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. 

How Wars End, Dan Reiter

 

How Wars End by Dan Reiter

Started: July 30, 2024
Completed: DNF
Recommendation: Not recommended
Recommended By: Nobody, but I think I saw a summary in a Chicago Press email

Review:

I got through 60 pages.  This is hard, academic reading.  I thought that maybe it would be uplifting and it would be optimistic about how wars could end.  Instead, it is a book about leverage and negotiation.  This book works on the tipping points where a peace deal is possible while identifying that the tipping points must be sufficiently small that both combatants agree it is basically a stalemate and the "loser" is at least relatively confident that the "victor" will not just turn around and attack again.  While this is eminently practical and surely how the mechanics of peace actually work, for me, it was just depressing.  I could not keep reading (which is a reflection of my thoughts on Ukraine and Palestine and not a reflection of the quality of the book).

The Autobiography of a Yogi, Paramahansa Yogananda

 

The Autobiography of a Yogi by Paramahansa Yogananda

Started: 11/5/2023
Completed: 10/19/2024
Recommendation: mild recommendation
Recommended By: A coworker, Srini

Words for which I sought help:

caravanserai -- a group of people travelling together

cataleptical -- affected by a characteristic of catalepsy

chiaroscuro -- an effect of contrasted light and color

circumambient -- surrounding

clabber -- curdle or cause to curdle

clavis -- a pair of hardwood sticks used to make a hollow sound when struck together

delectation -- pleasure and delight

effulgence -- full of bright radiance

empyrean -- relating to heaven or the sky

halcyon -- denoting a period of time in the past that was idyllically happy and peaceful

illimitable -- without limits or end

inutile -- useless; pointless

irrefragable -- not able to be refuted or disproved

Kali -- the most terrifying goddess wife of Shiva, often identified with Durga and in her benevolent aspect with Parvati.  She is typically depicted as dark-skinned, naked, old, and hideous

laconic -- using very few words

landau -- a horse-drawn four-wheeled enclosed carriage with a removable front cover and a back cover that can be raised and lowered

lugubrious -- looking or sounding sad and dismal

martinet -- a person who demands complete obedience; a strict disciplinarian

maya -- the supernatural power wielded by gods and demons

pauciloquy -- economical speech; the use of few words when speaking; laconism

perspicacious -- having a ready insight into and understanding of things

prolixity -- the act of using too many words to convey a point, making it difficult to understand

proselyter -- a person who converts others from one opinion, religion, or party to another

puissant -- having great power or influence

quiddity -- the inherent nature or essence of someone or something

refulgent -- shining very brightly

sepulchral -- relating to a tomb or interment

supernal -- of exceptional quality or extent

umbrageous -- providing shade

unction -- the action of anointing someone with oil or ointment as a religious rite or as a symbol of investiture as a monarch

vatic -- describing or predicting what will happen in the future

veracious -- speaking or representing the truth

verity -- a true principle or belief, especially one of fundamental importance

Review:

It is challenging to accept this book on face value.  The idea of people materializing here and there (sort of a religious Star Trek) is exceedingly hard to believe, but is a fundamental component of this book.  This book, like other books about saints, is full of miracles that strain the imagination.  I guess I am just a skeptic.

The Bookshop, Evan Friss

 

The Bookshop:  A history of the American bookstore by Evan Friss

Started: October 14, 2024
Completed: October 17, 2024
Recommendation: Recommended
Recommended By: Nobody

Review:

This is an easy read with multiple venues (book shops and former book shops, apparently bookstore is not preferred) described.  Friss has visited these places and provides a certain sense of the space.  When that is not possible he has looked for reviews, reminiscences, and interviews to provide a feeling for the place.  Friss also tracks the development of book stores (ironically both real and fictional--Parnassus is both) and book sellers (not always collocated).  Not exactly interesting, but worth reviewing and remembering.

