I have long held that certain geographic connects trump more politically correct or emphasized designations.  For example, I hold that being a Midwesterner from a small to medium sized town or suburb compared to someone from an urban center on either coast is a much bigger cultural hrudle than race. 

When I lived in the Washington, DC area - Hyattsville, Maryland to be exact - it was an almost overwhelmingly African-American community; the mailman called us “the white couple.”  One of our neighbors was from Wisconsin and we hit it off right away.  Having both grown up in the Midwest or North (Michigan for me and Minnesota for my wife) we could instantly relate to and communicate about her childhood.

In contrast her own husband was from inner city DC and it wasn’t quite as easy to connect.  In fact, she shared with us that there were significant cultural barriers that she had to adjust to in her relationship with him and his family.  We enjoyed his company but there is a divide between inner city or urban folks and rural/suburban Midwesterners.

The reason for all this sociological musing is that Wisconsin is the setting for Jesse Lee Kercheval’s collection of linked stories The Alice Stories and it made me think back to these ideas and experiences.

Set largely in Wisconsin, and featuring a central character from Florida who finds herself settling down there, it had a tone or sense that I could relate to.  Not that I don’t enjoy some of it, but it seems much contemporary literary fiction takes place in a setting outside of my day to day life.  Reading stories that hit closer to home makes for interesting reading and a nice change of pace.

A more in-depth discussion follows after the jump.

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I introduced myself to the work of Ralph Peters by reading his latest book Wars of Blood and Faith.  I did not know who Peters was before reading this book - from what I have read about him afterward makes me feel like I have lived in a closet.  From the book’s cover (for those like me who do not know who Peters is), Peters is a retired military officer, a popular media commentator, and the author of 22 books.  An opinion columnist for the New York Post, he is a member of the boards of contributors at USA Today and Armchair General magazine, a columnist for Armed Forces Journal, and a frequent guest on television and radio.

Wars of Blood and Faith is a compilation of articles by Peters organized in five categories: the Twenty-first Century military, Iraq and its neighbors, the home front, Israel’s struggle, and the world beyond.

My first impression after reading the book is wow.  Peters is very opinionated and seems to be very knowledgeable on military affairs - especially in regards to the Middle East.  He contends that Americans (and Europeans) need to go back to basic human behavior with regard to fundamentalist Islam - basically that in order to win the War on Terror we need to kill more and negotiate less (after all the terrorists are taking that view toward us).  This view is particularly uncomfortable for us to hear because it runs counter to our current view that all peoples are rational and will compromise.

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I am a bad blogger.  This has most likely been clear long before today, but recent events have confirmed this.  I get significant traffic from a couple of links related to the post on Liberal Fascism and what do I do?  Nothing.  No enticing posts to keep all those readers and get them to come back.  Not even a welcome update to the post itself.  This is not how a good blogger would react to increased traffic. Jeff thankfully posted.

The plain fact is that my current job and family life just haven’t allowed me to get into any kind of rhythm or habit of blogging.  And that is really how the process works - you have to get into the habit and make time to post or you simply find time slipping by.

So a belated welcome to those new visitors and a lame promise of content on the horizon.  I have a stack of books I need to review and a couple of bookish subjects I want to tackle.  Perhaps, I can regain that blogging rhythm and earn a little readership in the process.

Charles O’Brien’s third installment in the Anne Cartier Mystery Series entitled Noble Blood is as good as the previous two books.  O’Brien has a gift of bringing historical times to life.

Here is an excerpt from Publishers Weekly about the plot:

Anne Cartier, teacher of the deaf and wife of Col. Paul de Saint-Martin of the Royal Highway Patrol, comes to the defense of Denise de Villers, a housemaid and former pupil at the Institute for the Deaf where Anne works, when Denise is accused of murdering the duchesse de Saumur, a close friend of Marie Antoinette’s.  Paul’s well-connected aunt journeys with Anne and Paul to the royal palace at Versailles, where they soon become involved in a tangled web of treachery, conspiracy and intrigue.  As Paul says, “Pursuing the truth can cause a mess. Old wounds open up, incriminating lies are exposed.”  In their effort to prove the deaf maid’s innocence, they uncover corruption and deception that touch everyone from servants and courtiers to church leaders and the queen herself.

With each of O’Brien’s novels, I appreciate his depth of historical knowledge more.  He portrays pre-Revolutionary France perfectly - especially the upper classes.  With this novel, O’Brien describes the rampant corruption in the French government and the king’s lack of leadership.  He also begins to interweave the social tensions in France into the plot - some of the characters begin to openly show their disdain for the French nobility (primarily Anne and Georges Charpentier, Paul’s assistant).  I think this open disdain by the characters is setting the stage for the fate of the characters during the French Revolution - we shall see.

The list of characters is wonderful.  Everyone from Queen Marie Antoinette’s lover (not the king) to the most humble of public servants is brought to life.  It is interesting to see how O’Brien brings light to all members of French society through the investigations of Paul, Anne, and Georges.  The number of suspects keeps you guessing until the end of the book.

Noble Blood will keep you enthralled throughout.

