Mere Mortals

Posted on August 26, 2010 by smellincoffee

Star Trek Destiny: Mere Mortals
© 2008 David Mack
433 pages

The small, finite lives of mere mortals carry little weight in the calculations of gods. But even gods may come to understand that they underestimate humans at their peril. 
(From the back of the book.)

In 2158*, the Earth ship Columbia limped its way to a nearby planet to find repair.  Instead, they were trapped by a hospitable if overly cautious race of highly advanced beings called the Caeliar, who were adamant about keeping their galactic profile to a minimum, so much to the point that any visitors were either forced to stay or flung across the galaxy to be forever cut off from their homes.  Hundreds of years later, the crew of the USS Titan stumbled upon these same Caeliar while tracking the transwarp energy lanes that Starfleet believes the Borg were using to mount their incursions into Federation space. Titan’s crew met the same fate as Columbia’s: friendly imprisonment. To their astonishment, the captain of the Columbia — Ericka Hernandez — greeted them upon their arrival, in the best of health despite being hundreds of years old. Meanwhile, Captains Picard and Dax begin attempting to access the energy lanes and find the route the Borg have been using to launch their invasions. While Picard’s initial desire is to destroy the subspace lanes, the task is seemingly impossible. While the Federation’s best minds attempt to sort out how to shut these pathways down, Picard believes they can be used to the Alpha Quadrant’s advantage. He proposes that the Federation build a coalition of Alpha- and Beta- quadrant powers ready and willing to take the Borg on directly — that the allied powers send a combined expeditionary force into the Delta Quadrant to destroy the Borg’s staging ground and prevent Borg forces from accessing the lanes until the Federation can destroy them safely.

Although Mack focuses on the same four crews — the Enterprise, Aventine, Titan, and Columbia,  Mere Mortals  primarily focuses on the combined efforts of Picard and Dax to find the lane leading to the Delta Quadrant. Titan is only a sideline story, as her characters are essentially powerless to do anything: they’re barely there. The inclusion of a Columbia story thread surprised me, but Mack follows Hernandez and her crew as they adjust — or fail to adjust — to their benign captivity, eventually linking Hernandez’ story with that of the Titan crew’s.  Most of the book is simply setting the stage for the final chapter, but tension mounts as Picard and Dax continue to narrow down which lane leads to the Delta Quadrant: one bridge officer comments that their efforts remind him of Russian roulette. While this is happening, an Allied fleet — hundreds of ships from the Federation, the Klingon, Cardassian, and Romulan empires, and the Ferengi Alliance (with Breen mercenaries tagging along) — slowly gathers. In the book’s final chapters, Mack forces the fleet to stare into the Abyss — into the mouth of hell, to borrow from Tennyson — and then sends it hurtling in.

Destiny continues to impress. Gods of Night was interesting, but Mack uses drama to a greater effective here — slowly lulling the reader into the feeling that this book is just filler, just a train between two ports. Then the tracks disappear and you realize this is a roller coaster, and you no idea where  the fall will stop, or what gut-wrenching turns await.  I have a feeling that once I finish Lost Souls next week, I’m going to need to watch a few warm and fuzzy episodes of TNG or the original series to recover.

On the cover:  Sir Patrick Stewart as Captain Jean-Luc Picard; Ada Maris as Captain Hernadez-pretending-to-be-Wonder-Woman.

*Give or take a decade. 2168 is when the Columbia was lost, but she’d been traveling at near-light speeds long enough that they were out of sync with Earth’s calendar, so I’m not exactly sure.

Related:

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The Birth of the United States

Posted on August 25, 2010 by smellincoffee

The Birth of the United States
© 1973 Isaac Asimov
274 pages, including a table of dates.

While trolling Amazon in search of elusive copies of Isaac Asimov’s Roman history books, I chanced to find evidence of a four-book history series on the United States, beginning with European colonization and ending at the Great War. They’re decades out of print, alas, and I won’t be able to read all of them. The Birth of the United States picks up at the end of the French-Indian war (known in Europe as the Seven Years’ War) and the beginnings of mutual Anglo-American resentment. Asimov then takes us through the Revolution, the Constitutional Convention, and up to the end of the War of 1812.

