Mrs. Dalloway (Virginia Woolf, 1925)

I liked this quite a bit. 

Novel is set on a single day - Clarissa Dalloway is giving a big party, preparations are ongoing, events in the neighborhood are described, flashbacks are given which help flesh out various characters.

Clarissa Dalloway is the main character; she is married to Raymond Dalloway.  But was pretty much in love with Peter Walsh (it was reciprocated), though she turned him away.

Elizabeth (Clarissa's daughter). Miss Killeen (influences Elizabeth).

Septimius Smith - WWI vet, messed up; married to Lucrezia Smith

Clarissa is aware that she's aging, and there is some interesting musing about that.

Lakota America - A New History of Indigenous Power (Pekka Hamalainen, 2019)

This was a really interesting read - much worthwhile.

Biggest takeaway - this tribe, and no doubt others, was a sophisticated player when it came to trade, politics, war, strategy. This author wouldn't agree with the "victim" portrayal, even though eventually the wars (and territories) were lost.

Lakota/Sioux - complicated sifting through the tribes in the early periods (16th and 17th centuries, approximately) - think of Lakota as westernmost of this group?  Sioux too far west to access guns and French trade goods in quantity - at risk from better-armed tribes to the east.  Sioux seek access, try to work diplomacy with French and Indian allies, it doesn't hold long-term.

Idea - early in book - that the "horse frontier" moved west to east starting or accelerating following the Pueblo Revolt of 1680 - interesting, I hadn't thought about "where" the horses came from.

"Gun frontier" was moving east to west - having both was transformational.

Lakota use expands ~1700ff - a big change as they shift attention westward - another impetus was losing French support (and trading posts) which made selling beaver difficult or impossible.  Bison herds, horses, westward ho.

1757 - first reference to Lakota using guns while riding horses.  Groups further east lacked horses.  Groups further west lacked guns.

More on horses; buffalo chase and switch to the plains to the west.

Lots of fighting among tribes as Lakota push into their territories. Lakota have numbers, etc.

1820-30s - Lakota strong; continue to invite traders even up to Ft. Laramie - very much wanting the trade goods, esp. guns - apparently not concerned that settlers might follow in their wake.  Interesting; Lakota must have known what happened in multiple territories in east and midwest. 

Civil War is a distraction, but westward push by Americans continues, accelerates.

Eventually the US Army focuses - we get to Sitting Bull, Red Cloud, Crazy Horse, Custer, denouement.  

Lysistrata (Aristophanes, 411 B.C.)

This is the famous play where - tired of the seemingly endless Peloponnesian War - the protagonist calls together women from all across Greece, and convinces them to stay away from their men until peace is agreed upon.

Mostly humorous, I enjoyed reading.  

Some of the speechifying from the men - justifying war - sounded like warmongering rationalizations from current times. 

The Last Hill - The Epic Story of a Ranger Battalion and the Battle that Defined WWII (Bob Drury and Tom Clavin, 2022)

(364 pages)

I liked this.  Kind of a pop history style (as can be told from the overwrought title), but no question that the authors did plenty of research to support the story line.  I also like that it focuses on a small group.

Brits had some success with "commando" (special forces) units early in WWII, and the US decided to do a similar concept though with a different name ("Rangers").  Though the Army didn't have a clear concept of how to use the units, and there were plenty of folks within the Army that didn't like the idea.

The book focuses on the 2nd Ranger Battalion - through intense training (lots of washouts); then onto Omaha beach and up the cliffs to Pont d'Huc; attacking Brest (Brittany - achieving a rather incredible surrender with two Rangers and a grenade in the commandant's crotch); then (after some less intense assignments) into the Hurtgen Forest and Hill 400.

All of these deployments were highly interesting to read about; impressive.  I hadn't known about the Brest surrender before (I assume the description is accurate if unbelievable).  Also hadn't read about Hurtgen Forest - the authors suggest this was not much discussed because (at least in their opinion) so many US lives were wasted repeating attack methods that were proven failures.

