MURDER ON THE ORIENT EXPRESS

I haven't read a mystery of this ilk in a long time. What a breath of fresh air! Agatha Christie wrote this book in 1934, and it's a beaut. It stars her famous Belgian detective, Hercule Poirot. It seems to me many books and movies like After The Thin Man have stolen Agatha's idea of gathering all the suspects for one final interrogation to solve the case. Can anybody do it better than Agatha, who has out-sold every published work except the Bible and Shakespeare? Maybe the only character that can challenge Hercule Poirot is Agatha's other famous sleuth, Miss Jane Marple. Since this book was written so long ago, it gives the reader the flavor of the times, such as the European attitude towards America, the style of clothing, and the reminiscence of long train trips.

The story starts with our hero boarding the Orient Express in Aleppo, Syria, after a successful investigation for the French Army. He meets one of the directors of the company that runs the Orient train, M.Bouc. Hercule Poirot joins the other thirteen passengers, M. Bouc, a Dr. Constantine, and one conductor in the Athens-Paris Coach. And folks we are off to the races! One of the passengers, a Mr. Ratchett, who is of vile and dubious character turns up dead on the first night of the trip. He's been stabbed twelve times in his bunk. To make matters worse, the train is now at a standstill, snowed-in by a blizzard. That means the killer is stranded on the train and poses a threat to the remaining twelve passengers on the Athens-Paris car. As you've probably guessed, the director of the train, M. Bouc, engages our lovable and pyknic detective, Hercule Poirot. Let the Lumosity exercises begin! The rest of the novel is a cat-and-mouse game between the twelve passengers and Hercule. I tried to figure out who the killer was, and I didn't even come close!

It's amazing to me how Agatha Christie can make the reader visualize all seventeen people on the train in only 265 pages. I liked the way Agatha has Hercule use the director, M. Bouc, and Dr. Constantine as a sounding board to test his theories. He actually makes them think that they are helping him solve the mystery. This is a very sound novel and completely enjoyable. I am totally drawn into this series and hope to read Death on The Nile in the very near future. Do yourself a favor and read a Hercule Poirot novel right now, especially this one.

RATING: 5 out of 5 stars

Comment: Agatha Christie wrote eighty crime novels, nineteen plays, two memoirs, and six novels under the name of Mary Westmacott. Her play The Mousetrap opened in 1952 and is the longest running play in history. Agatha's 120th anniversary was celebrated in 2010.

THE LAST KINGDOM

The first novel in Cornwell's The Saxon Tales is an overwhelming success! This is a series that you don't have to read in order. I read the fifth novel first and the first novel second, if that makes any sense, and I didn't miss any background information. That's how well written these books are. How Cornwell can juggle all these serial novels at the same time is remarkable. I keep flip-flopping between Bernard Cornwell and Sharon Kay Penman as to who is the best medieval historical fiction writer. I guess it depends on whose book I read last.

The period of the novel is between the years 866 and 877 in what is now known as England, but at the time was divided into four parts. The Danes had conquered three parts and were getting ready to take Wessex, the last bastion of the United Kingdom. The protagonist is a ten year old boy named Uhtred, son of Uhtred, Earl of Bebbanburg in Northumbria. Uhtred is captured by Danish Earl Ragnar in a battle that kills Uhtred's father. Ragnar takes Uhtred under his wing and rears him as a pagan and a warrior. Uhtred loves his "new" father, but has mixed loyalty between his adopted Viking friends and the King of Wessex, Alfred The Great. When the unimaginable happens, the young christian/pagan warrior is out on his own to discover who he really is. I think this is the main theme of this series, and it leads the reader to a disambiguation of Uhtred's thoughts and motives throughout the six novel series.

The characterization in this novel is terrific, even making some of the Vikings lovable. The author notes that most of people in this novel are real, as are most of the major battles. The main character, Uhtred, and his adopted father, Ragnar, are fictitious, but very believable. I also enjoyed the Priest Beocca and the rascality of Uhtred's friend, Brida. Cornwell lets us hang for the next book to find out what happens with Ragnar's son, who is searching for his sister and planing revenge on the despicable Kjartan and his one-eyed son. You will have to read the second book in this series, The Pale Horseman to find out! That's what makes this series so much fun.

