Updated (6 Oct 19)Review: On Tyranny: Twenty Lessons from the Twentieth Century by Timothy Synder

Updated 6 Oct 19:

My copy of ‘On Tyranny’ will not be sold or given to the local library.

I will continue to review and appraise my involvement in my local, state, and federal governments in regard to the standards ‘On Tyranny’ sets. It is that important and I believe that once you read it, ‘On Tyranny’, will be that important to you too.

A must-read for anyone concerned about our place in the world and place in history.

We should be concerned about our ability to remain a democracy.

An intelligent and well-researched book.

Highly Recommended (five books): 📗📗📗📗📗

Quote:

“The president is a nationalist, which is not at all the same thing as a patriot. A nationalist encourages us to be our worst, and then tells us that we are the best. A nationalist, “although endlessly brooding on power, victory, defeat, revenge,” wrote Orwell, tends to be “uninterested in what happens in the real world.” Nationalism is relativist, since the only truth is the resentment we feel when we contemplate others. As the novelist Danilo Kiš put it, nationalism “has no universal values, aesthetic or ethical.” A patriot, by contrast, wants the nation to live up to its ideals, which means asking us to be our best selves. A patriot must be concerned with the real world, which is the only place where his country can be loved and sustained. A patriot has universal values, standards by which he judges his nation, always wishing it well—and wishing that it would do better. Democracy”
― Timothy Snyder

 

Book Review: The Blue Bonnet Betrayal by Marty Wingate

The Bluebonnet Betrayal is the second book I have read by Ms. Wingate. I can tell you she only gets better in my opinion.

Pru is delightful as ever and she is a trooper. She and Christopher have a deep relationship and one I think many people would envy.

The Bluebonnet Betrayal puts a little bit of Texas in England and with surprising results that just seems work well. The intrigue of the plot plus the whole mystery of the renown flower show itself makes the book worth a read. Yet having Pru be herself and take us on London journey.

I will certainly be reading more books by Ms. Wingate.

Book Review: “Brighton Belle” by Sara Sheridan

This book captivated me. There is just no other way to say it. I was and am quite taken by the Belle. By about 20% of the book I had become immersed in the story. Then I was always reading, and I could not set the book down.
Belle is not your average woman from the post-World War II era. She is surprising on many levels. There were twists and turns that I do not even think Belle knew coming.
Read this book and you will thank me later. I will most assuredly be reading more books by Ms. Sheridan and I know you will too after you read about Brighton Belle.

Book Review: “The Skeleton Garden: A Potting Shed Mystery” by Marty Wingate

“The Skeleton Garden” captivated me. It seemed as if every character spoke to me. I could feel their happiness and their pain whether it was recent or over fifty years ago. Ms. Wingate made each character real in their right.

Pru moved to England and felt like a fish out of her depths in the large home. What kept her from being completely overwhelmed was the gardens and the work she did in them. Therein is where the story takes you on a ride through time.

Being kind and persistent allows Pru to move through every obstacle where many people would have stopped. That is only one reason Pru made her way into my heart. Another reason is, she kept true to herself. But I will say no more, read for yourself.

I will certainly recommend “the Skeleton Garden” to my Cozy Mystery book group. They will love it, I am sure. I will also read the previous three books in the series as this book is the fourth.

Book Review: “Murder Past Due” by Miranda James

The cover of this book hooked me. I mean a cat, books, and well, books in a library! What is not to love?

Murder Past Due is set in a small Mississippi town named Athena. Athena is a small, quiet town where Charlie and Diesel live. Charlie had recently moved back and brought Diesel with him. As they walk the streets they make quite a pair. Charlie and Diesel tag team in the library. Charlie works there, and Diesel sleeps there. The perfect setup for the impending trouble.

Small town gossip flies as Geoffrey, the best-selling novelist, slides into town on a book tour. Then things and life become interesting for Charlie & Diesel.

This book is the first in the new (new to me) series, Cat in The Stacks. At first, I found the book sluggish. I believe it was the characters and not the plot. After a period of the time, the characters did develop, and the plot moved sufficiently forward that I could see the characters more clearly in my mind’s eye. In saying that, I did not find myself sympathetic to some of the characters as I knew I was supposed to feel. Those few characters had much to do and say in the plot, but I felt they were more two-dimensional than the book needed.

Let me add this, Charlie does an excellent job of sleuthing, and several people have taken notice. I will read the next book in the series. And if you read /follow my reviews you know that I will not complete a set if I do not like the first book I read whether it is the first book in the series or the last book in a series. So yes, I think ‘Cat in The Stacks’ books are worth my reading time and dollars.