Wow, pretty far into March to post this, but there you go.

The perfect medium: photography and the occult
I just got this one for the pictures. It’s the catalog of a museum exhibit of photographs of occult phenomena, including ghost photos from the early days of photography and photos of “apports” and other spooky objects appearing during seances. As with the skeptics of the day, I’m struck by how much ectoplasm looks like cheesecloth and the spirits of the dead look like paper cutouts surrounded by cotton wool or more cheesecloth. Three stars for historical strangeness.

Great leader, dear leader: demystifying North Korea under the Kim Clan, Lintner
I read this as a followup to Pyongyang: a journey in North Korea. It does indeed demystify North Korea, though that just leads to astonished headshaking at the goings-on. A stunning read. Four stars.

Pretties, Westerfeld (Y)
Damn that Scott Westerfeld, he’s so prolific and so good! Sequel to Uglies, still hard to put down, zippy and thought-provoking, never predictable. Four stars and I’m holding my breath for the third installment.

A Wreath for Emmett Till, Nelson (Y)
A wreath of sonnets in mourning for the lynched Emmett Till. The author cops to using a very structured form to insulate herself from the grief, which unfortunately can insulate the reader as well. Three stars.

Japan 1945: a US Marine’s Photographs from Ground Zero, O’Donnell
His duty was to document the destruction of Japanese cities by atomic bombs and conventional firebombing, and he was clearly deeply affected by what he saw. After photographing two people injured by the bombings, he swore to himself that he would never do it again unless he was ordered to. The remaining photos are of ordinary people putting their lives back together in the wreckage. His story and these pictures together are deeply affecting. Four stars.