Current Reviews

AT WAR WITH OURSELVES: MY TOUR OF DUTY IN THE TRUMP WHITE HOUSE, by H.R. McMaster
There are so many books by former Trump inner-circlers that I tend to lose count. And given the November election results; the American people must be rejecting anti-Trump memoirs. McMaster's Trump book is better than the rest--absent are doom or sour grapes. Instead, it is big on policy, psychology and the stuff of competition between nations.
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JAMES: A NOVEL, by Percival Everett
One of the very few best novels I have read in the last decade. James has engaging characters, fascinating plot developments, and even if it is a cliche, it has "heart." Its two protagonists both have strong moral cores--though they themselves may not be fully aware of just how ethical they really are.
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PRECIPICE: A NOVEL, by Robert Harris
Precipice is another outstanding historical novel by British author Robert Harris. Precipice begins in England in the Gilded Age leading to World War I and details the origins and the course of the War including intriguing events in England before and during the War. Harris relates three stories simultaneously: The tragic events of the War, a secret romance between Harold Asquith, the married Prime Minister, and Venetia Stanley, a much younger woman, and the security investigation into the Prime Minister's disclosure of top-secret war plans to Venetia.
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THE ROSE ARBOR: A NOVEL, by Rhys Bowen
Rhys Bowen's standalone novels have typically been connected to World War II events and The Rose Arbor was no exception. In 1943, the residents of a tiny village were ordered to evacuate so that the military could use their village for training purposes. In addition, children were being evacuated from London for safety reasons to live with "foster" families in the country. In the relocations and confusions, three young girls went missing and, years later, one of their bodies had been found but the other two have never been found.
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VANISHING TREASURES: A BESTIARY OF EXTRAORDINARY ENDANGERED CREATURES , by Katherine Rundell
A bestiary is a medieval collection of stories providing physical and allegorical descriptions of real or imaginary animals along with an interpretation of the moral significance of each animal was thought to embody. A modern version of such a collection.
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