75 Books in 2010

Although I read every day, I've never kept track of how many books I read in a year. I noticed on Librarything a group committed to reading 75 books in 2010 and decided to give it a try. I have no idea how close to that I might come but it will be interesting to see. I wonder if just making the commitment will stir me on to read more. I will keep you posted on how I'm doing and review as many as I can. I'm just finishing William Boyd's Blue Afternoon and with the holidays coming, my reading time will be severely shortened. But I've got my first book of the New Year selected, Canoe Trip: North to Athabasca by David Curran. Just the ticket for a stormy winter night, the true story of a wilderness adventure. I'm looking forward to this one.

The Polish Officer by Alan Furst

While Furst is generally categorized as a writer of spy novels, I think that's a very narrow way of looking at his books. He is an excellent novelist. He has chosen Europe during WWII as his setting and all his books are so well researched, they "feel" authentic. In this novel, as in his others, a strong but basically ordinary man is tested to the limit. Polish cartographer, Alexander de Milja, is recruited into the Polish Intelligence Service after the German invasion of Poland and is thrown in to a series of dangerous assignments. Furst has a deft touch in surrounding his heroes with very real and interesting characters, all facing life and death decisions daily as they struggle to survive. My only criticism of this book is that it jumps abruptly from one place to another as de Milja is reassigned to various countries. I would have liked a little more transition. Also, his love interest, a woman who assists him with his intelligence work, disappears with a very brief and unsatisfying explanation. While not his best book (I think Night Soldiers and Kingdom of Shadows are better), this is a fascinating read and I highly recommend it.