Never by Ken Follett

 

What if?

What if one country's leader goes on the offense, and his or her enemy retaliates?  And he retaliates back?  At what point is escalation made into WAR?  At what point can no amount of negotiation prevent annihilation??

No one argues that Ken Follett is a treasure of an author.  His book The Pillars of the Earth is one of my all-time FAVORITE stories.  This one is not historical fiction (yet) but more futuristic ponderings.  The politics of spying, of manipulation, of guessing how far a person in control of nuclear and biological weapons will really go to hold on to or create power.

This story brought back Cold War vibes while also weaving in current political climate issues in China, North and South Korea, and other nations.  Focusing on four main characters, we watch each side try to keep the peace, or at least hold back full-scale war.  A female US President, a Chinese spymaster, a CIA agent, and an undercover agent living with jihadists all do their part for peace.  Will it work?  Or do all these small actions set up an avalanche that will destroy the world as we know it?  The novel is divided into five parts, starting with DEFCON 5, which covers about half of the novel.  Each successive part gets progressively shorter.  Just like an escalation.  Hmmmm.

Action packed and with simplistic prose, this is an easy if disturbing read.  A few love stories are thrown in, but honestly the trouble with the President's marriage seemed superfluous. Not Follett's best work, but then maybe the subject matter just bothered me, because he made it seem so....possible.  Scary.

Surrender: 40 Songs, One Story by Bono

 

One

I Still Haven't Found What I am Looking For

Sunday Bloody Sunday

One Tree Hill

Bullet the Blue Sky

Mysterious Ways

With or Without You

Where the Streets Have No Name

Stuck in A Moment

Pride

New Year's Day

Sweetest Thing

Desire

A baker's dozen of the songs from the U2 Catalog, a total of 40 of which become chapter titles in this stunning memoir, this book that is more than memoir or biography or treatise, but something straight from the heart and soul of an amazingly extraordinary ordinary man.

And with sentences like that one peppered right the way through!

I listened to Bono read this book to me, and it was like having a conversation.  He was just chatting and telling me about his childhood, his fears, his faith, his work and his famous friends.  He is a baritone who thinks he is a tenor.  He told me all about his fierce and true love for his wife, his partner in life, his muse.  He talked about how many of his famous band's songs came to be, and what they meant to him and his bandmates.  He discusses nicknames and their origins.  He talks about his mother, Iris. His emotions come out strong, and he does excellent celebrity impressions. Paul Hewson is an Artist with a capital A.

There is also a lot here about his charity work in this world of ours, and how he came to believe that he might just be able to change a few things around here. Several well-known names are dropped, and conversations and experiences shared (right along with those impressions!) and they are impressive.  I loved the story of his impromptu gift to Pope John Paul II.  His childhood, convictions, family, and the music - of course the music - are all open to discussion and revelation.  At 20 hours of listening time (ie, 576 pages), this is a commitment, and it does get long in the tooth especially at the end when he is waxing philosophical a bit about his societal compassions and works.  But, so worth it for the stories and the humor and the insight into quite an amazing life.  So far.

I did pick up the hard back at my local bookstore just to look at it, and saw that Bono included some of his own drawings in the physical book.  So, my friends, do not be surprised to also find this book on my shelf.  It is one I can see myself picking up and just opening to a page and reading, with Bono's voice as my companion (which I think was half the reason I enjoyed this so much).  I am not a re-reader, so that is quite a statement. And I don't own any of the physical versions of other audiobooks I have listened to. I also rarely read autobiographies, but my newfound respect for audiobooks as performance art, especially those read by the author, could seriously impact my Reading Life.  Bono's inflections, chuckles, cadence, and what seems to be unusual candor really make for fascinating and intimate listening.  He is deep.  And a poet.  And has faults and uncertainties and makes mistakes. 

He is human.

Love is bigger than anything in its way, indeed.

Below is a clip of an animated video of one part of the audiobook.  You'll get a feel for what I am talking about with his cadence and what he shares.  This book just made me happy!

Bono's 'Surrender' Memoir Will Highlight 40 U2 Songs (ultimateclassicrock.com)

Blog update and questions

 Hello Friends,

Recently I learned that Google, who owns Blogspot, removed the widget from our platform that allows followers of said blog to receive an email each time I publish a post.  So, all the people who originally signed up to receive notifications via email think I am ghosting them or that I quit writing, as if (sorry, Mom's book club!).  I am currently posting all these reviews and no one knows about it unless I also post a link on social media.

