March 2023
March has been a blur. We watched a bunch of basketball and soccer. MLS season started up and my beautiful wife bought me tickets to the Sporting Kansas City vs Seattle Sounders match. Thanks to Eddie and Lydia we left the kids behind and made it to the game on time. Jordan Morris had Seattle’s first-ever four-goal game, Johnny Russel made his season debut, and we confused the other fans by cheering for both teams. It was awesome. I spent most of the month reading and listening to a monster book called Oathbringer. The hard copy is 1243 pages and the audiobook is 55 hours long. I haven’t finished it yet so my review will show up next month. Spring break came and went. I took a few days off to adventure with the kids. I’m excited about the warmer weather.
Book Giveaway - I’m moving the book giveaway pitch up here to see if it drives more engagement. Send (text, email, or comment) me an idea for a fitness challenge (see below for color), an idea for using AI like Chat GPT, or your favorite soccer team to get your name added to the book giveaway. I’ll draw names on tax day.
Here are the books I finished in March 2023 and my short reviews of them:
Fiction Books
Burner by Mark Greaney (Gray Man #12)
The Gray Man is on the run from the CIA again. He doesn’t sit still very well, so he is taking odd jobs on the black market. Court is destroying the pleasure toys (yachts) of the super-rich Russian Oligarchs when he gets pulled off that job to chase some Russian banking information that has been stolen. The data lives on two phones. One has been mailed to St. Lucia and the other is being carried by a Swiss banker who has stolen banking information from his Swiss bank that will complete the package. Together, the Russian and Swiss data will incriminate many powerful people in the west. An international trade summit is scheduled to vote Russia back into trade favor with the west. The banking data could destroy the summit if it were released on time. Neither the Russians, nor the CIA want the data to see the light, and Court lands in the middle of the hunt to destroy it. The Russians send an operator code-named Matador after the data. Matador and his team of Russian operators take the data in St. Lucia before Court can get to it. Then the focus of the hunt changes to Europe where Zoya is babysitting the Swiss banker and the second set of data. The Russians, Court, Zoya, and some border police shoot up a high-speed train in a mountain tunnel before Court gets thrown off to his death. The chase runs on to New York where Zoya and the Swiss banker meet with a financial forensic specialist who can connect the dots and incriminate the corrupt on a massive scale and destroy Russia’s hope at trade restoration. Suzanne Brewer, Court’s latest CIA nemesis teams up with the Russians to run the operation on US soil. They work together trying to kill and kidnap their way to the data. The book highlights the potential for abuse and corruption throughout our government and how easy it would be to get sucked into the dark side of politics and greed. This book didn’t feel as polished as previous Gray Man books. It felt a little rushed and missing some of the tactical details that made previous books so sharp. Maybe Greaney is running out of ideas for trying to kill the Gray Man. Either way, I still love the Gray Man.
This is for Gray Man fans and action junkies.
(Rated R, Score 7/10, audiobook read by Jay Snyder, 16:37)
A Wrinkle In Time by Madeleine L’Engle
A crazy trio of former stars comes to the aid of the Murry family, whose father is missing. Mrs. Who, Mrs. Whatsit, and Mrs. Witch take Meg, Calvin, and Charles Wallace to rescue Mr. Murry by tessering (space and time traveling) away from earth. The party stops at a planet named Uriel so the children can see the darkness they will be fighting. The darkness is terrifying. The children fight it anyway, for love. The children rescue Mr. Murry from IT on a dark planet, but they lose Charles Wallace. Only love is able to help Meg rescue her little brother from the darkness and IT. The book is unique in style. It blends deep themes with fantasy, sci-fi, and clever writing. It is a classic now, but it took a while to stick. By defying classification it baffled experts, publishers, and editors. I love the lessons in the book. It depicts the battle between good and evil in an accessible plot. Light overcomes the darkness.
This is for explorers, rescuers, and misfits.
(Rated PG, Score 9/10, audiobook read by Hope Davis, 6:27, paperback, 211p.)
