HISTORY MATTERS (audiobook) by David McCullough. Edited by Dorie McCullough Lawson and Michael Hill.

Published in 2025 by Simon and Schuster Audio.
Read by John Bedford Lloyd, Dorie McCullough Lawson, and David McCullough.
Duration: 5 hours, 59 minutes.
Unabridged.

David McCullough (1933-2022) was a prolific historian, a two time winner of the Pulitzer Prize and a winner of the National Book Award. He was proud to be known as a writer that wrote smart, well-documented histories that were aimed at general audiences. 

McCullough was also known as well-respected narrator. You may know him as the narrator of Ken Burns' Civil War documentary miniseries. 

McCullough's daughter and his researcher put together this book as a collection of speeches, letters, and essays that were previously unpublished or only published in small publications. For example, he wrote a nice little essay for a local public library about his family's tradition of giving books at Christmas. 

Dorie McCullough Lawson introduces every entry in the collection, often including some context about her father's interest in the topic or why he gave a speech to this or that particular group. Sometimes, they are just annotated lists of books that McCullugh really liked (he was a man that liked to make lists) or speeches about authors that he admired.

Most of the readings were by narrator John Bedford Lloyd, but there are a couple of instances where there was a recording made of McCullough himself giving the speech.

There are a variety of topics, including Harry Truman, George Washington, and the time that a young McCullough really wanted to make a suggestion to then-candidate John Kennedy about a topic to include in his campaign stump speech. I was pleased to note that he mentioned three authors that I really like as authors to emulate - Bruce Catton, Michael Shaara, and Dr. Suess. 

I rate this audiobook 4 stars out of 5. It can be found on Amazon.com here: History Matters by David McCullough.

Robert F. Kennedy: A Life from Beginning to End (kindle) by Hourly History

 

Published in 2024 by Hourly History.

Robert F. Kennedy is remembered largely as a tragic lost opportunity due to his assassination as he was running for President in June of 1968 at the age of 43.

Hourly History specializes in short biographies and histories that a reader can read in about an hour. 

In this case, Hourly History has provided a lively, balanced biography that does not hide Kennedy's warts, but also lets the reader know why so many people had high hopes for him as he was mounting a late campaign for the Democratic nomination for President in 1968.

I rate this short bio 4 stars out of 5. It can be found on Amazon.com here: Robert F. Kennedy: A Life from Beginning to End (kindle) by Hourly History.

MATA HARI: A LIFE from BEGINNING to END (kindle) by Hourly History

 

Published in 2019 by Hourly History.

When I was a kid, people would mention Mata Hari whenever a woman in the news or in a story was supposed to have seduced men in order to obtain secret information. I didn't know anything about her besides that. I wasn't even sure she was a real person. If she was real, I didn't even know if she had actually done any spying or stealing of secrets until I ran across this short biography.

Mata Hari was indeed a real woman. She has a reputation of being a seductive woman from the Far East, but she was actually born in the Netherlands. She started out in a prosperous family, but they came upon hard times and she married an older military officer who was stationed in the Far East. 

When she returned to Europe she divorced her husband (he was abusive) and took on the character of a seductive dancer from the Far East and performed in shows. The shows started out small, but soon moved into larger and larger venues. She became famous, if not infamous, for her sexually charged dances (remember this is the early 1900s, so they were wild stuff for the day, not necessarily nowadays.)

Her story was always one of finding a rich man to take care of her and falling back on the exotic shows when the relationship with her patron went sour. Over time, her shows had smaller audiences because she was aging and other women were doing similar shows. 

When World War I broke out, she mostly ignored it. She crossed borders at will and sought favors from officers on both sides. It was rumored that she had contracted with a German officer to seek information from a French officer. She was captured and executed by the Allied powers despite scant evidence. 

Was she a spy? Maybe. Was she just trying to make a little money and not really serious about being a spy. In my opinion, probably. 

I rate this short e-book 4 stars out of 5. It can be found on Amazon.com here: Mata Hari: A Life from Beginning to End. 

ZACHARY TAYLOR: A LIFE from BEGINNING to END (Biographies of U.S. Presidents)(kindle) by Hourly History

Published by Hourly History in 2025.

Hourly History specializes in histories and biographies that take a reader about an hour to read. It seems appropriate length for Zachary Taylor, the President with the third shortest time in office (just 16 months).

