Secret by Lee Childs and 2 bios, Musk and Kushner Catch up postings

 As year ends and time runs out I have books that I have read and not entered here, including one of my favorites, a Jack Reacher novel by "Childs.  Since  this blog is for just me, I often neglect.  My  reading has slowed as t his year I have been engaged in other online studies such as t he Catechism in a Year that divert my time.  So to get these three onto my bookshelf, here we go:

 Stated reading on my birthday Nov 13,  finished Nov    28.    Didn't read every night as I used to.  Of course another winner,  I always await new Reacher novels and am collecting the old ones now.   Sadly years back I cleared my shelf of paperbacks and the Reacher novels included. Then the Amazon series awakened renewed interest and as I began to rebuild my collection, they are harder to find now at book sales.  

   Pg 80-82 typical Reacher react ion by water boarding a jerk who threatens to kill him. "You think?" 

As before another 5 *****   

Excellent bio by Walter Isaacson, all 615 pages.  Very interesting character, not always on the side of angels but who is?  Musk makes the news and headlines consistently so it was a timely read.  More later if /when I have time.  I would like to have someone to discuss this book with but that doesn't seem to be possible.  .  5 *****

ON 1/1/2024 I saw this review in the Daily Signal and copy it here:    " What comes shining through in this book is that Elon Musk—this generation’s premier inventor, entrepreneur, sage, and futurist—is America’s 20th century Ben Franklin. That’s ironic and appropriate, in that Walter Isaacson, the top biographer of this era, has written tomes on both of these geniuses. Here we have yet another iconic spectacularly successful immigrant—from South Africa—who sees the world 50 years ahead of anyone else. He has spawned at least a dozen companies, including Space X and Tesla. The most stunning part of his story is that he had abusive parents, is bipolar, and is on the autism spectrum, but that seems to have inspired his brilliance and risk-taking. Every aspiring entrepreneur should read his story—beautifully and often humorously written—in this authorized biography.

—Steve Moore, distinguished fellow in economics"

Wow read this back in August 2022 but never posted here.  Interesting,  Lots of detail,  took 4 months to read   Now with the Israeli war and so many other issues caused by Biden debacle and the nitwits that went for him, I wonder what Kushner think   469 Pages.  Well done.  5 ***** 

My Brother, The Pope by Georg Ratzinger

 

I waited a long time for this book to be available in this country.  In 2022, late last year Ignatius Press did so and released it.  I had long been  on a waiting list and was happy to receive it sometime earlier this year.  I read it awhile back and have just not posted here .  It is about  the family life of two brothers growing up, in a Catholic family in Germany,  Joseph and Georg, both become priests.  .Joseph  would become Pope Benedict XVI in Aoril 2005.  Georg would become  Director of  the Regensburger Domspatzen for 30 years, the world famous boys chorus of Regensburg.  I was fortunate to visit Regensburg back in 2015 on my European trip with a late friend,.   Georg  has shared wonderful tales of their life and their family who remained very close all their lives and Michael Haseman wrote these down, translated by Michael Miller.   This book was originally printed in Germany  in 2011. This edition has 253 pages with photos,  plus the acknowledgements, index and bibliography.  Pope Benedict passed n December 31, 2022.,  He had resigned as Pope to Pope Emeritus status.  

There is a writing by Pope Benedict in 2008 about his brother,  Georg, used as an introduction at the beginning of the book. 

The family and especially the two brother remained close all through their lives.  Their sister Maria would become a caretaker, housekeep of sorts for Joseph and later for Georg.  They shared lifelong devotion to their parents.  

Page 75 reflects something I believe naturally  true and  hat is barely or not  acknowledged in today's progressive culture:  "Boys just have different temperaments."

Page 76, "As brothers, Joseph and I were one heart and one soul.  Naturally we also quarreled and fought, that is part of it, but by and large we were inseparable, and that remained so our whole life long."

Page 216:  Whenever there is order somewhere then there are always those who disturb that order, do not understand it, or else deliberately refuse to accept it.  I only gradually became ware of the fact that order in the sense of clarity and truth must then be created over and over again.

