Homecoming by Kate Morton
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This murder mystery is more of an exploration of women, motherhood, family, and the role women were expected to play in the 1950’s in Australia than a crime novel. It’s written by a woman and all the main characters are women, which is unusual for a murder mystery, but as I said, it’s mainly about women and family. The murder (or perhaps an accidental poisoning) takes place at a family picnic in Australia. The mother and three of her children die, but there was an infant in a wicker basket who disappeared. Fast forward to modern day and Jess, a successful writer who was raised by her grandmother Nora, is called to attend to Nora who had suffered a fall. Nora is incoherent but babbles something about a baby. Jess eventually finds out Nora was present at the scene of the family death as her brother owned the estate. Nora also gave birth that same day, we learn. The truth is complicated, convoluted perhaps is a better word, but it all comes out in the end.

The story kept me interested for several days as it is a long book (835 pages LT edition), but it was a struggle to get to where the plot really takes off (page 577). The author pads it, especially the first half, way too much with backstory, much of which is implausible or fanciful, but it’s manageable until it gets interesting. As an American I had almost no concept of Australian geography, but that’s what Google maps is for. Still, much of the logistics and differing terrain were lost on me. The author was too clever by half at the end with red herrings and switcheroos but found a satisfying resolution. The author seems to think that almost every man deserts his wife and children, either literally or by marrying his work. At least that’s the impression the book gives. Perhaps I’m just the rare exception (still with my wife of 45 years). Four stars is a stretch, but I’ll make that stretch.

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Polostan by Neal Stephenson
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I’d read a couple of Stephenson’s books before this one, so I had an idea of his style: epic scope, jumping around to widely different places, non-linear time. That combination can be tiresome if you don’t have the patience for it, but here it works okay to a point. The protagonist is Aurora (name while in Russia)/Dawn (while in the U.S.), a tall, striking American Communist woman living in the time of the Chicago World’s Fair (1933) and Joseph Stalin. She experiences a wide variety of fantastical and improbable situations – learning to train polo ponies in Montana – learning to use a Tommy gun (and then using it) – forms of torture at the hands of both Americans and Russians, taking in the fair as a walking billboard, and many more. The plot doesn’t really come together until the very end and gives the impression the author just kept writing a series of anecdotes or short stories until he figured a way to unite them. There is a lot of originality in the style and considerable research, especially as to the Chicago Fair. I had trouble keeping characters, settings, and places straight. The plot is too scattered and implausible to give it a high rating, but it was entertaining enough when viewed as a collection of unrelated stories. I was not aware until writing this this review that it was the first in a series. It didn’t catch my interest enough to make me want to read the next one.

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The Demon in the Freezer by Richard Preston
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Preston writes a compelling non-fiction work about infectious disease, his second. The book begins with a description of the mysterious anthrax bioterrorism attacks of 2001. The victims were some politicians, their staff, mail handling personnel, and one random woman believed to have contracted the disease from her own mail which had been sorted in proximity to a contaminated letter full of anthrax spores. I thought it would be a cracking good real crime story detailing how the FBI and the scientists who helped them cracked the case. Much of the book is about that case, but the case was not solved by the time the book was published and the book does not identify any individual to be the perpetrator. Most of the book focuses on smallpox, specifically the weaponization of smallpox. The history of smallpox as a disease and then as a weapon is fascinating and well depicted. The author humanizes it by describing the laboratory procedures various scientists use to deal with samples or treatment of patients, and he provides the back stories, i.e. brief bios, of the scientists and doctors along the way.

There’s a lot of good science in the book and some tense moments that demonstrate how easily a smallpox epidemic could start that would wipe out forty percent of humanity. Still, a lot is unknown about whether there is a credible bioterror threat. Scientists disagree. The author comes just short of pointing the finger at a particular scientist as the perpetrator of the anthrax attack, but that person turned out not to be person the FBI eventually identified. The book quotes several scientists as stating with great certainty that Saddam Hussein definitely has a stock of weapons of mass destruction, i.e. biological weapons, but one year after the book was published, the U.S. invaded Iraq and found no evidence of such weapons. The book may be relegated to irrelevance as it is over twenty years old now, but the Covid pandemic showed how relevant it still is. A global pandemic is a genuine threat whether occurring naturally, accidentally, or intentionally. The difficulties involved in defending against it, both in the labs and in the outside world are made evident in the book. Smallpox is supposed to exist solely in two closely guarded facilities in the world, one in the U.S., one in Russia, but the book shows how that belief is probably a pipe dream. The development of antiviral medicines against AIDS and HIV give us hope that something similar could be done with smallpox, but the death toll would probably be devastating in any event.