Taylor had a short and rather vague political career, but his military career was rather lengthy. He fought against the Shawnee under future President William Hentry Harrison on the frontier in the War of 1812 in Indiana, Illinois, and Michigan. 

He fought in the Black Hawk War and served in what would later become Minnesota and Wisconsin establishing and upgrading a series of forts. Later, he fought the Seminoles in Florida and served as the overall commander of American troops in the War. 

He is most famous for his service as one of the two main generals that led the invasion of Mexico in the Mexican War. Taylor crossed from Texas into Northern Mexico, fighting a series of battles, eventually winning the Battle of Buena Vista in February of 1847. That battle cemented his reputation in the American mind and catapulted him to the Presidency in 1848, despite never having voted before and not really having political opinions that alligned strongly with any political party at the time.

On a personal note - one thing Taylor did have going for him was a working knowledge of the what was the American frontier at the time, having served or lived in Texas, Arkansas, Indiana, Michigan, Illinois, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Kentucky, Louisiana, and Mississippi. Taylor was a slave holder but was against the expansion of slavery into the territories taken from Mexico. he knew from personal experience that the climate of those areas were completely incompatible with the plantation style of slavery he practiced at his plantation in Mississippi. 

As I already noted, Taylor took ill in the summer of 1850 and died, probably due to some sort of food poisoning or a form of cholera. This book doesn't look much into the "what ifs" of a longer Presidency for Taylor who was pro-slavery, strongly anti-seccession, and against the spread of slavery. Could he have been the political figure that worked out a great compromise that would have prevented the Civil War?

I rate this short e-book 4 stars out of 5. It's pretty good, considering how short it is. It can be found on Amazon.com here: ZACHARY TAYLOR: A LIFE from BEGINNING to END by Hourly History.

STUDY HALL of JUSTICE (DC COMICS: SECRET HERO SOCIETY #1) by Derek Fridolfs and Dustin Nguyen

Published by Scholastic in 2016.

Study Hall of Justice is a YA graphic novel that is a re-imagining of the DC universe with a comic twist. 

Synopsis

Imagine a Hogwarts-type school where only children with special talents are invited. Young Bruce Wayne suspects that there is more going on in the school than meets the eye. The teachers are odd, not only quirky, but sometimes malicious - increasingly so.

Bruce starts to investigate, sometimes wearing a special costume to hide in the shadows, he begins to suspect that there is a malevolent figure running the school. He also encounters two other students who are looking into the school leadership - Clark Kent and Diana Prince.

My Review

While this book is aimed at middle schoolers, adult super fans of DC Comics will appreciate the easter eggs that abound. For example, Bruce Wayne's locker has shark repellent (from the 1960's Adam West movie) and movie stills from The Gray Ghost, a movie that inspires young Bruce Wayne to create his Batman personae (from Batman: The Animated Series.)

Coming of age themes abound, including each of the good guy trio acknowledging what makes them different, and coming to appreciate those differences in each other (see the picture to the right.)

It's a fun graphic novel. I rate it 4 stars out of 5.

This graphic novel can be found on Amazon.com here: Study Hall of Justice (DC Comics: Secret Hero Society #1)

HELL BENT: HOW the FEAR of HELL HOLDS CHRISTIANS BACK from a SPIRITUALITY of LOVE by Brian Recker

Published by Penguin Audio in 2025.
Read by the author, Brian Recker.
Duration: 6 hours, 40 minutes.
Unabridged.
 
My cousin reviewed Hell Bent on Goodreads and his review made me very excited to read it as well. 

I just re-read that review and I am still excited to read the book he described. The actual book is solid, but took a long time to get going and seemed like it was put together in an odd way - almost backwards and I think that diluted its strength.

Recker starts with a lengthy discussion of what happens if you fall out of your tribe's accepted truths. In this case, his tribe is American Evangelical Christianity, but you may have had a similar falling out with another group. For example, I have had a falling out with a lot of friends and family because I left my political tribe (I am a never-Trump Republican.)

This part was simply too long for me. I was far more interested in the actual discussion about the relative strengths and weaknesses of those that argue in favor of a Biblical case for an actual hell as a place of eternal torment for unbelievers. 

Recker looks into the Bible verses and looks at their context, not just the isolated verses. He follows up with a look at church history and sees where the actual teachings of the church changed over time. Recker delivers those arguments quite well and then shows how bad that the pro-hell argument really is for the ongoing growth of Christianity. 

