'The Penguin Historical Atlas of the Vikings' by John Haywood and 'Intermezzo' by Sally Rooney

 The Penguin Historical Atlas of the Vikings, John Haywood (4.0)

This book discusses the Viking Age (roughly 800-1100 AD) with photos and maps. Each of the 7 chapters in this book start with a few pages of an overview of history covering a certain time followed by detailed maps of the Viking adventures. Reading this, I realized how woefully inadequate my knowledge of the Vikings really was! For example, I had not known that they eventually sailed and sacked towns in the Mediterranean, that they fought the Moors in Spain and that they sat a king on the throne in England (though not Scotland). I also found it fascinating that it is felt Vikings have a bad reputation as mainly pillagers as they were the first peoples who sacked monasteries. They were after plunder and the monks had the gold! Not being Christian, they didn’t care or worry. Since monks were the main writers of history, you can only imagine what they thought of the Vikings. I found this type of book to be thorough, albeit a little dry. Given our plans to visit Skye, Orkney, Shetland (which to this day have mostly Nordic based town names) and 3 towns in Norway this summer, this was the perfect introduction to the relics we will be seeing.

Intermezzo, Sally Rooney (3.0)

This story is told in the two protagonists (brothers) voices in alternating chapters. The author did a good job of writing in their very different voices, but unfortunately one of the brothers was quite unlikable and his characteristic disjointed thoughts were difficult to read. The other brother was almost too likable, so I found myself skimming the bad brother’s chapters to get to the good brother’s voice. Maybe I’m getting old, but I also found the sex gratuitous at times and the ‘love’ triangle’s inclusion hard to fathom (dare I say ‘cringe’ and sound a little younger?).  The author did do a good job illustrating a family’s dynamics of dealing with death and tragedy.

'How the World Ran Out of Everything' by Peter S. Gorman; 'Iron Lake' by William Kent Krueger; and 'A Corpse in the Koryo' by James Church

 How the World Ran Out of Everything, Peter S. Godman (3.0)

This is a good book for someone to read who is not already familiar with the pandemic supply chain issues. Given my career and background in Operations and Supply Chain I found myself saying ‘he’s not wrong, but he is biased’. I quickly tired of his rants – yes, many businesses only worry about shareholder value to the detriment of their employees. But he couldn’t find happiness in any solution. Dock workers weren’t paid enough given the dangers they faced, but if the ports added robots to automate the dangerous jobs they were again in the wrong. I do think that any job that is not considered ‘skilled’ will be taken advantage of by businesses and not be given living wages. We can try to legislate this, but there are always so many loopholes and unintended consequences. I believe the solution has more to do with education – the more valuable an employee is, sidelining them is harder. I did like his last chapter where he tried to find a way forward. Sadly, our new administration is not likely to implement any of his suggestions.

 

Iron Lake, William Kent Krueger (3.0)

I appreciated the setting of this novel – northern Minnesota in the winter- as it is very similar to where my parents live. It was written quite a few years ago and some of it didn’t work as well for me these days. The main character is a disgraced sheriff, Cork O’Connor, who is going through a divorce in a small town when a judge is murdered and a boy, who may have been with him, goes missing. Cork is singularly capable of helping find out what happened as he is part Anishinaabe Indian and part Irish. His Indian connections give him access to part of their community. The complications of small-town government, the new Indian casinos and the old issues between both are a bit stereotypical. I also didn’t like the personal aspects (i.e. he could cheat on his wife, but it was a very different story when he found she cheated on him). The reader was supposed to like his story better, but I found it annoying.

 

A Corpse in the Koryo, James Church (3.5)

I found it refreshing to read a book set in North Korea. We have little chance to experience life in a secretive society and this book was both interesting and slightly harder to picture for that reason. The author purports to be a retired agent who is very familiar with the workings of North Korean military and government. The story is the first in a series that follows an investigator in the capital city whose job is to investigate crimes, including murder. His job is always made more complicated by the insertion of the ubiquitous and varied military branches in all he does. While I found it fascinating and plan to read more with this protagonist, for someone brought up in the west and unfamiliar with an extremely strict authoritarian regime some of the happenings were hard to believe. It was due to the combination of seemingly all knowing (one character had moles literally everywhere the protagonist went) and yet lacking resources and downright bumbling (never having enough batteries for their equipment to work).  Overall I found it quite interesting and nice to read a mystery set in a very different environment.

