The Lumumba Plot, Stuart A. Reid

 

The Lumumba Plot: The secret history of the CIA and a cold war assassination by Stuart A. Reid

Started: January 20, 2024
Completed: January 28, 2024
Recommendation: Mild Recommendation
Recommended By: Nobody

Words for which I sought help:

bindle -- a bundle of clothes or bedding (it is probably not fully apt, but I thought of this as the collection of things that a stereotypical hobo carried on the end of a stick)

Review:

This is a story a little bit about the CIA and a little bit about an assassination, but it is not an assassination by the CIA.  More than anything thing else, this is a history of the early days of a free Congo.  Yes, the CIA was involved.  So were the Belgians.  In fact, far too many countries were involved.  Thus, the book is a good book describing how the Congo stopped being part of the Belgian empire (as a colony) and started to become a nation ruled by a strong man (of course, not Lumumba or there would be no assassination).  In the end, however, Lumumba is assassinated by a rival and that was only really possible because of the involvement of the CIA in general and the United States funds (via both the CIA and the State Department) in coordination with the United Nations and the Belgians.  It did happen during the cold war.  This is a fascinating story in its own right, it is just the title that is largely misleading.  Of course, the title is not fully misleading.  The way that foreigners treated the leaders of the Congo both before and after the transition from colony is pretty awful.  The new leaders of the Congo were hamstrung from the get by the Belgians whose job was, at least in part, to facilitate a transition but who really had no interest in giving up their colony.  Thus, people who were wholly unprepared and faithlessly mislead were left holding the bag.  This devolved into a cult of personality and eventually lead to rampant death and torture.  The CIA definitely had a hand, but its plans were not carried out directly. 

The Bright Ages, Gabriele and Perry

 

The Bright Ages:  A new history of medieval Europe by Matthew Gabriele and David M. Perry

Started: January 15, 2024
Completed: January 20, 2024
Recommendation: Mild recommendation
Recommended By: A scholar of medieval Europe who felt that the term "dark ages" was inappropriate

Review:

The goal of the book is to shine a new light on the dark ages.  In that sense, this book does a good job of reframing this era.  In my opinion, the material is just too vast to be covered in one book and this book serves as an introduction.  if that is what you want, then this is for you.

Standing My Ground, Harry Dunn

 

Standing My Ground:  A Capitol police officer's fight for accountability and good trouble after January 6th by Harry Dunn

Started:  January 14, 2024

Completed: January 15, 2024

Recommendation: Highly Recommended

Recommended By: My Wife

Review:

Mr. Dunn might be a little angry.  His experience on January 6th was brutal.  His anger at seeing Americans behaving badly in the name of patriotism is not shocking.  His visceral experience of January 6th and his desire to make it clear that the behavior on that day was neither patriotic nor peaceful is well described.

The Library of the Unwritten, A. J. Hackwith

 

The Library of the Unwritten:  Join the library raise Hell by A. J. Hackwith is the first book in the Hell's Library Trilogy

Started: January 7, 2024
Completed: January 14, 2024
Recommendation: Highly Recommended
Recommended By: Nobody

Review:

I am easily drawn in when a librarian is the protagonist.  This is a different twist in-so-far as the books the librarian maintains are books that have never been written--so these are the ideas for novels that never made it to the page and happen to be stored in an annex of Hell.  I truly think that this opens up a ton of supernatural interactions and it is fun to romp through "afterlives" of a variety of religions.  In some ways the maturity of the characters happens through revelation.  In others, the characters seem to return to character traits that they felt had been left behind.  All together, though, this is a fun read which considers what might happen if authors meet the characters from their own books and, to a much larger extent, what happens to characters who manage to leave the pages of a book.  Meanwhile, angels (both current and fallen), demons, and a variety of other supernaturals (including the inhabitants of Valhalla) provide a colorful background for interesting adventures.  A dual of quotes from famous novels?  Got it.  Face off with hell hounds?  Got it.  Lots of jokes at Lucifer's expense?  Got it.  I enjoyed it.

One Hundred Years of Solitude, Gabriel García Márquez

 

One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel García Márquez is another book by a non-English author which I found on a list of great books by non-English writers.  This book was probably instrumental in the author winning the Nobel Prize for Literature.

Started: January 4, 2024
Completed: January 7, 2024
Recommendation: Not Recommended
Recommended By: I cannot remember the source of the list

Review:

I am no literary critic.  I found this book to be rambling and boring.  The book covers a long series of lives in a family with many detailed lives, but the book seems disjoint without a common theme running through it.  It was an unpleasant read as the timeline moved backwards and forwards in small jumps.  I dunno, I simply found the book boring.

Starling House, Alix E. Harrow

 

Starling House by Alix E. Harrow

Started: December 31, 2023
Completed: January 4, 2024
Recommendation: Not recommended
Recommended By: Nobody

Review: 

This book seemed longer than it needed to be.  It took a long time to come to a fairly straight-forward plot twist and then behaved basically as though the twist wasn't there (think Indiana Jones not needed in Raiders of the Lost Ark).  I think that Harrow's idea was probably pretty good and much more could have been done with it (without giving away too much, the way to resolve the issues of the book wasn't really a bad idea, but it seemed like almost an after thought rather than something fundamental to the story).

The Squad, Ryan Grim

 

The Squad:  AOC and the hope of a political revolution by Ryan Grim

Started: 12/27/2023
Completed: 12/31/2023
Recommendation: Recommended
Recommended By: Nobody

Review:

This book is only structurally about the squad.  It is mostly about the most recent phase of progressivism and is an extension of the author's prior work about the Rainbow Coalition.  That is rather interesting on its own merits and is the basis of the recommendation, but if you are looking for a book about the squad, this is probably not it.  Yes, they are mentioned, but this book only casually talks about how they interact with a few poignant scenes rather than an actual description of how they work together (if at all).  Grim repeatedly reminds the reader that "The Squad" does not really exist and that the name came from a casual mention over twitter and does not really represent a group that coordinates.  If that is fully true (which it may be), then this book is a true disappointment.  It feels to me, however, that there is some truth to the name and that this book simply does not have the insight to identify the nature of the group.