I liked this book and think it has a well-earned place in any discussion of the topic. I rate this book 4 stars out of 5. It can be found on Amazon.com here: Hell Bent: How the Fear of Hell Holds Christians Back from a Spirituality of Love by Brian Recker. 

STAR TREK PICARD: NO MAN'S LAND: AN ORIGINAL AUDIO DRAMA (audiobook) by Kirsten Beyer and Mike Johnson

Published by Simon and Schuster Audio Originals in 2022.

Performed by a full cast, including Jeri Ryan and Michelle Hurd.

Duration: 1 hour, 39 minutes.

Unabridged.

Synopsis

Set immediately after the Star Trek streaming show Picard: Season One, the audiobook No Man's Land is an adventure featuring the characters Seven of Nine and Raffi. 

With the collapse of the Romulan Empire comes the rise of local Romulan warlords who are trying to assert their control over the Romulan territory and, just as important, lay claim to the Romulan brand. 

A Romulan who has taken the title Emperor is conquering/leveling various planets in an attempt to establish himself as the successor to the Romulan Empire. It looks he is heading towards a planet that is secretly holding a massive collection of written materials, museum pieces, and other cultural relics of the collapsed Romulan Empire. 

There is a mad scramble to remove the relics, led by an ancient, kindly professor of unknown origin and Seven and Raffi are heading in to the chaos...

My Review

The audio in this book is excellent. It is a multicast performance with 12 different actors and the typical Star Trek special effects, very much like an old-fashioned radio drama. With all of the narration describing space battles and simple things like pouring a drink being replaced by sound effects, this makes for a very quick story. It's not an epic story, it feels much more like a solid Star Trek: TNG show storyline. That was fine by me - I like that show a lot.

I rate this audiobook 4 stars out of 5. It can be found on Amazon.com here: Star Trek Picard: No Man's Land: An Original Audio Drama.

THE HINDENBURG DISASTER: A HISTORY from BEGINNING to END (kindle) by Hourly History

Published in July of 2025 by Hourly History.

Hourly History specializes in little histories that take about an hour to read. For me, an hour of reading about the Hindenburg is about right. 

The Hindenburg Disaster is a short history that details the beginnings of zeppelins/blimps through the tragedy of the complete destruction of the German zeppelin Hindenburg in just 32 seconds in New Jersey in 1937. 

Germany was a focal point for building blimps/zeppelins during World War I and before World War II. The blimps went from being potential military airships to being experimental ways to travel. One has to remember that airplanes were even more experimental way to travel.

Any sort of air travel was going to be prohibitively expensive - only the richest of the rich could afford it. Blimps/zeppelins offered a stately, luxurious ride - planes were seen as a noisy and cramped and inferior alternative.

This short history chronicles the struggles of the blimp/zeppelin industry during the 1920's. When the Nazis took control of Germany, they saw zeppelins as a way to demonstrate German technical excellence and as a way to flout restrictions on German airships. One can see now that the idea of taking a blimp into a World War II fighter plan dogfight would be suicidal, but that was not always clear in the early 1930's.

Eventually, the German government decided that zeppelins were a great propaganda machine inside and outside of Germany. They are attention-getting, massive, and the Nazis slapped a big Nazi swastika on the side of them to generate publicity.

This history does a good job of describing the technical reasons for the Hindenburg disaster - including the surprisingly small number of deaths for such a massive fireball. But, it does a rather poor job of telling the story of blimps/zeppelins after the Hindenburg. This disaster practically destroyed the idea of luxury travel in zeppelins and the book gives the impression that that disaster sort of wiped out the entire concept.

But, any American sports fan knows that this is simply not true - the Goodyear Blimp shows up at every major sporting event and provides "aerial coverage." It used to be accompanied by the Fuji Film Blimp, although I haven't seen that one in a while.

The fact that this history spent so much time detailing the history of zeppelins prior to the disaster and tells almost nothing about them after the disaster is a major oversight.

Fun fact that I discovered while writing this review: A successor company to the company that operated the Hindenburg operates the Goodyear Blimp in Europe. Mentioning this fact would have been a great way to end this short history. 

This history can be found on Amazon.com here: The Hindenburg Disaster: A History from Beginning to End by Hourly History.

SEPARATION of CHURCH and HATE: A SANE PERSON'S GUIDE to TAKING BACK the BIBLE from FUNDAMENTALISTS, FASCISTS, and FLOCK-FLEECING FRAUDS (audiobook) by John Fugelsang

Published in August of 2025 by Simon and Schuster Audio.

