It's no secret that I enjoy reading books on polar exploration but author Ken McGoogan introduces an interesting wrinkle into this relatively obscure section of history with his new biography of Elisha Kent Kane, Race to the Open Polar Sea. Kane was a wildly popular American explorer (his funeral was second only to Lincoln's) who was best known for one of the more dramatic failed attempts to rescue John Franklin's doomed expedition. Kane was also a big believer of the "open polar sea" idea and sought out the "Arctic Eden". On top of everything else he had a dramatic relationship with one of the key members of the American spiritualist movement. Their love affair ended very badly (especially for her) but it adds a wrinkle of interest to his story for non polar enthusiasts.

McGoogan covers all of this but also goes much further as he had access to a logbook from Kane's second expedition. He has a lot of personal insight into events that has been missing in other books on the explorer which for readers like me was particularly interesting. Beyond all of that though, Kane was a meticulous scientist and recorded a wealth of climate data which was probably interesting a few folks 150 years ago but today is gaining a whole new significance. With the Arctic looking to be free of ice for the first time in recorded history, what Kane saw and measured in 1850s can tell us a lot about the very real impact of global warming. So from being a great explorer to now an important climate scientist, Kane's contribution to American history continues to evolve - more than a century after his death.

I'm sorry; I know this makes me a big history geek but this is the sort of thing I just love about reading.

My formal review of McGoogan's book should appear next month at Bookslut.

I also just finished Emmanuel Guibert's Alan's War: The Memories of G.I. Alan Cope. This graphic novel (from First Second) is one of the quietest meditations on war and life that I've ever read - and yet by the end I found it to be quite powerful. Alan Cope was a real person who Guibert befriended and then over a period of time his memories were transcribed into this book. (Guibert explains in the intro that parts of it are likely not completely true - chalking this up to the period of years that had gone by).

Guibert used black and white drawings to show Cope's adventures in Europe as part of a tank division and the long relationships he formed with fellow soldiers and some of the German civilians he met. Decades go by covering his job, his family, and the life he had overseas. Cope also made some interesting friends and the occasional famous name dropped into the text (these likely were true as they were part of longterm relationships) keeps things lively. Mostly though - and the reason why I really loved this book - you have the story of a life which was dramatically changed by war. It wasn't because of something horrific he experienced, but because the war took him far away from home and made him reconsider what he wanted to do and who he wanted to be. It's very good stuff and will be in my column (with a bunch of other graphic novels) next month.

Finally, I just finished the rather traditional novel In Hovering Flight by Joyce Hinnefeld. This is one of those big family-type dramas that follows a young woman who falls in love with a teacher (it's college so not creepy). Hinnefeld writes about Addie, an artist and her Tom, an ornithologist and their changing relationship over the years. She also includes Addie's two best friends and their families, and Addie and Tom's daughter, Scarlett. One of the unusual format things she does while telling the story is including excerpts from Addie's field journal, a book she first kept for bird watching in Tom's class and then later used for more personal revelations. Part of the plot also involves Addie's increasing environmental awareness and involvement which often confuses her family yet events prove can not be dismissed as foolish. It's a quiet book but in the way Hinnefeld observes her characters - just as Addie and Tom observe their birds - readers will likely pause and think about their own lives and relationships. I would consider this a very much "grown-up' book in the best possible sense. It will be reviewed in the next couple of months as well.