An American Summer Sadly Like Every Other American Summer

although this one seems worse.  Or maybe I am finally more aware.  An American Summer:  Love and Death in Chicago is written by the brilliant Alex Kotlowitz.  And if one hasn't read There are No Children Here, it should be read today.  And then this one. 
And we have to do something, right?  But what do we do?  How do we make things right?  How do we, especially those of us who claim to follow the example of Jesus, and try to be Christ in the world, live out of faith so that we will live in a world where Black Lives will Matter?

Killed by the Narrator

And the narrator was good.
And the book was good.
But...the book was set in the American South...at a college...the main character is a college student...so why a middle age British narrator.
Just pretty much ruined the whole thing.
I didn't have high hopes for Watching, the first in the Making of Riley Paige series. 
Blake Pierce and the series and all of the others books and series written under the name Blake Pierce are one of those...what are they called...I can't remember the term...hang on...syndicate is the word I found right now, but there is another word for it.  Like Nancy Drew but for adults.  But all of these books under this name are on hoopla and when there is nothing else to read, I have been tempted.  But man...the British narrator?  Just weird and maybe lazy. 

Hmmm

For a long time I have been embarrassed to say that I had not seen Judgement at Nuremberg.  Judy of course was nominated for Best Supporting Actress, but as we know, Oscar is political and usually wrong.  1954. Now may I say that even Judy would agree that Oscar was right in awarding Rita Moreno the win that year.  1962 was no 1954.  Moreno's WSS role was the standout and Moreno is just one brilliant woman and actress, but I digress.
Shocking.

Anyway...I finally watched JAN and wow.
Wow.
Wow.
Wow.
What a movie.
Yes, Judy is incredible.  And the whole film is incredible.  I also read the book form of the script written by Abby Mann because, man.  This is one powerful story.  By the way, Mann grew up in East Pittsburgh!
One review I read of it asks the question, if the Axis powers had one the war, would the United States have been on trial for the bombings of Dresden and Tokyo and for the dropping of the atomic bombs. 
Other questions asked by the defense attorney:

Where is the responsibility of the Soviet Union...
who signed in  the pact with Hitler...
enabled him to make war?
Are we now to find Russia guilty?

Where is the responsibility of the Vatican...
who signed in the concordat with Hitler...
giving him his first tremendous prestige?
Are we now to find the Vatican guilty?

Where is the responsibility of the world leader Winston Churchill...
who said in an open letter to the London Times in            
'Were England to suffer a national disaster,
I should pray to God...
to send a man of the strength of mind
and will of an Adolf Hitler.'
Are we now to find Winston Churchill guilty?

Where is the responsibility of those American industrialists...
who helped Hitler to rebuild his armaments,
and profited by that rebuilding?
Are we now to find the American industrialists guilty?

No, Your Honor.

Germany alone is not guilty.

The whole world is as responsible for Hitler as Germany."


This blew me away because SILENCE IS VIOLENCE as we see today in the murders of so many African Americans.  Police remain silent.  Politicians remain silent (at best, MANY speak hateful, vile lies).  And most embarrassingly to me, pulpits remain silent. 

We all have the blood of 8 million Jews on our hands.  We all have the neck of George Floyd under our boot. 

WE MUST ACT FOR JUSTICE AND LIFE! 
WE MUST STAND FOR LOVE AND BE PEACE MAKERS NOT PEACE KEEPERS!  Because the "peace" we are protecting when we say "all lives matter" and "stop the looting" and "cant't we just be peaceful and kind" is not a peace.  It is signing a pact with evil like the Vatican did in 1933.

We must wake up and remember we were ALL created in the image of God and the only way to grow into God's likeness is to act like Jesus did.  Jesus was political. 
Jesus was killed by the state because He spoke out for the poor, the marginalized, the oppressed.  Following Jesus does not mean "peace keeping" it means PEACE MAKING and that is dangerous, dangerous work. 

Dr. and Mr. = Dr. and Ms.

Henrietta and Eleanor is a new version of Jekyll and Hyde, adapted by Libby Spurrier, who has adapted a lot of books for audio.  I like this.  I like most audible originals.  I have never read the real Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Hyde.  Nor have I even been to Jekyll Island.   I loved this J and H book a lot...but this one just was decent for me anyway. 