Read by the author, John Fugelsang.

Duration: 9 hours, 24 minutes.

Unabridged.

John Fugelsang is seemingly omnipresent on the cable TV news/political talk show circuit. He is a talented debater because he knows how to bring the goods to an argument, especially when Christian Nationalism is involved.

Fugelsang had a unique upbringing in a super-Catholic household. Why was it unusual? His mother was a former nun and his father was a former Franciscan friar. They fell in love, had a bunch of kids, and made sure that they all went to church whenever it was having a service. 

In a a lot of ways, this felt a lot like my childhood. No - my parents weren't nuns or priests. But, I grew up in rural setting where my Lutheran church was one of the centers of my life. Church every weekend, most of the holiday services, Sunday school, Christmas programs, church youth group, vacation bible school, and I worked at a church summer camp for five years. 

The author, John Fugelsang

I had a "lite" version of what he experienced, but a heavy dose of Christian teaching compared to most people. The result is the same - we grew up steeped in church teachings and we know that the stuff we see on TV and from Christian Nationalists does not match what we were taught.

The first and last chapters are a general summary of the problem of Christian Nationalism and his reactions to it. I found these to be very powerful chapters. The story of his grandfather at the end was very touching.

The heart of the book is Fugelsang picking a hot culture war topic (immigration, trans people, abortion, etc.), presenting the Christian Nationalist perspective, and then demonstrating why it is not really a Christian perspective at all.

Fugelsang's choice to read the book himself was perfect.

I rate this audiobook 4 stars out of 5. It can be found on Amazon.com here: SEPARATION of CHURCH and HATE: A SANE PERSON'S GUIDE to TAKING BACK the BIBLE from FUNDAMENTALISTS, FASCISTS, and FLOCK-FLEECING FRAUDS by John Fugelsang.

DRAGONS of SPRING DAWNING (Dragonlance Chronicles, Book 3) (audiobook) by Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman

Originally published in 1985.

Audiobook published in 2012 by Audible Studios.

Duration: 16 hours, 26 minutes.

Read by Paul Boehmer'

Unabridged.

I distinctly remember loving this series 40 years ago and excitedly visiting my local bookstore to pick up a new one when they were published. I was an avid player of Dungeons and Dragons and a book series released by the publishers of Dungeons and Dragons was a guaranteed win. As the series continued to print new books, I kept on buying them. I probably owned dozen or so of them.

Somewhere along the way I sold off my Dragonlance collection. I worked part time at a used bookstore at one point and they probably ended up there.

When I found the books in audiobook format, I decided that it was time to revisit these books and see if they held up to my memories of uncritical acclaim.

Synopsis:

In The Dragons of Spring Dawning, the forces of the Dragon Queen are rolling up victory after victory. But, rather than confidently rolling up the scattered forces arrayed against them, they are pausing to search for a man knows as "The Green Gemstone Man."

The companions are still split up. Tanis flees the bedroom (and self-imposed prison) of the self-absorbed Kitiara. He and his friends had previously bought passage on a smuggler ship and Tanis had noted that the pilot was The Green Gemstone Man, unaware at the time that he was the subject of a manhunt.

Tanis and his companions convince the captain to leave port, even though a massive winter storm is expected. Dragons pursue, the storm rages and they steer into a whirlpool.

And that's when things start to get thorny...

My Review:

Was the series as good as I remember? 

No. It's good, but not amazing, especially this last volume. When the stakes were smaller in the first book, the book was better. Don't get me wrong, the situation in the first book was serious, but not as serious as saving the entire world and I think the ending was a bit forced. 

*********Spoilers**********

The idea that the Dragon Queen would stop offensive actions and bring all of her generals and their armies together in one location to impress them with her arrival from the spirit realm is more than a bit ridiculous. I understand that it feeds into the idea that evil is more than a bit self-absorbed so the Dragon Queen wants the admiration and awe of her more than anything else, but...C'mon! She's a narcissistic evil being, not an idiot! Having all of your forces in one place is bound to be trouble.

Also, I have never seen a character more charmed by a good time in bed than Tanis. His adoration of Kitiara after she has demonstrated her true ways goes against everything we've learned about him from the first pages of the first book. The moment when he finds his senses is supposed to be epic - I just wondered why it was even a struggle.

*********End spoilers*********

To be fair, this book has great scenes. The loss of certain characters is touching and well done, The chase scene through the mountains is riveting. In a lot of ways, this trilogy is the story of the growth of Tasslehoff Burrfoot. He grows up in ways that his people rarely do. 