Asimov didn’t achieve success as a writer by being poor at it: Birth is perfectly lucid. I don’t think I’ve followed any account of the Revolutionary War as easily as this one. The political wrangling that followed the war, as the states with varying interests  who proposed national constitutions that protected them from the others, could easily be dull — but it isn’t. Impressively, the normally opinionated Asimov is fair to the various clashing interests he covers. The British are not presented as tyrants, for instance, nor does he take sides when recounting the numerous issues between the states. He simply explains why everyone thought as they did, and detailed the ways in which varying decisions helped and hurt either side. In retrospect I am not surprised at his approach. There are rarely villains in his fiction works: he preferred instead to bounce characters with justified but opposing interests off one another. (He does opine against incompetent generals, though, and disapproves strongly of characters like Banastre Tarleton.) He’s obviously fond of the subject matter, being a naturalized citizen of the US and an ardent humanist who believed in the United States’ Enlightenment-era ideals. Asimov frequently takes the reader aside to mention trivial tidbits, like that after the Battle of Lexington,  settlers in Kentucky renamed their settlement to commemorate the dawn of America’s war for independence.

Reading The Birth of the United States was an experience both helpful and enjoyable. It filled in my own gaps of the period, and I’d recommend it to any reader needing or wanting an introduction to the early United States.

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This Week at the Library (18 Aug – 25 Aug)

Posted on August 25, 2010 by smellincoffee

This week at the library…

  • Working IX to V, a romp through odd jobs of the ancient and classical worlds. Though informative, the author relies heavily on humor to connect with the reader.
  • Admiral Hornblower in the West Indies was my last Hornblower read by C.S. Forester, alas, but the series enjoyed on an enjoyable note. In the West Indies is more cozy than dramatic, though.
  • Gods of Night by David Mack is the first in the Destiny trilogy, which ties together various threads in the Treklit canon (the TNG relaunch and the USS Titan series, mostly, but with nods given to the DS9 and Voyager relaunches) and sends the Federation into a final, deadly grapple with the Borg.
  • Sharpe’s Eagle is the story of an English riflemen during the Napoleonic wars, who has to overcome the sturdy French army and the incompetence of his aristocratic overseers to redeem the honor of his regiment. Fun read. 
  • The Lost World is Michael Crichton’s sequel to his Jurassic Park, and follows the same general plan. Crichton does drama well, and the information he has his characters deliver on dinosaurs will of course entertain.

Quotation of the Week:
     “Then this is a whole lot of coincidences,” Keru said. “A mysterious power source with an energy profile that resembles transwarp, shooting beams that point at Federation space, Borg space, and a planet in the Gamma Quadrant, where an old Earth ship has been sitting for two centuries.”
     Tuvok arched one eyebrow to indicate incredulity.

(p. 222, The Gods of Night. This statement ties the stories of the four starship crews featured in the book together.)

Potentials for Next Week:

  • The Birth of the United States, Isaac Asimov. 
  • Disease Fighters Since 1950, Ray Spangenburg and Diane Kit Moser. Spangenburg and Moser’s history of science books were staples of two of my last few summers, and their names caught my eye when browsing today. 
  • I’ll be tipping my toe into Will Durant’s Story of Civilization series by beginning Our Oriental Heritage, which appears to be a largeish text on the Indians, Chinese, Egyptians, Babylonians, and company. 
  • Odds are good that I’ll pick up the second book in the Destiny trilogy at some point. If it’s anything like Gods of Night, I won’t be able to put it down for several hours.
  • I also checked out Master and Commander by Patrick O’Brien. I tried it once a few years back but all the naval terminology kept me from getting into it. In the meantime I’ve read an entire series of sea stories set in the age of “wooden ships and iron men“, though, so perhaps I’m better prepared this time. 
  • And a mystery entry, when I have been waiting to read for weeks.

