Sicily '43 - The First Assault on Fortress Europe (James Holland, 2020)

(499 pages)

I'd never read much about this - it sort of falls into a gap between all the activity in North Africa and then larger Italian mainland campaign.

Summer 1943; largest amphibious landing to that point, by a long shot.  So there was lots of learning to be done.

Success seems inevitable in hindsight.  But terribly difficult. Very difficult to storm beaches even with materiel advantages.

Nighttime paratrooper drops - disaster.  Little effect on outcome, however.  Lots to learn, somewhat helpful at Normandy.

Italian troops just not ready - or inspired- in any sense - offered little resistance.

Hermann Goering division touted by name but cobbled together and not very effective.

German balancing needs on eastern front - Kursk battle going on right at this time (July 1943).  Hitler worried about "southern flank" and does move men and material from the east.

German reinforcements arrive - higher quality. Many very difficult local situations, lots of casualties, seems discouraging in a fight whose outcome both sides could readily foresee.  Germans fall back to the NE corner of the island, then they do a good job falling back into the "toe" of the Italian "boot".  And surviving to make difficult fighting for the Allies as they push up into Italy (the author's next book).

This author does a good job weaving individual narratives within the overall story line.  Also history of Sicily, including mafioso development (the Fascists had mostly subdued them and many emigrated to America; the Allies found them useful including in the postwar period, reinvigorating them).  I hadn't known much about Sicily before this other than classical tales, Arab pirates, lingering poverty.

Times Remembered - Algona: 1854-2004 (2003)

(163 pages)

This was a gift from my parents received shortly after the book was released.

It isn't a history book per se; it includes numerous vignettes extending across the named years. 

Useful reminder of conditions being pretty primitive in northern Iowa in the pre-Civil War period. I see that the railroad ("The Milwaukee Railroad" - same line on which I commuted from Glenview to downtown Chicago in the early 1980s) first reached Algona in 1870.

Carnegie library.

For my taste, a bit too much of the content is one-pagers about various retail establishments - maybe this is what the Algona Upper Des Moines was familiar with?  Hutzell's, Hub, Chrischilles, etc.

Easy read, worth the brief time required.

Death Be Not Proud (John Gunther, 1949)

The title is from a well-known John Donne poem.

Author's son dies of a brain tumor after a 15-month illness. The son is very bright. The parents are very devoted.  They pursue all sorts of medical angles (they have money and connections and use them).

Very solemn topic and this was universally considered well-written.  But I didn't get into it. Maybe because it's kind of an uncomfortable thing and the kid seemed too-good-to-be-true?  Not sure. 

I think perhaps the novelists are more captivating with this (easy example the death of the Proust narrator's grandmother).  

Starship Troopers (Robert A. Heinlein, 1959)

This was a fun read.

Johnny Rico decides to join the mobile infantry; war breaks out - interstellar stuff - primary enemy is a group of Bugs - spider-like, large, operate through central brains.

Setting is earth a long time after the order known in the 20th century had fallen apart. By necessity and happenstance rather than design - groups of military veterans started running things in an effort to restore order.  And this worked fairly well - under the new system, only veterans were allowed to vote.  So it continued.

There isn't much fighting/action in the book - good passages at beginning and end.

Interesting musings about how to raise children, how to govern society, preparing folks to fight in the military as constructed in those days.  Boot camp, officer candidate school. Author seemed to know a lot about this world and thought highly of it.

Some of the passages about societal breakdown sounded familiar. 

I, Claudius - From the Autobiography of Tiberius Claudius (Robert Graves, 1934)

(468 pages)

This title was familiar from a PBS series years ago that I never watched.

It's an interesting look at Rome in the final years of Augustus's reign, then Tiberius (not a great figure), then Caligula (an awful figure); Claudius unexpectedly declared emperor at the end of the book (Claudius the God will pick up the thread, I plan to read it).

A bit more palace intrigue than I was expecting, but probably a useful look at things that happen as authoritarian systems start to decay.

As I understand it, Graves was pretty true to the history of the times.

Livia such a strong character.

Interesting tidbit - Augustus is concerned with the lack of fertility among the higher ranks of society - too much fun, having and parenting children not honored among that set.

Tiberius relying on informers. Episodes of incredible cruelty.

A good read.

Curlew: Home - Essays & a Journey Back (Tom Montag, 2001)

Some years ago - when Mom asked what I'd like for a Christmas gift - I'd ask each year for a book about Iowa stuff.  I received these for several years, recently located them in a storage box, and now am going these gift books.

