The Heaven and Earth Grocery Store

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by James McBride, 2023, Audiobook narrated by Dominec Hoffman, Penguin Audio 3.0 stars

I thought I would enjoy this book a lot more as everyone is talking about it. I thought it was okay, but not great. It seemed to lag and I think the narrative about the racial and religious discrimination sometimes got in the way of a compelling story. I learned a lot about the settlement and development of Pottstown, PA, and that was interesting.

Because there were so many characters, I sometimes forgot who was being addressed. I quickly remembered, but it took a bit of time. This seemed to distract from the story.

This book is a selection for the men’s book club at our country club this coming season. I suspect that most, if not all, of the members won’t like it a lot.

Morale

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by John W. Gardner, 1978, W.W. Norton & Company, New York 5.0 stars

As is the case with many of the books I read, I didn’t really seek this book out as one I would really want to read. It was in the bookcase in my nightstand, and I had just finished another book. I was in one of those “What should I read next situations.” When I opened the book, I was surprised when I saw the bookplate sticker had my grandmother’s name “Hildred T. Wilson” along with the date 1980. When she died in 1993, the nursing home in Winona, Minnesota, where she had lived for the previous two decades, told me that there was a box of her books that I could have if I wished. There were some real treasures in that box, particularly several volumes of the works of Willa Cather. This book was also one that I kept. Grandma Wilson certainly had excellent reading taste!

So, I should say something about the book. I was surprised and in awe of it. It’s only a 154-page book and Gardner nails about everything that is happening in our society today, 46 years after its publication! At the time that he published the book in 1978, the United States was in a period of malaise and discouragement. While Gardner doesn’t mention the specific issues of the time, mortgage rates were about 10% and it was a time of extremely high inflation. His message, however, is that all is not lost as humans have a strong ability to create and recreate. He manages to keep his tone hopeful, but, at the same time, he has a realistic view of human shortcomings and limitations.

Gardner is short on specific examples and references to support his opinions (he only mentions Watergate one time), but this is okay. He makes cogent observations and reasoned opinions without having to spend much verbiage backing them up. The last book I read was so full of obscure references that I was relieved to see that this one didn’t. I also believe that not referencing many current events helps to keep this book fresh, even after so many years have passed since it was written.

I think this book should be read by everyone today as it contains so many truthful observations about our current society and manages to do it in only 154 pages. I probably won’t read any of his other books, however, as I can’t imagine what else there is to say.

Imagined Communities

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by Benjamin Anderson, 1991 revised and extended edition, Verso, an imprint of Left Wing Books 1.0 stars

My son went to George Washington University in Washington, D.C., to get his Master’s degree in Eastern European History. After graduating he had a collection of books that he was assigned while there. Before throwing them away, he asked if I wanted any of them. I picked through them and selected several that I thought looked interesting and I would want to read someday. This book dealt with “Reflections on the Origin and Spread of Nationalism.” Having received my degree in political science, this topic caught my eye, and I put it in a pile to read at a later date.

Well, that date came this summer when I pulled it out as a summer reading book. To state that I was disappointed is an understatement. As I read it I began to think it was one of the worst books I had ever read. But I soldiered on to finish the book, only to arrive at the conclusion that it was not ONE of the worst books I had ever read, but actually THE WORST book I have ever read.

Anderson meanders throughout the book from one thought to the next, never really tying anything together. I was hoping to discern some undrelying premise, but it never emerged. He is obviously a brilliant individual and has spent his career studying the development of various countries, particularly in Southeast Asia. He cannot, however, communicate his thoughts in a straighforward manner, and, instead, constantly chooses vocabulary that is intended, no doubt, to show off his erudition. This makes his message totally inscrutable to the reader. In addition, he has a penchant for quoting long passages from other authors in a foreign language, somehow thinking that all of his readers must understand French.

