Larson has a nice touch for narrative history. This grips you as the Lusitania cruises towards it's fate. The dovetailing narratives of the Lusitania and the sub that would sink her builds some pretty good tension. Appreciated in particular the presentation of their relative nautical paths so I understood where they were during their open ocean tango. The personal stories don't smother the narrative--always a concern of mine when history should be at the forefront--yet they remain compelling through their sad aftermath. All these positives mask a mighty frustration. As the Lusitania set out to sea, I kept waiting for some discussion of whether or not there were munitions on board. WW I was setting Europe ablaze and the German's justification for firing upon the Lusitania was that she was carrying munitions to her enemies. This of course begs two fascinating questions, how do you dare kill so many civilians just to stop suspected munitions and it's companion question--how do you use so many civilians to shield your munitions as you try to sneak them across the Atlantic. These questions mostly remain unaddressed as the munitions possible existence is barely addressed. This grievance should knock the rating down another star but I will admit to being a sucker for sea stories.

Volume One of this series was a solid set up, everyone was loaded into the carousel but it was never turned on. Volume Two has that ride in motion. All the characters come to life where they were kind of walking cut-outs the first time around. Especially wasted in the first Volume was Mina Murray. Despite being put at the center of the story, she was set aside the way a female costar from an 80's TV show usually was (Duck Magnum, duck!). Here she is dynamic and alive and drives the story. The art is better, the dialogue is better and the story is better. Anyone reading Volume One should immediately jump into Volume Two--pretend you had just read an intro to this story. .

See my review for THE LEAGUE OF EXTRAORDINARY GENTELMENT, VOL 2.

Ricky Jay has such an established reputation as a smooth customer quick with the tossed off patter and legendary prestidigitation, that you feel like you are enjoying his book more than you are. It's a nice trick. There is value to this compendium of historical entertainment oddities. Otherwise lost to the footlight footnotes, Ricky Jay affectionately brings to renewed life those who entertained and fascinated the world mostly prior to 1900 by being mind readers, fireproof, brilliant pigs, flying horses, escape artists, enterartists, all knowing and able swallow stones or acids or swords. They were headliners in their heyday but were they around today given modern tastes they would likely be relegated to the sideshow. Much of this book feels like a trip to the side show. Marvelous as many of these stories are, there just isn't enough known about most of these folks to bring them to life for more than mere moments. They flicker briefly then burn out which also happens to the reader if you read too much at one sitting. The book itself became a sideshow to whatever else I was reading. I enjoyed it a chapter ir two at a time and that's how I'd suggest reading it. There are many things here that I will not forget but just like the dead magician who's skull collapsed when the mortician tried to comb his hair...the book is a little thin on top and on the inside too.

Doris Lessing can write. The first third of this novel is awash in delicious phrasing. I enjoyed the brisk no fat pace of her story telling. I liked the idea of framing the story around a couple fighting the progressive tide of the times by creating their own conservative backwater. The title suggests and the prose hints that there is a dramatic shift coming. Part of the joy is supposed to be knowing that the tranquility will be shattered. Unfortunately, when it comes—it doesn’t work. Mystery regarding the potential malevolence of a new born is nothing new but beating that evil drum until your ears bleed might be. Handled here, when I should have been trying to find my way through mysterious grays I instead keep hitting walls of black and white. Either the entire family is evil—including extended family—or the child is evil. No subtlety—just hammers. Presented as a horror story—it fails—unless you are frightened by sadness.

A mostly marvelous meditation on James Baldwin’s place in the world. Not a biography so much as a walk with the author Eddie S. Glaude, Jr. through Baldwin’s writing and activism. At turns informative, inspiring and heart breaking. Maintaining the hope and empathy that informed his writing despite being ground under the heels of America for being gay, black and outspoken came at a great personal cost. The title BEGIN AGAIN refers to a reintroduction to James Baldwin and to his constant reapplication of self to the struggle. The wave must keep coming even though the shore it beats upon changes from George Wallace, to Ronald Reagan to Donald Trump. Baldwin’s realization of this is pivotal and the drive behind the author’s pursuing this book. BEGIN AGAIN does a nice job giving a feel for Baldwin’s voice without drowning the text with long quotes. Glaude too writes with some eloquence but on occasion is a bit intrusive—my only real quibble here—wanting to be a gilded frame around a classic painting.