  This book is a keeper and will remain on my shelf.  It was a very delightful and at times iconic read.  4 ****

In Pursuit of the Proper Sinner by Elizabeth George

Book
flap summary

Retrieved this off my Books To Be Read Shelf.  Printed in 1999 but one I'd found maybe a year ago at a book sale. 596 pages , timeless writing.  I have read nearly all of her books over the years and not for quite some time.   This one, as many,  focuses on the  crime solving by Detective Inspector Thomas Lynley, subordinate Barbra Havers, another subordinate Winston Nkita, all of New Scotland yard,  Lynley's wife, and Simon St. James, expert forensics retired.  Familiar characters but introduction of new ones, Andy Malden retired Scotland Yard  who requests Lynley's assistance in solving the murder of his daughter Nicole.  A very well written mystery with sub plots of captivating  intrigue  throughout. Including that Barbara Havers has been demoted for disobeying direct orders from a superior in a judgement call she made to save the life of a child, her neighbor.    The ending is a twister.  

Calder Moor and pertinent locations

 .  .  

Author Elizabeth George

 Page 96 descriptive of  Lynley's philosophy in investigation of crimes and facts.  

Page 243 descriptive of the emotion in death of a child

A ***** 5 star read as with the other mysteries by Elizabeth George. 

The Hit by David Baldacci

 

Picked up this at a book sale, published in 2013 but new to me.  As always with Baldacci, a hit of a read.  I started to read it in June and finished it in a few evenings..  A 5 *****  

Right away on page 4 an  inspiring quote that  might be worth keeping in mind.  "  They were pretty good.  But pretty good did not cut it when you were up against outstanding."

This is the 2nd book featuring Robie.  Here from Amazon, a brief:     "Master assassin Will Robie must track down a deadly rogue agent, but the attacks conceal a larger threat that could send shockwaves through the U. S. government and around the world in this #1 New York Times bestselling thriller.  

Will Robie is a master of killing.    A highly skilled assassin, Robie is the man the U.S. government calls on to eliminate the worst of the worst--enemies of the state, monsters committed to harming untold numbers of innocent victims.

No one else can match Robie's talents as a hitman...no one, except Jessica Reel. A fellow assassin, equally professional and dangerous, Reel is every bit as lethal as Robie. And now, she's gone rogue, turning her gun sights on other members of their agency.

To stop one of their own, the government looks again to Will Robie. His mission: bring in Reel, dead or alive. Only a killer can catch another killer, they tell him.

But as Robie pursues Reel, he quickly finds that there is more to her betrayal than meets the eye. Her attacks on the agency conceal a larger threat, a threat that could send shockwaves through the U.S. government and around the world."

Here is the intro in the book

No Plan B by Lee Child and Andrew Child

 

 

Purchased  ahead by pre ordering on   Amazon  for  October 2022 release and read it in March-April 2023.

Because all previous photos deleted adding this but may not do much more, disgusted with Blogger.

Another great Reacher tale.  Keeping all these now on my shelf and looking still for ones I read and donated.  

5 *****  Info here from Front flap and page 1.  Will see how long these photos last.  

Front cover flap inside

ALL MY PHOTOS HAVE VANISHED FROM THIS BLOG! WTH?????

 Today I see that all my photos have vanished from this blog from every post from my sidebar from the heading!  WTH happened????.  All I know is I cannot replace each one of them.  I will try to add a new header photo but I am so disgusted with this and Blogger that I may just give up and totally forget about this BL:OG./  

Better Off Dead by Lee Child and Andrew Child

 

This had been sitting aside on my shelf,  read it a year ago, January 2022!  A joint Jack Reacher by Lee and Andrew Child.  As ever a 5 *****  although this might not be my favorite.  Still a Jack Reacher intrigue, mystery, thriller, no words really describe the breadth of this collaborative effort between Lee and his brother.  

 I regret that I did not keep all my copies  that I read over the years and now have been scouring book sales and thrift stores to replace them.  Unfortunately due to the Prime movies on Amazon the popularity of Reacher has been discovered by many new  readers so the books are always snatched up.  I do not mind another reader finding the books first, but I really despise those resellers who grab the bargains and then list  or resell on Ebay, etc.  Greedy suckers. So I have begun to repurchase new paperbacks on Amazon, copies of what I had before.   But enough of my rant. 

