2019 Books Read

  1. ****The Lady from Zagreb (Philip Kerr, 2015). Kerr continues his amazing series of Berlin detective Bernie Gunther. This one is set in 1942 and 1943, and doesn’t stray far from Berlin, though there is a trip to the Balkans, where we see the terrible atrocities occurring in modern-day Yugoslavia. 1/6
  2. ***The City and the Stars (Arthur C. Clarke). Set millions of years in the future, in the only city remaining on earth. A boy begins questioning everything around him. 1/10
  3. ****Hail Storme (W. L. Riple). This is a series started in the 1990s. Riple writes a lot like Robert Parker. It’s funny, yet packed with action. I’ll definitely be reading more. 1/15
  4. ****Honkey Tonk Samurai (Joe Lansdale, 2016). The 9th Hap and Leonard book, a thoroughly entertaining series.
  5. ****The Last Kingdom (Bernard Cornwell, 2006). The first of the Saxon Chronicles books, told by Uhtred, who is captured by and partly raised by the Danes (Vikings), but goes to fight for the British. 2/2
  6. ***The Guns of Frank Eaton (David Althouse, 2017). A revenge western. A boy sees his father gunned down by six outlaws. He learns to shoot well, and years later, goes after them. Pretty good. 2/4
  7. ****The Pale Horseman (Bernard Cornwell, 2007). The second of the Saxon Chronicles. Takes place almost entirely in Wessex, as King Alfred takes back his country from the Danes. 2/10
  8. ***The Story of the Spirit (Sarah Fairchild, 2018). The work of the Holy Spirit in the lives of various Old Testament characters. 2/11
  9. **The Burning of Chambersburg, Pa. (Benjamin Schneck). Accounts of the burning of Chambersburg by Confederate troops in 1864. 2/11
  10. ***Everyday Life During the Civil War (Michael Varhola, 1999). A guide for writers. All kinds of tidbits about life during the war. 11/14
  11. **Our Children’s Children (Clifford Simak). People from 500 years in the future are being overrun by an alien species, so they come back in time to circa 1970, with the intention of going clear back to the Miocene era. Simak starts with that interesting premise and then doesn’t seem to know what to do with it. 2/15
  12. ****Lords of the North (Bernard Cornwell, 2008). The third Saxon Chronicles book. Another winner. 2/16
  13. ****Genghis: Birth of an Empire (Conn Iggulden, 2010). The first of the Conqueror series, showing the childhood and young adulthood of Genghis Kahn. 2/25
  14. ****Sharpe’s Tiger (Bernard Cornwell). The first Sharpe book. He’s a private, in India, as the British try to take down a Muslim warlord. 2/18
  15. ****Malice (John Gwynne). The first book of the 4-book “Faithful and the Fallen” fantasy series. I liked it a lot. 3/17
  16. ****Valour (John Gwynne). The second book of the “Faithful and the Fallen” series. Still very good. 3/24
  17. ***Dauntless in Mississippi (Helen Griffith, 1968). The life story of Sarah Dickey, a UB missionary who went to Vicksburg after the Civil War battle and spent the rest of her life working with freed slaves. 3/24
  18. ****Out of Range (CJ Box, 2006). Joe Pickett is sent to temporarily cover the territory around Jackson Hole. Runs into a conspiracy. Very good, as always. 3/25
  19. ****In Plain Sight (CJ Box, 2007). Maybe my favorite Joe Pickett book. A figure from the first book comes back gunning for Pickett. Meanwhile, some brothers are feuding over their mother’s estate. 3/30
  20. ****Free Fire (CJ Box, 2008). The governor sends Pickett to Yellowstone to investigate a quadruple murder for which the confessed killer was let go. Very interesting stuff about Yellowstone. 4/6
  21. ***Liberty for All (Joy Hakim). The history of the US 1820-1860. Written for kids, but well done. 4/8.
