About Face

About Face by David HackworthI finally tackled a book that was gathering dust on my closet shelf for fifteen years: Col. David Hackworth’s “About Face,” a scorching military memoir published in 1989. Part swashbuckling tale, Korean War diary, notes from…

Book Club

Belonging to a book club is a good thing to do...and not just for passing those dark winter nights when your usual social networks are hibernating. I’ve read books I would never have considered prior to joining. We mostly read fiction with the occasional non-fiction, such as Laura Hillenbrand’s “Unbroken” or others like it, and we are democratic when selecting a reading list. Someone…

Star Wars: The Force Awakens

Star Wars: The Force Awakens

I write about my heresy. Finally went to see Star Wars: The Force Awakens with a friend. We waited until the crowds had thinned. I'm not a Star Wars fanatic. Saw the first three and ignored the next batch. This latest effort, a Disney product, seemed to me a tired retread. The original actors are all there, but long in tooth and slow of action or enthusiasm.…

Dead Wake

Dead Wake by Erik LarsonI received a copy of Erik Larson’s "Dead Wake" over Christmas and devoured it in three days. Larson is a terrific storyteller with a detective's eye for detail. Though I knew the outcome…

Pearl Harbor

Pearl HarborPearl Harbor

Yesterday was the seventy-fourth anniversary of Pearl Harbor. There soon will be no survivors of that attack to speak to visitors who visit Hawaii to see the site. I grew up in Hawaii in a military family—my father was a WWII…