Marvel Civil War

I've been reading some of the books collecting various titles of the Marvel comics Civil War plot arc. Here's what a blogger where I swiped this image has to say describing it. I read Road to Civil War, The Amazing Spider-Man, and Captain America. It isn't only the resonance with current public debate, but the entwining and recollection of long-term plotlines that makes this work so powerful and moving. **** You have to like action-hero comics; but if you do, this is highly recommended.

Under Enemy Colors by S. Thomas Russell

Under Enemy Colors by S. Thomas Russell, set during the French Revolution, features a British Naval Lieutenant whose mother is French. In addition to those divided loyalties, he has no patrons of influence in the service. Posted under a "shy" captain in a ship whose men are disgruntled, he fights the French, the captain, and the men. Very much reminiscent of Patrick O'Brian, and a worthy successor. I look forward to more books in this series. ****
Here's something interesting: S. Thomas Russell is also Sean Russell, a fantasy writer. On his Sean Russell site he says a lot about how he wanted to write fantasy but not simply recreate Tolkien as so many others have done, but under this slightly different name (and there is no link from one author site to the other), he doesn't deny or acknowledge the direct influence of the Hornblower and Aubrey/Maturin books.

The 47th Samurai

Stephen Hunter is in Lee Child's league, maybe on a par with Robert Crais. All of them write with a cinematic style (Child and Crais have written for film/TV, Hunter reviews films for the Washington Post).
There's an obvious artificiality to The 47th Samurai that Hunter's best books transcend. He has written previously about the main character, Bob Lee Swagger, and about his father, Earl Swagger. This one is clearly inspired by samurai movies; most of it is set in modern-day Tokyo. **** though still far from his best, and may foreshadow a descent into a more formulaic approach.

Some Music-related Books

I've been neglecting to post entries here, and in the interim I cycled again through my Dylan/Springsteen/Beatles interests.
I always intended to read this book, and it was good. The story of Springsteen as he blew up from the clubs all the way to stadiums. The story is how he maintained his integrity and balanced his values through the process. *** -- I mean you got to like Springsteen to care about it.

You don't learn anything meaningful about Dylan or how he writes his songs or anything that matters by reading these interviews. I knew that would be true, but I read a bunch of them anyway. The more recent they are, the less bullshit they have in them. ** -- Don't depend on Dylan to give you any insight into himself.

I picked this up to look for one piece of information that proved not to be in it (I made a conclusion based on absence): A friend had told me that the guitar solos before "The End" on Abbey Road were played by Clapton, Harrison, and Page. Every official source says it's Harrison, McCartney, and Lennon. This book of the recording session logs makes a point of naming as many musicians as possible who came in to play on sessions; it doesn't say anything about this. My conclusion is that the official story is accurate.
Anyway, I got caught up reading a lot of other parts of the book. If you really want to go deep into the Beatles it is cool and fun. ***