On Tyranny: Twenty Lessons from the Twentieth Century, Timothy D. Snyder
I grabbed this book because I am teaching 20th Century world history this upcoming year and I love new perspectives. Yeah, this was a total bait and switch book. It’s not actually about 20th century world history. It’s about drawing as many parallels between Trump and Hitler. The author adds all sorts of inappropriate commentary. This was not a historical work. This was not a political work. This was not even an academic work. It was a 100 page op ed piece. I don’t like bait and switch. Hence, a one page review.
The Swans of Fifth Avenue, Melanie Benjamin
I really tried with this book. The opening was pretentious and irritating beyond belief but I pushed on because 2 pages was not a fair opportunity. I made it to 67 when I found I would rather listen to Princess Label Maker on audio book (for the 116th time) with my son that read this. It just wasn’t compelling to me.
The Chemist, Stephanie Meyer
Um. Yeah. So someone told me the Twilight madame’s adult stuff was way better. So I downloaded this one from the library late one night when I couldn’t sleep. Worked like a charm. I was out in about five pages. But since I had it on my kindle I endeavored to read it for several weeks until the library took it back. It’s about a chemist on the run. I don’t know why. I don’t know who the chemist is. In fact however many pages I got in to the book, I did not care. It was so in the present moment, all exposition because she’s on the run and never speaks to anyone, but there was NO tension. I totally did not care.
The Art of Character, David Corbett
Another craft book I picked up because someone recommended it to me. Could not get engaged. It’s written like a long philosophy lecture. If you like philosophy lectures, you might find this book super useful. It wasn’t even a good cure for insomnia – every time I tried to read it, I got so frustrated, I was angry in minutes.
Addressed to Kill, Jean Flowers
Sigh. This is the third in the series, so I hoped the author would have reached her stride. I guess she has but it’s more of a zombie lurch with body parts falling off than a lope. LOL. The writing is stilted and awkward. The dialogue totes ridic. LOL.
If you’re looking for something good to read, pop over to Amazon and grab a copy of our horror anthology, The Box Under The Bed, number 1 in new releases.
T.A. Henry 