(started 2022 July 25 ▞)
Audio: https://www.overdrive.com/media/9529708/12-months-to-live
eBook: https://www.overdrive.com/media/9529554/12-months-to-live
By James Patterson (1947 – )) and Mike Lupica (1952 – )
Reading Notes: Lawyer Jane Smith has never lost a case. She currently has a tough one. She finds out she has advanced-stage cancer and has a year to live... An action, whodunnit, mystery and trial rolled into this story. It is entertaining-enough to warrant 9.5 hours of your life.
Audio: https://librivox.org/1601-conversation-as-it-was-by-the-social-fireside-in-the-time-of-the-tudors-version-2-by-mark-twain/
eBook: https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/3190
By Mark Twain (1835 - 1910)
Reading Notes: This recording includes an excellent 40 minute history of the story and its publication -- which I found more interesting than the story itself.
Wikipedia Summary: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1601_(Mark_Twain)
Librivox Summary:
Also known simply as "1601", this is a humorously risque work by Mark Twain, first published anonymously in 1880, and finally acknowledged by the author in 1906. (Summary by John Greenman & Wikipedia) Please note: this recording contains strong language.
Audio: https://www.overdrive.com/media/5295464/1939
eBook: https://www.overdrive.com/media/5077155/1939
By Frederick Taylor (1947 – )
Reading Notes: Anyone interested in the early stages of WWII should consider this book. Largely assembled using newspaper and diary content from Germany, Czechoslovakia, Poland and England, Taylor builds a broad view into "people's" interests and focus as Hitler and his senior team led his country into the last moves leading to war with neighbors.
Audio: https://www.overdrive.com/media/71105/1984
eBook: https://www.overdrive.com/media/625352/1984
By George Orwell (1903 – 1950)
Reading Notes: Working for the Ministry of Truth, Winston Smith quietly hates the Party and dreams of rebellion. This is still excellence in writing and as relevant as ever. See Wikipedia for a more detailed summary.
Wikipedia Summary: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nineteen_Eighty-Four
Audio: https://www.overdrive.com/media/5558540/2034
eBook: https://www.overdrive.com/media/5558752/2034
By Elliot Ackerman (1980 – ) and Adm. James Stavridis (1955 - )
Reading Notes: Speculative fiction/thriller: On March 12, 2034, China starts a war with the United States that quickly escalates into WWIII... Today China, Russia, Iran and India appear to be working on capabilities today that are used at scale in this story. It seems realistic-enough to be frightening in the context of the trajectory of U.S. leadership and influence on this small planet. I believe that this story should be required reading for young adults (maybe Juniors in High School) through the most aged tax-payer. Everyone involved in politics, government and the military should read it carefully and invest in discussions about it with constituents. It explores a range of situations that require all the humans involved to have been educated rigorously, read broadly, studied history, served others and maintained a clear connection with material facts (without a fog of fiction poisoning decision-making processes and even intuition). If you want a better view of the book's content, see the wikipedia summary.
Wikipedia summary: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2034:_A_Novel_of_the_Next_World_War
Review By Claire Jarvis: https://www.nytimes.com/...2034-elliot-ackerman-james-stavridis...
Audio: https://www.overdrive.com/media/7728272/the-620-man
eBook: https://www.overdrive.com/media/8732186/the-620-man
By David Baldacci (1960 – )
Reading Notes: Travis Devine -- a financial industry "burner" (a low-paid first-year employee) -- takes the 6:20 train to Manhattan. Without knowing, he gets involved with people involved in large-scale money laundering and fraud. His military training helps him stay alive. This who-dunnit is time reasonable entertainment.
Audio: https://www.overdrive.com/media/9384241/the-9th-man
eBook: https://www.overdrive.com/media/9384268/the-9th-man
By Steve Berry (1955 – )
Reading Notes: What happened on November 22, 1963 in Dallas, Texas? In this story one man will kill anyone to keep others from knowing the truth. "The 9th Man" is an easy-to-follow thriller/action fiction story filled with high-stakes, high-energy, and fast-paced events. The action sequences in this novel are more entertaining than the research and analysis sections between them. Most of the characters are relatively flat/2D even though some include extensive back stories. The action is filled and fueled with unlimited resources (private on one side and government on the other) and main characters who embody improbable physical and mental resilience in the face of frequent extreme stress and violence.
Some Central Characters:
Audio: https://www.overdrive.com/media/257554/abigail-adams
eBook: https://www.overdrive.com/media/345973/abigail-adams
By Woody Holton (1959 – )
Reading Notes: This biography emphasizes many ways that Abigail Adams employed her legal rights and norms to play a material role in managing her family's finances and wealth accumulation. See the OverDrive summary for more detail.
You might also see:
OverDrive Summary:
Abigail Adams offers a fresh perspective on the famous events of Adams's life, and along the way, Woody Holton, a renowned historian of the American Revolution, takes on numerous myths about the men and women of the founding era. But the book also demonstrates that domestic dramas-from unplanned pregnancies to untimely deaths-could be just as heartbreaking, significant, and inspiring as the actions of statesmen and soldiers. A special focus of the book is Adams's complex relationships: with her mother, sisters, and children; with her husband's famous contemporaries; and with Phoebe, one of her father's slaves. At the same time that John exhibited his own diplomatic skills on a better-known canvas, Abigail struggled to prevent the charitable gifts she gave her sisters from coming between them. In a departure from the persistently upbeat tone of most Adams biographies, Holton's work shows how frequently her life was marred by tragedy, making this the deepest, most humanistic portrayal ever published. Using the matchless trove of Adams family manuscripts, the author steps back to allow Abigail to respond to her many losses in her own words. Holton reveals that Abigail Adams sharply disagreed with her husband's financial decisions and assumed control of the family's money herself-earning them a tidy fortune through her shrewd speculations (this during a time when married women were not permitted to own property). And he shows that her commitment to women's equality and education was intense and explicitly expressed and practical, from the more than two thousand letters she wrote over her lifetime to her final will (written in defiance of legislation prohibiting married women from bequeathing property). Alternately witty, poignant, and uplifting, Holton's narrative sheds new light on one of America's best-loved but least-understood icons.
Audio: https://www.overdrive.com/media/8742777/act-of-oblivion
eBook: https://www.overdrive.com/media/8671542/act-of-oblivion
By Robert Harris (1957 – )
Reading Notes: This story explores what it was like for many of the Puritans in England and the in the New England Colonies by the 1660s, as well as some of the political disruptions in London, England in the years immediately following the English Civil War, including the Great Plague (1665–1666) and the Great Fire of London (1666).
After the First English Civil War, King Charles I was a prisoner of the Parliamentarians. The Parliamentarians ultimately decided that they could not successfully negotiate a settlement with him and concluded that he would have to be put to death. The House of Commons organized a bill charging try Charles I for high treason (the House of lords refused to pass it). Charles was found guilty on Saturday 27 January 1649, and his death warrant was signed by fifty-nine commissioners. He was executed on 30 January 1649. The "fifty-nine" were called regicides -- the people responsible for killing a monarch.
Set in 1660 this historical novel follows an imaginary "Richard Nayler" of the Privy Council who is tasked with tracking down the real regicides, focusing with special passion on Edward Whalley and his son-in-law William Goffe. Although dead by this time Oliver Cromwell remains present and influential in the lives of these core characters.
https://librivox.org/advance-agent-by-christopher-anvil/
Text: https://gutenberg.org/ebooks/51273
By Christopher Anvil (1925 - 2009)
(published in "Galaxy Science Fiction." February 1957)
Reader's Notes: This story starts with the assumption that all resources of the universe are targets for human exploitation and consumption. Add worm holes for faster-than-light travel, formalized survival-of-the-fittest population control, and engineering/re-engineering of humans, and you have a story that can be read on many levels and might meet the interests of many Science Fiction listeners.
Librivox Summary:
Raveling Porcy's systematized enigma, Dan found himself with a spy's worst break—he was saddled with the guise of a famed man! A masterful science fiction tale told by one of the greats. - Summary by Paul Hampton.
Audio: https://librivox.org/the-after-house-by-mary-roberts-rinehart/
eBook: https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/2358
By Mary Roberts Rinehart (1876 - 1958)
Reading Notes: The characters are a little shallow and one-dimensional, but the story regularly moves forward with some energy -- saving it for me. NOTE: This story was written just before WWI in the U.S. and incorporates some racist assumptions and behaviors. As a result, here are issues of racial stereotypes, derogatory race-related terms and dehumanizing language about African American characters in the text of "The After House."
Project Gutenberg Automated Summary:
"The After House" by Mary Roberts Rinehart is a mystery novel penned in the early 20th century. The story revolves around the character (Ralph) Leslie, who finds himself on a yacht named Ella shortly after recovering from a serious illness. As the narrative unfolds, readers are drawn into a web of suspense surrounding the ship and its crew, highlighting both personal ambitions and darker human emotions, culminating in a series of tragic events. At the start of the novel, Leslie introduces himself as a newly graduated medical student who, after enduring a bout of typhoid fever, is drawn to the adventurous life at sea. With a background as a deck-steward and an ambition for adventure, he is introduced to the Ella, a transformed coasting-vessel now serving as a yacht. His time on board showcases not only his interactions with the crew, including the enigmatic Miss Lee, but also hints at a brewing conflict that suggests an ominous undercurrent aboard the ship. As tensions rise, occurrences hinting at mystery and danger begin to emerge, setting the stage for a suspenseful voyage that promises intrigue and peril in equal measure.
https://librivox.org/the-age-of-elizabeth-by-mandell-creighton/
Text: https://archive.org/details/ageelizabeth07creigoog
By Mandell Creighton (1843 - 1901)
Reader Notes:
This book invests a lot of effort in establishing some of the context surrounding the reign of Queen Elizabeth. These include, but are not limited to: The evolution of religion in Germany, England, France, Spain, the Netherlands and the rise of Protestantism. Catholic reaction to these changes. France, England, and Scotland. Key personalities involved. The Jesuits, and more. It was an enjoyable listen and I learned a lot. The author builds a confident narrative throughout. But it is important to keep in mind that this book was published in 1875, and more current examinations of this period may build varying narratives...
Librivox Summary:
This short history by the eminent British historian, Mandell Creighton, places Elizabeth and her reign within the context of 16th century European political, religious, and military events. Elizabeth overcomes her two great rivals, King Philip of Spain and Mary, Queen of Scots. England gradually unites behind her Queen, who survives multiple assassination plots. After the defeat of the Spanish Armada, the English, lightly taxed by their frugal sovereign, launch flourishing commerce enterprises. The author writes of the Protestant Reformation that "a change of belief meant a revolt from authority." In this age of individualism, personal daring, and a consciousness of national greatness, the golden age of Elizabethan literature breaks new ground in historiography, literary theory, poetry, and above all, drama. - (Summary by Pamela Nagami, M.D.)
https://librivox.org/the-age-of-innocence-version-2-by-edith-wharton/
Text: https://www.gutenberg.org/etext/541
By Edith Wharton (1862 - 1937)
Wikipedia Summary: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Age_of_Innocence
Librivox Summary:
Edith Wharton became the first woman to win the Pulitzer Prize for fiction with this 1920 novel about Old New York society. Newland Archer is wealthy, well-bred, and engaged to the beautiful May Welland. But he finds himself drawn to May's cousin Ellen Olenska, who has been living in Europe and who has returned following a scandalous separation from her husband. Introduction by Elizabeth Klett
Audio: https://www.overdrive.com/media/10108419/the-age-of-magical-overthinking
eBook: https://www.overdrive.com/media/9919782/the-age-of-magical-overthinking
By Amanda Montell (1992 – )
Reading Notes: I think that the life-long presence of the Internet has so impacted the author's intellectual/cultural framework that she and I are distantly out of phase. That said, she reviews a number of cognitive biases that are important to all of us -- making this book a useful read, or listen.
Review by Lauren Puckett-Pope: https://www.elle.com/...amanda-montell-the-age-of-magical-overthinking-interview/
Audio: https://www.overdrive.com/media/2985766/the-alice-network
Ebook: https://www.overdrive.com/media/2952389/the-alice-network
http://www.katequinnauthor.com/books/the-alice-network
By Kate Quinn.
Reading Notes: See the Wikipedia Summary
Wikipedia Summary: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Alice_Network
Also see an NPR Summary
https://librivox.org/the-ambassadors-by-henry-james/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Ambassadors
Text at: https://www.gutenberg.org/etext/432
By Henry James (1843 - 1916), published 1903
Reading Notes: I recommend this excellent 19th century novel to anyone who has the time to think about their place and role in the world...
Summary from Librivox:
"Henry James considered The Ambassadors his best, or perhaps his best-wrought, novel. It plays on the great Jamesian theme of the American abroad, who finds himself in an older, and some would say richer, culture that that of the United States, with its attractions and dangers. Here the protagonist is Lambert Strether, a man in his fifties, editor of a small literary magazine in Woollett, Massachusetts, who arrives in Europe on a mission undertaken at the urging of his patron, Mrs. Newsome, to bring back her son Chadwick. That young man appears to be enjoying his time in Paris rather more than seems good for him, at least to those older and wiser. The novel, however, is perhaps really about Strether's education in this new land, and one of his teachers is the city of Paris -- a real Paris, not an idealized one, but from which Strether has much to learn. Chad Newsome, of course is there too, and so are a scattering of other Americans, his old friend Waymarsh and his new acquaintance Maria Gostrey among them. Had Strether his life to live over again, knowing what he has now learned, how different would it be? and what are the lessons he takes home with him?" - Summary from: https://librivox.org/the-ambassadors-by-henry-james/
Audio: https://www.overdrive.com/media/4248087/america-before
eBook: https://www.overdrive.com/media/4334563/america-before
By Graham Hancock (1950 – )
Reading Notes: An overly-long, but interesting argument about a theorized ancient civilization that seeded the cultures across the globe that followed. The author includes a lot of "what if" speculation that may not mix well with the "sciency" stuff for some.
Author's Summary: https://grahamhancock.com/america-before/
We've been taught that North and South America were empty of humans until around 13,000 years ago—amongst the last great landmasses on earth to have been settled by our ancestors. But new discoveries have radically reshaped this long-established picture and we know now that the Americas were first peopled more than 130,000 years ago—many tens of thousands of years before human settlements became established elsewhere. Hancock's research takes us on a series of journeys and encounters with the scientists responsible for the recent extraordinary breakthroughs. In the process, from the Mississippi Valley to the Amazon rainforest, he reveals that ancient "New World" cultures share a legacy of advanced scientific knowledge and sophisticated spiritual beliefs with supposedly unconnected "Old World" cultures. Have archaeologists focused for too long only on the "Old World" in their search for the origins of civilization while failing to consider the revolutionary possibility that those origins might in fact be found in the "New World"?America Before: The Key to Earth's Lost Civilization is the culmination of everything that millions of listeners have loved in Hancock's body of work over the past decades, namely a mind-dilating exploration of the mysteries of the past, amazing archaeological discoveries and profound implications for how we lead our lives today.
Review by Hung Truong: https://somuchscifi.com/america-before-key-to-earths-lost-civilization-graham-hancock/
Audio: https://www.overdrive.com/media/3994888/american-spy
eBook: https://www.overdrive.com/media/4239792/american-spy
By Lauren Wilkinson ( – )
Reading Notes: This spy thriller is about a black female secret agent Marie Mitchell an intelligence officer with the FBI, a sister, daughter, and mother and much more. She gets her first mission in 1986, at "the end of the cold war" -- to gather information about Thomas Sankara leader of the newborn Burkina Faso. Unfortunately, her handler has lied to her...
Review by Mick Herron: https://www.nytimes.com/.../american-spy...
Audio: https://www.overdrive.com/media/4256700/ancestral-night
eBook: https://www.overdrive.com/media/4245835/ancestral-night
By Elizabeth Bear (1971 – )
Reading Notes: This is thoroughly satisfying science fiction / space opera / character study. Interstellar salvage ship crew Haimey, Singer, and Connla (and their two cats) operate within the Synarche republic (most of the of the Milky Way galaxy) as treasure hunters. They find a wreck on the edge of inhabited space only to discover it was used to manufacture drugs using people as a major raw material. Central character "Haimey, like most of the Synarche’s citizens, has implants that allow her to interface with technology as easily as most of us breathe. These implants also allow her to turn emotions on and off and even alter her personality and psychological makeup at will." While exploring the wreck, Haimey is infected with an alien (Koregoi) substance (living aliens?) that give her new senses. This salvage discovery was actually organized by revolutionaries and their partner pirates to lure Haimey into revealing secrets from her past -- a past that has been buried in the recesses of her pharmaceutically maintained consciousness. Pirate Farweather -- the image of unrestrained self-interest (think Trump?) -- battles with Haimey, who fights to maintain her chosen moral compass and altruism as they travel the galaxy. Although speeding along at faster-than-light velocity using "whitespace" technology (created and managed "ripples" in space-time), space remains gigantic, so there is a lot of time for character interactions and (for Haimey) personal reflection. They discover ancient -- yet advanced -- civilization-disrupting technology and...
A space salvager and her partner make the discovery of a lifetime that just might change the universe in this wild, big-ideas space opera from Hugo Award-winning author Elizabeth Bear. Halmey Dz and her partner Connla Kurucz are salvage operators, living just on the inside of the law...usually. Theirs is the perilous and marginal existence—with barely enough chance of striking it fantastically big—just once—to keep them coming back for more. They pilot their tiny ship into the scars left by unsuccessful White Transitions, searching for the relics of lost human and alien vessels. But when they make a shocking discovery about an alien species that has been long thought dead.
Review by Russell Letson: https://locusmag.com/2019/04/russell-letson-reviews-ancestral-night-by-elizabeth-bear/
Review by Russ Brown: https://sfbook.com/ancestral-night.htm
Lots of reviews on GoodReads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/26159745-ancestral-night
Reviews on Bookmarks: https://bookmarks.reviews/reviews/ancestral-night/
Audio: https://www.overdrive.com/media/4608846/the-andromeda-evolution
eBook: https://www.overdrive.com/media/4591747/the-andromeda-evolution
By and Daniel H. Wilson (1978 – )
Reading Notes: The Andromeda Evolution is a fast moving, entertaining technothriller. If you like the genera, this seems like a good match. It is the fourth novel published after Michael Crichton's death in 2008, and is a sequel to his 1969 novel "The Andromeda Strain." See the Wikipedia or OverDrive summary if you need to know more details about the story...
See the Wikipedia Summary of The Andromeda Evolution.
The Evolution is Coming.
In 1967, an extraterrestrial microbe came crashing down to Earth and nearly ended the human race. Accidental exposure to the particle—designated The Andromeda Strain—killed every resident of the town of Piedmont, Arizona, save for an elderly man and an infant boy. Over the next five days, a team of top scientists assigned to Project Wildfire worked valiantly to save the world from an epidemic of unimaginable proportions. In the moments before a catastrophic nuclear detonation, they succeeded.
In the ensuing decades, research on the microparticle continued. And the world thought it was safe...
Deep inside Fairchild Air Force Base, Project Eternal Vigilance has continued to watch and wait for the Andromeda Strain to reappear. On the verge of being shut down, the project has registered no activity—until now. A Brazilian terrain-mapping drone has detected a bizarre anomaly of otherworldly matter in the middle of the jungle, and, worse yet, the tell-tale chemical signature of the deadly microparticle.
With this shocking discovery, the next-generation Project Wildfire is activated, and a diverse team of experts hailing from all over the world is dispatched to investigate the potentially apocalyptic threat.
But the microbe is growing—evolving. And if the Wildfire team can't reach the quarantine zone, enter the anomaly, and figure out how to stop it, this new Andromeda Evolution will annihilate all life as we know it.
Audio: https://www.overdrive.com/media/6104021/the-anomaly
eBook: https://www.overdrive.com/media/6093663/the-anomaly
By Hervé Le Tellier (1957 – )
Reading Notes: At the outset, this story may seem like an extended series of lightly-connected expert-level creative writing exercises. Stick with it. About four hours in -- yes "4" -- we begin to get some important context, and I think that the story becomes one that should hold your interest (and more). It did mine. After thinking about this book a little, to me it has parallels to a vast chapel ceiling by Michelangelo at his peak -- via the written word. I wonder what sparks, what raging fires of creativity and supporting knowledge, craft and effort propel the author to this result. "The Anomaly" is the first work by Hervé Le Tellier that I have read/heard. This seems like an important book because of Le Tellier's sensitivity to culture and the breadth of cultures he incorporated into the story. Again and again that silent question surfaced -- "how did he do that?" (if you really need to know more about the story before deciding to read it, see the Wikipedia summary or the summary on Overdrive).
Wikipedia Summary: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Anomaly_(novel)
By C. P. (Clarence Preston) Gillette (1859-1941)
Publication info: Fort Collins, Colo, The Experiment station, 1900
Notes: "Bulletin 54. The Agricultural experiment station of the Agricultural college of Colorado."
eBook: https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/bibliography/55796
and: https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/116514#page/8/mode/1up
and: https://ia801301.us.archive.org/16/items/cu31924003192543/cu31924003192543.pdf
Reading Notes: The title says it all... If you have any interest in how honey bees build their honey combs, this might be a useful, short introduction to the subject.
Audio: https://www.overdrive.com/media/8958964/arch-conspirator
eBook: https://www.overdrive.com/media/8918095/arch-conspirator
By Veronica Roth (1988 – )
Reading Notes: This short story (3 hours) incorporates many kinds of loss -- in the end, most of the characters choose their death. This is probably not a story for the already depressed.
Summary from the author's book website:
Outside the last city on Earth, the planet is a wasteland. Without the Archive, where the genes of the dead are stored, humanity will end. Antigone's parents -- Oedipus and Jocasta -- are dead. Passing into the Archive should be cause for celebration, but with her militant uncle Kreon rising to claim her father's vacant throne, all Antigone feels is rage. When he welcomes her and her siblings into his mansion, Antigone sees it for what it really is: a gilded cage, where she is a captive as well as a guest. But her uncle will soon learn that no cage is unbreakable. And neither is he.
Audio: https://www.overdrive.com/media/9381882/argylle
eBook: https://www.overdrive.com/media/10043420/argylle
By Elizabeth "Elly" Conway is an author pseudonym for the writing team of Terry Hayes and Tammy Cohen ( – )
Reading Notes: If you are looking for an action story, this seems like a good option. A young agent with a complex back story exhibits super skills in a mission to defang a rising Russian autocrat.
Audio: https://www.overdrive.com/media/76360/an-army-at-dawn-the-war-in-north-africa-1942-1943
eBook: https://www.overdrive.com/media/510753/an-army-at-dawn-the-war-in-north-africa-1942-1943
By Rick Atkinson (1952 – )
Reading Notes: The first year of the Allied war.
OverDrive Summary:
Beginning with the daring amphibious invasion in November 1942, An Army at Dawn follows the American and British armies as they fight the French in Morocco and Algeria, and then take on the Germans and Italians in Tunisia. Battle by battle, an inexperienced and sometimes poorly led army gradually becomes a superb fighting force. Central to the tale are the extraordinary but fallible commanders who come to dominate the battlefield: Eisenhower, Patton, Bradley, Montgomery, and Rommel. OverDrive
Audio: https://www.overdrive.com/media/138702/arsenals-of-folly
eBook: https://www.overdrive.com/media/148008/arsenals-of-folly
By Richard Rhodes (1937 – )
886 pages (hardcover)
Reading Notes: I lived through the period covered in this book and was reminded of the many ways individuals coveting power lied about non-existant "secrets" and then exaggerated threats to justify their actions. I think it should be required reading for anyone who finds themselves believing political or military actors who use lies and/or fear to motivate their followers and justify their actions. There is a lot of science supporting the negative impacts of lying and dishonesty on the human brain and this book appears to illustrate some critical outcomes when leaders (at many levels) make lying and exaggerating threats a habit. At the end of the book, Rhodes argued that the the military investments driven by the repeated fake intelligence and threat inflation displaced trillions of dollars in social and infrastructure investments, leaving the U.S. much worse off than it would have been. Many of the same characters repeatedly appear through the Reagan, Bush senior and Bush (junior) adminstrations. Some of them also helped create academic research and public and private policy organizations to nurture new generations to carry on and evolve their ideas and practices. Their progeny remain influential today. Richard Rhodes shares a lot of detail throughout this historical nonfiction book. Unless you have an interest in Nuclear Weapons and their proliferation from the 1960s through the early 1990s this book might be a slog.
Presentation by Rhodes on Arsenals of Folly, November 1, 2007, C-SPAN
OverDrive Summary:
In a narrative that moves like a thriller, Rhodes sheds light on the Reagan administration’s unprecedented arms buildup in the early 1980s, as well as the arms-reduction campaign that followed, and Reagan’s famous 1986 summit meeting with Gorbachev. Rhodes’s detailed exploration of events of this time constitutes a prehistory of the neoconservatives, demonstrating that the manipulation of government and public opinion with fake intelligence and threat inflation that the administration of George W. Bush has used to justify the current “war on terror” and the disastrous invasion of Iraq were developed and applied in the Reagan era and even before. Drawing on personal interviews with both Soviet and U.S. participants, and on a wealth of new documentation, memoir literature, and oral history that has become available only in the past ten years, Rhodes recounts what actually happened in the final years of the Cold War that led to its dramatic end. The story is new, compelling, and continually surprising -– a revelatory re-creation of a hugely important era of our recent history.
https://librivox.org/at-the-mountains-of-madness-by-h-p-lovecraft/
Text: https://archive.org/details/Astounding_v16n06_1936-02_frankenscan/page/n9/mode/2up
Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/At_the_Mountains_of_Madness
By H. P. Lovecraft (1890 - 1937)
Reader's Notes:
Horror, supernatural, scienct fiction expertly read by Ben Tucker.
For context, you might want to see Cthulhu Mythos.
[Librivox Summary](https://librivox.org/at-the-mountains-of-madness-by-h-p-lovecraft/:
"In the most cold and remote region of the planet lies mountains towering higher than the Himalayas and containing abominable secrets the mind can scarcely fathom. When an intrepid expedition stumbles across the remains of an ancient race of creatures that predates humanity by millions of years, they believe they've discovered the scientific find of the century. Instead, they've unearthed a terror beyond all reckoning which may devour them both body and soul. Enter into the icy realms of one of H. P. Lovecraft's most seminal cornerstones of the Cthulhu mythos.... If you dare!" - Summary by Ben Tucker
https://librivox.org/atlantis-by-gerhart-hauptmann/
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/17241
By Gerhart Hauptmann (1862 - 1946) Published 1912
Translated by Adele Szold Seltzer (1876 - 1940)
Reader Notes: This is an interesting story -- in places it seemed long and unnecessarily wandering.
Librivox Summary:
Frederick von Kammacher is a young doctor in Germany whose wife has gone insane, whose children are in a boarding school, and whose career has been destroyed by some faulty research he has published. He becomes infatuated with a teenage dancer, and on a whim he boards the the same steamship the dancer is on bound for New York. Hauptmann was heralded as a seer for his description of what happens to their steamship mid-ocean, and what in reality happened to the Titanic only months later.
Summary/Review by "Steve R" on GoodReads.
https://librivox.org/atomic-by-henry-kuttner/
Text: https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/68167
By Henry Kuttner (1915 - 1958)
Reader's Notes:
More juvenile/young adult science fiction -- lots of unlikely human behaviors throughout. See the Librivox summary... Add in an assumption that mind control is a natural/normal activity.
Librivox Summary:
"What nuclear war may do to the world we know is a closed book to mankind—but here’s what coming eras may bring!" After nuclear war, scientists in Biological Control Labs monitor the former bomb sites, fearing that a mutated animal will develop the intelligence and power to become a threat to humans. One day, men sent to investigate alarms activated in the nuclear wasteland in the New York area find more than they bargained for. - Summary by Elsie Selwyn
Audio: https://www.overdrive.com/media/10335398/attack-from-within
eBook: https://www.overdrive.com/media/9830572/attack-from-within
By Barbara McQuade (1964 – )
Reading Notes: This is an excellent essay (see the Overdrive Summary). Read or listen to it.
(Barbara McQuade) breaks down the ways disinformation has become a tool to drive voters to extremes, disempower our legal structures, and consolidate power in the hands of the few. American society is more polarized than ever before. We are strategically being pushed apart by disinformation-the deliberate spreading of lies disguised as truth-and it comes at us from all sides: opportunists on the far right, Russian misinformed social media influencers, among others. It's endangering our democracy and causing havoc in our electoral system, schools, hospitals, workplaces, and in our Capitol. Advances in technology including rapid developments in artificial intelligence threaten to make the problems even worse by amplifying false claims and manufacturing credibility. In Attack from Within, legal scholar and analyst Barbara McQuade, shows us how to identify the ways disinformation is seeping into all facets of our society and how we can fight against it. Disinformation is designed to evoke a strong emotional response to push us toward more extreme views, unable to find common ground with others. The false claims that led to the breathtaking attack on our Capitol in 2020 may have been only a dress rehearsal. Attack from Within shows us how to prevent it from happening again, thus preserving our country's hard-won democracy.
Audio: https://www.overdrive.com/media/61448/master-and-commander
eBook: https://www.overdrive.com/media/676907/master-and-commander
By Patrick O'Brian (1914 – 2000)
Reading Notes: If you enjoy sailing novels or historical novels set in the earliest 19th century, or naval histories I recommend this series. Patrick O'Brian introduces a collection of characters who will play core roles in the rest of the series and does so emphasizing their strengths and weaknesses and the stage of their careers and/or station in life/society (which will evolve throughout this excellent series). "Master and Commander" (from Wikipedia) "is a nautical historical novel set at the turn of the 19th century. It focuses on two characters: the young Jack Aubrey, a Royal Navy lieutenant who has just been promoted to the rank of Master and Commander, effectively a captain, and Stephen Maturin, a destitute physician and naturalist whom Aubrey appoints as his naval surgeon. They sail in HM sloop-of-war Sophie with first lieutenant James Dillon, a wealthy and aristocratic Irishman. The naval action in the Mediterranean is closely based on the real-life exploits of Lord Cochrane, including a battle modelled after Cochrane's spectacular victory in the brig HMS Speedy over the vastly superior Spanish frigate El Gamo."
Wikipedia Summary of Master and Commander: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Master_and_Commander
Principal characters mentioned in Master and Commander: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Master_and_Commander#Principal_characters
Ships mentioned in Master and Commander: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Master_and_Commander#Ships
Wikipedia Summary of the Aubrey–Maturin series: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aubrey%E2%80%93Maturin_series
Recurring characters in the Aubrey–Maturin series: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Recurring_characters...
Audio: https://www.overdrive.com/media/74610/post-captain
eBook: https://www.overdrive.com/media/676909/post-captain
By Patrick O'Brian (1914 – 2000)
Reading Notes: If you enjoy sailing novels or historical novels set in the earliest 19th century, or naval histories I recommend this series. Patrick O'Brian introduces a few more characters who will play core roles in the rest of the series. "Post Captain" (from Wikipedia) is a nautical historical novel set at the turn of the 19th century. "During the brief Peace of Amiens, Aubrey and Maturin live in a country house in England, where they meet women with whom they fall in love. The mores of courtship restrict both men as to making marriage proposals. Then their lives are turned upside down when Aubrey loses his money due to decisions of the prize court and a dishonest prize-agent. To avoid seizure for debt, they proceed through France to Maturin's property in Spain. When the war begins afresh, Aubrey has a command aboard HMS Polychrest, gaining fewer prizes yet succeeding in his military goals. He is eventually promoted and is given temporary command of the frigate HMS Lively while its captain is ashore. The emotions of his love life interfere with his ways at sea, showing him sharply different in his decisiveness at sea compared to his clumsiness on land."
Wikipedia Summary of Post Captain: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Post_Captain_(novel)
Principal characters mentioned in Post Captain: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Post_Captain_(novel)#Principal_characters
Ships mentioned in Post Captain: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Post_Captain_(novel)#Ships
Wikipedia Summary of the Aubrey–Maturin series: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aubrey%E2%80%93Maturin_series
Recurring characters in the Aubrey–Maturin series: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Recurring_characters...
https://librivox.org/audubons-western-journal-1849-1850-by-john-woodhouse-audubon/
Text: https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/58575
By John Woodhouse Audubon (1812 - 1862)
With biographical memoir by his daughter Maria Rebecca Audubon (1843-1925)
Introduction, notes, and index by Frank Heywood Hodder (1860-1935)
Reading Notes: This travel journal provides a little access into the brutality of cross-country travel in 1849 in what is now the Southern and Western United States.
Librivox Summary:
"John Woodhouse Audubon (1812-1862), son of the famous painter John James Audubon and an artist in his own right, joined Col. Henry Webb's California Company expedition in 1849. From New Orleans the expedition sailed to the Rio Grande; it headed west overland through northern Mexico and through Arizona to San Diego, California. Cholera and outlaws decimated the group. Many of them turned back, including the leader. Audubon assumed command of those remaining and they pushed on to California, although he was forced to abandon his paints and canvases in the desert…. Throughout the whole of this long journey Mr. Audubon took notes of scenes and occurrences by the way. In his descriptions he exhibits the keen observation of the naturalist and the trained eye of the artist. The result is a remarkable picture of social conditions in Mexico, of birds and trees, of sky and mountains and the changing face of nature, of the barrenness of the desert and the difficulties of the journey, of the ruined missions of California, of methods of mining, and of the chaos of races and babel of tongues in the gold fields. It was manifestly impossible to keep a daily journal, and the entries were made from time to time as opportunity occurred. Considering the circumstances under which they were taken, the notes are remarkable for their accuracy. Because it was not edited by Audubon, the text (and this recording) ends abruptly." - ([Summary by Book Introduction and David Wales)
https://librivox.org/auguste-rodin-by-rainer-maria-rilke/
Text: https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/45605
Reference: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Auguste_Rodin
By Rainer Maria Rilke (1875 - 1926)
Translated by Jessie Lemont (1862 - 1947)
Reading Notes: This is not a traditional biography. It is worth a couple hours while pulling weeds, gardening, dusting, etc. but I cannot recommend it to anyone wanting a 'traditional' biography of Rodin or a review of his artistic work.
Librivox Summary:
Rodin has pronounced Rilke's essay the supreme interpretation of his work. (From the translators' Preface)
Auguste Rodin, 1840-1917, was a French sculptor. Although Rodin is generally considered the progenitor of modern sculpture, he did not set out to rebel against the past. He was schooled traditionally, took a craftsman-like approach to his work, and desired academic recognition, although he was never accepted into Paris's foremost school of art. Sculpturally, Rodin possessed a unique ability to model a complex, turbulent, deeply pocketed surface in clay. … Rodin… modeled the human body with realism, and celebrated individual character and physicality. From the unexpected realism of his first major figure… to the unconventional memorials whose commissions he later sought, Rodin's reputation grew, such that he became the preeminent French sculptor of his time. By 1900, he was a world-renowned artist.
Rainer Maria Rilke (1875-1926) was a Bohemian-Austrian poet and novelist, "widely recognized as one of the most lyrically intense German-language poets", writing in both verse and highly lyrical prose. Several critics have described Rilke's work as inherently "mystical"…. [Rilke's] encounter with modernism was very stimulating: Rilke became deeply involved in the sculpture of Rodin, and then with the work of Paul Cézanne. For a time he acted as Rodin's secretary, also lecturing and writing a long essay on Rodin and his work. Rodin taught him the value of objective observation… - (Summary from the Foreword by Herman George Scheffauer)
https://www.overdrive.com/media/2234713/aurora
By Kim Stanley Robinson (1952 - )
Kim Stanley Robinson bibliography: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kim_Stanley_Robinson_bibliography
Reader's Notes: Another excellent book!
A generation ship is launched from Earth in 2545 at 0.1 c (i.e. traveling at 108,000,000 km/h or 10% the speed of light). It includes twenty-four self-contained biomes and an average population of two thousand people. Their destination is the Tau Ceti system to begin colonization of a planet's moon, an Earth analog, which has been named Aurora.
The book follows Devi (the ship's de facto chief engineer and leader) and Freya (Devi's daughter) and the ship's AI quantum computer through a journey of discovery.
Wikipedia Summary/Review: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aurora_(novel)
Audio: https://librivox.org/the-awakening-by-kate-chopin/
Audio: https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/23724
eBook: https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/160
By Kate Chopin (1850 - 1904)
Publication date: 22 April 1900 (first edition was 1899 or earlier)
Wikipedia Summary: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Awakening_(Chopin_novel)
Audio: https://www.overdrive.com/media/2557117/barsk
eBook: https://www.overdrive.com/media/2229358/barsk
By By Lawrence M. Schoen and on lawrencemschoen.com (1959 – )
Reading Notes: This is an interesting story that occurs in a sci-fi wrapper (the storyline depends on some well-integrated sci-fi "science"), but it also probes the nature of prejudice, greed, hate, friendship, self-awareness, ethics, culture & social norms and much more. The author's story-telling drew me in and kept me engaged. In the distant future "the Alliance" -- a hundred or more different highly advanced anthropomorphic mammal species (think: elephant, otter, domestic dog, cheetah, bear, prairie dog, panda, sloth, yak, etc.) -- elephants or "Fants" occupy planet Barsk and are an outcast race. Fants control the secret manufacture of "koph" a drug that enables a small minority of users (Speakers) to converse with the dead. The storyline starts as we learn that someone or some peoples are attempting to learn how to make koph and are willing to use extreme measures to gain that knowledge. On Barsk, Fant Jorl ben Tral is a historian and a Speaker knows his best friend Arlo recently committed suicide. Jorl is a mentor/friend of his dead friend's 6 year old son Pizlo ben Arlo, who is shunned as an “abomination” by the rest of the Fants because of his albinism & other health issues. Fant discovers that some people who where thought to be recently dead cannot summoned by a Speaker -- which should not be... If you want to learn more about the story -- including spoilers -- see the reviews linked below.
Author's Summary: http://www.lawrencemschoen.com/the-universe-of-barsk/
Review by Bill Capossere and Marion Deeds: https://fantasyliterature.com/reviews/barsk/
Review on elitistbookreviews.com by "Dan: https://elitistbookreviews.com/2016/11/03/barsk-the-elephants-graveyard/
Lots of reviews on GoodReads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/28220629-the-elephants-graveyard
https://librivox.org/bashan-and-i-by-thomas-mann/
Text: https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/61284
By Thomas Mann (1875 - 1955)
Translated by Herman George Scheffauer (1876 - 1927)
Librivox Summary:
Simple and unpretentious as a statement by Francis d'Assisi, yet full of a gentle modern sophistication and humour, this little work will bring delight and refreshment to all who seek flight from the heavy-laden hour. It is, moreover, one of the most subtle and penetrating studies of the psychology of the dog that has ever been written—tender yet unsentimental, realistic and full of the detail of masterly observation and description, yet in its final form and precipitation a work of exquisite literary art. - Summary from the Foreword by Herman George Scheffauer
Audio: https://www.overdrive.com/media/985444/the-beautiful-mystery
eBook: https://www.overdrive.com/media/1012531/the-beautiful-mystery
By Louise Penny (1958- )
Reading Notes:
Chief Inspector Armand Gamache and Jean-Guy Beauvoir of the Sûreté du Québec investigate a murder at the remote monastery Saint-Gilbert-Entre-les-Loups. This was a good fit for a long car ride...
If you like this series or are considering starting it there is a site that has resources to help you decide what next, https://www.gamacheseries.com/explore/series-re-read/ -- outlining each of the volumes.
