SWITCHBACK: A PATRICK FLINT NOVEL (audiobook) by Pamala Fagan Hutchins

Published in 2019 by Pamala Fagan Hutchins.

Read by the author, Pamala Fagan Hutchins.

Duration: 7 hours, 56 minutes.

Unabridged.

My synopsis:

It is 1976 and E.R. Doctor Patrick Flint wants to take his family on a week-long family camping and hunting trip on horseback. He is keenly aware that his teen children are getting older and they won't have too many more opportunities to go on adventures around their Wyoming home.

But, things are starting to unravel. His wife decides she doesn't want to go at the last minute. His daughter is complaining because she'll be out in the mountains and away from the boy she is interested in. 

So, the family separates for the week and that's when things start to go bad - and once things start to go bad in this book they just don't stop.

My review:

The basic outlines of Switchback are quite good, especially for the first book in a series. There's a decent amount of world building and the choice to set the book in 1976 removes all chances of cell phones or computers being a part of the story.

But, there are problems. For example, Dr. Flint is a congenial, funny guy at work. At home, he yells and screams when things don't go his way. The couple throws things at one another - not soft things, but things like dishes and coffee mugs. Maybe that's the way some couples do things, but I've been married a long time and we don't do it that way. Voices can be raised, but things don't get thrown. I disliked the man from that moment.

*****Spoiler Alert*****

This book is just way too busy with plot twists. There are sudden (often violent) plot twists that started at about the one-third point. Once they started coming, they never seemed to stop. An escaped prisoner commits a home invasion, a motorcycle gang (sort of) makes leering sexual comments to the high school daughter, the family uncovers a drug manufacturing operation, a car theft, a devastating car crash, a coyote pack attack caused by the (sort of) gang, food poisoning, a mountain lion attack, a horse killed for no reason, an attempted rape, a kidnapping, a murder, an attempted murder, a stabbing, and a horse breaks its leg in the middle of nowhere. 

There were enough plot twists for 2 or even 3 books. My advice - slow things down and save these ideas for another book.

*****End Spoiler Alert*****

Despite my misgivings about the sheer number of plot twists and my dislike of the main character, I found the last third of the book to be pretty compelling - I wanted to find out how the book ended.

I rate this audiobook 3 stars out of 5. It can be found on Amazon.com here: Switchback: A Patrick Flint Novel by Pamala Fagan Hutchins.

YOUR JESUS IS TOO AMERICAN: CALLING the CHURCH to RECLAIM KINGDOM VALUES over the AMERICAN DREAM (audiobook) by Steve Bezner

Published in October of 2024 by eChristian.
Read by James R. Cheatham.
Duration: 7 hours, 28 minutes.
Unabridged.

Have you ever listened to someone speak, agreed wholeheartedly with almost everything the person said, but still felt underwhelmed by the presentation?

That's where I am with this book.

Bezner is the pastor of a church in Houston and he discusses how the church needs to stop being a cheerleader for both America and Jesus. Oftentimes, America comes first - especially as churches make political power a priority. 

As the title says, Bezner says the church has to return to honoring Kingdom Values over American Values. Bezner is not anti-American, but he does not that American popular culture and American political culture do not really align with Kingdom Values - and that should be the goal.

He goes on to tell about things he's done wrong in this area of his ministry and things that he believes are working out well now.

Like I said at the outset, I liked what Bezner had to say, but his presentation just was merely okay. The producers of the audiobook made the choice to read the footnotes out loud, including the number of the footnote and every detail of the source. The author includes relevant commentary with his footnotes, so you can't ignore them. Most authors rework footnotes like these into the text. Reading the entire footnote was an odd choice.

I rate this audiobook 3 stars out of 5. It can be found on Amazon.com here: YOUR JESUS IS TOO AMERICAN: CALLING the CHURCH to RECLAIM KINGDOM VALUES over the AMERICAN DREAM by Steve Bezner.

SIN MIEDO: LECCIONES de REBELDES (en español) by Jorge Ramos)

Published by Celebra in 2016.

In Sin Miedo: Lecciones de Rebeldes, Jorge Ramos brings us stories of people that he has interviewed over the years that he considers to be rebels with lessons to offer to all of us.

The title can be translated as Fearless: Lessons from Rebels. Some really are literal rebels, some are rebels that became dictators (he has 4 of these), and some are people that really aren't rebels, but are very successful in areas where people like them are not normally successful.

If you don't know who Jorge Ramos is, you probably don't watch Univision TV very much. Univision is a Spanish language channel based in Miami and Ramos is their most recognizable news anchor. 

The interviewees range all over the place, including Barack Obama, Bill Gates, Fidel Castro, Barbara Walters, George W. Bush, Daniel Ortega, former Presidents of Mexico, two Venezuelan dictators, a Mexican revolutionary leader, Spike Lee, and Richard Branson.

