THE HALLOWEEN TREE

The Halloween Tree by Ray Bradbury

145 pages

Reviewed by Rae C.

It's Halloween night and the "best boy who ever lived", Pipkin, is sick and can't come trick or treating.  The neighborhood gang has to go on without him, but not before Pipkin points them to the haunted house with the Halloween Tree.  The boys go, and there they meet the mysterious (and annoying) Moundshroud, who takes them on a trip through the ages and around the world to discover (Bradbury's version of) the roots of Halloween.  And to save their friend Pipkin, who is in awful danger.  The book has a somewhat happy ending, but not before the manipulative Moundshroud gets his pound of flesh.

I read this book when I was in my early teens, but among the great Sci Fi writers, Bradbury always disappoints me. There are no girls in the group, the writing is indulgent and very masculine, and the story is too thin and Bradbury's research is superficial.  There is NO god named "Samhain"!  Pure literary fantasy.

(Whenever someone mentions Samhain as a deity, I know it is from this book alone.  Samhain is the greatest Feast day of the Celtic Druids, their New Year, and based on the position of the Pleiadaes.  At the time the Catholic Church appropriated the holiday, it probably did fall on Halloween, but not anymore.  It's generally around the 5th of November these days. Samhain is a time when the veil between the worlds is thin, and the dead come back to visit.  The Druids divided the year in half, and the flip side of Samhain is Bealtaine, when the veil is again thin- but this time with the spirits of fertility and new life.  The 1960's movie The Wicker Man is an exploitation of Beltaine that is inaccurate like the Halloween Tree, but much more satisfying.)

If an editor had been a little more rigorous about the indulgent prose, and Bradbury had been more thorough in his research and made the plot work with history instead of changing history to fit his plot, I might have liked it more. At least as an adult.  As a kid I never cared much for books where there were no girls at all.  And I hated Moundshroud's trickery.  I felt like I'd been robbed at the end.

Read it if you want to see the Dickens influence (Pipkin, the Marley knocker, the story itself), and to see how this influenced Burton's Nightmare Before Christmas (mostly the illustrations of Moundshroud).  Or maybe you will like it.  Many men I know consider this a Halloween classic that has to be read every year.

Legacies

Legacies by F. Paul Wilson, Audiobook: 12 hrs. and 29 mins. Hardback Book: 381 pages


This is the second book in the Repairman Jack series. I listened to the audiobook. The donated Christmas presents have been stolen from the pediatric AIDS clinic that Jack's on-again off-again girlfriend Gia volunteers at. She hesitantly enlists his help in recovering them.

Helping brings him in contact with the head of the clinic, Alicia Clayton. She has bigger problems than just stolen presents. Her dead father has left her with a house she doesn't want but she doesn't want her brother to have it either. Through legal maneuvers, he has prevented her from getting in the house. This has prevented her from figuring out why he wants it so badly. Her brother is also in league with some criminals. Jack has to keep her safe and discover what in the house is so valuable. Another part of the story is that Alicia has to come to grips with a family secret.

I realized that I am still a big fan of Wilson's characters but I am not sure how much I love his plots. The reveal of what they were trying to find was a great idea but it felt like an afterthought. I feel the found thing should have had an effect on the plot but maybe part of it was because it was found too late in the book.

Finding Baba Yaga

Finding Baba Yaga by Jane Yolen     144 pages

From Goodreads:

A harsh, controlling father. A quiescent mother. A house that feels like anything but a home. Natasha gathers the strength to leave, and comes upon a little house in the wood: A house that walks about on chicken feet and is inhabited by a fairy tale witch. In finding Baba Yaga, Natasha finds her voice, her power, herself....

A mythic yet timely novel-in-verse by the beloved and prolific author and poet Jane Yolen, “the Hans Christian Andersen of America.”

Yolen reinvents the classic tale of Baba Yaga with a modern twist, and poetry. I loved the texture of words Yolen created, mixing soft with rough, kind with unkind. You could really get a sense of Tash's turmoil, her sense of self. Her character growth is well developed, from afraid and weak to strong and confident under the Baba's tutelage. 

