Senlin Ascends, Josiah Bancroft

 

Senlin Ascends by Josiah Bancroft is the first book in the Books of Babel series.

Started: July 23, 2026
Completed: July 30, 2026
Recommendation: Highly recommended
Recommended By: A reviewer on youtube.
Media: Audio

Review:

I kind of thought that a series about the Tower of Babel would have religious overtones, but this does not have any overt religion (there are some moral lessons, but it doesn't seem to be an allegory or anything like that).  Instead, the tower serves as a backdrop for a search and rescue or mission oriented story.  The character development is interesting, although some characters seem to follow a basic structure, none are particularly strongly correlated with the basic structure.  This was a fun read with plenty of unexpected adventure and largely the story of naïveté graduating into a better understanding of how to work with the world in which one finds ones self.  Bancroft has done a good job with world creation and sets a nice backdrop for the main character to do the things that seem well beyond a school head master.

Athens and Sparta, Adrian Goldsworthy

 

Athens and Sparta:  The rivalry that shaped ancient Greece by Adrian Goldsworthy

Started: July 10, 2026
Completed: July 23, 2026

Recommendation: Recommended
Recommended By: Nobody
Media: Audio

Review:

This book is a little dry and assumes awareness of some Ancient Greek history.  Goldsworthy is clear about the areas where there is speculation and he is quick to try and bracket things like troop estimates realistically.  He is also straight forward in pointing out that the history was written basically by the victor as there are no significant records of the Spartan perspective.  I think that this was a good overview of the relationship between the cities and offers a good foundation for a deeper study.

The Dragon Round, Stephen S. Power

 

The Dragon Round by Stephen S. Power

Started: June 14, 2025
Completed: July 22, 2026
Recommendation: Recommended
Recommended By:  Power and I chatted on Twitter several (maybe 10?) years ago (I think he was an editor for a book I had enjoyed, but my Twitter account is no more since Musk took over).  He was an interesting person and I wanted to support his work, so I picked up the book.

Media: Trade paperback

Words for which I sought help:

grue -- a shiver or a shudder

penteconter -- An ancient Greek sailing vessel (used for both war and trade) with 50 oars

Review:

I enjoyed this book which is sort of a castaway story.  Parts of the book felt rushed to me, but it is a good story.  The argument for personal revenge is not made as strongly as I would have liked and while it feels like the main characters undergo some growth and character change, as the book comes to its end, it feels like the characters have reverted to form.

Divine Rivals, Rebecca Ross

Started: June 20, 2026
Completed: July 21, 2026
Recommendation: Recommended
Recommended By: My niece

Media: Collector's Edition Hardback

Review:

I have enjoyed Ross' work for the character development and for the fun of the read.  The mystery rarely is challenging.  In this book, the mystery gets a little better, but the character development falls flat.  The ending was quite surprising.  In general, though, I enjoyed the book.
 

Mark Twain, Ron Chernow

 Mark Twain by Ron Chernow

Started: January 26, 2026
Completed: July 9, 2026
Recommendation: Highly recommended
Recommended By: Nobody
Media: Audio

Review:

It took a while to get through this book as it is so huge that I had to cycle through the library several times in order to listen to the whole thing.  I have a lot of respect for Chernow, but only the broadest of understandings of Twain.  My brother visited a Twain exhibit and brought back a book of his works which I have not yet read (though I had read Tom Sawyer, Huck Finn, and Connecticut Yankee in my youth as well as other short stories like, "The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County").  What a knew of Twain you could fit in a thimble in comparison to this book.  I knew his era, but did not realize how many celebrities he knew all over the world--for that matter I was only vaguely aware that he had moved from Missouri to New York City.  I knew nothing of his wife or family (oddly, the last surviving member of which died only a few years before I was born) and had only heard peripherally about his interest in young girls (which seemed platonic from Chernow's perspective or at least only fantasy without any desire to actually act on his interest)--though disturbing in concept.  I was also completely unaware of his personal struggles and perspectives on religion.  I was aware of his role as a publisher from Chernow's Grant.  This book was so insightful and shed light on so much of Twain's life that I found it fascinating.

Angel Down, Daniel Kraus

 

Angel Down by Daniel Kraus

Started: June 15, 2026
Completed: June 18, 2026
Recommendation: Not recommended
Recommended By: My niece thought that this would be a book I would enjoy (and she gifted it to me!)
Media: Trade Paperback

Review:

My niece would like to have an honest review, which is kind of where I live.  

I did not enjoy this book.  The format is unusual (it is a stream of consciousness book) and the subject matter (in the World War I trenches) was pretty tough.  Moreover, I am trying not to read depressing books.  So, this book, just by virtue of the subject matter was tough for me.  Of course, I have read and enjoyed books that have all of those qualities.

*SPOILERS BELOW*

This book did not reward good behavior (for the most part).  The pair who jump over the trench wall (go over the top) and go to rescue (put out of his misery) the screamer are not particularly good people.  In fact, nobody in the novel is a decent person.  Everyone is busy pursuing his own thing and trying to grind down everyone else.  When push comes to shove, they each show their true colors and the angel is the worst of them all.  I just could not find a redeeming quality in any of the characters, the story line, or the theme.  Of course, war is horrible and each of the characters showed a characteristic of humanity that leads to war.  I just did not enjoy reading about how awful we are.

Stoner, John Williams

 

Stoner by John Williams

Started: June 4, 2026
Completed: June 8, 2026
Recommendation: Highly Recommended
Recommended By: The New Yorker
Media: Audio

Review:

This is a character study book.  The characters are all odd, but not dysfunctionally odd, just odd.  All of them seem to function within the world that they inhabit, but seem unable to traverse between their different worlds very well.  The book is a bit dour, but there is humor to be found.  The interactions seem so realistic to me that it seems Williams has created actual people who could exist nearby.  This book was well worth the read for someone who likes a good turn of phrase and complex character development.