Some of the interviews are pretty compelling with lots of details. Some are skimpy, but fleshed out with some background research (you couldn't really corner Fidel Castro and pressure him to give you a long interview so you make do with the time you were given.)

The result was a mixed bag. I was touched by the patriotism of Venezuelan refugees that kept on fighting the Chavez/Maduro dictatorships in the face of overwhelming obstacles, but the interview with Bill Gates was standard boiler plate profile of his admirable work to fight disease in the Third World.

I skipped the dual interviews with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and a Palestine Authority leader, figuring that anything said in that interview was superseded by the October 7 Attack and the Gaza War that followed.

The edition I read was in Spanish. It's been a few years since I read a book in Spanish. The last one was also a Jorge Ramos book. I enjoy his clear, concise style. I guess that makes Ramos my favorite Spanish language author! The English translation of this book is called Take a Stand: Lessons from Rebels.

I rate this collection of interviews 3 stars out of 5. It can be found on Amazon.com here: Sin Miedo Lecciones de Rebeldes by Jorge Ramos.

USHERS (short story) by Joe Hill

Published by Amazon Original Stories on November 1, 2024.

Synopsis:

In Ushers, Martin Lorensen is being questioned by two federal agents that have noticed that he almost died twice in two mass casualty incidents.

One was a school shooting that primarily took place in the classroom he shared with the shooter when he was in high school. He got to school that day, but turned around and went home when he got to the front doors - just a few minutes before the shooting started.

The other was a tremendous train crash - he almost got onto the train - he was at the station with ticket in hand and walked away after telling a girl and her mom to not get on the train.

The federal agents are curious. Is he some sort of terrorist that sets up mass casualty events? Or, is he the luckiest man on the East Coast?

My review:

This is a well-told short story with an ending that would have been a welcome addition to the Rod Serling's old Twilight Zone series.

I rate this story 5 stars out of 5. It can be found on Amazon.com here: Ushers by Joe Hill.

STAR-SPANGLED JESUS: LEAVING CHRISTIAN NATIONALISM and FINDING a TRUE FAITH (audiobook) by April Ajoy

Published in October of 2024 by Worthy Books.
Read by the author, April Ajoy.
Duration: 8 hours, 4 minutes.
Unabridged.

Star-Spangled Jesus is the story of April Ajoy and her spiritual evolution since the political appearance of Donald Trump in 2015-2016. 

Is it weird that a politician caused a spiritual evolution? 

No, not in a world of Christian Nationalism. For the most basic definition, I am going to say that it is a belief that a person can't truly be an American if they aren't Christian and their rights as an American should reflect that.

Also, this is precisely what happened to me, so I get it. Trump shocked me out of the Republican = Good Christian mindset because of the simple reason that he is so overtly antithetical to so many Christian ideals and is proud of it.

If the previous paragraph offends or confuses you, you will hate this book. 

Ajoy's pre-2015 Christian experience was much more conservative than mine and more intense. Her father was a conservative pastor. She went on more than one extended mission trip, including one in the United States to promote a book he wrote. She even wrote and sang a song to promote her father's book on the 700 Club!

Like me, her spiritual evolution did not lead her out of the faith, but it did lead her to a new, much more inclusive understanding of her faith.

The book is told in an informal manner, full of personal stories - as it should be because faith is personal. Some of these stories are funny, some are tragic. But, I look at this as the story of a successful maturing of faith. This doesn't mean she is a serene monk now. What it means is she's a clever, bright follower of Christ with no tolerance for hypocrisy and a wicked sense of humor that she uses to expose that hypocrisy for what it is.

I rate this audiobook 5 stars out of 5. It can be found on Amazon.com here: Star-Spangled Jesus: Leaving Christian Nationalism and Finding a True Faith.

SING DOWN the MOON by Scott O'Dell

Originally published in 1970.

Named a Newberry Honor Book in 1971.

Set in the New Mexico and Arizona territories in 1863-1865, Sing Down the Moon is the story of a teenaged Navajo girl named Bright Morning. 

Despite the fact that the American Civil War is raging in the East, this is a tough time for the Navajo. There are pressures from the people they call Spaniards who raid the Navajo and other Native Americans in search of slaves (undoubtedly the "Spaniards" were Spanish-speaking Mexicans that were living in the territory before Mexico lost it to the United States at the end of the Mexican War in 1848.)

But, that's not the worst of it. In 1864, the U.S. military under Kit Carson (called Long Knives in this book) rounded up all of the Navajo and put them in a concentration camp called Bosque Redondo. The Navajo in the book are unsure as to why they were forced to come to the camp, but the ongoing threat of Confederate raids into Arizona and New Mexico had a lot to do with it. There were fears that the Confederates might combine with the Navajo or both groups could simply start independent attacks at the same time.

Or, they just wanted the land.