Audio: https://www.overdrive.com/media/5431622/before-the-coffee-gets-cold
eBook: https://www.overdrive.com/media/4838030/before-the-coffee-gets-cold
By Toshikazu Kawaguchi (1971 – )
Reading Notes: Includes: "Before the Coffee Gets Cold" (2015), "Tales from the Café." (2022) and "Before Your Memory Fades." (2022)
Wikipedia Summary: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Before_the_Coffee_Gets_Cold
Review by Antonia Hitchens: https://www.nytimes.com/...toshikazu-kawaguchi-tales-from-the-cafe.html
https://apa.si.edu/bookdragon/before-the-coffee-gets-cold-by-toshikazu-kawaguchi-translated-by-geoffrey-trousselot-in-christian-science-monitor/
https://www.bookseriesinorder.com/toshikazu-kawaguchi/
https://www.harpercollins.com/products/before-the-coffee-gets-cold-a-toshikazu-kawaguchi-book-set-toshikazu-kawaguchi?variant=41049284083746
https://librivox.org/behind-a-mask-by-louisa-may-alcott/
Text: https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/8677
By Louisa May Alcott (1832 - 1888)
Reader Notes: First, see the Wikipedia Summary. This may be more than a simple 19th century family drama. Jean Muir manipulates males who range from their late teens to (maybe) their middle sixties -- men who do her bidding in virtually total self-interest, the desire to "have her." As a male reader, this all seemed a little too easy, too convenient. Yet, Ms. Alcott may have been more successful at building (and crushing) widely assumed male and female archetypes. In any case, she leaves much of the Coventry family damaged. And left the reader wondering how these characters went about their roles in mid-19th century British society...
Wikipedia Summary: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Behind_a_Mask
Librivox Summary:
"Fans of Louisa May Alcott's Little Women will remember that her heroine Jo wrote racy novels before turning her hand to more "serious" literature. Alcott, writing under the pseudonym A. M. Barnard, often did the same, and Behind a Mask (1866) is one of her sensation novels. It focuses on Jean Muir, who enters the home of the wealthy Coventry family as governess to their sixteen-year-old daughter. But is the beguiling Miss Muir all that she seems to be?" Summary by Elizabeth Klett
https://librivox.org/bernard-treves-boots-a-novel-of-the-secret-service-by-laurence-clarke/
Text: https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/42459
By Laurence Clarke (Laurence Ayscough) and 1911 census info and family tree (1873 - 1942)
Reading Notes: This story is based upon a member of the British secret services finding a doppelgänger of a known German spy in WWI England -- so perfect a match that the spy's wife and his father could not tell them apart. If you can get by that, the story of intrigue moves rapidly and characters are human-enough to make it a pleasant listen.
Librivox Summary:
What has Manton gotten himself into? His impersonation has broader implications -- and more dangerous ones -- than he had imagined. - (Summary by David Wales)
https://librivox.org/the-best-church-hymns-by-louis-fitzgerald-benson/
Text: https://archive.org/details/bestch00bens
Related: https://www.logcollegepress.com/louis-fitzgerald-benson-18551930
By Louis Fitzgerald Benson and https://www.jstor.org/stable/23332603 (1855 - 1930)
Reading Notes: This is an odd, short book, that includes the reading of representative sections of roughly 30 hymns. I enjoyed listening to the sometimes clever and sometimes magical rhymes and word-play represented in some of the best.
Librivox Summary:
This 1898 book is the result of a survey of 107 hymn-books. The thirty-two hymns are ranked in order of popularity. The texts in this recording are said only, not sung, along with a few explanatory notes for each hymn (some footnotes, not all, here recorded). The texts are preceded by two essays concerning hymns and their standards. Benson (1855-1930) was an American Presbyterian minister who edited several hymnals. - (Summary by David Wales)
https://librivox.org/big-sur-by-jack-kerouac/
Text: https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uc1.31822033766825&view=1up&seq=1
By Jack Kerouac (1922 - 1969). Published 1962
See Wikipedia Summary
Reading Notes: I got through roughly half of this book and have given up. The only food that I find repulsive is canned beets... For me, the attitude and repetition of this book has a little of that canned beet flavor, and I will likely never finish it.
Wikipedia Summary: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_Sur_(novel)
Librivox Summary:
This classic of the beatnik era from famous bohemian traveller Jack Kerouac focuses on Jack Dulouz, a thinly veiled Kerouac surrogate, and his attempts to reconcile his new found success as an author with his battle with alcoholism amid trips to a cabin in Big Sur in California. Summary by Ben Tucker
Audio: https://librivox.org/billy-budd-by-herman-melville/
eBook1: https://melville.electroniclibrary.org/versions-of-billy-budd
eBook2: https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uc1.b3549801&view=1up&seq=7
By Herman Melville (1819 - 1891)
Reading Notes: This is an interesting story. After listening to it I went back and read it to ensure that I caught as much of the text as possible. I don't know what to think about "Billy Budd" other than it strikes me as an excellent story well told. There are a range of interpretations.
NOTE: I'm now veering off into strongly opinionated territory which may not be useful in helping you decide to read this book but satisfies my need to scratch a particular itch... The story includes a couple of what my life experiences leads me to believe are universal characters. First, the extraordinarly good looking and socially successful Billy Budd, described by Captain Vere as "the young fellow who seems so popular with the men -- Billy, the Handsome Sailor." And second, the Master-at-arms John Claggart characterized by Melville as driven by his "spiritual depravity" and "envy," seems like a type too often encountered in any long life, and currently (Spring 2025) headlined by example #1 Donald J. Trump, and to a lessor extent a tribe of his sycophantic minions...
Wikipedia Summary: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Billy_Budd
Librivox Summary:
Young naive sailor Billy Budd is impressed into military service with the British navy in the 1790s, framed for conspiracy to mutiny [who strikes and inadvertently kills his false accuser, Master-at-arms John Claggart,"the direct reverse of a saint" and envious of Billy], summarily convicted in a drum-head court martial, and hanged. Billy Budd is the final published work by Herman Melville, discovered in his personal papers three decades after his death. (Summary by ScientificMethodist)
https://librivox.org/biographical-notice-of-nicolo-paganini-with-an-analysis-of-his-compositions-and-a-sketch-of-the-history-of-the-violin-by-francois-joseph-fetis/
Text: https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/58184
By Francois-Joseph Fetis (1784 - 1871)
Reading Notes: If you are interested in the history of violin, viola or guitar, or of Nicolo Paganini, this may be a useful and enjoyable book.
Librivox Summary:
Niccolò (or Nicolò) Paganini (1782 – 1840) was an Italian violinist, violist, guitarist, and composer. He was the most celebrated violin virtuoso of his time, and left his mark as one of the pillars of modern violin technique. François-Joseph Fétis (1784 – 1871) was a Belgian musicologist, composer, teacher, and one of the most influential music critics of the 19th century. - (Summary by David Wales)
Audio: https://librivox.org/black-no-more-by-george-schuyler/
eBook: http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/68811
By George Schuyler (1895 - 1977)
250 pages.
Reading Notes: This satire is filled with stereotypical characters and seems deeply pessimistic. Written in the late 1920s or 1930 about race in the U.S., it uses terms for African Americans that are likely objectionable to many readers today -- the whole story may offend some... Read the excellent Wikipedia summary if you want to know more... Also, this audio book suffers from a flat reading that may draw attention from the story -- it might be a better read.
Wikipedia summary: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_No_More
https://librivox.org/blake-of-the-rattlesnake-by-frederick-thomas-jane/
https://archive.org/details/blakerattlesnak00janegoog
By Frederick Thomas Jane (1865 - 1916) Published 1895
Summary from Librivox:
Fred Jane, who later went on to publish his famous "Jane's Fighting Ships", doubtless was noting the success of other books that forecast a British defeat in the event of war in the late 19th century when he wrote this fictional account of "The Man Who Saved England." Jane tells of a possible war against both France and Russia with plenty of verve and derring-do amid naval battles, both small and large.
https://www.overdrive.com/media/134428/the-blood-of-flowers
By Anita Amirrezvani (1961 - )
Narrator Shohreh Aghdashloo
Reader Notes: I had to return this book after listening to 3:26 (26% of the total). By that time I understood enough about the writing and the story that I will return to it someday.
GoodReads Summaries: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/348632.The_Blood_of_Flowers#CommunityReviews
From the Author's Summary:
"In seventeenth century Iran, a spirited village girl of fourteen approaches the age of marriage, only to find her destiny shattered by the ominous prophecies that follow a fiery comet blazing across the desert sky. Confronted with the unexpected death of her beloved father and without prospects for gathering a dowry, the young woman and her distraught mother are forced into a difficult new life in the fabled city of Isfahan. Taken in as house servants by her distant uncle Gostaham, a well-to-do carpet designer, and his demanding wife, the two women confront an unforgiving world where their very survival requires strength and resilience beyond their most dire expectations."
Author's Summary: http://anitaamirrezvani.com/bloodofflowers.html
https://librivox.org/the-bomb-the-1945-test-of-the-first-atomic-bomb/
By various
Librivox Summary:
These two publications put out by the U.S. government are about the Trinity site in New Mexico where in 1945 the first atomic bomb was tested. Each publication (about 1984 and about 1995) complements the other, though there is some duplication. These are descriptions of the test itself and of the planning and organization leading up to the test. They also tell what was done with the site after the test and how it became a national historic landmark. - (Summary by David Wales)
Audio: https://www.overdrive.com/media/6256542/the-bomber-mafia
eBook: https://www.overdrive.com/media/6170312/the-bomber-mafia
By Malcolm Gladwell (1963 – )
Reading Notes: This is an excellent AUDIO book by Malcolm Gladwell and Pushkin Industries. Gladwell created it as an audio experience first, only then building a written book. It incorporates lots of recorded, first person voices of major characters in his story about the invention of modern high-altitude precision bombing, sound effects and music. He explores the birth of this idea in the 1930s as a response to the immoral slaughter of millions in WWI. Technology and culture got in the way of its implementation in WWII, but it has become a "normal" part of war-fighting more recently. The author argues that its existance forces a range of moral and ethical questions onto decision-makers.
Wikipedia summary: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Bomber_Mafia
Audio: https://www.overdrive.com/media/10358695/book-and-dagger
eBook: https://www.overdrive.com/media/10382397/book-and-dagger
By Elyse Graham ( – )
Reading Notes: This is good story-telling about important issues of protecting Democracy using our brains as well as our might. "At the start of WWII, the U.S. found itself in desperate need of an intelligence agency. The Office of Strategic Services (OSS), a precursor to today's CIA, was quickly formed -- and, in an effort to fill its ranks with experts, the OSS turned to academia for recruits. Suddenly, literature professors, librarians, and historians were training to perform undercover operations and investigative work -- and these surprising spies would go on to profoundly shape both the course of the war and our cultural institutions with their efforts." (Overdrive)
Academic experts and other academics who were broadly-educated humanities generalists helped the Allied cause through scholarly work now called "intelligence analysis," as well as data collection (often incorporated into on-the-ground spying & its accompanying physical risks), spy-hunting, and, sometimes, even assassination in this collection of true stories about academics who were critically important to Allied efforts to defeat the Nazis. The author argues -- I think convincingly -- that her telling of these stories "reveals the indelible power of the humanities to change the world." ...and it describes how American intelligence organizations promoted the Iowa Writer's Workshop...
CBC Review: https://www.cbc.ca/.../book-and-dagger...
Review by By Ben Macintyre: https://www.nytimes.com/.../book-and-dagger-elyse-graham
https://librivox.org/the-book-of-tea-by-kakuzo-okakura-2/
Text: https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/769
By Kakuzō Okakura (1862 - 1913)
Reader's Notes:
This is an interesting book. See the Wikipedia and Teixeria reviews below...
Librivox Summary:
The Book of Tea is as much about philosophy, religion and art as it is about a drink made with dried leaves in boiling water. It traces the development of tea into teaism. The author's first paragraph summarizes the whole book: “Tea began as a medicine and grew into a beverage. In China, in the eighth century, it entered the realm of poetry as one of the polite amusements. The fifteenth century saw Japan ennoble it into a religion of aestheticism--Teaism. Teaism is a cult founded on the adoration of the beautiful among the sordid facts of everyday existence. It inculcates purity and harmony, the mystery of mutual charity, the romanticism of the social order. It is essentially a worship of the Imperfect, as it is a tender attempt to accomplish something possible in this impossible thing we know as life.” The author shows that the philosophy of Teaism, which was developed from Japanese Zen Buddhist teachings, actually has deeper roots in Chinese Confucianism and Taoism as well. After its publication in 1906 The Book of Tea provided a window into Japanese culture, and furthered a better understanding and appreciation of the philosophy behind minimalism in Japanese art, architecture, design and living. (Summary by CliveCatterall)
Wikipedia Summary: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Book_of_Tea
Review by Leo Teixeira: https://teixeiras.medium.com/live-in-the-present-with-the-ancient-tradition-of-teaism-ef5016b429cc
Audio: https://www.overdrive.com/media/4197010/the-book-woman-of-troublesome-creek
Ebook: https://www.overdrive.com/media/4492866/the-book-woman-of-troublesome-creek
By Kim Michele Richardson ( - )
Reading Notes: This is another period-piece about a small-town rural Appalachian Kentucky coal-country and a branch of the depression era WPA traveling library with its (mostly) female staff of Packhorse Librians. [There is another of these in this list. See The Giver of Stars below.] The story follows Cussy Mary Carter, aka "Bluet," one of the "blue-skinned" people of Kentucky [see Blue Fugates to learn more], whose skin appears blue due to a rare genetic disorder - methemoglobinemia, as she serves her library clients in the isolated hills/mountains around Troublesome Creek. This is complicated by the fact that she is considered "colored" and shunned by the white community and she understands that many types of offences could result in the lynching of her or her father. In 1936 she is 19 years old and her sick, coal miner father wants to marry her to a local (almost any local) before he dies. A couple members of a large local clan end up dead in circumstances that are tied to the Carters and the local "Doc" promises to help them if Bluet will participate in some medical testing at a hospital in Lexington. Th testing leads to "treatment" for Cussy Mary which renders her skin temporarily "white." This treatment involves side-effects that interfere with Bluet's library duties, and Bluet's experience as "white," and "normal", does not change the local's prejudice against her. The story brings us into the lives of a collection of poor, rural, isolated Eastern Kentucky resident's lives, and like The Giver of Stars below this story evolves from an historical drama to something like an historical romance as the book progressed. There is, though, plenty of conflict, friendship, loyalty, injustice and justice, and complex grit to make a good story throughout.
Wikipedia Summary: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Book_Woman_of_Troublesome_Creek
Audio: https://www.overdrive.com/media/6328747/booth
eBook: https://www.overdrive.com/media/6413265/booth
By Karen Joy Fowler (1950– )
Reading Notes: This book follows the Booth family through early and mid-19th century during an especially turbulent time in America. Father, Junius Brutus Booth was a famous actor. He was also a drunk and a manipulator. "Mother," his mistress, fled England with him to Maryland where they had ten children, four of whom died young. The daughters Rosalie (the least fact-based/most fictional of the characters) and Asia (who later became a poet and writer) remained close to home, and three of the sons June (Junius Jr.), Edwin and John follow their father into the acting business. The "John Wilkes Booth" that we all learned about in one or another school history class is not the center of this novel. He is a member -- a favored member -- of the family, and one of the boys who dives into acting, a tough business for anyone, and a trial for a flawed actor. ...who is a traitor in the Civil War and goes on to murder President Lincoln. After Lincoln's assissination, the family wares the stain of John Wilkes' treason and of the Confederate white supremacy that fueled it.
I liked this novel a lot more than some professional reviewers -- for example analysis shared by NYT Book Critic Molly Young in her March 2022 review. I agree with M.Young's facts, but don't conclude that they result in or represent weakness and/or sloth in the story-telling... I think that Karen Joy Fowler tells a excellent story about a complex family during a complex period in U.S. history.
OverDrive Summary:
"In 1822, a stage is set: Englishman Junius Booth - celebrated Shakespearean actor and man of mesmerising charm and instability - moves to a remote cabin outside Baltimore with his wife, who bears him ten children. Of the six who survive infancy, one is John Wilkes - the hot-tempered but much-loved middle son who, in 1865, fatally shoots Abraham Lincoln in a Washington theatre, changing the course of history. What makes a murderer? His family or the world? And how can those who love him ever come to terms with his actions? Strikingly relevant to the world today, Booth is the story of one extraordinary family and the terrible act that shattered their bonds forever."
Review By Molly Young: https://www.nytimes.com/...review-booth-karen-joy-fowler
Reiew by Elizabeth Lowry: https://www.theguardian.com/...booth-karen-joy-fowler-review...
Review by Diane Cole: https://www.washingtonpost.com/...john-wilkes-booth-...review/
If you are interested in this topic and want to read something closer to a primary resource, these two volumes are readily available:
Asia Frigga Booth Clarke wrote "Booth Memorials: Passages, Incidents, and Anecdotes in the Life of Junius Brutus Booth (the Elder.) (1866). This book includes another perspective on much of the material in Fowler's novel.
"The Life, Crime, and Capture of John Wilkes Booth." by George Alfred Townsend is an 1865 telling of the Lincoln assassination and a short biography of his assassin.
https://librivox.org/the-brain-by-edmond-hamilton/
Text: https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/32498/ (from 'Amazing Stories' October 1948)
By Edmond Hamilton (1904 - 1977)
Reader's Notes:
In the context of the current AI mania, this story may resonate for some...
Librivox Summary:
A gigantic mechanical brain, constructed in a secret location known only to a few, is America's new weapon against the looming threat of war. The immense powers of The Brain are soon applied to the easily automated tasks of everyday modern living, in addition to its primary purpose of managing the military functions important for preserving National Security. But what happens when The Brain ... wakes up? (Summary by quartertone)
https://librivox.org/bransford-of-rainbow-range-by-eugene-manlove-rhodes/
Text: https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/33498
By Eugene Manlove Rhodes (1869 - 1934)
Reading Notes: I invested an hour into this book and could not justify continuing. It is just not a "type" that I enjoy or that I believe has enough positive content to justify the investment of another 4.5 hours.
Librivox Summary:
"A genuine cowboy who speaks a bit of Greek? Ditto a bit of The Litany? And more than a little verse, including (would you believe?) Alice In Wonderland. What kind of young man do we have here? And a young woman who matches him without effort? And a definitely literate narrator with his tongue firmly inserted in cheek. There's a bank robbery and an attempted murder. A desperate ride across the desert and a warm welcome by good Mexican friends. It's all a great deal of fun. Eugene Manlove Rhodes (1869 – 1934) was an American writer, nicknamed the "cowboy chronicler". He lived in south central New Mexico when the first cattle ranching and cowboys arrived in the area; when he moved to New York with his wife in 1899, he wrote stories of the American West that set the image of cowboy life in that era. Originally Published under the title of Bransford In Arcadia Or The Little Eohippus (1913). Note: eohippus, which plays a part all through the story, is the small prehistoric five-toed ancestor of the modern-day horse" - ([Summary by David Wales)
https://librivox.org/a-brief-account-of-the-destruction-of-the-indies-by-bartolome-de-las-casas/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Short_Account_of_the_Destruction_of_the_Indies
Text: https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/20321
By Bartolomé de las Casas (1484 - 1566)
Reading Notes: This report covers an ugly period of Western colonization and widespread genicide. In roughly a 50-year period, the Spanish, the Catholics, and their surrogates killed millions of indigenous peoples in what is now the Americas. From that perspective, it provides a contemporary, sometimes first-hand account of a period of which one should maintain a threshold understanding. Written in the 16th century for delivery to the Spanish king and then translated (possibly serially), this report is constructed in a manner unfamiliar and not particularly attractive to me. In addition, the recording was uneven and made this book a difficult slog.
Summary from Librivox:
"A Short Account of the Destruction of the Indies (Spanish: Brevísima relación de la destrucción de las Indias) is an account written by the Spanish Dominican friar Bartolomé de las Casas in 1542 (published in 1552) about the mistreatment of the indigenous peoples of the Americas in colonial times and sent to then Prince Philip II of Spain. One of the stated purposes for writing the account is his fear of Spain coming under divine punishment and his concern for the souls of the Native Peoples. The account is one of the first attempts by a Spanish writer of the colonial era to depict examples of unfair treatment that indigenous people endured in the early stages of the Spanish conquest of the Greater Antilles, particularly the island of Hispaniola. Las Casas's point of view can be described as being heavily against some of the Spanish methods of colonization, which, as he describes, have inflicted a great loss on the indigenous occupants of the islands." - (Summary by Wikipedia)
https://www.overdrive.com/media/451816/bury-your-dead
By Louise Penny (1958- )
Reader's Notes:
Another Chief Inspector Armand Gamache Novel... the 6th in the series. Penny incorporates two crime investigations into this installment. Gamache is recovering from injuries suffered in an investigation gone wrong and stumbles into a murder related to Samuel de Champlain (French explorer, navigator, cartographer, soldier, geographer and founder of Quebec). Concurrently, the murder in The "Brutal Telling" novel is investigated further.
https://librivox.org/captains-courageous-by-rudyard-kipling/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Captains_Courageous
https://www.gutenberg.org/etext/2186
By Rudyard Kipling (1868 - 1936), published 1897
Summary from Librivox:
Real men don't take guff from snotty kids. Neither does Disko Troop, skipper of the "We're Here", a fishing schooner out of Gloucester, Massachusetts, when his crew fishes Harvey Cheyne out of the Atlantic. There's no place on the Grand Banks for bystanders, so Harvey is press-ganged into service as a replacement for a man lost overboard and drowned. Harvey is heir to a vast fortune, but his rescuers believe none of what he tells them of his background. Disko won't take the boat to port until it is full of fish, so Harvey must settle in for a season at sea. Hard, dangerous work and performing it alongside a grab-bag of characters in close quarters is a life-changing experience. And when Harvey at last is reunited with his parents, who have thought him dead for months, he must face the hard decisions of how he will allow his experience to change his life.
https://librivox.org/captives-by-hugh-walpole/
Text: https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/3601
By Hugh Walpole (1884 - 1941)
Reading Notes:
Prepare yourself. This was a seriously dark book. It starts and ends with death. In between we follow Maggie Cardinal from the death of her father, time with Aunt Anne and Aunt Elizabeth and the religious community within which they are held also time with Martin Warlock and his family -- having a legacy started with James Warlock "a mystic, a visionary, a prophet" that had a belief in "God's plans" to "turn the world into a blazing coal so soon as he pleased." The character of Maggie Cardinal drives this story forward throughout and is strong enough to make this long audio book worth the investment.
Librivox Summary:
A story of alienation from the society which holds one captive, told from the standpoint of a young woman whose life is suddenly disrupted, leading her into a stumbling progression through constrained social cliques and frustrated romantic attachments, haunted by religious shadows. (Summary by Peter Tucker)
Audio: https://www.overdrive.com/media/2310419/carol
eBook: https://www.overdrive.com/media/2464940/carol-movie-tie-in-edition
1952 version - eBook: https://www.overdrive.com/media/2314033/the-price-of-salt-or-carol
By Patricia Highsmith (1921 – 1995)
Reading Notes: 19 year old Therese Belivet meets 30-something Carol Aird. Both have complex back stories. They take a road trip and... See the Wikipedia summary for a detailed summary.
Audio: https://www.overdrive.com/media/5644442/caste (Updated with a 2022 epilog)
eBook: https://www.overdrive.com/media/5257052/caste
By Isabel Wilkerson (1961 - )
Reading Notes: Regardless of your age, social or economic situation read this book. If you can, read it before you vote next time (if you are allowed to vote). It ought to be required reading for High Schools/Colleges across the globe (I know that it would have helped me think through issues about what was clearly unfair treatment of many humans that I saw around me at that age). Wilkerson argues that a set of common features characterize caste systems across various societies -- "caste" being the "stubbornly fixed hierarchy of human value" expressed in our behaviors, our perceptions of the world around us, in our laws and conventions, and more. She goes on to illustrate and support her model with examples from three caste systems: India, Nazi Germany and the United States.
Wilkerson's model involves eight "pillars of caste" (features of caste systems in various societies): Divine will, Heritability, Endogamy (sex or marriage between castes is prohibited), Purity and pollution (the dominant caste must be "pure"), Occupational hierarchy, Dehumanization and stigma, Terror and cruelty, Inherent superiority and inferiority of castes.
If you want to know more, read the Wikipedia Summary.
Wikipedia Summary: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caste:_The_Origins_of_Our_Discontents
See a list of review summaries (with links to each full review) on: https://bookmarks.reviews/reviews/all/caste-oprahs-book-club-the-origins-of-our-discontents/
OverDrive Summary:
'The hierarchy of caste is not about feelings or morality. It is about power - which groups have it and which do not' Beyond race or class, our lives are defined by a powerful, unspoken system of divisions. In Caste, Pulitzer Prize-winning author Isabel Wilkerson gives an astounding portrait of this hidden phenomenon. Linking America, India and Nazi Germany, Wilkerson reveals how our world has been shaped by caste - and how its rigid, arbitrary hierarchies still divide us today. With clear-sighted rigour, Wilkerson unearths the eight pillars that connect caste systems across civilizations, and demonstrates how our own era of intensifying conflict and upheaval has arisen as a consequence of caste. Weaving in stories of real people, she shows how its insidious undertow emerges every day; she documents its surprising health costs; and she explores its effects on culture and politics. Finally, Wilkerson points forward to the ways we can - and must - move beyond its artificial divisions, towards our common humanity. Beautifully written and deeply original, Caste is an eye-opening examination of what lies beneath the surface of ordinary lives.
Audio: https://www.overdrive.com/media/2637691/catalyst
eBook: https://www.overdrive.com/media/2663780/catalyst
By James Luceno (1947 – )
Reading Notes: This story is a Star Wars-inspired novel set as the war between the Republic and Separatists builds to a head and ends, the Republic/then Empire victorius. The story introduces military climber/opportunist Orson Krennic, scientist Galen Erso, Erso's wife Lyra and their child Jyn. It also details the creation of the superweapon that integral to the original construction of Chancellor/Emperor Palpatine’s top-secret Death Star, and how Krennic manipulates Erso into contributing to its success. This is not great literature but the action propels the story forward and is interesting-enough listening while doing chores. See the Wikipedia Summary for much more context.
Wikipedia Summary: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catalyst:_A_Rogue_One_Novel
https://librivox.org/cato-by-joseph-addison/
Text: https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/31592
By Joseph Addison (1672 - 1719) published 1712
Listening Notes: This recording is not an example of the excellence that can be found across much of librivox.org. If you want to understand this story, it may pay to read it. I found the performance distracting from the content of the play, rather than enhancing it.
"Based on the events of the last days of Marcus Porcius Cato Uticensis (better known as Cato the Younger) (95–46 BC), a Stoic whose deeds, rhetoric and resistance to the tyranny of Julius Caesar made him an icon of republicanism, virtue, and liberty. Addison's play deals with many themes such as individual liberty versus government tyranny, republicanism versus monarchism, logic versus emotion, and Cato's personal struggle to hold to his beliefs in the face of death."
Librivox Summary:
"This play was supposedly staged by George Washington after the winter of 1778 at Valley Forge as an inspiration to his officers on self-sacrificing republican virtues. Many quotes of American revolution leaders - Patrick Henry's "Give me liberty or Give me death" and Nathan Hale's "I only regret I have but one life to lose for my country" - are drawn from this play. Librivox summary by ToddHW"
Audio: https://www.overdrive.com/media/8854859/changing-planes
eBook: https://www.overdrive.com/media/1638295/changing-planes
By Ursula Le Guin (1929 – 2018) and https://www.ursulakleguin.com/biography
Reading Notes: This is a collection of short stories -- like brief ethnographic profiles of the societies they describe (14 of them). Each of those societies exist on another "plane" of reality reached using "Sita Dulip's Method" of twisting one's body while sitting in an airport between flights. This reads like a master class in creative writing AND a travel book.
Wikipedia Summary of Changing Planes: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Changing_Planes
Illustrations for Changing Planes: https://www.ursulakleguin.com/maps-and-drawings-index/#changing-planes-illustrations
Review by Kathy Weissman: https://www.bookreporter.com/reviews/changing-planes
Review in the NYT by Gerald Jonas: https://www.nytimes.com/2003/07/27/books/science-fiction.html
https://librivox.org/the-chouans-version-2-by-honore-de-balzac/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Les_Chouans
Text: https://archive.org/details/chouansleschouan00balz/page/n7/mode/2up
By Honoré de Balzac (1799 - 1850)
Translated by Ellen Marriage (1865 - 1946)
Reading Notes: This story is one way to enhance any study of revolution and civil war in France, and more generally of French history. Reading by Bruce Pirie makes this an enjoyable audio experience as well. I assume that for some, there are issues with 18th/19th century female stereotypes and related derogatory terms.
Summary on Librivox:
“The Chouans” (1829) was the first novel published under Balzac's own name (rather than a pen-name). It became the first book in the great work of his lifetime — the novel series titled “The Human Comedy.” Balzac was impressed by the writings of Sir Walter Scott. Scott made Scottish history come alive by creating fictions that used real history as backdrop. Balzac's novel is set in 1799 — the year that Napoleon became First Consul of France. In the far west of France (i.e., Brittany), anti-revolutionary sentiment still simmered. The Chouans were a rustic guerrilla militia who wanted to undo the French Revolution and restore the old Bourbon monarchy. Pitted against them were the forces of the new Republic and its military (“the Blues”). Balzac researched this historical period as well as living conditions for Bretons of that time, then wove into the actual history his own fictional account of a romance between lovers from opposite factions in the dispute. In “The Chouans,” we see an early and influential example of “historical fiction,” a genre which blossomed in popularity during the 1800s, and remains popular in today's novels and films. Summary by Bruce Pirie
Audio: https://www.overdrive.com/media/2192024/church-of-marvels
eBook: https://www.overdrive.com/media/1914017/church-of-marvels
By Leslie Parry ( – )
Reading Notes: This is a great turn-of-the-century New York City history study. Odile and Belle Church take different paths when their mother's Church of Marvels burns down. Belle is taken to Blackwell’s Lunatic Asylum, where she meets Alphie -- again. Sylvan Threadgill, working on one of the lowest levels of the work-world, finds an abandoned newborn baby in the muck below a tenement house privy. These characters' lives converge and we are taken on a journey through late nineteenth century New York City. Leslie Parry is a skilled artisan and novelist building characters that latch onto the reader, propelling her story forward, looping back when needed, and building a world any reader can empathize with. Some have criticized the structure and even the content of this novel -- I recommend that you ignore them and judge it for yourself. (*if you want to know more, see her summary at: https://www.leslieparry.com/books *)
Review by Emily St. John Mandel: https://www.nytimes.com/2015/05/31/books/review/church-of-marvels-by-leslie-parry.html
https://librivox.org/the-city-at-worlds-end-by-edmond-hamilton/
Text: https://manybooks.net/titles/hamiltoneother05cityworldsend.html
By Edmond Hamilton (1904 - 1977)
Reader's Notes:
This is an interesting application of space-time science current in the mid-20th century via popular science fiction of the time.
Librivox Summary:
A surprise nuclear war may cause the End of the World, but not the way anyone could have imagined. A classic science fiction tale from Galaxy Magazine. (Summary by Mark Nelson)
https://librivox.org/city-of-endless-night-by-milo-hastings/
Text: https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/9862
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Milo_Hastings#City_of_Endless_Night
By Milo Hastings (1884 - 1957)
Reading Notes: The characters are unevenly developed. The technology is clearly linked to what was 'normal' in the early 20th century though 230 years have passed. But the story keeps moving and it is a pleasure listening to the reader, Kate Follis. Finally, this story ends relatively abruptly -- almost ...'and then they lived happily ever after.' Too bad.
Librivox Summary:
An example of early dystopian science fiction written shortly after World War I, "City of Endless Night" imagines a future with a very different ending to the Great War. Set in 2151 and in an underground Berlin, our protagonist is Lyman De Forrest, an American chemist who enters the city to discover the hidden truths of a forbidden metropolis. The subterranean world hosts a highly-regimented society of 300,000,000 sun-starved humans. As the first outsider to enter, he's horrified by what he finds, but will he accomplish his mission and escape the living tomb? - (Summary by Kate Follis)
https://librivox.org/cleek-the-man-of-the-forty-faces-by-thomas-w-hanshew/
Text: https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/14332
By Thomas W. Hanshew (1857 - 1914)
Reading Notes: Emphasize the 'highly improbable' from below, but that does not seem to be the point. As (an often comedic) parody this is light, fun entertainment -- materially enhanced by Ruth Golding's excellent reading. Some might be repulsed by how strongly the oppression of women (via the legal and cultural structures enforcing patriarchy in late 19th/early 20th England) and oppression built around the concepts of race, caste, and class are expressed throughout the "Cleek" stories. It might be easy for a 21st century reader to pass these off as extreme parodies of British society at that time, but they seem to be expressions of the author's understanding of the world and that of his readers at the time (these were popular stories). As a result, the written words are facts -- as well as expressions of immoral, unethical and unprincipled, disgraceful, sometimes shocking and corrupt, even evil behaviors. This book may be hurtful to some.
Librivox Summary:
"Meet Hamilton Cleek - man of mystery, and master of disguise and derring-do. Cleek's exploits are, to say the least, highly improbable, but the book is enormous fun. The goodies are good and the baddies are very bad indeed, but beware - things are not always what they seem. Suspend your disbelief and enjoy a rattling good yarn! Cleek is the central figure in dozens of short stories that began to appear in 1910 and were subsequently collected in a series of books." - (Summary by Ruth Golding)
https://librivox.org/cleek-of-scotland-yard-by-thomas-w-hanshew/
Text: https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/32198
By Thomas W. Hanshew (1857 - 1914)
Reading Notes:
Some might be repulsed by how strongly the oppression of women (via the legal and cultural structures enforcing patriarchy in late 19th/early 20th England) and oppression built around the concepts of race, caste, and class are expressed throughout the "Cleek" stories. It might be easy for a 21st century reader to pass these off as extreme parodies of British society at that time, but they seem to be expressions of the author's understanding of the world and that of his readers at the time (these were popular stories). As a result, they are facts -- that expressions of immoral, unethical and unprincipled, disgraceful, sometimes shocking and corrupt, even evil behaviors.
Librivox Summary:
"Hamilton Cleek is back - or is he? Margot, Queen of the Apaches (the notorious French criminal gang) has been released on bail and vanished, Mr. Narkom has a series of inexplicable murders to solve, there is talk of revolution in Mauravania. And Cleek is missing. Hold on to your hats for another thrilling ride as spying, murder, horse-napping, bombs and political intrigue rear their ugly heads." - (Summary by Ruth Golding)
https://librivox.org/climate-incorporated-by-george-o-smith/
Text: https://gutenberg.org/ebooks/69820
By George O. Smith (1911 - 1981)
Reader's Notes: Ever so slightly interesting juvenile/young adult science fiction in which an inventor accidently creates a time machine. The plans are stolen. Corrupt politicians attempt advantage. Conflict. Resolution. Nothing special... It might be worth an hour and a quarter of your time as you work at some other mindless task. Excellent reading by "quartertone."
Librivox Summary:
"Climate control was an elusive dream. A brilliant inventor chanced upon a solution and the dream briefly became a luxurious reality. But nobody really understood how it worked until it was too late." - Summary by quartertone
Audio: https://www.overdrive.com/media/9295904/code-name-edelweiss
eBook: https://www.overdrive.com/media/9082158/code-name-edelweiss
By Stephanie Landsem ( – )
Reading Notes: This story is one approach to examining Nazi and Nazi supporter's activity in Southern California as well as local resistance to that cancer. It might be aimed at young adults...maybe younger. It also, in my reading, incorporates material Christian themes and dialog. For an overview see the author's summary. If you want a more historically accurate examination of this period you might consider Steven J. Ross’s book, "Hitler in Los Angeles: How Jews Foiled Nazi Plots Against Hollywood and America."
Author's summary: https://stephanielandsem.com/what-is-coming-next-from-me-code-name-edelweiss/
Audio: https://www.overdrive.com/media/9015660/code-name-sapphire
eBook: https://www.overdrive.com/media/8905063/code-name-sapphire
By Pam Jenoff ( – )
Reading Notes: Historical fiction, suspense, romance novel set largely in WWII Belgium. See the OverDrive Summary...
Audio: https://www.overdrive.com/media/4455228/cold-storage
eBook: https://www.overdrive.com/media/4455251/cold-storage
By David Koepp (1963 – )
Reading Notes: What a cool story and excellent characters. And a fantastic performance by narrator Rupert Friend. I recommend this story (and performance) to everyone.
When Pentagon bioterror operative Roberto Diaz was sent to investigate a suspected biochemical attack, he found something far worse: a highly mutative organism capable of extinction-level destruction. He contained it and buried it in cold storage deep beneath a little-used military repository. Now, after decades of festering in a forgotten sub-basement, the specimen has found its way out and is on a lethal feeding frenzy. Only Diaz knows how to stop it. He races across the country to help two unwitting security guards—one an ex-con, the other a single mother. Over one harrowing night, the unlikely trio must figure out how to quarantine this horror again. All they have is luck, fearlessness, and a mordant sense of humor. Will that be enough to save all of humanity?
Audio: https://www.overdrive.com/media/7345871/collateral-damage
eBook: https://www.overdrive.com/media/7454232/collateral-damage
By J.A. Jance (1944 – )
Reading Notes: In this mystery Ali Reynolds and the staff of High Noon Enterprises (high tech security company) face the consequences of crooked cop Frank Muñoz's program of revenge... See the OverDrive Summary. (this is one of the Ali Reynolds series)
https://librivox.org/the-color-of-a-great-city-by-theodore-dreiser/
Text: https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/61043
By Theodore Dreiser (1871 - 1945) published 1923
Reading Notes: Dreiser wrote these essays about New Yorkers in the context of his time. They are interesting descriptions of late 19th century New York, by a writer with few whose prejudices and scientific understanding are unfiltered. These essays are not for everyone, but may help construct/fortify one's understanding of this time period -- proviging useful color and context for additional reading of this time period.
Librivox Summary: This non-fiction work takes place in many areas of New York City in the early 20th Century. Dreiser writes of lives packed into cramped tenements, of the likely end, but perhaps not, of an affair, of those who guided ships through turbulent waters, and of life in a home for retired seamen. We're taken to the new subways where track workers risked deadly accidents as they struggled to earn a living. Animal slaughter, the glory and heartbreak of song-writing, the shabby "sandwich man", deadly jealousy in Little Italy, and much more is vividly brought to life by this brilliant author. Summary by Lee Smalley NOTE: There are issues of racial stereotypes and derogatory race-related terms in the text of "The Color of a Great City." It is LibriVox's policy to record texts as written.
https://librivox.org/the-creatures-that-time-forgot-by-ray-bradbury/
Text: https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/63874
By Ray Bradbury (1920 - 2012)
Reader's Notes: Stone age struggle for life. A singular urge for escape. This is not just another member of the shamelessly optimistic post war U.S. science fiction club, and this early Ray Bradbury story is worth a listen.
Librivox Summary:
"Mad, impossible world! Sun-blasted by day, cold-wracked by night—and life condensed by radiation into eight days! Sim eyed the Ship—if he only dared reach it and escape! ... but it was more than half an hour distant—the limit of life itself!" - Summary by Planet Stories, Fall 1946
eBook: https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/32889
Audio: https://librivox.org/cue-for-quiet-by-thomas-l-sherred/
(from "Space Science Fiction." May and July 1953)
By Thomas L. Sherred (1915 - 1985)
Reading Notes: An odd story about an unhappy man, Pete Miller, who discovers he has the power to wreck things using only his mind. He would like to monitize this power, and orchestrates a demonstration for the U.S. military. U.S. military/government Cold Warriors "take" Mr. Miller, run tests to define the scope of his powers, and the story joins its post-WWII American Science Fiction peers... If you enjoy that Si-Fi genera, it might be for you.