There are some wonderfully playful elements to this story, between Tash and Vasilisa, and even with Baba Yaga. Yolen plays with modern elements, like with Baba Yaga's upgraded house elements, but still keeps much of the traditional story, like Baba Yaga teaching the girls to fly with the mortar and pestle. All the fun, interesting bits of Baba Yaga lore are there for fans to see, but Yolen also does a good job of ushering a new generation of Baba Yaga enthusiasts into the story, giving time to explain some of the more traditional elements of Baba Yaga's story. 

I really enjoyed this book, and once again, Yolen really hooked me into this modern fantasy world.

The Best American Essays 2017

The Best American Essays 2017 edited by Leslie Jamison & Robert Atwan     336 pages

From Goodreads:

“The essay is political—and politically useful, by which I mean humanizing and provocative—because of its commitment to nuance, its explorations of contingency, its spirit of unrest, its glee at overturned assumptions; because of the double helix of awe and distrust—faith and doubt—that structures its DNA,” writes guest editor Leslie Jamison in her introduction. From the Iraqi desert to an East Jerusalem refugee camp, from the beginnings of the universe to the aftermath of a suicide attempt, the genetic makeup of the eclectic and electric selections in The Best American Essays 2017 “thrill toward complexity.”

This was my first time reading a collection of essays by different people. I've read essays before, but ones that were written by one person, perhaps all centered on a particular topic. So this was new to me. Here are my thoughts on the subject:

I'm not really sure what the definition of an essay is, because based on the wide variety that is in this book, it seems like essays can be anything - thoughts on a subject of interest, personal stories, thoughts on a specific person (famous or not). When I had to write essays in school, they were a far cry from this, so I didn't really know what to expect with each new essay.

What I can say is, when I read reviews of other essays collections, Roxane Gay's, for example, I saw a lot of people complain about a lack of argument or break down of a topic into an argument. Now having read this collection (of the supposedly BEST essays in 2017) I can say that most essays do not make it clear what the argument is. In fact, most just seem to be a discussion, with the author's personal thoughts about the subject. So I think most people have the same problem as me and don't really know what an essay is (outside of a school context).

That being said, I enjoyed a lot of the essays in this book. Jamison did an excellent job of choosing a wide range of subjects and authors, whose topics were all over the map, including racism, abuse, addiction, and grief. Some of my favorites were "White Horse," "The Cost of Living," "If I Only Had a Leg," and "The Reader Is the Protagonist." These stories really drew me in and showed fascinating glimpses into the lives of people competently different from me.

I would recommend this or other collections in this series to those who enjoy slice of life narratives. They may be essays, but they are also stories, and you get very close to the author, they're showing you their brain working through something very intimately. 

American Street

American Street by Ibi Zoboi     324 pages

From Goodreads:

On the corner of American Street and Joy Road, Fabiola Toussaint thought she would finally find une belle vie—a good life.

But after they leave Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Fabiola’s mother is detained by U.S. immigration, leaving Fabiola to navigate her loud American cousins, Chantal, Donna, and Princess; the grittiness of Detroit’s west side; a new school; and a surprising romance, all on her own.

Just as she finds her footing in this strange new world, a dangerous proposition presents itself, and Fabiola soon realizes that freedom comes at a cost. Trapped at the crossroads of an impossible choice, will she pay the price for the American dream? 

Wow, this book really packs a punch! I did not have any idea the book would end up where it did. Zoboi does an excellent job of slowly building tension, of taking a single issue and branching it out, weaving it into a network of issues so tangled that you, the reader, can't imagine what the best path would be to take. You can only sit back and hope that Fabiola makes it out okay, and preferably gets her mother back. The writing is excellent, every character with strong, distinct voices creating a tightly woven fabric of family, because, after all, it's what you you do for fam.

I cannot say I enjoyed reading this book because it was so sad. I don't like reading sad books. But it's an important look into immigrant life in America, and of a particular city that has suffered much at the hands of gentrification. Fabiola's story is powerful, evocative, and it demands reading.

Conservatism

Conservatism: An Invitation to the Great Tradition by Roger Scruton, 155 pages

For Roger Scruton, conservatism is the philosophy of balance - balance between equality and freedom, society and the individual, faith and reason.  This conservatism begins with the virtue of humility, which opens the thinker to the best that has ever been thought.  Conservatism is his introduction to the most seminal writers of the modern anti-ideological tradition, a set of guideposts pointing the way to true community and true freedom.

