Jack’s Books Blog: Hot Reads and Ice Cold Brews
People are still giving us answers to a question we asked on the show several days ago…
“What advice would you give your 21-year-old self?”
Maya Angelou once said:
“When I look back, I am so impressed again with the life-giving power of literature. If I were a young person today, trying to gain a sense of myself in the world, I would do that again by reading, just as I did when I was young.”
Amen! With that advice given, here’s what the last few weeks have brought:
“Hitler’s Empire: How the Nazis Ruled Europe” by Mark Mazower (2008) This turned into a richly-researched and revealing history of the practical problems Hitler’s Germany ran into when they tried to occupy/resettle/ethnically-cleanse most of the continent. They didn’t just want to plant their flag, but sought to remake places and repopulate them, and such a massive, complicated and draining enterprise, on top of taking almost the entire world, was clearly and insanely too much. This author almost lost me at the beginning with an ill-conceived and tendentious attempt to compare the Third Reich with America’s “Manifest Destiny” settlement of the West. Obviously not comparable. Scant evidence that guys like Hitler, Himmler and Goering were thinking that. Sounds more like the uber-trendy “America-is-the-worst” pablum of the modern left. Look, everyone, we inspired Hitler! Lord, what a lot of nonsense, but then the book settles down and becomes truly readable.
“Brutal Minds: The Dark World of Left Wing Brainwashing in Universities” by Dr. Stanley Ridgeley (2023) A short, essay-like analysis of the Marcusean “long march” through institutes of higher education. Don’t skip this book because you already know we have a problem (of course we do, and of course you know). The author does a superb, example-filled explanation of HOW the universities have been turned against their students, and the rest of us. Read it before you drop off your freshman!
“The Drifter” by Nick Petrie (2016) In the vein of Jack Reacher, Petrie gives us war veteran Peter Ash, traveling the country in an old pickup and sleeping under the stars to ward off the “static” of memories in his head. You will like Ash immediately. In this series debut, he’s fixing an old porch on the home of the widow of his best friend from the Marines when he finds trouble, and a dog.
“There’s Trouble Brewing” by Nicholas Blake (1937) Blake’s Nigel Strangways is a humbler Sherlock Holmes, who finds himself going from guest speaker at a local literary society to investigating the gruesome offing of a local beer mogul who no one likes and everyone has a motive for killing. The Blake books are always short, suspenseful and amazingly original, like this murder plot involving the brewery plant. I knew that last pint tasted a little off…
“The Natural” by Bernard Malamud (1952) I never read this in school, as you may have, and saved it for the shank of a baseball summer—and was disappointed. There are simply many, many other, better, books about the national pastime and the experience of playing it and being around it.
“Think Fast, Mr. Moto” by John Marquand (1937) A young newcomer to the Orient is caught up in the family business and prewar intrigue, until Japanese superagent Mr. Moto comes to his rescue—literally and figuratively. The Moto books get thrown over for outdated language and cultural references, just as the movie version of this book, starring Peter Lorre, is always preceded by a scolding disclaimer. Fact is, Marquand was a top-flight thriller-writer.
“Prelude to Terror” by Helen MacInnes (1978) Like Marquand, MacInnes hails from deep in the preceding century, and sometimes character and setting details are dated. Ok. Nevertheless, I always enjoy her trademark of the reluctant, cynical hero called upon, or forced into, spycraft and espionage in exotic locales that, thanks to the well-traveled author, you can always see, smell and taste. Colin Grant is a life-weary art expert sent to Vienna to buy a valuable painting for a Texas billionaire, but instead gets tangled in a massive terrorism conspiracy.
As always, there’s more to come, and you can share your picks and reviews here: [email protected]