War

For a long time, I have been fascinated by the breed of reporter/writer so willing to put everything on the line in order to experience warfare alongside American soldiers. It is only from these brave and talented men and women that the rest of us get a decent picture of what is really happening out there and what our young soldiers are enduring for months on end. Sebastian Junger is one of the best of the breed. I am already a fan of Junger’s The Perfect Storm and A Death in Belmont, both of which are excellently written, but I do believe that War is his best effort yet.

Sebastian Junger spent more than fifteen months of 2007-2008 on the front lines in Afghanistan with a platoon of the 173rd Airborne brigade. Admittedly, Junger was able to take breaks from the combat zone in the Korengal Valley more frequently than the men of Battle Company but, when he was there, he faced the same dangers, and lived under the same rudimentary conditions, as the professional soldiers around him. Junger went out on foot patrols, experienced enemy ambushes and sniper fire, and came close to dying when the Hummer he was riding in became the target of a roadside bomb. Consequently, he experienced the same emotions and trauma experienced by the men he came to know and understand so well.

This is not a political book; Junger does not present or argue the reasons the United States has been involved in this war in Afghanistan for so many years. According to Junger, the men of Battle Company do not seem to care much one way or the other about the politics that placed them in the Korengal Valley. It is his observation, in fact, that behind-the-lines support personnel are generally more gung ho about the war than those taking fire on the front lines. The men of Battle Company waste no time worrying about the rightness or wrongness of their fight.

Junger and his photographer, Tim Hetherington, shot something over 150 hours of video in Afghanistan, video Junger mined for exact quotes and a better understanding of what he lived through in real-life speed. His combat reportage, as would be expected, is excellent, capturing the tenseness of U.S. troops who must often expose themselves via foot patrols in order to make the enemy show himself long enough for air support and heavy weapons to be used against him. As Junger points out, however, the natural terrain of the Korengal Valley offsets many of the advantages one would expect a modern army to have over the few hundred Taliban fighters it faces. Snipers, roadside bombs, the ability of the enemy to blend in with the civilian population, and having to contend with so much high ground, often force these modern soldiers to revert to old school infantry tactics.

War becomes especially interesting when Junger explores how the experience affects those on the front lines. The author explains how these young men handle their fear, how and why each of them is so willing to die for any other man in the platoon, and why so many of them wonder if they will be able to handle the boredom of the real world again after having experienced the rush of combat for so long. For the young men of Battle Company, the courage to fight comes more from love for their fellow soldier than from any sense of patriotism. No one wants to be the one to make a mistake that will cost another man his life, and all are willing to risk their own lives to save the lives of others.

Amazingly, many of these young men “fall in love” with combat and miss it during the lulls between contact with the enemy. Some of them, in their boredom, even wish for their operating base to be attacked - and they shout in glee when it happens again. Despite the friends they lose, for some of them, war becomes a game in which they get to shoot amazing weapons and blow up things. Sadly, it is only when they return home that many of these men will pay a heavy price for what they have experienced.

Rated at: 5.0

Library Opening Draws Hundreds

There is still hope in this crazy old world.

It seems that "hundreds of people" flocked to the brand new Walnut Creek, CA, library that opened for business yesterday and it seems to have been well worth their wait.

MercuryNews.com has the details:

After being under construction for two years, hundreds of people on Saturday came to the opening of the 40,000-square-foot, $39.9 million library in Civic Park.

After a short reception, at which Mayor Sue Rainey officially declared the library open, people flooded the three main entrances and filled each nook and corner of the place. Especially popular was the 5,000-square-foot children's section. Storytime began about 10 minutes after the doors opened and youngsters quickly settled on the multicolored carpet.

[...]

The two-story, sleekly designed building — with a curving roof and tree branches etched into an indoor glass wall — incorporates images of nature. The curving-line design on the floor and tables simulates the flow of the city's creeks.

Rainey said the library is the most beautiful in the state and she thanked the community for helping to make it happen. She acknowledged that the library has caused controversy; some residents think it's too big and cost too much. But when people experience the library they'll understand it has been worth the time, cost and effort, she said.

