The Call of the Blood - Robert Smythe Hichens

This is one of those older titles that showed up in a list in the back of one of the other books I read, so it was picked kind of randomly. I had no idea what it was about, but the title seemed interesting. My imagination was going in all sorts of directions!

It's actually about Hermione who marries Maurice and takes him to Sicily. She's also friends with another man, Artois, and she leaves her new husband to take care of her friend when he falls ill in Africa. When she's gone, the husband falls prey to the "call of his blood" and gives in to his wild Sicilian side a bit.

Almost everyone in this book was an idiot. Maurice was an idiot because he acted like a petulant child when left on his own for a bit. Hermione is an idiot because she treats her husband like a child. She thinks of him as having the mind of a boy and being dumber than she is. Artois is an idiot because when he's sick, he immediately reaches out to the friend who is on her honeymoon and lets her stay with him for who knows how long. She didn't even ask her husband what he thought. She's just like, "I'm off. You stay here." And then both of them want to say more and don't. Idiots all around.

The one shining light is Gaspare. He may run a little high on the emotions chart, but he knows what's going on the whole time and tries to keep the man-child Maurice out of trouble. Of course, he fails but it's through no fault of his own. Gaspare is basically like a trusted manservant of the house and becomes very close with Maurice. 

Overall, no one in this book wanted to take responsibility for their actions, and it was straight annoying. It was the "I'm following the call of my blood" "It's the way God made people" Only Artois seemed to have any kind of self-reflection toward the end. Throughout the rest of the book, everyone was more worried about what they wanted to do. It was wrapped up in "helping someone else" at times, but it still boiled down to all three of them doing what they wanted. It was a frustrating read, and I was glad when it was over.

Lucky Jack - S. (Sue) Bavey

After living for 106 years, you'd have a lot of stories. That's the premise for this book, which goes through the life of (Henry) Jack Rogers. Born at the end of the 1800s, he lived through the entirety of the 1900s, and passed away in April 2000, a few weeks after turning 106. 

Each chapter in this book has little sections which can be read in a few minutes. I was especially touched by the story of what happened when the prisoners at his POW camp were freed. The horror of the camp itself is acknowledged, but the amazing decision the prisoners made upon leaving was something that was truly uplifting. There's so many other great little stories that I just can't mention them all.

The book is technically written by Jack's granddaughter, but it's from Jack's perspective, and it feels that way. She knew him well, and if someone needed to tell his story, I believe she was a good one to do it. According to the info on Amazon, she had access to all his newspaper articles, and she also found scrapbooks her mother had kept about Jack.

This book is incredibly easy to read. You have five minutes? You have time for an anecdote. It felt like I was sitting down with my grandfather listening to his stories. Not my specific grandfather, mind you, but you know what I mean. It's a conversational kind of writing where you feel like you're sitting with the person telling the story. It's much more personal that way, and I enjoyed that writing style a lot. Good Book!

The Benson Murder Case - S. S. Van Dine

This book is actually written by an American art critic named Willard Huntington Wright. Interestingly enough, he wasn't a fan of the detective genre at first and wrote under a pseudonym because he didn't want anyone to know that he was writing mass market fiction. Van Dine is supposedly the "John Watson" to Philo Vance (the Sherlock in this scenario). 

Vance has asked his friend at the district attorney's office to let him come along on a murder. Once there, he immediately becomes involved in "helping" solve the case. I put that word in quotes because his method of helping is extremely questionable. He just pipes in occasionally to tell his friend that he's wrong, but doesn't steer him in the right direction. Later, he tells him basically that "he couldn't handle the truth" or some such nonsense.

Okay, so the first Sherlock story was in 1892. This book was published in 1926. It is so similar that it's a wonder I didn't like it more. You've got a district attorney in the place of Lestrade, and you've got a man who irritates most of the people around him because of his superior attitude. Vance also gloats over those around him because he knows what's going on and others don't. It's basic Sherlock stuff, but I was so annoyed.

So I asked myself what was different about Vance that bothered me so much. Was it because I couldn't imagine Basil Rathbone or Benedict Cumberbatch playing the role? No...Was it maybe because the man was constantly saying, "eh, what?" It's possible that contributed to it. I think another reason is because the man was purposely throwing red herrings at his friend on purpose.