I would admit that there were some topics in the book that piqued my interest: the impacts of language, religion, geography, etc. Unfortunately, Anderson never seemed to reach a conclusion. I also thought that the book would have a chapter at the end, summarizing his findings and tying everything together. No, it didn’t. He, instead, ended the book with a chapter on “Memory and Forgetting” which introduced another set of somewhat diffuse thoughts that didn’t integrate very well with any of the prior chapters.

I also wonder if the formation of the EU in 1993 and its subsequent history wourld have given the author some addtional thoughts regarding nationalsim, ISIS was also attempting to form a new caliphate based on religtion that crossed national borders. Would some more recent history have provided some additional insights into the development of nations and the concepts of nationalism? I don’t know.

Anderson is, or was, a professor of International Relations at Cornell University. Based on what is presented in this book, I would feel very sorry for any student who had him for a class. With the rise of populism in the United States and attacks on the Ivy School “elites”, I suspect that this book, written by an Ivy League shcool professor, would be great fodder to illustrate the charges that these instituions of higher learning are pumping out irrelevant and poorly developed material. Sad!

I gave this book a one-star rating but I didn’t set up anything lower. Maybe it deserves one star for its subject matter, but, beyond that, it doesn’t deserve anything more positive in my opnion.

Lightning Strike

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by William Kent Kruger, 2021, Atria Books, New York 2.5 stars

This book is a prequel to the Corcoran O’Connor series by William Kent Krueger. The author takes us back to a time when Cork was twelve years old and his father, Liam, was the sheriff. Cork gets involved in a murder of a respected Indian whose death is made to look like a suicide.

The book has much lore of the Ojibwa Indians in Northern Minnesota and the strained relationship between the white residents and the Indians on the reservation. The spiritualism of the American Indian is also included. The slow pace of the book (almost glacial at times) makes it a bit of a chore to get through, however. If the pace of the story had unfolded a bit quicker, I think I would have enjoyed it a lot more.

Demons of Unrest

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by Erik Larson, 2024, Audiobook narrated by Will Patton, Random House Audio4.0 stars

This book is a detailed account of the events that led up to the attack on Fort Sumter which was the start of the Civil War. The author uses diaries, official papers, telegram communications, letters, and later recollections of the various individuals involved to chronologically reconstruct that period of our history. I was surprised at how much information the book contained, particularly about some rabble rousers in the South who were committed not only to secession, but also to the start of civil war.

I learned a couple of things from this book. First, it shows that the Civil War was, indeed, about slavery. Many of the states that seceded explicitly stated that the primary reason was that they feared the end of the institution of slavery in the Union. They felt that the only way to prevent that from happening was to leave the United States. The idea that the war was only about states’ rights just doesn’t hold true.

I was not aware of the extreme hatred that southerners felt toward the northerners, but neither was Lincoln and his Secretary of State, William Seward. Seward is quoted as saying that the states that seceded would quickly reconsider and decide to return to the Union within a few weeks. Lincoln also held that there was much more pro-Union sentiment in the South than was the case. If there had been a better understanding of southern sentiment, the start of the Civil War may have been at least postponed. Note that Andrew Jackson put down a similar insurrection in Charleston in 1830 by threatening to send in federal troops.

The commander of Fort Sumter, Major Robert Anderson, was a true hero. Even though his sentiments leaned toward the South, and he was not well supported by his superiors in Washington, Anderson’s actions held true to his oath, unlike others such as Rober E. Lee who turned and fought for the South.

The book is extremely detailed, and I believe that anyone who reads it should have an interest in the history of the Civil War. Assuming that’s true, the book can be a real treasure.

So Close to Home

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by Michael J. Tougias and Alison O’Leary, 2016, Pegasus Books, Ltd. 4.0 stars

I didn’t initially think much about this book. It’s the story of a family that was on board a freighter bound to New Orleans from Costa Rica during WWII that was torpedoed by a German submarine. The book begins by highlighting the family of four whose father was working for the United Fruit Company in Columbia and Costa Rica during the start of WWII. They eventually decided to return to their home in San Antonio when the war started. Unfortunately, they were torpedoed on the last night of their journey. Amazingly, all four survived, even though many crew members were lost.

