It's Been Awhile for a Reading and New Book Update.

 

I know, I know. I suck big time. The last time that I did a reading update was 30 April. Good grief! I've been busy? Yeah, yeah, I know, I'm retired, how can I be busy. I'm depressed at the Blue Jays struggles this past week?? 😕 I'm still in hibernation mode because Spring has been so darn cold and wet? OK, enough excuses. 

So let's see. I've read 5 books since my last update. I'll provide you with my reviews. I'll also provide the synopses of the books I've started in their places. I've purchased or received 4 books in May, for which I'll also provide synopses. Let's get a move on.

Just Finished

1. The Chelsea Murders by Lionel Davidson (1978). Davidson has been sort of hit or miss with me. Some of his spy thrillers have been entertaining. At least one that I recall did nothing for me. But this was an excellent police procedural.

"Over the past few years I've read four other books by Lionel Davidson, all thrillers. The Chelsea Murders, a police procedural, has been my favorite. It's similar in style to other such mysteries I've enjoyed, like JJ Marric's Superintendent Gideon, or Ed McBain's 87th Precinct, and a couple of others. 

What I enjoyed about the story was how it moved from police investigation, to following the suspects and also the intrepid reporter trying to get her own byline out of her investigation. It's all very well-paced, exciting and all in all an excellent story.

The story begins with the murder of Dutch student, Grooters, in her student residence in London. The story then moves back in time a couple of weeks and we meet three pals, university students Artie, Steve and Frank, making a movie about 'murder'. We also meet Mary Mooney, newspaperwoman, their friend btw, a reporter trying to be hired full-time by the local rag. She heads off to the scene of a murder, gets there before the cops, talks her way into the crime scene and becomes both the bane of the cops, while still sort of assisting them.

And then there is Inspector Warton, a tired cop, but still the best man to solve the various events that will be taking place over the course of the story. It's nice to see a smart, competent police officer working a case. He has an excellent team as well, especially his assistant Summers and new cop Constable Mason who will be used effectively throughout the story.

It's all just a fascinating case, or cases more exactly. The three friends are all suspected but as you go through the story and gather clues yourself, you (well, maybe it was just me) start to see other possibilities. (Let me know if you have any others). We move from a woman attacked by a kissing bandit, a hanged Chinese clothier and other victims. The police are still organized and under Warton's careful eye, the clues are gathered and you get the feeling that he will solve the case quite satisfactorily. Every character is interesting and well - crafted. There are secrets and lies that will leave you suspecting first one, then another... Mary Mooney is a great character, reminding me of the reporter in the Endeavour TV series.

All in all it was a great way to start off a new month. The story is a page turner, entertaining and ultimately so very satisfactorily concluded. Try it. (4.5 stars)"

2. Dark Matter by Blake Crouch (2016).

"Dark Matter is my first exposure to the novels of Blake Crouch. It reminded me of the work of Dean Koontz in some ways. All in all it was an interesting story, not perfect but a page-turner with a neat concept.

Jason Dessen is a college professor in Chicago, a man who took a path away from scientific discovery & fame to get married and raise a son. Spending an evening out at a local bar to help his best friend celebrate a Pavia Prize. On his way home Jason is kidnapped & drugged by a masked stranger. Jason wakes up strapped to a gurney with a group of 'doctors' looking down on him. They know him but he doesn't know them. They expect something from him, but he doesn't know what.

Jason's life will be turned upside down. I don't want to ruin the plot but suffice it to say that his world is no longer his world and he will spend the rest of the story trying to find it. It seems like a simple story but when you get to the middle, things will head to a new level that I believe will surprise you. 

Call it alternate realities or doorways. It does drag a bit at times but overall, the concept and the story are quite different and interesting. Jason is the main character and the focus is on him. There are others though who will grab your attention, especially Amanda, who will share the journey that Jason finds himself on. HIs wife Daniela and son Charlie, even though fairly minor do add strength and character. Call the story a look at space / time / reality... If you like that sort of thing, give it a try. You'll be pleasantly surprised. (4 stars)"

3. The Suez Crisis - 1956 by Derek Varble (2003). I've wanted to read about this period in history for awhile. I've ordered a more in depth look at it after reading this book.

"The Suez Crisis 1956 by Derek Varble is part of a 'multi-volume history of war seen from political, tactical, cultural and individual perspectives'. Seen from that perspective, I'd say this specific book is more of a description of the tactical and military aspects of the Crisis.

In 1956, Gamal Nasser became president of Egypt after a coup by Egypt's generals. He decided to nationalize the Suez Canal, a critical conduit for oil and supplies to England and Europe, which was struggling economically after WWII. Both England and France were investors in the Suez Canal Corporation, so this nationalization was also an economic blow on that front. For the French, Nasser was an additional threat as he was encouraging a pan-Arabic system and helping the Algerians try to throw off French rule in Algeria.

