Jack’s Books: Roll Those Tanks and Wagons

It was disappointing but not surprising to see this item at Newser: public school students are reading fewer novels.

Even in my day, if I’m being fair, the “assigned” reading tended toward the turgid. I don’t know about you, but most avid readers I talk with express, in one way or another, that it was what they read outside of school that drove and cemented their love of whatever books they now love.

Let’s hope so.

Here’s what I’ve been into recently:

“Chili Queens, Hay Wagons and Fandangos: The Spanish Plaza in Frontier San Antonio” by Lewis Fisher (2015) It looks like a coffee-table picture book, but is also a very nicely-done history of, well, just what the title promises. The food truck and “gig economy” owe everything to these forerunners of ours, and it turns out city government was none too efficient or smart even then. Really a nice read.

“The Tigers Are Burning” by Martin Caidin (1974) Packed into a pocket paperback is this gripping account of the massive, underappreciated Battle of Kursk between the Soviets and Nazi Germany in 1943. Caidin has been dinged continuously since the publication (there are even message boards today) as to his accuracy and analysis of the Tigers (he found them lacking) and his enthusiastic praise for the Russian tankers and their T-34s. His points are provocative, as in wanting the reader to understand the often-underreported Russian view of their role in winning WW2. Overall, a page-turner that should add to, but not fully comprise, one’s take on this battle. (And yes, the photo is a modern, not vintage, Russian tank)

“A Cruel and Shocking Act: The Secret History of the Kennedy Assassination” by Philip Shenon (2013) The author, a longtime New  York Times reporter, spent five years (and spent them well) painstakingly researching the Warren Commission (the title is how their report intro refers to November 22, 1963), the FBI and the CIA. What comes through is a combination of blithe neglect and willful destruction/ignorance of evidence and witness materials. Wisely, the author isn’t “solving” the mystery, just helping to explain why we may never do so.

“The Assassin’s Touch” by Laura Joh Rowland (2005) Another in her “Sano” series of murder mysteries set in medieval Japan, and maybe one of the best. Her imagining of Sherlock Holmes-ian investigative technique in a time and place where it probably was not present makes for good storytelling.

“The Ginger Man” by J.P. Donleavy (1955) It was banned and greeted with shock in its time, and it still has the capacity to disgust the reader, at times, today. The story of a very ugly American student living in postwar Ireland is worth reading if you’re curious about how it’s never been out of print and has earned a place on many “best” lists. I wanted to read it, but I don’t recommend it.

“The Jury Master” by Robert Dugoni (2006) I think this was the author’s first novel, and it’s a great outing—kind of a thriller in the vein of what people like Steve Berry and Eric Lustbader write. A lawyer in San Francisco gets drawn into a White House scandal and coverup.

“Blue Moon” by Lee Child (2019) As the Jack Reacher series matures and passes into the hands of Lee’s brother, Andrew, the big guy has lost none of his charm or intrigue. Reacher is riding a bus when he sees a minor crime about to happen—and his code requires him to prevent it. That simple act of Boy Scout-like civility leads him into a crime war between Ukrainians and Albanians, into the world loansharking and runaway medical bills, and before it’s over, Reacher has to clean up the whole town. Of course.

“Murder for The Bride” by John MacDonald (1951) MacDonald’s protagonists, from his most famous, Travis McGee, to Dillon Bryant of this book, would have appreciated Jack Reacher. A man marries in haste, loses his wife to a grisly murder, and only after her death really gets to know who she was and what she was mixed up with.

As always, please let me know if you read one of these, or what you would like to recommend: [email protected]

(CORRECTION: An earlier version of this post erroneously named the main character of “Murder for the Bride” as “Daniels”, not Bryant.)