’21 Reading Challenge
Vanquished
I read somewhere…. That I read somewhere. In a vain attempt to brag (Are there any other kinds??!) about all my free time in retirement, I present a rogues’ gallery of the books I read last year.
Gregg Loomis – The First Casualty
Tom Clancy’s series
Line of Sight
Oath of Office
Enemy Contact
Code of Honor
Lee Child – Blue Moon
Lee Child – The Sentinel
Gregg Hurwitz – Out of the Dark
Gregg Hurwitz – Hell Bent
Nick Petrie – Burning Bright
Nick Petrie – Light It Up
Nick Petrie – Tear It Down
Ilona Andrews – Sweep Of The Blade
Ilona Andrews – Sweep With Me
Ilona Andrews – Magic Steals
Ilona Andrews – Blood Heir
Steve Berry – The 14th Colony
Steve Berry – The Lost Order
Steve Berry – The Bishop’s Pawn
Raymond Khoury – The Templar Salvation
Mark Greaney – Gunmetal Grey
Mark Greaney – Agent in Place
Crawford Killian – The Empire of Time
Mark Greaney – Agent In Place
Eric Flint – The Course Of Empire
Mike Massa – River Of Night
Grant Blackwood – War Hawk
James Rollins – The Demon Crown
James Rollins – Crucible
H. Beam Piper – Paratime
H. Beam Piper – Lord Kalvan Of Otherwhen
Philip K. Dick – The Zap Gun
A.E. van Vogt – Masters Of Time
James S. A. Corey – Persepolis Rising
James S. A. Corey – Tiamat’s Wrath
John Brunner – Time Jump
John Brunner – Total Eclipse
Kenneth Bulmer – The Key To Venudine
Neal Stephenson – The Rise And Fall Of D.O.D.O.
Crawford Killian – Red Magic
Seth Andrews – Sacred Cows
Herman Melville – Bartleby The Scrivener
*
Edgar Allen Poe – The Cask of Amontillado
Mark Twain – Letters From The Earth
Ward Bowlby – A Canadian’s Travels To Egypt
Archon's Den 
I haven’t read nearly that many books in the last year. Some of them were fun, but weren’t what everyone else might enjoy. There were two that really stood out, however.
The first was Over the Edge: Death in Grand Canyon, written by a senior ranger and an attending MD. It sounded like people competing for Darwin Awards, so I went for it. It actually covers every known death in history related to the Grand Canyon, and many of the stories are astounding, including the fate of the 3 people who left the 1869 Powell Expedition to travel overland. The investigation that followed is recounted, and strong circumstantial evidence pointed to something that few other history books dared say. There are also stories of very determined suicide attempts, along with the history of the event that led to the creation of the FAA.
The other was The Devil in the White City: Murder, Magic, and Madness at the Fair That Changed America. Maybe the title doesn’t grab you, but it’s one of those books you can’t put down after you start. It covers the complete history of the 1893 Columbian Exposition — you know, the one that gave us the Pledge of Allegiance, complete with the Nazi salute to the flag by the children at the end. It includes dozens of biographies about people, most of whom many people don’t remember, like Daniel Burnham. H. H. Holmes, Frederick Law Olmstead, Louis Sullivan, and Charles McKim. Then there are the minor figures that everyone recognizes, like Little Egypt (who was actually Syrian). The author plays with the reader, introducing characters and leaving it to the reader to guess who they are before he finally reveals their names. like the young engineer who is challenged to find something more stupendous than the Eiffel Tower, which was the major attraction at the Paris World’s Fair 4 years earlier.
It’s seldom that I find two books in a year that I can whole heatedly
recommend.
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You’re a better man than I, Gunga Din. 😉 Those are impressive books, but I doubt that my limited attention span would survive them. 🙂
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I read many of those last year as well. I have to admit as much as I love Jack Reacher, the last few books are just phoning it in. Hurwitz’s series is topping it on my list.
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It’s a good series. Thanx for recommending it. I’m rationing it. A couple this year. A couple more next year. 🙂
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You have more self restraint than I do. When I find a new series I like, I rip right through them.
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Hmm…I scroll and scroll and scroll and wonder when it will end. Well, I guess reading is your full time job now 👍😆😅
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Ah no. That would be as hand-servant to the wife, (Excuse me. I’ll be right back, after I make her a coffee.) In recent years, the list has been 30 – 35. I was surprised when last year’s total was 45, although a few were quite short. Poe’s horror story was only 7 pages, and Bowlby’s travelogue was 63.
I still had to publish 157 posts. I’m claiming that these were all research. At least a couple became Book Review posts.. 🙂
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👍😅😉
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Unlike in the Tom Cruise movie, Child’s protagonist Reacher is now portrayed much more realistically in “Reacher”, a series offered by Amazon Prime Videos. I am finding it quite enjoyable.
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The wife discovered it on Monday, and we watched the first three episodes. 🙂
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Thank you for the recommendation! We started to watch it and are liking it, though I’m curious, in what way is the tv version more realistic than the movies?
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In the books, and the new Reacher series, he is portrayed as six foot four, and over 250 lbs. Still fast, and analytical – quite capable of physically breaking an opponent, not merely causing pain or unconsciousness – with a Dirty Harry type of morality/law enforcement. Like Daniel Craig’s version of James Bond. 🙂
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Ah, thank you! I guess that means that Pierce Brosnan is your favorite James Bond, since he’s the closest to what Ian Fleming described in his books, certainly not blonde Daniel Craig (who I was surprised at how great of a James Bond he made!)?
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My bad. Realistically wasn’t the right word. I meant that the series was much more true to the Reacher character in the novels than the movie.
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Yeah. What he said. 🙂
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