April 2023
All the activities were going on in April- soccer, Taekwondo, dance, school, appointments, and spring weather. We worked on several different projects and books this month. Jet has been working toward his black belt in Taekwondo and is three testing cycles away from achieving that goal. We’ve been watching MLS soccer and some playoff hockey. I even took an afternoon off of work to go watch the new Super Mario Movie with my family. If you get a chance, go see it. It’s hilarious. Also, we celebrated with Aubrey’s Grandpa as he turned 98 years old. He might outlive us all. He’s tough.
Here are the books I finished in April 2023 and my short reviews of them:
Fiction Books
Oathbringer by Brandon Sanderson (Starlight #3)
This book is a monster. Probably the longest book I’ve read. It’s complex too. Not quite Game of Thrones complex, but close. Sanderson builds on the framework developed in the earlier books, expanding the history, magic, and politics of the world of Roshar. Like the previous books, this one is broken into many chapters following many characters. There are three main character arcs. First, Kaladin the Windrunner tries to figure out who he is in the new world of magic and Knights of Radiance. Second, Shallan the light-weaver tries to figure out which of her personas is really her. She uses three different major personas and several other variations throughout the story. Each has its strengths and weaknesses. In the end, she settles on Shallan, and her husband, Adolin helps her stay grounded. Thirdly, Dalinar Kholin is the main character, trying to unite the nations of Roshar against the Void Bringers and Odium, who are trying to destroy the humans. Many secondary/supporting characters build out the story and help explain the history and magic framework of the book. My favorite of these is Lift, the Edgedancer and teenage vagabond/knight radiant who is the only character in these books brave enough to sass Dalinar. The main storyline bounces between Dalinar’s past, and the current battle between the humans and the parshmen. In the previous books, Dalinar could not remember his wife or any of the circumstances around her death. They had been magically removed from his memory. Now, the memories are coming back and they threaten to crush him. He remembers that he was a monster of a warlord. After years of destroying army after army to protect and expand his brother’s kingdom, he eventually turns into an animal, inadvertently killing his wife in a brutal annihilation of a city that she was trying to defend. During the main battle at the end of the book, Dalinar faces his past, pain, losses, and mistakes, and only then can he own them and move on. His story is one of redemption. Only through our deepest scars are we able to win our biggest battles. The main battle takes up about eight hours of audio. It’s extremely complex, but not confusing. As it plays out, the pieces that have been forming during the build-up fall into place nicely. There are heroes and anti-heroes, massive armies, tactics, politics, plot twists, and drama. I’ve heard from my friends that this was their favorite book of the series and that it was others’ least favorite. It is certainly a challenge because of its volume and complexity. I thoroughly enjoyed it. It helped explain some of the structure that I was missing from the first three books.
This is for readers who need lots and lots of pages full of magic and adventure.
(Rated R, Score 10/10, audiobook read by Kate Reading and Michael Kramer, hardback, 1248p.)
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by Roald Dahl
Millie got a little jealous that I was always listening to books with Jet; books that, so far, haven’t captured her interest. So I made a few suggestions based on some of her interests and of course, being a sweets fiend, she picked the one about chocolate. Charlie is a poor boy who lives with his two parents and four grandparents in a tiny shack. They share stories and lots of love but being terribly poor, not enough food. Every day, Charlie walks past Willy Wonka’s Chocolate factory. One day, Mr. Wonka announces that five lucky children who find golden tickets in his chocolate bars will be allowed into his factory for one day and will win a lifetime supply of treats. After several disappointments, Charlie finally finds the fifth golden ticket. He decides to take Grandpa Joe with him on the adventure to the chocolate factory. The next day, the five children and their adults meet the fantastic Mr. Willy Wonka. He leads them on a tour of his factory from a chocolate river, to his invention rooms and more. On the tour, they lose each of the children to their selfish desires until only Charlie remains. Without knowing it, Charlie won a competition to become the heir of Willy Wonka’s chocolate empire by being kind, and patient, and minding his manners. Mr. Wonka, Charlie, and Grandpa Joe use the magic elevator to rescue the rest of Charlie’s family from their little shack and take them to the factory where Charlie will learn how to run the chocolate empire.