Scruton's survey of two centuries of conservative thought is surprisingly easy-to-read, although his narrative becomes increasingly frayed as he approaches the present, reflecting contemporary tensions within conservatism.  Unfortunately, Scruton's brief descriptive overview cannot match the depth and wisdom of Russell Kirk's prescriptive The Conservative Mind, a work which he, oddly, goes out of his way to slight.

What should I do?

What should I do?: Philosophers on the Good, the Bad, and the Puzzling edited by Alexander George and Elisa Mai, 212 pages

Askphilosophers.org is a website that allows people to ask for advice from philosophers. The questions are supposed to have some type of philosophical consideration. The book contains questions and answers pulled from the website.

The book is broken up into four sections that have subsections. It starts off with the Personal, continues with the Public, moves on to the Political and wraps up with the Nature of Morality. Each question is presented with a philosopher or philosophers answering. The answers present some philosophical ideas but are pretty short and get to the point relatively quickly.

There are a lot of good questions and accompanying answers. At the end I wasn't as impressed as I had hoped I would be. I think the problem was that the questions and answers are only one to three pages so I would immediately jump from one to the next. It would probably be better to read a limited amount each day and think about them. It might also be better for a teenager or young adult who hasn't considered all the subjects covered by the questions and answers.

A LETTER OF MARY

A LETTER OF MARY by Laurie R. King  (276 pages)

Audio book 10 audio discs (10 hr.)

Reviewed by Rae C.

https://slpl.bibliocommons.com/item/show/1403776116

The third installment of the Mary Russell series.  She's been Mrs. Sherlock Holmes for two years now, and reminisces at one point that she has "known my husband for one third of my years."  (I think she is mid-twenties in this book.)  The Holmes get a visit from a woman that they met in Palestine, Dorothy Ruskin, and she has a document that will rock the foundations of the Church. Of course, Miss Ruskin dies under mysterious circumstances shortly after visiting the Holmes, and then the Holmes' house is ransacked.  And off they go solving another mystery!

I really enjoyed this more than the previous two!  It wasn't as fast paced, but having read Holy Blood, Holy Grail ages before Dan Brown's Davinci Code showed up, the title fascinated me. The case was filled with many Doyle-esque plot twists and suspects, with a very satisfying ending. And King's knowledge of theological history and archeology and the Ancient world is on full display.

Mary and Sherlock have become a very settled couple at this point, but there is still excitement between them. It also had so many tantalizing tidbits, for example: Mary bumping into a young student at Leeds that enjoys reading Anglo Saxon literature named Tolkien.  

I am so glad I started this as an audio book!  I love this narrator!  I actually prefer her voice in my head to my imagination, which is rare.  Recommended to anyone who enjoys Sherlock Holmes, Victorian and WW1 era fiction, and strong female characters.

Rebecca

Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier     441 pages

From Goodreads:

The novel begins in Monte Carlo, where our heroine is swept off her feet by the dashing widower Maxim de Winter and his sudden proposal of marriage. Orphaned and working as a lady's maid, she can barely believe her luck. It is only when they arrive at his massive country estate that she realizes how large a shadow his late wife will cast over their lives--presenting her with a lingering evil that threatens to destroy their marriage from beyond the grave.

My review:

This book is a roller coaster of emotions. It's dark, it's a bit creepy/insidious, it has an air of the mysterious and disturbing. I was thoroughly engrossed, especially because this book provides a slow build to a rather late climax, and the falling action is so full of tension that you can't put it down.

I didn't like any of the characters - so it's out of character for me to be rating this book so high. But the writing is well crafted, the story is so strong, it grips you. I absolutely hated the narrator and her weird infatuation with a man who is twice her age, her longing for him and her willingness to put up with basically anything so long as she can remain his wife. I hated Maxim, the worst kind of snobby, wealthy Man with a capital M. He babies his wife, he definitely doesn't love her, and he's so obsessed with image, he literally doesn't care about anybody. I also hated Rebecca, but only in the way that she's presented by everyone (who knows what she was really like because everyone who describes her has a different bias - she literally has no voice, she's just a symbol, throw any context on her you want because it can't be called wrong). Perhaps the only person I didn't hate was Frank.