'Good Material' by Dolly Alderton

Good Material, Dolly Alderton (3.0)

While I didn’t dislike this book, I found it a predictable, whiney, long-winded journey through a rather typical break-up that would have been greatly improved with some humor. Given the main character is a stand-up comic, I don’t think I’m asking for something outrageous. I feel this topic has been done better (e.g. ‘High Fidelity’ by Nick Hornby) in the past. This was like a Millennial update with post break-up social media stalking added to make it timely.

'The Women' by Kristin Hannah and 'I heard There Was a Secret Chord' by Daniel J. Levitin

The Women, Kristin Hannah (4.0)

This was a very poignant book of a young woman who signs up to serve as a nurse during the Viet Nam War. She naively follows her brother, an Annapolis graduate, thinking that she could be of help, and not be in harm’s way. Her experiences during war, in the first half of the book, are riveting and horrible. Her experiences once she returns to the US are sad and disappointing. Ms. Hannah does a great job highlighting the struggles of the unsung heroes (women, mostly nurses) of that war. I was appalled the number of times people, even vets, would say ‘there were no women in the war’. Since the author did extensive research and interviews, I can only assume this was a frequent event for these courageous women. If even a small portion of the events described happened, these nurses definitely survived ‘combat’. This book is a nice tribute to them.

 

I heard There Was a Secret Chord: Music as Medicine, Daniel J. Levitin (3.0)

I wanted to like this book and found various interesting passages, but similar to his last book, I felt it rambled on and lost my interest. Maybe due to the fact that the author often went deep into the woods on such things as how to read sheet music (I can’t imagine anyone picking up this book who wouldn’t know the basics of how notes are on a staff and read left to right) and how our ears detect sounds. The passages that described how music helped people heal (such as Joni Mitchell) or how music appears to affect those with various neurological differences were interesting. I’m not sure who would be the target audience for this book, but it wasn’t me.

'A Tale of Two Cities' by Charles Dickens and 'After Annie' by Anna Quindlen

 A Tale of Two Cities, Charles Dickens (5.0)

Always lovely to return to this world of Mr. Dickens. His usual comedic characters are understandably subdued in this tale, given the setting of the French Revolution. I’ve always appreciated how he balances the London/Paris rich/poor to show the complications when these intermingle. While the prose is often hard to read and forces me to re-read and go slowly, many of the lines are the most quoted of literature. It’s worth taking the time to catch the intricacies of the story. Many of the ‘aha’ moments are revealed in a few words. This remains one of the only books whose last few pages consistently bring a tear to my eye.   

 

After Annie, Anna Quindlen (4.0)

When a book starts with the assumed protagonist’s death, you tend to wonder what you’ve gotten yourself into. Luckily in this author’s hands, it is sad, but redeemed by excellent writing. The story unfolds from the eyes of the daughter, husband and best friend of unlucky Annie. She is fleshed out by their memories and grieving. The characters are realistic and varied. I particularly enjoyed the poignancy of the daughter trying to hold a young family together while getting through her own grief. The sad subject made the book tough to read, but a worthwhile journey.

'Skinny Dip' by Carl Hiaasen

 Skinny Dip, Carl Hiaasen (4.0)

Another fun Hiaasen adventure! The usual crazy characters: smart loner ex-cop, obnoxious guy ruining the environment, idiot who kills for no good reason, etc. In this case a very horrible guy throws his wife overboard on an anniversary cruise – seemingly forgetting that she was a college swimmer and could possible survive – all because she may have found out about his bad work practices. While we always know the bad guys will not get away with their shenanigans, Hiaasen always makes it fun to figure out what will happen. 

'Playing Possum' by Susan Monso and 'The Wedding People' by Alison Espach

 Playing Possum, Susana Monso (4.0)

I really enjoyed how the author systematically walked the reader through the levels of recognizing death in animals. The examples were broad and interesting. She was careful to avoid anthropomorphism where possible and pointed to our human foible of assuming if an understanding is not the same as us, it doesn’t occur. As with most things in life, the answer is more grey than black and white. While some of the chapters were hard to read (infanticide and predation) she built a strong case for a diverse understanding of death within animals, just not the same as the human more emotional connection to it.

 

The Wedding People, Alison Espach (3.5)

I found this book funny and unique, though oddly quite predictable. The protagonist, going through a tough time and having a crisis of identity makes a trip to a fancy New England resort. When she gets there, it has been taken over by a wedding party – with her the only non-party guest. She gets swept up in the people and activities and starts behaving as she wants, for once in her life. While I was swept up as well, it did seem odd that she could change so thoroughly in such a short time. Somewhat surprised that this book has gotten such renown, it makes a good light read, but it’s certainly not grand literature.