Brett Milano
Brett Milano, like “Fantasyland” author Sam Walker and “Word Freak” Stefan Fatsis can write about his obsession in a way that’s interesting even if you don’t share it. In this case, it’s record collecting. “Vinyl Junkies” is an entertaining mix of collector profiles and memoir.
This followup to “The Last Kingdom” is classic Cornwell: a vividly-portrayed historical setting, strong, if not deep, characters, and action that never stops for more than a few pages at a time. I can’t wait for the next one in the series.
Sam Posey is a Renaissance man: race car driver, sportscaster, architect, painter, model railroader, and, as this book demonstrates, a pretty good writer. “Playing With Trains” is a memoir of the creation of his Colorado Midland layout. As might be expected of an artist, Posey was attracted by the aesthetic appeal of the original Colorado Midland, a 19th century Rocky Mountain railroad whose equipment was, he writes:
…to my eyes, fantastic. Their early locomotives, steamers built by the Schenectady Locomotive Works, reminded me of the Eiffel Tower (under construction at the same time) in that they were 95 percent Industrial Revolution, with a few ornate details thrown in to satisfy Victorian sensibilities.
Has anyone since Lucius Beebe written as good as good an appreciation of the 19th century Western railroads’ locomotives and rolling stock?
Posey didn’t build the layout alone, and he’s gracious in crediting the hired help while making it clear that he was the director. During the course of the construction he was diagnosed with Parkinson’s, and he writes that into the memoir in an admirably matter-of-fact manner.
About half the book is devoted to visits to luminaries of the model railroad world like George Sellios, Dave Frary, and Tony Koester. In addition to covering their work, already well-known to modellers, Posey talks about their personalities, lives, and motivations, things seldom, if ever, covered in model train magazines. He explores the differences between model railroaders interested in authenticity, particularly authentic operation, and those who take a more free-form, artistic approach.
This is a fine book that non-modellers can appreciate because it’s not just a model train book: it’s a book about people
Ian Wilson
This is an interesting book about Christ’s death and burial. It’s partly a CSI-style examination of the textual and physical evidence (Wilson accepts the Shroud of Turin as Christ’s burial cloth and suggests the the relics of the passion in Rome’s basilica of Santa Croce in Gerusalemme are likewise authentic) and partly a counterpoint to Mel Gibson’s movie “The Passion of the Christ“. Some of it is speculative, but it’s certainly more accurate the Gibson’s movie. Particularly useful is Wilson’s explanation and diagram of how Golgotha and Christ’s tomb can both be contained within a single church. It also contains a very unconventional suggestion as to how Christ was nailed to His cross. The book’s glaring fault is that it’s too thin: while reading it, I wanted a lot more detail and more diligent citing of sources.
Stephen Fry
Be careful what you wish for. For instance, if you use a time machine to insure that Hitler never gets born, the world you create may be worse then the one you left. This is the lesson that Michael Young, protagonist of this inventive time travel book learns. It’s a good story with some clever twists, though marred by Fry’s odd decision to write several of the chapters in screenplay format.
Cotton Malone, hero of “The Last Templar” returns in another mildly anti-Catholic novel that adds just a hint of anti-Semitism. In this one, Malone is in search of the Library of Alexandria, which still exists, guarded by (of course) a centuries-old secret society which contains the “real” Bible. “The Alexandria Link” shows that Berry’s still capable of writing a page-turner thriller. I had a vague feeling, while reading it, that the plot didn’t really hold together, but the characters are interesting and the action is non-stop, so I let myself be swept along with the current.
But come on: is the religion-bashing really necessary? Berry has St. Jerome and St. Augustine corresponding about hiding the truth of the location of Israel to preserve their “emerging church”. That “emerging church” was 350 years old when St. Jerome was translating to Old Testament into Latin. What? Israel’s real location? That major plot element is based on - by Berry’s own account in the book’s “writer’s note” - the ludicrous theories of Kamal Salibi.
