Book list - Jul-Sep 2020

Call the Midwife: A Memoir of Birth, Joy, and Hard Times -- memoir, by Jennifer Worth
The Bartered Brides -- historical fantasy, by Mercedes Lackey
Women of Valor: The Rochambelles on the WWII Front -- WW II, by Ellen Hampton

The Wizard of London -- historical fantasy, by Mercedes Lackey

The Case of the Spellbound Child -- historical fantasy, by Mercedes Lackey
Revolutionary Summer: The Birth of American Independence -- US history, by Joseph J Ellis
Stars Uncharted -- SF, by S K Dunstall
The Quartet: Orchestrating the Second American Revolution, 1783-1789 -- US history, by Joseph J Ellis
Revolutionary Mothers: Women in the Struggle for America's Independence -- US history, by Carol Berkin

Stars Beyond -- SF, by S K Dunstall

1636: The Atlantic Encounter -- AH, by Eric Flint and Walter H Hunt

Hitler's Furies: German Women in the Nazi Killing Fields --  WW II, by Wendy Lower

The Legacy of Heorot -- SF, by Larry Niven, Jerry Pournelle and Steven Barnes *

Beowulf's Children -- SF, by Larry Niven, Jerry Pournelle and Steven Barnes

Victorian London: The Tale of a City 1840-1870 -- history, by Liza Picard

Starborn and Godsons -- SF, by Larry Niven, Jerry Pournelle and Steven Barnes

The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August -- SF, by Claire North

Peace Talks -- urban fantasy (Dresden #16), by Jim Butcher

The Pursuit of the Pankera -- SF, by Robert A Heinlein

Got sidetracked a few times, so there were just 19 books this time round, only one of them a reread (marked by an asterisk).  Seven SF and AH books, six history (seven, I guess, counting North's memoir as history), and three fantasy (Misty Lackey's Holmes-meets-magic tales, to go with the two I read last quarter).

I'm calling Harry August the best book I read this quarter, followed by Stars Uncharted.

Starborn and Godsons suffers from a problem common to sequels written well after (over twenty years, in this case) the preceding book: Discrepancies caused by the author's not remembering what he/she/they had written before.  The first thing I noticed was that two characters' names had been changed, but the really annoying thing was problems with directions -- locations that were south of the colony in the first two books are now described as being to the north, even though the original map from the first book was included in this one.

Pankera is a "new" book by Heinlein; after all these years someone finally noticed that if the story fragments included in Heinlein's papers were assembled in the correct order, they made a complete book.  It was written in parallel with The Number of the Beast (1980), and in fact the first 150-odd pages of the two books are nearly identical.  Then the stories diverge -- and I personally think the wrong one was published, and the wrong one set aside.  Pankera includes more Barsoom, a lot more Galactic Patrol, and almost zero Lazarus Long.