No matter the reasoning, this act was devastating to the real-life Navajo and to the Navajo characters in this book.

This book was a re-read for me. I read this book when I was in 4th or 5th grade and for the last 45+ years it has stayed with me. It's not like I was constantly thinking of the book, but when I saw a related movie or TV show or visited a historical site, flashes from the book would come to me. Recently, I had the chance to get a copy of the book and I snatched it up, hoping it would be as good as I remembered.

This book is a stark, quick book. It is very much a "just the facts" style book. There's not a lot of character development and the chaos visited upon the Navajo just keeps on coming. 

This is not an upbeat, happy book. Bright Morning is captured as a slave and later is forced to march to Bosque Redondo. But, it is a book about not giving up - no matter the situation. Bright Morning and the boy she loves, Tall Boy, are admirable characters. 

I rate this book 4 stars out of 5. It can be found on Amazon.com here: Sing Down the Moon by Scott O'Dell.

SUPERMAN SMASHES the KLAN (graphic novel) by Gene Luen Yang and Gurihiru

Winner of Will Eisner Comic Industry Award, 2021.
Winner of Harvey Award for Best Children or Young Adult Book.

Published by DC Comics in 2020.
Story by Gene Luen Yang.
Art by Gurihiru.

Superman Smashes the Klan is a graphic novel interpretation of a story arc from the old Superman radio show. At that time, Superman was the most popular radio show for children in the United States and the show's writers wanted to address racism with their young listeners. They wrote six 15 minute episodes with Superman opposing the racists of the Clan of the Fiery Cross.

This was a big risk. They were worried that it would turn off their fans since 1946 America was a very racist place. The actual Klan was experiencing a moment of resurgence. Superman had only been published for 8 years at the time - he was very new and his young fans and their families could reject this move into current day politics.

Turns out that the kids loved it. Ratings increased! Follow this link for another review on this topic.

This graphic novel adaptation is not a completely faithful re-telling of the radio drama. It has a whole layer of Superman still learning to accept all of his powers and his alien roots that runs along in tandem with white families in Metropolis learning to accept their new Chinese neighbors who have moved in from Metropolis' Chinatown neighborhood (and vice-versa.)

I really liked the clean art style in this graphic novel. There was no attempt to hide the art in shadows or make things overly-stylized. That being said, there are tons of dramatic angles to the drawings. Let's face it, Superman often brings a lot of drama, with all of the breaking through walls, leaping over tall buildings, and picking up cars. 

This was a fun graphic novel. I rate it 5 stars out of 5. It can be found on Amazon.com here: Superman Smashes the Klan.

ADHD IS AWESOME: A GUIDE to (MOSTLY) THRIVING with ADHD (audiobook) by Penn and Kim Holderness

Published by Harper Horizon.

Read by Penn Holderness, Kim Holderness, Nathan Rosborough, Anne Marie Taepke, Tyrrell Harrell, and Lola Holderness
Duration: 8 hours, 50 minutes,
Unabridged.

Penn and Kim Holderness have a small media empire - viral videos, songs, a podcast, cable TV specials, and two books. 

ADHD is Awesome is their second book. Penn Holderness has ADHD, his wife Kim does not. Together, they come at the topic from the point of view of a person with ADHD and a person that loves a person with ADHD and wants them to be their very best.

They go through the history of ADHD as a diagnosis, Penn's personal version of ADHD (they are very clear that everyone's ADHD is unique), how his family supports him, how he annoys his family with his ADHD, and practical steps to take to support a child or loved one with ADHD.

This book has a light, fun tone. Several "guests" come in and add to the discussion. It has much more of a podcast feel than a regular audiobook reading.

I rate this audiobook 4 stars out of 5. It can be found here on Amazon.com here: ADHD Is Awesome: A Guide to (Mostly) Thriving with ADHD.

BALKAN WARS: A HISTORY from BEGINNING to END (kindle) by Hourly History

Published in September of 2024 by Hourly History.

I consider myself pretty well-versed in modern history, but I literally knew almost nothing about the wars that ran rampant through the Balkans just prior to World War I. I knew the area was all in an uproar, but I had no idea that the region had seen multiple all out wars rage throughout in just a few years. Those wars set up the scenario that directly led to World War I.

Hourly History specializes in writing histories and biographies that can be read in about an hour. That was enough time for this little history. The reader learns of the decline of the Ottoman Empire and how that created a power vacuum in the Balkans. Then, the reader learns how various ethnic groups in the region fought for their independence and earned it only to fight among themselves over the borders of disputed regions. 

Finally, the reader sees how the intervention of the great powers led more fighting and eventually to World War I.

This is a very readable history, but it is hurt by a lack of maps.

I rate it 4 stars out of 5. It can be found on Amazon.com here: Balkan Wars by Hourly History. 