Audio: https://librivox.org/daughter-of-the-sky-the-story-of-amelia-earhart-by-paul-l-briand-jr/
eBook: https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/70263
By Paul L. Briand, Jr. (1920 - 1986)
Reading Notes: Even though the author seems to have written some historical fiction -- for example in some of the passages about Earhart's childhood experiences -- This biography adds some "detail" to my previously vague awareness of Amelia Earhart's life. See the Librivox Summary for a more complete summary.
Librivox Summary: This is an engaging biography of the renowned aviator. In his introduction, Briand says, "Amelia Earhart was one of America’s great heroines; her life was in many ways unique. She was one of a kind, and the fabric of her life was woven of strands that are rarely produced: she had an insatiable curiosity about everything in life—ideas, books, people, places, mechanical things; she loved all kinds of sports and games, especially those “only for boys”; she fidgeted with an implacable unrest to experiment, to try new things; she teemed with a zest for living, paradoxically entwined with a gnawing and pervasive longing to be alone; and, finally, she brooded with a fatalism toward death, which she met with a tremendous will to live." - Summary by Ciufi Galeazzi.
Audio: https://www.overdrive.com/media/9296107/dead-fall
eBook: https://www.overdrive.com/media/9313790/dead-fall
By Brad Thor (1969 – )
Reading Notes: Former Navy SEAL now private counterterrorism operative, Scot Harvath, is assigned to rescue an American citizen kidnapped in Ukraine, held by the worst of the Russian invaders. He fights constantly (and often improbably) during his time in North Eastern Ukraine and succeeds in his mission. Meanwhile, corruption in Washington and a spy in Kiev. Close to non-stop action.
Review/Summary by Ryan Steck: https://therealbookspy.com/...dead-fall-by-brad-thor/
Audio: https://www.overdrive.com/media/9267812/the-deep-sky
eBook: https://www.overdrive.com/media/9174909/the-deep-sky
By Yume Kitasei ( – )
Reading Notes: While this is an interesting story about one path for dealing with our near future climate/societl catastrophe -- sending ~80 young women on a voyage to a nearby star with a habital planet -- it is a little too young adult (YA) for me. Much of the storyline involves Asuka and some others working through relatively common human challenges for the first time during their unprecedented "escape" from earth. Because these pioneers were the top picks from a global competitive process and extensive training, their difficulties dealing with the challenges of isolation from their families & friends on earth as well as working with their team at they meet the challenges of long term space flight seem like a mismatch. I stuck with the story through the end, but it left me with no joy for having done so. If you are or know a 12 to 18 year old, this may be a much more positive experience.
Overdrive Summary:
Yume Kitasei's The Deep Sky is an enthralling sci fi thriller debut about a mission into deep space that begins with a lethal explosion that leaves the survivors questioning the loyalty of the crew. They left Earth to save humanity. They'll have to save themselves first. It is the eve of Earth's environmental collapse. A single ship carries humanity's last hope: eighty elite graduates of a competitive program, who will give birth to a generation of children in deep space. But halfway to a distant but livable planet, a lethal bomb kills three of the crew and knocks The Phoenix off course. Asuka, the only surviving witness, is an immediate suspect. As the mystery unfolds on the ship, poignant flashbacks reveal how Asuka came to be picked for the mission. Despite struggling through training back on Earth, she was chosen to represent Japan, a country she only partly knows as a half-Japanese girl raised in America. But estranged from her mother back home, The Phoenix is all she has left.With the crew turning on each other, Asuka is determined to find the culprit before they all lose faith in the mission—or worse, the bomber strikes again.
https://librivox.org/the-demi-gods-by-james-stephens/
Text: https://archive.org/details/thedemigods00steprich/page/n7/mode/2up
By James Stephens (1882 - 1950). Published 1914.
Reader's Notes:
This book is a lot of fun. And the excellent reading/acting by Joe Bergin is a huge plus. Thank you Mr. Bergin!
"In this memorialized Irish tale, 3 huge winged demi-gods (part god/part human) have descended to earth to experience human existence. They encounter Patsy Mac Can and his daughter Mary at their campfire one evening, two vagabonds who wander about Ireland with donkey and cart, eating off the land, meeting a variety of dubious characters along the way, who in the great Irish tradition of storytelling, all have stories to tell. The MacCans welcome the strangers, feed them, show them around, along the way spinning yarns and explaining their gypsy "philosophies". Those familiar with Stephens's quirky writing style appreciate him as a quick witted, keen observer, seeing both the ridiculous and the sublime in everyday things, exploring the points of view of various animals and insects as well as the human characters. Eventually the troupe parts company, having forged close bonds of friendship. This is an entertaining adult love story that would not offend a child, read charmingly by authentic Irishman Joe Bergin." (Summary by Michele Fry)
https://librivox.org/democracy-an-american-novel-by-henry-adams/
Text: https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/2815
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Democracy:_An_American_Novel
By Henry Brooks Adams (1838 - 1918)
Reading Notes: A novel about timeless characters that still seem populate the elected ranks in Washington, D.C., with an excellent reading by Nicholas Clifford (1930-2019).
Librivox Summary:
"Not until after his death in 1918 was it revealed that Henry Adams was the anonymous author of Democracy, which had been published to great acclaim in 1880. Though the book avoids dates and the characters are fictitious, the setting is no doubt that of Washington in the 1870s, the age of Presidents Grant and Hayes. The young widow, Madeleine Lee, wealthy and independent, is the protagonist, who leaves her New York for Washington to turn her intelligence to politics and to see what makes her country tick. There she meets (among others) Senator Silas P. Ratcliffe of Illinois, one of the most powerful and influential (if somewhat uncultured) men of the capital, who is considering a run for the presidency, and who needs a wife to act as First Lady, a position that (he thinks) Mrs. Lee would admirably fill. Through the book Adams plays with the themes of political necessity, compromise, corruption -- particularly the kind of corporate domination of national politics that he saw becoming all too powerful. Should honest and intelligent men keep their integrity by avoiding politics? Or would that simply mean turning over the governance of the country to power-hungry, scheming, and none too honest hacks? For all the witty conversations in his novel, this was a theme that plagued Adams (a presidential grandson) in life as well as literature, and it is a theme that has by no means disappeared today." - (Summary by Nicholas Clifford)
Audio: https://www.overdrive.com/media/8795278/dickens-and-prince
eBook: https://www.overdrive.com/media/8796425/dickens-and-prince
By Nick Hornby (1957 – )
Reading Notes: The author explores the lives of two prolific creative geniuses, Prince and Dickens. It is an essay about two creative giants by a creative professional. This is a good listen.
From the Overdrive Summary:
Examining the two artists’ personal tragedies, social statuses, boundless productivity, and other parallels, both humorous and haunting, Hornby shows how these two unlikely men from different centuries “lit up the world.” In the process, he creates a lively, stimulating rumination on the creativity, flamboyance, discipline, and soul it takes to produce great art.
https://librivox.org/the-disciplinary-circuit-by-murray-leinster/
Text: https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/69448
By Murray Leinster (1896 - 1975)
Reader's Notes:
This juvenile/young adult science fiction explores the idea that civilization invented the perfect punishment system -- "the Disciplinary Circuit" that caused unbarable pain when applied. The system could be applied to any targeted individual. The author argues that any society where the few have the means of perfect control over the many results in terrible corruption and decay -- eventualy, self-destruction. Leinster is optimistic, though, and has banished criminals rebuilding a just and society. ...ignore much of the "science" and this may be worth its short run-time.
Librivox Summary:
The Disciplinary Circuit is watching you. Always watching that your thoughts are correct and pure. The Council want only what is best for you and society. Trust the council and the Disciplinary Circuit. Good citizens are happy and obey. You are a good citizen. Aren't you? Of course you are. - Summary by Phil Chenevert
Audio: https://www.overdrive.com/media/9127507/the-double-agent
ebook: https://www.overdrive.com/media/8728536/the-double-agent
By William Christie (aka: F.J. Chase and Keith Douglass)
Reader notes: If you like spy, action, WWII novels, this might be a good fit. The author keeps the tension high throughout much of this story. We follow a super-spy through roughly a year of his life as he guts through one unlucky turn after another. I especially enjoyed the author's dry humor and an excellent audio performance by Pete Cross.
OverDrive Summary:
"Alexsi Smirnoff - a Russian orphan - was trained as an agent by the Russian Secret Service and inserted into Nazi Germany, where he rose to a position in German intelligence services. As the war grinds on, trapped between two brutal dictatorships, Alexsi betrays both sides in a desperate ploy that succeeds...and fails. His false identities burned, his life at risk, Alexsi attempts to disappear in the hills - but is caught by the British. Recruited by the SIS, and by "C" himself, Alexsi is once again a double agent. Initially betrayed by a Soviet agent inside the SIS (Kim Philby), Alexsi is sent beyond the reach of the Soviets, into Italy with a new identity as a sergeant in the German army. Settled into the headquarters of Field Marshall Albert Kesselring, Alexsi finds himself at the nexus at a critical point in World War II, balancing between the various forces vying for control in the Vatican, the Italian resistance, and the brutal German Army determined to maintain control of Northern Italy. And Alexsi, finally forced to choose sides over his own survival.Sequel to the well-regarded A Single Spy, The Double Agent is a fast-paced, compelling novel of espionage in the most momentous and dangerous of times."
Audio: https://www.overdrive.com/media/4624493/the-dutch-house
eBook: https://www.overdrive.com/media/4617767/the-dutch-house
By Ann Patchett (1963 – )
Reading Notes: Tom Hanks performs the story "a brother and sister, Danny and Maeve Conroy, who grow up in a mansion (in Elkins Park, Pennsylvania) known as the Dutch House, and their lives over five decades." I recommend it to all readers and audio book listeners. See the summaries and/or the review below...
Wikipedia Summary: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Dutch_House_(novel)
Overdrive Summary: https://www.overdrive.com/media/4624493/the-dutch-house
Review by Martha Southgate: https://www.nytimes.com/...review/ann-patchett-dutch-house.html
Audio: https://www.overdrive.com/media/3032002/eagles-at-war
eBook: https://www.overdrive.com/media/2074113/eagles-at-war
By Ben Kane (1970 – )
Reading Notes: Based on historical events when in A.D. 9, a charismatic chieftain and trusted ally of Rome, Arminius, leads a vast attack against the Roman armiesin Germania to drive them back to West of the Rhine. Arminius organized a range of Germanic tribes to build up a resistance force large enough to destroy Roman forces on tribal lands.
Hunting the Eagles, Book 2 and Eagles in the Storm, Book 3 are the next books in this series.
Only the gods can save the romans now. AD 9, Germania. East of the river Rhine, tribes hostile to Rome prepare a deadly ambush. Their leader is the charismatic chieftain and trusted ally of Rome, Arminius, whose dream is to drive out the brutal invaders of his land. Pitted against him are veteran centurion Lucius Tullus and the Roman provincial governor, Varus.Together with three local legions, they leave their summer camp to begin the march back to the Roman forts on the Rhine.They have no idea that in the forests and bog of the Teutoburg, mud, slaughter and bloody death await ...'This is historical fiction at its best' Sunday Express'Held me spellbound to its spectacular bloody end' Manda Scott'Gripping, brutal, brilliant' Giles Kristian.
https://librivox.org/edward-iii-by-william-warburton/
https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.86381
By William Parsons Warburton (1826 - 1913) Published 1908
Summary from Librivox:
Edward III reigned for fifty years, from 1327 to 1377. William Warburton writes that "the backbone of the story of his reign and times is the great Continental war...He was a genuine Englishman in his rough and ready, and often incoherent policy; in his contempt for foreigners and his audacious confidence in himself and his countrymen; in his love of manly exertion; his personal pride and popular sympathies, and his freedom from lasting enmity and vindictiveness...It is in vain for cold reason to contend against the spell of the names of Creci and Poitiers; they will forever stir the English heart like the blast of a trumpet or the rustle of a consecrated banner; but these battles are not, after all, the true titles of the age to honour. Searching deeper down we shall find, and thankfully admit, that the century was one not of conquest, but of transition, development, emancipation, and characterised by a silent and gradual contraction of the area of privilege, and a corresponding enlargement of the area of liberty." (Summary by Pamela Nagami, M.D.)
Audio: https://www.overdrive.com/media/137097/eifelheim
eBook: https://www.overdrive.com/media/511616/eifelheim
By Michael Flynn (1947 - 2023)
Reading Notes: One thread of this story has cliometric historian Tom Schwoerin and partner theoretical physicist Sharon Nagy bumble upon evidence of a mid-14th century alien crash-landing during Schwoerin's research of Eifelheim (originally called Oberhochwald), a small town in the Black Forest of Germany. The main thread of the story examines relations between 14th century Black Forest Christians and scientifically-advanced aliens (the Krenken) whose space/time-craft crashed in the woods nearby. It explores ideas like "What is the nature of authority?" "What is the nature of the world around us?" "What does it mean to be Christian?" "Can one change their fundamental beliefs?" and "Is the speed of light a constant?"
RELATED:
There is an interesting overview of VLS (variable light speed) theories in: "New varying speed of light theories." 2003, By Joao Magueijo, I downloaded on 2024-02-26 from https://web.archive.org/web/20180728224539/http://cds.cern.ch/record/618057/files/0305457.pdf. And an earlier analysis of VLS theories: "Cosmologies with Varying Light-Speed." 1998, by John D. Barrow, downloaded from https://arxiv.org/pdf/astro-ph/9811022.pdf on 2024-02-26.
If you looked at either of those resources, you might want to investigate further (what happened in the last 20 years?).
"Statistical Hierarchy of Varying Speed of Light Cosmologies." 2017 by Vincenzo Salzano and Mariusz P. Da̧browski. And as recently as 2022 VLS was still receiving scientific research -- for example: "The minimally extended Varying Speed of Light (meVSL)." By Seokcheon Lee. The maths involved in these last two papers, although important to their arguments, have enough textual context to make these papers useful to non-physicists...
Over the centuries, one small town in Germany has disappeared and never been resettled. Tom, a historian, and his theoretical physicist girlfriend Sharon, become interested. By all logic, the town should have survived. What's so special about Eifelheim? Father Dietrich is the village priest of Eifelheim, in the year 1348, when the Black Death is gathering strength but is still not nearby. Dietrich is an educated man, and to his astonishment becomes the first contact person between humanity and an alien race from a distant star, when their ship crashes in the nearby forest. It is a time of wonders, in the shadow of the plague. Flynn gives us the full richness and strangeness of medieval life, as well as some terrific aliens. Tom and Sharon, and Father Deitrich have a strange destiny of tragedy and triumph in Eifelheim, the brilliant science fiction novel by Michael Flynn.
Wikipedia Summary: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eifelheim#Plot_summary
(note to self, look up Subterranean Online - 2007 • [Subterranean Online] • (2007) • edited by William Schafer. The "SFRA Review #283." and "Vector 256 Summer 2008" by BSFA)
https://librivox.org/eleven-years-in-the-rocky-mountains-and-a-life-on-the-frontier-by-frances-a-fuller-victor/
Text: https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/39465
By Frances A. Fuller Victor (1826 - 1902)
Reader's Notes: This is a biography of Joseph L. Meek, born in Virginia in 1810, fur trapper in the Rocky Mountains between 1829 and 1840, as the over hunting of beaver and of other important species led to the end of that profession and put extreme pressures on Native American lives. He then migrated to Oregon Country (later Oregon Territory) -- having numerous adventures until his death in 1875. Likely written in the late 1860s (published in 1870), this story is an expression of its time -- and as such, may help provide some context for more academic or professional histories of North America in the first half of the 19th century. NOTE: Some passages in this story describe behavior that is particularly vile in its treatment of Native Americans, along with incorporating Black and Jewish stereotypes and derogatory terms.
Librivox Summary:
This lively book follows the adventures of mountain man Joe Meek, from his joining the Rocky Mountain Fur Company trapping expedition in the year 1829 at the young age of 18, through his retirement from public life after serving as Marshall of Oregon Territory. Meek had close connections with many famous people of the era, such as Kit Carson, William and Milton Sublette, Jedediah Smith, Marcus and Narcissa Whitman, Dr. John McLaughlin, Oregon’s Governor Lane, and President James Polk. The author’s information came directly from interviews with Joe himself. She adds to his stories by recounting the surrounding events of the times along the way, providing an interesting way to pick up much information about the history of the Rocky Mountain region and the Oregon Territory. Meek was a tremendously colorful personality who traveled all over the wild west, and had numberless adventures. His endurance of hunger, thirst, exhaustion, and danger was legendary. Whether he was encountering bears, Indians, fellow trappers, missionaries, California gold miners, and even the president of the United States, he tells the story with humor and aplomb. Meek was always lively, often drunk, sometimes heroic, and certainly no saint. - (Summary by Carol Pelster)
Audio: https://www.overdrive.com/media/4547905/emily-eternal
eBook: https://www.overdrive.com/media/4500529/emily-eternal
By M. G. Wheaton ( – )
Reading Notes: This is a sifi novel about how humanity and Emily - an artificial consciousness, deal with the winking-out of our sun in the near future. There is a ton of unlikely tech and instances of ignoring the laws of the physical world, but other than that, it is enjoyable entertainment. I think that many will find this an attractive book and listening experience.
Audio: https://www.overdrive.com/media/10753022/erasing-history
eBook: https://www.overdrive.com/media/10480453/erasing-history
By Jason Stanley (1969 – )
Reading Notes: The author builds a convincing argument that U.S. conservative politicians and their voters have adopted an authoritarian movement -- Project 2025 and the Trump administration. That movement requires control over the historical narrative -- over history to justify their fascist authoritarian demands and behaviors. This has led to attacks on schools and universities and all institutions that help to preserve a common memory of generally positive change. The authoritarian project needs to snuff out all forms of critical inquiry that might demonstrate that honest, truth-seeking underlies all past and future progress. This toxic movement acts like a cancer in all facets of educational and research institutions. Key terms: Fascism & Totalitarianism, Political Ideologies.
Publisher's Description:
In the United States, democracy is under attack by an authoritarian movement that has found fertile ground among the country’s conservative politicians and voters, but similar movements have found homes in the hearts and minds of people around the globe. To understand the shape, form, and stakes of this assault, we must go back to extract lessons from our past.
In authoritarian countries, critical examination of those nations’ history and traditions is discouraged if not an outright danger to those who do it. And it is no accident that local and global institutions of education have become a battleground, where learning and efforts to upend a hierarchal status quo can be put to end by coercion and threats of violence. Democracies entrust schools and universities to preserve a common memory of positive change, generated by protests, social movements, and rebellions. The authoritarian right must erase this history, and, along with it, the very practice of critical inquiry that has so often been the engine of future progress.
In Erasing History, Yale professor of philosophy Jason Stanley exposes the true danger of the authoritarian right’s attacks on education, identifies their key tactics and funders, and traces their intellectual roots. He illustrates how fears of a fascist future have metastasized, from hypothetical threat to present reality. And with his “urgent, piercing, and altogether brilliant” (Johnathan M. Metzi, author of What We’ve Become) insight, he illustrates that hearts and minds are won in our schools and universities—places that democratic societies across the world are now ill-prepared to defend against the fascist assault currently underway.
Review by Alan Singer: https://teachingsocialstudies.org/.../book-review-erasing-history...
Review by Lorraine Berry: https://www.latimes.com/...erasing-history-jason-stanley-book-review
Interview with the author: https://www.democracynow.org/2024/9/17/erasing_history
Audio: https://www.overdrive.com/media/5697184/the-exiled-fleet
eBook: https://www.overdrive.com/media/5704714/the-exiled-fleet
By J.S. (Jenny) Dewes
Reading Notes: Think the "The Expanse." The first quarter of this book isn't as fast-paced as the first volume of "The Divide" sci-fi space opera series. A lot of its science/sciencey and technology/techy facts and ideas depend a lot on your having read "The Last Watch." Cavalon Mercer, the over-educated grandson of an evil monarch, who can build a start-powered power plant for a jump drive from scratch... and Adequin Rake, former commander of the Argus, led efforts to find the materials and talent that they use to escape The Edge of the universe. This story adds a lot to what we know about a suite of core characters in this series. They search/fight for fuel and escape for the 4000 lives on their 300 year old ship, finding unexpected allies along the way.
...This is also another ready-for-streaming novel.
Links to reviews: https://www.jsdewes.com/news
Audio: https://www.overdrive.com/media/301444/far-north
eBook: https://www.overdrive.com/media/511748/far-north
By Marcel Theroux (1968 – )
Reading Notes: Adventures, hardships and trials of an often-loner Makepeace in a Northern region of failed states in a failed world...
Author's Summary: https://thisworldofdew.com/novels/far-north/
https://librivox.org/the-farmers-bride-by-charlotte-mew/
Text: https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/71305
By Charlotte Mew (1869 - 1928)
Wikipedia Summary: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Farmer's_Bride
Librivox Summary:
The Farmer's Bride is a collection of 28 poems by British modernist writer Charlotte Mew. The original edition was published in 1916; this edition, published in 1921, contains 11 more poems. Mew's poetry is varied in style and content, but manifests a concern with gender issues throughout. Mew's life was marked by loneliness and depression, and she eventually committed suicide. Her work earned her the admiration of her peers, including Virginia Woolf, who characterized her as "very good and quite unlike anyone else." Summary by Elizabeth Klett
https://librivox.org/the-fifth-queen-by-ford-madox-ford/
Text: https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/30188
By Ford Madox Ford (1873 - 1939)
Reading Notes:
This is historical fiction. It attempts to help us understand many of the characters that surrounded King Henry VIII. While there may be facts upon which to base many of these characterizations, considerable effort and story-telling went into building out gaps in those facts. With those caveats, enjoy the book. I did.
Wikipedia Summary: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Fifth_Queen
The Fifth Queen trilogy is a series of connected historical novels by English novelist Ford Madox Ford. It consists of three novels, The Fifth Queen; And How She Came to Court (1906), Privy Seal (1907) and The Fifth Queen Crowned (1908), which present a highly fictionalized account of Katharine Howard's marriage to King Henry VIII. (Summary by Wikipedia)
https://librivox.org/first-lensman-by-e-e-smith/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_Lensman
Text: https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/49525
By E. E. Smith (1890 - 1965) published 1950
Reading Notes: (see 'Triplanetary' below)
The Secret Planet. No human had ever landed on the hidden planet of Arisia. A mysterious space barrier turned back both men and ships. Then the word came to Earth, "Go to Arisia!", Virgil Samms of the Galactic Patrol went -- and came back with the Lens, the strange device that gave its wearer powers no man had ever possessed before. Samms knew the price of that power would be high. But even he had no idea of the ultimate cost, and the weird destiny waiting for the First Lensman. First Lensman is the sequel to Triplanetary, and the second book of E.E. "Doc" Smith's classic Lensman series. (from the original book cover and Mark Nelson)
Audio: https://www.overdrive.com/media/9584404/flux
eBook: https://www.overdrive.com/media/9078650/flux
By Jinwoo Chong ( – )
Reading Notes: Brandon, Bo, Blue, Cas, Hal, Min, Jem, Lev, Io Emsworth. Loss, grief, race and culture. "High Tech," the monied class, grift and predatory actors. Time travel. The way the author deals with time travel results in a book that chops from scene to scene as it drives the story "forward." It was worth nine hours of my time and it should be worth that much for many others too.
Review by Charles Arrowsmith: https://www.washingtonpost.com/.../jinwoo-chong-flux-novel-review/
Review by Laird Hunt: https://www.nytimes.com/.../review/flux-jinwoo-chong.html
https://librivox.org/four-months-in-a-sneak-box-by-nathaniel-h-bishop/
Text: https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/5686
By Nathaniel Holmes Bishop (1837 - 1902).
Reader Notes: Unless you are interested in first person histories of mid-19th century river travel, this might be a pass.
The kind reception by the American press of the author's first journey to the great southern sea, and its republication in Great Britain and in France ... have encouraged him to give the public a companion volume, "FOUR MONTHS IN A SNEAK-BOX" ... a relation of ... a second cruise to the Gulf of Mexico ... by a different route from that followed in the "VOYAGE OF THE PAPER CANOE." This time the author procured one of the smallest and most comfortable of boats... the BARNEGAT SNEAK-BOX. This curious and stanch little craft, though only twelve feet in length, proved a most comfortable and serviceable home while the author rowed in it more than 2600 miles down the Ohio and Mississippi rivers, and along the coast of the Gulf of Mexico, until he reached the goal of his voyage — the mouth of the wild Suwanee River — which was the terminus of his "VOYAGE OF THE PAPER CANOE." Summary by Nathaniel H. Bishop. NOTE: There are issues of race in the telling of "Four Months in a Sneak-box", particularly anti-Black stereotypes and associated derogatory terms. It is LibriVox's policy to record texts as written.
Audio: https://www.overdrive.com/media/5895019/the-four-winds
eBook: https://www.overdrive.com/media/5443902/the-four-winds
By Kristin Hannah and on her site (1960 – )
Reading Notes: This is an emotion-heavy family drama, love story, and historical fiction constructed around the 1930s depression, Southwest Dust Bowl, agricultural Calfornia and desperate poverty labor & some attempts to resist exploitation of workers. The writing did a good job drawing me in and keeping me interested throughout.
Review by Ron Charles: https://www.washingtonpost.com/.../four-winds-book-review/...
Review by Elisabeth Egan: https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/29/books/kristin-hannah-four-winds.html
Review by : https://the-bibliofile.com/the-four-winds/
Audio: https://www.overdrive.com/media/9296630/fractal-noise
eBook: https://www.overdrive.com/media/9254635/fractal-noise
By Christopher Paolini (1983 – )
Reading Notes: "July 25, 2234: The crew of the Adamura discovers the Anomaly" -- high energy, low frequency sound exhibiting evidence of intelligence coming from an enormous cylindrical hole in an unexplored planet. The author successfully builds uncertainty and stress as the story progresses. See the Wikipedia summary for more.
Wikipedia Summary: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fractal_Noise
https://librivox.org/freelands-by-john-galsworthy/
Text: https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/2309
By John Galsworthy (1867 - 1933)
Reader's Notes: This was an enjoyable story about a range of character types, family dynamics, class struggle/conflict, and more in the context of 19th/early 20th century England.
Librivox Summary:
The Freelands family is a mixture: Tod Freeland is an uncommunicative gentle giant, his wife Kirsteen passionate and free-spoken, Felix is a literary man, Stanley the man of business, John is in politics. Their mother is a practical uncomprehending old lady while Nedda and Derek, the younger generation and cousins, fall head over heels in love. The story revolves around the 'land question' which was the chief matter of moment when the novel was written – British agriculture was depressed as imported food (chiefly from the USA) meant that domestic farmers were struggling. The rich landowners pay scant attention to the wishes and rights of the labourers on their land. The Freelands find themselves on both sides of the divide and the ensuing struggle involves them all. There is therefore much social commentary in the book, but it is also a tender love story and an insight into how different members of one family can think differently while still bonded together. (Summary by Simon Evers)
audio: https://www.overdrive.com/media/9693125/the-french-art-of-living-well
ebook: https://www.overdrive.com/media/9175811/the-french-art-of-living-well
By Cathy Yandell & at LinkedIn
Performed by Kim Niemi.
Reader Notes: It seems obvious that C.Yandell loves France and French culture. She also seems well prepared academically and intellectually for this exploration of being French. She shares her observations based on years of living in France, studying French literature & culture, and sharing time with American students on trips to France. She is an entertaining and thoughtful writer and I am treating this book as foux travel to Paris. The book is performed by Kim Niemi in a way that enhances that travel experience.
"Interview: Cathy Yandell, Author of The French Art of Living Well." First published: 20 May 2023. By Janet Hulstrand
Essay by the author 19 May 2023.
"The French Art of Living Well: 10 Tips from Cathy Yandell’s new book." By Shannon Ables. 13 August 2023
Audio: https://www.overdrive.com/media/10162973/from-from
eBook: https://www.overdrive.com/media/9613246/from-from
By Monica Youn ( – )
Reading Notes: This collection of poetry received accolades from a range of institutions and reviewers. It explores what Asian American identity means to the author, based on her lived, observed and analyzed existence. I don't know much about poetry, but believe this short collection is worth a listen.
Audio: https://www.overdrive.com/media/9496631/the-future
eBook: https://www.overdrive.com/media/9511829/the-future
By Naomi Alderman (1974 – )
Reading Notes: The author jumps back and forth in time and across what for a good chunk of this book seem like relatively independent threads of activity. Stick with her. It is worth the effort. This seems like an important near future, current-trends-could-result-in-the-end-of-societies-across-the-globe novel (with a hopeful message that we could choose to wise-up). It posits, among other ideas, that a small number of corporate insiders at leading organizations could, with grit, courage, creativity and a relentless focus on goals targeting a better future for all, overcome the current wasteful, devisive and destructive momentum wrought by narcissistic billionaire/business leaders, and populations manipulated into world-destroying behaviors.
Some core characters:
A key thread of this story leads to Martha, Lai, Shelah, Badger, and Albert trying to save the world by re-working the strategic goals of their organizations and then operationalizing those goals. How could a small group of powerful individuals get to the point where this could occur? Naomi Alderman takes us on that journey.
Is it overly simplistic? Sure. But it is also adult, complex and dense enough to be an enjoyable read -- and maybe it will seed some alternative thinking in leaders or leaders-to-be in our most powerful tech industries. It may also remind many that every day they are the target of immense commercial and political efforts to observe, catalogue and influence/manipulate their thoughts and behaviors (What are the motivations and goals associated with those activities? Shouldn't we care -- and try to influence them in ways that benefit a sustainable humanity?).
If you have the opportunity to listen to the audio version of this book, I strongly recommend that you do so. It is an excellent performance by a cast and crew devoted to the story as well as the listener.
Review By Ian Wang: https://www.nytimes.com/2023/11/07/books/review/the-future-naomi-alderman.html
Review By Elizabeth Hand: https://www.washingtonpost.com/books/2023/11/05/naomi-alderman-future-review/
Reviews on BookMarks: https://bookmarks.reviews/reviews/the-future/
Review By Lacy Baugher Milas: https://www.pastemagazine.com/...the-future...
Review By Ilana Masad: https://www.latimes.com/...the-future...
Four Librivox versions available:
https://librivox.org/the-gettysburg-address-by-abraham-lincoln/
https://librivox.org/the-gettysburg-address-by-abraham-lincoln-version-2/
https://librivox.org/the-gettysburg-address-by-abraham-lincoln-2/
https://librivox.org/the-gettysburg-address-by-abraham-lincoln-3/
Text: https://www.gutenberg.org/etext/4
By Abraham Lincoln (February 12, 1809 – April 15, 1865)
Reader's Notes: Everyone residing in the United States of America should listen to this speech once in a while. If you are not familiar with the context of this speech, the Wikipedia Summary provides an excellent resource.
Wikipedia Summary: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gettysburg_Address
Librivox Summary:
The Dedication of the National Cemetery at Gettysburg, in November, 1863, followed a few short months after the roiling, acrid clouds of gun smoke dissipated, leaving a little crossroads town in Pennsylvania heir to the human tragedy of over 7,000 corpses and 21,000 men suffering wounds. It was a most unnatural disaster. On November 19, the chief executive made the trip to the still-dazed, shot-torn community to deliver, almost as an afterthought (for he was not the keynote speaker), an address that clarified his belief that the Negro race should be liberated from their slavery, and that despite the loss of so much blood and life, the Union should hold to the goal of completing this emancipation. That he knew the eyes of the nation would rest of him was evident; this address was the first speech since his inauguration that he prepared in advance. But these carefully crafted words - only 269 of them - became a vital part of our nation's identity, and are a signature to the bedrock of our beliefs. - Summary by Mark F. Smith
Audio: https://www.overdrive.com/media/9703970/ghosts-of-honolulu
eBook: https://www.overdrive.com/media/9704090/ghosts-of-honolulu
By Mark Harmon (1951 – ) and Leon Carroll, Jr. ( – )
Reading Notes: Harmon and (retired NCIS Special Agent) Carroll investigate some of the early days of what would become the Naval Criminal Investigative Service (NCIS) — known in the 1940s as the Office of Naval Intelligence (ONI) through the experiences of a real-life character, Douglas Wada, a Hawaiian born to Japanese immigrant parents at the start of WWII in the Pacific. It is an interesting story.
Audio: https://www.overdrive.com/media/4581755/the-giver-of-stars
eBook: https://www.overdrive.com/media/4570450/the-giver-of-stars
By Jojo Moyes (1969 -- __ )
Reader's notes: This is a period-piece about a small-town rural Appalachian Kentucky coal-country and a branch of the depression era WPA traveling library with its female staff of Packhorse Librians. The story follows British Alice Wright, who marries American Bennet Van Cleve hoping to escape a highly constrained life in England. She finds herself in another controlling environment and joins a newly forming traveling library to escape an unhappy situation, and finds herself a member of what became a small group of close friends who share a challenging job riding books throughout an extremely poor, isolated, mountainous part of Eastern Kentucky, long exploited by families who own and operate coal mining companies (one of whom is the Van Cleve family). I am not very familiar with the Romance genre, but this story seemed to evolve from an historical drama to something like an historical romance as the book progressed. There is, though, plenty of conflict, friendship, loyalty, injustice and justice, and complex grit to make a good story throughout.
Wikipedia summary: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Giver_of_Stars
Audio: https://www.overdrive.com/media/4715842/the-glass-hotel
eBook: https://www.overdrive.com/media/5080920/the-glass-hotel
By Emily St. John Mandel (1979 – )
Reading Notes: This story builds upon the crimes of Bernie Madoff. Siblings Paul and Vincent, and ponzie scheme originator and engine Jonathan Alkaitis are the central characters. See the Wikipedia Summary for more and links to reviews.
Wikipedia Summary: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Glass_Hotel
Audio: https://www.overdrive.com/media/8916800/the-god-of-endings
eBook: https://www.overdrive.com/media/8906351/the-god-of-endings
By Jacqueline Holland ( – )
Reading Notes:
"Collette LeSange has been hiding a dark truth: She is immortal. In 1834, Collette's grandfather granted her the gift of eternal life and since then, she has endured centuries of turmoil and heartache. Now, almost 150 years later, Collette is a lonely artist running an elite fine art school for children in upstate New York. But her life is suddenly upended by the arrival of a gifted child from a troubled home, the return of a stalking presence from her past, and her own mysteriously growing hunger for blood.Combining brilliant prose with breathtaking suspense, Jacqueline Holland's The God of Endings serves as a larger exploration of the human condition in all its complexity, asking us the most fundamental question: is life in this world a gift or a curse?"
"Interview With an Author: Jacqueline Holland." Daryl M., Librarian, West Valley Regional Branch Library, Thursday, March 9, 2023 https://www.lapl.org/...lapl/interview-author-jacqueline-holland
Review by Gabino Iglesias: https://www.npr.org/...jacqueline-holland-the-god-of-endings-book-review
Review by Fran Hoepfner: https://www.nytimes.com/...the-god-of-endings-jacqueline-holland.html
Review by Lorraine Berry: https://www.startribune.com/review-the-god-of-endings...
Audio: https://www.overdrive.com/media/9910346/god-save-benedict-arnold
eBook: https://www.overdrive.com/media/9496715/god-save-benedict-arnold
By Jack Kelly ( – )
Reading Notes: This non-fiction book is an outline military history of some of Benedict Arnold's activities during the "American Revolution", not a broad or thorough biography. In that category, it was an interesting listen.
Benedict Arnold committed treason — for more than two centuries, that's all that most Americans have known about him. Yet Arnold was much more than a turncoat—his achievements during the early years of the Revolutionary War defined him as the most successful soldier of the era. GOD SAVE BENEDICT ARNOLD tells the gripping story of Arnold's rush of audacious feats—his capture of Fort Ticonderoga, his Maine mountain expedition to attack Quebec, the famous artillery brawl at Valcour Island, the turning-point battle at Saratoga—that laid the groundwork for our independence.Arnold was a superb leader, a brilliant tactician, a supremely courageous military officer. He was also imperfect, disloyal, villainous. One of the most paradoxical characters in American history, and one of the most interesting. GOD SAVE BENEDICT ARNOLD does not exonerate him for his treason—the stain on his character is permanent. But Kelly's insightful exploration of Arnold's career as a warrior shines a new light on this gutsy, fearless, and enigmatic figure. In the process, the book offers a fresh perspective on the reasons for Arnold's momentous change of heart.
Audio: https://www.overdrive.com/media/2467285/good-morning-midnight
eBook: https://www.overdrive.com/media/2582590/good-morning-midnight
By Lily Brooks-Dalton (1987 – )
Reading Notes: This post-apocalyptic novel is worth your time. The story is told in the introspective voices of a late-70s, dying, once distinguished astronomer but now reclusive academic Augustine (Augie) Lofthouse and top-tier astronaut, Iris Sullivan (Sully). Both individuals were interesting-enough to keep me engaged throughout. Exploring the concept of survival in the context of global catastrophy also seems relevant as humans continue to pump tremendous (almost unimaginable) amounts of carbon into the atmosphere.
Reports of an unexplained war result in an evacuation of Barbeau Observatory, a fictional research station in the Arctic Circle. Augie refuses to leave and remains at the observatory to continue his work -- feeling old, without any reasons to travel South and hoping to die alone. Soon after, he sees and assumes a level of care for a young -- largely mute -- girl, Iris, who appears to have been left behind during the evacuation. Over time silence across all communications channels leads Augie to assume there has been some sort of apocalypse, leaving Iris and him as the last people on earth. As Augie's bonds with Iris evolve he decides that they need to travel to a "nearby" weather station that had Ham radio capabilities more powerful than available the observatory. It is a dangerous journey, but results in a more hospitible Arctic home. After a long "settling-in" delay, Augie begins searching the airwaves for signs of life and hears astronaut Sully -- who was trying to raise any sign of human life on earth.
Sully is on the return leg of a research survey of Jupiter and its moons. There is in-flight drama on their ship, Aether, and increasing concern about the absence of communications signals from Earth. Both Augie and Sully are confronted with challenges to their survival. Both also invest heavily in reviews of their lives and evaluations of what remains important at this moment of uncertainty.
Wikipedia Summary: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Good_Morning,_Midnight_(Brooks-Dalton_novel)
Brooks-Dalton's Site: https://www.lilybrooksdalton.com/good-morning-midnight.html
There is also a 2020 movie adaptation of this book called "The Midnight Sky."
See: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Midnight_Sky and a review at: https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/the-midnight-sky-movie-review-2020
Audio: https://www.overdrive.com/media/9311220/good-night-irene
eBook: https://www.overdrive.com/media/9323163/good-night-irene
By Luis Alberto Urrea and here (1955 – )
Reading Notes: This is an entertaining story about a couple women who participated in the American Red Cross Clubmobile Service, a World War II mobile service club staffed by American Red Cross volunteers who provided servicemen with food, entertainment, and "a connection to home." I agree with Maureen Corrigan' description of this story a "wartime buddy novel," about "two young women seeking escape and purpose." See any of the reviews below to learn more...
Review by Maureen Corrigan: https://www.npr.org/.../luis-alberto-urrea-good-night-irene-review
Review By Nell Freudenberger: https://www.nytimes.com/.../luis-alberto-urrea-good-night-irene
Review by Manuel Roig-Franzia: https://www.washingtonpost.com/.../good-night-irene-luis-alberto-urrea...
Audio: https://www.overdrive.com/media/109706/the-grays
eBook: https://www.overdrive.com/media/514303/the-grays
By Whitley Strieber (1945 – )
Reading Notes: This is not a great book. It incorporates a lot of stale alien, UFO and corrupt global capitalists vinettes linked by a story-line about Conner Callaghn & his family in small-town Kentucky and Lauren Glass & members of secret military organizations that cover up alien and UFO related information.
