DAVE K'S 50 BOOKS READ IN 2015

[Dave]

47. by Elizabeth Kolbert
Finish date: August 23, 2015
Genre: Science
Rating: B+
Review: I didn't realize that this was going to be a "Book of the Month" for HBC when I started this. I'll be brief to avoid spoilers. Although there is no real secret or mystery here. Kolbert makes it clear from the start that it wasn't just the butler who did it this time. It's the entire human race causing a sixth great mass extinction of plant and animal species. She takes us around the world to explore evidence of the five previous major extinction events, as well as examples of how human activity is causing the sixth event. She points out that it isn't just one problem like global warming that is causing problems for other species. It's that, plus loss of habitat, over hunting or over fishing, chemical runoff...the list goes on. And it all adds up to big problems.

You may not agree with everything she claims, but most of the evidence is hard to ignore. As far as the book itself goes, it isn't written as smoothly as I might like, in terms of organizing the arguments. And sometimes she gets a little snarky toward some of the people she meets in her journey. It's almost like attempts at humor, but they often miss the mark.

Other than that, I'd give it a higher rating. I think it's a book more people should pay attention to.

[Bentley, Group Founder, Leader, Chief]

Dave you will have to join in on the conversation

[Dave]

48. by Austin Grossman
Finish date: August 27, 2015
Genre: Fantasy/Alternate History
Rating: D
Review: The premise offered so much potential. It's too bad the book wasn't as well written as the publisher's summary that drew me in. Crooked is the story of Richard Nixon's political life told by RMN himself. Except it's not quite the same history we know. Far from being a paranoid, bungling schemer, Nixon is in fact sacrificing his reputation in order to allow the USA to win the Cold War with mystical supernatural weapons. While Vice President, he learns from Eisenhower that US Presidents have been entrusted with powers from the beginning of the nation. He must employ these powers, with the help of an ancient shaman (Henry Kissinger) to win the final showdown with the Soviet Union's magical forces.

It could have been a fun story in the right fantasist's hands. But it just didn't work for me.

[Dave]

48. by Mary Doria Russell
Finish date: August 30, 2015
Genre: Historical Fiction
Rating: A
Review: Oh my, what a wonderful book and author. I'm always impressed by versatile authors who don't write the same book in a series over and over. Mary Doria Russell is one of those rare individuals who has written award winning science fiction, mysteries, and with Doc, westerns.

In this book, we are introduced to that infamous dentist of the Old west, John Holliday, aka Doc Holliday of O.K. Corral fame. But Russell has created a real character based on serious research - not the one-dimensional legend that comes to us through old western movies. Son of an Atlanta mother and a father who died young, Doc is a cultured, educated young man forced to move to the dry climates of the west due to his tuberculosis. This book focuses on a couple of years in Dodge City, Kansas where Doc and the Earps first meet up and become friends.

All of her characters are wonderful and distinct. It's a real pleasure to meet them.

[Dave]

SEPTEMBER

50. by Kage Baker
Finish date: September 2, 2015
Genre: Science Fiction
Rating: B
Review: This is the first book in "The Company" series by Kage Baker - a series that is fun for me because it combines history with science fiction as the 24th century company, Dr. Zeus, recruits children from the past who are facing death, rescues them, provides virtual immortality through a series of treatments and surgeries, educates them and trains them to become operatives in missions to save lost art treasures, extinct plants and animals - all for the benefit of future mankind - and to make a very good profit in sales, of course. We are introduced to Mendoza, now a botanist, but almost a four-year-old victim of the Spanish Inquisition. Her first mission is to collect extinct specimens from Sir Walter Iden's garden in England during the period after Henry VIII's death and before Elizabeth I takes over. It's a time of great religious and political turmoil in England, and Mendoza is caught up in the middle of it by falling in love with a mortal heretic. Hey, she may be immortal and highly educated, but this is her first mission and she's still only nineteen. Some plot elements stretch belief - and it's not the science fiction part. It's the elements of the love story that sometime leave you shaking your head. But it's still a fun story, and just what we all need sometimes.

