Joe Foss: Flying Marine - Joe Foss

Joe Foss flew planes in WWII for his own "Flying Circus." He is credited with the same number of shot down planes as Eddie Rickenbacker in WWI, something he didn't really think was that impressive. He was just doing his job and trying to fight off the enemy.

I was wondering about the language in it. Most of the time, the memoirs I've read from a pilot's point of view had a more reflective tone. I got the impression of some underlying animosity for the "Japs" that I wasn't used to. Most pilot memoirs portray a mutual respect for those they shared the air with. That became clear when I got to the end of the book and realized the war wasn't over yet. No wonder he had so much resentment for the enemy. The war was still going on, and his friends were still dying.

The book definitely could have used a postscript. For goodness' sake, this man did so much more with his life. A quick search not only told me that he got his wish to get back to the war, but he was also involved in many other things after it, including becoming governor of South Dakota. Sure, the initial text was written in 1943, but the publication date on my Kindle version is showing 2022. Foss died in 2003, so there's really no excuse to not have a follow-up to his life.

If you want a no-nonsense perspective of a Medal of Honor recipient during the conflict, this is a great place to get it. Foss tells it like it is, and I appreciate that. Good Book!

Girls of Flight City - Lorraine Heath

I was given this book in paperback form. Since I'm interested in WWII, and this book is based on true events, it seemed like the kind of book that I might enjoy. I especially am drawn to anything dealing with planes since my grandfather was a pilot in WWII.

Jessie is a pilot who loves what she does. When her mother and uncle sell their airfield, it becomes a place to teach British pilots how to fly. Jessie wants to be an instructor, but she has to deal with a man who doesn't think women should be in the cockpit of planes. Her brother, Jack, has joined the Eagle Squadron and raising some eyebrows in town, but she's determined to help in whatever way she can. We also read about Rhonda, another teacher at the school, and Kitty, Jessie's sister.

Jessie is really the main "girl" of the book. Rhonda and Kitty are in there pretty often, but I would consider Jessica and Royce to be the main characters. The story starts out interesting with Jessie trying to prove herself so she can be an instructor, and Royce recovering from an injury. As time goes by, it becomes less about flying and more about the love story. Once Royce heads back to England, the book fast forwards through the rest of the war. It's somewhat jarring and you can guess where the story is headed.

It just feels like a missed opportunity. Kitty was such a great character and had a more realistic experience. On top of that, she purposely went out of her way to interact with many of the cadets. It's her idea to tend the British area of the graveyard. I could have read more interactions with men and women in this unique situation instead of how Jessie was feeling about Royce.

Overall, it was an okay book, but I just didn't like the plot armor applied to Jessie and Royce. Sure, we "need" a happy ending, but after what Rhonda and Kitty went through, it felt unnatural and fake. We can hurt the main characters, but they have to live! I stand by the statement that Kitty's story was more compelling and would have given the author more chances to focus on the unique setting she'd chosen.

Lady Death: The Memoirs of Stalin's Sniper - Lyudmila Pavlichenko

During WWII, Lyudmila was a dedicated sniper. She proved her skill and took out her hatred on the opposing army. At the end of her frontline service, she had a total of 309 kills.

After a time, she had to deal with injuries and PTSD. She was used for propaganda, but I don't think she would have chosen that on her own. She mentions more than once how snipers are loners and prefer their own company most of the time. Unfortunately for her, she had an engaging way of speaking.

This is when she was sent on a tour of the US and England. She wasn't overly excited about the idea, and I can't blame her. The American press asked her stupid questions, so the way she responded was more than justified. I was surprised she struck up a friendship with Eleanor Roosevelt and took the time to get to know her. It showed she had the ability to let her first impressions be changed, and I think that's important.

I think the most concise description of her job was near the end of the book. She's at a memorial for Sevastopol, and her speech was taken down. At that time, she considered her words for the people who would hear it later as well as the ones who were present.

Lyudmila was definitely a patriot. She met Stalin more than once, and she believed in her country whole-heartedly. She maintained a hatred for the enemy that made her deadly on the battlefield. This book only covers her military career. It doesn't focus on her life as a whole. Overall, I enjoyed reading about this young woman's struggle to make her way in the world around her and make sense of the war she lived through. Good Book!

The Man in the Brown Suit (Colonel Race #1) - Agatha Christie

This is a murder mystery/diamond heist story. There's also a love story for the romantics out there. The book is listed as the first in the "Colonel Race" series, but the man is barely in the book, so it's a bit misleading. You're following the thoughts of two people. The main voice is Anne, and sometimes there are journal entries from one of the other characters. Other than that, you've got little twists you didn't see coming and a couple red herrings.

I really liked this book. I was a bit nervous for a while that some of my favorite characters were going to be on the nefarious side, but I was safe this time. The writing holds up after all these years, and I think this is one of my favorite Agatha Christie books. Good Book!

Smoke Boat Sailor - Dick Barbieri

This book was written by a man who served aboard the USS Bang during the years of 1961-64. He starts off by telling the story of the submarine before he was on board, and a bit about his childhood and what led him to be a part of the Navy. The purpose of the book is clear. His father would tell him stories and quiz him later. "Someday, most people will forget who we were and what we did and why. I want you to remember." It's why I read memoirs and tell my kids about these interesting people. They're going to be responsible for what the next generation remembers.

Once the author gets into the Navy, the book is more anecdotal. Serious stories are in there as well as humorous ones. A couple stories may make the animal lover cringe, but overall, none of them are too long. They held my interest pretty well, and the writing style was easy to read.

I read a review from someone questioning the truth of the the author's stories. The author does mention in the forward that "time has blurred some detail," but his stories were reviewed by his friend, Tom, who was on the ship at the same time he was. The Captain for most of the time he was on board was also consulted and helped provide some dates. The main thing I keep in mind when I read a memoir is that I'm reading colored memories. It's like the experiment where you talk to ten people at the scene of an accident and you get ten different accounts. There are going to be some overlapping elements to the stories, but no two will be exactly the same. Without reading multiple accounts from multiple people, there's just no way to get a clear and exact picture of what happened. In this case, I believe the author was relating his memories. Are they 100% accurate? Probably not, but I'm not approaching it as a historical account.

I liked the anecdotal nature of this book, and I learned a lot about submarines and the way they worked that I didn't know before. I appreciated how the author would shine a light on the people that made an impression on his life. Good Book!

