CurlyShavings

I'm trying to get my reading organized in Goodreads, a really neat site. Doesn't integrate with the blog (yet), but that's where I'm tracking things at the moment.

Regarding tides:

Those are the things in the water that keep the moon in orbit. I've never quite understood just how they work. You mostly can't see the moon during the day, so they can't be very efficient.

The Island Stallion's Fury by Walter Farley

My review

Meanwhile, I continue to slog through The 33 Strategies of War by Robert Greene

We Didn't Mean to Go to Sea by Arthur Ransome

My review

33 Strategies of War, The by Robert Greene

My review

rating: 3 of 5 stars
I liked this book; not fabulous, but I did like it. I have many of the books on war (Machiavelli's The Prince, Moltke on the Art of War, Sun Tzu's classic, Alexander the Great's version, some from Napoleon, some Civil War writings, etc.) and this is a conglomeration of many of those I'm familiar with.



Having said that, the style gets tiresome after a while. Many of the best parts are the sidebars where the author quotes directly from some of the best in war theory and war stories. Perhaps I shouldn't have tried to read it all at once but perhaps a chapter a week. As it was, it took me many months to get through.



Things I learned: Many of the things I learned were better found in Machiavelli, Alexander and Napoleon. Echos of things I already knew. Still, it is nice to have all of this in one volume. I suppose I could have done without the ever-present quotes from "I Ching" and such.


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Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead by Tom Stoppard

My review

Quantum of Solace: The Complete James Bond Short Stories by Ian Fleming

My review

[Note: while reading this book on the bus, I added a cover to it, obscuring the figure on the front. A bit too racy for my taste, at least on the bus!]

Raising Wild Boys into Men: a modern dad's survival guide by Tony Woodlief

My review

For more Tony Woodlief, subscribe to World Magazine, the Wall Street Journal or Tony's blog (the blog has the most Tony per dollar of the three).

The Tooth of Time: a Philmont adventure by Sterling, Gray

My review

The Cruise Of The Alerte by E. F. Knight

My review

Father Power by Todd Wilson

My review

Todd Wilson is an insanely funny speaker who tends to write like he speaks; as a consequence, this book is laced with humor throughout. But it also filled with thoughtful challenges for Dads who are seeking to influence their children in a positive way.

In the end, Todd predictably encourages his readers to not squander their time doing "things they deem more important than fathering." In fact, Todd makes a strong case that there is nothing more important than fathering.

A quick, short read, Todd packs quite a lot into this book. It is suitable for a group setting with discussion and it is meaningful also read solo. The hard part of this book is not in the reading or the understanding, but in the doing. Like most things worth doing, the action he calls fathers to is quite difficult.

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Ship Fever by Andrea Barrett

My review

A fellow bus-rider lent me this book to break up the non-fiction I wasn't getting through in my reading (slow reading? non-reading?) of Democracy in America. I tore through it in a couple of days—really couldn't put it down!

Author Andrea Barrett includes several short stories in this volume, all with a historical, naturalist/science bend to them. Whether we discover a connection with Mendel or Linnaeus or ponder the same mysteries they did, we get inserted into their lives in an interesting way. Or perhaps a better way to say it would be that we find the lives of the stories' characters intertwined with the historical figure.

The title story, Ship Fever follows some of the events of the Potato Famine in that we join a young doctor on a Canadian island while the ships empty sick Irish refugees onto shore.

None of the stories are very uplifting. None of the characters live "happily ever after" and many are fairly miserable. Many of the stories, perhaps even all of them, lack closure; they just end when they do—not really hanging, but just ended and not resolved. (Please note this is not criticism, just a comment on an interesting style that isn't completely to my taste.)

Perhaps only our visit with Linnaeus could be considered "happy". As he reviews his colleagues, acquaintances and students and their achievements, we find that he isn't unfulfilled but strangely content. Even in the limitations brought on by his stroke, he appears satisfied with the events of his life. (Only later do I find out about his faith.)

Overall, it is a good book and one I am glad to have read.

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Hornblower and the Atropos by C.S. Forester

My review

rating: 3 of 5 stars

I needed a good read over the weekend and chose this one. It appears I read it earlier this year and enjoyed it then, too.

About the only thing that really sticks out to me from this book is his complete hypocracy surrounding his marriage and his fatherhood. Sure, he spends some time with his toddler toward the end (and enjoys it), but he would really rather be on his ship. We do learn some more management techniques as he manages the people under him and the Admirals over him. We gain insight into his project management skills, too as he is assigned the task of bringing Nelson's body into the city.

Overall, it is a good book and an important link between the various stages of Hornblower's life.

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