Where Tyranny Begins, David Rohde

 

Where Tyranny Begins:  The Justice Department, the FBI, and the war on democracy by David Rohde

Started: December 16, 2025

Completed: December 21, 2025

Recommendation: Recommended

Medium: Audio

Recommended By: Nobody

Review:

I thought that his book might outline some of the issues that Rohde experienced as a hostage.  Instead, this was a blow-by-blow recounting of the impact of Trump on the FBI and the Justice department.  This book provided endless details (J. Edgar Hoover was 29 when he started heading what would become the FBI).  This book ended before Trump's second term and projected more what was detailed in this book for the future.  Now we live in that future.

Hemlock & Silver, T. Kingfisher

 

Hemlock & Silver by T. Kingfisher

Started: December 9, 2025
Completed: December 16, 2025
Recommendation: Recommended
Medium:  Audio
Recommended By: Nobody, I have just been on a Kingfisher jag

Review:

This is an interesting take on Snow White (spoiler:  Snow White plays a minor role).  I do like the idea of an average person who is exceptional because she pursued her interests.  That, it occurs to me, is a woefully unexplored story line as opposed to the average person who is exceptional for some secret reason.  I also liked that in this fairy tale, there was less killing of the parents of a child (of course, to be consistent with the fairy tale concept, death of at least one parent is necessary).

The Land In Winter by Andrew Miller

 

The Land in Winter by Andrew Miller

Started: December 3, 2025
Completed: December 9, 2025
Recommendation: Highly Recommended
Media: Audio
Recommended by: The Booker Prize

Review:

This is an interesting look at small town rural life.  It has all of the drama you might expect from any novel with the added touch of everyone knowing everyone.  As I read, it became clearer to me how the different pieces were going to go together, so the tiny amount of mystery did not attract me.  What did attract me, however, was how Miller was going to put it all together.  I also, have to admit that I did not think about the daily grind of rural life in the 1960s and how even small climactic changes can have such a big impact.  At the start of the book, I had a little bit of trouble grasping where the book was going--that is because the start was intended to throw the reader off a bit.  Of course, it all tied in, but it took a while.  The story is written with a degree of subtleness.  Miller doesn't throw plot twists in your face, he seems to bring you along for the ride rather than try to catch you out.

The Ten Year Affair, Erin Somers

 

The Ten Year Affair by Erin Somers

Started: November 29, 2025
Completed: December 3, 2025
Recommendation: Not Recommended
Media: Audio
Recommended By: I think this was reviewed by someone on BlueSky

Review:

It feels like the author started writing about an affair, then switched to writing about a longer affair, a dream-like affair.  This book, is somehow a melding of both of those with the "real" world in which the dream-like affair is a fantasy.  This allows for a lot of juggling of priorities that aren't really juggled.  I could not get into it.