Living On Earth, Peter Godfrey-Smith

 

Living on Earth:  Forests, corals, consciousness, and the making of the world by Peter Godfrey-Smith

Started: October 8, 2024
Completed: October 14, 2024
Recommendation: Highly Recommended
Recommended By: The Guardian

Review:

Godfrey-Smith takes a hard look at what it means to go on living on the Earth.  He considers many angles, but I think he kind of whiffs on co-dependence.  Perhaps his feeling is that, aside from food, we don't really need the other animals on the planet.  I think we do.  Other than that, I really enjoyed his insights and the presentation.  He did not present these as truths, just reasoned analysis.  Very enjoyable.

The Life Impossible, Matt Haig

 

The Life Impossible by Matt Haig

Started: October 5, 2024
Completed: October 8, 2024
Recommendation: Recommended
Recommended By: Nobody, but I mildly recommended The Midnight Library

Review:

This is an interesting book, but it is pretty predictable.  Again, I am not terribly fond of the "magic" especially when it is inconsistent (salt water makes a plant grow that has been extinct, but the coast which is in constant contact with the salt water doesn't have this characteristic despite proof that "the presence" goes to the coast).  I'm not sure how to make this story tighter (I'm not an author), but I can see how it could have been more interesting and less predictable with only a few changes.

Keeping the Faith, Brenda Wineapple

 

Keeping the Faith:  God, democracy, and the trial that riveted a nation by Brenda Wineapple

Started: September 18, 2024

Completed: September 26, 2024

Recommendation: Highly recommended

Recommended By:  Nobody

Review:

There is so much about this trial that I simply didn't know.  I was unaware that William Jennings Bryan had died shortly after the case and also unaware that he had been put on the stand.  All shocking to me.  The rest of the manipulations around the case were not surprising to me although it was interesting to listen to how the case had been framed in its own time.

Lovely One, Ketanji Brown Jackson

 

Lovely One by Ketanji Brown Jackson

Started: September 26, 2024
Completed: October 5, 2024
Recommendation: Highly recommended
Recommended By: Nobody

Review:

I thought that this book might be interesting, but since it is written basically before Jackson had begun work on the Supreme Court, I was expecting an autobiography rather than an analysis of thinking.  In that sense, I was correct as this book covered her personal life (with occasional professional interludes) up to becoming a Supreme Court Justice.  All very interesting and I felt like I learned a lot about the newest Justice.

The Kamogawa Food Detectives, Hisashi Kashiwai

The Kamogawa Food Detectives by Hisashi Kashiwai translated by Jesse Kirkwood

Started: September 18, 2024

Completed: DNF

Recommendation: I have no recommendation

Recommended By: Kobo

Review:

I thought that this was a traditional detective story with a little food thrown in.  No.  This is a series of short stories with the same protagonists who use analysis to determine how to make a particular meal.  I was listening to this book and with unfamiliar names, place names, and food names, I had trouble distinguishing one from the other.  In addition, I neither recognized the dishes nor many of the ingredients.  That all made it very hard for me to enjoy or even have an opinion on this book.

Who's Afraid of Gender?, Judith Butler

 

Who's Afraid of Gender? by Judith Butler

Started: September 15, 2024
Completed: September 17, 2024
Recommendation: Highly Recommended
Recommended By: Nobody initially, but upon discussion cousin Amee

Review:

The audio book is read by Butler who sounds a lot like Martha Stewart, so the topic is initially jarring in that voice.  The arguments are truly stellar and the mechanical workmanship which goes into the refutations of particularly conservative and Catholic positions on gender is excellent.  This gives me a whole new perspective on how to talk about gender with those who have not really spent much time thinking about their positions.  What a wonderful work!

The Mosquito, Timothy C. Winegard

 

The Mosquito:  A human history of our deadliest predator by Timothy C. Winegard

Started: September 8, 2024
Completed: September 15, 2024
Recommendation: Highly Recommended
Recommended by: Kobo books

Review:

The author attributes pretty much everything to the mosquito.  Of course, that is not correct, but this storm through human history looks at an awful lot of places where the mosquito was undoubtedly involved.  I am not inclined to disagree.  It is pretty shocking the level of human death attributable to the mosquito.

