April 2022
It felt like we finally got into a groove with school, work, and sports. At work, we caught our breath after a crazy first quarter. At home, we have been sorting through things and getting ready for a garage sale. Jet has had soccer and Taekwondo. Millie has been taking swim lessons. We celebrated Easter, hosted family for a few nights, and I remembered that I’m getting pretty old for rock concerts.
Here are the books I finished in April 2022 and my short reviews of them:
Short Stories/ Plays
This is a play written to portray the Salem Witch Trials. It is a brutal depiction of religion gone wrong. The power of mass hysteria leads the community to hang many of its citizens based on the accusations brought by their neighbors. Fear is an intoxicating drug that can galvanize the mob toward violence and malice. I’d like to see a live performance of this play. The audio version was performed by a full cast, but it was a little hard to follow in all the drama. Thanks, Jarrod for the suggestion.
Little Pilgrim’s Big Journey Adapted from Pilgrim’s Progress by John Bunyan
This is a much abbreviated, illustrated version of the great journey of Christian from the City Destruction along the pilgrim’s faith path to the Celestial City. The story is allegorical, meaning the characters’ names are representative of their roles and identity in the story. I read this with the kids and they really enjoyed it. Each chapter has a summary and questions for comprehension. The illustrations help to tell the story in memorable ways. Thanks, John and Cindy for this beautiful gift for the kids. They loved it.
Fiction Books
Tuesdays With Morrie by Mitch Albom
How many of us are so scared of death that we forget to live? How many of us, if faced with death in the form of a debilitating and fatal disease like ALS (Lou Gehrig’s Disease) could embrace the process and touch the lives of those around us and end with dignity and peace? Tuesdays are the days that Mitch meets with Morrie, both in college and later as Morrie is fading away. Mitch uses the meetings to discuss life’s deep questions with the wise old man. Mitch records the discussions and turns them into this book. The book sales pay for Morrie’s medical bills and give many people a glimpse into the wisdom only those familiar with the shadow of death could share. The pair discuss the world, feeling sorry for yourself, regrets, death, family, emotions, the fear of aging, money, marriage, culture, forgiveness, and how love goes on. Mitch slowly becomes more comfortable with his old friend and can see and hear the wisdom and kindness that overpower those fears and frustrations that Morrie experiences. This is a very difficult book. It’s not all sunshine and rainbows and puppies; as a matter of fact, it’s the opposite of those- death and darkness and sadness. But we all will experience those things in this world and this book gives us a healthy framework to weather those storms.
This book is for anyone dealing with death or sickness and looking for wisdom,
(Rated PG, Score 8/10, audiobook read by the author, 3:42)
Relentless by Mark Greaney (Gray Man #10)
Something big is brewing in Berlin. Top spooks are disappearing. The CIA is scrambling to sort out what’s going down. Matt Hanley pulls the Gray Man out of medical treatment and sends him to South America to interrogate a former CIA IT specialist. Court Gentry (the Gray Man) is in no shape to be down in Venezuela. He has a bone infection and needs a month of IV antibiotics and rest to get back to normal. But his country needs him, so he packs some pills and some gear and ninja’s his way into Caracas. He finds his man, extracts some answers at gunpoint, and is about to haul the traitor back to America when the house is nearly leveled by a crew of mercenaries who are cleaning up loose ends. So Court heads to Berlin to back up Zoya Zakharova, who has gotten a job working for Shrike Group and is digging for the truth about the op they are working in Berlin. Eventually, Court, Zoya, and Zach Hightower must make a stand to protect Matt Hanley and the US Ambassador to Germany against a highly sophisticated terror attack executed by Quds Force soldiers being manipulated by a crown prince. Oh, and in the background, the Russians are hunting Zoya with malice. I love the Gray Man doing his thing with a massive infection and other injuries stacking up. Court is tough.
This is for Gray Man fans and readers needing a book to keep them hooked.
(Rated R, Score 9/10, audiobook read by Jay Snyder, 15:39, ebook, 512p.)