THE WAITING (Ballard and Bosch book 6)(audiobook) by Michael Connelly

Published in October of 2024 by Little, Brown, and Company.
Read by Christine Lakin, Titus Welliver, and Madison Lintz.
Duration: 10 hours, 50 minutes.
Unabridged.

LAPD Detective Harry Bosch first showed up in a novel in 1992. The Waiting is the 25th book in the series, but he has appeared in more than 30 books and short stories.

Bosch is aging. He has aged right along with the series. He would be about 74 years old in this book and he is no longer the detective that goes out and finds the bad guys, but he does contribute from time to time.

His protégé Renee Ballard is in charge of the cold case unit of LAPD.  Her unit is almost entirely made up of volunteers and they go through unsolved serious crimes and see if modern technology (like DNA comparison) can help to solve them.

This book is mostly a Ballard novel, but Bosch does play a critical role in one of the three mysteries that are dealt with in this novel. I have a feeling that the "Bosch" in the Ballard and Bosch books will soon switch from Harry Bosch to his daughter, Maddie Bosch. Maddie was involved in two of the three mysteries in this novel

In the first mystery, Ballard's car is broken in to when she is out surfing. Her wallet, her badge, and her gun are stolen...

In the second mystery, the unsolved team gets a genetic hit that shows a familial match to a serial rapist and murderer. 

In the third mystery, new evidence shows up in one of LA's longest-standing unsolved murders.

Three different actors read the parts of Ballard, Bosch, and Bosch's daughter, Maddie.

The mysteries were all compelling, the story moved along briskly, and there is a stunning and dramatic twist at the end.

I rate this audiobook 5 stars out of 5. It can be found on Amazon.com here: The Waiting (Ballard and Bosch book 6) by Michael Connelly.

COST of MALICE by H. Mitchell Caldwell

Published in 2024 by Nine Innings Press.

Cost of Malice is the third novel featuring attorney Jake Clearwater. Jake is an on-again off-again law professor who is often tempted to trade the classroom for the courtroom.  

Clearwater is offered a chance to sit on an informal council of leaders in the prosecutor's office. Cases that may be tough to win are brought to this council and they brainstorm possible strategies and determine if they are even worth the effort.

The book deals with three of these cases. 

Case one is a murder case in which the two primary witnesses are jailhouse snitches.

Case two is a horrific child abuse case in which one spouse literally beat a child to death at the direction of the other spouse. Clearwater wants to convict them both equally despite the fact that one of them literally never laid a finger on the victim.

Case three is a school shooting case modeled heavily on the Oxford, Michigan case that ended in April of 2024.

It feels right that Clearwater goes from one case to another - just like it happens in real life. Also, the three cases are all challenging and controversial in their own ways. 

I rate this book 5 out of 5 stars. It is well-written. This book can be found on Amazon.com here: Cost of Malice by H. Mitchell Caldwell.

The first book of this series can be found here: Cost of Arrogance.

Note: I was sent a free copy of this book by the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

SUN MOON STAR by Kurt Vonnegut and Ivan Chermayeff

 

Highly Recommended

Originally published in 1980.

A mutual friend in publishing approached artist/graphic designer Ivan Chermayeff and author Kurt Vonnegut with a proposal. He wanted them to work together on a book. His proposal was that Chermayeff work up some illustrations and present them to Vonnegut and then Vonnegut would write a book based on those illustrations.

Vonnegut, even then, was an internationally celebrated author. Chermayeff created many of the images Americans see every day - the corporate logos for such companies as Chase Bank, National Geographic, Scholastic Books, Univision, NBC, PBS, and more.

Chermayeff presented Vonnegut with a series of simple, childlike paintings of the moon, star, and the sun. They came with no explanation. There is also a diagram of an eyeball. I do not know if that was part of Chermayeff's art or if Vonnegut added it, but I would imagine that Vonnegut added it.

Vonnegut took the drawings and made Sun Moon Star, a beautiful children's story about Jesus on the day of his birth. 

When I say that this is a children's story, I really mean that this is a book for adults in the guise of a children's story. There is nothing that is inappropriate for children and a child would be able to follow along with most of it. 

pages 62 and 63 of Sun Moon Star

Adults, however, will appreciate the care that well-know atheist Vonnegut brings to the concept that the creator of the universe has brought himself into his creation as a baby, with all of the limited perspective that a baby has. The warmth of a sun is compared to the warmth of a mother's embrace - and the love of a mother's embrace is superior. The eyes that witnessed creation itself are now the eyes of a newborn that don't quite know how to work together yet.

I found this to be a thoughtful and surprisingly sweet book. It doesn't feel like a typical Vonnegut book, but it may just be one of my favorites. 

I rate this book 5 stars out of 5. It can be found on Amazon.com here: Sun Moon Star by Kurt Vonnegut and Ivan Chermayeff. 

