Collected Miscellany

My once fierce determination not to read book series out of order now lays broken and battered on the side of the road. Given the limited time I have and the seemingly never ending stream of books in my TBR pile something has to give. I know there are those who would argue that you can’t really review a novel without a good understanding of the authors previous work and his general career arc. Perhaps this is really aimed at literary criticism and not the review of genre fiction, nevertheless I always have a pang of guilt reading works that are part of series, or that have a reoccurring character, without having read them in order. It leaves me with the feeling that I am missing something; that I am not getting a full appreciation of the sweep of the plot and the character development. I am sure these books are designed to work at some level as a stand along work, but there is a built in advantage to having read the previous works.

All of this is a lament by way of introducing the fact that I haven’t read any of Martin Cruz Smith’s previous book prior to reading Stalin’s Ghost which is the sixth in a series centering on the Arkady Renko character. So keep this caveat in mind for what follows.

Renko’s boss assigns him the awkward job of trying to get to the bottom of rumors that Stalin is haunting a Moscow subway station. The ghost turns out to be a bit of agitprop for a nationalist political party seeking to use Uncle Joe’s image for political gain. This in turn ties into the Senate campaign of one of Renko’s colleagues Nikolai Isakov – a former Black Beret who has returned a hero from the ugly war in Chechnya.

Renko soon finds that out, however, that there are a number of connections between his fellow investigator and a number of recent homicide cases. Renko being Renko, he can’t help but to keep pulling at the loose threads despite the mounting bodies and threats to his own life. To add a twist to the plot, Renko’s girlfriend also has a connection with Isakov and it appears she is intent on reconnecting with the Black Beret. Everything points back to what was supposed to be a heroic stand by the Black Berets facing superior arms and numbers from Chechen rebels, but something isn’t quite right about the events of that day. The question is whether Renko can get the answers before getting himself killed.

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I am not much of a short story reader. Not really sure why. I think I have always been a plot and character kinda guy and so have focused on the novel form (although, I do enjoy novellas). For whatever reason, the short story form hasn’t been a big part of my reading experience.

Given this, I am not sure how I became aware of The Nimrod Flip-Out, but it somehow came to my attention and I was intrigued – perhaps by the interesting cover. So when I stumbled upon it at Half-Price Books I picked it up. Interestingly enough, I read the book in the unique location that has been discussed recently by Mark Sarvas.

I am hard pressed to describe this collection from one of Israel’s most famous writers (in a country with of only five million Hebrew readers, Keret’s four collections of stories have sold more than 200,000 copies), but this description from an Observer interview does it pretty well:

. . . The Nimrod Flip-Out, a collection of 32 short, short stories that perfectly captures the craziness of life in Israel today. Rarely extending beyond three or four pages, they fuse the banal with the surreal, shot through with a dark, tragicomic sensibility and casual, comic-strip violence.

One interesting point, at least to me, is that the first story may adversely impact one’s enjoyment of the collection. The story, entitled Fatso, describes a man whose girlfriend every night turns into a “heavy, hairy man, with no neck, with a gold ring on his pinkie.” The story describes how the girlfriend shows up in tears wanting to confess a dark secret and the boyfriend promising to love her no matter what – convinced it is likely no big deal. His plan to be the supportive and loving boyfriend works out at first. They both cry and have passionate sex, but afterwords he is a little worried to find out that her secret comes true. One minute he is with his beautiful girlfriend, the next he is with an overweight, and rather vulgar soccer fan. But out of guilt or curiosity, or both, he ends up hanging out with the guy and enjoying himself. They eat steaks, drink beer, and watch soccer. It seem like the perfect relationship: half the day he has a beautiful and loving girlfriend the other half he has a rough and tumble male friend.

This story is a hilarious description of the male point of view and it starts the book off with a bang. The rest of the stories, however, are not quite funny in the same rather straight forward way. If you are expecting more of the same, you might be disappointed. The rest of the stories lean a little bit more in the direction of the absurd and existential.

I wasn’t disappointed exactly but it took me a while to realize that all of the stories weren’t going to be so conventionally humorous. I was also confused when none of the stories seemed to relate to the unique cover art.

I am not going to even try to unpack the other stories. Suffice it to say if you enjoy brief, compact, and quirky stories that explore the often absurd nature of everyday life, you will enjoy The Nimrod Flipout. I certainly enjoyed having something short and entertaining to read in “my office.”

Simon Scarrow’s latest book in the Eagle’s Series, entitled The Eagle’s Prophecy, continues Scarrow’s great work. The book takes the heroines, Cato and Macro, to the Adriatic Sea region and puts them in the Roman Navy – a total 180 for them since they are used to fighting on ground in the Roman Army.

