June Books

I finished 12 books this month. Sine I stopped watching TV I thought I might get through more but it could be that some of these were longer than average. I generally keep to a 10-hour minimum rule for buying books and love when I can get a really good 30+-hour book. 

One book that I didn't include in the list is one that I started and then stopped after 45 minutes. What made me think I'd want to listen to Don Quixote is beyond me. But I got over it and moved on. Other than that, I can't say that I disliked any of the books I read this month. John Sandford will generally always top my favorites list for fiction but I also really enjoyed The Lake House. For non-fiction I particularly enjoyed Elephant Company and A Little History of Philosophy. Oh, and Predictably Irrational was quite fun for a non-fiction book.

What recommendations do you have for my future reading list? Most of the books you recommend do wind up on my Audible wish because I'm always searching for good books!

Mean Streak
by Sandra Brown

Romance novel masquerading as suspense. It has a brooding, breathtakingly handsome and mysterious leading man with a driven, smart and equally beautiful leading lady. They meet on a remote mountain in North Carolina. 
It's fine beach reading when you want something mindless with a little excitement and a good ending.

The narrator, Jonathan Davis, is excellent and will keep you listening all the way through.

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The Kind Worth Killing
by Peter Swanson

Did you like Gone Girl? If you did you will love this book. It's full of people with no sense of morality and just when you think you've got the characters all figured out you find out that you don't. It's not my favorite book of all time but it sure kept me intrigued.

Ted and Lily meet on a trans-Atlantic flight where Ted talks about how he would like for his wife to be dead. The book is told from each character's point of view and it does jump back and forth in time but does so in a good way to tell the relevant parts of the story at just the right time. 

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Elephant Company
by Vicki Constantine Croke

This book falls under the category of "I had no idea!".
​I had no idea that there was an Elephant Company in WWII that was instrumental in defeating the Japanese in Burma. It's the story of Billy Williams and his work with elephants in Burma. First with the East India Company after WWI and then leading the Elephant Company during the second WW. It's absolutely fascinating.

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The Lake House
by Kate Morton

​Kate Morton writes stories that span decades and generations and she does it masterfully. This one is set mostly in Cornwall at the estate of the Edevane family. After WWII baby Theo disappears during a mid0summer party. He's never found. Decades later Alice, Theo's sister, is a famous author and is certain that she is responsible for Theo's disappearance an death. Sadie Sparrow is a discredited detective on leave visiting her grandfather in Cornwall and becomes interested in the Edevane family. The ending wraps things up a little too neatly to be believable but you get so wrapped up in the characters that you really don't want it to end any other way.
​If you consider getting the audio book be sure to listen to a sample to make sure you like the narrator's voice. Caroline Lee narrates all of Kate Morton's books and I like her a lot but I could see how her voice might bother some people.

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What Angels Fear
by C. S. Harris

​Another new mystery series for me. This one opens at the beginning of the Regency period in England, 1811. A woman is found brutally murdered behind the women's alter of a church. Viscount Devlin, Sebastian St Cyr, is the prime suspect. If you enjoy Anne Perry and other historical novels you will enjoy this one. This series will keep me busy for a while, there seems to be 11 of them so far and this is the first.
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A Little history of Philosophy
​by Nigel Warburton

​This must have been one of the Audible Daily Deal books because it breaks my 10 hour minimum rule. This one is only 7 1/2 hours long and could be called a "Romp Through Philosophy". It starts with Socrates and introduces you to major philosophers and philosophies through time. Believe it or not, this was a very interesting book. I think I'd like to have it in paper so I could use it as a jumping off point for further research.
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Chickenhawk
​by Robert Mason

​I'm late finding this book. It was published in 1983 and made in to audio format in 2001. Anyone interested in the Vietnam War has probably already read it. It is Robert Mason's experiences flying helicopters in Vietnam. It's one of the most popular books every written about the Vietnam War. I think it's popular because it tells probably one of the few stories about that war that is palatable to people who haven't experienced such things. It's still pretty gruesome but not so bad that you can't read it.
​The Vietnam War ended when I was in early high school so I was never as aware of it as adults of that time. This isn't the heroic tale of Unbroken, but Robert Mason also provided heroic service to the US and his story is worth reading.
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Predictably Irrational
by Dan Ariely

It may not seem so from the title, but this is a fun book. It's all about the irrational decisions that we make every day from our choices in medicine, buying coffee, splurging, penny pinching and cheating. "We consistently overpay, underestimate, and procrastinate. We fail to understand the profound effects of our emotions on what we want, and we overvalue what we already own. Yet these misguided behaviors are neither random nor senseless. They're systematic and predictable - making us "predictably irrational." It's easy to understand and a relatively light read. It also helped me identify some things about myself. It's about 8 years old so some of the examples are dated but our human behaviors are consistent.
This one was surprisingly good.

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Mightier Than The Sword
by Jeffrey Archer

Yawn. 
This is the 5th book in the 7 books Clifton Chronicles series. Someone wrote in a review that Archer's characters have become cardboard cutouts. I couldn't agree more. Reading these had almost become like reading a history text: First this happened and then this happened and then the next thing happened. There little real emotion and everyone conveniently gets out of dangerous situations just in time. It's like watching the old Dallas and Dynasty shows.
But I could deal with all of that. I've read 4 books about the characters so I feel I know them. What I can't tolerate is that every story line ended in a cliffhanger. There's no way you could read this book as a standalone novel. Surely he could have concluded at least ONE story line.
​Very disappointing.

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Gathering Prey
by John Sandford

#25 in the Lucas Davenport series (I'm behind by 1) and this series is still going strong. I finished this in a day. Richard Ferrone is the perfect narrator for Lucas.

Even after 25 books I want more Lucas Davenport. Lettie is central to the story and that's a good thing too. I've always liked the Lettie character

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A First-Rate Madness
by Nassir Ghaemi

The publisher's summary is the best summation of the subject matter of this book:
Nassir Ghaemi draws from the careers and personal plights of such notable leaders as Lincoln, Churchill, Gandhi, Martin Luther King Jr., JFK, and others from the past two centuries to build an argument at once controversial and compelling: the very qualities that mark those with mood disorders—realism, empathy, resilience, and creativity—also make for the best leaders in times of crisis.
You read that right. Crazy people make the best crisis leaders. It's actually an interesting thesis and he presented the information well and, to make sure you get it, he repeats it. Add to that a narrator who was so meticulous and measured in his narration that he wanted to make sure that my pea brain could absorb the material. In the end you have a very interesting thesis that I bought into presented in a quite plodding way and I'm left not recommending this one unless you read with your eyes instead of ears.

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Extreme Prey
by John Sandford

This is #26 in the Lucas Davenport series. He's no longer with the BCA and now is working is an independent investigator for the governor (and presidential candidate).

This was the book that Mom and I listened to on our 700 mile journey earlier this week. We are both big Lucas Davenport fans and this one did not disappoint.

If you were a fan of the TV series Justified then you will like the ending of this one.

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