Reader’s Diary

Gary N. Smith, S.J.

Gary Smith is a Jesuit priest who has spent much of his life caring for the poorest of the poor. This is his account of living with the homeless and nearly-homeless of Portland, Oregon. Fr. Smith isn’t a great writer, in fact, he can be a bit irritating, as when he seems to assume that all prosperous people are without problems or compassion, but despite this it’s a book that everyone should read.

Everyone should read “Radical Compassion” because everyone has seem these people, and many of us have told ourselves the “it’s their fault”, or “the government should do something”. Few of us know what this kind of extreme poverty is like or the path people take into its depths. As a result we tend to be unsympathetic and inert when confronted with the poor, these poor who are the same poor that Christ commanded us to care for.

Harry Turtledove

I’ve learned not to expect much from Turtledove’s books, but I keep reading them because the situations interest me. The premise for this series (does any SF author write stand-alone books any more?) is that the Japanese invade and occupy Hawaii rather than limiting themselves to an air attack on Pearl Harbor. This is a better-than-average Turtledove: there’s some action, pace, and some characters that the reader actually cares about.

Tom Holland

This is a overview of the history of Rome up to the death of Augustus in 14 AD. It focuses on the period from the Gracchi to the triumph of Caesar. While useful as a summary, it suffers from an overly breezy tone and occasional jarring anachronistic language. A good encyclopedia article on Roman history covers the same ground in greater depth in fewer words.

by John Birmingham

In 2021 a UN fleet is engaged in the endless anti-terror war of the 21st century when a scientific experiment gone bad propels it back in time to 1942, where it lands in the middle of the American fleet heading for Midway. This is the departure point for Birmingham’s alternate history, but it’s not just a story about advanced technology sent back in time, fascinating as that is, it’s a story about people. The people of 1942 are suddenly confronted with a multi-gender, multi-ethnic fighting force with far different ideas about right and wrong. The time travelers, dealing with the loss of their homes and loved ones, are dumped into what is to them a sometimes repressive, sometimes naive society.

Thanks to Birmingham’s imaginative plotting (unlike Turtledove-style alternate histories, this is not just a replay of history with different actors) and strong characterization this book is quite a bit better than the average alternate history novel.