Aschenbrothers Blog: Summer Reading

Well fall is getting ready to fall and school will soon be back in. Or as we say in Germany, Spass ist vorbei. It was a good run though. As my beard growing didn't require all my energy and focus during the summer months, I was able to get a good pile of books actually finished. The usual mix of fiction and non. Have to thank my friend Jeff who gave some last minute recommendations that really brought it all together. And congratulations to Jeff and Carla who just had a baby girl. Yay Stella!

Now here are some cursory summaries (no spoilers) and reviews...

Shopping for Porcupine (Seth Kantner)- The non-fiction musings on growing up in Alaska from the author of "Ordinary Wolves". Very enjoyable, only downside is if you grew up in Alaska and it wasn't like this, might give you a complex. If you aren't from Alaska, definitely read, but don't be all disappointed that "Alaskans" didn't all have the same childhood. Trombone lugging at 40 below is tough too.

Counterinsurgency Warfare: Theory and Practice (David Galula)- A French soldier with much experience fighting insurgents in the last days of France's colonial glory (or inglory), Galula provides much needed lessons learned for future counter insurgents. Too bad his book was written back in 1964 in French. Of course the miracle of science has preserved this book and it is available quite easily today. Pretty much the short (99 pages) version of the just released Army/Marine Corps Counterinsurgency Doctrine (300+ pages), recommended for peacemongers only.

Bread and Jam for Frances (Russell Hoban, illustrated by Lillian Hoban)- On a visit to Hamburg back in July, my girlfriend Fransi showed me a childhood book of hers called "Bettzeit fuer Fransi". I immediately recognized the little badger who was always going her own way until her parents gently got her back on track. Not having time to run home to raid my mother's bookshelves, I availed my self of Amazon's selection and got B&J for Frances. The Hoban team does an amazing job of capturing Frances' struggle to overcome her addiction to bread and jam and nothing highlights her plight like the delightful little songs she sings as she rockets down the rollercoaster of life. Good for kids and childish adults alike. PS: Hoban is also the author of the Captain Najork series.

Flashman in the Great Game (George MacDonald Fraser)- If you don't know Flashman, check him out. Always a good adventure, lots of sticky situations, all stuck in a nice package of real historical events. Only two complaints, the term "The Great Game" traditionally refers to the English/Russia struggle for Afghanistan/Central Asia and the northern borders of India, this book is about the Sepoy Rebellion of 1857 and the only Russian involvement is the Russian agent Flashy is supposed to deal with when he is sent back to India. Good enough I suppose, but I was hoping for a more Afghan story mostly because McD-F does an excellent job in presenting the historical background for all his Flashy books. Other complaint is more a warning for future Flashman readers, if you can't handle colorful, bawdy, culturally insensitive dialogue reminiscent of the less enlightened yesteryears, don't read Flash.

The Brief Wonderous Life of Oscar Wao (Junot Diaz)- This was another Jeff recommendation. It has been almost a month since I finished this book. It went fast as Jeff said, the book and the month since. What I liked most was the juxtaposition of New York and the Dominican Republic as settings for the the BWL of Oscar Wao. Pernicious evil versus hope, sweet new Spanish swear words (better for awareness that application probably), but the bottomline is I liked it and it won a Pulitzer, so go read it.

The Accidental Guerrilla (David Kilcullen)- Aussie Kilcullen has been advising the US on how to win in Iraq and Afghanistan for the past 5 years or so and this book is the culmination of his own experiences before that and his work since being sent on loan to the DOD. The basic premise of an outside presence meant to bring stability being more often destabilizing is interesting, particularly in the context of our current battles (not that he concludes we should run away). The core of the book is a discussion of applied counterinsurgency and that is really where the grist for the mill gets delivered. The value of AG is not that it is new or truly insightful, but it does wrap together many strands of CI thought and present a current picture of where we are and where we need to be in assessing and handling both the AG and the more committed fighters out in the world. Worth the time if you are into CI or the current state of the Global War on Terror.

And now the highlight of my summer...

Daniel Deronda (George Eliot)- I had a clever comparision between War and Peace and DD cause they are both long. But WP is almost twice as long. My summer achievement was a sham. But DD was still fun. Ben gave me this book some Christmas' ago, I always wondered why. I still do. It is about a young Englishman finding himself (ok perhaps appropo) through his assistance to two young ladies, one he loves but can't have, the other he is fascinated by, but doesn't love (not related to me or my past). Now it was originally a serial and remember back in the 1870's they didn't have TV or twitter so they had more time in the evenings. Time during which to read endless psychological excavations of characters in a book. I skipped over some of them. But when it comes to the storyline and dialogue, all good, very fun and even with a two week break (couldn't drag it to Maine, too many baggage limitations), really enjoyed plowing through it. So, if you only read one book next summer, make it Daniel Deronda and you can pelt me w/ stale rolls if you don't leave happy. PS: It took me two false starts to get going, the beginning drags a bit, but stay the course and you'll get your money's worth.

That's what I did w/ my summer break. Check back next time for how to do laundry in a land with no laundromats.

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