The Turn of the Screw - Henry James

I really wanted to read this after watching an adaptation of it on amazon. I saw that the reviews were pretty mixed on it, so I waited and read them after I finished the novella. Overall, the reviewers had some fair complaints, but it wasn't a bad adaptation. But, on to the original!

A young woman takes a job as governess in a secluded mansion. The job comes with the understanding that she will take care of everything and never disturb the master for anything. It's a strange arrangement, but one the young woman agrees to it.

Things start out normally enough, but she starts to see things that don't make sense. Things that could endanger her young charge. Then, young Miles is expelled from school and not allowed to return. The governess begins to suspect that things beyond what she can see may be a threat to the children.

This was a pretty good book. The end is a bit unsatisfying. I put it down and went, "WHAT?!" I wanted to know what happened to at least two of the characters after the moment it ended. At times, it was a bit hard to follow, but I think that's more a result of when it was written. It was a good story, and I'm glad I read it.

Good Afternoon Vietnam: A Civilian in the Vietnam War - Gary L. Wilhelm

I found this book on the eReaderIQ website when it was listed for free. With the length that it ended up being, I'm glad I got it when it was free. Not because it was bad, but because it was really short.

Gary was a civilian who was posted to Da Nang during the years of 1968 and 1969. The book is his memories of that time. Each memory only takes up a few pages and is often accompanied by pictures. Gary gets to see a few different countries since he can't contact his company inside the war zone, so a significant portion of the book is dedicated to his travels.

This book flew by. It didn't take long to read, but it was an interesting perspective from a different point of view. The pictures were a welcome addition, but they also contribute to the book being even shorter than the 109 pages you think it is. Overall, I enjoyed it. I just wish it was a bit longer.

Error of the Moon - Sara Woods

This is my final fiction book from the used book store. I picked it because the summary sounded interesting, and the cover had a neat texture to it.

Antony Maitland has been brought in to investigate the possibility of a mole at the General Aircraft company. They're working on something top secret for the Ministry, and a suspicious death has a couple of the men on edge. Antony isn't keen to go at first but eventually agrees to take the job.

It takes him a while to get a grasp of what's going on and more people die. Antony still isn't sure what's going on, and time is running out.

This book was a bit weird. It had so many characters that I had trouble keeping up until after a few of them died off. Toward the end, I was able to keep up, but by then, it didn't matter as much. Most of the book didn't seem to be important, and clues didn't exist. During the reveal, it sounded like Antony was working on gut feeling and basically caught the man red-handed.

 

Silenced No More: Voices of 'Comfort Women' - Sylvia S. J. Friedman

I wanted to read this as I don't know a lot about the atrocities committed during WWII beyond the Holocaust. I heard about the "comfort women" and decided to try and research a bit more about it.

This book focuses on women that were abducted and used by the Japanese military as sexual slaves, mostly during WWII. For many years, these women have been ignored by the Japanese government and some have lived in the shadows. In recent years, they have come out of those shadows and sought overdue apologies and reparations for what they've suffered.

I don't know what exactly went wrong here, but the author had a wonderful opportunity that I felt was somewhat squandered. She met many survivors, but most were summed up in a few paragraphs. Most of the book was dedicated to why the Japanese government should apologize, why it didn't want to apologize, what it did instead of apologize, and then these things are repeated over and over again. There are some first-hand accounts in here, and the longest probably comes from Jan Ruff O'Herne, who published her own memoir (which I have on my watchlist).

After a while, I started skimming over the repetitious parts. This topic is important, and I did learn some things. Overall, I think if it had been written with more focus on the women and their voices, then the necessity for an apology from the Japanese government would be evident without having to restate it in every chapter.

Astounding Stories of Super Science - January 1930

This is the first issue of a magazine that, as far as I can tell, is still in circulation today. In 1960, the title was changed to Analog Science Fiction and Fact, and over the years, it has had many editors and contributors. I noticed this on the front page of the Gutenberg website, and in my quest to read more genres this year, I added it to my list of things to read. It has 7 stories.

The Beetle Horde (A Two Part Novel) - Victor Rousseau - This story is a cliffhanger with the second part being in the next issue of the magazine. A group of scientists is trying to find the south pole. When two of them have a plane crash, they end up in a "center of the earth" scenario. Here they find a race of underground people being ruled by five foot tall beetles. Soon the two adventurers meet the leader of the beetles and are shocked to discover they share something in common with him. Also, he's a loon. I found this story to be pretty entertaining, and I wouldn't object to reading the rest of it.

