Regular readers of this column are aware of my obsession for reading and occasionally ask me “What are you reading these days?” This column is dedicated to them.
My reading habits often are dominated by diversions, one book requiring me to do supplemental reading on a subject that intrigues me. I recently came across three 1847 vintage letters home from a volunteer soldier, Frederick Burkle, during the Mexican War. These are part of a series of sixteen letters that have been in our family’s possession for 175 years. Skimming over these letters re-kindled my interest in the Mexican War, so I re-read Jeff Shaara’s magnificent historical novel, “Gone for Soldiers”.
Filled with short episodes involving many of the heroes of the Civil War fifteen years later, I had forgotten how enjoyable this book is. Robert E. Lee, U. S. Grant, and Stonewall Jackson are just a few of the junior officers whom Shaara reports distinguished themselves in General Winfield Scott’s remarkable Mexico City campaign. But did these incidents actually occur? This led me to read the definitive history of the war, K. Jack Bauer’s “The Mexican War; 1846-1848” and “Ulysses S. Grant’s Memoirs” to “fact-check” them. Sure enough, Lee did indeed embark on a series of perilous scouting expeditions and learn enough about the enemy’s fortifications to permit Scott to perform flanking operations and ensure victory. Sure enough, Grant did disassemble a howitzer, manhandle it through chest deep water and up into the bell tower of a church, re-assemble it, and destroy Mexican defenses at the San Cosme Gate. Sure enough, Jackson regularly is mentioned for the effectiveness of his artillery battery.
Another interesting diversion for me is “Catharine, Queen of the Tumbling Waters”, by Cynthia G. Neale. I recently received an email from a lady requesting information on a Native American village named Ostonwakim featured in a book dealing with a historical figure, Catharine Montour. This piqued my interest sufficiently to get a copy of the book and start it. I have found it to be a very interesting tale, providing a detailed description of the life of a “metis”, a person with mixed French and Native American blood, in the 1700s.
The Youngwood Road Book Review Club first met on March 1, 2000, to discuss “Blue Highways” by William Least-Heat Moon. We enjoyed the experience so much that an evolving group of seven of us has met about once a month ever since. Larry Kennedy and I are the only remaining members of the original meeting. Our book last month was Mark Twain’s memoir of his career as a river pilot, “Life on the Mississippi”. Other recent books have included “Cloudsplitter”, Russell Banks’ outstanding historical novel about John Brown and his family; “Oliver Twist”; “The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night”, by Mark Haddon”; Andy Weir’s “The Hail Mary Project”; “Horse”, by Geraldine Brooks; and Patrick Radden Keefe’s “Empire of Pain”. Our group is truly eclectic, which frequently leads us to read books out of our comfort zone.
I have just finished reading “The Mosquito Bowl”, by Buzz Bissinger. In addition to our neighborhood Book Club, I am participating in a Military History Book Club with three other gentlemen who are far more passionate about the subject than I am. This book chronicles the activities of two Marine regiments heavily involved in the battle for Okinawa late in World War II. In December 1944 they were training in Guadalcanal for the fateful invasion ahead of them. By coincidence, both regiments were filled with college football players, including several All-Americans. Bragging rights led to a challenge football game, played (to a scoreless tie) on Christmas Eve, 1944. Three months later fifteen of the sixty-five players in the game had lost their lives in the Pacific’s deadliest battle.
The previous Military Book Club selection was Alex Kershaw’s “Against All Odds”. It documents the exploits of four men (including Audie Murphy) who earned Congressional Medals of Honor while serving in the famous Third Division as it fought its way from North Africa, through Sicily, Italy, Southern France, and Germany all the way to Berchtesgaden. Prior to that we read “To the Uttermost Ends of the Earth’, by Phil Keith and Tom Clavin. The story of the devastation during the Civil War caused by the Confederate raider “Alabama”, the search for her by the Union man-of-war “Kearsage”, and the eventual sinking of the “Alabama” off Cherbourg, France, produced a book that I enjoyed immensely. Incidentally, Raphael Semmes, captain of the “Alabama” was another hero of the Mexican War, commanding a naval battery loaned to General Winfield Scott for his successful Mexico City campaign.
Last Fall I enjoyed watching a mystery series on television entitled “Magpie Murders” so much I decided to read the novel that provided the basis for the series, as well as its sequel, “Moonflower Murders”, which is currently being filmed. Both books feature a middle-aged book editor named Susan Ryeland, who gets trapped into becoming an amateur detective.
Once I had established the fact that it is permissible for me to occasionally diversify my reading by reading (low-brow) mysteries, I realized it was time for me to investigate Susan Kimmel Wright’s Mabel Browne series. Susie is the wife of one of my oldest friends, David Wright, an excellent chronicler of technological history himself. Mabel is another mature lady who accidentally finds herself involved in a series of mysteries – Mysteries of Medicine Springs, which includes “Mabel and the Cat’s Meow”, “Mabel Gets the Ax”, and “Mabel Goes to the Dogs”. Set in a mythical rural western Pennsylvania town, all three are lots of fun to read, and a welcome alternative to the deadly serious stuff I usually read.
The pile of “to-be-read” books in my living room continues to grow faster than the pile designated for donation to the local library; I suspect that is a good sign.