Reviews from Sunday and Monday

The Swerve by Stephen Greenblatt

Review: Stephen Greenblatt picked a book out of the 10-cents box and then loved it and decided that it changed the whole world (not just his world!).  He goes on to explain how this long poem by Lucretius is the most amazing thing ever and created the modern world as we know it.  I found this very difficult to believe.
However, there were some great things in this book.  The book is basically written in praise of Lucretius's atheist manifesto and the book does a great job of explaining atheist thinking and atheist morals.  Another fascinating thing in the book is the discussion of pagan values vs. Christian values and a takedown of the Catholic Church as a wretched hive of scum and  villainy. Don't read this if you are sensitive to Christian religion (especially Catholicism) being criticized.
Overall I'd say this was just an average read, but it was awarded the Pulitzer, a fact which leaves me scratching my head in confusion.

Lost Light by Michael Connelly
Review: Classic Harry Bosch.  Great story.

Deadly Harvest by Michael Stanley
Review: The subject of the story is that young girls are disappearing from their homes. The girls are from poor families and the police don't seem to spend as much effort on those cases. The families fear that their children have been abducted for sex trade or worse for muti (black magic that uses body parts).  A young new police officer, Samantha Khama, is assigned the cold case of such a girl.  She resents that only the people at the high end of the 'food chain' get the attention and the cover up if things go badly. Her boss, David 'Kubu' Bengu, recognizes her passion to help people and her allows her more latitude to investigate. As she is working her case, Kubu is assigned a high profile murder of a politician from the new liberal party.   Amazingly, the two cases come together as they both end up hunting for a
witch doctor who is responsible for many girls' deaths and whose muti has infiltrated even the heights of the police department.

This is a wonderfully written story about the modern technology and forensics going toe to toe with strong superstition and black magic.

Death of a Maid by M.C Beaton
Review: I'd give it a 3 out of 5. Love the main character, Hamesh Macbeth, but Beaton is using a formula, it seems to me. All the subplots are the same in this series, and only the main plot/mystery changes, along with a title change.

Finders Keepers by Steven King
Review: Usual Steven King keep you guessing thriller. Interesting how it is an offshoot from Mr Mercedes. Not as many nightmares with this one.

What the Lady Wants by Renee Rosen
Review: Marshall Field is unhappily married to social climber, Nannie when on the eve of the Great Chicago Fire he meets seventeen-year old socialite Delia Spencer.  This is how local author Renée Rosen imagines Marshall Field and his young mistress Delia beginning their decades-long affair. In late-nineteenth-century Chicago, visionary retail tycoon Marshall
Field made his fortune wooing women customers with his famous motto, “Give the lady what she wants.”  Leading the way in rebuilding after the fire, Marshall Field reopens his well-known dry goods store and transforms it into something the world has never seen before—a glamorous palace of a department store.  In the late 1880’s after witnessing the ravages of the Great Chicago Fire, Delia Spencer marries Arthur Caton, a lawyer and at first they are happy, but the marriage begins to reveal its problems and secrets. The young couple befriends Marshall Field and his wife who live around the
corner. Before long, neither Delia nor Marshall can deny the powerful attraction they feel for each other and they begin their love affair, even though Nannie refuses to grant Marshall a divorce.  Arthur is aware of his wife’s affair and Delia remains loyal to Arthur so he is free to pursue his own homosexual interests.  Despite all the gossip and scandal, and being ostracized from society, Delia holds her head high and offers no compromise to her life, and is finally able to marry Marshall after Nannnie’s death.

Rosen specializes in picking intriguing characters out of Chicago history and inserting them into her own narrative—In an appendix, Rosen explains that while Field’s life is quite documented, the characters around him are not. I love works of fiction that are based on fact; however, in this story I didn’t really like any of the characters and couldn’t develop any  concern for them.  Therefore, I lost interest in the book and felt it a bore to finish.

Heaven by Randy Alcorn
Review: In a lengthy book, broken down into short, easy-to-manage chapters, Randy Alcorn presents a biblical picture—based on 25 years of study on the topic, and a dose of biblically inspired imagination—of Heaven.  He particularly dispels the notion that heaven is an ethereal world where we, as disembodied spirits, will spend eternity floating on clouds and
playing harps.  He places emphasis on God’s promise to create a new heavens and a new earth, where God’s plan for redemption includes not just the souls of men, but also the whole of creation.  As referenced in the Bible, God’s ultimate plan is to redeem the entire world and return it to a state of complete perfection, devoid of sin, pain, and death. And that’s where we will dwell for all of eternity. (A must read, I believe.)

Everything I Never Told You by Celeste Ng
Review: The novel, which takes place in the late 70s, begins with Lydia's death; the daughter of James, Chinese and Marilyn, white.  The mystery of Lydia’s death is slowly revealed through the book as topics of racial prejudice, gender stereotypes, sibling relationships, as well as parental-to-sibling relationships unfold. Even gay identity comes into play
(remember, this novel is set in 1977, not 2015).  This book reveals much about its characters, much about our society, and much about our country.