Mini Book Reviews
Now that I’m retired and can catch up with my pile(s) of books to read, I thought I would throw some mini-reviews into my blog. (By the way, don’t ask how many piles there are – or how high they are. I seem to be blessed – or is it cursed? – with an interest in everything from horror to history to archaeology to science-fiction to mystery to fantasy to disasters to creative writing to to photography to screenwriting to computer/software manuals to…. You get the idea.)
So you never know what you’re going to get when I post my mini-reviews!
So let’s start off with true crime/recent history in “The Devil in the White City” where Erik Larson weaves together the stories of Daniel H. Burnham (famed architect) and H.H. Holmes (soon to be famous serial killer) in the burgeoning city of Chicago as it prepares for the 1893 World’s Fair. As other reviewers note, Larson is a master of making non-fiction read like fiction – an entrancing story you will want to keep reading. Depending on your interests, the chapters of Burnham, the other architects, and the actual construction (and re-construction after various mishaps) of the “white city” will flow a bit slower than the more scintillating tales of a charming, handsome murderer and his unfortunate victims. I appreciated the way Larson presented those victims as more than just one-dimensional showpieces for the extent of Holmes’ depravity.
Should you read this book? Yes! Especially if you love history in “bite size” chunks. (Definition of “bite size” – as in not the hundreds of years they try to teach you in a single semester at school.) You’ll also want to find a copy of Walter Lord’s “A Night to Remember” after you get to the end of this book and discover Burnham’s surprising connection to the 1912 Titanic disaster.
Do you have any recommendations for me? (Not that I need to add to my to-read pile.…) While reading this, I realized I haven’t read any other works about serial killers. Even Jack the Ripper – what I know of him I’ve only glimpsed in movies or t.v. shows like the 1967 “Wolf in the Fold” episode of “Star Trek.” [I used to be pretty good at imitating Mr. Hengast’s “Die, die, everybody die” dialogue.] So let me know what Jack the Ripper tomes I should read.
Speaking of murderers, I really want that outfit that Christine Redfern (Jane Birkin) is wearing at the end of Agatha Christie’s “Evil Under the Sun” (the 1982 film).
Hmm…this wasn’t such a “mini” review after all, or was it?
The Far Places 