Review: The Whale: In Search of the Giants of the Sea

The Whale: In Search of the Giants of the Sea by Philip Hoare

My rating: 4 of 5 stars



This is a moving and sad survey of the great cetaceans and their fraught relationship with man. The subtitle "In Search of the Giants of the Sea" makes sense in the denouement of the author's concluding encounter with rare and beautiful examples at a remote location, but just as aptly it could be subtitled "Annotating [b:Moby-Dick; or, The Whale|153747|Moby-Dick; or, The Whale|Herman Melville|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1327940656s/153747.jpg|2409320]" as the author so often quotes and amplifies details from the work and life of [a:Herman Melville|1624|Herman Melville|https://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1361337904p2/1624.jpg]. The cruelties exacted on these species by humans are among the shocking material here, but expectedly so. Not so expected, by me, was the rectal origins of the sought after perfume base ambergris. This is just one surprise about the whale that Hoare, obviously educated on and awed by his subject, imparts on this most readable work on these animals and their history.



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Review: Under and Alone (Lib)

Under and Alone (Lib) by William Queen

My rating: 4 of 5 stars



I have seen cable show overviews of this amazing feat of undercover policework done by Queen of the ATF, right up there with Joe Pistone's Donnie Brasco stunt (1976–1981) against the Mafia. Ably narrated by Don Leslie with all the F-bombs of frustration delivered forcibly and the pangs of regret against bringing down some of the "brothers" made comes across well. It is amazing to hear the details on how even two decades ago the Mongols were a tribe so well-populated with psychopaths and configured as a successful criminal enterprise of drug and gun running, extortion, and witness intimidation.

The compelling message of this memoir is the bravery, quick wits, and self-sacrifice required of those that go this far to infiltrate criminal organizations to this extent.



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Review: Under and Alone (Lib)

Under and Alone (Lib) by William Queen

My rating: 4 of 5 stars



I have seen cable show overviews of this amazing feat of undercover policework done by Queen of the ATF, right up there with Joe Pistone's Donnie Brasco stunt (1976–1981) against the Mafia. Ably narrated by Don Leslie with all the F-bombs of frustration delivered forcibly and the pangs of regret against bringing down some of the "brothers" made comes across well. It is amazing to hear the details on how even two decades ago the Mongols were a tribe so well-populated with psychopaths and configured as a successful criminal enterprise of drug and gun running, extortion, and witness intimidation.



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Review: Empire of Sin: A Story of Sex, Jazz, Murder, and the Battle for Modern New Orleans

Empire of Sin: A Story of Sex, Jazz, Murder, and the Battle for Modern New Orleans by Gary Krist

My rating: 4 of 5 stars



I picked this to read on a recent trip to New Orleans and it added to my historical understanding of the Irish Channel, where Storyville really was, etc. Krist ably waves this gaslight to early 20th Century tale of birth of jazz, Mafia-like Black Hand Italian American crime, racial crimes/racial persecution, the birth of jazz, and the notorious Axman crimes. The music enthusiast will appreciate the tales of jazz born from peddler tin horns and Buddy Bolden's unfetter wailing along with key early figures like Professor Longhair, Kid Ory, Louis Armstrong, Sidney Bechet, etc.

The Storyville heyday is detailed in the informal mayor and madams like Lulu White, Josie Lobrano, etc. and their intertwined lives as the meet militant reformers (including Carrie Nation at the end of her career), a not always bribe-able constabulary, and the Democractic machine The Ring.



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Review: The Snow Queen

The Snow Queen by Hans Christian Andersen

My rating: 4 of 5 stars



[a:Julia Whelan|2939944|Julia Whelan|https://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1357878897p2/2939944.jpg] does fantastic job narrating this Xmas lagniappe from Audible. I am not interested in the loose basis for Frozen, but I did take a bite for free, here. I was surprised how imaginative and modern the story felt with parallel, overlapping story lines, grotesque demons and magnified evil visions; as if it were a collaborative screen play from Guillermo del Toro and Tarantino.



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Review: Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption

Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption by Laura Hillenbrand

My rating: 4 of 5 stars



I started this book before seeing the movie and finished it after, motivated I am sure like millions of others to deepen my experience of this survival tale of weeks in a rubber rafts followed by long imprisonment in the worst of Japan's secret POW camps. The privation, physical abuse, and detrimentally injurious effects much exceed that which is portrayed by Hollywood. Movies have to attenuate, elide, and abbreviate book-length stories and this is book is able to include bits that movie can't, such as the incomplete plans to assassinate The Bird and use a flight parachute to stop Superman. Also, the mysterious mechanical unreliability of Green Hornet and the lack of maneuverability while a bomber is using the Norden bombsight heighten the suspense.

Fully a third of this book covers the very interesting tale of Louie Zamperini's post-release descent and redemption as well as wanderings in Nod of outcast The Bird.



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