"I have been but little in," said Ninian hastily...

51/50: The Yiddish Policemen's Union by Michael Chabon. I quite enjoyed Chabon's short novel "Gentlemen of the Road", so I decided to give this novel a try. I am glad that I did; it's a detective story set in an alternative history, a rather noir-ish read with quite entertaining and engaging characters. Ach, I seem to always end up with the same descriptors, and I feel as if my reviews end up being bland and recapitulative. But there's nothing bland about this tale of a man trying to pursue the truth in a murder case that no one seems to care about in a city that's rapidly approaching something very like its own death. The various layers of cultural, religious, and historical reference (including those to a timeline the reader glimpses mostly through allusion) delighted me; I was able to savour forgotten bits of Yiddish, half-remembered bits of mysticism or ritual, and the author's elegant blending of our reality with the creation of his mind.

52/50: Amateurs, To Arms! A Military History Of The War Of 1812 by John Elting. Colonel Elting was a truly gifted military historian, and his history of this early war shows both his exhaustive scholarship and his talent for colourful and accessible prose. That's what I appreciate so much about him--although he did his homework very carefully and had a thoroughgoing grasp of the historiography of any subject he engaged, his writing still gives the effect of a conversation with a seasoned old soldier. Not dumbed down, not simplified, but informed by a familiarity with army life and custom that someone who approaches military subjects without personal experience will not be able to convey. True to it's subtitle, the book gives good descriptions of all the war's military campaigns and the affairs of government that connected them without going far into the politics or diplomacy of the conflict. I've a number of other books on the war that I picked up this autumn, but I know I'll be coming back to this one for help in understanding the operations and battles and for the sheer pleasure of reading the good colonel's writing.