Ideas, Opinions, Genealogy, and Book Reviews
Welcome to 1989. This is the second novel in Val McDermid’s series featuring journalist Allie Burns. I liked the first one (https://www.jackreidy.com/blog/2021/10/04/1979-by-val-mcdermid/) and now it is 10 years later and there have been quite a few changes in 10 years.
The full title is The Evolution of Charles Darwin: The Epic Voyage of the Beagle That Forever Changed Our View of Life on Earth by Diana Preston.
And it is an extensive story of that journey which was so important for our understanding of the development of life and how life and the Earth changed over time. At almost 500 pages it is rather long and detailed for the casual reader. There are extensive quotes which made the book enjoyable for me.
I thank NetGalley for the opportunity to read it in advance. The book was published October 4 so It should be readily available at you favorite source
I had my reservations about this book after reading the first few pages. It seemed like a promotional advertisement for a specific firm. The full title is A Life Care Plan: Helping You Navigate The Aging Journey by Barbara McGinnis; Bryan J Adler; Tim Takacs; Jerold Rothkoff; Debra King; Kathleen Magee; Jacinda Graham
Continue reading “A Life Care Plan: Helping You Navigate The Aging Journey”
The book is “Why We Did It: A Travelogue from the Republican Road to Hell” by Tim Miller. Many of us may recognize the author fr0m his TV appearances as a commentator.
I liked it. For those of you who like a short summary you could stop there but please don’t.
Continue reading “former Republican book review – Why We Did It”
I have read and reviewed several of Anne Emery’s book on this blog. I have always found them enjoyable and interesting reads.
So I’ll start this review as I started the review of The Keening. “This book is both a good mystery novel and historical fiction.”
Continue reading “Fenian Street by Anne Emery”
Because I have read several books and short stories by Ann Cleeves (see The Darkest Evening ) I jumped at the chance to read this one when I saw The Rising Tide on Netgalley.
I was a bit surprised when it started out slowly for several chapters. With a book by an author I did not know, I would have probably just put the book down and told Netgalley that I would not be reviewing it. But since it was Ann Cleeves I was sure she had her reasons and a great murder mystery would soon follow. I was not disappointed.
Continue reading “The Rising Tide: A Vera Stanhope Novel by Ann Cleeves”
The full title is Don’t Run Out of Money in Retirement: How to Increase Income, Avoid Taxes, and Keep More of What Is Yours by Allen P. Harris.
After the first few pages, I thought I would not like this book. Those pages seemed more about how the author’s company was helping the community and I suspected this would be more of an advertisement than a substantive book on retirement. I was wrong.
Continue reading “Don’t Run Out of Money in Retirement by Allen P. Harris”
I’ve read several biographies of President Franklin Roosevelt over the years. I think the last was 3 or 4 years ago. I’m not sure why I thought it a good idea to read another but I’m glad I did.
Continue reading “Becoming FDR: The Personal Crisis That Made a President”
I had never read Lucinda Riley’s books before. But I ran across “The Murders at Fleat House” on Netgalley and it sounded interesting. Since it was available and I was in the mood for a good mystery so I thought I’d give it a try.
It was a mystery written many years ago, before Lucinda Riley became a published writer and her only crime novel.
According to the brief introduction by her son (the author had died), the novel was unchanged since his mother had written it in 2006 and it had not been published until now.
Continue reading “The Murders at Fleat House by Lucinda Riley”
I never really understood the division in our country that political analysts said was between college graduates and non-graduates. It seemed to be real, yet made no sense to me. I know people on both sides of that divide and they did not seem all that different to me.
But there are many issues. Several are discussed. The cost of college is a big one and much of the book is about that.
Continue reading “After the Ivory Tower Falls by Will Bunch”
I’ll start by saying this is a frightening book. But then we do live in frightening times. The title is They Want to Kill Americans by Malcolm Nance. When I first saw the title, I immediately thought of foreign terrorists.
But I quickly realized a was wrong. The subtitle (The Militias, Terrorists, and Deranged Ideology of the Trump Insurgency) gives that away. This book is about Americans who wanted to kill other Americans who disagree with them.
Continue reading “They Want to Kill Americans”
I read and reviewed another book by Rod Pennington about a year ago, and enjoyed it very much so I jumped at the chance to read his new one and review it. Like the other this one was characterized by his sense of humor (I liked it but others could feel differently) .
I thank Netgalley for the chance to read it before publication.
I enjoyed this mystery with its many twists and turns. The book is schedule to be published on May 24 so you can plan ahead if interested.
This is a book about failure. The Senate, specifically the Republican Senators, failed us. For four years we had Donald Trump who failed at being President. And that was compounded by the failure of the Republican Senators to check his power. I thank Netgalley for the chance to read it before publication.
Continue reading “The Betrayal: How Mitch McConnell and the Senate Republicans Abandoned America”
A finance book that does a great job for the young as well as the old. I am a bit on the older side of the age spectrum (RetiredGuy) and so I paid bit more attention to the Investing part. But there is also a good part on Saving for the younger adults.
Continue reading “Save money and build your wealth”
Who would want to read this book? Maybe you would if you are interested in Jack Bogle, Vanguard, investing, money, or any combination of those things. Those listed are all related and this book is great explanation of how.
Continue reading “Jack Bogle saves investors trillions of dollars”