  22. ****Ruin (John Gwynne). The third (of 4) in the Faithful and the Fallen series. Ends on a real cliffhanger. Things are starting to come together, and I really like it. 4/20
  23. ****Wrath (John Gwynne). The final book in the Faithful and the Fallen series. This was really a great fantasy series. Highly recommended. 5/11
  24. ***Lost (e. a. lake, 2017). First in the “Indiana Apocalypse” series. Set near Terra Haute, Ind., after an EMP or solar flair takes out all electricity. Our hero, Quinn Reynolds, wakes up without his memory, and is being sheltered in a cabin occupied by four women who are being held as slaves by a bad guy. Reads well, plenty of humor, interesting characters. 5/10
  25. ***Found (e. a. lake, 2018). Second of the “Indiana Apocalypse” books. Keeps me interested. 5/16
  26. ***Redeemed (e. a. lake, 2018). The third book of the “Indiana Apocalypse” books. Disappointing, contrived ending. 5/19
  27. ***Pursuing the Third Option (Mark Vincenti, 2018). In a polarized, black-and-white world, Mark offers guidance for Christians looking for middle, biblical ground. 5/30
  28. **The Scarlet Ruse (John McDonald). Probably my first disappointment with the Travis McGee series. This had to do with a stamp collecting scheme, and I just never understood it. 6/14
  29. ***Valley of the Lesser Evil (Carl Dane, 2018). The first in a western series about a sheriff and his deputy sidekick.  6/21
  30. ***Heart of the Hunter (Deon Meyer). A thriller set in South Africa. Spotty. 6/24
  31. ****Havana  (Stephen Hunter). Earl Swagger goes to Cuba in the 1950s. Another excellent book. 6/26
  32. ***The Broker (John Grisham). Involves a disgraced big-wig lawyer who gets a presidential pardon, but only so that he can be set up for an assassination attempt. Set in Europe, mostly in Italy. 6/27
  33. ****Extreme Measures (Vince Flynn). A cell of Islamic terrorists infiltrate the US through the southern border, and Vince Rapp needs to find and stop them–but he’s being charged with war crimes. 6/29
  34. ***Never Coming Back (2001, Hans Kopek). A woman is abducted and kept in a secured basement room right across the street from where she lived with her husband and daughter. Pretty interesting, but not for kids. 6/30
  35. **The Book of Skulls (Robert Silverberg, 1972). I read his sci-fi as a teen, but this isn’t anything like that. Four friends go cross country seeking immortality. Very strange book. 7/4
  36. ***Random Pokes (Steve Dennie, 2019). A collection of my short pieces over the past 40 years. 7/5
  37. **National Treasure (Arthur Bradley, 2017). The 10th in the Survivalist series. 7/14
  38. **Solemn Duty (Arthur Bradley, 2018). The 11th  Survivalist book. 7/22
  39. ****Homeland (R. A. Salvatore). The first Drizzt novel. Loved it. 7/25
  40. ****Exile (R. A. Salvatore). The 2nd Drizzt novel. Gotta plunge right into the 3rd in the trilogy. 7/26.
  41. ****Sojourn (R. A. Salvatore). the 3rd Drizzt novel finds him on the surface. 7/28
  42. ****Lords of the Bow (Conn Iggulden). Genghis completes his conquest of China. 7/30
  43. ***Nothing Short of Dying (Erik Storey, 2016). The first Clyde Barr novel. He’s already had adventures all over the world, and just finished three years in a Mexican prison. Now he gets dragged into rescuing his sister from her drug-baron boyfriend. Pretty good. 8/9
  44. ****The Break Line (James Brabazon, 2019). The first Max McLean novel. He’s a British assassin. Most of the book takes place in Sierra Leone. Quite good. He’ll be around for a while. 8/14
  45. ****Rafferty’s Rules (W. Glenn Duncan). I’m so glad I stumbled across this 7-book series. It reads like a Spenser novel. A lot of fun. 8/22
  46.  ****Bullwhip Days (James Mellon, 1980). An oral history of slavery. Consists of interviews done in the 1930s with former slaves–only a few thousand still alive at that point. Busts a lot of stereotypes, sometimes in disturbing ways. 8/24
  47. ****Cold in July (Joe Lansdale). I love Lansdale’s stuff. This is a stand-alone book. A man shoots and kills a nighttime burglar, and then the man’s father, just released from prison, comes after him. But…it goes in some unexpected directions. Loved every second of reading this book. 8/26
  48. ***A Rose-Red City (Dave Duncan). An interesting little fantasy book about a city which is a refuge to people from throughout history. 8/28
  49. *****White Fragility (Robin DiAngelo, 2018). An amazing book about white privilege. Very enlightening for me. 8/30
