2020 What are you reading and/or reviewing?

[Suze73]

I finished The Color of Law: A Forgotten History of How Our Government Segregated America by Richard Rothstein. If the social justice movement inspires you to read just one book on the subject, let it be this one. This is a fact-based account of how the government pursued unconstitutional policies to create racially segregated communities. I had no idea that these policies were part of our not so distant past. 5/5 stars.

[John]

Finished THE CYLON CURSE (The Cylon Curse) by J. Robert Kennedy. James Acton and Laura Palmer are a pair of archaeologists who seem to have a black cloud following them. They are so prone to getting into trouble that they have a Special Forces team "on call". They find and verify long lost artifacts of inestimable value, and then have to defend them from the "collectors" who want to add them to their private collections. Lots of action, and some strange twists in the end. Three stars for this one.

THE SANCTUARY SPARROW (The Sanctuary Sparrow) by Ellis Peters is next. Curiosity is driving me to find out just what is so interesting about Brother Cadfael.

John

[Suze73]

I was in the mood for something light, so I read Truth or Beard by Penny Reid. It was a fun contemporary romance set in the mountains of Tennessee. There was humor as well as a bit of mystery and danger, with well developed characters and an interesting plot. It’s the first in a series. I put the next one on hold at the library. 5/5 stars

[John]

Wrapped up a couple of books over the weekend. The SANCTUARY SPARROW (The Sanctuary Sparrow) by Ellis Peters. The misadventures of a young musician/juggler seeking sanctuary in a Church are too often interrupted by the monks their prayers for the liturgical hours, Matins, Lauds, Prime, Tierce, Sex, None, Vespers, and Compline. Brother Cadfael works for, with, and against the Abbot and his assistant to help the young musician find his way in a cold, cruel world. Only two stars for this one.

Also finished INTERFERENCE (Interference) by Brad Parks. Four stories in one! A quantum physics researcher with a medical problem, a police detective who is a recent widower, another physics professor facing sexual harassment charges, and billionaire investment whiz, all associated with Dartmouth University. How do their lives intertwine as the body count in the surrounding area mounts? Who is responsible for the disappearance of Matt Bronik from his quantum physics research lab? The action unfolds across the New Hampshire countryside in the early days of winter. Interesting characters, and a real corkscrew twist for the finale. Four stars for this one.

John

[Suze73]

I finished Convenience Store Woman by Sayaka Murata. This is a short Japanese novel about a 36 year old woman who has trouble fitting in and understanding interpersonal interactions. She seemed to be on the autism spectrum to me. She finds her place in the world working in a convenience store for 18 years, much to the dismay of her family and acquaintances, who think she should either get married or get a real job. It was an interesting and at times humorous novel from a bestselling author in Japan. Books in translation never read as smoothly to me as books in their native tongue, but I enjoyed it none the less. It’s always interesting to get a peek into another culture. 4/5 stars.

[John]

Just finished THE THIRD GATE (The Third Gate) by Lincoln Child. Jeremy Logan is a history professor by day, and an enigmalogist, studying "non-conformal" behavior outside the classroom. When he is drawn into an expedition to locate and investigate a tomb containing the two crowns of Pharaoh Narmer of Egypt, he isn't sure what to expect. The calculated location of the tomb is 10-15 meters beneath the Sudd, a vast expanse (200km by 250km) of bogs and swamps, which has inhibited the travel along the Nile for centuries. Porter Stone, the expedition leader anticipates that this discovery will establish him as one of the world's greatest archaeologists. Therefore, there is nothing left to chance, and no expense is spared. There are two impending problems--a dam nearing completion on the Nile River in Sudan which will flood the site, and a virulent curse imposed on the site by Pharaoh Narmer which stipulates that anyone who violates the tomb will die a violent and painful death. As in all Lincoln Child novels, there are twists and turns at every junction. Three stars for this one.