Few books by conservative author’s have received as much vitriol and mockery before release as Jonah Goldberg’s Liberal Fascism.  Its title - and the changing subtitle in particular - and premise have been attacked and decried from one end of the liberal blogoshere to the other.  Many have assumed it is a banal, if outrageous, attempt to follow in the footsteps of Ann Coulter.  Quite a few have even asserted that Jonah couldn’t finish the book and maybe never would.  The book’s amazon page was even hacked.

I have long been of the opinion that critics should read the book before attacking it.  And after reading an early version I offered the opinion that it was “a serious argument with important points to make” and that while readers may not agree with all of his arguments that he “draws out some fascinating aspects of history and makes some pretty compelling arguments about the faulty nature of the conventional wisdom surrounding fascism past and present.”

Well, it seems that Publishers Weekly agrees with me.  No one would accuse PW of being some sort of right wing propaganda machine and yet they offer this mostly positive review:

In this provocative and well-researched book, Goldberg probes modern liberalism’s spooky origins in early 20th-century fascist politics. With chapter titles such as “Adolf Hitler: Man of the Left” and “Brave New Village: Hillary Clinton and the Meaning of Liberal Fascism”–Goldberg argues that fascism “has always” been “a phenomenon of the left.” This is Goldberg’s first book, and he wisely curbs his wry National Review style. Goldberg’s study of the conceptual overlap between fascism and ideas emanating from the environmental movement, Hollywood, the Democratic Party and what he calls other left-wing organs is shocking and hilarious. He lays low such lights of liberal history as Margaret Sanger, apparently a radical eugenicist, and JFK, whose cult of personality, according to Goldberg, reeks of fascist political theater. Much of this will be music to conservatives’ ears, but other readers may be stopped cold by the parallels Goldberg draws between Nazi Germany and the New Deal. The book’s tone suffers as it oscillates between revisionist historical analyses and the application of fascist themes to American popular culture; nonetheless, the controversial arc Goldberg draws from Mussolini to The Matrix is well-researched, seriously argued–and funny.

So here is my challenge to all of the bloggers and writers who have mocked and chided Jonah through the delays and subtitle changes and everything else: when the book is released, read it, and offer criticisms based on substance rather than emotional reactions and ignorant gossip.

I have a feeling that most will simply ignore it rather than wrestle intelligently with its claims.

The human ego hates a genuinely new experience.  It hates to change and is preoccupied with control.  We prefer ideas.  We can do anything we want with a new idea, including agreeing with it too quickly.  But a genuinely new experience does something with you!  It leaves you out of control for a while and forces you to re-access your terrain, find new emotions, and realign your life coordinates.  It is often a bit of a humiliation, because it upsets your old coordinates.  We prefer to stay inside our small comfort zones and actually avoid any genuinely new experiences.  The ego almost does not allow them to happen.

- Fr. Richard Rohr, from the introduction to How Big is Your God?

- The Best Game Ever: Pirates 10, Yankees 9: October 13, 1960 by Jim Reisler

Publishers Weekly

The nine innings of 1960’s World Series’ seventh game provide baseball historian Reisler with all the framework he needs to paint an exciting and detailed picture of a sport and its milieu. Reisler (Babe Ruth: Launching a Legend, among others) calls a good game, deftly intertwining the dramatic backstories and subplots of the World Series showdown between each pitch. With cinematic flourish, Reisler breaks from the game’s action to zoom in on all the bit players and supporting cast of the competition, including the announcers, children playing hooky, the photographers, random spectators, and the individuals who pillaged the field for souvenirs. Reisler puts together a visually nuanced account without the aid of a video record (the tapes have been lost). As the drama mounts, each pitch and swing takes on greater meaning as Reisler illuminates the events leading up to the game and follows its reverberations into the future. He delivers an account that succeeds in creating suspense when the outcome is already known, and by the time Mazeroski’s home run sails over the wall at Forbes Field, each Pirate and Yankee player feels like an old friend. As evidenced by the faithful who still congregate at what used to be Forbes Field’s left field wall every October to listen to the rebroadcast, this is a story worth hearing.

- No More Angels by Ron Butlin

Publisher’s Description

From Ancient Greece, via contemporary Britain, into the future, from childhood to old age and beyond, the stories in No More Angels capture the idiosyncrasies of modern life.

Comic, tragic, and sometimes both, Ron Butlin explores individual lives with a lightness of touch that cuts right to the heart. A dramatic follow-up to Butlin’s acclaimed Belonging, No More Angels is a captivating celebration of human frailty.

- Revolutionary Spirits:The Enlightened Faith of America’s Founding Fathers by Gary Kowalski

Publisher’s Description

Bringing to life the complex creeds and personalities of America’s Founding Fathers, this book confronts many of the myths about the religious views of some of the most notable figures in history. Offering clear and candid portraits of Benjamin Franklin, George Washington, Thomas Paine, John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, and James Madison as both religious reformers and political rebels, this analysis tells the illuminating story of these unorthodox men of faith and thought and reclaims their spiritual inheritance for all Americans. Providing a careful examination of how the Founders’ nature-based spirituality was tied to their fascination with science, this record includes discussions on Washington’s aversion to using the word “God” in public pronouncements, Jefferson’s mathematical calculations to show that the biblical great flood would have been impossible, and Paine’s thoughts on the possibilities of alien life.

