Augustus (John Williams, 1972)

(305 pages)

Story of Augustus (Octavius) is told in epistolary form.  Gave me a better feel for this era.  Hadn't realized (or had forgotten) that Augustus started with a triumvirate (Marc Antony, Lepidus); that his ascension was a rather close-run affair.  Brutus; Cassius; Livy; Cicero.  Cleopatra.

His three early friends, especially Marcus Agrippa.

Isolation, perhaps unhappiness, in this retelling of the holder of so much power.  Remarkably long life, established the role of "emperor" as a real thing in Rome; established meaningful stability.

More focus on his daughter (Julia) than I needed - she was harmed by availability to power more than Octavius - hard times for talented women in imperial families (or elsewhere, I suppose). 

Useful counterpoint to Shakespeare's telling of this story. 

City of Djinns - A Year in Delhi (William Dalrymple, 1993)

(339 pages)

Written in 1993; would be interesting to know how well it's aged.  Author lives in Delhi for a year and builds his book around it; goes through weather cycle; describes various eras in the city's history, generally working backward.

Describes Partition as source of huge change - population doubled in ~10 years as Sikhs, Punjabis move into Delhi.  Partition stories.  His landlady was Sikh.  Larger Islamic presence pre-Partition.

Urdu/Mughal tradition . . . post-Partition remainers consider their difference from Punjabis and others stronger than Hindu/Muslim split (really?)  After Partition, Urdu tradition is concentrated in old Delhi; fading.  Punjabis considered provincials; better at commerce.  This part of the book perhaps outdated.

Discussion then goes back to early days of Brits.  They started in various areas in India but early Calcutta presence most relevant for Delhi.  Sent folks up the Ganges in mid/late 18th century; difficult journey completed overland.  Delhi already in decline - Persian invasion/massacre of 1739 perhaps the exclamation point - but Mughal authority still present (and ultimately usable by Brits).  City had faded to something of a backwater after recent glory.  Fraser/Scots as initial Brit presence - rough times, working to subjugate the countryside.  They tend to "go native" but as 19th century progresses - more conservative Brit style takes over.  Culminates in 1857 rebellion; things are going exactly backward:  viewing natives as "the other."  (Mixed race folk not accepted by either side.)  Destruction in Delhi as punishment for 1857; followed by building process for New Delhi as center of Brit authority in this part of the country.

He wastes some time on Sufi and eunuch concepts - didn't seem worth it, but he was able to find remnants to interview so used the material.

Then more on Mughals.  Aurangzeb details . . . 6th and last great Mughal emperor, died 1707.  Poisonings, intrigue.  Islamic fundamentalist for his times, created strains between Hindu and Muslim that flowered (supposedly the two were much more accepting of each other prior to this).

Delhi as Islamic since 12th century; Mughals show up 16th century.  As book winds up, I like how he describes Islamic dominance as a six-century interlude; British as a far briefer incursion; now back to Hindu per millennia prior.

Concludes with discussion how the Mahabharata fits into Delhi's history - that part is interesting.

Hymns of the Republic - The Story of the Final Year of the American Civil War (S.C. Gwynne, 2019)

(416 pages)

Book club selection (via Zach; session held (via Zoom) 23 August 2020).

Initially not a fan because it lacked battle detail, which I always enjoy.

But in the end the book works quite well - much more focus on personalities (North and South); that requires some summarizing, if not shortcutting, given that extensive biographies exist on most of these folks; but it feels like a good/fair overview.

Discussion of some of the political points was useful; Lincoln's need to obtain votes from the border states; the 1864 election; race issues had a certain immediacy compared to today.

The armies learning to "dig in" in a more systematic way that influenced war-making for a long time - hadn't thought of that - look at Petersburg, especially.  (Side thought: relatively little large-scale war happens after Civil War that tactics (perhaps, weaponry) to defeat trenches didn't develop (Spanish-American war; Franco-Prussian war; Russo-Japanese war; Boer war); perhaps this contributes to WWI trench stagnation, slaughter.  Interesting to think it was taking shape here in the Civil War.

