2020 Booklist

Here's the 2020 List

#	Title	Author	Completed
1	Uprooted	Naomi Novik	January 5, 2020
2	The Iron Trial	Holly Black	January 9, 2020
3	The Copper Gauntlet	Holly Black	January 15, 2020
4	The Bronze Key	Holly Black	January 20, 2020

The Bronze Key by Holly Black

The Bronze Key by Holly Black
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I'm going straight to pros and cons today.

Pros
Great read for the target age group.
Interesting story idea. Magic that can swap souls?
Good pace and length. Meaty enough to get into, but not a long term commitment.
Characters we can care about.

Cons
Inconsistent magic system. Knock people out with a thought, but still be crippled by your hands being tied together?
Goofy plot developments. Standing on a table and shouting your plan?

Yeah, I'm going to see this one through, but my epiphany for the day is that you don't have to be a perfect writer to be successful, especially with a younger audience. Focus on characters, and don't let your pace get too slow or your plot lines too deep, and younger audiences will fill in the gaps.

The Copper Gauntlet by Holly Black

The Copper Gauntlet by Holly Black
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This series continues and is going well. The best part about this is the pace. Things keep moving, and you go from major scene to major scene, avoiding potential pitfalls like dating the lectures and classes they are attending. The real payoff is at the end. Although this is only book two, major conclusions happen at the end of this book, and although there is a continuing conflict, you feel some closure. That is hard to do mid series, and as a reader I appreciate it.

To be fair, I will point out that this is written for a tween audience, and there are occasional shallow points in both plot and character. I don't see that as a drawback, since it fits the audience. This isn't a Wheel of Time or even a Harry Potter. Keep the right expectations, and you'll find that this book delivers.

The Iron Trial by Holly Black

The Iron Trial by Holly Black
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Just when I thought I'd never run into another trio of friends facing danger from a dark lord at a magic school, I found the Magisterium. (Previous encounters: Harry Potter, Charlie Bone, Michael Vey, Percy Jackson )

This book wasn't perfect, but it was pretty dang good. Most of the action and characters flowed along nicely with the telling. The magic system fits in fairly well, and the bad guys are threatening while still being real characters with goals. Adequate twists and turns, especially at the end, to keep readers of all ages engaged, although this is a solid early YA book.

My only issues area some of details here and there. A character named Warren that disappears half way through the book and doesn't reappear. A school made out of tunnels that still reacts to the seasons (underground temperatures are pretty constant.) The whole thing takes place in caves with little to no mention of the lighting challenges. A few balls of flame here and there are poor solutions to that problem. The almost instant acceptance of a beast that some characters had been brought up to fear their whole lives.

Again, I liked this book, but every now and then some detail would pull me out of the story, which was bothersome. Looking forward to the next book though.

Uprooted by Naomi Novik

Uprooted by Naomi Novik
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This book was, in a word, meh. I really enjoyed the conflict, the setting, and the action in general. The rest was dismally disappointing: the characters, their relationships, the magic system, and the plot. Here are a few representative complaints:

Why doesn't Agnieszka have any homesickness or even mention her family when she is first taken to the tower? This is a huge miss and makes her a flat character. And seventeen seems too old for this role. Fifteen would make more sense to me, given the medieval setting.

She is always acting weak, which doesn't match her outspoken nature. Is it just the inaccurate trope of a weak female? In this book by a female author? Male characters push her around, even after she has come into her ability, and she shrinks when she should fight them. She allows herself to be bullied, if not outright abused, when her power easily gives her the option to stand up for herself.

Where are all the other wizards ? Only 5 are a part of the story, but apparently there are a whole book of them.

And after only 6 months of practice she can make oxen out of mud? And then she can teleport herself?

Sarkan can move people/objects around from a distance? There is no system to this magic. Limitless other than a little fatigue. What is the cost? What are the rules? There are so many opportunities for "The way it should have ended" videos with this one.

I often feel like my favorite fiction books wrap up too quickly, without enough explanation of what happened to the survivors of whatever destruction came upon them. Well, this book showed me why that might be the best solution. This book finished, and then went on forever with all kinds of details that I didn't need. Knowing that the action was over, this was annoying. It was nice to know what happened to the characters, but you have to give that info quickly and concisely, and let the reader enjoy whatever victory had been given them.

