Today’s Post by Joe Farace
Cable and streaming services have done a great job of reminding me of the value of a good book.— Hamborgini on ARS Technica
The above quote says a lot about video streaming services and my own movie watching habits but think that lately I may have been watching more movies, via DVD, Blu-ray and 4K Ultra HD than reading books. So maybe this fact has a bearing on my book reading habits. After a slow start for the year. my book reading pace has picked up a bit but I think that I’m track to read less books this year than 2023. But that’s OK with me. This isn’t a race, it’s a journey.
My TBR Stack is small but growing
Right now my TBR list is as small as it’s been with just a few books in the stack next to my 21-inch iMac. The books are The Instruments of Darkness by John Connolly and The Complete Book of Dodge and Plymouth Muscle Cars by Mike Mueller and Tom Glatch. By the by, the phrase “Instruments of Darkness” is a Shakespeare quote from Macbeth that goes, “oftentimes to win us to our harm the instruments of darkness tell us truths, win us with honest trifles, to betray’s in deepest consequence.” And get this, this title is use by, at least seven other books as their title. Other new books in my stack that are part of Mary’s Book-of-the-Month Club are American Comics: A History by Jeremy Dauber and The race to the future : 8,000 miles to Paris: the adventure that accelerated the twentieth century by
Mini Reviews
Based on the trailer for the movie I watched, I didn’t think the novelization of Godzilla x Kong The New Empire by
First of all, I would have never read this book if it wasn’t a gift from Mary. But…Keyes is a terrific writer and has lots of experience writing genre fiction. He brings his expertise and talent to this book especially what should be the hardest parts of the book, which is getting inside the mind of Kong and his adventures in the Hollow Earth. (Not a spoiler I hope; if so forgive me.) But he doesn’t ignore all of the humans in the story and makes them come to life as well as any film could. If you are a fan of Godzilla, Kong or just the giant monster genre I guarantee you will love this book. If you are a science fiction aficionado, you might want to pick up the book as well, you may be surprised at how much you will enjoy it. I was. And now I want to see the movie, which I didn’t before.
Sharpe’s Command by Bernard Cornwell is not the kind of book I normally read but the subject matter reminded me of the Peter Weir film Master and Commander: The Far Side Of The World and so I was on a long list to get it from the library before I actually got to read it. By the way, the book is nothing like Master And Commander but you should see/watch/buy that film because it is a cinematic masterpiece and the Blu-ray is available from Amazon for less than ten bucks.
Instead Cornwell has created what film enthusiast call a “Men on a Mission” story, much like The Dirty Dozen of The Guns of Navarone, if you’re familiar with that genre. The book is set in 1812 during Britain’s peninsular wars with France, which I must confess that, although I’m a history buff, I knew nothing about. Major Sharpe and his band of intrepid riflemen—the French are using muskets—go behind enemy lines to reconnoiter some bridges for the General staff only to be met with two-faced Spanish partisans and several forts chock full of French soldiers. For some reason he also involves his wife, the leader of a fierce band of Spanish partisans, that stretched my credulity more than a bit but I got over it. The actions of some of Sharpe’s riflemen after a battle. I’m guessing, may surprise you. Heroic, for sure, but also very human and probably historically true but also somewhat venal. But none of this gets in the way of a exciting and engaging story, exceptionally well told. And if you are interested in history, the author has an appendix at the end of the book, discussing the real moments in time covered by a book that deftly mixes history and fiction.
Review:
In the early sixties, when I started getting interested in motorsports, the 24 Hours of LeMans had already been run held for 40 years! The whole idea of endurance racing with cars running for 24 hours straight in rain or shine, day and night appealed to my burgeoning interest in sports cars. At that time and even today, I didn’t know the race was 100 years old until this epic book hit my doorstep.
Written by
Let’s get this out of the way first: So sit back turn the pages and revel in a format that provides fascinating information about the personalities and vehicles that are described in easily digested snippets.
One of the most fascinating sections, to me, was the section of regulations and while that may not seem like the most exciting bits to read in the book, this brief section, takes a look at aspects like the number of driver and how long they may spend on the track. This includes details on why the regulations were instituted in the first place, some based on accidents and others based on common sense to make sure that drivers and spectators are safe. Heck. there’s even a section on trophies for those aficionados who need to get down to the smallest granular detail about motorsports. There’s also a wonderfully descriptive and informative section on the types and flags and signals used during the race.
By now you might notice that this is not a strict chronological view of the race but a deep dive into the myriad of details that go into producing and running such a complex event. So inside these pages you’ll find detailed section on the legendary divers both individually and by nationality and a look at some of the marques that, excuse the pun, made their mark at LeMans. There’s even sections on helmets and tires! It’s all here including a more or less complete list of the winners of the race over the hundred years from the first—Andre LaGache—to the 2022 winner, Sebastian Beumi. (In 2023, James Calado, Antonio Giovinazzi and Alessandro Pier Guidi won the overall race after leading the final 55 laps. The 2024 race kicks off on June 15, )
- Publisher: Evro Publishing Limited (March 5, 2024)
- Hardcover: 336 pages
- ISBN-10 : 1910505889
- ISBN-13 : 978-1910505885
- Weight: 4.5 pounds
- Dimensions : 10.5 x 1 x 11.8-inches
- Price: $61.01 (Prime, as I write this)