Your Absence is Darkness, Jón Kalman Stefánsson

 

Your Absence is Darkness by Jón Kalman Stefánsson

Started: September 7, 2024
Completed: DNF
Recommendation: Not recommended
Recommended By: I cannot remember how I chose this title

Review:

I just could not figure this book out and it was exhausting me trying.  I gave up.

The Bright Sword, Lev Grossman

 

The Bright Sword:  A novel of King Arthur by Lev Grossman

Started: August 29, 2024
Completed: September 7, 2024
Recommendation: Recommended
Recommended By: Nobody, c'mon, King Arthur

Review:

Grossman is pretty clear in his understanding of Arthur and is well aware of all the things that simply could not be in his telling.  He includes a historical note that explains all this.  So, despite the anachronisms, or maybe because of them, this is a romping tale that is fun to read.  Like many Arthurian tales, this one changes perspective throughout the book.  I find Grossman's portrayal of Guinevere to be particularly compelling.  Addressing sexual orientation in the book, Grossman does a good job of making this an LGBTQ+ novel of sorts without going overboard and throwing in things that would likely have led to a swift death if revealed in this era.  Grossman highlights closeted life and details how horribly frustrating it is to be born the incorrect gender as well as how hard it can be to be a homosexual.  Grossman alludes to bisexuality in the one character who could truly be bisexual without reproach.  In general, from a heterosexual point of view in the 21st century, it feels to me like Grossman did a good job of including a wide range of sexual identities in a tale that has generally ignored such things without making sex the center of the book.  I liked this book, but I feel like it was a little long and maybe could have been reasonably shortened without the tales of the Red Knight (I really don't understand the inclusion of this character at all).

Long Island, Colm Tóibín

 

Long Island by Colm Tóibín is the sequel to Brooklyn and is read by Jessie Buckley

Started: August 26, 2024
Completed: August 29, 2024
Recommendation: Mild Recommendation
Recommended By: Nobody

Review:

Tóibín is pretty amazing.  This book is very well written, but it was hard for me to come to like any of these characters.  They all are fundamentally flawed--I guess, like Shakespeare;  nobody really likes Hamlet.  Having said that, also like Shakespeare, these characters all suffer from a fundamental character flaw that then moves the story forward.  At the end of the book, Buckley comments that the most important part is what is not said and that all these characters seem to get in their own way.  That is characteristic of the Irish.  I don't really know what to think about that, but there is no doubt that reading this is kind of like watching a slow-motion boat capsize.  I looked Brooklyn better and should there be a sequel to Long Island, I'm not sure I'd want to go back into the swamp of character flaws to read more.

The Death of Truth, Steven Brill

 

The Death of Truth:  How social media and the internet gave snake oil salesman and demagogues the weapons they needed to destroy truth and polarize the world--and what we can do about it by Steven Brill

Started: August 23, 2024
Completed: August 26, 2024
Recommendation: Recommended
Recommended By: Nobody

Review:

A fair portion of this book is Brill defending his company.  That is less than satisfying.  It seems like it is a decent company with good intent.  It also seems like the company is having a hard time finding customers in an environment where it should probably have lots of customers.  OK.  Tell me once.  It also seems like the GOP has tried to eliminate the non-partisan company.  That completely sucks.  Tell me once.

The idea that there should be a single objective truth, is not controversial.  Brill makes the argument well, that everyone wants "their truth" instead of "the truth."  He argues this on several levels and the arguments are compelling.  Understanding at least a little bit about what people are able to accept helps guides his methods to fixing this problem.  I have to admit that I don't think that the fixes he offers are going to work, but clearly I'm not the expert.

Everyone Who Is Gone Is Here, Jonathan Blitzer

 

Everyone Who Is Gone Is Here:  The United States, Central America, and the making of a crisis by Jonathan Blitzer

Started: August 21, 2024
Completed: DNF
Recommendation: None
Recommended By: Nobody

Review:

I have read too many books recently that document the horribleness of American foreign policy in very personal terms.  I just don't have it in me to read another.