Here is a good synopsis of the book from Publishers Weekly:

The sixth installment (following 2005’s The Eagle’s Prey) of Scarrow’s popular Roman Empire series is a combustible concoction of intrigue, treachery and violence. Having returned to Rome from Britain to await an investigation into their involvement in the death of an officer, centurions Macro and Cato, Scarrow’s recurring heroes, are offered the opportunity to redeem themselves: they must recover the Delphic scrolls—reputed to foretell Rome’s future—from the pirates who stole them. Macro and Cato are assigned to the Roman fleet under the command of a former nemesis, the venal Vitellius, who secretly covets the scrolls for himself. Vitellius’s plan to destroy the pirate fleet and seize the scrolls, however, runs aground when the pirates, aided by a Roman traitor and Vitellius’s ineptness in battle, inflict severe losses on the Roman fleet. When Vitellius is replaced, Macro and Cato get another chance to salvage their careers (and lives).

I can’t put my finger on why I enjoy this series so much – maybe because the characters are so likeable or because the plots are so good. I also enjoy reading about this time period. In any case, Scarrow makes reading his books easy. The writing flows across the pages and before you know it, you have read almost an entire chapter.

Although some may say that the plot is weak and formulaic, I disagree. This book’s plot is multidimensional with good character development – this is especially true as the book series goes along. The relationship between Cato and Macro and Vitellius is a good portrayal of the ruthlessness of Rome. Vitellius is willing to sacrifice the lives of Cato and Macro and many others in order to stay in the good graces of the Emperor.

This book is another fine adventure of centurions Cato and Macro.

Simon Scarrow’s latest book in the Eagle’s Series, entitled The Eagle’s Prophecy, continues Scarrow’s great work. The book takes the heroines, Cato and Macro, to the Adriatic Sea region and puts them in the Roman Navy – a total 180 for them since they are used to fighting on ground in the Roman Army.

Here is a good synopsis of the book from Publishers Weekly:

The sixth installment (following 2005’s The Eagle’s Prey) of Scarrow’s popular Roman Empire series is a combustible concoction of intrigue, treachery and violence. Having returned to Rome from Britain to await an investigation into their involvement in the death of an officer, centurions Macro and Cato, Scarrow’s recurring heroes, are offered the opportunity to redeem themselves: they must recover the Delphic scrolls—reputed to foretell Rome’s future—from the pirates who stole them. Macro and Cato are assigned to the Roman fleet under the command of a former nemesis, the venal Vitellius, who secretly covets the scrolls for himself. Vitellius’s plan to destroy the pirate fleet and seize the scrolls, however, runs aground when the pirates, aided by a Roman traitor and Vitellius’s ineptness in battle, inflict severe losses on the Roman fleet. When Vitellius is replaced, Macro and Cato get another chance to salvage their careers (and lives).

I can’t put my finger on why I enjoy this series so much – maybe because the characters are so likeable or because the plots are so good. I also enjoy reading about this time period. In any case, Scarrow makes reading his books easy. The writing flows across the pages and before you know it, you have read almost an entire chapter.

Although some may say that the plot is weak and formulaic, I disagree. This book’s plot is multidimensional with good character development – this is especially true as the book series goes along. The relationship between Cato and Macro and Vitellius is a good portrayal of the ruthlessness of Rome. Vitellius is willing to sacrifice the lives of Cato and Macro and many others in order to stay in the good graces of the Emperor.

This book is another fine adventure of centurions Cato and Macro.

The Last True Story I’ll Ever Tell: An Accidental Soldier’s Account of the War in Iraq by John Crawford is about Crawford’s service in Iraq with the Florida National Guard. His account is entertaining and sobering.

Here is summary of the book from Publishers Weekly:

Having joined the National Guard for the tuition benefits, Crawford, like many of his contemporaries, never expected to do any heavy lifting. Early on, he admits his is “the story of a group of college students… who wanted nothing to do with someone else’s war.” But when his Florida National Guard unit was activated, he was shipped to Kuwait shortly before the invasion of Iraq. Armed with shoddy equipment, led by incompetent officers and finding release in the occasional indulgence in pharmaceuticals, Crawford cared little for the mission and less for the Iraqis. “Mostly we were guarding gas stations and running patrols,” he explains. As for Iraqi civilians, “I didn’t give a shit what happened to any of them,” he confesses after inadvertently saving an Iraqi boy from a mob beating. Crawford’s disdain grows with each extension of his tour, and he leaves Iraq broke, rudderless and embittered. Unfortunately, Crawford dresses up his story in strained metaphors and tired clichés such as “truth engulfed me like a storm cloud” and “you can never go back home.” Despite its pretensions, Crawford’s story is not the classic foot soldier’s memoir and should provide enough gristle to please military memoir fans.

I mostly agree with Publishers Weekly’s take on the book. In some place, Crawford seems to push the disgruntled soldier act a little too far, but I think he is a product of his generation – the “We are supposed to be jaded and act like it” generation. It is still worthwhile to read the book to catch a glimpse of modern war from the perspective of a national guardsman.