From Beirut to Jerusalem

By Thomas L. Friedman

Friedman is a Pulitzer Prize winning reporter who worked for UPI and the New York Times while he was stationed in the Middle East. His book is a memoir of his experiences while living in Beirut and Jerusalem in the 1980s.

If you are having a hard time understanding the what & why of the whole Middle East mess, Friedman's book may help. I found it unbiased and fair in its look at Israel and the Middle East.

Review from Kirkus Reviews:   https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/thomas-l-friedman-4/from-beirut-to-jerusalem/.

Dragon's Fire

By Todd and Anne McCaffrey

A novel of Pern.
Pellar wants to investigate the Shunned, the outcasts of society, but ends up finding a new, less dangerous source of firestone. Firestone is used by the dragon's to produce flame to destroy the alien thread that periodically threatens all life on the planet Pern.

It just sucks when one of your favorite authors gets too old and feeble to write a good story anymore. Anne has roped in her son Todd to help with the writing chores but it doesn't work. Todd's writing is blah. Like reading a newspaper article.
This new Pern novel is not interesting. It doesn't have the passion and spark of McCaffrey's earlier stories.

Review from The Aroma of Books:   https://thearomaofbooks.wordpress.com/2016/05/06/dragons-fire-by-anne-mccaffrey-and-todd-mccaffrey/.

A Private Hotel for Gentle Ladies

By Ellen Cooney

This novel is worth reading even though I was disappointed, through my own fault, in this book. I misunderstood the jacket blurbs. This is what I got from the blurbs: a proper lady leaves her cheating husband and checks into a women's' hotel in Boston. Only the hotel is a bawdy house. Fun and hilarity ensue!
OK, so it's my fault I misunderstood the premise of the story! I thought it would be fun and games and lots of goofiness. But no. This is a serious story about a woman who feels betrayed by her husband and runs away to Boston. And yes, the hotel is a bawdy house, but the women are the customers. They book the rooms and are serviced by the male prostitutes. That sounds exciting but somehow the author manages to make it dark and closeted. Anyway, the woman hooks up with one of the male whores and commits all the acts she thinks her hubby did. And yet somehow she gets back together with her husband despite her sudden sexual awakening with her new boytoy. Her husband must be a prince among men.

This novel was an interesting read. Odd, dark, peculiar and interesting. But NOT hilarious.

A review by Publishers Weekly:    https://www.publishersweekly.com/978-0-375-42340-6.

The Dogs Who Found Me

By Ken Foster

Ken Foster likes what are commonly called pit bulls, those ugly dogs with the bad reputations. I didn't know it, but apparently there is a great deal of interest in fighting pit bulls against other dogs and animals. So pit bulls come in for a lot of abuse and neglect when their vile owners decide they have outlived their usefulness. These dogs end up on the street or abandoned to shelters. This book is about Ken Foster and his encounters with stray, lost and abused dogs. It was quite enlightening to read if you are not familiar with the plight of these poor dogs. We humans come off as a pretty heartless and disgusting lot in our neglect and abuse of creatures that give their whole loyalty and love to us. Whatever you do, don't get a pet unless you are willing to consider your pet as part of your family and not just as a piece of property or a commodity. And if you are one of these soulless bastards who uses dogs to fight in the arenas for gambling and amusement, well, then shame, shame, shame on you.

Amsterdam

By Ian McEwan

Winner of the 1998 Booker Prize.

This story comes off as a kind of morality play. Like a movie from the 1940s, all the "bad" people end up badly. First, there is Molly, the slut. She sleeps around, even though she is married, gets a nasty disease that turns her brain to mush, and she is dead at the start of the novel. Then there are Clive, a composer who was one of Molly's lovers and Vernon, an editor and another of Molly's lovers. And there is Garmony, a self-righteous politico, who was also one of Molly's men and who liked cross-dressing. These three former lovers of Molly all end up badly and some end up very badly. Molly's husband George watches Molly's men crash and burn and smiles.

I can't say I really liked this story. True, a couple times it made me laugh. But the two main characters are both creeps and pretty much got what they deserved. I am not fond of novels about creeps.

Review from The Guardian   https://www.theguardian.com/books/2011/dec/06/booker-club-amsterdam-ian-mcewan.

Books I've Read 2004 - 2006

Isle of Dogs
The Last Precinct
Hard Eight
Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim
Black Notice
Seven Up
Going Postal
Hot Six
Southern Cross
Mortal Engines
Angels
Point of Origin
High Five
Unnatural Exposure
Bandbox
Attack of the Bounty Hunters
Four to Score
Thou Shalt Not Grill
Hornet's Nest
Three to Get Deadly
Conquistador
The Cold Six Thousand
Cause of Death
From Potter's Field
The Body Farm
Dead Lines
Cruel & Unusual
The Ring
Homegrown Democrat
Domes of Fire
Body of Evidence
Skinny Dip
Firethorn
Rose Madder
All That Remains
No Phule Like an Old Phule
Bushworld