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Donald Trump just installed two new overly tall flagpoles in the White House residence, the first on the South Lawn. I just submitted the following anagram to the Anagram Times to honor it:

Trump installs new White House flagpoles = Oh, swell – powerful male penis status thing

I also decided to try to find an appropriate What3Words triplet for the installation site. The best I could find is : flags.slug.secret. That’s very close to the site.

Slug’s secret flags would have been more appropriate, but I don’t assign word combos. Don’t get me wrong: I like flying the American flag and have no objection to that. It’s just the idea that Trump has to have even bigger poles that the ones that existed that I’m ridiculing. Pardon the male penis redundancy.

Camino Island by John Grisham
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Thieves steal valuable manuscripts from the Princeton Library. Some of the crooks get caught, but others don’t. The loot disappears. An insurance company hires a team of investigators to track them down since it would be on the hook for hundreds of millions. They suspect Bruce Cable, a book dealer in resort town Camino Island, to be the fence and enlist an attractive young author, Mercer, to work undercover and ingratiate herself with Bruce. There’s plenty of book business gossip and hanky panky going on throughout the book. Eventually a ransom demand is made on Princeton for the return and the action starts.

This is light fluff but amusing enough to pass the time. I suspect Grisham was having fun skewering the publishing business, although most readers probably don’t share his inside knowledge or interest in that industry. Rare book collectors would probably get a kick out of it.

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Notes on an Execution by Danya Kukafka
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

The story is told from multiple perspectives. It begins with a narration by Ansel, the condemned man, facing impending execution for murder. The author made an odd choice to have all his narration done in the second person, as if he’s talking to himself (“You remember the Blue House. You …”). All the other characters’ viewpoints are told in the third person. Strange, but at least in his case, you can tell who it is “talking.”

The title removes any suspense about what’s going to happen – e.g. escape, pardon, suicide, a ‘real killer’ twist. I don’t understand the reviewers or blurbers who extol the suspense since there is none. The back story that led up to this point is then told by and about various people including his ex-wife, her sister, the detective who was trying to solve the murders (there are several), Ansel’s mother, and perhaps one or two more. Unfortunately this book follows the current trend of jumping back and forth in time repeatedly throughout the book, even within a chapter. I wish someone would write a novel that takes place in chronological order, at least for each narrator’s viewpoint if there are more than one.

The story line raises issues of abusive parents and abandonment, the foster care system, genetic predisposition (nature or nurture), blame, and capital punishment. The writing is quite literary for a crime novel, although that’s not necessarily a good thing. It goes counter to the genre. Overall it is a readable story but somber and frustrating enough that it’s not very enjoyable.

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I noticed a weird correlation today. Google trends today showed the below graphic displaying the search interest in the male and female French Open winners. What surprised me is how closely the interest followed political red/blue state lines. If anyone has a theory as to why Republicans are more interested in Coco Gauff and Democrats in Carlos Alcaraz. Besides the obvious male/female dichotomy, the other major differences are race (Gauff black, Alcaraz white) and nationality (Gauff USA, Alcaraz Spanish). I have my theories but I’ll refrain from spelling them out.

Longhorns East by Johnny D. Boggs
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

According to the author this biographical novel was inspired by the story of Tom Candy Ponting, an Illinois cattleman who was the first to drive a herd of longhorn cattle from Texas to New York City. The author admits to having invented most of the characters and incidents, but the general facts of Ponting’s achievement is reportedly accurate and the three or four main characters real persons. The book has many tense even deadly moments, a few funny ones, and even some near disasters. The life of a western cattle drover is delineated in considerable detail and is perhaps the most interesting thing in the book. I wasn’t excited about the book, but it filled the time well. I listened to the reader who narrated in Tom’s English accent, a rather odd one that took some getting used to. It was a rough accent, not received pronunciation (RP). I’m stretching my rating to 4.0.