Long Island Compromise, Taffy Brodesser-Akner

 

 Long Island Compromise by Taffy Brodesser-Akner

Started: August 18, 2024
Completed: August 21, 2024
Recommendation: Not recommended
Recommended By: Nobody

Review:

This book is well written.  The characters undergo major development.  There are even lines that are truly funny, "Noel was a repressed Presbyterian, or just a Presbyterian."  There are scenes that are truly repulsive.  None of the characters are likeable.  I found none relatable.  I simply did not enjoy this book and cannot recommend it.

Say More, Jen Psaki

 

Say More:  Lessons from work, the white house, and the world by Jen Psaki

Started: August 16, 2024
Completed: August 18, 2024
Recommendation: Highly Recommended
Recommended By: Nobody, I really enjoyed her press conferences

Review:

Psaki was such a breath of fresh air in the White House briefing room, I simply cannot describe how important her appearance there was.  In addition, her deft handling of Steve Doocy was wonderful.  I was so very impressed that when I read she had a book coming, I immediately put in for it at the library (after about 45 other people had already had the same idea).  Her quick little book is approachable and focuses on communications strategy using vignettes from her time at the white house, state department, and home.  I enjoyed it though I have no plans to become an interviewer or do press relations. 

Language Myths, Bauer and Trudgill

 

Language Myths edited by Laurie Bauer and Peter Trudgill is a book I picked up when I was trying to better understand how language worked and has slowly worked its way to the top of the pile.

Started: July 31, 2024
Completed: DNF
Recommendation: Not Recommended
Recommended By: Nobody

Review:

This has nothing to do with how language works.  It seems to be a collection of essays by language experts who are slamming people who have bad opinions.  Nothing wrong with that in principal, I kind of like hearing what experts consider silliness.  I'm just not that into language.  I don't care if people say French is more "logical" than any other language.  I don't care if a language is considered "dying" because it does not support words for technical physics.  None of what they were talking about mattered to me, so I stopped reading it.

Autocracy, Inc., Anne Applebaum

 

Autocracy, Inc.:  The dictators who want to run the world by Anne Applebaum

Started: August 15, 2024
Completed: August 16, 2024
Recommendation: Highly recommended
Recommended By: Nobody

Review:

This is a quick wallow into the world of autocrats.  It is, as one might imagine, slimy.  Autocrats do not hide in the shadows.  They are big, bold, and literally attacking democracies on many fronts.  This quick read offers a good flavor of autocratic behavior without getting caught up in the details of each dictator.  Rather, the book looks at what they have in common, how they support one another, and what democracies can do to defend and go on the offensive.  The steps are pretty obvious and can be summed up with:  Do Not Tolerate Corruption.  That goes a long way and it is amazing the many little ways that democracies do, indeed, tolerate corruption.  We must stop!

The Demon of Unrest, Erik Larson

 

The Demon of Unrest:  A saga of hubris, heartbreak, and heroism at the dawn of the civil war by Erik Larson

Started: August 10, 2024

Completed: August 15, 2024

Recommendation: Recommended

Recommended By: My mother

Review:

I do enjoy the way that Larson tells a tale.  I also thought I had a good understanding of the start of the Civil War.  I did not.  I thought I had a thorough understanding of Lincoln's cabinet.  I still learned more.  Larson does a good job of building a vision through a character and then extending that vision to other characters.  Rusk is an excellent example whose life truly follows the story arc.  Having visited the batteries that play a prominent role in this book throughout my childhood (to include a visit to the library now in Fort Moultrie, I could see through my memory the sites described in the book.

Service Model, Adrian Tchaikovsky

 

Service Model by Adrian Tchaikovsky

Started: August 8, 2024
Completed: August 10, 2024
Recommendation: Highly Recommended
Recommended By: Nobody

Review:

What a great book!  Future dystopia, but from the robot's perspective.  Pretty darn awesome.  I love how quickly Tchaikovsky got me to believe that something which was clearly a robot was also sentient.  Dystopia bad.  Robot perspective, excellent!