If you haven't read a Cornwell novel, you don't know what you are missing. There are many chronicles, series, and standalone novels to choose from. I give this novel my highest rating.

RATING: 5 out of 5 stars

Comment: For the 30th anniversary of Sharpe's Rifles , Harper Collins UK is reissuing all the Sharpe books with new covers. If you want to read how Cornwell began the series and how it evolved over the last 30 years, you can read his Sharpe's Story .

EMBASSYTOWN

Once again I've taxed my mind with China Mieville's words that are untranslatable or seem germane, but are actually neologistical. If you read this weird sci-fi novel, have a lexicon handy!This book is filled with new sci-fi ideas that make it an enjoyable read, such as buildings, machinery, and houses that are semi-sentient and when under stress try to grow ears. It's a common thing in Embassytown or in the Arieka city that surrounds it. I have to give Mieville credit for having excellent adoxography for things or events that other writers wouldn't even amplify.

The first third of the novel flip-flops between past and present on the planet Arieka and the immer. The immer is some kind of subspace that a immerser travels through in space and time, if that makes any sense. The narrator of the book is Avice Benner Cho, who has just return from the immer to visit her birth place of Embassytown with her new husband Scile, a expert in languages. He wants to study the linguistics of the Ariekei, who surround the human compound. They are known as the Hosts and speak out of two mouths (the cut and turn) and only communicate with human Ambassadors. The Ambassadors are actually doppels that speak from one mind and two voices, otherwise the Hosts would only hear noise. This sounds like a normal story, right? Now keep in mind that a Host (who looks like a large dual winged insect) also requires similes to make comparisons to things that are unlike in order to communicate properly. Our narrator is one of the similes known as "The girl who was hurt in darkness and ate what was given to her"! I forgot to mention that these truly unusual Ariekei Hosts are also incapable of lying! Does the story have your interest yet?

The trouble begins when a new Ambassador, EzRa, arrives from the human's home planet of Bremen to become the new chief Ambassador of Embassaytown. At the Embassy reception, EzRa tells the Hosts "That it was a honor to meet them". Suddenly everything changes! Years of peace and calm are gone. What happened and what did the Hosts hear? What was said that brings the Hosts to a high state of mulligrubs! This is where the essence of the story takes off, later to culminate in an interesting and unexpected end. The books I've read by Mieville are entertaining , but with all the lacunae and peculiar vocabulary used, I'm always glad that the book is over. Is this good or bad?

The Hosts are probably the weirdest aliens I've read about since Larry Niven's elephant-like creators in the famous sci-fi novel Footfall. This is the first novel Mieville has done in science fiction, and I think it was a good effort. Maybe he should be hired to write the script for the next Star Trek movie. I have to tell the reader that while I recommend reading this novel, I warn you it's going to be a arduous task.

RATING: 4 out of 5 stars

Comment: The stylistically exuberant author is reported to have the best tattooed "guns in literature". He states that "ever since I was two, I've loved octopuses, monsters, abandoned buildings..." Now I know why he is the weird fiction king. Having read three Mieville books, I don't know if I have the energy to read a fourth.

MOLOKA'I

This is historical fiction at its tear-jerking best! This novel by Alan Brennert takes you on a roller coaster ride of varied emotions. It involves the infamous Kalaupapa Leprosy Settlement on the island of Moloka'i in Hawaii. It also touches on America's illegal overthrow of Queen Lili'uokalani's throne in 1893. More can be read about that in the Queen's book Hawaii's Story or in James A. Michener's classic novel Hawaii. As with Honolulu, Brennert uses a lot of local vocabulary; such as, 'ohana (family) and haole (a caucasian), which I find adds realism and charm to his novels.