2019 Book List

What can I say? I did it in 2019!  I hit my goal of 52, and added an extra like a cherry on top. And I finished 10 days before the end of the year.  That makes this my most successful reading year yet.  And as I observed last year, success seems to be an all or nothing proposition. I hit most of the goals I set this year.  Interesting.

As for my sub-goal of reading at least 12 books in 3 genres, to keep me balanced, once again I didn't really track that well, so I'll go back and get the numbers and see how I did after the fact.

Religion (3)  +1 from 2018
Fantasy (28)  +2 from 2018
Self Help / Business (9) -2 from 2018

It looks like I read a little more of what I enjoyed, and a few more that didn't fit in any of these categories (like mysteries). And overall, I just read more.  Again, interesting.

So the next steps are the same.  I'm going to re-affirm my 2020 goal of 52 books, and try to keep this rolling.

Here's the 2019 List

#	Book	Author	Completed
1	White Sand, Volume 2	Brandon Sanderson	Jan 1
2	Winnie-the-Pooh	A.A. Milne	Jan 3
3	Newt's Emerald	Garth Nix	Jan 7
4	To Kill a Mockingbird	Harper Lee	Jan 15
5	Unwind	Neal Shusterman	Jan 21
6	Lirael	Garth Nix	Jan 27
7	Abhorsen	Garth Nix	Jan 31
8	Goldenhand	Garth Nix	Feb 8
9	The Year of Less	Cait Flanders	Feb 11
10	To Hold the Bridge	Garth Nix	Feb 20
11	Assassin's Apprentice	Robin Hobb	Mar 1
12	Royal Assassin	Robin Hobb	Mar 4
13	Assassin's Quest	Robin Hobb	Mar 21
14	Economics in One Lesson	Henry Hazlitt	Mar 26
15	The Princess Bride	William Goldman	Mar 29
16	The Talent Code	Daniel Coyle	Mar 30
17	Clariel	Garth Nix	Apr 9
18	Ms. Bixby's Last Day	John David Anderson	Apr 11
19	The Grave's a Fine and Private Place	Alan Bradley	Apr 16
20	The Golden Tresses of the Dead	Alan Bradley	Apr 20
21	Cold Iron	Miles Cameron	May 3
22	Whose Body?	Dorothy L. Sayers	May 8
23	Have Sword Will Travel	Garth Nix	May 13
24	Mister Monday	Garth Nix	May 16
25	Grim Tuesday	Garth Nix	May 21
26	Drowned Wednesday	Garth Nix	May 25
27	The Feather Thief	Kirk Wallace Johnson	Jun 4
28	Sir Thursday	Garth Nix	Jun 5
29	Five Languages of Appreciation in the Workplace	Gary Chapman	Jun 12
30	Lady Friday	Garth Nix	Jun 20
31	Superior Saturday	Garth Nix	Jun 27
32	Lord Sunday	Garth Nix	Jul 6
33	Catch-22	Joseph Heller	Jul 17
34	Legion	Brandon Sanderson	Jul 26
35	Snapshot	Brandon Sanderson	Jul 30
36	Willpower Doesn't Work	Benjamin Hardy	Jul 31
37	Let Sleeping Dragons Lie	Garth Nix	Aug 10
38	The Hidden City	David Eddings	Aug 21
39	Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl	Anne Frank	Aug 24
40	Death on the Nile	Agatha Christie	Sep 1
41	Walking with Jesus: A Way Forward for the Church	Pope Francis	Sep 6
42	Brigham Young: Pioneer Prophet	John G Turner	Sep 25
43	Coach Wooden's Pyramid of Success: Building Blocks for a Better Life	John Wooden	Sep 29
44	The Fifth Season	N.K. Jemisin	Oct 2
45	Start with Why: How Great Leaders Inspire Everyone to Take Action	Simon Sinek	Oct 9
46	Manhunt: The 12-Day Chase for Lincoln's Killer	James L. Swanson	Oct 26
47	The Library at Mount Char	Scott Hawkins	Nov 15
48	The Dragonet Prophecy	Tui T. Sutherland	Nov 21
49	The Last Days of Night	Graham Moore	Nov 29
50	Starsight	Brandon Sanderson	Dec 3
51	The Five Dysfunctions of a Team: A Leadership Fable	Patrick Lencioni	Dec 3
52	Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion	Robert B. Cialdini Lencioni	Dec 14
53	On Writing: A Memior of the Craft	Stephen King	Dec 21