MALAYAN CAMPAIGN: A HISTORY from BEGINNING to END (kindle) by Hourly History

 

Published by Hourly History in 2021.

Hourly History writes short histories and biographies that take the average reader about an hour to read. Sometimes they try to explain too much in a short book (such as the Mayan Civilization, for example.) But, an hour is plenty of time to explain the basics of a military campaign that lasted 2 months and 8 days.

When the Japanese Navy attacked the American naval forces at Pearl Harbor in Hawaii on December 7, 1941 it was actually part of a much larger, highly coordinated push against all Western forces in the Pacific and in East Asia. American forces were also attacked in the Philippines, for example.

This push also included the British-held Malay Peninsula and Singapore that started on December 8.

Britain had not provided much of a defense for this area, which was understandable considering the dire threat Britain itself faced from Nazi forces in Europe.

The Japanese landed with a slightly smaller force than the British had, but the British were completely surprised by the attack and the Japanese pushed hard towards Singapore and never stopped pushing. This did not allow the British to coordinate their forces and led to a quicker defeat.

British forces in this area did not have top shelf equipment, unlike the Japanese. The most surprising piece of military equipment in the campaign was something no one really expected - bicycles. The Japanese utilized bicycles to move their infantry quickly down the peninsula, despite the rugged terrain.

For a reader that is looking to fill in a few blank spots in their knowledge of World War II, this series would be a good place to start. 

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

THE BROKEN GUN (audiobook) by Louis L'Amour

Originally published in 1966.
Audiobook published in 2011 by Random House Audio.
Read by Jason Culp.
Duration: 4 hours, 35 minutes.
Unabridged.

My synopsis:

The Broken Gun is the story of a writer named Dan Sheridan. Sheridan is kind of a stand-in for Louis L'Amour himself. L'Amour was a prolific author, but he before he was a writer he skinned cattle, worked in mines and lumber camps, was a professional boxer, and was a merchant seaman. Later, he served in World War II in Europe.

His character Dan Sheridan worked on ranches, lumber camps, and served in the Korean War where he was captured and escaped back to the American lines. Later, he was trained in guerilla warfare, served as an advisor in South Vietnam where he was captured again and escaped again.

Sheridan researches a topic thoroughly before he writes. It is the early 1960s and his latest interest is a large cattle drive in the 1870s that was led by two brothers named Toomey from Texas to Arizona. They were looking for a fresh start and brought a herd of 4,000 cattle with them. They were looking to settle down and build a massive new ranch in the middle of Apache territory. But, they disappeared without a trace. 

It is assumed they were massacred by the Apache, but Sheridan has a solid lead that something else happened.

When he gets an invite to visit the ranch that was built on the land that the Toomeys had intended to claim, Sheridan decides he has to visit and take a look for himself...

My review:

The story is entertaining, even though it stretches credulity at several points. That's okay, it's not a documentary, it's an adventure story.

The first hour of the audiobook is a bit slow, but once it gets going the action rarely slows. 

It's not a great novel - it's not complex or full of great themes, but there are fistfights, desperate chases, climbs up and down cliffs, nighttime horse rides, car crashes, pretty girls, and gun play and that's what I was looking for.

I rate this audiobook 3 stars out of 5. It can be found on Amazon.com here: The Broken Gun by Louis L'Amour. 

THE BOYS: A MEMOIR of HOLLYWOOD and FAMILY (audiobook) by Ron Howard and Clint Howard

Highly Recommended.

Published in 2021 by HarperAudio.

Read by Ron Howard, Clint Howard, and Bryce Dallas Howard.

Duration: 13 hours, 18 minutes.

Unabridged.

Ron Howard and his brother Clint Howard practically grew up on America's television screens. Ron Howard starred in the The Andy Griffith Show and Happy Days for a combined 15 years of his early life. Ron has since gone on to become a prolific director. His credits include Cocoon, Willow, Cinderella Man, and Solo: A Star Wars Movie. His movies have won 9 Academy Awards.

Clint Howard starred in the TV show Gentle Ben when was a little kid and has since gone on to become the quintessential model of a working actor. He has more than 200 acting credits, including the original Star Trek series, Austin Powers, The Waterboy, and a recurring role on the soap opera The Bold and the Beautiful.

The Howard brothers are the sons of a working Hollywood actor named Rance Howard. Rance's credits look a lot like his son Clint's - regular work as guest on show after show after show and sometimes regular work on a TV show. Their mom was an actress who gave up acting for most of her life until the boys were grown and out of the house. 

Ron and Clint Howard

The Howard brothers tell their story, starting with their parents' first forays into entertainment and then through their regular success as child actors. Interestingly, their father often struggled while they had success. If you look at a list of credits, there are years where he had a small roles (sometimes uncredited) that paid the bills but did not lead to the a lavish Hollywood lifestyle. While that had to be tough to swallow, to his credit, he did not let his frustrations get in their way.

