Just Finished
"I first heard of Fiona Hill when she testified at ex-Pres Trump's 1st impeachment and I have to say she impressed me so very much, along with people like Alexander Vindman and Ambassador Yovanovitch. When I saw this book, There Is Nothing for You Here: Finding Opportunity in the Twenty-First Century, I decided to give it a try.
The story is a combination of a few different themes; the story of Hill's life, her childhood in northeast England, her move to university in Scotland, then on to working for the WH under Donald Trump, and finally a look at the threat of populism and her thoughts on how to try and improve the future for the more disadvantaged amongst us.
All in all, it was a very interesting book. The story of her life in England, how the closing of coal fields affected so many, including her parents; how she was able to take advantage (in a positive way) of scholarships, etc to go to university and across the pond to Harvard and also her thoughts on populism, especially related to her work in the WH under Trump and while testifying at the impeachment hearings.
Hill writes succinctly and clearly and expresses her perspective and thoughts in an interesting, intelligent manner. There is a bit of a rehash over the course of this story but that was basically to emphasize and clarify her ideas. All in all it was an interesting, well-written, clearly presented biography with interesting concepts and ideas for improving the future. Personally, I wonder if the US is so fractured at the moment that it will be difficult (even impossible?) to craft the plan (as she calls it an American Marshall Plan) to change the US in such a way as to make life more equitable for all Americans. Worth reading (4 stars)"
New Books
"In Manhattan of 1948, a famous former striptease artist named Maggie Starr runs her late husband's newspaper syndicate, distributing the superhero comic Wonder Guy. But when the cartoon's publisher winds up dead, Maggie hunts for the killer among a cast of cartoonists, wives and mistresses, and minions of a different sort of syndicate — a crew of suspects with motives that are far from super-heroic."
"The barbarians in their long ships waiting at the edge of the Galaxy...
...waited
for the ancient Terran Empire to fall, while two struggled to save it:
ex-Admiral McCormac, forced to rebel against a corrupt Emperor, and
Starship Commander Flandry, the brilliant young officer who served the
Imperium even as he scorned it.
Trapped between them was the
woman they both loved, but couldn't share: the beautiful Kathryn - whose
single word could decide the fate of a billion suns."
"An official Midsomer Murders Interactive novel
All
is not well in the beautiful county of Midsomer. On the eve of its
first Villages In Bloom competition, a man lies dead, smelling of damson
jam. Who could have done it?
Well, that's where you come in.
Step into the shoes of Midsomer CID's newest recruit, choose your own
path and decide which way the story goes.
Will you get to the
bottom of the mystery? Will you bring the perpetrator to justice? And
perhaps most importantly of all, could you avoid an untimely, and
possibly bizarre, death... will YOU survive Midsomer? Your task is to
make the right choices, solve the case and - most tricky of all - stay
alive!... Good luck."
2022 Reading Challenges - Monthly Focus
Each month I'll focus on a specific genre or sub-genre. I've picked my first book for my January Focus, that being Biography / Autobiography.
"The daughter of a
Burmese mother and a white American father, Alex Wagner grew up thinking
of herself as a "futureface"--an avatar of a mixed-race future when all
races would merge into a brown singularity. But when one family mystery
leads to another, Wagner's post-racial ideals fray as she becomes
obsessed with the specifics of her own family's racial and ethnic
history.
Drawn into the wild world of ancestry, she embarks upon a
quest around the world--and into her own DNA--to answer the ultimate
questions of who she really is and where she belongs. The journey takes
her from Burma to Luxembourg, from ruined colonial capitals with records
written on banana leaves to Mormon databases, genetic labs, and the
rest of the twenty-first-century genealogy complex. But soon she begins
to grapple with a deeper question: Does it matter? Is our enduring
obsession with blood and land, race and identity, worth all the trouble
it's caused us?
Wagner weaves together fascinating history,
genetic science, and sociology but is really after deeper stuff than her
own ancestry: in a time of conflict over who we are as a country, she
tries to find the story where we all belong."
2. February Focus - The Classics (Pre - 1900).
Possible selection - Ninety - Three by Victor Hugo (1874).
3. March Focus - Mystery (Noir).
Possible selection - Miami Blues by Charles Willeford (Hoke Mosely #1)
4. April Focus - Science Fiction.
Possible selection - Look to Windward by Iain Banks (Culture #7).
5. May Focus - Non - Fiction.
Possible selection - The River at the Center of the World by Simon Winchester.
6. June Focus - Children / Young Adult.
Possible selection - Ready Player One by Ernest Cline (Ready Player #1).
7. July Focus - Fiction 1900 - 1950.
Possible selection - Black Mischief by Evelyn Waugh (1932).
8. August Focus - Short Story.
Possible selection - Someone Like You by Roald Dahl (1953).
9. September Focus - Fantasy.
Possible selection - The Beginning Place by Ursula K. LeGuin (1980).
10. October Focus - Horror.
Possible selection - This Perfect Day by Ira Levin (1970).
11. November Focus - Mystery (International).
Possible selection - Let the Dead Lie by Malla Nunn (Det Emmanuel Cooper #2).
12. December Focus - Graphic Novels.
I'll be looking at new purchases over the course of 2022.
So there you go. I've been getting my first books of 2022 ready. I'll highlight my first books in future post. Happy New Year.
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