Books Completed Since June 1

 The Greater Journey: Americans in Paris, David McCullough

I listen to the podcast "Travels With Rick Steves" and have bought too many books listening to it; one of them was David McCullough's The Greater Journey: Americans in Paris.

In reading it, I can hear McCullough's voice, just as he used to narrate The American Experience. It's a hell of a book, from James Fenimore Cooper and Samuel Morse (they were best friends) heading east on a sailing ship to the ends of the careers of John Singer Sargent and Mary Cassatt, with the development of the steamship, the Franco-Prussian War and the Siege of Paris (where they were reduced to eating rats and zoo animals), and the rise of the Eiffel Tower just a few of the historical milestones within. (Since it's now so iconic to Paris, it's amazing to think that when the Eiffel Tower was erected, famous people of the time hated it and a highly incensed letter was sent to the newspaper signed by notables of the time, including Alexandre Dumas and Guy de Maupassant, condemning it.)

  CSI: Crime Scene Investigation: Snake Eyes, Max Allan Collins
This is the last of the original novels written by Collins and based on the CBS series.

In one of two small casinos in the town of Boot Hill, Nevada, two rival biker gangs come to a head and have a shootout. Innocent casino employees die, and the head of one of the gangs. If someone doesn't solve the latter's murder quickly, there will be a gang war that will tear apart the small town. To work the crime quickly, the LVCSU sends Gil Grissom, Catherine Willows, Sara Sidle, Nick Stokes, and their temporary tech Sofia Curtis there.

In the meantime, Warrick Brown and Greg Sanders are left to handle the rest of the Las Vegas deaths, and they keep coming hot and heavy.

This is the first time the two different case investigations don't merge into one in a Collins book. I think Collins got tired of writing these books, because this one isn't quite up to the others, even if the casino mystery is very twisty.

  The Word Hord: Daily Life in Old English, Hana Videen
Ah, there's nothing like a good linguistics book!

When people think of "Old English," usually what comes to mind is Shakespeare or, perhaps a little earlier, Chaucer, and funny word uses like "Ye Olde" somethingorother. Well, surprise, folks: Chaucer is Middle English, and Shakespeare is Early Modern English. "Old English" is the language of Beowulf, and untrained persons can't read it at all. The "wordhord" of the title is the language that poets and singers, and other wordsmiths, drew upon to tell stories.

This is the story of everyday life in Old English, starting with the basics, such as food and drink. Hlaf, for example, was the word for bread, and its descendant is still around: loaf. You might also have your æg with butere. Next come morning chores, then the work of the day, amusements after work and friends to share them with, all the way to the world outside and the animals and curiosities to find there. Much fun if you're into linguistics!

(By the way, "Ye" is pronounced "The." The "Y" in the "Ye" stuff is a stand-in for a letter that doesn't exist any longer, thorn (þ), pronounced as "th.")

  It's OK That You're Not OK, Megan Devine
This was the book about grief that I finally chose for myself; it was better than the religious-based text I was loaned (although I did get a few good things from it). It discusses the things they don't tell you about grief: the anger, the emptiness, the well-meaning people who want to make you feel better and can't, and the clueless people who wonder when "you're going to get over it."

I made notes in it, too. Don't judge me.

  Adventures of Mary Jane, Hope Jahren
I've been waiting for this book to come out in paperback, being a big fan of Huckleberry Finn. It's Jahren's story about Mary Jane Guild, who leaves her home near Lake Winnipeg and eventually travels to Fort Edwards in Illinois to care for her Aunt Evelyn and Uncle George and cousins Susan and Joanna; on the way, she meets an unconventional female steamboat captain and a Mormon family.

Things are tougher from there: Uncle George has suffered a grievous injury, and the family is starving. Mary Jane manages to save them all, until sickness overtakes the adults. Soon, Mary Jane, pretending she is Susan and Joanna's sister, accompanies them to their new legal guardian, Peter Wilks, in Greenville, Mississippi.

Yes, that Peter Wilks. For this is "Mary Jane, the red-headed one" from Huckleberry Finn. So, this is fanfiction, then—well-written fanfic, but fanfic. And Jahren does make it work as a book about a strong, resourceful young woman who tries to do her best. But boy, does she do a hack job on Peter Wilks. You know nothing about him from Finn, just that he died, and he had a bag of gold and a tattoo on his chest. Jahren makes him a reprehensible man even without his slave-owning: a penny-pincher from Yorkshire with really gross habits.

She also introduces a bunch of original characters, like Eddie the Jewish peddler, and a big dog named Cherry, and has Mary Jane fall in love with Huckleberry Finn in his guise of "Joe," the "valley" to "the King" and "the Duke" who are pretending to be Wilks' brothers.

Jahren's narrative style is first-rate; she keeps the story going and introduces side characters based on actual historical characters, but they all seemed to be jam-packed in as if she couldn't bear to leave any out. And once Huck gets the Duke and the King arrested, the ending is kinda Lord of the Rings (the films). I did enjoy it because of Mary Jane herself, but it has its flaws. (One of them is dates: Huck Finn takes place during the reign of William IV; Mary Jane talks about Queen Victoria being on the throne, and her favorite book, in 1846, is Dickens' A Child's History of England, which was written in the mid-1850s.)

  The Little Book of Life Skills, Erin Zammett Ruddy
It was $3 at Half-Price Books. Kind of an edited version of a Bottom Line Personal book.

  The Book of Murder, Matt Murphy
Murphy spent 20 years in the Orange County district attorney's office, and, as they say on Law & Order, these are his stories.

Most of them are grim, although there are anecdotes about stupid criminals as well. One of the most fascinating—and repulsive—chapters was about a sexual predator named Rodney Alcala, who actually appeared as a contestant on The Dating Game! But all the chapters are fascinating, whether about a married couple selling their boat who were never seen again, to the ill-fated partnership of Chris Smith and Ed Shin that boded not well for Chris, who suddenly sold his half of a business and went on walkabout.

There's a lot of behind-the-scenes of an investigation into a crime, the long hours of work that go into a case (to the point that Murphy gave up on personal relationships altogether), and how the different parts of the investigative team work together to close a case. Murphy sometimes gets a little heavy on "how I gave up my life to prosecute bad guys," but the narrative about the criminals and cases themselves is first-rate.