[Bentley, Group Founder, Leader, Chief]

Good Dave

[Dave]

51. by Susan Barker
Finish date: September 9, 2015
Genre: Fiction, Historical Fiction, Fantasy - you try to categorize it...
Rating: B+
Review: Wow. It's very hard to describe this well-written novel, and you certainly can't pigeonhole it in any one category. It follows the various incarnations of two individuals through more than one thousand years of Chinese history. From a history lover's angle, we get first person narratives of several key periods in Chinese history, from the seventh century to modern Beijing preparing to host the Olympics. It can be brutal and hard to read at times. For instance, I've always had a vague impression of the brutality and injustice of Mao's Cultural Revolution in the 1960s. This brings that movement to life.

Be prepared for some graphic scenes, but it's a fascinating book and well worth the occasional discomfort.

[Jill]

That would not normally be a book that I would read, Dave, but your review intrigues me. I might have to give it a try. I am putting in on my TBR. That is the great thing about the HBC....you get wonderful tips on interesting books that are not necessarily in your favorite genre. Thanks.

[Dave]

Jill wrote: "That would not normally be a book that I would read, Dave, but your review intrigues me. I might have to give it a try. I am putting in on my TBR. That is the great thing about the HBC....you get w..."

I hope you enjoy it.

[Dave]

52. by Jonathan Franzen
Finish date: September 16, 2015
Genre: Fiction
Rating: C+
Review: It's rare that I don't find myself identifying with at least one character in a book, but that's what happened with this one. I just didn't feel a connection with any of them - especially Purity's over-the-top mother and Andreas Wolf, a Julian Assange type of character. Yet I enjoyed the book, overall. Funny how that works. Purity is a young woman struggling with college debt who has no idea who her father is. She winds up working for Wolf's Sunlight Project in part to take advantage of the organization's resources to gain clues to his identity. Each section gives us the background of one of the main characters, eventually tying their stories together in an interesting way.

[Dave]

53. by Carl Hiaasen
Finish date: September 18, 2015
Genre: Fiction
Rating: A-
Review: I don't know why I keep reading Hiaasen's books. I keep losing track of time when I read them. I have a stupid grin planted on my face when I finish them. And when I read them in a restaurant, I get strange, sometimes annoyed looks from people for bursting out in laughter. Bad Monkey was no exception. You would think that his attacks on Florida developers would get old, but they don't. He manages to find fresh ways to skewer them.

[Dave]

54. by Len Deighton
Finish date: September 20, 2015
Genre: Fiction
Rating: C
Review: I've read most of Deighton's books, and enjoyed them very much. This one, an earlier book of his, somehow just didn't grab me. It almost felt like an abridgement because I frequently found myself wondering, "What just happened? How did we get to this point?" It's a story of old comrades from the French Resistance in WWII who reunite to investigate one of their group who is suspected of dealing in arms for Arab interests in the late 1960s. Reunite isn't quite the right word. One goes undercover working for the CIA, and runs into others from his past as the investigation unfolds. Classic Deighton in terms of "who do you trust," but a bit too subtle for me, I guess.

[Dave]

55. by Robert Conroy
Finish date: October 1, 2015
Genre: Alternate History Fiction
Rating: B
Review: I love alternate history almost as much as I enjoy reading history. It's especially interesting when the author really does his homework and finds a point that plausibly could have gone either way, and jumps off from there. This didn't quite seem to be that kind of book. At least not to me. It could be, however, that my knowledge of Kaiser Wilhelm is severely lacking. That's very likely true. But from what I do know, it just seemed unlikely that the Kaiser would up and decide to invade New York in a bid to force the U.S. to turn over its new acquisitions in the Philippines and the Caribbean. Having said that, once you get past that, it's a great story and I enjoyed watching the author's imagination unfold. The image of President Roosevelt tapping Confederate General James Longstreet to come out of retirement to lead the resistance is priceless. I'm looking forward to reading Conroy's other alternate history stories, and hope for a better jump off point.

[Dave]

56. by Daniel Schulman (no photo)
Finish date: October 2, 2015
Genre: Biography
Rating: A-
Review: This was a very interesting look at how private individuals with a ton of money are able to influence government. I don't agree with their politics, but I admit to admiring their consistency over the years in fighting for what they believe in. Except when what they believed in was simply higher profit for their company at the cost of the environment and a cost to many families who suffered for their greed. At the same time, they aren't evil, and have put a lot of money toward worthy causes. They really were quite a dysfunctional family in many ways, and the voyeur in me found that side of the story fascinating too.