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Tell Me Everything: The Story of a Private Investigation by Erika Krouse
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This is the true life story of the sexual harassment/Title IX lawsuit against the University of Colorado in the 2000s. The names and details have been altered, but it paints a clear and quite revolting picture of the culture there in the football program to recruit players. They are or were given carte blanche to show up at any party and force sex on any woman who happens to be there. There were multiple cases of rape uncovered and the rapists were never prosecuted because of the popularity of the football program. Some dogged investigative work by the author and the lawyer she worked for eventually led to the exposure of the activities and a major lawsuit. It’s an interesting, if depressing, read.

The other half of the book, interspersed with the lawsuit, is the memoir part. I understand the desire of an author to write a memoir. After all, one is supposed to write “what you know,” and there is nothing you know better than your own story. Even so, this part falls into the category of oversharing. Her early life is not a pretty picture and I found that and her later love life and courting of no interest. I was interested in the legal case, not a cathartic outpouring.

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Imminent: Inside the Pentagon’s Hunt for UFOs by Luis Elizondo
My rating: 1 of 5 stars

Total hokum. The author believes UFOs are artifacts made by a non-human super-intelligence – basically aliens. I was skeptical but I started with an open mind on this and was looking forward to reading about the evidence. Then he goes into his own upbringing and personal biography. I wasn’t interested in that and almost skipped it, but I’m glad I didn’t. In his own words he admitted he was a terrible student – no good at science, spelling, or anything else. That’s a pretty good description of stupid. He came up through the ranks of the army. He also claimed to be a remote viewer – i.e. someone who can see things in distant parts of the world just by thinking about them. That’s a form of ESP – or fraud perpetrated on the gullible. He has zero credibility, so I stopped reading. He thinks some of the UFOs defy the laws of physics. No. That’s why they’re laws. Just because the technical explanation for some of the incidents hasn’t been figured out, doesn’t mean some aliens or superhuman terrestrial intelligence exist. Those same laws of physics tell us aliens can’t travel to here nor can we travel to there. The Pentagon cut off the program for good reason. If these non-human built craft existed, we’d have good pictures of them by now.

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Dark Wire: The Incredible True Story of the Largest Sting Operation Ever by Joseph Cox
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This docubook details the story of a huge sting operation launched and operated for years by the FBI, the Australian Federal Police (AFP), and a set of European national police departments. The group created their own encrypted phone and distributed them among drug dealers worldwide. The software in the phone was devised to have all the encrypted messages decrypted and stored in plaintext to a central server for law enforcement access. The information received eventually resulted in tons of drugs of all types being seized, several murders thwarted, and hundreds or maybe thousands of criminals prosecuted. As a retired FBI agent I loved the basic operation and cheered on the good guys. I was surprised and delighted at the crucial role played by one small country.

That said, the book wasn’t written to entertain, so it became a bit too much like a police report – highly repetitive and devoid of much action. Much of it is simply recording which new drug dealer or phone seller or user got sucked into the sting and how the drug trade took place. I would have skimmed to the end if it weren’t a book club choice. Ironically, the FBI is the one agency that couldn’t use the intercepts in its own country because of U.S. privacy laws. It could, however, prosecute the phone sellers for selling the phones, conspiring, obstruction of justice, RICO, etc. I’d give this a 3.5 star rating but I’ll stretch that to 4 for Goodreads.

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I make crossword puzzles for a magazine. It is sometimes hard to come up with a good theme that is original and which has words or phrases that are of the right length. Often using a good quote will serve the purpose. One favorite pattern of a 15×15 crossword has three horizontal rows with no black squares (blocks). Constructors love quotes that parse into three 15-letter blocks to fill that pattern. Well, I’ve scoured a database of quotes to find 188 such quotes and I’ve listed them below. If you’re a constructor feel free to use these. I cannot guarantee the quotes or the attributions are accurate or interesting, so you should verify them from other sources. I already know the Lewis Carroll “quote” is NOT from Alice in Wonderland or Through the Looking-Glass.

