CITY of WINDOWS (Lucas Page #1) by Robert Pobi

Published by Macmillan Audio in 2019.

Read by Stephen Graybill.
Duration: 11 hours, 5 minutes.

Unabridged.

City of Windows features Lucas Page, a certified genius (an astrophysicist) with a special talent - he can envision the relations between the stars as they rotate in the sky above and predict where they will go mathematically. It is a natural talent, one he's had since he was a little boy. He can apply this skill to crime scenes as well. He can eyeball a crime scene and tell from what direction and angle a shot came from without having to take all of the steps that Crime Scene Investigators usually have to take. 

But, he was seriously injured while on the job with the FBI several years ago. The incident took an eye, a hand and part of a leg. He gladly walked away from the FBI and became a college professor.

But, when his old partner is killed by a sniper with a very long-range shot on a busy road in New York City in the middle of a snowstorm, Lucas Page is reluctantly called back into duty. He easily figures out the angles for the shooting, but the secrets he uncovers along the way in his investigation aren't nearly as easy to deal with...

City of Windows had a lot of positives going for it, including an interesting back story for the Lucas Page, supporting characters that you want to root for and a grown up discussion of guns and violence in America.

*****SPOILERS*****

The book has a lot of discussion of militias and "patriot" movement groups. People who follow these topics, even on a superficial level will recognize the parallels to Ruby Ridge siege of 1992 in Idaho involving the FBI and the U.S. Marshals. It starts out very unsympathetic to their arguments, but then takes a turn that shows that sometimes they have a point. It does not end up supporting them, but makes an interesting discussion.

The book also has an interesting discussion of guns. It never advocates getting rid of them, but readily acknowledges that groups like the NRA (I am a former member) and its ever-active spokesman Wayne LaPierre whip up a lot of outrage no matter whether it makes sense or not and how this interacts with the politics of militias and patriot movement groups.

*****END SPOILERS*****

I ended up rating this book 3 stars out of 5. The mystery was very solid but the author's writing style was often overdone. Too many times he added an extra metaphor that didn't need to be there. For example, I clearly remember a reference to a rope ladder hanging from a house window being compared to a disconnected spinal column. It struck me as the author trying too hard. 

On top of that, the main character, Lucas Page, was more than a little hard to take. Would I want him working on a murder case if I were the FBI? Of course - he's talented and who cares about his manners?

But, I am not working with him - I am choosing to spend 11 hours with him in an audiobook and I don't think I will choose to spend another 11 hours with him in the next book since I wouldn't want to spend 11 hours with him in real life.

Bottom line: This book has some good points, a solid mystery but not enough for me to say it was more than "just okay" and certainly not enough for me to go on with the rest of the series.

This book can be found on Amazon.com here: CITY of WINDOWS (Lucas Page #1) by Robert Pobi.

ULYSSES S. GRANT: A VICTOR, NOT A BUTCHER by Edward H. Bonekemper III

 

Originally published in 2010.

Re-published in 2017 by Regnery History.

Do you remember back in school when you would get a topic to argue for in an essay? That's pretty much what this book is. The topic is "Grant has the reputation for wasting his men in useless attacks. Is Grant's reputation as a butcher justified?"

Ulysses S. Grant: A Victor, Not a Butcher might be mistaken as a biography of Grant, but it is not. What it is is a fantastic defense of Grant's record in the Civil War.

Bonekemper was a federal government regulatory attorney for 34 years before he started writing books, delivering lectures, hosting discussions and teaching classes on the Civil War as a second career after he had retired. All that practice of 34 years of digging through books and digging through stats and regulations shines through this book.

You would think that what I just described is a boring book, but it is well-written and flows smoothly from one campaign to the next. Very readable.

Ulysses S. Grant (1822-1885)

Bonekemper digs through all of the stats and shows that Grant consistently inflicted a greater percentage of losses than he suffered. Only 4 armies surrendered during the Civil War. Sherman took one. Grant took the other 3 - in 1862, 1863 and 1865. Grant has a reputation of being a hard charger that just made his men charge headlong into the enemy. But, if you just look at the Vicksburg campaign you hardly see any headlong charges (sadly, they happened in every theater under every commander because they were sometimes very effective) and you do see a lot of different, creative strategies that resulted in an entire army surrendering and a second army defeated, retreating and its commander removed.