[Suze73]

I finished Bringing Down the Duke by Evie Dunmore. This is an historical romance set in England during the Victorian era. The Queen herself makes an appearance. The female lead is a suffragette and one of the very few female students at Oxford. The author did a good job making clear how restricted women’s options were, how dependent they were on a husband or male relative, and how class bound society was. Very well done mix of history and romance. 5/5 stars

[John]

Finished A MINUTE TO MIDNIGHT (A Minute to Midnight) by David Baldacci. Atlee Pine is the only FBI agent in Shattered Rock, AZ. When she was six years old, her twin sister, Mercy, disappeared, and Atlee suffered a fractured skull. Now, she is trying to determine exactly what happened that night, many years ago. When she returns to Andersonville, SC, where family lived at the time, she meets a lot of people who knew her family, but their stories just don't add up. Throw in three ritual murders during the annual Civil War battle reenactment, and Atlee finds herself almost overwhelmed. With some help from her administrative assistant, and an FBI colleague from Washington, DC. Slowly, but surely, they peel away the levels of subterfuge, but will the believe what they have when all is said and done? Three stars for this one.

Next is an underwater adventure SUNKEN TREASURE (Sunken Treasure Lost Worlds: A Colten X. Burnett Novel) by Hep Aldridge. This is another new author for me, so we will see what happens.

John

[Suze73]

I finished Never Caught: The Washingtons' Relentless Pursuit of Their Runaway Slave, Ona Judge by Erica Armstrong Dunbar. Ona Judge was a slave who served in the household of George and Martha Washington. She accompanied them to Philadelphia when Washington served as President. She made her escape shortly before she was to be given as wedding present to Martha’s niece. The Washingtons eventually located her in New Hampshire, but were unable to retrieve her. The book gives a lot of interesting detail about what life was like for a more privileged house slave, as well as the Washingtons’ attitudes towards the institution of slavery and their treatment of their own slaves. It also shows what life was like for those who either escaped or were released from bondage. 5/5 stars.

[Jan]

I recently finished My Dearest Dietrich: A Novel of Dietrich Bonhoeffer's Lost Love. An enlightening historical fiction based on correspondence between Dietrich Bonhoeffer and a young woman he had fallen in love with before his imprisonment. 4 stars

Also finished Long Way Down by Jason Reynolds. This is a YA quick read written in free verse. A young man gets his dead brother's gun and goes to avenge his death. His story is told as he rides down the elevator from his apartment. A powerful message for me. 5stars.

[John]

Finished SUNKEN TREASURE (Sunken Treasure Lost Worlds: A Colten X. Burnett Novel) by Hep Aldridge, a KOLL selection. Colton Burnett has a very eclectic group of friends. When they band together to form a treasure hunting company, pretty much anything can happen, and usually does. This story covers a lot of territory, from the Florida coast to the Andes Mountains in Ecuador. There are some interesting characters and some challenging situations as they hunt for the wreckage of the 1715 Spanish Plate fleet. Four stars for this one.

Next up is Tom Clancy's FIRING POINT (Firing Point) written by Mike Maden. This is a DTB from my local library.

John

[Suze73]

I finished How Much of These Hills Is Gold by C Pam Zhang. It is the common read for my county, so the library had unlimited copies available to download. It’s set during the California gold rush and tells the story of two Chinese orphan sisters. Those were brutal times. The writing is exquisite. It deals with questions of family, belonging, home, and being accepted for who you are. Not a light and fluffy read. It was long listed for the Booker Prize this year. 5/5 stars

[SassafrasfromAmazon]

Suze7: Your reviews/synopses of C Pang Zhang’s book and the one about the slave, Ona Judge, have me chomping at the bit to read them. I don’t often read non-fiction (i.e., until I read Timothy Snyder’s book, “On Tyranny. . . ). But I will get these books via my library, Kindle Unltd., or purchase. Thank you for expanding my reading choices. I love your book choices on your bookshelves—I intend on adding them to my TBR shelf. I feel like I’ve discovered some mighty fine gems!