The reading by Paul Boehmer was once again good, but not great. 

I rate this audiobook 4 stars out of 5. It can be found on Amazon.com here: Dragons of Spring Dawning (Dragonlance Chronicles, Book 3) by Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman.

I rate the series 4 stars out of 5. There are two more books that were added on to the original trilogy, but I am going to stop right here.

DRAGONS of WINTER NIGHT: DRAGONLANCE CHRONICLES, BOOK TWO (audiobook) by Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman

Originally published in book form in 1985.
Audiobook published by Audible Studios in 2013.
Read by Paul Boehmer.

Duration: 17 hours, 52 minutes.

Unabridged.

Synopsis:

The war against the Dragon Queen continues.

The forces of good pulled off a major victory at the end of the last novel, but now the forces of evil are looking for revenge. 

Tanis, Flint, Goldmoon, Laurana, and the rest of the intrepid companions head off in search of new ways to fight the Dragon Queen's advancing armies. Or, if that fails - lead a refugee exodus. They use an ancient map from before the Cataclysm to find a legendary seaport only to find that it is no longer anywhere near the sea due to the immense destruction of the Cataclysm.

As the companions try to figure out their next steps, an armada of dragons attacks the city, breathing flames from above. Dragon Army ground troops swarm into the city and the companions are split into two groups while Tanis faces the decision of a lifetime.

My Review:

This is a solid story with compelling action scenes that gets bogged down in protracted political discussions and Tanis's unwillingness to just make a decision.

Paul Boehmer's reading is solid, but not amazing. 

I rate this audiobook 4 stars out of 5. It can be found on Amazon.com here: DRAGONS of WINTER NIGHT: DRAGONLANCE CHRONICLES, BOOK TWO.

THE PROVING GROUND (Lincoln Lawyer #8) (audiobook) by Michael Connelly

Published in 2025 by Little, Brown and Company.
Read by Peter Giles.
Duration: 10 hours, 50 minutes.
Unabridged.

Synopsis

The Lincoln Lawyer returns for another case in The Proving Ground. Mickey Haller has moved away from defense work to civil litigation.

In this case, an AI program designed to be a friend substitute to young adults and teens told a teenage boy to get rid of his girlfriend in a way that could easily be interpreted as killing her. So, he took his father's unsecured pistol and shot her in the high school parking lot.

Haller is suing the company for marketing a faulty product towards teens. He is pretty sure he has the goods - bad programming and an unethical marketing team that is more concerned about demonstrating the potential of the AI so the company can be absorbed by a bigger company with deep pockets. They wanted the payoff rather than making it safe.

But, as Haller and his team start to dig, they find they are out of their depth. Tech writer Jack McEvoy comes in to offer his services. Fans of Connelly will recognize McEvoy from his own short series of novels, including the tech thriller Fair Warning.

Soon enough, they all learn what it means to take on a tech company and its multibillionaire backer who have no sense of ethics and a true knowledge of how to manipulate the technology that surrounds us all...

My Review

This is a solid legal thriller. The complicated tech and legal maneuvers are broken down and made easy to understand for the reader. The legal implications of AI really haven't been thought through and the reader can see a few of the big questions that still have to be answered.

Michael Connelly has decided to let his characters age as they stories go forward. Mickey is no longer the brash young lawyer scrounging for defense work and always willing to put himself at physical risk with the law and his clients' criminal friends in order to win the case. He is still fighting, but it is a different sort of fight.

I like the fact that Haller's world is basically our world, so big events like the January 2025 Southern California Wildfires (Pacific Palisades) take place in his universe as well. In this book, that fire has real world implications for characters that lived in those areas according to the previous books.

This is a good book, but not the best of the Lincoln Lawyer collection. It is totally worth reading, but it is simply good, not great.

I rate this audiobook 4 stars out of 5. It can be found on Amazon.com here: The Proving Ground by Michael Connelly.

JAILBIRD by Kurt Vonnegut

Originally published in 1979.

Synopsis

Jailbird is the fictional story of William F. Starbuck, the least important member of the Watergate conspiracy to go to prison. 

The story begins with the day that Starbuck is released from a makeshift federal prison (and very cushy, for a prison) on a Georgia military base. He has no idea what he is going to do and he doesn't have a lot of money, but he figures that he will be okay - after all, he has a degree from Harvard and he learned how to be a bartender in a correspondence class while he was in prison.