In the end, read this book for its writing - the symbolism, the mirroring, the cyclical story-line. The characters feel very much like caricatures, but they are very intense and fascinating in their own way. I can see why this book is considered a classic. I very much respect du Maurier's writing and her book should definitely be considered more than just a "romance" story (if you can call it romance, it's one-sided, whatever, I hated the romance).

Daughter of Xanadu

Daughter of Xanadu by Dori Jones Yang     352 pages

From Goodreads:

Athletic and strong willed, Princess Emmajin's determined to do what no woman has done before: become a warrior in the army of her grandfather, the Great Khan Khubilai. In the Mongol world the only way to achieve respect is to show bravery and win glory on the battlefield. The last thing she wants is the distraction of the foreigner Marco Polo, who challenges her beliefs in the gardens of Xanadu. Marco has no skills in the "manly arts" of the Mongols: horse racing, archery, and wrestling. Still, he charms the Khan with his wit and story-telling. Emmajin sees a different Marco as they travel across 13th-century China, hunting 'dragons' and fighting elephant-back warriors. Now she faces a different battle as she struggles with her attraction towards Marco and her incredible goal of winning fame as a soldier.

Review:

I was very intrigued by this story when I first came across it. I have not really read anything about the Mongolian Empire, nor do I remember much about it from history classes. I was interested to see how the author would make this early empire come to life, especially as its told from a young woman's perspective.

And not just any young woman, but a princess and granddaughter of Khubilai Khan who wants to be a soldier in his army. Emmajin was a fascinating character, full of courage and strength. Even in her moments of fear and "weakness" she still showed a strong sense of self and a desire to be better, to be open minded, to learn. I loved watching her grow over the course of the novel, from a woman fighting for her right to her own future, a position in the army (a place no woman had been allowed before), and a strong desire to prove herself to someone who values peace, the cooperation with peoples of other nations, and a desire to end wars. Not only is Emmajin an excellent example of a strong female protagonist, she is also a really interesting person and seeing the world through her eyes was very enjoyable.


Overall, this was a good historical fiction story. It had twists and turns and a really well written character arc. If you're into historical fiction, or if you really dig character development, this is a good one to pick up.

Real Presences

Real Presences by George Steiner, 232 pages

In Real Presences, philosopher George Steiner considers the causes and effects of the unprecedented postmodern divorce between the word and the world, and seeks for a path of reconciliation.  This path begins with his analysis of the aesthetic experience as not irrational but irreducible to reason - and therefore beyond both positivism and deconstruction - and proceeds with a recovery of the social, ethical, and above all metaphysical dimensions of art.

Steiner's book is neither jeremiad nor screed, but a careful attempt to find a way past the abyss of meaning opened by the deconstructionists.  He neither dismisses nor denounces his opponents, but engages with them.  In this, he models his own understanding of the connection between artist and audience, in which the freedom of creation encounters the freedom of interpretation, the self meets the other, and both are transformed.

THE WIZARD IN THE TREE

The Wizard In The Tree by Lloyd Alexander  137 pages 

Reviewed by Rae C.

https://slpl.bibliocommons.com/item/show/123687116

An orphaned girl made to live as a servant frees a Wizard who has been trapped in a tree for thousands of years.  His powers are all wonky from disuse, and he has aged so much while he was stuck in the tree, that he must leave the mortal world quickly or die.  But how can he travel to Vale Innis, the magical land, without his powers? And how can he escape the other villagers with various evil plots against him? Mallory, the orphan girl, loves fairy tales, and Arbican, the Wizard, spends a lot of time disavowing and disapproving of her mostly incorrect ideas about magic and magicians.  But she is determined to help him, despite the difficulties and dangers both to him and to herself.

I was given this book as a birthday present when it first came out in 1975.  I didn't appreciate it then, because I was too much like Mallory and wanted magical enchanters that granted wishes. I was a big fan of Ruth Chew, whose witches were also often wanting or awkward with their powers. But Arbican insisted too much on mortals being greedy for magic, and not relying on human powers to solve problems. I've been re-reading Alexander’s Prydain chronicles and decided to re-visit this.

