A Memory of Solferino

A Memory of Solferino, by Henry Dunant.

I guess the first thing to say is that Dunant is the man responsible for the Red Cross.

Yeah.

Second, this is quite moving, keeping mostly to Dunant's experience on the ground, tending to god-knows-how-many wounded after the Battle of Solferino.

Third, volunteer societies weren't his idea alone (check some of the footnotes in the latter half).

Fourth, sexist. But that's to be expected. Women glorified as "guardian angels" throughout -- their selfless devotion and all that. Towards the end, in the section where he suggests the society(ies) that become(s) the Red Cross, Dunant praises Florence Nightingale, et al, on one page, and then says that the local town girls of Solferino could offer little relief to soldiers -- you needed experienced, capable, firm men for that.

Fifth, worth reading.

Superchick, by Stephen J. Martin

Superchick, by Stephen J. Martin

Dublinman Jimmy Collins – competent middle manager by day, suburban rockstar by night – has just been dumped and he’s not taking it very well. Even a visit to his stylist can’t cheer him up. Jimmy decides to take control of the situation, convincing his friends to help him find the perfect girl – beautiful (but loyal); smart (but not too smart); indifferent about shopping, but enthusiastic about Star Trek.

Being a rockstar, Jimmy decides to write a song about this mythical babe who's got it all -- things move on from there.

I hoovered this book up basically at Sionnan Airport in Ireland. Read and enjoy.

Reading Roundup: It's Not That I Haven't Been Reading

It's that I haven't been reading anything new. Or even anything that I've not read in a while, though I've been slowly working my way through Stephen Batchelor's Buddhism Without Beliefs.

I'm looking forward to re-reading The Plaid Adder's Women on Fire this summer, and the prequel that I got from her (Better to Burn) late last year and haven't made time to read yet.

Of course, having said that, I had an idea for a large writing project, and I may tackle it in the tiny time window after law school finals and before summer session starts, so we'll see.

Reading since February: comics, law books, the free newspaper on the subway, and not much else, although I hauled out Julian May's Diamond Mask this afternoon, I'm not enjoying it as much as I expected. Yet, it's the same book I remember, and I love Dee.

Raffles, the Amateur Cracksman

Raffles: The Amateur Cracksman, by E.W. Hornung.

Lighthearted tales of 'amateur cracksman' A.J. Raffles ('amateur' in much the same way Sherlock Holmes might be called 'amateur' - i.e., not employed by anyone but his own interest in his chosen field), set in a world where "[s]ocial disgrace was more to be feared than death". (From the introduction to the 1994 Wordsworth paperback edition.)

Raffles steals sometimes for the money, sometimes for the fun of it, often for both, but always for the sheer, delicious risk of it all.

Being a Holmes junkie myself, it's a pleasure to read something told by a similarly dedicated Everyman, only from the criminal's point of view.

Holmes is not Holmes without his Watson, nor Nero Wolfe himself without Archie Goodwin. So, too, it appears Raffles isn't Raffles without his "Bunny" Manders.

(Hornung was married to Arthur Conan Doyle's sister. Apparently, the brothers-in-law got on like a house on fire.)

Graphic Novels

Over New Year's I got to read:

300, by Frank Miller and Lynn Varley. Absolutely incredible graphic novel. Gorgeous. Simply gorgeous.

An emperor amasses an army of hundreds of thousands, drawn from two continents, to invade a third continent and conquer a tiny, divided nation. Only a few hundred warriors stand against them. Yet the tiny nation is saved. It sounds like the plot of a preposterous fantasy novel. It is historical fact. In 481-480 B.C., King Xerxes of Persia raised forces in Asia and Africa and invaded Greece with an army so huge that it "drank rivers dry." Then they entered the mountain pass of Thermopylae and encountered 300 determined soldiers from Sparta....

Sin City Jaw-droppingly amazing, rich film noir art in this one.

Milk and Cheese, by Evan Dorkin. Dairy products gone bad. *snort* Funny. Violent.

The Crucible: Screenplay

This is the screenplay of the play "The Crucible", and it's worth reading in its own right.

A quick, fascinating read. Prefaces by the playwright Arthur Miller, and the film's director, Nicholas Hytner, who also directed The Madness of King George, talking about the adaption experience, and what is was like filming such a story in general.

Worse than Watergate

Worse than Watergate, by John Dean.

I scarcely know where to begin. An overview, essentially, of the Secrecy Administration of George W. Bush, from the gutting of the GAO's ability to request data from the White House to the outing of an undercover CIA operative by "senior officials", all, as the title indicates, in comparison to the Nixon Secrecy Administration.

Nixon comes off looking positively transparent.

If you don't read this book, do pick it up in a library sometime and read Appendix I. It's about 4 pages, listing statements made by Bush in his State of the Union address in January 2003, and the underlying actual data, or lack thereof.