So politically, both England and France wanted Nasser to be overthrown so their strategy was to take back the Suez Canal. They hoped to get assistance from the Israelis, who were also feeling constant pressure from Arab countries. Israel was encouraged to attack through the Sinai Peninsula to assist in this overthrow of Nasser. There was some intrigue involved in this. The US, in the midst of a presidential election (Eisenhower's) didn't need a mid-east crisis to muddy the waters. They were pressuring England and France to make a diplomatic solution to the Suez crisis. England and France wanted Israel to invade, which would provide a pretext for them to intervene and take over control of the Suez and act as a supposed buffer between Egypt and Israel and at the same time protect their interests in the Suez.

Now that is the book at its simplest from a political perspective. The majority of the rest deals with the actual tactical battles that took place over the period of just a few days and the ultimate failure of the whole effort. It's an interesting book about a period of history of which I knew very little. It's provided me with a somewhat clearer picture but just the barest details. I'd like to know more about the whole political situation in France and England and even the US at this time and I think that a more comprehensive book would provide that. But, still, overall, it's piqued my interest and given me a nice overview. For someone who tended not to like history in school, a book like this makes me want to explore more. (3.0 stars)"

4. Hannah Arendt: The Last Interview and Other Conversations by Hannah Arendt (2013). Have you ever heard a person's name and thought you'd like to know more about her / him? Well, in my university years and other non-fiction readings, Hannah Arendt is one of those people. I would like to read even more about her after this teaser.

"Hannah Arendt was a German political philosopher who lived from 1906 - 1975. A Jew, she was forced to escape from Europe in 1941. She had been stripped of German citizenship in 1937 and when France was invaded in 1940, she was detained by French authorities as an alien. I don't know a great deal about her writing, but in my various political science courses at university, her name came up fairly often. 

Hannah Arendt: The Last Interview and Other Conversations is a collection of 4 interviews by various people of Arendt that took place between 1964 & 1973. They covered a variety of themes; her life as a political philosopher, the trial in Jerusalem of Adolf Eichmann, thoughts on politics and revolution & her last interview by Roger Errera. Reading the various interviews reminded me of why I originally took Political Science and also why I switched to English after my 2nd year.. LOL.

I was very excited when I originally decided on a PolSci degree, but also it became evident that I was sick of school after 2nd year and wanted to take courses that maybe were less thought provoking (not that English courses weren't, just that I often struggled with Political philosophy). At any rate, I'm glad that I have begun to read more books on history and politics this past few years as 'the more you know'.. There were many topics of discussion with Arendt that struck a chord with me about the current political situation in the US and even around the world; the rise of tyranny and fanaticism, especially.

Arendt especially discusses this in line with Hitler's Germany; administration mandated murder (Eichmann's trial defense) and political criminals (in reference to Watergate and Nixon & also Hitler, but.. ). She quotes Berthold Brecht; 'The great political criminals must be exposed and exposed to laughter. They are not great political criminals, but people who who permitted great political crimes, which is something entirely different. The failure of his enterprises doe not indicate  that Hitler was an idiot." Another quote that struck home about the state of the GOP. "If the ruling classes permit a small crook to become a great crook, he is not entitled to a privileged position in our view of history. That is, the fact that that he becomes a great crook and that what he did has great consequences does not add to his stature." 

Just one of the many interesting discussions she is involved with in this book. The Last Interviews were an ongoing theme, involving varied people. I have the one with Ursula K. Le Guin on my bookshelf and another with Kurt Vonnegut on order. Worth checking out, just to read the thoughts of one of the great political philosophers of the early to mid-1900's. (4 stars)"

5. Golden Buddha by Clive Cussler / Craig Dirgo (Oregon Files #1). I've enjoyed many of Cussler's adventure thrillers. This was my first look at this series.

"I've tried most of Clive Cussler's adventure series. Golden Buddha is the 1st book in the Oregon Files. If you like the A-Team on steroids, this is the book for you.

Far-fetched? Nah..... Let's see. A statue of Buddha, stolen from Tibet yonks ago, is auctioned off. Two billionaires bid against each other. A group, who work off the ship, the Oregon, keep track of the sale and buyer. One of them plans to rip off his buyer and run away with his fortune. He also has a fake Buddha. This Buddha will play a role in the return of the Dalai Lama to Tibet.

The Oregon will sail to Macau to get the Buddha, help the CIA overturn Chinese rule in Tibet and so many other things. They have more equipment than the US government and act quicker and more effectively than any army or navy or air force. But other than that, pretty much any ordinary mercenary group with high moral standards.

It's a rollicking adventure, filled with action and intrigue and high tech gimmicks. If you're in the need for saving the earth and you want to just get away from everything for a few hours, try this book. (3.0 stars)"

Just Reading

1. Dominion by C.J. Sansom (2012). I've enjoyed Sansom's Matthew Shardlake historical mystery series very much. It's one of my favorites. I've been looking forward to trying this.

"1952. Twelve years have passed since Churchill lost to the appeasers, and Britain surrendered to Nazi Germany. In Britain, Winston Churchill's Resistance organization is increasingly a thorn in the government's side. And in a Birmingham mental hospital an incarcerated scientist may hold a secret that could change the balance of the world struggle forever."

