Book Review Roundup #1 — Debbi Mack
Hi! 🙂 Today, I’m gonna review a bunch of books, but first I’m gonna change my shirt. Click on the links in the review to buy. They’re affiliate links, so … how about that?
Dr. B, yes, by Daniel Birnbaum. This is an interesting book, a very, very interesting book about a man caught in a situation during the rise of Nazi Germany. And it’s, it’s one that, it’s a thinking person’s book and I really enjoyed it a lot. Very good writing.
Burn Coast. <Laugh> wow. By Dale Maharidge. Maharidge. I dunno if I said that, right, but Burn Coast <laugh> think Northern California, Redwood forests, hippies who never dropped, you know, dropped back in, so to speak, and making money off of pot. Pot as big business and well, the complications, the smell of patchouli, all of it. It’s just this, this is full of zingers and all sorts of stuff. It’s well worth reading. Believe me.
Okay. Now. Yeah. Before I get to that, I’m gonna do Dry Heat. I really love this book by Len Joy about you know, your basic average all-American kid who does good, but gets involved in a situation in which he’s implicated for something he did not do. For shooting somebody he did not shoot and ends up in prison for all the wrong reasons. And you know, all the ways that the justice system can go wrong. All the ways that this guy basically faces reality and deals with it. I loved it. So, yeah. Great job. Let’s see, what else?
Oh, The Locked Room, The Locked Room by Elly Griffiths. I really enjoyed this book a lot. The characters, as always the characters are what bring me into a story and make me, that hook me, and I loved the character of Ruth. I loved Cathbart, is it? I think it’s Cathbart, right? And Nelson and Zoe and all of these people are so interesting, but there’s a mystery that Ruth is involved in investigating, and there’s also a series of murders. And then there’s this disappearing neighbor and it’s, it’s quite good and extra points for the mentions of Marmite and Jaffa Cakes. Because I love Marmite. I just love it. Anyway. I’m the only American I know who loves Marmite.
Okay. I’m gonna do these at the same time because they have certain similarities. Aurora by David Koepp. I don’t know if I’m saying that right. Koepp. Aurora, I believe this is being made into a miniseries or something or limited series, sorry or something. Maybe I could be wrong about that, but it’s really, really excellent. It should be if it isn’t being. It’s about what happens when all the electricity goes out due to a natural disaster, something that we can’t control and suddenly there’s no electricity, the cell towers are down.
There’s no internet. It’s all back to relying on your community again. That’s what it comes down to, and this gets into those issues in a big way. And you know, how do you, what approach do you take? Do you develop rapport with your neighbors, trust them, work together? Do you go off to a silo in the middle of nowhere and try to establish your own community? Like the brother of the protagonist, Mr. Rich Guy? I won’t say any names.
Speaking of which Palaces for the People. I wanted to mention this one at the same time that I mentioned this one, because this is a book that everybody should read. It’s about the importance of community. And I’m talking about not online community. I’m talking about the community that you live in, in reality. People talk so much about the metaverse, so much about social media.
When are we gonna start talking about where we live and what we need to do to make where we live livable. And when I say where we live, not, I mean, not only our community, but our planet in general. This is part of what will make the planet livable. Paying attention to what’s going on right in your own backyard. And I don’t nearly, I don’t like politics. That’s my problem. So getting politically involved is something that I hesitate to do, but I would recommend that you read this book by Eric Kleinenberg, I believe. “How Social Infrastructure Can Help Fight Inequality, Polarization, and the Decline of Civic Life.” Civic Life. So, and can probably promote more civil life. Maybe.
Anyway, those are the books that were supposed to be done for May. If I’m lucky, I may get to June’s books by the end of July, <laugh> take care and thanks. Thanks for watching. And that’s all folks for now. Anyway, talk to you later.
Originally published at https://www.debbimack.com on July 22, 2022.
