Books Read, 2010

Here's a list of the books I've read in the past year. I'll begin with the most memorable in each genre:

The Last Stand: Custer, Sitting Bull and the Battle of the Little Big Horn
by Nathaniel Philbrick
Penguin audio book, 2010

I'm departing from tradition by including an audio book here. But that's fitting, since I also acquired a Kindle this year. Listening to this unabridged version wasn't so different from reading a hard copy. I'm not a Custer enthusiast, but this was fascinating, especially in its unsparing but balanced assessments of the competency of both the man and his subordinates.

The Other Boleyn Girl
by Philippa Gregory
Simon and Schuster, 672 pages, 2004

Don't make the mistake of regarding this as a romantic novel. Well researched and exceedingly well written, I couldn't put it down. It left me with a yearning to read everything she's published.

I made the same determination after reading the runner-up in the fiction category, John Master's Bhowani Junction. In particular, I want to re-read his Bugles and a Tiger memoir this year, to refresh my memory on his insights on Afghanistan.


And now, here's my complete list for 2010.

(Genre: F = fiction, N = non-fiction)
January
McCarthy, Cormac
The Road, F

Blond, Anthony
The Private Lives of the Roman Emperors, N

Strout, Elizabeth
Olive Kittredge, F

February
Maguire, Gregory
Son of a Witch, F

Hinton, S.E.
The Outsiders, F

March
Masters, John
Bhowani Junction, F

O'Brien, Tim
The Things They Carried, F

O'Connor, Joseph
Star of the Sea, F

June
McCammon, Robert
Boy's Life, F

Forsyth, Frederick
The Dogs of War, F

Manchester, William
Goodbye, Darkness, N

Turow, Scott
Presumed Innocent, F

Morris, James
Pax Brittanica, N
This is the only book I've read this year by a "gender-reassigned woman." Midway through his career, Morris underwent a sex change and henceforth became known, and published, as Jan Morris. Prior to that, as a male he served in the British army in World War II. He was also a newspaper correspondent with a British expedition that scaled Mount Everest.

July
Rankin, Ian
Watchman F

McDonald, John D.
Nightmare in Pink, F
Certain sections seemed oddly familiar. When I was fully halfway through it, I realized I had read it before. The first time around must have been on a long airplane flight when I was half-asleep. Or maybe McDonald's Travis McGee novels are so much alike it's hard to tell them apart, or indeed to remember much about them at all. Still, good entertainment.

Dobyns, Jay
No Angel, N

August
Masters, John
Coromandel!, F

September
Shakespeare, William
The Tempest, F

Spencer, Scott
A Ship Made of Paper, F

Coelho, Paolo
The Alchemist, F

October
Larsson, Steig
The Girl Who Played with Fire, F
I never would have guessed his politics from reading his novels.

Gregory, Phillippa
The Other Queen (audio), F

Philbrick, Nathaniel
The Last Stand, N

November
Grisham, John
Ford County, F

Household, Geoffrey
Rogue Male, F

Gregory, Phillippa
The Other Boleyn Girl, F

Russo, Richard
That Old Cape Magic, F
Not up to the standard of Bridge of Sighs, but worthwhile nevertheless.

Caputo, Philip
Crossers, F
A thoughtful fiction treatment of illegal immigration and border security issues.

I don't want to end this without mentioning Tanith Lee's stories The Roman and The Suicide from The Secret Books of Paradys .
I re-read both this week. To my mind, these are among the strangest, most disturbing and sexiest stories I've ever come across. The Roman's encounters with Lililla are simply impossible to forget. This lead me to her web site, where she reveals her battle with cancer, grimmer than anything she's ever written about because it's all too real. I want to send this talented author my best wishes for relief and full recovery in 2011.

Who Made These Pipes?

I'd really appreciate some assistance in identifying the manufacturer of these pipes. I purchased them in 1985 from a retailer known as The Wee Piper in Miami, Florida. He thought they were Hardies, and in fact the set came with a wooden chanter marked “R.G. Hardie, Glasgow.” However, the combing on the drones and blowstick doesn’t resemble other Hardies.

The combing appears flatter than Hardie sets I've seen. It consists of tight groups of eleven grooves, forming ten raised rings, separated by a pair of grooves that are slightly wider apart. The rings are nickel silver, with one groove at the top and two at the bottom of the ring. Projecting mounts are imitaton ivory. I can't find any identification marks on them, and I’ve inspected the drone cord areas carefully.

Any and all ideas are most welcome. Measurements are detailed after the photos.

All drone reed seats are just under 7/16”.
All stocks, measured at top, are 3/4”.

Bass drone:
• Bottom section pin bore diameter is 5/16”
• Middle section pin bore diameter is 6/16”
• Top section bore (measured at the bottom end) is 11/16”

Tenor drones:
• Bottom section pin bore diameter is 5/16"
• Top section bore (measured at the bottom end) is 9/16”

Hussy

This film starring Helen Mirren hit US theaters in 1981. I remember the trailer. “See Hussy!” the voice-over commanded. Still smitten by Mirren's bewitching performance as the enchantress Morgana in the Arthurian film Excalibur, I was wild to see Hussy. But sadly, it vanished from theaters within a week or so.

I don’t know what made me search for it after all these years, but I was astounded to find it on NetFlix. So I lived out my decades-long fantasy. I actually watched Hussy.

Helen Mirren in "Hussy" (1980)

As you might expect, it didn’t live up to my expectations. In fact, it's a dreadful film. I turned it off after less than an hour. But still, it was Helen Mirren. The young Helen Mirren. in this role, she’s a nightclub hostess and occasional call girl -- at least, that's what the poster for the film says. In one scene she has to entertain a client. He’s a very fat guy. She tells him that if he doesn’t behave, she’s going to charge him by the pound. God knows why she made this film, after O Lucky Man, Excalibur, and all those Shakespearean roles.

Now, having written all this and dredged up old memories, maybe I’ll watch the rest of Hussy after all. Those seeking further indulgence can visit The Helen Mirren Appreciation Society at www.helenmirren.com.

Sir Gawaine and the Green Knight

A feast is underway when The Green Knight appears in King Arthur's hall:

"Nay, King Arthur," cried the knight in a great voice appropriate to his size. " I come here not to feed but rather to find the knight who has the courage to trade blows with me... he must strike me first, so powerfully as he will."

Therefore with great joy Gawaine did leap from his siege, take up the great ax, and with one blow strike off the head of the Green Knight, which went a-rolling the vast length of the great hall of Camelot, struck the far wall, and came rolling back unto the very feet of King Arthur. And the wondrous thing was that this head did roar with laughter throughout its journey to and fro! Then the green body rose, and taking up the green head, placed it upon the green neck, and mounted the green horse.

"Well struck, Sir Gawaine," cried the Green Knight. "And now that I have felt the strength of your arm, I shall test your moral mettle. One year from today, you must meet me at a place of my choosing, there to accept one blow from me, or else be damned as an arrant poltroon!" And guffawing he did prick his horse and gallop out of the castle.

From "Arthur Rex: A Legendary Novel"
by Thomas Berger
Delacourte Press/Seymour Lawrence, © Copyright 1978.

In some versions of the legend, the Green Knight is an ordinary man who is under an enchantment cast by Morgan Le Faye. In Berger's version, the Green Knight turns out to be the Lady of the Lake in disguise. But Gawaine does not discover this until he keeps his appointment with the Green Knight in the Green Chapel, after enjoying the freedoms of Liberty Castle.