"1491"

1491: New Revelations of the Americas Before Columbus (Charles Mann)

I feel a little deceived by this book. What I was expecting was a book all about the people native to the Americans before Columbus. There is some of this material in the book - and these parts are quite good - but more than half of the book is a history of white people's understanding of the history, not the history itself.
This is not exactly what I wanted. I understand that some material about the way that modern people think about the subject can be useful, but there's just too much for me, and it really started getting on my nerves reading page after page about it. I want to hear about the history; I don't necessarily find it so interesting to be hearing about the theory and ways of thinking about the history. (It also has the effect of once again making the story about white people.)
Ultimately, I just found that there was too much of this material in the book. What parts of it that there are about the Americas before Columbus are quite good, but there simply isn't enough of this to make this an easy recommend. Check it out of the library and just read the parts that are directly recounting the history.

Grade: B-

"Enforcer"

Enforcer: The Shira Calpurnia Omnibus (Matthew Farrer)

Yes, it's time for another w40k omnibus. This one covers a police officer named Shira Calpurnia, and it gives a nice, ground-level view of the setting with nary a Space Marine in sight. I'm going to cover the books included one by one.

Crossfire: The omnibus kicks off with our heroine arriving in the Hydraphur system and almost immediately being targeted for assassination. This book is pretty good; there are some slow-moving parts where we see more about the characters and setting that I assumed would be put to good use in future novels, and the author introduces too many characters and doesn't give them much to do, but it held my attention and I was genuinely interested to see the outcome. I'm not sure the eventual bad guy really makes a lot of sense, but this is a solid B.

Legacy: This, unfortunately, is where the book goes off the rails. Legacy is about a succession dispute, with two groups fighting over who's going to inherit an ancient and very valuable rouge trader writ. This is fine, but it reduces Shira to the role of, at best, guest star in her own book. She has nothing to do until the climax, and even then the focus is on all the other groups fighting each other. Most of the book is a slog; the author introduces too many characters and doesn't give them enough to do. The climax is exciting, but the ending that follows kind of makes the entire book pointless in my view. Skip this one.

Blind: This is better than Legacy, but only just; at least it has our heroine in it, even if she ends up not really doing much. This time the action takes place on a space station full of psychics, and the mystery is how a man in a locked room was killed. It's not very good; once again, a ton of characters are introduced and most of them are giving nothing to do, and the eventual resolution is enough of a letdown that if I still cared about this book I probably would have been annoyed.

Overall, I'm gonna have to say pass on this collection; It's tedious, and two bad books that are a chore to read adds up to a omnibus that is bad and a chore to read. I'd say pick up Crossfire, but even then, a lot of it is taken up in world and character building that never pays off - the second book has nothing to do with the setting, and the third book takes place on a space station far away from anywhere else. This is kind of a mess, and I really can't recommend it to anyone, unless you need a heavy book to hold something down.

Grade: D

"Roman Blood"

Roman Blood: A Novel of Ancient Rome (Steven Saylor)

This is a street-level detective story set in ancient Rome. If that sounds like the SPQR series, well, they're rather alike; I'm afraid this novel has spoiled me, though, mostly because it's just very well written. What leaps out the most is Saylor's talent at creating memorable, personality-filled characters (the cranky oddballness of Cicero is a particular treat), but even mundane actions like the sun rising on what promises to be a hot day stuck with me as the author describes it like a thief sneaking over his roof tiles.
So I recommend this one - not just for history nerds, although they may get slightly more out of it (the case is about the murder of Sextus Roscius, which I recognized from the Master of Rome series). I don't think that being unfamiliar with the setting would be much of an impediment, and I'd suggest at least checking it out of the library.

Grade: A

"Life in a Medieval City"

Life in a Medieval City (Joseph & Frances Gies)

Just what it says on the cover - this is a slim little book (200 or so small pages) detailing everyday life in Troyes, circa 1250, covering everything from what a housewife did all day to table manners to the economic and religious systems (although, strangely, not much about the political setup). It's quite interesting; the only time I found my attention drifting was while the authors were describing clothing styles, which was also an issue with The Time Traveler's Guide Guide to Medieval England. This book isn't nearly so weighty or in-depth as that one, but I enjoyed it almost as much. Some Amazon reviews mentioned that this book may contain terms and phrases that are a little too advanced for the beginning reader, but that didn't really bug me; I had more trouble with the untranslated French terms, and I feel confident recommending this one to everybody.

Grade: A-

"Days of Fire"

Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House (Peter Baker)

This is, so far as I'm aware, the definitive history of George W Bush's two terms - the author had access to Bush, Cheney, and a number of disgruntled staffers, which produces as inside a look as possible. Combined with the author's fairness is a book that's quite gripping despite its intimidating size (Amazon says 816 pages, but that includes copious end notes). In fact, I could have easily read more; so much happened during these eight years that I could easily see the book being another 50% longer.
What I really appreciated in the book is that it makes Dubya into a real person; I'll freely admit that after eight years of his administration I had unconsciously started thinking of him as a political cartoon midget with a huge cowboy hat. It's nice to see the moments that make him a relateable human being, even if I still think he was a terrible president. (On that note, the author and I seem to agree that Bush's presidency was defined by lost opportunities more than anything else; I thought the author went a little too far in the afterword defending Bush's presidency, but it's the kind of difference of opinion where I understand and respect the argument, but don't agree with it myself.)
If you have even the slightest interest in politics, this is an easy recommend. I'm certainly no Bush fan, but the only time I wanted to put this book down is when holding all 800 pages of it up made my arm tired.

Grade: A

Spring Moon

I started and finished Spring Moon last night. That alone should give you insight into how much I enjoyed this book. Telling the tale of Spring Moon and her family on an epic scale, the book weaves the lives of the Chang clan with China's turblent early 20th century history.
Spring Moon grows and changes throughout the bittersweet story, beginning as a precocious girl and ending as a woman very much into her old age. She tells us of herself through her own eyes but we also see her through the eyes of her favored Grand Uncle, his wife, and Spring Moon's own child. A great read for history fans looking for the human side of the story and people who enjoy love stories that aren't ridiculous affairs.