Lois & Clark Forums Forums General Discussion Off Topic 50 Book Challenge 2020/What I've Read in 2021

Happy New Year everyone! Looking forward to seeing what everyone is reading!

#1 A Better Man by Louise Penny



I read this book for my book club. It reminds me of Murder She Wrote in book form, which is not necessarily a bad thing. It just wasn't working for me. Since I haven't read the other 14 books in the series, the background characters in the 'charming' village tended to blend together. It didn't do much as a mystery or a character driven story for me. And the author had an annoying habit. Of breaking sentences up. Into small. Dramatic. Pieces.

@scifiJoan: The blurb makes it sound like the story is nested in French Canadian culture, which might explain the narrative style of the tale, including the


And it's hard to jump into the middle of a series. I know the Spenser detective novels originally by Robert B. Parker are confusing to someone who picks up one of the more recent entries (the series began in 1973).

Psst! Your quote is actually hysterical. I laughed out loud.

1) The Second World War Volume 1: The Gathering Storm by Sir Winston Churchill the first of his 6 volume series on the Second World War. I previously read his series on WWI, well written and insightful this brings to life a post WWI world and the events that would plunge the world into a second world conflict

#2 The Coddling of the American Mind by by Jonathan Haidt and Greg Lukianoff


I enjoyed this book. Most of the ideas were sound. I liked that examples from the headlines were used and ones from both the far-right and left were included.

#3 Friends and Strangers by J. Courtney Sullivan


Definitely Chick-lit but entertaining. It tries to be more but gets a bit heavy handed.

2) The Second World War Volume 2: Their Finest Hour by Sir Winston Churchill the second book of his series recounts the period as France was overrun, the subsequent evacuation from the Dunkirk beaches and how Britain stood alone against the Nazi war machine enduring the Blitz and the Battle of Britain.

3) The Second World War Volume 3: The Grand Alliance by Sir Winston Churchill the third of his series recounts the events that would finally draw America into the war and the formation of the alliance that would decide the fate of the war

#4 The Half Sister by Sandie Jones


Forgettable thriller. Unlikeable characters.

#5 The Dutch House by Ann Patchett


The cover of this book is a bit off-putting. I wouldn't have picked this book up if not for being on my book club list. I enjoyed it.

#1 Blink by Malcolm Gladwell

This is a re-read for me, but I always enjoy Gladwell's books because he puts so much thought and solid research into them. This one concerns the sudden decisions all of us make in life - the psych term is "thin-slicing" - with very little information, whether they turn out to be right or wrong. He points out the surprising advantages of snap decisions vs. being buried by information, but he also shows how our snap decisions can sometimes be as far from correct as the Earth is from Neptune. Thumbs-up.

#2 Winds of Wrath by Taylor Anderson

The fifteenth and final novel in a series, this wraps up the conflict the USS Walker (a WW2 destroyer) was dropped into after being sucked out of the Java Sea in January 1942 and deposited in the middle of a shooting war in another world. The series is heavy on combat, but there is a lot of character development also. Anderson managed to keep up the tension through all fifteen installments by showing a victory for the good guys and a lingering mortal threat they'd have to confront before they were ready. Good read if you like syfy combat fiction.

#3 Old Black Magic by Ace Atkins

This is also a re-read. After Robert B. Parker's death several of his characters were continued by other authors. This series is about Spenser, a gritty private detective with both military combat experience and time on the Boston PD. He's witty, erudite, impossible to frighten off a case, and nearly always wins the day. The few times he does not haunt him. Murder and art theft and gangsters and double-dealing abound.

#4 With Wings Like Eagles by Michael Korda

Korda tells the story of the Battle of Britain not just from the cockpits of the aircraft, but from the command centers on the ground, the backroom deals that were made by both sides, the mistakes and the successes, and I learned a lot by reading this. I especially liked his description of the "Beauty Chorus," the young Brit women who plotted German air raids, even when the bombs fell outside their workrooms - and occasionally on them. There are many good histories of this period of WW2, but my impression is that this is one of the most even-handed accounts of the battle.

#5 Gods At Play by Tom Callahan

This is a collection of memories from a lifetime of writing about all kinds of sports and sporting events, with a strong emphasis on the people involved. It includes Mickey Mantle's lament at age 64 or so: "If I'd known I was gonna live this long, I would've taken better care of myself." It's both funny and touching. You don't need to be any kind of sports fan to enjoy this volume.

#6 Night of the Assassins by Howard Blum

An account of the Nazi attempt to assassinate Franklin Roosevelt, Winston Churchill, and Josef Stalin at the 1945 summit in the Middle East. Blum cites multiple sources from all three countries, points out where they agree along with the many points where they disagree, and even entertains other theories as to what was actually planned and what happened. This kind of history must be told with a little wiggle room in the truth, because no one person or source has the whole story. Blum has done his best, though, and this is a very interesting read. Probably true, too. At least mostly.

#7 South Pacific Destroyer by Russell Sydnor Crenshaw Jr.

I expected this to contain more battle descriptions, given that the USS Maury participated in sea combat off Guadalcanal and the author was her gunnery officer and then skipper. It was packed with anecdotes of the men who served and died aboard the destroyer, and contained a lot of information on the ordnance (weapons) the ship carried. It just felt dry and impersonal to me. But it wasn't a waste of time, either.

I enjoy Malcolm Gladwell books too, Terry.

#6 The One by John Maas

A simple DNA test has been devised to scientifically determine your perfect match. The book follows five different people about to visit their 'true' love, with interesting consequences.

This is a fun premise. The book was a quick read with short, fast paced chapters. There were deeper issues I thought the author could've explored.

4) The Second World War Volume 4: The Hinge of Fate by Winston Churchill the fourth book of Churchill’s WWII series focuses on how the allies gradually began to turn the tide against Germany and Japan after repeated defeats in the early years of the war and how afterwards the allies would have the Germans and Japanese on the back foot.

5) The Way Back by Erich Maria Remarque the sequel to All Quiet on the Western Front that deals with the returned soldiers from the western front. Too often we focus on the physical scars seen on veterans, but it is the mental scars that we don’t see that is not much emphasised. The road back to normalcy in a much changed world is far more difficult than anyone could have ever imagined.

6) Joe Biden by Evan Osnos I finished this just as Biden begins his term as America’s 46th president. This is more a profile of the man himself and also deals with the campaign last year. I won’t get into the contentious side of politics and in fact I take the view that all politicians are as bad as each other, but I did enjoy this.

7) Not Quite the Diplomat by Chris Patten Chris Patten is perhaps best known as Hong Kong’s last British governor who would oversee the last years of the island’s time as a British colony and also negotiate Hong Kong’s return to China in 1997 the ceremony of which I remember watching on TV. This book though isn’t about that period of time although he does reference it. Part memoir and part analysis into the complicated world of international diplomacy this book is both full of humour and intelligence.

8) Poems by Wilfred Owen I’m not a fan of poetry in general, but Owen’s prose is amongst my favourites. As a military history fan I enjoy that Owen invokes with his words the horrors of life in the trenches.

#7 The Color of Water by James McBride


This was quite a story. Though I wish the author had given the reader a little more emotional insight.

#8 The Coddling of the American Mind by by Jonathan Haidt and Greg Lukianoff

Thanks for the recommendation, scifiJoan. This is indeed an excellent book. The premise is clearly stated, the research is varied and well cited, and their arguments are buttressed with both objective facts and honest analysis. Good for what might ail your local school.

#9 How I Got This Way by Patrick F. McManus

If you haven't read any of McManus' outdoor humor, you should, even if your idea of "being in the outdoors" is watching National Geographic channel. According to him, he's the world's worst outdoorsman, but also the most enthusiastic. In this, one of his later volumes, he tells his friend Davey that he fell out of a streetcar at age five and landed on his head. When he questions Davey about his excessively mirthful response, Davey answers, "It's not funny, but it explain so much!" This Depression-era survivor will leave you in stitches, and one can never laugh too much.

#10 Tunnel In the Sky by Robert A. Heinlein

Seventeen-year-old Rod Walker goes to an alien planet for a college-level survival elective course with nearly a hundred others of his age. They're all stranded and must survive - or not - using their wits and intelligence. One of Heinlein's juvenile novels from his early years, it's full of his philosophy - ultimately we must rely not only on our own resources, but on those of like-minded others. No sex, no explicit violence, but realistic action, especially given the time frame when it was written and the target audience. This is another re-read, but Heinlein was a teacher at heart, and his lessons are worth considering even today. Thumbs up.

#11 Unsinkable by James Sullivan

This is the story of the USS Plunkett, DD-431, the US Navy's most embattled destroyer during World War II. She and the men on her saw combat in the Mediterranean from North Africa to Sicily to Italy to southern France, and she suffered the most prolonged and devastating air attack any American warship who survived the experience during the war. It's the story I'd hoped to read about the USS Murray (see above). This one makes up for it. Not only did I learn even more about destroyers and their use during combat, I learned a great deal about the men who served on her. Very good. Thumbs up here also.

9) The Second World War Volume 5: Closing the Ring by Winston Churchill the fifth book of Churchill’s WWII series details the the series of victories the allies and the losses made by the axis powers in 1943-1944.

10) The Second World War Volume 6: Triumph and Tragedy by Winston Churchill the last book of Churchill’s series detailing the closing stages of WWII as the allies closed in on Berlin and then ending with the surrender of the axis powers

11) Around the World in Eighty Days by Jules Verne read this years ago, but this is always a favourite. Follows the journey of eccentric Englishman Phileas Fogg and his French valet Passepatout who journey around the world after a bet between Fogg and members of the Reform Club in London. Trailing them is police inspector Fix who is convinced that Fogg is responsible for the bank robbery that occurred in London prior to their departure

12) The Truths We Hold: An American Journey by Kamala Harris prior to her nomination as President Biden’s running mate, I’d never heard of now Vice President Kamala Harris so I bought this out of a desire to know more about her. I’ll leave the politics out of it, but this is overall was a good insight into who she is as a person

#8. The giver of stars by Joyo Moyes

This book was loosely based on a group of women who established a pack mule library in Kentucky during the 30s. I love the idea that books are very important. Yet the characters weren't overly memorable. After reading, "Me before you", I expected more from this writer.

#9 Monogamy by Sue Miller

Annie is devastated when her husband suddenly dies. When she learns he hadn't always been faithful to her, the grieving process becomes harder.

The description of this book lead me to expect something different. The characters weren't especially likeable and the pace was slow.