Blood of Elves (The Witcher Saga #3) - Andrzej Sapkowski

First off, I want to clarify something from my last review of this author, The Last Wish. When I read that book, I was under the impression it was tied to the show based on the stories and the cover. Also the way it was listed on Amazon confused me as well. The Last Wish is listed as 'The Witcher Saga Book 1' and Blood of Elves is listed as 'The Witcher Book 3/The Witcher Saga Novels Book 1.' After a bit of research, I discovered that the first two books, The Last Wish and Sword of Destiny are collections of short stories, and the novels begin with Blood of Elves. It's my mistake, and my apologies for the misunderstanding.

In this first full novel of the series, Geralt starts out trying to get some help with Ciri. She is showing some signs of powers that no one at Kaer Morhen can understand, so he asks Triss Merigold for help. She's out of her league with Ciri, and so it's clear that the girl is going to have to seek help from Geralt's "dear friend" Yennefer. There are numerous people who are after Ciri, and one man in particular seems to be the most dangerous.

I really enjoyed this book. I found a couple times where I had to go back and read over a section again because I didn't pay enough attention the first time. My main concern for the future of reading this series is that I'll forget what was going on when I pick up the next one. Overall, I really did like it and hope to read more of the series soon. Good Book!

Fighting the Flying Circus - Eddie Rickenbacker

Growing up, I saw planes landing and taking off from the Rickenbacker Air National Guard Base on a daily basis. I also watched air shows from my front yard. It was pretty cool seeing jets streak over my roof. I even saw the Thunderbirds go past the house in formation one year. Great stuff. Anyway, I realized that I knew very little about the man himself, Eddie Rickenbacker.

Before World War I, this man was a race car driver. During the war, he was an Ace pilot who cared about the other pilots in his squadron, but not too much. He refers to it as one of the horrors of war. You had to be able to carry on the next day no matter what had happened to your friend.

This book is completely about his time in the air. He is very descriptive when it comes to telling what happened during a lot of the mid-air battles, and he tells what happened to others in his squadron as well. I noticed again that pilots have an unusual amount of respect for their enemy. Just like when I read Samurai!, there is a level of respect and good will for the other men in the air. Rickenbacker doesn't like to see men burning on their way to the ground and fought with valor in the skies.

He mentions a couple of times the fact that he saw German pilots abandon their planes and float to the ground with parachutes. It was something he and his fellow pilots didn't have. I found that ridiculous and agreed with his criticism that the Americans should have the same choice. He saw men burn on their way to the ground and wished they'd had the option to bail out. Who could blame him?

I enjoyed this book and wish I'd read it sooner. I can't believe people flew in these things and made it out alive. Or even that they chose to get in one. The first planes the 94th Aero Squadron had were prone to have the fabric of the wings shear off if you put too much strain on them during maneuvers. WHAT?! These men were so much braver than I'll ever be, and they have my respect. To the ones who made it and who never made it home, I salute you. Good Book!

Timeline - Michael Crichton

I was told I've been reading too much depressing material lately, so I let my mother pick out a book for me. I had to wait for my new glasses to come in before I could read this one (the print is kind of small in my paperback), but I did look forward to rereading this book. I read it many years ago, and I always remember it as one of the best books I've read. Over the years, I have recommended this book to a few different people. One barely reads (mostly on vacation and usually only one author), one was someone whose reading taste is completely different from mine, and the other is my teenage daughter. All three of them thought the book was great.

Timeline is a time-travel story that came out in 1999. Four people are asked to go back and rescue one of their friends who is trapped in the 1300s. I don't want to say much more about it, because I feel like I'll be taking away from the plot or giving something away.

I still loved this book. It's been years since I read it, and I remembered some parts of it, but others still struck me. The end is just as satisfying as I remember. Even knowing that ending, the tension build-up is so expertly done. The countdown added to everything going on with the characters is something special. Normally, I can pick out something that I didn't like or maybe bothered me slightly, but this book still strikes me as the best one I've read. Anytime someone asks me for a book recommendation, even without knowing their taste in books, I feel confident telling them about Timeline. I think it's got something for everyone. Great Book!

P.S. Never  never never never never never never watch the movie. It's an abomination.

The Coastwatchers - Eric A. Feldt

FERDINAND (I have it in caps because the author had it in caps) is an operation that distributed men throughout the South Pacific with radios. Those men would then watch and report the locations and movements of Japanese troops. Often working with natives, the men had to be able to not only refute Japanese propaganda but know who to trust to survive.

Some natives were loyal and others helped the Japanese. There are a lot of close calls and fighting with the land. The jungle is not a place to be trapped unless you have an idea of how to live off the land. 

The author of the book was initially in charge of the operation. He was taken away from it later on due to a medical issue, but his history is pretty complete. Instead of hearing one point of view, this is more of an overview of FERDINAND as a whole. I read about many different people and what happened to most of them. These people were courageous and stories like this are too often overlooked and forgotten.

The book does have some pictures here and there, but there weren't that many. Also, I was kind of hoping there would be some statistics in there. As in, here's how many men were part of the operation, and here's how many were lost. It's not a huge deal, but it would have been nice to know.

This book is a good read, and I would recommend it to anyone who wants to learn about some truly heroic people. These men fought adversity, the enemy, people they believed to be friends and sometimes each other. They saved countless lives, but not all of them made it out alive. They should be remembered. Good Book!

The Time Machine - H. G. Wells

It's a classic. What else can I say?

Okay, so probably most people have read and/or seen this in some form. A man makes a machine and travels forward in time to the year "Eight Hundred and Two Thousand Seven Hundred and One." I was so confused every time I read that. Later I learned it was 802,701. After seeing it, I realize it makes me look like an idiot, but living in the 1900s and 2000s, I wasn't really expecting a book written in 1895 to go forward that far in time.

Anyway, back to the story. It was...interesting. The world has changed. The scientist comes across two different types of human, and neither is what he's expecting. He seems to change the environment (for the worse) and gets out before he's attacked. He goes forward in time a few more times before returning to where he started.

Overall, I thought it was okay. The pages-long paragraphs could be a little tedious, especially when they weren't really adding anything to the story. The book itself isn't that long to begin with, but even some of that could probably have been removed. I just kept imagining myself sitting there listening to a man telling this story, uninterrupted, for hours and staying interested. I'm not certain it would happen, even if I believed him. In that time (even now for that matter), it would be a hard tale to accept. Didn't really hold my interest the way I thought it would.

The Prison Memoirs of a Japanese Woman - Fumiko Kaneko

I don't remember where I originally heard about this young woman, but I found her memoirs online and decided to read them.

Fumiko was born to parents who didn't understand love. Her father abandons her, and her mother doesn't seem to care about her either. She gets passed from one uncaring relationship to another when all she wants to do is learn and find a place in the world.