The story is told very well, flowing back and forth between the two brothers, but mostly told by Ron Howard. They offer some insight to Hollywood, but mostly they offer insight to a family that loved one another and successfully made it work in a tough industry.

I rate this audiobook 5 stars out of 5. It can be found here on Amazon.com here: The Boys: A Memoir of Hollywood and Family by Ron Howard and Clint Howard.

SAINT PETER: A LIFE from BEGINNING to END (kindle) by Hourly History

Published in 2021 by Hourly History.

Hourly History has a series of short histories and biographies. As the name implies, they are designed to be read in about an hour.

Some of the best offerings in this series are the biographies and this biography of Saint Peter was no exception.

Saint Peter, of course, is one of the main figures in the New Testament, probably tied with Saint Paul for the second most important after Jesus himself. But, he's kind of a mystery in many ways because the references to Peter are scattered.

This biography gathers together all of those scattered references and puts them in a narrative format so that it reads like a traditional biography. It takes care to note when stories are from the Bible and when they come from tradition (the description of how Peter was executed comes to mind.)

The general outlines of Peter's life are laid out with only a token discussion of the implications of his theology, such as the decision to not require converts to Christianity to undertake the requirements that a convert to Judaism would have to make, such as circumcision.) 

I rate this biography 4 stars out of 5. It can be found on Amazon.com here: Saint Peter: A Life from Beginning to End.

GHOSTED: AN AMERICAN STORY (audiobook) by Nancy French

Published by Zondervan in April of 2024.

Read by the author, Nancy French.

Duration: 9 hours, 56 minutes.

Unabridged.

My synopsis:

Ghosted is an autobiography of Nancy French. Nancy French had a career as a Conservative political columnist and ghost-writing for people in Conservative circles. She helped Conservative politicians write opinion pieces, helped them come up with clever lines for radio and TV interviews, and even books. She worked with such Conservative stars as Sarah Palin and Ben Sasse. She even worked with the Romney campaign. 

The book starts with her childhood in Kentucky, including an awful story of sexual abuse at the hands of a manipulative youth pastor and how that sent her life into a spiral into she met her future husband while she was in college.

Nancy French is married to David French, a well-known Conservative political columnist, commentator, and attorney. He worked for two organizations that defended the rights of Christian groups and Conservatives on college campuses and Christian businesses that did not want to support the birth control provisions of the Affordable Care Act. 

This couple epitomized the pre-Trump Christian Conservative movement.

When Trump became the Republican nominee in 2016, they were mortified. He was the opposite of every moral position they stood for in so many ways. They refused to back Trump and their friends refused to support them. Nancy's work dried up and people from their local church began shunning them. They were ghosted by their friends and colleagues.

My review:

This book is an up and down affair. The beginning and the end are very strong, the middle is a bit slow until the Donald Trump campaign throws their lives into disarray. On the whole, I rate Ghosted 4 stars out of 5.

This book can be found on Amazon.com here: Ghosted: An American Story by Nancy French. 

ARETHA FRANKLIN: A LIFE from BEGINNING to END (kindle) by Hourly History

Published in 2023 by Hourly History.

Aretha Franklin (1942-2018) was a true music legend. Nicknamed the Queen of Soul, she dominated the charts in the late 1960s and early 1970s and popped in and out of the charts for the rest of her life. She appeared on television, in movies, and, of course, in concert.

Hourly History specializes in short biographies and histories that most readers can complete in about an hour. The reader is not going to get a super-detailed biography, but the reader will get a decent overview.

Some of these biographies are quite good, some read like a well-written Wikipedia page. This book was much more like the latter than the former. It went through the Franklin's life and told all of the details, but you never get a sense of what she was like as a person. 

I was pleased to see that they mentioned her small but outstanding role in The Blues Brothers. I think it is one of the major highlights in a movie full of highlights.

I rate this e-book 3 stars out of 5. It can be found on Amazon.com here: ARETHA FRANKLIN: A LIFE from BEGINNING to END by Hourly History.

THE OTHER SIDE of the WALL: A PALESTINIAN CHRISTIAN NARRATIVE of LAMENT and HOPE (audiobook) by Munther Isaac.

Published in 2020 by ChristianAudio.
Read by Neil Shah.
Duration: 8 hours, 5 minutes.
Unabridged.

I heard about The Other Side of the Wall on The Holy Post podcast. I knew that there were Palestinian Christians in Gaza, but I hadn't given it much thought. Generally, I find the Palestinian/Israeli conflict too intractable to think about. It's not that I don't care, it's that simple solutions (or even insanely complicated solutions) don't even seem to be on the horizon at all and in a world with so many problems close at hand, it's easy not to think about problems half a world away. My bandwidth is just not that big.