Books I've Read 2004 - 2006

Black Rose
Pasta Imperfect
Death and the Visiting Fellow
Dragonsblood
A Garden in the Rain
The Queen's Knight
The Children's Blizzard
Skeleton Man
Spin
Rumpole and the Penge Bungalow Murders
Trace
Dies the Fire
The Crystal City
Eyes of Fire
Heartfire
Alvin Journeyman
Ya-Yas in Bloom
Blow Fly
Myth Alliances
The Elder Gods
The Treasured One
Red Prophet
Twisted
The Three Miss Margarets
Prentice Alvin
Paradise Fields
Metro Girl
Khai of Khem
Barrel Fever
Well of Darkness
Guardians of the Lost
Journey into the Void
Acorna's Triumph
The Ghost and Mrs. McClure
Reading Lolita in Tehran
Ten Big Ones
How I Lost 5 Pounds in 6 Years
Myth Directions; Hit or Myth
The Work of Wolves
Bubbles Unbound
The Importance of Being Ernestine
Children of the Mind
To the Nines
Lucy Sullivan Is Getting Married

Books I've Read 2004 - 2006

Reader's Digest Select Editions (RDSE)
Chamomile Mourning
700 Sundays
Marley & Me
Back Home Again
He's Just Not That Into You
Dragonflies
The Painted Drum
Déjà Dead
Calamity Jane
A Random Act
Learning Joy From Dogs Without Collars
Never Have Your Dog Stuffed
A Good Yarn
Holiday in Death
Suspense and Sensibility
The Glass Castle
Scattered Suns
Naked Empire
Vengeance in Death
Horizon Storms
Crusader's Cross
Legends
A Forest of Stars
Keeping Heart on Pine Ridge
Cat's Eyewitness
Ceremony in Death
Hidden Empire
Seriously Funny
The Catswold Portal
101 Cataclysms
Little Scarlet
Swimming to Antarctica
Garfield
God Save the Potato Queens
Long Spoon Lane
The Amorous Busboy of Decatur Avenue
Rapture in Death
Immortal in Death
The Queen's Gambit
The Chalice
Glory in Death
Chainfire
Naked in Death
Donna Rose and the Slug War

Books I've Read 2004 - 2006

Reader's Digest Select Editions (RDSE)
Bare Bones
Hardcastle's Conspiracy
The Cat Who Dropped a Bombshell
My Mother's Keeper
Hardcastle's Armistice
Judgment in Death
Silence of the Hams
Judas Unchained
The Unforgiven
Dave Barry's Money Secrets
Alphabet of Thorn
Sour Puss
The Fifth Sorceress
Enrique's Journey
The Coffee Train
Mother Climbed Trees
Somewhere a Cat Is Waiting
The Fine Art of Hypochondria
Running with Scissors
The Isle of Battle
The Hunt Ball
The Shadow Roads
The One Kingdom
Don't Look Down
Freakonomics
Giving Up the Ghost
Witness in Death
The Good Samaritan Strikes Again
Into the Twilight, Endlessly Grousing
The Bear in the Attic
Kid Camping from Aaaaiii! to Zip
If the Slipper Fits
Currant Events
Loyalty in Death
A Breath of Snow and Ashes
Wings on her Petticoat
The Thurber Carnival
Do You Speak American?
Saving Fish From Drowning
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
Conspiracy in Death
Teacher Man
The Interruption of Everything
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire

Books I've Read 2004 - 2006

Reader's Digest Select Editions (RDSE)
Cerulean Sins
The Prince of Dreams
The Prince of Shadow
Drifting (RDSE) by Stephanie Gertler
Beachcomber (RDSE) by Karen Robards
Letter From Home (RDSE) by Caroline Hart
PS, I Love You (RDSE) by Cecelia Ahern
The Promise of a Lie (RDSE) by Howard Roughan
The Accidental Empire
A Bride Most Begruding
Nighttime Is My Time (RDSE) by Mary Higgins Clark
Blood in the Sky (RDSE) by Steve Hamilton
Maximum Security (RDSE) by Rose Connors
Some Danger Involved (RDSE) by Will Thomas
Santa Fe Rules
The Scrolls of the Ancients
Death du Jour
Grave Secrets
The Sweet Potato Queens' Wedding Planner
The Sweet Potato Queens' Divorce Guide
The Things We Do For Love (RDSE) by Kristin Hannah
Three Weeks With My Brother (RDSE) by Nicholas and Micah Sparks
The Murder Artist (RDSE) by John Case
Night Train to Lisbon (RDSE) by Emily Grayson
A Quiche Before Dying
Blowing My Cover
Rumpole a la Carte
Dead Canaries Don't Sing
Worth More Dead
Bait (RDSE) by Karen Robards
Mosaic (RDSE) by Soheir Khashoggi
One Shot (RDSE) by Lee Child
Diving Through the Clouds (RDSE) by Nicola Lindsay
Having It and Eating It
A Diet to Die For
A Really Cute Corpse
Quick Service
Monday Mourning
Death and the Walking Stick
Family and Other Accidents
Betrayal in Death

Books I've Read 2004 - 2006

The Gift of More
Reader's Digest Select Editions (RDSE)
Daddy's Little Girl (RDSE)
Without Fail (RDSE)
Flight Lessons (RDSE)
Three Weeks in Paris (RDSE)
The Dilbert Future
Advice and Consent
From Beirut to Jerusalem
Dragon's Fire
A Private Hotel for Gentle Ladies
Lost and Found
Fifty Degrees Below
A Separate Peace
Forty Signs of Rain
The Nanny Diaries
A Bell for Adano
Mockingbird
The Forever Year (RDSE) by Ronald Anthony
Cold Pursuit (RDSE) by T. Jefferson Parker
Lover's Lane (RDSE) by Jill Marie Landis
Temporary Sanity (RDSE) by Rose Connors
Last Bus to Woodstock
The Birth of Israel
The Gates of Heaven