Author: ekkarn

Book 36 for 2012: State of Confusion: Political Manipulation and the Assault on the American Mind

  By

So my goal for the Goodreads Reading Challenge was 40 books this year. For the longest time it looked like I would come nowhere near that total but a good October and November has brought me within 4 of that total. Now the trick will be to get 4 more books reads before the end of the year. December is always a challenging reading month, with so much to do getting ready of Christmas and then I usually am working more at Target, etc, so it will be tough but maybe doable!!

A good aspect of this year’s reading is that a third of the books that I’ve read (12/36) have been non-fiction. Certainly more than in previous years! Book 36 for the year is one of those non-fiction books State of Confusion:Political Manipulation and the Assault on the American Mind by Dr. Bryant Welch.  Welch makes the case that many Americans have been manipulated by the Right with actions that are akin to “gaslighting” From Wikipedia:

Gaslighting is a form of psychological abuse in which false information is presented with the intent of making a victim doubt his or her own memory, perception and sanity. It may range simply from the denial by an abuser that previous abusive incidents ever occurred, up to the staging of bizarre events by the abuser with the intention of disorienting the victim.

The term “gaslighting” comes from the play Gas Light and its film adaptations, in which a husband secretly dims the gas lights in the house and, when his wife remarks on it, he claims that she is mistaken. This is done to convince the woman that she cannot trust her own judgment, and so will not be believed if she tries to report other strange things that are genuinely occurring, which the husband wishes to keep secret. The term is now also used in clinical and research literature.[1][2]

Bryant makes a valid case that, that is just what the Right does and the three prime States of Confusion are Paranoia, Sexual Perplexity, and Envy. All states that the Right uses to divide and confuse the nation! Chapter 6 is titled “Gaslighters: Architects of False Realities” sounds like the bubble world that many of the right live in- doesn’t it!! The Gaslighters include Fox News, and The Religious Right! The last chapters deal with the assault on Professionalism, Policy Implications and The Politics of Reality!

I thought that the book was well written and highly informative about what has gone on in America particularly over the last decade! Here’s what Robert Shrum says about the book:

“Bryant Welch makes a fascinating and compelling case that right-wing politics has subverted our democracy by infecting us with a form of political neurosis. This book unmasks the politics of fear-the deeper chords touched by campaigns to the dark side”

It’s a short book that took me way to long to read, but it is really worth reading!

Book 34 for 2012 – The Prophet – Michael Koryta

  By

Book 34 for 2012 is the latest from Michael Koryta The Prophet. I have read a couple of the books in the Lincoln Perry  series and really liked the series! I also started one of Koryta’s stand-alone novels So Cold the River, got bogged down in the middle, and never finished it, so I’ve stayed away from some of his other books, passing them up for other reads. Well, I’m sorry that I have and will need to go back and make up for that after reading The Prophet. 

The Prophet revolves around brothers Adam and Kent Austin. Twenty-two years ago, Austin was supposed to take his sister home from school, he didn’t, he went to be with his girlfriend, Chelsea who was leaving town. What could go wrong it was only three blocks. lots she didn’t make it! Several days later her body was found and a family was shattered forever. Twenty-two years later, Adam is marking time as a bail bondsman, while Kent is the successful head coach of their high school football team the Chambers Cardinals, who are on their way to an undefeated season and a state championship, that is until the girlfriend of the teams star receiver is found brutally murdered. Soon the murder is tied to the Austin brothers and Adam and Kent who through the years have not even spoken must now work together to not only solve this crime, but deal with the memories of their sister!

The book was a couldn’t put down page turner for me, with characters that I think will stay with me for a long time! It was a starred Kirkus review. From the review:

Friday Night Lights meets In Cold Blood in this powerful tale of distant brothers whose torment over the murder of their sister when they were teens is compounded by the murder of another targeted teenage girl–a killing one of the brothers is determined to avenge even if that means committing murder himself.

Author Elin Hilderbrand says:

A delicious read, intricately woven, with characters who are impossible to forget. Michael Koryta excites and satisifes on every level. 

So check out The Prophet. As for me,  The Cypress House and The Ridge that have been added to my to be read list!!

 

Wild Fire – Nelson DeMille Book 31 0f 2012

  By

 Wild Fire – Nelson DeMille (John Corey #4)

 

So it’s been 22 years since I read my first and only Nelson DeMille book The Charm School, and in the intervening years DeMille introduced the main character in Book 31 of 2012 John Corey. Book 31 is Nelson DeMille’s 2006 release Wildfire. To be precise, John Corey was first introduced in DeMille’s 1997 novel Plum Island. Wildfire is Book 4 in the series. Corey is an ex-NYC Homicide Detective working as a special contract agent for the Federal Anti-Terrorist Task Force, under the supervision of his wife FBI Agent Kate Mayfield.

