The Alice Network by Kate Quinn
I grabbed this book during my last in-person visit to the library where I was panic grabbing books to stock up prior to the closure. I’ve been a big fan of Reese’s book club and dove back to the beginning: this was the second of her picks (I had already read and enjoyed her first pick, “Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine.” This book was interesting but took a lot for me to get through, which I think was a combo of it’s hard to focus […]
The Remains of the Day by Kazuo Ishiguro
Oh, Mr. Stevens. A tragic hero if ever there was one. As a butler to a great house of Britain, he kept his eyes to the floor while the ravages of post-WWI Europe came to a boiling point in the halls of his dear Darlington Hall. Kazuo Ishiguro is a master of quiet suffering. His characters come to slow, stark, and utterly devastating conclusions just a moment before the enormity of their despair hits the reader. The Remains of the Day is arguably his most celebrated […]
Inferno: The World at War, 1939-1945 by Max Hastings
This book is on the Army Chief of Staff Reading List so I read it when it became available. I’ve read a lot of WWII both in my life and in over the last few years. As this is professional reading, I suppose the kind way to phrase it is that I am over-saturated with WWII at the moment. I was a history major in college, I’m in the military, and my father was described by John Mulaney this week on SNL – he is […]
Costalegre by Courtney Maum
The concept of capital-A ART reigns lavishly above the characters within Costalegre. A woman and her daughter, stand-ins for Peggy and Pegeen Guggenheim, go to Mexico to wait out the steamroller of World War II. They are surrounded by the mother’s collection of artists and hangers-on. They wait for a steamship full of the mother’s collection of art which may still be creeping across the ocean towards their hideaway in the jungle. The mother’s collection is full of people and pieces deemed to be unworthy; Europe did […]
Once There Was a War by John Steinbeck
I read this one in February when I stopped writing reviews immediately after reading a book. I do have a slightly valid reason for this delay, my wife gave birth to our youngest son. As one can imagine, my reading slowed to just audiobooks to and from work and I stopped writing reviews almost completely. This was in addition to trying to finish my thesis. It was a stressful time and most of it was a blur. Unfortunately, that means that I don’t remember Once […]
George Marshall: Defender of the Republic by David L. Roll
I remember learning about the Marshall Plan in AP US History class and how critical it was to repairing the world after WWII. I did not realize until years later that General George C. Marshall was individual who lent his name to the plan. I’ve been in the Army for thirteen years, as of yesterday, and I’ve developed opinions on many famous generals from our history. Most of those opinions are demonstrably leery of anyone who receives unadulterated hero worship. I am not a fan […]