But, the interview was good - it came from an unexpected source in this conflict. The podcast host interviewed Munther Isaac, a Lutheran pastor and teacher. He is also a Palestinian from Gaza. There has been a continual Christian presence in Gaza as long as anyone can tell, although it is dwindling as Palestinian Christians opt out of the conflict zone by moving away. 

Isaac brings a long list of observations and complaints. He has reasonable complaints, like his family's farm and home being grabbed by the Israeli government to make space for Israeli settlements. But, he is also bothered by fellow Christians who refuse to let him speak at conferences because he offers a different point of view than the standard American Christian (pro-Israeli government) point of view.

The author

The author is not anti-Jewish, but he is against so much that the conservative Netanyahu government has done over his long time as Prime Minister.

The book was obviously written before the brutal Hamas-led terrorist attacks on Israel on October 7, 2023. Many of the places he mentions in his book were headlines in the Hamas-Israel War as I was listening to the audiobook. Some might say that the book is outdated since those terrorist attacks were a profound pivot point, but I think the book still has tremendous value, especially with his discussions about the applications of Jesus' teachings in a world in a continuing cycle of violence and retribution.

A tough listen, but a very good one.

I rate this audiobook 5 stars out of 5. It can be found on Amazon.com here: The Other Side of the Wall: A Palestinian Christian Narrative of Lament and Hope by Munther Isaac.

THE RISE: A SHORT STORY (kindle) by Ian Rankin

Published by Amazon Original Stories in 2023.

Synopsis:

There has been a murder in one of the newest and most exclusive high rise apartments in London. The night security guard in the lobby was found dead by his girlfriend (she used to sneak in for a little romancing in the middle of the night.)

His head was smashed into the corner of the counter and a fancy electronic door key is missing from the collection of spare keys in the office.

When detectives start asking around it looks like just about everyone in the apartment building could have killed the guard, including the girlfriend.

My review:

The first half of this story was pretty tedious. The way the crime was finally solved was kind of obvious - and I missed it!

I rate this short story 3 stars out of 5. It can be found on Amazon.com here: The Rise: A Short Story by Ian Rankin.

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.

PANCHO VILLA: A LIFE from BEGINNING to END by Hourly History

Published by Hourly History in 2021.

I think this is the third book I've read in the last few years that is at least partially about the Mexican Revolutionary Pancho Villa (1878-1923). I read two that were basically about American responses to Villa's cross-border excursions  (and near misses) into the United States for money and supplies.

Each entry in the Hourly History series is, by definition, a short book. Each entry is supposed to be read in about an hour.

This biography was neither bad nor good. It did tell the basically outlines of his life without giving the reader much a sense of the man. Even worse, Villa will forever be associated with the Mexican Revolution but this book did a pretty poor job of explaining the complicated politics that Villa tried to navigate. It seemed that he was an insider one week, on the outs the next week, and running for his life the week after that and I had no understanding as to why that was.

A good basic intro, but nothing more.

I rate this e-book 3 stars out of 5. It can be found on Amazon.com here: Pancho Villa: A Life from Beginning to End by Hourly History.

ROAD RAGE (audiobook) by Joe Hill, Stephen King, and Richard Matheson

Published in 2009 by HarperAudio.
Read by Stephen Lang.
Duration: 2 hours, 25 minutes.
Unabridged.

My Synopsis:

In 1971 a relatively unknown director made an ABC made for TV movie called Duel. The plot was simple enough - a traveling salesman is harassed by a semi-truck on a nearly empty desert highway. Spielberg took this opportunity and turned it into the movie that made his career. Now, Duel is a cult classic.

Before the movie was made, there was  the short story of the same name. Richard Matheson wrote the short story and the screenplay.

Joe Hill and Stephen King added a second story called Throttle to this collection. It features a motorcycle gang trying to decide their next steps after a botched attempt to find some missing money that resulted in a brutal murder. Suddenly, a semi-truck catches up to the gang and begins to pick them off one by one.

My Review:

Duel was a very good short story. It draws you in and keeps you involved to the end. 

Throttle is told well, but I found it very hard to identify with any of the horrible characters. The drama is hurt by the fact that I really didn't care if the gang members were hurt.

I rate this audiobook 3 stars out of 5. It can be found on Amazon.com here: ROAD RAGE by Joe Hill, Stephen King, and Richard Matheson.

THE OUTSIDERS (audiobook) by S. E. Hinton

Originally published in 1967.
Audiobook published in 2004 by Listening Library.
Read by Jim Fyfe,
Duration: 5 hours, 9 minutes.
Unabridged.

Listed on BBC's list of 100 Most Inspiring Novels in 2019.
Author is the winner of the inaugural Margaret A. Edwards Award for YA 

Synopsis:

This is a true YA classic. Some consider this to be the book that invented the YA genre. Written by a high school student in the 1960's, The Outsiders is the story of a group of "greasers" in Tulsa, Oklahoma. 