On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft by Stephen King

On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft by Stephen King
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This is a re-read for me (from before I started keeping a list), and I found King's advice, style, and experience with writing to be everything one could hope for. Direct, efficient, and validated by success. While he does speak to the use of crude language in your writing, and when you should and shouldn't use it, he sure uses a lot of it himself. In his quest to be true to himself as a character, he drops a lot of f-bombs and other colorful terms. This tells me that his true self is crass and unfiltered, which is a great way to be true to a character, but this is nonfiction. I'm less interested in the character of Stephen King, and more interested in his content, so I don't know if all of that was necessary, but whatever. So I dropped a star because I can't recommend this book to all audiences of aspiring authors, but if you can handle the adult content and want to be a better creative writer, this is a great read.

Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion by Robert B. Cialdini

Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion by Robert B. Cialdini
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

At first glance this appeared to be a dry, but relevant, book on persuasion that came up in my search for the book Influencer, a past favorite that I was looking to revisit. I started listening to it, and found it to be dated, with pre-Millenial examples.

Having said all of that, I was surprised to find myself fascinated by this book. It moved at a decent pace, and had relevant insights. I am a sucker for social science books, so that might play into my opinion quite a bit, but I appreciated the content and the presentation. I found the cult references to be fascinating, and that the reciprocation principles hit too close to home. This is a great read for anyone in sales or marketing, but really is a great read for anyone who can stay engaged with it.

The writing voice was a little dry, or at least academic, at times, but with my original expectations being low, I'm going to give this one a rare 5 stars.

The Five Dysfunctions of a Team: A Leadership Fable by Patrick Lencioni

The Five Dysfunctions of a Team: A Leadership Fable by Patrick Lencioni
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I continue to review this book with my team annually, and every couple of years I do a complete cover-to-cover re-read.  This was one of those years.  See my previous reviews here:



2016: https://www.fictionroom.com/2016/08/the-five-dysfunctions-of-team.html

2014: http://www.fictionroom.com/2014/08/five-dysfunctions-of-team-by-patrick.html

2011: http://www.fictionroom.com/2011/11/five-dysfunctions-of-team-leadership.html

Starsight by Brandon Sanderson

Starsight by Brandon Sanderson
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I've been experiencing a drought of sorts. It's been ages since I encountered a true page turner. Like the drop-everything-including-the-important-stuff-because-I-have-to-know-what-happens-next level of page turner. Well, the drought is over. Starsight isn't a perfect book, but it is fantastic compared to most of the other stuff I've read this year. It almost makes me think I should just give up on all the books I try to read and just cycle through the collected works of Brandon Sanderson instead.

There isn't much I can say without spoiling the whole book... so I guess this is your SPOILER ALERT. Stop reading if that kind of thing bothers you. Spoilers, that is.

I only have one major beef with this one. Delvers are immensely powerful creatures from another realm that can invade Spensa's realm and go around turning everyone to dust, right? So how come you can literally fly into a Delver in a ship and not get disintegrated? And when you do fly into one and not get disintegrated, why does this immensely powerful, other-worldly being resort to hucking rocks at your ship? I feel like I missed something there. I am confident that if I asked Sanderson this question he would have an answer. I attended the release party for this book, and after a short speech he took questions. It was less a serious Q&A and more of a game called lets-try-to-stump-Brandon-about-the-worlds-he-has-in-his-head. Yeah, B-Sand won hands down. He knew every detail about everything.

In case you want to know, if a Mistborn tried to burn a piece of a shard blade, it would work, since shard blades are theoretically allomantically active. Yeah. I know. Trippy.

So that Delver issue was my one big complaint. The rest of the book flowed well. The characters faced conflict and had to grow and change to overcome it. The plot and world building for this series both took steps forward. The pace was good, and the cliff hanger at the end is as frustrating as it is calculated. I will admit that this space setting isn't my fave (I'd rather be on Roshar), but I can live with it, considering what I'm getting as part of the package.

The Last Days of Night by Graham Moore

The Last Days of Night by Graham Moore
My rating: 1 of 5 stars

Last year I read Wizard: The Life and Times of Nikola Tesla and while it was a bit long, and overly technical at some points, it was interesting and stayed with me. My wife read this book for a book club, which reviews some of the same events with the same people, and as we discussed our different perspectives I was often confused by the major differences between the two historical accounts. Then the day came when my wife was chosen to pick a book for the one book club we share (she is in 5 book clubs to my 1) and of course she picks this book.