In the future…

  • I wanted to read Michael Crichton’s Timeline this week, but despite being checked in, it’s not on the shelf. I’m guessing that like The Lost World, it was lost. Maybe this one is lost in time. 
  • Although Alexandria by Lindsey Davis seemed readable, it never grabbed me. I’ll return to her series of Roman novels at some point, though. 
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The Lost World

Posted on August 24, 2010 by smellincoffee

The Lost World
© 1995 Michael Crichton
431 pages

“‘Ooh, aah’. That’s always how it starts. Then later there’s the running and the screaming.” – Dr. Ian Malcolm, The Lost World

In the 1980s, a biocompany called InGen discovered a way to isolate dinosaur DNA and patented a cloning process intended to bring the dead back to life. Majestic and fearsome beasts who once ruled the Earth were resurrected in laboratories, intended to be the featured attractions of a resort park intended to amuse their successors — humanity. The park’s first visitors — including paleontologists, a lawyer, and a chaos theorist named Ian Malcolm — witness the catastrophic failure of the park’s systems within hours of spotting their first dinosaur. The park died amidst intrigues from a rival biocompany (BioSyn) and nature’s fury — though Malcolm would insist that so complex a system was doomed from its beginnings.  The Costa Rican military and InGen are eager to destroy all evidence of the failed project, but they’re not as thorough as they ought to have been — for now, five years later, corpses from another epoch are washing up on the beaches of Pacific islands.

The Lost World follows the same basic pattern as Jurassic Park:  evidence of dinosaurs appears to people who have no idea the park existed, the evidence trickles down to our primary characters, they visit the island and have a “WHOA! Dinosaurs!” moment, and then a deadly pandemonium ensues: the lead characters run around the island losing equipment, sanity, and friends while Dr. Malcolm lectures. In The Lost World, Malcolm applies chaos theory to the efforts by paleontologists to explain the extinction of the dinosaurs. The familiar pattern does not distract from the book: dinosaurs are a powerfully interesting subject, and as the characters talk about various species in an attempt to reason out the best way to escape, the reader is treated to mini-lectures compiling modern dinosaur research from scientists like Jack Horner. In the last novel, Crichton seemingly honored Horner with a proxy character: in this, he acknowledges Horner directly. Crichton does drama well: his text is replete with foreboding descriptions and cliffhanging segments.

The Lost World is terrific fun — lots of tension, and the dinosaur mini-lectures are certainty informative. Malcolm tends toward the anti-scientific at some points, but I suppose that’s in-character for an eccentric iconoclast.

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Teaser Tuesday (24 August)

Posted on August 24, 2010 by smellincoffee

Teaser Tuesdays are sometimes ominous. Not quite as ominous as this.

Consumed by flames, the torso crackled and the fat sputtered, and then as the skin burned away, the black, flat ribs of the skeleton were revealed, and then the whole torso turned, and suddenly the neck of the animal swung up, surrounded by flames, moving as the skin contracted. And inside the flames Levine saw a long pointed snout, and rows of sharp predatory teeth, and hollow eye sockets, the whole thing burning like some medieval dragon rising in flames up into the sky. 

p. 26, The Lost World. Michael Crichton.

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Sharpe’s Eagle

Posted on August 21, 2010 by smellincoffee

Sharpe’s Eagle
© 1981 Bernard Cornwell
270 pages

The year is 1809, and much of western Europe has been subdued by the First French Empire. Napoleon Bonaparte rules as Europe’s greatest emperor, but there are those who resist. England stands apart from Europe  and has employed her mighty navy to forestall an invasion of the British isles. In Spain her armies stand beside those of the dons. Richard Sharpe of the 95th Rifles is an accomplished soldier, having spent half his life in uniform, and on the eve of one of the bloodiest battles of the war he’s been tasked with helping a newly-mustered battalion of troops destroy a bridge to make things more interesting for La Grande Armée .

Unfortunately for Sharpe — a man who rose through the ranks on merit and brazen accomplishments —  the officers in charge of the expedition are aristocrats more interested in playing soldier than learning how to fight. For them, a soldiering is a dashing affair involving men in bright uniforms marching to the sound of the fife and drums, scaring the enemy way by sheer presence. Their incompetence is matched only by their contempt for the men they lead and their own hubris. So woefully inadequate is one such man — Colonel Sir Henry Simmerson of the South Essex — that a simple expedition ends in humiliating failure. French horsemen route a force ten times their size and spirit away the King’s Colors: the regiment’s battle-standard. The actions of Sharpe salvage the affair somewhat, but make him an enemy of the Colonel.  In the larger battle to come, Sharpe must find a way to redeem the regiment’s honor despite its leadership.

