Review: In the Shadow of Liberty: The Hidden History of Slavery, Four Presidents, and Five Black Lives by Kenneth C. Davis

Title: In the Shadow of Liberty: The Hidden History of Slavery, Four Presidents, and Five Black Lives
Author: Kenneth C. Davis
Publisher: Henry Holt and Co.
Publication Date: September 20, 2016
Edition: Hardcover (304 pages)
Genres:

• Nonfiction
• American History
• African American History
• Biography
• History
• Slavery

Literary Awards: YALSA Award Nominee for Excellence in Nonfiction (2017)
My Rating: 5 of 5 stars

In the Shadow of Liberty: The Hidden History of Slavery, Four Presidents, and Five Black Lives, Dr. Kenneth C. Davis sets us straight about the history of America. Four of our greatest presidents owned enslaved people. Liberty, justice and equality for all did not apply to enslaved people owned by our founding fathers, as well as many others who fought for America's independence. Each of the thirteen colonies allowed ownership of enslaved people. Dr. Davis takes the reader on a journey with five of these enslaved people, as they serve these four Presidents.

I found this book heartbreaking, informative and fascinating. Many aspects of enslavement have been left out of the history books, so I welcomed reading this un sanitized version of our inhumanity to man, and the exposure of hypocrisy. This book is a great read, and I recommend it highly.

Review: The Book of You by Claire Kendal

Title: The Book of You
Author: Claire Kendal
Publisher: Harper
Publication Date: May 6, 2014 by Harper (first published April 3, 2014)
Edition: ebook (368 pages)
Genres:

• Fiction
• Mystery
• Suspense
• Thriller

My Rating: 3 of 5 stars

Clarissa, a professional woman, finds herself caught up in a terrifying obsession by a co-worker. He is everywhere, involving himself in every aspect of her life. His attentions become more and more violent and intrusive, and she has to navigate these perils and maintain her sanity.

Though fiction, this story is realistic, well thought out, and filled with psychological tension. At first, I found myself trying to second guess Clarissa's actions and choices, but later, I understood them more fully.

Lynn's List (April 26, 2019)

Each Friday I publish a list of titles I have come across, during the past week, that I find interesting. Happy reading!