I do recall paging through Montag's book, and mostly remembering that it was the only written description of corn shelling that I could ever recall encountering - and that it wasn't a bad description, though his writing was overwrought when it came to describing how the physical labor part feels (admittedly that kind of labor does feel good or rewarding or something).  Plus he was just a once or twice per year corn sheller guy - not at the level of we all-day every-day every-summer (and sometimes in other seasons) experts.

What I didn't recall was the incredible extent to which Montag's experiences overlapped with ours. He's about 10 years older, and they were renters at the time this was written - so as I recall it our setting was a bit more "modern" in some significant ways. But nonetheless so much of this is right on target. (He does spend some time trying to sort out why he wanted to become a poet - less interested in that but ok that's his prerogative.)

Curlew is a tiny town about 30 miles or so pretty much straight west of St. Joe. Whereas we saw the West Bend elevator from the east, he was looking at it from the west.  And wandering into Algona, Humboldt, West Bend, Emmetsburg etc - all the familiar towns.

But mostly he was on the farm.

Stuff that sounded pretty familiar:

He's the oldest of nine children.

p. 18 - reading Snowbound

p. 73 - parents using a wagon hoist to lift up the front end of a wagon (no hydraulic hoist) - oats into elevator to be lifted into the bin - there were parts of this that a young kid could help with. (Dropping the pin into a wagon tongue is my very earliest memory of "helping" with farm work.  Ernest J. couldn't turn around far enough to see exactly where he was backing up.)

p. 82 - Sunday bicycle ride "around the block" (meaning the four miles around the section)

p. 87 - Sunday making a fire and roasting hot dogs; marshmallows

p. 89 - narrow highway 18, with curbs (just like 169)

p. 94 - their telephone ring was two shorts and a long (I think ours was the reverse)

p. 102 - talking about the Curlew centennial history book of 1984 (did they use St. Joe (1976) as a model?

p. 112 - oldtimers reminisce about the winter of 1936

p. 116 - hauling coal, delivering it through a little basement window

p. 136 - wringer washer in the cellar (it's not a "basement")

p. 140 - throwing baseball against the front of the barn, "playing catch with myself"

p. 146 - garbage pail in the "entryway" - this is where they always enter the house, it faces east

p. 149 - playing pinochle and 500; a sister bids nine diamonds

p. 150 - they buy The Book of Knowledge; also Encyclopedia Brittanica

p. 167 - visiting the farmstead, pretty much everything gone.  Some trees soughing.  Decaying corn crib.

p. 183 - he reads The Kid Who Batted 1.000

p. 217 - walking beans for the neighbors; cockleburrs; washing up in a pan placed on the porch outside their house

p. 218 - walking around the former farmstead again - "it's all gone, and nothing is gone"

p. 222 - BB guns; shooting a car window

p. 227 - the corn shelling description.  The sheller man arrives early. "He gets so much per bushel shelled and so much per bushel hauled." He remembers the sheller man being very particular ("always insists upon doing this part of the job himself") about linking the chains of the drag sections - EMG the same, this was an important ritual at the start of every set. "Dinner is a big meal" - sitting a spell in the shade after.  Etc.

p. 241 - rotary hoeing the corn; the blade picks up rocks

[He several times mentions the rock pile - a place to play, a place where rocks were brought in from the field, of course.]

p. 259 - butchering chickens; hot water for scalding feathers, barrel with newspapers for fire to singe off hairs

p. 287 - killing rats (after moving the feeder)

p. 307 - visiting the cemetery; a deceased sibling

p. 311 - "I don't want the sadness of the loss to be what is remembered.  I want to remember the joy of those years . . ."

Thanks, Mom & Dad!

A History of the Muslim World From its Origins to the Dawn of Modernity (Michael Cook, 2024)

(846 pages)

I'm trying to better understand why Islam-dominated areas of the world - and now Islam-dominated areas of Western nations affected by immigration - seem to have issues, let's say.  This after what always seems like a rather glorious period hundreds and hundreds of years ago.

Certainly no simple answers based on this book; as with the impression from all the other Islam stuff I've read - this is a complex situation with many different actors and outcomes.

Author starts with helpful background.  Arabia area to the south of the two main empires (Constantinople and Persia). Two main empires expending huge energy fighting each other at end of sixth century and into seventh. Harassed by steppe folk from the north - sometimes an ally, sometimes a dire threat.  Desert folk from the south (Arabia area) don't have anything resembling a state, a few minor kinglets; sometimes harass southern fringes of the two main empires. Two main empires occasionally coopt a local Arab-area leader to help control other tribes/clans.  Arab area does have the black rock at Mecca and various local gods but not part of the main religious strands (Christian, Jewish, Zoroastrian).  Lacking political structure and major religion, exposed to these concepts by declining imperial powers.