From OverDrive
"The Grays is a mind-bending journey behind the curtain of secrecy that surrounds the subject of aliens, written by the field's great master, Whitley Strieber. If you've never so much as thought about the subject before, this book will make you think deeply, not only about the mystery of who the Grays are, but who exactly we are."
Here is some context written by the author.
A list of reviews highlighted by the author: http://www.beyondcommunion.com/grays/reviews.html
Review by Ed Walsh: https://educate-yourself.org/cn/walshwhitleystreibergraysreview15mar09.shtml
https://librivox.org/greenmantle-ver3-by-john-buchan/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greenmantle
Text: https://gutenberg.org/ebooks/559
By John Buchan (1875 - 1940)
Reading Notes:
This is just another relatively fast moving WWI spy novel. It incorporates some of the worst cultural issues of the time (written in the 2nd decade of the 20th century by a 19th century writer)... I believe they are expressions of the author's understanding of the world and that of the readers he targeted. He makes no attempt to deal with negative outcomes of institutionalized descrimination, colonization and war, or of cultural and literal genocide -- ignoring the value numerous peoples. The impacts of these events continue through today. This book may be hurtful to some.
Summary from Librivox:
"Hannay is called in to investigate rumours of an uprising in the Muslim world and undertakes a perilous journey through enemy territory to meet his friend Sandy in Constantinople. Once there, he and his friends must thwart the Germans' plans to use religion to help them win the war, climaxing at the battle of Erzurum ("Erzerum" in Greenmantle)".
For context, see "Battle of Erzurum"
https://www.overdrive.com/media/5067417/hamnet
By Maggie O'Farrell (1972 - __ )
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hamnet_(novel)
Reader Notes. Enter one family's world, more than 4 centuries ago. Maggie O'Farrell delivers the magic (her expertly-tuned imagination, skilful editing and extremely hard work) of helping the reader join the extended family of William Shakespeare. The primary lens for this exploration is Agnes (Anne) Hathaway -- William Shakespeare is only a minor supporting role. Marriage, motherhood, power, loss & grief, along with the daily life in late 16th century England are made so rich, immediate, intense, and so real that it is easy to lose yourself in this story. In addition to exceptional writing, the reading by Ell Potter seemed a perfect fit.
Literary Review by : https://literaryreview.co.uk/love-in-the-time-of-plague-2
Wikipedia Summary: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hamnet_(novel)
Review by Miranda France in the Literary Review: https://literaryreview.co.uk/love-in-the-time-of-plague-2
Audio: https://www.overdrive.com/media/5978287/harrow
eBook: https://www.overdrive.com/media/5979335/harrow
By Joy Williams (1944 – )
Reading Notes: "...after an environmental apocalypse, a world in which only the man-made has value..." I don't know what to think about this book. For me, it is an odd, wandering exploration of absurd situations that might occur as the environment and society collapse around us.
Wikipedia Entry: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harrow_(novel)
https://librivox.org/the-harvester-by-gene-stratton-porter-2/
Text: https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/349
By Gene Stratton-Porter (1863 - 1924) published 1911
Reading Notes: This 1912-version of a feelgood romance also incorporates a lot of text describing a range of North American woodland plants used for their therapeutic properties and is set in a time when they were critically important to modern medicine.
LibraryThing Reviews: https://www.librarything.com/work/449936/reviews
Summary from Librivox:
David Langston (a.k.a. the Harvester) is 26 years old and lives a simple life in the Midwest with his dog, cultivating and harvesting trees, plants and herbs near his home that he sells as medicinal ingredients to pharmaceutical houses. When the first bluebird arrives each spring David traditionally asks his dog whether he should remain a bachelor or find a wife. For the first time in six years the dog "advises" him to find a wife. The Harvester is not happy with this advice but that night he has a vision of a very beautiful dark-haired woman in white who slowly walks towards him and bestows a kiss. This vision immediately changes the Harvester's perspective of his life and he then sets out on a single-minded quest to find this unknown woman whom he is certain will become his wife. But David finds that his pursuit of love is not a straightforward journey. Gene Stratton-Porter endowed the Harvester with strength, honesty, kindness and "always do the right thing" attitude. Many have likened him to Mr. Darcy of Pride and Prejudice fame. The Harvester's love interest, Ruth, must learn how to love, and be loved, more deeply than she could ever imagine. And with her sharp tongue, Granny dispenses much-needed advice on love and relationships. The Harvester was the #1 selling novel in 1912. The story was made into a silent movie in 1927. Summary by Warren Kati
https://librivox.org/the-heart-of-the-ancient-wood-by-sir-charles-g-d-roberts/
Text: https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/47671
By Sir Charles G. D. Roberts (1860 - 1943) published 1902
Reading Notes: The 21 minute opening chapter narrates a walk through the woods from the various perspectives of a broad range of native North American woodland dwellers, and is reason-enough to give this volume a listen... If you loathe anthropomorphism this novel is probably not for you.
Summary from Librivox:
A woman, Kirstie Craig and her daughter Miranda take refuge in a cabin deep in the Canadian forest. This is a tale of survival from the land, friendship and love. (Summary by Czandra)
Audio: https://www.overdrive.com/media/201740/the-hemingses-of-monticello
eBook: https://www.overdrive.com/media/2308374/the-hemingses-of-monticello
By Annette Gordon-Reed (1958 – )
Reading Notes: Wow! Using primary resources throughout, Gordon-Reed outlined and analyzes the "four generations of the African-American Hemings family, from their African and Virginia origins until the 1826 death of Thomas Jefferson, their master and the father of Sally Hemings' children." [Wikipedia] It reads like a long series of excellent university or graduate history lectures. This seems like an especially challenging topic given the often skeletal nature of the available primary resources, the depth & breath of scholarly Jefferson historical research, and the potentcy of some facets of research and writing about white supremacy and racial power (for example, critical race theory) -- all of which the author grapples with... Because I view this work as a series of college lectures, the repetition that appears throughout is simply what you do because of the time lapse between sessions, or because the connection(s) to the current focus are so important as to warrant it. There has been some criticism of the author's repeated "unnecessary pronouncements about human nature" which I attribute to a thorough review of specific situations as well as attempting to provide context to a readership (or student group) made of individuals having wildly varying backgrounds and understandings of how the world works. Thirtyone hours might initially seem like a slog, but give it a chance -- it is worth the investment.
Wikipedia Summary: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Hemingses_of_Monticello
Wikipedia on Sally Hemings: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sally_Hemings
Wikipedia on Thomas Jefferson: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Jefferson
This epic work tells the story of the Hemingses, whose close blood ties to our third president had been systematically expunged from American history until very recently. Now, historian and legal scholar Annette Gordon-Reed traces the Hemings family from its origins in Virginia in the 1700s to the family's dispersal after Jefferson's death in 1826. It brings to life not only Sally Hemings and Thomas Jefferson but also their children and Hemings's siblings, who shared a father with Jefferson's wife, Martha. The Hemingses of Monticello sets the family's compelling saga against the backdrop of Revolutionary America, Paris on the eve of its own revolution, 1790s Philadelphia, and plantation life at Monticello. Much anticipated, this book promises to be the most important history of an American slave family ever written.
Review by Eric Foner: https://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/05/books/review/Foner-t.html
A list of reviews at: https://bookmarks.reviews/reviews/all/the-hemingses-of-monticello-an-american-family-2/
Audio: https://www.overdrive.com/media/4197479/henry-himself
eBook: https://www.overdrive.com/media/4187798/henry-himself
By Stewart O'Nan (1961 - )
Reading Notes: Human, humain, life through the lens of retired engineer, Henry.
Author's Summary and links to reviews: https://stewart-onan.com/fiction/henry-himself/
Audio: https://www.overdrive.com/media/6158937/here-right-matters
eBook: https://www.overdrive.com/media/5810372/here-right-matters
By Alexander Vindman (1975 – )
Reading Notes: This is largely an autobiography of Alexander S. Vindman wrapped by his coming to national attention in October 2019 when he testified before the United States Congress regarding the Trump–Ukraine scandal. He has an interesting, for some, inspiring life story. Recurrnign message: ...reinvent yourself again...
Audio: https://www.overdrive.com/media/2395075/hero-of-the-empire
Ebook: https://www.overdrive.com/media/2637579/hero-of-the-empire
By Candice Millard (1967 - )
Reader Notes: This biography covers a period (through ~1900) of Winston Churchill's life when he is attempting to get started. After attempting to achieve military heroics in India or Sudan, young Winston Churchill ships off to the second Boer War for another try. If you too are less familiar with this part of Churchill's life, this seems like a great entry point (see the Wikipedia summary if you want to know more about the book's content). The audio performance by Simon Vance made this an enjoyable listen.
Wikipedia Summary: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hero_of_the_Empire
Author's Site for this Book: https://candicemillard.com/hero-of-the-empire.html
Audio: https://www.overdrive.com/media/9296055/his-majestys-airship
eBook: https://www.overdrive.com/media/9311313/his-majestys-airship
By S. C. Gwynne (Samuel C. Gwynne III) ( – )
Reading Notes: Using the story of British airship R101, Gwynne outlines the history of 20th century lighter-than-air airships (dirigibles). It is an interesting story well told.
Review by John Lancaster: https://www.nytimes.com/.../his-majestys-airship...
Review by Riley Brooks, The Library of Tortuga: https://libraryoftortuga.com/2023/11/07/book-review-his-majestys-airship-by-s-c-gwynne/
Audio: https://www.overdrive.com/media/6955174/horse
ebook: https://www.overdrive.com/media/6889436/horse
By Geraldine Brooks (1955 - )
Reader notes: This story follows the life (and rediscovery) of America’s most famous racehorse -- Lexington (originally "Darley"). In the process, it also explores aspects of systemic racism in 19th, 20th, and 21st century America.
1850s/60s: Harry Lewis, Jarrett (Lewis), Elisha Warfield, Richard Ten Broeck, Robert A. Alexander, and Thomas J. Scott.
1950s: Martha Jackson, Lee Krasner & Jackson Pollock.
2019-20: "Jess" and Theo Northam.
Of these main characters, only Jarret, Theo and Jess are fiction.
The story's primary threads follow Lexington and some of those who trained and cared for him (slave and "free") in Kentucky, beginning in 1850, Mississippi, Louisiana, and back to Kentucky through the time of the civil war; New York City, 1954; and Washington, DC, 2019 into early 2020. Throughout, Blacks in America are treated (via the law, commerce, and daily life) as something less than fully human, of less value than those fully white with limited (or situational) agency, and routinely -- almost comprehensively -- feared. See the Oprah Daily Review for a more complete summary.
Lexington
Washington Post Review: https://www.washingtonpost.com/books/2022/06/17/horse-geraldine-brooks/
Oprah Daily Review: https://www.oprahdaily.com/entertainment/books/a40656831/geraldine-brooks-horse-book-review/
Audio: https://www.overdrive.com/media/6455958/how-high-we-go-in-the-dark
eBook: https://www.overdrive.com/media/6209943/how-high-we-go-in-the-dark
By Sequoia Nagamatsu and https://www.sequoianagamatsu.com/#about (–)
Reading Notes:
This literary science fiction-fantasy dystopian novel that opens in 2030 (Nagamatsu had worked on this story for a decade as our recent COVID pandemic arrived)...
A team of scientists researching climate change-driven melting Siberian Arctic permafrost uncover an ancient virus...
Widespread panic, suffering, death and grief soon follow. Climate change continues to impose change on people and things across the globe. Nagamatsu tells the story through a series of interconnected first-person narratives. Each story is at human scale - each a witness of and an actor in the broader pandemic + climate change crises. Vignettes include a euthanasia theme park for dying children, a version purgatory, an empathetic talking pig, a manager of a high-rise funeral home, a failing robotic dog repair shop, a scientist whose experiments left a tiny black hole implanted in his brain, a large multi-diciplinary team on an interstellar spaceship, individual people working to build lives in a world still damaged by the pandemic, and an interesting explanation of how it all started.
Small interconnections between the stories may help assemble these essays into something that seems like a novel, but each stands on its own. For the most part, the main characters are developed in ways that are human, humane and exploring the emotional space left to them by the twin catastrophies. The book is an illustration of serious story-telling talent, but it was still a slog to get through parts. The story that explained a lot about how the earth got to the point(s) described throughout the book was worth the effort required to get there...
Review by Nina Allan in The Guardian: "How High We Go in the Dark is made up of more than a dozen discrete episodes, separate beads along the narrative timeline from the discovery and release of the virus, through the worst years of the pandemic, on into its lingering aftermath. The book then leaps 6,000 years ahead, revealing how decisions taken now might lead to radically divergent futures. Each segment is told from the point of view of a different character and highlights a significant aspect of evolving reality: accelerating developments in genetic modification; a revolutionary star drive; the cultural impact of public grieving. The commercialisation of death is shown through euthanasia theme parks, elegy hotels, lost lives preserved within the plastic carcasses of robot dogs."
Interview (27:30) -- Host Marshall Poe ’84 talks to Sequoia Nagamatsu ’04 about his novel How High We Go in the Dark: https://www.grinnell.edu/news/sequoia-nagamatsu-04-how-high-we-go-dark
Wikipedia Summary: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sequoia_Nagamatsu#How_High_We_Go_in_the_Dark_(2022)
OverDrive Summary:
In 2030, a grieving archeologist arrives in the Arctic Circle to continue the work of his recently deceased daughter at the Batagaika Crater, where researchers are studying long-buried secrets now revealed in melting permafrost, including the perfectly preserved remains of a girl who appears to have died of an ancient virus. Once unleashed, the Arctic plague will reshape life on Earth for generations to come, quickly traversing the globe, forcing humanity to devise a myriad of moving and inventive ways to embrace possibility in the face of tragedy. In a theme park designed for terminally ill children, a cynical employee falls in love with a mother desperate to hold on to her infected son. A heartbroken scientist searching for a cure finds a second chance at fatherhood when one of his test subjects—a pig—develops the capacity for human speech. A widowed painter and her teenaged granddaughter embark on a cosmic quest to locate a new home planet. From funerary skyscrapers to hotels for the dead to interstellar starships, Sequoia Nagamatsu takes readers on a wildly original and compassionate journey, spanning continents, centuries, and even celestial bodies to tell a story about the resilience of the human spirit, our infinite capacity to dream, and the connective threads that tie us all together in the universe.
Review by Chris Kluwe: https://www.lightspeedmagazine.com/...book-review-how-high-we-go...
Review by Luke Gorham: https://www.libraryjournal.com/review/how-high-we-go-in-the-dark-2132899
Review by Lincoln Michel: https://www.nytimes.com/sequoia-nagamatsu-how-high-we-go-in-the-dark
DUELING REVIEW by "Jennie:" https://dearauthor.com/...review-how-high-we-go-in-the-dark
https://librivox.org/i-spy-by-natalie-sumner-lincoln/
Text: https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/9812
By Natalie Sumner Lincoln (1881 - 1935) published 1916
Reading notes: This is a thin story with mostly wooden characters, with just enough forward motion to keep me a little engaged (while doing yard work and house work). Its main value may be how it expresses some types of war-time anxiety early in WWI. It may not be worth your time, as there are so many other good books...
Summary by Book Review Digest, v.12 (1916-1917):
Here is a novel whose pregnant caption suits these parlous times. . . . It's all about a German spy plot to steal two American inventions deemed of inestimable value for war use. One is a camera for taking a map of the country from an airship. The other is a process for making glass armor—coats of mail of interwoven mica and glass that Mauser bullets cannot penetrate. Washington, D. C., is the locale. . . . Almost everybody turns out to be a bit of a spy, and the last unraveling chapter certainly carries the element of complete surprise.
Audio: https://www.overdrive.com/media/4754334/imperfect-union
eBook: https://www.overdrive.com/media/4754075/imperfect-union
By Steve Inskeep (1968 – )
Reading Notes: This book outlines the lives of John Charles Frémont (1813 – 1890) an American explorer, military officer, and politician and his wife Jessie Ann Benton Frémont (1824 – 1902) an American writer and political activist. This is a great introduction to a number of mid-19th century U.S. social and political movements through the writings of these two key actors. For me, it is a fantastic popular history book -- hurray! for Steve Inskeep author and narrator.
https://librivox.org/imperium-in-imperio-by-sutton-griggs/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Imperium_in_Imperio
Text: https://gutenberg.org/ebooks/15454
By Sutton Griggs (1872 - 1933)
See the summary on Wikipedia
Reading Notes: Published in 1899, this seems like an important contribution to African American utopian literature. This novel also incorporates a realistic spectrum of violence and racism experienced across the U.S. South. If you can make it to the last hour of the recording, it also includes passionate arguments about the pursuit of political and economic justice. Unfortunately, the audio book's reader has a flat, monotone presentation that is not a good match for the content of the text. If you are able, it may be more enjoyable for many to just read the text available on gutenburg.org.
Librivox Summary:
Imperium in Imperio is a historical fiction novel by Sutton Griggs, published in 1899. The novel covers the life of Belton Piedmont, a highly educated and disciplined black man in the Jim Crow south and his role in a shadow government of black men operated out of a college in Waco, Texas.
Audio: https://www.overdrive.com/media/123632/the-inheritance-of-loss
eBook: https://www.overdrive.com/media/1273752/the-inheritance-of-loss
By Kiran Desai (1971 – )
Reading Notes: Read or listen to it. It seems like an important book. Much of the core action occurs in a crumbling, isolated house at the foot of Mount Kanchenjunga Kachenjunga, the world’s third-highest mountain, in the Himalayas (Sai, Retired judge Jemubhai Patel and cook) and in a series of restaurants in New York (Biju) in the middle 1980s. The author examines impacts of colonialism/post-colonialism, globalism, multiculturalism, economic inequality, religion, race, and nationalism. See any of the summaries or reviews below (especially the review by Pankaj Mishra).
OverDrive Summary: https://www.overdrive.com/media/123632/the-inheritance-of-loss
Wikipedia Summary: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Inheritance_of_Loss
Review by Pankaj Mishra: https://www.nytimes.com/2006/02/09/arts/review-the-inheritance-of-loss.html
Review by James Whitmore: https://jameshwhitmorereviews.com/2022/07/17/review-the-inheritance-of-loss-by-kiran-desai/
Review by the BookBrowse Team: https://www.bookbrowse.com/reviews/index.cfm/book_number/1881/the-inheritance-of-loss
Audio: https://librivox.org/inspector-french-and-the-cheyne-mystery-by-freeman-wills-crofts/
eBook: https://www.fadedpage.com/showbook.php?pid=20200151
By Freeman Wills Crofts (1879 - 1957)
Reading Notes: Junk crime fiction and detective fiction good enough to entertain while working in the yard...
Wikipedia summary: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Cheyne_Mystery
Librivox summary:
A railway engineer by training, Freeman Wills Crofts often relied on railway themes for his plots, with careful attention to details and schedules. Having retired from the railway in 1929 to devote himself full time to writing, he is considered part of the golden age of detective fiction, along with Raymond Chandler and Agatha Christie. Until his death in 1957, he produced more than 30 novels, short-stories, and plays. In his fifth book in 1924, he introduced the character of Inspector Joseph French, a Scotland Yard detective whose approach to crime was far more workman-like than most other fictional sleuths. In this book, he tells the story of Maxwell Cheyne, who is mysteriously drugged in a country inn and awakens to find that his home has been burgled, although nothing is missing. As Cheyne is pursued by a gang of relentless criminals, Inspector French of Scotland Yard must untangle their mysterious conspiracy. - Summary by ASharma
https://www.overdrive.com/media/5243411/the-invisible-life-of-addie-larue
By Victoria Elizabeth (V. E.) Schwab (1987 - ___ )
Reader's Notes: This is a story about a young French woman who in 1714 begs a "god of the night" for freedom to live as she wants. Ultimately, her bargain makes her immortal but she is forgotten by everyone she meets and cannot directly leave evidence of her having been anywhere. Jumping back and forth across time, we follow her across 300 years to 2014, when she meets someone with special powers. See the Wikipedia summary for a much more complete review (with spoilers). It is worth all 17 hours of listening (or reading its 450 pages).
Wikipedia Summary: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Invisible_Life_of_Addie_LaRue#Plot
https://librivox.org/the-iron-heel-by-jack-london/
Text: https://www.gutenberg.org/etext/1164
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Iron_Heel
By Jack London (1876 - 1916)
Reader's Notes:
This is a seriously-dystopian novel... For some, it might be a useful reminder of their high school or college studies of late 19th and early 20th century social, economic and cultural struggles in the United States. Its thumping Socialism (and the fact that Jack London invested so much time in this story) is a reminder of how it was, for a time, a real force in the U.S. Written and published before 1909, it is also interesting to compare some of The Iron Heal content against the facts of American history through the 1930s. London's overwrought prose about organized labor, mega-capitalists, and corruption throughout government institutions may make this novel radioactive for some.
Summary on Wikipedia
Librivox Summary:
A dystopian novel about the terrible oppressions of an American oligarchy at the beginning of the Twentieth Century, and the struggles of a socialist revolutionary movement - (Summary by Matt Soar)
Audio: https://www.overdrive.com/media/9951347/james
eBook: https://www.overdrive.com/media/9935544/james
By Percival Everett (1956 – )
Reading Notes: This story is enhanced by Dominic Hoffman's excellent audio acting/narration.
The historical fiction is, in part, a retelling of "Adventures of Huckleberry Finn" from the perspective and voice of enslaved Jim.
It explores entrenched attitudes about race, slavery, freedom , particularly racism and freedom. It is also about language: "White folks expect us to sound a certain way and it can only help if we don’t disappoint them... The better they feel, the safer we are." Jim, treated with violence and humiliation, rarely meets violence with violence, yet retains his goodness, honor, and wisdom.
For easy access to a number of Percival Everett's other books, try Libby/Overdrive: https://www.overdrive.com/search?f-contentCreatorNames=Percival%20Everett
The state legislature and governor where I live have been attempting to cull all telling, even hints, of America's original sin of slavery and its ongoing impacts from public school teaching and supporting materials (because, in part, it might result in White discomfort). The content and telling of this story might help resist some of the willful ignorance and uneducated prejudice that has led to our legislator's and governor's attitudes and behaviors. This book would also be a valuable educational resource for (at a minimum) high school and college students and staff, and it is appropriate for all the rest of us who have left school behind.
Review by Tyler Austin Harper: https://www.theatlantic.com/.../james-book-percival-everett...
Review by Dwight Garner: https://www.nytimes.com/.../percival-everett-james...
Review by Ron Charles: https://www.washingtonpost.com/.../percival-everett-james...
Review by Anthony Cummins: https://www.theguardian.com/.../james-by-percival-everett...
https://librivox.org/jane-austens-sailor-brothers-by-edith-hubback-brown/
Text: https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/69815
By Edith Hubback Brown (1876 - 1945) and John Hubback (1844 - 1939)
Reader's Notes:
I believe that "Jane Austen's Sailor Brothers..." will be enjoyable to Jane Austin fans, as well as those who loved Patric O'Brian's Aubrey-Maturin novels. Edith Hubback Brown and her father John Hubback share what appears to be well researched and carefully edited primary resources (British Naval records and family letters) to outline Francis and Charles Austen's naval education and careers, and how their experiences contributed to Jane Austen's novels.
Everyone should know that this is an excellent reading/performance by Bryn Roberts. His accent, emotions, pacing, and enthusiasm are exemplary and enhance this audio book tremendously.
Librivox Summary:
"Jane Austen's Sailor Brothers" by Edith & John Hubback is a biography that explores the lives of Jane Austen's two sailor brothers, Francis and Charles. The book examines their naval careers, their relationships with their famous sister, and their impact on her writing. They begin with background information on the Austen family and the naval world of the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. They then describe Francis's and Charles's experiences in the Royal Navy, including their participation in the Napoleonic Wars and voyages to exotic locations such as the West Indies and Australia. The Hubbacks, themselves descendants of Jane Austen, also examine the relationship between Austen and her sailor brothers, highlighting the influence they had on her writing. For example, they discuss the naval themes that appear in Austen's novels such as "Persuasion" and "Mansfield Park" and suggest that her brothers' experiences informed these works. Throughout the book, the Hubbacks use letters, journals, and other primary sources to bring the Austen brothers to life. They also provide context on the wider social and political issues of the time, including the impact of the wars on naval life and the attitudes towards sailors and their families. "Jane Austen's Sailor Brothers" offers a fascinating glimpse into the lives of two important figures in Jane Austen's world and sheds light on the naval world that inspired her writing. (Summary by Bryn Roberts)
Audio: https://www.overdrive.com/media/9406637/the-keeper-of-hidden-books
eBook: https://www.overdrive.com/media/9194470/the-keeper-of-hidden-books
By Madeline Martin ( – )
Reading Notes: This historical fiction novel is told from the perspective of Zofia Nowak, who is 18 years old when the Germans invade and loot Poland. After quickly losing her brother and father to the invading Nazis, Zofia and her friends play a number of roles in Polish attempts to resist extinction (including Jewish extinction -- her best friend Janina is confined in the Jewish ghetto), maintain an Hitler-banned Book Club (later, the "Bandit Book Club"), participate in local resistance efforts, work in the Warsaw library system to save books that Nazis attempt to confiscated and destroy, and support families torn apart and left destitute by the multi-faceted violence of the war. The narrative is set in Poland from 1939 to 1944 and follows the campaign to eliminate Jews and to destroy all non-German culture in Poland. ... inspired by the true story of the underground library/libraries in WWII Warsaw.
OverDrive Summary: https://www.overdrive.com/media/9406637/the-keeper-of-hidden-books
Book Club Guide by the author
Review by Sarah Hendess: https://historicalnovelsociety.org/...
Review by Rachelle Kuzyk: https://chandlerlibrary.org/...
Review by Jana: https://www.thatartsyreadergirl.com/...
https://librivox.org/kings-queens-and-pawns-by-mary-roberts-rinehart/
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/14457
By Mary Roberts Rinehart (1876 - 1958) Published 1915
Summary from Librivox:
A personal account of the American author's visit to Europe in January 1915 while a war correspondent in Belgium for The Saturday Evening Post. She writes: "War is not two great armies meeting in a clash and frenzy of battle. It is much more than that. War is a boy carried on a stretcher, looking up at God's blue sky with bewildered eyes that are soon to close; war is a woman carrying a child that has been wounded by a shell; war is spirited horses tied in burning buildings and waiting for death; war is the flower of a race, torn, battered, hungry, bleeding, up to its knees in icy water; war is an old woman burning a candle before the Mater Dolorosa for the son she has given.
https://www.overdrive.com/media/5558574/klara-and-the-sun
By Kazuo Ishiguro (1954 -- __ )
Reader's Notes: One path for artificial intelligence in our not-too-distant future.
We experience the story from the perspective of Klara, an AF (a solar-powered Artificial Friend). Klara has exemplary observational skills but seems limited by what must have been her training data-set emphasizing human characteristics and communications and de-emphasizing the laws of the physical world. This results in an uneven understanding of the world around her and an interesting story of committment and compassion.
CAUTION: Learning story details by reading the excellent wikipedia summary might ruin (maybe just "diminish") the reading experience for some because part of the Ishiguro's magic is in slowly, expertly, revealing new ideas and new threads of experience as the reader traverses his story.
Wikipedia Summary: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Klara_and_the_Sun
Audio: https://librivox.org/the-knights-of-arthur-by-frederik-pohl-2/
eBook: https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/32004
By Frederik Pohl (1919 - 2013)
Reading Notes: Another post-WWII / post-apocalypse story filled with fairly wooden characters and dialog... The pacing and economy of Pohl's writing may place this short story above some other writing in this category, but you may need to be involved in a study of this period to find joy in reading/listening to "Knights of Arthur."
Librivox Summary:
Pohl takes us into the future in this quirky and funny story, where the population of the United States is less than 10,000 people ... total. Yes you guessed it, there was a war; but the 'clean' bombs killed people and left most everything else intact. Our trio of 'Knights' are not very talented or smart or brave, but they have survived very well and now are taking on New York City to fulfill a quest of Arthur. You see, Arthur has no legs. Or arms. Or body. But he is very opinionated nevertheless. Listen to this fascinating story that is full of humor and human nature as only Pohl can do it. (Summary by Phil Chenevert)
https://librivox.org/the-last-evolution-by-john-wood-campbell-jr/
Text: https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/27462
By John Wood Campbell, Jr. (1910 - 1971)
John Campbell Jr. gives us a story about evolution. What will be man's ultimate evolution? What will he look like 100,000 years in the future? And who will be his children? "It was 2538 years After the Year of the Son of Man. For six centuries mankind had been developing machines. The Ear-apparatus was discovered as early as seven hundred years before. The Eye came later, the Brain came much later. But by 2500, the machines had been developed to think, and act and work with perfect independence. Man lived on the products of the machine, and the machines lived to themselves very happily, and contentedly. Machines are designed to help and cooperate. It was easy to do the simple duties they needed to do that men might live well. And men had created them. Most of mankind were quite useless, for they lived in a world where no productive work was necessary." - Summary by the author
Audio: https://www.overdrive.com/media/5418299/the-last-watch
eBook: https://www.overdrive.com/media/5716552/the-last-watch
By J.S. (Jenny) Dewes
Reading Notes: Think the best of "The Expanse." This is a fast-paced sci-fi adventure. It combines enough real science/sciencey and technology/techy facts and ideas with a universe of creative additions to make this a believeable story of the far future. It includes the conflict, heroics, and romance required for space opera. It is also a ready-for-streaming novel.
Throughout, the scene setup is just enough to create a skeletal environment so that the action, character development and dialog can keep the pace thumping along -- not timeless prose. Some GoodReads reviewers have been critical of character development -- I just viewed the pacing and scope of character development as part of writing an action-centric novel that is prepped for screen-writers, rather than what some called thin or under-emphasized. If you require deep character development concentrated in the opening chapters of your books, "The Last Watch" may not be happiness for you... If you can dive in and have the author reveal character details throughout the story, this book might be a good fit. Overall, the story is told from two perspectives: Adequin Rake, commander of the Argus (what appears to be all but a prison ship) stationed at "The Divide" -- the edge of the universe. And Cavalon Mercer, recent arrival, the over-educated grandson of an evil monarch, who incrementally reveals unexpected abilities given his introduction into the Argus. Changes in the expected behaviors of the known universe, warp drive maintenance and repair, controlled fusion, fantastic technology left behind by an ancient civilization, genetically engineered and cloned warriors, dark matter, anti-matter, and much more have Sci-Fi-reasonable associations with broadly understood physics and technology concepts that this fiction seems "believeable-enough" most of the time. Close-quarter combat, governmental/military misdeeds, and corrupt monarchs & oligarchs add interest to the story.
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/53205794-the-last-watch
https://www.jsdewes.com/about
Audio: https://librivox.org/the-later-middle-ages-a-history-of-western-europe-1254-1494-by-robert-balmain-mowat/
eBook: https://archive.org/details/latermiddleagesh00mowa
By Robert Balmain Mowat (Mowat, R. B. (Robert Balmain)) or here (1883 - 1941)
Other works by R.B. Mowat at the U.Penn. Online Books Page: http://onlinebooks.library.upenn.edu/webbin/book/lookupname?key=Mowat%2C%20R%2E%20B%2E%20%28Robert%20Balmain%29%2C%201883%2D1941
Reading Notes: A narrowly focussed history of select leaders and select wars primarily in Germany, Italy, France and Constantinople between 1254-1494. Within its limited scope, it is an easy way to get a little context about some of the major "political" personalities and conflicts during this period in Western Europe. It is not a resource for learning much about "life on the ground" for the overwhelming majority of people in this period. As an audio experience, this book is also a pleasure thanks to the excellent narration by Dr. Pamela Nagami.
Librivox Summary:
The Scottish historian, Robert Balmain Mowat writes, “When this period opens one of the finest epochs in German history had just closed, and a time of confusion begun.” With the death of the Emperor Frederick II, Germany’s many feudal territories became practically hereditary sovereignties, her Free Imperial Cities almost independent states. But within the walls of these city-states, as in their Italian counterparts, commercial life flourished. During this period the Great Schism divided Christendom and was with infinite difficulty resolved. This was the age of Dante, Boccaccio, and Petrarch, of the Hundred Years’ War, of the rise of Spain, and of the Turkish conquest of Constantinople. (Summary by Pamela Nagami, M.D.)
Audio: https://www.overdrive.com/media/9452137/learned-by-heart
eBook: https://www.overdrive.com/media/9474862/learned-by-heart
By Emma Donoghue (1969 – )
Reading Notes: This historical fiction/romance "is about Eliza Raine, an orphan heiress sent from India to England at age six, and Anne Lister, a brilliant, troublesome tomboy, who meet at the Manor School for young ladies in York in 1805 when they are both fourteen."
Review by Chris Bohjalian: https://www.washingtonpost.com/books/2023/08/17/emma-donoghue-historical-novel/
Review by Chris Vognar: https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/books/story/2023-08-25/life-after-room-emma-donoghue-on-her-new-novel-learned-by-heart
Audio: https://www.overdrive.com/media/5233415/leave-the-world-behind
eBook: https://www.overdrive.com/media/5207423/leave-the-world-behind
By Rumaan Alam and his site (1977 – )
Reading Notes: I thought that author Rumaan Alam ably built tension along several threads -- marriage, parenting, wealth, race and class -- as this end-of-the-world story progressed. This is my first book after listening to "Caste" by Isabel Wilkerson and I think her research and writing is an excellent preparation for reading Alam's novel, which explores a lot of the same social territory, albeit on a micro-scale (having 6 or 8 material characters) and in a fictional end-of-the-world context.
This book was also released in movie form.
Wikipedia Summary: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leave_the_World_Behind_(novel)
Overdrive Summary:
From the bestselling author of Rich and Pretty comes a suspenseful and provocative novel keenly attuned to the complexities of parenthood, race, and class. Leave the World Behind explores how our closest bonds are reshaped—and unexpected new ones are forged—in moments of crisis.
Amanda and Clay head out to a remote corner of Long Island expecting a vacation: a quiet reprieve from life in New York City, quality time with their teenage son and daughter, and a taste of the good life in the luxurious home they've rented for the week. But a late-night knock on the door breaks the spell. Ruth and G. H. are an older couple—it's their house, and they've arrived in a panic. They bring the news that a sudden blackout has swept the city. But in this rural area—with the TV and internet now down, and no cell phone service—it's hard to know what to believe.
Should Amanda and Clay trust this couple—and vice versa? What happened back in New York? Is the vacation home, isolated from civilization, a truly safe place for their families? And are they safe from one other?
https://librivox.org/the-legion-of-lazarus-by-edmond-hamilton/
Text: https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/32486 (from 'Imagination' April 1956)
By Edmond Hamilton (1904 - 1977)
Reader's Notes:
This is a quick story about the search for a very rare mineral in the asteroid belt in order to help finish the first star-ship. Extrasensory perception (ESP) powers that are gained when convicted criminals are resuscitated after a 50-year 'death sentence' (served in space without any type of life support) is completed are a foundational device used to drive this story forward. If that is too much for you, this is not your short story.
Librivox Summary:
Those convicted of the most heinous crimes are sentenced to the Humane Penalty: they are ejected from the airlock of a ship, to freeze in the icy chill of outer space. Death is instantaneous. But in some cases, not permanent. - Summary by Peter Eastman
Audio: https://www.overdrive.com/media/4238728/the-lesson
eBook: https://www.overdrive.com/media/4709768/the-lesson-a-novel
By Cadwell Turnbull (1987 – )
Reading Notes: This story involves an interesting interspecies racism theme. Katharine Coldiron says that it is an allegory for white interference in Black cultures. That seems like a good bet -- and discomforting. As a science fiction novel, the story includes aliens, space ships, and a broad cast of characters. See the Overdrive Summary below and either or both reviews below for more.
Overdrive Summary:
An alien ship rests over Water Island. For five years the people of the US Virgin Islands have lived with the Ynaa, a race of superadvanced aliens on a research mission they will not fully disclose. They are benevolent in many ways but meet any act of aggression with disproportional wrath. This has led to a strained relationship between the Ynaa and the local Virgin Islanders and a peace that cannot last. A year after the death of a young boy at the hands of an Ynaa, three families find themselves at the center of the inevitable conflict, witnesses and victims to events that will touch everyone and teach a terrible lesson. https://www.overdrive.com/media/4238728/the-lesson
Review by Katharine Coldiron: https://locusmag.com/2019/05/katharine-coldiron-reviews-the-lesson-by-cadwell-turnbull/
Review by Peter Mack: https://therumpus.net/2019/11/27/the-lesson-by-cadwell-turnbull/
Audio: https://www.overdrive.com/media/6241648/lets-not-do-that-again
eBook: https://www.overdrive.com/media/6211560/lets-not-do-that-again
By Grant Ginder (1982 – )
Reading Notes: This story has been described as "viciously funny" but I found it more often a slog. The characters were evolved, efficiently rendered caricatures, but didn't reach human status. It has a propulsive quality -- always moving the story forward -- that is comforting, and is what kept me from giving up and returning the book.
Author's Summary: https://www.grantginder.com/lets-not-do-that-again
Audio: https://www.overdrive.com/media/9267855/the-librarianist
eBook: https://www.overdrive.com/media/9267904/the-librarianist
By Patrick deWitt (1975 – )
Reading Notes: A story about a 71 year old introverted, retired Portland, Oregon librarian named Bob Comet who began volunteering at a local senior center, later becoming a resident. See the review by Ron Charles if you want a better, more complete summary.
Wikipedia Summary of The Librarianist: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Librarianist
Review by Ron Charles: https://www.washingtonpost.com/.../librarianist...
https://librivox.org/life-and-writings-of-amelia-bloomer-by-dexter-c-bloomer/
Text: https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/69953
Wikipedia Biography: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amelia_Bloomer
By Dexter C. Bloomer (1816 - 1900)
Reader's Notes: The fact that this is largely an edited (by her husband), lightly annotated collection of writings by Amelia Bloomer provides a unique, first hand account of her ideas and activities. In addition to what you might expect (temperance, experiments with new clothes, sufferage, and equality for women and men) this volume includes some interesting first-hand accounts of travel in "the West" in the 1850s as well as life in Western Iowa in the mid 19th century.
Librivox Summary:
As Mrs. Bloomer was one of the pioneers in what is sometimes called the “Woman’s Movement,” it seems right that a record of her work should be placed in durable form. Such a record I have endeavored to set forth in the following pages. While giving a brief narrative of her life, I have also included, as being most satisfactory, quite extended extracts from her writings; and one of her lectures is printed in full. - Summary by D. C. Bloomer (preface to book)
https://librivox.org/life-of-henry-david-thoreau-by-henry-salt/
Text: https://archive.org/details/lifeofhenrydavid00saltuoft
By Henry Salt (1851 - 1939) published 1890
Summary from Librivox:
Henry David Thoreau was a laborer, philosopher, abolitionist, anarchist, environmentalist(?), writer, poet, and more. In popular culture he is best known for his book 'Walden', and his essay on 'Civil Disobedience.' Phyllis Vincelli reports that this early biography by Henry Salt is highly regarded by Thoreau scholars. Be aware that this is a late 19th century biography -- little wandering and uneven. If you can forgive that, I believe it is a useful introduction to Thoreau well read by "PhyllisV."
Book: https://search.worldcat.org/search?qt=wikipedia&q=isbn%3A9781538708279
Audio: https://www.overdrive.com/media/8796209/the-light-pirate
eBook: https://www.overdrive.com/media/8798745/the-light-pirate
By Lily Brooks-Dalton (1987 – )
Reading Notes: Climate-centric post-apocalypse dystopian fiction. Florida is evacuated as nature reclaims this coastal peninsula. A very few characters stay. The story re-visits characters over decades as they adapt to the new environment.