• The Mueller Report: The Final Report of the Special Counsel into Donald Trump, Russia, and Collusion by Special Counsel's U.S. Department of Justice
• Demons in the Consulting Room: Echoes of Genocide, Slavery and Extreme Trauma in Psychoanalytic Practice (Relational Perspectives Book Series) by Susan Klebanoff, Margery Kalb, and Adrienne Harris
• Radical Religion and Violence: Theory and Case Studies (Extremism and Democracy) by Jeffrey Kaplan
• Jackie's Girl: My Life with the Kennedy Family by Kathy Mckeon
• Defying Hitler: The Germans Who Resisted Nazi Rule by Greg Lewis
• Lucifer Falls by Colin Falconer
• Justice for Some: Law and the Question of Palestine by Noura Erakat
• On the Heels of Ignorance: Psychiatry and the Politics of Not Knowing by Owen Whooley
• The Missing Years by Lexie Elliott
• We Speak for Ourselves: A Word from Forgotten Black America by D. Watkins
• A Politics of Love: A Handbook for a New American Revolution by Marianne Williamson
• Cat Chase the Moon: A Joe Grey Mystery (Joe Grey Mystery Series #21) by Shirley Rousseau Murphy
• The First True Thing by Claire Needell
• The Doctor's Secret (Copper Point Medical #1) by Heidi Cullinan
• Swimming for Sunlight: A Novel by Allie Larkin
• The Summer Cottage by Viola Shipman
• Voices from the Warsaw Ghetto: Writing Our History (Posen Library of Jewish Culture and Civilization) by Samuel D. Kassow and David G. Roskies
• Social Democracy in the Making: Political and Religious Roots of European Socialism by Gary Dorrien
• Courting Mr. Lincoln: A Novel by Louis Bayard
• People, Power, and Profits: Progressive Capitalism For An Age Of Discontent by Joseph E. Stiglitz
• Wunderland: A Novel by Jennifer Cody Epstein
• Chasing Cosby: The Downfall of America's Dad by Nicole Weisensee Egan
• We Carry Kevan: Six Friends. Three Countries. No Wheelchair. by Kevan Chandler
• The Presidents: Noted Historians Rank America's Best--and Worst--Chief Executives by Richard Norton Smith, Douglas Brinkley, Susan Swain and Brian Lamb
• UNBREAKABLE: Vietnam War Psychological Thriller (Murder on the Mekong #1) by Hart Rivers
• UNKNOWABLE: Vietnam War Psychological Thriller (Murder on the Mekong #2) by Hart Rivers
• The Family Lie: An unputdownable psychological thriller with edge of your seat suspense by Jake Cross
• Grateful: The Transformative Power of Giving Thanks by Diana Butler Bass
• Heather Graham Classic Suspenseful Romances Collection Volume 1: An Anthology by Heather Graham
• The Men of Midnight Collection: An Anthology (Men of Midnight #1) by Lisa Marie Rice
• Mischief Bay Collection Volume 1: An Anthology (Mischief Bay #1) by Susan Mallery
• Growing Up Empty: The Hunger Epidemic in America, First Edition by Loretta Schwartz-Nobel
• Eden: A Novel by Olympia Vernon
• A Good Man: A Novel by Guy Vanderhaeghe
• The Boyfriend: A Novel by Thomas Perry
• Heart of Palm by Laura Lee Smith
• All in Pieces by Suzanne Young
• Before He Finds Her: A Novel by Michael Kardos
• Jam on the Vine: A Novel by LaShonda Katrice Barnett
• Bottomland: A Novel by Michelle Hoover
• Frederick Douglass: Prophet of Freedom by David W. Blight
• A Perfect Husband by Aphrodite Jones
• Broken Places: A Chicago Mystery (A Chicago Mystery #1) by Tracy Clark
• The Beach Quilt (A Yorktide, Maine Novel) by Holly Chamberlin
• The Last Year of the War by Susan Meissner
• In the Shadow of Liberty: The Hidden History of Slavery, Four Presidents, and Five Black Lives by Kenneth C. Davis
• Wolfhunter River (Stillhouse Lake Book 3) by Rachel Caine [Kindle Unlimited]
• The FitzOsbornes in Exile by Michelle Cooper
• The Secrets She Keeps: A Novel by Michael Robotham
• The Emperor of All Maladies: A Biography of Cancer by Siddhartha Mukherjee
• Survivors: A Novel of the Coming Collapse by Rawles James Wesley
• Behind Enemy Lines: The True Story of a French Jewish Spy in Nazi Germany by Marthe Cohn and Wendy Holden
• The Second Sister: A Novel by Claire Kendal
• The Book of You: A Novel by Claire Kendal
• The Golden Child: A Novel by Wendy James
• The Moneyless Man by Mark Boyle

Review: Bending Toward Justice: The Birmingham Church Bombing that Changed the Course of Civil Rights by Doug Jones

Title: Bending Toward Justice: The Birmingham Church Bombing that Changed the Course of Civil Rights
Author: Doug Jones
Publisher: All Points Books
Publication Date: March 5, 2019
Edition: ebook (400 pages)
Genres:

• Nonfiction
• African American History
• Civil Rights
• History

My Rating: 5 of 5 stars

Doug Jones tells the story of his prosecution of two of the KKK men who, on September 15, 1963, were responsible for the bombing of the 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama, with resulted in the murder of four young girls and the injury of more than twenty other people. In 2018, Doug Jones was elected by the people of Alabama to represent the state in the United States Senate. In this book, he also tells that story, as well as that of his childhood and family life.

I found this book fascinating, poignant, and an affirmation of how tenacious effort and perseverance can ultimately bring about justice. And I cried my way through the pages as Doug Jones detailed the tremendous effort it took, by so many, to bring these perpetrators to justice, I realized how much this book resonates with me on so many levels. If you have an interest in history, civil rights, social change, justice and public service, you will find this book a most excellent read.

Review: Death Sentence: The Inside Story of the John List Murders by Joe Sharkey

Title: Death Sentence: The Inside Story of the John List Murders
Author: Joe Sharkey
Publisher: Open Road Media
Publication Date: January 17, 2017 (first published January 1st 1990)
Edition: ebook (304 pages)
Genres:

• Nonfiction
• True Crime

My Rating: 4 of 5 stars

In November of 1971, John List murdered his wife, his three children and his mother in his New Jersey home. After, he disappeared and fell off the radar for eighteen years. He assumed a new identity and built a new life, until his arrest.

Joe Sharkey brings this case to life, weaving together the lives of the List family into a narrative that shocks the senses. I found the story and the writing equally fascinating.

