onegoodmove

The title Blood of Victory comes from a speech given by a French senator at a conference on oil in 1918:"Oil, the blood of the earth, has become, in time of war, the blood of victory." It was so then and so it is now. Alan Furst writes historical spy fiction. Using the period from the rise of Hitler in 1933 to 1945 in this the seventh in the series he's in great form. Serebin a Russian emigre journalist is recruited in Istanbul by the British. The plan to slow the flow of oil to the German war machine. From Bucharest to Paris and finally the Black Sea the plan is to sink barges in the Danube. The history and geography artfully described by Mr. Furst reflect painstaking research and an excellent writing style. If you still haven't read any of his books in spite of my recommendations now is the time to start, and once again a thank you to Jonathon Delacour who introduced me to Furst's writing only a year ago. I also recently finished Janet Evanovich's To The Nines, another fun read, but I'm starting to get the feeling that her writing is going the way of Sue Grafton. The stories are starting to merge and repeat. She needs to do something with the characters, perhaps marry Stephanie and Morelli, have her quit the job as a bail bonds enforcer and become a regular cop. The possibilities of his and her hijinks in that setting would freshen up the plots and add life to this dying series. I also read John Marquand's "The Late George Apley" and while I enjoyed both the form a memoir told through his letters, and the feel for Boston history and geography. I really didn't enjoy reading about what can only be described as the spiritual foundations of the Republican party. The conservatives that inadvertantly stumble across this site might enjoy it however. For me, reading about how the Republican fucks obtained and kept their wealth was too much. Finally before I forget let me recommend Andy Clark's Natural-Born Cyborgs. He argues that the machine man evolution is well under way and is a good thing. This is my choice as non-fiction book of the year.