to love oneself is the beginning of a lifelong romance oscar wilde
i admire those who do good and expect nothing in return roy t bennett
it would be so nice if something made sense for a change lewis carroll
a man cant soar too high when he flies with his own wings william blake
i never hated a man enough to give him his diamonds back zsa zsa gabor
mysteries force a man to think and so injure his health edgar allan poe
all things one has forgotten scream for help in dreams elias canetti
i care for no man on earth and no man on earth cares for me charles dickens
the devils agents may be of flesh and blood may they not arthur conan doyle
god spoke to you by so many voices but you would not hear james joyce
if god has given us life he is capable of any other thing lailah gifty akita
when your pockets are empty go where your heart is full dragos bratasanu
learn to be you why follow in someone elses footprints diana dentinger
telling the truth is less demanding than telling a lie eraldo banovac
compassion is the magic ingredient to an amazing life amy leigh mercree
we often build our lives in a way that shuts out freedom beth kempton
delusion detests focus and romance provides the veil suzanne finnamore
elaborate burial customs are a sure sign of decadence jg ballard
whatever you love unconditionally will become yours debasish mridha
there is creative reading as well as creative writing ralph waldo emerson
the only power the devil has is in our area of ignorance sunday adelaja
success involves avoiding the lure of making excuses jeffrey fry
how the story will end no one knows we can only envisage lailah gifty akita
look for the heart in a man before you look at what he has jonathan anthony burkett
for every book you buy you should buy the time to read it karl lagerfeld
those who possess time are often not aware of its value sunday adelaja
well someone slap my butt and give me a hero cookie nick sherrilyn kenyon
of course it hurts its a spanking how else would it work breanna hayse
if per capita was a problem decapita could be arranged terry pratchett
never put off till tomorrow the book you can read today holbrook jackson
if a child is loved he feels worthy of love in the future sunday adelaja
you must know your part in the body of christ and play it sunday adelaja
a good person not a bad resolution to make in dark times jm coetzee
i have confidence in love and most of the time i doubt it sami abouzid
the kindest way of helping yourself is to find a friend ann kaiser stearns
well i admit it im a people addict and i dont want to quit amber hurdle
if you really want it then youll make your dream happen mitch albom
every election is determined by the people who show up larry j sabato
its like a drug the feeling you could make a difference richard ben cramer
i would rather be a bad feminist than no feminist at all roxane gay
too often truth is doubted while the error is believed lailah gifty akita
love is the bridge between the earth and the spiritual grace sara
anger always has a reason but love is always the answer debasish mridha
in a very romantic moment i want only love not a comment debasish mridha
all you need to get by in this world is the memory of love kamand kojouri
do all the work you can while there is grace of strength lailah gifty akita
civilization was a defense against natures raw power gregory benford
spring gives hope that god believes in second chances toni sorenson
water doesnt know where its going to flow it just flows bert mccoy
you are the sun and im the moon in your shadow i can shine tokio hotel
maybe if i act well enough ill come to believe it myself garth nix
if you follow your passion the world will follow yours vishwas mudagal
the world is not to be run by miracles but by principles sunday adelaja
the best promises forever seem to be made by amnesiacs chris gould
being a christian is about living an inviting example ricky maye
falling into true love is not taking a rope to climb out benny bellamacina
things are always given to us when we need them acheron thats so not true
these days a sling of truth still can make goliath fall tom althouse
reality is seeing that the peace in a picture is a dream lee wen
sand in reality is nothing else than very small stones axel fredrik cronstedt
you will discover all that pertains to life by reading lailah gifty akita
a smile will go the mile while a frown will take you down anthony liccione
may you always see the world through the eyes of a child cj heck
a day without your child is like a day without sunshine
it takes maturity to be able to laugh like a child again moffat machingura
do not go gentle so i fight i fight the only way i know how ally condie
your spirit needs selflove like the body needs oxygen pamela cummins
if your are afraid to fail then youre afraid to succeed stephen d matthews
when they asked me what i wanted to be i said i didnt know sylvia plath
this is everyones fight because its everyones future jennifer l armentrout
choosing beliefs freely is not what rational minds do sam harris
we can do so much if we just believe in our own potential akiroq brost
without language thought is a vague uncharted nebula ferdinand de saussure
the only wolves we got to fear are the ones wear manskin george rr martin
if you are holding hands with others you cant hold a gun allan rufus
maybe im still the mermaid maybe the ocean is your hand kelli russell agodon
our highest deeds come from helping the lowest people matshona dhliwayo
when one person is missing the whole world seems empty pat schweibert
protect me from my friends i can take care of my enemies lil wayne
every connection you create either helps or hurts you bernard kelvin clive
we need more men to sit at the table at the kitchen table sheryl sandberg
glorious death is a transition into heavenly glories
everybodys youth is a dream a form of chemical madness f scott fitzgerald
as nice an offer as that was im afraid im not interested
it is enough if god approves of me and all are against me lailah gifty akita
by the time i would finish school ill be fifty he smiled
if only those must be the two saddest words in the world mercedes lackey
we are past the end of things now but i dont want to leave richard ford
suffering is not a consequence it is about permission karen a baquiran
failure i can live with not trying is what i cant handle sanya richardsross
im more than a kiss on you worst day im a kiss on your best dr jeremy nichols
you can just about always stand more n you think you can texas bix bender
hes most probably in a closet so deep hes like in narnia ka merikan
late to bed late to rise command like hell and monetize ben tolosa
