Fourscore

This month’s book is “Empire of the Summer Moon” the history of Quanah Parker and the Comanches. Many are familiar with the story of the capture of Cynthia Parker and her integration into the Comanche society. SC Gwynne goes into a the history of the Southwest Indians starting with the Spanish exploration and attempts at civilizing the Indians of the period.

A lot of detail about the Comanche history pre Cynthia’s capture as a 9 year old and the conflicts of tribal rivalry. The life of Quanah Parker, the offspring of Cynthia and her Indian husband, his youth and rise to dominance in the tribe is an interesting biographical sketch of the Southern Plains tribes.

The destruction of the buffalo and advancing dominant civilization doomed the lives of these early Americans.

Is history repeating itself, albeit with different players and circumstances?

Richard

Someone here mentioned the The Chronicles of St Mary’s series:

https://www.goodreads.com/series/109102-the-chronicles-of-st-mary-s

So I thought I’d give it a shot. I didn’t care much for how it starts, I think the protagonist is a Mary Sue, but I persevered for the first three books which have some funny moments. Then series basically reboots and I didn’t find it entertaining so I quit during the fourth book.

Now I’m near the end of the second book of Larry Correia’s Target Rich Environment series:

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/38531439-target-rich-environment
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/43822377-target-rich-environment-volume-2

These short story collections are fantastic, some of the best reading I’ve had in a long time. If you like anything Correia has written then you’ll like these books.

R.J.

Reading Now:

David Nobbs: “The Fall and Rise of Reginald Perrin.” I suggested this to others but never finished this. Finally getting around to finishing it. That same author had done a whole series, including “The Return of Reginald Perrin” and “The Better World of Reginald Perrin.” I am looking for those now. Pathos and humor go so well together.

Patrick McManus: “The Night the Bear Ate Goombaw.” Somebody here has suggested reading Patrick McManus. Short funny stories perfect for reading while traveling.

Aspirational Reading List:

“The Journals of Zebulon Montgomery Pike.” I may never get to it, but I keep this on the list. A massive two volume compendium from the University of Oklahoma press. This is the guy who climbed Pike’s Peak (odd they should have the same last name. Must be a coincidence). This is massive, annotated and has fold out maps. I feel it is important to keep reading history first hand as so many people with ill intent are trying to revise it.

The Hyperbole

J Todd Scott The Flock (2022) **½ A couple of murders and a kidnapping lead back to a Branch Davidian/Waco-ish cult/fed massacre, hints at some supernatural shit but leaves it just ambiguous enough.

Robert Crais The Monkey’s Raincoat (1987) **½ Elvis Cole and Joe Pike book one, Run of the mill LA based detective story, stolen coke, gangsters, kidnapping, daring rescue/shoot out… I’ll probably read the next one but if the characters and or the plot doesn’t get more interesting I won’t read many more.

Fredric Brown Homicide Sanitarium (1984 (stories from 1938-49)) **** Collection of detective stories from pulp author possibly better known for his Sci-fi, not quite as hard-boiled as Hammett or Chandler.

Dashiell Hammett The Continental Op: 21 Classic Detective Stories (2022 (stories from 1923-26)) **** title says it all

Joe Lansdale Bleeding Shadows (2022) *** Collection of stories and some poems. Horror, crime, Sci-fi western all  of Joe’s favorite genres, as usual in collections there’s good and not so good here, the Nat Love stories being particularly good.