The picture this book paints of Tesla did not at all match what I knew of him from my previous read. The further I got into it, I knew one thing. One of these books was materially misrepresenting the man, and likely other characters as well, and was not to be trusted.

I made it to the end of this book with a bunch of questions waiting to be asked, and then found the author's note at the end. The one where he enumerates what was fact vs fiction in the book. I was shocked. I didn't realize this was supposed to be a work of fiction. The characters were real people, in a real historically significant event, in real places. He just made up the stuff they said and did, which misrepresents, oh, just about everything. The few facts he randomly strung throughout this narrative were so out of context that they shouldn't be trusted.

This is a great example of how not to write a historical fiction. The reader needs to know up front that it is fiction. Either the character, setting, or plot need to be completely fictional. Then one of those other elements should be as accurate to reality a possible. Most commonly the setting is the historically accurate part, leaving the characters available to be fictionalized, with the plot somewhere in between (Les Miserables?). Or you could have a real character in such a fantastic, outlandish plot that the reader knows fact from fiction (Abraham Lincoln obviously did not spend his time hunting vampires.) Last Days of Night, however, doesn't do this. It's attempt to put real people in real settings, and in plausible plots confuses the reader and misrepresents history. Why not do the rest of the research and just write a history, instead of this full dramatization? State your assumptions and unknowns as you go, in the text of the book, rather than stuffing them at the back of the book where many readers won't bother to read them.

Outside of my chief complaint, I can say that the book is well written and if you sort through the end notes and can separate fact from fiction, there are some good insights into the events covered. But the damage is done. Even with these bright points, I can't recommend this book. It is like propaganda for an unknown cause. Go read Wizard: The Life and Times of Nikola Tesla, or any of the others that Moore cites as sources instead. Don't waste your time on fake history.

The Dragonet Prophecy by Tui T. Sutherland

The Dragonet Prophecy by Tui T. Sutherland
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

My 6th grade daughter loves this series and I told her I would read a book of her choosing, so here I am. This isn't my normal style, and it's been a while since I read something targeting this age range. My struggle in forming an opinion is mostly from my attempt to account for those 2 facts.

This is a well written juvenile fantasy. I'm not familiar enough with the middle reader market to know exactly, but I think it's target audience is something less than 6th grade, but it's hard to tell. I tried to think of what I was reading in 6th grade and if it was similar, but I had a hard time coming up with anything.

Pros: Solid fantasy plot. Bloody succession war leads to a prophecy about a child (children in this case) that would save the world. The twist: everyone is a dragon. It's well written, and the plot moves along fairly well. Characters have unique traits and histories.

Cons: the personification of dragons is over the top. The have scrolls, manipulate objects such as chains with their claws, and are surrounded by "human" artifacts such as thrones, iron bars, and wires. They have conversations, engage in politics, but it's OK to eat a live animal, or kill another dragon. Sometimes you kill the other dragon by humanely snapping its neck, while other times you bite and claw it to death. It's just strange, strange enough to be distracting.

If I was in grade school, would I keep reading? Probably. But can I say that this is a great book? No, it's good, and I get the appeal, but it's not a classic. The real question: what do I tell my daughter about my opinion of her favorite book?

The Library at Mount Char by Scott Hawkins

The Library at Mount Char by Scott Hawkins
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

I have so much to say and yet nothing to say. This book was the product of a random search for an available fantasy audio book from my library, which is all too often the case.

It started as a 1 star read for me. Violent, crude characters and a muddy plot I couldn't follow. What the heck was this all about?

Then it turned into a 3-star. It was still more violent/graphic than I usually choose, but there was a compelling plot developing. I've always liked creative ideas in plot, which is why I'm a fan of Garth Nix stories. I've recently discovered classic mysteries, which has me looking for Agatha Christie recommendations all the time. This dark, violent book somehow also had both of those features. Where was Caroline's Father? If he was dead, who killed him? And how? Were the other adopted children going to kill each other off before we found out the answers to those questions?

Yes, it made it to a 4-star level. This has all the same features as the 3-star phase, but now I HAD TO KNOW what happened next. Some questions were resolved, only to create more questions. You could feel a crescendo building...

Back to 3 stars... while the crescendo was building and I was fully engaged, I started to notice cheesy moments here and there. He was taken down by dogs and almost killed, only to get around and function and think clearly? What? He fought a lion with his bare hands? And then got his back stapled back together and was fine after that? Hmm...