The Cave of Horror - Captain S. P. Meek - The picture at the beginning of this story was a bit terrifying, especially when I read the caption to it. A man being snatched up into the air by an unknown assailant? Pass! In this story, a creature is attacking anything that ventures into Mammoth Cave, a well-known landmark in Kentucky. A bit of science and determination discovers what it is, but will they be able to stop it? I liked this short story, but I was a bit bummed at all the creature deaths. I'm a sucker for critters, so that always seems to bug me. Overall, a good story!

Phantoms of Reality - Ray Cummings - This one involves Charlie following his friend to another dimension through the use of vibrations. It's quite the adventure, and it was a good story. I like the way they used the different dimensions to affect both worlds in this short but satisfying story.

The Stolen Mind - M. L. Staley - I'm not sure what to say about this one. A man named Quest answers an ad for a job and gets a lot more than he bargained for. This was the most confusing one I read, but not from a science standpoint. I didn't understand why the man needed Quest to begin with (maybe I missed that in the science-y part), and I had trouble following what was going on a lot of the time. I also wanted to know what happened to Philip, but...too bad!

Compensation - C. V. Tench - A missing professor, a strange box in his laboratory and a suspicious police chief. This short story was pretty good, but I had parts of it figured out before the end. Not too bad, but very short.

Tanks - Murray Leinster - This one is a bit strange. Since this story revolves around a war of 1932, and the magazine came out in 1930, the war being fought is not quite on par with WWII. It's still interesting to think how another war was on the horizon. Not in 1932, but not long after, either. This one seemed the least science fiction-y to me. I guess the way the war is fought, but at that time, I could well believe that people would think battles would be fought in such a manner. The HQ tank, however, I'm not so sure about. Overall, it was not one of my favorites, but it wasn't bad. The little jabs at tanks vs. infantry were amusing though.

Invisible Death - Anthony Pelcher - An impossible murder, an invisible car, a ransom demand. All these things come together to give Lees the case of his life. He has to discover how Dr. Darrow was murdered and why no one can see the assailants to this or any of the following crimes. I liked this one. Just enough science fiction and enough clever reveal to make it entertaining.

This was a nice little jaunt into the science fiction genre. My favorite story had to be Invisible Death. I loved the invisible element and the reveal was pretty nifty. Other than the first story, all of these were complete tales, so it was a satisfying read overall. Fun magazine!

Yankee Fighter - John F. Hasey

In this, episode 3 of Susan Travers, I give you Yankee Fighter. John "Jack" Hasey was mentioned in her memoir, and I was intrigued by his story. What caused this American to join the Free French Foreign Legion?

Jack doesn't really feel like he fits in until he spends time in France. He doesn't speak the language well, but he decides that spending more time there might help with that. The more time he spends there, the more he feels that France is his home. When the threat of war comes to France, he wants to help. But with America being neutral, his options are limited. He starts out trying to organize an ambulance corp, but he eventually makes his way to England and meets Charles de Gaulle.

I enjoyed this book. With the help of Joseph Dineen, the story of Jack's life during the early part of the war is told here in an engaging way. You can tell this book is written during the war since Jack is reluctant to reveal how he gets from one place to another when the borders are closed. Eventually, he makes his way to the desert and sees action until he's seriously injured and taken away from his men and the action.

This isn't the end of Jack's story, but it is the end of the book. The book only covers until early 1942 when Jack makes his way home after the injury to his face and neck. I was pleased to discover that in August of 1943, he became the personal assistant to General Koenig for the next year. After that, he joined the CIA and lived to the age of 88. I would've loved to have had the whole story of Jack's life, but what I got was well worth the read. Good Book! 

Beau Geste - Percival Wren

In my own little way, I'm going to call this Susan Travers, episode 2. As I read through her memoir, she mentioned this was one of her favorite books. It was one of the things that sparked her interest in the French Foreign Legion, so I was interested in picking it up. It's in the public domain, so it wasn't hard to find.

