1984

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by George Orwell, 1949, 75th Anniversary Edition published in 2024 by Berkley, and imprint of Random House LLC, New York4.5 stars

1984 is the classic novel written in 1949 about a supposed dystopian society in 1984. When it was written, it was perceived as a prediction of what might happen by that time. More recently, it has been considered as a criticism of the then current culture and politics when the book was written.

Orwell portrays a middle-age government worker, Winston, whose job is to rewrite history according to the current Party’s pronouncements. He takes newspaper and other documents that are out of line with Party’s line, rewrites them, and then throws the old documents down a tube that is designed to destroy them. Winston senses that all of this is false and attempts to resist. He has an affair with a co-worker, Julia, who seems to share his thinking, but her thinking is somewhat shallow.

Winston and Julia are eventually arrested and tortured to make them comply with the Party’s views.

I had never previously read the book, and it was timely to read given the current state of affairs in our country with the current administration. Orwell introduces the reader to the concept of doublethink which is the ability to believe conflicting facts at the same time. In order to do this, the Party says that everyone should believe what the Party says, and not believe what their eyes and ears are telling them.

I was impressed with Orwell’s writing and the amount of detail he uses to create the dystopia. It is truly a great book. At the same time, I found it unsettling and not a very enjoyable experience to read.

Lessons

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by Ian McEwan, 2022, Audiobook narrated by Simon McBurney, Recorded Books1.0 stars

This book is about a person who has a torrid affair with his 25-year-old piano teacher at age 14 and then goes on to lead a fairly miserable life. I guess the point of the book is to highlight the damage that such an experience can inflict on a person who has much more potential than his accomplishments later in life. The book is beautifully written and narrated, but the content is rubbish. I listened to 18 hours of dribble about Rolland’s life and all of it was boring. To add additional torture for the reader (listener), McEwan sometimes digresses, adding references to many literary authors that I had never heard of. These digressions just made the book longer without adding much to the story. The only redeeming aspect were the references to the progression of British politics, which was interesting to me.

I normally enjoy the subjects of McEwan’s books, but this one really missed the mark. I chose it because I needed an audiobook to listen to, and this one was immediately available at the library, while the rest of his books were already checked out. Big mistake, but I endured it to the end. I consider myself a martyr for getting through it.

Beneath a Scarlet Sky

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by Mark Sullivan, 2017, Lake Union Publishing4.0 stars

This is a very interesting book about a boy/young man living in Milan durring WWII. It chronicles his experiences, first guiding Jews over the mountains to Switzerland, and later his role as a spy while he was in the Italian Army and the driver for a Nazi general. The book apparently is based on fact, and the author got a chance to interview the individual before he passed away.

I didn’t know much about what was going on in this part of Italy during the war, so it was interesting to discover the many events that took place. The book is very readable and worthwhile.

The Reader

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by Bernhard Schlink, book published 1999, translation by Carol Brown Janeway, Audiobook released 2008, narrated by Campbell Scott, Random House Audio 4.0 stars

The book started out with some steamy passages in which a fifteen-year-old boy has an affair with an older woman who is working as a streetcar conductor in postwar Germany. He becomes totally enthralled with her, but she is secretive about her past. Then one day she disappears with no explanation. Much later, as a graduate law student, he encounters her at her war crimes trial.

The book is short and extremely well written. At the beginning of the book, I had no idea where it was going, but it addresses some profound moral questions regarding personal responsibility and shame.

The narration by Campbell Scott is excellent.

The Gunfighters: How Texas Made the West Wild

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by Bryan Burroughs, 2025, Audiobook narrated by Fred Sanders, Penguin Audio 2.5 stars

This book details the history and culture of the gunfighters in the West from after the Civil War until the turn of the 20th century. The author dispels the notion that the West was not really violent as has be posited by some researchers. Burroughs suggests that it was even more violent than most individuals realize. He traces this to the culture of the South and the “code duello” which emphasized the need for respect. Any perceived slight could result in a gunfighter drawing his gun and shooting the perpetrator.

As to the Texas connection, there were a couple of chapters that highlighted the concentration of killings that were done by Texans, but there was a great deal of information about gunfighters that came from other areas as well, so I’m not sure that he proved his point that Texas generated most of the violence.

The book went into so much detail about each of the incidents that it got to the point where I was looking forward to finishing the book before I let out a scream. I suspect the blow-by-blow was necessary to impart the entire picture, but it sure made the book a lot more tedious to listen to.

The narrator was fine, but he, too, seemed to get impatient toward the end of the book and seemed to cruise through the later chapters a bit faster. Maybe he was also getting bored with it all.

