John Woman

History. Walter Mosley has given readers interesting and eccentric characters before and has often been provocative in his plot and philosophy. In his novel titled, John Woman, Mosley begins with the formative years of a young man named Cornelius Jones, and transforms the boy into a controversial history professor named John Woman. In my view, this character is Mosley’s finest yet, and the provocative nature of the plot is delivered with great skill. Readers may not think of history in the same way after reading this book, and whatever it is that one feels guilty about will come to some reckoning because there are consequences for our actions. Rating: Five-star (I love it) Click here to purchase John Woman from amazon.com.

The World as It Is: A Memoir of the Obama White House

Clearheaded. I enjoyed every minute I spent reading Ben Rhodes finely written book titled, The World As It Is: A Memoir of the Obama White House. Rhodes worked as a speechwriter and deputy national security advisor, serving as an aide to President Obama during the entire administration. His reflections are clear and finely written: readers get an insider’s view of the White House, and readers get to spend time with an intelligent young man whose idealism and perspective and humanity appear on every well-written page of this book. Many political memoirs are so slanted in perspective that they come across as grossly incomplete. Here, we get a broad perspective, warts and all, of a young man’s complete and formative experience in the job and opportunity of a lifetime. Rating: Five-star (I love it) Click here to purchase The World As It Is from amazon.com.

Desolation Mountain

Dream. Fans of the long-running Cork O’Connor mystery series by William Kent Krueger are those readers most likely to enjoy the seventeenth installment, a novel titled, Desolation Mountain. All those readers will enjoy becoming reacquainted with the large cast of interesting and complex characters. Cork’s son, Stephen, has had a dream vision that he is trying to figure out with Henry. Following a mysterious plane crash on Desolation Mountain, part of the dream begins to make sense. The plot of this novel includes faster paced action than usual for this series, and I know I read this novel faster than I usually do. Krueger masters setting, plot and character development in ways that continue to please fans of this series. I was thoroughly entertained. Rating: Four-star (I like it) Click here to purchase Desolation Mountain from amazon.com.

Dopesick: Dealers, Doctors, and the Drug Company that Addicted America

Crisis. I’ve paid intermittent attention to the opioid crisis in America, having read articles every now and then about increasing rates of addiction, about the Sackler family and Purdue Pharma, and the struggles of some rural communities to respond to the crisis. Now that I’ve read Beth Macy’s book titled, Dopesick: Dealers, Doctors, and the Drug Company that Addicted America, I better understand the scope of the crisis which is larger and more sinister than I had imagined. Greed and negligence have combined to kill and cripple too many people for too long. Rating: Four-star (I like it) Click here to purchase Dopesick from amazon.com.

Island of the Mad

Misbehaving. The fifteenth installment in the Mary Russell Sherlock Holmes series by Laurie R. King is titled, Island of the Mad. A friend asks Mary to find a missing Aunt, and clues lead her to Venice. Meanwhile, Sherlock’s brother, Mycroft, wants some reliable intelligence about the rise of the Fascists in Italy. The mystery is well-plotted, the settings perfectly described and the whimsy always pleasant. In Venice, there are costumes and masks, and Sherlock ends up meeting and playing with Cole Porter. In the spirit of “anything goes” the hijinks are delightful, and I was well-entertained during the time spent reading this novel. Rating: Five-star (I love it) Click here to purchase Island of the Mad from amazon.com.

The Fall of Gondolin

Versions. During his lifetime, J.R.R. Tolkien produced multiple versions of fragmented stories that remained incomplete at the time of his death. His son and literary executor, Christopher Tolkien, has assembled versions of one of those stories in a book titled, The Fall of Gondolin. I might have enjoyed each version of this story fifty years ago at the time I first read The Lord of the Rings. Today, I found myself gaining an increased understanding of the plight of a literary executor going over lots of pages of unfinished works and trying to make sense of it all. This is likely to be the last work by Tolkien to be published, so longtime fans are those readers most likely to enjoy reading every fragment that adds to the world of Tolkien. Rating: Three-star (It’s ok) Click here to purchase The Fall of Gondolin from amazon.com.

Unhinged: An Insider's Account of the Trump White House

Loyalty. Many readers of the tell-all book by former Trump apprentice and White House staffer Omarosa Manigault Newman titled, Unhinged: An Insider's Account of the Trump White House, will find support on these pages for positions already held. Supporters of the President will find a story of vengeance by a disgruntled fired employee. Trump opponents will find lots of gossipy tidbits about the chaos in the President himself and in White House operations. I found myself reflecting about loyalty and what it takes to gain it and how it can be lost. Omarosa’s many years of loyalty to Trump was a response to the ways in which he aided her career. Once scorned, her loyalty died, and her story is now placed in a context under her control and in her version, her dignity and character remain intact. Rating: Three-star (It’s ok) Click here to purchase Unhinged from amazon.com.