Swift River, Essie Chambers

 

Swift River by Essie Chambers

Started: August 4, 2024
Completed: August 8, 2024
Recommendation: Not Recommended
Recommended By: Nobody

Review:

This is a sort of "day in the life" though it is more than a day.  I did not enjoy the subject matter.  I did not enjoy the characters.  The experience of reading the book felt like being "stuck in the mud."  It just did not make sense to me.

Limitarianism, Ingrid Robeyns

 

Limitarianism: The case against extreme wealth by Ingrid Robeyns

Started: July 31, 2024
Completed: August 4, 2024
Recommendation: Highly Recommended
Recommended By: I read an interview with the author in Current Affairs

Review:

C'mon, it isn't even socialism.  This is about putting rails on capitalism.  It is also about trying to maintain "clean money."  There are some really good ideas in this book and Robeyns is no slouch in presenting them.  Basically, the super-rich have too much.  It is likely that the very rich have too much.  Society giveth and society needs to boundeth.  Well worth the read.

The Word for World Is Forest, Ursula K. Le Guin

The Word for World is Forest by Ursula K. Le Guin

Started: July 12, 2024

Completed: July 31, 2024

Recommendation: Recommended

Recommended By: Nobody

Words for which I sought help:

apposite -- apt in the circumstances or in relation to something

sett -- a badger's den

Review:

This is the first Le Guin novel I have read that was really hard reading.  The whole thing is basically about murder.  The method of giving up reminded me of Footfall by Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle (although it is certain that Le Guin was first, I just happened to read Footfall first).  This was a first contact/colonization/outpost kind of book with all those pieces rolled up into one.  Yet, at the same time, it looked at the ugly side of humanity. Unsettling to read at bed time.

Crime and Parchment, Daphne Silver

 

Crime and Parchment:  A rare books cozy mystery by Daphne Silver

Started: July 28, 2024
Completed: July 31, 2024
Recommendation: Recommended
Recommended By: Nobody

Review:

This is a beach book.  Don't expect too much of it, it is an easy, breezy read.  The mystery is decent and I have to admit that anything that addresses the Book of Kells is interesting to me (no matter how obliquely).  I'm not sure if I will continue to read the series.  The will they/won't they romance is not really to my taste and, well, how many mysteries can involve the Book of Kells when set in Maryland?

American Crusade, Andrew L. Seidel

 

American Crusade:  How the Supreme Court is weaponizing religious freedom by Andrew L. Seidel

Started: June 11, 2024

Completed: July 30, 2024

Recommendation: Highly Recommended

Recommended By: My wife (likely the Opening Arguments podcast)

Words for which I sought help:

abstemious -- not self-indulgent, especially when eating and drinking.

solipsism -- the quality of being very self-centered or selfish

vertiginous -- causing vertigo, especially by being extremely high or steep

Review:

Reading this book, it does not feel concise.  It feels dense.  It feels heavy.  The tons of footnotes bely how detailed this book actually is.  Seidel, however, has taken a topic that could fill a much, much larger multi-volume tome and drilled down to the most important points.  Every page, every paragraph, most sentences are important.  I learned a lot.  I relearned a lot.  I feel like I know how this attack on American freedom works.  What a fantastic book.  I hope that there are no new cases to discuss in the future, but we all know there will be until the crusade is finally crushed.

The Power Worshipers, Katherine Stewart

 

The Power Worshippers:  Inside the dangerous rise of religious nationalism by Katherine Stewart

Started: July 25, 2024
Completed: July 28, 2024
Recommendation: Highly Recommended
Recommended By: Nobody

Review:

This book is becoming a bit dated as it was released in the midst of the Trump presidency.  Nonetheless, it offers invaluable insights into the Religious Right (Christian Nationalists), how they are organized, and what their goals are.  They would truly like to have an autocratic theocracy.  So, when Trump appeals to them for their votes and then says that after this election they won't have to ever vote again, this cries out to their hearts, though it sends shivers down the rest of our spies.  They identify their enemies simply be determining whether a secular government is considered good (enemy) or whether there should be a separation between church and state (enemy).  The organization is not simply national, but international organizations seem to be comingling.  Given the historic past of how this failed to work (and lead to constant bickering) it could be their undoing, but, for now, it is making the movement even more powerful.  Ugh.