Review by Amy Rowland: https://www.nytimes.com/...the-light-pirate.html
Review by Tara Lynn Masih: https://southernlitreview.com/reviews/the-light-pirate...
Reviews on GoodReads: https://www.goodreads.com/...the-light-pirate
https://www.lilybrooksdalton.com/the-light-pirate.html
The Light Pirate, Discussion Questions. By Lily Brooks-Dalton: https://www.readinggroupguides.com/reviews/the-light-pirate/guide
Interview with Lily Brooks-Dalton by Sarah McCammon: https://www.npr.org/2...lily-brooks-dalton-on-her-new-novel-the-light-pirate
Audio: https://www.overdrive.com/media/6525024/light-years-from-home
eBook: https://www.overdrive.com/media/6195009/light-years-from-home
By Mike Chen ( – )
Reading Notes: Evie Shao and her elder siblings, twins Kass and Jakob Shao, mom and dad... Family drama, trauma, action, science fiction, aliens and intergalactic war, FBI and cops, and much more. See the reviews...
Author's Summary: https://www.mikechenbooks.com/book/light-years-from-home/
Review by lay at bookshelfsoliloquies
Review by Alex at The Quill to Live
https://www.overdrive.com/media/6079650/the-lincoln-highway
By Amor Towles (1964 - )
Reading Notes: This is great story! Mid-1950s juvenile work farm inmates just free after doing some hard time. A rural farm family is abandoned by its mother and then reduce again by the father's death leaving two sons homeless and rootless. The brothers set off on a search for their mother in California, but are forced into a harrowing detour to New York. Amor Towles expertly tells the story from multiple characters' points of view. See Bill Gates' review below for a proper summary.
GateNotes' Summary: https://www.gatesnotes.com/The-Lincoln-Highway
Heller McAlpin Review: https://www.npr.org/2021/10/05/1043187103/amor-towles-the-lincoln-highway-review
Audio: https://www.overdrive.com/media/9127508/the-lindbergh-nanny
eBook: https://www.overdrive.com/media/8328761/the-lindbergh-nanny
By Mariah Fredericks ( – )
Reading Notes: Excellent historical fiction novel -- the Lindbergh kidnapping from the perspective of the nurse (now called a "nanny") Betty Gow.
Summary: https://www.mariahfredericksbooks.com/...introducing-betty-gow-the-lindbergh-nanny
NYT Learning Resource on this topic: https://archive.nytimes.com/www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/0301.html
Audio: https://www.overdrive.com/media/9127509/the-longest-letsgoboy
eBood: https://www.overdrive.com/media/6799159/the-longest-letsgoboy
By Derick Wilder ( – )
Reading Notes: An eight minute read aimed at the very young. The story warrants careful review before using with your toddler ● as it might raise more challenging questions than it addresses.
From the author: "This circle-of-life tale, illustrated by the amazing Catia Chien, is a testament to the enduring bond between people and their pets. It’s told from the perspective of an aging dog who knows he’s on his last letsgoboy, or walk in the woods, with his little girl. But before leaving he wants to bid farewell to his friends and make sure she will be taken care of."
By Kara Goucher (1978 – ) and Mary Pilon (1986 - )
Reading Notes: A memoir about distance athlete Kara Goucher and her experience in the the Nike Oregon Project coached by (doper, banned for sexual and emotional misconduct) Alberto Salazar.
Audio: https://www.overdrive.com/media/82629/longitude
eBook: https://www.overdrive.com/media/796/longitude
By Dava Sobel (1947 – )
Reading Notes: The title says is all. It is a great story and provides some context for a range of 14th through 19th century historical events.
Wikipedia Summary: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Longitude_(book)
https://librivox.org/lorelei-of-the-red-mist-by-leigh-douglass-brackett-2/
Text: https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/63917
By Leigh Douglass Brackett (1915 - 1978) and Ray Bradbury (1920 - 2012)
Librivox Summary:
"Published in Planet Stories in 1946, this story is a great mix of Golden Age Sci Fi and Swords & Sorcery. The first half was written by Brackett and when she was pulled away by other commitments the publisher gave it to a new writer, Ray Bradbury, to finish. It is a sort of prequel to the Stark character developed by Brackett where a weak puny man is transferred into the body of a Conan like superman and then cruses through adventure after adventure, always rescuing damsels who are tough and feisty. The publisher blurb says "He died—and then awakened in a new body. He found himself on a world of bizarre loveliness, a powerful, rich man. He took pleasure in his turn of good luck ... until he discovered that his new body was hated by all on this strange planet, that his soul was owned by Rann, devil-goddess of Falga, who was using him for her own gain." - Summary by Phil Chenevert"
Audio: https://www.overdrive.com/media/4866858/the-lost-book-of-adana-moreau
eBook: https://www.overdrive.com/media/4729940/the-lost-book-of-adana-moreau
By Michael Zapata, on the Shipman Agency site and on LinkedIn ( – )
Reading Notes: This book is another huge winner --> you should read it. I started this book yesterday morning and am writing this text after having finished around noon today -- it is the kind of book that quickly drew me in and kept me engaged with the characters -- and engaged with the writing itself. As this story crosses centuries and cultures I thought initially it did so via elements of what I believe is often called magical realism. Zapata builds each sub-plot around a dense structure of realistic detail while injecting what at first seemed like magical or fantastical elements. But the more that I thought about the details, I now believe that he just has magical skills -- hugging complex and diverse realities as a master story-teller and a master literary craftsman. As a reader the book seems to argue that the reality that our decisions result in impacts far, far beyond their immediate context. The story incorporates themes of family, diaspora, immigration, exile, and the way we characterize cultures/societies not our own and how we treat each other first-hand, as well as ideas that support the existance of multiple parallel worlds that are described by quantum physics (if you find this last idea an interesting concept and want to read more fiction incorporating it, see Neal Stephenson's "Anathem" and if you are intrigued by the idea(s) and want to learn more, see Neal Stephenson's acknowledgments page starting at "Philosophical and Scientific Ideas."). Jason Heller's review of this book, "Multiple Universes Fill The Pages Of 'The Lost Book Of Adana Moreau'" is better than anything that I could write about this book -- see it if you want to know more. This is my second book after listening to "Caste" by Isabel Wilkerson and I think her research and writing is an excellent preparation for reading Zapata's novel, which explores some of the same social territory across generations.
In 1929 in New Orleans, a Dominican immigrant named Adana Moreau writes a science fiction novel. The novel earns rave reviews, and Adana begins a sequel. Then she falls gravely ill. Just before she dies, she destroys the only copy of the manuscript. Decades later in Chicago, Saul Drower is cleaning out his dead grandfather's home when he discovers a mysterious manuscript written by none other than Adana Moreau. With the help of his friend Javier, Saul tracks down an address for Adana's son in New Orleans, but as Hurricane Katrina strikes they must head to the storm-ravaged city for answers.What results is a brilliantly layered masterpiece—an ode to home, storytelling and the possibility of parallel worlds.
Review by Talor Moore, Chicago Magazine: "Local Author’s Breakout Debut Is a Novel About a Novel." 2020-02-20
Review by Jason Heller, NPR: "Multiple Universes Fill The Pages Of 'The Lost Book Of Adana Moreau'." 2020-02-05
30 minute conversation between Michael Zapata and G. P. Gottlieb "Michael Zapata on Stories of Displacement."
Audio: https://www.overdrive.com/media/5564123/the-lying-room
eBook: https://www.overdrive.com/media/4489722/the-lying-room
By Nicci French aka: Nicci Gerrard (1958 - ) and Sean French (1959 - )
Reading Notes: This is a whodunnit story about a woman who, upon finding her lover's dead body, decides to clean up much of the crime scene in order to keep her affair with that individual private --> followed by a lot of lying, investigating, and family drama. Much of the dialog occurs inside the central character's head. The writing was entertaining enough to keep me from dropping this book before finishing.
"What The Reviewers Say:" https://bookmarks.reviews/reviews/all/the-lying-room/
Audio: https://www.overdrive.com/media/9233704/the-making-of-another-major-motion-picture-masterpiece
eBook: https://www.overdrive.com/media/9236641/the-making-of-another-major-motion-picture-masterpiece
By Tom Hanks (1956 – )
Reading Notes: The story, told by Joe Shaw, creative writing teacher at Montana college and sometimes reviewer, includes the birth of the source material that inspires a writer-director to write his latest movie, “Knightshade: The Lathe of Firefall,” along with the making of that movie. Most of the characters (Bob Falls, Robby Andersen, Bill Johnson, Allicia (Al) Mac-Teer, Ynez Gonzalez-Cruz, Wren Lane, O.K. Bailey, and more) throughout the book are -- at varying levels of depth -- treated by the author as real people and (almost) everyone surfaces enough kindness to support the story's forward motion. As much as anything about this story, it was the economy of that building-real-people, with just-enough-detail-just-enough-backstory-and-no-more that I found attractive (some may argue with the ...and-no-more). Learning a little about movie-making was also interesting. Reviewer Ron Charles identified “Making movies is about solving more problems than you cause” as one of the foundational principles outlined in this story. Being one of those foundational rules for success in life -- this novel may, assuming some level of optimism and decency, pass along some important messages about living well.
Review by Ron Charles: https://www.washingtonpost.com/.../tom-hanks-novel-making-another...
Review by Alexandra Jacobs: https://www.nytimes.com/.../tom-hanks-the-making-of-another...
Review by Tim Adams: https://www.theguardian.com/...the-making-of-another-major-motion-picture...
Interview with Tom Hanks about this novel, by Jeffrey Brown: https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/tom-hanks-on-his-debut-novel...
https://librivox.org/man-in-the-panthers-skin-by-shota-rustaveli/
Text: https://archive.org/details/WardropMps/page/n3/mode/2up
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Knight_in_the_Panther's_Skin
By Shota Rustaveli (1172 - 1216)
Translated by Marjory Wardrop (1869 - 1909)
Reading Summary: I recommend reading the Wikipedia background and overview to provide some background. This epic poem written in the middle ages Georgian empire is not represented in any category of my normal recreational reading or formal education and I was completely without context.
Librivox Summary:
Georgian mediæval epic poem written in the time of the Golden Age of Queen Tamar. Couched in the chivalric language of the 12th Century, it tells a classic tale of love in all its forms, and is an allegory of the great Queen herself. The book is required reading for all school students in Georgia and a copy went with each bride to her new home as a part of her dowry. This prose rendering was the first in English. - (Summary by Beeswaxcandle
https://librivox.org/man-of-many-minds-by-edward-everett-evans/
Text: https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/19660
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Man_of_Many_Minds
By E. Everett Evans](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/E._Everett_Evans) (1893-1958)
Pyramid Books edition: November, 1959
Reading Notes:
I agree that "old-school space opera" is a good description -- in the context of juvenile/young adult fiction. But this book's mostly wooden characters remind me of "I Spy" in their shallow lack of development. The author builds a future where Earth's colonization of many worlds seems to have emphasized transplanting some of humankind's worst tendencies... The story maintains just enough forward motion to keep me engaged (while doing yard work and house work). It may not be worth your time, as there are so many other good books...
Librivox Summary:
"GALAXY IN DANGER! Somewhere, somehow, the first moves have been made—the pattern is beginning to emerge. Someone—or something—is on the way to supreme power over all the planets held by Man. And the Inter-stellar Corps is helpless to meet the threat—no normal man can hope to penetrate the conspiracy. But—the Corps has a man who isn't normal, a man with a very strange weapon ... his mind. Exciting! Strange! Extraordinary! One of the most unusual science fiction adventures ever published. Space travel, telepathy, and heroism! Military school cadet George Hanlon is selected to join an elite, super-secret, secret service organization. He has extraordinary mental powers, among them the ability to talk to animals and transfer parts of his mind into them. Old-school space opera!" (Summary by TriciaG and from the preface)
Audio: https://www.overdrive.com/media/138750/marco-polo
eBook: https://www.overdrive.com/media/148020/marco-polo
By Laurence Bergreen and laurencebergreenauthor.com (1950 – )
Reading Notes: Marco Polo (1254 – 1324) was a Venetian merchant, explorer and writer who travelled through Asia along the Silk Road between 1271 and 1295.
The author begins with a review of the general geopolitical environment in 11th century Europe/Near East. Then outlines how Marco Polo's father and his uncle, Niccolò and Maffeo, travelled through Asia between 1254 and 1269, and met Kublai Khan. When they returned to Venice they met Marco for the first time. After that introduction, Bergreen begins the meat of the biography as Marco, Niccolò and Maffeo embark on another journey to Asia, exploring and conducting business at many places along the Silk Road until they reached "Cathay" to deliver Pope Clement IV's response to Kublai Khan. Marco Polo made a positive impression in Kublai Khan's court and was employed by the khan in China for 17 years. Their travels kept them away from Venice for 24 years. The author provides context for the content of "The Travels of Marco Polo," Marco Polo's autobiography, which he wrote with the help of Rustichello da Pisa, while they were in prison together in Genoa, first published c. 1300. The author also includes conclusion outlining some of the evolution and impacts of Marco Polo's autobiography.
Review by Bruce Barcott: https://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/02/books/review/Barcott-t.html
Author's Summary: https://laurencebergreenauthor.com/MarcoPolo
As the most celebrated European to explore Asia, Marco Polo was the original global traveler and the earliest bridge between East and West. A universal icon of adventure and discovery, he has inspired six centuries of popular fascination and spurious mythology. Now, from acclaimed author Laurence Bergreen, comes the first fully authoritative biography of one of the most enchanting figures in world history. In this masterly work, Marco Polo’s incredible odyssey–along the Silk Road and through all the fantastic circumstances of his life–is chronicled in sumptuous and illuminating detail.
Drawing on original sources in more than half a dozen languages, and his own travels along Polo’s route in China and Mongolia, Bergreen explores the lingering controversies surrounding Polo’s legend, settling age-old questions and testing others for significance. Synthesizing history, biography, and travelogue, this is a timely chronicle of a man who extended the boundaries of human knowledge and imagination. Destined to be the definitive account of its subject for decades to come, Marco Polo takes us on a journey to the limits of history–and beyond.
Audio: https://www.overdrive.com/media/6294943/matrix
eBook: https://www.overdrive.com/media/6080624/matrix
By Lauren Groff (1978 - )
Reading Notes: This excellent story begin as newly orphaned, seventeen-year-old Marie from the French Royal Court of King Henry II and his wife, Eleanor of Aquitaine is sent to England to be the new prioress of an impoverished abbey. It is the late 12th century, and "poverty" at that time was a mean business. Marie adapts to this hard life and, having participated in a wider world and witnessed a broad range of opportunities, she began to help, and then lead the abby into a new age of expansion and power. Marie has religious visions and reacts to some of them with radical expansions of the abby's property and practices in an attempt to build a female separatist "utopia."
Wikipedia Summary: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matrix_(Groff_novel)
Review by Constance Grady: https://www.vox.com/culture/22727057/matrix-lauren-groff-book-review
Overdrive Summary: Cast out of the royal court by Eleanor of Aquitaine, deemed too coarse and rough-hewn for marriage or courtly life, seventeen-year-old Marie de France is sent to England to be the new prioress of an impoverished abbey, its nuns on the brink of starvation and beset by disease. At first taken aback by the severity of her new life, Marie finds focus and love in collective life with her singular and mercurial sisters. In this crucible, Marie steadily supplants her desire for family, for her homeland, for the passions of her youth with something new to her: devotion to her sisters, and a conviction in her own divine visions...
Audio: https://www.overdrive.com/media/8957224/the-matter-of-everything
eBook: https://www.overdrive.com/media/8916696/the-matter-of-everything
By Suzie Sheehy or Wikipedia (1984 – )
Reading Notes: Also titled: "The Matter of Everything -- Twelve Experiments That Changed Our World." This is popular science at its best! This book outlines a lot about the practice of particle/high-energy/accelerator physics experiments in the last ~125 years as a way to explain how we know what we know about the working of our world and how knowledge gained along the way has tranformed our world. And she does so in a way that is understandable, even exciting, to someone who has never had first-hand involvement in real science of any kind. Sheehy emphasises importance of asking good/the right questions, seeking and nurturing collaboration (...a necessity as the scale and scope of high-energy physics experiments required enormous and extended funding as well as increasingly diverse skillsets), nurturing pure science (...partly because the process so often results in unexpected material benefits). She also highlights some of the individuals (often women) whose contributions were too often overlooked by their contemporaries and by professional historians. I listened to the audio book. Dr. Sheehy is the narrator and her obvious interest and excitement about this topic is a huge asset in the presentation of this already pretty exciting story (I can imagine her being an excellent teacher/collaborator). See the reviews below for more information about this fantastic book.
Author's Summary: https://www.suziesheehy.com/book
Review by Michael Janezic: https://openlettersreview.com/posts/the-matter-of-everything...
Review by Elle Hunt: https://www.newscientist.com/...the-matter-of-everything...
Audio: https://www.overdrive.com/media/9267150/the-mimicking-of-known-successes
eBook: https://www.overdrive.com/media/8906457/the-mimicking-of-known-successes
By Malka Older ( – )
Reading Notes: This was a fun novella. Read the excellent Wikipedia Summary for more.
Short Summary on Wikipedia:
A man has arrived at a rail terminus, but never taken a rail car back from there. There is no evidence that he left the terminus by any means. His reported state of mind made it unlikely he committed suicide by jumping off. Mossa asks for Pleiti's help, since the man was a colleague at Valdegeld. Soon there is a murder, the victim seeming to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. Continuing the investigation may put Pleiti and Mossa themselves in danger. from here
Audio: https://www.overdrive.com/media/10638161/ministry-of-truth
eBook: https://www.overdrive.com/media/10644645/ministry-of-truth
By Steve Benen (1973 – )
Reading Notes: I listened to this book shortly after Trump's Jan. 2025 inauguration. He and his enablers were in full accelleration mode for re-writing recent history of Trumps big lie(s): "winning" the 2020 presidential election, casting January 6th insurrection as a spontaneous peaceful protest, charges against Trump, Trump's pardoning/releasing of violent Jan. 6th participants - even those who attacked police, Trump's activities/behaviors, Republican's activities/behaviors, their obligation to deal with with what they characterize as hateful opponents who misuse the levers of government (an unsubtle program to dehumanize those with whom they disagree), and the social & economic conditions of the United States of America under their leadership. At the time -- late January 2025 -- this book was a sad reminder of how successful they might be at these tasks...
OverDrive Summary https://www.overdrive.com/media/10638161/ministry-of-truth:
For as long as historical records have existed, authoritarian regimes have tried to rewrite history to suit their purposes, using their dictatorial powers to create myths, spread propaganda, justify decisions, erase opponents, and even dispose of crimes. Today, as America's Republican Party becomes increasingly radicalized, it's not surprising to see the GOP read from a similarly despotic script. Indeed, the party is taking dangerous, aggressive steps to rewrite history—and not just from generations past. Unable to put a positive spin on Trump-era scandals and fiascos, GOP voices and their allies have grown determined to rewrite the stories of the last few years—from the 2020 election results and the horror of January 6th to their own legislative record—treating the recent past as an enemy to be overpowered, crushed, and conquered. The consequences for our future, in turn, are dramatic. Extraordinarily timely and undeniably important, Steve Benen's new book tells the staggering chronicle of the Republican party's unsettling attempts at historical revisionism. It reveals not only how dependent they have grown on the tactic, but also how dangerous the consequences are if we allow the party to continue. The stakes, Benen argues, couldn't be higher: the future of democracy hinges on both our accurate understanding of events and the end of alternative narratives that challenge reality.
Audio: https://www.overdrive.com/media/5558525/the-ministry-for-the-future
Ebook: https://www.overdrive.com/media/5255196/the-ministry-for-the-future
By Kim Stanley Robinson (1952 - )
Published October 2020, 576 pages
Reader Notes: First, everyone should read or listen to this book. Climate catastrophe remains a real threat and Robinson's book might help with context and inspiration to act (...or act more).
20 million (20,000,000) people die in a 2-week heat wave in India. Robinson's *Ministry of the Future" is established by the United Nations in order to more effectively "advocate for the world’s future generations of citizens, whose rights, as defined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, are as valid as our own" and "charged with defending all living creatures present and future who cannot speak for themselves, by promoting their legal standing and physical protection." (quotes from Gerry Canavan)
This story is largely a collection of fictional eye witness accounts of activities around the world related to climate change. While there is a material focus on individuals and teams at the Ministry of the Future, Robinson weaves in climate refugees, scientists in Antarctica, a range of workers and leaders in India, super-rich in Davos, carbon... And second hand reports of climate-related news from around the globe. The story incorporates a wide range of ideas and activities that humans employ to resist climate catastrophe and to begin healing earth's ecosystems.
Robinson has a LOT of faith in technology and in our ability to evolve it to meet challenges presented by climate change and human responses to it. Some seem like a great fit -- an inspiration. But not all. He seems to believe some of, maybe most of the arguments in favor of replacing existing currencies across the globe with digital currencies tightly coupled to blockchain technology -- I think he says primarily that this approach will be safer, more transparent, and more democratic. In context, this appears to ignore the energy consumption (its contributions to climate catastrophe), operating expenses, and latency confronted when applied at global scale. Sure, there are organizations trading some of the risk management provided by difficult (energy hungry) proof-of-work calculations for a reduction in transaction fees, infrastructure and operations expenses, but it is not clear where Robinson intends his characters go for safe, climate-friendly currency.
See the summaries/reviews below for a more complete view of this excellent book.
Wikipedia Summary: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Ministry_for_the_Future
Audio: https://www.overdrive.com/media/6508251/a-prayer-for-the-crown-shy
eBook: https://www.overdrive.com/media/6492883/a-prayer-for-the-crown-shy
By Becky Chambers (1985 – )
Reading Notes: This was my second exposure to Solarpunk. Again, the story and characters are kind, and generally optimistic. The main character, Dex, a tea-serving monk who, in part 1 of this series left his order to become a travelling tea monk and after some years impulsively goes searching for an abandoned monastary in the wilderness -- meeting a robot -- Mosscap -- who is beginning a quest to determine "what people need." In part 2 of this story, they "journey together in a world where humans have abandoned most forms of greed and exploitation." Chambers builds an engaging world where people have tampped down most greed and exploitation (without resorting to satire or comedy) -- which seems like a sign of master storytelling.
Again, narrator Em Grosland is a huge part of making this story a positive experience.
Wikipedia Summary: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Prayer_for_the_Crown-Shy
Audio: https://www.overdrive.com/media/5704893/a-psalm-for-the-wild-built
eBook: https://www.overdrive.com/media/5704689/a-psalm-for-the-wild-built
By Becky Chambers (1985 – )
Reading Notes: This was my first exposure to Solarpunk writing. The story and characters are kind, and generally optimistic. The main character, Dex, a tea-serving monk who left his order to travel around from one community to another getting to know people, custom-blending tea to fit their current individual needs, and sharing kindness and community. Dex travels on a bike, pulling his home and shop in the form of a cart that consumes solar energy to power his pocket computer, lights, frig., etc. After a few years as a tea-monk, Dex decides that he still has not found what he needs and impulsively goes searching for an old, abandoned monastary in the wilderness. Along the way he meets a robot -- Splendid Speckled Mosscap -- who is beginning a quest to determine "what people need." The story is transporting -- and I want more...
The narrator, Em Grosland, is a huge part of making this story a positive experience.
Wikipedia Summary: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Psalm_for_the_Wild-Built
https://www.overdrive.com/media/509238/mornings-on-horseback
By David McCullough (1933 – 2022)
Reader's Notes: Biography of the young Theodore Roosevelt. A heavily researched biography of an important U.S. President. A good story. A social history of the time.
See the Wikipedia summary: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mornings_on_Horseback
Audio: https://www.overdrive.com/media/9295815/a-most-agreeable-murder
Ebook: https://www.overdrive.com/media/9267024/a-most-agreeable-murder
By Julia Seales
Reader Notes: Oldest daughter in a family of girls, locked in her country room Beatrice Steele secretly investigates and solves crimes described in the papers by detective Sir Huxley. At the annual autumn ball at Swampshire's Stabmort Park, a murder (and then another), and Beatrice springs into action to find the killer... Oddly humorous, satirical, sometimes almost slapstick dialog drives this story forward. I recommend it as lightweight entertainment to anyone.
Kirkus Reviews Summary: https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/julia-seales/a-most-agreeable-murder/
Audio: https://www.overdrive.com/media/8557446/the-mountain-in-the-sea
eBook: https://www.overdrive.com/media/8672845/the-mountain-in-the-sea
By Ray Nayler ( – )
Reading Notes: In addition to this story being about discovering intelligent (non-human) beings with their own language and culture, it is also about our world transformed by AI (of varying levels of sophistication) creeping into most industries across the globe, and some of the risks associated with extreme concentration of economic and technological power. Along the way Ray Nayler explores ways that individuals relate to each other, and the influence of power (broadly defined) in human relations. What is consciousness? What makes a given human valuable? How could we identify a complex, symbolic system of communication in an alien species? Technology always results in unintended consequences, "a creature emerging out of our need to invent..." And much, much more. See Laura Miller's review and/or Marlene Harris' review for more about this book.
Overdrive Summary:
Humankind discovers intelligent life in an octopus species with its own language and culture, and sets off a high-stakes global competition to dominate the future. The transnational tech corporation DIANIMA has sealed off the remote Con Dao Archipelago, where a species of octopus has been discovered that may have developed its own language and culture. The marine biologist Dr. Ha Nguyen, who has spent her life researching cephalopod intelligence, will do anything for the chance to study them. She travels to the islands to join DIANIMA's team: a battle-scarred securityagent and the world's first (and possibly last) android. The octopuses hold the key to unprecedented breakthroughs in extrahuman intelligence. As Dr. Nguyen struggles to communicate with the newly discovered species, forces larger than DIANIMA close in to seize the octopuses for themselves.But no one has yet asked the octopuses what they think. Or what they might do about it. A near-future thriller, a meditation on the nature of consciousness, and an ecological call to arms, Ray Nayler's dazzling literary debut The Mountain in the Sea is a mind-blowing dive into the treasure and wreckage of humankind's legacy.
A review by Laura Miller: https://slate.com/culture/2022/10/mountain-in-the-sea-ray-nayler-octopus-intelligence-review.html
Review of the audio book by Marlene Harris: https://www.readingreality.net/2022/10/review-the-mountain-in-the-sea-by-ray-naylor/
Review by Gary K. Wolfe: https://locusmag.com/2022/11/gary-k-wolfe-reviews-the-mountain-in-the-sea-by-ray-nayler/
A review by Zachary Houle: https://zachary-houle.medium.com/book-review-the-mountain-in-the-sea-by-ray-nayler-e3911ca111ce
Review by Steven Poole: https://www.theguardian.com/...the-mountain-in-the-sea...
Audio: https://www.overdrive.com/media/4197541/the-municipalists
eBook: https://www.overdrive.com/media/4146671/the-municipalists
By Seth Fried and here ( – )
Reading Notes: Sam Lipsyte, author of THE ASK wrote a recommendation that matches my feelings about this book -- as says it much more effectively than could I:
"A thinking person’s comic thriller, The Municipalists is a joy ride and a meditation both. Seth Fried is the consummate urban planner of a novelist, providing us with exciting thoroughfares of action as well as quiet gardens of feeling. And the story stars, among other characters, a drunk and vain (but ultimately loveable) computer. What else could a fiction dweller ask for? A wonderful debut novel."
OverDrive Summary: https://www.overdrive.com/media/4197541/the-municipalists
Audio: https://www.overdrive.com/media/3783062/all-systems-red
eBook: https://www.overdrive.com/media/3845098/all-systems-red
By Martha Wells (1966 – )
Reading Notes: This story is expertly told from the perspective of a fully sentient cyborg whose primary role is to protect a group of scientists researching part of an unexplored planet. This short novella seems like episode one of a series and left me wanting access to episode two... The OverDrive summary below covers the rest.
Wikipedia Summary of The Murderbot Diaries Series: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Murderbot_Diaries
Wikipedia Summary: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/All_Systems_Red
OverDrive Summary:
The main character is a deadly security droid that has bucked its restrictive programming and is balanced between contemplative self-discovery and an idle instinct to kill all humans. In a corporate-dominated spacefaring future, planetary missions must be approved and supplied by the Company. Exploratory teams are accompanied by Company-supplied security androids, for their own safety. But in a society where contracts are awarded to the lowest bidder, safety isn't a primary concern. On a distant planet, a team of scientists are conducting surface tests, shadowed by their Company-supplied 'droid - a self-aware SecUnit that has hacked its own governor module, and refers to itself (though never out loud) as "Murderbot." Scornful of humans, all it really wants is to be left alone long enough to figure out who it is. But when a neighboring mission goes dark, it's up to the scientists and their Murderbot to get to the truth.
Audio: https://www.overdrive.com/media/3954857/artificial-condition
eBook: https://www.overdrive.com/media/3469914/artificial-condition
By Martha Wells (1966 – )
Reading Notes: Once again, this story is expertly told from the perspective of a fully sentient cyborg who teams up with a sentient robot pilot and then chooses to protect a group of researchers on a mining planet (where murderbot was accused of killing all his clients, and where the events were covered up) while attempting to learn about some of the activities that have been erased from his memory. The OverDrive summary below covers the rest.
Wikipedia Summary of The Murderbot Diaries Series: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Murderbot_Diaries
OverDrive Summary:
The follow-up to the hugely popular science fiction action-adventure All Systems Red, Artificial Condition continues The Murderbot Diaries, a science fiction series that tackles questions of the ethics of sentient robotics. It appeals to fans of Westworld, Ex Machina, Ann Leckie's Imperial Raadch series, or Iain M. Banks' Culture novels. The main character is a deadly security droid that has bucked its restrictive programming and is balanced between contemplative self-discovery and an idle instinct to kill all humans. "As a heartless killing machine, I was a complete failure." It has a dark past-one in which a number of humans were killed. A past that caused it to christen itself "Murderbot." But it has only vague memories of the massacre that spawned that title, and it wants to know more. Teaming up with a Research Transport vessel named ART (you don't want to know what the "A" stands for), Murderbot heads to the mining facility where it went rogue. What it discovers will forever change the way it thinks.
Review by Liz Bourke: https://locusmag.com/2018/04/liz-bourke-reviews-artificial-condition-and-rogue-protocol-by-martha-wells/
Audio: https://www.overdrive.com/media/4200634/rogue-protocol
eBook: https://www.overdrive.com/media/3462640/rogue-protocol
By Martha Wells (1966 – )
Reading Notes: Once again, this story is expertly told from the perspective of a fully sentient cyborg who decides to find evidence of illegal activity by GrayCris Corp. Finds his way to an out-of-the-way, failing "terraforming" operation and then (as a way to advance his own investigation) chooses to protect a group of workers tasked with determining the current status of the technology that supported the defunct operations. In the process, he becomes the friend of another sentient robot, Miki. Murderbot repeatedly faces choices that involve commitments to others that conflict with the desire to achieve individual goals or for simple "comfort." The OverDrive summary below covers the rest.
Wikipedia Summary of The Murderbot Diaries Series: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Murderbot_Diaries
Wikipedia Summary of Rogue Protocol: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Murderbot_Diaries#Rogue_Protocol_(2018)
OverDrive Summary:
Audio: https://www.overdrive.com/media/4294677/exit-strategy
eBook: https://www.overdrive.com/media/3750075/exit-strategy
By Martha Wells (1966 – )
Reading Notes: This story is expertly told from the perspective of a fully sentient cyborg whose primary role is to rescue a scientist/politician/bureaucrat, Dr. Mensah (his former owner), being held hostage by the GrayCris corporation. This short novella again left me wanting access the next episode... The BookMarks Reviews below covers the rest.
Wikipedia Summary of The Murderbot Diaries Series: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Murderbot_Diaries
BookMarks Reviews: https://bookmarks.reviews/.../exit-strategy...
https://librivox.org/napoleon-the-first-biography-by-walter-geer/
Text: https://archive.org/details/cu31924014676054/mode/2up
By Walter Geer (1857 - 1937)
Reader's Notes: This is an excellent broad history of Napoleon's life. The reading by Celine Major is also a joy and makes listening this tragic story an enjoyable experience...
Librivox Summary:
Excerpt: "Now that one hundred years have elapsed since the "long-drawn agony" of Saint Helena we think that the time has come for a more impartial estimate. Facts are clearer, motives are better known, much new evidence is available. Let us then endeavor to depict Napoleon as he was, and "nothing extenuate, nor set down aught in malice." - Walter Geer librivox
Audio: https://www.overdrive.com/media/3007194/new-york-2140
Ebook: https://www.overdrive.com/media/2841960/new-york-2140
By Kim Stanley Robinson (1952 - )
Kim Stanley Robinson bibliography: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kim_Stanley_Robinson_bibliography
Reader's Notes:
TLDR: Another excellent book by Kim Stanley Robinson! Everyone should read it, listen to it, or both because we all have to contribute to dealing with Climate Change.
The Rest of My Notes:
First, a little context. In 1980, I ran across a used pamphlet - "Worldwatch Paper 21: Soft Technologies, Hard Choices" by Colin Norman, published in June 1978. I was in college at the time and understood that its content was important, and kept that little booklet -- reading it again from time to time. It was written in a time still colored by what Norman called "the Arab oil embargo" and its demonstration of how fragile were the industrial world's petroleum-based economies. Part of his argument was that humanity needed to implement major energy conservation and to invent/implement new energy generation & transmission technologies to avoid a predicted carbon dioxide-induced global warming catastrophy. On page 31 Mr. Norman began an explanation of the growing concern "that carbon dioxode -- an inevitable by-product of burning fossil fuels -- is building up in the atmosphere and acting rather like a greenhouse, preventing a fraction of the earth's heat from being radiated into space." He went on, "The concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere is already (as he wrote those words in 1978!) believed to have risen by about 13 percent since the Industrial Revolution, and it may double over the next 50 years. Such a change could increase the average temperatures on the earth's surface by 2-3 degrees C." He then summarized the predicted impacts "In general, global warming would bring increased rainfall and probably cause local weather patterns to become more variable." And then:
A more worrying possibility is that global warming could have an adverse impact on the stability of the polar ice caps. ...(and) over the next 50 years could raise polar temperatures by an amount sufficient to cause the West Antarctic ice sheet to break up. Such an event would raise the average sea level by about five meters, which would be catastrophic for many low-lying areas.
Here we are (I read this book -- "NY 2140" -- in October 2023, more than 40 years after reading Colin Norman's warning) and this Kim Stanley Robinson novel is about how ignoring too much of that global warming / climate change message played out for the world by following a diverse set of New Yorkers in the early years of the 2140s. Sea level rise had created canals of NY streets, and islands of skyscrapers. In this novel Robinson argues that capitalism and global finance were key culprits in ignoring/rejecting global warming / climate change for so long that global catastrophy was guaranteed, and for increasing the scope of suffering after catastrophies arrive... Ultimately, he delivers a hopeful conclusion -- with small-d democracy having a foundational role.
There has been some criticism about Robinson's science and/or politics. My advice is to remember that this is a novel and telling a relevant story doesn't mean doing hard or soft science, nor does it require avoiding any political point of view.
3rd Party Summaries:
Wikipedia Summary/Review: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_York_2140
Andrew Liptak Review: https://www.theverge.com/2017/4/8/15195064/new-york-2140-kim-stanley-robinson-book-review-climate-change
Karl Wolff Review: https://www.nyjournalofbooks.com/book-review/new-york-2140
Jake Swearingen interview with Kim Stanley Robinson: https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2017/03/kim-stanley-robinsons-new-york-2140-review-a-drowned-nyc.html
https://librivox.org/no-17-by-joseph-jefferson-farjeon/
Text: https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/000781052
By J. Jefferson Farjeon (1883 - 1955)
Reader's Notes: See the Wikipedia summary. It was worth its runtime to me.
Librivox Summary:
A thriller about a down-and-out sailor finding his way in London. The book followed a successful play that was filmed by Alfred Hitchcock, and even made into a silent film. Its humour is irresistible. - Summary by Czandra
Wikipedia Summary: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Number_17_(novel)
Audio: https://www.overdrive.com/media/10706003/an-officer-and-a-spy
eBook: https://www.overdrive.com/media/1371603/an-officer-and-a-spy
By Robert Harris (1957 – )
Reading Notes: This story is an easy way to learn about "The Dreyfus Affair." I recommend it to anyone who just can't remember much about it from your high school or college studies.
Wikipedia Summary: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/An_Officer_and_a_Spy
OverDrive Summary:
Alfred Dreyfus has been convicted of treason, sentenced to life imprisonment on a far-off island, and publicly stripped of his rank. Among the witnesses to his humiliation is Georges Picquart, an ambitious military officer who believes in Dreyfus's guilt as staunchly as any member of the public. But when he is promoted to head of the French counter-espionage agency, Picquart finds evidence that a spy still remains at large in the military—indicating that Dreyfus is innocent. As evidence of the most malignant deceit mounts and spirals inexorably toward the uppermost levels of government, Picquart is compelled to question not only the case against Dreyfus but also his most deeply held beliefs about his country, and about himself.
Audio: https://archive.org/.../okewood_of_the_secret_service_by_william.mp3
eBook: https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/2417
By Valentine Williams (1883 – 1946)
Reading Notes: This is another WWI British spy novel that screams its age and culture. The dialog is wooden and formulaic throughout. This genera is an acquired taste... Some of the key characters include:
Audio: https://librivox.org/on-the-duty-of-civil-disobedience-by-henry-david-thoreau-2/
eBook: https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/71
By Henry David Thoreau (1817 - 1862)
Reading Notes: Thoreau argues that waiting passively to vote for justice is as ineffective as simply wishing for justice, and that what you need to do is to actually be just. He denies that you have an obligation to devote your life to fighting for justice, but you do have an obligation not to commit injustice and not to give injustice your practical support. There is academic and political disagreement about what to do with this essay and what Thoreau meant for us to do (see the Wikipedia summary](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Civil_Disobedience_(Thoreau))). Thoreau was writing at a time of enthusiastic anti-slavery protest, enthusiastic pro-slavery business and governing and masses of passive law-abiding citizens attempting to live their lives in alignment with the law. Finally, Thoreau seems to argue for anarchism or an extreme form of libertarianism, but does not flesh out what he believes that would mean in terms of implementation is a society made up of extremely diverse interests and passions.
"What I have to do is to see, at any rate, that I do not lend myself to the wrong which I condemn."
"Under a government which imprisons any unjustly, the true place for a just man is also a prison."
"A minority is powerless while it conforms to the majority; it is not even a minority then; but it is irresistible when it clogs by its whole weight."
Wikipedia Summary: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Civil_Disobedience_(Thoreau)
Audio: https://www.overdrive.com/media/143949/on-writing
eBook: https://www.overdrive.com/media/13779/on-writing
By Stephen King (1947 – )
Reading Notes: If you enjoy learning what creative people think about their art and craft, this is an excellent book -- the kind that after listening to it you find yourself searching out the book to read at your own pace, taking notes along the way. If you just enjoy learning about people, this also seems like a good fit. Give it a listen. In addition to enjoying the content, King's reading style and pacing was an added joy. The OverDrive version is the twentieth-anniversary audio edition that includes some additional content, so don't just stop listening at the end of the book...
