A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

A Tale of Two Cities is one of Charles Dickens most famous works, the other one would be A Christmas Carol. I had to read it many years ago in my 9th grade English class, and it is a great story, even though I suspect we read an abridged version of the novel.

Briefly and hopefully without spoilers, the two cities are London and Paris. The story begins in London as we meet Mr Lorry who works for a British bank which also has an office in Paris. It is before the French Revolution, and Mr Lorry travels to Paris to meet Dr Manette, who had been a prisoner in the Bastille. Dr Manette has a daughter Lucie, who is living in London. In Paris, we meet M Defarge, who had been a servant of Dr Manette and his wife, Mme Defarge. Also through Mr Lorry, we meet Charles Darnay, a son of a French aristocrat, who is on trial in London for being a spy for France and/or the United States, and Sydney Carton who helps defend Darnay at his trial.

With the focus on this core group of characters, we watch as revolution comes to France and the aristocratic class either flees or is made to suffer for the oppression of the lower classes. And this is about as far as I can go without any major spoilers.

It is a very compelling story; perhaps it is the best story Dickens has written. But, having read it again after so many years, there are a few things that kind of bother me. First, the plot is dependent on coincidences. That’s not necessarily a bad thing, but there are really a lot of coincidences in this story.

Another thing is that the only sympathetic French people in the story are the ones who relocated to London before the revolution: Dr Manette, Lucie and Darnay. There is no sympathetic member of the aristocracy or the revolutionaries, with the possible exception of M Defarge. Mme Defarge is depicted as being particularly bloodthirsty, but when we learn her backstory, her attitude should be somewhat understandable. I tend to think that this is just Dickens writing for his primary audience: the British middle classes. There are places in some of his other novels where this is apparent, but it really stands out here.

Overall, I enjoyed reading the book. It is a great story and definitely worth reading, but I think that this novel is not Dickens best one.

Prisoners of the Castle: An Epic Story of Survival and Escape from Colditz, the Nazis’ Fortress Prison by Ben Macintyre
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Prisoners of the Castle is the true story of the prisoner of war camp in Colditz castle during World War 2. The story is probably familiar to most who have read about POWs who were held by the Germans during the war. Certainly I remember reading Pat Reid’s book Escape from Colditz many years ago. But this book is different; Mr Macintyre has tried (and succeeded in my opinion) to present a comprehensive history of Colditz during the war, including prisoners, guards and the civilians in the town of Colditz.

The narrative unfolds chronologically, beginning with the arrival of the first POWs at the castle and ending with the American ground forces taking control of the area in 1945. Naturally the escapes (including Pat Reid’s) are covered, but we learn a lot about what it was like to be a prisoner in Colditz: the food, the different nationalities, the social groups, etc.

To me it was very interesting to read the German side of the story, which was based on the diaries of one of the officers. Also it was interesting to learn how the prisoners were able to communicate with Allied forces via coded messages in their letters home. If you’re interested in this period of history, I strongly recommend this book

Return of a King: The Battle for Afghanistan, 1839-42 by William Dalrymple
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

The Return of a King is the story of the First Afghan War. This is, more or less, the beginning of the “Great Game” in which Russia and the British competed for influence in Central Asia. The British send an expedition to Kabul to oust the Amir, Dost Mohammed, and replace him with Shah Shuja, who would presumably follow the British lead.

The short story is that the British expedition does reach Kabul, Shah Shuja is installed as king, and then the British make a series of unforced errors, which undercut their own standing and also that of Shah Shuja. This leads to resistance on the part of the Afghans, and eventually to an open revolt in Kabul. The British army attempts to retreat back to India but is destroyed. It is an amazing story, and it brings to mind the events in Afghanistan of the last twenty or so years.

The author has written an excellent narrative of the campaign. The use of primary sources from both the British and the Afghan sides really makes the story come alive. The maps and the list of “dramatis personae” are a big help in keeping things straight as the campaign proceeds. I also liked the Author’s Note at the end; it’s definitely worth reading – the parallels between the First Afghan War and the events of the last twenty years are enough to make one believe the old adage of history repeating itself.

I highly recommend this book. I really learned quite a bit by reading it, and it is very well written and a pleasure to read.