This memoir is heartbreaking. You realize that in the beginning, because her fate is revealed before the memoir starts. Also, the narrative ends before anything related to her prison sentence is discussed, so there is nothing in the memoir about that.

There isn't any happy ending. Fumiko didn't really have much happiness in her life. In the end, she supposedly took her own life, and the whole thing is just sad. If you decide to read this, know ahead of time that you're dealing with some seriously depressing stuff, and there's not any relief from it throughout the book. I don't want to say it was a "good" book, the subject isn't good or happy in the least, but I'm glad that Fumiko was able to tell her story before her life was cut short.

The Old Mine's Secret - Edna Turpin

I will readily admit that I got sucked in by this cover. I was at gutenberg.org, and it immediately caught my eye. It reminded me of the old Nancy Drew/Hardy Boys covers, and I instantly knew I had to read it. Did I know a single thing about it? Nope.

This book is about the residents of a small town in Virginia as they cope with WWI. Young Dick stumbles upon a mine and wants to find some silver to buy a Liberty Bond, but he wants to do it on his own. The other children compete to find out who can grow the best Victory Garden, and everyone wonders why Dick is so cagey about what he' s up to. With the war going on, a bit of German paranoia affects the town, and some of the residents begin to suspect one another.

This is a tale of two halves. More than the first half felt like a detailed PSA about WWI. I did learn that cotton was so much more versatile than I thought! And then there's the woman who gives a passionate speech to the man who isn't rationing his food while her son may be starving as he fights for freedom. There is a lot of things related to the war going on, just not a lot of mine secrets.

In the second part, the espionage picked up, and the mine was important at the end. Only the very last part was Nancy Drew-ish, making it a bit of a letdown in that respect. My fault for having any kind of expectations, and I take responsibility for that. If I had only read the first half of this book, I wouldn't be that impressed, but the second half pulled its weight fairly well. That leaves me with something of a split decision on the book as a whole. And that doesn't have anything to do with my expectations. The first half was kind of strange any way I look at it.

A couple of my favorite quotes are: "The worst thing that could happen to this world, to us, would be to be infected by the germs of hate." "All the waste and woe of this World War will be worth while if they make people realize the horror and wickedness of war and out an end to it forever." And finally, "And what's a man's life for but to take in his two hands and put where it is needed?"

Overall, it's good and awkward. There were some real gems in there quote-wise, but it was also unbalanced. I'm just on the fence with this one.

The Most Dangerous Game - Richard Connell (short story)

This is going to be a short review, since I literally read this before I went to bed. It was so short that I plan on reading another fiction book before I switch back to a memoir. The reason I decided to read this was because I saw an old movie (1932) based on this book, and I wanted to see how this story inspired that movie.

I'm not going to say much about the story. You can find it and read it in a very short amount of time if it interests you. What I will say is that an avid hunter finds himself stranded on an island with a man who hunts some very unusual prey.

I liked the story. You don't have time for much character development, but you get enough to know who stands for what. You also have to pay attention at the end or you might not quite understand what happened. When I compared it to the movie, I like the story much better. I understand they had to pad the story to make it movie-length, but thank goodness I didn't have to read about a woman being dragged around in a life or death mental game. Because honestly, if the hunter was as good as he claimed to be he should have found her pretty quick. Anyway, the story is interesting, and I enjoyed it (minus the doggie death obviously). Good Story!

Propaganda: The Art of Persuasion: World War II - Anthony Rhodes

I'm fascinated by propaganda and its effect on people. I knew it was widely used during WWII, and I wanted to find a book about it. I specifically purchased a physical copy of this book. Some things you just need to be able to see, and on top of that, this book isn't available digitally.

This book covers the major powers: Germany, Italy, Great Britain, United States, the "New Order" (occupied areas), Soviet Union (as it was known at the time) and Japan. The author goes through who was in charge of the propaganda, their approach to it, and how effective it was. After that, there are examples of how each country used propaganda in posters, film, stamps and other media.

I thought this book was great. It really went in-depth to show what was going on in each country and how they dealt with feeding information to the public. Some countries were more straightforward than others. And I loved the description of America: "The American people, who have no objection to being prevailed upon to buy anything from toothpaste to a helicopter, balk at any attempt to influence them politically..." and "Before mid-1940, no government-sponored [sic] attempt to influence Americans about foreign affairs existed - for the very good reason that it would almost certainly have had the reverse of the effect intended." So true then and now, and I found it amusing.

Back to the book. It really was interesting, and I highly recommend it if you have any interest in how the various major countries used propaganda during the war. I saw a lot of similarities between the effects of the propaganda and the way social media can turn into an echo chamber with its algorithms. It's pretty easy to get your hands on an affordable used copy of this book, and it's pretty educational. Good Book!

Ghosts of the ETO - Jonathan Gawne

As I've researched more about WWII over the years, I heard about some of the deception tactics that were used. I knew going into this that I might struggle a bit, since it isn't a memoir, but I still wanted to know more about the subject, so I dove right in.

This book is comprehensive. You can really tell that the author did a lot of research on the topic. Many pictures are included, and I appreciated those. I discovered that a deception operation was a lot more detailed than I imagined, and these guys had to learn as they went. I admire them for that. I also appreciated how much attention to detail went into every operation, especially after they got their bearings and knew what they were doing.

The book itself gets pretty dry. With the amount of research the author did, it feels like he wanted to add everything he found. I understand adding in dates, but times and who was in charge of which position went in one ear and out the other for me. With the common tasks of some of the operations, the descriptions can also be a tad repetitive. I hope this doesn't get taken the wrong way, but I did fall asleep twice while reading this. That's never happened to me before.

Okay, so overall, I learned a lot, and I'm glad that I read the book. I feel like it would best be appreciated by someone who has some kind of connection to the unit. A descendant who wants to know more about their ancestor who couldn't talk about their war stories, or no one believed them. 

Side note for Kindle users: I read this on a Paperwhite. The included paperwork, some of the pictures and maps especially were hard to read (the maps were tiny). If you're interested in more of a general overview of what the unit did, you might want to look elsewhere. If you want more in-depth details, this is the book for you!

Richardson's First Case - Basil Thomson

I picked this book up because the author led a pretty interesting life, and it led me to want to see if he could write as well.

Two murders in the same night give Richardson the chance he wants to prove himself and become an inspector. It's not a solo endeavor, and the crime is not something that is straight forward or easy to solve.

The title is a bit misleading as it leads you to believe this book is about Richardson solving the mystery. He plays his part, of course, but so do others. There are quite a few scenes where Richardson doesn't appear at all, and he holds the title of constable for the entire case. Not a big deal. I even liked how everyone played their part like they would in a normal case. Most times, there's the one detective, and he gets all the glory.