Book List - Apr-Jun 2020

In Search of the Neanderthals: Solving the Puzzle of Human Origins -- palaeoanthropology, by Christopher Stringer and Clive Gamble
Captain Vorpatril's Alliance -- SF, by Lois McMaster Bujold
Hitler's Teutonic Knights: SS Panzers in Action -- WW II, by Bruce Quarrie
The Big Black Mark -- SF, by A Bertram Chandler *
The House of Medici: Its Rise and Fall -- history, by Christopher Hibbert
The Long Skeleton -- mystery, by Frances and Richard Lockridge
Dogs: Their Fossil Relatives and Evolutionary History -- palaeontology, by Xiaoming Wang and Richard H Tedford
The Velvet Claw: A Natural History of the Carnivores -- zoology, by David Macdonald
Isaac Asimov Presents the Great SF Stories 2 (1940) -- SF (short stories), edited by Isaac Asimov and Martin H Greenberg
Out of Order -- mystery, by Phoebe Atwood Taylor
Knight Fall (aka Murder at the War) -- mystery, by Mary Monica Pulver *
Janissaries -- SF, by Jerry Pournelle *
Birds of Prey -- SF, by David Drake *
The Time Trap Gambit -- time travel, by Larry Maddock *
Voyage Into Violence -- mystery, by Richard and Frances Lockridge
The Fantastic World War II: The War That Wasn't -- WWII fantasy, edited by Frank McSherry Jr
Thunderball -- thriller, by Ian Fleming
Masters of the Fist -- apocalyptic fiction (short stories), by Edward P Hughes
High Justice -- SF (short stories), by Jerry Pournelle
Zarsthor's Bane -- fantasy, by Andre Norton
Rocheworld -- SF, by Robert L Forward
The Colour of Magic -- fantasy, by Terry Pratchett
A Malady of Magicks -- fantasy, by Craig Shaw Gardner
Prince of Sparta -- SF, by Jerry Pournelle and S M Stirling *
The Scottish Highlanders: A Personal View -- history, by Charles MacKinnon of Dunakin
No Enemy But Time -- time travel, by Michael Bishop
The Devil's Birthday: The Bridges to Arnhem, 1944 -- WW II, by Geoffrey Powell
The Maker of Universes -- SF, by Philip Jose Farmer *
The Outlaw of Torn -- historical fiction, by Edgar Rice Burroughs *
Taylor's Ark -- SF, by Jody Lynn Nye
Random Death -- mystery, by Lesley Egan *
Crime for Christmas -- mystery, by Lesley Egan *
Tin Cans and Greyhounds: The Destroyers That Won Two World Wars -- naval history, by Clint Johnson
The Planet of Peril -- planetary adventure, by Otis Adelbert Kline
The Penderwicks at Last -- children's, by Jeanne Birdsall
Smugglers' Reef -- YA thriller (RB #7), by John Blaine
The Caves of Fear -- YA thriller (RB #8), by John Blaine
The Mystery of the Iron Box -- YA thriller, by Bruce Campbell
Mysterium -- SF, by Robert Charles Wilson
The Secret Rescue: An Untold Story of American Nurses and Medics Behind Nazi Lines -- WW II, by Cate Lineberry
Marie -- historical fiction, by H Rider Haggard
The Man Called Brown Condor: The Forgotten History of an African American Fighter Pilot -- biography, by Thomas E Simmons
A Study in Sable -- historical urban fantasy, by Mercedes Lackey
The Golden Skull -- YA thriller (RB #10), by John Blaine
The Wailing Octopus -- YA thriller (RB #11), by John Blaine
The Electronic Mind Reader -- YA thriller (RB #12), by John Blaine
The Scarlet Lake Mystery -- YA thriller (RB #13), by John Blaine
A Scandal in Battersea -- historical urban fantasy, by Mercedes Lackey

48 books this time round, ten of them rereads (marked by asterisks).  Captain Vorpatril's Alliance, part of the Vorkosigan series, was the best book, with the two Lackeys, which mix Sherlock Holmes into her Elemental Masters series, close behind.  Books included 15 SF and time travel, seven YA, six WW II and other history, six mysteries, six fantasy.  Top author this quarter was John Blaine (a pseudonym for science writer Hal Goodwin), with six books.

"RB" is Rick Brant -- a series of boys' books from the '50s and '60s.  They're quite similar to the Hardy Boys books (a series that began in 1927), though Rick and Scotty aren't brothers, and while Fenton Hardy was a detective, Hartson Brant was a scientist.  Goodwin called them "science adventures".

Tin Cans and Greyhounds was an interesting book, mostly enjoyable.  More space could have been devoted to British, German and other non-US ships, and I caught a few mistakes here and there, but the biggest problem was the index -- by far the worst I've ever seen.  People are indexed not by the standard lastname-firstname-rank, but by rank-firstname-lastname, which in addition to making it difficult to find a person leads to one man's being listed twice, as he was promoted between his two mentions in the book.

Living Medal of Honor Recipients

Left to right: Army, Navy/Marine Corps and Air Force Medals of Honor

There are now 70 surviving MoH recipients. The complete list, with links to individual pages, can be found at the CMOHS site here; below is a simplified list, like that which I posted a few years ago.

