DWD's Reviews

This is a "best of" list based on the 89 books I read and reviewed in 2024. I do not focus on new books, so there are books on this "best of" ranging from being published in 1953 to being published in October of 2024. The titles are active links to my reviews. *** = Best of the best in that category. HISTORY/MEMOIR/BIOGRAPHY/NON-FICTION This is a tough category every year. Every one of these is great, but Tim Alberta's book just stuck with me. His look into the world of Christian Nationalism was an alarm bell in the night for all American Christians. *** The Kingdom, and the Power, and the Glory: American Evangelicals in an Age of Extremism by Tim Alberta. Attucks! Oscar Robertson and the Basketball Team that Awakened a City by Phillip Hoose.  Travels with George: In Search of Washington and His Legacy by Nathaniel Philbrick. Star-Spangled Jesus: Leaving Christian Nationalism and Finding a True Faith by April Ajoy. The Boys: A Memoir of Hollywood and Family ...

  This is a "best of" list based on the 87 books I read and reviewed in 2023. I do not focus on new books, so there are books on this "best of" ranging from being published in 1939 to being published in December of 2023. The titles are active links to my reviews. *** = Best of the best in that category. HISTORY/MEMOIR/BIOGRAPHY This was a tough category this year. Every one of these is excellent, but it's almost unfair to compare any book to the Pulitzer Prize winning Maus . Maus practically invented the modern genre of the graphic novel and its iconic images with the Nazis as cats and the Jews as mice are unforgettable.  *** The Complete Maus (graphic novel)  by Art Spiegelman Anne Frank's Diary: The Graphic Adaptation by Anne Frank, Ari Folman, and David Polonsky. Pathogenesis: A History of the World in Eight Plagues by Jonathan Kennedy. Che: A Revolutionary Life  (graphic novel) by Jon Lee Anderson and Jose Hernandez. Magna Carta: The Birth of Liberty...

THE BEST OF 2015 This is a list of the best of the best of the 73 books that  I read  or listened to in 2015. They did not have to be released in  2015 . I broke the books into several categories. The titles are hyper-linked to their reviews.  * indicates the best book in that category. Fiction Books I love Havill's Bill Gastner series - it is a shame that this series has not gotten the attention they deserve. The Battle of the Crater was a great description of a tragedy in the making and a look at leadership failure at all levels in the Union Army in the Civil War.  C.J. Box's Joe Pickett character is always a joy and these two books were excellent. But, the poorly named Insurgent (who knew that there would be a popular series with a book of the same title that would all but shove this book out of the spotlight?) was a book that made me think and made me turn the pages on my Kindle as quickly as possible. It is still the only book that I have purchase...

THE BEST OF 2014 This is a list of the best of the best of the 72 books and short stories that I read or listened to in 2014. They did not have to be released in 2014. I broke the books into several categories. The reviews are linked.  * indicates the best book in that category. Fiction books: The Black Box (Harry Bosch #18)   by Michael Connelly Steelheart (The Reckoners Book #1)   by Brandon Sanderson Republic: A Novel of America's Future by Charles Sheehan-Miles Short Story: The Big Trip Up Yonder by Kurt Vonnegut Noose by Ernie Lindsey Mildred by Sean Ryan O'Reilly Hard Place by Ernie Lindsey Non-Fiction books: * R ipples of Battle: How  Wars of the Past Still Determine How We Fight, How We Live, and How We Think   by Victor Davis Hanson Game Plan:  How to Protect Yourself from the Coming Cyber-economic Attack   by Kevin D. Freeman An Empire on the Edge: How Britain Came to Fight America by Nick Bunker Crazy is Normal: A Classr...

This is a list of the best of the best of the 101 books and short stories that I read or listened to in 2013. They did not have to be released in 2013. I broke the books into several categories. The reviews are linked.  * indicates the best book in that category. Fiction books: * Breaking Point (Joe Pickett #13) by C.J. Box His Majesty's Dragon (Temeriare #1) by Naomi Novak Suspect by Robert Crais Unthinkable (Jane Candiotti and Kenny Marks #4) by Clyde Phillips Short Story: * That Leviathan, Whom Thou Hast Made by Eric James Stone Overtime in the Woods by Ryan Sean O'Reilly Sledge by Ernie Lindsey Cage Life by Karin Cox Non-Fiction books: * Under the Wire: Bestselling World War II of an American Spitfire Pilot and Legendary POW Escape Artist  by William Ash and Brendan Foley A Dream So Big: Our Unlikely Journey to End the Tears of Hunger by Steve Peiffer with Gregg Lewis A Portrait of Jesus  by Joseph F. Girzone Blood and Smok...