Grant gets a bad rap for his time as the commander against Lee (May 1864-April 1865). The Army of the Potomac suffered more losses from all of the previous commanders combined than under Grant and were no closer to beating Lee then when they started. Grant had more losses per day, but he finished it in less than a year. 

To be honest, I am surprised that Regnery History publishes Bonekemper's books. They usually feature a lot of books that go wholeheartedly with the "Lost Cause" tradition of Douglas Southall Freeman and Bonekemper's certainly do not. But, I am not going to look a gift horse in the mouth. I am just glad they're being published. 

I rate this book 4 stars out of 5. This book can be found on Amazon.com here: ULYSSES S. GRANT: A VICTOR, NOT A BUTCHER by Edward H. Bonekemper III.

HARRY POTTER and the ORDER of the PHOENIX (Harry Potter #5)(audiobook) by J.K. Rowling

 

Originally published in 2003.
Published by Pottermore Publishing.
Read by Jim Dale.
Duration: 26 hours, 29 minutes.
Unabridged.

Harry Potter has verified that the Lord Voldemort has returned - but the Ministry of Magic (the UK government for the Wizarding World) officially denies it. A team of wizards and witches have secretly formed a group called The Order of the Phoenix featuring a mixture of characters from the other books. Their purpose in Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix is to protect Harry Potter and try to figure out what Voldemort intends to do next. 

At Hogwarts, things are going poorly. The Ministry of Magic has created a new position (the High Inquisitor) and her job is to root out anyone who disagrees with the official Ministry of Magic position on Lord Voldemort (meaning that he has not returned) and end the independent nature of the Hogwarts teaching staff. 

The reader, Jim Dale

Jim Dale's reading is always a mixed bag for me because his characterization of Hermione Granger comes off as whiny and annoying. However, his reading of the most memorable and most hated character of the entire series for me, the High Inquisitor Dolores Umbridge, was magnificent. Man, I wanted to smack that woman every time he read her lines, which is exactly what was intended when it was written.

Luna Lovegood was a welcome addition to Harry Potter's circle of friends and the scene with Neville Longbottom in the hospital is completely heartbreaking. 

This lengthy book could have been edited a bit (the night bus scene comes to mind), but this book was the best book in the series. Simply excellent. 

5 stars out of 5.

This book can be found on Amazon.com here: HARRY POTTER and the ORDER of the PHOENIX (Harry Potter #5) by J.K. Rowling.

Note: this entire book series has been placed on banned book lists multiple times since it was originally published due to complaints from religious conservatives. Check out this website for more info.

THE HOUSE of DANIEL: A NOVEL of WILD MAGIC, the GREAT DEPRESSION, and SEMIPRO BALL by Harry Turtledove

Published in 2016 by Tom Doherty Associates (A Tor Book)

Harry Turtledove specializes in alternate histories. Usually, he has a big twist - what if the South won the Civil War? What if Atlantis were a real continent? What if the Colonies lost the Revolutionary War? What if MacArthur actually dropped atomic bombs during the Korean War?

The House of Daniel is a different kind of story, with a twist.

To be perfectly honest, I read the description of this book, with its references to The Great Depression, baseball, "hotshot wizards" and zombies and missed the fact that it was actually referring to actual wizards and zombies, not metaphorical wizards (the whiz kid experts that FDR hired) and zombies (the unemployed masses who are desperate for work). I really thought that Turtledove had just written a straight book about semipro baseball in the Great Depression.

And, basically he has. 85% of this story is about baseball.

Jack Spivey does odd jobs, plays semipro baseball for a few bucks a game and a little muscle work for a local mobster-type named Big Stu in Enid, Oklahoma. He is contracted to go to a neighboring town to give a beating to the sibling of a client that is behind on his payments. When the sibling turns out to be a beautiful young woman, Jack can't do it. Instead, he takes a position with a traveling semipro baseball team called "The House of Daniel" and hits the road.

If you don't like baseball, this book will bore you to tears. Jack tells about his life on the road and about dozens of baseball games - sometimes in great detail, with play by play and even pitch by pitch descriptions. 