it takes darkness inside of a person to see it in others amy neftzger
the poor stay poor here because they do not save enough abhijit v banerjee
the best men in all ages keep classic traditions alive george santayana
obsession either boosts up feeling or just blow it off shivangi lavaniya
desperation does not breed empathy or clear thinking joseph fink
decision without thinking is like a body without head israt ali
club hate does not admit fine people to its membership tf hodge
promises are lies wrapped in pretty ribbons cinnamon vc andrews
and lo i am with you always even to the very end of the age anonymous
waiting taught me i cant have it in my way but in gods way lailah gifty akita
life is a series of choices and all we can do is make them kamal ravikant
some men drink the blood of other men all i drink is wine mohsin hamid
the company owner doesnt need to win the best idea does john c maxwell
light makes light even brighter but does not cancel it steven chopade
the island is ours here in some way we are young forever e lockhart
it was that wisdom to us when it can no longer do any good gabriel garca mrquez
never settle if it doesnt feel right its not suppose to nikki rowe
sally has a smile i would accept as my last view on earth wallace stegner
does the road wind uphill all the way yes to the very end christina rossetti
when the struggle gets real you just have to get realer julius veal
honor i said with a snort honor has no place in survival veronica roth
i was through with sleep i didnt like what it brought me ali cross
hariri says in his maqamat safety is on the rivers bank idries shah
the first duty of a revolutionary is to get away with it abbie hoffman
sometimes i think you were a dolphin in a previous life ben m baglio
despair is a cruel companion it robs you of everything
old age isnt so bad when you consider the alternatives maurice chevalier
discover what you love to do the most and strengthen it steven cuoco
our monsters walk the dark pathways of secret motives john geddes
when your diary is full and your life is empty get a date benny bellamacina
how many times do i have to tell you we are not gangsters peter cimino
and for the love of god bitch dont get stabbed this time alexandra bracken
a warrior of light does not postpone making decisions paulo coelho
every time i think about that girl my mind commits a sin jake vanderark
one love one heart lets get together and feel all right bob marley
she would see it as betrayal nothing more nothing less samantha young
if eer again i meet him beard to beard hes mine or i am his william shakespeare
how is it i have the strength to carry my own weaknesses nanamoli thera
einstein gave us a problem he knew we would never solve eric john mancini
when the conflict deepens none will have peace either auliq ice
read for life read for your mind read till you cant read jeejy
everything i have to say has already crossed your mind then possibly my answer has crossed yours
the soul is steady just waiting to be fed and to blossom leta b
what you dont wish for will always be beyond your reach michael ende
he might have lost his mind but never his fashion sense gail carriger
every god serves a purpose and every faith fills a need michael g williams
treat your entire audience with the same level of care cendrine marrouat
whats the point of doing anything if nobodys watching crimethinc
if everyone loves you maybe you dont need so many tanks craig nelson
everyone wants to impress somebody thats how it works deyth banger
true peace is when you can be happy in the midst of chaos matthew donnelly
obsession either boosts up feeling or just blow it off shivangi lavaniya
your persistence is your measure of faith in yourself unknown
while youre alive theres no time for minor amazements alice fulton
rejoice as summer should chase away sorrows by living melissa marr
you say you need to love others but do you love yourself bangambiki habyarimana
me tarzan you jane i kill bad guy beat chest tarzan howl stephanie rowe
behavior speaks i need not listen to someones apology
there must be a lot of duplication in our countrys laws
every one is as god made him and often a great deal worse miguel de cervantes
every fact that is learned becomes a key to other facts e i youmans
he is always right who suspects that he makes mistakes spanish proverb
the growth of true friendship may be a lifelong affair sarah orne jewett
only he who can see the invisible can do the impossible frank gaines
to love one that is great is almost to be great ones self madame necker
it is not what we do it is how much love we put in the doing mother teresa
fortune is the rod of the weak and the staff of the brave james russell lowell
handel was a man of the world but bach was a world of a man arnold stevenson
poetry the eldest sister of all arts and parent of most william congreve
lord if any have to die this day let it be me for i am ready billy bray
private place and plenty of time are the life of prayer e m bounds
i am no longer what i was i will remain what i have become coco chanel
soft closer of our eyes low murmur of tender lullabies john keats
god gave us memory that we might have roses in december sir james m barrie
the outside world holds no interest for me without you edward
i was good at being charming one of my very few vanities jeff lindsay
i can live without money but i cannot live without love judy garland
it is not the voice that commands the story it is the ear italo calvino
the aura of soccer is very different from other sports dave checketts
christmas albums are not something you do frequently isaac hanson
it is only when i am doing my work that i feel truly alive federico fellini
to find joy in work is to discover the fountain of youth pearl s buck
ive been famous my entire life i dont know any other way cher
trees love to toss and sway they make such happy noises emily carr
we should weep for men at their birth not at their death charles de montesquieu
i had a monumental idea this morning but i didnt like it samuel goldwyn
i havent eaten at a mcdonalds since i became president william j clinton
as long as ive got a chance to beat you im going to take it leo durocher
real knowledge is to know the extent of ones ignorance confucius
the saddest thing i can imagine is to get used to luxury charlie chaplin
in any investment you expect to have fun and make money michael jordan
you can find peace amidst the storms that threaten you joseph b wirthlin
a bachelor is a guy who never made the same mistake once phyllis diller
you will see in the future i will live by my watercolors winslow homer

