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BENTLEY'S 50 BOOKS READ IN 2012
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1. Private: #1 Suspect (Jack Morgan #2)
by
James PattersonFinish date: January 25, 2012
Genre: Mystery/thriller
Rating: B+/A- (4 stars)
Review: A page turner and Patterson at his best. Very well done. Not Tolstoy or Dickens but great for its niche. I could not put it down; read it in one sitting.
Synopsis:
UNSOLVABLE CASES
Since former Marine Jack Morgan started Private, it has become the world's most effective investigation firm—sought out by the famous and the powerful to discreetly handle their most intimate problems. Private's investigators are the smartest, the fastest, and the most technologically advanced in the world—and they always uncover the truth.
IMPOSSIBLE MURDERS
When his former lover is found murdered in Jack Morgan's bed, he is instantly the number one suspect. While Jack is under police investigation, the mob strong-arms him into recovering $30 million in stolen pharmaceuticals for them. And the beautiful manager of a luxury hotel chain persuades him to quietly investigate a string of murders at her properties.
THE #1 SUSPECT IS JACK MORGAN
While Jack is fighting for his life, one of his most trusted colleagues threatens to leave Private, and Jack realizes he is confronting the cleverest and most powerful enemies ever. With more action, more intrigue, and more twists than ever before, PRIVATE: #1 SUSPECT is James Patterson at his unstoppable best.
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2. Life
by
Keith RichardsFinish date: February 6, 2012
Genre: Autobiography
Rating: B-
Review: Peaks and Valleys. At the beginning of the book, I have to say that Richards told one of the funniest stories I have read in a book about his arrest in the South and how he managed to get out of that sticky wicket. However, for the remainder of the book, there was a bit too much guitar explanations and tips to suit this reader but for those who love guitars and music, you would appreciate this more. His life was one run away wild horse. Sex, drugs and more drugs, women, affairs, alcohol, parties, rock and roll and pretty much what you would expect from a literal rolling stone kind of guy. Still a pretty good read and you learn a lot about the iconic band: The Rolling Stones along the way.
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by
Sally Bedell SmithFinish Date: February 13, 2012
Genre: Biography
Rating: A-
Review: When a non fiction book is as interesting and readable as a novel yet carefully and assiduously researched, you know that you have a winner. This book is every bit a winner. This is a remarkable tribute to the Queen; while at the same time the book also presents an unvarnished portrait of a complex monarch who has to deal with the pressures and enormities of unrelenting duty and protocol day in and day out. Imagine living in a fish bowl where your every move and word is scrutinized and evaluated. The Queen has been a constant pillar of strength for the monarchy and for Great Britain itself. What a remarkable life. I personally learned so much about the life of the Queen and the demands upon her. Without this remarkable book, I would have remained in the dark.
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by
Janet EvanovichFinish Date: March 4, 2012
Genre: Thriller
Rating: B
Review: Stephanie Plum gets into trouble in Hawaii which travels with her back to Trenton. Usual enjoyable hijinks.
Did you finish that last one in March. :-)I have never read any of her books but they seem popular. I know several people who enjoy her books. May have to give one of them a try some day.
Janet Evanovich
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5. Finger Lickin Fifteen
Janet EvanovichFinish Date: March 6, 2012
Genre: Thriller
Rating: B-
Review: A little bit of the same; Ranger versus Morelli, same old cast of characters, barbecue, more exploded vehicles, headless corpses, etc. These books are mindless reads. Not Tolstoy (smile).
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by Stephanie Madoff MackFinish Date: March 7, 2012
Genre: Memoir
Rating: B
Review: A page turner and heartfelt accounting of what led up to the death/suicide of Mark Madoff (son of the infamous Bernie Madoff). Bernie Madoff danced at Stephanie's and Mark's wedding knowing that he had fleeced and bankrupted everybody in the room and just smiled on; knowing everybody there was in the dark. So many well known celebrities lost a great deal of their fortunes including Kevin Bacon, Larry King, Bill Maher to name just a few plus Stephanie's own parents.
I marvel that this guy lives on in relative calmness while countless others have died or worse because of his actions. Sad really for everyone especially Mark's fatherless very young children.
