The Dry

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by Jane Harper, 2017, Audiobook narrated by Stephen Shanahan, Macmillan Audio 3.5 stars

A friend recommended books by Jane Harper and I was lucky to be able to borrow this audiobook from my local library using Libby. The setting of this murder mystery in a small town in Australia made it very interesting as the author’s portrayal of the characters and atmosphere was very good. Also, the narration by Stephen Shanahan made it seem even more authentic with his Aussie accent.

The plot was good also as there were actually two plots: the recent murder of a woman and her son followed by the supposed suicide of the husband/father and the drowning death of a young woman many years ago that had not been satisfactorily explained. There are many twists and turns in this novel, but the author manages to hold it all together and keep it interesting.

I have been told that each of Harper’s novels take place in a different place in Australia which makes reading/listening to them even more interesting. I will look forward to picking up another sometime in the future.

The Next Accident

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by Lisa Gardner, 2001, Bantam Books 2.0 stars

This is a typical crime mystery with not much to recommend it. It was an easy read, although sometimes a bit disjointed. The characters and the plot are okay, but not exceptional.

The book is a about an FBI agent whose daughter is killed in an accident which turns out later to have been a murder. His ex-wife is then killed, and he is accused of committing the murder. `The plot revolves around finding the actual murderer.

The 1st Ladie’s Detective Agency

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by Alexander McCall Smith, 2003, Audiobook narrated by Lisette Lecat, Recorded Books 4.0 stars 

This novel is the first in a series of books about a lady who started a detective agency in Botswana. Since we traveled to Africa this last summer and briefly visited Botswana, I decided to check it out. The characters are wonderful, the stories are charming, and the narration is superb. In fact, because of our travel to Africa, I can just picture the main character, Mma “Precious” Ramotswe as if she were in my presence. This is the sixth book I have read this year that is set in Africa, so I feel somewhat immersed in those countries through reading and listening.

I am rating the book as four stars as I enjoyed it so much. I probably won’t read another in the series, however, as I expect that they would be pretty much the same and I do like a lot of variety in my readings.

The Evening and the Morning

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by Ken Follett, 2020, Audiobook narrated by Ken Lee, Penguin Audio 2.5 stars

This book is the prequel to Pillars of the Earth and is the story of Edgar the Builder and his early life before he became the builder of a cathedral.

The story is interesting as it depicts life in late medieval England. It shows the impact of the Church and the political structure on the daily lives of the people.

The story and the characters are, as in Follett’s other novels of this genre, formulaic. There are the good guys (Edgar being the prime example) and the bad guys (Bishop Winston and his family). The struggle is between good and evil and (spoiler alert) how the good guys eventually outwit the bad guys and prevail. It reminds me of the Harry Potter books where each character is type cast as either good or evil.

This book has more sex, brutality, and bad language than I recall in Follett’s previous books in this series. I think I heard an interview with Follett in which he was asked about it. He basically responded that “it’s what sells.” If that’s the case, it’s pretty sad when an author stoops to that level when the focus should be on creating something worthwhile. On the other hand, maybe it contributes to a more accurate depiction of life as it was during that time period in England.

In summary, the book held my interest as Follett certainly can weave a story. It doesn’t, however, stack up to be what I would consider a great book.

Almost Hemingway: The Adventures of Negly Farson, Foreign Correspondent

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by Rex Bowman & Carlos Santos, 2022, University of Virginia Press, Charlottsville and London 2.5 stars

This book is one of the choices for our men’s book club. It is well-written and covers the life of a forgotten journalist and author who was often compared to Hemingway during his time. The only problem I had with the book is that it didn’t seem to interest me very much. The telling of Farson’s life and adventures second hand was probably not as compelling as Farson’s writings themselve.

The book told of each of Farson’s adventures but was done in a dry, uninspired manner that seemed much like a news report even though they quoted Farson frequently. Farson’s life and writings were definitely interesting enough to deserve a book about it. I don’t know whether I would enjoy reading Farson’s books, but this biography has already told me the stories so it’s not likely now that I would pick up any of those works. Too bad; they might have been good reading.

Born a Crime: Stories from a South African Childhood

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by Trevor Noah, 2016, Kindle Version, One World (an imprint of Random House), New York 3.5 stars

This book is an autobiography of Trevor Noah who grew up as a mixed-race boy in South Africa shortly after the fall of apartheid.

Despite the fact that apartheid was abolished when Trevor was very young, the aftermath was almost as difficult as it was living under apartheid, especially for a young boy whose mother was black and a father who was white. When Trevor was born it was a crime to have a relationship between individuals of those two races.

