Eubie's notes

Finished the audiobook version of “Charlie Wilson’s War” by George Crile. A fascinating book about the inner-workings of the CIA, Congress, U.S. foreign policy, and an unusual character – Charlie Wilson.

An interesting premise of the book is that by helping the mujahideen defeat the Soviet Union when it invaded Afghanistan, the U.S. may have unexpectantly led to the attacks againt the U.S., including the Trade Center bombing and the 9/11 attacks. The book doesn’t twell on that too much, most of it is just an interesting look behind the scenes of people using power.

How Starbucks Saved My Life: A Son of Privilege Learns to Live Like Everyone Else by Michael Gates Gill tells of the former ad exec’s first year at Starbucks. He joined the company when he was 64 and found the work life changing, especially when compared to his previous career as an ad exec. He said the worked helped him re-establish relationships with his children. I enjoyed reading the book and wanting a cup of coffee. I wasn’t surprised to learn that it will soon be a movie with Tom Hanks. It was optioned as a movie before the books was finished, according to Cinematical. The reviews on Amazon also showed that some believe Gates’ story was too good to be believed.

Audiobook: A Good Dog : The Story of Orson, Who Changed My Life by Jon Katz. I read Katz back in his hotwired days and his mystery writing days. Now he lives on a farm — Bedlam Farm. It reminds of the life of E.B. White after he left New York and moved to Maine.

It’s been awhile since I’ve had a dog, but I don’t think it will always be that way.

Ken Burns documentary “The War” has aired this week. When possible we’re watching, and recording the programs.

The “voices” that are becoming the most important to me are Tom Hanks’ voice of Al McIntosh, owner and editor of The Rock County Star Herald and Ernie Pyle’s columns. McIntosh regularly wrote of the life in the Luverne, Minn. during the time of the war. The excerpts are very strong written in an underplayed style that passes on the dignity and routine of the folks back home.

Ernie Pyle is much better known for his columns written of the life of the soldier in Europe and for living the life of the soldiers. In the series, Pyle’s columns are read by Kevin Conway.

“Fields of Battle: The Wars for North America” by John Keegan was recommended through the Wall Street Journal’s Saturday feature where an author recommends five books. The books is a combination personal essay about Keegan’s feeling and experience in America and the impact of these particular wars, and specific battles in those wars on the impact of North America. Battles covered include the capture of Quebec by the English from the French, the Battle of Yorktown, McClellan’s Peninsula Campaign (which  retraced much of the land used at Yorktown) and Custer’s Last Stand.

The beginning of this book was slow with the personal essay, but it improved once Keegan discussed specifics.

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

Finished “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows” this weekend. It was slow in the middle but had a nice finish.

This year, I read all the Harry Potter Books. I planed to just read the ones I had only partially read, which were the books at the beginning I read when Benjamin was young. But after going through those books, I ended up reading all back to back.

Boing Boing: Clooney and SciFi making “Diamond Age” miniseries Neal Stephenson’s Hugo-award winning masterpiece The Diamond Age is being made into a SciFi Channel miniseries. . One of my favorite books.