Years and Years and Years Ago

I listened to Wild Fire.  On a CD!  At the drive-in!  This was a LONG time ago!  And I LOVED it!  I just finished Plum Island, which is the first in the John Corey series and I loved it, too.  Because John Corey is hilarious. 

Here is just one of my favorite quotes:
She has clear, grey eyes, grey hair and a sort of interesting face with translucent skin.  A face that reminded me of an old painting.  Not any particular painting.
Or artist.
Or style.
Just an old painting.

I LOVED THAT!

Anyway...fantastic cop.  Fantastic book. 

Some People

I am not sure if more people are like Maggie or not like Maggie.  I think if we have the answer to that life would be a lot easier.  This book just completely messed with my understanding of morality and how I think (or thought) people see right and wrong.  This is How I Lied was pretty terrible regardless. 

So...this is weird.

In the Bleak Midwinter is the first book in the Rev. Clare Fergusson, and Russ Van Alstyne series.    This was not a book that came highly recommended.  In fact, when my friend told me about it she said, "These characters are terrible.  They are such jerks.  They are completely incompetent at what they do."  But then she told me that she has read every one of the books in the series.  And has every intention to read any forthcoming books in the series.  
Well I had to read one, right?
I am a pastor and so is Fergusson and so I figured that might be interesting.  And I love detective fiction, so I figured that might be interesting.  
It was not interesting at all!
My friend was right!  Neither Fergusson nor Val Alstyne are good at their jobs.  They are not sympathetic characters either.  But will I read the next one?  Yes.  I have already started it.  Will I probably read the rest of the series.  Probably.  It is like not being able to look away from an accident I guess.  I actually don't know.  It is just so bizarre.
Just.  Yeah.  I can't recommend this book either, but I will say if you read it, you might get hooked.  

Perfect for a Pandemic

I think it has been wonderful that Stuart Woods (along with Parnell Hall in this case) has released two books in pandemic time.  The world is in an awful place.  The United States is in chaos, "led" by a hateful man.  I feel helpless.  What better way to take a break from the hell that is reality right now than to read about Stone Barrington and his rich and charmed friends and family.  This is the fourth Teddy Fay book, Bombshell.  At was a great escape.

Not that we can escape all the time.  In fact, now more than ever we need to raise our voices and raise our hands and do all we can to protest the murder of African Americans, most recently George Floyd.  For the first time I preached what some might call a political sermon. I was very afraid.  The church at which I serve does not really address current circumstances in the world and country but I am trying to change that.  And it was Pentecost.  And if the Holy Spirit is with us well, we CANNOT be silent.  We MUST speak up.  Tomorrow I am going to my first protest vigil at my old church.  I am embarrassed and ashamed that it is just my first one.  But I can't be silent anymore.

I know I went off on a tangent.  But an important one.
I just wanted to make sure that it didn't seem as though it was okay to just escape into a book.  There is time for relaxing and reading, but there is also time (and the time is now) to stand up for what is right.  

What a book...

What a beautiful meditation.  What a gift Jesmyn Ward is to the world.  Navigate Your Stars is a must-read for any graduate or soon to be graduate or someone who is breathing.  This book is inspirational for everyone.  EVERYONE.
I felt especially blessed to have listened to it because she reads it.  Just read or listen to this book right now.  It is the commencement speech that Ward gave to the students at Tulane and I bet they never will forget it.  I know I won't. 

I Do Love

these audible originals.  Second Skin was QUITE good!  It was sad and surprising and smart and keep me wanting to keep on listening.  It most certainly was an original as far as a story goes, too.  And I was surprised by the ending! 

An Interesting Time

in which to read Notes from the Apocalypse:  A Journey to the End of the World and Back.  For a while it looked like COVID19 was the beginning of the end.  It still might be.  A lot is still unknown.  Most things are unknown.  Except that the end is coming, for each of us.  Death is the only certain thing.  Well, earthly death.  Because the only other certain thing is that we were created by Love, shown how to love in Jesus and we will return to Love when our earthly lives are over.  I have said this before and I will say it always, I am a Trinitarian Universalist.    I don't worry about dying.  

I can understand Mark O'Connell's obsession with the end of the world.  Growing up the 80s I remember the fear of nuclear war, and I have written about that, too.

This book was good.  It was honest and heart-felt and smart.  I was scared to read about the preppers.  Not surprised, but it is always jarring to see or read about racist hate.  

Funny, thoughtful...really good.  