I don't want to say much about the plot of this book, but I was hooked from the start. A man is talking to a friend on a train about an encounter he had in the desert. A strange sight in a fort has him wracking his brain for answers to impossible questions. Soon, the story crosses over to a close friend and a mysterious jewel. From there, the story takes a lot of unexpected twists and turns. I LOVE unexpected twists and turns. Especially when they're this well done.

I had no idea until I went to write this review that there had been a few films made from this book. One in 1939 starring Gary Cooper and another in 1966 with Guy Stockwell. I have to say that I'm glad I didn't know about the films before I read the book. For some reason, it felt more like a hidden gem when I was reading it.

This was a real joy to read. I was intrigued from the beginning and had trouble putting it down so I wouldn't strain my eyes. It's not an "everyone makes it out" kind of story, but it makes more sense with what the characters are going through. I mourned for the losses and rejoiced with the victories. I loved this book. It's the way I wish all the books I read lately had been. It was engrossing, and it felt like I was reading another autobiography at times. It made the impossible possible and explained the mystery in such a clever and interesting way. Can't recommend it enough. Great Book!

Tomorrow to Be Brave - Susan Travers

I shortened the title a bit for the blog. The part I left out is "A Memoir of the Only Woman Ever to Serve in the French Foreign Legion." Intrigued by the title, this was an easy pick for me.

Susan Travers was born in England, but spent a lot of her time in France. Coming to see her homeland as France, when World War II broke out, she wanted to be useful and have an adventure. Through a mixture of determination and grit, she ended up with a lot more than that. She sees battles throughout the war, notably the Battle of Bir Hakeim and El Alamein. Her life story is not sugar-coated in this book, and I am not surprised she waited for all the main people she mentions to pass away before telling her tale.

Susan is a true hero, but my heart breaks for her. She never learned what real love was, and even her "true love" was just her waiting for scraps of his attention. Men in her life didn't deserve what she had to offer, and she was never shown the love she should have commanded. Her later life was a settlement of her earlier one, where she was basically content with what she had. It was just so sad.

This book is a great look into a hidden corner of the war I hadn't peered into before. Susan was definitely wired different than I am, and I admire her determination and the way she didn't hold back during this memoir. It's well worth reading, and I hope that some time in the future, it becomes available digitally. I'd hate for it to fade out of existence because the physical copies are all lost. Good Book! 

Roller Coaster World - Kenneth Bulmer

We took our yearly after-Christmas trip down to the used bookstore and I picked up a few new unloved-looking books to try. I went out of my usual mystery aisle and headed into the sci-fi section. There, I found this little beauty.

Doug is tired of being second best. He comes in second as an athlete and eventually changes the track of his life and tries this world's version of astrology. Then he dabbles and fails at making a "movie," All this time, in the background, there are rumors of the life-giving radiation of the planet dying out.

For most of the book, Doug is not a sympathetic character, and I didn't like him. He whines all the time and only cares about his toxic dependent relationship with a married woman. I enjoyed the last 30-40 pages, but then the very end had me scratching my head.

I don't read a lot of sci-fi, so maybe this is normal, but I wish there had been more focus on the unique aspects of the world and the way the cities moved from place to place. Up until the end of the book, it just seemed like the book was about Doug and his job/love issues. It had potential, I just wanted more sci-fi I guess.

A Daughter of the Samurai - Etsu Inagaki Sugimoto

I chose this book because I wanted a glimpse into the life of the family of a samurai.

Etsu is the daughter of a samurai, but the timeline is such that her father is no longer an active samurai. He also dies when she's somewhat young, so he doesn't factor much into the story. There are tidbits here and there regarding how her father's station impacted their lives as a family, but it wasn't what I was expecting.

I would classify this more as a young woman's life and how she ends up with her feet in two different worlds. Her brother spends some time in America, and that opens the door so that she eventually travels to America to marry.

All in all, this was interesting at times. Since I was expecting something else, my interest level wasn't as high as it could have been. Also, she uses a lot of Japanese words that I was unfamiliar with, so I'd have to stop and look things up if I wanted to know what she was talking about. It was interesting to see how different the two cultures saw each other and how she ended up understanding both of them in the end.

The Google version I downloaded was missing three pages at the end, but I don't feel like I missed very much. Etsu was on her way back to America with her daughters, but there wasn't anything dire or important. This was an interesting read, and though not what I was looking for, it was okay.