The Silmarillion by J.R.R. Tolkien
If you have read or watched The Lord of the Rings movies, or The Hobbit, you know the world of middle earth created by Tolkien. The Silmarillion is the story of how the whole earth (including Middle Earth) was made. It is deep and rich and complex. The writing style is old English style, heavy with descriptions and details and many names. Like Narnia, Eä (the world) is sung into being in the first part of the book. In the second part, Tolkien describes the Valar and Mayar, which are like gods or angels who shape the world and create much of its substance and structure. The third part of the book is the set of stories about the Silmarils, which are three jewels. Most of the drama, heartache, and sorrow are caused by the wars fought for these jewels. The stories involve the beginning of the races of elves, men, and dwarves. The evil of this time is made by Morgoth Bauglir who was one of the Valar, but who fell into darkness and wrath. There are many storied about the elves and their histories. They made the Silmarils and when Morgoth stole them, they made many oaths and mistakes trying to reclaim them. The fourth part of the book is about the rise and fall of the Númenorians. The final part is the story of the Rings of Power, where Tolkien tells how Sauron creates the one ring to control the other rings of power. Nine rings Sauron gave to men, seven to the dwarves, and thee others were made, and he kept the one ring. This is a great overview of the events leading up to and included in The Lord of the Rings.
This book is for patient readers, or readers who like old language style and epics.
(Rated PG, Score 8/10, audiobook read by Martin Shaw 14:49)
The Girl Behind the Red Rope by Ted and Rachelle Dekker
It’s interesting how stories seem to come in related sets. This story goes hand in hand with The Crucible. Grace lives in a post-apocalyptic, isolated town that has extremely strict rules and religious practices. The town is surrounded by a thick red rope which marks the boundary between the faithful and the outside world. Trouble begins when Grace’s brother Jamie begins to doubt that the outside world is as dangerous as they have been made to believe. He sneaks out to explore and to find evidence of the furies who were supposed to be destroying everything and everyone not in the protected town. When the leaders of the town find out that Jamie and Grace have been breaking the law, they send them out to face the world and to learn the truth about the furies. The furies find them after night falls. Returning to the town Grace and Jamie fight to recover peace in the town, but two new visitors cause the town’s leadership to take extreme measures to protect their way of life. This is a powerful picture of fear ruling people and ruining lives, while love is the only weapon against fear. Or, as I like to quote, “The Light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.”
This book is for anyone dealing with fear issues.
(Rated PG, Score 8/10, audiobook read by Sandy Rustin, 10:05)
The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros
This is a short book of stories written in the voice and language of a young, poor Mexican-American girl growing up in a falling-down house on Mango Street in Chicago. Some of Esmerelda’s stories are sad, others are funny, and they reminded me of different parts of my childhood. There’s a story about the girls finding some fancy high-heeled shoes and wearing them around trying to be like the older girls. There’s a story about the Vargas kids and how bad they were. Esmerelda’s stories are about wanting to come from a house that isn’t as poor; a house that would make her feel proud instead of embarrassed. Thanks, Jarrod for the book idea.
This book is for readers looking for a different perspective.
(Rated PG, Score 7/10, audiobook read by the author, 2:19)
Non-Fiction Books
Who gets a front-row seat to all the big events in politics? The Secret Service agents who are assigned to the leaders involved in those world-shaping events. Clint Hill wrote this book as a therapy for all the trauma and stress he lived through as a Secret Service agent serving under five different American Presidents. Clint starts in the Secret Service during the Eisenhower presidency. With Ike, he learns how the president can run a tight organization and always find time for a round of golf. Using his military organizational skills Eisenhower tours the world promoting peace and freedom. His aim was to win the world over to peace. Hill learns a lot of basic security lessons working international travels on the presidential detail. Hill sees the president struggle with Russia in the cold war. The critical error of Eisenhower’s presidency comes when the U2 spy plane is shot down in Russia and the CIA tries to cover up their spy activities. When Kennedy is elected, Hill worries that his days working with the presidential detail might be over. Instead, he is assigned as the agent in charge of the First Lady’s security. Hill is still close enough to the president to see him falter during the Bay of Pigs incident in Cuba, and later redeem himself during the Cuban Missile Crisis. Hill also witnesses the family’s struggle as they deal with the death of baby Patrick Kennedy. In Dallas, Hill experiences the assassination of President Kennedy brutally close. Hill is the agent on the back of the car trying to cover both Kennedys as President Kennedy is shot. Hill relives those events in horror for the rest of his career. He is not able to properly start dealing with the trauma until he retires from the Secret Service many years later. Hill’s protective duties for Mrs. Kennedy extend into LBJ’s presidency as the nation mourns their slain leader. Eventually, Hill is reassigned to President Johnson’s detail where he and his team scramble to keep the crazy Texan President safe despite all his random ideas and willingness to risk his safety to connect with crowds. Johnson’s presidency was defined by racial strife, the Vietnam War, and times at his ranch in Texas. Hill’s leadership expanded during this time and he received extra training and increased responsibilities. Hill’s role in the Secret Service moved to the Vice President’s detail during the Nixon administration and into management as his experience grew. Finally, during Ford’s administration, Hill was forced to retire to deal with health issues caused by the years of stress and trauma in his career. Only in his retirement did Hill begin to discuss the events he witnessed.