Discussion of early Washington DC - small, yucky.  Interesting; it was a fairly new city without air conditioning.

U.S. Grant - gets a fair treatment, I think.  Still thinking about how interesting his memoirs are.

Sherman - he and Grant got it, in terms of modern (total) war.  Soldiers facing inevitable attrition rates; property destruction, etc.  Nothing glorious about it anymore, if there ever was.

Greek fire was mentioned for the second book club selection in a row (Confederate plotting here that came to naught).

Slaughterhouse Five (Kurt Vonnegut, 1969)

(215 pages)

I'm glad I read this, but I don't think I "get it" in terms of what the author is trying to do.

It's a story built around the WWII Dresden fire-bombing.

But mostly tracks the adventures of Billy Pilgrim - a rather strange fellow who ends up in the war, gets captured and sent to Dresden (where he survives because confined in a reinforced slaughterhouse), gets married to a wealthy spouse, runs (or perhaps "falls into") a thriving optometry practice, travels in time, and journeys to a faraway planet.

Anti-war; lots of clever writing; absurdist style; all that's fine.

But still.

A Soldier of the Great War (Mark Helprin, 1991)

(860 pages)

Premise a bit implausible - that this 70+ year old (the protagonist, Alessandro Giuliani) could walk overnight x kilometers alongside a kid he just met.  And I didn't love those parts of the book as much as when the author switched to just describing Alessandro's life and adventures (fortunately, that was most of the book).  (Mentioning this upfront but it's not a major problem - I'd definitely recommend this book.)

There are early passages that seem to be just floating out there, but author does a really good job of tying things together - sometimes with aspects I had forgotten over the course of hundreds of pages.

Quite a few fantasy touches - protagonist gets into multiple amazing situations, survives incredible dangers, meets one elite person after the next; the whole Orfeo (he of the blessed sap) story line.

As a youngster - encounter with Austrian soldiers, princess (and her fat relative), gondola ride with stricken orchestra member; horsemanship and the neighbor's daughter; mountaineering with Rafi. The lawyer Giuliani (his father)  Loves the family garden.

When get to wartime - stories of varied venues [northern Italy version of trench/front lines; dealing with deserters in two distinct ways; military prison; alpine maneuvering; POW], mostly areas that I've read much less about, so that part is interesting.

The kinds of conversations held by folks facing near-certain death; how they think of what might lie on the other side (or not); will I be remembered?  Author does a good job on this.

Author's technique of not writing scenes all the way to a conclusion - just giving the reader enough to know what's going to happen and leaving it to imagination - then picking up the story line - this really works well, I liked it.  Though he probably should have used the technique in the last half dozen pages.

Plenty of memorable characters - I liked Strassnitzky - the pacifist field marshal.  A general on the winter line charged with sending the Italian troops up towards Innsbruck - does a great job talking about the absurdity of what they were doing.

Alessandro's life gives a vehicle for the author to meditate on the nature of religious faith, the nature of love - for family-of-origin, for war buddies, for wife and child - of course there are no hard answers to any of this, but he offers lovely, thought-provoking things about these topics.

Proust-type touches - how memory of important people and events stays with us; also Alessandro's training in aesthetics - seeing beauty, linking to works of art. Significant chunks of the story line revolve around a couple art works; interesting.

O Pioneers (Willa Cather, 1913)

(158 pages)

Willa Cather is one of my very favorite authors.  I like this book, though it isn't one of my favorites of hers.

Alexandra Bergson takes over the family farm in Nebraska upon her father's early death, and makes a success of it.  Her parents (Swedish immigrants) had moved into what is called "the Divide" area of Nebraska when things were rather primitive there; she sees quite a bit of change and material progress.  Three brothers - two also are farmers, the third (Emil) gets a college degree.  Alexandra feels more connected to him.

