posts interesting only to me

Bleak Seasons — Glen Cook
The sixth book in the Black Company and the first to star Murgen rather than Croaker or the Lady. Grim and gritty in a good way.

The Road to Verdun — Ian Ousby
I hadn’t heard of the author before, but this turned to be an immensily interesting book on not just the military history that led to the battle of Verdun in World War I, but which also explains the cultural and historucal background of this battle, of how the War of 1870 was echoed in Verdun.

Voice of the Whirlwind — Walter Jon Williams
Not his most famous cyberpunk novel (that’s Hardwired but still an excellent example of a second generation cyberpunk novel.

The Situation — Jeff Vandermeer
This was given away as a free e-book by Wired and PS Publishing. I had heard of Vandermeer but not yet read anything by him and this was a good introduction, as it was a chapbook less then fifty pages long. A fairy tale of office politics and the post-singulary (I think).

Kingtiger Heavy Tank 1942 – 1945 — Tom Jentz, Hilary Doyle, Peter Sarson
The first entry in Osprey’s New Vanguard series of short books aimed at serious tankheads. A reasonable overview of the development history of this tanl, but with little attention paid to the operational history. Yes, this is me indulging my war nerd side.

Driftglass — Samuel R. Delany
I’ve been looking for this collection of short stories for a long time. Delany isn’t much of a short story writer, more a novelist and hasn’t written many; the ones here were all written between 1965 and 1968. Reading them in sequence gives a good overview of recurrent themes and images in his work.

Attack of the Unsinkable Rubber Ducks — Christopher Brookmyre
If Richard Dawkins wrote thrillers and had a sense of humour this would be the book he’d write. Brookmyre’s hero Jack Parlabane gets involved in a suppsoedly scientific experiment to prove the psychic powers of an American medium, only to get involved in a much larger complot. Religion and mysticism do not quite get a fair hearing here.

Plagues and Peoples — William H. McNeill
Here’s a book written some two decades before Jared Diamond’s Gun, Germs and Steel which covers much of the same terrain: the way in which diseases and plagues shaped human history.

H-Bomb Girl — Stephen Baxter
I’m not a great Stephen Baxter fan, but this was quite good. Written as a young adult novel, this will give some bright twelve year old nightmares for years –in a good way.

Cry of the Newborn — James Barclay
It was only because Steve Erickson provided the cover blurb that I picked this book up. Unfortunately it turned out to be just another middle of the road epic fantasy. What’s more, I found the side the author wants us to cheer for — the hegemonising faux-Roman Empire attempting to conquer the world to bring peace and prosperity — morally repulsive.

Kingdom of Shadows — Alan Furst
Alan Furst specialises in writing interbellum thrillers, set in the late thirties with world War II looming in the background. Even when his protagonists win their battles, you know their victories are ultimately futile when Europe gets swept up in a new world war. It makes for sombre, slightly depressing reading which works well in small doses.

Peace & its Discontents — Edward W. Said
A collection of Said’s columns written during 1993-1995 for various Arabic newspapers, explaining how the Oslo peace process had let down the Palestinian people.

Life on a Young Planet — Andrew H. Knoll
Excellent overview of what we know of what life looked like and evolved in the billions of years before the socalled Cambrian Explosion.

Hons and Rebels — Jessica Mitford
An autobiography of the communist member of the Mitford sisters. Understated humour.

Have Space Suit – Will Travel — Robert A. Heinlein
Another of Heinlein’s juveniles ticked off. Good entertainment as always, but better read if you’re twelve.

Here are the books I’ve read last month. Less than I wanted to read to keep on track for my goal of 150 books read this year. Oh well, guess I have to read more in November and December…

Europe unfolding: 1648-1688 — John Stoye
Excellent narrative history about one of those interludes in European history that don’t really fit a period. As this is an English history, Europe means the continent, but it’s very good at covering the whole of Europe and not just western Europe.

Dreams of Steel — Glen Cook
The fifth Black Company novel (not counting The Silver Spike) and the first not narrated by Croaker. Gripping as always.