SassafrasFromAmazon

[Suze73]

I finished Hidden Valley Road: Inside the Mind of an American Family by Robert Kolker. It’s non-fiction. It tells the story of a family with 12 children, six of whom were diagnosed with schizophrenia. It’s a heartbreaking story, told with a great deal of sympathy for all involved. The author also delves into the development of theories about the cause of the illness and the search for a way to treat it. Very well written. 5/5 stars

[John]

Finished Tom Clancy's FIRING POINT (Firing Point) written by Mike Maden. This is several stories in one, all finally coming together. A friend of Jack Ryan, Jr. is killed in an apparent terrorist bombing in Barcelona, Spain. Also killed in the blast is a world class quantum computing expert. Two quantum computing researchers are killed in a satanic ritual in Silicone Valley. A quantum computing project is coming on line at Oak Ridge National Lab. Several ships are mysteriously sunk at various points around the world. Who is behind all of the death and destruction? Leave it to Jack Ryan, Jr., with the help of his compadres at the Campus to track everything down. Four stars for this one.

Next up is Louise Penny's latest Inspector Gamache adventure, ALL THE DEVILS ARE HERE (All the Devils Are Here), a DTB from my local library.

John

[CinCO]

Read this for Banned Books week: Snow Falling on Cedars

Set in 1954 on a (fictional) island in the San Juan's near Seattle. A story of three families, American, German, and Japanese, revolving around a strawberry farm. Sons of all three families fought for the US in WW II, but they weren't necessarily on the same side when they came home.

[John]

Finished ALL THE DEVILS ARE HERE (All the Devils Are Here) by Louise Penny. Inspector Gamache is in Paris for the birth of his granddaughter, and to visit with his son and son-in-law and their families. When an old friend is the victim of a hit and run, the trip turns into a nightmare. Over the course of about four days, the inspector must separate the good guys from the bad, his friends from his enemies, and figure why his friend was attacked. Paris is a far cry from Three Pines, Quebec, but Armand Gamache is still Armand Gamache. With some help from his wife, Reine-Marie, he plows ahead in his normal dogged fashion. Will it be enough to avoid an international catastrophe? There are a lot of twists and turns before all the devils are finally identified. Four stars for this one.

Next in line is THE SECRET OF THE LOST PHAROAH (The Secret of the Lost Pharaoh), by Carolyn Arnold.

John

[Jan]

Just finished with The Evening and the Morning by Ken Follett. This is a prequel to The Pillars of the Earth set in the late 900-1000s. 5 stars for me!

[Suze73]

I finished 500 Miles from You by Jenny Colgan. It’s a charming, contemporary British romance. If you are looking for a relaxing, feel-good novel, I recommend this one. It features a female home visit nurse in London who is ordered to temporarily switch jobs with a male home visit nurse in a small village in the Scottish Highlands so she can recover from a bout of PTSD. Each feels like a fish out of water to start, but they adapt and develop a relationship over text and e-mail. 4/5 stars

[John]

Finished THE SECRET OF THE LOST PHARAOH (The Secret of the Lost Pharaoh), by Carolyn Arnold. This is an archaeological story about a dig in Egypt at the tomb of an unnamed pharaoh, with an underlying theme of searching for the Emerald Tablets and the Library of Thoth. The team spends a lot of time underground searching various tunnels and passages, looking for burial chambers, treasure troves and other artifacts. In most stories, the trips thru the underground passages are spent trying to determine how to deactivate booby traps that are thousands of years old. In this one, most of the time is spent with the heroines, Alexa and Robyn, trying to figure out if, and why, the hero, Matt Connor is attracted to the other one. Definitely different. This one has a fair amount of suspense, and several twists and turns, and gets three stars.

Next in line is REVELATIONS (REVELATIONS: Sunken Treasure lost worlds) by Hep Aldridge.

