Category: featured

Book Review, featured, History, Non-fiction, Rants

Forget the Alamo by Bryan Burrough, Chris Tomlinson and Jason Stanford

One thing that makes reading history fun, for me at least, is finding out what really happened. So often what we know, or think we know, has been influenced by forces outside the facts: racism, sexism, classism, nationalism, all the ‘ism’s plus time. Time passes and history changes. Then, periodically, someone comes along to set the record straight. It makes for interesting reading. In the … Continue reading Forget the Alamo by Bryan Burrough, Chris Tomlinson and Jason Stanford

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Book Review, featured, History, Non-fiction, Western

Four Hundred Souls, edited by Ibram X. Kendi and Keisha N Blain

This book may be illegal in your state. If you live in Texas, Florida or any assorted U.S. states with Republican governments, it may be difficult to find Four Hundred Souls in your public library, school library, even at your local college or university library. This is just the sort of book Texas Governor Abbot and Florida Governor DeSantis have in mind when they complain … Continue reading Four Hundred Souls, edited by Ibram X. Kendi and Keisha N Blain

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Book Review, featured, History, Non-fiction, Rants

Blood and Treasure: Daniel Boone and the Fight for America’s First Frontier by Bob Drury and Tom Clavin

History is problematic. American history is very problematic. I only recently started reading American history seriously. During the last three years of my teaching career, I kept trying to get an 8th grade history position. If I had, I might still be teaching. The closest I came was teaching it via Zoom during lockdown. Prior to that my historical interest was ancient and Medieval, largely … Continue reading Blood and Treasure: Daniel Boone and the Fight for America’s First Frontier by Bob Drury and Tom Clavin

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American Fiction, Book Review, featured, Fiction, Noir, Novel, Thriller

Notes on an Execution by Danya Kukafka

My new favorite book. I am a fan of crime fiction, but I’ll admit the genre can be a bit stale at times. Someone I know, not a fan, described it as too “rat-a-tat-tat” for his taste. Fair enough, I guess. Much of the time the formula is part of the fun. Readers of crime fiction don’t necessarily want to be challenged with experimentation or … Continue reading Notes on an Execution by Danya Kukafka

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American Fiction, Book Review, Fantasy, featured, Fiction, History, Novel, Thriller, Uncategorized

When the Reckoning Comes by LaTanya McQueen

When I say that When the Reckoning Comes by LaTanya McQueen is an airplane read, I don’t mean that as an insult. Not at all. I value good airplane reads. I want an airplane read to do is to keep me entertained for the duration of the flight, which When the Reckoning Comes definitely did, or would have had I been on a plane, probably … Continue reading When the Reckoning Comes by LaTanya McQueen

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Book Review, European Literature, featured, Fiction, Film, French, French Literature, Noir, Novel, Thriller, Translation

Syndrome E by Franck Thilliez – translated from the French by Mark Poliotti

The detective in Syndrome E is a paranoid schizophrenic. While solving cases he is constantly accompanied by his hallucinations of his deceased six-year-old daughter. She is not giving him hints to help solve the case but acting like a six-year-old: crying out for attention; becoming sick at the sight of bloody crime scenes; complaining that she wants her father to play with her, feed her … Continue reading Syndrome E by Franck Thilliez – translated from the French by Mark Poliotti

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Book Review, Fantasy, featured, Fiction, Novel, Science Fiction, Travel

A Prayer for the Crown-shy by Becky Chambers

About halfway through Becky Chambers’ A Prayer for the Crown-shy I realized what it was reminding me of: Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, Robert M. Pirsig’s 1974 novel. I’m not a fan of Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance. Mr. Pirsig’s novel is an autobiographical account of a cross-country trip he took with his young son. Along the way he reviews the history … Continue reading A Prayer for the Crown-shy by Becky Chambers

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Book Review, Classic, English Literature, Fantasy, featured, Fiction, Novel, Thriller

The House on the Borderland by Willaim Hope Hodgson

I bought this book because of the cover. Not the cover pictured here on the left but a different cover. I get regular posts about retro-science fiction/fantasy book covers on Instagram. A while ago, there was one featuring a cover for William Hope Hodgson’s novella, The House on the Borderland. The cover featured a bunch of nude human figures all reaching for a glowing sphere … Continue reading The House on the Borderland by Willaim Hope Hodgson

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Book Review, featured, History, Non-fiction

The Kidnapping of Edgardo Mortara by David I. Kertzer

A Jewish family sits together peacefully in their home. It is an ordinary night. After dinner. Mother, father, six children, the oldest still under ten years. Suddenly, agents of the Inquisition are at the door, there to take away Edgardo, age six, claiming he was secretly baptized by one of the family servants, therefore a Christian, therefore in need of Christian parents. The panicked family … Continue reading The Kidnapping of Edgardo Mortara by David I. Kertzer

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