Ishmaelites = Arabs. Connection to Abraham.

Muhammed and founding of Islam.  Never not inextricably bound up with politics, formation of state, warfare. Fighting to survive in the earliest going.  Fighting to conquer in the following decades. Religious rhetoric is often about who should rule and how - separation of church and state never existed or was even considered in so many of these areas. This seems pretty important! 

Scope of conquered (colonized) territory is astounding. As is pace of colonization - 100 years pretty much did it.

Spread of Islam, spread of Arabic language - population of Arabs compared to populations of colonized territories - how was this possible?

Lots of discussion on this. An interesting idea was a very early decision that in the colonized territories, tax revenue would be collected and soldiers would be paid from this - a path to continued central control. Rather than just giving chunks of the colonized territories to successful generals - a path to atomization, compare feudal Europe. But many other factors mentioned, and scope of centralized control over the colonies was severely limited by distance and communication challenges.

The idea that Arabs - and later Arab nomads - would be placed in the colonies and would need lots of retainers, slaves, etc. These local folks gravitated toward Islam and Arabic. The process continued. Contributed to the long-term change.

Heavy duty taxation focused on non-Muslim populations.  Heavy duty utilization of slaves.

In the early centuries - my impression from this book is that Islamic leadership expended far more energy dealing with civil wars and rebellions than with third party threats. The variations of Islam in various parts of the colonized territories (and Arabia itself) - to a greater extent than I realized - not monolithic.

Early moves into Iraq - Arabia remained special but was not a place to center the Caliphate.

Long discussions of expansion across North Africa and into Spain.  Dealing with Berbers. More than one Caliphate (Spain, Egypt, Iraq).

Moves on to discuss expansion into Iran. India.  Rise of the Turks (in waves).

As more modern times approach - a real failure to keep up with technology, trade, etc.

Author seems to have an incredible knowledge of detail here.  

Good reminder to be very humble what I can figure out about this topic.

Retracing My Footsteps in World War II (Vernon Hohenberger)

The author had given a copy of this book to my parents some years ago; I had paged through it on St. Joe visits, and was pleased to be able to take this from the St. Joe house when we siblings "divided out" things in April 2023.

It's autographed by the author!  Vernon Hohenberger farmed near us in the Luverne/Livermore area though - since he wasn't Catholic - we didn't see him regularly - in fact, very seldom.  I have a dim recall of a very pleasant human being.

The book is fascinating. Partly because I read so few, if any, first-person accounts of the war.

Hohenberger's path overlapped geographically with that of our uncle, Irvin Bormann - North Africa and Italy. But a bit earlier in time (and later). Unlike Irvin, Hohenberger survived Italy and ended up with duty elsewhere after the fall of Rome.

He belonged to the famous 34th Infantry Division - "Red Bull" - an incredibly long combat history - at page 100 he mentions 33 months overseas. Red Bull division is prominent in all the histories of the European theater in WWII.

p. 28 - vivid memories of getting into a theater to see "White Christmas" prior to getting shipped toward N. Africa.

p. 35 - artillery experiences, here in N. Africa - reminds of Irvin's artillery descriptions.

p. 45 - his description of N. Africa "Arab" scenes - again, reminds of Irvin's.

p. 47 - he mentions the soon-to-be-famous 100th Infantry - this is the successful battalion of mostly Japanese-American soldiers mostly from Hawaii - they come up later in his story - Michener covered this in his "Hawaii" novel.

p. 50 - landing at Salerno (Irvin at Naples). I believe this was autumn 1943, prior to Irvin's arrival.

p. 53 - Volturno River - just a terrible area. Lots of detail in ensuing pages about fighting around Rapido River, Cassino. Mentions Christmas 1953.  Irvin killed in action February 1, 1944.  Monte Cassino eventually bombed February 15, 1944.

Additional discussion of finally getting furloughed and a visit home; war wrapping up by the time his overdue leave was expiring - ended up with some duty with occupation troops.

Stories of getting back into civilian life - including a short time working at a store owned by Cliff and Mary Baker (yes, Uncle Daryl's parents).

This is a quick and excellent read.

Farmall Century 1923-2023 - The Evolution of Red Tractors in the Golden Age of International Harvester (Lee Klancher), 2023)

I very much enjoyed routine tractor work - whether in the field or driving the corn sheller from job to job - during my on-the-farm days - from the late 1960s through 1979.  But I definitely was not the gearhead type and remain not-knowledgeable about pretty much anything mechanical, including tractors.

