A BLAZE OF GLORY by Jeff Shaara

Book Review:

A BLAZE OF GLORY 

A Novel of the Battle of Shiloh

by Jeff Shaara

   Jeff Shaara, author of several war stories, is now working on a trilogy of books about the Civil War in the Western Theater.  This first novel is about the surprise attack on Union forces under Major General U. S. Grant by Confederate forces under General Albert Sydney Johnston fought on April 6 – 7, 1862.  The battle is called “The Battle of Shiloh” because a little church called the Shiloh church was headquarters to first the Union general staff and then the Confederate general staff.

   Grant’s forces had captured two Confederate forts and were massing at Pittsburg Landing, TN and no one suspected that Johnston was planning to attack.  Grant’s men had not set up any defenses and so the first wave of Confederate troops rolled over the Union positions quickly and drove them back towards the Tennessee River.  They were forced to abandon their camps and personal possessions in the panic that ensued when the Confederate troops attacked them.  Johnston was fatally wounded late in the first day of the battle and command of the Confederate troops fell to General P.G.T. Beauregard.  Beauregard decided to rest his troops overnight and not press their advantage.  Grant was able to form up his surviving troops and additional Union troops under General Don Carlos Buell arrived by riverboat during the night.  The combined Union forces routed the Confederate troops on the second day. 

   Shaara’s account is written, as much of his novels are, from the various viewpoints of the men from both sides who participated.  Shaara takes great care to thoroughly research the events of the battle.  He also examines the actual written records and personal letters of the participants, using these to allow him to make his characters more real to the reader.  And he has a gift of being able to relate the story equally well from either the Union side or from the Confederate side.  He describes the horror and the confusion of the battle and I found myself beginning to hear the cannon fire and smell the black powder smoke.  One of his best features is being able to describe the thoughts and actions of the generals as they make the decisions and give the orders and then he takes you to the battlefield and gives you the view through the eyes and experiences of a common soldier or low ranking officer.  You get to see the consequences of the general’s actions from ground level, as it were.  And he is not shy about revealing the horrifying details of wounded and dying men and what happened to them.

   Shaara has already written an impressive amount of historical fiction about the wars the U.S. has been involved in.  "Rise to Rebellion" and "The Glorious Cause" take us through the Revolutionary War.  “Gone for Soldiers” tells of the Mexican War.  The trilogy made up of his two novels, “Gods and Generals” and “The Last Full Measure” as well as his father Michael’s novel “The Killer Angels” takes us through the Civil War in the Eastern theater.  He wrote a single novel about World War 1 called, “To the Last Man” and a quadrilogy of World War 2 novels called: “The Rising Tide,” “The Steel Wave”, “No Less Than Victory,” and “The Final Storm.” 

   Jeff Shaara has a rare talent for putting you inside the events that make up these milestones of American history.  If you have any interest in historical fiction or war novels, I highly recommend “A Blaze of Glory.”

Steve Cram

Darth Plagueis by James Luceno

   Most people know the Star Wars saga from the movies.  There were six films that tell of the story of an epic struggle between good and evil – light and dark – love and hate. 

   There are also books, dozens of books, that expand the story and tell more of that epic story. 

   Darth Plagueis is a Dark Lord of the Sith mentioned in the movie Revenge of the Sith.  Palpatine, Supreme Chancellor and soon to be Emperor, gives us a brief look at his teacher and mentor, Darth Plagueis the Wise.  James Luceno takes up the story and fills in many more details giving us a broad, well drawn picture of Plagueis’ rise to Dark Lord up to his death at the hands of his Apprentice, Palpatine. 

   James Luceno had written other Star Wars novels prior to this one.  He is known for writing in-depth stories fleshed out with details that many writers would not include.  This style of writing can be either good or bad.  If you like to know the whole story and what’s happening behind the scenes, James Luceno is the writer for you. If you’re looking for a quick, easy read, go somewhere else.  Luceno is not the author for you.

   He takes writing this story as the opportunity to tie together several events and characters from the movies and other books and fits them into the mosaic that is the whole story of Star Wars.  Many familiar characters who are glimpsed quickly in passing or who are presented full blown to us are described and we see where they come from and what their origins are. 