[Jill]

Dave......you don't need the avatar if there is no author photo.....just the link followed by (no photo).

by Daniel Schulman (no photo)

BTW, the book you reviewed in post #63 looks fascinating......kind of a crazy premise but sounds like fun. I may have to look for that one. Thanks for the tip.

[Ann D]

Dave, Sons of Wichita: How the Koch Brothers Became America's Most Powerful and Private Dynasty looks very interesting. I'm going to put it on my TBR list. Thanks for the review.

by Daniel Schulman (no photo)

[Dave]

57. by S.M. Stirling
Finish date: October 10, 2015
Genre: Fantasy
Rating: B
Review: This is the latest in the long running series by S M Stirling that started with "Dies the Fire." A new generation is taking over now, and there are still many mysteries to solve, and a mysterious evil still trying to prevail in this very changed world. It's our world, but about 30 or so years after the mysterious "change" that pretty much put us back in medieval times, with swords and bows, no firearms, no electricity - but a few modern inventions, like bicycles - that function perfectly well. The scope of the heroes' world is expanding too, as the new princess joins up with a Japanese emperor's daughter who is in the western US on a quest critical to the survival of her people. That quest is the focus of this book, and unlike the last book, "The Golden Princess," the plot actually moves along. The book is still longer than it needs to be (the descriptions of their meals and feasts sometimes seem endless), but there is a payoff in this book.

by S.M. Stirling

by S.M. Stirling

[Dave]

58. by Salman Rushdie
Finish date: October 16, 2015
Genre: Fantasy
Rating: A
Review: I've only read one of Rushdie's other books, (Midnight's Children)and thoroughly enjoyed it. This was quite a departure from that tale of the beginnings of India's and Pakistan's births as nations. While that had a hint of mysticism, this jumps in all the way, with djinns (what we westerners would call genies) battling each other in our world after crashing through the barrier that normally separates their world from ours. One djinn princess, who fell in love with a man centuries ago, and in turn came to appreciate and love humans in general, chooses to fight to protect our world, and recruits her descendants from her centuries-ago love affair to join in the fight. Oh, and it's narrated by our descendants a thousand years down the line. Got that? Good. Now go enjoy the book - a mix of philosophy, history, magic, strangeness and fun.

by Salman Rushdie

[Dave]

59. by Ta-Nehisi Coates
Finish date: October 21, 2015
Genre: Memoir
Rating: B+
Review: Since this is being read by many in the group, I'll keep my review short and, of course, avoid spoilers. This book is another that reminds me of how fortunate I've been in my life. Under the guise of writing to his teen-age son, Coates reveals the challenges he's faced growing up black in Baltimore, even with solid middle-class parents. A big part of the book focuses on a college friend who was shot by police on very shaky grounds - an incident that is far too reminiscent of today's BLM protests. The book was eye-opening for me, although there were occasional parts that didn't quite ring true for me.

[Dave]

60. by David Lagercrantz
Finish date: October 26, 2015
Genre: Thriller
Rating: B+
Review: Well, it isn't Stieg Larsson, but it's not bad. While there is a part of me is disappointed that the series was continued without Larsson, I was still intrigued enough to want to read this fourth book in the series. It's most of the same characters, with a couple of new ones. We learn more about Lisbeth's sister. And while Lisbeth still does some pretty amazing things, she seems a little flat to me. Ah well.

[Dave]

61. by Hikaru Okuizumi (no photo)
Finish date: October 28, 2015
Genre: Fiction
Rating: B-
Review: This is a small novel of a Japanese WWII veteran whose eyes are opened to the beauty of ordinary stones by a dying soldier in the closing days of the war. He becomes a successful merchant, but spends his spare time as an amateur rock hound, developing knowledge and expertise well beyond the typical amateur. He marries, has two sons and life is good - until tragedy strikes. As his life unravels to some extent, I have to confess that I'm a little unclear on one or two incidents. I'm not sure whether the author just went a little over my head or whether something may have been lost in the translation to English. Either way, it's a little challenging but a good read and some philosophical notes to make you think.

