Category: books

The Guardians by John Grisham (2019)

On By Rick McIn books, ethics, government, human rightsLeave a comment

Went directly to on The New York Times Bestseller List.

I recommend it.

“The Guardians” is Grisham’s 40th novel; he’s now 64 …

Such creative longevity is not that unusual in the suspense genre, but what is rare is Grisham’s feat of keeping up the pace of producing, on average, a novel a year (in 2017 he published two) without a notable diminishment of ingenuity or literary quality. Dame Agatha Christie, who barely paused between books to sharpen pencils during her near-50-year marathon mystery career, is another such marvel. …

Grisham’s main character here is a so-called “innocence lawyer,” a workaholic attorney-and-Episcopal-priest named Cullen Post. Post has trimmed his life down to the barest of essentials, living in spartan quarters above the nonprofit Guardian Ministries, his workplace in Savannah, Ga. The book focuses on Post’s investigation into the wrongful conviction of a black man named Quincy Miller who was set up to take the fall for the murder of a white lawyer in a small Florida town some 22 years before …

WaPo review 

Grisham is a member of the board of directors of the Innocence Project, which campaigns to free and exonerate unjustly convicted people. This book is laser focused on that topic.

This novel was inspired by Jim McCloskey and Centurion Ministries. That organization has freed dozens of wrongfully accused.

When Truth Is All You Have: A Memoir of Faith, Justice, and Freedom for the Wrongly Convicted

The Last Kingdom by Bernard Cornwell

On By Rick McIn books, TVLeave a comment

The Last Kingdom is the first historical novel in The Saxon Stories by Bernard Cornwell, published in 2004.

It’s set 866 – 876.

The story is fiction — but historical characters are included.

It’s very violent.

Vikings are raiding England. In fact they want to keep control of as much land as possible by installing vassal leaders in each Kingdom.

This story introduces Uhtred Ragnarson, born a Saxon then kidnapped by raiding Danes who raise him from age 11, teaching him how to be a warrior. …

Uhtred is captured by the Danish Earl, Ragnar the Fearless. Ragnar, intrigued and amused by the boy’s attempted attack on him during the battle, retains him in his household as a thrall. …

 

I might continue to book 2 in the long series. The character of Uhtred Ragnarson is entertaining.

For me the Ken Follett books starting with The Pillars of the Earth are better British historical fiction. I read all of those.

BBC announced that production would begin in autumn 2014 on a television adaptation, to be titled The Last Kingdom.

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

I watched the start of season 1.

But I’d say the TV series Vikings is better.

The 4-Hour Workweek by Tim Ferriss

On By Rick McIn books, economics, happiness, health & fitness, philosophy, travelLeave a comment

I’m not much into self-help books.

But many people I admire follow Tim Ferriss. I finally got around to starting his classic book …

The 4-Hour Workweek: Escape 9–5, Live Anywhere, and Join the New Rich 

The evangelizing rah-rah turns me off … as does the focus on money while claiming not to care about money.

On the other hand, Ferriss does have some very good ideas. For example:

  • take more and longer vacations while young enough to enjoy them
  • work from inexpensive foreign nations, if you can, while earning hard currency
  • focus on strengths, instead of trying to fix weaknesses
  • Rid Yourself of Material Possessions
  • Sometimes Less Is More

Here’s my buddy Josh. He’s a digital nomad working online from a series of inexpensive nations — most recently Guatemala, Nepal and Vietnam.

related – my own philosophy of Voluntary Simplicity

The Andromeda Evolution (2019)

On By Rick McIn booksLeave a comment

The Andromeda Strain is a 1969 techno-thriller novel by Michael Crichton documenting the efforts of a team of scientists investigating the outbreak of a deadly extraterrestrial microorganism in Arizona. …

As a science fiction reading teen, Crichton was one of my favourite authors.

His science was strong, having studied at Harvard. He started writing medical thrillers before quitting Medical school.

On February 26, 2019, Crichton’s website and HarperCollins announced the publication of The Andromeda Strain Evolution, the sequel to The Andromeda Strain, a collaboration with CrichtonSun LLC. and author Daniel H. Wilson. It was released on November 12, 2019.

Not bad. The plot is well considered. The book similar to the style of Michael Crichton. Very science heavy.

If you loved Andromeda Strain, it’s worth picking up.

related – USA Today review

The Christmas Carol Murders by Randy McCharles

On By Rick McIn books, McCharles family2 Comments

This is book 2 of the Peter Galloway Mysteries series. There are more to come. Digital publications only.