13) Government and Revolution in Vietnam by Dennis J. Duncanson this is actually quite academic so I wouldn’t really recommend it for people who are looking for a quick overview of Vietnamese politics. I don’t even remember where I bought this from, but I found this quite interesting.

14) A Time for War: The United States and Vietnam 1941-1975 by Robert D. Schulzinger this book delves into the policy behind America’s involvement in Vietnam and the relationship between American government and the American backed South. This was eye opening to me as I ended up finding out about certain incidence that even I didn’t know had occurred. Also interesting to me though the description of both was less than what I had hoped was finding out more about two famous incidences that occurred near what was my dad’s childhood home.

#10 A Beautiful Foolish Endeavor by Hank Green

Sequel to An Absolutely Remarkable Thing. Some interesting ideas, but got a little heavy handed in places. Entertaining but not as good as the first book.

#11 The Push by Ashley Audrain

This book about a mother of a problem child was billed as similar to We Have to Talk About Kevin and hyped as great for book clubs. It is nowhere near the caliber of that book. This was yet another cheap psychological thriller.

#12 The Tattooist of Auschwitz by Heather Morris

This book is based on a real person's life. The tone was a little different from other similar stories, focusing more on the main character wheeling and dealing to get food for others. I liked the emphasis on people helping others but in other ways some serious aspects of these camps weren't stressed.

I was surprised that I liked it when I read it because I’m not a fan of historical fiction. If you’re interested the author has published a second book in continuation of this one.

15) Monash: The Outsider who Won a War by Roland Perry General Sir John Monash is a legendary figure with respect to WWI. This is a wonderfully written biography of the first Australian commander to be given command of Australian forces independent of British influence (keep in mind at this point Australia was a young nation having only been federated just 13 years prior to the outbreak of WWI). Perhaps his greatest legacy though was leading the organisation of annual ANZAC Day commemorations as he felt that those who died on the battlefield should remembered every year and also the planning of The Shrine of Remembrance war memorial in Melbourne. This also touches on the prejudice he faced as unlike the British high command he was not a career soldier, he was from a British colony and he was also ethnically a German Jew and as such was looked down upon by many and it has been suggested that his Jewish background was one of the reasons why he was never promoted to the rank of Field Marshal despite his excellent leadership and command qualities

16) Tales from 1001 Nights by Anonymous the famed collection of stories from the Middle East. Truthfully, up until now, I had never read the whole collection and only had ever read the stories I was most familiar with (Aladdin and Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves). I admit though that some of the stories seemed really drawn out and I lost a little interest in the end

# 12 The Pawnbroker by David Thurlo Middle East Marine combat vet Charlie Henry leaves the Corps and buys a pawnshop near his native Navajo reservation in New Mexico. But the previous owner was more than dishonest, and his lies and treacheries and criminal acts embroil Charlie in more action that he'd prefer. Book 1 of a series.

I enjoy reading about Navajo culture, and the Thurlos did a terrific job portraying the stresses of reservation life and keeping the peace with the white man's law. Aimee Thurlo passed away in 2014, but she and her husband wrote together for forty years. You can see not only their love of the Navajo people in their prose, their love for each other comes through, too. I can't tell who wrote what part. Thumbs up for any of their work.

# 13 Grave Consequences by David Thurlo Book 2 of the Charlie Henry series. More murder, more mayhem, more interesting but flawed characters trying to recover from various misfortunes and bad decisions, and Charlie is smack in the middle of it again.

# 14 Viper by Lt. Col. (ret.) Dan Hampton A first-person account of training to fight an F-16 Viper (also called Falcon). Col. Hampton flew over 200 combat missions in the two Gulf wars and was credited with destroying more SAM (surface-to-air) missile sites than any other pilot in the theater. A gripping read which includes a (very necessary) glossary - I didn't know what it meant to "zipper" the radio microphone. (It means to click it rapidly for a second or two to acknowledge a transmission.) Not for the faint of heart, I'm afraid.

# 15 Beyond Valor by Jon Erwin and William Doyle The true story of a true hero. Sergeant Red Erwin picked up a malfunctioning magnesium flare in the control room of his B-29 Bomber in early 1945 and dropped it out of the plane through a window. Had he not done so, the flare would have detonated the nine-ton bomb load in the belly of the bomber. The heat from the flare burned off much of his skin, and doctors did not believe he would survive. The Army even flew his bride of seven weeks (from wedding to deployment) to Hawaii to say goodbye. He fooled them all and lived for more than half a century. His heroic act saved his airplane, his crewmates, the mission, the lives of many of the crews of the planes with him. He was awarded the Medal of Honor for his bravery.

17) Victory at Villers-Bretonneux by Peter Fitzsimons amongst my favourite travel memories as an Australian is visiting the Australian memorial on ANZAC Day however, despite my interest in military history I had little knowledge of WWI except what little I knew of Gallipoli. Having read his previous book on Gallipoli which I had thoroughly enjoyed I had a level of expectation which sadly this book did not meet. Though interesting especially given this battlefield would be recorded in history as having seen the first tank against tank battle and also not far from this area the Red Baron the legendary German fighter ace of WWI would be shot down and killed it was a rather laborious read and choppy in presentation.

18) Heatwave by Michael Jan Friedman this book has been mentioned before by Lois and Clark fans as it is one of three written by Friedman based on Lois and Clark. There’s a heatwave in Metropolis and in the midst of this heatwave a major action movie which is being shot in Centennial Park is plagued by a string of unexplainable accidents. Lois and Clark’s task is to go undercover on set as production assistants to find the culprit behind these accidents.

19) Deadly Games by Michael Jan Friedman after returning from a week in Paris on assignment Lois finds out that Clark has been spending time with heiress Janna Leighton. While Lois is miffed that Clark cannot tell her the reasons behind this she is determined to find out the truth behind it all and why Janna is under attack by would-be assassins

20) Exile by Michael Jan Friedman Thaddeus Killgrave seeks revenge on the Man of Steel for thwarting his previous attempts to extort Metropolis by making Superman a host for a highly contagious and deadly virus. With Superman now out of action a team of criminals use it to their advantage by carrying out daring robberies knowing that they won’t be stopped. Lois must go alone to save the man she loves and stop the thieves and Killgrave.

The three books above are great if your looking for more action, but not romance. Lois and Clark barely interact with each other. As for me I do like them and will reread them every now and again. The books published in the UK have glossy coloured pictures of the cast as well so they are worth it for that

1. Bookish And the Beast by Ashley Poston

The third in the "Once Upon A Con" series sees Starfield Villain Vance Reigns shuffled off to the middle of nowhere to get out of the media's crosshairs after yet another screwup. There he meets the awkward heroine, Rose, who unwittingly walks into the house where he's staying and accidently destroys a valuable 1st edition Starfield book. To pay it off, she begins to work for Vance and his handler, organizing the house's library, and, predictably, she realizes Vance was the masked guy she met at the previous year's convention that she'd begun to fall for.

Overall, a very young adult rom-com book and not my favorite in the series. It totally takes place outside of the confines of a convention, which was the big draw for me when I decided to give the series a try. Especially within the restrictions of a pandemic and lockdowns and quarantining, I was missing that well-captured feel to a convention that the previous two books had. Plus, literally everything about the book (down to the original owner of the destroyed Starfield novel) was entirely too predictable for me.

2. Percy Jackson: The Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan

Technically speaking, I listened as my husband read it to the kids.

Percy Jackson attracts trouble. And it isn't until he winds up at Camp Halfblood that he discovers that not only are the Greek Gods real, but also still actively producing demigods with mortals...and that he is one of them. Now he has to help prevent a war of the Olympians (who reside on the 600th floor of the Empire State Building now) by finding the stolen Lightening Bolt of Zeus.

A fun read for a young adult book. I'm a Greek mythology geek, so I get to silently geek out and predict each new monster and god as they are introduced. The kids are loving the series too!

3. Charlotte's Web by EB White

I read the old classic of Zuckerman's Famous Pig to my girls. They hated how sad the ending was. But it brought me right back to reading it when I was maybe just about their age.

# 16 A Time of Change by Aimee and David Thurlo Book 1 of The Trading Post series More Navajo culture and information. This time the action's centered around the Navajos and whites who operate a trading post that features Native art and is staffed by a diverse group of people. Oh, it's also a fairly gripping murder mystery with a doomed romance woven through the story. Nice, non-demanding read with lots of bonus Native American information.

#17 Looking Through Darkness by Aimee and David Thurlo Book 2 of The Trading Post series Continues the story begun by the first book, this time focusing on the hesitant romance between a blind Navajo sculptor and a skittish divorced white woman. Again, there's a murder driving the drama.

Author Aimee Thurlo died not long before this book hit the stores. She and her husband wrote together for more than 40 years. He's still writing, but it appears that Aimee was the main creator in this series, and more volumes are probably not coming. Shame, too.

#18 Rob Thy Neighbor by David Thurlo Book 3 in the Charlie Henry series Charlie and his compatriots are at it again, buying and selling goods in the pawn shop and solving murders and associated mysteries seemingly without effort. It's a fun read.

#19 What the Dog Saw by Malcolm Gladwell Another collection of columns from The New Yorker. There's a profile of Cesar Millan, the Dog Whisperer, a deep dive into the reasons Enron went kablooey, an exploration of the reasons why banning pit bulls doesn't reduce the problem of random canine-on-human violence, and a challenging suggestion for treating homelessness. Gladwell is always a terrific writer, and his positions are supported by research and experts in the field. Two thumbs up.

#20 The Blight Way by Patrick F. McManus Bo Tully Book 1 The fictional town of Blight, Idaho is the scene of some strange murders. Sheriff Bo Tully, most recent of a long line of Tully men who've been sheriff, manages to solve the murders and dodge the bad guys who are trying to kill him. He also gets the girl, or at least one of them. Detective and spy stories must have at least two beautiful women involved with the protagonist in some way - it's a union rule - and Bo is no exception.

#21 The One by John Marrs I know it's been reviewed before, but this is my take. This is the story of science gone crazy. We each apparently have a genetic "soul mate" match somewhere in the world, and Ellie builds a company to help everyone find that match. But there's a fly in the ointment - her soul mate has a hidden agenda, and it reverberates around the world. The science is shaky at best, the characters aren't very engaging, and there's very little dramatic tension in any of the tales. It's not a bad book, but don't believe the superlatives in the blurbs on the cover. If you read it, get it from your local library. Save your money for something really good.

Crazy Babe, Thanks for letting me know about more books by Heather Morris. A friend of mine read the book and said it's a sad story, but a good one.