The Fellowship of the Ring by J.R.R. Tolkien (Lord of the Rings #1)
I love this story and sharing it with Jet has been fantastic. We have been listening to the audiobooks and Jet has been following along in the hard copy. The combo allows him to hear the narrator consistently pronounce all the challenging words. This story is about the great ring of power created by the dark lord Sauron in ancient times and lost to the world until a hobbit named Bilbo found it on his adventures. The ring passes to Bilbo’s nephew Frodo who is the main character of this story. Frodo collects friends and powerful allies on his journey from the Shire to the Rivendell in the book's first half. The company starts as a band of four hobbits merrily walking through the shire, but as they learn of the actual danger that hunts them their journey takes on a more desperate nature. All along the way they are aided by different folks who see their needs and lend them lodging, help, and protection. In Rivendell, the wise leaders have a council, where they determine the path for the ring of power and its bearer. The fellowship of the ring is created and composed of the four hobbits (Frodo, Sam, Merri, and Pippin), Gimli the dwarf, Legolas the elf, Aragorn the ranger, Boromir the man from Gondor, and Gandalf the wizard and guide. The fellowship sets out from Rivendell intending to destroy the ring of power in the cracks of Mount Doom in Mordor. The company faces many perils as they travel. The fellowship finally breaks at the end of the book, leading in two different directions for the next book.
This is for adventurers, mystics, and students of languages.
(Rated PG, Score 10/10, audiobook read by Rob Inglis, 19:07)
Non-Fiction Books
Life Without Lack by Dallas Willard
This book found me at just the right time and speaks to one of my core fears. This book is structured around Psalm 23 and is intended to help readers go so deep in their love and trust of God that they live without lacking anything. Psalm 23 is one of my favorite passages and I have long pondered its meanings and content, but in this book, Willard provides many parallels, lessons, perspectives, and truths to layer on top of the core understanding I had. Willard walks through each line in depth and wisdom from a life of theology and counseling. He talks about faith and how to grow it. He talks about how to experience the presence of God in new and profound and practical ways. The book also explores letting go of anger and giving forgiveness. Finally, Willard describes how we can grow through the service of those close to us, always using Jesus as an example. One of my core fears is a scarcity mentality. This book speaks directly to the heart of that fear by giving me words and wisdom to focus on God who has always given me everything I need. He gives me so much security that I can serve others freely, even to the point of serving my enemies. This has started the growth of a profound peace for me in a world of chaos. Jason - thanks for this gift.
This is for the weary, searching, and disgruntled.
(Rated G, Score 9/10, audiobook read by Wayne Campbell, Gabe Wicks, 9:30)
Preview/Currently Reading-
The Two Towers by J.R.R. Tolkien (Lord of the Rings #2)
Oathbringer by Brandon Sanderson (Starlight #3)
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by Roald Dahl
The President is Missing by Bill Clinton, James Patterson
I track my books in a database called Goodreads. You might find it helpful in managing your reading lists.
Final Thoughts-
During March I participated in two different fitness challenges- a 100km total distance biking challenge for the month with my brother and sister-in-law, and a daily pull-up challenge. These daily interactions give me a big boost in accountability and focus. I was able to bike over 100km and do over 1000 pull-ups. I’m also trying to complete 10,000 pushups in 2023. What other types of challenges do you recommend to say focused and keep moving?
As I wrote this month’s reviews, I experimented with GPT3.5-Chatbot. I got mixed results. It is very fast, but also untrustworthy. Many of the sci-fi books I’ve read recently involve AI (artificial intelligence) in some shape or form. This version of AI is not as clever or quippy as I hoped, but it did write this haiku for me:
Petals, fresh and new
But with them come allergies
Early spring, it's here.
And since Wichita recently reclaimed its #1 title for the worst city in the US for allergies, I suppose it was fitting. As my friend Phil told me, it (Chat GPT) does mediocre work really fast. That sums up my experience with it so far.
Like my uncle Rusty says, "It's all a big experiment." We be learning and trying new things.
Thanks for adventuring with me.
Joshua
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