What follows is a wild tale of good and bad coincidences that take Starbuck to a broken-down residential motel in New York City. Like the hotel, Starbuck is a broken man in many ways - he is an ex-con, his wife of many years has passed away, he never speaks to his son, and he feels shame for accidentally ruining the career of one of his friends due to an offhand comment he made during a anti-Communist Congressional hearing lead by then-Congressman Richard Nixon.

But, in just a few hours everything changes...

My Review

In many ways Jailbird is considered to be a comeback novel for Vonnegut (1922-2007). After the overwhelming success of Slaughter-House 5, Vonnegut struggled to "do it again."

He struggled to write Breakfast of Champions. His next book, Slapstick, was too personal and too weird to be a bestseller. Jailbird reminds me more of Mother Night and God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater than the three science fiction books that he published from 1969 to 1976.

World War II looms large in each of those books - the main characters are struggling to deal with what they saw and did (also a massive theme in Slaughter-House 5)

William F. Starbuck worked as a part of the prosecution team during the Nuremberg Trials. If it hadn't been for the war, he wouldn't have met his wife. The war made him, and everything about it was accidental - he met his wife on by sheer luck. He was assigned to the the trials because he happened to be around and ht happened to be around because of the education he was given by an old millionaire who was a recluse because someone unknown strikebreaker mistakenly pulled the trigger during a tense moment in a strike when the millionaire was a child.

One unrelated thing leads to another and leads to another like a thread of random events that led us to where we are now. Vonnegut spent a lot of time thinking about this idea. In his science fiction books he often explores it through time travel. This book relies heavily on flashbacks.

Vonnegut's report card for his own books.

Jailbird often looks at the plight of the regular working stiff - restaurant managers, chauffeurs, receptionists, the least important guy in the Nixon Administration, down and out authors, affable guards in a minimum security prison, and so on. There is a lengthy introduction about a real-life event in Vonnegut's life that blends into a fictional story about a strike at an Ohio factory that ended in a bloody massacre.

Vonnegut famously graded his own books in the essay collection Palm Sunday. He gave Jailbird an A. I disagree a bit. I rate it 4 stars out of 5, which I would consider to be a B.

Jailbird can be found on Amazon.com here: Jailbird by Kurt Vonnegut.

WILL GRAYSON, WILL GRAYSON (audiobook) by John Green and David Levithan

Audiobook published in 2010 by Listening Library.
Performed by MacLeod Andrews and Nick Podehl.
Duration: 7 hours, 51 minutes.
Unabridged.

Synopsis

Will Grayson, Will Grayson is the story of two Chicago area teens named Will Grayson who attend different schools and do not know one another.

One Will Grayson is determined not to risk hurt romantic feelings by not putting himself out there to make connections and possibly get hurt. Instead, he focuses on knowing all about obscure bands and lives vicariously through his over-the-top best friend, Tiny Cooper. Tiny Cooper is a massive mountain of young man who is also gay and is also the school's most talented athlete. Think of the biggest football lineman you have ever seen, make that lineman great at every sport, able to sing show tunes at the drop of a hat, and the biggest social butterfly in the school.

The other Will Grayson is a closeted gay teen who has found an online boyfriend from Ohio. He muddles through high school life by getting involved in low commitment activities like the math team (he is only on the team to provide the minimum number of bodies required - the math geniuses take care of all of the real work). He has a pushy female frenemy that clearly is interested in him and does not understand why he does not reciprocate. 

One day, the two Will Graysons meet. When their worlds collide, everything changes...

My Review

Tiny Cooper is, without a doubt, one of the best characters I have read in a book this year. He is a walking talking stereotype in many ways - the gay character who loves musical theater, writes his own songs, and falls in love at the drop of a hat. But, he is such a big personality character that he transcends all of those stereotypes.

The story itself pulls the reader in (or in my case, the listener). As a teacher, I found the characters mostly realistic when compared to the students I see and hear in my classroom every day.

But, there were some ridiculous things that were so unrealistic that the teacher in me just couldn't buy it. For example, Tiny Cooper is given student council funds to put on a musical that he has written in the school theater. There is no way that any school would put on this musical. You might be able to put on an overtly gay-themed musical, but not one with so many direct sexual references. They just keep on coming - one after another after another.

I could buy it if they were putting this musical on in a local theater that was not affiliated with the school. I've seen that happen a couple of times in my 35+ year teaching career.