The Glassmaker, Tracy Chevalier

 

The Glassmaker by Tracy Chevalier

Started: July 22, 2024
Completed: July 25, 2024
Recommendation: Mild Recommendation
Recommended By: Nobody, but I have read about the glass makers of Venice, so was drawn to this novel from that perspective.

Review:

Chevalier has a new approach to time travel--build some characters you like and plop them into different times.  This is not a bad approach and helps explain transitions (Chevalier uses the analogy of a skipping stone and this is introduced very early so is not any kind of a plot reveal).  This allows for several love stories of different kinds to inhabit different ages. It seems, however, that Chevalier relies on this method to try to add some interest to the book via the cast of characters that surround the major characters rather than developing the major characters themselves.  The book is interesting, the glass making is OK, and the character development is poor.

Table for Two, Amor Towles

 

Table for Two by Amor Towles

Started: July 16, 2024
Completed: July 22, 2024
Recommendation:  Mild Recommendation
Recommended By: my father

Words for which I sought help:

elan -- energy, style, and enthusiasm

Review:

I am not fond of short stories and have read very few since Harlan Ellison died.  I did not realize that this was a collection of short stories and while the transitions felt abrupt going from one to the other, it wasn't until the third that I realized these were short stories and that the characters were not going to reappear.  One of the side effects of listening to a book instead of reading it, I guess.  Without my father's recommendation, I doubt I would have picked up this book even though I have enjoyed Towles' novels in general.  I find it hard to recommend this book as the stories are not what I was expecting when I started and so felt abrupt, incomplete, and broadly dissatisfying.  The novella at the end was a bit of a mystery and Towles did a pretty good job of surprising me, but I didn't enjoy it a lot.

The Safekeep by Yael Van Der Wouden

 

The Safekeep by Yael Van Der Wouden

Started: July 14, 2024
Completed: July 16, 2024
Recommendation: Recommended
Recommended By: This just kept showing up in my feed, so I had to give it a look

Review:

The symbolism of the pear on the front cover is going to be lost until about half way through this book.  After that, it is s a pretty cool cover.  I am having trouble classifying this book as either literature or romance.  This is not a Harlequin romance, more of a Bronte romance, but it feels like the romance is so central to the book that to not include it is a bad idea.  Van Der Wouden uses some of the basic tools of a romance (a diary for example), but tips in enough of the dramatic (the huge dramatic piece is a spoiler, but it is so obvious when it arrives as a large part of the dramatic element, that anyone who reads this book will instantly pick it up) to make it less of a romance and more of a drama.  I dunno.  Still kind of stumped as to how to look at it.  Back to the romance side of things, the sex is pretty explicit so if that is an issue for you, then this book is not for you.  I enjoyed the book and whipped through it, but it is worth noting that there is plenty of depth, with characters seeming to be slippery and morphing on the page.  At no point was this book humorous.

The Worlds I see, Dr. Fei-Fei Li

The Worlds I See: Curiosity, exploration, and discovery at the dawn of AI by Dr. Fei-Fei Li

Started: July 10, 2025
Completed: July 14, 2025
Recommendation: Highly Recommended
Recommended By:  Nobody

Review:

It is interesting to see how people perceive themselves and, for me, it is particularly interesting to hear how scientists see themselves.  Dr. Li is a compelling figure on her own, but the coincidence of her career with the most recent explosion in computer technology is interesting.  I particularly enjoyed her view of the future.  It was very interesting the stark difference between Dr. Li’s appearance before congress (addressing the ethical risks of AI) and Dr. Ford’s appearance (addressing the ethical risks of the judiciary itself).  It feels like Dr. Li is still naive about the risks of AI, but seeing where her thinking has been and where it is going is exceedingly compelling.