World War II
Charles H Coolidge, Technical Sergeant, US Army
Hershel W Williams, Corporal, US Marine Corps

Korean War
Duane E Dewey, Corporal, US Marine Corps
Hiroshi H Miyamura, Corporal, US Army
Ronald E Rosser, Corporal, US Army
Robert E Simanek, Private First Class, US Marine Corps
Ernest E West, Private First Class, US Army

Vietnam War
John P Baca, Specialist Fourth Class, US Army
Donald E Ballard, Hospital Corpsman Second Class, US Navy
Harvey C Barnum Jr, Captain, US Marine Corps
Gary B Beikirch, Sergeant, US Army
Patrick H Brady, Major, US Army
Paul W Bucha, Captain, US Army
John L Canley, Gunnery Sergeant, US Marine Corps
Bruce P Crandall, Major, US Army
Sammy L Davis, Sergeant, US Army
Drew D Dix, Staff Sergeant, US Army
Roger H C Donlon, Captain, US Army
Frederick E Ferguson, Chief Warrant Officer, US Army
Michael J Fitzmaurice, Specialist Fourth Class, US Army
James P Fleming, Captain, US Air Force
Robert F Foley, Captain, US Army
Harold A Fritz, Captain, US Army
Charles C Hagemeister, Specialist Fifth Class, US Army
Frank A Herda, Specialist Fourth Class, US Army
Robert R Ingram, Hospital Corpsman Third Class, US Navy
Jack H Jacobs, Captain, US Army
Don J Jenkins, Staff Sergeant, US Army
Thomas G Kelley, Lieutenant Commander, US Navy
Allan J Kellogg Jr, Gunnery Sergeant, US Marine Corps
Joseph R Kerrey, Lieutenant (Junior Grade), US Navy
Peter C Lemon, Sergeant, US Army
Gary L Littrell, Sergeant First Class, US Army
James E Livingston, Captain, US Marine Corps
Allen J Lynch, Sergeant, US Army
Walter J Marm Jr, First Lieutenant, US Army
James C McCloughan, Private First Class, US Army
Robert J Modrzejewski, Major, US Marine Corps
Melvin Morris, Staff Sergeant, US Army
Thomas R Norris, Lieutenant, US Navy
Robert E O'Malley, Sergeant, US Marine Corps
Robert M Patterson, Sergeant, US Army
Alfred V Rascon, Specialist Fourth Class, US Army
Ronald Eric Ray, First Lieutenant, US Army
Gordon R Roberts, Specialist Fourth Class, US Army
Jose Rodela, Sergeant First Class, US Army
Gary M Rose, Sergeant, US Army
Clarence E Sasser, Specialist Fifth Class, US Army
James M Sprayberry, Captain, US Army
Kenneth E Stumpf, Specialist Fourth Class, US Army
James A Taylor, Captain, US Army
Brian M Thacker, First Lieutenant, US Army
Michael E Thornton, Engineman Second Class, US Navy
Jay R Vargas, Major, US Marine Corps
Gary G Wetzel, Specialist Fourth Class, US Army

Afghanistan
Edward C Byers Jr, Chief Special Warfare Operator, US Navy
William Kyle Carpenter, Lance Corporal, US Marine Corps
Ty M Carter, Specialist, US Army
Salvatore A Giunta, Specialist, US Army
Florent A Groberg, Captain, US Army
Dakota Meyer, Corporal, US Marine Corps
Leroy A Petry, Staff Sergeant, US Army
Ryan M Pitts, Sergeant, US Army
Clinton Romesha, Staff Sergeant, US Army
Ronald J Shurer II, Staff Sergeant, US Army
Britt K Slabinski, Senior Chief Special Warfare Operator, US Navy
William D Swenson, Captain, US Army
Kyle J White, Specialist, US Army
Matthew O Williams, Sergeant, US Army

Iraq
David G Bellavia, Staff Sergeant, US Army


That breaks down to:

2 World War II (1 Army, 1 Marine Corps)
5 Korean War (3 Army and 2 Marine Corps)
48 Vietnam War (34 Army, 6 Navy, 7 Marine Corps and 1 Air Force)
14 Afghanistan (10 Army, 2 Navy and 2 Marine Corps)
1 Iraq (Army)

49 Army
8 Navy
12 Marine Corps
1 Air Force

(The only Coast Guardsman ever to be awarded the Medal, Signalman First Class Douglas A Munro, received it posthumously after his death at Guadalcanal in 1942.)