In this installment, John and Kate are sent to the Adirondacks to investigate the disappearance of their colleague and friend Harry Muller. Harry was sent to perform survellience on the Custer Hill Club an exclusive hunting lodge whose members include some of America’s most powerful business, military and government leaders.  Prior to his disappearance, Harry is captured and forced to sit through an emergency meeting of the Custer Hill Club’s executive board as they make plans to active a US government retaliation plan known only as Wild Fire! Wild Fire involves nukes and ELF waves and John and Kate have to figure out the plan to be launched by the Club’s leader Bain Maddox before the it’s implemented, and the fate of the world hangs in the balance!

Again, this is my first meeting with John Corey, whose antics leave both his wife and his supervisor at their wit’s end. I really enjoyed his character and look forward to going back to Book 1 in the series Plum Island and catching up on Corey’s other adventures! Overall the book had a lot more humor than I thought it would have and just the right amount technology and policy injected into the story to teach me something and to scare me! Here’s what DeMille says about the book:

“This work of fiction is based on a rumor, repeated on the Internet about a government plan very much like the one I call Wild Fire. Hopefully, the story I am about to tell will play out only in these pages….”

If you want to start at Book 1 and you have a Kindle, the Kindle version of Plum Island   is only 99 cents!!

 

A Happiness Project Update and Books 28 and 29 of 2012

  By

Month One of My Happiness Project: Lessons Learned

So here’s the thing — after my first month of this happiness project, I’ve discovered I am terrible at keeping up with a daily resolution chart. Big, colorful tracker? Totally neglected.

But that doesn’t mean I haven’t been working on my resolutions. Over the last 20 days I’ve:

  • Exercised regularly – running three times a week
  • Tweaked my eating habits – whole wheat bagels with cream cheese for breakfast, walnuts back on my cereal, even switched to natural waffles
  • Cleared and reorganized – tossed and stored things I no longer need, including some paperback books I’ll never read (gasp!). I even moved a bookshelf so those “someday” books aren’t staring me down every day. Turns out constant guilt doesn’t make me happy.

I’ve also tackled some long-overdue tasks, like bringing home the last of my mom’s things from the care home.

The one thing I haven’t done so well? Going to bed earlier. But I have been more energetic — and acting like it — so I’m counting that as a win.

Book 28: The Evelyn Wood Seven-Day Speed Reading and Learning Program — Stanley D. Frank

The Evelyn Wood Seven-Day Speed Reading and Learning Program

I found this in the 75% off bin at Barnes & Noble for $1.86 — which made me happy before I even opened it.

The theory: reading faster could help me get to some of those relocated bookshelf titles. The book leans heavily toward study skills and would be most useful if I were still in school, but the speed reading tips are solid. With practice, I think I can boost my reading speed. Whether I’ll ever hit the 800–900 wpm range? Probably not. But I’ll be happy trying.

Book 29: Your Playlist Can Change Your Life — Galina Mindlin, Don Durousseau & Joseph Cardillo

Your Playlist Can Change Your Life

According to the authors, the right music can boost memory, organization, alertness, mood, and more. Using some of their ideas, I’ve already built a few playlists:

  • Calm Me Down – R. Carlos Nakai, Gary Burton, plus a little contemplative folk
  • Pick Me Up – Greensky Bluegrass, Ten Years After, Faces
  • Memory Boost – Songs with deep personal connections:
    • Bridge Over Troubled Water – Simon & Garfunkel (our wedding)
    • Morning Has Broken – Cat Stevens (our wedding)
    • The Stranger Song – Leonard Cohen (our first date)
    • Elvira – Oak Ridge Boys (our oldest son dancing as a little boy)

It’s a library book, but between the ideas and the results so far, I’m tempted to grab a copy with my Amazon birthday money.

Takeaway: If you’re stuck in a rut, try building a playlist around a mood or memory. It’s a quick, inexpensive happiness boost — and you might just dance in the kitchen.

My Playlists from Your Playlist Can Change Your Life

  • Calm Me Down – R. Carlos Nakai, Gary Burton, plus a little contemplative folk
  • Pick Me Up – Greensky Bluegrass, Ten Years After, Faces
  • Memory Boost – Songs with deep personal connections:
    • Bridge Over Troubled Water – Simon & Garfunkel (our wedding)
    • Morning Has Broken – Cat Stevens (our wedding)
    • The Stranger Song – Leonard Cohen (our first date)
    • Elvira – Oak Ridge Boys (our oldest son dancing as a little boy)

Book 27 of 2012 – Throw Out Fifty Things:Clear the Clutter Find Your Life!

