Fatherland by Burkhard Bilger

Started: 7/30/2023

Finished: 7/30/2023

Year: 2023

Pages: 279

Genre: narrative nonfiction

Grade: C

Reason for reading: library book

Type: hardcover

Blurb (from Amazon): "As a boy growing up in Oklahoma, Burkhard Bilger often heard his parents tell stories about the Germany of their youth. Winters in the Black Forest, when the snow piled up to the eaves and haunches of smoked speck hung from the rafters. Springtime along the Rhine, when the storks came home to nest on rooftops. His parents were born in 1935 and had lived through the Second World War, but those stories, vivid as they were, had strange omissions. His mother was a historian, yet she rarely talked about her father’s relationship to the Nazis, or his role in the war. Then one day a packet of letters arrived from Germany, yellowed with age, and a secret history began to unfold.

"Karl Gönner was an elementary school teacher and father of four when the war began. In 1940, he was posted to a village in Alsace, in occupied France, and ordered to reeducate its children—to turn them into proper Germans. He was a loyal Nazi when he arrived, but as the war went on his allegiance wavered. According to some villagers, he risked his life shielding them from his own party’s brutalities. According to others, he ruled the village with an iron fist. After the war, Gönner was charged with giving an order that led police to beat a local farmer to death. Was he guilty or innocent? A war criminal or just an ordinary man, struggling to do right from within a monstrous regime?

"Fatherland is the story of Bilger’s nearly ten-year quest to uncover the truth. It is a book of gripping suspense and moral inquiry—a tale of chance encounters and serendipitous discoveries in archives and villages across Germany and France. Long admired for his profiles in The New Yorker, Bilger brings the same open-hearted curiosity to his grandfather’s story and the questions it raises. What do we owe the past? How can we make peace with it without perpetuating its wrongs? Intimate and far-reaching, Fatherland is an extraordinary odyssey through the great upheavals of the past century."

Opinion: This is a kind of a test for your morality-reading everything in the book, do you feel that Karl was a war criminal? I could see why it could go either way-especially because it was in Nazi Germany.

The 9th Man by Steve Berry with Grant Blackwood

Started: 7/29/2023

Finished: 7/30/2023

Year: 2023

Pages: 346

Genre: thriller, mystery

Grade: B

Reason for reading: library book

Type: hardcover

Blurb (from Amazon): "Luke Daniels is in London, between assignments with the Magellan Billet, when he receives a frantic call from an old friend.  Jillian Stein is in trouble.  She made a mistake and now her life may be in danger.  She needs Luke’s help.  Immediately.  Racing to Belgium Luke quickly finds that she was right.  A shadow team of highly-trained operatives are there on the hunt.  Intervening, he finds himself embroiled in a war between two determined sides — one seeking the truth, the other trying to escape the past — a war that has already claimed one life and is about to claim more.   

"Thomas Rowland is a Washington insider, a kingmaker, problem-solver, but also a man with a past.  For him everything turns with what happened on November 22, 1963 in Dallas, Texas.  What history has recorded is wrong.  There is more to the story, much more, and Thomas Rowland is at the center of that terrible reality.  But forces are working against him, and Rowland will do anything to keep the world from learning what actually happened on that fateful day, including killing Luke, Jillian and anyone else who might be a threat. 

"In a race from Belgium, to Luxembourg, to the bayous of Louisiana and the Wyoming wilderness, to a final confrontation in the Bahamas, Luke Daniels confronts a series of shocking truths which not only rewrite history but will forever change his own life — as he comes face to face with the ninth man."

Opinion: Definitely a different look at Kennedy's assassination and done in thrilling way. Lots of action.

The Art Thief by Michael Finkel

Started: 7/28/2023

Finished: 7/29/2023

Year: 2023

Pages: 222

Genre: True Crime

Grade: C

Reason for reading: library book

Type: hardcover

Blurb (from Amazon): "In this spellbinding portrait of obsession and flawed genius, the best-selling author of The Stranger in the Woods brings us into Breitwieser’s strange world—unlike most thieves, he never stole for money, keeping all his treasures in a single room where he could admire them.

"For centuries, works of art have been stolen in countless ways from all over the world, but no one has been quite as successful at it as the master thief Stéphane Breitwieser. Carrying out more than two hundred heists over nearly eight years—in museums and cathedrals all over Europe—Breitwieser, along with his girlfriend who worked as his lookout, stole more than three hundred objects, until it all fell apart in spectacular fashion.

"In The Art Thief, Michael Finkel brings us into Breitwieser’s strange and fascinating world. Unlike most thieves, Breitwieser never stole for money. Instead, he displayed all his treasures in a pair of secret rooms where he could admire them to his heart’s content. Possessed of a remarkable athleticism and an innate ability to circumvent practically any security system, Breitwieser managed to pull off a breathtaking number of audacious thefts. Yet these strange talents bred a growing disregard for risk and an addict’s need to score, leading Breitwieser to ignore his girlfriend’s pleas to stop—until one final act of hubris brought everything crashing down.

