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.  

Southern Fatality--#105 finished

 A wanted to be retired hot investigator gets pulled in by her boyfriend to help a friend of his.  This friend is married to an uber-rich guy but she finds he is not cheating but bad stuff is going on.  The rich guy's son is kidnapped--step son to the gal that wanted it checked out.  From there story heads off, not a bad story and some decent characters.  Could figure out pretty early on who the bad guys were just a question of how the knew each other and all that.  Not a lot of reality but suspend your thoughts on that and not a bad read.  Looking at this verses the Sue Grafton series and can see just doesn't stand up but I guess this was more action and maybe humor attempts than reality of the story, oh well.

I have posted it on PBS, there was 1 copy in system already so don't know how long or if ever will move.

Playing catchup on logging in the books for Dec.  Might get one or two more done before the end of the year.  Still can't believe I made it to 100+ books read for the year.

Bohemian Girl--#104 finished

 A story set in southern Nebraska that starts before the Civil War, a young girl is lost in a bet by her dad and given to an Indian for a term of 4 years work.  This Indian is a mound builder and has gotten women to do the work of the mound building and works them basically to death and adds their bones to the mound.  At the end of her term, he wasn't going to let her leave but she was able to escape.  Finds a group that was trying to start a small town but after a night there her and another girl and a baby are all that survive--the rest of the people were working in a field when a lightning strike hits & kills them.  The 3 find a fort and eventually heal up some but again have to escape and while out meet up with 2 men that were floating in a ballon.  The find a town but send the girl and the baby ahead to check it out and if possible to leave the baby.  The town is in process of being shot up and seems to be the pro-slavery forces trying to influence the town.  The girl hides in the textile store after seeing the owner shot dead right out front.  As the fight ends people come to the store & she cuts cloth for bandages and burial blankets.  The next day she goes back to the others & they are gone.  She goes back to town and says she was the niece for the textile owner and takes over the business.  Took a while to get to this point but from here I enjoyed the story.  A little bit of the history of NE, throw in a Willa Cather as a youngster reference too and seems a little fun.  It was tough going at first but by the end an enjoyable read.

No copies in PBS system and no WL.  Since a NE book I might keep this one.