That being said, it is a fun book. An acquaintance told me that this was her all time favorite book. I wouldn't go that far, but I did like it quite a bit. 

I rate this audiobook 4 stars out of 5. It can be found on Amazon.com here: Will Grayson, Will Grayson by John Green and David Levithan. 

This book has been included in book ban lists across the country due to its LGBTQ+ themes, sexual references, alcohol, and cursing. Shocker! High school students curse! Orange County in Florida is one of those places (Link to article).

2 B R 0 2 B (audiobook) by Kurt Vonnegut

Originally published in 1962 in the magazine If: Worlds of Science Fiction.

Published in 2017 by Author's Republic.

Read by Phil Chenevert

Duration: 19 minutes.

Unabridged.

2 B R 0 2 B is set in a future world where the population is kept at a strict limit so that the living can live in a clean and safe environment. When a new person is born into the world, someone must volunteer to leave because aging has pretty much been cured. The Federal Bureau of Termination keeps track of all of the births and deaths to be sure that the math works out. The phone number for the Federal Bureau of Termination is 2 B R 0 2 B - pronounced "two be or naught to be."

The story is about a father whose wife is about to give birth to triplets. One of the grandparents of the triplets has agreed to die. Unless something changes, the future parents will have to pick out two babies to kill...

This is an intentionally provocative short story that had a quick and brutal ending that surprised me. 

I rate this short story 4 stars out of 5. It can be found on Amazon.com here: 2 B R 0 2 B by Kurt Vonnegut.

HARLEQUIN (Grail Quest 1) (audiobook) by Bernard Cornwell

Originally published in 2000.

Performed by Andrew Cullum.

Duration: 14 hours, 49 minutes.

Unabridged.

Also published under the alternate title "The Archer's Tale"

Harlequin is the tale of Thomas of Hookton during the early years of the Hundred Years' War. Hookton was a tiny English fishing village that was destroyed by French raiders from a ship. The raiders burn and loot the village, kidnap as many women they can, burn the village, and steal a religious relic - the famed lance that St. George used to kill the dragon.

Thomas heads off to join up as an English archer so he can get his revenge on the French noblemen that destroyed his hometown and get St. George's lance back. The bulk of the book is about his adventures in France in a series of battles in the Hundred Years' War serving as a harlequin.  A harlequin was the French term for an English long bow archer.

The battle scenes in this book are unbelievably well-told and Andrew Cullum's performance as the reader is fantastic - one of the best performances I have ever heard and this is my 799th audiobook review. 

But, I found the stuff in between the battles to be quite tedious. Normally, I am cool with all of the medieval rules and the posturing - but this was simply too much. This leaves me in the weird situation of praising a book, giving it a positive score (4 out of 5 stars) and choosing not to move on with the rest of the series.

This book can be found on Amazon.com here: Harlequin by Bernard Cornwell.

THE EARLY MIDDLE AGES (The Great Courses) (audiobook) by Philip Daileader

Published in 2013 by The Great Courses.
Lectures delivered by the author, Philip Daileader.

Duration: 12 hours, 32 minutes.

Unabridged.

The idea behind The Great Courses is that anybody can have access to high quality college instructors who are truly experts in their fields. In this course the focus is the Early Middle Ages (roughly 300 CE to 1000 CE). 

Daileader starts with the start of the decline of the Roman Empire, somewhere around the year 300 CE. He looks at the trends of the late Roman Empire and how they led to the fall of the Roman Empire in the West (Rome, not Constantinople) and how those trends led to the political and economic systems that typify the time period we know as the Middle Ages.

There is a heavy focus on what is now France, which is well-deserved since Charlemagne is one of the biggest historical figures of this era. But, other areas get a fair amount of attention, like Ireland, Spain, and the Islamic world. The sudden appearance of the Vikings contributed a lot as well. The Byzantine Empire

Church doctrine and politics play a prominent role throughout.

I found this series of half hour lectures to be interesting, but not riveting. The section on the political machinations that eventually led to the rise of Charlemagne's empire was slow - necessary but tedious until it finally pays off and you just sit and wonder how it all worked out the way it did. 

I rate this audiobook 4 stars out of 5. It can be found on Amazon.com here: The Early Middle Ages (The Great Courses) by Philip Daileader.  

FRANKLIN PIERCE: A LIFE from BEGINNING to END (Biographies of U.S. Presidents) (kindle) by Hourly History

Published in 2025 by Hourly History.