2. Flashman on the March by George MacDonald Fraser (Flashman #12). I've been going through the series slowly. I had to quit the last one because I found it quite objectionable. Hoping this one is better.

"The adventure is set in 1867-8 and starts in Trieste, shortly after Flashman's service with Emperor Maximilian I in Mexico. Flashman then travels to Abyssinia (Ethiopia) and takes part in General Robert Napier's 1868 expedition."

3. The Daughters of Yalta by Catherine Grace Katz (2020). One of those books that grabbed my attention when I saw it in the book store. I enjoy reading history so much more than when I was taking it in school. This is Katz's first book.

"The untold story (Ed. Comment - until now) of the three intelligent and glamorous young women who accompanied their famous fathers to the Yalta Conference with Stalin, and of the fateful reverberations in the waning days of World War II.

 Tensions during the Yalta Conference in February 1945 threatened to tear apart the wartime alliance among Franklin Roosevelt, Winston Churchill, and Joseph Stalin just as victory was close at hand. Catherine Grace Katz uncovers the dramatic story of the three young women who were chosen by their fathers to travel with them to Yalta, each bound by fierce family loyalty, political savvy, and intertwined romances that powerfully colored these crucial days. Kathleen Harriman was a champion skier, war correspondent, and daughter of US ambassador to the Soviet Union Averell Harriman. Sarah Churchill, an actress-turned-RAF officer, was devoted to her brilliant father, who depended on her astute political mind. Roosevelt’s only daughter, Anna, chosen instead of her mother Eleanor to accompany the president to Yalta, arrived there as keeper of her father’s most damaging secrets. Situated in the political maelstrom that marked the transition to a post- war world, The Daughters of Yalta is a remarkable story of fathers and daughters whose relationships were tested and strengthened by the history they witnessed and the future they crafted together."

4. A Killing in Comics by Max Allan Collins (2007). A new author for me. It definitely sounded interesting.

"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.

Hailed by Mickey Spillane as "a terrific writer," and by Publishers Weekly as "the master of true-crime fiction," author Max Allan Collins is the creator of the bestselling graphic novel Road to Perdition. Artist Terry Beatty is the co-creator with Max Allan Collins of the long-running private-eye series, Ms. Tree. Their other collaborations include Mike Mist, Mickey Spillane's Mike Danger, and Johnny Dynamite."

New Books

1. The Gift by Lewis Hyde (1979). I'd never heard of Lewis Hyde but in a collection of essays by Margaret Atwood, she mentioned this book. I thought I should check it out.

"By now a modern classic, The Gift is a brilliantly orchestrated defense of the value of creativity and of its importance in a culture increasingly governed by money and overrun with commodities. This book is even more necessary today than when it first appeared.

An illuminating and transformative book, and completely original in its view of the world, The Gift is cherished by artists, writers, musicians, and thinkers. It is in itself a gift to all who discover the classic wisdom found in its pages."

2. Off Season by Jack Ketchum (Dead River #1). I'd read Ketchum's The Girl Next Door. It was definitely creepy. This one sounds like The Hills Are Alive.

"September. A beautiful New York editor retreats to a lonely cabin on a hill in the quiet Maine beach town of Dead River—off season—awaiting her sister and friends. Nearby, a savage human family with a taste for flesh lurks in the darkening woods, watching, waiting for the moon to rise and night to fall...

And before too many hours pass, five civilized, sophisticated people and one tired old country sheriff will learn just how primitive we all are beneath the surface...and that there are no limits at all to the will to survive."

3. Payback: Debt and the Shadow Side of Wealth by Margaret Atwood (2007). I've become more and more hooked on Atwood's writing, whether fiction, poetry and non-fiction. Atwood mentioned this book in the collection of essays I read in April.

"Collected here, the Massey Lectures from legendary novelist Margaret Atwood investigate the highly topical subject of debt. She doesn’t talk about high finance or managing money; instead, she goes far deeper to explore debt as an ancient and central motif in religion, literature, and the structure of human societies. By looking at how debt has informed our thinking from preliterate times to the present day, from the stories we tell of revenge and sin to the way we order social relationships, Atwood argues that the idea of what we owe may well be built into the human imagination as one of its most dynamic metaphors. Her final lecture addresses the notion of a debt to nature and the need to find new ways of interacting with the natural world before it is too late."

4. Floating Staircase by Ronald Malfi (2010). I'm checking out horror more and more these days. This is a new author for me.

"Horror writer Travis Glasgow and his wife, Jodie, have bought their first house in Westlake, Maryland, just steps from Travis's older brother's home. Travis is buoyed by the thought of renewing his relationship with his estranged sibling and overcoming the darkness from his past. But the house has other plans for him. Travis is soon awakened by noises in the night and finds watery footprints in the basement that lead him to the nearby lake, which has a strange staircase emerging from its depths.

When Travis discovers that a former occupant of his house--a ten-year-old boy--drowned in the lake, he draws connections to his own childhood tragedy. As his brother and wife warn him to leave well enough alone, Travis is pulled into a dark obsession, following the house's secrets to the floating staircase--and into the depths of madness . . ."

I hope you find some of these pique your interest. Have a great week.