Richard Sharpe is an interesting character to read about: closer to Han Solo or Malcolm Reynolds than to the archetype of the noble hero, beyond reproach. He cares for honor in his way and looks after those around him. Cornwell’s writing is up to the job of describing the toils of character and war. He portrays 19th century warfare well enough to make maneuvers clear to someone lacking particular interest in troop maneuvers, and unexpected humor abounds.

This went well for my first foray into the Sharpe series: it’s a fun read, and I’m hoping further books will give me an image of the peninsular war, something more or less unknown to me. (My knowledge of the Napoleonic wars is limited to Trafalgar, Austerlitz, and Waterloo.)

Related:

  • Sharpe’s Eagle on Youtube. The novels have dramatized, and I enjoyed the first one. The actor portraying Simmerson does a terrific job of making him loathsome. (He shows up in the beginning of this clip.)
  • Jeff Shaara’s  American Civil War novels. The style of warfare is somewhat similar, though cavalry’s role is much less prominent. Shaara uses a panel of viewpoint characters to portray the same events from multiple angles. 
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Gods of Night

Posted on August 21, 2010 by smellincoffee

Gods of Night
© 2008 David Mack
431 pages

“The moment I have dreaded for […] years has finally arrived. The Borg, our most lethal enemy, have begun an invasion of the Federation…and this time there may be no stopping them.” (Jean-Luc Picard, First Contact)

Since their introduction in “Q Who“, the Borg have remained the Federation’s greatest nemesis. They are remarkable villains not for their power or technological prowess, but for their soulnessness. The Borg embody passionless inhumanity: though they dominate nearly a quarter of the galaxy, their conquests have been achieved not through the zeal for power or glory. The Borg are ruthlessly pragmatic, acquiring and destroying species as needed to move forward towards their goal of perfection. Their every advance into the Federation sees fleets of starships destroyed — and every assault is more pointed, more dangerous than the last. As the Borg renew their goal of subduing the Federation, Captain Jean-Luc Picard fears in his bones that the coming battle is more than those who have come before: to him, the man who hears the Borg whispering in his thoughts at time, the coming conflict will be the last. The Borg are coming, and the Apocalypse is at hand.

Gods of Night is the first in a trilogy portraying this final, deadly grapple between the Federation and the Borg. It is the story of three crews:  in the Alpha Quadrant, Captain Picard and the Enterprise-E serve as the Federation’s greatest weapon against the increasingly frequent Borg incursions into Federation space. In the far reaches of the Beta Quadrant, Captain Riker of the USS Titan is engaged in an extended mission of scientific exploration, but he and his crew have found a way to contribute to the war effort by investigating a mysterious dark solar system that seems to be projecting transwarp lanes across the whole of the Milky Way. In the Gamma Quadrant, Captain Ezri Dax of the USS Aventine is investigating the wreck of the NX-02 Columbia, an Earthship more than 200 years old. The Columbia is far from home: too far to have made it there on her own.

Mack weaves these three stories together into one grand fabric of peril and mystery, and tacks on a fourth — the story of the Columbia’s crew, who were crippled at the outset of a great war at the birth of the Federation between Earth and the Romulan Star Empire — for good measure. Despite the abundance of characters and minor substories,  the novel remains impressively cohesive. Aside from history, scientific mysteries, and war, Mack gives time to personal issues. Picard is possessed by the war, Riker and Troi are struggling to have a child, and Dax is attempting to adjust to her new role as ship’s captain, haven taken over the Aventine when most of its senior staff perished in battle.

Destiny’s formidable hype is so far warranted, and Mack has my attention.

On the cover: Nicole de Boer as Captain Ezri Dax; Ada Maris’ ponytail as Captain Erika Hernandez’ ponytail.

