Napoleon, Ch. 19 Tilsit

A continental army, with willing recruits from conquered lands . . . Attacks in Poland . . . Prussia . . . war with Russia . .. Tsar Alexander seeks armistice . . . Europe divided into zones of Russian and French influence . . . allied against Britain . . . Prussia's Frederick William left out . . . Zenith of powers, certain there would be no moment on the continent where Russia, Austria, and Prussia would all be against him . . . Tilsit happiest moment of his life, he later says . . . returns to France after an absence of 300 days after a 100 hour night-and-day carriage ride. Napoleon moved fast!

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Happy Valley Season 4

Weakest. Tommy is in prison. His son, Ryan, is now 17. Catherine the cop's sister, Clare, takes Ryan to visit Tommy in prison, without telling Catherine. Not good. Sisters have a break when Catherine finds out. Plot two: PE teacher, abusive to wife. She is getting drugs from local Indian/Pakistani pharmacist. Husband finds out and has wife arrested! Pharmacist worried . . . plots to kill husband. Wife agrees, then changes her mind. Pharmacist in a rage kills her. (All a bit of a stretch, as he is a mild mannered family man.) Tommy escapes from his court hearing, hides out, gets in touch with Ryan. Plan is to go to Marabella, Spain together. Tommy's "helpers" get worried about Tommy and decide to do him in. Instead, he kills them . . . and is knifed himself. He returns to Catherine's house, looks through a photo album showing Catherine took good care of Ryan, and decides not to kill her....

Tess of the D'Urbervilles, continued 2/3rds

"To all humankind, Tess was only a passing thought. Even to friends, she was only a frequently passing thought." Angel Clare is a good character. He's "enlightened," in so many ways, but when Tess's confesses her "crime," he reverts to ancestral form . . . Tess's "confession" comes earlier than I expected, right after Angel reveals that he has had a bad moment with a woman. Tess points out the similarity in their transgressions, though his is the only true transgression, expecting forgiveness. She doesn't get it. She returns to her mother . . . realizes she can't stay with her. Thoughts to suicide. Unhappiness that divorce is not possible. Departs. Tragic in that the two, if Angel could just see clearly, would indeed be a great couple, each adding to the other. Nature as a definite force involved in the tragedy. It's not neutral--when things go bad, the very skies mock Tess. Tess as unaware of the power of her bea...

Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin . . . finished

Follows Sadie and Sam (Mazer) from childhood to mid-thirties when both are feeling old and a bit out of it in the gaming world. Characters are well-rounded, develop throughout the novel in interesting way. Plot is involved but sensible. Not a single, "Oh, come on!" moment. The book could have been faster paced. Odd, since the main topic is video games which are not for their speed of engagement and Gabrielle Zevin clearly knows her video games. Recommended by Michael Connelly in an interview. He also has Bosch pick up the book in his novel, Resurrection Walk, as Bosch tails a possible witness to a crime as she moves through a bookstore. Sadie and Sam do not get together at the end, which is good. Marx killed by homophobic nutcase who really wants to kill Sam, but Sam isn't there. Marx is father of Sadie's child.

Carl Deuker -- Books, Movies, TV

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