Overall, this was a basic mystery, but it was also enjoyable. I thought it was well written and holds up nicely for being written in 1933. I do want to mention that the cover to this book is terrible, and I hate it. Poor Basil couldn't have had anything to do with it, but I wondered if maybe Richardson liked sunflower seeds. But nope (at least not in this case). It was just weird. I liked the book well enough, just hated the cover. Good Story! (Just not the cover!)

Every Falling Star - Sungju Lee

This is the story of a young man born and raised in North Korea. He lives a pretty sheltered life until one day it all changes. He moves out of his comfortable house in the city and ends up in a town where nothing seems to make sense anymore. Then his father leaves with the promise of coming back in a week. And when his father doesn't return, his mother disappears after saying she's headed to a relative's house to find food.

From that point on, Sungju is left alone to find his own way to survive. He turns to the only person in town he trusts, and eventually they form a gang to combat the famine that is gripping the country. They travel around getting exposed to things that most parents don't even like their children to know exist at that age. During this whole time, these boys never give up hope that they'll be reunited with their families one day.

Reading this book is heart-wrenching. I have two kids, and I couldn't even imagine them having to go through all that. And Sungju also had to face up to the truths of the things he'd been told his whole life being based on lies. It seemed like the loss of hope was harder to deal with than when his body was abused.

This book is aimed at teenagers, but I think it's an important book for adults as well. I appreciated the glossary at the end, but I wish the definitions had just been listed in parentheses after the words during the book. It's not a major issue, most of the words are easily identified by context clues. At the end of the book, there is also a list of discussion questions, and a Q&A with the author that was pretty interesting. I hope he finds his mother. Good Book!

The Thirty-Nine Steps - John Buchan

Mr. Hannay is bored. He thought coming to his homeland would never be boring, but here he is. One night, he meets a man who gets him involved in a matter that's of international importance.

I'm not going to say much more about the plot, it's not a long book, so it doesn't take long to read if you're interested. I feel like the language (minus some of the dialogue) holds up really well for when it was written (1915). I haven't read or seen anything about this story before, but I saw that quite a few adaptations have been made about this story. I can see why. It's a good story!

I guess my one complaint would be the plot they're trying to thwart. I didn't really quite understand it, and later when it gets "cleared up," I still didn't quite understand. If I look back, I'm not sure that it matters all that much. In the end, all you need to know is that they're trying to stop a plot.

I was really impressed by how this book didn't hang around longer than it needed to. The writing flowed well, and I recommend it if you're in the mood for a good, old-fashioned spy thriller. Good Book!

Hunting the Truth - Beate and Serge Klarsfeld

This autobiography covers the lives of Beate and Serge. Beate was born in Germany, and Serge was born in France. They were both children during WWII, and the war affected them in different ways.

After Beate meets Serge, she feels that she has a responsibility to represent her country and make them take responsibility for what happened to the Jews by Nazi hands. Serge's father was arrested and died in Auschwitz. From then on, these two spend their lives fighting for justice. At the end of the book, they talk about how they are still busy with their mission. Maybe they've slowed down, but they don't really plan on stopping.

As Nazi hunters, these two are more detectives than special ops. They collected mountains of evidence and then proceeded to protest. They got the truth out there, and they did what they could to get people to listen. They were extremely supportive of each other, and they had support at home to look after the children.

The main issue I had while reading this book was my own ignorance. I had no idea that so many high-ranking Nazis were able to live regular lives after the war. They had no fear of being found out or held accountable for their past. Only a few of the ones mentioned and "hunted" by the Klarsfelds were actually doing any hiding. It was disappointing to say the least.

The thing I felt I was missing throughout the book was pictures. Both Serge and Beate would keep referring to photographers memorializing certain moments, and it just made me want to see it. But guess what? There are pictures after the epilogue! I wish there had been more of the "famous" ones, but there were enough to satisfy my curiosity.

I think the best way to sum up this book is to quote the book itself. Serge says, "My commitment to the victims involves elucidating and explaining their fate by reconstructing the circumstances of their arrest and deportation, restoring their faces by finding photographs of them, and making their voices heard." That's what happens throughout this book, and I'm really glad to have read it. I learned a lot, and I hope others will read it as well. Great Book!

The Man in the Brown Derby - Wells Hastings

This is the last book I had loaded on my Kindle and ready for a trip. From here on out, I'll be having to figure out what I want to read again!

Mason feels that everyone judges him because he has birthmarks on his hands. In many cases, he's correct, and it makes him feel alone. His father never accepted him, but even though his mother was his world, both his parents are now dead. Mason is on his own now, and he seems to be having issues finding a job. It starts out well, but when people see his hands, the interview is over.

Then he reads a strange advertisement that raises his curiosity. It asks for a young man that can make a quick decision. When Mason shows up, he is quickly assessed and dismissed, but then he fights back and is accepted. The "job" is to marry the man's niece. Mason is taken aback but agrees to meet with the woman and see what she thinks of the situation. After all, she may need help.

Once they figure out the situation, Mason and Nancy leave the city, but not everything is as smooth as they hope. It seems they're being followed by a man wearing a brown hat. Mason has no idea who he is, but when Nancy goes missing, he feels sure he knows who took her. All he has to do is have to figure out how to track them down.

I thought this book was okay. It's written in the first person, so being inside Mason's head when he's in the "throes of love" is a bit much at times. I also questioned a few of his decisions, but I'm not Mason, so I can't judge. I won't say I loved this book, but I didn't hate it either. It was just kind of middle of the road for me.

Becoming K-9: A Bomb Dog's Memoir - Rada Jones

I saw this book and thought, "Wow! A memoir from a dog's point of view! And a military working dog at that!" Instantly, I was intrigued.

Guinness is the last picked from her litter. She goes through a lot of training and eventually ends up in the military. Later in the book, she leaves the military to become a guard dog of sorts.

I'm not sure where to start with this book. When the age range said 12-18, I figured it was going to be a bit on the lighter side. I was wrong. People died. Dogs died. Dogs were injured. Guinness lost hope and wanted to die. It was a bit much. 

This is a work of fiction. And yes, of course it is, but what I mean is it isn't a "based on true events" kind of memoir like Warrior Dog or Senior Chief Turbo. The author had the artistic license to do what she wanted with the story, and she chose this. Death, maiming and sadness. And that's her choice, but there's also a 12-18 age range on this book. I would never let my 12-year-old read this. We're the type of family that is more upset when the dog dies in a movie than the people, and the content warning is hidden under the 'Read More' section of the summary. And the warning was for "graphic war scenes." Those weren't even what bothered me!