The descriptions of the land resonate quite a bit, even if it isn't exactly Iowa.

Toward the end of the book Alexandra is discussing potential future disposition of her land (with Carl Linstrum) - and says "The land belongs to the future, Carl; that's the way it seems to me.  How many of the names on the county clerk's plat will be there in fifty years?"  One can look at the plat pages in the 1976 St. Joe history book and understand what she was talking about already in 1913.

There is another passage that resonated (copied below from the Project Gutenberg version of this book).  I think it's too hard on the farmer/small town community (as Cather can be) and tends to generalize the disconnectedness of the city - but I do know what they're talking about.  In 1960s St. Joe, Iowa, for example - you're connected in a meaningful way to pretty much everyone - one or more categories apply - of relative, neighbor, fellow parishioner, schoolmate, share the same working life (farming), etc.  The schedule of annual activities is well established; yes, you even know where you'll be buried.  If you grow up in that environment, you notice its absence.  Some of Carl's observations below are quite on point.  The transplanted city-dweller is extra grateful for spouse, children, immediate family. 

Yet - while I thought about it a bit, I couldn't quite see living in St. Joe long-term.  (Though it is wonderful to visit there.) 

_______________________

[Alexandra is again speaking to Carl, who had moved to St. Louis and taken a job there after his father failed at farming.  Carl is back visiting his former neighbors in the Divide.]

  Carl paused. Alexandra pushed her hair back from her brow with a puzzled, thoughtful gesture. “You see,” he went on calmly, “measured by your standards here, I'm a failure. I couldn't buy even one of your cornfields. I've enjoyed a great many things, but I've got nothing to show for it all.”

“But you show for it yourself, Carl. I'd rather have had your freedom than my land.”

Carl shook his head mournfully. “Freedom so often means that one isn't needed anywhere. Here you are an individual, you have a background of your own, you would be missed. But off there in the cities there are thousands of rolling stones like me. We are all alike; we have no ties, we know nobody, we own nothing. When one of us dies, they scarcely know where to bury him. Our landlady and the delicatessen man are our mourners, and we leave nothing behind us but a frock-coat and a fiddle, or an easel, or a typewriter, or whatever tool we got our living by. All we have ever managed to do is to pay our rent, the exorbitant rent that one has to pay for a few square feet of space near the heart of things. We have no house, no place, no people of our own. We live in the streets, in the parks, in the theatres. We sit in restaurants and concert halls and look about at the hundreds of our own kind and shudder.”

    Alexandra was silent. She sat looking at the silver spot the moon made on the surface of the pond down in the pasture. He knew that she understood what he meant. At last she said slowly, “And yet I would rather have Emil grow up like that than like his two brothers. We pay a high rent, too, though we pay differently. We grow hard and heavy here. We don't move lightly and easily as you do, and our minds get stiff. If the world were no wider than my cornfields, if there were not something beside this, I wouldn't feel that it was much worth while to work. No, I would rather have Emil like you than like them. I felt that as soon as you came.” 

The White Guard (Mikhail Bulgakov, 1925 but not allowed to be published until 1966)

The story looks at life in Kiev in the unsettled times following Russia's withdrawal from WWI. Primarily told from perspective of a family with connections to czarist Russia - part of the Whites.

Author wrote this wonderful, far more famous, work.

Bolsheviks ("Reds"), czarists ("Whites"), Ukrainian nationalists are fighting in various areas outside Kiev.  German forces have been hanging around in the wake of Russia's surrender - and generally maintaining order in Kiev - but now are withdrawing (Germany having its own problems in late 1918.)

Deeply interesting look at such a messed-up time.  White resources are limited and leadership feckless; Petlyura leads the Ukrainian forces into Kiev but the Reds are gaining strength.  White efforts to resist Petlyura are less than feeble - mostly a few officers and cadets, with limited resources.

