Feb 12 2011

In the Mail: Little Princes

Little Princes: One Man’s Promise to Bring Home the Lost Children of Nepal by Conor Grennan

From Publishers Weekly

Grennan, who once worked at the East West Institute in Prague, embarked on a round-the-world trip in 2006, starting with a stint volunteering for an orphanage six miles south of Kathmandu. The orphanage, called the Little Princes Children’s Home, housed 18 children from the remote province of Humla, rescued from a notorious child trafficker who had bought the children from poor villagers terrified of the Maoist insurgents eager for new recruits; the parents hoped to keep their children safe, but the children often ended up as slaves. Grennan was stunned by the trauma endured by these children, who he grew to love over two months, and after completing his world tour, returned to the orphanage and vowed not only to locate seven Humla orphans who had vanished from a foster home, but also to find the parents of the children in the orphanage. This required starting up a nonprofit organization in America, Next Generation Nepal, raising funds, buying a house in Kathmandu for the children’s home, and trekking into the mountains of Humla to locate the parents. Grennan’s work is by turns self-pokingly humorous, exciting, and inspiring.

By Kevin Holtsberry • In The Mail • 0 • Tags: , , , , ,

Feb 11 2011

First-rate detectives are like good lovers and good novelists

Tara McKelvey makes me want to read Jonathan Rabb’s The Second Son (Berlin Trilogy) based on the last two paragraphs of her review:

“The Second Son” lacks the concentrated energy of its pred­ecessors, which are both set in Hoffner’s native country. As a sweaty German ex-cop in Zaragoza, he doesn’t have the same allure that he mustered during his heyday in Berlin. Yet Rabb still steers him into some sharp scenes and snappy dialogue. “You shoot well with your left hand,” Hoffner tells an anarchist who has managed to kill the two Nazis who’d been torturing him. “Close range,” the anarchist answers. “Not that difficult.”

People don’t really talk this way, but Rabb makes you wish they did. He also captures the seedy appeal of some of the ­places where Hoffner conducts his investigations: “The bar was down in the Raval section of town, near the water and the docks, a good place for pimps and drunks and journalists. . . . Now, at 4 in the afternoon, it was primarily journalists.” Although its prose occasionally ventures into Danielle Steel territory (at one point, Hoffner, staring at Mila, “let himself believe in all things possible”), the narrative never flags. It proves that first-rate detectives are like good lovers and good novelists: keenly observant, intuitive and tough as nails.

Love the line: “People don’t really talk this way, but Rabb makes you wish they did.”  And of the course the final sentence is classic.

By Kevin Holtsberry • Reviews • 0 • Tags: , , , ,

Feb 10 2011

The Pacific War: The Strategy, Politics, and Players that Won the War by William B. Hopkins

Continuing in my World War II theme recently, I decided to turn in the direction of the Pacific Theater.  In that vein, I read William B. Hopkins’ The Pacific War: The Strategy, Politics, and Players that Won the War

Obviously based on the title, Hopkins looks more at the strategy than the nuts and bolts of each campaign in the Pacific.  He also describes the politics and key leaders that shaped the strategy.  He avoids the chronological approach and focuses on a regional look – this is wise because events were occurring simultaneously across the theater.  A chronological approach would be hard to understand in the scope of the war effort because of various events occurring in different places.

The book contends, rightly so, that the U.S. Navy was the prime reason why we won the war in the Pacific.  Without control of the sea (and the air from the aircraft carriers), the U.S. would never have been able to wrest control of the Pacific islands from Japan.  The Marines did a lot of the ground fighting – they were helped at significant times by the Army, but for some reason the Army never received the attention that it deserved.  Hopkins does give credit to the Army, but I think hesitantly.  I say hesitantly because he rightly criticizes MacArthur’s insistence on conquering the Southwest Pacific because that took away resources from the main effort in the Central Pacific.  However, MacArthur’s stubbornness should not take away from the hard fighting the Army (and Australian Army) did in conquering New Guinea and the Philippines. 

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By Jeff Grim • Reviews • 1

Feb 8 2011

Martin Luther King Jr.: A Life by Marshall Frady

I have long been a fan of the Penguin Lives series. I love history, and enjoy reading about fascinating and impactful people, but simply dont’t have the kind of time I used to have available.  Short interesting biographies allow me to dip into this genre without struggling through large tomes in short bursts over long periods of time.
I have  a number of the volumes in this series and I have often wanted to use the volumes I have as topical blog content for holidays, anniversaries, historical dates, etc.  But for the most part I have failed to get the timing right.
This year I once again determined to change that. So with the approach of Martin Luther King Jr. Day and February being Black History Month I decided to read the Penguin Lives volume Martin Luther King, Jr.: A Life by Michael Frady.
It turned out different than I might have imagined – fascinating and surprisingly balanced but with a writing style that made it slow going at times.
Overall, I found it to be a nice introduction to the life of this towering figure and one that eschews hagiography and acknowledges both the strength and moral courage and the moral weaknesses of Dr. King.
For more keep reading.
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By Kevin Holtsberry • Reviews • 0 • Tags: , , , , , , ,

Feb 8 2011

In the Mail: Agent X

Agent X by Noah Boyd

From Booklist

Steve Vail, once an ace FBI agent, now a bricklayer (The Bricklayer, 2009), arrives in Washington to take Kate Bannon, the bureau’s assistant director, to an embassy soiree. But his romantic mission is sidelined by an urgent summons from the bureau: a Russian embassy staffer, code-named Calculus, is offering to name Americans feeding sensitive information to Russian intelligence. But no sooner than the bureau accepts the Russian’s terms, he is spirited off to Moscow, presumably to be tortured into admitting what he has done. Steve and Kate must identify the moles and reel them in before the Russians snuff them. But before that can happen, Vail must solve the many puzzles that Calculus uses to conceal information. Thriller fans get an endlessly twisting plot strewn with chases, gun battles, and explosions. Calculus’ puzzles are engaging, and the bureau’s procedural and bureaucratic thickets sound real.

By Kevin Holtsberry • In The Mail • 0 • Tags: , , , ,

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