John

[John]

Finished REVELATIONS (REVELATIONS: Sunken Treasure lost worldsby Hep Aldridge. Colt Burnett and the Risky Business team are a combination of the A-Team and the original Mission Impossible team led by Jim Phelps. Using artifacts recovered from a Spanish longboat that sunk during a hurricane, the RB team heads to Ecuador to search for a lost City of the Gods. Of course, trouble follows them everywhere even high into the Andes Mountains. Back in Florida, they are still searching for the wreckage of the flagship of the Spanish Plate fleet which went down in 1715. There's no rest for the weary as they dedicate all their energy and resources to try to determine how the two investigations are related. Four stars for this one.

Also finished ELVIANS Elvians) by S. H. Jucha. Alex Racine and his companions face yet another challenge--a group of sentient biologicals, the Elvians, on an aging and slowly deteriorating space ship, led by a petulant, spoiled teenager who inherited her position. Enter the Ollassa, (previously the Vinium, a race of sentient plants) who need help defending themselves from aggressive races prowling deep space. Can Alex and his team convince the two groups look past their mutual suspicions and work together? Can Vyztram, the Elvian AI (artificial intelligence) become a SADE (self aware digital entity) like Julian, Z, Miranda, and several others working with Alex? Like all of the SILVER SHIPS stories, there are a lot of people doing a lot of things across the vast reaches of deep space. Four stars for this one.

THE LAST LIEUTENANT (The Last Lieutenant) by John J. Gobbell is next.

John

[Jan]

Recently finished Cork O'Connor #4, Blood Hollowby William Kent Krueger. I'm enjoying this series set in Minnesota.
Also, All the Devils Are Here. Louise Penny's latest set in Paris. I missed being in Three Pines but I thought this was one her best.
A YA novel by Jason Reynolds, Long Way Down was definitely food for thought. Written in free verse, it is a quick read with a powerful message.

[CBRetriever]

I enjoyed all the Cork O'Connor series. I'm waiting until the Louise Penny book gets down to a reasonable price, but in the meantime, I'm reading The Shooting at Chateau Rock which was on sale for $2.99 the other day. I enjoy Bruno more than Gameche

[Jan]

CBRetriever wrote: "I enjoyed all the Cork O'Connor series. I'm waiting until the Louise Penny book gets down to a reasonable price, but in the meantime, I'm reading The Shooting at Chateau Rock which ..."

My husband and i both are enjoying the Cork O'Connor series by William Kent Krueger. I read two of his stand alone novels, This Tender Land and Ordinary Grace and liked them also.
I've been meaning to give Bruno a try. Thanks for the suggestion.

[Suze73]

I finished A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith, a classic I’d never read. I’d always assumed it was a children’s book, but it’s not. It’s a semi-autobiographical novel written in the 1940’s about a young girl growing up in a poor immigrant community in Brooklyn during the beginning of the 20th century. It gives a pretty clear eyed view of how difficult life was. There’s no real plot, just an account of day to day life as she grows up. Definitely worth reading to get a better understanding of the immigrant community experience of that time. 5/5 stars

[John]

Finished THE LAST LIEUTENANT (The Last Lieutenant) by John Gobbell. This is an intense story of survival after the fall of the Philippines in May 1942. Navy Lt(jg) Todd Ingram leads a group that refuses to obey an order to surrender to the invading Japanese. This story describes the trials and tribulations they encounter as they try to get from the charnal house at Corregidor to the safety of Australia. Three stars for this one.

Next in line is VESSEL (Vessel) by John Bowen.

John

[John]

John wrote: "Suze73 wrote: "I finished A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith, a classic I’d never read. I’d always assumed it was a children’s book, but it’s not. It’s a semi-autobiographical ..."

The book was adapted into a 1945 film directed by Elia Kazan, starring James Dunn, Dorothy McGuire, Joan Blondell, and Peggy Ann Garner, who won a Special Academy Award for Outstanding Child Actress of 1945. James Dunn won an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor in the film.