   If you want to know more about the events leading up to the Clone Wars and how the Sith came to arrange them, here is your chance.  Grab a copy of Darth Plagueis and find a comfortable seat.  You’ll want to keep reading and keep reading to see what’s coming next for Darth Plagueis the Wise and his eager Apprentice, the future Emperor Palpatine. 

Stephen Cram

eReader Informational Program

The North Baltimore Library is offering a free eReader informational program;

February 22^nd at 6:30 pm.

 Join us for an unstructured review of current eReaders, how to get eBooks from the library, and how to use the library catalog to find the eBook you want. 

Best Buy will be graciously giving the presentation.

This is a free event and registration is not required.

Blood of the Prodigal by P.L Gaus

When an Amish boy is kidnapped, can three men bridge the divide between two peoples?

The Amish, or “plain people,” and English, or “vain ones,” share a home county in the pastoral hills of Ohio. As summer approaches, boyhood friends and lifelong residents Pastor Caleb Troyer and Professor Michael Branden anticipate a season of fishing for bass, until a ten-year-old boy disappears from the home of the Amish bishop who had exiled the boy’s father a decade earlier.

“Say little. Listen a lot,” are Troyer and Branden’s simple watchwords as they begin, at the behest of Bishop Eli Miller, to work the case. Following the bishop’s mysterious strictures, the pair is plunged into the traditionally closed Amish society whose followers, innately suspicious of English ways, have been suddenly made vulnerable to the dangers of the world. When the man suspected of seizing the boy turns up dead, Sheriff Bruce Robertson takes up the investigation—only to uncover truths that many, especially the bishop, would prefer to leave undisturbed. - Amazon

Plenty of character and ethically multifaceted, Blood of the Prodigal is first in a fascinating series that explores an intriguing culture of a people purposely set apart from mainstream America. - Lori

Rawhide Down: The Near Assassination of Ronald Reagan by Del Quentin Wilbur

Book Review

This year (2011) is the 100^th birthday of Ronald Reagan and saw a very well written book by his son Ron released.   As we learn more about this legendary man, it is natural to want to learn about the day he was nearly killed by John Hinckley, Jr. 

   The book starts a little slow, telling about Reagan waking up and about his morning schedule.  But this part is necessary to show us that this was supposed to be just an ordinary day in the life of a President.  Reagan was still new to the Presidentcy and had surrounded himself with aides who all had very different personalities and reactions to crisis. 

   We also see John Hinckley, Jr. as he prepares for this fateful encounter and get a glimpse of the dark despair he suffered from and the fascination he had with actress Jodi Foster.  He had tried once before to shoot a President; planning to shoot Jimmy Carter, but was thwarted by airport security and arrested.  Now he is in Washington armed with a Saturday Night Special and deadly Devastator bullets, bullets designed with exploding heads which blow up on contact. 

   The author researched the incident thoroughly and gives us a close-up view of what happened when Hinckley opened fire.  From this part on we see that not only is the wounded President a brave man, but there were many other brave men and woman who stepped up and did their duty above and beyond what would be expected.  Secret Service agent Timothy McCartney turning towards the shooter and using his body as a shield to try to protect the President, another agent, Jerry Parr, forcing the President in the car and making the decision to take him to the hospital, a decision which saved the President’s life.

   Unknown police men and woman clearing a way through the busy traffic so the limo could get Reagan to the hospital quickly.

   We see the many doctors and nurses who used all their training and skills to save the President as he was bleeding internally and losing the fight to stay alive. 

   The President’s personal friend, Lyn Nofziger, who was not well liked by many, who stepped in front of the microphones and gave a frank and honest description of what happened to Reagan and what was going to be done by the doctors.  His steady approach to relaying the information to the press corps calmed a fearful nation waiting to hear of the President’s fate.

   Mrs. Reagan, full of fear herself, calming her children in the hospital.

   We also see the others wounded in the shooting: McCartney, Police officer Delahanty, and Press Secretary Jim Brady.  They were treated for the serious wounds inflicted by the exploding bullets and all survived the day.

   Rawhide Down should be a “must read” for anyone who wants to see courage in action or just wants to learn more about the darkest day in the life of this charismatic President.