When I was a child I didn't appreciate how strong the female character Mallory is, and how clever. She’s a true heroine! It's a clever and well-crafted story, with great plotting, and a very satisfying ending. The villain is a formidable opponent, and Arbican is a lovable curmudgeon.  I’m glad I re-read it! 

Waking the Dead

Waking the Dead: The Glory of a Heart Fully Alive, by John Eldredge             Hardcover: 244 pgs.         

     From the title, you might think this book is about the zombie apocalypse, but this is no horror story!  There is, however, a sense in which most Christians are zombies, according to Eldredge (though he doesn’t use that analogy).  After all, Jesus promised His people abundant life (John 10:10), but the lives of most believers fall far short of this amazing promise.  The question is, why?  Eldredge argues that most Christian teaching, emphasizing “sin management” or mere intellectual knowledge of doctrine, doesn’t help us find this life in part because it doesn’t emphasize the importance of our hearts.  We usually think of the heart as the seat merely of our emotions, but the author shows that the Bible speaks of it as far more than that: as the source of our motives, deep thoughts, creativity and courage.  Citing Romans 10:9 & 10, he even shows that it is part of the means by which people come to faith in Christ.  Perhaps the most controversial thing Eldredge writes is that the Christian’s heart is good— that the oft-quoted verse about the heart being deceitful above all things (Jeremiah 17:9) does not apply to believers.  Christ gives us the abundant life when we engage our hearts through what the author calls the “Four Streams”: walking with God, receiving His intimate counsel, deep restoration and spiritual warfare.  Eldredge especially emphasizes spiritual warfare; he often brings it in even when talking about the other streams.  This resonated greatly with me, as spiritual opposition well explains why things are often so difficult in my life, especially in my spiritual life.  Eldredge doesn’t blame demons for everything, though; their activity doesn’t absolve Christians of sin and unwise choices.  I found most of the author’s arguments very convincing, though there are a few things I didn’t agree with or wasn’t sure about.  I also found his interpretation of a few Scriptures to be questionable.  Nevertheless, I still would highly recommend this book.  It gives hope that, in spite of great opposition from the Enemy, Christians can find, more and more, the life Christ promised us.

Ecclesiastical History

Ecclesiastical History of the English People by St Bede the Venerable, translated by Leo Shirley-Price, 360 pages

From his busy eighth century monastery, St Bede famously surveyed the history of the Church in England from the Roman period down to his own times, chronicling its struggles, reverses, and triumphs, charting its long, painful journey from diversity into unity.  Bede's record remains the most important early record of English history, despite his deliberate exclusion of secular material when it does not serve his moralistic purposes.

The Penguin Classics edition includes a letter from the saint to Bishop Egbert, which provides a useful corrective to an overly rosy picture of the eighth century English church implied in the History, and a contemporary account of Bede's death by his brother monk Cuthbert.

Dietland

Dietland by Sarai Walker, 310 pages

Summary from Goodreads: Plum Kettle does her best not to be noticed, because when you’re fat, to be noticed is to be judged. Or mocked. Or worse. With her job answering fan mail for a popular teen girls’ magazine, she is biding her time until her weight-loss surgery. Only then can her true life as a thin person finally begin.

Then, when a mysterious woman starts following her, Plum finds herself falling down a rabbit hole and into an underground community of women who live life on their own terms. There Plum agrees to a series of challenges that force her to deal with her past, her doubts, and the real costs of becoming “beautiful.” At the same time, a dangerous guerrilla group called “Jennifer” begins to terrorize a world that mistreats women, and as Plum grapples with her personal struggles, she becomes entangled in a sinister plot. The consequences are explosive.

Dietland is a bold, original, and funny debut novel that takes on the beauty industry, gender inequality, and our weight loss obsession—from the inside out, and with fists flying. 

I appreciated Plum's voyage of self-discovery and transformation but I was actually drawn more to storyline of the guerrilla group that runs parallel to Plum's storyline. However, I was unsatisfied with the ending to that storyline. While the women Plum is with reject the tactics of the guerrilla group there is no discussion of why they do. The author was inspired by the movie Fight Club and you can see how it influenced the book. I would recommend this book to those that like fiction.