My copy of the book was taken off Google, so it didn't have an interesting cover. I found the attached picture on the internet and just had to use it. It's so weird and disturbing. Imagine picking this paperback up every night and it's the last thing you see before you go to sleep. Nightmare fuel for sure! 

And No Birds Sang - Farley Mowat

I picked this book up quite a while back at the used book store. After putting down War and Peace, I figured cleansing my palate with this 195 page diet book would make me feel good about reading again.

Farley is from Canada and at first he wants to be in the Air Force. He's too small to make it, so he ends up with the Hasty Pees. He sets off for war with the anticipation of beating the Germans and being the hero, but he soon discovers that it's much different than he expected.

I appreciated Mowat's writing style. He didn't hold back and didn't sugar coat anything. That means some descriptions are a bit difficult, but they were what he experienced, so you can't blame him. He also ends the book very abruptly. It's probably the first time that didn't bother me. His insight and description of "the Worm" was personal and moving. Back then it was called "shell shock," and today it's known as PTSD.

I liked this memoir because Mowat was honest about himself. He praised others and was descriptive of battles, but he didn't gloss over his mistakes. In fact, he goes into detail about what he did and how others reacted to it. He talks about the changes that happened to him mentally, and how he didn't feel like he knew the people at home anymore because of what he'd been through.

Mowat has written many other books, mostly about nature and the north. I would recommend this to anyone who wants an infantryman's honest view of the war. A man who goes in wanting to be a hero and comes out feeling lucky to be alive. Good Book!

War and Peace - Leo Tolstoy

My experiment into the great epic classic has ended in my defeat. I struggled with the decision for a few days, but I just don't want to go any further. Every percent feels like an eternity at this point, and I'm waving my white flag.

With a book this long, I'm not even sure how to describe the "plot." Numerous characters and events make it hard to figure out what the point of the whole thing is. Maybe if I'd finished it, I'd be able to tell you, but as it is, I'm going off what I know.

My first issue came when I couldn't find a character to like. There's plenty to choose from, but they are all pretty much are boring, terrible or annoying, so I didn't have anyone to look forward to reading about. My other issue came with WAR. Okay, so it's half the title, but I didn't need to know which flank was weak in the battle, or why the historians were wrong about Napoleon's motivations.

I took a break at 50% thinking it would be the boost I needed to make it through the rest of the novel, but alas, I'm quitting at 64%. Many times I would ask myself, "What is the purpose of this scene?" or "How is this important to the story?" Most of the time, I would forget what I'd asked about, so apparently it wasn't important.

I'm sure this book is a classic for a reason. It wasn't the most unbearable thing to read, it was just tedious to the point where I felt like I was reading for days and making no progress. I know myself, and when I'm more concerned about where I am in the book rather than what's going on in the story, it's time to evaluate why I'm still reading it. Sorry, Leo, this one's a pass from me.

The John Deere Story - Neil Dahlstrom and Jeremy Dahlstrom

As a bit of a disclaimer: I've been reading War and Peace, and it's taking me a "while" to get through it - hence a drought in reviews. I decided that when I hit 50%, I would switch and read something else as a break.

At the end of June, my father passed away. We weren't expecting it at all, and it still hurts. He had a rebate card, and my mother gave it to me. I felt like I owed it to my dad to take the card and use it for something related to what he cared about. He loved to help his cousin farm, so I tried to hunt down something appropriate. I wanted to get Tractor Wars (also by Neil Dahlstrom), since it would cover more of the brands he loved, but the card only allowed me to get a used copy of this book.

This book takes an in depth look at a well-known brand. If you see a green tractor, it's almost certainly a John Deere. I had no idea of how large a part his son, Charles, played in making the company what it is today. The company dealt with a lot of political and society changes, and they came through while still caring for their employees. While John was more a "man of the people," his son didn't look down on them from his lofty tower. It was interesting!

While I wanted to learn more about the tractor aspect of the company, it wouldn't have made sense, since John and Charles weren't alive when the company branched out into tractors. I learned a lot, and I wasn't bored. I kind of wished there had been a couple of diagrams since I'm not super familiar with the parts of a plow. I liked the pictures that were included in the book, and it's not super long. I truly enjoyed reading about John and Charles Deere and would recommend this book to anyone interested in the origins of the company and/or the men behind it. Good Book! Love you, Dad!!!