This is my personal preference. I don't know why the author chose to give Guinness such a backstory, but if you want to read more about the dog's story, the author recommends her medical thriller called Mercy. She warns that it's not a "kid-friendly dog memoir," and I would almost argue that neither is this. It may have a cute puppy on the cover, but if you're a massive dog lover, go in knowing it's going to be a rollercoaster.

The Yellow Letter - William Johnston

This is one of the books I had downloaded onto my Kindle for a trip, and I'm just now getting around to reading it. I'll warn readers right away that if you have any aversion to reading about suicide, steer clear of this book.

Harding Kent is trying to discover what happened to make his fiancé's sister try to kill herself. He enlists the help of this friend, a postal inspector named Davis. At first, the inspector doesn't want anything to do with the case. All Harding has is a yellow scrap of paper, but when a policeman shows up with more of the same yellow paper from another suicide, Davis is intrigued. Harding has an immediate suspect in mind, but Davis isn't as sure.

On the positive side, most of it was easy to read, and I did want to know what happened. It was short and didn't take me long to get through. But, there are some serious issues with the book that need to be addressed. First is the non-PC language. I understand it's a product of its time, but some of it made me cringe. Usually, I can get past that kind of language, but let me give you an example. Davis comments that criminals are all insane. They are a product of their parents, and their heads are misshapen. In the future, they will be able to have surgery to correct their heads and make them better...it just doesn't sit well.

Overall, I liked the first half a lot more than the second. It wasn't just the weird thoughts about criminals, either. The conclusion seemed to drag on forever for some reason. Davis is one of those "Sherlock" types that discern clues that no one else sees and then basically call everyone else stupid when they don't see it. Also, the "mastermind" was something of a disappointment. SPOILER: It's someone who doesn't show up anywhere else in the book. I hate that. I like mysteries where I feel like I am trying to solve the mystery while reading. It's a letdown when I find out I never had a chance.

The Queen of Spies - Major Thomas Coulson

Louise de Bettignies was a spy during the first world war. She went by the name Alice DuBois, and her network was called "The Alice Network."

This book covers her time during the war until her death in 1918. Some of the encounters are written as if the author were there with Louise, and others were written as if he had some details and wrote around them. I'm not saying that's a bad or good thing, it's just different.

There isn't much to say about the book itself. I couldn't find information on the author to determine his connection to Louise, but it was definitely an interesting story. Louise's friend, Marie Van Houtte (Marie Leonie Vanhoutte) was mentioned so often, especially at the end, that I was disappointed there wasn't any kind of resolution to her story. I did discover that she made it through the war while Louise did not.

Louise was a smart, brave, patriotic woman who stood up to the Germans time after time. She passed along information in creative ways that helped the Allies. She had an instinct that saved her life numerous times, and her network of spies was carefully chosen. She was an incredibly intelligent woman.

This book wasn't hard to read. It was interesting and kept me wondering what would happen. It didn't have a happy ending. In fact, it was a particularly somber ending. I was glad to learn about this courageous woman and everything she did for the Allies. She's an inspiration, and I would recommend this book to anyone who wants to learn more about the inner workings of a successful spy ring during WWI. Good Book!

The Call of the Blood - Robert Smythe Hichens

This is one of those older titles that showed up in a list in the back of one of the other books I read, so it was picked kind of randomly. I had no idea what it was about, but the title seemed interesting. My imagination was going in all sorts of directions!

It's actually about Hermione who marries Maurice and takes him to Sicily. She's also friends with another man, Artois, and she leaves her new husband to take care of her friend when he falls ill in Africa. When she's gone, the husband falls prey to the "call of his blood" and gives in to his wild Sicilian side a bit.

Almost everyone in this book was an idiot. Maurice was an idiot because he acted like a petulant child when left on his own for a bit. Hermione is an idiot because she treats her husband like a child. She thinks of him as having the mind of a boy and being dumber than she is. Artois is an idiot because when he's sick, he immediately reaches out to the friend who is on her honeymoon and lets her stay with him for who knows how long. She didn't even ask her husband what he thought. She's just like, "I'm off. You stay here." And then both of them want to say more and don't. Idiots all around.

The one shining light is Gaspare. He may run a little high on the emotions chart, but he knows what's going on the whole time and tries to keep the man-child Maurice out of trouble. Of course, he fails but it's through no fault of his own. Gaspare is basically like a trusted manservant of the house and becomes very close with Maurice. 

Overall, no one in this book wanted to take responsibility for their actions, and it was straight annoying. It was the "I'm following the call of my blood" "It's the way God made people" Only Artois seemed to have any kind of self-reflection toward the end. Throughout the rest of the book, everyone was more worried about what they wanted to do. It was wrapped up in "helping someone else" at times, but it still boiled down to all three of them doing what they wanted. It was a frustrating read, and I was glad when it was over.

Lucky Jack - S. (Sue) Bavey

After living for 106 years, you'd have a lot of stories. That's the premise for this book, which goes through the life of (Henry) Jack Rogers. Born at the end of the 1800s, he lived through the entirety of the 1900s, and passed away in April 2000, a few weeks after turning 106. 

Each chapter in this book has little sections which can be read in a few minutes. I was especially touched by the story of what happened when the prisoners at his POW camp were freed. The horror of the camp itself is acknowledged, but the amazing decision the prisoners made upon leaving was something that was truly uplifting. There's so many other great little stories that I just can't mention them all.

The book is technically written by Jack's granddaughter, but it's from Jack's perspective, and it feels that way. She knew him well, and if someone needed to tell his story, I believe she was a good one to do it. According to the info on Amazon, she had access to all his newspaper articles, and she also found scrapbooks her mother had kept about Jack.

This book is incredibly easy to read. You have five minutes? You have time for an anecdote. It felt like I was sitting down with my grandfather listening to his stories. Not my specific grandfather, mind you, but you know what I mean. It's a conversational kind of writing where you feel like you're sitting with the person telling the story. It's much more personal that way, and I enjoyed that writing style a lot. Good Book!

The Benson Murder Case - S. S. Van Dine

This book is actually written by an American art critic named Willard Huntington Wright. Interestingly enough, he wasn't a fan of the detective genre at first and wrote under a pseudonym because he didn't want anyone to know that he was writing mass market fiction. Van Dine is supposedly the "John Watson" to Philo Vance (the Sherlock in this scenario). 

