Francis: Pope of a New World--#5 finished

 This was a book written & published right after Pope Francis became Pope.  Gives some information about his background and about the very beginning of his papacy.  I am a big fan of our Pope and feel he has at least started moving the church in a more modern direction.  I know this has upset lots of conservative Catholics especially here in the US.  I also fear for who will be the next pope if it will still be headed in the same direction or revert back to more conservative times.  This is a rough time for the church and while I feel many changes are needed the old guard will probably fight most attempts at changes.  Good quick read.

I posted it on PBS & will be mailing off in the next week or so.

1920: The Year of the Six Presidents--#4 finished

The title is a little confusing but basically means the 1920 election had 6 people that were or will be Presidents sort of vying for it.  Woodrow Wilson was President and wanted to run again but after suffering a stroke and basically not functioning as a full time President the people around him kept him from running again.  In the lead up to the 1920 election Teddy Roosevelt was wanting to run again as a Republican but he died before he had that chance.  In the Republican primary and convention there were several candidates and in the 2nd grouping was Warren Harding--because the top group call cancelled each other out, Harding became the best of the 2nd group and got the nomination and the Presidency.  In the further behind candidates were Calvin Coolidge who became Vice President and then President after Harding passed, and also Herbert Hoover who would serve in their administrations and then succeed Coolidge after he completed his full term.  Then on the Democrat side the VP candidate in the 1920 election was Franklin D Roosevelt who would come back and gain election after Hoover.  

An interesting read and an interesting time.  It was a good reminder that even through going through crazy stuff now in politics, there has been other times with craziness and our country & democracy has endured. Trump and his supporters might be a little higher up on the craziness scale but maybe not after reading this.  The WWI was ending and the fight about the League of Nations going on.  Prohibition and Women's Suffrage were happening.  A strong Socialist Party was in place, not so much communist at this point, along with very strong racists people and laws.  Throw in some girlfriends on the side and you can see this was a little crazy.  Biden does sort of remind me of a Harding in that they seem like normal good guys at least to the electorate.

I am keeping this book for now and likely passing out among friends that I think will enjoy.

The Snow Leopard--#3 finished

I finished this around a week ago but just now logging in.  I guess just kind of disappointed in the book, I was hoping for more about the Snow Leopard and instead got more about the travel and Buddhism.  The time of this was early '70s--maybe 1971 and the writer was going through a tough time with his wife passing away no long before this trip.  He also has 2 young boys that he mentions but never really explains where or who is taking care of them while he is off on this research trip.  With that going on and purpose of trip the Snow Leopard thought the focus would be there but instead it was more about his personal journey both the several weeks to journey where the research in Himalayas was going to be done & his personal spiritual journey.  I have had this book on my shelf for a while and was looking forward to finally getting to it.  I started it in early November and just couldn't get into it, fought through it and finally at beginning of January just pushed myself to get through it.

I have posted it on PBS since there were no copies in system & it has already been requested.  I will be getting it mailed off later today or tomorrow. 

Fortune Smiles--#2 finished

 A short story book that has a wide range to topics in the six stories.  The stories have memorable characters and topics, topics like North Korea, child-porn, hurricane Katrina, East Germany and a couple others.  Just a wide and unusual range of topics.  I will have to look for other books by the author, this was a very good read.

There are 6 WL on PBS for this & I really enjoyed it but do want to also pass this along for others to enjoy.  I will post & mail off at some point.

Blown Away--#1 finished

This is a book published in 1990 with interviews of people around the Rolling Stones about their beginnings and the 1960s.  The Rolling Stones are my favorite band but I hadn't really read a lot about them so this was a really interesting read.  How Brian Jones started the band and their influences and struggles in that early going.  The interviews of the girlfriends and people around the band are really very good and give great insight into this time.  Brian Jones is an interesting person, everyone says he was a super talented musician with ability to play several instruments and his personality influenced Jagger but there was also a competitiveness between them that Jagger seen he had to win.  Jones real issues were his inability to write the songs they were playing and also a terrible drug habit.  The drug habit caused him to miss performances and recording sessions as well as personal issues of fighting and physical assaulting his girlfriends.  It is a sad story for him but from reading this can see that Jones had to be kicked out of the band.  Soon after this happened he drowned in a pool accident at his house.  The author worked to track down people that were there at the time and he came to believe some of the home remodeling workers that were at the party were the cause of Jones drowning.  Lots of good information about the time and the band in this book.

This is one that will be a keeper for me since it is about the Rolling Stones.  First book of the new year finished. 

The Ghost War--#106 finished

 This was the last book read in 2020, the 2nd book in series by Alex Berenson's John Wells.  A good continuation of the series.  Wells returns to Afghanistan and gains intelligence that eventually leads to China problems and he travels to China to get a spy/source out of China.  I took up this series in the middle somewhere and I am playing a little catch up now.  A good quick read that generally has non-stop type action.

At this point I am not posting these back in PBS but might at some point.  I didn't keep the middle series books I have read so doubt I will keep these but no hurry to post.

I am playing catch up on logging in 2020.  I did make it to my goal of 100 books read in 2020 and finished at 106.