Since our last visit I’ve finished four books, putting me at 58 through the first seven months of the year, which is pretty much on track to finish 100 books again this year.
Angel Light by Andrew Greeley is a modernized retelling of Book of Tobit, one of the lesser known books from the Bible. It is a charming little story of a young Irish Catholic man from Chicago traveling to Ireland at the bequest of his dead great uncle to mend a century long family feud and rescue (and marry!) a fair damsel. It’s not particularly well written, but I enjoyed the story. I like much of Greeley’s (RIP) work for showing us the potential for Grace in our daily lives.
In the Garden of Beasts: Love, Terror, and an American Family in Hitler’s Berlin by Erik Larson was a fascinating book about the early years of the NAZI regime as seen through the eyes of the US Ambassador to Germany, William Dodd and his vivacious daughter Martha. As the ambassador, Dodd and especially his daughter, had a ringside seat to the early machinations of the NAZIs and how their pernicious influence overtook and dominated German society. The book is at once horrifying and totally enthralling. I had difficulty putting it down but when it was finished I, like the author, found myself horrified and slightly depressed. Highly recommended.
John Adams by David McCullough is a simply outstanding biography of my second favorite (after everyone’s favorite, Ben Franklin) “founding father”. McCullough has done an excellent job of bringing Adams, with all his strengths, foibles and quirks, alive for us. This is a great book about a great man.
The Essential Calvin and Hobbes by Bill Watterson, well, what can I say? This has been my “take a short break form the world” book for the past month and I’ve really enjoyed my visit with these two. One note, this is the kindle version, which went on sale a while ago, and it is really well done for tablets (like my kindle Fire HDX) but I doubt if it would work on the eInk readers.
58 for the year.
BillP's Book Blog 