Thanks, Nolan for this excellent book recommendation.
This book is for anyone interested in history or the evolution of the Secret Service.
(Rated PG-13, Score 10/10, audiobook read by George Newbern, 14:31)
Courage is Calling by Ryan Holiday (The Stoic Virtues #1)
This is the first in what I imagine will be a 4 book series covering the four stoic virtues: courage, temperance, justice, and wisdom. This book is broken up into three parts: Fear, Courage, and the Heroic. Part 1 Fear- we all feel fear. We all get scared. But being scared is temporary. Living in constant fear is a choice. Good leaders can dispel fear with logic and hope. When fear is defined, it can be defeated. Here are some of my favorite ideas and quotes: “Plenty and peace breed cowards, Shakespeare said. “Hardness ever of hardiness is mother.” There are many cowards around. “If we are going to indict anyone for their cowardice, let it be silently, by example.” “Waste not a second questioning another man’s courage. Put that scrutiny solely on your own.“ “The fear you feel is a sign. If courage is never required in your life, you’re living a boring life.” “Fear speaks the powerful logic of self-interest. It is also an inveterate liar.”Asking for help is brave. Ask for what you need. “What we want in life, what the world needs-all of it is on the other side of fear. All of it is accessed through courage, should we choose to wield it.” Part 2- Courage - Debating is just time-wasting. Decide and act. Cynicism is cowardice. Courage is Gauche. “We can’t just bemoan the darkness of this world we live in. We have to search for the light. We have to be the light.“ “Violence is rarely the answer-but when it is, it’s the only answer.” We must have the courage to step through our fears and do brave things. Part 3- the Heroic. The heroic is what is beyond daily courage. The Spartans were heroic at Thermopylae where 300 Spartans faced 1 million Persians. They sacrificed for the greater good. They didn’t shy away. They knew that they weren’t going home. They fought anyway. The opposite of fear isn’t courage, the opposite of fear is love. Fighting and sacrificing your life for those you love. The difference between raw courage and the heroic lies in The Who- who was it for? Make people better. Heroes make their luck through action. Holiday uses several historic figures to illustrate the ideas above. He discusses Florence Nightingale, who revolutionized medicine. He uses Martin Luther King Jr. who led this country in the civil rights movement. He uses the Spartans, and many other brave leaders who faced fears, acted in courage, and became heroes. This is an excellent book for understanding courage. Thanks, Eddie, for letting me borrow it.
This book is for those seeking to beat their fears and step into courage.
(Rated PG-13, Score 9/10, Hardcover, 277p.)
What the Dog Saw and Other Adventures by Malcolm Gladwell
The purpose of this collection of stories is to get you to think differently about things. There are many topics that Gladwell covers including Pitchmen, the Dog Whisperer, puzzles vs mysteries, the homelessness problem, and auto-emissions. Gladwell picks apart the psychology of many bad decisions and methodologies. It’s interesting to see how badly some of our assumptions end up working out. One example that I found interesting is the homeless problem. We assume that the cost of homeless care would be stretched in a bell curve with a regular distribution, but it’s not. It’s more like a hockey stick where a few specific chronically homeless people end up burning up most of the budget. So it’s much cheaper to provide extra care for those few hard cases than it is to try to provide nominal care for all those who don’t need it. One adventure that was close to home for me from a professional perspective was Gladwell’s discussion about the Challenger disaster. He breaks down the mindset that could lead to such a disaster. At NASA there was a normalization of risk mitigation. That is, they had spent so much time discussing, examining, and mitigating risks associated with potential failures, that they seem to have forgotten that space travel is inherently dangerous and that given enough exposure, the risk always catches up.
This book is for anyone needing some new ways to think.
(Rated R, Score 8/10, audiobook read by the author, 12:49)
Preview/Currently Reading-
The Old Man and the Sea by Earnest Hemmingway
I track my books in a database called Goodreads. You might find it helpful in managing your reading lists.
Final Thoughts-
Thank you to those who sent me ideas of dangerous things they are doing. I enjoyed those conversations. Thank you for all the recommendations for books too. We are getting closer to summer. Do you have big plans for summer vacations now that the world is getting back to normal? We have a trip to Colorado planned, and a trip to watch the US Mens National team play Uruguay in the works.
Thanks for adventuring with me.
Joshua
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