And then... it was over. The crescendo came and died down. The mysteries were solved. The bad guys were vanquished or whatever. But it didn't end. There were, well... relationship issues. What!?!? Emotional turmoil took center stage, while our entire planet and humankind were on a path to self-destruction in the background.

1 star.

The book was over. Find a way to wrap it up and write a sequel or something. Nope, the plot struggled on, gurgling on its own blood as it gasped its last dying breath (everyone dies a bloody, gory death in this book, so it seems fair to give the book itself the same treatment.) And when it was over, I was disappointed by its last gasps. It stayed in 1-star territory.

The writing in this book was inspired. The concept and world building [of the library] was original and amazing. There is so much you could do with it. The talent of this author to take something that wasn't my genre and make me need to keep reading was fantastic. But the end product... not so much. I feel like the right editor could have helped mold the vision of this ending a different direction? Maybe not. I don't know that much about the writing and editing industry, but where there was so much potential, I have to believe that the industry should know how funnel that project to a reasonable ending. But again, I don't know. I do have the freedom, like every other unqualified reader on the internet, to rate it according to my own unqualified opinion, so that's what I've done.

Manhunt: The 12-Day Chase for Lincoln's Killer by James L. Swanson

Manhunt: The 12-Day Chase for Lincoln's Killer by James L. Swanson
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I'm not a big history guy, and I approached this book with some hesitation. It just looked dry. It was actually very fascinating, and not just for the insights into the events around the assassination of President Lincoln, but also for a look into the day-to-day lives of the people of that era. A group of states wanted to leave the Union and go their own way. It sounds democratic, especially with our current news stories around Brexit. It is just another piece of evidence that history is written by the victors. The book moved along fairly well, and had enough background info to get a feel for the characters and the era, but not so much that you get bogged down. It was well done.

Start with Why: How Great Leaders Inspire Everyone to Take Action by Simon Sinek

Start with Why: How Great Leaders Inspire Everyone to Take Action by Simon Sinek
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

There are a lot of fans for this book, and I had seen Simon Sinek on YouTube and liked his TED talk. However, this landed at a 3-star for me in a weird way: sincere 2 star disappointment with some occasional 4 star tidbits.

Disappointment - he's an unabashed Apple fanboy, and it's so over the top that it undermines his premise. He would do better to use examples of other people connecting with brands to let him maintain some distance from the examples. Second, his theory doesn't account for macro economics. You can have all of the "why" and social good you want, but if you're in an unprofitable, declining industry, you better start thinking about a new why and a new social injustice to solve in some other industry. As I was listening to this, I started to feel confused about Sinek himself. What was his angle? His data choices were obviously biased in many cases, which I was strangely ok with,
but I just didn't understand where he was coming from. Then he explained his marketing background (and his why) and it clicked. He's a marketer, and he stumbled across a good idea he could articulate, and he was marketing it. Marketing it really well, in fact. And like most marketers, his job is to sell the positive benefits of his idea, and he would struggle to share both sides of the coin. I've noticed that great marketers lack objectivity, and if there is ever a description of Sinek, this is it. When did he address the downside of getting driven by a "why"? There are two sides to every coin, just as there is more than one way to skin a cat, yet he presents and defends one way, and one way only, to achieve success. And lucky for us, it has no downsides.

I started reading this as a pre-built fan of the "why" idea, eager to get more details, and instead left the book a skeptic. It's easy to get caught up in the hype and the emotion of his examples, but at the end of the day how deep is this theory? Is success, however you define it, predicated by this concept?

An example of the 4-star tidbits I encountered: Sinek is a great marketer, and I love a good marketing insight. One of my favorites was about the need for people to join groups. I see this as a key observation, that when applied could account for as much, or more of, the positive results he cites than his why theory.

The Fifth Season by N.K. Jemisin

The Fifth Season by N.K. Jemisin
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

I found a lot of positives in this book. It was deep in a many areas. The magic system is complex, and is probably my favorite feature of the whole book. The characters are compelling, and it is easy to care about their struggles. You want them to win. The pace of the book is great, once you get in to it. It did start a little slow, but I think that is because it was complex enough that it just takes that long to get the background you need to understand what's going on. Once you're in though, it moves along well. Finally, while this is solidly in the fantasy genre, for the reader there is a mystery aspect that unfolds as you're introduced to different characters and you slowly figure out how they are related. I appreciated the ah-ha moments that brought.