[...]

But for all the bells and whistles — including 94 public computers and a 65-inch television screen for video game playing in the teen section — many on Saturday quickly found a book and a good place to sit and began reading.

Imagine that. Even with all the new library gizmos, people still managed to find and enjoy the actual books.

Choosing What to Read from First Sentences

I made a nice haul at the library this morning and I've been flipping through the books and wondering what I was thinking when I grabbed so many at one time. I've decided to read the first sentence of each of them and choose my next book or two strictly on how those sentences strike me.

Here goes:

"After the show, they went back to the hotel room, and to bed, for the seventeenth time in three weeks." - Memory by Donald E. Westlake (his "final never-before-published novel")

"It was chillier than she expected that morning, and a stiff wind shuddered through the apple blossoms- penetrating even to the desk in the Lodge at Rodmell, where she preferred to write." - The White Garden by Stephanie Barron (a novel about Virginia Woolf)

"In December of 2008, the editors of Webster's New World Dictionary and Thesaurus chose the verb "overshare" as their word of the year." - The Peep Diaries by Hal Niedzviecki ("How We're Learning to Love Watching Ourselves and Our Neighbors")

"What is an Obama zombie?" - Obama Zombies by Jason Mattera ("How the Liberal Machine Brainwashed My Generation')

"He was Little John at home, Gator John on wheels, John Jude on his birth certificate, Goofy-Foot John, or simply da kine to those in da know." - American Taliban by Pearl Abraham (a novel)

"After crossing the Merrimack River, I turned onto Route 1A, continuing south through the picturesque towns of Massachusetts' North Shore." - Dogtown by Elyssa East ("Death and Enchantment in a New England Ghost Town")

"Meet Patricia Graham - wife, grandmother, office manager, churchgoer, community volunteer. And in her spare time, rightwing domestic terrorist." - That's No Angry Mob, That's My Mom by Michael Graham ("Team Obama's Assault on Tea-Party, Talk-Radio Americans")

"Tom the Handyman is wading in the snow outside my window in boots a burglar might wear." - The Secret Life of Emily Dickinson by Jerome Charyn (novel)

"Oscar Morales was fed up. It was holiday time in his hometown of Barranquilla, Columbia, just after the 2008 new year." - The Facebook Effect by David Kirkpatrick ("The Inside Story of the Company That Is Connecting the World")

"William Blakely? Oh my God, you mean Blockade Billy." - Blockade Billy by Stephen King (baseball-based novella that includes a 50-page short story called "Morality")

"I'm talking about torture." - Letters to My Torturer by Houshang Asadi ("Love, Revolution, and Imprisonment in Iran")

So, based on only the information I've presented, do I have any recommendations? I've already admitted to myself that it is extremely unlikely that I will read all 11 of these titles before the library demands I return them. I'm not sure what got into me this morning, but I found something interesting just about every place I looked on the shelves. At other times, I find nothing...just wish there was something in between.

(I suspect that all the guys will choose the first one on the list...)

Me of Little Faith

In Me of Little Faith, comedian and social critic Lewis Black searches for humor in organized religion – and he finds plenty. Black is an equal opportunity offender and by the end of the book he has given the reader his take on every major religion in the world – although he treads lightly when it comes to Islam.

In the tiny piece titled “Islam. All I’m saying is, I got nothing to say,” he states “I’ll get back to you later, when things have settled down.” He does follow this short piece with one called “When Bobby Goes Boom,” in which he skewers “religious suicide bombers” and another called “The Suicide Bomber’s Prayer” that is written in the voice of a Muslim bomber (although Black jokingly substitutes “Holy One” for “Allah”), but Black’s refusal to treat Islam in the same brash manner he treats every other religion weakens the impact of the book – and seems out of character for someone like Lewis Black who has an image of not fearing any backlash his comedy might create.

Black has particular fun with the multi-millionaire televangelists out there that still manage to scam their way to riches. He revisits the heydays of Jim and Tammy Baker, Oral Roberts, Jimmy Swaggart and others, and finds much humor in the personal failings and absurdities of each of them. Swaggart is obviously Black’s pick of the litter (he admits to having been fascinated by the man’s television shows), and he devotes several pages to explaining the great success of the ministry (basically, “he’s used-car salesman sexy”).

