THE JAMES MASON COMMUNITY BOOK CLUB discussion
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WHAT BOOKS HAVE YOU FINISHED?
Thus Was Adonis Murdered
by Sarah Caudwell (Hilary Tamar #1) 3.5 starshttps://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
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by James Lee BurkeThis standalone novel by Burke is about the Civil War, and addresses the malevolence in humanity, exacerbated by the institute of slavery. The story revolves around Confederate and Union soldiers, plantation owners, slaves, abolitionists, etc.
Well-written and compelling. 4 stars
My review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Ottoline and the Purple Fox
by Chris Riddell (4th and final Ottoline book) 4.0 starshttps://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
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by M.C. BeatonIn this first book in the long-running Agatha Raisin series, Agatha enters a 'ringer' in a quiche contest and the judge gets poisoned and dies.
Good introduction to the series. 3.5 stars
My review; https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
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by Prince HarryPrince Harry writes about his childhood, his military career, and his relationship with Meghan Markle.....and he writes about the paps, media harassment, and racism that drove him and Meghan out of England.
Well-written and interesting. 4 stars
My review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
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by Anthony HorowitzIn this novel, a theatre critic is murdered and PI Daniel Hawthorne and real-life author Anthony Horowitz (who makes himself a character in the story) investigate.
Good mystery. 3.5 stars
My review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
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by Raquel V. ReyesOn a work trip to Puerto Rico, food anthropologist/amateur sleuth Miriam Quiñones-Smith becomes worried about property developers forcing people to sell.
Good multicultural culinary cozy (with recipes). 3.5 stars
My review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Barbara wrote: "Your link doesn't work Bill."I'll fix it. Thanks, Barbara.
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by Viola DavisIn this memoir Viola Davis writes about her life, starting with a desperate, poverty-ridden childhood through her schooling and successful career.
Very interesting and moving book. 4 stars
My review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
The Witch Boy by Molly Knox Ostertag (Witch Boy #1) 4.0 starshttps://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
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by Mick HerronIn this 'dramady thriller, England's prime minster decides to investigate the British Intelligence Service. A secret operation is exposed but this is essentially a compelling character study.
Good book. 4 stars
My review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Finished reading yesterday the historical novel "The Porcelain Moon" by Janie Chang.
It highlights the lives of the Chinese community in France shortly before and during the First World War, and its interactions with Europeans of various social strata. All in all, a fascinating story.
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by Joanna SchaffhausenIn this Annalisa Vega mystery, the Chicago police detecive investigates the death of a private detective.
The investigations is complex and interesting. 3.5 stars
My review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Earlier today, I finished reading the book "Nazi Billionaires: The Dark History of Germany's Wealthiest Dynasties" by the Dutch journalist David de Jong.
Nazi Billionaires: The Dark History of Germany's Wealthiest Dynasties is a comprehensively researched, well-written book about some of the key German industrialists (e.g., Günther Quandt; Friedrich Flick; Wilhelm von Finck Sr.; Ferdinand Porsche, his son-in-law Anton Piëch, and Porsche's son 'Ferry'; and Rudolf-August Oetker) who greedily enriched themselves and were able to expand their economic power through their support of the Nazis during their reign in Germany (1933-1945).
This is a history in which German industrialists supported Hitler and profited from their association with his government through the "Aryanization" of Jewish-owned businesses which became available for these industrialists to acquire and build their individual industrial empires upon. By so doing, they helped made possible the economic recovery and growth of the national economy in the 1930s, and the development of the German war machine.
The book goes a long way to highlight, in considerable detail, the ways in which these industrialists shamelessly used and exploited forced and slave labor during World War II in both Germany and German-occupied Europe, and their later efforts in the immediate post-war era to downplay or whitewash their past associations with the Nazis. For a time, most of these industrialists (even those like Quandt, Flick, von Finck Sr., the two Porsches and Piëch, and Rudolf-August Oetker) put on trial at Nuremberg for war crimes - most of these men either served short stints in prison or were --- in the case of Quandt --- acquitted - were able over time, due to Cold War imperatives and pressures, to reacquire some of their businesses, and rebuild and expand their wealth and influence in Germany.
Frankly, it amazed me to learn about the current generation of billionaires in Germany who are the direct heirs and beneficiaries of the prewar generation of industrialists. Sadly, much of this current generation, when presented with the Nazi past of their forebears, either choose to ignore that past or minimize its lasting impact on Germany and the world at large. I urge anyone with interests in German and postwar economic history, to read this book.
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"Sadly, much of this current generation, when presented with the Nazi past of their forebears, either choose to ignore that past or minimize its lasting impact on Germany and the world at large. ."
Not at all surprising. Too bad we can't infuse shame into people.
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by Ann CleevesIn this addition to the "The Two Rivers' series, Detective Inspector Matthew Venn investigates the murder of an adventurer.
Good British police procedural. 3.5 stars
My review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
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by Tess GerritsenRetired CIA agents living undercover in Purity, Maine get back into the action when crime comes to town.