But even with those positives, I can only give it 2 stars. There were too many obstacles for me to really enjoy all of the positives I just listed. I'm going to try to avoid spoilers, at the risk of making this unintelligible. While I said that the magic system was complex, it's also true that the plot was complex. It jumped from place to place, changed time frames, with characters that appeared and disappeared, sometimes to reappear later. Or not. While I said it is easy to care about the characters, that is because they are well written. Unfortunately, I didn't like them, especially the main character. She was well written, but made no sense. Her lack of attachment made no sense. Realistic, I suppose, but if I met her in real life, I also wouldn't like her. In a real world context I would see her as a self centered, I'm-a-victim, whiny type of person that is all about "finding herself". In short, annoying. I'm also not a fan of sex-as-a-plot, which I felt this degenerated into a few times. This wasn't constant, but occasionally there could have or should have been deep relationship or emotional development, but instead there was just sex. Blah. Maybe that's how the author sees the world, or maybe that's just the main characters being shallow people I wouldn't get along with. Either way, I felt it detracted from what could have been a 5-star story.

In short, I think I'd enjoy a retelling of the conflict in this world from a different set of characters, and from a different point of view. The writing, world and magic system had a lot to offer, but I think we were let down by the characters, plot line, and overall complexity level.

Coach Wooden's Pyramid of Success: Building Blocks for a Better Life by John Wooden

Coach Wooden's Pyramid of Success: Building Blocks for a Better Life by John Wooden
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I picked this up, ready for a quick business/ motivational read. I was surprised to find a quasi-sermon based on the teachings and experience of the great Coach Wooden of UCLA basketball fame. Similar to the Lou Holtz book I read a few years ago, this was a book of solid life lessons from a great coach. I found myself thinking that they just don't make men like this anymore. He calmly and persuasively told you what you needed to do to be successful, and it was to do what's right, work hard, and follow Jesus. I would love to hear a contemporary basketball coach say those things.

Why only 3 stars? While I liked his old school, conservative message, I thought his pyramid was too complex. Many of his principles could be combined and reordered to get the same message across without so many pieces and mortar principles. Simplify. Also, while I agreed with his message, I don't feel like I came away with anything new, or any burning desire to do anything differently. That might be on me more than the book, but I felt it was missing something there.

Still, it was a good read, so if you need solid life advice from your grandpa, and he isn't around, this might be a fair substitute.

Brigham Young: Pioneer Prophet by John G. Turner

Brigham Young: Pioneer Prophet by John G. Turner
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I approached what looked like a dry history book with a little trepidation. It was long, for one. As I actually got into it, I found it quite interesting. Not a nail-biter for sure, but interesting. I am a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, and many of the stories included in this history-first rendition of Brigham's life were not new to me. Some of the details were, however. Many of them showcased questionable decisions made by the pioneering church leader, and, well, true history is like that. Part of the challenge of learning the history of someone you revere is discovering the inevitable--that they were human. The fact that Brigham Young made some sketchy decisions, and had an imperfect personality, shouldn't be shocking, although to many Church members it is. I'm a fairly objective sort of person (although no one is really objective, I know) and I prefer to know the person. By knowing the person, I feel like I understand more about how they tried to apply what they knew about God's teachings. I don't just say this through the lens of my church membership. The last book I read was written by Pope Francis, and I was looking for the same thing there. I wanted to see and hear the man that was the Pope, and get to know him. That book failed at that objective for me, but what glimpses I did have of the man, I saw someone who was also trying to live out God's teachings as he understood them. Despite the mistakes and weaknesses of mankind, I feel that the world improves as each of us try to live out God's teachings as we understand them.

So do I leave this book with my faith shaken at all? I don't think so. I feel educated. I know more about what happened in the past, and I see more of why our current world and local culture is the way it is. I see the mistakes of others and see how we can learn from them. I see how trying to following God's laws, despite the lack of perfect execution, can bring about great results.

I appreciated this author. My 3-star rating is not really a rating of the quality of his work, but in part my interest level in the topic. He did a great job of writing a historical biography and not succumbing to the temptation of taking sides. He does not discredit the Church, and makes this clear in the prologue and epilogue. He also does not make this an endorsement for the church, or in any way a spiritual book. Brigham Young was a religious leader, and so he had to address spiritual topics, but he does so only in respect to his goal of writing an accurate history. He does not coddle the past, even the ugly parts. If you feel he defends Brigham Young now and then, remember that he was writing about the man, and in order to understand him, you have to understand his justification for his choices, so presenting his view of events and reasoning for his actions is justified.