Steve Cram

The Jefferson Key by Steve Berry

This is the 7^th Cotton Malone story, and the first set almost entirely in the US, with a little sidetrip to Canada.

Author Steve Berry sets out to weave a story that begins with the failed assassination attempt on President Andrew Jackson and includes the shooting deaths of four Presidents, Lincoln, Garfield, McKinley and Kennedy.  He throws in an unsolvable cipher invented by President Thomas Jefferson and some Letters of Marque written by President Washington to four groups of pirates granting them legitimate status as Privateers in the service to America during the Revolutionary War.  Confused yet?  Then he mixes in an explanation of pirate crews by detailing the death of Edward Teach (the notorious Blackbeard,) and includes some history of the mystery of Oak Island and the treasure that was never found there.   

   Cotton Malone, the hero of the story, is finds himself drawn into the attempted assassination of the current President who orders Malone to find out who did it, where his former boss Stephanie Nell is, what the secret to the Jefferson cipher is, where some missing papers were hidden by Andrew Jackson, and stay alive while being pursued by pirates and an old enemy long enough to pull all this off.   Oh, and to find out who in his administration is leaking information that almost got the President killed.  Berry’s answer is both surprising and believable. 

   Berry uses real historical events to tie all this together into an interesting story without boring the reader with stale endless pages of dry facts.  He keeps things moving along at a quick pace, which is my one complaint about the story.  He tries to keep things moving a little too fast.  You barely have time to get into the action when he switches to another scene and you’re involved with something else.  Then he switches back to finish the first scene, and then jumps over to the second to give you some more of that.  You need to stay alert to keep up with the scene changes.

   But if you can keep up with Berry, you’ll discover a complex plot filled with enough mystery, intrigue, and action to entertain you.  You will also come to understand the fine line between pirates and privateers and why many feel there is no difference.  And you’ll learn of the ingenious cipher invented by Jefferson, which really exists and was used by him, and the reason it is so difficult to break the cipher. 

   All in all, a good read, but a little hard to keep pace with the scene switches.

Stephen Cram

What Alice Forgot by Liane Moriarty

When Alice Love wakes up at the hospital after collapsing, she doesn’t understand why her husband, Nick, isn’t at her bedside. After all, she’s twenty-nine years old and happily married, with a baby on the way.  That’s when her sister, Elisabeth, breaks the news to her: Alice has amnesia.  She is, in fact, thirty-nine, has three kids, and she and Nick are in the middle of a brutal divorce.  As Alice moves through her unfamiliar life, she is shocked by the person she’s become and wonders how in the world she doesn’t even recognize herself.

In novels popular books memory loss, the  main character is usually attempting to get trying to get their memory back, and of course, Alice tries as hard as she can to recall what she’s forgotten.  But as the book progresses, the reader’s feelings change.  I didn’t want Alice to remember what she’d forgotten.  She had the chance to rebuild her life, to right all of her mistakes, and this Alice seemed so much happier than the other Alice.  It was a crafty thing that Moriarty did, and it made it completely unique.- S. Krishna’s Books

           

I liked What Alice Forgot because it was not predictable. The author crafts a character that I could relate to. If we could go back in time would we really change anything we did?  Like many of us have one time or another, the main character struggles to understand who she is. - Lori

Unfinished Desires by Gail Godwin

 

The Chatters Book Club had a good discussion on Unfinished Desires.  The novel deals with a group of girls attending a Catholic girl's school.  Gail Godwin, author of 12 previous novels, involves women's friendships, family, and faith in this very human story.  The central setting of the story takes place when a group of 9th grade girls come together to perform a play; however, power struggles occur throughout between mothers and daughters, teachers and students. The author attended a Catholic day school and bases her story on her experiences.

    Our June selection and meeting TBA. 

To Reign in Hell by Greg Cox

   In the Star Trek original series, we were introduced to a genetically engineered “superman” named Khan Noonien Singh in an episode titled, “Space Seed.”  Khan tries to take over the Enterprise but our hero, James T. Kirk, wins in the end.  Kirk decides to maroon Khan and his band of 70 or so other super humans plus a ship’s officer who has fallen in love with Khan, on the remote planet of Ceti Alpha 5.  Khan’s last words are to quote John Milton where he wrote that Lucifer said he would rather reign in hell then serve in heaven.