#13 The Book of Two Ways by Jodi PIcoult

Dawn survives a plane crash, only to realize her thoughts didn't go to her husband and daughter but to the man she left behind 15 years ago. For a while we follow her returning home in one chapter and going to Egypt to find her lost love in the other. At some point the two time lines combine but it was so poorly done I lost track of how. Or maybe by that point, I just didn't care.

I have a love/hate relationship with Jodi Picoult. She takes on some intriguing subjects and does a fascinating job with non-linear story telling. I despised this book . And I don't often say these things. The premise was clucky. There was way too much background on ancient Egypt and Quantum mechanics, partially to justify this alternative path/multiverse premise. And generally I like those types of stories! I also couldn't stand the idea that this woman was ready to throw away her marriage of 15 years, only because she suddenly realized she loved this other guy (who she hadn't seen in 15 years) more than her husband. The behavior of the men by the end of the story seemed totally unrealistic as well.

Terry , I read "The One" recently too and had similar feelings about it. It seemed like they could've asked more interesting questions about the nature of attraction and relationships rather than focusing on suspect science. Netflix has a series on this. I started watching it ('cause that's what we do nowadays ) It's not the same as the book which may be in it's favor. I haven't gotten that far yet.

4. Percy Jackson: The Sea of Monsters by Rick Riordan


Things were going too well for Percy - school was going smoothly, his home life had improved, and it was nearly time to go back to Camp Halfblood for the summer. So of course he nearly gets killed during a dodgeball game with cannibals and finds out that his beloved Camp is on the verge of destruction. So into the Sea of Monsters he must go, to find the Golden Fleece, save his satyr friend, Grover, and face off against Polyphemus the Cyclops, just as Odysseus once did, this time accompanied by a new friend/relative, Tyson the Cyclops. Another fun tale of adventure - this one mirroring some of the dangers of the Odyssey - it kept both my daughters, my husband, and myself entertained and I can hardly wait to see what else the series has in store.

ScifiJoan you’re welcome!

21) Passchendaele: Requiem for Doomed Youth by Paul Ham another travel memory is visiting the Passchendaele Museum which is dedicated to the Battle for Passchendaele (also known as The Third Battle of Ypres) in Belgium which allows you to walk through and experience walking through bunkers and trenches. This is a pretty little village, but in 1917 it would be the centre of a battlefield in which there were many casualties, but not much gain on both sides of the war. Well written and sobering

22) The Western Front Diaries by Jonathan King continuing the WWI theme here with this one. Up until now, I had been reading a general history or of course the stories of the top military brass of the time. It begs the question what was the war like for those on the ground? The men in the trenches risking life and limb for a place so far removed from the land they grew up in? King in this book paints an enthralling account of the experiences of the Australian soldier battle by battle through the diaries and letters of the men who were in the trenches and how the experience for those who survived the horror would not only physically but mentally scar them.

#14 The Henna Artist by Alka Joshi

Lakshmi escapes her abusive arranged marriage and makes a life for herself becoming a henna artist. Set in the 1950s India, this book gives insight into the social systems of the era. After many years Lakshmi has become successful but that will all change when her 13 year old sister arrives.

#15 The Power by Naomi Alderman

What if women became more powerful than men? In this book, due to chemical contaminants, women develop the ability to generate electric current, like eels. We see the changes in society from the POV of several different characters, none which were especially likeable. I was excited to read this book, especially with the endorsement from Margaret Atwood. As several reviewers on Goodreads have said, this book would've been better as a short story. I think the main message was that power corrupts but it quickly got extreme with the women killing men by the handful and essentially starting the world over.

#22 Avalanche by Patrick F. McManus Bo Tully Book 2 Sheriff Bo and his father are almost killed in an avalanche while going to an out-of-the-way ski lodge to tell the owner that she's just become a rich widow. When Bo finds evidence that the avalanche was deliberate, he investigates and finds a twisted mystery, which he solves with the help of his father (the former sheriff) and the local restaurant owner/expert tracker/pretend Indian. Not a bad mystery, and humorous in a slightly dark way.

#23 The Double-Jack Murders by Patrick F. McManus Bo Tully Book 3 (I'm sure you're sensing a theme here.) Bo and his occasionally legal crew work a 75-year old double murder case that gets wrapped up in a current murder. Not only does Bo solve both cases, he flirts with nearly every female in the story, all of whom appear to adore him almost unreservedly. Bo is the Sam Spade of the Idaho back country.

#24 The Huckleberry Murders by Patrick F. McManus Bo Tully Book 4 While picking huckleberries with an attractive woman who's giving him romantic signals, Bo finds three young men shot execution-style. He applies his blunderful intellect to the case and eventually solves it, then gets the girl but regrets it because he still mourns the wife he lost a decade before.

#25 The Tamarack Murders by Patrick F. McManus Bo Tully Book 5 Bo and his deputies are in pursuit of a bank robbery suspect who's fleeing up a steep rise when someone shoots the suspect from ambush and kills him. Bo's in real danger this time, but he avoids it with the help of his crew of misfits and solves the crime. Still a fun read.

#26 Circles In the Snow by Patrick F. McManus Bo Tully Book 6 The final entry in the Bo Tully series finds Bo working the murder of a rich man who is mourned by no one - in fact, there are hints that parties are being arranged as he questions suspects. The series ends as Bo decides he's caught enough crooks because he can't tell who to lock up and who to stop chasing even though the person is guilty. He retires to be a Western painter, marries the woman he loves best, puts his wife's death behind him, and goes on a tour of Idaho on his honeymoon accompanied by a senior citizen financial advisor/fortune teller (with his bride's okay, of course). He also discovers why concentric circles eight to ten feet across are suddenly appearing in the snow. Spoiler: it's not aliens.

I tend to read things in bunches. And I like McManus' way of describing the outdoors. He loved it (died 2018) and wrote about it with both humor and tenderness.

23) El Alamein to the River Sangro: Normandy to the Baltic by Bernard Montgomery like many military memoirs, this is rather self serving which given his exploits is not surprising. This was interesting to read, but a little stiff in terms of presentation

24) Patton: A Genius for War by Carlo D’Este this is a brilliant biography of one of WWII’s most controversial and divisive figures whose exploits on the battlefield is perhaps only overshadowed by his many faux pas’ and of course his untimely death after a car accident in a post war Germany. Informative and insightful this further emphasises that Patton was a brilliant commander of troops, but thoroughly not suited to peacetime operations.

#16 Manhattan Beach by Jennifer Egan

This story followed the lives of Anna, her father, and his business associate during WWII. There were hints of organized crime, Anna's foree into diving for the war effort, and disaster at sea. While it created a portrait of life at that time, it just didn't come together for me.

25) The Australian Victories in France in 1918 by General Sir John Monash as far as memoirs go this is one of the few that is not entirely self serving and champions the men who were fighting in the trenches in the closing months of WWI. General Sir John Monash in this book, recounts the battles in France in which Australian troops fought in and won in 1918.

26) Kokoda by Peter Fitzsimons like Gallipoli, Kokoda is one of those campaigns that is entrenched in Australian legend. For all I had read given my interest in WWII and in particular the War in the Pacific, I’ve never really known much about the Kokoda campaign. This is well written and reads like a novel so you never feel like you’re reading non-fiction.

27) Admiral of the Pacific the Life of Yamamoto by John Deane Potter the life and times of Admiral Yamamoto Isoroku. True to my interest in military history I always read books from both sides of the conflict. Though short, this book separates fact from fiction into the life of the man who masterminded the attack on Pearl Harbor and the Midway operation. While the names of the Japanese officers use the western derivation, this is still a good read.

Before She Sleeps by Bina Shah


I was excited to read this book. The author is from Pakistan so I thought she'd have a unique perspective. While there are similarities to Handmaid's Tale, this book isn't nearly as good. It was an intriguing premise but I felt she could have done more with it. Some of the women resist being child-bearers and escape to an illegal group that provides companionship for men and not the sexual type. I liked the idea of focusing on men's emotional needs but it wasn't explored very deeply. There was a lot of potential for this book, she could've done much more with it.

#18 The Radium Girls by Kate Moore


I was aware of this situation, referring to it in some of my classes. Yet this book revealed how truly horrifying it was. The torture these women endured with their bodies falling apart and no one able to help them. The years of law suites and the company denying any liability. Very sad.

28) Thirteen Days: A Memoir of the Cuban Missile Crisis by Robert F. Kennedy Robert Kennedy’s account of the tense days in late October 1962 where a standoff between the US and the Soviets over the building of launch sites on the island of Cuba which would bring the world on the brink of WWIII. It is evident though in this eyewitness account of the crisis that Kennedy was very much constrained by the time and no doubt classified nature of what really went on in the White House given that the information was put forward didn’t really contribute more to my knowledge of the incident, but still a worthy read.

29) The Missiles of October: The Story of the Cuban Missile Crisis 1962 by Elie Abel again another book about the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962, but this I felt expanded further than what Robert Kennedy put forward in his account. This tells the story of the crisis from the very first intelligence of the suspicious activity suggesting that the Soviets were indeed preparing to build missile launch sites through to the tense standoff and the subsequent withdrawals.

30) Gallipoli Diaries: The Anzac’s Own Story Day by Day by Jonathan King on April 25 in 1915 Australian and New Zealand troops would land on the shores of Gallipoli in Turkey to face the Ottoman Empire then an ally of Germany as part of a British Invasion force. The invasion of this narrow peninsula was spearheaded by Winston Churchill and would result in a disaster for the allied troops who fought for close to 8 months. This is actually the predecessor to the previous book I read by the same author which pieces together the story of Australian troops on the Western Front many of whom had served in the Gallipoli campaign. Most of what I’ve read and heard about Gallipoli has always been shrouded by Australian legend and so it was fascinating to me to read the real story behind the legend. The author also prior to their passing interviewed the last few surviving veterans of the campaign and was stunned to realise that they didn’t feel pride in what they had done and in fact agreed that Australia should never have gone in the first place. It did seem poignant to me as an Australian though to read this on the 106th anniversary of those landings though. Hopefully, once all the problems with the current pandemic are over I’ll be able to visit Gallipoli and see for myself the place that gave way to a legend and would help forge the Australian identity (federation had only occurred just 14 years prior).

#27 The Godwulf Manuscript by Robert B. Parker - a Spenser mystery This volume introduces Spenser, the Galahad of Boston. There's a lot of background information about him, naturally, and this volume also introduces two women who figure prominently in his romantic life - Becky Loring and Susan Silverman. Spenser solves the case, then goes above and beyond to rescue a young woman who has gotten way off track. It sets the stage for the most prolific detective series that I've seen. A re-read, but still fun.