Good police procedural/espionage thriller. 4 stars
My review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
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by William Kent KruegerThe premise of the book is as follows: in 1958, a rich landowner is killed in rural Minnesota, and the leery racist townsfolk want to blame a Native American farmer. However, there's a LOT more going on in this novel.
Excellent book from a fine storyteller. 4.5 stars
My review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
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by Bruce BorgosThe murder of a former FBI agent in Nevada has connections to a Russian spy who infiltrated the Nevada Proving Grounds (atomic bomb tests) in the 1950s.
Good police procedural/espionage thriller 4 stars
My review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
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by Elly GriffithsAuthor Elly Griffiths has announced that this 15th book in the 'Ruth Galloway' mysteries is the last in the series. In this novel, Ruth (who's an archaeologist) helps the police investigate the cold case murder of a college co-ed.
Nice finish to the series. 3.5 stars
My review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
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Hitchcock's Blondes: The Unforgettable Women Behind the Legendary Director's Dark Obsession by Laurence LeamerLaurence Leamer approaches the subject of Hitchcock's movies from the perspective of the blonde actresses that fascinated the director.
Interesting book, especially for film buffs. 3.5 stars
My review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Barbara wrote: "[book:Hitchcock's Blondes: The Unforgettable Women Behind the Legendary Director's Da..."I wanted to read this when I first saw it. I might have to get a copy.
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by Nev MarchIn this 'Captain Jim Agnihotri' historical mystery, private detective Jim Agnihotri and his wife Diana try to avert disaster at the 1893 Chicago World's Fair.
Interesting historical mystery. 3.5 stars
My review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
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by Amanda FlowerIn this first book in the 'Amish Candy Shop Mystery' series, chocolatier/amateur sleuth Bailey King investigates the murder of a businessman.
Good Amish mystery. 3.5 stars
My review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
This week, I finished reading 1) Gangsters of Capitalism: Smedley Butler, the Marines, and the Making and Breaking of America's Empire by Jonathan M. Katz
In GANGSTERS OF CAPITALISM: Smedley Butler, the Marines, and the Making and Breaking of America's Empire, Jonathan Katz sets out to explore and examine the full range of Smedley Butler's life and military career, which had begun in 1898. age 16. He saw action in Cuba, China (during the 1900 Boxer Rebellion), the Philippines (during the insurrection there, in which the U.S. brutally suppressed an independence movement), Panama, Nicaragua, Mexico, Haiti (during the U.S. occupation there, which lasted from 1915 to 1934), the Dominican Republic, France in 1918 (he was put in a non-combatant command role there, so he missed out on fighting in World War I), and Shanghai during the mid-1920s. Butler retired as a Major General. He was an interesting man. It seems after retiring from the Marines that Butler gave a lot of thought about what he had been called upon to do by the U.S. government as a Marine, which explains why he would later say that war is a racket. He had seen how big business from the U.S., along with the banks, would come into these countries (Cuba, Panama, Nicaragua, Haiti, Mexico, and China) and exploit their natural resources and economies.
2) Mussolini's Daughter: The Most Dangerous Woman in Europe by Caroline Moorehead
3) WREN JANE BEACON - The Brilliant and the Bad by D.J. Lindsay
This is the fifth novel in the series centered around Jane Beacon and her experiences with the WRENs (Women's Royal Naval Service) during World War II. Jane is a gutsy, smart woman who knows her own mind, which sometimes gets her in trouble with the all-male and traditionally minded Royal Navy leadership, many of whose officers are adverse to having woman serving in its ranks.
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This is the fifth novel in the series centered around Jane Beacon and her experiences with the WRENs (Women's Royal Naval Service) during World War II."
I like books about women that empower themselves. 🙂
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by Jinwoo ChongThis debut novel is a multicultural, soft sci-fi story, with a character who experiences a 'Groundhog Day' like experience. (Remember that film with Bill Murray?)
Good speculative fiction. 4 stars
My review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Goth Girl and the Sinister Symphony
by Chris Riddell (Goth Girl #4) 4.0 starshttps://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
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by Amanda FlowerIn this 'Amish Candy Shop Mystery', chocolatier/amateur sleuth Bailey King investigates the murder of an Amish woman.
I like the cute pet potbelly pig (and the candy) in these books. 3 stars
My review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Fables and Reflections
by Neil Gaiman (Sandman #6) 4.0 starshttps://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
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by Valérie PerrinIn this book we follow the lives of two boys and a girl who become inseparable friends in childhood.....and go on to have rather dramatic iives.
Author Valerie Perrin (who also wrote Fresh Water for Flowers) is an excellent storyteller. 4 stars
My review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Finished reading "The JG26 War Diary, Vol. 2: 1943-1945" by Donald Caldwell.
A 5-star book through and through.
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THE JAMES MASON COMMUNITY BOOK CLUB
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Weill traces the Flat Earth movement (which is a REAL THING) from its beginnings in the 1800s to current times, when Flat Earthers tend to get tangled in additional conspiracy theories.
Fascinating book. 4 stars
My review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...