Vance has asked his friend at the district attorney's office to let him come along on a murder. Once there, he immediately becomes involved in "helping" solve the case. I put that word in quotes because his method of helping is extremely questionable. He just pipes in occasionally to tell his friend that he's wrong, but doesn't steer him in the right direction. Later, he tells him basically that "he couldn't handle the truth" or some such nonsense.

Okay, so the first Sherlock story was in 1892. This book was published in 1926. It is so similar that it's a wonder I didn't like it more. You've got a district attorney in the place of Lestrade, and you've got a man who irritates most of the people around him because of his superior attitude. Vance also gloats over those around him because he knows what's going on and others don't. It's basic Sherlock stuff, but I was so annoyed.

So I asked myself what was different about Vance that bothered me so much. Was it because I couldn't imagine Basil Rathbone or Benedict Cumberbatch playing the role? No...Was it maybe because the man was constantly saying, "eh, what?" It's possible that contributed to it. I think another reason is because the man was purposely throwing red herrings at his friend on purpose.

My copy of the book was taken off Google, so it didn't have an interesting cover. I found the attached picture on the internet and just had to use it. It's so weird and disturbing. Imagine picking this paperback up every night and it's the last thing you see before you go to sleep. Nightmare fuel for sure! 

And No Birds Sang - Farley Mowat

I picked this book up quite a while back at the used book store. After putting down War and Peace, I figured cleansing my palate with this 195 page diet book would make me feel good about reading again.

Farley is from Canada and at first he wants to be in the Air Force. He's too small to make it, so he ends up with the Hasty Pees. He sets off for war with the anticipation of beating the Germans and being the hero, but he soon discovers that it's much different than he expected.

I appreciated Mowat's writing style. He didn't hold back and didn't sugar coat anything. That means some descriptions are a bit difficult, but they were what he experienced, so you can't blame him. He also ends the book very abruptly. It's probably the first time that didn't bother me. His insight and description of "the Worm" was personal and moving. Back then it was called "shell shock," and today it's known as PTSD.

I liked this memoir because Mowat was honest about himself. He praised others and was descriptive of battles, but he didn't gloss over his mistakes. In fact, he goes into detail about what he did and how others reacted to it. He talks about the changes that happened to him mentally, and how he didn't feel like he knew the people at home anymore because of what he'd been through.

Mowat has written many other books, mostly about nature and the north. I would recommend this to anyone who wants an infantryman's honest view of the war. A man who goes in wanting to be a hero and comes out feeling lucky to be alive. Good Book!

War and Peace - Leo Tolstoy

My experiment into the great epic classic has ended in my defeat. I struggled with the decision for a few days, but I just don't want to go any further. Every percent feels like an eternity at this point, and I'm waving my white flag.

With a book this long, I'm not even sure how to describe the "plot." Numerous characters and events make it hard to figure out what the point of the whole thing is. Maybe if I'd finished it, I'd be able to tell you, but as it is, I'm going off what I know.

My first issue came when I couldn't find a character to like. There's plenty to choose from, but they are all pretty much are boring, terrible or annoying, so I didn't have anyone to look forward to reading about. My other issue came with WAR. Okay, so it's half the title, but I didn't need to know which flank was weak in the battle, or why the historians were wrong about Napoleon's motivations.

I took a break at 50% thinking it would be the boost I needed to make it through the rest of the novel, but alas, I'm quitting at 64%. Many times I would ask myself, "What is the purpose of this scene?" or "How is this important to the story?" Most of the time, I would forget what I'd asked about, so apparently it wasn't important.

I'm sure this book is a classic for a reason. It wasn't the most unbearable thing to read, it was just tedious to the point where I felt like I was reading for days and making no progress. I know myself, and when I'm more concerned about where I am in the book rather than what's going on in the story, it's time to evaluate why I'm still reading it. Sorry, Leo, this one's a pass from me.

The John Deere Story - Neil Dahlstrom and Jeremy Dahlstrom

As a bit of a disclaimer: I've been reading War and Peace, and it's taking me a "while" to get through it - hence a drought in reviews. I decided that when I hit 50%, I would switch and read something else as a break.

At the end of June, my father passed away. We weren't expecting it at all, and it still hurts. He had a rebate card, and my mother gave it to me. I felt like I owed it to my dad to take the card and use it for something related to what he cared about. He loved to help his cousin farm, so I tried to hunt down something appropriate. I wanted to get Tractor Wars (also by Neil Dahlstrom), since it would cover more of the brands he loved, but the card only allowed me to get a used copy of this book.

This book takes an in depth look at a well-known brand. If you see a green tractor, it's almost certainly a John Deere. I had no idea of how large a part his son, Charles, played in making the company what it is today. The company dealt with a lot of political and society changes, and they came through while still caring for their employees. While John was more a "man of the people," his son didn't look down on them from his lofty tower. It was interesting!

While I wanted to learn more about the tractor aspect of the company, it wouldn't have made sense, since John and Charles weren't alive when the company branched out into tractors. I learned a lot, and I wasn't bored. I kind of wished there had been a couple of diagrams since I'm not super familiar with the parts of a plow. I liked the pictures that were included in the book, and it's not super long. I truly enjoyed reading about John and Charles Deere and would recommend this book to anyone interested in the origins of the company and/or the men behind it. Good Book! Love you, Dad!!!

Now It Can Be Told - Philip Gibbs

Philip Gibbs was one of five official British war correspondents during WWI who spent his time observing various battlefields and the effects the fighting had on the men. 

I think the best way to describe this book is to use the author's own words, found at about 92% of the way through: "I have here and in other books shown the light as well as the shade in which our men lived, the gaiety as well as the fear they had, the exultation as well as the agony of battle, the spiritual ardor of boys as well as the brutality of the task that was theirs." It says it all.

At 644 pages, it's a bit long, and I felt it. Being a journalist, I understood where the long-windedness came from, but there was some repetition in there and a bit of rambling. I had some trouble getting through some of it. On the other hand, it gave me a real insight into how the war affected a lot of different kinds of people: from civilians to officers to infantry. At the end, Gibbs also spends a little time talking about the aftermath of the war and how coming home wasn't a homecoming for everyone.

With the amount of disgust I felt coming from Gibbs regarding the first World War, I kept wondering how he would have felt about the second one. This book was written in 1919, when the wounds were still fresh, and minds hadn't recovered. As I neared the end of the book, I found a quote that gave me a glimpse of what he might've thought: "They will have been betrayed if the agony they suffered is forgotten and "the war to end war" leads to preparations for new, more monstrous conflict." Gibbs died in 1962, and he must've been so disappointed with the way the world turned out. If you want a thorough overview of what it was like for different people during WWI, this is a great place to start. Good Book!

