Rate the last Book you read

Secret Service agent Clint Hill died today. He jumped on the limousine during the Kennedy assassination. A very brave man and one of the last witnesses to this terrible event.



H wrote this great book:

Rough Sleepers (2023)


Not as good as the previous book I read by Kidder, but still very good. It is a true story regarding a doctor in Boston who pioneers the best ways to care for the homeless in the area.

"Rough Sleepers"

Ey when did they publish a book on my people? LOL.

The latest Renee Ballard/Harry Bosch police procedural from Michael Connelly. Harry is in this for the barest of moments. He finds himself drawn into an ever deepening case when Ballard is herself a victim of a crime. Her open/unsolved/cold case unit also tackles a two decade old serial rapist case plus one of the most infamous (if not the most infamous) and gruesome murders to ever occur in Los Angeles. Connelly has been at this for so long that he makes it seem effortless. The result is a quick and enjoyable read.

Strength In What Remains (2000)


Third book I've read from this author now, and this one is just as good as the others. It's about a young boy who experiences genocidal tragedy in Burundi and miraculously makes it to America to study medicine.

The latest Elvis Cole/Joe Pike PI novel from Robert Crais. He's one of several authors I make a point of being on the lookout for whenever they come out with something new. Lee Child's Reacher novels, Michael Connelly's Harry Bosch/Renee Ballard, Walter Mosley's Easy Rawlins and Gregg Hurwitz' Orphan X/The Nowhere Man. I used to follow Tony Hillerman's Joe Leaphorn/Jim Chee Navajo Tribal Police novels till he passed away and his daughter took the reins. There are others like Stephen Hunter's Bob Lee Swagger books that I took a break from when the authors political views became too blatant to overlook.

This Cole/Pike installment has the PI looking for a man who's been declared legally dead. Crais has always had a keen eye for capturing the dark side of Los Angeles and the combination of Elvis Cole's wisecracking gumshoe and Joe Pike's stoic lethality remains a winning one.

Funny you say that. He and King have written a few things together, and his publishing outfit, Cemetery Dance, has put out special editions of some King novels over the years.

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Our Own Worst Enemy by Tom Nichols (2021)


Good book about how citizens need to be more responsible in their duty to be informed and understanding. Maybe a misstep here or there, but the analysis and discussion was enjoyable to read overall.

This book cuts through a lot of the myths around Bogie and Bacall. The marriage wasn't as great as they pretended. Both probably had affairs. Bacall with Adlai Stevenson of all people during the 1952 presidential campaign which the media didn't report back then. Bogart was a high functioning alcoholic for the last 30 years of his life. He finally stopped drinking and smoking in February 1956 when he had surgery to remove his esophagus (cancer). The ending wasn't pretty as the guy basically starved to death and weighed 80 pounds at the time of his death in January 1957.

Bacall wasn't a nice person. She treated the servants and staff like crap which always is a sign of a terrible person. She almost married Frank Sinatra in 1959. I can't imagine that marriage lasting very long. She was also an absentee mother who went on to marry another alcoholic in Jason Robards in what would be another tumultuous marriage. Career wise she aged out quickly in the movie world as many women did back then, She did go on to some success on the stage winning two Tony Awards. She was living at the Dakota when John Lennon was killed in 1980. She was bothered by the publicity and didn't seem to know who he was. She comes across as a miserable person.

The best parts of the book are Bogart's numerous attempts and failures at stardom and the anecdotes about his various movies. He could be a nasty drunk and the guy did like to drink. No sugarcoating in this book for either of the subjects. A great look a the golden age of Hollywood, warts and all.

Haiti after the earthquake (2011)


I liked other written accounts of the events better, but this one is straight from a primary source. Dr. Farmer details all of the feelings and emotions going through Haitians, describes the bureaucracy of working with President Clinton on rebuilding plans and resources, and the the epilogue is nearly 100 pages of other people's personal stories about the impacts of the 2010 earthquake that killed hundreds of thousands.

The slave soul of Russia by Daniel Rancour-Laferriere. From 1995 it may be, but it’s very current. I still can’t seem to stomach fiction apart from Ayn Rand, so back to non-fiction. An odd one, but I’m enjoying it. 7/10.