The family through whose eyes the story mostly is told:  Alexei (doctor); Elena (their sister with the husband who leaves); Nikolka (younger brother - inexperienced cadet).  They were friends with a few officers; a family member unexpectedly joins them.  Neighbor downstairs is robbed.

Descriptions of Kiev in winter. 

This being Bulgakov - several passages involving characters having dreams.

Per Wikipedia - Bulgakov is tracking the history of these times pretty closely (including the Petlyura character (who actually never appears in the story despite constant references)).  I know very little about the details here, so much of this was new.

Turns out Bulgakov made this into a very successful stage play - supposedly seen often by Stalin - but he wasn't allowed to publish the book.

I liked it.

Goodbye to All That (Robert Graves, 1929 (using 1957 text))

(360 pages)

Essentially an autobiography of early part of author's life, though includes elements not originally written to be used as such.  I don't know much about Graves, he was a very well-known poet and author.

By far the best part is the WWI discussion (also longest - book is much worthwhile just for this).

Starts with early family life; then author experiences English schoolboy life as someone who didn't fit in well.  Rules/traditions in those days - stifling.  Then gets into military and finds a lot of the same.  (Not wired for military, but WWI breaks out just as graduating.)

Endless connections via family, school, military.  The incredibly small world of Brit upper class.  I keep thinking that this connectedness was a big factor in sustaining Brit ascendancy - idea-sharing, common values - small island with outsized influence for a very long time.

Develops close relationship with George Mallory, they go climbing; he is best man at author's wedding.

German relatives - visits in prewar, later they are fighting on the opposite side; this connection leads to some suspicions during the war.

Front line/trench discussions really good.  I've also read a lot about this where it's part of a larger narrative in a novel (Parade's End, for example) or an overall history of the war (for example, this one by John Keegan); Graves's approach is different, effective - diary-style, where no compulsion to sacrifice details to a larger story arc.  Reminds of the wonderful Isaac Babel military diary-sketches (also in that the writer isn't a military-type, at all).

Exciting times in front lines but he also has quite a few other roles in the military - training, supply stuff - some in England, some back of the front lines - assigned there because of wounds, and also because of what they then called neurasthenia - his nerves were shot.  These discussions also interesting, in part because I've seen less of them.

As war winds down, Spanish flu kills mother-in-law; he travels on train with it.  That discussion is interesting in these COVID-19 days.

Socialism seems attractive after the war, which made some sense at the time.

Recounts interactions with Wilfred Owen and a lot of poets I don't know, Thomas Hardy, T.E. Lawrence - I found myself not so interested in his reminiscences of meet-ups with famous folk.

Other postwar stuff - married, four kids, Oxford degree, takes a teaching position in Egypt.

Ends at age 33; epilogue reports that he lived in Majorca quite a bit; remarried and had four more children.

Abigail (Magda Szabo, 1970)

(333 pages)

I picked this book because Hungary's positioning between the two world wars always seems like an interesting setting, and the review was favorable.

Then I became a little nervous that the plot might be too focused on life in a girls boarding school.  And there was quite a bit of that, but it fit into the story line quite nicely and I ended up enjoying the book quite a bit.

Protagonist is the 14 year old daughter of a Hungarian army general; spoiled, willful, enjoying life in Budapest; sent off to a provincial boarding school without much explanation and has a hard time fitting in.  Abigail is a statue that somehow seems to intervene when the girls have severe troubles.

Meanwhile the alliance with Hitler is going poorly, the Hungarian army is getting pummeled in the Stalingrad fighting, Germany is taking over in Hungary, tension and difficult decisions.

Author does a good job developing characters among the school girls, the faculty, etc.

Recommended.

The Kingdom of Copper (S.A. Chakraborty, 2019)

(609 pages)

Book club selection (via Emily; session held (via Zoom) 19 July 2020).

Second in a trilogy; we had read the first as a book club selection. 

Lots of action, actually violence - often rather heavy for my taste these days.