Review: Between Shades of Gray by Ruta Sepetys

Title: Between Shades of Gray
Author: Ruta Sepetys
Publisher: Philomel Books
Publication Date: March 22, 2011
Edition: ebook (368 pages)
Genres:

• Fiction
• Historical Fiction
• World War II Fiction

Literary Awards:

• Georgia Peach Book Award Nominee for Honor book (2012)
• SCBWI Golden Kite Award for Fiction (2012)
• William C. Morris YA Debut Award Nominee (2012)
• Rhode Island Teen Book Award Nominee (2013)
• Milwaukee County Teen Book Award Nominee (2012)
• Indies Choice Book Award for Young Adult (2012)
• Amelia Elizabeth Walden Award Nominee (2012)
• Lincoln Award Nominee (2016)
• Cybils Award Nominee for Young Adult Fiction (2011)
• Goodreads Choice Award Nominee for Young Adult Fiction (2011)
• Carnegie Medal Nominee (2012)
• Missouri Gateway Readers Award Nominee (2014)

My Rating: 5 of 5 stars

The year is 1941, and World War II is raging. Lina, her brother, Jonas and their parents live a comfortable life in Lithuania. First, Lina's father is taken away, and, not long after, Soviet officers bang on the door, in the middle of the night, and force Lina, Jonas and their mother to pack a few meager belongings and leave with them. They are being deported without knowing where their journey will end. It ends in Siberia at a labor camp where they live virtually out in the open.

Although this book is historical fiction, it is based on experiences of real life people who were deported and often spent a decade or more in hard labor in Siberia and other places within the Soviet Union. The conditions described in this story are unbelievably harsh, but the story is about the ability of the human spirit to survive and the will to live. The writing is extraordinary, beautiful and compelling.

Review: Alice's Island: A Novel by Daniel Sánchez Arévalo

Title: Alice's Island: A Novel
Author: Daniel Sánchez Arévalo
Publisher: Atria Books
Publication Date: April 16, 2019
Edition: ebook (400 pages)
Genres:

• Fiction
• Mystery
• Thriller

My Rating: 4 of 5 stars

Alice lived a perfect life. She had a successful husband, a little girl, and another little one on the way. But that all changed with one phone call. She soon realizes that she didn't know as much about her husband as she thought, even though they'd grown up together. And, as it turned out, he wasn't where he was supposed to be when she received that phone call. She becomes obsessed with trying to fit the pieces of this puzzle together.

I have to admit to almost giving up on this book because of Alice's actions. They disturbed me. But, in the end, I'm glad I continued reading. This is really a beautiful story of love and exploration. But the pieces of this puzzle do not come together until late in the book. To say more would spoil it, and reveal too much.

Lynn's List (April 19, 2019)

Each Friday I publish a list of titles I have come across, during the past week, that I find interesting. Happy reading!