It's 1891, and five year old Rachel Kalama is enjoying life as a child in Honolulu. Everything is great until her mother finds a pink patch on Rachel's leg. She later develops another spot on her foot. When mom pricks the spots with a pin, there isn't any pain, which is a sign of leprosy. Later that week, her sister Sarah gets mad at Rachel and calls her a leper in front of schoolmates. That brings the leprosy bounty hunter to the house and it's off to Kahili Hospital for Rachel. She is there eleven months for evaluation and treatment to no avail. At this point she is torn away from her family and sent to the leper camp on Moloka'i. Since there isn't any known cure, it's a death sentence for the now seven year old.

In Kalaupapa, Rachel is befriended by Sister Catherine of the missionaries and reunited with her Uncle Pono, who was previously declared a leper. She struggles with the disease's traits, but manages to make friends with the dying people around her. Fortunately, her symptoms are slower to develop, and she is able to surf and meet other young patients under the quarantined life. Here Brennert turns this somber and depressing story into a dramaturgy of ups and downs, good and bad fortune, and high and low spirits. The many characters in this book are so contagious to the reader (pardon the pun) that you feel vicariously through them. Great job of character development!

Alan Brennert does a yeoman's job of cramming 79 years of Rachel's life into 389 pages. The novel was such a page-turner that I hardly noticed the years go by. The reason I like historical fiction of this kind is due to the educational benefits you gain from reading this book. It's hard to believe that a wondrous place like Hawaii could have also been a cold-hearted prison for the forsaken kama'aina.

RATING: 5 out of 5 stars

Comment: Early western explorers and missionaries killed off thousands of Hawaiians by bringing smallpox, measles, leprosy, whooping cough, and sexual diseases to a once healthy race. If you know how America disposed of Hawaii's monarchy in 1893, you will understand why there is a current movement in Hawaii to get the throne reinstalled. Fat chance of that happening since 119 years have passed and given Hawaii's statehood in 1959. Another wonderful book about Hawaii is Shoal of Time: A History of the Hawaiian Islands by Gavan Daws.

The RIVER of DOUBT

Candice Millard brings Theodore Roosevelt's image to a new high level with this non-fiction thriller! After a near miss from an assassin's bullet and a failed run as the Bull Moose Party's candidate for his third Presidential term, Teddy decides to go on a speaking tour in South America. In Brazil, he teams up with hero and Brazilian explorer Colonel Candido Rondon to make a trip down an uncharted river in the Amazon forest. Sponsored by The American Museum of Natural History, Roosevelt, his son Kermit, naturalist George Cherrie, Col. Rondon and about twenty others enter the punishing realm of the Amazon with its many unknown tributaries, insects, animals and Indians.

Candice Millard describes the journey into the Amazonian jungle as "not just dark and dangerous but inescapably oppressive". The expedition of 12/12/1913 through 4/26/1914 meets with one calamity after another: loss of canoes and supplies, loss of life, sickness from malaria and typhoid fever, and attacks from a unknown Indian tribe. Roosevelt's imperialistic white attitude changed when he saw how the native camaradas endured and worked during the trip. Colonel Roosevelt at 5' 8" and Colonel Rondon at 5' 3" proved to be giants when it came time for heroics and bravery. Their exploratory effort rivals Dr. Livingstone's tribulations in discovering the sources of the Nile River as written in The Last Journals of David Livingstone.

The book is filled with wonderful tidbits about our 26th President, such as his relationship with his son Kermit, his innate need for physical challenges, and the Presidential Campaign speech he gave with two bullets from an assassination attempt still in his chest! Millard's descriptions of the indigenous insects and animals are summed up with "The creatures of the Amazon had become such masters of disguise that all that the men could see on either side of the river was verdant leaves and heavy vines". This book is not only well researched (48 pages of notes) and immensely enjoyable, but educational; yet, it reads like a historical-fiction mystery with fresh dangers emoting chapter after chapter.

If you like history with a flare, I highly recommend this non-fiction masterpiece. I continue to enjoy this type of writing. There was a lot of non-fiction published in 2011 following this genre also featuring ex-presidents, especially from America's imperialistic phase of the late 1890's and early 1900's.