Yet - my dad's 2022 death at age 93 and the subsequent auctioning of all of the farm goods triggered a higher degree of interest for this kind of thing, or nostalgia, or whatever it is.  I'm enjoying seeing various social media feeds and photos of old days tractors. (Dad owned Farmalls until a John Deere 4020 showed up later - so we supported Farmall.)

So I bought this book - thinking it was more of a coffee table item but it turns out that there also is a great deal of interesting history. Much enjoyed.

The foreword portion was captivating - it included a passage about farmers' proclivity for tinkering with their machines - dad certainly did this with the corn sheller, to the point where Charlie put together a mock patent office filing going through his innovations.

The early portion of the book is dedicated to the development of reapers and the like - tractors aren't even on the scene. This part is more interesting to me than lots of the later tractor detail - I never understood very well what was involved in the "threshing" crews that my parents and grandparents talked about; let alone the incredible amount of labor to get anything done during the phases prior to that.  It's easy to see how mechanization depopulated the rural areas.

McCormick family, competitors, reaper wars, early 20th century antitrust, lots of patent litigation, Rockefeller involvement, branding, educating consumers.

Interesting characters - including a John Steward wounded at Vicksburg, started out with John Wesley Powell's second Grand Canyon expedition (1871). Abraham Lincoln hired one of the attorneys involved in the reaper patent litigation for some of his own matters.  

Later hiring a consumer goods artist to design the attractive "letter series" Farmalls - these were the Ms and Super Ms that we were familiar with (followed by the "number series" tractors, such as our 400 diesel). Now that I think about it and see the photos - the design was pretty cool! Designer even put together art-deco type (or was it midcentury modern?) dealership buildings, a few of which have survived.

Replacing horses - early tractors with not much more power than a couple horses. A huge market.

Steam, kerosene, gasoline, diesel, etc.

Lots of pulley work in the early going.  Development of the PTO (something I took for granted).

Did not realize how many Fordson tractors were sold through Ford - it was a great little machine, sold at a low price and a genuine threat to IH (though priced so low that this probably contributed to Ford shifting away from it).

Eventually we get to the F-20, M and then the larger tractors.

I had no idea how much IH was involved in WWII.

Great photography throughout - this will sit on the coffee table for easy access.

The Hound of the Baskervilles (Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, 1902)

Read an electronic version of this classic while flying to and fro Phoenix -> Bangalore.  Perfect airplane reading material.

Much of my memory of the book is intertwined with memories of the 1939 movie starring Basil Rathbone and Nigel Bruce - a favorite as we were growing up; the younger siblings made a tape recording and then a typed transcript. The movie also delights, if varying in some respects from the book.

Anyway - the detective is hired to get to the bottom of a mystery on the moors - a legendary, huge hound-like fiend that haunts the Baskervilles over the generations.  Dr. Mortimer brings in Holmes.  Watson stays on the moor.  Stapleton and his "wife" live nearby; he is a naturalist.  Barrymore - butler - and his wife and brother.

Laura Frankland wrote to Sir Hugo - I don't really recall that part in the movie.

I would avoid the Grimpen Mire.

Great read.  

Die with Zero (Bill Perkins, 2020)

203 pages.

Author's premise is that too many people wait too long to spend their money, quit or downsize their jobs, etc.  I think this is true in many cases, but the book would be mostly of interest to folks with a lot of $$.

Nonetheless - a lot of good ideas on a topic that doesn't get enough attention. Quick read.

I thought a little too much focus on the idea that fulfillment in life depends on experiences which in turn are created by spending money earlier in life.  That's not the author's whole focus by any means - he certainly does also mention and emphasize giving away money to charities and/or children earlier.  But it's given more importance than I think it merits.

Interesting read in part because we are in early retiree years and lucky to have good health - go time.

Author mentions connection to University of Iowa college football, his dad played in early '60s.  So I looked up Don Perkins - turns out to be author's uncle.

The High Window (Raymond Chandler, 1942)

265 pages.

Super quick read, and Chandler writes so very well.  Kind of like Wodehouse - sets up a phrase or sentence in a way that seems familiar and the reader can usually anticipate the author's direction - then drops in something unexpected, interesting, clever.

Philip Marlowe.

This was good, entertaining, well-written - but not a favorite.  Characters not particularly likable (probably the author's intention).  Too much talk-explaining about the crime(s) resolution to wrap up the book.

(Seems like I had a similar reaction to the Chandler book previously read.)

The Mayor of Casterbridge (Thomas Hardy, 1886)

Sixth of his works that I've read, all well worthwhile.