This Crowded Earth - Robert Bloch

Harry is tired of his life. The overcrowding and the repetition of his job take its toll on his mind to the point where he attempts to take his own life. When he wakes up, he finds himself in a small compound that he didn't think existed in the world anymore. I'm not going to say much more, I found that the little reveals were pretty rewarding in this book.

I think the first thing to keep in mind is this was written in 1958. Even though years are mentioned in here that have passed, I'm definitely not complaining that he got it wrong. I think the author did a good job describing the mentality and consequences of what would happen in the world he built.

Overall, I did enjoy this book. It's on the short side, but I think it ended when it needed to. I was impressed with the creativity and thoroughness of the world the author built with zero knowledge of the future. The end caught me by surprise, and I don't have a problem giving this a Good Book! review.

Fight for the Sky - Douglas Bader

I bought this because I wanted to know more about the author himself. I soon learned that this book is more focused on the history of the Spitfire and Hurricane planes. I'm taking responsibility for the mistake, I should've paid more attention to the description of the book. 

This book goes into great detail of the role the Spitfire and Hurricane played in WWII for the RAF. It is broken down by theater, and many pictures are included. Also, the author has included many names and anecdotes from various pilots and people involved in the history of the planes.

I personally didn't need the level of detail that was included in this particular book, but I enjoyed the stories. I would've liked to hear a bit more of the author's personal story, but I respect that he wanted the focus to be broader and include more people and stories. Overall, if you're interested in the role of these two planes in WWII, this is a great book for you.

 

Payment Deferred - C.S. Forester

I felt it was time for a good, old-fashioned crime novel. 

Mr. Marble is having money troubles. His wife, Annie, doesn't seem to be able to control her spending, but Marble himself doesn't necessarily deny himself at times either. When an unknown nephew shows up on his doorstep, Marble sees an opportunity. Should he ask for a loan? The young man seems to have a bit of money, but he also seems to be catching on that his uncle is acting a bit strange. A shared drink later, and the nephew is dead, his money now in Marble's pocket.

What follows is the psychological deterioration of Marble. He can't seem to stop staring at the place where the body lay, but it also doesn't stop him from spending the money either. His strange behavior continues to escalate until the end of the book.

I found this to be an interesting book. You're just waiting for someone to notice something and find him out. You're getting paranoid with him, and it's quite a ride. I felt bad for the rest of his family. I won't say why, but I really did. The final sentence of the book made me smile because it just struck me funny. It wasn't too long, and I really enjoyed it. Good Book!

I Escaped from Auschwitz - Rudolph Vrba

This book is about one of two men who escaped from Auschwitz and tried to warn Hungary about what was about to happen to them. In 1944, Rudolph made his way from the concentration camp to Slovakia with Alfred Wetzler. At first, they spent hours convincing people they were telling the truth. Then politics delayed the information from reaching the place it needed to go to fully prevent Hungarian Jews from being transported.

The book is very thorough. Vrba went through a great deal to survive, and even after he got away, he didn't give up. He nearly died a few times, and you get the sense that he was just meant to actually make it out of there. So many of the others, including friends and family, didn't make it. Vrba has to focus on survival, because that's all he can do.

I found a couple of things really disappointing, but it had nothing to do with the writing. As I was reading through the book, some footnotes would update the reader on what happened to certain people. I was incredibly disappointed to learn about the number of Nazi SS men who basically got a light sentence or never had to pay for their crimes. How can there be a statute of limitations of cruelty of that scale? The other thing that bothered me was the fate of the report. It took so long for it to get into the right hands. I know Vrba and Wetzler were frustrated as well, and you can't blame them. People died, and they didn't necessarily have to.

A few side notes about the book itself. Pictures of the report are in the book, but I wasn't able to read them because the print was too small. If you read the entire book, you'll get a bit of repetition. The escape and report is explained in detail in the main text, and then in the appendixes, it's also summarized as well. I think it's the reprint of an article that appeared somewhere, but it is the same information.

This is the story of a brave man, and one of four who escaped around the same time and tried to tell the world about the horror of Auschwitz. In some ways, it's understandable that the people they came across couldn't believe such cruelty was possible, but we know now it was not only true, it was worse than we could ever imagine. I highly recommend this book if you want an inside view of a survivor story. I believe it's worth reading. Good Book!

The Keys of the Kingdom - A. J. Cronin

I put this on my watch list because it was someone's favorite book. I've read quite a few memoirs now, so unfortunately, I can't remember who exactly it was. When it went on sale, I snatched it up.

Francis isn't the usual Catholic priest. His childhood isn't happy, and he doesn't conform to training the way the other men do. This makes him stand out in a good way to one man in particular, who sends him to China. Through years of hard work and following his own conscious, Francis makes a life for himself that he should be proud of.

This book wasn't something I should have enjoyed. I can't really put my finger on why I did enjoy it. There was a lot of sorrow in Francis's life, and he was misunderstood by his superiors. His thoughts on God, while controversial for his faith, were inspiring to others and, frankly, to me at times. I normally don't enjoy a book with this much sorrow, but I came away from it with a strange sense of peace. Great writing and a truly lovable character. I gladly give this a Good Book! review.

The Note Through the Wire - Doug Gold

I was given the paperback of this book and finally got around to reading it. It interested me as a true story written by the son-in-law of the people involved, so I thought there would be a lot of first-hand knowledge.

Josefine does what she can for the partisans in Slovenia during WWII. When her brother is captured, she does what she can to try and figure out what happened to him. It leads her to a local prisoner of war camp, where she briefly meets Bruce. A lot of time passes before they meet up again.

Bruce comes from New Zealand to fight but is eventually captured due to an infected arm wound. He was on the run, but the wound forces him to make a decision he isn't happy with. After being captured, he's hardly a model prisoner, and it takes quite a long time before he finds himself in a position to talk to Josefine again.

This is definitely a fictional representation of the relationship by these two. I thought the author had more interaction with the subjects of the book, but in the appendix, it sounds like Josefine and Bruce didn't like talking about their wartime experiences. After Bruce died, Josefine agreed to talk, but tragically died in a car accident a few days before she was scheduled to talk to the author. He does have information taken from the children and letters between Bruce and Josefine.

This was a good book, if you look at it as a fictionalized memoir or one of those "based on true events" stories. The writing was pretty good, and I commend the author for telling the story of these two. Even if you remove the fictionalized aspects, the story is amazing and worth telling. Good Book!

The Last Wish (The Witcher Saga #1) - Andrzej Sapkowski

Way back when, I put what I believed to be the first book in this series on my watch list, Blood of Elves. More recently, with the Netflix series out, I looked and noticed that this book was showing as book 1. I picked this up when it was on sale, not having any idea what kind of ground it was going to cover.