The Witches of Karres — James H. Schmitz
Schmitz is not an author I had heard much of, until ten years or so ago, when Baen started to reprint his work, but in an “updated” version. I got this book as an indirect result of the controversy this update caused in rec.arts.sf.written, as Jo Walton handed it out as a wedding present, echoing the old Hobbit tradition of giving away presents on your birthday. An entertaining read, which means I will search out more Schmitz.

Slan — A. E. Van Vogt
First time in decades I actually read some van Vogt. Slan is one of those stories that had an influence on science fiction all out of proportion to its qualities, just because the idea is so good. The first chapter especially is so good in establishing the emotional truth of poor old Jommy Cross’ situation, twelve years old, a superhuman mutant with intelligence and strength far above normal people but all alone in a world that fears and hates him and his kind.

1491 – New Revelations of the Americas Before Columbus — Charles C. Mann
I got this on a recommendation by Teresa Nielsen Hayden. Mann is one of those people who’s able to take what the experts known on pre-Columbian America and make it available to the general public. The revelations here -that America was much more populated, had a much longer history and was much less wild than recieved wisdom would have it- are not new to those in the field, but have so far not quite penetrated public consciousness yet. 1491 might just be the book to do it.

Time Patrolman — Poul Anderson
Two long stories about the Time Patrol, as also seen in The Guardians of Time. A nice study of contrast, as the first story is one of cheerful high adventure, the kind of sotry which got Anderson his fame in the first place, while the second confirms his reputation of Gloomy Dane he got later in his life.

The Final Programme — Michael Moorcock
The first Jerry Cornelius novel, almost a word for word rewrite of the first Elric novella, the Dreaming City. Setting Elric’s story in a near contemporary England makes clear the banality of it all.

A Cure for Cancer — Michael Moorcock
The second novel in the Cornelius Quartet, more ambitious than the first, flawed but interesting.

The English Assassin — Michael Moorcock
A return to a more conventional structure but with a much less coherent (deliberately) storyline.

The Condition of Muzak — Michael Moorcock
In this one everything has degenerated, given in to entropy.

Wall Street — Doug Henwood
A somewhat dated (published in 1997) but still relevant examination of the financial industry from a leftwing, marxistoid point of view.

Here are the books I’ve read last month. Not as many as usual, as I struggled with a couple of books.

Red Planet — Robert A. Heinlein
Another Heinlein juvenile, showing how one boy and his Martian pet cause the planet to succesfully rebel against an ever oppressive Earth.

Goths and Romans 332-489 — Peter Heather
I enjoyed Peter Heather’s The Fall of the Roman Empire and this is an earlier book of his, on a related subject, the relationship between the Goths and the Eastern Roman Empire during the period of the fall of the western Empire.

Spycatcher — Peter Wright
The autobiography of one of a former assistant directors of MI5, which caused a huge controversy when first published, to the point of being banned from publication in the UK itself. Particularly the revelation that Labour prime minister Harold Wilson had been spied upon by MI5 under suspicion of being a Soviet mole caused a lot of interest.

Tales — H. P. Lovecraft
Huge collection of Lovecraft stories edited by Peter Straub for the Library of America series. At roughly one story per quarrter hour commute, as well as two long train journeys, it still took me over a week to plow through this. Reading more than a few of these stories in one sitting isn’t recommended either, as the simularities and stylistic tics shared by them become increasingly visible.

De Wet op Internet — Arnoud Engelfriet
Arnoud is a Dutch blogger specialised in the intersection of the internet with the law. He has now written a clear, easy to understand book on the fundamentals of internet law in the Netherlands.

The Haunter of the Ring & Other Tales — Robert E. Howard
A collection of horror and weird mystery stories by the creator of Conan the Barbarian. More variety than the similar Lovecraft collection, but with the same undertone of racism, where race determines character and there’s nothing better than somebody from clean, Anglo Saxon stock.

Civilisation and Capitalism – The Wheels of Commerce — Fernand Braudel
The second volume in Braudel’s massive history of the early days of modern capitalism between the fifteenth and eighteenth centuries. This one looks at how commerce and capitalism developed in these centuries.

An Army at Dawn — Rick Atkinson
The story of the North African campaign from Operation Torch to the liberation of Tunis, from an American point of view. Well told and engrossing, a good book to get an idea from of how this campaign went for the Americans. Supposedly this is the first of a series, with the next volumes detailing the rest of the war in Europe.