But, the world that they live in is a little off from our world. Major League Baseball exists, but none of the names are recognizable. Magic exists - regular magic, dark magic and even religious magic. So do vampires. And zombies. And magic carpets. And mystery creatures like chupacabras. 

I really enjoyed this book, despite my original confusion. 

I rate this book 5 stars out of 5. It can be found on Amazon.com here: THE HOUSE of DANIEL: A NOVEL of WILD MAGIC, the GREAT DEPRESSION, and SEMIPRO BALL by Harry Turtledove.

THE GOOD KILLER (audiobook) by Harry Dolan

 

Published in 2020 by Highbridge, a division of Recorded Books.

Read by James Patrick Cronin.
Duration: 9 hours, 15 minutes.
Unabridged.

In The Good Killer, Sean Tennant and Molly Winter are living under assumed names around Houston, Texas. They are in hiding (the story eventually lets the reader know why) and live off of the grid as much as possible. 

Tennant is a retired soldier who served a very rough tour in Iraq. He still has the skills that helped him survive: he is hyper-vigilant and always carries a weapon and tourniquet. On a trip to the mall to buy a new pair of boots a man attracts his attention. When he moves away, Tennant is relieved. When the man opens fire in a clothing store, Tennant leaps into action. He kills the shooter and saves a mother's life with his tourniquet. 

And he runs because he knows he will be on the news and the people who desperately want to find Sean and Molly will be coming...

I am a big fan of what I call "the chase book." That is a book where the hero (protagonist) is being chased by evil forces or police who will stop them from achieving some important goal to stop the evil forces.

A critical component of this formula (for me) has to be a likable set of protagonists. In this book, I found Sean and Molly to be nowhere near the most likable characters. I even found one of the bad guys to be more likable than them.

The reader, James Patrick Cronin, has an excellent reading voice even though he struggled with the pronunciation Midwestern place names. That wasn't necessarily his fault - his producers should have caught it and corrected it.

I rate this audiobook 3 stars out of 5. It can be found on Amazon.com here: The Good Killer by Harry Dolan.

GREENLIGHTS (audiobook) by Matthew McConaughey

Published in October of 2020 by Random House Audio.
Read by the author, Matthew McConaughey.
Duration: 6 hours, 42 minutes.
Unabridged,

Oscar-winning actor Matthew McConaughey's memoirs are a unique blend of life lessons, reminiscing and bumper stickers that he admired. The title, Greenlights, refers to life giving you opportunities to move forward that you need to take.

The life lessons and bumper stickers are laid out as he tells his life story. He decided to acknowledge his 50th birthday by going through his diaries and notebooks full of observations that he has kept for decades. It is not a true biography, but it is not a true philosophical discussion. What he ends up with is a rambling, yet endearing story.

Some observations:

-His childhood was more than a little concerning.

-I loved his decision to go on the road for a year. 

-John Mellencamp. He's a fan - he quotes his songs several times. I get it. 

I rate this audiobook 4 stars out of 5. It can be found on Amazon.com here: Greenlights by Matthew McConaughey.

THE STORY of HUMAN LANGUAGE (audiobook) by John McWhorter

 

Published in 2004 by The Great Courses.

Lectures delivered by the author, John McWhorter.
Duration: 18 hours, 15 minutes.
Unabridged. 

The idea behind The Great Courses is a simple one - take a college lecture course given by an expert that knows how to give an interesting lecture and package it up as an audiobook that anyone can listen to.

John McWhorter is probably the most famous linguist in America after Noam Chomsky. He takes the listeners on a very thorough introduction to the topic of human language. We learn about proto-languages, language families, tonal languages, sounds that are likely to disappear over time, and how English became the interesting mess that it is and why it's actually easier to learn than most English speakers think.

I come at this being sort of a language nerd - I teach Spanish. McWhorter's lectures were usually informative and entertaining. But, editing out or consolidating 5 or 6 lectures out of this 35+ lecture series would have improved it. 

Nonetheless, it is still a worthwhile listen.

I rate this audiobook 4 stars out of 5. It can be found on Amazon.com here: THE STORY of HUMAN LANGUAGE by John McWhorter.