   We jump ahead to the second Star Trek movie and see Kahn and his followers discovered by another ship which they take over and he sails forth to have revenge on Kirk.  He mentions that his planet was devastated by the explosion of a neighbor planet, and his wife was killed by a grotesque desert eel, but we really don’t know much else about the 15 years he spent in exile.  Until now.

   Greg Cox took the few known facts and framed a story to tell us what happened and how Kahn and his slowly dwindling tribe of super humans survived the 15 years of exile.  He has Kirk and his fellow senior officers visiting Ceti Alpha 5 to see if they could gather any clue about how Khan and his followers lived and survived there.  They discover Khan’s hidden sanctum where he has left a journal chronicling the story of what happened to them from when Kirk left them there until the USS Reliant accidentally found them and they were able to escape.

   The story is one of tragedy upon tragedy, and we see that Khan truly did reign in Ceti Alpha 5’s version of hell.  Khan and his genetically engineered followers endure constant setbacks and adversity.  First the local fauna are large and dangerous, and there are several attacks and casualties.  Then, just when there is a bright hope beginning to emerge from their settlement, the explosion that destroys the neighboring world causes heartbreaking hardships that nearly wipe out everyone.  Khan leads his people to a temporary sanctuary where they wait out the first frightening days until things begin to quiet down some, and then they spend the next 15 years living a marginal existence where their lives are only a hairsbreadth from death.  They live on too little food and too little water and have to be on the watch for the Ceti eels, which kill many of their numbers over the years.  The constant strain whittles away at Khan’s sanity.  Finally, the last blow to him comes when some dissenters among his followers cause the death of the Marla McIvers, the Starfleet officer who loves him and went into exile with him.  This is the start of a short and deadly civil war against his rule.

    The author absolutely captures Khan in this story and presents him to us is such a way that you hate him and admire him all at once.  You come to believe that only Kahn could have led his people through this series of incredible hardships and setbacks.  By the end of the book you might find yourself beginning to feel a little sorrow for Khan.  Rarely has a story been written that describes so completely and believably how an arrogant person with supreme belief in himself can be so thoroughly crushed and beaten down as this one does.  And yet, in the face of everything, Khan maintains his belief in his own superiority and his desire for revenge on Kirk.  You don’t have to be a Trekkie to appreciate this well written story about hardships meeting iron will.  - Steve Cram

Book Chatters’ Update

 

In April we viewed the movie WATER FOR ELEPHANTS.  We all enjoyed it very much!  We agreed that the spirit of the book was captured, even though some memorable characters and scenes were left out.  Both the movie and the book are highly recommended!

Our May selection is:

Unfinished Desires: A Novel by Gail Godwin

From Publishers Weekly

Bestselling author Godwin (Evensong; The Finishing School) brings readers back in time to the early 1950s in this endearing story of Catholic school girls and the nuns who oversee them. As Mother Suzanne Ravenel begins a memoir of her 60-plus years at Mount St. Gabriel's School in Mountain City, N.C., she's forced to re-examine the toxic year of 1951–1952, one of her worst at the school—beginning with the arrival of ninth-grade student Chloe Starnes, who's recently lost her mother, and Mother Malloy, a beautiful young nun assigned to the freshman class. Starnes and Malloy's arrivals presage a shift in the ranks of freshman Tildy Stratton's cruel clique, with significant consequences for all involved. Change, when it finally comes, stems from the girls' attempt to revive a play written years before by Ravenel. Godwin captures brilliantly the subtleties of friendships between teenage girls, their ambivalence toward religion and their momentous struggle to define people—especially themselves. Poignant and transporting, this faux memoir makes a convincing, satisfying novel.

