book reviews

Further adventures in reading. :)

Anne Perry, Bethlehem Road. This one was pretty good, I thought, although it also seemed that a lot of the side plots got left behind unfinished. Perhaps because there were too many? But I liked the plot and found it an enjoyable read. (One thing I am noticing, though, is that Perry's style is a little too ... overwrought? for sustained reading. I couldn't take a stack of her books to a desert island without throwing a few of them in the ocean. They're much better taken one at a time interspersed with other books.)

Thomas Fleming, West Point Blue and Gray. If you'll recall, after I expressed my disappointment with Washington's Secret War, I was worried about whether I would like this one. Turns out, it's quite a good read. It's a fairly brief overview, but he makes his points concisely, illustrates them with anecdotes - including several that are fairly little-known - and overall contributes a solid piece of scholarship that is broad enough in scope to be an excellent reference.

MacKinlay Kantor, The Guntoter. I was fairly impressed with Kantor's Andersonville, and if anything, I liked this book of short stories a little better. They all take place within the same community and they really illustrated the richness of that community. Simple stories, simple people, but there's still a huge complexity to their lives.

Maggi McCormick Gordon, The Book of Home Sewing. An excellent all-purpose sewing guide, no question about it. And well worth keeping around for reference. But sadly, I've had to accept that sewing is one of those things I'd very much like to think I would enjoy and in fact have found I don't have that much interest in or aptitude for. Once you've shopped for the fabric, you're pretty much done with the part I find enjoyable. Nonetheless, it's a good book and well worth keeping just in case.