[Suze73]

John wrote: "John wrote: "Suze73 wrote: "I finished A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith, a classic I’d never read. I’d always assumed it was a children’s book, but it’s not. It’s a semi-auto..."

It would be interesting to see what filmmakers chose to include or leave out.

[Suze73]

I finished A Rogue of One's Own by Evie Dunmore. This is an historical romance. It’s a new release, written by one of the new breed of romance authors with a more feminist point of view. This is the second in a series that features a group of British suffragettes. In this one, our heroine is working to repeal the law that says a woman’s money and property belong to her husband once she marries. In fact, married women themselves essentially became the property of their husbands. Of course our heroine finds true love in the end with the charming scoundrel who appeared to be standing in the way of her political plans. But she does it without giving up her agency or her goal of gaining rights for women. Men didn’t have it so easy, either, in British society. Our hero is under the thumb of his cruel father who is holding his wife hostage in order to force his son to bend to his will. It was an enjoyable romance that kept me up late to finish. 5/5 stars

[sonya]

I’m reading the girl with the dragon tattoo.

[Jan]

Suze73 wrote: "I finished A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith, a classic I’d never read. I’d always assumed it was a children’s book, but it’s not. It’s a semi-autobiographical novel written i..."

Loved this book! One of my all time favorites!
Recently finished This Must Be the Place by Maggie O'Farrell. It is the story of an actress who decides to vanish from the public eye and the man who finds her and marries her. Their timelines are not revealed in order and this bothered me, but I did like the book. 4/5 stars for me.

Also Fifty Words for Rain. This is a newer release set in Japan. It is a family saga told mainly from the view point of a young girl ( born out of wedlock) dropped off at her wealthy grandparents house. She is kept hidden in the attic until her step brother (well loved heir to the dynasty) appears. 4.5 stars for me.

[John]

Finished VESSEL (Vessel) by John Bowen. Not sure what the genre for this story should be. On one hand, there is an ancient device, called the Holy Grail. However, this device has a lot of capabilities not normally associated with a wine goblet. Physical contact can impart some astounding physical changes to the person making the contact. Add in a couple of groups of youthful appearing people who claim to be several hundred years old, an ex--SAS trooper, his estranged wife, and you have the formula for a lot of action. Most of the story takes place in typical cold, stormy English weather, somewhere north of London. What is behind the device, and why are people so bent on acquiring it? Three stars for this one.

Next is Andy McDermott's THE RESURRECTION KEY (The Resurrection Key), the latest in the Nina Wilde/Eddie Chase archaeological adventures.

John

[John]

Finished THE RESURRECTION KEY (The Resurrection Key) by Andy McDermott. Nina Wilde and Eddie Chase are at it again. As an archaeological team they get into more trouble than Indiana Jones could even dream of. They have discovered all kinds of ancient wonders, but now they discover group of Nephilim in a stasis chamber which has been partially activated, releasing the super beings and their equally potent weapons. Once again, can Nina and Eddie save the world, or will a Chinese student in Nina's Archaeology 101 class disrupt everything. Four stars for this one.

Next in line is Liam Fialkov's THE NEWTON CODE (The Newton Code). New author for me, so I don't know what to expect.

John

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[John]

Finished THE NEWTON CODE (The Newton Code) by Liam Fialkov. I guess the best way to describe this book is an "evangelical spy story", based on some findings and calculations by Isaac Newton regarding the lost Temple of Solomon in Jerusalem. Michael is convinced to infiltrate a group of "born again Christians" who plan to reconstruct the temple and destroy the Dome of the Rock in the process. Digging a tunnel under the Dome of the Rock without anyone knowing about it does sort of boggle the mind, but then so does reconstructing the Temple of Solomon overnight. Three stars for this one.

John Gobbell's A CALL TO COLORS (A Call to Colors) is next. This is a story about the Battle of Leyte Gulf in WWII.