Book List - Jan-Mar 2020

1491: New Revelations of the Americas Before Columbus -- history, by Charles C Mann
1493: Uncovering the New World Columbus Created -- history, by Charles C Mann
The Chronicles of Pern: First Fall -- SF (short stories), by Anne McCaffrey *
Turn Coat -- urban fantasy (HD #11), by Jim Butcher
Death from the Skies!: The Science Behind the End of the World -- astronomy, by Philip Plait PhD
Going Postal -- fantasy, by Terry Pratchett
Princes at War: The Bitter Battle Inside Britain's Royal Family in the Darkest Days of WWII -- WW II, by Deborah Cadbury
Making Money -- fantasy, by Terry Pratchett
Directive 51 -- SF, by John Barnes
Until the Final Hour: Hitler's Last Secretary -- WWII memoir, by Traudl Junge, Melissa Müller (editor)
Dragonsdawn -- SF, by Anne McCaffrey *
The Queen's Bed: An Intimate History of Elizabeth's Court -- history, by Anna Whitelock
A Troublesome Inheritance: Genes, Race and Human History -- anthropology, by Nicholas Wade
Dragonseye -- SF, by Anne McCaffrey *
In the Footsteps of Eve: The Mystery of Human Origins -- palaeoanthropology, by Lee R Berger PhD with Brett Hilton-Barber
The Dolphins of Pern -- SF, by Anne McCaffrey *
Before the Dawn: Recovering the Lost History of Our Ancestors -- anthropology, by Nicholas Wade
The Skies of Pern -- SF, by Anne McCaffrey *
Dragon's Code -- SF, by Gigi McCaffrey
When Women Ruled the World: Six Queens of Egypt -- history, by Kara Cooney
The Renegades of Pern -- SF, by Anne McCaffrey *
A Gift of Dragons -- SF (short stories), by Anne McCaffrey
Moreta: Dragonlady of Pern -- SF, by Anne McCaffrey *
Dragonheart -- SF, by Todd McCaffrey
Dragongirl -- SF, by Todd McCaffrey
Dragon's Time -- SF, by Anne and Todd McCaffrey
Under Another Sky: Journeys in Roman Britain -- travel/archaeology, by Charlotte Higgins
Sky Dragons -- SF, by Anne and Todd McCaffrey
Dragonsblood -- SF, by Todd McCaffrey *
Strip -- thriller, by Thomas Perry
Track of the Cat -- mystery (AP #1), by Nevada Barr *
A Superior Death -- mystery (AP #2), by Nevada Barr
Ill Wind -- mystery (AP #3), by Nevada Barr
The Burglar -- thriller, by Thomas Perry
Firestorm -- mystery (AP #4), by Nevada Barr
The Whydah: A Pirate Ship Feared, Wrecked & Found -- children's history/archaeology, by Martin W Sandler
Endangered Species -- mystery (AP #5), by Nevada Barr
Blind Descent -- mystery (AP #6), by Nevada Barr
Fidelity -- thriller, by Thomas Perry
Liberty Falling -- mystery (AP #7), by Nevada Barr *
Deep South -- mystery (AP #8), by Nevada Barr *
Forty Thieves -- thriller, by Thomas Perry
Hit List -- thriller (Keller #2), by Lawrence Block
Blood Lure -- mystery (AP #9), by Nevada Barr *
Hunting Season -- mystery (AP #10), by Nevada Barr
The Old Man -- thriller, by Thomas Perry
Flashback -- mystery (AP #11), by Nevada Barr
High Country -- mystery (AP #12), by Nevada Barr
Hit Parade -- thriller (Keller #3 - short stories), by Lawrence Block
Hard Truth -- mystery (AP #13), by Nevada Barr
Pursuit -- thriller, by Thomas Perry
Winter Study -- mystery (AP #14), by Nevada Barr
Borderline -- mystery (AP #15), by Nevada Barr
Five Days That Shocked the World: Eyewitness Accounts from Europe at the End of World War II -- WW II, by Nicholas Best
Hit and Run -- thriller (Keller #4), by Lawrence Block
Silence -- thriller (Jack Till #1), by Thomas Perry
Burn -- mystery (AP #16), by Nevada Barr
Inside Hitler's Bunker: The Last Days of the Third Reich -- WW II, by Joachim Fest
The Rope -- mystery (AP #0), by Nevada Barr
Nightlife -- thriller, by Thomas Perry
Destroyer Angel -- mystery (AP #17), by Nevada Barr
Boar Island -- mystery (AP #18), by Nevada Barr
The Boyfriend -- thriller (Jack Till #2), by Thomas Perry
A Flock of Ships -- WWII fiction, by Brian Callison *
Metzger's Dog -- thriller, by Thomas Perry *
Ravensbrück: Life and Death in Hitler's Concentration Camp for Women -- WW II, by Sarah Helm
Grave Importance -- urban fantasy (Greta Helsing #3), by Vivian Shaw
Empire of Secrets: British Intelligence, the Cold War, and the Twilight of Empire -- history, by Calder Walton
The Penderwicks in Spring -- children's, by Jeanne Birdsall
A Life in Secrets: Vera Atkins and the Missing Agents of WWII -- biography, by Sarah Helm
Jan of the Jungle -- adventure, by Otis Adelbert Kline
The Boy Scouts on a Submarine -- YA, by Captain John Blaine
A Skeleton in the House -- mystery, by Leigh Perry
The Skeleton Takes a Bow -- mystery, by Leigh Perry
The Skeleton Haunts a House -- mystery, by Leigh Perry
Conquistador -- AH, by S M Stirling *
The Coming of the Quantum Cats -- AH, by Frederick Pohl
The Dancer from Atlantis -- time travel, by Poul Anderson *
Swords and Deviltry -- fantasy, by Fritz Leiber