Central Park West by James B. Comey
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Nora is a federal prosecutor in New York City. She has a Hulk-sized former NYPD cop who specializes in organized crime as her chief investigator and Jessica, a young FBI agent fresh from the training academy to back him up. Together they try to find out who is behind the murder of a former governor. They appear to have success, but there’s a complication: the local DA is prosecuting someone else for that murder. That’s the setup. From there the book is heavy on courtroom tactics and inside legal knowledge – Comey’s forte. That part is good.

The investigative work is a rather straightforward police procedural with no surprises, twists, or action scenes. That was a bit of a disappointment. All the characters seemed stereotyped and a tad too … well, just too. It was a quick read and not particularly bad, but not good enough to make me want to read another in the series. I wish Comey well. He got a raw deal from Trump.

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All the Sinners Bleed by S.A. Cosby
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Titus is the new sheriff, the first black one, in a backwater Virginia town that is still steeped in Southern racism. What started as the shooting of a beloved white teacher by a young black man turned into something much different, something more heinous. A serial killer is on the loose and Titus and his small department must tackle the case.

I read this author’s earlier work Blacktop Wasteland and rated it low. I found the thick southern black dialogue clumsy and hard to follow in print, and the characters not likeable, so I was reluctant to try another of his but this had good ratings and reviews. I listened to the audiobook this time and and found the excellent reader to sound natural and understandable with similar dialog. I was also impressed with both the literary nature of the writing and the author’s knowledge of police procedure and terminology. I’m a former FBI agent as is Titus. It’s nice to read a police procedural where the FBI is not depicted as case-stealing suits with no street smarts. There’s a good mystery here, and I wish the author had stuck more with that and spent fewer pages harping on white racism. I know it’s real but I’m looking for entertainment not social commentary in a police thriller. In any event, I got both in this one. I recommend it, at least in audiobook form.

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The Wedding People by Alison Espach
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

I only made it about halfway through. The writing was witty at times, but Phoebe was an unattractive character – suicidal, self-doubting, intellectually lazy, drank too much, smoked, was too forward toward Gary, rude to Lila, etc. The rest of the wedding people were pretty unappealing, too, but the main problem was the lack of a discernible plot. I just couldn’t stay interested after 50 pages or so.

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I have continued to seek out new music to add to my playlists. I have been looking primarily at stuff from the early 20th century. You’ll see some ragtime, blues, and gospel in these latest additions. Here’s the list of additions:

I also removed some songs I got tired of, or at least I removed them from some playlists to reduce the frequency I hear them. Here below are few of these (not a complete list).

I actually reduced my lists quite a bit, especially reducing the piano solo stuff, mostly boogie woogie and blues, while adding a couple of new ones. I didn’t reduce the classical pieces I have in there, and I think I’ll try to add a few more short pieces the next time around.