Mostly the same characters as in the first book.

Emphasis on tribal groups does remind of current political climate - where identity politics seem to attract votes - ugh.

The use of words and concepts from India, Persia, and what I'll call the Middle East is interesting. 

The plot not so much.  And I have trouble remembering what form of magic which characters can use, and what tribal characteristics apply.

The British Are Coming - The War for America, Lexington to Princeton, 1775-1777 (Rick Atkinson, 2019)

I very much liked the author's World War II trilogy (discussed here).  He seems to be bringing the same effective touch to the Revolutionary War - this is a great read.

I've never read much about the Revolutionary War, not sure why.  Hadn't realized there was so much action action prior to issuance of the Declaration of Independence.

Lexington, Concord stories (1775) - genuinely exciting; tough times for the Americans at Lexington but a sense of accomplishment in Concord.

The author's way of making many people (officers, rank and file, home front) come alive in just a few words; of supplying enough details (for example attaching numbers to supplies - gives a sense of scope); always without bogging down or losing the larger narrative.  Readable, interesting.

I had never read much of anything about the 1776 campaign in the southern states (only recalling the cannon balls embedded in the palmetto fort) - mostly a costly diversion for British, interesting discussion.

Benedict Arnold was so talented, involved in so much up north.

Scope of the war was impressive - south, Canada, New York (where British had great successes in 1776, perhaps only wanting for follow-through)  But the immense difficulties of sending an army across and sea, and supplying it.

In general, 1776 as a pretty dreary year for the Americans after the Declaration.  But then Trenton and Princeton - crossing the Delaware on Christmas night, 1776 - this was a much more difficult, and important, undertaking than I had ever realized. Lots of information throughout on the Hessians (who happened to be the target at Trenton, unfortunately for their reputation).

The so-often-repeated error (committed here by the British) of assuming that the local population will rise up in support with just a little success and encouragement - this shows up in invasions in many locations and time periods.

A lot went wrong for England; quite a few decisions that were bungled; but the scope of England's late 18th-century international activities is really impressive.

The colonies as having so much to work out in terms of governance; such variety among them.  An amazing intersection of ideas emerging in English colonies protected by oceans - a chance to work out governance in a new way.

Our Mutual Friend (Charles Dickens, serialized 1864-65)

(832 pages)

Miserly old man (Harmon) makes fortune in dust business; breaks family bonds; creates odd incentives in his will; events follow.

Hexam and Riderhood families - working out a rough life on the waterfront - heavy stories.  Charlie Hexam getting a chance at education; Lizzie getting a chance; the schoolmaster is intense.  The honest public house owner.

Wilfer family - mother and younger daughter (Lavinia) - effectively comic (Bella is older daughter favored by Harmon the original old dust man).  Wilfer father a "cherub."

Boffin family - loyal to Harmon; somewhat reminded of the Bleak House character (the guy who ran the shooting gallery).

John Rokesmith.

Lawyers Mortimer Lightwood and Eugene Wrayburn.

Inspector - reminds of Bottle from Bleak House.

Wegg - the "man of letters" - reading Decline and Fall to Boffin - not a nice person, but presented in an amusing way.  Interested in contents of the dust mounds, enlists Venus.

Would-be aristocrats receive a lot of shots; lawyers not very well thought of, either.

Jewish character involved in money-lending business, portrayed sympathetically

I enjoyed throughout except for one significant oddity (weakness) in the plot (G.K. Chesterton's note (included as an Appendix) explains what happened, but don't check that until after finishing the novel).   Notwithstanding - recommended.

[Gift from Paul Jr & Nedda]

Arrival - Stories of Your Life and Others (Ted Chiang, 1990-2002)

Book club selection (via Lon; session held (via Zoom) 31 May 2020).

Liked this; didn't love it.  Notes on a few of the stories follow.

