Fish on Friday: Feasting, Fasting, and the Discovery of the New World by Brian Fagan

Fish on Friday: Feasting, Fasting, and the Discovery of the New World, by Brian Fagan, tells the history of the fish trade.  As it says on the back of the book:

"What gave Columbus the confidence in 1492 to set out across the Atlantic Ocean?  It would be convenient to believe that Columbus and his men were uniquely courageous.  A more reasonable explanation, however, is that Columbus was heir to a body of knowledge about seas and ships acquired at great cost over man centuries.
Fish on Friday tells a new story of the discovery of America.  In Brian Fagan's view, that discovery is the product of the long sweep of history:  the spread of Christianity and the radical cultural changes it brought to Europe, the interaction of economic necessity with a changing climate, and generations of unknown fishermen who explored the North Atlantic in the centuries before Columbus.  Encompassing ancient mythology, medieval religion, boatbuilding, commerce, and cutting-edge climate science, this dazzling and wide-ranging book shows the intricate tapestry of history in all its fascinating, astonishing complexity."

Sounds exciting, right?  The truth is that this novel reads like a research paper or text book and focuses mainly on the fish culture in Europe due to christianity, generations of fishermen, boatbuilding, and commerce.  All myth and medieval religion referenced are vague and unsatisfying.  A typical chapter (really, look at almost any of the 17) goes: historical fishing statistic, historical fishing statistic, description of a boat, description of another boat, more history on boats, how much people had to pay, recipe.  Any mention of what would be changes in the historical record about finding the New World are diluted by the commonly used phrase "No one will actually ever know, But probably."  Personally I feel this is an extremely  weak case--considering this entire book is supposed to be about how history is wrong and how people got to the Americas before Columbus.  If I were to recommend this book it would be to fishermen, fishing historians & maritime or naval historians.

2 out of 5 stars.

The Short Second Life of Bree Tanner: an Eclipse Novella by Stephenie Meyer

Saturday I finished up The Short Second Life of Bree Tanner: an Eclipse Novella by Stephanie Meyer.  It's a spin-off from the Twilight series, focusing on exactly what it says, the short second life of Bree Tanner.  We don't see much of Bree in Eclipse.  I tried to write this in a way so that if you hadn't read/seen Eclipse I wouldn't spoil the plot of it for you, but then I decided there is no point in reading this book if you haven't read through or watched the third Twilight movie.  So I don't care.  If you don't want to know the plot of those books, stop reading now.

Bree is a newborn vampire, created by a previous villain in the Twilight series, Victoria.  Victoria made an army of newborns to attack the Cullen clan, hoping to kill Bella in the process (because Bella is Edward's "mate" and the Cullen's killed Victoria's).  I can't quite remember how much of Bree we see in the books, but in the movie she's the human huddled in a corner during that vampire massacre in Seattle.  During the big fight scene in Forks Bree decides to surrender to Carlisle and Esme, but then the Volturi decide to kill her anyway.  Not a hugely developed character.

Well, this book is focused completely around the time Bree was a vampire.  It shows more of the back story to the newborns, Riley, their interaction, what the newborns knew of Victoria, what the newborns knew period (some surprises there), etc.  It's short, travels down the already established Eclipse road, and has no chapters (because its only her, and her short life, and one thing--the newbies... get it?).

If you're a Twihard, you've probably already read it :)  If you are a moderate or light fan of the books/movies I would suggest reading it.  The Short Second Life[...] is light (both the weight and the writing), so you could take it to the beach or an oil change at Belle Tire (*cough*).  What I really liked was that it gave you a better idea of what Bree was thinking during the battle scene.  I looked at her character completely different after I read this.

3 out of 5 stars.