  By

So after reading The Happiness Project by Gretchen Rubin, I’ve started my own happiness project. I started at the beginning of this month, and started where Gretchen started, with Energy and Vitality. As part of the project, you create a series of resolutions to work on each month, and keep track of whether or not you have kept those resolutions on a daily basis, by making either an X for no, or a check for yes on a chart. While I am not doing well at keeping the chart, I have been working on the resolutions a little every day!

Gretchen points out in her book, that one of the biggest drains on energy is clutter, so one of her first resolutions was to Toss, Restore and Organize. I have been doing fairly well with this resolution and I’ve tossed quite a few things! Additionally, I read Gail Blanke’s book Throw Out Fifty Things: Clear the Clutter, Find your Life , which is Book 27 for 2012! The book is a great read and provides a usable framework for clearing the physical clutter from both your home and office, as well as, the mental mess!  The last part of the book addresses what you do after you’ve cleared away all that clutter and CAN finally see your life!!

There were a several chapters in Part Three of the book, Attacking the Mental Mess that really struck home like: Chapter 11 Letting of Feeling Inadequate, Irrelevant and Just Plain Not good Enough, Chapter 13 Letting Go of Regrets and Mistakes of the Past, and particularly Chapter 16 Letting Go of Thinking the Worst!  It’s nice to know  that other people suffer from Thinking the Worst. I made myself crazy worrying about a projet this winter and early spring – irrationally fearing the worst only to have everything work out ok!! Got to let it go!

Now while I’m finished reading the book, I am not finished with the book. I’ve got 21 more days in October to work on my resolutions and part of that time will be spent using the workbook I found at Throwoutfiftythings.com, and I know I’m going to throw out way more than fifty things!!! Here’s Gail talking about throwing out fifty things!!


Find more videos like this on Throw Out Fifty Things

-Stay Close – Harlan Coben

  By

Ray Levine an ex-photojournalist, who has now fallen so far that he is taking pictures as a fake paparazzi. Ray visits the same abandoned iron mill in the New Jersey Pines every year on February 18th. On that date, seventeen years earlier his life came crashing down, when his girlfriend found an abusive customer, Stewart Green, who she knew from the strip club  where she worked, lying in a pool of blood along the path that Ray was now walking. She ran to protect herself – to protect Ray.

 

Megan Pierce was that girlfriend,back then she was “Cassie”, now she is a mother two living the suburban life, with a loving husband and two children, with a wanderlust for the “old life”. When the old bartender at the club appears and tells her she may have seen the old customer alive, and another man goes missing on the same day as Stewart Green, Megan is drawn back to Atlantic City to try to help the police solve the case. The detective on the case is Broome, he has been haunted by the case since it happened, wanting to help the widow Green find closure. All three are drawn into the story woven from the mind of Harlan Coben in his latest novel Stay Close , book number 26 for 2012! Like most of Coben’s books this one is a page turner, the characters are well drawn and are three people living lives they never wanted, hiding secrets that even the closest to them would never suspect.

Coben writes with wit and irony, and his flair for exposing the frail balance point between order and chaos in our lives has never been stronger than in this suspenseful outing.- Publishers Weekly

Here is an interview from the Today Show with Al Roker and Harlan discussing Stay Close. The best news from this clip is that Harlan is working on adaptations of  both Tell No One and Stay Close. I can’t wait. If you’ve never read Harlan Coben, this is a good one to start with, actually, any of his books are great reads!!

 

 

Book 25 of 2012 – The Happiness Project – Gretchen Rubin

  By

One day while riding on a bus Gretchen Rubin realized that her life was passing her by and while she was happy, she wasn’t as happy  she could be,  so she decided to dedicate a year to trying to be happier.  Book 25 of 2012 The Happiness Project or Why I Spent a Year Trying to Sing in the Morning, Clean My Closers,Fight Right,Read Aristotle, and Generally Have More Fun chronicles that year of discovery and provides a blueprint for readers to start their own happiness project!

The Happiness Project consisted of focusing each month on an aspect of her life, then making resolutions about that aspect, followed by grading how well she did each day keeping those resolutions! As an example in January her goal was to boost her energy, knowing that when she felt more energetic it was easier to be happy! Her resolutions included: Go to sleep earlier, Exercise better, Toss, store and organize, Tackle a nagging task and Act more energetic. Then using the works of various authors on happiness she explores happiness and  how to pursue it, as she tackles each resolution! In March the goal was to Aim Higher-Work and one resolution was to Launch a Blog and The Happiness Project was born!