The Great Sugar War

The Great Sugar War (The Land without Color Book 2) by Benjamin Ellefson; illustrated by Kevin   168 pages

In this second book in The Land Without Color series, Brandon finds himself in lots of trouble. He has defied his teacher, stating that the history she is teaching about the Great Grayness” is wrong, and he can prove it.

He is sent to the Principal’s Office, but instead sneaks out of school to prove his point. He runs to Grandpa Alvin’s house, but when he arrives, the house is empty. When the doorbell rings, Brandon knows he has been caught by Officer Reed, the school’s truant officer.  He manages to elide Officer Reed and heads toward the Color Factory.

One inside, Brandon finds the remains of the infamous General Droww clutching a book titled “The Great Sugar War.”  Brandon sits down to read and is soon immersed in his great-great-grandfather Otto’s adventure.

Otto is on a sea voyage, trying to make his way home. Instead he comes upon a sea battle and rescues the General, who begs Otto to help him defeat the Kingdom of Shapes.

What follows is a highly imaginative action and adventure story where the Kingdom of Color is up against the Kingdom of Shapes, where soldiers are created from sugar bubbles that form on the Earth’s surface and where giant grasshoppers are unwilling participants in the great war. Nice surprise at the end.

 “The Great Sugar War” receives 5 out of 5 stars in Julie’s world.

Shooting Lincoln: Mathew Brady, Alexander Gardner, and the Race to Photograph the Story of the Century

Shooting Lincoln: Mathew Brady, Alexander Gardner, and the Race to Photograph the Story of the Century by Nicholas J. C. Pistor   272 pages

I distinctly remember when I was in the fifth or sixth grade, I had to do a report on Civil War-era photographer Mathew Brady. I remember cutting pictures from a “National Geographic” to illustrate it, and my cousin helping me type it. The pictures and process were so much different than how the nightly news covered the Vietnam War.

It seems that at that time, Brady was getting credit for most of the indelible pictures that we know of today from that time period. Over the years,  it seems that Brady started getting less and less credit as more research came to illuminate Alexander Gardner, once a student of Brady’s, was the real mastermind behind those stirring photographs.

In this book, author Pistor uncovers the true nature of the men’s professional abilities. I was a little taken aback to learn how Gardner posed many of the battle scenes. Given the 1860s process of developing the glass-plate negatives, it’s no wonder that the image that we see are taken after days or even weeks after the battles. It was also a disconcerting to learn that Gardner posed the bodies for the utmost affect.

Brady was known mostly as a portraitist. He photographed the celebrities of the day and made them available to the public to buy and trade (much like we think of baseball cards today). And the public loved them. Learning how bad Brady’s eyesight was made me wonder how he was able to produce any worthwhile photographs.

Gardner, on the other hand, was a robust Scot immigrant who had studied and worked with Brady. Gardner made history when he was the only photographer allowed to photograph the Lincoln assassination conspirators and the only one allowed to record their execution. Also, Gardner was the man behind the cloth of the last photograph take of President Abraham Lincoln (February 1865).

The book’s timeframe flowed well, centering on the time from 1851 to Summer 1865, with an Epilogue dating 1875. The action during each chapter was rather choppy, as author Pistor had a tendency to want to go back in time to explain something.  All in all, it was a good read.

“Shooting Lincoln: Mathew Brady, Alexander Gardner, and the Race to Photograph the Story of the Century ” receives 4 out of 5 stars in Julie’s world.

Ecclesiastical History

Ecclesiastical History by Eusebius of Caesarea, translated by CF Cruse, 428 pages

Eusebius' Ecclesiastical History, written in the early fourth century, is the most complete early record of the first centuries of Christianity.  As the author's purpose was apologetic as much as historical, the interlinked central themes are the Holy Spirit's protection of the Church from heresy through the guidance of the apostolic succession of bishops, the divinely-inspired resilience of the faithful in the face of centuries of intermittent persecution, and the antiquity of the Church as the legitimate heir of the promises once made to Israel.  Eusebius is primarily concerned with personalities and events in his native Palestine, secondarily neighboring Egypt and Syria, beginning with the life of Christ and climaxing in the martyrs of the Diocletian persecution, many of whom were men and women personally known to the author.