Related:

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Admiral Hornblower in the West Indies

Posted on August 20, 2010 by smellincoffee

Admiral Hornblower in the West Indies
© 1957 C.S. Forester
250 pages

Although not the last Hornblower book published — Hornblower during the Crisis was a work-in-progress when Forester died — it is the novel set latest in Hornblower’s life. The Napoleonic wars are over: after twenty years of tumult, Europe is finally at peace. Owing to his many years of excellent service, Rear Admiral Hornblower has earned a position in the peacetime navy, keeping watch over Britain’s forces in the West Indies. Though described as a novel, West Indies is more kin to a book of interrelated short stories. Hornblower has no singular campaign to manage, but the storm-tossed seas of the tropical Atlantic give the admiral little rest. There are pirates and slavers afoot, and the Americas are awash in revolutions as various people attempt to rid themselves of colonial overlords.

West Indies has an altogether different tone from the rest of the books, save Midshipman Hornblower. While its stories offer drama, the consequences of failure are less severe than they would be in wartime. Instead of gathering intelligence and striking blows that will defeat a tyrant, Hornblower is kidnapped, chases pirates and slavers, and contends with a hurricane while settling into a contented old age.  It’s cozy, comfortable. For my own part I enjoyed it. Though not the great adventure that other books — Lord Hornblower, for instance — were, it’s a gentle farewell to the man whose adventures I’ve enjoyed reading so much through the spring and summer.

Fair winds and clear horizons, captain.

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Booking through Thursday: Reading Questions

Posted on August 19, 2010 by smellincoffee

From Booking Through Thursday:

1. Favorite childhood book?
The Pigman, Paul Zindel. I probably should not have read it as a kid, but I did.  The book is the story of two misfit teenagers who befriend a lonely old man and later accidentally set the stage for his death.

2. What are you reading right now?
Just finished Gods of Night by David Mack right last night. Picked it up and spent the next few hours utterly engrossed.

3. What books do you have on request at the library?
None currently.

4. Bad book habit?
Snacking while reading and accidently smudging the pages.

5. What do you currently have checked out at the library

  • Sharpe’s Eagle, Bernard Cornwell
  • Working IX to V, Vickie Leon
  • Alexandria, Lindsey Davis

    6. Do you have an e-reader?
    I take umbrage at the very idea. Harrumph!

    7. Do you prefer to read one book at a time, or several at once?
    I generally read one nonfiction book at a time and read from a fiction book to relax.

    8. Have your reading habits changed since starting a blog?
    Readers frequently recommend books. When I first started this blog, I focused heavily on nonfiction, but that is unrelated to my having the blog. So far this year, 60% of my reads are nonfiction and 40% are fiction. I know this only because I’m contributing to a book-thread at a forum where we list the books we read as we read `em. I updated my list yesterday and out of curiosity decided compare the fiction and nonfiction.

    9. Least favorite book you read this year (so far?)
    The 100 Most Influential Books Ever Written, Martin Seymour-Smith.  Tirades unrelated to the subject at hand bore me.

    10. Favorite book you’ve read this year?
    Red Emma Speaks, Emma Goldman; The Complete Robot, Isaac Asimov

    11. How often do you read out of your comfort zone?
    Not often. Citizens was out of my zone, but I decided to make the effort for Bastille Day.


    12. What is your reading comfort zone?
    History,  anything by Isaac Asimov, generally books under 600 pages,  some popular science.

    13. Can you read on the bus?
    I spent over two hours a day on a school bus back during elementary and high school. Had to do something to pass the time.

    14. Favorite place to read?
    There’s a certain tree on my university campus I can spend hours curled under, a discrete corner in the university library, and my own couch. It’s against the wall, and against two large windows, so I can pull back the shades and lounge comfortably reading in the daylight while enjoying all the perks of air conditioning.

    15. What is your policy on book lending?
    Same as Gollum’s policy on the One Ring, but with less murderous intentions.

    16. Do you ever dog-ear books?
    Not since childhood. Now I just note the page number .

    17. Do you ever write in the margins of your books?
    No, except to deliberately…dishonor the book, and even that feels childish of me.

    18. Even in college textbooks?
    Most of my college textbooks are regular books: The Trial of Madame Caillaux, From Dignity to Despair, Storm of Steel, The Road to Wigan Pier, and A Life of Her Own are all books I’ve read for class that I also commented on here.