The First Splendid Truth, which she discovered in the second month of her voyage into happiness was: To be happy, I need to think about feeling good, felling bad, feeling right, in an atmosphere of growth.  To me this sums it all up. First, you have to concentrate on those things that you do or use to do that make you happy and strengthen them, then you need to focus on eliminating your actions that make you feel bad (like procrastination, nagging, etc). Next you need to be feeling right by doing things that are aligned with your core values. Feeling right is about living the life that is right for you, in occupation, location, marital status and so  on.   Finally, you need to be putting everything together “in an atmosphere of growth”. Here she uses a quote from Yeats “Happiness is neither virtue nor pleasure nor this thing nor that but simply growth. We are happy when we are growing”  She points out “Contemporary researchers make the same argument that it isn’t goal attainment but the process of striving after goals that is, growth – that brings happiness.”

I certainly understand this argument, I’ve worked at the same job for thirty years but through most of that time I was growing and learning. First I needed to learn as much as I could about soil as I could, to design septic systems.Later to delineate wetlands, I needed to know more about hydric soil coupled with vegetation identification i.e tree, shrub and herbaceous plants. Along the way, I also needed to know the geology and hydrology of New Jersey, AutoCad and all the environmental laws and regulations that govern development in New Jersey! So while I was working at the same place I was always doing something a little different,hence, I was always  growing and not unhappy!

The main reason that I picked up the book was that while I am not unhappy, I do feel that I could be happier and after reading the book, I know I can be happier and I now have a blueprint to follow to help me get there! Now I only have to make myself do it!!  Anyone want to join me?  Check out the book and see if it’s “feels right” for you! It does for me!

 

Bleed for Me (Joseph O’Loughlin #4)- Michael Robotham

  By
Bleed for Me -Joseph O'Loughlin Michael Robtham

One of my favorite characters in the Mystery-Thriller genre is psychologist Joe O’Loughlin, who springs from the pen computer mind of Australian author Michael Robotham. Book 24 of 2012 Bleed for Me is the fourth book in this series featuring Joe. On the cover of the book, Linwood Barclay sums up how I feel about Robotham’s work:

Michael Robotham doesn’t just make me scared for his characters; he makes my heart ache for them.

And in Bleed for Me my heartaches for all of them from Joe, his estranged wife Julienne, daughters Charlie and Emma and especially the focus of this book Sienna Hagerty

The Story

Sienna Hagerty, a troubled friend of his daughter Charlie. As the book opens, Sienna appears at the O’Loughlin’s doorstep, where she often spends time. Only on this night, she is covered with blood, terrorized and incoherent.

Later, police find Sienna’s father, a celebrated former police officer, murdered in Sienna’s bedroom and quickly, Sienna becomes the prime suspect!

Through the rest of the twists and turns of the book, Joe must untangle the lies, find truth and save Sienna, in more ways than one! All while trying to keep his world from falling apart!

Thoughts About the Joseph O’Loughlin Series

What makes Joe O’Loghlin unique is that he does all he does while fighting Parkinson’s disease, and as someone who has seen the crippling effects of Parkinson’s (both my mother and my father’s brother have struggled with the effects of the disease)  I feel for him.

Robotham does a great job with the creation of Joe’s character, much the way Karin SLaughter does with Will Trent, who battles dyslexia, and creates a character you really care about, well beyond the pages of a book!

While I think that the book could be read without reading the prior books. I would recommend that if you want to get the full effect of this book, you really need to have read the other books!! Robotham has just created so much that has happened to get the characters to get where they are in Bleed for Me that you just have to know them, to get that extra jolt from the book.

So check it out – as for me I just can’t wait for the next installment, Say You’re Sorry, due to be released on October 2, to see where Joe and his family’s life will go from here!

Links

Author’s Website
Facebook
Instagram
Goodreads
Amazon

Michael Robotham

About Michael Robotham

Michael Robotham is an Australian crime fiction writer who has twice won the CWA Gold Dagger award for best novel and twice been shortlisted for the Edgar Award for best novel. His eldest child is Alexandra Hope Robotham, professionally known as Alex Hope, an Australian producer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist. Wikipedia

Born: 1960 (age 65 years), Casino, Australia

Children: Alex Hope

Nationality: Australian

Notable awards: The CWA Gold Dagger, 2015, 2020

Notable works: Life or Death

 

The Moses Expedition – Juan Gomez-Jurado

  By

 

Book 23 of 2012, is on of the books that I picked up in Williamsburg several weeks ago, The Moses Expedition by Juan Gomez-Jurado.

