A Far Better Thing, H. G. Parry

 

A Far Better Thing:  I feared this was the best of times; I hoped it could not get any worse by H. G. Parry.  I enjoyed The Scholar and the Last Faery Door, so I thought I would give this one a shot.

Started: October 12, 2025
Completed: October 24, 2025
Recommendation: Recommended
Media: Audio
Recommended By: Nobody

Review:

It would have been better if I had realized that this was a sort of retelling of a A Tale of Two Cities.  This should not be a shock to anyone reading this review (and if it is, you're welcome).  So it should be clear where this book is headed.  Nonetheless, this is a good trip and I enjoyed it.  I got as attached to the characters as one should and enjoyed the development of several of them.  There were a couple of characters who were clearly foils and embodied their stereotypes to the fullest.  No harm in that.  The fairy pieces were interesting and well crafted, although the author created a fairy world that she could then not adequately describe which didn't leave much to the imagination so much as leave a little extra mystery.

The Sirens' Call, Chris Hayes

 

The Sirens' Call:  How attention became the world's most endangered resource by Chris Hayes

Started: October 12, 2025
Completed: October 18, 2025
Recommendation: Recommended

Media:  Audio
Recommended By: Barrack Obama

Review:

I do not follow Chris Hayes closely (perhaps that is sideways music to his ears), but I was quite surprised to see a reference to Epictetus show up in this book.  There is no reason a news anchor should not be well educated (and many reasons why they should be), but this borders on someone who actually has an interest in philosophy and his interest in other topics (like Death of a Salesman) could be a side-effect of having acted or could be a side-effect of a deep education.  I dunno what it is, but I like it and I think he would make an interesting person with whom to speak outside of the context of what he does for a living.

I wonder about the particular type of utopia he has in mind.  SPOILER ALERT.  I'm not sure that the return to a directed way of looking at the world (such as a physical copy of the New York Times or a vinal album) is where we are headed.  Surely there will be pockets of people who will use this kind of method to view the world and, perhaps, it will not be dwindling pockets.  In the end, however, I wonder if they will be sufficiently large to function as a brake on the rest of society.

A Dead Djinn in Cairo, P. Djèlí Clark

 

A Dead Djinn in Cairo by P. Djèlí Clark I read Ring Shout and enjoyed how this author wrote, so when I saw another of his books, I picked this one up!

Started: October 14, 2025
Completed: October 15, 2025
Recommendation: Recommended
Recommended By: Nobody

Review:

This is really a short story.  Clark does a huge amount of world building very succinctly and takes some commonly understood character types (djinn, for example) and plays with the stereotype (what if there was an immortal play boy who became besotted).  He also does a good job of crafting an investigator who must solve a mystery while throwing in a decent amount of her personal life.  Generally very well done.  The mystery is impossible to solve, but enjoyable none the less.

The Daughter of Odren, Ursula K. Le Guin

 

The Daughter of Odren by Ursula K. Le Guin is a book in the Earthsea Cycle

Started: October 13, 2025
Completed: October 13, 2025
Recommendation: Recommended
Recommended By: Nobody

Review:

The key to Le Guin's magic in Earthsea is that in order to bring one thing to this place, it must come from that place.  There is a loss associated with magic and not simply a gain.  That is a critically important concept to my mind and switches magic from being "magical" to being a form of theft.  Sometimes this theft is appropriate and some times it is not.  It has felt to me in other books of Earthsea that Le Guin has explored that trade-off.  Here, however, there is much more the perspective of magic being simply gain without loss.  This time, she explores the hollowness of victory.  It is still a good story, but not the excellence I anticipate from an Earthsea lay.

The Spinning Heart, Donal Ryan

 

The Spinning Heart by Donal Ryan

Started: October 7, 2025
Completed: October 13, 2025
Recommendation: Highly recommended
Recommended By: I picked up the sequel without realizing that this book came first, so I had to read it.