First story - about Tower of Babel - probably my favorite.  I of course love the original Bible story - this is very creative in describing the tower construction - ending a bit of a letdown, not understanding the water business going in a circle.

"Story of Your Life" - per the Arrival movie - all the back-and-forth with the daughter who died in an accident.  The idea of their written language as differing from verbal - didn't have to waste time with sequential-ness - that made a glimmer of sense as thinking of listening to a reader (or video/TV narrator) as compared to reading.  Knowing the future.  Interesting.

"Seventy-Two Letters" - trying to generate human life via automata; kabbalist; didn't care about anything in this story line.  Hugo movie . . . don't know what the 72 letters/nomenclature thing refers to.  Gilgamesh.

"The Evolution of Human Science" - just a few pages, something about metahumans taking over scientific research because humans can't keep up

"Hell Is the Absence of God" - angels visit; some cured, some harmed, protagonist's wife is killed and he wants to go to heaven to be with her.  another character is harmed then cured then harmed.  storm-chasing the angels.  didn't care about the characters

"Liking What You See: A Documentary" - perception of beauty; the Neanderthal who points out the next step will be suppressing appreciation for musical or athletic talent; and what about height?  probably supposed to draw parallels to other PC situations.  at the end, suggestions of software that will make speakers charismatic/effective.  follows thwarted romance of a girl that grew up with calli, turned it off at 18, now wants to go back.   referendum at the college.  This was pretty interesting.

Sometimes it feels like the author is showing off knowledge in science or math areas - doesn't add much to the storyline.

Three Comrades (Erich Maria Remarque, 1936)

(480 pages)

Book club selection (via Chris; session held (via Zoom) 24 April 2020).

Hadn't read this since 2011 (description here); I liked it even better this time around.

a favorite love story; cf'd to PJ - author got it right - the uncertainty in the early going, the mystery, the girl-part, the "that's sufficient" part
_______________

a favorite buddy story - the scene where Otto hands the pill to Robbie; the scene where Robbie thinks to contact Koster when needing help at the seashore; fundraising in what had to be a painful way
________________

WWI endlessly interesting in part because the soldiers had such a mind-blowing experience.  of course it's hard to compare from war to war - but the jump in firepower and technology (gas, planes, etc.) relative to what soldiers were familiar with, and how tactics were used - not sure what would be like this.  and they hadn't seen newsreels or really anything that would prepare visually.

survivors then come back to Weimar situation . . . after all the sacrifice and suffering (including home front folks like Pat) - no jobs, no hope

demagogues arise per usual
_________________

the spare writing style works for me - similar to All Quiet OTWF

Magic Mountain - sanitarium scenes

Foundation Trilogy (Isaac Asimov, 1951, 1952, 1953)

(607 pages)

The three books:  Foundation; Foundation and Empire; Second Foundation.

Famous, pioneering work of science fiction.  Entirely unknown to me prior to this read.

By coincidence I read it at an ideal time - right after finishing Gibbon's Decline and Fall - Asimov supposedly had just read Gibbon and modeled lots of the story after it.  Which is evident - imperial decline; generals rising through the ranks (with accompanying dynamics).  Bureaucracies.  Periphery weakening (though lacking external stimuli like Huns (since this Empire controlled the entire galaxy, while Rome didn't control the entire earth)).

Swashbuckling traders, some with souped-up starships, snappy dialogue, can-do attitude . . . hmm that sounds pretty familiar also.

Seldon Plan - story builds around this, and it works.  Too much Hayek exposure makes me way skeptical of grand plans, but I do like how this one is explained as being built around mass movements over time.

As the plot plays out over several centuries (and the author is releasing the three volumes over a few years), there are lots of characters to figure out and track.  That prevents much character development in individual cases - but again, doesn't feel like a problem.

The Mule plays a huge role starting with the second volume.  Only two female characters of particular note (maybe three), they do end up with important roles.

Fun read for me; I never seek out science fiction.  Paul Jr. recommendation.