THANKS a THOUSAND: A GRATITUDE JOURNEY (audiobook) by A.J. Jacobs

Published by Simon and Schuster Audio / TED

Read by A.J. Jacobs.

Duration: 3 hours, 12 minutes.

Unabridged.

A.J. Jacobs had been doing some reading and thinking about the concept of gratitude when it occurred to him that he really should be grateful for a lot of things that no one every expresses any gratitude for. He settled on his morning cup of coffee that he buys at a the corner coffee shop. 

On his quest to thank a thousand people for his daily cup of coffee, he starts with the clerk, the barista, and the management of the small coffee chain. He moves on to the people that make the cup lids, the cups, and even the metal of the coffee makers. Eventually, he gets to the guy that chooses the coffee beans that make up his favorite brew. That guy takes him to the farm in Colombia that grows his favorite beans and the bemused and confused Colombians host them for a little get together. 

The whole book is mildly amusing and somewhat interesting, but is not riveting in any way. It's nice, but hardly memorable. 

I rate this audiobook 3 stars out of 5. It can be found on Amazon.com here: Thanks a Thousand: A Gratitude Journey. 

JOHN DENVER: A LIFE from BEGINNING to END (kindle) by Hourly History

Published in January of 2025 by Hourly History.

Hourly History specializes in biographies and histories that take about an hour to read. 

In this case, Hourly History has a history of a favorite in my household as I grew up - John Denver.

The book gives a good accounting of his early life, his early struggles as a musician, and his impressive drive that just kept pushing him forward until he made it. Once he made it, there was no one bigger than John Denver - He had a series of number one songs, number one albums, multiple awards, and movies and TV show appearances. But, it all seemed to come at the expense of his personal life.

This little biography covers the timeline of his life pretty well, but skimps on any sort of analysis on his uneasy position as a Country Music artist. For example, he won their official awards, but many mainstay country music artists considered him an interloper - a folk artist who was sort of assigned the title of "country artist."

Still, this was an enjoyable read for longtime fan. I rate this e-book 4 stars out of 5.
This book can be found on Amazon.com here: JOHN DENVER: A LIFE from BEGINNING to END by Hourly History.

THE RUNAWAY (Peter Ash #7)(audiobook) by Nick Petrie

Published by Penguin Audio in 2022.
Read by Stephen Mendel.
Duration: 11 hours, 35 minutes.
Unabridged.

The Runaway is the seventh book in the Peter Ash series. Ash is a retired Marine with PTSD issues and an intense desire to help people in need. Sometimes he settles down, sometimes he wanders.

In this book, Ash is crossing the country and is near the border of South Dakota and Nebraska. He comes across a broken down car and a very pregnant young lady. She is desperate to get going down the road so he takes her. 

They get a few miles down the road when they come across a truck blocking the road. They turn around and find another truck blocking the road and leaving them nowhere to go. The hitchhiker tells Ash that he is in very grave danger and he should flee...

My review:

For a book full of action, thrills, and mayhem, this book was often tedious. 

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

The pregnant young lady is a victim of gaslighting and, eventually, kidnapping. The process was long and very detailed. I think that there was simply too much emphasis on this part of the book. 

I don't know if it was intentional, but it is worth noting that literally every male character was a criminal, a murderer, a misogynist, or simply incompetent except for Peter and his friend Lewis. I doubt it was intentional, but it just seemed like the entire Great Plains countryside was full of literal bad guys.

*********End Spoilers*********

Sadly, this series has gotten weaker for me. I rated the first five books 4 or 5 stars, but I have rated the last two books as 2 stars. I will move on to the next book and hope for the best. 

One last thought. Despite what you will read in this book, healthy, well-fed coyotes do not hunt humans. 

I rate this book 2 stars out of 5. It can be found on Amazon.com here: The Runaway by Nick Petrie.

DARK of the MOON (Virgil Flowers #1)(audiobook)(abridged) by John Sandford

 

Published by Penguin Audio in 2007.
Read by Eric Conger.
Duration: 6 hours, 5 minutes.
Abridged.

