John > Recent Status Updates

I just finished The Sympathizer: A Novel and gave it 5 stars. This an outstanding work. Time is elastic & intriguing. Parts of the read are difficult but well worth effort.

I just finished House of Thieves: A Novel and gave it 4 stars. This is a great story that would make an even better film. It has holiday blockbuster written all over it.

I just finished Tom Clancy Commander in Chief: A Jack Ryan Novel and gave it 5 stars. Very entertaining & well paced. Perfect holiday read.

I just finished Red Notice: A True Story of High Finance, Murder, and One Man’s Fight for Justice and gave it 4 stars. A frightening story that reads too much like a novel.

Read Elizabeth Street & gave it 4 stars...another one of those "if you're interested in the history of NYC you'll like it books." Excellent renderings of the immigrants' experience & their courage.

I just finished The Looming Tower and gave it 5 stars. Some years ago I was told to read this book while at a conference in New York overlooking Ground Zero. It's a sad and at times unbelievable tale. It makes a good effort to explain the terrorists' actions, but you're still left wondering why. My friend Paul was asking what to read to help understand the Paris attacks. This will help.

I just finished The Things They Carried and gave it 5 stars---4 years after being told that it is remarkable piece of work. It is & should be read by everyone who has any interest in literature & "what an author does." Other work by Tim O'Brien will be read soon.

I just finished Trapeze and gave it 5 stars. This is surprisingly complex story that is very, very good. Will definitely read other work by Mawer.

I just finished Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell and gave it 5 stars. Hard to describe--hypnotic--ambitious--complete--compelling--unique--well worth the time.

I just finished The Bone Tree: A Novel (Penn Cage Book 5) and gave it 4 stars. This book might set a record for the number of adjectives. It reads like The Da Vinci Code or Robert Ludlum on steroids. The bad guys are really, really bad & the good guys are really, really noble. Will need months of rest before tackling the planned sequel.

I just finished The Fateful Lightning: A Novel of the Civil War and gave it 5 stars. Another excellent book by Shaara -- can't wait to see what he turns to next.

I just finished The Trip to Echo Spring: On Writers and Drinking and gave it 4 stars. This is a bleak text that seemed hard to get through--yet is worth the effort. The author works too hard at injecting her experiences and this is at the expense of the larger story. The segments on Hemingway & Fitzgerald are outstanding.

I just finished 1906: A Novel and gave it 3 stars. This could have been a great book, but the author tried to do too much, making it dense & at times melodramatic. Would make a good movie.

I just finished The Smoke at Dawn: A Novel of the Civil War (Civil War: 1861-1865, Western Theater series) and gave it 4 stars. Outstanding historical fiction, this is part of a series that is standard-setting. Shaara is gifted--can't wait to get to the next one.

I just finished The Losing Role and gave it 3 stars. A pretty good story poorly told. Author lacked an editor.

I just finished Empire of Deception: The Incredible Story of a Master Swindler Who Seduced a City and Captivated the Nation and gave it 5 stars. Fascinating story very well told. Highly recommended.

I just finished Fortune's Fool: The Life of John Wilkes Booth and gave it 4 stars. This is good biography -- incredibly well researched.

The Winter Family: A Novel--4 stars---a brutal & really well constructed text...similar to Tom Franklin's "Hell at the Breech"...in the end there is a hint of redemption for some but not for all

I just finished Flowers From Berlin - The Classic American Spy Novel (25th Anniversary Edition) and gave it 4 stars. Much like early Ken Follett...but the low-price Kindle edition was full of typos, which are more problematic on a screen than the printed page. Anyway, well worth $1.99.

I just finished World Gone By: A Novel (Joe Coughlin Series) and gave it 5 stars. Lehane is an exceptional writer who manages time & tension with endless grace. You know he will surprise, but you're still surprised.

I just finished All the Light We Cannot See: A Novel and gave it 5 stars. A beautiful piece of work. Just read it!

I just finished Shame and the Captives: A Novel and gave it 5 stars. This is a very good book that tells a number of stories around a single event. Will be looking up more by Keneally.

Just finished Hot Springs (Earl Swagger Book 1) and gave it 5 stars. One of the best by one of the best. Worth the re-read!

Just finished Serpents in the Cold (The Boston Saga) and gave it 4 stars--a dark, bleak story. The city of Boston is really the main character--and in the early 1950s it was a troubled place.