Greasers are poor teens who grow up on the tough side of town. Adult supervision is pretty lax and they spend their days smoking, flirting with girls, and working. They join loose gangs and fight among themselves, but they all unite when their biggest enemies come around. Their biggest enemies are the rich kids who cruise the poor side of town looking for a fight.

The main character is the oddly-named Ponyboy. Ponyboy's deceased parents liked to give their children odd names. Ponyboy and his two older brothers live together in their childhood home and somehow scrape by.

One very late night, Ponyboy and his oldest brother have an argument. Ponyboy runs from the house, finds one of his friends, and they wander the neighborhood. They are sitting in a park when a car full of the rich kids finds them and decides to make an example of them...

My review:

It's been a long time since I read this book, but I read it several times when I was in upper elementary. I came back to this book thinking it was going to be would be lightweight and that I had overestimated its quality when I was a young adult reader.

Turns out that I was pleasantly surprised. While the writing style is pretty simple, this is not a simple book. It has layers and complexity and was an astoundingly good novel, especially when you consider that it was written by a high school student.

I am glad I re-read it as an audiobook. Jim Fyfe did a good job with voice characterizations.

I rate this book 5 stars out of 5. It can be found on Amazon.com here: The Outsiders by S. E. Hinton.

Note: This book has often been placed on banned book lists over the years, especially in the 1970s and 1980s. I have tagged it with the MAGA Censorship List tag because, more recently, it was challenged in Williamsburg, Iowa  and was put on a book ban list in Tennessee. The last linked article has a searchable database because the list has more than 1,100 unique titles.

HAWKEYE: THE SAGA of BARTON and BISHOP (graphic novel) by Matt Fraction, David Aja, and more

Published by Marvel Universe in 2021.

Hawkeye: The Saga of Barton and Bishop is actually two collections in one. The first half of the collection is the text from Hawkeye Volume 1: My Life as a Weapon.

To be honest, the first collection is much better than the newer second half. 

In the second volume, Hawkeye and Bishop are working separately. At the end of Volume 1 she left for California to be an independent Avenger. That's not really a thing, but she's young and hadn't really thought it through.

I found the art and storyline to be convoluted, especially with the main storyline - the Bishop storyline. The shorter Barton storyline is a simple continuation of the actions in Volume 1. Even though it is the shorter part of the story, it feels like it is stretched out and padded while the much longer Bishop story arc feels rushed and poorly explained.

I gave a rating of 4 stars for Volume 1. I give a rating of 2 stars for Volume 2. That makes for a total score of 3 stars. 

This graphic novel can be found on Amazon.com here: Hawkeye: The Saga of Barton and Bishop.

An Unforgiving Place: A National Parks Mystery, Book 2 (audiobook) by Claire Kells

Published by Dreamscape Media in 2022.
Read by Cady Zuckerman.
Duration: 9 hours, 18 minutes.
Unabridged.

Edgar Award nominee.

Synopsis:

An Unforgiving Place is the second book featuring Felicity Harland of the Investigative Services Branch. If you are not familiar with the ISB, join the club - I had no idea that it was the "FBI" of the National Parks Service. If the local park can't deal with it, they call in the ISB. That always include murders.

Harland is partners with a park ranger nicknamed Hux. He is a big, strong guy. Harland is a short (but very tough and determined) lady. There is always of undercurrent of romantic attraction between the two, but it is never acted upon for fear of messing up their friendship and working relationship. Her dog rounds out the trio.

In this series, the ISB moves the agents around from park to park. I have no idea if that is what happens in real life but it does let the reader get a feel for a new park in every book.

An Unforgiving Place is set in Alaska at Gates of the Arctic National Park - a park that is literally in the middle of nowhere. You have to fly in on a bush plane or a float plane to visit big chunks of the park. Harland and Hux get called on because two missing hikers have shown up dead along a river in an isolated place.

After some detailed internet research, it is determined that the two hikers are a couple from New Jersey who came to Alaska in search of a man who offered to cure their infertility troubles with native cures.

They are flown in and almost immediately encounter a group camping nearby. Things get tense when they decide to pass themselves as a adventure hiking couple and join the campers for a few nights...

My Review:

In my mind, the author makes a mistake by letting the readers in on who the victims are and why they are going to Alaska. The reader doesn't experience the mystery likes the investigators and I think that takes some of the steam out of the story.

I gave the first book in this series a rating of 4 out of 5 stars. I liked it well enough that I bought this audiobook (usually I am an avid library patron but they didn't have this audiobook.) However, I am rating this book 3 stars out of 5. It's not a bad book at all, but the mystery was diluted by the issue noted in the previous paragraph. I will continue on the the third book.

This book is available on Amazon.com here: An Unforgiving Place: A National Parks Mystery, Book 2 by Claire Kells.