    19. What is your favorite language to read in?
    English, seeing as I’m not too fluent in reading German. I can decode a sentence in German with a little help,  though not ones as developed as in Der Spiegel, say.

    20. What makes you love a book?
    Seeing humanity at its best.

    21. What will inspire you to recommend a book?
    Nonfiction: how well the material is organized and presented. I’m also picky about the author’s voice. I prefer for them to enjoy their subject matter. Fiction? How well it deals with human issues.

    22. Favorite genre?
    History, among nonfiction:  probably historical fiction for fiction, though I also read a lot of science fiction by way of Star Trek, Star Wars, and Asimov.

    23. Genre you rarely read (but wish you did?)
    Sociology. All of my sociology readings for classes are articles, not books, and librarians tend to be rather sketchy when sticking books into the sociological section of libraries. Best I can do is social criticism, and that’s taxing after a while.

    24. Favorite biography?
    I, Asimov. Isaac Asimov. I adore Asimov, I really do, and reading his autobiographies is like listening to him talk. Like sleeping, it’s hard to imagine getting tired of.

    25. Have you ever read a self-help book?
    Not unless Stoic philosophy counts.

    26. Favorite cookbook?
    Um, I don’t really have a favorite cookbook…

    27. Most inspirational book you’ve read this year (fiction or non-fiction)?
    Red Emma Speaks, Emma Goldman.

    28. Favorite reading snack?
    Pretzels.

    29. Name a case in which hype ruined your reading experience.
    Twilight. I probably won’t be able to approach that series for a decade.

    30. How often do you agree with critics about a book?
    What critics?  I visit Amazon.com after writing comments to see how my experience compared with others. I’m rather easy-going about books: I glean what good I can and tend to ignore the badly-done parts.

    31. How do you feel about giving bad/negative reviews?
    I don’t like it. I cringe at the idea of attacking work someone has invested their emotions into. When writing comments or reviews that other people will read, I try to find a balance between providing a useful review and   attacking the book. I’ll remark on weak elements of the book rather than referring to the book itself as weak — unless the book is a real stinker.

    32. If you could read in a foreign language, which language would you chose?
    German is fun, and Latin would be useful.

    33. Most intimidating book you’ve ever read?
    Citizens, Simon Schama

    34. Most intimidating book you’re too nervous to begin?
    The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, Edward Gibbon.

    35. Favorite Poet?
    Kahlil Gibran.

    36. How many books do you usually have checked out of the library at any given time?
    Oh…three, four. Unless I’m working on a research paper, in which case it’s like “Oh…fifteen, twenty.”

    37. How often have you returned book to the library unread?
    Happens once or twice a month, I suppose. I always poke through a book before checking it out, but sometimes I lose interest or learn the book wasn’t as I thought it was. I sometimes return to these books and sometimes not.

    38. Favorite fictional character?
    I can’t choose.

    • Lemony Snicket, whose narrating style is darkly hilarious.
    • Gordianus the Finder, a strikingly decent man.
    • Horatio Hornblower, whose perpetual awkwardness in social situations is endearing.
    • Hermione Granger, a lovable know-it-all and smartass who also clocked Draco Malfoy.  


    In light of the evidence, Granger it is.

    39. Favorite fictional villain?
    Count Olaf, from The Series of Unfortunate Events. He’s more likable in the movie.

    40. Books I’m most likely to bring on vacation?
    I’d probably bring a couple of unread books, along with old favorites like something from the Black Widower  collections.

    41. The longest I’ve gone without reading.
    Ten hours if I sleep really late on Saturday morning.

    42. Name a book that you could/would not finish.
    What You Need to Know about Islam and Muslims. I thought it was a “In this day and age, Islam is in the news a lot. Here’s some context.” type book, but it was really more of a “In this day and age, Real True Christians need to know that Muslims are everywhere and they’re out to get us” book. It’s written for Jerry Falwell’s kind of audience.


    43. What distracts you easily when you’re reading?
    Having a song in my head, wanting to look up information online. Do you know how hard it is to concentrate on French history when you’re already prone to having “La Marseillaise” stuck in your head for hours at a time?