This one is set in Los Gemelos, a ho hum town on the US Mexican border.  Not the place Reacher was planning to stop.  He's on his way to San Francisco, to the ocean. But things happen and as he reaches the outskirts where Reacher is passing through on his way to San Francisco.  Reaching the outskirts he encounters Michaela Fenton, she has some things ion common with him, a military vet, an  FBI looking for her twin brother Michael whom she fears may be dead.  She is almost 6 ft. tall and walks with a limp  due to a prosthetic foot a result of a war injury.  And being Reacher he stays on to assist and soon knows he will have to clean up the town.  

Page 7..."  Because the stranger countered with a kick of his own.  A sneaky one.  Straight and low.  Directly into the guy's shin.  Just as it reached maximum speed.  Bone against toe cap.  The stranger's shoes.  The only thing about him that wasn't scruffy.  Bought in London years ago.  Layer upon layer of leather and polish and glue.  Seasoned by time. Hardened by the elements .  And now solid as steel."    In other novels Jack's shoes have been described and here they are prominent in the opening setting.  

And the conclusion seemed off, as Reacher  watches Dendoneker depart in his Cadillac. But the Cadillac  stops, then rolls forward barely "above  walking pace.  Its horn blared.  It trundled on Stewed slightly to the left.  And ran into a fence post."  

I am  really condensing this review to get this posted here before I put it off longer.  

  

Bad Luck and Trouble by Lee Child

I read this May 2022, one that I'd not posted yet.  It will be the next movie on Amazon Prime in the Jack Reacher Series.  Published 2014, paperback has 477 pages and a Preview of Night School at the end.  It is another Jack Reacher at his best and involves the pulling back together the Old Army Unit who had each been hand picked back then by Reacher.  Someone is murdering the  members.  Reacher and the team will find and destroy that person(s).  

Chapter 1  begins with the description of Calvin Franz, the first victim although not identified as part of the team at first.  He was tortured, two broken legs, tossed from a helicopter.  On pages 23-24 Neagley informs Reacher about Calvin.  

Reacher has had to change some things from earlier novels.  Now instead of traveling only with this tooth brush he has  passport and ATM card.  It is different now post 9/11/2001. 

 Page 6 describes: how Reacher has had to change tactics and add this gear:

Page 16 recalls how Neagley had come up with the catchphrase, "You do not mess with the special investigators"  It had been repeated endlessly as a  promise and a warning.  Now someone clearly was trying.  

 Pages 202-203 describe something about the soldier's mindset about death..."  "It was given that soldiers contemplate death.  They live with it.  They accept it.  They expect it.  Some of them even want it.  But deep down they want it to be fair.  Me against him.  May the best man win.  They want it to be noble.  Win or lose, they want it to arrive with significance.      A soldier dead with his arms tied behind him was the worst kind of outrage.  It was about helplessness and submission and abuse.  It was about powerlessness."  

This is another bang up Reacher thriller.  5 ***** x 3.

The Last Mona Lisa by Jonathan Santlofer

    Still playing catch up, read this back in June 2022 and my final note was "WOW  x 10 a great read"  Paperback published 2021, 367 pages followed by 12 questions  for a reading group guide, and  Author Interview.  This was the first  book I had read by this author, I am interested in reading more of his books. 

Based on a true story with which I was  unfamiliar, the 1911 theft of the Mona Lisa.  According to the author note on two pages, Vincent Peruggia was a Louvre employee who did steal the Mona Lisa.   

The book opens August 21, 1911 in Paris France where "He stares into the gloom, knowing he will spend the rest of his days in the darkness.    We lose the things we do not cherish enough, his one thought, his only thought as he slips into his workman's' tunic, buttons it over his street clothes and opens the closet door."  

By page 151, he realizes he's in deep.  "He rubbed his spidery fingers together and talked of his plan.  Chaudron would make copies.  He would sell them.  It was that simple.  The paintings would fetch a fortune.  And each one w3ould be sold as the original.  He said we would all become rich.    But all I wanted was enough money to get my son back. .....I had no choice but to go along.  I had made a pact with the devil.  And for that I would pay the devil's price."    