Words for which I sought help:

craic -- fun, good times, an enjoyable atmosphere

creche -- a day nursery or full-day care center

culchie -- someone from rural Ireland

demesne -- the land attached to a country house or manor that is kept for the owner's own use, distinct from lands leased to tenants

dipsomaniac -- an alcoholic, especially one who experiences intermittent bouts of craving for alcohol

flaker -- an unreliable, eccentric, or unconventional person

mither -- fuss over or moan about something

quare -- strange, peculiar, or odd

solipsist -- a person who is very self-centered or selfish

tash -- a moustache

Review:

Oh, this was a delightfully odd book.  Each character is a chapter.  What develops is the community as a whole, not a single character (although there is one, Frank, who changes over the course of the book).  I just enjoyed it.  This is not a happy book and it is not an adventure.  It is, however, a real look at a community for good or bad from the people who live in the community.

The Big Myth, Oreskes and Conway

 

The Big Myth:  How American business taught us to loathe government and love the free market by Naomi Oreskes and Erik M. Conway

Started: September 19, 2025
Completed: October 12, 2025
Recommendation: Highly recommended
Recommended By: Nobody

Review:

The reality is that the "magic" of the free market is not really magic.  It is a drive to profitability and numerous examples (such as electrification of rural areas) detail how ineffective the free market can be.  Thus, the free market does need some bounds and some regulations (don't dump your waste into the river).  The big myth we have been sold is that the free market somehow solves things that "big government" cannot.  Yet actually looking at the data, "big government" is highly effective at helping address social ills.  That is because the free market and profitability do not necessary align with resolving social ills (indeed, child labor and slavery show that it can aggravate social ills).  Reagan's trickle down that never trickled is the heart of the data set that shows clearly how untempered self-interest does not make things better for us.  The dichotomy between free market capitalism and communism is a false dichotomy with a LOT of space in between.  Our liberty as a people is not at risk when the free market is properly supervised.

Erasing History, Jason Stanley

 

Erasing History:  How fascists rewrite the past to control the future by Jason Stanley

Started: 10/11/2025
Completed: 10/11/2025
Recommendation: Highly recommended
Recommended By: Nobody

Review:

It is interesting to hear how fascists fight to get rid of history.  It is important that the history of a fascist state be "good" and attributable to the fascists.  Stanley argues that a large part of the work happens in schools where history is codified among children.  This explains the focus on censorship of books in the school libraries.  The justification was that someone could always go to the regular library to read the book, but the regular library is coming under fire.

History is also better when viewed from many facets (several people can experience the same event in different ways).  Fascists, however, want to control the story (honestly, like everything else), so they want one history to be told (their history).  This is short book, but it is very clear and the topics covered are kept close to actual history and its erasure which allows for some context while at the same time applying brevity.  Very well done. 

The Myth of American Idealism, Chomsky and Robinson

 

The Myth of American Idealism:  How U.S. foreign policy endangers the world by Noam Chomsky and Nathan J. Robinson  I got this book as part of a book club sponsored by the authors.  I have read Chomsky's books on language and programming, but not his works on politics.  I have been a long time subscriber to Current Affairs which is Nathan Robinson's project.

Started: June 1, 2025
Completed: October 11, 2025
Recommendation: Recommended
Recommended By: the authors

Review:

This book is eye-opening.  First, there is the distinction between what America says and what it does (looking out for the good of a populace and then actually bombing that populace).  This can be seen in speeches from politicians and then the actual orders given by those same politicians.  While the right is more culpable, this has been happening from both the right and left.  There are also draw dropping statements on the public stage where the USA says simply horrible things and then follows through on the horrible stuff.  The back end of the book is focused on what can be done, but, honestly, there is not a lot of advice there that anyone can act upon.  Getting the media to focus on the facts and the facts alone is hard and it is something that no individual can do.  Supporting universities and their efforts to offer multiple views of history, but, again, it is not at all clear how that can be done.  In the end, the value if this book is in seeing what the USA is doing in the name of "We The People."

The Silk Roads, Peter Frankopan

 

The Silk Roads:  A new history of the world by Peter Frankopan

Started:  August 11, 2025
Completed: October 9, 2025
Recommendation: Highly Recommended
Recommended By: Nobody in particular, but I think that this caught my eye because of my niece's recent visit to Morocco where she sent me pictures of ruins that once were part of the silk road.