Retirement is nice -- it gives me much more time to read. 🙂  79 books this time round, 16 of them rereads (marked by asterisks).  Could have sworn I'd read more of the earlier Nevada Barr mysteries, but only a few of them sounded even the least bit familiar.

Top categories: 22 mysteries, 15 SF, 11 history.  Top authors: Nevada Barr (19), Anne McCaffrey (11), Thomas Perry (10).

I'd say the best new (to me, anyway) books were The Burglar and The Old Man.  This is probably the fourth or fifth time I've read Conquistador and Metzger's Dog, and at least the third time for A Flock of Ships.

One would think that the younger McCaffreys would be more familiar with their mother's work, but there were some amazing divergences from canon in Todd's books (I'm truly amazed that Anne let her name appear as co-author on Dragon's Time and Sky Dragons), and Gigi's was even worse.  Nevada Barr was getting bad toward the end, too -- details in the last two books directly contradict statements made in Hard Truth, and there are other problems as well.  I don't know if she's planning more books in the series, but if she writes more I probably won't bother with them.

Book list - 2019

Dreadful Company -- urban fantasy (Helsing #2), by Vivian Shaw
Neptune's Inferno: The US Navy at Guadalcanal -- WW II, by James D Hornfischer
Figure Away -- mystery (Mayo #10), by Phoebe Atwood Taylor *
The Mask of the Sun -- AH/time travel, by Fred Saberhagen *
Baphomet's Meteor -- SF, by Pierre Barbet *
Burning Water -- urban fantasy, by Mercedes Lackey *
Children of the Night -- urban fantasy, by Mercedes Lackey
Pelican at Blandings -- humour, by P G Wodehouse
Runestone -- historical fiction, by Don Coldsmith
Dead Man's Folly -- mystery, by Agatha Christie
Hell's Gate -- SF/fantasy (Hell's Gate #1), by David Weber and Linda Evans *
Hell Hath No Fury -- SF/fantasy (Hell's Gate #2), by David Weber and Linda Evans
The Road to Hell -- SF/fantasy (Hell's Gate #3), by David Weber and Joelle Presby
What If?: Serious Scientific Answers to Absurd Hypothetical Questions -- science, by Randall Munroe
Bombs Away -- AH (The Hot War #1), by Harry Turtledove
Fallout -- AH (The Hot War #2), by Harry Turtledove
Rome: A History in Seven Sackings -- history, by Matthew Kneale
Encounter with Tiber -- SF, by Buzz Aldrin and John Barnes
"Down in the Bottomlands" -- AH, by Harry Turtledove
Armistice -- AH (The Hot War #3), by Harry Turtledove
In the Garden of Beasts: Love, Terror, and an American Family in Hitler's Berlin -- German history, by Erik Larson
Hominids -- SF, by Robert J Sawyer
At the Tomb of the Inflatable Pig: Travels through Paraguay -- travel and history, by John Gimlette