#28 In The Company of Soldiers by Rick Atkinson - Live combat reporting Atkinson was embedded with the command structure of a U.S. Army unit in Iraq in 2003. This is the story of what he saw, heard, felt, and suffered. An excellent first-hand account of the "fog of war" by an almost objective observer. This volume inspired me to seek out some of his other work.

#29 An Army at Dawn: The War in North Africa, 1942-1943 by Rick Atkinson Vivid account of the invasion of North Africa and the campaign through Tunisia to expel the Axis forces. Atkinson includes first-hand accounts from the commanders on all sides (German, American, British, Italian) alongside testimony from the mid-level officers who commanded the troops and the troops themselves. He pulls no punches as he describes Bernard Montgomery's efforts to take over the entire Allied force, and the problems he engendered with his constant complaining and his reluctance to move quickly when "strongly advised" to do so. There are also accounts of Eisenhower's lack of experience and how his desire to make every commander happy led to rifts between the British and Americans that never healed. Plus, there's a pretty scathing profile of George Patton, who was just as ego-driven as Montgomery but who also shared some faults with the British general (neither of them were thought to be any good at logistics). Excellent book. Very informative. Two thumbs up high for this and the other two volumes in the WW2 history. This first one was awarded a Pulitzer in 2003.

#30 The Day of Battle: The War in Sicily and Italy, 1943-44 by Rick Atkinson Second volume of Atkinson's "Liberation Trilogy." It continues where volume 1 left off, with the Allies in control of North Africa and poised to invade southern Europe somewhere. He explains Churchill's desire to pierce the "soft underbelly of Europe" with landings in southern France, how Churchill was politically coerced to agree to land at Sicily, then move to Italy. We also learn of a disaster when U.S. airborne troops flew over jumpy infantry on the beach at Sicily and antiaircraft fire caused many casualties. He shows how "Smiling Albert" Kesselring (so named for his unflagging optimism) took over the defense of Italy after Mussolini was deposed and how effective he was with too few resources. Another excellent volume.

#31 The Guns at Last Light: The War in Western Europe, 1944-45 by Rick Atkinson Eisenhower plans the invasion of France. Patton sulks because he's not in on the invasion. Montgomery carps because he's not in charge and thinks he can do everything so much better than anyone else. DeGaulle complains because French troops are under-represented and because he's not in charge. The biggest triumph, I think, was molding all these disparate entities into a single force capable of destroying the German military machine. The rivalries which sprouted in North Africa flower in Western Europe as the political and military leaders thrash out the best way to topple the Third Reich. And the Russian campaign, while not the focus of this book, is not ignored, especially since Russian armies tied down many, many divisions of infantry, armor, transport, and air power of Germany and kept them away from the landings and combat in Normandy. We also see enough of the Holocaust to make me punch the next Denier I meet right in the mouth. Great book. All three were compelling reading.

#19 Divide Me by Zero by Lara Vapnyar

I thought this book might be interesting because it was written from the POV of a Russian woman whose mother loved math. Instead it focused the poor decisions of an emotional immature woman. I don't recommend this one .

5. Percy Jackson: The Titan's Curse by Rick Riordan


Percy and his friends continue to fight against the forces trying to bring back the Titan, Cronos, this time joined by the Hunters of Artemis. But when the goddess is captured (along with one of Percy's friends), the demigods and Huntresses must learn to fight alongside each other in order to prevail. While not my favorite book in the series, I still loved every Greek-mythology filled moment of it.

6. Shadows Rising by Madeline Roux

A Warcraft book. This takes place between the events of the Battle For Azeroth expansion and the newer Shadowlands expansion. Sylvanas Windrunner is on the run after the mak'gora where she betrayed the Horde. Both the Horde and the Alliance are desperate to find her and bring her to justice, before she can wreck further harm on Azeroth. The Horde, in particular, know they must convince the Zandalari to join with them, so that their combined strength can fight against this threat. But Queen Talanji is dubious, until rebels begin to attack and weak the loa Bwonsamdi, with whom she is linked to.

As someone who has played WoW since 2005, I really enjoyed the story. It's clear the author is also a fan and player - every last detail matches the game perfectly. And the character voices are so on point that it's easy to hear the actual game voices in your head while reading. Also, I was gratified to see Thrall (the former Horde Warchief) playing a considerable roll in things. I've always been a member of the Horde, and Thrall is my favorite Warchief.

31) Monty: The Making of a General 1887-1942 by Nigel Hamilton the first of a 3 volume biography of Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery 1st Viscount Montgomery of Alamein. This I found to be rather tedious even though I enjoy biographies in general. Most of what was recounted I felt could have been left out and wasn’t really necessary other than to emphasise that his ego was there from the very beginning. It marginally got better towards the end when it recounts his take over of command of the Eighth Army in the North African campaign which is where this book roughly ends.

32) Siddhartha by Hermann Hesse I think I picked this up thinking that it would be about the life of Buddha whose journey from pampered Indian prince to enlightenment would become Buddhism. While certainly yes it is about that path I found this to be a little too philosophical for my personal tastes

[B] #20 Oona Out of Order by Margarita Montimore[\B]

Every New Years Eve, Oona wakes up the next day to be a different age for a year. Since her jumps are not linear, I.e. going from 18 to 51, this makes her life interesting, to say the least. Fun concept, enjoyable book!

#21 Nomadland by Jessica Bruder

This book focuses on downwardly mobile older people. With diminishing resources, these seniors live in converted vans and take back breaking temporary jobs. It's sad that people are driven to this.

The award winning movie is also good but it focuses on one person rather than several.

33) The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck Steinbeck’s Pulitzer Prize winning epic is well worthy of its award. Set against the backdrop of the Depression the Joad family who leave their home in the Dust Bowl of Oklahoma in search of a better life in California.

34) A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens this is a another re-read for me. I first encountered Dickens’ classic while studying history in school as we were studying the French Revolution and the Reign of Terror which is of course the setting for this novel at the time. It is still a well crafted tale intertwining the lives of Charles Darnay a French aristocrat who disagrees with his family’s view on the lower classes, his wife Lucie and father in law Dr Manette who was previously imprisoned for 18 years in the notorious Bastille prison, the Defarge’s who are active participants in the uprising against the aristocracy in France and English lawyer Sydney Carton who bears a striking resemblance to Darnay.

#32 Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality by Elizer Yudkowski This epic fanfic (yes, "fanfic") tome is available online via a simple search and can be read online or downloaded in PDF format. It takes Harry (the beloved adopted son of a scientist father and a teacher mother) through his years at Hogwarts and turns everything in the Rowling canon on its head. I'm generally familiar with the Harry Potter mythology, but this still surprised me (imagine playing quiddich without that buzzy golden flying thing). I enjoyed it. And I appreciate that it apparently took six years (six years?!) for the author to post all 640,000 words of this monster. Very different take on the Potter universe.

#33 C. S. Lewis: A Life: Eccentric Genius, Reluctant Prophet by Alister McGrath Three very influential men died on November 22nd, 1963. They were President John F. Kennedy, former Presidential candidate and long-time public servant Adelai Stevenson, and author/teacher Clive Staples (C. S.) Lewis. If all you know about C. S. Lewis is Narnia, you've missed out on a lot. He wrote wonderfully inventive fiction, along with common-sense books defending Christian principles and doctrines. I learned that he was a human being just like me, a man who exhibited strengths and weaknesses and heartaches just like I occasionally do. Very interesting.

#34 Alpha and Omega: The End of Days by Harry Turtledove The author specializes in alternate history - "what if" on a global scale. In this one, he presents a current time when Christianity, Judaism, and Islam are all proven right. And wrong. All at the same time. None of the beloved doctrines of any faith are left unsmashed. Harry apparently thinks we'd all be better off if we ignored all that religious stuff and decided to "just get along." I read it because I wanted to see how he thought the end times should be. It turns out that, according to Harry T., all of us are complete idiots.

#35 The House of Daniel by Harry Turtledove I'm bunching books by author again. This one is about Depression-era barnstorming baseball in the U.S. with a twist - the depression was caused not by economics but by so much of the magic in the world going away. You'll read about thugs, baseball games, vampires, eccentric teammates, zombies, crumbling ballparks, werewolves, thinly disguised real major league players, voodoo hex men, romance, all set against the backdrop of ballplayers trying to get enough to eat each day. Unlike most of his books, there is no major point here. It's just a thin but fun romp. To get a really good taste of Turtledove's work, read his debut effort "The Guns of the South." The civil war will never be the same.

#36 Joe Steele by Harry Turtledove If the son of Russian immigrants had defeated FDR in the 1932 Democratic primary (because FDR died in a house fire set by henchmen of the son of immigrants) and went on to become a virtual dictator, the mid-20th century might have looked as bleak as this. Under Joe Steele, the U.S. begins to look like Hitler's Germany or Trotsky's Russia (he beat out Stalin), and we trace the downward spiral through the eyes of two brothers. One becomes a White House speechwriter, while the other is sent to a Wyoming labor camp for writing articles "harmful to America." It's what the United States might look like should a charismatic leader with fewer morals or ethics than any 20th-century despot come to power and do literally anything to remain there. Quite chilling.

#37 C. S. Lewis' Dangerous Idea: In Defense of the Argument from Reason by Victor Reppert Lewis proposed a fairly simple but logical defense of Jesus' divinity, one that was later attacked by "real philosophers," in essence because he hadn't presented his argument as they would have preferred. The author takes up Lewis' proposition and defends it quite ably and adds to it. He also counters a number of objections to Lewis' proposition, again quite ably. I truly enjoyed this book.

#22 Pretty Little Wife by Darby Kane

Lila is upset when nobody can find her husband. Especially because she's the one who killed him and the body isn't where she left it. A fun thriller.

7. As Old As Time by Liz Braswell

A Disney twisted tale. In this delightful, captivating story, Belle is the daughter of the enchantress who cursed the Beast. See, his parents, the King and Queen, didn't like people with magic. So they turned a blind eye to the "disappearance," beatings, and murders of the magical beings living within their realm. The enchantress, wanting to make them pay for their crimes, refuses to rid the kingdom of the plague, returning a year later to see if their 11 year old son, the Prince, is any better than his parents. But he sneers at the "old beggar woman" and turns her away, so she curses them. But magic has a way of coming back on itself...