The authors highlight the Navy’s efforts to downplay the presence of the U-boats and the huge losses of ships near the east coast and in the Gulf of Mexico of the U.S. during the first years of the war. This event was largely unknown and the authors decided to write a book about it.

The book is well researched, and it tells the story of the two U-boats that were prowling the Gulf of Mexico and their captains. Rather than demonizing the Germans, it shows the dedication they had to their missions. I was pleasantly surprised at how well written and interesting the book turned out to be.

The Devil’s Daughter

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by Gordon Greisman, 2024, Kindle Edition, Blackstone Publishing 3.0 stars

This is a gritty detective story that is set in New York City in the 1950’s. The plot centers on a missing teenage girl whose father contracts with a private detective to find her. It turns out that things aren’t as they seem.

The story includes many real-life characters who inhabited New York during that in the 1950’s so it gives the reader a feeling of the culture. These include restaurant owners such as Toots Shor, jazz musicians such as Thelonious Monk, the poet, Alan Ginsberg, and the actor Marlon Brando. While some of their appearances are brief, others are more than mere cameos and they actually play a part in the story.

With so many characters involved, it is sometimes difficult to keep them all straight in my mind. The edition I read of War and Peace provided a list of the characters at the beginning of the novel. Perhaps that would have helped with this book.

I enjoyed the story, despite its grittiness.

Norwegian by Night

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by Derek B. Miller, 2013, Kindle Edition, Mariner Books, Reprint edition 3.0 stars

This book is about Sheldon Horowitz, an 82-year-old former U.S. Marine sharpshooter, who has moved in with his granddaughter and her husband in Norway. A woman who is a renter in the house is murdered by the father of her son. Sheldon hides the young boy and then escapes with him on a journey across Norway as the father is coming after them.

Sheldon struggles with his infirmaties, both mental and physical, as he attempts to save the boy but his former Marine training kicks in.

The story was a little fuzzy regarding the motives of the father and, because it switches back and forth from one character and scene to another, it’s somewhat hard to follow. Because the plot and setting is so different from other books, however, it is an interesting read.

Britt-Marie Was Here

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by Fredrik Backman, 2016, Audiobook narrated by Joan Walker, Simon & Schuster Audio 4.0 stars

This audiobook is delightful. It’s about a 63-year-old woman who has led a very sheltered life. She is ready for a change, and she decides to try to get a job, even though she hasn’t worked in decades. She goes to the unemployment office and finds that she isn’t qualified to do anything, but there is a temporary position running a recreation facility in a failing town. She accepts the job as it’s her only option.

Britt-Marie has several personality traits that suggest she is totally unsuited for her new role, particularly her compunction for cleaning. But, despite her shortcomings, she begins to insert herself into the community and begins to have significant impacts on the lives of the individuals who live there.

Joan Walker, the narrator of this audiobook, does such an outstanding perfomance in portraying Britt-Marie that I felt that she was actually Britt-Marie herself. I enjoyed the book probably as much for the narration as the story. I would very much recommend the audiobook version of this book.

From the Low and Quiet Sea

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by Donal Ryan, 2018, Kindle Edition, Penguin Books 2.5 stars

This book starts with the story of a young doctor trying to escape Syria with his family. It then leaves him and shifts to a young man in Ireland who is having a tough time with his family, his job, and his girlfriend who dumps him. It then shifts to another individual, a man who starts cheating on his wife. Each of these stories is left unfinished as it shifts from one to the other. I initially thought that the book was a collection of unrelated short stories, like The Dubliners, by James Joyce which I had just finished. I read the book until the last chapter and wasn’t going to finish it until I discovered that the last chapter tied together all the individuals in the previous chapters. They became related to each other though circumstances that none of them could have foreseen.

The last chapter redeemed the book, but I didn’t care for the language used in some of the previous chapters. I know that some of these characters would have used such language in real life, but the constant use of it is disgusting in my opinion. I would have enjoyed it more without so much of it.