The writing draws the reader along.  I could hardly put this book aside,  thoroughly captive to what would happen next.  Yet there is also a philosophical tone to some of the pages.  Like page 255,  "But you know taking this crazy risk, it's almost like I've started over, like I'm somebody again.   I got that.  What Peruggia had wanted too, to be somebody.  What we all want, dreamed of as kids, before the world got too real and dreams got crushed."  . 

Page 313, "We were not always right, but that never stopped us.  Funny how far I thought I'd come.  But did we ever really leave our former selves behind?"  

The two page Author's Note at the conclusion of the book are here.  Blogger is not allowing me to get them set up side by side  so frustrating when things just do not work on this blog.  

But this is definitely a 5 ***** book, my highest rating.  I  will be reading more by this author, for sure.  . 

 
 

Stone Monkey by Jeffery Deaver

 Still playing catch up posting my 2022 reads onto this blog.  So my write up will be brief because too many books to add,  I read this in August 2022 although it was published in 2002, 548 pages paperback, I scooped it at a book sale.  Good books and good reading stand the test of years and Deaver's novels are usually worth reading at anytime for the suspense. This is an excellent intrigue  featuring forensics expert Lincoln Rhyme and his protégé and assistant,  Amelia..  This is a twister that  surprised me when Amelia is surprisingly drawn into the deceptive web of the Ghost whom they must capture. It was a bit slow starting out as it sets the stage about the Chinese smuggler of humans into the US.  The other concurrent question through the book is to learn whether or not Rhyme will go through with the surgery that might ease his quadriplegic state or might not.  It is a  risky  surgery.  By  page 111 we learn that the Ghost is so able to vanish partially because he has government contacts on his payoff schemes, adding to his veil of protection and making his capture more elusive and more dangerous.  While Amelia and Deaver strive to protect the Changs whom the Ghost is seeking as  witness to his crimes. 

 Sunny Li is a former detective police officer from China also seeking the Ghost against odds.  Rhymes decides to allow him to work with them at Amelia's urging.  Pages 330-331 are amusing as Li teaches Rhyme the Chinese strategy game of wei-chi.. .   

The ending is suspense as the elder Chang maneuvers and tricks his son and all  goes to kill the Ghost.  Will they get there in time to rescue him?   a 5 ***** read. 

Rediscover the Saints by Matthew Kelly

 One of several from last year 2022 and one that I would not normally post to the reading blog as I will keep it on my Biblical Spiritual resources shelf.  Our parish made these available  free to us and I appreciated that.  Recently though I decided to gift a copy to a Protestant friend in NC who recently posted on FB about  reading a book on St Teresa.  This little book i118 pages, paperback s not one of just describing the lives of saints. .  Matthew Kelly poses 25 questions and using examples of saints guides us along. 

 In his introduction, "Amazing Possibilities" Page 9, he offers two questions that confront us all still today and have to people throughout the ages:   Are you satisfied with the direction the world is moving in?  .  Are you satisfied with your life?   He introduces this with reminding us that we are capable of so much more than we think.  Page 11 he mentions that the saints are great teachers and are always swirling around us.  This is something I grew up believing, exposed to saints all my life by Church, Catechism, and most of all my grandmother.  I still have  my favorite go to saints today, perhaps the top is St Anthony whom I refer to as Tony.  IO say we are on a first name basis because I call on him constantly when I've misplaced something.  There is a little prayer which has become familiar to many even Protestants, St Anthony, St Anthony please come round,   something is lost and must be found."  So I just call on Tony and drop  the search I might have been into looking for whatever.  He never fails me, it always turns up sometimes immediately sometimes  later in the day, sometimes the next day.  

The Table of Contents follows.  

This is the  beginning with the First Saint, someone  whom I had not considered ever before as the first saint, Dismays, the name was not familiar.  But aha at the conclusion of this one, the thief on the cross ..  

Page 8, concludes St Dismas, ...They say that every saint has a past and every sinner has a future.  If I could lean in close to you and whisper something in your ear it would be this:  "If there are pieces of your past that are weighing you down it's time ...."

If I were to rate this  it would be  5 ***** but as  I mentioned it has a permanent place now on my resources shelf.  It is more than casual reading, one to ponder from time to time.