Book Review: The Good Soldiers (Iraq)

The Good Soldiers, by David Finkel (Picador, 317 pp, 2009, $20)  

In a word: Wow!

Uniquely organized, The Good Soldiers' chapters each reflect one day in the year-long deployment to Iraq of a Ranger unit in 2007-08, the year of the surge (when this reviewer was deployed to Afghanistan, by the way). The author could have spent those few days (about one a month) embedded with that unit or those days may have been significant for other reasons, such as major altercations with the enemy, whoever they may be. In actuality, the organization and topic of chapters was neither. Or perhaps, both.  But, seamlessly.

This reviewer knew in the first few pages that Good was going to be a good book, a book with an incredible story, well-written. After hooking the reader, author David Finkel (a Pulitzer Prize winner) slipped only slightly but recovered in succeeding chapters until the abrupt final ones. The reader comes to know perhaps half a dozen soldiers with different ranks and life stories: the author follows them throughout.

Seamless Transitions

Through seamless transitions in many chapters, the reader comes to experience a deployment consisting of casualties, R&R (Rest and Relaxation, two weeks mid-tour of a trip back home), Soldier of the Month (Quarter, Year) competitions, going outside the wire (off base), meeting with Iraqi leaders, trying to explain things to family back home, understanding who the Iraqi interpreters are and why they do what they do, and the camaraderie* that military life can generate.

Does it Work?

The author attempts to not merely tell the reader about one year in Iraq but write a book to let the reader live it vicariously. Does it work? Does it read like a novel? Does the reader experience the camaraderie, the frustration of trying to help a people without knowing them and their culture, the frustration of living in a different world where opposite things matter? Perhaps it does work for the reader who has lived the military life or been deployed himself. (There are no women with major roles in this book.) Perhaps it doesn't. But nothing is sugar-coated.

Who are the "Good Soldiers"?

We follow the commanding officer of the battalion through pre-deployment training at Ft. Riley, Kansas (the 'arm pit' of the army) with his active-duty infantry unit, to arrival in Iraq replete with idealism ("Everything is good."), and living the evolution of how that idealism morphs into despondence, with each chapter introduced by a quote from President Bush.

Now I'm off to my library or bookstore to pick up a copy of Thank You For Your Service, also by David Finkel.

*often developing in prisons, summer camps by counselors or colleges and universities by freshman roommates, and other situations where strangers are placed with each other for long periods of time, 24/7, 

Book Review: By Hand, Making Communities: Northern California, Lookbook #13 (homecrafts, knitting, color, fiber arts)(OT)

By Hand, Making Communities: Northern California, Lookbook #13, by Andrea Hungerford (Blueberry Hill, 2020, 25$, 93pp)

Luscious lollipops for the mind in a coffee table book to keep and share and read over again and again. And drool at the photos of nature and yarn shops and colorful yarns and finished products and more.

Issue number 13 focuses on Northern California and clothing

along with a waxed project (like the issue we reviewed yesterday here.)

Candlestick Holders

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By Hand is a series of community-based lookbooks that focus on different fiber and fabric communities around the country. Each serial features photo journals and interviews with both up-and-coming and well-known yarn designers and dyers, local yarn stores, knitwear designers, fabric artists and other makers who share the same philosophy and aesthetic of hand crafting functional forms to share and connect with others in the community. Projects, patterns, classes, and opportunities to purchase the artists' work are included, as well as an opportunity to explore what is beautiful and unique about each locale.

Book Review: By Hand #8, Colorado's Front Range (homecrafts, knitting, color, fiber arts)(OT)

By Hand, Making Communities: Colorado's Front Range, Lookbook #8, by Andrea Hungerford (Blueberry Hill, 2019, 23$, 97pp)

Color! Color! Color! in a series of 'lookbooks' to save and to savor, in print or digital format.

Table of Contents

What is the Front Range? 

It's the eastern section of the southern Rockies, running about 200 miles from Casper, Wyoming, to Pueblo, Colorado, and home to Pikes Peak.

The Fiber Arts

Published three times a year, By Hands feature the fiber arts as well as photography, local yarn shops, handcrafts, projects and patterns and classes and other opportunities. Each issue is a treasure trove to treasure if merely for the photography (and color) and family breweries - even Mason jar beer bread. Or a swatch tree.

Stitch art and weaving and even skin care! And tomorrow we feature another in the series, number 13, Northern California.

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By Hand is a series of community-based lookbooks that focus on different fiber and fabric communities around the country. Each serial features photo journals and interviews with both up-and-coming and well-known yarn designers and dyers, local yarn stores, knitwear designers, fabric artists and other makers who share the same philosophy and aesthetic of hand crafting functional forms to share and connect with others in the community. Projects, patterns, classes, and opportunities to purchase the artists' work are included, as well as an opportunity to explore what is beautiful and unique about each locale.

Book Review: The Wager (shipwreck, mutiny, murder)

The Wager, by David Grann (Vintage Books [Penguin Randomhouse], 2025, 406pp, $21 PB)

Written by the author of Killers of the Flower Moon, The Wager has everything: a shipwreck in the 1740s, the British high seas, mutiny, murder, scurvy and cannibalism, a court-martial, castaways, anarchy and treachery, starvation, officer-gentlemen and conscripted sailors, etc., etc., etc. Of course if you have been in the Navy you will understand more of the sea-faring terminology but, if not, you can skip and skim over it and still read a suspenseful true novel, even if you know how it ends.

The Wager was one ship in a squadron sailing from England around the 'bottom' of South America to find Spanish (enemy) ships laden with treasures for the taking. However, the Wager also found stormy weather and poor health, and was shipwrecked on an island, causing the crew to ration supplies and search for sustenance. 