[Dave]

NOVEMBER

62. by Dave Eggers
Finish date: November 16, 2015
Genre: Non-Fiction
Rating: B+
Review: Here is another of those books that really makes you wonder. The thought that constantly occurred to me was, "This is the USA. This kind of stuff isn't supposed to happen here!" But just look at the news and we realize entirely too many bad things do happen here. This is the story of one of them. It happened during the days immediately after Katrina moved through the Gulf Coast. Zeitoun is a Syrian who moved to America long enough ago to build a solid contracting business with his American wife. He sent her and their kids away, but chose to stay through the storm to look after their home and rental properties. He is eventually arrested at one of his own properties and experiences a side of our legal system that has no relationship to the Constitution. Dave Eggers is a writer who was obviously outraged and let it all out in this book.

[Dave]

63. by Nelson DeMille
Finish date: November 27, 2015
Genre: Fiction
Rating: C-
Review: Did the world really need another book about a quest for the Holy Grail? Apparently, DeMille thought so. In fact, he felt the world needed two. He originally published this story in 1975, but rewrote it and doubled it's length, then rereleased it a few years ago. Which is ironic because one of my thoughts as I neared the end of the book was that it could have been more effective as a shorter novel. Oh well.

It's a story of three journalists in Ethiopia during the Marxist revolution that toppled the old kingdom. Through a chance encounter, they set off on this quest, a love triangle develops, and a particularly evil Marxist general becomes their particular nemesis in the quest. At times, motivations aren't clear and even the love triangle itself doesn't quite feel right. But most of the time it's an OK escapist adventure type of read, and since I was listening to it as an audiobook on a long holiday drive, it did it's job and kept me awake.

[Dave]

64. by Desmond Morton (no photo)
Finish date: November 29, 2015
Genre: History
Rating: B
Review: I grew up in Michigan and visited Canada regularly. I knew a little of its history, but not that much. After a second Trudeau became Prime Minister, it brought back my memories of his father, and I decided it was time to learn more. This book was a good first start. It's mostly political history, and it sometimes got a little hard to keep all the names straight, but it's a good overall survey from the Europeans' arrival to the early 21st century.

[Alisa]

Dave wrote: "NOVEMBER

62. by Dave Eggers
Finish date: November 16, 2015
Genre: Non-Fiction
Rating: B+
Review: Here is another of those b..."

I had a similar reaction after reading that book. Eggers brought that story to life in a very powerful way. You can't help but to feel the outrage.

[Dave]

DECEMBER

65. by Terry Pratchett
Finish date: December 3, 2015
Genre: Fantasy
Rating: B
Review: Tis the Christmas season, and so it was perfect timing to read of Discworld's version of Santa Claus, the Hogfather. It's a story about the strength of belief, but also manages to tie in wizards, Death, assassins and other sorts of holiday cheer.

[Dave]

66. by David McCullough
Finish date: December 10, 2015
Genre: History
Rating: A-
Review: This latest book by McCullough doesn't disappoint. Orville and Wilbur - and their super supportive sister, Katharine - are brought to life in this book through letters, newspaper interviews, speeches and the author's easy-to-read style. It's not a full biography. While it touches on their early and later years, the focus is on the events leading up to the first flight at Kitty Hawk and the ten years or so that follow. While we all know the outline of the story, did you know that the brothers actually set up a wind tunnel in their bicycle shop to study the intricate details of different wing designs? Pretty amazing guys for their time.

This is the second book I've read about the Wright Brothers. If you'd like more details, including their struggles (partly due to stubbornness) to set up their own airplane company, you might enjoy a book called The Bishop's Boys.

by Tom D. Crouch (no photo)

[Dave]

67. by Nick Tosches
Finish date: December 13, 2015
Genre: Fiction
Rating: C
Review: I had high hopes for this book. The premise promised a kind of fun story (although in this case, one man's fun is another's blasphemy). An ancient scroll is found deep in the Vatican archives written by Gaius, a former speech writer for Tiberius. It seems that Gaius has been banished to Judea as the emperor slid into insanity. While there, he sees several false messiahs and a people waiting desperately for the real one. In the meantime, he meets Jesus, one of many thieves cruising the streets, but sees potential in him. With Jesus' voice and endearing eyes, and Gaius' words, he decides the two could raise a lot of money while traveling across the country. And so, the events of the Bible unroll before us, as seen through very different eyes and with very different motivations. But what starts out as light-hearted fiction gets caught up in deep philosophy and actions that seem to defy what we know of the motives and character of the characters. Plus the author leaves a couple of dangling threads - like the relationship of Jesus to his family. But if you decide to read this, be prepared to see Mary Magdalen depicted as you've never seen her before.