This is for sweet fiends, adventurers, and children of all ages.
(Rated G, Score 8/10, audiobook read by Douglas Hodge, 3:18)
The Two Towers by J.R.R. Tolkien (Lord of the Rings #2)
Book one ends with the breaking of the Fellowship into three storylines. Book 2 picks up each of these storylines and continues the epic story of the great ring of power and those striving for control over middle earth. In the first half of this book, Tolkien picks up the story of the three warriors- Aragon the Ranger, Legolas the Elf, and Gimli the Dwarf. The warriors give Boromir a hero’s burial after he falls defending the two hobbits, Merry and Pippin. Then they set off on an epic hunt for the pack of orcs who have captured and taken the two hobbits. After running nearly a hundred leagues, they find a smoking pile of orcs but no hobbits. Gandalf, back from death finds them and leads them to war. Saruman’s army of Uruk-hai is sent to destroy the horsemen of Rohan. Gandalf and the three warriors muster the mighty riders of Rohan and lead them to their mighty fortress of Helm’s Deep where they can withstand the assault of the orcs. The hobbits who were lucky and clever enough to escape the orcs, find Treebeard the Ent and talk him and the other Ents into going to war against Saruman. The Ents are mighty indeed, and they reroute a river to flood Isengard, destroying Sauron’s machines of war and corruption. They also rouse the shepherds of the trees who go to war against the Uruk-hai, eventually rescuing the men of Rohan by disappearing the whole evil army. With Sauron defeated and trapped in his tower, Gandalf and company head to Gondor to strengthen the defenders against the coming storm of evil. In the second half of the book, Tolkien tells the story of Frodo, Sam, and Gollum as they take the ring first to the Black Gate into Mordor, then to the great stair and pass of Cirith Ungol. Their mission is to take the ring to Mount Doom and destroy it, though they don’t know the way and the whole enemy army is hunting them. Book two ends with Frodo captured by orcs and Sam working to rescue him. I love listening to these books with Jet. He has so many questions and ideas about how the story will progress. I’m looking forward to watching the movies with him too.
This is for heroes, adventurers, and those working hard for good with little hope.
(Rated PG, Score 9/10, audiobook read by Rob Inglis, 16:40, paperback, 352p.)
Non-Fiction Books
Better Decisions, Fewer Regrets by Andy Stanley
We all make decisions every day. Lots of them are small; some are life-changing. Not all of us had great examples growing up to model good decision-making, so it’s awesome to have books like this to help show the way to better decisions. The book is broken up into chapters based on the following five questions: The Integrity Question: Am I Being Honest with Myself…Really? The Legacy Question: What Story Do I Want to Tell? The Conscience Question: Is There a Tension That Deserves My Attention? The Maturity Question: What Is the Wise Thing to Do? The Relationship Question: What Does Love Require of Me? Each chapter is filled with stories and examples to help give color to these tools. I love Andy Stanley’s clear and direct style. He doesn’t avoid hard topics to make his readers feel better. He addresses them head-on so that we can learn and grow in truth.
This is for anyone looking for wise decision-making tools.
(Rated PG, Score 9/10, audiobook read by the author, 4:09)
This is an incredibly brave book. The author shares her stories, both happy and tragic. It takes a lot of courage to tell stories about your struggles. Maria tells about finding her place and role in her family, and about building a home full of love, hope, and rest. A place her family can use as a launch pad to blast off on adventures. She tells the story of losing her safe place when the family lodge deep in the Canadian wilderness burned down, and in that loss she was able to discover even deeper trauma from her past that had been undiscovered and buried previously. Maria tells about learning to keep her eyes on her own test and relates that to being happy living her own life. We don’t need to do what others are doing, we need to find out what brings us joy and just do lots of that. We need to build families that celebrate brave attempts, even if they fail. We can’t grow without trying new things, so we should celebrate growth, bravery, and creativity, especially in our kids. I love the honesty, authenticity, and bravery in these stories. I found it fascinating to see the ways that Maria’s story both blends and contrasts with her husband Bob’s. You may have heard about how Bob put his phone number in the back of his books, which I think is unbelievably brave. Maria, being a very sensible introvert, but also wanting to give people a way to connect, also put Bob’s phone number in the back of her book.
