Collected Miscellany

The Vietnam War – one of the subjects that lured me into exploring and loving history. I can never read enough about this war – everything from the failed strategy to the individual acts of valor on the battlefield. Gregg Jones takes his turn at documenting the events surrounding the siege of Khe Sanh in Last Stand at Khe Sanh: The U.S. Marines’ Finest Hour in Vietnam.

The book generally covers the fighting between the Marines and the North Vietnamese Army from January until April 1968, when the siege was lifted. This coverage includes the many hill fights surrounding the main base. Jones draws upon the personal accounts of the thousands of Americans who fought in the battle. NVA accounts are sketchy due to the lack of material – although Jones does draw on some captured NVA documents.

There are plenty of books written on Khe Sanh (Valley of Decision is one that is excellent), but this is one of the most recent books to chronicle the battles. Jones provides great insight into the men who fought and shed blood in the hallowed grounds surrounding Khe Sanh. This insight is from countless interviews and letters from the combatants.

Jones includes many stories of bravery, including the actions of artillery forward observer Dennis Mannion as he directed artillery fire upon the North Vietnamese as they tried to capture Hill 861. Conversely, Jones also writes about some of the stupid decisions made during the fighting. This includes the higher command’s approval to send a small patrol out of Khe Sanh and the field officer’s decisions in the ambush of a Marine platoon that left more than 20 killed.

The personal stories of loss are the hardest parts of war books. It is easier to read about five or six men killed in the abstract rather than knowing the names and stories of those five or six individuals. Jones includes tales of grizzled veterans cut down and men in-country for a few days who lost their lives.

Simply put, an excellent book on the Battle of Khe Sanh.

The Weaver Fish by Robert Edeson is a unique and confounding work of fiction. It is fascinating and frustrating.

Here is a bit about the book:

Cambridge linguist Edvard Tøssentern, presumed dead, reappears after a balloon crash. When he staggers in from a remote swamp, gravely ill and swollen beyond recognition, his colleagues at the research station are overjoyed. But Edvard’s discovery about a rare giant bird throws them all into the path of an international crime ring.

The Weaver Fish is a gripping adventure story. Set on the island nation of Ferendes in the South China Sea, this book’s sound science and mathematical games will make you question all that you know, or think you know, about weaver fish, giant condors, the infamous tornado-proof Reckles® Texan hat, and much much more.

The book is a bit confounding because I did not understand it until a few chapters into it. At first, the first few chapters seem pointless, but then they fit more into the story as you read along. It is a very interesting book once you get past some of the initial side trails.

Based on the writing, Edeson’s mind is amazing. He makes stuff up, but it sounds so real. I caught myself several times googling some of the things to find out that the things do not exist.

Once the story gets going, it is hard to put down. The plot is engaging and the characters are interesting. The best part is the climax where everything comes together.

The second book of the Rocco Schiavone Mystery series by Antonio Manzini, Adam’s Rib, is just as good as the first – Black Run.

Here are the basics to the plot:

Six months after being exiled from his beloved Rome, Deputy Police Chief Rocco Schiavone has settled into a routine in the cold, quiet, chronically backward alpine town of Aosta: an espresso at home, breakfast in the piazza, and a morning joint in his office.

A little self-medication helps Rocco deal with the morons that almost exclusively comprise the local force. Especially on a day like today. It’s his girlfriend’s birthday (if you could call her that; in his mind, Rocco’s only faithful to his late wife), he has no gift—and he’s about to stumble upon a corpse.

It begins when a maid reports a burglary in Aosta. But there’s no sign of forced entry, and after Rocco picks the lock, he notices something off about the carefully ransacked rooms. That’s when he finds the body: a woman, the maid’s employer, left hanging after a grisly suicide. Or is it? Rocco’s intuition tells him the scene has been staged. In other words, it’s murder—a pain in the ass of the highest order.

Manzini continues his excellent work from Black Run with his latest translation. Schiavone is back as the acerbic deputy police chief of Aosta. He is ably assisted by police officer Italo Pierron and Inspector Caterina Rispoli, but hindered by less-able officers such as Michele Deruta.

I think what draws me so much to Schiavone is his sharp wit and cynicism. Both of these are on display in the book.

The plot is good because Manzini brings in several threads into the story. Although two events seem unrelated, they turn out to be related in one of the characters. Although some may not like the rabbit trail that Manzini takes Schiavone on to Rome, I think it helps develop Schiavone’s character and to more fully understand his thinking.

Manzini does another great job of bringing Deputy Police Chief Schiavone to life.

The newly translated novel by Antonio Manzini, Black Run, is a great mystery that takes place in northern Italy. Manzini is an Italian actor, screenwriter, director, and author. Black Run is the first of two novels that have been translated into English.

Here is a bit about the plot from the publisher:

Getting into serious trouble with the wrong people, deputy prefect of police Rocco Schiavone is exiled to Aosta, a small, touristy alpine town far from his beloved Rome. The sophisticated and crotchety Roman despises mountains, snow, and the provincial locals as much as he disdains his superiors and their petty rules. But he loves solving crimes.

When a mangled body has been discovered on a ski run above Champoluc, Rocco immediately faces his first challenge—identifying the victim, a complex procedure complicated by his ignorance of the customs, dialect, and history of his new home. Proud and undaunted, Rocco makes his way among the ski runs, mountain huts, and aerial tramways, meeting ski instructors, Alpine guides, the hardworking, enigmatic folk of Aosta, and a few beautiful locals eager to give him a warm welcome.

It won’t be easy, this mountain life, especially with a corpse or two in the mix. But then there’s nothing that makes Rocco feel more at home than an investigation.

As with many novelists, especially mystery writers, Manzini has good insight into human behavior. He expresses this insight through Schiavone and his sarcastic wit. Schiavone is a fascinating and conflicting character. He is not easy to like – he is vulgar, smokes pot, and treats most people with contempt. But, he is superb at observing the smallest of details and solving the hardest crimes.

Although Schiavone’s attitude and behavior was a bit off-putting at first, he warms to the reader. Maybe it is his unapologetic acidic temperament or his ability to seek justice in whatever manner fits.

The plot is very engaging and does not give anything away as to who is the real killer. You have some false trails thrown in – Schiavone believing in one of these trails. The reader is kept guessing until the very end.

Excellent first book from Manzini.