As a lover of all things Disney, this was such a fun read. I loved the way it cut back and forth between things that were happening in the present and slowly revealing the past in other chapters. And while the ending still hit a somewhat bittersweet note, it felt absolutely right.

#23 All Girls by Emily Layden


When I started this book on an airplane, I thought it would be a LIfetime movie like mystery and thus a good light read. Instead it brought up a lot of questions about girls, sex and how society reacts/treats them. On Goodreads, other readers were bothered by the fact that each chapter was narrated by a different girl over the course of one school year. That didn't detract from me. There was plenty of overlap. Others were expecting afull-fledged mystery and were disappointed by the lack of one. This book addressed many complex issues which don't have easy answers. It could start some good book club conversations.

35) The Pearl by John Steinbeck based on a Mexican folktale the message of greed and societal norms is very good, but I just wasn’t as engaged by it like I had with his other novels.

36) Monkey King by Wu Cheng’en better known as Journey to the West (or to be more correct, the translation is West Journey Record) this is considered to be one of the four great novels in Chinese literature. I know this story in very rough detail, but since I can’t read Chinese, I’ve never actually read the book. This is a fictional account published during the Ming Dynasty of a Buddhist monk named Xuanzang who journeyed to India in search of Buddhist texts and would record his journey for official Tang Dynasty Records. Personally this was just too weird for me given the cast of characters who join him on this journey include a pig and a monkey (hence the title that the novel is better known by in western circles)

#24 Guilty Admissions: The Bribes, Favors, and Phonies Behind the College Cheating Scandal by Nicole LaPorte

Rick Singer's manipulations to get rich kids into elite colleges is truly frightening.

37) Romance of the Three Kingdoms: Volume 1 by Luo Guanzhong This is another of the four great novels of Chinese literature. It is also the oldest and perhaps the best known of all the classics. Volume 1 introduces the main players and their various alliances and battles as they struggle to gain control of China following the collapse of the Han Dynasty. Given my lack of literacy in Chinese, I did have to rely on google and my dad to fully understand who was who, but I actually did enjoy this.

38) Promises to Keep: On Life and Politics by Joe Biden this is a reprint to coincide with the election of President Biden, but was first published in 2007 before he became Obama’s running mate. Political memoirs are always going to be on the self serving side, but it was interesting to see his perspective on how he coped with the loss of his first wife and daughter in a car accident just after he was first elected. All in all I did enjoy this look into his years in the senate

#25 Tightrope: Americans Reaching for Hope by Nicholas Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn


While I didn't agree with all of these author's points, the book did a good job illustrating the struggles of working class Americans.

#26 The Better Liar by Tanen Jones


I think I've read too many thrillers because while there were lots of twists in this story, I wasn't surprised by any of them.

#27 In Five Years by Rebecca Serle


This was a fun read. I love the idea of getting a glimpse of the future and seeing how it all works out. From Goodreads, I got the impression that many readers were angry this wasn't a true love story. They also seemed upset that bad things happened to people. Which, in my opinion, made it a better book. It was about the personal growth of the main character,.

8. Once Upon A Dream by Liz Braswell

What if Sleeping Beauty never woke up when Prince Philip kissed her? What if Maleficent wasn't entirely defeated when the Prince killed her in her dragon form?

As much as I wanted to like this one, I found I was bored more often than not. None of the characters sounded remotely like themselves (not that the author had much to work with, Aurora only has something like 16 lines of dialogue in the whole movie), to the point of distraction. Everyone sounded far too modern and casual to be believable and I honestly hated the whole "this entire thing takes place in a dreamscape" plotline. And I couldn't stand Aurora's constant wishy-washiness. One moment she's a strong heroine, the next she's simpering over the two realties that exist in her head - the ones Maleficent planted in the dreamscape and the real world ones where she lived with the fairies in the forest.

#28 Sharpie: The Life Story of Evelyn Sharp by Diane Ruth Armour Bartels

This book described the life of Evelyn Sharp, one of the first female pilots, which should've been an interesting story. It wasn't. It's a shame. The author felt the need to document everything (which isn't a bad thing). But do you need to include quotes and footnote that Evelyn thought flying was "swell"? So incredibly stiff. So many insignificant trivial details! Yes, it's impressive that the small town of Ord Nebraska helped her out so much during a difficult time but I just don't care about the cast of the senior class play or who furnished the refreshments at the dance. I only finished this book (skimming when I hit half way) because I read it for book club and wanted to be able to contribute in the discussion. Otherwise, this book was a waste of time.

#29 Anxious People by Fredrik Backman


It took some time to get into this one. The characters were not very likeable. But that changed as the story progressed and everything came together nicely.

#38 Talking to Strangers by Malcolm Gladwell It is exceptionally difficult to "read" people accurately at first meeting. One can learn to do it better, but no one can do it accurately every time. Malcolm Gladwell takes us through the psychology of trying to "read the minds" of others when the social context is new or out of order. He discusses several cases where an inaccurate reading results in tragedy, and what can be done better. He doesn't present a magic bullet solution for the problem - because there isn't one - but he does make some excellent points about ways to do better.

#39 Death in Winter by Michael Jan Friedman Star Trek: Next Generation. Beverly Crusher undertakes a highly dangerous medical mercy mission and ends up in mortal danger. Jean-Luc Picard must marshal all of his resources, both personal and professional, to attempt a rescue. Spoiler: (not really, though) Beverly's okay! Yay! Friedman is a good writer, and despite my knowing what cannot happen, he maintained a good bit of dramatic tension. It's more WAFFy than science-fiction-y.

#40 By Tank Into Normandy by Stuart Hills Hills was a tank commander in the D-Day invasion of Normandy (British army) and he made it all the way through to the German surrender. That was quite a feat, too, since so many of his comrades did not survive. First-person war memoir told in typical English stiff-upper-lip understatement. Still a good read.

#41 Oona Out Of Order by Margarita Montimore Oona is a seventeen-year-old girl whose mother is a "free spirit" in London's mid-eighties club scene. She's also a budding professional musician who must choose between a European tour with the band or school. But on New Year's Eve, the night before her eighteenth birthday, she blacks out and wakes up on her fifty-first birthday. For reasons never explained (not even a little bit), she lives her life by bouncing from year to year on her birthday and must learn to deal with her changed circumstances. Before long she gets the idea that she can change her future - but apparently she lives in a determinist universe and just makes things worse. Except for her financial situation, of course. This wasn't bad, but it wasn't my cup of tea either. I kept waiting for her to "grow up" and work with her bizarre life instead of against it. She does so at the final stages of the book - sort of - but the end still left me with a melancholy pall. Very WAFFy, though.

#42 Testament of Youth by Vera Brittain A young woman comes of age at Oxford at the very beginning of The Great War (World War 1). Her brother, fiance, good friend, and unrequited admirer all enter the British army and fight in France. None of them survive. The book takes us from her youth to Oxford to her service as a nurse - both at home and in France - and she comes out disappointed with civilization, which is a perfectly reasonable reaction given the horrors she witnessed and the losses she sustained. The story takes us through her pacifist and feminist work after the war up to her marriage in 1925 to a man she names only as "G." The memoir was published in 1933 and is still in print. A movie by the same name came out in 2014 and is available on video or a via number of streaming services. Both book and movie are worth the time, I think.

#43 As Old As Time by Liz Braswell DC, thank you for mentioning this title. I found out that this is a series by several authors which take fairy tales and corkscrew the plot around. In this one, Belle's mother cursed the Beast and his kingdom. Belle must battle with him, against him, and beside him to overcome the terrible fate that pursues them. Very girl power, but the author does not denigrate all men - just the ones who deserve it. Also, the author no longer uses a pseudonym because the assassins who were chasing her are all dead now.

#44 Straight On Till Morning by Liz Braswell Peter Pan loses his shadow in twelve-year-old Wendy's bedroom - and he doesn't get it back. Four years later, Wendy - who continues to write fantasy stories in her notebook at which her very proper parents express extreme disapproval - dodges her parents' plan to send her to Ireland as a governess by offering Peter's shadow to Captain Hook in exchange for passage to Never Land. Another youth fiction girl power story, but still interesting. Wendy screws up royally, but proves to be most ingenious in the end. And there's a very sweet epilogue involving a certain denizen of Never Land.

39) The Romance of the Three Kingdoms Volume 2 by Luo Guanzhong the conclusion to the last book which ended with the Battle of Red Cliffs that divided China into the Three Kingdoms through to a unified China under the Jin Dynasty

40) Monty vol 2: Master if the Battlefield 1942-1944 by Nigel Hamilton like it’s predecessor most of what was put forward really wasn’t necessary to the narrative, I understand what he was trying to do, but this was really laborious to read and quite disappointing. It did bring a good travel memory for me though when Southwick Park was mentioned as I have personally visited what was then SHAEF headquarters

9. Mirror, Mirror by Jen Calonita - I was surprised to find I really enjoyed this one. As much of a Disnerd as I am, Snow White has never been my favorite Princess. Actually, she's my least favorite. Don't get me wrong, I absolutely LOVE what she represents in terms of filmmaking - the very first full length feature film to be 100% animated. But I've always gravitated towards the other Princesses, especially "take charge" ones who do their best to make their own lives, like Belle and Jasmine, for example. Anyway, the tagline for the book is ' What if the Evil Queen poisoned the Prince? Honestly, I felt like this was extremely misleading. The book is 95% a retelling of the movie we all know and love, but with a twist that didn't feel so much like a twist, but felt like it 100% COULD have happened. It tells of how Snow's parents left the scene, of her aunt's (The Evil Queen) rise to power, how the Queen came to learn the Dark Arts and find the magic mirror, and why Snow isn't the Queen, when she rightfully has a claim to the throne. The stuff about the Prince being poisoned and Snow (who is a real take charge leader in this - a nice, refreshing change of pace from the Sleeping Beauty book) confronting her aunt is just a very few pages at the very end of the book. All in all, a very fun read, even if seeing the Prince name "Henrich/Henri" was like chewing a mouthful of glass for me. True Disnerds know that, while his name is never said on screen, his name is Florian. Also, Grumpy seemed less grumpy and more "grumble once or twice but otherwise throw himself in as Snow's staunchest alley." And Doc didn't have his trademark mixed up words. (In the movie, him saying something like "first light" would come out as "lirst fight" before he corrected himself.)

10. Percy Jackson: The Battle for the Labyrinth by Rick Riordan - Loved this installment of the series. We get to pop into and out of the famous Labyrinth of myth and even get to meet it's creator, Daedalus. Even very old mythological creatures get to show up, like Briares, the last living Hundred Handed One - a creature even older than the Olympian Gods.