This is for anyone needing good stories and wisdom and balance in this crazy world.
(Rated PG, Score 8/10, audiobook read by the author, 5:21)
Never Split the Difference by Chris Voss
This is a fantastic book on negotiating. Chris Voss has so many good, practical, easy-to-implement ideas for improving your negotiating tactics. Being a former hostage negotiator with the FBI, he also has great stories and insight from some of the most intense negotiations out there. Voss also challenges some of the conventional wisdom from the business world in this book. Voss talks about listening to the other party with empathy and using conversational techniques like mirroring to get the other side to open up about what really matters to them in the deal. Voss tells stories about standoffs with hostage takers, and figuring out how to get them to work toward the resolution of the standoff by asking them open-ended questions. Voss has spent his career trying to take negotiating to the next level, from volunteering on a suicide hotline all the way to Harvard Business School. This book is a fantastic resource for all sorts of negotiating. I used some of his techniques to get a great deal on my truck. I plan to use more of these when negotiating deals at work. I highly recommend this for the stories, tactics, and growth potential.
This is for anyone looking to grow and learn.
(Rated R, Score 9/10, audiobook read by Michael Kramer, 8:07)
This is a non-fiction book about tigers in the east Russian area called Primorye. Although it is a detailed study of the tiger’s habitat and relationship with the people of the area, it is told like a murder mystery or homicide investigation. The author describes the events surrounding the deaths of two men who were eaten by a particular tiger. He describes the mindset of each of the men, their personal histories, and how their stories are woven into the fabric of their society. I liked how the author told a very balanced story. He didn’t set up the hunters as the bad guys, or the tiger either. He just told the story and provided many different perspectives from which the reader can draw his own conclusions. He covers the biology of the tiger, how it is designed to be the ultimate predator, and how it is featured in our lore, stories, and nightmares all the way back to the stone age. The bulk of the story comes from the lead investigator; a man named Yuri Trush. Trush was the head of a special unit of enforcers tasked with protecting their territory from poachers and illegal weapons. The first victim, Markov, seems to have had some history with the tiger who destroyed parts of his hunting cabin and ambushed Markov when he was returning home. The second victim was more a victim of circumstance, being eaten after his rifle failed him as the tiger attacked. After the town hurried two small bundles of the leftover pieces of the two victims, Trush put together a sanctioned hunt for the man-eater. The hunting team eventually stumbles across fresh tracks and walks into the tiger’s ambush. I won’t give away the final fallout. This story is all about survival, revenge, and the laws of the forest. The author ends the book with a discussion of the dire situation Amur Tigers are in as their habitat disappears and poachers gear up with better tech and trample hunter ethics. I think my dad and uncles would enjoy this book.
This is for hunters, conservationists, and anyone interested in learning a lot about East Russia.
(Rated R, Score 10/10, audiobook read by the author, 12:05, hardcover, 311p.)
Preview/Currently Reading-
The President is Missing by Bill Clinton, James Patterson
Rebel Talent by Francesca Gino
The Return of the King by J.R.R. Tolkien
I track my books in a database called Goodreads. You might find it helpful in managing your reading lists.
Final Thoughts-
April was busy and it looks like May has more of the same. I am going to need a vacation to settle down and rest. It takes a fair bit of disciple to sit down and write these reviews. I hope you find them useful.
Thanks for adventuring with me.
Joshua
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