Required Reading

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Books I have authored.

Many times I receive books for FREE to give them an honest review. I do not get paid to give a good or bad review. Spotlights are promotional and should be regarded as advertising for the book spotlighted. Regardless of where or how I got a book, my review will be as honest as I can make it.

Friday, December 27, 2019

A Hundred Million Years And A Day by Jean-Baptiste Andrea


This is a soul-searching book.  The protagonist is looking at his life.  He is a career frustrated paleontologist searching for a holy grail, any holy grail.

Stan, the paleontologist, draws his friend Umberto into his obsession.   Stan has a clue to a huge discovery in the mountains.   He accompanies Stan into the mountains to look for an unlikely fossil. 
The Alps are erratic and unforgiving.  Stan is no longer young and is the hold back for the trek.   Peter is an ancillary character that seems to have little to add to the plot except for his puppet.  

Stan spend some flashback time looking at his troubled childhood.

The details on the glacier are well done, you feel a chill as you read. 

This book may have been received free of charge from a publisher or a publicist. That will NEVER have a bearing on my recommendations.

Saturday, December 21, 2019

The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah

Hannah has successfully portrayed the horrific occupation of France by Germany in WWII.   She does this through the use of a dysfunctional family and their experiences in the war.  

Isabelle was a self-centered teen who would fit right in with the Valley Girls.   She through herself into situations with little or no fore thought.   She was constantly striving to be loved by her father.
Vianne was Isabelle’s older sister.  The difference in age of several years when young seems unbridgeable and inconsequential later in life.  Vianne, too, sought her father’s love.

The book primarily shows the growth and depredation the two girls experience through the war.  
The overview of history and how France was self-deluded into ignoring the Germans is often seen but Hannah makes you live if through the experiences of her characters.

The depths of soul that Isabelle and Vianne plumb are awe inspiring.


This was a thought-provoking book. 

This book may have been received free of charge from a publisher or a publicist. That will NEVER have a bearing on my recommendations.

Tuesday, December 17, 2019

Enigma by Catherine Coulter

Two mysteries intertwined with no connection.   The title is based on a mysterious stranger who claims he is an enigma who attempts to kidnap a pregnant woman.   The other mystery is the escape of a manipulatively charming rogue who murders his way to freedom.

This is a Savich and Sherlock mystery.   The two are a married duo of FBI agents who are supported by a rudimentary AI laptop named Max.  They are somewhat ambivalent about the rule of law and tend to utilize whatever method will solve the crime or save the victim.

This had plenty of action, some violence, Russians, genetic manipulations, psychological aberrations and heroism.  


I enjoyed it and recommend it. 

This book may have been received free of charge from a publisher or a publicist. That will NEVER have a bearing on my recommendations.

Thursday, December 12, 2019

Dirty White Boys by Stephen Hunter


Violence, mayhem, more violence, this book is just over flowing with violence.   The interaction between Bud, an Oklahoma Highway Patrol Trooper, and Lamar, an escaped psychopathic convict, is the main plot of the book.

Lamar has equally depraved sidekicks.   Bud is a very flawed lawman.   The author does a great job in showing how someone can be stellar in one area of their life and spectacularly flawed in the personal life.  

There is never ending action and lots of violence.

It was entertaining but sometimes difficult to read due to amoral aspects of the characters. 

This book may have been received free of charge from a publisher or a publicist. That will NEVER have a bearing on my recommendations.

Saturday, December 7, 2019

The Secret of the King’s Tomb by Garrett Drake



Richard Haliburton was a true adventurer.   I have a moth eaten, dog eared copy of a book from the 1940’s chronicling his adventures.  Drake turned him into a fictional character for this book.   He included Dr. Howard Carter another real person who really discovered the tomb of Tutankhamun.  This is a fictionalized account of Haliburton, as an American agent,  assisting Carter in finding the tomb while preventing Germans from seizing the treasure found within.
Haliburton was portrayed as having little common sense and open for every experience.  Oddly enough that is no too far from the real Haliburton.   Haliburton did swim in the Taj Mahal reflection pool and he even swam the Panama Canal.   The story had plenty of action but I was not enthralled with the presentation.  The book felt more like one of the serialized thrillers on the radio in the early fifties. 

This book may have been received free of charge from a publisher or a publicist. That will NEVER have a bearing on my recommendations.

Monday, December 2, 2019

No Past Tense by D.Z. Stone


This is not a Holocaust book as much as a historic perspective of two remarkable people who lived through the Holocaust.  

Kati and Willi Salcer experience things no human being should have to experience.  As a history teacher I was sadly well versed in the horrors of the Holocaust but that was an in general kind of knowledge.  The lives of Kati and Willi brought home a more personal knowledge and perhaps due to the more personal nature the knowledge was all the more horrific.

These two people underwent things beyond our imagination and came out the other side both strong and hopeful.   Their accomplishments to go from penniless to successful while dealing with the trauma of their lives is remarkable.


The book is neither easy to read or a comfortable read but it is worth reading. 

This book may have been received free of charge from a publisher or a publicist. That will NEVER have a bearing on my recommendations.