The Lovers

The Lovers (2010) by Vendela Vida. Another oddly disappointing book from Vida, who is a good writer but whose books often seem to have no destination. In this one, a woman takes a brief vacation in Turkey and becomes disoriented by the foreign culture she encounters. A boy she befriends drowns, and somehow she blames herself for his death. She travels by bus to visit his family and experiences various aspects of Turkish city life. During all this activity, she interjects memories of her dead husband, Peter, and her twin children, Matt and Aurelia. The memories of Aurelia are the most interesting, and I wish the book had been about Aurelia. In a way, it is. Judging from the blurbs on the back of the book, this is a great novel and I have missed something. So it goes. Grade: B

Shadow Knights

Shadow Knights: The Secret War against Hitler (2010) by Gary Kamiya. The cover of this book touts it as "Pulp History," and that's a pretty good description. In three parallel stories, which alternate throughout the book, we read tales of Resistance fighters in World War II. The fighters are members of Britain's SOE, or Special Operations Executive, which was set up by Churchill to go behind enemy lines and do whatever could be done to slow the German war machine. According to the book, the SOE was pretty successful -- preventing Hitler from getting his claws on heavy water needed to build an atomic bomb, disrupting the movement of German armored units after D-Day, and providing continuing support for the Maquis, the French Resistance. It's not an especially well-written book, but it deserves extra credit for the illustrations by Jeffrey Smith. Overall, it was a good read. Grade: B+

My Paper Chase

My Paper Chase (2009) by Harold Evans. Although I'd never heard of him before reading his book, Evans has been a big shot in publishing circles for decades -- first in the British newspaper trade, where he was editor of the Sunday Times, and later in American publishing, where he was president and publisher of Random House. His book tells many interesting tales of the print trade, most of them taking place in England before he emigrated to the United States with his second wife, Tina Brown. Evans is also the author of The American Century and They Made America. He is a clear and precise writer, with all the virtues of a former newspaperman. I found this book to be very enjoyable to read, although the early chapters about his young life in England were less interesting than later chapters about his time on the world stage. Grade: A-

Compass Rose

Compass Rose (2010) by John Casey. The author creates a complete world, set in southern Rhode Island, and populates it with characters who will surely be familiar to readers of his previous book, "Spartina." Spartina is the name of a boat, and it can't quite be coincidence that so is Compass Rose. Both of the boats are built by Dick Pierce, one of the central characters of the books, but in "Compass Rose" it is Elsie Bittrick who stands out. Her and May Pierce, and Mary Scanlon, and Rose -- the infant girl born to Elsie who grows up in the course of the book. Although a world populated with so many characters is a little hard to penetrate at first, it pays dividends for the persistent reader. I became thoroughly involved in the lives of the characters of South County, the fictional locale where they all live and work, and I was hungry for more when the book ended. All of their stories are left unfinished -- just as in life. If Casey writes a follow-up book to this one, I will surely seek it out. Grade: B+

Atlantic

Atlantic (2010) by Simon Winchester. Subtitle: "Great Sea Battles, Heroic Discoveries, Titanic Storms, and a Vast Ocean of a Million Stories." Winchester is clearly a writer who loves the sea. In this book he explores the "seven ages" of the Atlantic Ocean. It's an impressive work, well written and adequately documented. Much of what he writes is from personal experience, and he conveys an undeniable air of authenticity. He not only loves the ocean, he knows the ocean. The only place the book drags a bit is in his description of the depletion of the species of fish which live in the Atlantic -- not too interesting to me, since fish is a rare item in my diet. Other than that, the book is a compelling read, and will leave the sensitive reader with a feeling of great concern for the near future of the Atlantic Ocean. Grade: A-