Out of Your Mind: The Biggest Mysteries of the Human Brain by Jorge Cham
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This exploration of our brains by two scientists turned out to be more entertaining than I expected. I expected it to be informative, but not as much fun. The chapter titles tell you the gist of the contents: “Where is the Mind?”; “Why Do We Love?”; “Will AI Take My Job?”; “What Is Addiction?” etc. One of the scientists is also a cartoonist and the book is illustrated with his cartoons throughout. At first I almost rolled my eyes at that, but I came to enjoy the cartoons. They always made the point in the text well and usually with a touch of humor. The book is clearly intended for a lay audience, but there is some interesting science in every chapter. The book is a quick read.

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The Women by Kristin Hannah
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Frankie is a naive 20-year-old nurse from Coronado Island, home of the U.S. Navy base in San Diego. The time is during the early days of the Vietnam War. Her brother is killed in action and she joins up to serve her country. The first half of the book is much of what I expected, the story of the naive girl becoming battle hardened and a highly skilled surgical nurse. She learns to smoke and drink, loses her virginity and bonds with her fellow surgical nurses. The war turns bad and the government lies to the public about it. A lot of it is M*A*S*H like. I thought that part was exciting and well-written.

[Spoiler alert] The second half of the book focuses on how she was treated, mistreated, or ignored after she came back to the U.S. The book went off the rails at that point. Every bad thing that could happen to her did. Her family was ashamed of her and hid the fact she’d been in Vietnam. Strangers spit on her if she wore her uniform. No one, even the VA, believed that she was a Vietnam veteran because “there were no women in Vietnam.” She developed a drug and alcohol problem, etc. It became too Dickensian to be believable. If no one thought she’d been in Vietnam, why would so many people spit on her? Her nurse comrades, now stateside, rescued her several times but she kept self-sabotaging. Her family stuck with her, but neither parent approved of her service. They had envisioned her being a nurse, meeting a doctor, and marrying and producing grandchildren, not serving in a war zone. The author couldn’t seem to make up her mind. As the book progressed, more and more time was spent on Frankie’s romantic life and clothes like a typical chick lit novel then much more on anti-establishment politics of the day – anti-war protests, feminism, and then switching back to Frankie’s nursing career. It bounced all over the place and couldn’t settle on a theme. I’d give the first half a solid four stars, the second half two stars, so I’m rating it the average: 3.

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Today I did a small experiment. I was looking for a list of modern day performers who record music from the early 20th Century, i.e. 1910s-1930s. I pasted that query into Google and got a response labeled as “AI Overview.” I’m not sure if this is the same as Gemini. When I’ve clicked on the Gemini icon in the past, I’ve been asked to create a paid account. Copilot (Microsoft’s AI) is free. So I’m comparing free AI to free AI.

Google produced the following:

Many contemporary performers, particularly those specializing in genres like jazz, blues, and swing, often record music from the 1920s and 1930s. This includes tributes, arrangements, and even reinterpretations of classic songs and styles. It’s a common practice within the music world to both preserve and celebrate the sounds of these decades.

It went on longer, but it did NOT name any performers, which I specifically asked for. Copilot, on the other hand, not only had a similar response, but it went on to name half a dozen or so modern performers that do music in the style of that era, including The Hot Sardines and Postmodern Jukebox, both groups I hadn’t heard of. I bought a song of the latter and put one of the former on a streaming favorite list. I pasted the exact same query into both, so I give Copilot the clear win in this case. I’ve also found it to be superior in other searches. It may be time to stop using Google as the default search engine.

I’m dismayed at the need for some of my W3W posts, but it seems like this one should be mentioned. If you follow the news you will have heard that Linda McMahon, the Secretary of Education for the United States, was at an education summit meeting in San Diego last weekend. In particular, the events took place at the San Diego Convention Center. That’s where she repeatedly referred to artificial intelligence (AI) as A1, like the steak sauce. So I took a look at some of the W3W combos there.

The very first one that pops up when you enter San Diego Convention Center into W3W is brain.factories.vanish. It seems our brain factories, i.e. schools, are vanishing under McMahon whose mandate from President Trump is to eliminate the Department of Education (DOE) altogether.

I’m sure she would excuse the A1 error as a slip,terms.forgot, also there at the center. But she made this mistake multiple times. She just has no idea what she’s talking about. This is insulting to good teachers who put all their effort into giving the kids a good education, and the center does say they teach alone with zest. But McMahon’s ignorance is a school.actor.slap in the face.

Perhaps the elimination of the DOE is a good idea if people like her are in charge of it.