John

[Suze73]

I finished Grin and Beard It by Penny Reid. It’s the second entry in a contemporary romance series set in the Tennessee mountains. It’s a fun series with well-drawn characters and good writing. Each book revolves around the romantic life of a different brother in a large and colorful family. 4/5 stars

[Suze73]

I finished Dreyer's English: An Utterly Correct Guide to Clarity and Style by Benjamin Dreyer. Dreyer was the head copy editor at Random House. This book is a witty and entertaining guide to grammar, punctuation, word choice, and writing style. I have it on my kindle, but it would be more useful as a physical book if one wanted to use it as a reference book. 4/5 stars

[John]

Finished a KOLL selection, A CALL TO COLORS (A Call to Colors) by John Gobbell. Interesting story based on the WWII battle for Leyte and the Philippines. Mike Donovan is a U. S. Navy destroyer skipper who has lost shipmates and friends in battles across the South Pacific. While he is stationed at Mare Island, CA to pick up his new command, the USS Matthew, he comes down with acute appendicitis which was previously misdiagnosed as malaria. Needless to say, he falls for the doctor who is treating him, Diane Logan. In and around all of this, he and a college classmate, now with Naval Intelligence, have to deal with a German saboteur who is targeting supply convoys heading to the South Pacific. There is a lot of action, and a lot of scheming and plotting, both by the U. S. forces and the Japanese high command. There is also a novel twist at the end. Four stars for this one.

I have to look through my stash to find out what is next, maybe archaeology, or even deep space.

John

John

[Jan]

I recently finished the classic The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter by Carson McCuellers. It is hard to believe she was 23 when she wrote this story of isolation. 4/5 stars

Red at the Bone by Jaqueline Woodson . This book told from several viewpoints relates coming of age and the effects on each member of the family. I had difficulty keeping up with which character was speaking but gave it a 4/5 stars.

Also a children's book The One and Only Bob by Katherine Applegate. Sweet read about a dog and his friends.

[John]

Finished POWDERED GOLD: TEMPLARS AND THE AMERICAN ARK OF THE COVENANT (Powdered Gold: Templars and the American Ark of the Covenant) by David Brody. Willum Smoot has two problems. First, he thinks the U. S. government is out of control because they threw him in jail when he wouldn't design a high efficiency fuel cell for the military. Second, he thinks he knows where the Ark of the Covenant is hidden, near his "survivalist" compound in the Arizona desert. Enter Cameron Thorne, his fiancee Amanda, and Astarte, a nine year old that they are in the process of adopting. Cameron and Amanda are, when all is said and done, experts on the Knights Templar, and are developing information that the Templars landed in America four hundred years before Columbus. They work with Willum to uncover the Ark of the Covenant, while a group of federal agents start making threatening moves to force Willum to design fuel cell that the military wants. There is a lot of double dealing, and not everyone is who he/she appears to be. Three stars for this one.

Next is Preston Child's THE SCROLLS OF DESTINY (The Scrolls of Destiny).

John

[John]

Finished THE SCROLL OF DESTINY (The Scrolls of Destiny) by Preston W. Child. Doc Holiday and his team are once again pitted against the Keeper, this time in a quest for predictions generated by a would be Nostradamus. The chase goes from a mountain lake in Montana to Sedona, AZ to Svalbard, Norway and on to New York City. In between, there are a lot of bodies, an interaction with the French government, and some really strange weapons deployed by all sides. This is a four star story, but I am dropping it to three stars because it somehow missed the copy editor's desk, either for the hard copy version, or the conversion to kindle.

Next in line is MARAUDER (Marauder) by Clive Cussler and Boyd Morrison, a dtb from my local library.

John

[Jan]

Code Name Hélène by Ariel Lawhon is based on a true story of a WWII Resistance Fighter\spy, Nancy Wake. Good story told from different timelines and perspectives. She was a remarkable leader. I gave it a 3.8 because of the confusing timelines.

