Thunderstruck - Erik Larson

When I saw that the author of Devil and the White City, Erik Larson, had written another book, I had to read it.

Thunderstruck is the non-fiction account of two figures who each captured the imagination of the western world at the beginning of the 20th century. Guglielmo Marconi was one of the driving forces behind the invention of wireless telegraphy. Dr. Hawley Harvey Crippen was an American doctor of homeopathic medicine, who in 1910, killed his wife. Larson tells the tales of these two fascinating men with the same engrossing style which he brought to Devil and the White City. The reader easily forgets that he is reading a work of non-fiction.

I happen to enjoy reading about the history of science and technology, but Larson's account of Marconi's development of transatlantic wireless telegraphy is accessible, and engrossing. One can't help but draw parallels between the the technological developments of the early 1900's and the early 2000's. The excitement and wonder with which the world embraced wireless is palpable.

I highly recommend Thunderstruck.

Still on the Bedside Table:

• W. Sommerset Maughm's Of Human Bondage
• Alan Furst's The Foreign Correspondant
• Laurell K. Hamilton's Danse Macabre
  
• Kurt Vonnegut's Slaughterhouse Five

The Hornblower Series - C.S. Forester

I read about half of Patrick O'Brian's Aubrey/Maturin novels a few years ago, and was completely addicted to his tales of adventure on the high seas. The novels are amazing in their detailed description of life on a King's ship at the turn of the 19th century. They follow the two main characters through naval battles, political intrigue, domestic challenges, and international espionage.

Jack Aubrey is an up and coming British Royal Navy officer in the time of the Napoleonic wars. Stephen Maturin is his ship's surgeon, and sometime spy. Aubrey is a character who viewed the world in black and white. The needs and traditions of the service are always foremost in his mind. For Maturin, the world is a much more complex place. The Maturin character in particular gives these novels a depth that allow the O'Brian novels to exist as something more than great stories.

C.S. Forester's novels were the inspiration for the O'Brian works, so I had to give them a shot. I started on Christmas Eve, and have read 6 books so far. The only reason I'm writing this entry, and not reading the next one is that the bookstore is closed right now!

Forester's Hornblower novels lack the depth of the O'Brian books, but stand as truly great stories. The O'Brian works are very enjoyable reads, but the later novels suffer from too much exposition on the tedium of life ashore. This may appeal to some, but I eventually lost interest in the series. No such problems with Hornblower. Horatio Hornblower is like Jack Aubrey without the boring home life! So far, every book is packed with action. If you enjoy historical fiction, these books will not disappoint.

Still in the queue:

• Malcolm Gladwell's Tipping Point
• Nick Hornby's Housekeeping vs. The Dirt
• David Liss' A Conspiracy of Paper
• Carl Hiaasen's Sick Puppy
• Bob Dylan's Chronicles Volume One
• Charles Dickens' Tale of Two Cities