One Last Breath by Laura Griffin

When pampered former cheerleader Feenie Malone takes a job writing fluff pieces for her South Texas paper, she has no idea she's about to stumble into a juicy news story that could launch her career -- if it doesn't get her killed first. Almost as soon as she breaks out her press pass, she crosses paths with Marco Juarez, the macho PI obsessed with solving his sister's murder. The information he has might be the perfect lead -- but his dangerously sexy looks could be a deadly distraction.
Juarez has zero patience for reporters, especially mouthy blond ones. But with the evidence pointing to Feenie's ex-husband, Marco thinks she could be useful. Confident he can keep her on a tight leash, he lets her in on his investigation. He quickly discovers he's underestimated his new partner.- Amazon


I enjoyed this romantic suspense and although it is a suspense I found myself laughing out loud at times.I am looking forward to reading the second in the series One Wrong Step. - Lori

The Peach Keeper by Sarah Addison Allen

It’s the dubious distinction of thirty-year-old Willa Jackson to hail from a fine old Southern family of means that met with financial ruin generations ago. The Blue Ridge Madam—built by Willa’s great-great-grandfather during Walls of Water’s heyday, and once the town’s grandest home—has stood for years as a lonely monument to misfortune and scandal. And Willa herself has long strived to build a life beyond the brooding Jackson family shadow. No easy task in a town shaped by years of tradition and the well-marked boundaries of the haves and have-nots.

But Willa has lately learned that an old classmate—socialite do-gooder Paxton Osgood—of the very prominent Osgood family, has restored the Blue Ridge Madam to her former glory, with plans to open a top-flight inn. Maybe, at last, the troubled past can be laid to rest while something new and wonderful rises from its ashes. But what rises instead is a skeleton, found buried beneath the property’s lone peach tree, and certain to drag up dire consequences along with it. - AW Book Review

Coming together in an unlikely friendship, to solve a mystery involving both families, Willa and Paxton must meet head-on the obsessions and heartbreaking betrayals that severed their family ties, exposing truths of the past that go beyond the grave. The Peach Keeper is the representation of the unshakable bond of not only friendship but the bond of womanhood, enduring in good times and bad, from one generation to the next. i really enjoyed this book and am looking forward to reading more of Allen's works- Lori Kaufman

Nemesis By Lindsey Davis

    It’s hard to describe the stories by Lindsey Davis featuring her detective hero, Marcus Didius Falco.  He’s a “gumshoe” type detective, (picture a mix of Lt. Columbo and Mike Hammer,) living in ancient Rome.  Nemesis is the 20^th installment of the Falco series of stories, and Davis is faithful to the storyline in each successive one.  We can watch him evolve from a slum neighborhood informer scratching out a miserable existence to a respected family man taking on cases from all walks of Roman life up to and including the Imperial palace.    

   Nemesis gives us a new look at Falco as he is hit with family tragedies and sudden wealth at the same time.  The story is named for the Roman goddess of divine retribution.  It was said that, "when a man receives more from Fortune than he should, Nemesis will come along and right the balance."  And we see Nemesis doing her work in Falco’s life throughout the book.

   The book contains Lindsey Davis's usual mix of ironic humor, glimpses of the society and politics of first century Rome, and an intriguing detective story, but this book has a darker undertone to the story.  Falco and his friend, Petro, become aware of a sinister crime and when they begin to investigate they stumble on evidence of a serial killer who appears to be protected by someone in the Imperial court.  They have to take the law into their own hands to try to uncover the killer at great personal risk.

   This book can be read on its own, although to really appreciate it you need to read the other books in sequence – a monumental task considering the number of stories – but well worth the effort.  Lindsey Davis has a rare writing ability, she writes historical fiction without digging through mounds of boring minutia. 

   I can’t wait to see what happens to Falco next.

Free photos with the EASTER BUNNY!

Friday April 22nd
1- 2:30 pm
Kids can enjoy spring crafts and get their picture taken with the Easter Bunny
All FREE
The pictures will be emailed to you to print and share.

Pictures - Book Chatters following our February meeting

Kristina & Cheryl with author Jamie Ford at book signing following an excellent Community READS presentation on March 25, 2011

Book Chatters'

Book Chatter's Review - The Shadow Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafón and Lucia Graves

 

Review -  The Shadow of the Wind contained several stories within the main frame of the story, thus creating many characters.  It was difficult to follow without taking notes while reading. Our group gave it thumbs down.

Pat

For our April meeting we are planning to see the movie WATER FOR ELEPHANTS.  We read and discussed the book back in May 2008.  We look forward to viewing then comparing the book and movie.  The book is almost always better, however this movie does look rather good! 