Synopsis:

Virgil Flowers works for the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension (BCA) and has been brought in to the small town of Bluestem, Minnesota to investigate a double murder. Flowers was picked for this job because he is a great investigator and he grew up in Bluestem.

On his way into town, he comes across a gigantic house fire. He recognizes it as the mansion of the richest man in town. The next morning, they discover that it is also the scene of a homicide.

As Flowers starts his investigation there is yet another murder and the list of suspects keeps getting longer and longer...

My Review:

This series was highly recommended to me. It's a spinoff from the much larger (30+ books) "Prey" series featuring Lucas Davenport. Davenport appears in this series as Flowers' supervisor. 

The author, John Sandford

This book is abridged and I do believe that the abridgment hurt the story. About 40% of the book has been removed and it leaves minor plot holes all over the book. Normally, I don't listen to or read abridgments, but my library only had the abridged version. I am rating this book 3 stars out of 5. Normally, I wouldn't bother to continue with a series that has a 3 star rating to start it off, but I am willing to listen to the 2nd book in this series if I can find an unabridged version. I figure the author included all of that extra stuff to make the story better. 

This (abridged) version of the audiobook can be found on Amazon.com here: DARK of the MOON (Virgil Flowers #1) by John Sandford.

Leaving Home: A Collection of Lake Wobegon Stories (Lake Wobegon #2) by Garrison Keillor

Originally published in 1987.

I stepped away from Garrison Keillor for a while. I don't know why, but I forgot about Lake Wobegon for about 15 years. But, I have returned for the occasional visit for a couple of years now and I find that I missed these stories. Having grown up Lutheran in rural Indiana, I find quite a connection with these stories.

Keillor's melancholy yet heartwarming stories of the people in and around the fictional Minnesota town of Lake Wobegon are worth a re-visit if you have stayed away. Deft turns of the phrase like "Corinne doesn't believe in God, but there is some evidence to show that God believes in her. She has a gift to teach, a sacred gift. Fifteen years in dreary bluish-green classrooms, pacing as she talks, this solid woman carries a flame" (p. 23) make you nod your head in appreciation.

Towards the end, a couple from Lake Wobegon is trying to take a trip to Hawaii. Keillor's extended discussion on why the glamour of "paradise" is wasted on Minnesotans and how heaven will be just as wasted is great sly understated humor with a sweet comment that starts with: "My people aren't paradise people, but when God loves you, then everywhere is paradise enough." He ends with a long comment about love cemented in life's losses and tragedies "...will last because it has endured so much already." (p. 218)

My laugh out loud moment in the book came during the story of Larry the Sad Boy who was saved twelve times in the Lutheran church. It rings true to this lifelong Lutheran and I had to immediately run and read it to my wife who also laughed out loud. A great paragraph that gently skewers and defends the unbending Lutheran outlook on life.

I have noticed that every comment I wrote was about a religious passage. I marked a few pages as I read and they all happened to have this theme. This book is not really a religious book but religion is a clear part of it.

I rate this book 4 stars out of 5.

This book can be found on Amazon.com here: Leaving Home: A Collection of Lake Wobegon Stories

Reviewed on June 16, 2013.

Mind Prey (Lucas Davenport #7) by John Sandford

Quite the Thriller!

Originally Published in 1995.

Mind Prey is the seventh in a series of novels featuring Lucas Davenport, a tough police detective in Minnesota. It is the third and definitely the best that I have read in the series.

Davenport is more than a detective, he also designs role-playing and computer simulation games, a hobby that blossomed into a multi-million dollar business. The twist in this plot is that the bad guy is a psycho who happens to love role-playing games. He kidnaps one of his former therapists to fulfill some of his twisted fantasies and then gets a bigger thrill when he discovers that the designer of some his favorite games is on the case. (Imagine a 'Dungeons and Dragons' player matching wits against Gary Gygax and you've got the scenario)

Mind Prey is really quite a good thriller - it was very difficult to put the book down while reading the last 75 pages.

This book can be found on Amazon here:  Mind Prey   

I rate this book 5 stars out of 5.
 
Reviewed on February 12, 2005.