Except for my eight favorite people - my Followers.

Now, I am no computer expert, just ask my poor kids.  So I have no idea what it means that I have 8 Followers except that I told 6 of those people how to press F for Follow.  I assumed that would mean they'd get notified to their gmail account (because it only allowed people with a Google account to actually follow the blog) when I posted a new review.

Not so much.

So today I finally figured out a way to re-instate a new email subscription widget, by borrowing the idea from a friend's blog and following some pretty basic steps (click here, now click here!).  Voila!  You can now, once again, sign up for email subscriptions with Rawles' Reads.

Of course, if you are reading this, you probably already did that.  If not, please spare me a moment and enter your email (any platform, not just Google!) in the neat little box at the top of the page. 

I am eternally grateful.  

Happy Reading,

Rawles

Waypoints: My Scottish Journey by Sam Heughan

 

Even as a HUGE Outlander fan (books first, tv second), I was not sure about Sam's book.  I don't do much nonfiction or biography.  He is too young for a memoir, I thought.  And he is famously silent about his personal life (good for him!).  So, why is he writing a book?

I listened to this one - Sam reads it himself, and he is HILARIOUS, y'all!  All his acting chops were showcased here as he quoted people in different accents, chuckled at his own immaturities and insecurities, revealed much about his childhood and family, and, mostly, took us with him on his five day hike on the Scottish West Highland Way, a 96 mile walk.

Say what??

The structure of this book was actually well done.  My only complaint is that on the audio version there was not enough pause between the sections of his walking journey and the flashbacks he gives us of growing up and deciding to become an actor.  But otherwise, I loved how the title really has deep meaning once you understand how the word Waypoints is used, and it made sense that he would pair this walk with his life journey - so far.

I have heard that there are photos in the book, but in the audio version we are treated to a few recordings of Sam at the end of each day of the actual walk.  You can hear the rain in the background!!  An interesting and introspective accounting of how he got to where he is now - his struggles and friendships and jobs (he's a great bartender apparently!) and work.  I would highly recommend the audiobook, it is a great performance, but may also have to sneak a look at the book next time I'm at the store in hopes of viewing baby Sam photos!!!  

The Night She Disappeared by Lisa Jewell

 

This book gave me serious anxiety.  Especially in the first half - if I wasn't a reader who rarely pulls a DNF (did not finish), I might have put this one down.  A teenage girl and her boyfriend go missing one night, leaving their baby and the girl's mother behind.  No one seems very worried and the friends they were with seem a bit tight lipped about that night.  Even the boy's mother thinks they just ran away.  Kim, the girl's mother, tries everything to keep the investigation going, but one year later, still nothing.

Meanwhile, a young writer moves to town with her partner to start a new job.  She is intrigued by the mystery of the younsters' disappearances, especially when she finds a piece of evidence relating to their disappearance on her property.  The book goes back in time to the months prior to the disappearance to give the reader some insight into what really happened, and the back and forth was a bit confusing here.  The second half of the book picks up somewhat as events are revealed, but overall, this one was not my favorite.  As the mother of teenage girls, I found this frankly terrifying to think about how much kids keep from their parents, and how much parents really could help those kids if they could just open up.

The Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osman

 

Oh what FUN!!

Last year my sister in law, Dottie, and I did a Book Store Tour of New York City.  We visited five local stores in one day, and the final store on our list was The Mysterious Bookshop, which supposedly carried only mysteries.

It was our favorite store.

As ya do, I asked the Bookseller which of the books was the best seller, or what would he recommend?  He hesitated, saying it really depended on what I was looking for, but then gave me a few titles.  This was one of them, and I am so glad I picked it up! With all the Agatha Christie vibes, I will continue with this series for sure!!

In this first installment, we are introduced to four residents of a retirement village in England who enjoy discussing unsolved crimes.  When a murder happens in their own backyard, they get to work. Each of the four are quite the characters:  Elizabeth with her secret past and no nonsense planning skills; Joyce with her nursing background and penchant for baking for the widowed men; Ron with his love of the spotlight; and Ibrahim with his detailed and mathematical mind.  Add in a greedy developer, two police detectives who keep getting called in by the club members, a mysteriously sad vicar and several other characters who will keep the plot moving, so to speak.