Tinkers, Paul Harding

 

Tinkers by Paul Harding

Started: July 3, 2024
Completed: July 11, 2024
Recommendation: Mild recommendation
Recommended By: I think I found this on the Pulitzer list

Words for which I sought help:

Claptrap — absurd or nonsense talk or ideas

Clepsydra — an ancient time-measuring device worked by a flow of water

Craquelure — a network of fine cracks in the paint or varnish of a painting

Creel — a wicker basket for carrying fish

Vesation — a renewal or purification through the burning away or destruction of evil attributes

Review:

This is a very odd book.  The closest I can come to some sort of analogy is Faulkner’s As I Lay Dying, yet this is much more approachable (it is in plain English).  All the same, it is a series of vignettes that are disjoint with intermittent sort of poetry definitions.  Very odd.  The descriptive writing is very good, but the narrative is so broken up that it requires concentration to follow.  I still cannot decide what I fully think of this book and I think it will haunt me.

Plunder, Brendan Ballou

 

Plunder:  Private equity’s plan to pillage America by Brendan Ballou

Started: July 7, 2024
Completed: July 10, 2024
Recommendation: Recommended
Recommended By:  New York Times

Review:

This book will annoy you and may inflame you.  It is pretty awful what the private equity companies are doing and what is required to stop it.  I have seen companies (like Toys R Us) collapse when it seems they should not.  I’ve also heard about prisoners being mistreated with food and with telephone calls.  The behaviors of private equity are pretty horrible and surely immoral.

Night Flyer, Tiya Miles

 

Night Flyer:  Harriet Tubman and the faith dreams of a free people by Tiya Miles

Started: July 6, 2024
Completed: July 7, 2024
Recommendation: Recommended
Recommended By: a New York Times list of upcoming books

Review:

I knew the outlines of Tubman’s story, but I knew neither the details nor the context.  This book offers both and is an interesting and approachable introduction to Harriet Tubman.  It is not thorough (surely there are other biographies for that), but it is complete and it focuses on Tubman’s active life bringing people to freedom.

Power and Progress, Acemoglu and Johnson

 

Power and Progress:  Our 1000-year struggle over technology and prosperity by Daron Acemoglu and Simon Johnson

Started: 6/29/2024
Completed: 7/6/2024
Recommendation: Recommended
Recommended By: I am not certain, but I think I read a review

Review:

The first half of this book is pretty harrowing describing the life and death struggle between technical progress and the underclasses.  I almost stopped reading it.  I was growing weary of hearing how poorly humans treat one-another.  It is enough to say it happens and perhaps offer an example or two, but the endless litany was deadening.  Fortunately we hit Malthus.  I absolutely hate Malthus.  These guys agree and demonstrated how wrong Malthus was and how harmful his concepts were to society in general (not to mention twentieth century debaters).  I have to admit that I kind of reveled.  Not a lot.  Definitely some.  That saved this book and kept me reading.  The back portions of the book are pretty harrowing as well (they address Chinese monitoring and control policies that are terrible).  At this point, though, they did not go into detailed examples and it was possible to accept without vomiting.  The last few chapters offer some thoughts on where to go with progress so as not to destroy society including a discussion of UBI (which they, broadly, do not support).  Interesting stuff that is a tad dated, but definitely not outdated.

The Wisdom of No Escape, Pema Chödrön

 

The Wisdom of No Escape: And the path of loving kindness by Pema Chödrön

Started: June 21, 2024
Completed: July 3, 2024
Recommendation: Mild Recommendation
Recommended By: Nobody

Review:

I have not really studied Buddhism well.  I thought that this was going to be more of a book about meditation than it was.  I find some of the terms familiar (e.g., dharma) and others very unfamiliar.  There is a certain assumption that these terms are at least familiar and, at best, well understood.  I’m not sure that I will ever study Buddhism sufficiently well to find the terms needed to truly appreciate this book sufficiently well understood.

