At War With Ourselves by H. R. McMaster (2024)

Extremely well-written, well-organized, and well-edited account of a fantastically bright, competent, selfless person's attempt to navigate the "nest of vipers" in the senior leadership of the executive branch. I enjoyed this one and recommend it. 5/5 Stars.

Blood Money by Peter Schweizer (2024)

Some of the data and Chinese publications mentioned in this book were new to me, so I did learn a bit about  the diplomacy and politics of Sino-US relations.  However, the book spends most of the content speculating about motivations and building conspiracy theories around circumstantial evidence.  I do not recommend this one. 2/5 Stars.

Mission of Gravity by Hal Clement (1953)

During my "golden age" of science fiction (14 - 17 years old), I missed out on some of the great authors of the golden age of science fiction. This adventure story is not terrible but the plot is an obvious thin shell to explain the odd gas giant planet and its local chemistry. Some of the politics are interesting and clever.  However, the 1940's tech projected into the future does not age well. 3/5 Stars.

One False Move by Harlan Coben (2014)

I like the Myron Bolitar stories. This one is somewhat grittier and more brutish than my preference. 4/5 Stars.

Activation Degradation by Marina J. Lostetter (2021)

The characters and story are well crafted.  However, the science is so terrible I could not suspend disbelief. I don't understand why good authors who want to write SCIENCE fiction don't ask a scientist for help with celestial mechanics or brainstorming better excuses for drama in the Jovian system than "energy" generation. C'mon.  2/5 Stars.

L'Île mystérieuse (1875)

I loved this book! The French is at a 3rd or 4th grade level and easy to read. The themes are reminiscent of Alex de Tocqueville's De la démocratie en Amérique  in its celebration of the frontier spirit, American ingenuity, the triumph of hard work, grit, and technology over nature, and enlightenment ideals. The characters are well-developed archetypes and colorful in Verne's unique style.  The story is unpredictable with a wonderful mystery and slow reveal. I think this one is my favorite Jules Verne book now. 5/5 Stars. (I started writing this review in French but realized I could not express myself well.)

To Challenge Heaven (2024)

Fun series. This one rambles a bit. 4/5 Stars.

Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy (1875 - 1878)

Another book from one of my kids' bookshelves that I added to my backlog because I had never read any major Russian literature and was curious.  My preconception of the story was that the main character was a charismatic, beautiful, good-hearted person (Anna) who was ostracized and destroyed by the evil oligarchical 19th century Russian society.  And I thought that the book covered  themes of hypocrisy, jealousy, faith, fidelity, family, marriage, society, progress, carnal desire and passion, along with the agrarian connection to land in contrast to the lifestyles of the elites in the city.  After riding along the 1,000-page slow, rambling roller coaster, I now think the story is almost completely psychological. The main characters experience acute schizophrenic episodes, triggered by the "trauma" of silly expressions and "feelings" or thoughts they project onto other people.  The details of farming, the social norms, and some of the philosophy is mildly interesting but not worth the slog. 3/5 Stars. I don't recommend this one.

The last dangerous visions by Harlan Ellison (2024)

Some of these stories are good; none of them is as "dangerous" or controversial as the critics claim. 3/5 Stars.

Exodus: The Archimedes Engine by Peter F Hamilton (2024)

It's really wonderful that Peter F Hamilton is writing such fun space opera.  I enjoyed this story. 5/5 Stars.