I laughed and chuckled and loved the English vibe.  I immediately noticed the use of two different fonts in the print book I was reading - a third person chapter is written in regular font, but some chapters were a smaller, bolder font.  These chapters are from the diary of one of the residents, which provides very interesting introspection into this character and her opinions of her fellow club members (they are NOT friends, haha).

This book kept me guessing right up until the very end.  Brilliantly done, I was jerked from one conclusion to the next, sometimes on the same page!  It was delightful reading. There was a lot going on, with a recent murder dredging up several older crimes.  Or maybe it was the other way around??  Poignant in places as we get to know residents that face dementia, distant families, lost spouses, but also new friends, mysteries to solve, events to investigate, and police to, um, "help."  The side plots are just as good as the main murder!  An absolutely delightful read that I can't wait to discuss with my book club later this year.  I may even pull out the audio version as a refresher closer to our meeting! This will be a fun series to collect I think!  (I just heard my bookshelves groan.  ;-))

March by Geraldine Brooks

 

I adore Geraldine Brooks' work.  With this volume, I have read all of her fictional writings, but she has just as many nonfiction publications as well!!  Each of her novels focus on different aspects of history, and no two are alike!

As I have mentioned before, I am not usually enamored of Pulitzer Prize winners, and honestly I am not really sure why this one won (or which works it was up against either, so I cannot even complain!).  Brooks imagines what life was like for one Mr. March, who, during the Civil War, leaves his beloved wife and four daughters behind to serve as a Union chaplain in a war he has very mixed emotions about.  His experiences and encounters with people from his past give us a glimpse into his flaws, which came a bit unwelcome to me.  

But we also get a deeper view into his youth, his marriage, and the growth of his family.  I loved how he fell for his wife, who is an impassioned abolitionist.  I loved how he described with joy and amazement the imminent arrivals of each of his children.  I loved that he is a vegetarian!!  I am not sure I have read a book with a main character who is a vegetarian (my daughter is a vegetarian - it can present a problem sometimes!)!  We learn that his family is in dire financial straits - and that it is because of decisions and investments he has made.  We get some insight into how his Aunt turns her nose up at his situation and insults the family by offering to "adopt" one of his daughters, Meg.  Not Jo, the oldest, but Meg, the pretty one.

And oh, yeah, did I mention that his four daughters are Jo, Meg, Beth and Amy??  Yep, THAT March family!!!  

Brooks tells us in her afterword that she based Mr. March in large part on the father of Little Women author Louisa May Alcott, Bronson Alcott.  Fitting, as the March family was also originally based on LMA's own family.  Even the language and speech Brooks uses in March are very closely tied to the rhythms of Little Women.  An interesting idea, and interesting work.  Is it necessary to Little Women as a sequel or in understanding?  I don't think so.  He is so absent from that work as to be dreamlike, and for some little girls it is better to have that dreamlike adoration of their fathers rather than knowing all of his flaws and mistakes and faults.

The Island House by Posie Graeme-Evans

 

Posie Graeme-Evans is a favorite author of mine.  She wrote a trilogy about a girl named Anne who has an affair with King Edward the IV in fifteenth century England, and it is amazing. (The Innocent, The Exiled, and The Uncrowned Queen)  The Island House is one of her four stand alone books, a dual timeline story set on an old Scottish island which has more history than the beach has sand.  And Posie tells us a tiny bit about that history, taking us all the way back to AD 800, a time of Viking raids and superstition and warring religions where a young girl must try to survive any way she can, even if her Pictish views don't meet with the young Viking warrior she falls for. In current times, a woman studying archaeology is poised to also dig into her father's similar work in a place she has never visited and finds foreign.  What she uncovers (ahem) will help us to link the present to the past, revealing some secrets while leaving others forever obscured. 

If you like historical fiction a la Susanna Kearsley and Phillipa Gregory, this book is right up your alley.  It took a while for me to see a connection beyond location, but the stories of these two women separated by centuries are more than enough to stand on their own.  Be prepared for some violent behavior (hello, Vikings!) and Scottish weather and boats and handsome hunks too.  Also, for some excellent and beautifully descriptive writing!  I have one more book to read and I will be a PGE completist!