RATING: 5 out of 5 stars

Comment: The would be assassin, John Schrank, said that President Mckinley's ghost told him to kill Roosevelt as a warning to anybody running for a third term. Schrank was found to be insane and died 29 years later in a mental hospital. Theodore Roosevelt wrote many books including a four volume The Winning of the West and Rough Riders. It is believed that his trip to the Amazon contributed to his early death at 60 years old. His son, Archie, telegraphed all the siblings "The old lion is dead".

The PRESIDENT and the ASSASSIN

No flapdoodle here in this spectacular look at President McKinley's assassination with extras! The extras are the story of America's anarchist movement, and the country's growing imperialistic attitude. Scott Miller writes in the attention grabbing style of authors like Erik Larson and Candice Millard. This new genre that adds excitement to history makes me want to seek out other works of the same ilk; and, it has. No more dry books like American Lion by Jon Meacham or Years of Upheaval by Henry Kissinger for me. Not that there isn't a place for those books, but how many pages can you read before your eyelids grow heavy. I love history, but I need a little piquancy with it, and with a book like Scott Miller's, I get a history lesson that reads like fiction. Much, much more enjoyable.

As for the assassination of McKinley, modern medical technology could have easily saved him, as it could have Garfield twenty years earlier. The assassin Leon Czolgosz, a Polish immigrant, didn't even think about the assassination until a few days before the 1901 Pan-American Exposition in Buffalo, NY. He was a anarchist that seemed to be unguided until he started to follow the thoughts of radical Russian immigrant, Emma Goldman. This part of the book is very interesting, since I didn't know anarchy was such a big problem from the late 1890s to early 1900s.

Since I read The Imperial Cruise by James Bradley, I was aware of America's imperialistic attitude, although it is still hard to comprehend. The only difference is that Miller depicts Theodore Roosevelt as more manly than did Bradley. Roosevelt's charge of San Juan Hill during the Spanish-American War of 1898 seemed to me like a Keystone Cops venture. The war was won because of Spain's ineptness, lack of desire, and funding. The part of the book about America deceiving the Philippine rebels into thinking they were going to govern their islands is remarkable.

President Mckinley's original attitude toward imperialism was docile, but progressed after winning the Spanish American War against a much stronger Spain. He seemed oblivious to America's industrialists making the already poor workers destitute and the rich wealthier. This error in observation would lead to many riots and strikes and ultimately to his death. This book is a must read for history buffs and presidential fact finding enthusiasts. Bravo to Scott Miller for a brilliant look at our 25th President's life and times.

RATING: 5 out of 5 stars

Comment: Believe it or not, Theodore Roosevelt was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor in 2001 for his actions in Cuba. The anarchist Leon Czolgosz never spoke in court or to his defense lawyers during his trial. He died in the electric chair 53 days after the President died. Can you imagine getting justice that fast in today's legal system?

LIONHEART

If you thought the story of the Plantagenets of England was over with Devil's Brood, forget it! Here is a brilliant historical novel about Richard I, known as Richard the Lionheart. Sharon Kay Penman writes a convincing account of the Third Crusade (1189-1192) and states in the author's notes that the story will end in her next novel, A King's Ransom. This is a highly enjoyable novel backed up by historical resources as she states, "Lionheart was a unique writing experience. I've never had such a wealth of eyewitness accounts of events." In my opinion, Sharon Kay Penman equals or supersedes anything Bernard Cornwell has written about medieval times, only lacking Cornwell's ability to describe death by combat.

Richard the Lionheart was a glorious leader in both combat and military strategy, but lacked empathy for anyone that wasn't a loyal Lord, Knight, soldier, or honored opponent. The author says he slaughtered 2,600 Saracen prisoners at Acre in the Holy Lands for supposed military reasons that are suspect to some historians. His constant strife with the King of France, Philippe Capet, is legendary and well chronicled in this novel. I also find it interesting that Richard's love of valor and honor in battle actually led him to knight some enemy Muslim Emirs. His struggles with French support coupled with the tenacity of his Muslim counterpart Saladin led to a truce instead of total victory in Jerusalem. According to the author, this gnawed at Richard since he vowed to free Jerusalem when he "took the cross". To the chagrin of his Queen Berengaria, Richard never visited Jerusalem because of this failure.

