Book Reviews in Review: 2018

Here are my favorite five of the books I reviewed in 2018—Man, there is a lot of good stuff out there:

 

About halfway through Noir, sweat started pouring out of me like beer at a Delta House toga party and my gut wrenched hard as if a Mike Tyson body shot found home.  I was afraid. I’d been here before. Like yesterday’s déjà vu redux.

I didn’t want to believe a book could be so cruel, like a dame, leading you on and leading you on, then leaving footprints on your stomach as she walks out of your heart.  Heels. Always in heels.

I was having a good time. What if it ended with a hard fall just like that? I shook it off and read on into the night. I had to…

As I closed my Kindle app and the glow of my iPad faded off into the foggy night, I took a long last look back…It was done. And it was good. Very good.

“You. Yeah, you. Author Guy. We’ll meet again, we will.  Soon.”

(5 of 5 Stars)

Link to Noir on Amazon

 

For me, The Dog Stars pushed quite a few personal buttons. Set on the Colorado Front Range. Check–lived there for ten years. Main character is a pilot. Check,–I am a Commercial Pilot & CFI. Has a dog named Jasper. Check–mine was a Siberian Husky. Influenza infused post-apocalyptic horror/fantasy. Check–who hasn’t read The Stand? (Hmmm, which also ends up in Boulder, Colorado…) Heller’s story has its own showdown between good and evil, but his story is much more personal than epic. The narrative style takes some getting used to at first, but craftily fits Hig’s tale perfectly, so stick with it. The awards won by the book were well-deserved. (5 of 5 Stars)

The Dog Stars on Amazon.com

Pretty presumptuous, eh, to write a book telling people how to live their lives…what with rules, for Christ’s sakes. Especially nowadays. And to use religious mythology to boot!

Peterson’s core premise is that stories which have survived for thousands and thousands and thousands of years with themes common across many different religions and cultures might actually have some value to human beings as guideposts for understanding life and making the best of it.  His lectures seem to be an earnest and forthright exploration of that observation.  12 Rules for Life attempts to put the results of his inquiries into practical action for individuals.

Whether or not you agree with Peterson’s musings, conclusions and prescriptions, a fair and open-minded reading of his book will yield thought provoking insights. (5 of 5 Stars)

Link to 12 Rules for Life  on Amazon

 

You know you’re reading “on the edge” when poultry meat processing has become a team sport rivaling the NFL and FIFA.  But, personally, that’s what I like about self proclaimed ne’re-do-well Green’s forays where no satirist has gone before. His plunderous bounty of crazy characters, turbulent plot twists and scalpel sharp barbs is a just reward.

As always, make sure your seat belt is snuggly fastened and your seat backs and tray tables are in their full, upright and locked position.  In the event of rapid decompression, place your oxygen mask on first–but, then again, there really shouldn’t be any children along on this ride. (5 of 5 Stars)

Link to Fowl Play on Amazon

 

I first met Dr. Brown in the Tin Goose Diner at the Port Clinton airport, when he came over to our table  to compliment our ride — the RV-7A built by my student’s dad in their garage. Since then, I’ve seen him speak a number of times and tell many of the tales recounted in this book.  He’s a great story-teller and Keep Your Airspeed Up is as close as you can get to being in the room with him.  What more can you ask of an autobiography?

Meeting someone who made history, as Dr. Brown did being one of the Tuskegee Airmen, is an amazing experience — heightened even more by our mutual passion for aviation.  We shared the boyhood dream of becoming a pilot.  What we did not share were the unfair headwinds of a racism that is nearly unimaginable now, more than fifty years downstream from the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Keep Your Airspeed Up brought home the realities of that period of history to me in a way that no other book, movie or even Dr. Brown’s own “hangar talks” ever have before. But that was just the beginning of his long career in the Air Force and later in education.

Having shaken history’s hand, this book really is the next best thing to being there.  (5 of 5 Stars)

Link to Keep Your Airspeed Up on Amazon

 

 

 

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Book Review: Darkly Dreaming Dexter

Again with the series firsts—an occupational hazard. Dexter is such a great character creation, so I savored the entire book…right up to the epilogue, which was quite untidy by Dexter (and Harry) standards. A thriller shouldn’t leave you thinking, “Huh?”— even after you re-read the ending. Too much of a head-scratcher than cliff hanger for me to want to pick up the next one in the series. (4 of 5 Stars)

Link to Darkly Dreaming Dexter on Amazon

Book Review: The Black Echo

My read of The Black Echo was a bus man’s holiday: the writer in me is always curious to see how a successful series starts out. Michael Connelly gives a master class in police procedurals, filled with gritty details that ratchet up the reality feel. A fan of the TV series as well, there were no significant character clashes between the page and the flat screen for me—not to mention the plus of a whole lot of backstory on Bosch’s tunnel rat days in Vietnam. Will definitely continue with Professor Connelly’s seminars. (4 of 5 Stars)

Link to The Black Echo on Amazon

Book Review: Mavericks of the Sky

“Mavericks of the Bureacracy” might be a fair alternate title for this book. While plenty of ink and/or pixels are devoted to pilots and planes, budget battles in Congress; political infighting between the Postmaster General and the U.S. Army for control of the air mail program; technological competition between planes, trains & automobiles; and postal officials butting heads with their own pilots over schedules versus safety form the back story of the government’s efforts to establish mail delivery by air. The events here predate Charles Lindbergh and Juan Trippe, so Rosenberg offers a unique perspective on the subject. I’m amazed he resisted the obvious comparison to the Pony Express—brave men relaying the mail across the county. (4 of 5 Stars)

Mavericks of the Sky on Amazon.com

 

 

Book Review: The Memory Box

The premise sounded intriguing in a Memento kind of way, so I willingly suspended my disbelief and dug in. But as the story moved on, eye rolls became winces, winces became groans, and groans became slaps to the forehead until I had no choice but end my disbelief’s undeserved timeout. I have a general rule not to read novels with writers as the main character. Alas, I shouldn’t have broken it for this one. (2 of 5 Stars)

Link to The Memory Box on Amazon

Book Review: Noir

About halfway through Noir, sweat started pouring out of me like beer at a Delta House toga party and my gut wrenched hard as if a Mike Tyson body shot found home.  I was afraid. I’d been here before. Like yesterday’s déjà vu redux.

I didn’t want to believe a book could be so cruel, like a dame, leading you on and leading you on, then leaving footprints on your stomach as she walks out of your heart.  Heels. Always in heels.

I was having a good time. What if it ended with a hard fall just like that? I shook it off and read on into the night. I had to…

As I closed my Kindle app and the glow of my iPad faded off into the foggy night, I took a long last look back…It was done. And it was good. Very good.

“You. Yeah, you. Author Guy. We’ll meet again, we will.  Soon.”

(5 of 5 Stars)

Link to Noir on Amazon

Book Review: Little Fires Everywhere

I’m kind of a sucker for stories that start at the end, go back in time, then circle around again, like Little Big Man, It’s a Wonderful Life, and yes, of course, Somethin’ for Nothin’.  Little Fires Everywhere uses the technique to good effect in holding reader interest in the trials and tribulations of teenagers in Stepford-like Shaker Heights, which is mainly a set up for a fascinating study of motherhood, particularly biological vs. artificial, i.e., adoptive vs. surrogate.   (4 of 5 Stars)

Link to Little Fires Everywhere on Amazon