 From the book cover of the book:

After fifty years in hiding, the Nazi war criminal known as the Butcher of Spiegelgrund has finally been found, and with him the candle covered filigree gold that was stolen from a Jewish family. But it isn’t the gold that Father Anthony Fowler,a C.I.A. operative and the Vatican’s secret service, is seeking. As he holds the flame to wax, the candle unveils the missing fragment of an ancient map that reveals the location of the Ten Commandments tablets.

Soon Father Fowler is part of a mission financed by a recluse American billionaire to the desert of Jordan to discover the tablets. Accompanying him is journalist Andrea Otero, whose life Fowler saved in Gomez-Jurardo’s  début novel God’s Spy. But not everybody wants the tablets found, including a terrorist group whose leader is hidden within the members of the mission, waiting for the moment to strike!

Juan Gomez-Jurado’s work has been published in more than forty countries and while this is my first of his books I’ve read, it will not be the last. It was a page turner for me. I enjoyed the characters and the history woven into the story. I think I would have prefered to have started with God’s Spy just to know the history between Father Fowler and Otero, but I will go back and catch-up before moving on to Gomez-Jurado’s latest The Traitor’s Emblem. Here’s what some others have to say about the book:

“A true masterpiece. A brilliant thriller-sharp, suspenseful, and engrossing” – Brad Thor

“Settle back and savor this perfect piece of entertainment” – Steve Berry.

“A perfectly balanced, fast-paced, and compiling thriller” – Booklist, starred review

So check it out! As for me, I’ve moved on to Book 24 of 2012 – Bleed For Me – from Michael Robotham! (I’m almost back to 3 books per month!)

Book 22 of 2012 – The Last Kind Words – Tom Piccirilli

  By

Book 22 0f 2012 is by Tom Piccirilli and it’s the first book I’ve read by this author and I can tell you it will not be the last!  The Last Kind Words   is a terrific book! But don’t just take my word for it here’s what some others think about the book:

“Mystic River set the bar for classic literary mystery, and The Last Kind Words is a novel on the same superb playing field. Compassionate, fascinating, and with an adrenaline narrative that is as gripping as it is moving, this book is pure alchemy.” —KEN BRUEN

 “The Last Kind Words is a story born of the dark legacies of family violence and loss. With vivid prose and palpable urgency, it succeeds utterly as a crime tale. At the same time, it reminds us that crimes can emanate from both the darkest and lightest of places, and renders the heart of a damaged family with clear-eyed yet fervent beauty.” —MEGAN ABBOTT

The narrator of the book is one Terrier Rand, member of a family small-time thieves and grifters living on Long Island. We meet Terry five years after two tragedies changed his life forever, the first was the miscarriage of his child by the love of his life Kimmy, and the second a senseless killing spree by his brother that left eight  dead, including a child and elderly woman. Terry couldn’t handle either tragedy so he ran away, from the woman he loved in her time of need, and a brother he now hated more than ever! But days before his brother’s execution, Terry receives a call that both his brother, Collie and his family need him. The call pulls him back into the life and troubles he left. Collie asks Terry to help him. He had admitted to all but one of the murders, the one he says he didn’t commit was the murder of a pretty young brunette, Rebecca Clarke. Collie is convinced that the true murderer of Rebecca is still at large and will kill again! So Terry sets out to discover the truth and what he finds may just destroy his family!

In the Rand family, Piccirilli has created a unique family, that’s criminal through and through, but they know their niche and stay in it. The whole family has their own set of problems from Terry’s father Pinsch, who has to deal with his father Shep’s Alzheimer’s, Uncles Grey and Mal, who are in trouble with mobster’s just a little heavier than the Rands, and little sister Dale who at fifteen is dating a 20 something wanna’ be mobster! So while the story is about finding the murderer of Rebecca for Collie it’s also the tale of a family that you care about Lisa Unger says:

 “You don’t choose your family. And the Rand clan, a family of thieves, is bad to the bone. But it’s a testimony to Tom Piccirilli’s stellar writing that you still care about each and every one of them. The Last Kind Words is at once a dark and brooding page-turner and a heartfelt tale about the ties that bind.”

Tom Piccirilli has won two International Thriller Writers Awards and four Bram Stoker Awards, as well as having been nominated for the Edgar, the World Fantasy Award, the Macavity, and Le Grand Prix de L’Imaginaire. so check him out, as for me I have a lot of  Piccirilli’s award-winning writing to catch up on!