Reviews and Comments

"A Beginner's Guide to Japan: Observations and Provocations" is a short, thought provoking volume that is a prefect companion to Iyer's other Japanese books "The Monk an the Lady" and "Autumn Light." The author, who has lived half the year in Japan for the past 30 years, has a keen eye for details and pointed reflections. The book is a collection of short passages that create a composite image of a highly fascinating nation.

I do think that the title is worth reflecting on. It is not "the" beginner's guide to Japan. This is the unique view of one person. Iyer has an unique take on Japan and, after having read other books about Japan, I have come to enjoy his take. One of my favorite aspects of travel literature is getting to know the author. Even after 30 years in Japan, Iyer still sees himself as a "beginner," and I find his openness to the world is deeply refreshing.

As Eric Flint notes in the introduction to this "novel," "1634: The Ram Rebellion" is a bit of an odd-ball volume. It is essentially a collection of short stories and short pieces that function like a crowd-written novel. It is an exemplar of books that look at the events of the mainline novels of "The Ring of Fire" but from a lower-order perspective. One character in an earlier volume offhandedly mentioned the "trouble in Franconia." This volume gives us an insight into that trouble. What makes the volume strong is that it is shows many of the complexities and nuances of 17th century Germany and how those delicate balances will become upended with the flooding of American ideas. Part 1 (Recipes for Revolution) looks at one Granville farmer's attempt to purchase land outside the Ring of Fire, showing the complicated land ownership system in the area. Part 2 (Enter the Ram) is my favorite. It centers around Flo Jenkins and her relationship with Brillo, a stubborn German ram who becomes the first mass culture folk hero of the New United States. I found myself laughing aloud while reading about Brillo's adventures. I especially liked "A Night at the Ballet" which follows an uptime ballet teacher who introduces modern ballet (including en pointe) to an eager seventeenth century audience. Part 3 (The Trouble in Franconia) looks at uptime attempts to create a civil administration in Franconia, a territory given to the New United States by King Gustav Adolf at the end of 1633. Part 4 (The Ram Rebellion) is probably the weakest of the four sections but mostly because shows the Rebellion primarily from the perspective of the up-timers. I think it would have been stronger if we had had more interior perspectives from those actually leading the revolution.

I have found as I've made my way through the "Ring of Fire" series that the short-story collections are a bit stronger than the full novels, especially those of the main line of the series. I have found that those volumes ("1632," "1633," and especially "1634: the Baltic War") try to do too much though I do believe that they keep getting progressively better.

The second volume of "The Grantville Gazette" are collected short stories written by various authors that further push the boundaries of the world. As noted in the introduction this volume, what I think makes this collection worth reading is that most of the stories are from the perspective of down-timers reacting to the Ring of Fire. I liked "The Company Men" (for raising the notion of interest in Grantville from Mughal India), "Bottom Feeders" (a police procedural featuring a new down-time police detective), and "God's Gifts" (a down-time pastor trying to understand the Ring of Fire theologically).

I want to give special praise to "An Invisible War," a novella that looks at heath and medicine as uptime and downtime medical professionals try to create a new medical school that combines the best of both knowledge bases. This was such a strong read because it shows the actual mechanics of how individuals from both sides would need to navigate the ripple effects the Ring of Fire wrought.

I've been making my way through the first volumes of the "Ring of Fire" series this year. Overall, its been a pretty enjoyable experience. I usually find the short story collections a bit better overall than the full novels but I have to say that I really enjoyed "1634: The Galileo Affair" by Eric Flint and Andrew Denis. The story starts what is the Italian line of the series and its features two of my favorite characters: Father Larry Mazarre and Tom Stone the hippie / pharmaceutical magnate. I have loved many of the theological discussions in the Ring of Fire and Father Larry's dilemma as a post Vatican-II Catholic priest in Counter-Reformation Europe some of the more interesting explorations in the series. What makes this novel work is that it is tightly written, keeps its focus, and its genuinely funny and moving in parts. It is cut above the other volumes in the series I've read so far and I am excited to see where the next volumes in this leg of the series go.

This book was one of my favorite reads of the year. Deeply moving and engaging, it tells four interwoven stories. The main narrative is Kapur's investigation into the mysterious death of John and Diane (his wife's parents) while he and his wife were children. They both grew up in Auroville, a utopian community based near Puddicherry in Southern India founded by The Mother and inspired by the writings of Sri Aurobindo. The secondary narratives look at the history of Auroville and the people who came from all over the world, and the complex dynamics of communal experiments. But what brings the narrative together is Kapur's reflection of his own complex relationship with Auroville after he and his family return to live in Auroville in the mid 2000s. How can we return to a place that means so much to us and yet has caused us so much pain? This was a wonderful read and I highly recommend it.