One further note: one of my favorite series of books is the Flashman series of historical novels by George MacDonald Fraser. The first book in the series, Flashman, is set during the First Afghan War. And this is book that sparked my interest in Central Asia and led me to read Return of a King.

The Inugami Curse by Seishi Yokomizo
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

The Inugami Curse is another book in the Detective Kindachi series by Seishi Yokomizo. It is set in post-war Japan in the 1940s. The wealthy head of the Inugami family dies of natural causes and his children and grandchildren gather for the reading of his will. The will contains a number of very unusual conditions for who will inherit the Inugami fortune, and this leads to a series of murders.

I really don’t want to say much more, for fear of spoiling it. But I will say that it is a very well constructed mystery with many clues and red herrings along the way. I really enjoyed reading it and I did not figure out the mystery before it was revealed by Detective Kindachi at the end of the book.

This is the second book of the series to be published in English. I definitely recommend it and I’m looking forward to reading the rest of the series as it becomes available in English.

The Premonition: A Pandemic Story by Michael Lewis
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I’ve read a quite a few of Michael Lewis’s previous books and so it was an easy choice to pick up this one. The topic this time is pandemics, and once again, he does not disappoint his readers. We start with a middle school student’s science fair project, which leads to some mathematical modeling of pandemics, and eventually to the interest by President George W Bush in the influenza pandemic of 1918.

Bush created a small group to look at how should the US respond to a pandemic. And this small group of doctors eventually became “the Wolverines” who kept in touch as they changed jobs. And when the Covid19 pandemic began the Wolverines were on top of it, but as the blurb on the book jacket says “…they did not have official permission to implement their work.”

It’s a very interesting and compelling book. I certainly learned a lot about the health care establishment in the US, and how the CDC fits in, or doesn’t fit in. The one issue I have with the book is that it just kind of drifts to an end in the middle of 2020 – the presidential election and the vaccine rollout are still in the future at that point. So there is no big finish, but I still recommend this book. It’s an interesting look at the US response to the pandemic.

The Black Prince: England’s Greatest Medieval Warrior by Michael Jones
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

The Black Prince is the story of Edward, Prince of Wales who was the eldest son of Edward III. Edward was born in 1330 and died in 1376. Edward III died the following year, so the Black Prince never became king; his son Richard II became king in 1377.

The Black Prince is remembered today mostly for his actions at the battle of Crecy (with his father), and his victory at Poiters. But in most modern histories of this era, he is just a cardboard figure. In this biography the author tries to show something of the man behind the image. And I think for the most part the author succeeds; we learn for example, that the Prince was very religious and devoted to his wife. And the Prince and his father did not always see eye to eye on policy – hence the Spanish campaign on behalf of Pedro the Cruel, which the Prince was very much opposed to.

One item that the author does discuss in detail is the Sack of Limoges during the Prince’s last campaign. The Prince is often held responsible for a massacre of civilians when the city was re-taken by English forces. As the author points out, this is just not the way that things happened, and he shows the inconsistencies in the various stories.

There still are a few mysteries. Nobody is sure why Edward was called the “Black Prince” – there is plenty of conjecture, and it does not seem to have been used during his lifetime, but that’s all we know for sure. And we also don’t know what the disease caused his death. Again, there are many theories, but nothing is certain.

I enjoyed this book – I think it sheds some valuable light of the life of an important figure in medieval history. if you are interested in this period of English and French history, I think you will enjoy this book.

The Honjin Murders by Seishi Yokomizo
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

The Honjin Murders is a mystery novel set in Japan in the late 1930s. It is a classic “locked room” mystery story written in the 1940s and only recently translated into English. It is a great story, revolving around the murders of a couple on their wedding night. There is really not much more that I want to say about the plot for fear of giving something away, but as I mentioned above it is a locked room kind of mystery with plenty of twists and turns, and a few red herrings. The mystery kept me guessing all the way to the end.

This is the introduction of the author’s detective Kosuke Kindaichi, who is instrumental in solving the case, when the police investigation becomes bogged down. There are another 76 books in the Kosuke Kindaichi series, and I’m looking forward to reading them as they become available in English. And I will say that the translator for this book did an excellent job.

I definitely recommend this book – it’s an entertaining and well-written mystery.