I am not a reader of Stephen King's fiction because every time I tried (in the 1980s and 1990s) it cost me too many sleepless nights and too much discomfort about __ (the scary everyday scene most recently seeded into my imagination) __. Unlike any other author I have read, his writing has a near perfect fit for whatever part of my brain generates/remembers/emits fear in its many forms and life seems too short to give up the volume of energy required to deal with that long-lived response. After listening to him read this book I may again try to find some fiction of his that my psyche and my day-to-day living can tolerate.
Wikipedia Summary: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/On_Writing:_A_Memoir_of_the_Craft
Audio: https://www.overdrive.com/media/3702956/the-one
eBook: https://www.overdrive.com/media/3470427/the-one
By John Marrs ( – )
Reading Notes: The storyline is built around a new service "Match Your DNA" that uses a variations in a newly discovered gene that are the same (they match) in only two people in the world. A matched pair of individuals are supposed to be biologically perfect for each other -- "A DNA swab could find your soulmate." Using a small number of couples, the author goes on to explore some ethical dilemmas and questions about morality that might be associated with the operation of a service like Match Your DNA and with the way their customers use the information it discloses. Core/lead characters include: Ellie (scientist/CEO of Match Your DNA), Mandy (drifting divorcee), Christopher (psychopath), Nick (engaged to the love of his life), and Jade (matched with a man on the other side of the globe).
In general, this was an OK book for me. A few of the threads about customer-couples were good reading. But after working in the information security arena for decades, the author's depiction of a hacker and what an individual hacker might accomplish in the context of a complex global corporation's IT and security infrastructures seemed so wrong that it was just a stinker for me (others, who don't carry that career baggage, may feel very differently about that part of the book).
Review by David W: https://fanfiaddict.com/review-the-one-by-john-marrs/
Review/Summary By Cheryl Wassenaar (with spoilers): https://culturess.com/2018/02/26/review-one-john-marrs/
Review/Summary By Maggie Panos: https://www.popsugar.com/entertainment/the-one-by-john-marrs-book-spoilers-ending-48213374
Audio: https://www.overdrive.com/media/7973563/one-person-one-vote
eBook: https://www.overdrive.com/media/7975390/one-person-one-vote
By Nick Seabrook ( – )
Reading Notes: A key message of this book: When they choose to do so politicians in power generally get to pick the voters they want...an historically effective effort to put a thumb on the scale of elections and to diminish democracy. I thought that I knew quite a bit about the topic, but this interesting history of gerrymandering showed me I was broadly ignorant about how this tool has been used in the United States since at least the 18th century and elsewhere before that, as well as how the U.S. Supreme Court has been unable/unwilling to deal with it in any democracy-supporting way. Today, gerrymandering is used across the U.S. to keep Republicans in office even though they get millions fewer votes than their election opponents. This book provides some useful and entertaining context for the nature and implementations of that practice. It ends with recommendations and with a plea for all of us to fight for effective democracy -- in part by getting into the district mapping details: processes, intent(s), implementation(s), and outcomes.
Review By Robert S. Davis: https://www.nyjournalofbooks.com/book-review/one-person-one-vote
BookMarks' "What The Reviewers Say:" https://bookmarks.reviews/...one-person-one-vote...
Audio: https://www.overdrive.com/media/567041/op-center
eBook: https://www.overdrive.com/media/584529/op-center
Tom Clancy (1947 – 2013)
Reading Notes: Lots of action... In this geopolitical thriller, treasonous anti-unification South Korean soldiers masquerading as North Koreans explode a bomb in Seoul during a festival. This effort is led by South Korean Major Lee. The U.S. President wants to help "defend" South Korea. The recently-established Op-Center assesses that that North Korea had nothing to do with it and then attempts to prove it before the situation escalates to world war. Another rogue officer attempts to launch North Korea missiles at Tokyo, Japan intending to start a war against North Korea.
This is volume one of the Tom Clancy Op-Center Series
Wikipedia Summary: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tom_Clancy%27s_Op-Center_(novel)
https://librivox.org/opening-the-west-with-lewis-and-clark-by-edwin-l-sabin/
Text: https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/64903
By Edwin L. Sabin (1870 - 1952) Published 1917
Reading Summary: Like a number of E.L.Sabin's works, this is historical-fiction-for-young-readers, and is a sweeping overview, without a lot of exploration detail. It is primarily a light, shallow drama focused on a small subset of the Lewis & Clark team... The presentation is an assembly of numerous readers, which may not bring joy to every listener. That said, it is an entertaining story that moves along throughout. NOTE: There are issues of race in this story-telling, particularly Native American and Black stereotypes and derogatory terms.
Librivox Summary:
One of the significant and astounding explorations, in 1804-1806, was the expedition under the leadership of Captain Meriwether Lewis and Captain William Clark opening up a trail from St. Louis, Missouri to the Pacific Coast at the mouth of the mighty Columbia River. Edwin Sabin write an engaging account of this challenging journey with ample dialogue so that it reads like an adventure story rather than just a history full of facts and figures, but he fairly represents the characters and events of the long expedition. Summary by Larry Wilson
Audio: https://www.overdrive.com/media/5612235/the-original
By Brandon Sanderson & his site (1975 – ) and Mary Robinette Kowal & her site (1969 – )
Reading Notes: Holly Winseed "wakes up" in a hospital room and learns she is now a Provisional Replica. She has 4 days to find and kill her Original for the murder of her husband, Jonathan Winseed. Upon success she can replace her Original. If not she dies. See the OverDrive Summary for more.
Audio: https://archive.org/.../oscar_wilde_his_life_and_confessions_vol.mp3
eBook: https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/16894
By Frank Harris (1855 - 1931)
Reading Notes: This is an interesting biography of Oscar Wilde (1854 - 1900) written by a friend and editor in 1916. It is shallow and choppy, but the first-person content made the listen worth while.
Audio: https://www.overdrive.com/media/9907011/the-other-valley
eBook: https://www.overdrive.com/media/9919960/the-other-valley
By Scott Alexander Howard ( – )
Reading Notes: This book explores fate, free will, obligations to oneself and to the broader community, time travel, and more... Okile's home town has two "twins" -- one direction, East, the twin was the same town 20 years earlier and in the other direction, West, the twin was the same town 20 years later. A lot could go wrong with a society in this configuration, so there were organizations and rules to mitigate key risks. Odile sees to visitors from the future and the story begins.
Some characters:
Odile Ozanne a bright and introverted sixteen-year-old
Odile’s school teacher Pichegru
Odile's friend Edme, a student musician
Conseils safeguard reality by deciding who can travel to the past village or the future village
The gendarmerie safeguards the physical boundary as well as policing travel between the towns.
Odile's apprenticeship Conseil teacher conseiller Ivret
Press and Awards for "The Other Valley." https://scottalexanderhoward.com/the-other-valley-1
Review by Robert J. Wiersema: https://www.thestar.com/...the-debut-thriller-thatll-change-your-philosophy-on-the-world...
Review by Brett Josef Grubisic: https://quillandquire.com/review/the-other-valley/
Review by Zara Garcia: https://frictionlit.org/a-review-of-the-other-valley...
Review by Primo Saktyawan Sugiharto: https://owlcation.com/humanities/the-other-valley...
Audio: https://archive.org/download/synapseml_gutenberg_our_changing_constitution_by_charles_w_p/our_changing_constitution_by_charles_w_p.mp3
eBook: https://digilibraries.com/book/our-changing-constitution
By Charles Wheeler Pierson (1864 - 1934)
Reading Notes: I found this an interesting examination of 19th and early 20th century constitutional law -- about which I am not an expert.
Notable quote from the book:
"As students of the science of government they would realize that the most fundamental change which can overtake a free people is a change in their frame of mind, for to that everything else must sooner or later conform." (page 36, in the chapter on the 18th ammendment to the United States Constitution, Prohibition (1920-1933))
For more see the Google books summary about the original publication of this work.
Chapters:
The Salient Feature Of The Constitution .... 1
The Supreme Court Of The United States .... 8
Our Changing Constitution .... 20
The Eighteenth Or Prohibition Ammendment .... 35
The Nineteenth Or Woman Suffrage Amendment .... 49
Congress Versus The Supreme Court -- The Child Labor Laws .... 59
State Rights And The Supreme Court .... 69
The Federal Taxing Power And The Income Tax Ammendment .... 85
Can Congress Tax The Income From State And Municipal Bonds? .... 97
Is The Federal Corporation Tax Constitutional? .... 106
The Corporation Tax Decision .... 122
The Federal Government And The Trusts .... 129
What Of The Future? .... 143
Google Books Summary: https://books.google.com/books/about/Our_Changing_Constitution.html?id=-7KKEAAAQBAJ
In "Our Changing Constitution," Charles W. Pierson delves into the intricate evolution of the United States Constitution amidst changing societal norms. Through a combination of legal analysis and historical context, Pierson explores how amendments and judicial interpretations have shaped the Constitution to adapt to modern challenges. The book offers a scholarly examination of landmark cases and debates that have influenced constitutional law, making it a valuable resource for legal scholars and students alike. Pierson's clear and concise writing style makes complex legal concepts accessible to readers, creating an informative and thought-provoking narrative. This book provides a comprehensive overview of the dynamic nature of constitutional law and the ongoing relevance of the Constitution in today's society. Drawing on his background as a constitutional law expert, Charles W. Pierson brings a wealth of knowledge and experience to his analysis of the evolving Constitution. His expertise in legal theory and historical precedent informs the book's insightful commentary on the interpretations and applications of constitutional principles. Pierson's passion for constitutional law shines through in his writing, making "Our Changing Constitution" a compelling and enlightening read. I highly recommend this book to anyone interested in understanding the complexities of constitutional law and its impact on contemporary legal issues.
Audio: https://librivox.org/an-outline-history-of-japan-by-herbert-henry-gowen/
eBook: https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=wu.89096212220&view=1up&seq=7
By Herbert Henry Gowen (1864 - 1960)
Reading Notes: Without much context (from gaps in my education and experience) I assume that I did not understand material portions of this history. That said, it is a broad sweep of many events in Japanese history and should help provide context for my next exploration of the topic. It was written in the 1920s and may not be a good fit for everyone because it incorporates some of the Western racism that -- for many -- characterized the time.
Librivox Summary: "A history of Japan from its origins to the early 20th century. - Summary by Kazbek"
https://librivox.org/pagan-christian-creeds-their-origin-and-meaning-by-edward-carpenter/
Text: https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/1561
By Edward Carpenter (1844 - 1929) published 1921
Reading Notes: This book is a bit of a slog and includes quite a bit of repetition. Carpenter identifies common "religious" language and practices across time and across cultures. He argues that Christianity is a recent iteration of an "ancient world-religion." "In the case of Christianity the historical period has lasted nearly 2,000 years, and, as I say, we can hardly expect or wish that it should last much longer." He sees a deterministic evolution of humanity -- whose psychological development necessitates the emergence of a new phase where "religion" will re-incorporate the natural world, including all communities of human beings (as opposed to the current 'individualistic' phase). His arguements seemed to suggest that the insane waste represented WWI signaled the end of the current phase and announced the coming of the next.
QUOTE:
"The whole futile and idiotic structure of commerce and industry in which we are now imprisoned springs from that falsehood of individualistic self-seeking which marks the second stage of human evolution. That stage is already tottering to its fall, destroyed by the very flood of egotistic passions and interests, of vanities, greeds, and cruelties, all warring with each other, which are the sure outcome and culmination of its operation. With the restoration of the sentiment of the Common Life, and the gradual growth of a mental attitude corresponding, there will emerge from the flood something like a solid earth--something on which it will be possible to build with good hope for the future. Schemes of reconstruction are well enough in their way, but if there is no ground of REAL HUMAN SOLIDARITY beneath, of what avail are they?"
Summary from Librivox:
In this work from 1921, Carpenter analyzes the origin of Christian beliefs, arguing that they are derived from pre-Christian myths and religions, rather than being new revelations to the human race. He believes that "psychologically man has evolved from simple consciousness to self-consciousness, and is now in process of evolution towards another and more extended kind of consciousness," anticipating a post-Christian era. In the penultimate chapter, "The Exodus of Christianity," he sets out his belief that for Christianity "to hold the field of Religion in the Western World is neither probable nor desirable." Chapters such as "Solar Myths and Christian Festivals," "Rites of Expiation and Redemption," and "The Saviour-God and the Virgin-Mother" analyze his tenet as seen in different contexts. Summary by Verla Viera
Audio: https://www.overdrive.com/media/79802/the-path-between-the-seas
eBook: https://www.overdrive.com/media/20935/the-path-between-the-seas
By David McCullough (1933 – 2022)
Reading Notes: Donald Trump 47 repeatedly threatened to take-back the Panama Canal. I didn't really know the history of the Panama Canal, so listened to David McCullough's history. It details failed attempts to build a canal between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans across Central America -- the most expansive by the French in the late 19th century led by Ferdinand de Lesseps from 1880 through 1889. McCullough outlines extensive U.S. involvement in Panamanians seceding from Colombia before taking the "Panama Canal Zone" from Panama. Then, in heroic tones, the book details the public health, engineering and implementation successes that were critical to finishing and operating the canal. See the Wikipedia summary of this book as well as the page on the History of the Panama Canal for more.
Wikipedia Summary: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Path_Between_the_Seas
History of the Panama Canal: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_Panama_Canal
Panama Canal History: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panama_Canal#History
Panama Canal: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panama_Canal
Panama Canal Zone: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panama_Canal_Zone
Audio: https://www.overdrive.com/media/11170682/paris-in-ruins
eBook: https://www.overdrive.com/media/10480325/paris-in-ruins
By Sebastian Smee ( – )
Reading Notes: This story invests much of its narrative effort into examining impacts of the Franco-Prussian war (July 1870-January 1871) and the turmoil that followed on Édouard Manet, Berthe Morisot and Edgar Degas who stayed in Paris as most other early impressionists fled to safer locations.
Review by Terry W. Hartle: https://www.csmonitor.com/...paris-in-ruins...
Review by Christopher Benfey: https://www.nytimes.com/...paris-in-ruins...
Review by Marjorie Heins and here: https://news.artnet.com/...paris-in-ruins-review...
Audio: https://www.overdrive.com/media/8785227/the-perfect-assassin
eBook: https://www.overdrive.com/media/8770317/the-perfect-assassin
Publisher: https://www.jamespatterson.com/titles/james-patterson/the-perfect-assassin/9781538721841/
By James Patterson (1947 – ) and Brian Sitts ( - )
Reading Notes: Improbable all around. You need to be in the mood for a formulaic action story... In my case, it was good enough for reasonable entertainment while doing yard work.
https://librivox.org/pierre-curie-by-marie-curie/
Text: https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/69617
By Marie Curie (1867 - 1934)
Translated by Vernon Kellogg (1867 - 1937) and Charlotte Kellogg (1874 - 1960)
Reader's Notes: This is an excellent broad history of Pierre Curie's life. It is also a useful adjunct to any study of Marie Curie's life and science. The reading by Ciufi Galeazzi is also a joy and makes listening this interesting history an enjoyable experience...
Librivox Summary:
This biography of the noted French physicist Pierre Curie was written by his wife, the renowned physicist Marie Curie. In it, she not only chronicles the scientific accomplishments of her husband, but also provides unique insight into his family life and personality. The book concludes with a four chapter autobiography of the author. - (Summary by Ciufi Galeazzi)
https://librivox.org/a-political-pilgrim-in-europe-by-mrs-philip-snowden/
Text: https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/68238/
By Ethel Snowden, Viscountess Snowden (1881 - 1951) published 1921
Reading Notes: Snowden invests quite a bit of time in describing or just mentioning by name individuals she met or just saw in her travels. Not being sufficiently well read on this period, I assume that I was unable to draw some of the context that these mentions may have for others (my being unwilling to research each one of these personalities). That said, her descriptions of what she saw and heard of conditions around Europe in the years following WWI provide some depth and color missing from many formal WWI Histories. Snowden also appears to incorporate a heavy load of 19th century wealthy-ruling-class culture -- which, I think, should be considered when reading or listening to her observations and analysis. It is difficult to understand her noted pacifism with her acceptance of (almost justification of) the socialist/communist terrorism engulfing Russia at the time. Snowden's analysis of and hopes for Communist Russia during these murderous years support Galeazzi's summary below -- that "Snowden was a controversial and polarizing figure."
Summary from Librivox:
Written in the aftermath of Word War I, Viscountess Snowden recounts her travels in post war Europe in, as she describes it, "an attempt to do what one person might do, or at least attempt, to restore good feeling between the nations and the normal course of life as quickly as possible." An outspoken pacifist, socialist, and feminist who nonetheless strongly denounced the Bolsheviks, Snowden was a controversial and polarizing figure. whose views and observations offer a unique perspective on Europe in the '20s. Summary by Ciufi Galeazzi
Audio: https://www.overdrive.com/media/9090325/poverty-by-america
eBook: https://www.overdrive.com/media/9080553/poverty-by-america
By Matthew Desmond (1979 or 1980 – )
Reading Notes: This non-fiction book is an analysis of poverty and its causes in the United States, plus recommendations for addressing it.
Wikipedia Summary: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poverty,_by_America
Summary from Overdrive:
"The United States, the richest country on earth, has more poverty than any other advanced democracy. Why? Why does this land of plenty allow one in every eight of its children to go without basic necessities, permit scores of its citizens to live and die on the streets, and authorize its corporations to pay poverty wages?"
"In this landmark book, acclaimed sociologist Matthew Desmond draws on history, research, and original reporting to show how affluent Americans knowingly and unknowingly keep poor people poor. Those of us who are financially secure exploit the poor, driving down their wages while forcing them to overpay for housing and access to cash and credit. We prioritize the subsidization of our wealth over the alleviation of poverty, designing a welfare state that gives the most to those who need the least. And we stockpile opportunity in exclusive communities, creating zones of concentrated riches alongside those of concentrated despair. Some lives are made small so that others may grow. Elegantly written and fiercely argued, this compassionate book gives us new ways of thinking about a morally urgent problem. It also helps us imagine solutions. Desmond builds a startlingly original and ambitious case for ending poverty. He calls on us all to become poverty abolitionists, engaged in a politics of collective belonging to usher in a new age of shared prosperity and, at last, true freedom."
Review by Alec MacGillis: https://www.nytimes.com/...poverty-by-america-matthew-desmond.html
Review by Jennifer Ludden: https://www.npr.org/...poverty-by-america-book-review...
Audio: https://www.overdrive.com/media/1358286/the-precipice
eBook: https://www.overdrive.com/media/514927/the-precipice
By Ben Bova and another Ben Bova biography (1932 – 2020)
Reading Notes: This is a near-future story about some attempts deal with impacts of climate change. The story involves fanciful nano-technology and miniturized fusion power plants, along with privatized lunar settlement, and corporate & governmental intrigue.
Audio: https://www.overdrive.com/media/1556214/the-prefect
Ebook: https://www.overdrive.com/media/613444/the-prefect
By Alastair Reynolds (1966 - )
Reader Notes: This is book 7 in the Revelation Series, but my first exposure to this collection. It stands-alone well and I didn't have the urge to stop and read the prior volumes. It is, in part, a story about a set of highly small-d democratic, yet diverse utopian societies 400 years in the future (?) being attacked for the stated purpose of imposing a strict authoritarian government (or simply, as has happened with authoritarian leaders throughout history, taking over simply for their personal security, pleasure and longevity). It has been described as "hybrid of space opera, police procedural and character study," and I agree. The story follows Tom Dreyfus, law enforcement officer as he is repeatedly confronted with challenges to his sense of commitment to the rule of law, to the democracy he is sworn to protect, and to his relationships with peers in law enforcement. There is a lot more to this story, but it is worth reading/listening to simply for the inner and outer dialog of officer Tom Dreyfus. This is also science fiction and includes industrial human slaughter in an environment composed of an interesting range of future space habitats, modes of computing, medicine, communication, of transportation and much more.
Publisher Summary:
Tom Dreyfus is a Prefect, a law enforcement officer with the Panoply. His beat is the multifaceted utopian society of the Glitter Band, that vast swirl of space habitats orbiting the planet Yellowstone, the teeming hub of a human interstellar empire spanning many worlds. His current case: investigating a murderous attack against one of the habitats that left 900 people dead, a crime that appalls even a hardened cop like Dreyfus. But then his investigation uncovers something far more serious than mass slaughter -- a covert plot by an enigmatic entity who seeks nothing less than total control of the Glitter Band. Before long, the Panoply detectives are fighting against something worse than tyranny, in a struggle that will lead to more devastation and more death. And Dreyfus will discover that to save what is precious, you may have to destroy it.
https://librivox.org/preferred-risk-by-frederik-pohl/
Text: https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/51814
By Frederik Pohl (1919 - 2013) and Lester del Rey (1915 - 1993) Published 1955
Reading Notes: This is another story expressing a thread of post-WWII "atomic bomb-crazed" America (even though most of the action takes place in Italy). World leaders -- Insurance company executives -- are crude and violent liers, attempting to profit from governing. Ethical simpleton Claims Adjuster Wills starts a new job in Naples, Italy, and sees just enough of the truth to set him on a quest for justice... NOTE: There are issues of race/ethnicity in "Preferred Risk", particularly Italian stereotypes and derogatory terms.
Librivox Summary:
The Company insures you against everything. Everything except war, that is. But they've put an end to wars (or so they claim). The Company also controls everything. Including all the sources of weapons. The Company is dedicated to the happiness of mankind (or so they claim). Medical Treatment and Law Enforcement are just a few of the other services they provide to the entire world. Claims Adjuster Wills was a happy Company employee until his path crossed those of a man with no legs and a mysterious woman. All of a sudden, his world was turned upside down, and his decisions could determine the future of the planet. This collaborative work was originally published under the pseudonym Edson McCann. It was the winner of the 1955 Galaxy-Simon & Schuster novel contest. Summary by Nick Bulka
Audio: https://www.overdrive.com/media/9893186/prequel
eBook: https://www.overdrive.com/media/9893244/prequel
By Rachel Maddow (1973 – )
Reading Notes: This is an entertaining presentation of varied threads of isolationism, antisemitism, racism, and fascism in the U.S. in the 1930s into the 1940s -- sometimes with material financial and intellectual assistance from Hitler and his team and other times contributing to to Nazi planning and goals... See the reviews if you need to know more.
Review by Jeff Shesol: https://www.nytimes.com/2023/10/15/books/review/prequel....
Review by Kathleen Belew: https://www.washingtonpost.com/...rachel-maddow-prequel...
A fairly hostile and opinionated review by Brandan P. Buck: https://reason.com/2023/10/31/rachel-maddows-prequel.../.
https://www.overdrive.com/media/3603621/the-president-is-missing
https://jamespattersonbooklist.com/james-patterson-the-president-is-missing/
By Bill Clinton (1946 - ) and James Paterson (1947 -)
Reader's Notes:
This is entertaining "junk fiction." There are numerous absurd plot threads and many tense situations where dialog is almost comic... Once given plot-lines were established, a lot of often predictable action and dialog followed. That said, I think that it is useful long-distance driving background audio.
Wikipedia Summary: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_President_Is_Missing_(novel)
Supersummary Summary: https://www.supersummary.com/the-president-is-missing/summary/
James Patterson Summary:
"The President Is Missing confronts a threat so huge that it jeopardizes not just Pennsylvania Avenue and Wall Street, but all of America. Uncertainty and fear grip the nation. There are whispers of cyberterror and espionage and a traitor in the Cabinet. Even the President himself becomes a suspect, and then he disappears from public view... Set over the course of three days, The President Is Missing sheds a stunning light upon the inner workings and vulnerabilities of our nation. Filled with information that only a former Commander-in-Chief could know, this is the most authentic, terrifying novel to come along in many years. And a timely, historic story that will be read–and talked about–for years to come." https://jamespattersonbooklist.com/james-patterson-the-president-is-missing/
Audio: https://www.overdrive.com/media/9267936/private-moscow
eBook: https://www.overdrive.com/media/9267686/private-moscow
By James Patterson (1947– ) and Adam Hamdy (1974 - )
Reading Notes: Another impossible mission, fast-paced action, Russians, sleeper agents and more...
Audio: https://www.overdrive.com/media/1330874/the-quick
eBook: https://www.overdrive.com/media/1330826/the-quick
By Lauren Owen ( – )
Reading Notes: Read any or all of the reviews below. After something over three hours of listening, I decided to move on. It was not a bad story, but it was dark in a way that was messing with my sleep.
Aegolius
Review by Andrew Sean Greer: https://www.nytimes.com/.../the-quick-by-lauren-owen.html
Review by Erica Eisdorfer: https://slate.com/...the-quick-by-lauren...
Review by Megumi Chou: https://www.thebubble.org.uk/...lauren-owens-the-quick/
Audio: https://www.overdrive.com/media/3081680/raven-rock
eBook: https://www.overdrive.com/media/2260620/raven-rock
By Garrett M. Graff (1981 – )
Reading Notes: Somebody, somewhere in government will remain available to fight the next war. So says the U.S. CoG (Continuity of Government) program. Raven Rock Mountain Complex also known as "Site R," and has been called an "underground Pentagon," is a foundational character in Graff's exploration of this topic from the 1940s through 2015. This should be required reading for all U.S. citizens.
Audio: https://www.overdrive.com/media/1979697/rebecca
eBook: https://www.overdrive.com/media/1311754/rebecca
By Daphne du Maurier (1907 – 1989)
Reading Notes: If you like gothic novels slow, then pace building, and dark, this is a good one... See the Wikipedia Summary for more.
Wikipedia Summary: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rebecca_(novel)
Audio: https://www.overdrive.com/media/2204520/the-red-eagles
eBook: https://www.overdrive.com/media/2001364/the-red-eagles
By David Downing (1946 – )
Reading Notes: This is an interesting story outlining one way to explain how the Soviet Union could so quickly developed an atomic bomb after WWII. It is fast-paced spy fiction that kept me involved throughout.
World War II is nearly over. For the Russians, the enemy is no longer Nazi Germany, but the American behemoth that threatens to topple the Communist revolution. Deep within the walls of the Kremlin, Stalin's top man hatches a brilliant plan that will alter the course of postwar history-and it's all based on a deception as simple as the shell game. Five years later, an atomic bomb detonates deep within the borders of the Soviet Union, stunning the experts who had predicted that Russian science could not produce such a devastating weapon for at least another generation. The Red Eagles traces the adventures of two spies, Jack Kuznetzky and Amy Brandon, as they track down the most deadly force in the world while hiding their true allegiances and intentions from their compatriots. They are the "red" eagles, sent to America by one of its enemies to steal the greatest secret of all: the key to producing the atomic bomb. Critically acclaimed spy thriller writer David Downing draws fascinating portrayals of Stalin and Hitler as they determine the fate of the world, drawing us at breakneck speed from the Kremlin to Berchtesgaden, from Manhattan and Washington to Tennessee ad Louisiana, from Cuba to Sweden and New Zealand. And so the question remains unanswered to this day: how did the Russians produce the bomb so quickly? In The Read Eagles, Downing has created a story that will not only provide the ultimate clue, but also satisfy the most demanding thriller devotee.
https://www.overdrive.com/media/8822188/red-winter
By Marc Cameron (1961 - )
Reader's Notes: This book is an extension of the Tom Clancy Jack Ryan series. CIA Deputy Director James Greer calls in a younger Jack Ryan for a mission with a young Mary Pat Foley to meet with a possible defector in East Germany. An ageless John Clarke shadows them -- just in case. Concurrently, Dan Murray is leading a search for a spy who appears to have stolen secrets from a top secret F117 aircraft crash site in the Nevada desert. The details in this story do a good job describing the world of 1985 (clothes, phones, cars, planes, the 1980s chapter of the Cold War, some symptoms of Reagan's anti-Soviet extremism, the general level of terrorist and government-initiated violence across the globe, and how complicated were relations along the European East/West border).
Kirkus Reviews Summary
OverDrive Summary:
"In this previously untold adventure, a young Jack Ryan goes behind the Iron Curtain to seek the truth about a potential Soviet defector in the most shocking entry in Tom Clancy's #1 New York Times bestselling series. 1985: A top secret F117 aircraft crashes into the Nevada desert. The Nighthawk is the most advanced fighting machine in the world and the Soviets will do anything to get their hands on its secrets. In East Berlin, a mysterious figure contacts the CIA with an incredible offer—invaluable details of his government’s espionage plans in return for asylum.It’s an offer they can’t pass up...if it’s genuine, but the risks are too great to blindly stumble into a deal. With the East German secret police closing in, someone will have to go to behind the Berlin Wall to investigate the potential defector. It’s a job Deputy Director James Greer can only trust to one man—Jack Ryan.Ryan is a former Marine and a brilliant CIA analyst who’s been the architect of some of the CIA’s biggest coups but this time he’s in enemy territory with a professional assassin on his tail. Can he get the right answers before the Cold War turns into a Red Winter?"
https://www.overdrive.com/media/5431603/remote-control
By Nnedi Okorafor (1974 -- )
Reader's Notes: An alien artifact turns a young girl into Death's adopted daughter in near-future Ghana -- Sankofa. This is a great short novel. It was my introduction to Nnedi Okorafor's writing, and ensures that I will read more of her work.
Wikipedia Summary: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Remote_Control_(novella)
Audio: https://www.overdrive.com/media/2985775/the-rise-and-fall-of-d-o-d-o
eBook: https://www.overdrive.com/media/2962712/the-rise-and-fall-of-d-o-d-o
By Neal Stephenson (1959 - _) and Nicole Galland and nicolegalland.com
Reading Notes: Stephenson builds a world where "magic," "witches" and quantum physics are brought together to help fight enemies of the U.S. That setup might be off-putting for some, but his imagination and skills as a writer make every one of its 768 pages and every minute of the recording's 24 hours worth the investment. The audio version is performed by a talented cast that add to the joy of experiencing this entertaining novel. It is a complicated story and I couldn't do it justice here, see the Wikipedia Summary for a proper outline/overview.
The sciencey thread of the story depends on the existance of multiple parallel worlds that are described by quantum physics (if you find this last idea an interesting concept and want to read more fiction incorporating it, see Neal Stephenson's "Anathem" and if you are intrigued by the idea(s) and want to learn more, see Neal Stephenson's acknowledgments page starting at "Philosophical and Scientific Ideas.")
In 2021, Nicole Galland published a sequel named Master of the Revels: A Return to Neal Stephenson's D.O.D.O..
Wikipedia Summary: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Rise_and_Fall_of_D.O.D.O.
OverDrive Summary: https://www.overdrive.com/media/2985775/the-rise-and-fall-of-d-o-d-o
Audio: https://www.overdrive.com/media/5273720/rise-to-rebellion
eBook: https://www.overdrive.com/media/52939/rise-to-rebellion
By Jeff Shaara (1952 – )
Reading Notes: This long book is probably not for everyone... It covers some key characters and events in the lead-up to the American Revolutionary War (1770–1776). See the Wikipedia Summary
Wikipedia Summary: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rise_to_Rebellion
Audio: https://www.overdrive.com/media/460387/robopocalypse
eBook: https://www.overdrive.com/media/504806/robopocalypse
By Daniel H. Wilson (1978 – )
Reading Notes: This is another near-future story about the pairing of robots and AI turning on humankind. The author exhibits his creativity in the myriad ways that AI and robots were bound to serve human needs and desires, along with equal creativity in detailing a broad range of ways that robots and AI are joined to attack humans. The bulk of the story is a future history about pockets of humans who resisted.
In 2014, Doubleday published the official sequel to Robopocalypse: Robogenesis.
Wikipedia Summary of this book: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robopocalypse
Audio: https://www.overdrive.com/media/10216839/the-safekeep
eBook: https://www.overdrive.com/media/10217126/the-safekeep
By Yael van der Wouden (1987 – )
Reading Notes: See Wikipedia for a proper summary. This story explores one example of how some, the lucky maybe(?), take advantage of the desperate -- in this case, during WWII. And how, sometimes, those acts have influence widespread, long lived and also intimate and cutting. The author created a satisfying reminder and caution.
Wikipedia Summary: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Safekeep
It is 1961 and the rural Dutch province of Overijssel is quiet. Bomb craters have been filled, buildings reconstructed, and the war is truly over. Living alone in her late mother's country home, Isabel knows her life is as it should be—led by routine and discipline. But all is upended when her brother Louis brings his graceless new girlfriend Eva, leaving her at Isabel's doorstep as a guest, to stay for the season. Eva is Isabel's antithesis: she sleeps late, walks loudly through the house, and touches things she shouldn't. In response, Isabel develops a fury-fueled obsession, and when things start disappearing around the house—a spoon, a knife, a bowl—Isabel's suspicions begin to spiral. In the sweltering peak of summer, Isabel's paranoia gives way to infatuation, leading to a discovery that unravels all Isabel has ever known. The war might not be well and truly over after all, and neither Eva—nor the house in which they live—are what they seem. Mysterious, sophisticated, sensual, and infused with intrigue, atmosphere, and sex, The Safekeep is "a brave and thrilling debut about facing up to the truth of history, and to one's own desires" (The Guardian).
https://librivox.org/saint-joan-preface-by-george-bernard-shaw/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_Joan_(play)
Text: https://archive.org/details/SaintJoan/page/n1
By George Bernard Shaw (1856 - 1950)
Reading Notes: If you have even a microscopic interest in 'Saint Joan' or Middle Ages France, this seems like an excellent little book (maybe just an essay). It assumes that the reader understands some about mid-20th century Brittan and New York, but is still a pleasure in relative ignorance of both. The reading by David Wales is a perfect match.
Summary from Librivox:
Saint Joan is a play by George Bernard Shaw about 15th-century French military figure Joan of Arc. Premiering in 1923, three years after her canonization by the Roman Catholic Church, the play reflects Shaw's belief that the people involved in Joan's trial acted according to what they thought was right. He wrote in his preface to the play: “There are no villains in the piece. Crime, like disease, is not interesting: it is something to be done away with by general consent, and that is all [there is] about it. It is what men do at their best, with good intentions, and what normal men and women find that they must and will do in spite of their intentions, that really concern us.” (Wikipedia) Modern British author, critic, poet, and broadcaster Clive James, commenting on a book that changed his mind, wrote: “George Bernard Shaw, his preface to Saint Joan. Reading that wonderful stretch of prose started me on the road to a more human version of Christianity: a road I like to think that I am still pursuing.” (The Guardian, 5 October 2019) Summary by Wikipedia and David Wales
https://librivox.org/scientific-american-suppl492-june-6-1885/
Text: https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/12490
Reading Notes:
This is an unusual view into some of what was interesting to a subset of Americans in 1885. It is not for everyone.
Librivox Summary:
The Scientific American may be the oldest continuously published periodical in the United States, havinge launched its first publication in 1845. It has been a mainstay of popular science with in depth articles across a broad spectrum of scientific fields. In this supplement are short articles ranging through such topics as Pumping Machinery, The Distillation of Sea Water, Winter and the Insects, Silk Worm Eggs, and The Casino at Monte Carlo. - Summary by Larry Wilson
https://librivox.org/search-the-sky-by-frederik-pohl/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Search_the_Sky
Text: https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/52228
By Frederik Pohl (1919 - 2013) and C. M. Kornbluth (1923 - 1958) Published 1956
Reading Notes: This mid-20th century book's main story-line is about colonization and genetics after faster-than-light travel was available to humankind. While the author's intent was satire, the characters remain one-dimensional, predictable, shallow and all surface (could that be the point?). I believe that this book may only be entertaining to those who like U.S. 1950's "mass market" science fiction.
Summary from Librivox:
Ross was a junior trader on Halsey's Planet, and had great prospects but was not happy at all. Everything smelled of decay. The whole planet seemed to be slowly disappearing, the population dwindling month by month and year by year and yet no one seemd to care or even notice. Something was very, very wrong. When the first interstellar transport in 30 years arrived on Halsey's Planet, it brought things to a head. The ship had touched on six other colony worlds - and all six had been devoid of human life. Where was everybody? It was almost as if humankind, when separated by cosmic distances from Mother Earth, could not survive. He didn't know the answer but he knew it all smelled highly of decay. Decay and Rot. This highly praised novel by C.M.Kornbluth and Frederick Pohl was first published in 1954 was seen as a wonderful satire on various trends in the society of the 1950's. Summary by phil Chenevert
Audio: https://www.overdrive.com/media/5376676/the-searcher
eBook: https://www.overdrive.com/media/5359752/the-searcher
By Tana French (1973 - )
Viking. 464pp.
Reading Notes: Cal Hooper, a recently retired Chicago cop with a worn Irish cottage purchased on the Internet takes on an assistant, 13 year old Trey Reddy, to help with repairs. Soon, Hooper is sucked into Reddy's hunt for her disappeared older brother. See any of the reviews below if you want to know more... The story is worth your time.
Review by Maureen Corrigan: https://www.washingtonpost.com/books/tana-frenchs-the-searcher...
Review by Steph Cha: https://www.latimes.com/.../2020-10-13/tana-french-the-searchers-review
Review by Janet Maslin: https://www.nytimes.com/.../review/tana-french-the-searcher
Audio: https://www.overdrive.com/media/1372713/the-secret-history-of-vladimir-nabokov
eBook: https://www.overdrive.com/media/1231863/secret-history-of-vladimir-nabokov
By By Andrea Pitzer and Her website (1968 – )
Reading Notes: A biography of Vladimir Vladimirovich Nabokov (1899 - 1977) by an analysis of his writing as it had addressed Russian & Soviet inhumanity to its citizens.
Audio: https://www.overdrive.com/media/11154984/the-secret-war-of-julia-child
eBook: https://www.overdrive.com/media/10390431/the-secret-war-of-julia-child
By Diana R. Chambers ( – )
Reading Notes: This story "[was inspired by Julia’s OSS service in WWII India, Ceylon (Sri Lanka), and China]"(https://dianarchambers.com/about-diana/). It moves along and the combination of a hot war, spying, and the rigors of travel (and just living) in war-time South Asia make this an enjoyable read. See the author's page about the book to learn more about the story and its writing. See this CIA history page "Julia Child: Cooking Up Spy Ops for OSS" and her Wikipedia page and even her U.S. government personnel file (which, oddly, was hosted on an AWS S3 bucket when I accessed it 2025-02-16) for some non-fiction about her experiences in the OSS.
Author's page about the book: https://dianarchambers.com/books/the-secret-war-of-julia-child/
https://librivox.org/sentimental-education-by-gustave-flaubert/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sentimental_Education
Text: Vol 1 and Vol 2
By Gustave Flaubert (1821 - 1880)
Reader Notes: This book seems longer than necessary. Other than that, it was useful background entertainment while house-cleaning and yard work.
Librivox Summary:
Sentimental Education (French: L'Éducation sentimentale, 1869) is a novel by Gustave Flaubert, that is considered one of the most influential novels of the 19th century. The story focuses on the romantic life of a young man at the time of the French Revolution of 1848. Summary by Wikipedia
https://librivox.org/shakespeare-at-the-globe-1599-1609-by-bernard-beckerman/
Text: https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/66536
By Bernard Beckerman (1921 - 1985)
Reading Notes: As described below, this book is primarily about the theater, the business of the theater and of a performing group and a few characteristics of the writers (and their writing) supporting both.
Librivox Summary:
"One of the most important pieces of Shakespearian scholarship to appear in several years, this brilliant work offers new perspectives on the controversial subject of Shakespearean production at the Globe. The author examines the Globe's repertory system, dramaturgy, stage, acting, and staging. Dr. Beckerman is Chairman of the Department of Drama and Speech at Hofstra College, where he directs the annual Shakespearean Festival on a detailed replica of the Globe Theatre stage. His acute observation and sound logic, as well as his practical experience as a producer, make this volume a useful and comprehensive account of the productions at the globe." - (Summary by H. Lawrence Hoffman)
https://www.overdrive.com/media/1372669/shaman
By Kim Stanley Robinson (1952 - )
Kim Stanley Robinson bibliography: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kim_Stanley_Robinson_bibliography
Reader's Notes: What an excellent book! We go on a fast-moving journey with a young apprentice shaman, his teacher, a small band of hunter-gatherers, and the others who join the story along the way. We learn a lot about stone age / ice age European early modern humans and their cultures.
