The Year of the Witching, Alexis Henderson

 

The Year of the Witching by Alexis Henderson is my attempt, once more to read a vampire book.

Started: 4/25/2022
Completed: 4/27/2022
Recommendation: Not Recommended
Recommended By: Nobody

Review:

Not a vampire story, but that is fine.  This is more of a fierce Cinderella coming of age story.  I feel like there was a lot more story here.  Less dramatic jumping out of chairs and throwing them to the ground in the process and more discussion of the difficult decisions several of the minor characters experienced.  Less bodice heaving (unknown to the protagonist, who was just sort of confused) and more a focus on how this great power came to sitting around and sigils awaiting the right moment to be unleashed.  There is a great deal made of one of the characters having "the sight," but the only time it is actually used, it is clear that there was no sight.  As a young adult novel, this was very violent.  As an adult novel the whole plot unravels so clearly and so relentlessly that it is not an interesting read.

Everyone Knows Your Mother is a Witch, Rivka Galchen

 

Everyone Knows Your Mother is a Witch by Rivka Galchen

Started: 4/23/2022
Completed: 4/25/2022
Recommendation: Not Recommended
Recommended By: Nobody

Review:

This is a good book and it is a little funny.  It is, however, not my kind of tale.  It meanders in the way of a folk tale and it feels like the writer is just making up the details around a basic structure.  Not that such a tale is bad, but it just isn't my ball of wax.

The Confidence Men, Margalit Fox

 

The Confidence Men:  How two prisoners of war engineered the most remarkable escape in history by Margalit Fox

Started: 4/11/2022
Completed: 4/15/2022
Recommendation: Highly Recommended
Recommended By: Nobody

Review:

I really enjoyed this use of the "big con" for prisoners to escape Turkey during WWI.  Fox does a great job of explaining why it was possible for them to do this and to interweave the explanation with the historical account (told from several difference directions).  Sadly, the huge effort of the escape only saved them two weeks as the armistice was reached as they arrived on English soil.  It did, however, save them from a more dangerous escape performed by other officers which resulted in almost half dying on the difficult hundreds of miles they had to travel.  Fox did a good job of identifying some of the horrors the soldiers faced without wallowing in the details which made the book more approachable for me.

October Surprise, Devlin Barrett

 

October Surprise:  How the FBI tried to save itself and crashed an election by Devlin Barrett

Started: 4/9/2022
Completed: 4/11/2022
Recommendation: Mild Recommendation
Recommended By: Nobody

Review:

Barrett seems to view everyone investigated by the FBI, from Carter Page, through Michael Flynn, to the Trump campaign as innocent.  He does a good job of showing that there is a certain amount of paranoia in the FBI and his explanation of the the reason for (whatever reason was actually given), but not the timing of Andrew McCabe's firing holds water.  In general, it feels to me that Barrett argues that there are a bunch of hotheads running around pointing fingers at each other over nothing.  I just don't feel that is the case.  The argument for Carter Page is his strongest, but it still seems like he is leaving stuff out.  I guess we will find out when the files are eventually released.

Deep Work, Cal Newport

 

Deep Work:  Rules for focused success in a distracted world by Cal Newport

Started: 4/5/2022
Completed: 4/9/2022
Recommendation: Recommended
Recommended By: A Stoic adherent, but I cannot remember who

Review:

I connect with the concepts of deep work and with the idea of flow.  The reality of effectively shutting others out is not something with which I am comfortable as a life style.  I recognize that this makes me less efficient.  I was thinking that when I start studying philosophy intently and move back into the scholastic world, it might be a good idea to find ways to implement deep work more often.  I'll have to think about how to do this recognizing that I so enjoy spending time with my wife it is exceedingly difficult for me to imagine opting not to do so given the opportunity.

Devil in the Grove, Gilbert King

 

Devil in the Grove: Thurgood Marshall, the Groveland boys, and the dawn of a new America by Gilbert King

Started: 3/29/2022
Completed: 4/5/2022
Recommendation: Highly Recommended
Recommended By: Pulitzer?

Review:

This is a great book, rich in detail.  It is interesting to hear one of the cases that helped define Thurgood Marshall's career.  This particular story is horrible.  That makes sense, because injustice is all about the horrible, but it was interesting to see the environment in which Marshall operated.  The incredible insults in the court room, hanging judges, and a sheriff so corrupt it seems storybook.  While it is hard to imagine a legal adventure story--this is it.