Too Many Women — Rex Stout
A post-war Nero Wolfe mystery. Fun, dated and somewhat sexist.

CauseWired — Tom Watson
Tom Watson is a journalist and onlive activist who believes the future of social activism is online and attempts to sketch out this future here. Sounds trite at first, but he means more than just charities discovering the power of facebook or twitter. Once you get through the silicon snakeoil and marketing speech, there is a kernel of truth here.

Here are the books I’ve read last month.

Have His Carcase — Dorothy L. Sayers
The second Harriet Vane novel, which starts when she almost literally stumbles about a body on the beach, its throat cut by a razor. Vane and Wimsey team up to solve the case and see whether it was murder or suicide.

Postsingular — Rudy Rucker
Despite having several of his novels in my bookcases, this is the first of his I’ve read and I got it from the library… As the title gives away, this is a novel trying to deal with the socalled Singularity and succeeding reasonably well. A fair but not brilliant novel, that looks to be written for a young adult audience.

Reporting War — Stuart allan and Barbie Zelizer (editors)
A collection of essays about journalists in wartime, the dangers they face and the possibility of honest reporting as well as the limitations they work under.

Dresden — Frederick Taylor
The frontcover blurb compares this to Anthony Beevor’s Stalingrad, which for once is
a quite good comparison. Like Beevor’s book, Dresden takes an iconic episode of World War II and put it into context, clearing away some of the myths that have grown up around it.

The Mercenary — Jerry Pournelle
One of the novels that set the tone for the milsf subgenre, warts and all. It’s all here: the glorification of military men, the cod-toughness and distrust of democracy

Sand against the Wind — Barbara Tuchman
The usual competent Tuchman history, this time mixing a biography of “Sour” Joe Sitwell with the story of US intervention in China between the wars and during World War II, while America’s strategy for defeating Japan slowly changed.

What We Say Goes — Noam Chomsky
A collection of interviews with Chomsky, talking about current events and explaining their background. Not much new here if you follow the right blogs (ie. mine) but he does have the knack of explaining complex things clearly.

The White Rose — Glen Cook
The third book of the Black Company series of dark fantasy books. The Black Company has been leading the resistance against the Lady, the Evil Overlord ruling most of the north and now after years of waiting things come to a head. What sets this series apart from other fantasy “trilogies” is Cook’s nicely unsentimental attitude towards his characters.

Silencing the Past — Michel-Rolph Trouillot
Trouillot is an Haitian historian, so it’s unsurprising that he would want to investigate the ways in which certain parts of history are routinely silenced, as so much of his country’s history has been, despite its importance not just to Haiti but the wider world.

Shadow Games — Glen Cook
The fourth book of the Black Company, starting a new storyline in which the Company goes in search of its past and

The High Crusade — Poul Anderson
An alien ship lands in Medieval England. The local nobles, too brave or too unimaginative to know fear of the aliens and their weapons storm it, then intend to use it to invade France. Instead they end up at the other end of the galaxy and set about conquering the alien empire that send
the ship…

Tunnel in the Sky — Robert A. Heinlein
A group of students are sent by teleportationt unnel to a distant planet for their solo survival tests. It shouldn’t have take more than two weeks, but something goes wrong and the tunnel doesn’t reappear. Now they have to work together to survive. The hero is as per usual in a Heinlein juvenile brave, goodnatured and a little dim so that his more clever friends and kindly elderly authority figures can explain the ways of the world to him.

Farmer in the Sky — Robert A. Heinlein
A teeneage boy migrates to Gandymedes with his father and his new family and grows up to be a man. They get a bit of a raw deal on the new colony but as usual with Heinlein the solution lies in hard working and no complaining rather than any collective action.

Under an English Heaven — Donald E. Westlake
A lighthearted history of how Anguila was the only British colony ever to rebel against its rulers with the intention to remain a British colony, rather than become independent, and how this led to an invasion compared to which the American invasion of Grenada two decades later looked dangerous.

It’s August 1st, so time for a new list of books read. Lots of history at the start of the month, as I had just bought a pile of them in June. Also a lot of Sayers novels, as I’m in the process of rereading them in order. Little in the way of science fiction this time, as I just haven’t been in the mood
for it.