11. Percy Jackson: The Last Olympian by Rick Riordan - Percy and his friends finally face down Cronos, who has regenerated into the body of a former demigod. The battle rages across New York City, culminating in a final, epic clash on Olympus (the 600th floor of the Empire State Building). I loved this one too. A great series and I'm a little sad to move on from it. Luckily, there is the Heroes of Olympus series that I just bought for myself...I mean the kids...yes, that's right...the kids...


Terry - I'm glad you were inspired to check out the Disney Twisted Tales! My favorites have been the Frozen, Aladdin, Beauty and the Beast, and Mulan ones so far! (I've put a hold on the recently released Hercules one with the library and hope it comes through soon.)

41) Essence of Decision Explaining the Cuban Missile Crisis by Graham Allison and Philip Zelikow The Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962 is one of the most defining moments of the 20th century in which at the height of the Cold War, the world was at the precipice of a third world war only this time with two superpowers with access to nuclear weapons.
Although really hard absorb as it is extremely academic and obviously aimed at students of international diplomacy and politics it does provide great insight into differing theories on how to handle crisis situations that have global consequences. That being said if you were looking for something that is more historical in context then certainly this one definitely isn’t the one for that

#30 The Perfect Wife by J.P. Delaney


Ok thriller. The concept of a robot with human feelings is pushing credibility but it was an interesting concept to explore.

#12 - My Teacher Is An Alien by Bruce Coville - Read this one to my daughters. It was a favorite of mine when I was just a smidge older than they are. 6th grader Susan Simmons discovers that her new substitute teacher, Mr. Smith, is actually an alien named Broxholm, who is here on Earth to kidnap 5 students to bring into space with him! But how can she expose the truth about him? Not exactly great literature by any means, but a cute story and the kids liked it enough to ask me to borrow the rest of the "My Teacher" series from the library.

#13 - The Cool Side of My Pillow by Bruce Campbell - A very different book from my favorite actor. I've already read both of his autobiographies and his fiction novel. This one is a book of short essays - whatever happened to be on his mind at the time, I guess. It covers everything from Princess Diana's death (and why people's insatiable demand for celebrity news/pics is at least partly to blame) to UFOs to getting lost in the desert while out biking. If you follow Bruce on any kind of social media, you'll know he's blessedly quiet on his political leanings/beliefs/thoughts, so I was surprised to see a chapter dedicated to Politics. And then I laughed like a lunatic at the fact that the entire chapter spanned two completely blank pages - totally his sense of humor! Overall, I found myself entertained, even if I don't share his views on everything.

#31 Nickel and Dimed by Barbara Ehrenreich


This was an interesting experiment. I thought she did a decent job of illustrating (within narrow parameters) the difficulties of surviving on $6-7 an hour wages. A lot of the author's bias came through with many insulting comments such: the rich people whose houses she cleaned 'really didn't read all those books"; the 'overweight caucasian population that frequented Walmart', her outrage of having to take a drug test for employment, her dismissive comments about people who hire cleaners (and, can you imagine, their houses were, gasp, dirty?).. And then she was hurt/surprised when people didn't react to her 'secret' that she was actually a journalist? These types of studies are much more effective when the author follows the lives of the people who live under these circumstances over a longer period of time.

#32 The Life Intended by Kristin Harmel


This was a quick read. I figured out where the story was going almost immediately but I still enjoyed it. It had some good concepts.

42)Restless Empire: China and the World since 1750 by Odd Arne Westad this was an interesting looking to the rise of China in the modern era from the glory days of the Qing Dynasty through to its collapse and the formation the republic to what we know of it today. Insightful and well written

43)The Death and Life of Superman by Roger Stern this is the novelisation of the Death and Return of Superman comic series. All fans know the story, but this also fills in the blanks that the comics didn’t have and in comparison to the Lois and Clark novels which were based on the TV series this is better at showing their relationship.

#33 The Kindest Lie by Nancy Johnson


This book had a lot of potential - a woman overcoming lots of obstacles - poverty, teen pregnancy, racism, I wanted to like it. The book focused on a Ruth, 30 year old black woman and MIdnight, a 12 year old white boy. I didn't like either of them. After 12 years of ignoring that she'd given birth, suddenly Ruth is hell bent to claim her son, regardless of any consequences to him. I don't recommend this book.

I didn't quite realize how much reading I've been doing.

#45 Once Upon A Dream by Liz Braswell Another YF girl power retelling of a fairy tale. This one is about Sleeping Beauty. In this one, at least the guys weren't all schlubs. The prince does contribute materially to the successful conclusion (surely you didn't think Maleficent would win? Not in a YF novel!) and all is well by the end - mostly, anyway. These books are nice to cleanse the palate after digesting history or deep philosophy or a detailed biography, and since there's little or no rude language and no sex, they're quick reads.

#46 Tank Men by Robert Kershaw World War II revealed new and more violent ways to destroy one's enemies. The tank - an armored, self-propelled engine of death and ruin - was one of the foremost. The author delves into first-person tank combat accounts from Britain, Germany, Russia, Italy, and the U.S. Many of the British war authors I've read tend to use a lot of passive voice, which tends to distance the reader from the action. But this is still a gripping read, one I'm glad I picked up.

#47 Till We Have Faces by C. S. Lewis I was surprised that this book was not a Christian allegory. But Lewis often described himself as a "medievalist" in that his academic passion was in medieval times. This is a retelling the Cupid/Psyche myth from ancient Greece from a third party, Psyche's sister. It's interesting with that world, but had I known what it was I wouldn't have read it. It's not a bad story, just not my bowl of strawberry shortcake.

#48 The Bomber Mafia by Malcolm Gladwell Gladwell moves away from contemporary issues and situations in this one and delves into the men in both America and England who informed the bombing strategies to be deployed against Germany in World War II. The RAF favored night bombing against area targets, which resulted in fewer losses per mission but greatly reduced accuracy. The USAAF insisted on daylight precision bombing against strategic targets, which greatly increased losses but put more bombs on target than the RAF did per bomber per mission. But the statistical difference in the military result wasn't that dramatic, although there are German sources that report that had the U.S. bombed Schweinfurt effectively one more time, it might have knocked the German ball bearing production offline for quite some time. And high-altitude precision over Japan was useless - the B29s flew high enough to enter the jet stream, which gave them a ground speed that exceeded the limits of the Norden bombsight. The best tactic used against the Japanese was the low-level night bombing from B29s using high-temperature incendiaries. It seems the Bomber Mafia - the American true believers in high-altitude precision bombing - were wrong because the desired result exceeded the available technology.

#49 The Perfect Wife: Jessie Hunt #1 by Blake Pierce This is not the Perfect Wife reviewed a few weeks ago (I'll get to that one too). Jessie Hunt is the daughter of a deranged serial killer who left her tied to a chair, bleeding and hypothermic, for three days next to her butchered mother when she was six years old. Jessie becomes a profiler for the Los Angeles Police Department, and her first case is to solve a murder she thinks she might have committed. One of her resources is another serial killer, this one in custody, who idolized her father and patterned his murders after him. This isn't a police procedural, though - there are twists and turns and surprises throughout. And I was a little surprised at the actual killer.

#50 The Perfect Block: Jessie Hunt #2 by Blake Pierce Jessie makes a few friends and tracks down another murderer while barely dodging death herself. There's more about her father and her ex-husband and her new friends, along with more pretzel plotting. Again, I didn't pick out the killer until very late in the story, immediately before the reveal. Good stuff.

#51 The Perfect House; Jessie Hunt #3 by Blake Pierce Another Jessie Hunt novel. She tracks down killers and clues and sidesteps danger with the best of them. There are a bunch of these, plus a number of other series by the same author. I'm glad I can check these out to my Kindle, because I couldn't afford to buy them all and the local library doesn't have many of the physical volumes. Sometimes technology really is our friend.

#52 The Perfect Wife by J. P. Delany I like science fiction even when it's outside the bounds of reality (I write Superman fiction for fun - duh), so this tale of an android with the consciousness of a missing (or maybe dead) woman uploaded to it interested me. Most the novel is written in second person ("You see the door and you open it.") which jarred me a little at first, but there's a valid reason for it, which doesn't become clear until the end. There are also first person plural chapters ("We saw them come back from a date.") dropped in to give the reader more backstory than the android main character can access. I thought it interesting. Of course, the lingering theme is that if we make our machines too smart, they might decide they don't need us.

#53 Unbirthday by Liz Braswell This one shakes up the story of Alice in Wonderland by delaying Alice's return from her seventh birthday until her eighteenth. Lots of changes in the story, lots of intrigue, lots of drama and danger and of course the Jabberwock makes an appearance. Girl power with some romance mixed in.

#54 Conceal, Don't Feel by Jen Calonita Twist on Frozen. Elsa and Anna are separated as preadolescents and magically made to forget each other by the Rock Trolls, along with the entire kingdom. As a bonus, if Anna gets too close to Elsa before the spell is broken, Anna will freeze from the inside out. The bad guys and the good guys are all familiar, and Kristoff has a bigger role that I expected when I first started the story. This isn't great literature, but it's nice mental candy, easily digested and not really upsetting. I haven't read all twenty-something books in the series, but I begin to suspect that they're all girl power tales. And there's nothing wrong with that as long as the men aren't deliberately marginalized or demonized.

44) From Yalta to Vietnam: American Foreign Policy in the Cold War by David Horowitz interesting looking the complex world of international diplomacy during the Cold War. This of course is a product of the time of publication and so deep analysis isn’t really present though so I found myself reading this with a different perspective.