- School for Scumbags by Danny King

Publisher’s Description

Habitual teenage delinquent Wayne Banstead is expelled from yet another school and finds himself hauled off to reform school. It plays host to the worst of the worst-thieves, bullies, arsonists, and flashers. But far from rehabilitating the boys, the teachers seem intent on instructing them in how to get away with things. Danny King’s latest is definitely not suitable for kids

A friend sent an email about the new Amazon Kindle.  At first I was highly cynical.  It was ugly and who wants to read books on a ugly expensive handheld device?  But in checking it out further, I have to admit I was intrigued. 

Not so much for the books aspect as for the newspaper, magazine, and blog part. 

I love the feel and look of books and I am not sure I want to give that up just yet.  But I hate the clutter and mess of newspaper and magazines.  I mostly subscribe to online versions.  The Kindle seems like a great way to read these periodicals wherever and whenever I want.  The fact that you don’t have to pay for wireless access makes a big difference too.  No service to acquire or pay for makes it simple.

The idea of reading books on a reader is growing on me a bit.  I would need to see how comfortable I feel reading for long periods using the Kindle.  But if you could read comfortably without any more eye strain than with paper, it would be a lot easier than carrying around a bunch of books on trips, etc.

The other aspect is the interactive part.  It would be awesome if you could take notes or highlights things as you went along.

I am not sure I am ready to spend $400 right now, but I am more tempted than I have every been.

What about you?  Tempted or no?  If it was cheaper would you be interested?  Also, ugly or just basic?

More thoughts on the idea of an electronic book reader when I get more time.

The first two books in Bernard Cornwell’s Saxon Chronicles Series are worth the read.  The story is based on King Alfred the Great’s unification of England in the 9^th Century.  I am a big fan of Bernard Cornwell and he brings his usual superb writing and research to this series.  Cornwell has the unique ability of giving you a great story at the same time telling you the history of an area or time period.

The first book, The Last Kingdom, begins in 866 when the main character Uhtred is captured by Danish invaders after they kill his father and his allies to take control of Northumbria, a kingdom in northern England.  Uhtred is raised by a Danish warlord, Ragnar the Fearless, who treats him more like a son rather than a slave.  He comes to love Danish life with its warrior and pagan culture over the stuffy and rules-oriented life of Christian England.  Eventually, Uhtred assists the Danes in conquering three of the four English kingdoms.  However, he switches to helping King Alfred after Ragnar is killed and succeeds in leading the Saxons to victory against the Danes at Cynuit in southern England.

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First of all, let me say Welcome to those of you clicking over from the Love of Reading Online Book Fair.  If this is your first time here, please check out the archives and kick the tires a bit.  Drop a comment or two.  And if I can be of help, please let me know.

I had an interesting thought the other day.  I was thinking about some of the contemporary authors who I enjoy and whose books I go out and get whenever they are released.  People like Olen Steinhauer, Kevin Wignall, Henry Kisor, Brock Clarke, Howard Norman, Michelle Herman, Richard Lewis, etc.  I realized that I became aware of most of these authors in an almost random way.

I found the work of Olen, Kevin, and Brock by shopping at discount bookstores or picking up remainders.  I went on to research them online, read all of their books and interview  all three.  So with the inauspicious start of picking their book out of pile for a few bucks I went on to become a big fan of their work - and I hope offer a little cheap publicity.  I stumbled upon Howard Norman the same way, but have yet to strike up a connection with him. But I have read all of his books and reviewed them here.

Michelle Herman was another interesting connection.  I saw her book at the bookstore and realized she was living in Columbus.  I emailed her and soon was reading all of her books in preparation for my first in person interview.

Richard Lewis lives in Indonesia and yet he emailed me to reach out about his first book.  I thoroughly enjoyed it and went on to review it for National Review and have interviewed Richard a couple of times. He is now one of those authors whose books I will read whenever a new one is available.

I could tell more stories like the ones above, but I think the point is that authors find readers and fans in lots of ways.  The plural of anecdote isn’t data, but I think this does point to something interesting about the interaction between the web and authors.  If you find an author you like there are immediate ways you can connect to their work and maybe even them personally.  And of course, tracking down their books is often as easy as a click of the mouse.

I also find it interesting that I enjoy exploring these remaindered books and how this has led me to some great authors.  It is a way to bypass the hype and only judge a book by its writing.  Of course, I could write another post ruminating on what it is that attracts me to these books in the first place.  What is it about their covers and flap jackets that causes me to choose them out of the hundreds of others in the pile or on the shelf?  Is judging a book by its cover really judging by its merits?  Should I be buying books new so the author gets a cut?

But let me hold that off for another post and end this with a question.  How did you come to find some of your favorite authors?  Was it through traditional means like book reviews, ads, or bookstore promotions?  Was it the word of a friend?  Stumbling upon them in the bookstore or library?  I would be interested to know if others have authors whose careers they follow after finding them in such a random way as I have.