[Suze73]

I started , then abandoned, two books I found in my library’s Lucky Day e-book collection. I gave up on All Adults Here by Emma Straub after the first few pages. I realized it was one of those popular books I’d read just because everyone else was reading it, and then I’d wonder why I wasted my time with it. Just not the type of book I enjoy. Then I started The Night Watchman by Louise Erdrich. I got about a quarter of the way through it before I stopped because it was too depressing for 2020. Maybe I’ll try again in less stressful times.

I finally settled on a non-fiction book I bought a while ago, H is for Hawk by British author Helen Macdonald. It’s a fascinating book, detailing her training of a goshawk, the history of falconry, and her own mental health struggles following her father’s death. 5/5 stars

[Jan]

I finished another WWII book The Things We Cannot Say by Kelly Rimmer. Told in two timelines, Alice searches her grandmother's past in Poland during the war. 4 stars

[John]

Finished MARAUDER (Marauder) by Clive Cussler and Boyd Morrison. The CORPORATION is at it again. On a shakedown cruise of their new spy ship Oregon, Juan Cabrillo and his team are forced to deal with a paralytic gas attack on Sidney, Australia on New Years Eve. Will Juan's "Plan C" work, or will 5 million people be physically paralyzed and at the mercy of the rest of the world? Cussler does it again, with NO vulgar or profane language. 4 stars for this one.

Next is THE LAST ODYSSEY (The Last Odyssey) by James Rollins, a Sigma Force novel.

John

[Suze73]

I finished Murder on Cold Street by Sherry Thomas. It’s the fifth book in the Lady Sherlock mystery series, which is based on Sherlock Holmes. In this version, Charlotte Holmes is the detective. She invents a fictitious brother Sherlock as a cover for her own investigations. It’s a fun series which takes on gender and class distinctions in Victorian England along with a bit of romance and of course an intriguing mystery. 5/5 stars

[John]

Finished THE LAST ODYSSEY (The Last Odyssey) by James Rollins. The Sigma Force team is again off on a mission--this time to rescue the daughter of a U. S. Senator who was kidnapped off a glacier in Greenland. Unraveling this situation will take the team from Greenland to the Papal summer residence at Castel Gondolfo in Italy to the Atlas Mountains in Morocco. En route they encounter the Apocolypti, a radical organization bent on purifying the world by unleashing Armageddon. Never a dull moment in this one as the Sigma Force is taken to the very gates of Hell. Four stars for this one.

Next in line is Joshua Dalzelle's THE PANDORA PARADOX (The Pandora Paradox), an Omega Force novel set in deep space.

John

[Suze73]

I finished The Cold Millions by Jess Walter. Excellent historical fiction set in turn of the century Spokane. The story is centered around two brothers and the fight to unionize workers. The book has an interesting structure. The narration shifts to show the points of view of the different characters. It doesn’t sound like it would be a real page-turner, but it is. This the second book I’ve read by this author. The first was Beautiful Ruins. Very different books, but both are excellent. 5/5 stars

[John]

Finished THE PANDORA PARADOX (The Pandora Paradox). One more time, a group of spacers is trying to take down a malevolent artificial intelligence (AI) called the Machine. For some reason, this story did not have the zip and zing of some of Joshua Dalzelle's other space related science fiction. It just seemed to drag on and on. Two stars for this one.

BISHOP'S LAW (Bishop's Law) by Raphael Amadeus Hines, a KOLL selection, is next.

John

[CinCO]

John wrote: "Finished THE PANDORA PARADOX (The Pandora Paradox). One more time, a group of spacers is trying to take down a malevolent artificial intelligence (AI) called the Machine. For some r..."

I'm going to miss KOLL. My last choice was The Vines by Christopher Rice.

[Jan]

I don't usually read memoirs or autobiographies but this one caught my eye and I'm glad I read it! Sigh, Gone: A Misfit's Memoir of Great Books, Punk Rock, and the Fight to Fit In by Phuc Tran is his story of immigration and assimilation and coming of age in the 1970-80s. 5stars