Europe: Privilege and Protest 1730-1789 — Olwen Hufton
A look at European history in the decades before the French revolution would decisively end the world of the Ancien Regime, showing how interlocking systems of privilege ruled this world, both priviledges enjoyed by the leite, but also by more humbler folk. A much more modern history of the same period as covered by Europe of the Ancien Regime 1715-1783 I read at the end of June.

The World Turned Upside Down — Christopher Hill
During the English civil war of parliament against king, there were people who wanted to go much further than parliament was willing to go, to revolutionise class relations in England. Diggers, Levelers and others for a few precious years created a glimpse of a more just, more equal society, a “World Turned Upside Down”.

Europe Between Revolutions 1815-1848 — Jacques Droz
After the French revolution had been finally repressed in 1815, a deliberate attempt was made to restore the stability of the Ancien Regime as well as the authority of the old ruling classes. Jacques Droz is excellent in making clear the stresses and contradictions between the ideal and reality that would ultimately lead to the failure of this.

The Unpleasantness at the Bellona Club — Dorothy L. Sayers
The fourth Wimsey novel, again a novel in which the detective story is used as a lens through which to look at contemporary British society. In this case it’s the impact the First World War had on the lives of an entire generation of veterans, coming to terms with their experiences as well as their difficulties adjusting to civilian life.

The Structures of Everyday Life — Fernand Braudel
The first installment in Braudel’s three part examination of the roots of capitalism, it’s a much easier read than his earlier books on the Mediterranean I read a few years ago. This part examines how ordinary people lived, how they interacted with the wider economy from the fifteenth to the eighteenth centuries, when our current capitalist societies were being formed.

Strong Poison — Dorothy L. Sayers
The novel that introduces Harriet Vane to the Lord Peter Wimsey series and Wimsey falls in love with her immediately. Some may think her somewhat of a Mary Sue, and there certainly may be hints of Mary Sueness here, but in the end she’s strong enough to be more than that. In the context of reading the entire Wimsey series in order, it’s clear this is a hinge point for it, where you can see the mood of the series shift.

Five Red Herrings — Dorothy L. Sayers
Reading this for the first time I liked it, but was still unfamiliar enough with Sayers to realise how much this not just a traditional detective novel of a kind Sayers never attempts anywhere else, but a critique of them. It’s quite jarring in tone with the rest of the series, not fitting in with either the pre or the post-Strong Poison novels. In fact, it reads like Sayers meant it as an example of how not to write a detective novel, with all its fuzzing about train tables and such.

Imperial Life in the Emerald City — Rajiv Chandrasekaran
A good but limited critique of the United States occupation of Iraq, which concentrates on the blunders made by the CPA, but which doesn’t question the fundamental right of America to actually be in the country.

New Skies — Patrick Nielsen Hayden (editor)
A collection of science fiction stories from the past two decades, aimed at younger readers new to science fiction. Some duds, but on the whole it does give a good oversight of what you can expect from the genre.

Last van de Oorlog — Stef Scaliola
A history thesis turned into a book, this looks at the ways in which the debate about the wars fought by the Netherlands to hold on to Indonesia in 1946-1949, in particular the warcrimes committed during it and how these have been covered up or revealed. Scaliola looks at the roles journalists, historians, politicians and the veterans themselves played in this process of remembrance.

Britain’s Gulag — Caroline Elkins
Incredibly depressing, this is the history of Britain’s attempt to quash the Kenyan struggle for independence, largely by emulating the way the nazis behaved in Poland. Pogroms, a massive concentration camp system in which almost the neitre Kikuyu population of Kenya was held as slave labour, roaming death squads and institutionalised torture of the worst kind were all part of this attempt to crush the Mau Mau rebellion and make the Kikuyu into obedient, loyal subjects of the white settler population. All this seven years after World War 2.

Eight O’Clock Ferry to the Windward Side — Clive Stafford Smith
Clive Stafford Smith is one of the volunteer lawyers respresenting the detainees in Guantanamo Bay. This is his personally informed account of America’s Gulag Archipelo and its absurdities. Remarkable funny in places.