Saturday, December 30, 2017

501 Minutes to Christ--#70 finished


Like the one before, I picked these two books because I wanted to finish before the end of the year to get to 70 read.  What a difference, just good true writing, not just crap to sell to readers looking for mindless entertainment.  Real life and real emotions going on in the author's personal essays but there is also humor and fun here too.  I really enjoy this author and have a few of his other books that I need to read.  This was the 2nd time through on this book and I am glad I did because it reminded me of what I really like about the author.  I will need to try to lean this way more and stay away from that other crap.

This is one of my keepers so back on the shelf for it to stay.

The Beach House--#69 finished

This is a James Patterson book and older one from early 2000s.  A Hampton's murder mystery with the rich & how powered vs a poor Irish family and friends.  A quick read but really not very good.  Action & bad guys get whats coming in the end but all characters sort of suck.  Like I said it was a quick read & that is what I was looking for to get to 70 books read for the year.

Book in too bad of shape & too many copies on PBS so this is going in my give a way pile.

Tuesday, December 26, 2017

A Hologram for the King--#68 finished


A good read, a mid fifties guy struggling with career, family and basically life in general.  He was a higher up in Schwin Bicycles and when that went away has been a consultant.  Life as consultant started good with all his contacts but has now dried up.  Owing money everywhere, crazy ex-wife and a daughter going to Ivy league school, well he is basically broke.  Does have a job going to Saudi Arabia to be part of a team selling IT software & hardware to cover a complete complex/city being built.  Meets interesting people there.  Probably best part of book is how he looks back on his life and the decisions he has made.  He is still not comfortable in everything but is trying to carve out a new sense of self and by end it seems like he has done so even though deal falls through.  Just a good read that makes you think & I am getting close to the age of the main character too.

I will post on PBS at some point, I think there are 9 WL for it.

Invasion of Privacy--#67 finished

FBI guy was killed and an obvious coverup is done.  Wife becomes upset & an obvious attempt to stifle her & any investigation happens.  A drunken reporter will little work finds out about coverup and he is fired and also is threatened to stop looking into this.  I am sorry, just too much here that it would have to come out.  Wife & reporter team up & the teenage daughter that is also a hacker works it from another angle.  In the end the evil corporate CEO dude is taken down.  After a slow start at least quick paced action brought the book to an end.  Didn't really like but overall wasn't terrible just story had too many "really, no one else sees this" moments.

I have already posted it on PBS, there were zero copies and it has been requested.  If post office isn't crazy busy today, it will go out.

Friday, December 15, 2017

The Bro Code--#66 finished


I found this book at a resale shop & figured why not.  I liked the shop How I Met Your Mother but it probably lasted a couple seasons too long.  The Bro Code stuff was kind of funny & the book was 50 cents so grabbed it.  It has it's funny parts & is a super quick read, finished same day bought.  A few laughs.  With the whole sexual assault issue in the news this book might not be the most appropriate book anymore though.  Not a bad way to spend 50 cents though.

I checked PBS & there are 5 copies in system so no reason to add another one.  I will just give this book away.

The Statues That Walked--#65 finished

Good read about researchers and Easter Island.  I did a book report back in high school, maybe junior high about Easter Island.  I think it was mostly repeats from the Thor Hyerdall book Kon-Tiki if I remember right that talked about Easter Island.  I have always been interested in obviously the statues and the just plain old how remote this island is from everywhere else.  These researchers I think have hit on a couple things.  First, the statues walked, in other words were rocked back & forth while moving forward from the quarry to where they were setup.  These are some huge & heavy statues and it was always kind of a mystery how they were moved and it sounds like the authors have it figured out.

Then probably the main question for me was why did they stop making the statues?  The authors have figured it was because of the European visitors.  Suddenly the people of the island wanted the items, hats, trinkets, etc that received or stole from the sailors and there was also the likely diseases from these visits that killed off much of the population.  Because the visits were years and years apart and usually of short duration, only a couple days, European sailors were not likely to notice or determine this.  It is really a sad history for the island once the visitors came.

Not sure I will ever actually travel to the island, that is probably a long & expensive plane ticket--need to win a lottery first but still just interesting to think about.

I think there are 3 WL for the book in PBS, I will probably post & send off at some point but in no hurry right now, have plenty of credits & other books to move first.

Wednesday, December 6, 2017

Heat--#64 finished

The rest of the title is Adventures in the World's Fiery Places.  Overall a good read that starts talking about Death Valley & wildfires that happen out west in CA and travels to different areas dealing with heat.  The Netherlands for peat that was burned.  Alaska that talked about whaling and then later nuclear & hydrogen bombs where an inventor wanted to use a hydrogen bomb for commercial purposes, very scary but also mentions done lots of times in Russia.  Looked at volcanos in Hawaii too.  Only criticism I had is that he also brought into it fire walking, where he talks about this throughout and at end does it.  To me the other stuff was good and interesting, the fire walking just don't get it, oh well.  Still overall a good read.

I will post on PBS, probably pretty soon since only 1 WL for it.