This splendid story also details Richard's harrowing trips at sea to Cyprus, Sicily, and finally to the Holy Land. The research I did shows that almost every character in this novel existed. King Philippe of France did conspire with Richard's brother John to take Richard's crown while he was fighting the Holy War. This was against papal mandate, but the Pope at the time was old and weak. The next book will deal with what happened to Richard the Lionheart and all the other characters after a depressed King Richard left the Holy Lands.

To sum it up, this was a great read that was expertly written. Thanks to Penman for her Cast of Characters (there are many with difficult names to remember). Also important and interesting are her many pages of author notes and acknowledgments. I didn't read the trilogy about King Henry and Queen Eleanor written prior to this book, but certainly will read the concluding book about "One of history's most dysfunctional and fascinating families."

RATING: 5 out 5 stars

Comment: It's somewhat of a curiosity that during these years, the King of England lived in France and only considered his English holdings as a source of revenue. Richard is purported to have said that he would have sold London if he could have found a buyer. Richard is also known to speak mainly French along with other European languages, but not English!

THE DEVIL IN THE WHITE CITY

I'm starting to love historical non-fiction that reads like a novel! Once again, Erik Larson succeeds where others fail. Educators should take note that students would willingly dive into history if their books were page turners. The non-fiction genre has become exciting with authors such as Larson and Candice Millard. I'm not knocking writers like Newt Gingrich and William R. Forstchen, but with this style they would see their ratings go from three stars to five stars immediately. This is not to say that there isn't a market for historical fiction since Bernard Cornwell has proven it to be huge. I'm just saying that this reviewer prefers his non-fiction to possess a little flamboyance and pizzazz.

This is a story of two main themes and several side attractions. One main topic includes the trials and tribulations of the construction of the 1893 World Columbian Exposition in Chicago. The protagonist is Daniel H. Burnham, Director of Works, who encounters many problems with the short amount of time he had to build the "White City". The other main feature is the story of Doctor Herman W. Mudgett, America's answer to England's Jack the Ripper. Here is a man with many aliases, who was alleged to have murdered between nine and two hundred people during the world's fair. Somehow Erik Larson alternates chapters with these historic figures and makes two untenable subjects intertwine.

The side stories are fantastic, including George W.G. Ferris and his famous wheel, the landscape architect Frederick L. Olmstead's radical ideas, Buffalo Bill Cody's side show with Annie Oakley, and the frightening Patrick Prendergast stalking Chicago's five time Mayor Carter Henry Harrison. The fair debuted Cracker Jack's, Shredded Wheat, and the first spray paint nozzle and hose. These were exciting times for entrepreneurs, and Erik Larson illustrates all their World Fair contributions and difficulties in rich story telling. In reading this book, I really felt like I was there, or at least wished I was there, especially on the day Chicago crushed Paris's World's Fair "one day" admissions total by 354,000 people.

This book has to be read to understand what I'm saying about non-fiction reading like Agatha Christie's Murder on the Orient Express, regardless of the fact that this work is backed up by 41 pages of notes. This volume is highly recommended for readers of any genre, and if you are a student of literature, grab a Erik Larson book and enjoy his style.

RATING: 5 out of 5 stars

Comment: As a side story, it's interesting to know that a junior architect at the 1893 World's Fair was fired for "using his free time to design houses for clients of his own". His name was Frank Lloyd Wright. Also interesting is the fact that the Director of Color and Functions, Frank Millet died on the maiden voyage of the Titanic in 1912. He had all the buildings in the fair painted white, thus the "White City".

DESTINY of the REPUBLIC

This is Candice Millard's stunning look at the assassination of our twentieth President, James Garfield. It's hard to believe that in the 1880s the President of the United States didn't have Secret Service protection, or doctors that believed that germs existed! If Garfield had either of these, he probably would have gone on to become a great President. As it turns out, Secret Service worked strictly on counterfeiting and protection didn't become a reality until after President William McKinley was shot in Buffalo, NY in 1901. Europe had adopted antiseptic surgery sixteen years before Garfield was shot, but the U.S. Medical Congress deemed the idea of "invisible germs to be ridiculous".

