John Calvin Batchelor

This book combines Norse mythology, epic sea adventure, and future global politics into a strange but compelling read. The main part of it is set in a world where governments decide to only serve their elites' best interests and dispel those not native to their country, thereby creating a huge population of permanent refugees. Many take to the seas to find a new home, only to be turned away everywhere they go. Eventually many groups make their way to Antarctica, fighting each other along the show more way.

Full of wild characters and frenzied battles, the book is impressive in its image of a world returning to the Dark Ages over the course of one man's life. It's hampered by being dense and preachy too. show less

A great historical novel that takes place late in the American Civil War as the Confederates try to cripple the Union by inciting insurrection and riots in New York City. Overall, the novel is a cat-and-mouse game between spies and the birth of Secret Services on both sides of the conflict. This is a fantastic, fast-moving novel full of great characters and detail, culminating in a thrilling scene at Niagara Falls.

I was a disgruntled ex-Libertarian Party member when I got drawn into a Republican campaign, still skeptical and wary about the party--I started there out of loyalty to a candidate for convention delegate I personally knew. (I mean I came from a working-class Puerto Rican Democratic family--what do you expect? Republicans all had horns and cloven feet! I knew it!). So... several people in that campaign became family, and one of them gave me this as a gift at the end of the campaign as a sort show more of a "welcome home" gift. As such I admit I view this book through a nostalgic haze, and wouldn't dream of ever getting rid of it. Especially since that friend is no longer with us.

I didn't find it very deep, but I did find it entertaining and engaging and full of little anecdotes. Not the ultimate party history or very scholarly no--but fun. At least if the very word "Republican" doesn't make you hiss and spit. show less

I s'pose this is the kind of book generally described as a romp, or a caper. But the pace is uneven (in a good way). Let's go with "breakneck" because the turns and corners, stops and starts, spirals, dead sprints... all add up to the Sweet Rollercoaster from Transsexual Transylvania. It's also kind of like The Princess Bride, but its fantastical* and fairytale qualities feel slightly dated. So... not a fairy tale, then.

You could argue that the more complex something (anything!) is, the more show more it ties itself to a particular place/time/space, and that would explain why this book is so obviously a product of the early '80s. But you could also argue that I wasn't even born then, and consequently, what do I know? Obvious schmobvious.

Reading this did remind me that I've read very little about Vietnam and know very little about it, most likely because my dad was pro- the war (and, improbably, still is) and we never talked about it growing up. This represents a vast gap in my historical and cultural knowledge of the United States.

*I don't know whether fantastical is actually a word. show less