In time, tempers grew short and the men divided into groups for infighting. Those whose health helped them survive had to respect the British laws of the sea or suffer the consequences - if not onboard, then when they miraculously sailed back to England.

The group divided into two factions, with each taking off, hoping to reach England again. And they did,  months apart, resulting in a book and a trial, the outcome which was conservative but I will leave that to your finishing this whale of a tale.

This reviewer's only comment is that about 2/3 of the way through reading The Wager, I misplaced the book for days and when I found it again, I had forgotten who was who. Therefore, my advice is to perhaps read it in four evenings (it has four sections). 

Makes me want to read Swiss Family Robinson or Robinson Crusoe or Mutiny on the Bounty in the original form! And it was interesting to see the class structure in 18th century British military compared to that in the US military today. And finally, I was so surprised that anyone survived! And yes, a dog makes his appearance, too.

Book Review: Secret Service Dogs

Secret Service Dogs: The Heroes Who Protect the President of the United States, by Maria Goodavage (Dutton/Penguin Random House, 2016, 306pp HC, $28)

There are two kinds of non-fiction books: those that read like novels and those that read like reports. I much prefer the former* but some readers prefer the latter (easier to write) and there are certain times that the latter 'fits the bill' better. 

Secret Service Dogs is a report-like book. Author Maria Goodavage turned a report into a lengthy book: often you will see a generalization followed by the rest of the paragraph containing a scenario that illustrates the generalization. And to break this mold, towards the back of the book you will find a couple of chapters devoted to one particular dog each. And finally, to the finality of dogs. And when a Secret Service dog passes away, it is not unusual for the captain to give the eulogy.

Training

The dogs and their handlers train and train and train (one theme). "Did you know [dog's name] was a water dog?"

"A water dog? I thought he was a German shepherd."

"No, he was a water dog. You could turn him on and you could turn him off just as easily." (p. 60)

The Job: "Worthy of Trust and Confidence" (motto) 

Basically the primary job of the Secret Service (and their dogs) is to protect the President and to do so takes a lot of training - and a good dog. Then, an exceptional bond between the dog and handler. They must trust each other and be together 24/7. (Plus, a dog will perform more than 7,000 vehicle searches in a year.) More than one agent has turned down a promotion to stay working with his dog.

*Even though I am not a fan of Goodavage's writing style, would I read another of her books? Probably! And here are more war dog books:

War Dogs

Dogs of War

Books by Maria Goodavage

Soldier Dogs - The Untold Stories of America's Canine Heroes 

Top Dog: The Story of Marine Hero Lucca 

(Secret Service Dogs)

Lucca The War Dog

Doctor Dogs: How Our Best Friends are Becoming Our Best Medicine 

Book Review: Counting Miracles (an older dog plays a minor role)

Counting Miracles, by Nicolas Sparks (Random House. Penguin, 2024, $30, 350pp HB)

If an author has written 23 novels, 11 of which have been made into movies, you know he has to be a good writer with a huge following. Perhaps you have even read one of his books, or more than one. Counting Miracles is his latest and I have to tell you, I got lost counting!

Sparks writes about the common man (and woman) and the meaning of life - what brings people together and keeps them together and, of course, about love. And children.

Each book is unique and memorable. Counting Miracles tells of a soldier, who is good at heart and travels the country touching base with the families of his fallen soldiers when an auto accident strands him in a mid-sized North Carolina town for an indeterminate length of time where he meets a woman and her two kids. Kaitlyn is a veterinarian - need I say more to whet your interest?

Interspersed with the story of Kaitlyn and Tanner, is the dog story of an elderly man living in the country: he has lost the love of his life along with his four children. He begins to teach Kaitlyn's son how to carve wood animals but along the way we learn about his life and what is important.

Chapters alternate seamlessly and eventually come together in a way I did not expect but have come to realize it is the only way to show love and caring and never giving up. A long book that reminds one of a family saga, Counting Miracles is so worth the read, another candidate for Book of the Year.

Book Review: Birdie and Harlow (dog memoir)

Birdie and Harlow: Life, Loss and Loving My Dog So Much I Didn't Want Kids (. . . Until I Did), by Taylor Wolfe (HarperOne, 272pp,  $28.99, 2023)

A Charming and at Times, Hilarious Read!

Another candidate for Book of the Year, Birdie and Harlow is an experience for dog people, particularly those who appreciate a stand-up comedian turned author (this book will leave you in stitches).

With only a slightly unusual front cover, it was the title that hooked me: birdie & harlow: Life, Loss, and Loving My Dog So Much I Didn't Want Kids (. . . Until I Did).

Although some readers do not like books in which the dog talks, that is not me and the dog in this book does talk, understatedly. But, who is the dog? Is it Birdie or Harlow? And is the other, the author? 

On the back cover we see a heart-dog and a baby: what is a baby doing in the picture? Does the title give a clue?

And, most importantly to kids the world over, does the dog die? (If so, many people will not want to read this book.)

The rest of this review reveals the answers to the questions above, so read on only if you dare.

Trainer Baby?

Is a dog merely a trainer baby or a part of the family in his own right? Harlow has lived with the author since before her marriage and well before her pregnancy and the birth of Birdie (daughter).

Although the chapters jumped around, we appreciated the town and date listings for each as well as the end of chapter ditties like Things Not To Say to Someone After A Miscarriage (a list) and Things to Say (one thing - I am here for you.) The pages devoted to pregnancies and the worries about taking care of a little one can be skipped if the reader samples those pages.

And yes, parts of birdie & harlow are excellent candidates for Best Book!