Review:

This look at the history of the world focuses on what we would call the East (here in the West) and identifies how the countries of the East have been the focus of modern history with the start of everything in the general area (think Babylon or Ur if you know that).  The perspective is refreshing and offers new insights if you are even only thinking about trade (which is how this book looks at it).  Surely there are other ways to view the world, but from the perspective of trade Frankopan makes a good argument that what we think of as the Silk Roads were the entry point of West into the lucrative markets, resources, skills, and culture of the East.  Ridiculously long book with an incredible amount of detail.

Arden's Act, Elizabeth Thomas

 

Arden's Act by Elizabeth Thomas

Started: August 11, 2025
Completed: October 7, 2025
Recommendation: Mild recommendation
Recommended By: The Author

Review:

I am trying to enjoy the romance genre.  SPOILERS AHEAD.

This book looks at romance through the lens of rape.  Arden is almost gang raped at the outset of the book.  A flashback tells you she was abused.  As the book progresses, she is living with "kept women" most of the time.  She, herself, becomes a kept woman (and has sex with a lord in exchange for safety from her childhood abuser).  Later, she marries (in order to keep her child) a man with whom she is friends, but not a romantic interest.  She comes to love this man who faces an untimely death and she returns to her lord where she is more of a girl toy.  Eventually, she prostitutes herself to save her child and nurse maid (who, meanwhile, is raped).  Finally, she ends up marrying the lord who gives up his title to be with her.

As a result of the focus on rape, I found the sex scenes (even when conceptually mutually agreed) to be mildly unattractive.  The concept of the book as a whole put me off.  I will grant that at least the lord comes to realize he has effectively raped Arden though by the end she freely loves him.  I just didn't find this book romantic and, with the overtones of rape rife throughout, I did not find it pleasant.  I offer a mild recommendation because this book did not feel formulaic and some of the characters do change over the course of the book.  The plot was fairly straight forward with the exception of the step father who, of course, is raped in jail and comes to understand what he had done to his step daughter (I did not expect that nuance).

Rosarita, Anita Desai

 

Rosarita by Anita Desai

Started: October 2, 2025
Completed: October 4, 2025
Recommendation: Mildly recommended
Recommended By: Nobody

Review:

The omnipotent narrator has an odd habit of addressing the protagonist as, "you."  It is an odd third person personal (?) form of story telling.  It was so incredibly distracting to be so directly addressed by the narrator in the persona of the protagonist as to constantly distract me from the story which unfolds from a series of descriptions and vignettes which feature people who are not present (most notably the protagonist's mother who has died). 

Desai is celebrated for her turn of phrase.  In this book I was captured by, "The bells ring unexpectedly at irregular times."  I like this sentence because it suggests that if there are bells, they should be ringing expectedly at regular times.  In the following paragraph there is a discussion, effectively, of unexpected memories intruding.  It is a nice link and something that I can appreciate.  I liked that the metaphor was implied by proximity.

How To Be A Saint, Kate Sidley

 

How To Be A Saint:  An extremely weird and mildly sacrilegious history of the Catholic Church's biggest names by Kate Sidley

Started: October 1, 2025
Completed: October 2, 2025
Recommendation: Recommended
Recommended By: Nobody

Review:

I am not a Catholic.  I did enjoy this book (it isn't the first time that I've found the stories of saints interesting).  This one is fun because author is funny.  So the turns of phrase had good timing and this tongue in cheek book was a quick and enjoyable read.

Dominion, Addie E. Citchens

 

Dominion by Addie E. Citchens

Started: September 28, 2025
Completed: October 1, 2025
Recommendation: Recommended
Recommended By: Nobody

Review:

This was an interesting book.  The characters are rich for their ages and the story benefits from multiple perspectives.  While several of the characters are children, they are old beyond their years.  This was not a happy story, it was really a slow demise of a family and, with it, part of a community.  Sadness, heaped on sorrow, heaped on pain is the way that the Joker describes this Mississippi community and this exploration of that experience describes the effect of that environment more eloquently than spelling out the details of each piece.