  50. ****Sword Song (Bernard Cornwell). The fourth book of the Saxon tales. 9/4
  51. ****The Burning Land (Bernard Cornwell). The fifth book of the Saxon tales. 9/9
  52. ****Death of Kings (Bernard Cornwell). The sixth book of the Saxon tales, in which King Alfred finally dies and the throne of Wessex is up for grabs. 9/12
  53. ***North to the Rails (Louis L’Mour). Tom Chantry, son of Borden Chantry, is a businessman in the east. He comes west to buy a herd of cattle, and runs into all kinds of conflict. He refuses to carry a sidearm, but that doesn’t mean he doesn’t know how to use one. 9/15
  54. ***Borden Chantry (Louis L’Mour). Borden Chantry, the father of Tom, is a sheriff. 9/17
  55. ****Welcoming the Stranger (Matthew Soerens and Jenny Yang, 2018). An update of the 2009 version of this book about immigration. Covers pretty much all angles, and calls evangelicals to action on behalf of immigrants. 9/17
  56. ****Term Limits (1997, Vince Flynn). A bit wordy, but perhaps his first novel, so I’ll give him a pass. Interesting plot and characters, and a good ending. 9/26
  57. ****Past Tense (Lee Child, 2018). Reacher pays a visit to his father’s hometown, makes some enemies, and stumbles into a bad guy plot. 9/27
  58. ****Believe Me (John Fea, 2018). Shows how evangelicals came to vote overwhelmingly for Donald Trump, and how three things–fear, power, and nostalgia–have long motivated evangelicals. 10/5
  59. ***Hopeful Journeys (Aaron Spencer Fogleman, 1996). The story of the German migration of the 1700s. 10/11
  60. ***The Myth of the Lost Cause and Civil War History (Gary Gallagher, editor, 2016). A look at the Lost Cause myth by about ten different authors. 10/18
  61. ****Thirst (Jo Nesbo). A vampirist serial killer, plus intrigue and politics within the police force. 10/19
  62. ***A Bridge to the Stars (Henning Mankell, 1990). A short and slow-paced coming of age novel. 10/24
  63. ***Shadows in the Twilight (Henning Mankell, 1991). The second short coming of age novel. 10/27
  64. ****Savage Country (Robert Olmstead). Michael Coughlin, a world adventurer and hunter, is in Oklahoma with the widow of his brother. It’s mostly about a big buffalo hunt. Really good. 11/2
  65. ****Orphan X (Gregg Hurwitz, 2016). The first Orphan X book about Evan Smoak, aka the Nowhere Man, who was taken from an orphanage at a young age and trained to be a world-class assassin–the 24th in the Orphan program. 11/4
  66. ***Buy a Bullet (Gregg Hurwitz, 2016). A novella showing how the Nowhere Man got started. 11/5
  67. ***The Nowhere Man (Gregg Hurwitz). The second full Orphan X book. Not as good as the first, but still quite engaging. 11/7
  68. ****Target: Cross (James Patterson). The latest Alex Cross book. 11/13
  69. ****Blood Trail (CJ Box, 2008). The Picketts receive phone messages supposedly from April, the girl they adopted and whom they thought was dead.  11/15
  70. ****Below Zero (CJ Box, 2009). 11/16
  71. ****Rusty Puppy (Joe Lansdale, 2017). The 11th Hap & Leonard book. 11/18
  72. **Blood & Lemonade (Joe Lansdale, 2018). A Hap & Leonard book which tells stories from their earlier days. Kind of disjointed. Not a good addition to the series. 11/19
  73. ****The Crystal Shard (RA Salvatore). The first book in the Ice Wind Dale trilogy. An evil wizard, with a huge goblin and orc army, is attacking the Ten Towns. 11/19
  74. ****Streams of Silver (RA Salvatore). Drizzt and three companions set off to find Mistral Hall. 11/21.
  75. ****The Halfling’s Gem (RA Salvatore). The final book in the Ice Wind Dale trilogy finds Drizzt and companions chasing a deadly assassin who has their friend Regis. 11/23
  76. ****The Turquoise Lament (John D. McDonald). A really good one. Starts in Hawaii, with a woman who says she’s either going crazy, or her husband is trying to kill her. Ends in Pago Pago. 12/2
  77. ***The Slave Across the Street (Theresa Flores). A horrific true story of a woman who, for two years beginning at age 16, was sexually trafficked by Chaldean Iraqis in the Detroit area. 12/4
  78. ***The Dreadful Lemon Sky (John D. McDonald). A woman gives Travis McGee $94,000 to hold for safekeeping, then gets killed in what looked like a car accident. So McGee and Meyer go to investigate. Lots of stuff happens. 12/14
  79. ****The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms (NK Jemison). The first in a trilogy based in a Medieval-type world where gods and godlings co-exist with humanity. 12/26
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