The Thursday Murder Club

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by Richard Osman, 2021, Penguin Books 2.5 stars

The book is about a group of individuals living in a new community in England who decide to try to solve murders that the police seem to be struggling with. In this case a developer’s partner is murdered and his partner is suspected of doing the deed. The initial murder is followed by the suspicious death of the developer. Tied to these murders is the discovery of a skeleton in a graveyard that is found on top of a casket in a grave.

The characters in the book are well done. One of them, Joyce, provides the reader with excerpts from her diary, some of which are very cute. The problem is that the plot begins to spin out of control. There are numerous subplots that go nowhere and only serve to distract the reader. The eventual solution to all of these murders is somewhat of a letdown. There doesn’t seem to be any suspense.

The Hunger Games: Book 1

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by Suzanne Collins, 2008, Audiobook released 2018, narrated by Tatiana Maslany Scholastic Audio Books 2.5 stars

We listened to this audiobook on our 3-day journey from Rhode Island to Florida this year. The reason we chose it is because our 12-year-old grandson and his mother are currently reading it and we wanted to check it out.

The book is a dystopian story about the country that succeeded the U.S. after it collapsed. The government is authoritarian and forces its districts to provide a girl and a boy, age 12 to 18, each year to participate in a game in which the object is to kill all the other contestants. The main character is a girl who offers herself as a substitute when her sister’s name is drawn.

The characters are well done but the plot is predictable. The audiobook actually seems somewhat drawn out. The movie with Jennifer Lawrence, might be more exciting.

The book is apparently targeted towards juvenile readers. There is no obscene language, which is refreshing, but we feel that the content might not be appropriate for younger readers because of the violence.

Death in a Strange Country (Commissario Brunetti Book 2)

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by Donna Leon, 2018, Audiobook narrated by David Colacci, Recorded Books2.5 stars

As is typical of her books, this book by Donna Leon moves extremely slowly. There are many conversations that start with pleasantries and then gradually turn to the topics being discussed. This may be the result of Italian culture and custom, but it certainly doesn’t move the plot along at all.

On the plus side, the author’s characters are portrayed extremely well. Commissario Brunetti, himself, is a concerned and somewhat controlled family man with a strong woman for a wife and two headstrong children. He also has a boss who is well-connected, but nor very competent. It is easy for the reader to identify with Brunetti and like him.

The plot of this book centers on the death of a young American serviceman whose body is found in a canal one morning. It becomes evident that the cause of his death is not a simple mugging but is tied to a much larger situation. Brunetti discovers a web of corruption and disregard for the environment at high levels of private businesses and the government.

This is the sixth book I have read in the series. I turn to these when I can’t seem to find another audiobook on short notice.

Moriarity: Sherlock Holmes, Book 2

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by Anthony Horowitz, 2014, Audiobook narrated by Julian Rhind-Tutt, HarperAudio 3.0 stars

I didn’t have any idea about this book when I checked it out on Libby. It’s about Moriarity, Sherlock Holmes great archenemy. There is a physical struggle between Moriarity and Holmes in the first couple chapters near a waterfall in Switzerland. Both of them end up falling into the water and supposedly perish. A Pinkerton investigator and an investigator from Scotland yard arrive to investigate the deaths. Upon the death of Moriarity another crime boss arrives in London to take over Moriarity’s operations.

There is a huge twist at the end of the book. I was expecting this, but it didn’t turn out as I had expected. I was caught off guard as I thought that Sherlock Holmes might return, but he was nowhere to be found in this book.

The narration is good, and I enjoyed listening to it. I’m not sure I would continue with this series, however, as the characters are so dispicable.

Material World: The Six Raw Materials That Shape Modern Civilization

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by Ed Conway, 2023, Kindle Edition, Knopf4.5 stars

I found this to be an extremely interesting book. It delves into the basic materials (sand, salt, iron, copper, oil, and lithium) that are used to build just about everything. I had no idea where this stuff came from, or the methods used to extract the materials from the earth.

Conway has done a magnificent job of visiting and researching the sites where the materials are extracted as well as the sites where they are processed into intermediate materials and finished products. His personal observations add much to the narrative. I was amazed at the extent to which these processes have been altered and refined over the years as the materials themselves have become ever scarcer.

The author cites many statistics that are surprising to me. He indicates that an all-electric bus requires about 1,000 pounds of copper in the coils and wiring. I find that a bit hard to believe, but I have yet to fact check it. I was amazed at the sheer quantities of material that is involved in the manufacture of our everyday goods. I now look at the edifices of some buildings and marvel at the amount of steel that I see. Now that I understand more about where it comes from and how its manufactured, I can’t get over how much of it is around us. Conway attributes our ability to do all of this to the fact that we have managed to make the extraction and processing of these materials so cheap (the exception being lithium which, at the current time, is still very scarce in relation to our needs).

I recommend this book to anyone who is curious about our world and how it came to be what it is today. For those who are not so inclined, maybe it’s best to stick to crime novels.