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7. The Sense of an Ending
by
Julian BarnesFinish Date: April 20, 2012
Genre: Novella/Mystery
Rating: B- (depressing)
Writing Ability of Author: A+
Review: Many of the Man Booker Prize Winners are similar in that they are frequently dark and deep. This winner is not an exception.
I loved many of the sentences in the book and if you can withstand the mood this novella places you in by all means take it for a spin.
"It strikes me that this may be one of the differences between youth and age; when we are young, we invent different futures for ourselves; when we are old, we invent different pasts for others."
or
Time finds you out
Good book - I may be rereading it because the relationships between the characters are very complex. I agree Barnes is an excellent word-smith and I agree with your rating, too - but probably because Barnes is like a one-tune band - different books, same theme - "the fallibility of memory."
I read Flaubert's Parrot right after reading Madame Bovary and really loved it. Although there were sad parts, I didn't find it depressing. Of course, that may be in contrast to Madame Bovary.
by
Julian Barnes
by
Gustave Flaubert
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Yes Becky I agree with everything you said. Astounding mastery of the English language and I like his phrasing and style. The subject matter is not uplifting and the characters are a little flat and absolutely unlikeable.
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[..."
This book reminded me of how I felt after seeing the movie Sophie's Choice - bummed out.
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by
James PattersonFinish Date: April 22, 2012
Genre: Mystery/Thriller
Rating: C
Review: In my estimation and I love James Patterson, this was contrived and a little over the top. It did not even seem like vintage Patterson at all. The terrorist group was even a spin off of Al Qaeda. Weird and even worse if you listened to it. They had car sirens and background noises on the audible segment - almost hilarious. A very strange book.
Happy ending but even some of the characters seemed to have different personalities. Alex Cross seems to be nagged by Nana and Nana seems domineering and overbearing. In most of the Cross novels, Alex Cross is strong and confident and not nagged by the women in his home. And Nana is usually a sweetheart. So I can sum this up with one word: unimpressive
Here is the goodreads synopsis: (obviously I do not agree with it and I have always loved Patterson and his Alex Cross books)
Kill Alex Cross is faster, more exciting, and more tightly wound than any Alex Cross thriller James Patterson has ever written!
The President's son and daughter are abducted, and Detective Alex Cross is one of the first on the scene. But someone very high up is using the FBI, Secret Service, and CIA to keep him off the case and in the dark.
A deadly contagion in the water supply cripples half of the capital, and Cross discovers that someone may be about to unleash the most devastating attack the United States has ever experienced. As his window for solving both crimes narrows, Alex makes a desperate decision that goes against everything he believes – one that may alter the fate of the entire country
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by
Tony BlairFinish Date: May 2012
Genre: Autobiography, Non Fiction, Memoir
Rating: A-/B+
Review:
I listened to the unabridged audible book with Tony Blair as the narrator. At first, I thought that this was going to be the most pompous book that I had ever listened to. However, after slugging out the first few chapters, it got remarkably better. I was impressed with Blair and his smarts. The book gives the reader or in this case listener a front row seat to the world's conflicts including the Bosnian War, the IRA in Ireland, the Iraq War, domestic issues in the UK and personal relationships with Presidents Clinton, Bush, etc. And of course the background version of the Gordon Brown versus Tony Blair animosities. I thought the book was just a self serving attempt to paint a version of his personal political history to his own liking; but I found out by the end that the book was anything but that. I thought it was very worthwhile. And it was all the more powerful listening to Blair himself tell his own story.
Goodreads Synopsis:
In 1997, the biggest Labour victory in history swept England, ending eighteen years of Conservative government. Prime Minister Tony Blair — young, charismatic and complex — shaped the nation profoundly in the ten years that followed. From his work in Northern Ireland to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, few of his decisions were free from scrutiny and debate. Alternately beloved and reviled, he was an international figure to a degree matched by few British leaders — a role he continues in to this day through the Tony Blair Faith Foundation and his work in the Middle East. Now, for the first time, we see the fascinating journey and difficult choices of the prime minister through his own eyes. Grippingly candid and deeply intimate, A Journey is a must-read political memoir, full of startling insights into a host of world leaders, including George W. Bush and Bill Clinton. It is also a book that delves deeply and profoundly into what it means to be in a position of great power today, and its emotional and personal toll.