Millard spends an equal amount of time on the life and thoughts of the assassin madman, Charles Guiteau ("God wanted him to kill the president"), Garfield's rise from poverty to president, and Alexander Graham Bell's race to perfect an induction balance machine that would enable him to locate the bullet in Garfield's back. Unfortunately for Garfield, his surgical team led by Dr. D.Willard Bliss probed the bullet hole for 79 days using their dirty fingers and non-sterile probes. It's no wonder that at Charles Guiteau's trial, he admitted firing the bullet, but stated, "General Garfield died from malpractice".

Also expertly intertwined in this book is a overview of the corrupt spoils system used by political parties from 1828 until the election of Garfield in 1880. Garfield attempted to break this system, issuing offices by merit versus a rewards system for help in winning the election. His main adversary in this struggle was Senator Roscoe Conkling from NY and his lackey Chester Arthur, who was hand picked by Conkling to be Garfield's Vice-President. (As a sidebar to this issue, Arthur became a good man after he became president, shocking Roscoe Conkling into retirement.)  After Garfield passed away, his wife, Lucretia, added a wing to their farmhouse in Ohio to store the president's papers, thus creating the first Presidential Library.

Millard has written a delightfully engaging non-fiction history book, but it reads like a chilling murder novel. Well done! I'm going to have to read her first book, The River of Doubt: Theodore Roosevelt's Darkest Journey. My recommendation is simple: get this book and read it; it's great!

RATING: 5 out of 5 stars

Comment: Candice Millard got her Master's degree in literature from Baylor University. Both of her books made the New York Times Best Seller List. She is a former editor of National Geographic and lives in Kansas City.

The Prague Cemetery

Not for nothing, this historical novel by Umberto Eco is 444 pages of unadulterated hatred! It spans approximately 40 years in the late 1800s in Europe. It mostly involves Italy, France, Germany, and Russia, and their infighting and subversive attacks against each other. Most of these assaults are based on forged documents meant to cause perplexities amongst the Catholics, Jews, Freemasons, Jesuits, and the common populist. However, the main focus is to eliminate the Jews from the face of the Earth. The counterfeit papers of the Protocols of the Elders of Zion became ammunition for Adolph Hitler to attempt the unimaginable elimination of an entire race of people. The idea was also aided by the Ottoman Empire's try at genocide on Turkey's Armenian residents during and after World War I.

The narrator of this story, Captain Simonini, is the only character that Eco says is fictitious. All of the rest are historic figures with a few minor exceptions. It seems our Captain Simonini is also Abbe Dalla Piccola! So what we have here is a main character with a multiple personality disorder that is an acquaintance of Dr. Sigmund Froide (Freud). Captain Simonini is also chief forger and spy for many governments receiving and issuing false accusations against each other and the "devilish" masonic Jews. He also, on page six, says "I have known Germans, and even worked for them: the lowest conceivable level of humanity. A German produces on average twice the feces of a Frenchman".

This is a very difficult book to read; it offers no respite or reprieves to catch your breath. The many years of false attacks against the Jews resulted in latter year writings such as Hitler's Mein Kampf, which highlighted the supposed Jewish conspiracy to control the world, and Karl Marx's The Communist Manifesto, which displays the disharmony between the bourgeoisie and the proletariat. Although this is the second "eye-opening" book I've read recently, I find it difficult to believe wholly, only because this slant was not taught during my school years.

This is the first Eco work that I've read, and I did like his writing style with most of the story summarized from a diary. Eco is known as a medievalist and semiotician writing some books about the Knights Templar. I did like the book, but wouldn't recommend it to everyone. If this is truly historical fiction, then it shouldn't be so ambiguous without any author notes to back up his findings. The charges against the real characters are too harsh not to be backed up by documentation from other studies, even though this is a novel.

RATING: 4 out of 5 stars

Comment: Umberto Eco states that his writing has been influenced by James Joyce and Jorge Luis Borges. Eco's best seller, The Name of the Rose, had a symbologist friar/investigator, William of Baskerville, who might be the forerunner for Dan Brown's character, Robert Langdon.