I swear, I haven't given up on reading

It's just that I'm part-way through a whole bunch of books, so actually finishing one isn't happening very quickly.

I did finally finish one last night, though - Mary Malloy's Devil on the Deep Blue Sea: the Notorious Career of Captain Samuel Hill of Boston (2006). I read this one because a while ago I read and enjoyed a semi-historical mystery novel that she had written. And this one, a non-fiction book about a ship captain whose career spanned the first quarter of the nineteenth century, was really good. At least, it was interesting, and written in an extremely accessible and readable way. But, my GOD, Malloy was poorly served by her publishers. Or maybe it was her fault, but the book was terribly edited. One of the msot egregious problems was that clearly her original manuscript was written in an old version of Word or something, and lots of words at the end of lines were broken off. Then when the text was typeset, you had lines like "and then someone did a lazy job of ed-iting and didn't catch huge, glar-ing mistakes." Okay, in fairness, I think there was ever only one word break in a line, but still. How did nobody catch that and fix it? It happened all throughout the book. There were a lot of random grammar and spelling mistakes that just frustrated me so much, because the book deserved better.

And since I'm mostly writing this because I'm procrastinating working on the big homework assignment I have do, I am just going to copy the book description:

"Had he not been a madman, Captain Samuel Hill would likely be remembered as one of the great maritime adventurers of the early nineteenth century. He was the first American to live in Japan, and was in the Columbia River basin at the same time as Lewis & Clark. He rescued men held captive by Indians and pirates, met King Kamehameha of Hawaii and the missionaries who arrived soon after the King's death, was captured as a privateer during the War of 1812, witnessed firsthand the events of the Chilean Revolution, and wrote about all this persuasively. He was also a rapist and murderer. In all his contradictions and complexities, Samuel Hill represented the fledgling United States during its first wave of expansion. At home he appeared civilized and sensible, but as he sailed into the Pacific Ocean the mask slipped away to reveal the recklessness, ambition, and violence that propelled the United States from coast to coast and around the world."

I mean, SOUNDS interesting, right? It was good. I just think it could have been better.

sad news

The library has recalled TWO books I was in the middle of & now I have to return both As If An Enemy's Country, by Richard Archer, and also The Secret History of the Mongol Queens, by Jack Weatherford.  I was enjoying both and am wicked sad.  But apparently Widener has wanted the latter back for a while, and now wants a "replacement" fee, so I didn't really have a choice.  Yet more overdue fines to ignore, oh well.  But I only have a week to do the revision of my paper, starting when I get the comments back tonight, so I guess fewer distractions are for the best. 

In other sad news, my baby brother just found out that thanks to his wicked low housing lottery number, he's going to be living in Sylvan next year, barring some miracle.  I actually tried to make him feel better by pointing out that "at least" he "will only be a rape trail away from" his friends.  Which came out wrong, needless to say.  Then I suggested maybe he try to split up two friends who were planning on living together in Grayson (where he wants to be for some reason - go O-Hill!), and swoop in and take their room; my great plan was to find two girls, tell each one that the other said she was a fat sl*t, and then wait for the fight to start.  Which didn't just come out wrong, but actually is wrong.  My final recommendation was to emulate our third, imaginary brother, who M & I told N lived under the stairs (and N was younger by enough years to believe us), and just squat in Grayson until he gets a room.  Clearly, it was time for lunch.  Am feeling much less evil-mastermind-y now that I've eaten.

update

Just realized I had a half-way through critique of Changeless; it actually grew on me by the end.

More importantly, there are reviews of Soundings in Atlantic History out!!!  Best one is probably the piece by Peter Coclanis in the April, 2010 American Historical Review.  Full text at
http://betterlivingthroughhistory.blogspot.com/ - check it out!

Patience, thy name is sure as hell not mine...

The library STILL hasn't ordered the new Richard Archer book, As If An Enemy's Country, so I went ahead and requested it, so hopefully whoever is in charge of ordering history books will get right on that.  In the process of checking the ISBN number for Enemy's Country, for the request form, I saw on the book's Amazon page that Jack Rakove's latest, Revolutionaries: A New History of the Invention of America, is coming out on May 11; will definitely need to keep that one in mind as well.  Can't wait for either!!!

More books I should read...

Was on my way to get lunch today when A Gambling Man: Charles II's Restoration Game, by Jenny Uglow, caught my eye - and not just because of the author's name!  Honestly, it was mostly that the title amused me, and I am sure if the book had had a different title or cover I might not have even stopped to look at it (the Restoration has never been a hugely favorite period of mine), but I did stop, and I think I will need to add it to my list of books to read...  Definitely a library book, though; it's been out since November of 2009, so there's no reason why it shouldn't be in the Harvard libraries somewhere, and it's definitely far enough from my fields that it's not worth paying for.  I still have my eye on that pre-Revolutionary Boston book by Richard Archer, though!  And that could be worth buying...but probably not only a month out, though - I should at least wait until I can get it cheaper, if not for it to be in paperback.  But library would be best; it's still not in Hollis, but hopefully soon, or I will request it - if I don't give in and buy it first!