An interesting note: As I was listening to this book, I talked about it with several other Church members, and was surprised at the level of push-back I got. It caused some introspection. There is a lot of negative, incorrect content about our faith out there, and as members of the Church we purposely and justifiably choose to not subject ourselves to it. I think this has unintentionally created a fear of any content that might be less than positive. While I understand the purpose behind that fear, I think that this actually weakens the faith of church members. They start to believe in an infallible earthly organization free from error, but by definition that also means free from humanity. Individuals within the Church make mistakes. They always have and they always will. While it is more infrequent, the Church as an organization has made mistakes. Thankfully, the organization of the church and how it has evolved continues to make that more and more unlikely in my opinion. But from on top of my oh-so-small soapbox, I would suggest to Church members that they learn about the history of the Church, and accept historical facts as they are. Don't base your testimony of the Church on the infallibility of men, even good men. You will be let down. And to those who aren't of our faith, if we seem like we have our heads stuck in the sand and are ignoring historical facts, remember how much misinformation is out there. Remember the history of persecution and hardship that are now a part of our cultural heritage, and it will be easier to be a little more forgiving of our oddities, but also to see where our real spiritual commitment lies.

Walking with Jesus: A Way Forward for the Church by Pope Francis

Walking with Jesus: A Way Forward for the Church by Pope Francis
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

So, I don't know what was expecting from this book from Pope Francis, but it wasn't a long dissertation on Catholic doctrine on various topics. I guess I thought there would be some kind of conversation with the reader about the challenges the Catholic church faces, and by extension Christianity faces, and what his plan is to deal with it. I expected stories, engagement, and real conversation. But no. I was bored by a compilation of one-sided, dry sermons instead.

That is not to say I didn't learn things. I am not of the Catholic faith, and so there were many new things I encountered in this book, as well as a few things I already knew, but that I was reminded of. I will list them, mostly because I love lists.

- The Catholic church, like any other group, has its own jargon. Litany, homily, Eucharist, etc, etc. I've encountered these terms here and there, but only in passing, and never in complete context. Well, I'm much more aware of these terms now, although I doubt they will show up in my vocabulary, or that I could really define them in a way that wouldn't have my Catholic friends rolling their eyes.

- The Catholic religion has many doctrines that are different than my faith. That is no surprise to anyone. However, when I put Sunday sermons aside and look at outcomes, these two religions have a lot in common, as do most other religions I have encountered. Take care of the poor, beware of greed, pray. We should all be leveraging our commonalities to promote peace and a general community of faith, rather than focusing on differences.

- But to talk about our differences... the main differences between what I heard in this book, and what I hear every Sunday at church, for me, boiled down to how we see mankind among God's creations. This book left me with the impression that man is worthless, and without power or choice. That we are meant to suffer and be poor during our whole existence, and that to exercise freedom of will, or to strive to improve our temporal means is an act against God. I just can't see humanity in this light. We are obviously beings who have the power to make choices, and if we choose to better our lives, we have even more choices to do good or evil. So I don't want to dwell on this difference, but if I summarize it to one main difference, that's it.

- Finally, if there is any doctrine I straight up disagree with, it is the concept of abstinence as a spiritual requirement. Several times in these speeches, the Pope gives advice on marriage and raising kids. At best, it was the advice of someone trying to teach someone something they read about but never tried themselves, and at the worst, absolutely awful advice. This is not just an idle opinion, but from someone who has been married for over 20 years (to the same person) and is raising 4 children. They really need to revisit that whole concept. Man was not meant to be alone.

Death on the Nile by Agatha Christie

Death on the Nile by Agatha Christie
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I have found that I really like mysteries, and no one is more adept at the whodunit than Agatha Christie. To me these are the most timeless stories written. Yes, there are the older classics to consider, but none of them carry the pace and interest level for me that these do. In the case of most other classics, I read them because they are classics. I read Agatha Christie books because I want a good mystery.

To be specific about this book, I'll admit that occasionally throughout the book I suspected the correct murderer, although without all the details. Yet, each time my suspicions were discounted by some apparent fact and I looked elsewhere. To have it come back to that suspect in the end was both impossible and enjoyable. It's the twists and turns that keep me coming back. Surprise is everything.