Descriptions continue to amaze - agriculture details, market details, local terrain details, personalities in various social sets. This aspect is enjoyable in its own right.

Story line was good but not my favorite of his works. Too many key characters are disposed of via dying (for example).

Michael Henchard the key character - warts and all - he persists despite impulsive outbursts that cause serious mistakes.

No heroic figures in this one - everyone with some issue or the other, Elizabeth-Jane and the Scotsman perhaps less so.  But that is a strength of the novel, not a criticism.

Sugar Street (part three of The Cairo Trilogy) (Naguib Mahfouz, 1956)

Overall comment spanning parts 1-3 - I really liked this. Length (trilogy format) allows author to develop the family characters. Story line nonetheless compact. Brings out a variety of characters, viewpoints, interests, behaviors; brings out the transition in Egypt from traditional ways to 20th century modernity; excellent with dialogue and especially with showing thoughts, reactions, emotions internal to each character.  And it's set in a part of the world that is not normally the subject of novels as least as far as I've encountered. I hope I learned something as well as enjoying the story, though the latter would be sufficient.

_______________

Specific to part 3 - 

(328 pages_

The next generation is growing up.  Yasin's son (Ridwan) getting well-connected; he takes after his father in looks.  We start seeing the parts of the story through the next-gen eyes.

It's now the 1930s. Egyptian nationalists still desiring to throw out the English but now Nazis and Italian fascists are recognized threats.

Khadija's son Ahmad - admires Kamal - disconnecting from traditional religion to Khadija's dismay - good discussions about how that happens.

Ahmad's brother is part of a group of young men who belief in a holy man - circa p. 1064 - a discussion of Egypt (or Arab world writ large) in relation to other countries - this sounds remarkably similar to today's conversations. "True belief" and faith (fundamentalist Islam) against materialistic cultures that won't stand.

This brother is in the "Muslim Brotherhood"; Ahmad seems himself as a Communist.

The health of the father (Sayyid) continues to deteriorate even though he is only in his early 60s; same is happening to his three closest friends - presumably a message about the effect of their habits.

Aisha's sadness.

Ahmad in love with fellow sociology student, then a co-worker.  Kamal getting older, still resistant to marriage. Lots of discussion of his thoughts on not getting married; reverberations from youth.

Throughout parts 1-2, Kamal is working as a writer - but lots of reflections by him and conversations with others about the value of his work - tends to be abstract/pure thought of limited interest.  How long to stick with this? Kamal continues teaching.  Ahmad writes for a magazine.

World War II arrives.

Role reversal - Sayyid is confined to the home (and then to his bed), Amina (the mother) is able to leave every day (visits mosques and her nearby relatives).

There is an air raid - more intense than those that preceded it - author does a really good job communicating this.  The father is forced to walk down the stairs and to a sheltered area, this is very hard on him.  The author does a really good job communicating this also. Sayyid's passing within a day or two - the author does a really good job with this.  Sayyid with outsize influence despite (or in part because of) his domineering and wayward ways - a core of family care that everyone noticed and relied on.

Author does a good job voicing the views of the Muslim Brotherhood and the Communists - same rhetoric as always.  Authorities dislike.

I like that he doesn't wrap up with some tidy resolution of Kamal's marriage or professional status or beliefs.  The world is changing, Amina on her last days, on it will somehow go.

Palace of Desire (Part two of The Cairo Trilogy) (Naguib Mahfouz, 1956)

(445 pages)

[The names of the three sections are names of streets in old Cairo where characters live and much of the action takes place.]

Part 2 of the trilogy starts with the family very sad because of Falmy.

Amina (mother) affected most; she is aging rapidly, still mostly confined to her house but at least can go to the cemetery and mosque pretty much when she wants.

Father is also aging and getting some health scares - had seemed indestructible but behaviors (resumed after a several-years break) take a toll.  Author explores how aging felt to the father, did a good job.

Some looks at the daughters (Khadija, Aisha) who married the brothers.

Yasin not very good at marriage, impulsive, somehow genuinely likeable throughout.

Yasin's tastes overlapping with his father's.  Which creates situations.

Much focus on Kamal (youngest son) - he's growing up, getting educated, falling in love, has a best friend who is brother of his love interest.  Best friend and his sister move out of Egypt, Kamal loses his previously strict faith as he progress in his studies.  The author does a good job exploring how these losses affect Kamal. Modernity invading traditional ways.

Kamal tries alcohol, runs into Yasin in a brothel.

The father has a major health scare toward the end of this work and vows to change his ways.

Aisha's family is stricken with typhus.

The revolutionary leader so admired by Falmy and Kamal passes away as the book ends.  Another loss.