An Academy for Liars, Alexis Henderson

 

An Academy for Liars by Alexis Henderson

Started: November 11, 2024
Completed: November 17, 2024
Recommendation: Recommended
Recommended By: I was not thrilled with The Year of the Witching but there was something there.  It felt like this author should be given another chance.  We shall see...

Words for which I sought help:

rataplan -- a drumming or beating sound

Review:

I enjoyed this book.  I liked the world that Henderson built and though the interactions between some of the characters on occasion seemed stilted. This book felt much more complete and was a much better read than The Year of the Witching.  Sometimes authors seem to fall into a habit which a good editor should be able to help resolve.  In this case, Henderson liked for her characters to pause, "for a beat," repeatedly.  It was so frequent and shared by so many different characters that it started to pass for punctuation for me.  Aside from that this was a quick and easy read which I broadly enjoyed.  The life and death struggles were contrived, but they were within the concept of the book and so, despite feeling artificial from a distance, were consistent with the narrative and helped forward the book.  The way that things were left, it feels like there is a sequel coming which I would welcome though it is not something I would spend my time monitoring.

Children of Memory, Adrian Tchaikovsky

Children of Memory by Adrian Tchaikovsky is the next book in the Children of Time series.

Started: November 7, 2024
Completed: November 11, 2024
Recommendation: Highly recommended
Recommended By: Nobody

Review:

"Blame is really credit for what has gone wrong."  This quotation epitomizes this book, I think.  Context matters and this book is a look at context in general and context in the scope of what it means to be intelligent.  I have found this series fascinating and this book does not disappoint thought it flies off in a wholly unexpected direction (as though the previous books were not equally novel).  Tchaikovsky keeps me thinking and that is a wonderful and fun thing.  I cannot recommend this book highly enough.

Making the Presidency, Lindsay M. Chervinsky

 

Making the Presidency:  John Adams and the precedents that forged the republic by Lindsay M. Chervinsky

Started: October 27, 2024
Completed: November 3, 2024
Recommendation: Highly Recommended
Recommended By: Nobody...I am pretty alert to books about John Adams

Review:

I feel like John Adams left us a rich legacy.  I have several books about him on my shelves, several on the wish list at the library, and even  more sitting on my Kobo.  I find his story compelling and I especially like "perspectives" which take a single angle on the man and then dive deeply into that.  This book focuses on Adam's presidency which is nice because it is often dusted off, briefly addressed as though everyone knows the details, and then put down.  Just like Abigail.  This book, however, dives into the intrigue, the decision making, and provides a fresh perspective.  I really appreciated it, particularly in the throws of both Trump and the Broadway show that celebrates "the little general."   This book does not take on the complicated relationship he had with Jefferson in particular detail, but focuses largely on Adams as president.

The Political Brain, Drew Westen

 

The Political Brain:  The role of emotion in deciding the fate of the Nation by Drew Westen

Started: December 29, 2023
Completed: DNF
Recommendation: Dated
Recommended By: I read an article in which this book was referenced.

Review:

I spent a year trying to listen to this book in the car (it is on CD).  It just never worked out.  I was not in the car as often as I have been in the past, but every time I went to turn on the radio I had a reason not to listen to this book.  I had another book that I was trying to finish and I'd plug in my phone.  Somehow the CD had lost its place and I'd spend most of the trip trying to find my spot.  In the end, this book is boring because it is so dated.  It is not wrong and I'm sure that it has relevance, but I just couldn't fight through the Bush and Clinton references to get there.

Children of Ruin, Adrian Tchaikovsky

 

Children of Ruin by Adrian Tchaikovsky is the second book in the Children of Time series.

Started: October 24, 2024
Completed: October 27, 2024
Recommendation: Highly Recommended
Recommended By: Nobody

Words for which I sought help:

oleaginous -- rich in, covered with, or producing oil

Review:

This series really looks a different ways to see intelligence.  It is really quite amazing and Tchaikovsky does a really good job of showing how things might look dramatically different to different forms of intelligence.  I have really enjoyed this series.

The Quiet Damage, Jesselyn Cook

 

The Quiet Damage:  QAnon and the destruction of the American family by Jesselyn Cook

Started: November 3, 2024
Completed: November 7, 2024
Recommendation: Highly Recommended
Recommended By: My wife

Review:

Sometimes you need particular examples to better understand the whole problem.  This book fills that void.  Cook has done a great job of talking with individuals on both sides of QAnon (believers and those who love the believers).  This provides a perspective into how people started to follow Q so quickly and also how they got out.  Meanwhile, the examples provided covered the range fairly well of how family members reacted.  Calling for mental health and some way for children to deal with difficulty being caught in schools is undoubtedly the correct answer.  In the current environment, however, it is hard to imagine this will happen any time soon.

Black Earth, Timothy Snyder

 

Black Earth:  The holocaust as history and warning by Timothy Snyder

Started: October 17, 2024
Completed: October 24, 2024
Recommendation: Highly recommended
Recommended By: Nobody

Review:

This brings the lessons of Hitler's Germany to the future.  It makes some of the moves of the Russians into Ukraine more understandable.  Snyder argues that it is anarchy that results in mass killing--the elimination of the state as a protector of the minority results in the attack on the minority.  Russia is pursuing this strategy with the gay community particularly in Ukraine.  Israel is using Hezbollah as a means to destroy the state of Palestine and, presumably, occupy that land to prevent its return. Trump is talking about "the enemy within" as a reference to his political opponents as did Stalin.  Snyder does a good job of identifying and referring to the parallels.  May God help us not repeat them.