Ghost Detective by Scott William Carter

(read aloud)

A pleasant surprise, well-written, clever, and actually insightful. Because this was on sale on Kindle, I expected a short, ordinary tale. A head injury causes him to see ghosts and once you buy in to the premise, you are off on an interesting and surprisingly emotional adventure.

Flash Boys by Michael Lewis

 A fascinating story of how greed and opportunism and raw technology create a financial system where milliseconds are worth millions, so complex only a few can understand. A few people out of a sense of fairness undermine this system by refusing to play along. Will the high-speed boys be exposed and discredited? The book ends with hope but by no means any certitude.

Command Authority by Tom Clancy et al

Typical novel by the posthumous Clancy and his surviving ghost writers. What is of interest is the uncanny way the plot mirrors the events of these very weeks in the Ukraine. The diabolical leader of Russia, knowing the west will not respond, attacks Ukraine. Completely unprepared, the west does respond with a few extraordinary elite forces and covert operators. Satisfying but unrealistic. Sadly, I think Russia will win in real life.

Steve Jobs by Walter Isaacson

An interesting, well-written story about an American icon and genius of a sort. The more I read, the less I liked him and the less I respected him. His vision and drive is not in my opinion an excuse for cruelty. I see no necessary connection between what he accomplished and the damaged, traumatized people he left strewn along the way. Sorry, that's just the way I feel.

The Dead in their Vaulted Arches by Alan Bradley

Another Flavia mystery but very different. Less a mystery and more a deeply psychological exploration of grief and closure and growing up. Previously an observer and almost an outsider in the family, she is finding her place and her voice and is understanding her father as he shows that he understands her more than we know.

The Partner by John Grisham

A really good story, well-written. An interesting and not really unexpected ending. The plot plays off a universal, usually suppressed urge to escape one's life and start another.

The Winds of War by Herman Wouk

A much better book than I expected. A truly modern epic. It deals with anti-semitism in a very understated but absolutely chilling way. All racism is horrible and indefensible but some racism is ignorance-based and some racism is pure hate. I will say no more about that lest I appear to at all defend any racism whatsoever, which I do not.

I think it is very accurate historically and have a whole list of notes I want to investigate further. Plan to read the sequel and might dabble in the TV miniseries for fun.