    Visit the official movie website - www.waterforelephants.com

    and a fan site - http://waterforelephantsfilm.com

The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks

Her name was Henrietta Lacks, but scientists know her as HeLa. She was a poor black tobacco farmer whose cells—taken without her knowledge in 1951—became one of the most important tools in medicine, vital for developing the polio vaccine, cloning, gene mapping, in vitro fertilization, and more. Henrietta’s cells have been bought and sold by the billions, yet she remains virtually unknown, and her family can’t afford health insurance.

Soon to be made into an HBO movie by Oprah Winfrey and Alan Ball, this New York Times bestseller takes readers on an extraordinary journey, from the “colored” ward of Johns Hopkins Hospital in the 1950s to stark white laboratories with freezers filled with HeLa cells, from Henrietta’s small, dying hometown of Clover, Virginia, to East Baltimore today, where her children and grandchildren live and struggle with the legacy of her cells. The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks tells a riveting story of the collision between ethics, race, and medicine; of scientific discovery and faith healing; and of a daughter consumed with questions about the mother she never knew. It’s a story inextricably connected to the dark history of experimentation on African Americans, the birth of bioethics, and the legal battles over whether we control the stuff we’re made of. ~Rebecca Skloot (rebeccaskloot.com)

I have read this book and found it to be a great read. You could feel how much the author cared about sharing Henrietta's story with others. This story grabs your attention from the first page and holds it until the end. This book makes you think about the past and what will happen next in medicine. I highly recommend this book even for people who normally don’t read non-fiction. ~ Holly Emahiser

Author video

Friends of the N.B Library Spring Book Sale

Thursday Apr.28 5-8 pm / Friday Apr. 29 10am - 5pm / Saturday Apr. 30 10am - 4pm (Bag sale begins @ 1pm)
Preview Sale for members of Friends Wednesday Apr. 27 5- 8pm
Volunteers needed to set up sale and work

Review of Water for Elephants by Sarah Gruen – Connie Phillips

This book is set in the 1930’s during the Great Depression, and also in today’s time. 
The main character Jacob Jankowski is an old man who has great memories of a life on the Benzini Brothers Most Spectacular Show on Earth. As a young man, nearly a college graduate as a veterinarian, Jacob is faced with a great conflict and emotional disaster in his life.  It is this disaster that puts Jacob on the train of the show with nowhere else to go.

The inner workings and conflicts of circus life are so well described that you can picture yourself there. It also touches on how the elderly are treated in a nursing home.  It’s a book that really makes you think.  Some things are very difficult to read but it does have a very surprising happy ending.  I really liked this book and I look forward to seeing the movie.

The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society By Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows

I almost made the mistake of not reading this wonderful little book.  But glancing through it and reading some of the first chapter, it hooked me and I was compelled to finish it.     The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society is the story of an English author named Juliet Ashton who survives World War II and finds herself assigned a writing project.  While working on the assignment and traveling about England, she receives a letter from a man living on the Isle of Guernsey in the English Channel who bought one of her old books at a second-hand shop.  She responds to Dawsey Adams’ letter and begins a series of letters that will change her life and impact the lives of the people living on Guernsey.  The inhabitants of Guernsey lived under Nazi occupation for years and as Juliet learns more about them she finds out about the experiences of these courageous men and women who formed the Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society as a cover to protect themselves from the Germans.  As Juliet reads each successive letter, she becomes so intrigued with the stories of the people who survived she decides to move temporarily to the island.  Once there, she finds herself caught up in the lives and relationships of those remarkable people.     I found myself drawn into this island community.  The pages kept turning under my fingers and I found it hard to put it down until I knew the fate of the friends and family who were taken away by the Nazis and were still missing. By the end of the book I felt as though I had booked a flight to Guernsey and walked the shore of this community with Juliet and Dawsey.    I know the subject of World War 2 and its aftermath has been written about from every angle imaginable, but this book has found a heart-warming and refreshing way to address the subject one more time.  My advice is to take a few nights and sit in your favorite chair with a hot cup of tea and visit Guernsey through the eyes of these wonderful authors.   Stephen Cram