book reviews

Another set so soon! *sigh of relief*

Time Life, Decoying the Yanks: Jackson's Valley Campaign. Part of the large Civil War series that I am slowly making my way through, this was an interesting overview of a fairly small campaign that helped make the reputation of a great general.

John J. Kinney, Captain Jack and the Dalton Gang. This is a rare selection from the book review section of The Historian, one of my favorite journals to proofread. It's the story of the author's ancestor, a railroad detective who one night had a brush with the famed Daltons. The story of the actual train robbery is a bit muddled because it's told in so many pieces, but the amazing wealth of detail in the rest of the book, on pretty much any topic that crossed the author's mind, more than makes up for that. Kinney clearly did a huge amount of research, and I liked his base premise that "Captain Jack" was one of the millions of "normal" people who are lost to history, and that his normalcy, just as much as his one night of brushing shoulders with fame, makes him well worth writing about.

Kathryn Stockett, The Help. This is my most recent book club book (we've been on winter hiatus, but are starting back up again in a month). I expected it to take a while, since my reading rate has been slow recently, but I found the book so compelling that I finished all 444 pages in a day. It's an account of the lives of black maids in 1950s Mississippi, and contains a nice balance of humor and pathos. Very much enjoyed it.

David Gaider, The Stolen Throne. This is a prequel from the Dragon Age universe, explaining much of the game's backstory. And it's well done, no question about it - Gaider is a good world-builder. Sadly, he's a fairly pedestrian author. Good dialogue, decent plot, but they hang together better in a computer game than in a novel. And the characters all tend to be a bit two-dimensional, as well. The game characters tend to be better fleshed out. Nonetheless, I found the book a good escapist read, and given my general DA obsession, am glad to have read it.