"This is a riveting story of art, crime, love, and an insatiable hunger to possess beauty at any cost."

Opinion: Definitely a different type of art thief which makes his motive more interesting.

Miss Julia Speaks Her Mind by Ann B. Ross

Started: 7/27/2023

Finished: 7/28/2023

Year: 1999

Pages: 272

Genre: mystery

Grade: B-

Reason for reading: reread to start the series

Type: Paperback

Blurb (from Amazon): "Miss Julia, a recently bereaved and newly wealthy widow, is only slightly bemused when one Hazel Marie Puckett appears at her door with a youngster in tow and unceremoniously announces that the child is the bastard son of Miss Julia's late husband. Suddenly, this longtime church member and pillar of her small Southern community finds herself in the center of an unseemly scandal-and the guardian of a wan nine-year-old whose mere presence turns her life upside down.

"With razor-sharp wit and perfect "Steel Magnolia" poise, Miss Julia speaks her mind indeed-about a robbery, a kidnapping, and the other disgraceful events precipitated by her husband's death. Fast-paced and charming, with a sure sense of comic drama, a cast of crazy characters, and a strong Southern cadence, Miss Julia Speaks Her Mind will delight readers from first page to last."

Opinion: So Julia is still annoying (I read this back in 2009) but I did not dislike this book as much as I did. The mystery is still a clever one.

The Seaside Library by Brenda Novak

Started: 7/25/2023

Finished: 7/26/2023

Year: 2023

Pages: 381

Genre: Romantic mystery

Grade: B

Reason for reading: library book

Type: hardcover

Blurb (from Amazon): "Mariners Island is barely ten miles long, but when Ivy, Ariana and Cam were teenagers, it was their whole world. Beyond the pristine beaches and iconic lighthouse lies the beautiful old library that belongs to Ivy’s family. While that bound Ivy to the island as an adult, Ariana could not leave Mariners behind fast enough. The town holds too many…memories. Not only her unrequited feelings for Cam, but the tragedy that left a scar on the community.

"When a young girl went missing, a teenage Cam was unthinkably the prime suspect. Ariana and Ivy knew he couldn’t have hurt anyone, and they promised to protect him—even if it meant lying on his behalf.

"Now, twenty years later, Ariana returns to Mariners just as new evidence emerges on the case, calling into question everything the three friends thought they knew—and everyone they thought they could trust. What really happened that night? Over the course of one eventful summer, Ariana, Ivy and Cam will learn the truth—about their pasts, their futures and the ties that still bind them as closely as the pages of a book…"

Opinion: So the mystery of the missing girl was easily figured out, the twists and turns are still there. The romance is decent.

Maribelle's Shadow by Susannah Marren

Started: 7/21/2023

Finished: 7/25/2023

Year: 2023

Pages: 303

Genre: Fiction

Grade: B

Reason for reading: review for Library Thing

Type: paperback

Blurb (from Amazon): "As the editorial director of Palm Beach Confidential, Maribelle Walker knows what lurks beneath the glittering facade of the moneyed elite on Florida’s most glamorous coast. Or does she?

"When her adored and impressive husband, Samuel, dies suddenly, the secrets and lies between Maribelle and her sisters rise to the surface. Compounding the anguish, the authenticity of their socially ambitious mother and lavish lifestyle of mansions, privilege and couture clothes is thrown into doubt.

"As their carefully constructed image unravels, each sister realizes she must fend for herself. The pathway out is steep and worth any risk. Until the winner takes all."

Opinion: A thorough review is posted on Library Thing

Where are the Children Now? by Mary Higgins Clark and Alafair Burke

Started: 7/20/2023

Finished: 7/21/2023

Year: 2023

Pages: 275

Genre: mystery

Grade: B

Reason for reading: library book

Type: hardcover

Blurb (from Amazon): "Of the fifty-six bestsellers the “Queen of Suspense” Mary Higgins Clark published in her lifetime, Where Are the Children? was her biggest, selling millions of copies and forever transforming the genre of suspense fiction. In that story, a young California mother named Nancy Harmon was convicted of murdering her two children. Though released on a technicality, she was abandoned by her husband and became such a pariah in the media that she was forced to move across the country to Cape Cod, change her identity and appearance, and start a new life. Years later her two children from a second marriage, Mike and Melissa, would go missing, and Nancy yet again became the prime suspect—but this time, Nancy was able to confront the secrets buried in her past and rescue her kids from a dangerous predator.