    44. Favorite film adaptation of a novel?
    A Christmas Carol with Patrick Stewart or A Series of Unfortunate Events.

    45. Most disappointing film adaptation?
    I’ve not seen it, but I’ve heard that the adaption of Percy Jackson and the Lightening Thief is as big a failure as one can imagine in terms of staying true to its source.

    46. The most money I’ve ever spent in the bookstore at one time?
    Trips to school bookstores in my youth — before I discovered Amazon’s marketplace — could run well over two hundred. As for myself…probably a little over thirty? I’m not one to spend a lot of money at one time.

    47. How often do you skim a book before reading it?
    Always as I’m able. I’d only go into a book blind if I knew the author.

    48. What would cause you to stop reading a book half-way through?
    Spilling milk on it, like I did with For Whom the Bell Tolls in eighth grade.

    49. Do you like to keep your books organized?
    I’m working on that. I’ve plans to buy a new bookcase, but I need to figure out which books I want where. I want to keep related books (history, science, reference, philosophy/poetry) together.

    50. Do you prefer to keep books or give them away once you’ve read them?
    I’m the kinda guy who would rent a two-bedroom apartment just for having a library/reading room, so guess.

    51. Are there any books you’ve been avoiding?
    I’ve put off reading The End of Eternity and The Gods Themselves by Isaac Asimov, as those are the only Asimov books in the library I’ve not yet read.  Instead I’ve been reading his other works, particularly essay collections. I’ve also taken an extended break from religious reading given how much of my attention that genre claimed last year.

    52. Name a book that made you angry.
    I nearly stopped reading The 100 Most Influential Books in History several times, so put-off was I by the author’s rants and whining.

    53. A book you didn’t expect to like but did?
    A Life of Her Own, which I read for a European history class. The diary of a French peasant? How exciting can that be? And yet, this is one of the books that stays with me. It’s an inspiring story:  a woman from an isolated mountain village, stifled by tradition, becomes a self-made freethinker and humanist. Her experience with socialists and anarchists changed the way I regarded socialism and communism: prior to this, I’d conflated the two with statism.

    54. A book that you expected to like but didn’t?
    Hornblower and the Hotspur, C.S. Forester. I’ve liked the Hornblower novels, but this one just fell flat for me.

    55. Favorite guilt-free, pleasure reading?
    Isaac Asimov short stories, preferably with forwords or afterwords. I love reading his commentary.

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    Working IX to V

    Posted on August 18, 2010 by smellincoffee

    Working IX to V: Orgy Planners, Funeral Clowns, and Other Prized Professions of the Ancient World
    © 2007 Vicki Leon
    312 pages

    This amusingly-titled volume caught my eye more than a few times in the past, and with an itching to read something about Rome, I decided to delve into it. The book contains over 160 job descriptions from Greece and Rome, sorted into general categories (“Law and Disorder” contains sections on bureaucrats, policemen, bodyguards, and mercenaries, for instance). Occasionally Leon uses one particular individual from history to explore an occupation’s duties and hazards. Cicero’s faithful slave Tiro stars in the section devoted to scribes. The descriptions are laced with humor, often ribald. Leon is a casual author, constantly making sly jokes to the reader Illustrations abound, and more than a few of them sport humorous captions.

    Working IX to V is immensely detailed, and as every section is individually listed in the table of contents I can see the book being useful to someone writing historical fanfiction, though I suppose a for-profit author would prefer a more standard handbook.  I enjoyed the book:  although more pedestrian jobs are included (tax collectors and mercenaries), Leon delights in telling the reader about history’s bizarre and revolting occupations. Her book will considerably enrich the way I think about daily life in Rome, as the details go beyond just specific occupations. Every section contains information on how that job fit into the overall scheme of things, and I learned all manner of odd details. For instance, blue-blooded Roman ladies had specific slaves to carry around their shoes when they paid social visits: different shoes were required for different occasions. Apparently, wearing sandals with one’s toga was a major faux pas to the Romans. Playwrights were also expected to take active hands in performing and finding actors for their plays in Greece.

    For information on daily life in Rome, particularly concerning occupations, this book will serve and amuse amply.

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