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by
Judith HerrinFinish Date: 2012
Genre: Non Fiction
Rating: B
Review:
A good thematic sampling of Byzantine history. Entertaining, informative, educational and well organized. Piques your interest for more.
Goodreads Synopsis:
Byzantium. The name evokes grandeur and exoticism--gold, cunning, and complexity. In this unique book, Judith Herrin unveils the riches of a quite different civilization. Avoiding a standard chronological account of the Byzantine Empire's millennium--long history, she identifies the fundamental questions about Byzantium--what it was, and what special significance it holds for us today.
Bringing the latest scholarship to a general audience in accessible prose, Herrin focuses each short chapter around a representative theme, event, monument, or historical figure, and examines it within the full sweep of Byzantine history--from the foundation of Constantinople, the magnificent capital city built by Constantine the Great, to its capture by the Ottoman Turks.
She argues that Byzantium's crucial role as the eastern defender of Christendom against Muslim expansion during the early Middle Ages made Europe--and the modern Western world--possible. Herrin captivates us with her discussions of all facets of Byzantine culture and society. She walks us through the complex ceremonies of the imperial court. She describes the transcendent beauty and power of the church of Hagia Sophia, as well as chariot races, monastic spirituality, diplomacy, and literature. She reveals the fascinating worlds of military usurpers and ascetics, eunuchs and courtesans, and artisans who fashioned the silks, icons, ivories, and mosaics so readily associated with Byzantine art.
An innovative history written by one of our foremost scholars, "Byzantium" reveals this great civilization's rise to military and cultural supremacy, its spectacular destruction by the Fourth Crusade, and its revival and final conquest in 1453.
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Maya AngelouFinish Date: 2012
Genre: Autobiography, Memoir, Non Fiction
Rating: C (3 stars tops)
Review: This was an unusual book. It was filled with laughter, tears, hate, love, failures, successes, tragic events and a life filled with so many set backs that you have to wonder how Maya Angelou ever managed to set herself free. Amazing really. So there was a lot in the book which made me admire Ms. Angelou even more. Her poetry I know is powerful and I thought that I would be equally moved by this book and I was by the events themselves but not by the book. It was slow moving in parts and dull in others.
I was struck by how the African Americans viewed the displaced Japanese during the War.
First this passage:
"A person unaware of all of the factors that make up oppression might have expected sympathy or even support from the Negro newcomers for the dislodged Japanese. Especially in view of the fact that they (the Blacks) had themselves undergone concentration-camp living for centuries in slavery's plantations and later in sharecroppers' cabins. But the sensations of common relationship were missing."
And:
"Another reason for his indifference to the Japanese removal was more subtle but was more profoundly felt. The Japanese were not whitefolks. Their eyes, language and customs belied the white skin and proved to their dark successors that since they didn't have to be feared, neither did they have to be considered. All this was decided unconsciously."
Goodreads Synopsis:
A phenomenal #1 bestseller that has appeared on the New York Times bestseller list for nearly three years, this memoir traces Maya Angelou's childhood in a small, rural community during the 1930s. Filled with images and recollections that point to the dignity and courage of black men and women, Angelou paints a sometimes disquieting, but always affecting picture of the people—and the times—that touched her life
Maya Angelou has come a long way - here at Bill Clinton's inauguration:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HDtw62...
Wow, both of those quotes seem to show a very self-centered view of the world. Makes me want to ask: when should we put aside the anger and hurt inflicted on us and make sure we don't pass it along to others.
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The History Book Club
Books mentioned in this topic
I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings (other topics)Byzantium: The Surprising Life of a Medieval Empire (other topics)
A Journey: My Political Life (other topics)
Kill Alex Cross (other topics)
Flaubert's Parrot (other topics)
More...
Authors mentioned in this topic
Maya Angelou (other topics)Judith Herrin (other topics)
Tony Blair (other topics)
James Patterson (other topics)
Julian Barnes (other topics)
More...
JANUARY
1.
Finish date: March 2008
Genre: (whatever genre the book happens to be)
Rating: A
Review or a Few Words about book: You can add text from a review you have written but no links to any review elsewhere even goodreads. And that is about it. Just make sure to number consecutively and just add the months.
Note: I will delete the required format post once you get started.