"Now, more than four decades since readers first met Nancy and her children, comes the thrilling sequel to the groundbreaking book that set the stage for future generations of psychological suspense novels. A lawyer turned successful podcaster, Melissa has recently married a man whose first wife died tragically, leaving him and their young daughter, Riley, behind. While Melissa and her brother, Mike, help their mom, Nancy, relocate from Cape Cod to the equally idyllic Hamptons, Melissa’s new stepdaughter goes missing. Drawing on the experience of their own abduction, Melissa and Mike race to find Riley to save her from the trauma they still struggle with—or worse."

Opinion: I'm glad that I reread "Where are the Children" before I read this one. There are several mentions to the first one especially since Melissa was one of the kids kidnapped in the first one. An interesting twist but it could have been predictable if you're more involved in trying to solve the mystery instead of just reading to read.

Madame Curie's Piano Tuner by Steven Barron

Started: 7/18/2023

Finished: DNF

Year: 2023

Pages: 811

Genre: Literature

Grade: F

Type: paperback

Blurb (from Amazon): "When newly licensed piano tuner RAYMOND DOVER visits the burg of Bucksnort, his intent is to provide services for a veteran's retirement home. Shortly after arrival, he's stricken with a mysterious amnesia and subsequently obliged to spend time at a county bughouse (Dixxmont) for observation and treatment. Therapeutic success leads to discharge, and Ray subsequently decides to stay on awhile in the area.

"Bucksnort is archetypical, small-town America; a dream town of wearisome proportions; a sometimes metropolis with all the attendant vexations of other city centers but still with the blinkered, tar black menace. It is impossible to know anyone in Bucksnort, and after frequenting, it's also impossible to care.

"Whether found or invented history, varied characters present, some historical while scores of others are conceived on the run. Recognizable eras are also referenced; timelines are breached and boarded and, together with the myriad personalities, are riffled and sailed across the page like casino playing cards.

"Madame Curie's Piano Tuner is a loose, less than linear assemblage of scenes, scenarios, staged bits, gags, etc., recounted by Ray. Soon enough, the moderately-adjusted reader may adjudge him an unreliable narrator. Still, for these times, he's reliable enough, and though a vocal faction may seek to blow the confines, Ray makes clear long before final words are laid to page that exiting Bucksnort is easier said than done."

Opinion: Ray's character is interesting but there is a lot of rambling and it was hard for me to focus on what was going on.

Stefan's Promise by Sam Rennick

Started: 7/11/2023

Finished: 7/16/2023

Year: 2019

Pages: 546

Genre: Literature

Grade: C

Type: Paperback

Blurb (from Amazon): "It’s 1968. America is rocked by assassinations, war protests and political upheaval. Alan Young, 21, is brooding over having been dumped by his girlfriend. This won’t last long. His draft notice is in the mail.

"Stefan Kopinski isn’t about to let the war get in his way. He spends his days at the mercy of his reckless ambition. When fate steps in, will he finally understand what has been right in front of him for 30 years?

"'Stefan’s Promise' is the story of Alan and Stefan. Circumstances part them and sharply diverging temperaments further erode their bond. Yet, Alan and Stefan are wrong in supposing their friendship has ended. It’s just getting started."

Opinion: The characters were interesting but there was a lot that could have been removed and the story would still have been good. The timeline was hard to follow because flashbacks happened in the middle of current situations which led to confusion at times.

Truly, Darkly, Deeply by Victoria Selman

Started: 7/17/2023

Finished: 7/18/2023

Year: 2022

Pages: 342

Genre: thriller

Grade: B-

Reason for reading: library book

Type: paperback

Blurb (from Amazon): "Matty Melgren is a convicted serial killer serving life without parole for the murders of several women in London in the 1980s. He has consistently protested his innocence, and the evidence against him was largely circumstantial. At the time of his arrest, Matty’s girlfriend was Amelia-Rose, a single mother to 12-year-old Sophie. Sophie adores Matty. He’s handsome, funny, respectable—she could never suspect him of the brutal killings in the headlines. Then a police sketch of a suspect is released that looks a lot like Matty. Was it him? Sophie is consumed with doubt and guilt, causing her to act impulsively, ripping her family apart. Years later, she is still haunted by her actions. Was she wrong to have done what she did all those years ago? Then Sophie receives a letter from Matty—he’s dying and asks her to visit him in prison. Will she finally get the answers she needs to be able to reclaim her future?"

Opinion: An interesting take on a serial killer novel.

Sailor's Heart by Martin Campbell

Started: 6/28/2023

Finished: 7/2/2023

Year: 2020

Pages: 278

Genre: military/mental health

Grade: B-

Reason for reading: review for Reader Views

Type: paperback

Blurb (from Amazon): "Based on true events

"1942.The war at sea is being lost. One per cent of all naval personnel are being referred as psychiatric casualties. The British Admiralty introduces the Stone Frigate approach.