3rd Party Summaries:
Wikipedia Summary/Review: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shaman_(novel)
Audio of 1858 version: https://librivox.org/the-shipwreck-by-william-falconer/
or https://quod.lib.umich.edu/e/evans/n16417.0001.001?rgn=main;view=fulltext
https://www.rmg.co.uk/stories/blog/library-archive/shipwreck-william-falconer
By William Falconer (1732-1769)
Reading Notes:
The interesting biography of William Falconer was more enjoyable than the extensive poem. The style and some content of the poetry may turn some off, but it includes some excellent rhymes (think song lyrics).
"William Falconer's "The Shipwreck" recounts the final voyage of the merchant ship Britannia and her crew. See the Royal Museums Greenwich (RMG) summary at: https://www.rmg.co.uk/stories/blog/library-archive/shipwreck-william-falconer
RMG Digital Resources Librarian 'Renee' says: "Part fiction, part autobiography and part instructional guide for sailors, William Falconer's poem The Shipwreck is a must-read for Patrick O'Brian fans. Fair enough, there's no Jack Aubrey character - but the combination of high seas drama and technical detail makes for a surprisingly compelling read."
Librivox Summary: A semi-autobiographical poem in three cantos recounts the wreck of the merchant ship Britannia. Written by William Falconer, a seaman of some experience, who survived one shipwreck himself with only two others of the 50 man crew and eventually perished in the loss of a second ship, the frigate Aurora, 20 years later. The poem is recognized for its realistic portrayal of life aboard an 18th century sailing vessel. Summary by Fritz
https://librivox.org/the-small-bachelor-by-p-g-wodehouse/
Text: https://archive.org/details/smallbachelor0000unse/
By P. G. Wodehouse (1881 - 1975)
Reader's Notes:
Unfortunately, the reader's performance in this recording was unique in a way that was almost repulsive to me (it may not be so to you)... I listened to more than 10% of the book before giving up. I may read the text.
Librivox Summary:
"Set against a backdrop of Prohibition-era New York, The Small Bachelor is the story of a young man from the West who is trying to be an artist, an older man from the East who wants to be a Westerner, his daughter who does not want to marry an English lord, her stepmother who wants her to, a policeman who wants to become a poet, a writer of pamphlets who says he “can make a poet out of two sticks and a piece of orange peel” if they follow his instructions carefully, and a young woman from the West who has become a fortune-teller. There are also several other characters with other motives, and a number of coincidences which bring them all together in various constellations of absurdity which depict the human condition at its finest." (Summary by Zach Hoyt)
Wikipedia Summary: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Small_Bachelor
https://librivox.org/soldiers-pay-by-william-faulkner/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soldiers'_Pay
Text: https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.186670/
By William Faulkner (1897 - 1962) Published 1926
See Wikipedia Summary and John B. Padgett's summary
also https://standardebooks.org/ebooks/william-faulkner/soldiers-pay
Librivox Summary:
Soldiers return from the War to a mixed reception in America. The first novel by one of the 20th century's most poetic writers experimenting in stream of consciousness, and adept at dialogue. Summary by Czandra NOTE: There are issues of racial stereotypes and derogatory race-related terms in the text of "Soldiers' Pay."
Audio: https://librivox.org/spacemen-lost-by-george-o-smith/
eBook: https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/69393
By George O. Smith (George Oliver) (1911-1981)
Reading Notes: This is more 1950s, post-WWII space opera that may edge into juvenile/young adult fiction.
Librivox Summary:
It was the greatest man hunt in history — and while this frantic rescue mission went on, the alien spaceships were watching and waiting, holding themselves ready to pounce! - Summary by Original text.
Audio: https://www.overdrive.com/media/5512591/the-spymaster-of-baghdad
eBook: https://www.overdrive.com/media/5185874/the-spymaster-of-baghdad
Additional supporting content at: https://hc.a.bigcontent.io/v1/static/SpymasterOfBaghdad_Enhancement
By Margaret Coker ( – )
Reading Notes: This book narrates a couple threads of activity lead by Abu Ali al-Basri, the leader of a cell within Iraqi intelligence known as al-Suquor, or the Falcons during the period defined by the U.S. invation through 2017 (with an epilog that extends the story out to 2019, when Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi along with 2 wives and guards were killed in northern Syria). . Coker follows two threads of a story about Shia Harith and Munaf al-Sudani who join the security services in hopes of saving Iraqi lives, and Sunni Abrar al-Kubai-si who attempts to join ISIS in order to kill Iraqi Shia. See the reviews below for more information.
Review by Sonya Lim (former CIA Chief of Station): https://www.thecipherbrief.com/book-review/the-spymaster-of-baghdad
And a less enthusiastic review by Graham Alexander (a CIA a Directorate of Operations officer)Center for the Study of Intelligence. Volume 65, No. 2 (June 2021): then follow the link
Audio: https://librivox.org/stanton-white-a-romance-of-the-new-south-by-asa-zadel-hall/
Online text: https://books.google.com/books?id=iMpDAQAAMAAJ
By Asa Zadel Hall (1875 - 1965)
297 pages.
Reading Notes: There is little good to say about this novel other than it seems to share some of the themes that made up real life American racism in the early 20th century. It is not easy reading/listening and may (for many reasons) be hurtful to some.
Librivox Summary:
In this tome the Northern narrator, Harold Edson, visits the American South with his college friend, Stanton White, in order to study first hand the social conditions of African Americans during the post-reconstruction era. Edson describes encounters with racist whites whose attacks on African Americans are vicious and unrepentant.
This narrative reflects primitive ideas about race that prevailed in the 19th century United States--above and below the Mason-Dixon--and a level of ignorance that, to a 21st century listener, may be difficult to fully appreciate. But in fact, many of the notions Hall visits in the text continue to echo today reminding us that race has always been a foundation upon which this country was built. (Summary by James K. White)
Audio: https://www.overdrive.com/media/3227217/the-stars-are-legion
eBook: https://www.overdrive.com/media/2583163/the-stars-are-legion
By Kameron Hurley ( – ) and Bio on Kameron Hurley's site
Reading Notes: The Stars are Legion is a space opera set within a system of gigantic decaying world-ships travelling through deep space. It follows the feud between the matriarchal families of two world ships. That feud grows into a war to control the legion of worlds. See the author's summary. (For context, here is a caution from the author "This book contains adult themes and situations readers may find disturbing, including: torture, murder, murder/death of children, abortion, kidnapping, gaslighting, violence, vomiting, physical and verbal abuse, abusive relationships, war, gore, mutilation, body horror, loss of limbs.")
Audio: https://www.overdrive.com/media/180421/the-stars-like-dust
eBook: https://www.overdrive.com/media/515094/the-stars-like-dust
By Isaac Asimov (1920 – 1992)
Reading Notes: This is an interesting example of Post WWII & cold war influenced science fiction. See the Wikipedia summary for an outline (but be aware that it reveals some of the story's suprises...)
Some Key Characters:
Biron Farrill - son of the recently executed "Lord Rancher of Widemos" -- a nobleman -- on planet Nephelos.
Sander Jonti - (no spoiler here...)
Hinriad(?) - Director of Rhodia
Gillbret - The Director's cousin
Artemisia of Hinriad - The Director's daughter
Autarch of Lingane - "King" or dictator of planet Lingane
Simok Aratap - a Tyrannian Commissioner
Tedor Rizzet -- the Autarch's aide
Wikipedia Summary: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Stars,_Like_Dust
https://librivox.org/the-stars-my-brothers-by-edmond-hamilton/
Text: https://www.gutenberg.org/etext/24870
By Edmond Hamilton (1904 - 1977)
Librivox Summary:
Edmond Hamilton (1904 – 1977) had a career that began as a regular and frequent contributor to Weird Tales magazine. The first hardcover publication of Science Fiction stories was a Hamilton compilation, and he and E.E. “Doc” Smith are credited with the creation of the Space Opera type of story. He worked for DC Comics authoring many stories for their Superman and Batman characters. Hamilton was also married to fellow author Leigh Brackett. - Published in the May, 1962 issue of Amazing Stories “The Stars, My Brothers” gives us a re-animated astronaut plucked from a century in the past and presented with an alien world where the line between humans and animals is blurred. - (Summary by Gregg Margarite)
Audio: https://www.overdrive.com/media/1499830/station-eleven
eBook: https://www.overdrive.com/media/1638062/station-eleven
By Emily St. John Mandel (1979 – )
Reading Notes: As I write this, the global COVID-19 pandemic started only four and a half years ago in early 2020. I assume that Emily St. John Mandel wrote this story in the years leading up to its 2014 publish date. That context made it hard for me to resist hearing this story as something humanity just very narrowly dodged...
This novel explores how a range of creative, empathetic people choose to live after surviving an end-of-the-world-as-we-know-it pandemic. Not everyone chose that path, which sets up threads of conflict that help drive this excellent story forward. The author introduces a number of characters by exploring their before-time and how their lives intersect and influence each other and some of those around them. The main characters are written as "humans" -- surrounded by some less fleshed-out charactures -- in a way that drew me into their stories and into the novel that brought them together. The mechanics of that writing/story telling stood out as a member of a small, expertly executed category that I don't often have the opportunity to read. See the reviews below for more thorough summaries and analyses of this book.
Kirsten Raymonde will never forget the night Arthur Leander, the famous Hollywood actor, had a heart attack on stage during a production of King Lear. That was the night when a devastating flu pandemic arrived in the city, and within weeks, civilization as we know it came to an end. Twenty years later, Kirsten moves between the settlements of the altered world with a small troupe of actors and musicians. They call themselves The Traveling Symphony, and they have dedicated themselves to keeping the remnants of art and humanity alive. But when they arrive in St. Deborah by the Water, they encounter a violent prophet who will threaten the tiny band’s existence. And as the story takes off, moving back and forth in time, and vividly depicting life before and after the pandemic, the strange twist of fate that connects them all will be revealed.
Wikipedia Summary: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Station_Eleven
Review by David Barnett: https://www.independent.co.uk/...station-eleven-by-emily-st-john-mandel...
Review by Sigrid Nunez: https://www.nytimes.com/...station-eleven-by-emily-st-john-mandel...
Review by Primo: https://owlcation.com/...station-eleven-by-emily-st-john-mandel
Audio: https://www.overdrive.com/media/8986923/stone-blind
eBook: https://www.overdrive.com/media/8999083/stone-blind
By Natalie Haynes (1974 – )
Reading Notes: This is a humorous retelling of the Greek myth of the gorgon Medusa. I strongly recommend listening to this book because of the author's narration/performance. She is simply fantastic! She must love telling this story. See the Wikipedia summary for a more thorough overview.
Wikipedia summary: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stone_Blind
Review By Lucinda Rosenfeld: https://www.nytimes.com/2023/02/05/books/review/stone-blind-natalie-haynes.html
Audio: https://www.overdrive.com/media/3375678/the-storm-before-the-storm
eBook: https://www.overdrive.com/media/3148712/the-storm-before-the-storm
By Mike Duncan ( – )
Reading Notes: Many of us have heard vague lines like "the success of the Republic proved to be its undoing" or "the assassination of Julius Caesar in 44 BC began the end of the vast empire Rome." I can remember nodding in agreement (without a clear understanding of the context of those assumed truisms)... Mike Duncan describes Roman activities in the previous century that add a lot of context and help build out some understanding of the culture and personalities that led to that day in the Roman Senate when Marcus Junius Brutus (and others') assassinate Julius Caesar.
Wikipedia Summary: https://en.wikipedia.org/...The_Storm_Before_the_Storm
https://librivox.org/the-story-of-geographical-discovery-how-the-world-became-known-by-joseph-jacobs/
Text: https://www.gutenberg.org/files/14291/14291-h/14291-h.htm
or https://archive.org/details/storyofgeographi00jacorich
By Joseph Jacobs (1854 - 1916)
Reader Notes:
I enjoyed this summary of a "typical" Western understanding of how the world was "discovered" (up to the mid-1890s). It aligns with much of what I was taught in high school and college, though it is no longer the narrative I would attach to these discoveries and conquests.
Some might be turned off by how the author ignores oppression built around the concepts of race, caste, and class throughout his descriptions of how Europeans claimed lands across the globe. I believe they are expressions of the author's understanding of the world and that of the readers he targeted at the time. He makes no attempt to deal with negative outcomes of colonization. Not only were land and resources stolen in the colonization process but colonization was both a cultural and literal genocide -- ignoring the value of indigenous peoples. The impacts of colonization continue through today. This book may be hurtful to some.
Librivox Summary:
"This book was first published in 1897. It's a short work, but it encompasses a vast subject—nothing less than determining the detailed geographical plan of our entire world! In the process, Jacobs feeds us dates and names and events and places and maps in a dense stream. It's a bit like drinking from a fire hose, but see it through, and the reader (or listener) will acquire a surprisingly complete overview of world history as well as geography. It's well worth absorbing, even by those not so geographically inclined, if only as a source for winning endless bar bets. Beginning in ancient times, the author identifies three main forces that have contributed to our present understanding: wars of conquest, competition for trade, and (eventually) pure scientific curiosity. The Egyptians, Phoenicians, early Greeks, Babylonians, and many other Mediterranean peoples contributed, often unwillingly, the streams of knowledge that Ptolemy of Alexandria summed up in the great Ptolemaei Orbis (ca.150 AD), the first “real” map of the whole known world. The evolution of world maps to incorporate (and sometime conceal) new discoveries is a key theme of this fascinating work." (Summary by Steven Seitel)
Audio: https://www.overdrive.com/media/6384202/the-strange
eBook: https://www.overdrive.com/media/9065014/the-strange
By Nathan Ballingrud (1970 – )
Reading Notes: Written as if it were authored in the late 1920s or early 1930s, earthlings emigrate to Mars, but Mars is not as it had initially seemed. This is a dark science fiction/fantasy story. See the OverDrive Summary for more.
https://librivox.org/the-sun-also-rises-by-ernest-hemingway/
Text: https://www.fadedpage.com/showbook.php?pid=20150622
By Ernest Hemingway (1899 - 1961)
Reader's Notes: See the Wikipedia summary.
NOTE: There are issues of race and religion in the telling of "The Sun Also Rises", particularly where the author uses derogatory and dehumanizing language in the description of a Black boxer and a character of the Jewish faith. It is LibriVox's policy to record texts as written.
Librivox Summary:
The Sun Also Rises (1926) was Hemingway's first novel to be published, though there is his novella The Torrents of Spring which was published earlier in the same year. The novel describes, expressed through the voice of Jake Barnes, a short period of social life that ranges from Paris to locations in Spain. One might say that the action occurs in Pamplona, Spain with the annual festival of San Fermin and its running of bulls and subsequent days of bullfights, but one can easily argue that the real interest of the novel is in its portrayal of the group to which Barnes is a part and how he details their anxieties, frailties, hopes, and frustrations. (Summary by KevinS)
Wikipedia Summary:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Sun_Also_Rises
Audio: https://www.overdrive.com/media/5545891/a-swim-in-a-pond-in-the-rain
eBook: https://www.overdrive.com/media/5403796/a-swim-in-a-pond-in-the-rain
By George Saunders (1985 – )
Reading Notes: This is a virtually free graduate-level seminar in writing and reading by an individual who must be an outstanding teacher (to learn why, I recommend listening to the audio book performed by Prof. Saunders -- a supremely positive experience). Using examples of short stories by Anton Chekhov, Ivan Turgenev, Leo Tolstoy, and Nikolai Gogol Saunders guides us through an exploration of active reading and professional writing. Prof. Saunders deserves reader's attention -- this is not a book for background listening while concentrating on something else (garden, traffic, exercise, etc.). If you are interested in writing, or in becoming a better reader (maybe even a better person) this is for you.
For the last twenty years, George Saunders has been teaching a class on the Russian short story to his MFA students at Syracuse University. In A Swim in a Pond in the Rain, he shares a version of that class with us, offering some of what he and his students have discovered together over the years. Paired with iconic short stories by Chekhov, Turgenev, Tolstoy, and Gogol, the seven essays in this book are intended for anyone interested in how fiction works and why it’s more relevant than ever in these turbulent times. In his introduction, Saunders writes, “We’re going to enter seven fastidiously constructed scale models of the world, made for a specific purpose that our time maybe doesn’t fully endorse but that these writers accepted implicitly as the aim of art—namely, to ask the big questions, questions like, How are we supposed to be living down here? What were we put here to accomplish? What should we value? What is truth, anyway, and how might we recognize it?” He approaches the stories technically yet accessibly, and through them explains how narrative functions; why we stay immersed in a story and why we resist it; and the bedrock virtues a writer must foster. The process of writing, Saunders reminds us, is a technical craft, but also a way of training oneself to see the world with new openness and curiosity. A Swim in a Pond in the Rain is a deep exploration not just of how great writing works but of how the mind itself works while reading, and of how the reading and writing of stories make genuine connection possible.
Review by Parul Sehgal: https://www.nytimes.com/...review-swim-pond-rain-george-saunders
Review by Lisa Zeidner: https://wapo.st/3ZYx2oi
Review by Laura Miller: https://slate.com/.../george-saunders-chekhov-swim-pond-rain-review
https://www.overdrive.com/media/3728660/the-tattooist-of-auschwitz
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Tattooist_of_Auschwitz
By Heather Morris
Reader's Notes: This story is based on remembered, real people and events as told by Ludwig (Lale) Sokolov (1916-2006) and researched & imagined by Heather Morris. The novel follows Lale Sokolov, a 26 year old Slovakian Jew sent to Auschwitz-Birkenau in 1942. His language skills led to being assigned tatowierer (the German word for tattooist) at the prison, and he tattooed the arms of thousands of Nazi prisoners. He met 17 year old Gita Furman at Auschwitz and this is their story as viewed through Lale. It is also a story about the holocaust. See the Wikipedia summary for a more comprehensive overview.
3rd Party Summaries:
Wikipedia Summary: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Tattooist_of_Auschwitz
Kirkus Reviews: https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/heather-morris/the-tattooist-of-auschwitz/
Audio: https://www.overdrive.com/media/8266180/tell-me-an-ending
eBook: https://www.overdrive.com/media/8864266/tell-me-an-ending
By Jo Harkin ( – )
Reading Notes: A good listen. A business creates a way to "delete" specific memories. What could go wrong? Harkin's story explores a number of ways... See one of the reviews below.
Review by Caren Gussoff Sumption: https://locusmag.com/...tell-me-an-ending-by-jo-harkin/
https://www.bookreporter.com/reviews/tell-me-an-ending
Audio: https://www.overdrive.com/media/6270840/termination-shock
eBook: https://www.overdrive.com/media/6071337/termination-shock
By Neal Stephenson (1959 - _)
Reading Notes: We should all read this book. It is not Kim Stanley Robinson's World Government/World Management approach to (finally) dealing with the effects and causes of climate change. Neal Stephenson builds a near-future world where entrepreneur's and the super rich act before governments find the will to do so. That results in governments acting in their sometimes immediate and sometimes strategic interests spanning a continuum from active cooperation to pointed overwhelming violence (central actors in that thread are China and India). From stick-fighting (more specifically, Gatka) in the Himalayas (see: LAC), to geoengineering projects in West Texas, the Mediterranean and New Guinea, to tsunami attacks on the Netherlands and Great Britian, Stephenson knits an engaging story that develops characters, science & technology, top tier political action and one path to climate action.
Some characters: Frederika Mathilde Louisa Saskia (Queen of the Netherlands), Rufus "Red" Grant (ex-soldier, Black-White-Mexican-Osage-Comanche), T.R. Schmidt/"McHooligan" (Texas billionaire), Deep "Laks" Singh (young Punjabi Canadian Sikh),
Wikipedia Summary: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Termination_Shock_(novel)
Review by Omar El Akkad: https://www.nytimes.com/...neal-stephenson-termination-shock.html
Review by by Paul Di Filippo: https://www.washingtonpost.com/...neal-stephenson-termination-shock-review...
Review by Peter Suderman: https://reason.com/...neal-stephensons-termination-shock...
Audio: https://www.overdrive.com/media/8916828/the-terraformers
ebook: https://www.overdrive.com/media/8906372/the-terraformers
By Annalee Newitz
Reader Notes: "Set 60,000 years in the future, The Terraformers traces the development of a terraformed planet over the course of 1,000 years." (from the Wikipedia Summary) A lot of ideas in this book are interesting in the abstract, for example: investors taking on projects like terraforming with timelines in the thousands of years, "lab grown" lifeforms that are based on licensed genetic templates -- including human-like life forms -- many of which tightly integrate a range of sensor and communications technologies, "mixing" the characteristics of multiple life forms to achieve both highly specialized and highly generalized beings, corporations "building" populations of "lab grown" to employ as formal, legal slaves. That said, the performance of this audio book seemed to crowd out too much of that content for me -- so much so that is was a difficult slog to get through to the end. The performance choices may have seemed bold or innovative to some involved in its production, but it amounted to a material turn-off to me. The arc of the story also seemed heavily built around warn & simplistic ideas like capitalism==corruption, wealth==immorality... I wouldn't recommend it, but maybe it is simply a "taste" issue of mine.
Wikipedia Summary: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Terraformers
Review by Paul Di Filippo: https://www.washingtonpost.com/books/2023/01/27/annalee-newitz-terraformers/
Audio: https://www.overdrive.com/media/5512578/a-thousand-ships
eBook: https://www.overdrive.com/media/4570319/a-thousand-ships
By Natalie Haynes (1974 – )
Reading Notes: This is a humorous novel retells the mythology of the Trojan war from the perspective of women involved. I strongly recommend listening to this book, in part, because of the author's narration/performance. She is simply fantastic! She must love telling this story. See the Wikipedia summary for a more thorough summary.
Wikipedia summary: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Thousand_Ships
Review By Claire Jarvis: https://www.nytimes.com/...thousand-ships-natalie-haynes...
Audio: https://www.overdrive.com/media/2001573/the-three-body-problem
eBook: https://www.overdrive.com/media/1582288/the-three-body-problem
By Cixin Liu (1963 – )
Reading Notes: This story is told as a nonlinear narrative. In that context, it's central character is Ye Wenjie, an astrophysics graduate who saw her father get beaten to death during the Cultural Revolution (1966-1976) and she was also identified as a traitor, sent to a labor camp and later sentenced to prison. Because of her training and the content of a paper she published while attending university, she was recruited to participate in a secret Chinese military project involving high powered radio transmissions and monitoring. Then it gets both interesting and confusing (see the Wikipedia summary if you want to know more...)
Wikipedia Summary: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Three-Body_Problem_(novel)
Audio: https://librivox.org/toilers-of-the-sea-ver2-by-victor-hugo/
eBook: https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=hvd.hn3jjh&view=1up&seq=15&skin=2021
By Victor Hugo (1802 - 1885)
Translated by Isabel Florence Hapgood (1851 - 1928)
Reading Notes: In this detailed description of island life, Hugo mines his romantic vision of all segments of Guernsey society. Overall, this seems like a literary romance novel with a strong tragic hero thread throughout. See the Wikipedia summary for a more detailed summary.
Key Characters:
Wikipedia Summary: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toilers_of_the_Sea:
The story concerns a Guernseyman named Gilliatt, a social outcast who falls in love with Deruchette, the niece of a local shipowner, Mess Lethierry. When Lethierry's ship is wrecked on the double Douvres, a perilous reef, Deruchette promises to marry whoever can salvage the ship's steam engine. (The cliff of the double Douvres is not the same as the well-known and also dangerous Roches Douvres, which today has a lighthouse – Hugo himself draws attention to this in the work.) Gilliatt eagerly volunteers, and the story follows his physical trials and tribulations (which include a battle with an octopus), as well as the undeserved opprobrium of his neighbours.
The book is dedicated to the island of Guernsey, where Victor Hugo spent 15 years in exile. Hugo uses the setting of a small island community to convert seemingly mundane events into drama of the highest caliber. Set just after the Napoleonic Wars, Toilers of the Sea deals with the impact of the Industrial Revolution upon the island. The story concerns a Guernseyman named Gilliatt, a social outcast who falls in love with Deruchette, the niece of a local shipowner, Mess Lethierry. When Lethierry's ship is wrecked on a perilous reef, Deruchette promises to marry whoever can salvage the ship's steam engine. Gilliatt eagerly volunteers, and the story follows his physical trials and tribulations, as well as the undeserved disapproval of his neighbors. This is a recording of the Isabel Hapgood translation, long considered the best of early translations of the work. - Summary by John Greenman.
https://librivox.org/the-torrents-of-spring-by-ernest-hemingway/
Text: https://www.fadedpage.com/showbook.php?pid=20210135
By Ernest Hemingway (1899 - 1961)
Reader's Notes: This is an excellent tale read by an excellent performer.
Although this book incorporates humor throughout, it was not a happy read for me. It is about a tough time in a tough (Northwest Michigan) place and the author expresses his (or the character's) energetic prejudices in story-lines that include a Black man and Native Americans. This story may be hurtful to some readers.
Librivox Summary:
The Torrents of Spring was Hemingway's second novel to be published. It would not be wrong to say that it is unique among the author's work as it is a clear parody of Sherwood Anderson's Dark Laughter and full of absurdist humor. Were Hemingway's name not attached to it, one might wonder who actually wrote the novel. The work is a product of its time and the reader is cautioned that there are uncomfortable portrayals of both a Black man and Native Americans. In truth, no one is treated in a sensitive way. (Summary by KevinS)
Wikipedia Summary:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Torrents_of_Spring
Audio: https://librivox.org/a-town-is-drowning-by-frederik-pohl/
eBook: https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/66768
By Frederik Pohl (1919 - 2013) and C. M. Kornbluth (1923 - 1958)
Reading Notes: If you like post-WWII / 1950s popular fiction, this seems like a great example. Pohl and Kornbluth build a number of interesting characters and follow them through the crisis of a terrible flood in rural Pennsylvania.
Learn more about the story in the Librivox Summary.
Audio: https://www.overdrive.com/media/9267960/translation-state
Ebook: https://www.overdrive.com/media/9267753/translation-state
By Ann Leckie (1966 – )
Reading Notes: Enae an "orphaned" diplomat, Reet an adopted mechanic who has an uncomfortable internal life, and Qven, in training to be a Presger translator, but rebels... This story is about relationships and belonging, wrapped in a space mystery about a translator missing for 200 years...
Review on GoodReads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/62873999-translation-state
https://www.overdrive.com/media/628804/a-trick-of-the-light
By Louise Penny (1958- )
Reader's Notes:
Another Chief Inspector Armand Gamache Novel... the 7th in the series. Gamache and Inspector Jean Guy Beauvoir are still recovering from injuries suffered in an investigation gone wrong... And a dead body is found in Clara Morrow's garden the morning after a party celebrating her first solo show. Alcoholics Anonymous, its big Book and its twelve-step program factor prominently in the investigation.
Wikipedia page:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Trick_of_the_Light_(novel)
Publisher's Weekly Summary:
https://www.publishersweekly.com/978-0-312-65545-7
https://librivox.org/triplanetary-first-in-the-lensman-series-by-e-e-doc-smith/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Triplanetary_(novel)
Text: https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/32706
By E. E. Smith (1890 - 1965) published 1948
Reading Notes: Published in 1948 and 1950, the Triplanetary and First Lensman books express a fantastic post-WWII U.S.A. optimism about technology, all things "the Atom," and the supremacy of North American military power.
The characters that drive the story forward are white male North Americans.
The lensmen engage in massive death & destruction in their quest for "increasing the general happiness of all humanity" (a seeming contradiction they don't acknowlege).
The most evil characters are leaders and their followers in North American Nationalist politics -- in league with organized crime. When these politicians & other criminals are caught, they use features of the existing legal system as weapons and delay, delay, delay (sound like a 'real life' former Present and his lackies?). A core theme seems to be a battle between the "uncorruptable" (democrats) and the "corrupt" (athoritarians) -- with "civilization" owing everything to the "uncorruptable."
There are also minor characters from many other planets and galacies.
Summary:
Triplanetary was first serialized in Amazing Stories in 1934. After the Lensman series became popular, Smith took his Triplanetary story and turned it into the first of the Lensman series, using it as a prequel to give the back story for the protaganists in the Lensmen series. He added 6 new chapters, doubling it in size and it's really a different book from the serialized novel, being published 14 years after the first. It was put into Gutenberg just last year.
The novel covers several episodes in an eons-long eugenics project of the super-intelligences of the Arisia. This alien race is breeding two genetic lines to become the ultimate weapon in Arisia's cosmic war with their arch enemy, the Eddore. The initial chapters cover the Kinnison genetic line during the fall of Atlantis and Nero's (Gharlane of Eddore) reign in Rome. These tales were inserted into the novel following the serialized release, along with chapters covering members of the Kinnison line in World Wars One, Two and Three. The final chapter of Triplanetary tells of the discovery of the inertialess drive that allows faster than light travel. Patrolman Conway Costigan and his friends engage in a space battle with Gray Roger the pirate gangster. This conflict is complicated by the arrival of the technologically superior, extra-Solar, amphibian-like Nevians, resulting in the first interstellar war involving humans. In this story Virgil Samms and Roderick Kinnison, two very important members of the eugenics project, are introduced. They will play the leading roles in the next story, First Lensman. (Summary by Wikipedia and Phil Chenevert)
Audio: https://www.overdrive.com/media/6491296/trust-pulitzer-prize-winner
ebook: https://www.overdrive.com/media/6480334/trust-pulitzer-prize-winner
By Hernan Diaz (1973 - )
Reader Notes: This book is worth ten hours of your life. Read the Wikipedia summary for an outline. The star is the writing. This seemed like a seriously complex story to assemble, plus a thousand magical acts of writing (maybe ten thousand). Hernan Diaz (~50 years old) is special and I will be reading all his books in the future.
Wikipedia Summary: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trust_(novel)
Audio: https://www.overdrive.com/media/2232375/twilight-company
eBook: https://www.overdrive.com/media/2201929/twilight-company
By Alexander Freed and here (1981 – )
Reading Notes: There is an action shooter video game based on the Star Wars film franchise that was developed by DICE and published by Electronic Arts in 2015 called "Star Wars Battlefront." Author Alexander Freed is a former developer from Electronic Arts subsidiary BioWare. This book was his debut novel. If you are a Star Wars fan or looking for some action fiction or a space opera this might be a good fit.
Audio: https://www.overdrive.com/media/10383176/twilight-territory
eBook: https://www.overdrive.com/media/9937219/twilight-territory (400 pages)
By Andrew X. Pham and https://www.andrewxpham.com/ (1967 – )
Reading Notes: This novel is an entertaining view into a slice of Vietnamese history. The book opens in 1942, Japanese occupation of what was French Indochina and ends in 1951 during the first Indochina War. Le Tuyet, a divorced single mother in the southern province of Phan Thiet. Maj. Yamazaki Takeshi, an officer at a nearby air base. French colonial official Gaspar Feraud. Tuyet's aunt and children.
Review by Violet Kupersmith: https://www.nytimes.com/...twilight-territory
Review by Jessica Brockmole: https://historicalnovelsociety.org/reviews/twilight-territory/
Audio: https://www.overdrive.com/media/5761819/unwell-women
eBook: https://www.overdrive.com/media/5745440/unwell-women
By Elinor Cleghorn and on Instagram ( – )
Reading Notes: The author argues that stained with the residue of myth, bias and structural racism, populations have used "medicine" and the treatment(s) of pain to manage women into "their place" for virtually all of written history. "Who deserves health," she writes, tends to align with deep-seated gender and racial cultural assumptions -- to the detriment of women & cultural minorities. This was especially mytholigized by men who blamed the uterus (or "womb") for most health issues of women.
Wikipedia Summary: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unwell_Women
Review by By Janice P. Nimura: https://www.nytimes.com/.../unwell-women...
Review by Julia Buckley: https://inews.co.uk/...unwell-women...
Review by Joan M. Burda: https://www.nyjournalofbooks.com/.../unwell-women...
Review by Stephanie Merritt: https://www.theguardian.com/.../unwell-women...
Review by Corinne Purtill: https://www.nytimes.com/.../periods-history-medicine-science...
Review by Raza S Hoda, MD and and Syed A Hoda, MD: https://academic.oup.com/ajcp/article/157/5/799/6458827
Reviews on BookBrowse: https://www.bookbrowse.com/.../unwell-women#reviews
Audio: https://www.overdrive.com/media/265695/valis
eBook: https://www.overdrive.com/media/677709/valis
By Philip K. Dick (1928 – 1982)
Reading Notes: I knew nothing about Philip K. Dick (although I imagined I did).
VALIS ([Satellite-integrated] Vast Active Living Intelligence System)
President Ferris F. Freemont (AKA "666")
"1 to .618034."
Two year old Savior Sophia repairs (?) Philip K. Dick - eliminates Horselover Fat.
...Who then returns.
This book reads like an internal monologue in a fog of serious mental illness, in the 1970s California.
Wikipedia Summary: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Valis_(novel)
Audio: https://www.overdrive.com/media/10043384/veronica-ruiz-breaks-the-bank
eBook: https://www.overdrive.com/media/10012654/veronica-ruiz-breaks-the-bank
By Elle Cosimano ( – )
Reading Notes: This is a light, quick story about a young down-on-her-luck woman who attempts (successfully) to land her starting-over job.
https://librivox.org/victory-by-lester-del-rey-2/
Text: https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/24196
By Lester del Rey (1915 - 1993)
Reader's Notes:
This is a supremely cynical story that seems to be as much about the USA in the 1950s as it about a star-hopping mercenary and his bosses.
Librivox Summary:
The earth is undefended. A ripe, juicy, rich plum just innocently waiting for one of the many new and warlike civilizations in the nearby universe to reach down and pluck to plunder and rape. Well... undefended can mean many things. In this case, humans have colonized many worlds and found many surprisingly human like races among the stars. But when these human colonies are threatened and even viciously attacked by really alien civilizations, earth does nothing to help them. Earth, fat, rich earth sits back and lets her own colonies be practically wiped out, claiming a neutrality that seems a thin veil for cowardice and deceit. How this happens and the story behind the story is what this exciting story is all about. (Summary by phil chenevert)
https://www.overdrive.com/media/3963265/war-on-peace
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/War_on_Peace
https://wwnorton.com/books/war-on-peace/
By Ronan Farrow, 2018 (1987 - )
Audio: https://www.overdrive.com/media/4414586/the-warehouse
eBook: https://www.overdrive.com/media/4857124/the-warehouse
By Rob Hart and https://robwhart.com/ (1982 – )
Reading Notes: Set in the near future, Hart's "Cloud" company seems loosely constructed on the real life Amazon constellation of corporations. The author constructed Cloud founder using some of history's most dehumanizing authoritarian ideas and tendencies. Bent on organizing his businesses around right wing social and economic freedom for the ultra-wealthy and evil assumptions about planned communities, managerial hierarchy, humans as just another corporate consumable, building corporate systems and measures to optimize profit at the expense of worker health and dignity the Cloud founder markets himself as a beneficient force for good. The story is centered around corporate spy-for-hire "Zinnia" and struggling worker Paxton, who is a new member of the Cloud security staff. This a dark suspense novel about a chain of privately built communities-for-profit -- citizens be damned... Some reviews suggest this story is a satire, but after a long career in Corporate America, the author seemed to me to be writing about categories and tactics of management employed throughout large-scale tech-centric organizations in real life for years already (with the exception of some extreme Federal legislation that the Cloud founder was able to get passed... IRL corporate titans have not yet achieved the level of freedom-to-be-evil described in this book, but not for want of trying). At a key point in the novel, the Cloud founder describes how he employed learned helplessness as a core component of personnel management...
Review by Gerald Bartell: https://www.washingtonpost.com/...an-online-warehouse-gone-rogue-driverless-cars-hijacked-fiction-that-feels-eerily-possible/...
Audio: https://www.overdrive.com/media/8916843/weyward
ebook: https://www.overdrive.com/media/8918477/weyward
By Emilia Hart
Reader Notes: "Weyward" main characters: Altha (1619), Violet (1942), and Kate (2019) all of whom live in Crows Beck, Cumbria, England, and all three were controlled and victimized by men. Each had the ability to hear the nature around them in ways unknown to the rest of us. In a way that remains undisclosed, they also had some ability to communicate need or instruction to parts of that natural world (some insects and crows are described in the book) in ways that were sometimes refered to as witchcraft by the society that surrounded them. It was an interesting story that seemed a little like a proposal for a movie.
BookInsider Summary: https://www.bookseriesinorder.com/emilia-hart/
Short Summary on BookBrowse: https://www.bookbrowse.com/reviews/index.cfm/book_number/4606/weyward
Interview With an Author: Emilia Hart: https://www.lapl.org/collections-resources/blogs/lapl/interview-author-emilia-hart
An interview with Emilia Hart: https://www.bookbrowse.com/author_interviews/full/index.cfm/author_number/3787/emilia-hart
"Weyward by Emilia Hart -- summary & study guide." By Stephanie Faithful. 2023
ebook: https://www.overdrive.com/media/10381296/weyward-by-emilia-hart-summary-study-guide
https://librivox.org/what-the-left-hand-was-doing-by-randall-garrett/
Text: https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/25166
By Randall Garrett (1927 - 1987)
Librivox Summary: The Society For Mystical and Metaphysical Research, Inc. ..... It is possible that no more nearly perfect cover, no more misleading front for a secret organization ever existed in the history of man. It possessed two qualities which most other cover-up titles do not have. One, it was so obviously crackpot that no one paid any attention to it except crackpots, and, two, it was perfectly, literally true. The Society is now a part of the government, of course an invisible one, and it can be very useful in solving really perplexing problems. Listen to the story of how it did the impossible here. Just another day at the SMMR. - Summary by the author and phil chenevert
https://librivox.org/william-the-third-by-henry-duff-traill/
Text: https://archive.org/details/williamthird00traigoog
By Henry Duff Traill (1842 - 1900)
Reader's Notes: This seems like a well-researched (for 1888) biography of William III (AKA William of Orange, 1650-1702) and (with excellent reading) it was an enjoyable experience.
Librivox Summary:
William Henry, Prince of Orange and Nassau, Dutch William to the English, was born in a state threatened by the military ambitions of Louis XIV. “Reared from his very cradle amid the animosities of contending factions,” Traill writes, “the young Prince learned early those four lessons of statecraft,—to conceal his designs, to watch his opportunities, to choose his instruments, and to bide his time.” The Dutch Republic, distrustful of monarchs, reluctantly chose him as stadtholder to lead their armies, and then, after the overthrow of James II in 1688, he became with his consort, Mary, England’s king. (Summary by Pamela Nagami, M.D.)
Wikipedia history of William the III: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_III_of_England
Audio: https://www.overdrive.com/media/5637322/winter-in-the-blood
eBook: https://www.overdrive.com/media/5037571/winter-in-the-blood
By James Welch (1940 – 2003)
Reading Notes: This is an interesting first-person narrative of a short period in the life of a ~30 year old Native American in the 1970s Fort Belknap Reservation, Montana. There is also an excellent forward/introduction by Louise Erdrich that would be worth listening to even in the absence of the novel. See the Wikipedia Summary for more detail...
Wikipedia Summary: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Winter_in_the_Blood
Audio: https://www.overdrive.com/media/4496399/winter-world
eBook:
By A.G. Riddle ( – )
Reading Notes: Oversimplification of leading large, diverse organizations; magic science and technology, tremendous exaggerations, physics-be-damned, nearly one-dimensional characters, and unwavering optimism about the people of the world working together toward common goals... But action throughout. If you like science fiction action 'B' movies, maybe this story will be for you. I am confident that it is not for everyone.
