Reviewing "The Monuments Men" by Robert Edsel

The Monuments Men: Allied Heroes, Nazi Thieves, and the Greatest Treasure Hunt in History

With a title like that, how could one go wrong?

After all, it was made into a movie, right? Some editions even have George Clooney et al. on the cover with the “Now a Major Motion Picture” seal.

Of course, any book that was ever turned into a movie must be good.

Reviewing "No Beast So Fierce" by Dane Huckelbridge

When putting books on hold at my library, I often choose them on a whim. The cover, the title, even the font on the spine may induce me to put a book on hold. It’s an adventurous feeling, not really knowing much about a book before reading it.

And it makes for some odd “Why did I put this on hold, again?” reactions when the book finally comes in (often months later) and my confused expression makes the desk librarian wonder whether she gave me the right thing.

Some libraries sponsor an event called a “blind date with a book” where they cover random books with brown paper so you can’t tell anything about them (apart from the size) until you check them out and start reading.

My method is more like internet dating. I saw the book’s profile pic and name and decided I’d like to meet it in person.

No Beast So Fierce by Dane Huckelbridge was just such a book. The cover has a cool tiger photo, and the title intrigued me. I don’t think I saw the smaller words under the title (they were too small to see on the thumbnail in the library’s online catalog), so I didn’t know until I had the book in my hands that I saw the book was subtitled The Terrifying True Story of the Champawat Tiger, the Deadliest Animal in History.

Reviewing "Bog Bodies Uncovered" by Miranda Aldhouse-Green

My curiosity about bog bodies was piqued when I read Snow-Walker. As I mentioned in my review of that, there’s a section in the third book where the main characters encounter a tribe of people that live in a swamp. Although initially welcomed into this community, it soon becomes clear that the swamp people have a nefarious ulterior motive for keeping the heroes there. Sure enough, a “festival” turns into a ritual of human sacrifice, and one of the main characters is nearly killed and put into a bog. (It’s okay; he survived.)

So I went to my default place for information when I have a passing curiosity about something: Wikipedia. But Wikipedia’s page was so skimpy, I soon turned to the more robust resource of the library, and it was there that I found Bog Bodies Uncovered: Solving Europe’s Ancient Mystery. Miranda Aldhouse-Green addresses this subject so thoroughly, meticulously, and…let’s face it…gruesomely, that my curiosity was more than satisfied. I don’t think I’ll need to read anything more on the subject, thank you very much.

Reviewing "All the Gallant Men" by Donald Stratton

I listened to the audiobook version of this memoir by one of the survivors from the Arizona. In All the Gallant Men: An American Sailor’s Firsthand Account of Pearl Harbor, Donald Stratton recounts the events that led him to joining the United States Navy, what happened that day of infamy of December 7, 1941, and its aftermath. Though gruesome in parts, I was surprised at how clean the prose was (this is a sailor’s memoir we’re talking about, remember), and was refreshed by the glowing patriotism. Particularly interesting was Stratton’s account of 9/11, hearing his perspective as someone who experienced one horror and lived long enough to witness another.