Bering Strait by F.X. Holden
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

In a near future, Russia attacks and sinks its own massive container vessel in the Bering Strait and accuses the U.S. of doing it. Why? No one is sure, but it serves as an excuse for Russia to launch a military campaign to take over St. Lawrence Island and gain total control of the strait. But wait! America has a secret drone base in a cave on Little Diomede Island. It is “manned” by Rodriguez and O’Hare, two kick ass women. Bunny O’Hare is a crack drone pilot from Australia operating jointly with U.S. troops. That much seems like a fun plot but it doesn’t really live up to its potential.

The book suffers from, or benefits from, depending on your point of view, of a bad case of Clancy-itis. From that point on it is a discussion of weapons and battles, mostly air battles with drones and fighter planes, but also submarine and land warfare to an extent. At the same time, the American ambassador to Russia, another woman, is facing down the Russian foreign minister. Like Tom Clancy, the author simplifies world politics, makes the scenario increasingly implausible as the plot progresses, and dwells on the capabilities and weaknesses of scores of military weapons and systems ad nauseam. Throw in a ridiculous AI system that falls in love with the ambassador, speaks with a British accent, and who can hack anything and predict what Russia will do for good measure and you’ve got the gist of it. The ultimate goal of Russia is eventually revealed. If you’re into all that bang bang stuff like Clancy, you’ll enjoy it, but for the rest of us it becomes a page flipper and eye roller after awhile. Except I couldn’t flip pages since I listened to it as an audiobook and the reader is what else … drum roll, please … another woman of course. She did a good job but sounded about 20 years old. I put it on 1.5X speed just to get through it faster. I don’t know anything about FX Holden, the author, but I’ll bet F is more likely a Francine than a Frank. (I looked it up – he’s actually male.) I’m all for women being allowed in combat. I’m no Pete Hegseth, but I find it ludicrous to think all the major important military and political figures in the next world war will be women. In short, this is a chick lit Clancy novel, even if a man wrote it.

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Fuji Fire: Sifting Ashes of a Forgotten U.S. Marine Corps Tragedy by Chas Henry
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This documentary-style account of a tragedy I had never heard of was riveting at times and educational at others. In 1979, 10 years after I spent several days in an inn on Mount Fuji, a typhoon hit the same area and led to the rupture of a huge gas bladder used to fuel vehicles at a U.S. Marine Corps training camp there. The fuel mixed with the pouring rain and flowed downhill into the barracks where a spark or flame caused the fumes to erupt. The fires spread throughout the camp severely burning dozens, several fatally. The book is most compelling when describing the storm conditions and outbreak of the fire, and equally as it followed the rescue and treatment of the victims. It started a bit slow in order to give necessary background and personalize some of the key figures, but even that was interesting to me as I’d never been in the military. It was heartwarming to read sections where community members, other military branches, doctors, and others made personal sacrifices to treat, comfort, or help the burn victims. I lost interest a bit at the end as it chronicled the finger-pointing, lawsuits, possible cover-ups, and so forth. Personally, I found little if any fault with the Marine Corps. Typhoon Tip was the biggest, fiercest on record at the time, and I don’t believe anyone could have anticipated the accident. There were preventative measures in place, but they failed due to the extreme conditions. I give this one 4 and a half stars.

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Although I don’t do much geocaching these days, it’s still a big part of my life, so I wrote this song parody of “When I Was a Lad” from H.M.S. Pinafore. This has proven to be quite popular among my geocaching friends. Enjoy.

Spare Parts: Four Undocumented Teenagers, One Ugly Robot, and the Battle for the American Dream by Joshua Davis
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This documentary-style narrative tells the story of four teens in Phoenix Arizona starting in 2004 and follows them for years. The teens are all Mexican-Americans, some undocumented, others with legal status. Led by a go-getter named Oscar Lopez they formed a robotics team at their high school, one of the most impoverished in the area. This team went on to compete against other robotic teams in national competitions going up against the likes of MIT among others. The grit, smarts, and persistence of the boys is well-told and inspiring, but the book is more than about robotics. It sets forth the hardships they faced and in particular the racism and discrimination that hindered their efforts. The story is both inspiring but also a tad schmaltzy. The movie based on the same story was even more so, and whitewashed a lot of the negatives, especially some of the family relationship issues and post-graduation troubles the boys faced. I enjoyed the book, but I couldn’t finish the movie knowing what I did from the book.

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The Feather Detective: Mystery, Mayhem, and the Magnificent Life of Roxie Laybourne by Chris Sweeney
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Roxie Laybourne was a diminutive woman, but a firebrand who made a lasting impression at the Smithsonian Institution as well as the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the FAA, the U.S. Air Force and many airlines. She was an expert at identifying birds using forensic methods she invented herself in days before DNA sequencing was possible. As a young woman she was called on to identify some bird remains during a deadly airline crash caused by that bird and that catapulted her into a career in bird identification. The book is basically a biography, not a criminal whodunnit. Roxie did testify in some criminal cases and even some civil trials, although her testimony may not have been crucial, but her main focus over the years was aviation safety. Bird strikes do bring down planes and kill people. Her work identifying bird species led to establishing standards for strength of windshields and engines, but also helped airports, air bases and airlines with knowing migration patterns at specific times so that they can mitigate the risks. She no doubt saved many lives during her career and mentored many others. Much of the book deals with the struggles of a woman without a PhD fighting her way up the ladder in a world of men with doctorates. I can’t say the book was riveting, but I found Roxie to be an interesting character and there was enough detective work and bird facts to pass muster. I’ll stretch a 3.5 to a 4 for this rating.

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Bird City: Adventures in New York’s Urban Wilds by Ryan Goldberg
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

The author provides a detailed description of many of the prime spots in New York City to go birding. He also mentions many species, giving descriptions and habits. But much of the book is about birders, naturalists, researchers, city/state/federal agencies, and the politics and disputes between them. If you’re a birder you’ll probably love this book, and maybe if you’re a New Yorker, too. But I found that latter part boring and it took up too much of the book. The title is misleading. It should be birder city. I was put off at first by the lack of photos or other illustrations of the birds, but I realized that everybody today has a phone or computer and can look up beautiful photos of any of the species mentioned. Photos are really expensive to print in a book, so I’ll give him a pass on that one. I did spend a lot of time on my phone looking and pictures and maps. I lived in New York years ago, but I never lived or worked in Brooklyn, where most of the action is in this book. All in all it was okay, but not a book I can recommend to anyone other than a birder.

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My Friends by Fredrik Backman
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Louisa, a homeless 18-year-old artist is “discovered” by a famous artist known as C. Jat. We later find the four letters of his name are actually the first letters of the names of his four friends. The artist realizes Louisa is “one of us” and shortly thereafter dies and leaves Louisa the most valuable of his paintings. She is rich except has no money or place to keep the painting. Ted, the T in Jat, gives her the painting according to the artist’s wishes, but then tries to distance himself from her. Instead she latches onto him to get his help selling the painting. They take a train ride which turns into various misadventures. Eventually Louisa gets from Ted and others the fascinating story/-ies of the artist and his friends and the painting. It is a story of deep love between friends. Of course it’s quite implausible, but that shouldn’t stop the enjoyment. I’d rate it 4 and a half stars but Goodreads doesn’t allow half stars, so I’m rounding up.

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