A Line in the World - A year on the North Sea Coast (Dorthe Nors, 2021)

Saw a favorable review and gave the book a try - I liked it.

Very much out of my experience geographically - author explores the rugged west coast of Denmark - where she has, or at least had, family ties.  Kind of connected, but kind of not.

EXCEPT - I read this shortly after our visit up to Nome - this made it much, much easier to imagine the coastal ruggedness that the author describes.

And - there is some overlap with the feel of return visits to Iowa over the years.

The Beautiful and Damned (F. Scott Fitzgerald, 1922)

Anthony Patch stands to inherit lots and lots and lots of money from his stern grandfather.  

Marries the lovely Gloria Gilbert.

They decide to live as if they don't give a damn; can't stop partying.  Grandfather not pleased.

Litigation trying to claim the inheritance.

Patch goes overseas, has an affair.

Not very cheery.

Romeo and Juliet (William Shakespeare, early 1590s)

Read this on Kindle without notes; then read Harold Bloom's helpful musings in Shakespeare - The Invention of the Human.  

I much enjoyed reading this (after all these years) but would not say it's my Shakespeare favorite.  The characters tend to get way too fired up; too ready to fight.  

There are some beautiful lines, of course.

Friar Laurence gets way involved.

Nice.  

The Lawrence Durrell Travel Reader (Lawrence Durrell, based on travels in 1930s - 1950s)

I enjoyed The Alexandria Quartet and kept seeing that Durrell was an excellent travel writer - with much of this is centered in Greece.

This compilation was quite good but I didn't really connect with it.  I was looking for "Prospero's Cell" - focused on his time in Corfu - this includes some of that experience, plus other Greek items.

Othello (William Shakespeare, ~1603)

Read this on Kindle without notes; then read Harold Bloom's helpful musings in Shakespeare - The Invention of the Human.  

Othello - warrior type, perhaps not flexible to handle other challenges.

Iago as driving the action.  More soliloquies, for example.  See Bloom.

Iago is one of Shakespeare's most compelling characters?  I think I'd agree based on limited knowledge.

Undone by his wife - she had a virtue he didn't anticipate.

Desdemona as ideal lover in all of Shakespeare (see Bloom).

Almost no humor in this one.

Much enjoyed.

Absolute Zero and the Conquest of Cold (Tom Shachtman, 1999)

(240 pages)

Quick read; much of the technical stuff was out of my zone and I hurried through it; the overall ideas (what is cold? how is it "attacked" and then utilized?) were rather amazing.

Is it absence of heat? Something else?  How to study this?  For millennia it's been easy to create heat and "see what happens" - not so with cold. Philosophers and in turn what became known as "scientists" take various paths.

Even inventing accurate thermometers, figuring out measurements. Seeking to liquify pretty much every gas; some present incredible challenges.  Pushing toward absolute zero.  As with so many breakthroughs, there's more than one person chasing the idea, disputes over discoveries, etc.

Our friend Faraday is influential ("Age of Wonder").  Talented guy!

The parts about harvesting ice, learning to pack it and ship it to tropical locations, figuring out how to convince customers that they needed or wanted the product - this part is interesting and easily relatable.  We have photographs from St. Joe in early 20th century of folks harvesting ice from the Des Moines River northeast of town.  Grandparents had a literal icebox (prior to electricity).

Technology changed so much about food production and distribution - made things possible - in the US, this overlapped with opening up the West.  Air conditioning's effect on settlement patterns.

I had vaguely heard about superconductivity (at extreme low temperatures); good discussion about how this enable computer/tech development.  This was written in 1999 so it would be interesting to know about further developments here.  Except I wouldn't understand it very well.  

Three Ordinary Girls: The Remarkable Story of Three Dutch Teenagers Who Became Spies, Saboteurs, Nazi Assassins--and WWII Heroes (Tim Brady, 2021)

 The title pretty well summarizes the book!