Expanded Author's Note for Winter World: https://www.agriddle.com/winter-extras
Audio: https://www.overdrive.com/media/2560046/the-woman-in-cabin-10
eBook: https://www.overdrive.com/media/2526344/the-woman-in-cabin-10
By Ruth Ware (1977 – )
Reading Notes: Laura "Lo" Blacklock, who works for a travel journal is assigned to cover the maiden voyage of exclusive luxury cruise ship (yaht) for hopping the Scandinavian coastline, Aurora Borealis, to named and unnamed Norwegian fjords. Days before her departure, Lo, debilitated by a (another) drinking binge, was the target of a professional home break-in and then may have just broken up with her partner, is deeply shaken. But this is a plumb gig, so she goes on the cruise. Once at sea, she witnesses a woman being thrown overboard -- but discovers that all the passengers are accounted for... This is similar to a classic "whodunnit" story -- with the detective swapped out with a travel-writer. The book received a lot of love from major book review lists, but it was just OK for me -- maybe, again, just for me, the narrator seemed an ill fit for this text... You may love it too. I think that the storyline and content would work well for the "young adult" reader category.
Audio: https://www.overdrive.com/media/167421/the-wordy-shipmates
Text: https://www.overdrive.com/media/200624/the-wordy-shipmates
By Sarah Vowell (1969- ), published 2008
Reader Notes: An excellent, true story. Sarah Vowell's exploration of the Puritans and their journey to America to become the people of John Winthrop's "city upon a hill."
Wikipedia Summary: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Wordy_Shipmates
Audio: https://www.overdrive.com/media/567026/a-wrinkle-in-time
Ebook: https://www.overdrive.com/media/703174/a-wrinkle-in-time
By Madeleine L'Engle (1918 -- 2007)
Reader Notes: This is a young adult science fantasy novel written in the late 1950s. Four kids - Meg Murry, Charles Wallace Murry, and Calvin O'Keefe jump space and time on a galacies-long quest to find and rescue the Murrys' father. The story explores growing up, being yourself, courage, physics, spiritual life, evil and good in a way that I think works for adults as well as the 12 to 18 crowd.
Review by Mari Ness: https://www.tor.com/2011/12/15/there-is-such-a-thing-as-a-tesseract-a-wrinkle-in-time/
Wikipedia Summary: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Wrinkle_in_Time#Plot_summary
Review fragments on Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Wrinkle_in_Time#Reception
Audio: https://www.overdrive.com/media/5207444/icebound
eBook: https://www.overdrive.com/media/5588545/icebound
By Andrea Pitzer and Author's Bio. (1968 – )
Reading Notes: This book documents attempts by 16th-century Dutch explorer William Barents (1550 - 1597) to find a northern route to China -- North of what is now Russia. He sailed farther north than any Europeans before. On his third polar voyage, one funded by wealthy optimistic Dutch merchants, his ship was locked in ice off the coast of Nova Zembla. The sailors, unprepared for the Arctic winter, spent the next year fighting off polar bears, hunger and fiercely cold winter.
Author's Summary: https://andreapitzer.com/icebound/
Audio: https://www.overdrive.com/media/5727288/under-the-tulip-tree
eBook: https://www.overdrive.com/media/5318414/under-the-tulip-tree
By Michelle Shocklee ( – )
Reading Notes: Overall, this is an interesting historical novel about a young woman in the depths of the 1930s depression and her learning details about slavery in her home town of Nashville, TN, with special emphasis on the U.S. Civil War period. This was my first read of a "Christian faith" novel. Be aware that in this story the "Christian faith" content grew increasingly prominent as the novel progressed.
Publisher's Summary:
Sixteen-year-old Lorena Leland’s dreams of a rich and fulfilling life as a writer are dashed when the stock market crashes in 1929. Seven years into the Great Depression, Rena’s banker father has retreated into the bottle, her sister is married to a lazy charlatan and gambler, and Rena is an unemployed newspaper reporter. Eager for any writing job, Rena accepts a position interviewing former slaves for the Federal Writers’ Project. There, she meets Frankie Washington, a 101-year-old woman whose honest yet tragic past captivates Rena.
As Frankie recounts her life as a slave, Rena is horrified to learn of all the older woman has endured—especially because Rena’s ancestors owned slaves. While Frankie’s story challenges Rena’s preconceptions about slavery, it also connects the two women whose lives are otherwise separated by age, race, and circumstances. But will this bond of respect, admiration, and friendship be broken by a revelation neither woman sees coming?
References:
Audio: https://www.overdrive.com/media/1902824/as-you-wish
eBook: https://www.overdrive.com/media/1984294/as-you-wish
By Cary Elwes (1962 – ) and Joe Layden and Joe Leyden on LibraryThing
Reading Notes: Includes "never-before-told stories, exclusive behind-the-scenes photographs, and interviews with co-stars Robin Wright, Wallace Shawn, Billy Crystal, Christopher Guest, Fred Savage and Mandy Patinkin, as well as screenwriter William Goldman, producer Norman Lear, and director Rob Reiner." From Wikipedia
Audio: https://www.overdrive.com/media/10572175/dark-space
eBook: https://www.overdrive.com/media/10572020/dark-space
By Rob Hart and https://robwhart.com/ (1982 – ) and By Alex Segura & Alex Segura (1980 – )
Reading Notes:
Audio: https://www.overdrive.com/media/5301693/deaths-of-despair-and-the-future-of-capitalism
eBook: https://www.overdrive.com/media/2683836/deaths-of-despair-and-the-future-of-capitalism
By Anne Case and Anne Case @ Princeton (1958 – ) and By Angus Deaton (1945 – )
Reading Notes:
Audio: https://www.overdrive.com/media/10180478/do-i-know-you
eBook: https://www.overdrive.com/media/10180708/do-i-know-you
By Sadie Dingfelder ( – )
Reading Notes:
Audio:
eBook: https://www.overdrive.com/media/1850679/last-and-first-men
By Olaf Stapledon, AKA William Olaf Stapledon (1886 – 1950)
Reading Notes: Thank you Noah Diegel for recommending this book.
Wikipedia Summary: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Last_and_First_Men
OverDrive Summary:
This text is not so much a novel as a history of the future Over the course of 2,000 million years it describes the evolutionary rise and fall of eighteen distinct races of men, of which Homo sapiens is the first and most primitive.
Audio: https://www.overdrive.com/media/8916796/the-end-of-drum-time
eBook: https://www.overdrive.com/media/8884262/the-end-of-drum-time
By Hanna Pylväinen and anna Pylväinen ( – )
Reading Notes: This story incorporates an exploration of conflicts that too often appear when Christian, government functionary, and commercial business (both professional and amateur) enthusiasts colonize areas populated by indigenous people -- some with the explicit goal of eradicating the indigenous culture. But its strength is really in how it does so through the thoughts and actions of real people and the nature they inhabit. Set in 1851, at a remote village in the northern Scandinavian tundra, a Lutheran minister, Lars Levi Laestadius, known as Mad Lasse tries to convert Swedes, Finns, and a group of Sámi nomadic reindeer herders to his faith. When a poor, but respected Sámi shaman and herder, Biettar Rasti, has an unexpected Christian awakening and dedicates his life to the church, Mad Lasse's following grows and his reputation ranges far. The convert's son, Ivvár, is left to manage their diminishing herd alone. Mad Lasse's daughter, Willa, becomes infatuated with Ivvár and follows the herders on their seasonal migration to the sea. Envious of his successes, Frans orders Lars Levi to pastor at another church far South, then arrives to take over Mad Lasse's church and begins to manage finances of Henrik's store.
Some of the Characters:
Wikipedia Summary: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_End_of_Drum-Time
Review by Joan Gaylord: https://www.csmonitor.com/...The-End-of-Drum-Time...
Review By Cory Oldweiler: https://www.startribune.com/review-the-end-of-drum-time...
NPR's Scott Simon interviews Hanna Pylvainen about "The End of Drum-Time." https://www.npr.org/...the-end-of-drum-time
Review by Natalie Watson: https://www.churchtimes.co.uk/...the-end-of-drum-time...
Audio: https://www.overdrive.com/media/10480247/creation-lake
eBook: https://www.overdrive.com/media/10480407/creation-lake
By Rachel Kushner (1968 – )
Reading Notes: Spy novel... "Sadie Smith," Kushner’s narrator, a 34 year old American graduate school dropout, freelance spy, goes to southwest France to infiltrate "Le Moulin" a radical farming commune said by her employer to be planning violence. The author created more than 400 pages of narration & internal dialog covering a huge universe of topics and ideas -- a gigantic word painting that was more satisfying than most books on this list.
Guy Debord
Bruno Lacombe: "Leaving the world behind."
Pascal's "Zones of Incivility," a vague wannabe handbook for insurrection.
Wikipedia summary: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Creation_Lake
Review by Dwight Garner: https://www.nytimes.com/.../creation-lake-rachel-kushner...
Review by Lily Meyer: https://www.theatlantic.com/.../rachel-kushner-creation-lake-review...
Review by Maureen Corrigan: https://www.npr.org/.../creation-lake-review-rachel-kushner
Review by Alexandra Schwartz: https://www.newyorker.com/.../creation-lake-rachel-kushner-book-review
Review by Laura Marsh: https://newrepublic.com/.../rachel-kushner-spy-games-creation-lake-review
Audio: https://www.overdrive.com/media/3591300/the-mars-room
eBook: https://www.overdrive.com/media/3718294/the-mars-room
By Rachel Kushner (1968 – )
Reading Notes:
Audio: https://librivox.org/tragedy-in-dedham-sacco-vanzetti-case-by-francis-russell/
eBook: https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/70970
By Francis Russell (1910 - 1989)
Reading Notes:
Librivox Summary: The Sacco and Vanzetti trial was one of the most divisive events of 1920's America. As Russell writes, " If one was middle class and Republican...one thought Sacco and Vanzetti guilty. But if one was a university liberal, one tended to think the trial unfair..." In this book, historical author Francis Russell brings the participants and events of this tragic drama to life. The book received the Edgar Award for Best Fact Crime in 1963. - Summary by Ciufi Galeazzi.
Audio: https://librivox.org/germany-before-the-war-by-napoleon-eugene-beyens/
eBook: https://archive.org/details/germanybeforewar00beyeuoft/page/n5/mode/2up
By Napoleon-Eugène Beyens (1855 - 1934)
Translated by Paul V. Cohn (1884 - 1956)
Reading Notes:
Librivox Summary: Baron Beyens was a senior member of the Belgian diplomatic service who was posted to Berlin in 1912. His book, published in early 1916, is in part the result of his personal observations in Germany from 1912 until late 1914, when he departed the country after the German invasion of neutral Belgium at the beginning of the First World War. He had contacts with the political elite in Germany - including the Emperor - and knew their views on the key issues that contributed to international tension. In this volume Beyens profiled the men, their motives, and their reactions to events. In addition, Beyens discusses the economic causes of the war, and explains some of the most pressing issues faced by European diplomats and governments in the years immediately preceding the war. The causes of World War I were so complex that they are still, over a century later, vigorously debated. This thoughtful book helps to throw light on the fateful decisions that brought on a disastrous war. - Summary by Ted Lienhart
Audio: https://librivox.org/a-century-of-dishonor-by-helen-hunt-jackson/
eBook: https://gutenberg.org/ebooks/50560
By Helen Hunt Jackson (1830 - 1885)
Reading Notes: This book is largely an historical review of the seven major Native American tribes: The Delawares (Lenni Lenape, "original people" or Wapenachki, "people at the rising of the sun"), Cheyennes, Nez Percés, Sioux, Poncas, Winnebagoes and Cherokees.
"Discoverers were understood to have the right of conquest."
Wikipedia Summary: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Century_of_Dishonor#Synopsis
Librivox Summary: In this work, a predecessor to "Ramona", HH describes the systematic process of segregation, dispossession, and relocation that Native Americans experienced from the late XVIII to the late XIX century. When written, the last conflicts between Native Americans and the US Government were being held. She wrote the book in efforts to fight for the rights of the Natives and to change people's opinions and governmental policies. The Appendix has been left out. - Summary by Mario Pineda.
| # | Title | Publication year | Authors |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Tom Clancy's Op-Center | 1995 | Jeff Rovin |
| 2 | Mirror Image | 1995 | Jeff Rovin |
| 3 | Games of State | 1996 | Jeff Rovin |
| 4 | Acts of War | 1997 | Jeff Rovin |
| 5 | Balance of Power | 1998 | Jeff Rovin |
| 6 | State of Siege | 1999 | Jeff Rovin |
| 7 | Divide and Conquer | 2000 | Jeff Rovin |
| 8 | Line of Control | 2001 | Jeff Rovin |
| 9 | Mission of Honor | 2002 | Jeff Rovin |
| 10 | Sea of Fire | 2003 | Jeff Rovin |
| 11 | Call to Treason | 2004 | Jeff Rovin |
| 12 | War of Eagles | 2005 | Jeff Rovin |
| 13 | Out of the Ashes | 2014 | Dick Couch and George Galdorisi |
| 14 | Into the Fire | 2015 | Dick Couch and George Galdorisi |
| 15 | Scorched Earth | 2016 | George Galdorisi |
| 16 | Dark Zone | 2017 | Jeff Rovin and George Galdorisi |
| 17 | For Honor | 2018 | Jeff Rovin |
| 18 | Sting of the Wasp | 2019 | Jeff Rovin |
| 19 | God of War | 2020 | Jeff Rovin |
| 20 | The Black Order | 2021 | Jeff Rovin |
| 21 | Call of Duty | 2022 | Jeff Rovin |
| 22 | Fallout | 2023 | Jeff Rovin |
Look through these history of Scotland options: https://www.overdrive.com/search?q=History%20Scotland&f-formatClassification=Audiobook&autoLibrary=t&autoRegion=f&showAvailable=False
Audio: https://librivox.org/the-secret-agent-by-joseph-conrad/ (9:53)
Audio (version 2): https://librivox.org/the-secret-agent-by-joseph-conrad-2/ (9:49)
Audio (version 3): https://librivox.org/the-secret-agent-version-3-by-joseph-conrad/ (10:14)
eBook: https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/974
By Joseph Conrad (1857 – 1924)
Reading Notes:
Short summary on Wikipedia:
Mr. Verloc, The Secret Agent (1906) of divided loyalties, attempts a bombing, to be blamed on terrorists, that accidentally kills his mentally defective brother-in-law Stevie, and Verloc himself is killed by his distraught wife, who drowns herself by jumping overboard from a channel steamer. From this section
Wikipedia Summary: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Secret_Agent
Audio: https://www.overdrive.com/media/2890301/the-tourist
eBook: https://www.overdrive.com/media/2619827/the-tourist
By Robert Dickinson (1962 – )
Reading Notes: I couldn't persist my interest in this story and returned the book to Libby/OverDrive...
See a November 4, 2016 review by Stevie Kincade on: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/29467314-the-tourist
Audio: https://www.overdrive.com/media/9101292/loving-the-dead-and-gone
eBook: https://www.overdrive.com/media/8092507/loving-the-dead-and-gone
By Judith Turner-Yamamoto ( – )
Reading Notes:
Audio: (Volume One, 16:20) https://librivox.org/the-magic-mountain-vol1-by-thomas-mann/ and https://librivox.org/the-magic-mountain-volume-two-by-thomas-mann/ (Volume Two, 18:36)
eBook: https://archive.org/details/magicmountainder1946mann/page/n7/mode/2up
By Thomas Mann (1875 - 1955)
Translated by Helen Tracy Lowe-Porter (1876 - 1963)
Reading Notes:
Wikipedia Summary: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Magic_Mountain
Audio: https://librivox.org/buddenbrooks-by-thomas-mann/
eBook: https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015015389532&view=1up&seq=2&skin=2021
By Thomas Mann (1875 - 1955)
Translated by Helen Tracy Lowe-Porter (1876 - 1963)
Reading Notes:
Wikipedia Summary: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buddenbrooks
Audio: https://www.overdrive.com/media/9703516/the-exchange
eBook: https://www.overdrive.com/media/9704022/the-exchange
By John Grisham (1955 – )
Reading Notes: Sequel of ‘The Firm’ (1991).
Review by Karin Tanabe: https://www.washingtonpost.com/...john-grisham-the-firm-sequel/
Wikipedia summary: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Exchange:_After_The_Firm
BookMarks' summary of reviews: https://bookmarks.reviews/reviews/the-exchange-after-the-firm/
Audio: https://www.overdrive.com/media/10590127/playground
eBook: https://www.overdrive.com/media/10480327/playground
By Richard Powers (1957 – )
Reading Notes:
Audio: https://librivox.org/the-life-of-oscar-wilde-by-robert-sherard/
eBook: https://archive.org/details/lifeofoscarwilde00sher
By Robert Sherard (1861 - 1943)
Reading Notes:
Audio: https://archive.org/.../frontier_ballads_by_joseph_mills_hanson.mp3
eBook: https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/45240
By Joseph Mills Hanson and his papers (1876 - 1960)
Reading Notes:
Other J.M.Hanson books on line: https://onlinebooks.library.upenn.edu/webbin/book/lookupname?key=Hanson,%20Joseph%20Mills,%201876-
Audio: https://librivox.org/letters-of-mrs-adams-the-wife-of-john-adams-vol-1-by-abigail-adams/
eBook: https://books.google.com/books?id=1EUEAAAAYAAJ&dq=letters%20of%20mrs%20adams&pg=PR4#v=onepage&q&f;=false
By Abigail Adams (1744 - 1818)
Reading Notes:
Audio: https://www.overdrive.com/media/4238776/exhalation
eBook: https://www.overdrive.com/media/4387263/exhalation
By Ted Chiang (1967 – )
Reading Notes: This is a collection of nine short stories. I started listening, but the story and/or the narration was not for me at the time and I returned the book. Maybe I'll try it again later. See the Wikipedia summary for more detail.
Wikipedia Summary: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exhalation:_Stories
OverDrive: https://www.overdrive.com/series/jack-ryan
Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack_Ryan_(character)
Audio: https://www.overdrive.com/media/657572/making-of-the-atomic-bomb
eBook: https://www.overdrive.com/media/1067137/making-of-the-atomic-bomb
By Richard Rhodes (1937 – )
886 pages (hardcover)
Reading Notes:
Wikipedia Summary: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Making_of_the_Atomic_Bomb
OverDrive Summary:
The definitive history of nuclear weapons—from the turn-of-the-century discovery of nuclear energy to J. Robert Oppenheimer and the Manhattan Project—this epic work details the science, the people, and the sociopolitical realities that led to the development of the atomic bomb...
"Emily, Alone: A Novel." By Stewart O’Nan. 2011
or any novel by Anita Brookner (1928 - 2016)
Audio: https://librivox.org/the-re-creation-of-brian-kent-by-harold-bell-wright/
eBook: https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/3265
By Harold Bell Wright (1872 - 1944)
Reading Notes:
Librivox Summary:
Brian Kent is a bank clerk who is driven by a variety of circumstances to commit a series of thefts from his employer. Remorseful, drunk, suicidal and on the run, Brian steals a boat and pushes himself into the fast current of a nearby river to bring about an almost certain death. But he washes up in Ozark country and is found by the mountain girl Judy and her friend, the trusting former teacher at the one-room school who is known by everyone as Auntie Sue. Auntie Sue nurses him back to health and gives him a chance to start anew with honest, clean living in the mountains. But Brian’s past soon catches up with him. The Re-creation of Brian Kent is a story of falling, redemption and love interwoven with strong female characters and an inspirational philosophy of life. It was among the top 10 best-selling novels for the years 1919 and 1920. - Summary by Warren Kati.
Audio: https://librivox.org/mr-westons-good-wine-by-t-f-powys/
eBook: https://archive.org/details/dli.ministry.17483/page/n7/mode/2up
By T. F. Powys (1875 - 1953)
Reading Notes:
Wikipedia summary: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mr._Weston's_Good_Wine
Librivox summary:
This 1927 novel describes an evening in 1923 when Mr. Weston, who is apparently a wine merchant, but is evidently God, visits the fictional village of Folly Down in Dorset, and meets some of its individuals, whose backgrounds and lives leading up to this day are described during the course of the novel. Mr. Weston's colleague is named Michael, which is an allusion to the Archangel. For a while time stands still, and these individuals, according to their possessing qualities of good or evil, find their ultimate reward. - Summary by Wikipedia and David Wales.
<details>
<summary>Mania. By Lionel Shriver. 2024 </summary>
### Mania. (??:??)
Audio: (*still unreleased as of this entry*)
By [Lionel Shriver](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lionel_Shriver) (1957 – )
Harper. 288 pp.
Reading Notes:
Review by [Maureen Corrigan](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maureen_Corrigan): "[Lionel Shriver pokes fun at woke culture, again](https://wapo.st/3xrKIgU)."
</details>
<details>
<summary>So Much for That. By Lionel Shriver. 2010 </summary>
### So Much for That. (??:??)
eBook: https://www.overdrive.com/media/291503/so-much-for-that
Audio: https://www.overdrive.com/media/291355/so-much-for-that
By [Lionel Shriver](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lionel_Shriver) (1957 – )
Harper. 436 pp.
OverDrive Summary:
>... a searing, deeply humane novel about a crumbling marriage resurrected in the face of illness, and a family's struggle to come to terms with disease, dying, and the obscene cost of medical care in modern America.
Reading Notes:
Review by [Leah Hager Cohen](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leah_Hager_Cohen) (*and [here](https://www.leahhagercohen.com/about)*): "[Pre-existing Conditions](https://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/14/books/review/Cohen-t.html)."
Review by [Heller McAlpin](): "['So Much' For Paradise: Battered By Bad Insurance](https://www.npr.org/2010/03/18/124762885/so-much-for-paradise-battered-by-bad-insurance)."
</details>
<details>
<summary>The Mandibles. A Family, 2029-2047. By Lionel Shriver. 2016 </summary>
### The Mandibles. A Family, 2029-2047. (??:??)
eBook: https://www.overdrive.com/media/2486094/the-mandibles
Audio: https://www.overdrive.com/media/2466085/the-mandibles
By [Lionel Shriver](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lionel_Shriver) (1957 – )
OverDrive Summary:
>In 2029, the United States is engaged in a bloodless world war that will wipe out the savings of millions of American families. Overnight, on the international currency exchange, the "almighty dollar" plummets in value, to be replaced by a new global currency, the "bancor." In retaliation, the president declares that America will default on its loans. "Deadbeat Nation" being unable to borrow, the government prints money to cover its bills. What little remains to savers is rapidly eaten away by runaway inflation.
>The Mandibles have been counting on a sizable fortune filtering down when their ninety-seven-year-old patriarch dies. Once the inheritance turns to ash, each family member must contend with disappointment, but also—as the U.S. economy spirals into dysfunction—the challenge of sheer survival.
>Recently affluent, Avery is petulant that she can't buy olive oil, while her sister, Florence, absorbs strays into her cramped household. An expat author, their aunt, Nollie, returns from abroad at seventy-three to a country that's unrecognizable. Her brother, Carter, fumes at caring for their demented stepmother, now that an assisted living facility isn't affordable. Only Florence's oddball teenage son, Willing, an economics autodidact, will save this formerly august American family from the streets.
>The Mandibles is about money. Thus it is necessarily about bitterness, rivalry, and selfishness—but also about surreal generosity, sacrifice, and transformative adaptation to changing circumstances.
</details>
Audio: https://www.overdrive.com/media/9951409/the-hunter
eBook: https://www.overdrive.com/media/9908341/the-hunter
By Tana French (1973 - )
Reading Notes:
Review by Sadie Stein: https://www.nytimes.com/...review/tana-french-the-hunter.html
Review by Maureen Corrigan: https://www.washingtonpost.com/...tana-french-the-hunter-book-review/
Review by Bruce DeSilva: https://apnews.com/article/hunter-tana-french-book-review...
Audio: https://www.overdrive.com/media/10361459/the-tusks-of-extinction
eBook: https://www.overdrive.com/media/9768960/the-tusks-of-extinction
By Ray Nayler ( – )
Reading Notes:
Review by Gary K. Wolfe: https://locusmag.com/2024/02/gary-k-wolfe-reviews-the-tusks-of-extinction-by-ray-nayler/
Audio: https://www.overdrive.com/media/9790834/deep-freeze
eBook: https://www.overdrive.com/media/9790977/deep-freeze
By Michael C. Grumley ( – )
Reading Notes:
OverDrive Summary:
The accident came quickly. With no warning. In the dead of night, a precipitous plunge into a freezing river trapped everyone inside the bus. It was then that Army veteran John Reiff's life came to an end. Extinguished in the sudden rush of frigid water. There was no expectation of survival. None. Let alone waking up beneath blinding hospital lights. Struggling to move, or see, or even breathe. But the doctors assure him that everything is normal. That things will improve. And yet, he has a strange feeling that there's something they're not telling him. As Reiff's mind and body gradually recover, he becomes certain that the doctors are lying to him. One-by-one, puzzle pieces are slowly falling into place, and he soon realizes that things are not at all what they seem. Critical information is being kept from him. Secrets. Supposedly for his own good. But who is doing this? Why? And the most important question: can he keep himself alive long enough to uncover the truth?
Audio: https://www.overdrive.com/media/5328992/the-midnight-library
eBook: https://www.overdrive.com/media/5305833/the-midnight-library
By Matt Haig ( – )
Reading Notes:
Audio: https://www.overdrive.com/media/8720855/half-american
ebook: https://www.overdrive.com/media/8232090/half-american
By Matthew F. Delmont, https://history.dartmouth.edu/people/matthew-f-delmont, also at https://mattdelmont.com/ and https://next.dartmouth.edu/matt-delmont and Twitter: @mattdelmont
Reader notes:
Some of Dr. Delmont's other writing is available at: https://www.bunkhistory.org/authors/matthew-f-delmont
Audio: https://www.overdrive.com/media/9597271/the-kingdom-the-power-and-the-glory
Ebook: https://www.overdrive.com/media/9599368/the-kingdom-the-power-and-the-glory
By Tim Alberta ( - )
https://librivox.org/is-shakespeare-dead-by-mark-twain/
Text: https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/2431
By Mark Twain (1835 - 1910)
Wikipedia Summary: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Is_Shakespeare_Dead%3F
Librivox Summary:
A short, semi-autobiographical work by American humorist Mark Twain. It explores the controversy over the authorship of the Shakespearean literary canon via satire, anecdote, and extensive quotation of contemporary authors on the subject. In the book, Twain expounds the view that Shakespeare of Stratford was not the author of the canon, and lends tentative support to the Baconian theory. The book opens with a scene from his early adulthood, where he was trained to be a steamboat pilot by an elder who often argued with him over the controversy. Twain's arguments include the following points: That little was known about Shakespeare's life, and the bulk of his biographies were based on conjecture. That a number of eminent British barristers and judges found Shakespeare's plays permeated with precise legal thought, and that the author could only have been a veteran legal professional. That in contrast, Shakespeare of Stratford had never held a legal position or office, and had only been in court over petty lawsuits late in life. That small towns lionize and celebrate their famous authors for generations, but this had not happened in Shakespeare's case. He described his own fame in Hannibal as a case in point. Twain draws parallels and analogies from the pretensions of modern religious figures and commentators on the nature of Satan. He compares the believers in Shakespeare to adherents of Arthur Orton and Mary Baker Eddy. - Librivox Summary
https://librivox.org/magician-among-the-spirits-by-harry-houdini/
Text: https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/66451
By Harry Houdini (1874 - 1926) and Clifford Martin Eddy Jr. (C. M. Eddy, Jr.) (1896 - 1967)
Librivox Summary:
Houdini, an escape artist and illusionist, became interested later in his life in debunking spiritualists, disbelieving anyone who claimed to have supernatural powers. This was during an era where paranormal phenomena, especially seances, were extremely popular. Although skeptical of their claims, he longed to find a credible source to communicate with family members he had lost. This book chronicles his travels and the many people he spoke with and his observations of their 'powers' and along the way also reveals many of the tricks they employed to deceive their paying customers. (Summary by Phyllis Vincelli
Audio: https://librivox.org/the-last-of-the-vikings-by-johan-bojer/
Text page: https://archive.org/details/BojerLastOfTheVikingsCombinedReduced/page/n1/mode/2up
Download Text: https://archive.org/stream/BojerLastOfTheVikingsCombinedReduced/Bojer%20Last%20of%20the%20Vikings%20Combined%20Reduced_djvu.txt
By Johan Bojer (1872 - 1959)
Translated by Jessie Muir(??)
In a small village on the coast of Northern Norway lives the Myran family. Father is a fisher man and is, in the eyes of the oldest son, like a god on the sea. Mother spends every winter in fear of losing somebody she loves to the storms and waves. She longs to move inland and turn her back on the coast and all its dangers. The novel explores some of the tension between inland and coast, poor and wealthy, tradition and progress while also depicting the highs and lows of a winter of fishing in Lofoten. - (Summary by kathrinee)
Audio: https://www.overdrive.com/media/6107969/the-second-mrs-astor
Ebook: https://www.overdrive.com/media/5970855/the-second-mrs-astor
By Shana Abé ()
historical romance
Audio: https://www.overdrive.com/media/4613861/funny-you-dont-look-autistic
Ebook: https://www.overdrive.com/media/4627687/funny-you-dont-look-autistic
By Michael McCreary (1997? - )
Mars Series by Kim Stanley Robinson
Red Mars. 2000
(Mars Series, Book 1)
https://www.overdrive.com/media/2902090/red-mars
Green Mars. 2001
(Mars Series, Book 1)
https://www.overdrive.com/media/3164205/green-mars
Blue Mars. 2002
(Mars Series, Book 3)
https://www.overdrive.com/media/2674467/blue-mars
Shards of Earth. By Adrian Tchaikovsky. 2021
(part of "The Final Architecture" series)
https://www.overdrive.com/media/5715429/shards-of-earth
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/55278507-shards-of-earth
By Adrian Tchaikovsky
Eyes of the Void. By Adrian Tchaikovsky. 2022
(part of "The Final Architecture" series)
https://www.overdrive.com/media/6663885/eyes-of-the-void
By Adrian Tchaikovsky
The Blighted Stars. By Megan E. O'Keefe
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/58340705-the-blighted-stars
Velocity Weapon. By Megan E. O'Keefe. 2019
(part of "The Protectorate" series)
https://www.overdrive.com/media/4570292/velocity-weapon
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/41085049-velocity-weapon
Chaos Vector. By Megan E. O'Keefe 2020
(part of "The Protectorate" series)
https://www.overdrive.com/media/5275172/chaos-vector
Catalyst Gate. By Megan E. O'Keefe 2021
(part of "The Protectorate" series)
https://www.overdrive.com/media/5826946/catalyst-gate
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/55836835-catalyst-gate
Eversion. By Alastair Reynolds
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/58727132-eversion
Infinity Gate. By M.R. Carey
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/61237044-infinity-gate
Inhibitor Phase. By Alastair Reynolds
Audio: https://www.overdrive.com/media/9108777/inhibitor-phase
Ebook: https://www.overdrive.com/media/5715712/inhibitor-phase
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/56072402-inhibitor-phase
Saturn Run. By John Sandford, Ctein. 2015
(17:00)
Burning Paradise. By Robert Charles Wilson. 2013
(12:00)
A Murder in Time. By Julie McElwain. 2016
(19:00)
The Lost Apothecary: A Novel. By Sarah Penner. 2021
(10:18)
Audio: https://www.overdrive.com/media/5546988/the-lost-apothecary
Ebook: https://www.overdrive.com/media/5428480/the-lost-apothecary
https://librivox.org/the-collected-works-of-saint-patrick-by-saint-patrick/
Texts: https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Author:Saint_Patrick
By Saint Patrick (c. 387 - c. 460)
Librivox Summary:
(1.) St. Patrick's Breastplate - This prayer is attributed to St. Patrick and his disciples. It is written with some Celtic pagan elements, but is definitely a Christian prayer asking God for protection through daily life. (2.) A Letter to the Soldiers of Coroticus - Patrick writes this letter to excommunicate the soldiers of Coroticus' army who pillaged villages in Ireland and forced many Christian converts into slavery. (3.) Confession - A short autobiography by St. Patrick who tells of being abducted into slavery and taken to Ireland, the growth of his faith, his ministry as a bishop in ordaining many priests and baptising thousands of people, and a trial where he had to defend himself against his accusers. - (Summary by Librivox)
The Flight of the Shadow. (2:02)
https://librivox.org/the-flight-of-the-shadow-by-laura-m-dake/
Text: https://www.loc.gov/item/99002896/
By Laura M. Dake (I could not find biographical information about this author)
The original printing of The Flight of the Shadow is a highly sought novel among collectors and tells the tale of an Astral soul who tells a man named John Cecil of a story of the American Revolution, a story of lost love and murder, a story of reincarnation and fate. Enjoy this rare briskly told supernatural book of adventure and weirdness that few before have experienced! - Summary by Ben Tucker
Running Time: 22:24:13, Read by: Aaron Bennett
https://librivox.org/final-report-of-the-select-committee-to-investigate-the-january-sixth-attack-on-the-united-states-capitol-by-united-states-house-of-representatives/
Text: https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GPO-J6-REPORT/html-submitted/index.html
Archived Original Report: https://www.webharvest.gov/congress117th/20221231143403/january6report.house.gov/ and https://www.webharvest.gov/congress117th/20221224181921/https://january6th.house.gov/report-executive-summary
By the United States House of Representatives and the United States House Select Committee on the January 6 Attack
Archived Jan 6th Committee web site: https://www.webharvest.gov/congress117th/20221224173221/https://january6th.house.gov
This report will provide greater detail about the multi-step effort devised and driven by Donald Trump to overturn the 2020 election and block the transfer of power. Building on the information presented in our hearings earlier this year, we will present new findings about Trump’s pressure campaign on officials from the local level all the way up to his Vice President, orchestrated and designed solely to throw out the will of the voters and keep him in office past the end of his elected term (Summary by Bennie G Thompson)
https://librivox.org/the-seven-stairs-by-stuart-brent/
Text: https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/69175
By Stuart Brent (1912 - 2010)
Reader's Notes:
Librivox and Other 3rd Party Summaries:
Librivox Summary:
An Autobiography of Stuart Brent, who in 1946 followed his bliss and opened an independent bookstore in Chicago, which became very popular and highly regarded. Filled with stories and anecdotes of rubbing elbows with celebrities, starting a weekly TV show in which he reviewed books, along with the challenges of finding balance with raising a family. A must read for lovers and supporters of those quirky independent bookstores. - (Summary by Phyllis Vincelli
https://librivox.org/the-basis-of-morality-by-arthur-schopenhauer/
Text: https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/44929
By Arthur Schopenhauer (1788 - 1860)
Reader's Notes:
Librivox Summary:
In 1837, the Danish Royal Society of Sciences offered a prize to any essayist who could satisfactorily answer the question, "Is the fountain and basis of Morals to be sought for in an idea of morality which lies directly in the consciousness (or conscience), and in the analysis of the other leading ethical conceptions which arise from it? Or is it to be found in some other source of knowledge?" The Basis of Morality is the essay submitted in 1840 by German philosopher Arthur Schopenhauer. In it, he first mercilessly deconstructs the prevailing Western theory of morality as championed by Immanuel Kant, among others, before establishing a series of maxims and thought experiments which lead him to a conclusion which points squarely at compassion as the cardinal virtue upon which all morality rests. In the appendix to this essay, he links his own conclusion with the conclusions reached millennia earlier by the authors of the Vedas and Upanishads. The essay was ultimately rejected for the prize despite being the only entry, a minor scandal with some speculation that the result was due in no small part to Schopenhauer's onslaught against Hegel—the judge of the contest being the author of a Hegelian theory of morals. (Summary by Jeffrey Allen Stumpf)
Wikipedia Summary: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/On_the_Basis_of_Morality
https://librivox.org/the-nature-and-authority-of-conscience-by-rufus-jones/
Text: https://archive.org/details/thenatureandauth00joneuoft/page/n5/mode/2up
Text#2: https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=yale.39002088440970&view=1up&seq=5
By Rufus Jones (1863 - 1948)
Reader's Notes:
Librivox Summary:
Rufus Matthew Jones (January 25, 1863 – June 16, 1948) was an American religious leader, writer, magazine editor, philosopher, and college professor. He was instrumental in the establishment of the Haverford Emergency Unit (a precursor to the American Friends Service Committee). One of the most influential Quakers of the 20th century, he was a Quaker historian and theologian as well as a philosopher. In 1917 he helped found the American Friends Service Committee. This work was delivered as a Swarthmore Lecture in August 1920 and was printed by the Swarthmore Press Ltd. (Summary by Wikipedia & John Greenman)
https://librivox.org/men-without-women-by-ernest-hemingway/
Text: https://gutenberg.org/ebooks/69683
By Ernest Hemingway (1899 - 1961)
Reader's Notes:
Librivox Summary:
Hemingway's second collection of short fiction, first published in 1927, including many of his best-known stories, including "Hills Like White Elephants" and "The Killers" - Summary by James Hutchisson
Wikipedia Summary:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Men_Without_Women_(short_story_collection)
https://librivox.org/a-far-country-by-winston-churchill/
Text: https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/3739
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Far_Country_(novel)
By Winston Churchill (1871 - 1947)
Reading Notes:
Librivox Summary:
The book follows the career of Hugh Paret from youth to manhood, and how his profession as a corporation lawyer gradually changes his values. The book received positive reviews, and was the second best-selling novel in the United States in 1915. - (Summary by Wikipedia)
https://librivox.org/the-four-horsemen-of-the-apocalypse-by-vincent-blasco-ibanez/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Four_Horsemen_of_the_Apocalypse_(novel)
Text: https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/1484
By Vicente Blasco Ibáñez (1867 - 1928) published 1916, and 1918 English translation by Charlotte Brewster Jordan
Translated by Charlotte Jordan Brewster (1862 - 1945)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charlotte_Brewster_Jordan
Summary from Librivox:
The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, by Vicente Blasco Ibañez and translated into English by Charlotte Brewster Jordan, depicts two branches of a family with its roots in the pampas of Argentina. The wealthy Argentinian, Julio Madariaga, comes from Spain and raises himself from poverty, becoming a self-made, wealthy cattleman. He is a man of extremes; an honest man with a rascally knack for taking advantage of others; a self-made man with overweening pride, prejudices, and a sharp, flinty temper that can spark into violence, he is at the same time given to great generosity toward those who are under him. This almost feudal lord has two daughters who marry expatriates, a Frenchman and a German. Julio Madariaga leaves his stamp on these two families who, after his death, return to the native countries of his two sons in law. At that time, the mood of Europe is in many ways similar to that of the old gaucho, a mixture of generosity, explosive anger, romanticism, strong prejudices, and wounded pride, a mood composed of extremes painted on an oversized canvas. World War I is waiting in the wings and will leave its own stamp on the old gaucho's lineage, pitting them against each other on opposite sides in the violent first year that many think will last only a few months but will, in fact, result in improbable destruction and loss of lives. An old Russian visionary given to drink, looks out on red skies one day and experiences its coming in a vision: hoofbeats; and riders. Summary by Tony Oliva.
https://www.overdrive.com/media/7617512/his-name-is-george-floyd
By Toluse Olorunnipa, Dion Graham and Robert Samuels, Penguin Random House Audio Publishing Group, 2022
From: "As this millennium began, books reflected tragedies and anxieties." Guest column by Francine Prose, Washington Post, August 24, 2024 https://www.washingtonpost.com/books/2024/08/24/national-book-awards-2000s/