Randy introduced Calgary private investigator Peter Galloway in a short story:

Murder on the Mall

Book 1 was set in Fort McMurray, Alberta. A love interest — Angela Ford:

Murder in Wood Buffalo

Book 2 is the most surprising yet. It’s set in Prince George, British Columbia with several story lines unfolding in parallel.

Galloway is trying to find his father who is on the run from a murder charge.

Angela Ford and her children are staying away from her violent ex-husband.

A series of grisly murders at the high school.

That story line reminded me of Randy’s Much Ado about Macbeth (2015) which was set around our own high school in Canada.

Amazon

 

Split Second by Douglas Richards

On By Rick McIn booksLeave a comment

This book is very popular … but I can’t particularly recommend it unless you are nutty for time travel stories.

It’s written simplistically for young adults, I assume. The characters two dimensional and not all that believable.

What if you found a way to send something back in time?

But not millions of years back, to the age of the dinosaur. Not even a minute back. What if you could only send something back a fraction of a second? Would this be of any use? You wouldn’t have nearly enough time to right a wrong, change an event, or win a lottery.

Nathan Wexler is a brilliant physicist who thinks he’s found a way to send matter a split second back into the past. But before he can even confirm his findings, he and his wife-to-be, Jenna Morrison, find themselves in a battle for their very lives.

Because while time travel to an instant earlier seems useless, Jenna comes to learn that no capability in history has ever been more profound or far-reaching. …

Author’s website

The Body by Bill Bryson

On By Rick McIn books, health & fitness1 Comment

Bill Bryson is one of the world’s top travel writers.

But in recent years his science books have been even better.

I loved At Home: A Short History of Private Life (2010). The Body is similar.

In The Body he makes first year Anatomy fascinating and compelling. I recommend it for everyone.

Bryson reads the book in the Audible edition.

Amazon.com

In the final chapters he gets angrier, and the book becomes even more interesting.

He points out that even rich Americans die younger than the average-income European because of diet, obesity and America’s anomalous, hyper-expensive and iniquitous healthcare system.

Bryson was born in Iowa but has made his home in Britain, and relates with barely disguised horror that the average American eats two entire cheesecakes-worth of calories more than the average person in Holland or Sweden, every week.

Americans shoot one another more often than anyone else, drink and drive more than “almost anybody else” and wear seatbelts less frequently than anyone but the Italians.

Insulin, the patent for which was donated by its discoverers for the good of mankind, is six times more expensive in the US than in Europe. …

Guardian Review:

The Body by Bill Bryson review – a directory of wonders

Blue Moon by Lee Child (2019)

On By Rick McIn booksLeave a comment

The 24th novel in the Jack Reacher series is good as usual. But like the last book, I found it has too much action. I prefer the older smaller, simpler plots.

Reacher does gets the girl in this one.

Reacher is on a Greyhound bus, minding his own business, with no particular place to go, and all the time in the world to get there.

Then he steps off the bus to help an old man who is obviously just a victim waiting to happen. But you know what they say about good deeds. Now Reacher wants to make it right.

Amazon

A boy and his dog at the end of the world (2019)

On By Rick McIn booksLeave a comment

This is one excellent book written by Charlie Fletcher.

Dystopian stories take many forms, but it’s a rare dystopian novel that prominently features man’s best friend. Author of the Oversight and Stoneheart trilogies, C.A. Fletcher doesn’t hide the importance of dogs in his latest novel. Aptly titled A Boy and His Dog at the End of the World, it follows a young boy named Griz as he goes on a journey to retrieve his stolen pet. …

An event known as The Gelding has devastated the world’s population so much so that only thousands—not billions—of humans survive. …

Despite the bleakness of his surroundings, Griz’s naive curiosity about the world comes off as optimistic and hopeful. …

Review: The indestructible humanity of A Boy and His Dog at the End of the World

Born Standing Up – Steve Martin

On By Rick McIn books, humour, movies, TVLeave a comment

With friends in Idaho, summer 2019 I saw Martin Short and Steve Martin LIVE in An Evening You Will Forget for the Rest of Your Life.

It was hilarious.

That was Steve’s return to stand-up after decades.

Steve is age-74 now. Everyone of my generation loved his comedy. Indeed, I thought he was an overnight success — like Robin Williams.

Not so as I learned in his 2007 memoir Born Standing Up. Steve Martin paid his dues. He had many, many very hard years breaking into the business.

It chronicles his early life, his days working for Disneyland, working at low tier coffee shops and clubs as a comedy act … and the reason why he quit stand-up comedy altogether at the height of his fame in 1981. …

The audiobook is read by Steve. I recommend it.