Mike Lupica

I have said this before but I really can't say it enough, Mike Lupica does an excellent job of challenging Robert B. Parker and yet making Sunny Randall new and fresh and Lupica-ish!  Grudge Match is Sunny Randall #8 and I hope there are many more.  I love the connections with the whole Parker universe!  

BBT is the REAL Deal

I have dear friends who really KNOW Barbara Brown Taylor.   Pastor was president of Central Baptist Seminary when BBT came and spoke there and he and his First Lady (she hates it when I call her that!) got to know her and just say that she is an amazing, authentic person.  And I LOVE everything that I have read from BBT.  Learning to Walk in the Dark is no exception.  Fantastic and I love that she reads the audio.  A smart, well spoken, Christ-like writer, professor and priest. 

An LBGTQ Dystopian Western!

One million stars for originality for Upright Women Wanted!  If Sarah Gailey hadn't made her characters librarians I would have given it five stars.  Remember, these are not REAL book reviews, these are just my opinions.  I am not a big fan of books about librarians.  I know I am a librarian, but I just don't like librarian books!  So putting the whole librarian thing in there...which I totally get, because the librarians were really supposed to be the censors in this dystopian, fascist world, and so that was totally funny and cool, but it just took the joy out of it. 
I don't want to go into the whole librarian thing but I do want to say I LOVE the librarian job that I have and I HAVE LOVED ALL of the librarian jobs I have had! 
Anyway...I do love westerns.  I didn't think I would but then I accidentally read one!  I had ordered the latest Robert B. Parker and when I got it, well it wasn't Spenser and it wasn't Sunny and it wasn't Jesse and it wasn't even a detective or cop novel!  I was disappointed...but then...wow!  Once I met Cole and Hitch I was hooked.   I went on to read other westerns, too but C and H are my favorite.  So I liked the neo-western theme.  I loved the characters, too.  And it wasn't too long.  It was just the whole librarian thing!  But if you don't have a problem with books about librarians, this one is five star fun (and serious). 

Light My Fire

Nothing to See Here was just excellent.  So real and so surreal.  I didn't want it to end!  Unexpected and hilarious and painful, just like real life!

It Might Just Be

the time...this time of great uncertainty and worry and fear...it is hard to get sucked into a book.  Maybe had I read Eight Perfect Murders in January or this November or last December, I would feel differently.  It just didn't hold my interest as much as I had hoped. But if you have read a lot of mysteries you might really enjoy this one.  I have not read a lot of "classic" mysteries and this book very creatively refers to them, so it might be really neat if you were already familiar with the titles referred to in the book! 

For some odd reason

I had never read the first two books in the Jonathan Stride series!  Which is kinda good because I was just able to enjoy them tremendously for the first time.  Immoral and Stripped.
These were simply excellent mystery/thriller/detective books, man.  Just awesome.  And Stripped has a character in it who was way before her time and I think that the way in which Freeman writes about her, Amanda, shows the beauty of this writer's character.  He dealt with gender and sexuality in such a Christ-like, decent human being way in this book.  Totally freaking awesome.  Love this series!

SPOILERS

Here is just one thing that I loved about Perfect Little Children by Sophie Hannah: there was no obvious plot twist at the end.  I was so worried that we would find out that the whole thing was just a figment of Beth's imagination.  Which totally works in some books!  But I personally would have felt seriously ripped off if it had happened in this book.  The thing is, this book is SO well done and the whole thing is SO good that it would have been the easy way out to make Beth into someone who was having a logic break.  Excellent thriller.  Just excellent!  And no off-putting Briticisms! 

I Have to Try to Remember

that if someone on goodreads has tagged a book as "romantic suspense," it is probably not for me.  You would think I would have learned this by now.  The Third to Die is probably a great book!  And I feel bad only giving it a 3 star rating because I am sure that as far as romantic suspense books go, it is probably a 5!  It is first in a series but I won't lower the overall star ratings by reading any more because it just isn't my cup of tea.  But if you like romance with your detective fiction, go for it!

Not a Fan of Wintergirls....

so that is why I was so late in reading this one even though I had heard really good things, but I am glad I did and I really did like Shout.  I like poetry and the message here is really important.  It is raw and honest and I did cry.  And I think that all young women and young men and old women and old men should read it.  And I am glad that Anderson has raised her voice.  There is just something about her writing that doesn't "5 Star" for me...and that is probably me, yes, I am sure it is.  But I will recommend this for sure.