Archive for July 2012
Benjamin Franklin: An American Life
In Benjamin Franklin: An American Life, Walter Isaacson brings to life one of Americans greatest scholars, scientists, and philosophers. Franklin was born in Boston in 1706 and died in Philadelphia in 1790, a period of great turbulence in the new world filled with wars and struggles for freedom that culminated in the creation of a new…
Read MoreA Prisoner of Birth
A Prisoner of Birth by Jeffrey Archer is a modern-day version of The Count of Monte Cristo. Shortly after Danny Cartwright proposes to his pregnant girlfriend Beth, a barrister coerces him into a fight during which the barrister kills Danny’s best friend who is Beth’s brother. The barrister frames Danny for the murder. Danny is poor and…
Read MoreCatching Fire and Mockingjay by Suzanne Collin
Catching Fire and Mockingjay, the second and the third (final) books inSuzanne Collins’s Hunger Games series are both fast reads. I finished each in one day. Katniss Everdeen once again has to fight for her life in another set of Gladiator-style games set up for the amusement of the sadistic president of a future empire. Katniss’s courage…
Read MoreMirror Image by Sandra Brown
Mirror Image by Sandra Brown is an old book (1990) with an interesting premise. What if a woman survives a mass catastrophe and awakens in the hospital ICU with a new identity. This happens to Avery Daniels when she sustains severe facial fractures, a concussion, burns, and lung damage from smoke inhalation during an airplane…
Read More1421: The Year China Discovered America
1421: The Year China Discovered America by Gavin Menzies is a fascinating nonfiction discussion of the maritime accomplishments of Chinese explorers that preceded the era of Columbus. Menzies describes well-documented voyages by Admiral Zheng He to Southeast Asia, India, the Middle East and eastern Africa under orders from Emperor Zhu Di. Most of the book revolves…
Read MoreLivewire by Harlan Coben
In Livewire Harlan Coben returns to his sports agent and former professional basketball player Myron Bolitar. Myron agrees to help his pregnant tennis star client Suzze T find her rock-star husband Lex who disappeared after a facebook post declared that he was not the father of the baby. Myron finds Lex in a nightclub with Kitty Bolitar,…
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