane's plan to get even with the Enterprise involves melting away the "walls" that separate these universes (and all of them, I suppose), blocking the Q Continuum from interfering and killing Q. But, Q does not die and the injured Q works his way through all 3 universes to fight Trelane with Picard's help. It is entertaining to listen to the interaction amongst them all and painful to listen to Trelane do his best to make Jack Crusher a source of even more pain for Dr. Crusher and Picard.

Trelane and his harpsichord in the original 
Star Trek series

The audiobook is read by John De Lancie, the actor who portrayed Q in the Star Trek: The Next Generation television shows. He captures the voice of his own character perfectly (of course) but he also nails the voice of Trelane as well with a manic and injured tone that captures his insanity and his dangerous side. Throw in some decent sound effects (including what has to be the loudest turbolift in Star Fleet...) and an interesting twist to the musical score that includes a harpsichord being played as Trelane's insanity builds to a crescendo (Trelane really enjoys the harpsichord) at the end of the book and you have a thoroughly entertaining audiobook experience.

I rate this audiobook 5 stars out of 5.

This audiobook can be found on Amazon.com here: Q-Squared by Peter David.

Reviewed on June 19, 2012.

Guilt (Abe Glitsky #2) by John Lescroart

I hate to be the party pooper but...

Published in 1997.

Despite good experience with Lescroart in the past, despite the rave reviews on the back cover of Guilt and a dozen rave reviews inside the front cover, I found myself only caring about what happened to Abe Glitsky. The slow-moving, plodding plot line only reinforced the fact that I did not care what happened to the Mark Dooher. Did he kill his wife? I don't know - it's mentioned in the first sentence in the plot synopsis on the back cover and 200 pages into the book she's still alive and I'm getting irritated at reading about Dooher's connivings to sleep with one of his young employees.

So, anyway, I read exactly 200 pages of this book. It was not easy. I was forcing myself to continue on, much like I would do with a college textbook.

Then I came across the new Tony Hillerman book and I gladly dropped this one into the box of books that I'm dropping off at the Goodwill. Thank goodness I am now "Guilt" free!.

I rate this book 1 star out of 5.

This book can be found on Amazon.com here: Guilt by John Lescroart.

Reviewed on November 26, 2006.