One of the funniest parts of the book is Black’s take on athletes who use entire post-game interviews to thank Jesus for their success on the playing field. He wonders why, if God gets all the credit for carrying the successful athlete, the day’s losers don’t say something like, “Yeah, we were in the game…until Jesus made me fumble. He hates our team. Jesus hates us.” You know, I’ve often wondered the same thing.

Me of Little Faith is really about Lewis Black, how he was raised as a non-practicing Jew, what religious experiences he has had over the years, and what he believes today. It is a comic-biography, if you will, and it is sharp and funny in places, but a bit uneven. Black made the mistake of ending the book with a 38-page play he co-wrote in 1981, a play that he admits was largely panned by the critics who bothered to see it. He did not understand then why it was not more of a success and he still doesn’t seem to get it. Simply put, it is not funny – and its inclusion in Me of Little Faith is a mistake, especially so near the very end of the book where it seems to drag down all the really funny stuff that preceded it.

Rated at: 2.5

Why Didn't Stephenie Meyer Think of This?

From the Wall Street Journal:

For $75,000, you can buy a piece of Indian cricket star Sachin Tendulkar.

Luxury publisher Kraken Opus mixed in a pint of Mr. Tendulkar's blood with paper pulp to create the signature page for a book celebrating the renowned batsman's career. The 10 limited-edition copies, which comes out in February, cost $75,000 each and have already sold out.

If you find this a bit much, or if you want to hear about other luxury books being sold to a bunch of what I perceive to be very gullible people with too much money in their hands, see the rest of the article. We live in a weird old world, people.

Running Dark

One would expect that when ultramarathoner Emma Caldridge is blown off her feet by a car bomb near the halfway point of South Africa’s Comrades race, she would call it a day. Emma, feeling the ill effects of the run even before the bomb blast, is too stunned by the explosion to protest when a stranger injects her with a mysterious drug via the EpiPen in his hand. All she knows for sure is that the drug immediately has her back on her feet, her race injuries are quickly healing, and she cannot wait to get on down the road. From this point, the plot of Running Dark moves as quickly toward the finish line as Emma does.

Running Dark is Jamie Freveletti’s second novel featuring Emma Caldridge and Cameron Sumner and much of what happened in the first book, Running from the Devil, has an impact on character relationships in Running Dark. Most importantly, Cameron Sumner saved Emma’s life during a hostage situation in the first book, and in this one, she is determined to return the favor.

For much of the book, Freveletti aptly juggles three separate, and exciting, plotlines. The first involves Emma’s efforts to identify the performance enhancing drug she was injected with, and to make her way to a cruise ship off the coast of Somalia where Cameron Sumner is desperately hoping to hold off the Somali pirates trying to take it. The second plotline focuses on the cruise ship itself and Cameron’s efforts to organize the crew and passengers in a way that gives them at least a fighting chance against the pirates. Cameron has smuggled a sniper’s rifle on board the ship but, with the exception of a supersonic noise generator, that is about the only real weapon he has. The third plotline follows the efforts of Darkview Security’s Edward Banner and Carol Strohmeyer to fight off the efforts of the mysterious “Vulture” and a ruthless Senator who want to shut the company down.

Each of the plotlines is interesting but the most suspenseful one involves Emma’s determination to get to the ill fated cruise ship. Once she finally gets to the region, the support organized by Darkview starts to break down and she is forced to think on the run if she is to survive the ordeal, much less actually board a cruise ship already under the watchful eye of a big shot Somali pirate. Freveletti closes the book with a frantic fight to the finish between thirty or so pirates and a handful of people trying to create weapons from what they can find on the ship.

Running Dark is filled with impressive, and likable, characters, and readers will want to follow them into their next adventure. I do wish that their first book backstory had been told in more detail, but that is a small quibble.

Rated at: 4.0

(Review Copy provided by Publisher)