Despite being exceptionally bright and having a mother who provided many opportunities for Trevor, this is a story of extreme poverty and crime. It is actually hard to read in places because of the circumstances and events that he had to endure. What makes it even more difficult is the fact that Trevor, himself, wasn’t a very nice person during those days. He seems to have eventually succeeded, however, in spite of the situations he found himself in.

The bad language used in the book is not appealing, but probably necessary as it helps to reveal the author’s background.

The book is well worth reading, although I wish I could have liked the stories and Trevor a lot more.

The Rose Code

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by Kate Quinn, 2021, Audiobook narrated by Saskia Maarleveld, Harper Audio 3.5 stars

We listened to this audiobook on our way from Rhode Island to Florida this year. It is an interesting story about three young women who were recruited during WWII to work at Blechley Hall in England as code analysts. They deciphered the interecepted German and Italian code which was then fed into the Enigma and Bombe machines to do the final decoding.

The book brought the story of Blechley Hall to my attention and the role it played in defeating the Axis. The story in the book includes many historical facts but I was left wondering how much of the intrigue actually occurred and how much was fiction. I will probably never know, but I am a bit curious.

The book does contain a bit of “fluff”, especially in the earlier chapters, but it became much more suspenseful as it unfolded. The narrator did an excellent job portraying the various characters and their emotions.

The Tragedy of Patton, A Soldier’s Date with Destiny: Could World War II’s Greatest General Have Stopped the Cold War?

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by Robert Orlando, 2021, Kindle Edition, Humanix Books 1.5 stars

I was asked to present this book for our men’s book club and, unfortunately, I didn’t like it much. Rather than a history book, it seems to be more of a long opinion piece. There is no new information gleaned from any in-depth research, but the author frequently offers a description of a particular campaign or event with no underlying facts or supporting detail.

Orlando also relies on quotes from other authors to support his case. One of the authors he quotes quite a bit is Victor Davis Hanson whom he quotes so often that I felt I may as well read the book by that author (although Hanson is far from my favorite author).

The one bit of information that I gleaned from the book that I thought had some value was Orlando’s opinion that Patton’s death was not a conspiracy and the reason why. This information, however, was related on one page and did not, in my opinion, redeem the entire book.

As to whether or not Patton could have stopped the Cold War, the argument seems to be that if Patton had been allowed to get to Berlin before the Russians, we would have been able to stop the Russians from controlling Eastern Europe and we would have avoided the ensuing Cold War. In addition to this being pure speculation, this argument ignores the prior agreements that we had negotiated with the Russians (whether good or bad), and the counter argument is that, if we had kept the Russians out of Berlin, we might have precipitated either a continuation of WWII (with a new enemy), or we would have started a new “hot” war. There are so many what-ifs involved in this scenario that I believe it is not particularly meaningful to speculate as to what would have happened if Patton had had his way.

The Maidens

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by Alex Michalides, 2021, Kindle Edition, Caladon Books 4.0 stars

I enjoyed reading this book very much. Like his previous book, The Silent Patient, Michaelides kept me guessing throughout the book, and, in the end I guessed wrong. He really does know how to throw a curve ball at his readers.

I did figure out that the most likely villain was not the murderer, but I went for one of the other characters. Maybe if he writes another novel, I will get it right.

The book was a nice break from all the history I have been reading. I guess I will have to bid farewell to fiction now as our book club is really in to biographies this year and I have a couple more to read. Sigh!

Farther Than Any Man: The Rise and Fall of Captain James Cook

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by Martin Dugard, Kindle edition, 2001, Pocket Books, a division of Simon & Schuster, Inc. 3.0 stars 

The book is interesting but it’s not a true biography as the author makes up scenarios that are likely but not necessarily valid. He surmises what Cook may have been thinking in a given circumstance and those thoughts are probably close to Cook’s, but, nevertheless, they are created by the author rather than actually related by Captain Cook. While this approach embellishes the story, it isn’t consistent with what I consider a true biography. Dugard doesn’t go so far as to create conversations as I have seen in some supposed biographies, but it does cross a line between fiction and non-fiction.

There is also a great deal of repetitiveness throughout the book. Cook’s various character traits are definitely worth mentioning, but not over and over again. Also, some of the book seems a bit rushed, particularly toward the end of the book when Cook seems to go off the rails on his last voyage.

I missed having maps of the voyages in this book. Maybe the printed copy has them, but my Kindle edition did not. I have a sense of where Cook travelled, but some maps would have been helpful.

I learned a great deal about Cook and his explorations from this book, but it seemed to be missing something.