45) Japanese Taiwan: Colonial Rule and its Contested Legacy by Andrew Morris (Editor) and Christopher Gerteis (Editor) in the 21st century world, colonialism and imperialism are not viewed in a positive light and rightly so. In the case of Taiwan though, this is also where colonialism and the brutality of it has also left a cultural mark on the country and for those who are not ‘mainlanders’ a term the Taiwanese (people who are of Hoklo, indigenous or Hakka descent who were the three main groups on Taiwan at the time of Japanese colonisation) use to describe people who are descended from Chiang’s KMT forces who fled to Taiwan in 1949 we consider it as part of our heritage using it to distance and separate ourselves from mainland Chinese. This is an academic study, so it is very detailed and certainly not to everyone’s reading tastes, but as someone whose maternal roots (being Hoklo) are from this period of history I see it more as a study of my personal family history and ended up with a greater understanding of the period as well as deeper understanding of what it means to be Taiwanese. In addition to this, demonstrating the ever deepening divide between the Beijing friendly KMT and pro-independence movement as this publication is fairly recent in terms of Taiwan’s recent history and the ever increasing threat from Beijing. Another interesting aspect of this was learning about Taiwan’s indigenous population of which I knew very little about not only in colonial times, but also during the years under the thumb of Chiang Kai Shek since of course unlike my mother’s family and the Hakka people who if you do go back far enough do have mainland Chinese roots and come from today’s Fujian and Guangdong provinces respectively (the Taiwanese language is the dialect spoken in Fujian) are of course the original inhabitants of the island known at that point as Formosa. It now seems fitting that the current President of Taiwan Tsai Ing Wen is of indigenous and Hakka ancestry and that Taiwan’s first elected Lee Teng-Hui was the first president of Taiwan to be born in the island, but also during the period of Japanese occupation as a testament to the changing scope of what it means to be Taiwanese

#14, 15, 16 - My Teacher Fried My Brains, My Teacher Glows In The Dark, My Teacher Flunked The Planet by Bruce Coville

Sequels to My Teacher Is An Alien, these books follow the adventures of the other kids involved. In Fried My Brains, we see how Duncan Dougal, school bully, has his brains fried, making him much, much smarter than he normally is. We also get and up close and personal look at his abusive family and miserable home life. Duncan winds up discovering evidence that the "alien invasion" of the previous year isn't over after all...

In the following two books, we are taken into space along with Peter Thompson, the kid who willingly went along with his alien teacher in the first book. As it turns out, the whole galaxy has its eyes on Earth, wondering in dismay what they should do about us (ie, should they blow up the planet or not) because of how much they fear us getting out into the galaxy at large while still being "uncivilized." (That is, we wage war and pollute the planet and allow people to starve to death and all those other unpleasant things we allow to happen here.) Peter and his friends, as well as a select few alien allies, must convince the Interplanetary Council to allow the Earth to continue to survive.

I know I read these all when I was about my daughters' age, but it was a little like reading them for the first time again, because I seriously didn't remember any of them. My girls loved the series though.

#17 - Ready Player Two by Ernest Cline

After winning Halliday's contest and becoming the "heir" of the entire OASIS (an entire virtual world where people create avatars of themselves and can access any number of nearly infinite "worlds" to quest on, Wade Watts discovers yet another "Easter Egg" left behind. Not only that, but a prototype headset that allows a person to control their avatar in the OASIS with their mind, rather than by climbing into a haptic rig and physically moving. Wade and his friends (all equal partners in owning the OASIS, since they all worked together on the first Egg Hunt) decided to allow this new tech to be mass produced, allowing people to experience the virtual world as fully as real life - they can smell, feel, taste, etc everything around them. AND it allows users to record real life memories and experiences, upload them, and allow others to experience exactly what they did. Wade is naturally drawn to this new Egg Hunt - A quest to find the "Seven Shards of the Siren's Soul," but as soon as the first shard is retrieved (with help from new friends), a new, dangerous villain appears - one who takes the brains of every person using the new headsets hostage. Wade and his friends have a whooping 12 hours to retrieve all seven shards before they hit their headset usage limits, slip into comas, and die.

I found it to be a pale companion to the original book. The first 100 pages are bleak and depressing (a lot about how Wade screwed up his relationship with Sam, aka Art3mis and about how immature he is). Random social issues make an appearance with no consequence or reason and feel like they were thrown in just for the sake of the author patting himself on the back for being "woke." The actual shard hunting is boring in places and uneven - The shard on the planet dedicated to Prince has a gazillion things that need to be done before they can get the shard while the shard on the educational world is literally "I did all the quests here, I'll just ask the Queen nicely for the shard and have zero work to do." The villain made little to no sense and the ending felt like too much of a push to give that hot mess of a villain some logic. I was underwhelmed and disappointed with this book.

Deadly Chakram, I'm disappointed to hear Ready Player Two isn't as good as the original.

#34 The Lonely Century: How to Restore Human Connection in a World That's Pulling Apart by Noreena Hertz


This book was well researched and had a global perspective. It introduced many concepts I was already familiar with. While I'm interested in the topic, it wasn't a compelling read.

I wouldn't say it's not worth reading, but for me, it fell far short of the original. If you haven't already read it, Armada was pretty decent. Also, I really wish I'd re-read Ready Player One before diving into this one. I had forgotten how vastly different the book was from the movie!

#35 Ready Player Two by Ernest Cline

I'm with you Deadly Chakram, it wasn't a bad read but not nearly as fun as the original and the pacing was off. I wasn't as interested in some of the trivia. As with the original book, I felt like they had a great opportunity to make some social commentary but they didn't go there.

Wow - the majority of people on Goodreads hated this book.

Oh wow! I haven't used Goodreads in ages and never thought to check the ratings! Sorry you also didn't really love it.

#36 The Wife Upstairs by Rachel Hawkins

This is supposed to be a loose update of Jane Eyre, now taking place in the South. While I like the original story, I didn't like any of the characters in this 'update'. They were all pretty nasty. Some of the twists pushed credibility.

A good read for a plane trip.

[
It's fun to go to Goodreads and check out other people's reviews. I don't always agree with the majority but it can be entertaining in itself to read the reviews.

46) The Indochina Story: A Fully Documented Account by The Committee of Concerned Asian Scholars my interest in the history of Indochina (and in particular Vietnam) stems from it being where my dad was born so I try to read as many books as I can on the subject. That being said most of what was written in the book with respect to colonialism is pretty obvious without the need to be told and while I understand the concerns of the authors, I don’t feel that leading you to draw the conclusion they want you to come to was the right way to present their arguments

47) The Power of Geography: Ten Maps that Reveal the Future of Our World by Tim Marshall Marshall again delivers an outstanding book demonstrating his deep understanding of the complexities of international relations and diplomacy in his follow up to Prisoners of Geography. I know that geopolitics is not generally something that most people find interesting, but I always feel that to understand the world as it stands today we should keep try to keep up to date with everything that is going on. This in particular is especially relevant as it was only published this year and so mentions the ongoing health crisis with COVID as well as global warming and the geopolitical ramifications of it.

48) A Bridge Too Far by Cornelius Ryan another travel memory is visiting the small airborne memorial in the Dutch city of Arnhem dedicated to Operation Market Garden which faces the famed bridge. Dreamed up Field Marshal Sir Bernard Montgomery, it was designed as an invasion route across the Rhine into Germany in the hopes of ending the war. While the combined allied air and land would liberate several Dutch cities, the last of the seven bridges would prove to be ‘A Bridge Too Far’ the name in which the Battle for Arnhem would forever be known as. Having read his previous The Longest Day and thoroughly enjoying it, this didn’t meet my expectation. That’s not to say I didn’t like it, I just felt that it meandered more than was necessary.

#36 Such a Fun Age by Kiley Reid


I liked that this book touched on social issues yet it was character driven.

#18 Go The Distance by Jen Calonita

Another Disney Twisted Tale, this one takes us to ancient Greece, at the very end of Hercules. Herc has proven himself worthy to rejoin the gods on Olympus, but refuses to lose Megara in the process, and instead opts to stay on Earth. This time, Zeus refuses, nor will he allow Meg to remain on Olympus with Herc. But Hera has a plan and sends Meg on her very own quest to prove herself worthy of becoming a goddess. Yet in accepting Hera's offer, Meg has to face her painful past, including a mother who died too young and the young man Meg once sold her soul to Hades to save.

I liked this one. As I've said before, I'm a sucker for anything mythological, so this was right up my alley. I do like the Hercules movie, though the straying from mythology bothers me (he's NOT Hera's son, she hates him, etc). The book follows the movieverse closely, right down to the descriptions of the gods being the weird color scheme the movie gave them. And it continues the vain of "tweak the mythology to be kid friendly" - ie, Persephone is depicted as desperately in love with Hades. It was still a fun read and it was nice to see Herc take a bit of a peripheral role. While Meg is certainly the star (that whole "girl power" vibe), we do get to see quite a bit of Pegasus and even the satyr, Phil. And for once, we get to see the tough-as-nails, ties-her-own-sandals-and-everything Meg be vulnerable and even a bit indecisive, but in a much needed way - after all, she's only known Herc just a short while, does she really love him in an I'm-going-to-risk-my-life-and-become-a-goddess-to-be-with-him-forever kind of way?

#19, 20, 21 Who Was Walt Disney? Who Is Jane Goodall?, Where Is Walt Disney World? by Various Authors

Read these to the kids and I found them actually very engaging and informative. Who Was Walt Disney was particularly interesting. Obviously, I'm a huge Disnerd, so big surprise there, right? But I had done a research project on Walt back in high school (we had to focus on one of our heroes and at the time I wanted to be a cartoonist and work for Disney) and I had never heard a lot of the stories of his yiouth. So all of them we interesting and taught me something new. I did, however, have to skip over sections in the Where Is Walt Disney World book where it talks about the differences between "face characters" like the princesses and the full body suit ones like Mickey. My daughters are still young enough (not quite 8 years old) to still believe that the characters are actually the characters and not actors. No way am I going to ruin the magic for them!

#37 A Million Reasons Why by Jessica Strawser



There was a lot happening in this book. It could've easily gotten into high DRAMA.. I was relieved to see characters making wise decisions.

#38 The Queen of Hearts by Kimmery Martin


I always like a good female friendship book. But the mystery here didn't fully make sense.

#39 Freakonomics: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything by Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner


These guys have an interesting view point. I like that they emphasis the difference between correlation and causation with variables. I didn't agree with all their conclusions but it got me thining.

#22, 23, 24, 25 - Where Is The Eiffel Tower?, Who Is Steven Spielberg?, Who Was William Shakespeare?, What Was The Age of the Dinosaurs? by Various Authors

More informational reading. The kids liked the dinosaurs the best. I enjoyed it too. They were less enthused about the Eiffel Tower book, even though they picked it. They refused to listen to Spielberg and Shakespeare, but as a wannabe filmmaker and a literature nerd, I absolutely loved reading them for my own benefit and learned quite a bit, to be honest.

49) Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid by Jimmy Carter provides great insight into the Middle East peace process and it’s complexities. The choice of the word ‘apartheid’ in the title is an interesting choice given the ugly history behind it, but reading this I found quite appropriate.