A Great Improvisation, Stacy Schiff

A Great Improvisation:  Franklin, France, and the Birth of America by Stacy Schiff

Started: 6/23/2024
Completed: 6/29/2024
Recommendation: Recommended
Recommended By: Nobody

Words for which I sought help:

deracinated -- uprooted from one's natural geographical, social, or cultural environment

obsequious -- obedient or attentive to an excessive or servile degree

Review:

I enjoy stories about John Adams.  This one makes John Adams look like a country bumpkin who gracelessly insulted Franklin despite Franklin being an overall great guy.  Schiff is enamored of her subject and that is fine.  I really liked hearing about Franklin from someone who really liked him.  Who treated some of his womanizing as a man seeking love (as he undoubtedly was) instead of a cur who would sleep with anything in a skirt.  It is nice to hear this side of Franklin presented well.  I also had no idea how much of his work in France was not noticed (largely because of his lack of letters, both from not writing and from losses at sea).  I am constantly reminded when I read a biography like this how hard it was to communicate.

The Ministry of Time, Kaliane Bradley

 

The Ministry of Time by Kaliane Bradley

Started: June 20, 2024
Completed: June 23, 2024
Recommendation: Highly Recommended
Recommended By: My niece

Words for which I sought help:

penumbra -- the partially shaded outer region of the shadow cast by an opaque object

Review:

Time travel, for me, is an unpleasant topic because I don't generally like the impact of the future on the past.  I'm not a fan of the "Back to the Future" approach of multiple time lines.  This book starts out with a practical approach to time travel and then seems to violate it (by using future flashbacks).  In all, the fundamental concept (that you cannot change the past, you can only change the future) is an interesting idea.  My gut is that it is unlikely you could reasonably change your personal future and, so, this book charges into my personal buzz saw.  That it does, so, however, is not necessarily a shortcoming.  This is, after all, a novel and Bradley is consistent within her own terms.  The pace is excellent and the way that she takes what she calls a 'footnote" and expands it into an entire character is so pleasant, believable, and enriching that I will forgive many things.  One thing that bothers me is how she handled grief and, while I accept that grief manifests in different people in different ways, it feels to me that Bradley ignores grief in many of her characters.  That is a short coming that could be improved and so I feel that the book could be better, but I fully accept that it is quite nice as it is and harbor no reservations in recommending it.  Read the afterword, it is well worth the time and does not expand the novel but talks about Bradley's approach to writing it.

Seven Brief Lessons on Physics, Carlo Rovelli

 

Seven Brief Lessons on Physics by Carlo Rovelli

Started: June 20, 2024
Completed: June 20, 2024
Recommendation: Highly Recommended
Recommended By: Nobody

Review:

Loop quantum gravity!  Gravity as seen through the lens of quanta!  Granular universe!  Right up my alley.

Brooklyn, Colm Tóibín

 

Brooklyn by Colm Tóibín

Started: 6/18/2024
Completed: 6/20/2024
Recommendation: Highly Recommended
Recommended By: Nobody, but I did enjoy The Magician so when I saw that Tóibín had released a new book, Long Island, I took note.  Of course, then I found out that it was a sequel to this book!

Review:

I read this book knowing that there was a sequel and I think it affected my perspective.  The writing was fabulous and the growth of the protagonist going out on her own and experiencing a whole new world (with all of its angst and all of its possibilities) was richly detailed.  I was struck by how her adventures (and misadventures) were handled and I think that as I neared the end of the book my approach to the book's conclusion would have been much different had I not known that another book was to come.  Regardless, I felt unfulfilled (which, surely, many others must have as well) by the conclusion and I ticked it off mentally without thinking that there was a book to follow.  Surely, the author had not intended to write another as he concluded this book.  Or, if he did, he certainly took his sweet time.  All the same, I can recommend the book with a clear conscious because he did, indeed, write a second book.

Hearts of Oak, Eddie Robson

 

Hearts of Oak by Eddie Robson

Started: June 11, 2024
Completed: June 19, 2024
Recommendation: Not Recommended
Recommended By: Nobody

Review:

This book is really a farse and it is a bit of a morality play as well.  It is not very funny although the opening paragraph is pretty darn good.  The plot, if I were to describe it is really rather sad and once you look under the hood, it becomes down right depressing.  It is not the light romp I'd hoped for.  The part that makes it hardest is not my blown expectations, but the feeling that I wasted my time on a pretty basic story with a nice little twist (although this twist is quite clear).