A Midsummer Night's Dream (William Shakespeare, 1596)

I've enjoyed reading Shakespeare, but not as much I expected.  But now I think I figured out a way!

Previously I was purchasing and reading the beautiful, comprehensive Arden Shakespeare editions - full of notes and explanatory material, which I of course checked out as I went along.  Julius Caesar and Richard III quite good but overall meh.  Kind of tedious, choppy.

Recently I broke down and bought a Kindle, and downloaded some Shakespeare items that are "free" to Prime members.  These are simple editions without any notes at all, and presumably are reasonably faithful to whatever Shakespeare originally wrote.  

I read "A Midsummer Night's Dream" this way and much enjoyed - no notes or other explanation - no doubt there's plenty I missed, but it was so much more pleasant to just forge through the story line.

I also have a lovely book by Harold Bloom - "Shakespeare - The Invention of the Human" - he provides commentaries on all the main plays.  So I read his summary but only after reading the play.  This is the approach that I'll take with Shakespeare going forward.  Yay.

Bottom is a great character (he has fun with the elves).  Puck - mischievous, to say the least.  There are two couples who go through some adventures in the woods; Oberon and his wife Titania.

Dominion - The Making of the Western Mind (Tom Holland, 2019)

(525 pages) (Gift from PJr/Nedda)

At outset:  useful survey of Christian thinkers, leaders, interaction with Jews, Muslims, what came to be called pagans, atheists.

Main thesis appears to be that Christianity deeply affects the worldview of 21st century folks in the West.  Not shocking; makes a lot of sense; not sure if widely appreciated anymore.  

As author recounts, Christianity's dominance of the West doesn't have a parallel in history.

I had always associated this development very heavily with Constantine in 312 - and no doubt this was important.  Brought Christianity into the mainstream, gave it an imperial model (centralized control, hierarchy; Council of Nicea).

But I was struck how distant that was from what happened quite a bit later in the West.  Rome a hollowed-out dump centuries after 312. The papacy a haven for, at best, well-meaning provincials.  

Then along comes Gregory the Great (pope from 590-604). Charlemagne's needs (he's crowned in 800). This kind of thing really solidified the build-out in the West.

And the scope was incredible.  Bishops, priests, monks, nuns, eventually across literally every country in Europe.  Create major feast days and also saint's days to cover every day of the calendar year.  Create prayers specific to the hours of each day; separate prayers for each day; the idea of confession, tithing.  Cradle to grave sacraments. The Curia. It grows and grows.

(I was struck by this going through my parent's house recently (part of the estate process) - all the Catholic church residuum lingering into their childhoods and beyond.)

As to the importance of Christianity's effect on Western world view - of course - but I thought some of Holland's argument rested on the contradictions that pop up in Christianity (or any religion, for that matter). St. Paul talking about only needing to follow the law as written on the heart; but then detailed regulations.  St. Paul talking about treating women equally, and then backing off.  Jesus saying the poor will always be with us, and also that the rich should give away their goods, and the parable of the savvy investor - which strand dominates?  The existence of the contradictions allows Holland to claim everything, including contradictory thrusts, flows from Christianity.  Hmm.

Unabashed praise for good things from Christianity, which were real - respect for individual, importance of monogamous marriage, concern for the poor - yes of course so many hypocrites and grand failures, but these were revolutionary concepts that took root for the first time.  Refreshing that someone is willing to say so.

A Dance to the Music of Time (Fourth Movement (Volumes 10-12) (Anthony Powell, 1951-55)

Fourth Movement includes the following:

--Books Do Furnish a Room (241 pages)

--Temporary Kings (280 pages)

--Hearing Secret Harmonies (272 pages)

Brief discussion is here.

A Dance to the Music of Time (Third Movement (Volumes 7-9) (Anthony Powell, 1951-55)

Third Movement includes the following:

--The Valley of Bones (243 pages)

--The Soldier's Art (228 pages)

--The Military Philosophers (244 pages)

Brief discussion is here.