50) Barbarians at the Wall: The First Nomadic Empire and the Making of China by John Man The Great Wall was built as a means of keeping these nomadic tribes from China (although what is now known as the Great Wall was built during the Ming Dynasty some 1400 years after Emperor Qin united the smaller kingdoms under one emperor). Man pieces together an interesting look into the origins and history of these tribes, but I found it rather tedious especially compared to his other books.

51) Blood and Silk: Power and Conflict in Modern South East Asia by Michael Vatikiotis this started out promising especially since as an Australian this region is of particular strategic importance and as someone from Taiwan China’s increasing influence is also of concern. Though timely and relevant, this book ended up being rather disappointing with sloppy presentation.

#40 A Burning by Megha Majumdar


This book gave a very detailed picture of the lives of lower class people in India. The poverty. The corruption. The utter lack of options. I didn't especially like the characters. It reminds me that it's easier to have moral principles when you have a home and food.

#41 Southern Discomfort by Tena Clark


The summary for this book was deceptive. It was a story about a girl with a chaotic upbringing. I loved "Educated" and "The Glass Castle" which focused more on the authors and how they escaped/dealt with such chaos. This book focused more on the author's parents, who had lots of issues. While the author is able to forgive her parents for their past deeds, I would've liked to have read more about that emotional journey.

#26 The Girl Who Drank The Moon by Kelly Barnhill

Every year, the youngest baby in The Protectorate is left out in the woods to be sacrificed to the witch, who is evil and will curse the town if she doesn't get the child (according to the Elders). Every year, the witch, Xan, finds an abandoned infant in the woods, though she doesn't know why. She takes these children across the woods to the Free Cities and gives them to families who want a child. On the way, she feeds the babies starlight to keep their bellies full. These Star Children are adored by all who know them. Except one year, Xan accidently feeds moonlight to the infant she finds, which gives the baby girl magic. Xan decides to raise the baby as her own granddaughter, because children with magic can be dangerous to others until they learn to control their magic. And so the girl, Luna, grows up in the woods with a witch, a well spoken and gentle swamp monster, and a perfectly tiny dragon. Meanwhile, a man from the Protectorate grows up and decides that he will hunt down the witch to prevent any further yearly sacrifices...

My husband picked this one out to read to our girls and, while it is definitely simplistic in sentence structure and plot, it is a delightfully engaging tale. And the language! SO beautiful. The descriptions are just so flowery and gorgeous, sometimes I would just lose myself in the imagery. Highly recommend as a short and fluffy read.

#55 The Perfect Smile: Jessie Hunt #4 by Blake Pierce Jessie has to deal with her serial killer father and her father's serial killer acolyte to survive. Interesting psychological thriller with nice twists and a plot that doesn't make me throw my Kindle across the room.

#56 Convince Me by Nina Sadowsky This tale is told from the viewpoints of the widow, the widow's mother-in-law, and the decedent's best friend and business partner. But nothing about the dead man was what it seemed. Actually kinda creepy, in a good "what's gonna happen next" way.

#57 Go The Distance by Jen Calonita Another Disney girl power tale, this one about Megara, who is forbidden by Zeus to follow Hercules into Olympus because she's mortal and then gets a chance from Hera to join the pantheon. A lot of familiar characters show up, including a couple of new ones. Herc doesn't get the idiot male treatment, either. A nice light read.

#58 Part Of Your World by Liz Braswell Arial didn't get her voice back in time to stop the wedding. Ursula is the princess on land and Arial rules in her father's stead with no voice. Four years pass. Things are about to change. Girl power with some retaliation for past wrongs thrown in.

#59 The Daughter of Sherlock Holmes by Leonard Goldberg Widow Joanna Blalock, the out-of-wedlock daughter of Sherlock Holmes and Irene Adler, meets Dr. John Watson Jr. and solves crimes in WW1 London with the original Watson's assistance. Very much in the spirit and tone of the Arthur Conan Doyle stories. If you like Holmesiana, you might enjoy this series.

#60 The Perfect Lie: Jessie Hunt #5 by Blake Pierce Jessi helps the LAPD solve another murder by literally putting herself in the killer's crosshairs. Tight psychological mystery and some cautious relationship development. I plan to read all the ones Pierce has released to date.

#61 Midnight in the Pacific : Guadalcanal by Joseph Wheelan Every time I read a World War 2 book I learn more than I knew before. This history volume is spiced by quotes from American, Japanese, Australian, and native sources, and I felt the tension of the defending Marines every time the Japanese tried to retake Henderson field. Tight, comprehensive story of the land, sea, and air campaign to stop the Japanese war machine in 1942.

#62 Alone At Dawn by Dan Schilling On March 4th, 2002, Combat Controller John Chapman was airdropped into a firefight in Afghanistan where he saved a number of his comrades' lives at the cost of his own. The story of his Medal of Honor action all but made me jump out of my seat a few times, not to mention the training he underwent to become one of the most exclusive combat fraternities in the world. Highly recommended.

#63 The Girl on the Velvet Swing by Simon Baatz This was the crime of the 20th century back in its first decade. Stanford White, famous architect, was shot by layabout heir Harry Thaw because White was accused by Thaw's new bride, Evelyn Nesbit, of raping her when she was sixteen. White was apparently what we'd label today a "sexual predator." Thaw was certifiably insane. Evelyn was a young country girl thrown into the insanity of the lifestyles of the rich and famous and might as well have been a tennis shoe in a running clothes dryer. Despite the inclusion of a lot of testimony from Thaw's various trials, there was no mention in the book of a velvet swing, red or otherwise. Interesting tale of wealth and jealousy and perversion and victimization of the innocent. They weren't that different from us.

#64 Videssos Cycle: Vol. 1-2 by Harry Turtledove A detachment of Romans from Gaul is magically transported to another world where they must learn to deal with the different factions and opponents while also learning how to deal with magic workers, both good and evil. Turtledove does his usual good job following the action from a third person singular POV, where we know only what Marcus knows or surmises. I plan to read the next two volumes also.

52) The Great War for Civilisation: The Conquest of the Middle East by Robert Fisk I will admit I wasn’t expecting a book of 1366 pages when I bought this, but I’m glad I did. Robert Fisk was a British journalist who spent his career following the conflicts in the Middle East an interest of his that came about through his father’s enlistment in WWI and the subsequent Balfour Declaration following the breakup of the Ottoman Empire. This is a long winded book, but Fisk does deliver with an analysis that doesn’t shy away from being critical where need be. Given recent upheavals, it serves as a look into what has lead to the current geopolitical climate of the region.

53) America’s Coming War with China: A Collision Course Over Taiwan by Ted Galen Carpenter I started this book knowing full well that much has changed in the years since it’s publication. Despite knowing this, it was still rather disappointing as I found myself thinking ‘what else is new?’ as what was presented was pretty much the same tune that has been sung for so many years and that it presented a rather over simplistic view of the potential danger that may lie ahead especially when one looks back on recent events in Hong Kong and how the ‘one country, two systems’ model will work. This seemingly draws you to that conclusion that the author feels that this will be the best outcome for all parties involved, but as a Taiwan born Australian I can safely say that I would sooner keep the status quo than any thought of a Hong Kong style of government.

#27 - Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing by Judy Blume

Peter Hatcher has a problem - his younger brother Farley, aka Fudge. Fudge can turn even the dullest day into a nightmare. Read this to my girls. It was one of my favorites as a kid. It was surprisingly nice to go back and kind of remember the details of it as the story progressed. And the kids loved it!

#28 - Project Hail Mary by Any Weir

A man awakens from a coma only to find himself in space, alone, in a desperate bid to save the Earth from an alien species that is literally eating away at the sun's ability to sustain life on our planet. The only problem is, he can't remember who he is or what he's doing in another solar system at first...

Loved this book! My husband and I sort of read it together, separately. He had his audiobook version, I had the printed version. This is the same author behind The Martian, and it really shows that he's done his research into making life in space (or on another planet, as the case may be, as realistic and believable as possible. He presents an engaging story and gives us glimpses into the main character's past in an effective way that works well with the present-day action. And when he introduces "Rocky," well, I for one, was in love with the character. (I also totally heard his dialogue in the voice of Baymax from Big Hero 6, and hubby agreed that he could see why.) Totally recommend this fantastical, interesting sci-fi book.

#42 Beautiful Bad by Annie Ward

The summary of this book describes it as a 'beautiful marriage gone wrong'. This wasn't the case. It described two badly damaged people in a relationship over many years which culminated in tragedy. The story teased us that some one had been murdered and showed us bits and pieces as the book moved along. I didn't like any of the characters and the story seem to move a bit unevenly.

#43 The Only Woman in the Room by Marie Benedict

This novel was based on the life of Hedy Lamarr. It was interesting to learn about her life - being married to a wealthy arms merchant, being in a position to overhear conversations between people of power. I enjoyed the book but wished it would've included more of her life - her other husbands and inventions other than the torpedo radar.

54) Old Testament Times: A Social, Political and Cultural Context by R. K. Harrison this I picked up years ago out of a love of history despite the fact that it is a Christian text. The present lockdown in Sydney has given me the opportunity to go through and cull my huge collection of books that I’ve amassed over the years and this was one that sat in said collection. I found this very interesting placing the Old Testament events in context of where they fit in with the other civilisations of the day.

55) The Histories by Herodotus my knowledge of Ancient Greek history is rather limited, though I’ve always been interested in it. That said despite Herodotus being referred to as ‘The Father of History’ I didn’t really enjoy this as much as I thought I would. Whether the translation had something to do with it, I cannot say for sure, but I found it rather choppy in presentation.

56) Return of a King: The Battle for Afghanistan by William Dalrymple the recent events in Afghanistan need no hashing over, but to understand what is happening now, I decided to read this as it parallels the failures of the west to fully understand the deeply rooted cultural and tribal beliefs in Afghanistan. Dalrymple here again delivers a superb recounting of how the British Empire (through the East India Company) sought to gain a foothold in Afghanistan as a means of protecting India from falling into Russian hands. The First Afghan War or as Rudyard Kipling would call it ‘The Great Game’ would ultimately end in disaster for the British (that said this also is how the Koh-I-Noor diamond which is a part of the British Crown Jewels would be ‘acquired’) and the eventual downfall of the East India Company.

57) China: A History by John Keay it is of course difficult to write a complete history of China and condense it into one volume, but Keay does a pretty good job. That said though, I did feel at times that he did gloss over parts to do so especially when he spent a great portion of it looking into the history prior to its unification under the first emperor.

#44 The Last Thing He Told Me by Laura Dave


An entertaining mystery.