Hourly History's biography of Franklin Pierce offers a concise but comprehensive telling of Pierce's life. He was a politician, but his wife hated Washington, D.C. and spent as much time away from the capital as possible. 

He had two major foreign policy successes - the Gadsden Purchase from Mexico and opening Japan to foreign trade, but I was really interested in his policies that helped lead to the Civil War.

Franklin Pierce is one of that group of 8 Presidents in a row from Van Buren to Buchanan that did not serve more than one term (two died in office) leading up to the Civil War. Some were stronger than others, but, as a group, these Presidents didn't show the kind of leadership needed to push the nation away from Civil War. 

Pierce was a New England Democrat that vociferously took the side of Southern Democrat slaveholders. His working theory was that there needed to be unity in the country and uniting behind slavery was a way to be unified. 

This was unpopular with his New England neighbors and didn't really generate trust among Southern Democrats because they saw the pushback, especially in Kansas. The fighting grew so severe among pro- and anti-slavery forces that it became known as "Bleeding Kansas."

I rate this e-book 4 stars out of 5. It can be found on Amazon.com here: FRANKLIN PIERCE: A LIFE from BEGINNING to END (Biographies of U.S. Presidents).

DEADWOOD: A HISTORY from the BEGINNNG to PRESENT (Old West) (kindle) by Hourly History

Published in 2025 by Hourly History.

There are a few towns whose names are synonymous with the Old West, such as Dodge City, Kansas and Tombstone, Arizona. Deadwood, South Dakota is one of those names. It keeps on coming up in novels and movies. It brings to mind smoke-filled bars with poker games, gold rushes, Calamity Jane and Wild Bill Hickok. 

This was Deadwood's wild and turbulent beginning and this short e-book covers that well. But, it also covers the part that no one ever mentions - what does a small, out of the way city do when the gold rush is over and the saloons and casinos have moved on?

To be honest, I hadn't really thought much about post-gold rush Old West cities. But, I have seen the same problem back in the Midwest where I live. Instead of gold mines that petered we had a manufacturing boom that has been in steady decline for 60 years. Factories close, the supporting businesses follow, and a dying town is left in their wake.

What happened to Deadwood is not all that much different than what happened to Detroit, Michigan, Janesville, Wisconsin, or Anderson, Indiana.

The steps that South Dakota has take to revitalize Deadwood have largely been along the lines of leaning in to the Old West past. They brought back gambling and they really pushed the idea of making Deadwood a destination for people interested in Old West historical tourism.

All of this sounds kind of boring, but I thought it was presented quite well. 

I rate this e-book 4 stars out of 5. It can be found on Amazon.com here: Deadwood: A History from the Beginning to Present. 

LULA DEAN'S LITTLE LIBRARY of BANNED BOOKS: A NOVEL (audiobook) by Kirsten Miller

Published in 2024 by HarperAudio.

Performed by January LaVoy.

Duration: 10 hours, 13 minutes.

Unabridged.

Synopsis

Troy, Georgia is, on the surface, an idyllic small town. But, the book banners have gotten active and removed a whole list of books from the school libraries and the public library. 

The school board president, Beverly Underwood, was surprised at the arrival of this committee of book banners and how they manipulated social media to scare the town led by the local lady curmudgeon, Lula Dean. As a compromise, the school board president agrees to store all of the disputed books in her basement until things can get sorted out.

Meanwhile, Lula Dean has set up one of those "little free library" boxes in her front yard with alternative books that she considers wholesome. It features titles like The Art of the Deal, Chicken Soup for the Soul books, and "Lost Cause" histories of the Civil War that she purchased at a Goodwill store in a nearby store in the bargain section. 

The trouble begins when Underwood's daughter steals the banned books from the basement and switches the dust jackets on the banned books with the dust jackets on the books from Lula Dean's little free library. She puts the banned books back in the little free library but Lula Dean is none the wiser because she has never read any of the banned books nor has she read any of the books she is offering the town. 

When the town starts taking books from the little free library they are surprised and delighted at the books they really get to read. They are also surprised at the changes these books bring to the town.

My Review

This is a fun book to read. It has its serious moments and sometimes profound moments, but it mostly reads like a fun novel. I was reminded of Evanovich's Stephanie Plum novels. 

The reader, January LaVoy, was excellent. She created many, many unique voices and they sounded authentic. She is very talented.

I rate this audiobook 4 stars out of 5.  It can be found on Amazon.com here: Lula Deans Little Library of Banned Books.