"Three men fight for their country in the Arctic convoys of World War II, then for their sanity and dignity, labelled as cowards and subjected to experimental psychiatry at an isolated facility set up to by the British Admiralty to recycle men back into battle.

"To the Navy they are faulty parts, not constitutionally suited to operate at sea. To the public they are poltroons, malingerers and psychiatric cases.

"The places in this story are real, but everyone who played a part in what happened is now dead. It is safe to tell what really happened. What was important then, nobody cares about now.

"True courage is facing danger when you are afraid, surviving in the circus of war."

Opinion: It is obvious that a lot of research went into this novel.

Love, Theoretically by Ali Hazelwood

Started: 7/8/2023

Finished: 7/11/2023

Year: 2023

Pages: 384

Genre: Romance

Grade: B+

Reason for reading: library book

Type: hardcover

Blurb (From Amazon): "The many lives of theoretical physicist Elsie Hannaway have finally caught up with her. By day, she’s an adjunct professor, toiling away at grading labs and teaching thermodynamics in the hopes of landing tenure. By other day, Elsie makes up for her non-existent paycheck by offering her services as a fake girlfriend, tapping into her expertly honed people-pleasing skills to embody whichever version of herself the client needs.

"Honestly, it’s a pretty sweet gig—until her carefully constructed Elsie-verse comes crashing down. Because Jack Smith, the annoyingly attractive and arrogant older brother of her favorite client, turns out to be the cold-hearted experimental physicist who ruined her mentor’s career and undermined the reputation of theorists everywhere. And he’s the same Jack Smith who rules over the physics department at MIT, standing right between Elsie and her dream job.

"Elsie is prepared for an all-out war of scholarly sabotage but…those long, penetrating looks? Not having to be anything other than her true self when she’s with him? Will falling into an experimentalist’s orbit finally tempt her to put her most guarded theories on love into practice?"

Opinion: I'm all for the romance between smart nerdy people. Predictable but done in a great way.

I Came as a Shadow by John Thompson

Started: 7/4/2023

Finished: 7/8/2023

Year: 2020

Pages: 323

Genre: autobiography

Grade: B

Reason for reading: won a Goodreads.com giveaway, been a Syracuse fan for ages...always hated Georgetown

Type: hardcover

Blurb (from Amazon): "John Thompson was never just a basketball coach and I Came As a Shadow is categorically not just a basketball autobiography.

"After three decades at the center of race and sports in America, the first Black head coach to win an NCAA championship is ready to make the private public. Chockful of stories and moving beyond mere stats (and what stats! three Final Fours, four times national coach of the year, seven Big East championships, 97 percent graduation rate), Thompson’s book drives us through his childhood under Jim Crow segregation to our current moment of racial reckoning. We experience riding shotgun with Celtics icon Red Auerbach, and coaching NBA Hall of Famers like Patrick Ewing and Allen Iverson. How did he inspire the phrase “Hoya Paranoia”? You’ll see. And thawing his historically glacial stare, Thompson brings us into his negotiation with a DC drug kingpin in his players’ orbit in the 1980s, as well as behind the scenes on the Nike board today.

"Thompson’s mother was a teacher who couldn’t teach because she was Black. His father could not read or write, so the only way he could identify different cements at the factory where he worked was to taste them. Their son grew up to be a man with his own life-sized statue in a building that bears his family’s name on a campus once kept afloat by the selling of 272 enslaved people. This is a great American story, and John Thompson’s experience sheds light on many of the issues roiling our nation. In these pages, he proves himself to be the elder statesman college basketball and the country need to hear from now.

"I Came As A Shadow is not a swan song, but a bullhorn blast from one of America’s most prominent sons."

Opinion: As stated above, I have always liked Syracuse and the rival between them and Georgetown was always a good one...so with that said, I always disliked Georgetown. I entered the giveaway to learn more about Thompson..basically a know more about your enemy type of thing. This was definitely insightful and I truly hope that he is resting in peace.

It Starts with Us by Colleen Hoover

Started: 7/2/2023

Finished: 7/3/2023

Year: 2022

Pages: 320

Genre: romance

Grade: B

Reason for reading: continuing with the series

Type: paperback

Blurb (from Amazon): "Lily and her ex-husband, Ryle, have just settled into a civil coparenting rhythm when she suddenly bumps into her first love, Atlas, again. After nearly two years separated, she is elated that for once, time is on their side, and she immediately says yes when Atlas asks her on a date.

"But her excitement is quickly hampered by the knowledge that, though they are no longer married, Ryle is still very much a part of her life—and Atlas Corrigan is the one man he will hate being in his ex-wife and daughter’s life."

Opinion: Probably what "It Ends with Us" should have been-a safe and loving relationship. The romance between Lily and Atlas is what everyone should have.