The Bad Popes -- history, by E R Chamberlin
Terns of Endearment -- mystery (Langslow #25), by Donna Andrews
Finity -- SF, by John Barnes
Satan's World -- SF, by Poul Anderson *
The People of the Wind -- SF, by Poul Anderson
The Man Who Counts -- SF, by Poul Anderson *
Paleofantasy -- evolution, by Marlene Zuk
Galactic Derelict -- SF, by Andre Norton *
Forerunner -- SF, by Andre Norton
Forerunner: The Second Venture -- SF, by Andre Norton
Owl Be Home for Christmas -- mystery (Langslow #26), by Donna Andrews
Brothers Down: Pearl Harbor and the Fate of the Many Brothers Aboard the USS Arizona -- WW II, by Walter R Borneman
If I Were You -- humour, by P G Wodehouse
"The Swoop!" and "The Military Invasion of America" -- humour, by P G Wodehouse
Daybreak Zero -- post-apocalyptic SF, by John Barnes
The Last President -- post-apocalyptic SF, by John Barnes
The Strange Case of the Rickety Cossack and Other Cautionary Tales from Human Evolution -- palaeoanthropology, by Ian Tattersall
Hiding in Plain Sight: My Holocaust Story of Survival -- memoir, by Beatrice Sonders
Seven in a Jeep: A Memoir of the Vietnam War -- memoir, by Ed Gaydos
The Year of Fear: Machine Gun Kelly and the Manhunt That Changed the Nation -- US history, by Joe Urschel
The Emperor's Men: Arrival – timeslip, by Dirk van den Boom
A Stone in Heaven -- SF, by Poul Anderson
The Game of Empire -- SF, by Poul Anderson 
The War Below: The Story of Three Submarines That Battled Japan -- WW II, by James Scott
Below -- fantasy, by Lee Gaiteri
Look Both Ways -- mystery, by Carol J Perry
Storm Front -- urban fantasy (Dresden #1), by Jim Butcher *
Fool Moon -- urban Fantasy (Dresden #2), by Jim Butcher *
Dead Beat -- urban Fantasy (Dresden #7), by Jim Butcher
A Voyage Long and Strange: On the Trail of Vikings, Conquistadors, Lost Colonists, and Other Adventurers in Early America -- history, by Tony Horwitz


54 books this time round, 10 of them rereads (marked by asterisks) -- a vast improvement over the last few years.

Best books of the year: Hell's Gate, Hell Hath No Fury, and Encounter with Tiber. Arrival was a good story, and an interesting concept-- a German light cruiser shifted from 1914 to 378 -- but it was extremely poorly edited (serious problems with verb tenses, for instance, especially the past and present perfect).Reviews on Amazon say that the poor editing continues at least through the sixth book, so I won't be buying any more.

Could have sworn I'd read all of the Harry Dresden books, but I somehow missed Dead Beat.  And only the first chapter of Turn Coat seemed familiar, so it will be on my 2020 list of books.

Onward....