"The Book of Genesis Illustrated by R. Crumb"

The Book of Genesis Illustrated by R. Crumb (Text by, I guess, God; Illustrated by, yes, R. Crumb)

 Just like the title says: Here's all 50 chapters of the Book of Genesis in graphic novel format. The cover promises that nothing will be left out, and it isn't; You get everything from God creating the heaven and the earth in chapter 1 to Joseph dying in chapter 50 (spoiler alert). In between, you have the Flood, Sodom and Gomorrah getting destroyed (with awesome pictures), and people begatting each other. Really, the only downside of the book is that whoever wrote Genesis is obsessed with this, so you have a bunch of material that's just people begatting the shit out of each other. This means Genesis is full of lists of who begat who, and even R. Crumb can only do so much with pages of this, although he does make it easy to skip with postage stamp-sized pictures of all the people who were begatted. Otherwise, this is a great book, and Crumb's art style fits the material much better than I anticipated (after all, I guess this was before the bra was invented). Absolutely not for kids, but - and I'm going to give this book points just for letting me write this sentence - not to be missed by Bible fans and R. Crumb enthusiasts.

Grade: A

"Job: A Comedy of Justice"

Job: A Comedy of Justice (Robert Heinlein)

Here's another book I feel like I might be missing the boat on. I tried, but this book is just a little too slow-moving for me. It starts out with a interesting premise - the hero, on a Carribean cruise, is egged on to walk on hot coals, and he takes a snootful of smoke and passes out at the end. When he wakes up, he's in another dimension; Although he is himself, everything else has changed, from his name to the political and societal context of western civilization.
The problem is that then nothing happens for fifty pages. The world that the author has left has a fundamentalist North America, and the one that he has come into more resembles our own, and the hero's fish out of water routine gets old fast - I get it, he drinks a lot and people don't wear as much clothing. By the time I was on page 60, having read 50 straight pages of the author experiencing this wonder you humans call al-co-hol, I came to another interesting situation: The hero had a million dollars in his shipboard safe deposit box, apparently meant for a transaction on one of the islands. However, this is resolved rather anti-climactically, and then the author's back to leering at women and drinking. At this point I put the book down and moved on to something else.

Grade: Not Applicable, since since I didn't finish the book.

"Fairy dust and the Quest for the Egg"

Fairy dust and the Quest for the Egg (Gail Levine)

Man, this is a grim book. I'm not sure who this book is for; By the time a child would be reading this book where Mother Dove is getting her wings broken and attacked by foxes and fairies are getting iced left and right, I'm not sure they'd still be interested in Disney Fairies. As an adult, uh, the watercolors are very nice, and it is pretty entertaining reading a Disney Fairies book where Tink is getting her leg broken in a hurricane.

Grade: Weird

"The Great Game"

The Great Game: The Struggle for Empire in Central Asia (Peter Hopkirk)

This is an easy book to figure out if you're going to like. If the prospect of an in-depth history of the "Great Game," Imperial England and Tsarist Russia's brokering for territory, market share, and prestige in Central Asia in the 19th century sounds interesting to you, I can't recommend a better book on the subject (with the caveat that this is the only book I've read about it). Likewise, if you fell asleep halfway through the last sentence, first, wake up, and second, well, I'm sure you already know not to read this book.
I think you'll be missing out, though; This is a well-written book, ably dodging the pitfalls of being too dry or too partisan (although it does tend to skew to the British point of view given the wealth of primary sources available and the dearth of Russian ones). The only complaint I have is that the ending is a little anti-climactic, but such is the peril of working with history instead of fiction.

History Nerd Grade: A-
Uninterested in History Philistine Grade: C-


** Update **


Why did I only give this a B? The grade has been adjusted. I fear that I may be trying to avoid handing out too many A grades to history books, but I feel this book does deserve better than a straight B.

"Persian Fire"

Persian Fire: The first World Empire and the Battle for the West (Tom Holland)

A look at the famous clash between the Persian empire and the Greek city-states, running up through the Persians ultimate defeat at Platea. This is a famous story, one I'm sure you already know the broad strokes of, either from school or 300. Even being familiar with the story, I really enjoyed this book. Holland is a great storyteller, and instead of jumping right into the fighting, he instead carefully sets the scene, delving into the history of the Persian empire and to a slightly lesser extent the Greek states, so that by the time the clash actually comes, both combatants are familiar, and it's understandable how the badly outnumbered Greeks routed the Persians with almost no casualties. Perhaps the highest tribute I can offer the book is that even knowing the events it was covering and how each battle was going to turn out, I never found my attention or interest wandering. Recommended.

History Nerd Grade: A
Normal Person Grade: B

"Glow Pucks and 10-Cent Beer"

Glow Pucks and 10-Cent Beer: The 101 Worst Ideas in Sports History (Greg Wyshynski)

Just what it sounds like: A list of 101 horrible sports ideas. Wyshynski is a snappy writer and this book moves right along. Even if you, like me, know nothing about hoops or soccer, it isn't difficult to follow. Good bathroom book. That's all I have to say.

Grade: B