[Dave]

68. by Ken Grimwood
Finish date: December 15, 2015
Genre: Science Fiction
Rating: B+
Review: Only people with absolutely no regrets haven't thought about living their life over again, only with the knowledge we've gained from our first life. That's exactly what happens to Jeff Winston. He's in his 40s, on the phone with his wife, when he's stricken by a heart attack - only to wake up in his college dorm room in his own (much healthier) 18-year-old body. And it happens several times. We never know why or how, but no matter what he does, he dies at the same age and starts all over again. It's interesting to see his choices in each lifetime. Eventually, he meets another person like him, which results in a bittersweet relationship. The ending comes at you quickly, and even though it wasn't what I wanted or expected, it still left me somehow satisfied.

[Donna]

Dave wrote: "DECEMBER

65. by Terry Pratchett
Finish date: December 3, 2015
Genre: Fantasy
Rating: B
Review: Tis the Christmas season..."

Dave,
In your opinion, would this book appeal to and/or be appropriate for a 17-year-old who likes fantasy and science fiction?

[Dave]

Absolutely. Well, it would absolutely be appropriate for a 17-year old. Whether it appeals depends on the person. It's a dry, British wit for the most part. I will also say that in my opinion, this isn't one of the best of the Discworld series. It's good, but not one of the best.And it might be good to get read some of the earlier books first for background. But I definitely recommend the series as a whole. It starts with The Color of Magic, and while they don't have to be read in order, it doesn't hurt.

by Terry Pratchett

[Donna]

Thank you so much!

[Dave]

69. by Mark Binelli
Finish date: December 24, 2015
Genre: Non- Fiction
Rating: C+
Review: As a Michigan native, I've been curious about the series of books that have come out in recent years regarding the Motor City and it's travails. This one's jacket synopsis promised a slightly more optimistic view than many and described some of Detroit's efforts as typical of what other major cities will have to emulate in the future. But this sense of optimism didn't come through in the book until the very end, when Binelli almost grudgingly admitted that progress was being made. Binelli is a native of suburban Detroit (he never does say which suburb), and yet gets the geography wrong from time to time. If he can't fact check that, it makes me wonder what else he may have let slip through in an effort to maintain his "cool and skeptical" tone that just comes out as snarky half the time.

[Dave]

70. by Robert Conroy
Finish date: December 25, 2015
Genre: Alternate History
Rating: A
Review: I'm really enjoying Robert Conroy's alternate history stories. The premise here is that, unlike what actually occurred, the British choose to intervene on the side of the Confederacy in America's Civil War for a number of plausible reasons. The changes that ensue are interesting to see. I'm also even more curious to read a recent non-fiction book called "The Cause of All Nations," about other nations' reactions to our Civil War. I'll have to move it up on my TBR list. Perhaps it will make me doubt the plausibility of the premise of 1862, but even if it does, Conroy still tells a good story.

by Don H. Doyle (no photo)

[Dave]

71. edited by Mike Ashley
Finish date: December 27, 2015
Genre: Science Fiction
Rating: A
Review: Time travel is one of my favorite subgenres of science fiction, even though it's right up there with faster-than-light travel as a technology that is most likely to be impossible due to laws of physics. That's okay. It's still fun to read about. This collection of short stories has a little of everything - observation of the past, actual travel through the use of a machine ala H. G. Wells (in fact, one of the stories takes his Time Machine story and carries it a bit farther), an amusing little side note in one of the stories that tells of the government's efforts to control time travel, efforts to influence one's own past. It's a nice collection of 25 stories by relatively new writers, some recent masters, and a couple by old masters.

[Bentley, Group Founder, Leader, Chief]

Great accomplishment for 2015