In this book, Geralt of Rivia is a witcher, a monster hunter who travels around earning his living by taking care of problems that plague the people. For the right price, of course. Surprisingly, he has more of a code than many people imagine, and most don't understand him. But in the end, he gets the job done.

If you've watched the first two seasons of the Netflix series, you'll recgonize all the main stories included in this book. The tales of the striga, boar-man, Renfri, Calanthe's daughter, the sylvan and the elves, and the djinn and Yennefer are covered here. With the exception of the djinn and Yen, the stories are the "side quests." On the other hand, they are somewhat different, and Ciri isn't present in the book at all.

The writing style was good, and I didn't get bored reading this, even though I already knew what was going to happen. It's not the author's fault that I already knew things, so it's a bit difficult to rank this book. I think if you start reading this knowing what you're getting into, you won't be disappointed by the repetition if you've seen the show. It's a good book, and I'd like to read more of the series. Good Book!

Surgeon at Arms - Lipmann Kessel

This is the story of a surgeon who found himself on the wrong side of the lines. After helping others escape, he himself escaped the Germans. After that, he spent time in different locations and made a few attempts to cross back to the Allied side of the lines.

I was struck by the mention of a review that said, "One is becoming as bored of these escape stories as of their tellers, beamish boys galumphing their way home through a tangle of generous peasants, Fascist spies and boastful partisans." I'm not sure why anyone would say something like that. Maybe they were forced to read it and didn't appreciate that? I'm a firm believer that every life has a story. Maybe it isn't interesting to everyone, but that doesn't mean it shouldn't be told.

I enjoyed this book. It dealt with the frustration and mental strain of being cooped up and wanting to get back to your own side of the war. It doesn't glorify war, in fact, in the postscript, the author calls war beastly and praises peaceful construction. The author doesn't gloss over his weaknesses or make himself out to be a hero. As he himself said, it was just ordinary people doing extraordinary things to combat evil. Good Book!

The Last Express - Baynard Kendrick

I was interested in reading this after seeing a movie called Eyes in the Night. It's also based on the character that was the subject of this book. I really enjoyed that movie, and I wanted to see what it would be like to read one of the stories.

Duncan Maclain is a blind detective who uses a seeing eye dog and his best friend to solve mysteries. In this case, one of Duncan's friends is accused of murder, and the evidence to put away a criminal goes missing after a grenade is thrown into the backseat of a man's car.

The thing I loved the most about the movie was the dog. Of course, I was impressed with the way Duncan and his companions worked together, but watching the dog performing the work added so much. In the book, Duncan had two working dogs, Schnucke and Dreist. One did the normal seeing eye duties while the other one was more of a protective animal.

In this case, while the book was very clever and unique, it wasn't quite better than the movie. It's not the same story, but even though Eyes in the Night was made in 1942, I loved it. Special shout out to the working dog in that movie, Friday, who did some amazing things. I'm a dog person, so maybe that swayed me. The book didn't seem to rely on the dogs as much as the movie did, and I missed that. Maybe some of the other books with Maclain have more dog involvement, but this one didn't quite hit the mark for me. I may try another one in the future, because I'd like to give this character another chance.

In the Thick of the Fight - The Testimony of Paul Reynaud

I've been working on this book for quite a while now. It was a physical book, so I couldn't read it on the treadmill. Add in that it was 656 pages long, and maybe it's a bit more understandable why it took me so long. I specifically wanted to read this book mainly because I discovered that Reynaud was one of the prisoners at Castle Itter when it was liberated. In case you aren't aware, it's a great story where the Germans and Americans team up to protect the political prisoners being held in the Castle while the SS attacks.

Anyway, this book is basically Reynaud getting very detailed about what happened to his country leading up to and during WWII. He had a position high in the government, and he tried to warn everyone that France was not ready for Hitler. He made speeches and tried to get others to realize that the country needed an armored division, but others were more inclined to lean toward a defensive position for France. After the war started, Reynaud wanted to honor the country's obligations to the Allies while others were pushing for an armistice. He ends up getting pushed out of office and eventually imprisoned. For what? Not even he is given a real answer. 

I didn't know anything about Reynaud before picking up this book, but I learned a great deal about his feelings on the events leading up to and during the second world war. Reynaud backs up everything he says with evidence from other people, whether they were supporters of his ideals or the opposition. He even read Hitler's book to get an idea of what the man was planning for France. He was just unfortunate in that no one would listen to him. Something he said that really stuck with me was, "And the evil gained ground because disease is more contagious than good health."

I may have taken a long time to get through this book, but I don't want to give the impression that I didn't find it interesting. I really did. It was just of a size of the book that was difficult to maneuver when I was in a relaxing mood. I also wouldn't recommend this for everyone. If you're interested in the inner workings of the French governement leading up to the second world war and what happened during the Battle of France, I think you'd really enjoy this book. I just want to point out that with the depth of detail that Reynaud includes, it may be too much for someone who just wants an overview of what was happening at the time. For me, it gets a Good Book! review.

A Distance Too Grand (American Wonders Collection #1) - Regina Scott

So, if you've been following along lately, you might be thinking that this looks a bit like the books I used to read. And you'd be right. Here's what happened. I had a fiction book all set up on my Kindle in pdf form, but when I opened it, there was an error. I hopped off the treadmill and sent the book to my Kindle again. Got back on the treadmill and had the same thing happen. At that point, I was already walking, and I had no idea how to fix the issue. This book had (barely) been started, so I decided maybe it was time for me to actually finish it.

This is the first book in the series. The other two are called Nothing Short of Wondrous and A View Most Glorious.

Meg has taken her father's place as photographer on a scouting mission for the Army trying to find a way across the Grand Canyon. Unfortunately for her, the man in charge is the same one she rejected five years ago. Ben isn't just looking for a way across the canyon, he's also trying to find out what happened to his father.

I had a soft spot for Ben. Meg was a something of a sweetie most of the time, but she treated Ben pretty badly. She didn't explain to him why she rejected him, so he feels that he did something wrong. Even now, as he's seeing how well they work together, she doesn't just tell him what holds her back. It's an irritating thing to witness. How many women wouldn't be married today if they'd let the prospect of a disapproving mother-in-law stop them?

It's been a while since I've read a book like this, but I would place this in the okay section. Nothing super exciting happened to the main characters (minus one thing, but more dire things were happening to the rest of the team), and the "mystery" didn't feel like it had any urgency to it. Add in the weird way the villain was handled, and it was just okay to me.