Reader’s Notebook, 2/11/26

With all this terrible weather,[1] I’ve been doing some of that reading shit.

Hotel Ukraine – Martin Cruz Smith
Smith died last summer. Over his long career he wrote over 30 books, most famously his Arkady Renko series, which began with Gorky Park. I never read any of his books, although my mom owned a paperback copy of Gorky Park. This landed on a best thrillers list from last year so I gave it a shot.

His hero Renko is on a similar path to his own. Where Smith was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease in the 1990s, and eventually died because of it, Renko is in the earliest stages of the ailment. Renko is on a new case that involves people at the highest levels of the Russian government and military just as the second invasion of Ukraine begins. He is both fighting internal forces that want a murder ignored and trying to keep his superiors from noticing the symptoms of his disease.

In the end, the book felt a bit rushed, the conclusion arrived at too quickly. I wonder if Smith knew how near his end was and wanted to make sure he got his hero one last closed case.

War Diaries: A Radio Amateur in Kyiv – Volodymyr Gurtovy
Following that, it seemed like the ideal moment to read this, a book I ran across on a blog several years ago. Its title tells the story: Gurtovy lives in Kyiv and this is his diary of the first year of the war. The radio amateur part doesn’t really come into his accountings much, it was more a promotional line as several ham radio operators in the west encouraged Gurtovy to collect the daily writings he posted on message boards.

As we are four years into the war, it is striking to see how hopeful and certain he was that the Ukraine would prevail back in 2022. The war has been stuck in a messy stalemate for most of the last three years and I wonder if he feels the same today. I was also interested in how being in the thick of war affects one’s views. For example, Gurtovy said the Russians were guilty of far worse than the Nazis ever did during World War II. I can see how when you are being bombed daily you might have a dim view of your opponents. But while the Russians are certainly the most evil side in this conflict and have done many acts that can be labelled as war crimes, I don’t think they’ve reached Nazi levels of evil.

Alternative For The Masses – Greg Prato
My first alternative rock history book of the year.[2] This one is focused on the bands that got swept along to success when the Grunge Era began. While there has to be some discussion of Nirvana since they started the alternative rock revolution, there is almost none of Pearl Jam, Soundgarden, and Alice In Chains.

Instead Prato hears from members of bands like the Pixies, Belly, Ministry, Primus, along with producers, MTV personalities, and so on who were in the midst of that era.

It is a decent read but it runs into an issue that often happens with books presented as oral histories: it is oddly organized. It has to be hard to turn dozens of interviews into a cohesive narrative, but in this case there is often no flow from one chapter to the next, so we miss that recognizable arc you want from a history book.

I still learned a lot, but this was probably my least favorite of all the Nineties rock books I’ve read. We’ll see if my next one, which moves to the 2000s, is better.

Foster – Claire Keegan
A wonderful short story about an Irish girl who is sent to spend the summer of 1981 with family friends. Her home is a stereotypical Irish one: her mother is pregnant, about to add a new baby to an already crowded house. Her father is distant, appears to like “the drink,” and does not bring in enough money. Bills are not being paid, work around their farm is not being done.

The girl is dropped off with no idea how long she will stay. After a rough first few days she eventually settles in with the nice, quiet, slightly older couple in their home. Over the course of the summer she blossoms, forming tight bonds with each of her temporary parents. Just when she feels like she has found a new home she learns the tragic secret the couple has kept from her and gets word that she will be going home when the new school year begins.

Despite checking in at 88 pages and Keegan being rather spare with her words, it packs a true emotional wallop.

The Traitor – Ava Glass
Finally, I went back to book two in Glass’ Alias Emma series. I really liked the first one, which was a unique take on the modern spy novel. This one, however, was not nearly as successful. It read like any one of dozens of other books I’ve read. Worse, its big twist was identifiable 200 pages before it happened. I spent a lot of time thinking, “Surely character X isn’t the bad guy,” when indeed character X was the bad guy. Sadly that means I will not be sticking with the series going forward, a shame since the opener showed so much promise.