The edition put out by Hendrickson Publishers, while set in an easily readable, large font, suffers from a number of minor editorial problems, primarily the misplacement of quotation marks.  The editors also chose to append a modern essay on the Council of Nicaea, presumably as the capstone of the early Church, although this seems to properly belong to the following era of Church history.

Nomonhan, 1939: The Red Army’s Victory That Shaped World War II

Nomonhan, 1939: The Red Army’s Victory That Shaped World War II by Stuart D. Goldman            Hardcover: 185 pgs.             Genre: History, World War II, Mongolia, China, Japan, Soviet Union

     Nomonhan is a Mongolian village straddling the boundary between Mongolia and Manchuria.  Today, Mongolia is an independent country and Manchuria is part of China, but in 1939, on the eve of World War II, the former was a client state of the Soviet Union, while the latter region was controlled by Japan.  The border between them was hotly disputed at the time— so hotly disputed, in fact, that an undeclared war erupted between the Japanese and the Soviets near the small village.  In this book, author Stuart Goldman makes the case that this forgotten border war significantly influenced World War II.  As a result of being soundly defeated by the Russians in the conflict, Goldman contends, Japan turned its attention toward expansion into Southeast Asia, putting it on a collision course with America and resulting in the Pearl Harbor attack.  Hence, the so-called “Nomonhan Incident” (also known as the Battles of Khalkhyn Gol) had a major influence on America’s entry into the war.  Another effect of the decisive Soviet victory, according to the author, was enabling Russia to survive the German invasion of 1941 and ultimately drive the Germans out of their country and all of Eastern Europe, helping to win the war for the Allies.  Goldman gives us a look at the diplomatic strategies of Britain, France, Nazi Germany and Russia leading up to the Second World War, allowing this reader, at least, to better understand the Nazi-Soviet Pact and the Rome-Berlin-Tokyo Axis agreement.  The author paints Stalin, especially, as a very shrewd leader.  I found these passages fascinating, but they make up less than half of the book.  Most of the book, understandably, talks about the conflict itself (the movement of armies on both sides), but in a very detailed, academic way that I found boring and hard to slog through.  I’m sure military historians and military personnel would find this part fascinating, but I think the average reader would agree with my assessment.  My opinion about the book, then, is divided: one “thumb up” for the diplomatic history and descriptions of grand strategy, but the other “thumb down” for an overly-detailed narrative of the conflict itself.

The 8-Minute Organizer: Easy Solutions to Simplify Your Life in your Spare Time

The 8-Minute Organizer: Easy Solutions to Simplify Your Life in your Spare Time by Regina Leeds        Paperback Book:  240 pages                  Genre:  Adult Non-Fiction   Self-Help   Organizing

Great book, very reader friendly.   Written in an enjoyable clever way with bits of humor in just the right places to keep all the information popping.    I thoroughly enjoyed it.   Regina Leeds is a good writer, very down-to-earth like talking to a neighbor over your backyard fence.    She has a lot of simple and fun ideas to spur the reader on to actually WANT to get everything in your life organized.   Reading this book, I could hear the song, “Eye of the Tiger” playing in the background and it just made me want to hit the floor running to start tryng out some of her ideas.   Great stuff here and while 5 minutes is fun but just a toe in the water, 10 minutes is good, but, 8 minutes is perfect.    She walks you through how to do quickie fixes in 8 minute increments, sometimes the reader will have to break a big project down into 8 minute segments but it does keep you motivated because who can’t hang for 8 minutes even on a project you might not particularly want to do but for only 8 minutes – why sure you can do that then when you are done you are motivated to continue on for another 8 minutes on that project or picking up something else.    It is a wonder how much you can accomplish in 8 minutes.  I think the oddness of the number is inspiring, too.   Great stuff to be found on these pages.    I highly recommend this book to anyone looking for a little motivation to take on those projects we all at times procrastinate on.   Good job, Regina Leeds!   I will be reding more of your works.