Garlic and Sapphires

Garlic and Sapphires by Ruth Reichl. This memoir rounds her life by filling in the space when she was the food critic for the New York Times. Her easy writing style and great sense of humor make her memoirs entertaining and informative. This book ends with her about to be the editor of Gourmet magazine, the story that is told in Save Me The Plums.

The Liberation Trilogy

The Liberation Trilogy: An Army at Dawn, The Day of Battle, The Guns at Last Light by Rick Atkinson, This trilogy is a history of WWII, the European war. The first book, Battle, is the African campaign, the second, Battle, is the Italian campaign, and the third, Guns, is D-Day and the end of the war. I have read the first two, but do not think I will read the third. The death and destruction outlined in these books is a bit too much to spend a lot of time with. (Since I originally posted this, I have gone back and read the third book.) Of course, I am being spoiled, as the people fighting these battles obviously could not just walk away. The details are quite extensive, and the author had access to quite a few personal diaries of both officers and enlisted men, so you get a real insight into 'men on the ground'. It is also interesting to contemplate when reading this that another part of the war was taking place in the Pacific at the same time. Along the same theme of dealing with WWII, the above details the war in Europe, and Ian Toll has a trilogy that deals with the Pacific war. Pacific Crucible and The Conquering Tide are the first two in the trilogy, the third comes out in July 2020. The first deals with a lot of background of the countries to be involved, and the leaders and military men who will be a big part of the pacific war. The second I found more interesting as it looks at the main part of the war in the pacific and does so by looking at different branches of the military, and not just providing a chronological story of battles.

The Outlaw Ocean

The Outlaw Ocean by Ian Urbina. Hard to read at times, do to the subject matter being so disturbing. This book outlines with several different scenarios that troubles of the earth's oceans: over fishing, pollution, forced labor. The author makes the point that the oceans have seemed to be a limitless resource, so 'abusing' them has not been taken seriously by many people. However, the reality is very different. The oceans are the first line that show the affect of climate change, and the rate of acceleration is pretty scary.

Fort Niagara

Fort Niagara by William Utley and Patricia Scott. The history of this fort, located where the Niagara river flows into Lake Ontario. This particular history is of the french period, the first version of the fort, up until the British takeover of the fort in 1759 during the French and Indian War. Having spent time in the early 1980s working at this fort, I have a personal interest in this, and found the early history quite interesting. Like The British Are Coming, this book illustrates how much happened well before 1776, and how all the events before that July date led up to the rebellion actually happening. It is quite complicated how the French, English and native peoples interacted. Each of them jockeying for the best position in the trade that was going on in this part of north America. This book probably appeals to a select group who know this area, but for that group this is a great resource.

Ali: A Life

Ali: A Life by Jonathan Eig. Very interesting story of one of the most interesting and controversial people of the 20th century. This seems to be a very well researched book. Mr. Eig appears to have had access to many people still living who knew Ali. He weaves in the civil rights situation of the 60s and 70s to show how Ali fit into and shaped that period of history. I did have to stop reading this before the actual end of the book. The final chapters of Ali's life were too sad to read about, and it was better to just think of the young Ali and his amazing energy. He was the greatest!

An American Princess: The Many Lives of Allene Tew

An American Princess: The Many Lives of Allene Tew by Annejet van der Zijl. This memoir follows the life of a girl born in Jamestown, New York in 1871. She was the lower echelon of a well off family. But through marriage ended up living a wealthy life style, from the Gilded age through WWI, the roaring twenties, the depression and WWII and into the 1950s. Married 6 times, she moved in the circles of wealthy industrialist and European royalty just as the latter group was being pushed out of favor, but still retained the glamour of having titles. Throughout the ups and downs of the economy for almost a century she managed to avoid the pitfalls that so many others made. A great beauty when she was young, she grew into a smart and capable business woman.

The Ice at the End of the World

The Ice at the End of the World: An Epic Journey into Greenland's Buried Past and Our Perilous Future by Jon Gertner. This very interesting book is both a history of the exploration of Greenland and an assessment of the global climate change crisis. The author describes the social history of Greenland and its exploration, and also the stories of the intrepid early explorers who added so much to the knowledge of large ice caps. Its striking how 'no 2 glaciers are alike' according to this author. His writing is clear and descriptive, and the build up from exploration to scientific research of the large ice fields of the world is an exciting, and at the same time disturbing narrative. From the Inuit and the early Norse settlers, to the use of satellite technology to analyze the ice melt, the story plunges us into the remote areas that will change all of our worlds.