• Finding My Voice: My Journey to the West Wing and the Path Forward by Valerie Jarrett
• American Moonshot: John F. Kennedy and the Great Space Race by Douglas Brinkley
• Commander in Cheat: How Golf Explains Trump by Rick Reilly
• The Chief by David Nasaw
• Fatal Affair (Fatal #1) by Marie Force
• Tomorrow's Bread by Anna Jean Mayhew
• Glock: The Rise of America's Gun by Paul M. Barrett
• Alice Paul and the Fight for Women's Rights: From the Vote to the Equal Rights Amendment by Deborah Kops
• The Huntress: A Novel by Kate Quinn
• The Girl Who Disappeared Twice (Forensic Instincts #1) by Andrea Kane
• Human Rights and America's War on Terror (Routledge Research in Human Rights Law) by Satvinder S. Juss
• The Night of the Gun: A reporter investigates the darkest story of his life. His own. by David Carr
• Not Her Daughter: A Novel by Rea Frey
• Real News: An Investigative Reporter Uncovers the Foundations of the Trump-Russia Conspiracy by Scott Stedman
• The Better Sister: A Novel by Alafair Burke
• Your Heart, My Hands: An Immigrant's Remarkable Journey to Become One of America's Preeminent Cardiac Surgeons by Arun K Singh
• Children of the Dream: Why School Integration Works by Rucker C. Johnson
• The 13-Minute Murder: A Thriller by James Patterson
• Before She Was Found: A Novel by Heather Gudenkauf
• Reckless Love: Jesus' Call to Love Our Neighbor (Reckless Love) by Tom Berlin
• A Lot of People Are Saying: The New Conspiracism and the Assault on Democracy by Russell Muirhead and Nancy L. Rosenblum
• Alice's Island: A Novel by Daniel Sánchez Arévalo
• Hitler's Last Plot: The 139 VIP Hostages Selected for Death in the Final Days of World War II by Jeremy Dronfield and Ian Sayer
• The Problem of Democracy: The Presidents Adams Confront the Cult of Personality by Andrew Burstein and Nancy Isenberg
• Fatal Deceptions: Three True Crime Tales of Passion, Murder, and Deceit by Joe Sharkey
• Blood and Money: The Classic True Story of Murder, Passion, and Power by Thomas Thompson
• Death Sentence: The Inside Story of the John List Murders by Joe Sharkey
• Deadly Greed: The Riveting True Story of the Stuart Murder Case, Which Rocked Boston and Shocked the Nation by Joe Sharkey
• Above Suspicion: An Undercover FBI Agent, an Illicit Affair, and a Murder of Passion (Above Suspicion Ser. #Vol. 1) by Joe Sharkey
• Nino and Me: My Unusual Friendship with Justice Antonin Scalia by Bryan A. Garner
• The Flight Attendant: A Novel (Vintage Contemporaries Ser.) by Chris Bohjalian
• Finding Our Way Home: Women's Accounts of Being Sent to Boarding School by Nikki Simpson
• Normal People: A Novel by Sally Rooney
• Armed in America: A History of Gun Rights from Colonial Militias to Concealed Carry by Patrick J. Charles
• The Little Book of Race and Restorative Justice: Black Lives, Healing, and US Social Transformation (The Little Books of Justice and Peacebui) by Fania E. Davis
• When I Was Yours: Absolutely heartbreaking world war 2 historical fiction by Lizzie Page
• Your Heart, My Hands: An Immigrant's Remarkable Journey to Become One of America's Preeminent Cardiac Surgeons by Arun K Singh
• Feast Your Eyes: A Novel by Myla Goldberg
• Condemned to Die: Life Under Sentence of Death by Robert Johnson
• The Nature and Limits of Human Equality by John Charvet
• Liberalism: The Basics (The Basics) by John Charvet
• Same-Sex Attraction and the Church: The Surprising Plausibility of the Celibate Life by Ed Shaw
• In the Dark: A Jenny Aaron Thriller by Andreas Pflüger
• The Sound of Her Voice by Nathan Blackwell
• What She Saw Last Night by Mason Cross
• Redemption (Memory Man series #5) by David Baldacci
• He Began With Eve by Joyce Landorf
• The Lady Is a Spy: Virginia Hall, World War Ii Hero Of The French Resistance by Don Mitchell
• The Short and Tragic Life of Robert Peace: A Brilliant Young Man Who Left Newark for the Ivy League by Jeff Hobbs
• My Best Friend's Exorcism: A Novel by Grady Hendrix
• Tomorrow Will Be Different: Love, Loss, and the Fight for Trans Equality by Sarah McBride
• All We Ever Wanted: A Novel by Emily Giffin
• Artemis: A Novel by Andy Weir
• Clark Gable: A Biography by Warren G. Harris
• The Five: The Untold Lives of the Women Killed by Jack the Ripper by Hallie Rubenhold
• Adrift: Seventy-six Days Lost at Sea by Steven Callahan
• From Cold War to Hot Peace: An American Ambassador in Putin's Russia by Michael McFaul
• Children of Jihad: A Young American's Travels Among the Youth of the Middle East by Jared Cohen
• Accidental Presidents: Eight Men Who Changed America by Jared Cohen
• In Search of Our Roots by Henry Louis Gates
• Stony the Road: Reconstruction, White Supremacy, and the Rise of Jim Crow by Henry Louis Gates
• Life Will Be the Death of Me: . . . and you too! by Chelsea Handler
• The Hill to Die On: The Battle for Congress and the Future of Trump's America by Anna Palmer and Jake Sherman
• Sticks and Stones: Defeating the Culture of Bullying and Rediscovering the Power of Character and Empathy by Emily Bazelon
• Charged: The New Movement to Transform American Prosecution and End Mass Incarceration by Emily Bazelon
• Lost and Wanted: A novel by Nell Freudenberger

Review: Reckless Love: Jesus' Call to Love Our Neighbor by Tom Berlin

Title: Reckless Love: Jesus' Call to Love Our Neighbor
Author: Tom Berlin
Publisher: Abingdon Press
Publication Date: April 16, 2019
Edition: ebook
Genres:

• Nonfiction
• Religion

My Rating: 4 of 5 stars

author and Pastor Tom Berlin explains that to love your neighbor as yourself is the way to more deeply love and serve God. Each chapter illustrate how, as followers of Jesus, we can begin to do this: Begin with Love; Expand the Circle; Lavish Love; Openhearted Love; Value the Vulnerable; and Emulate Christ. He offers real life examples of how Jesus taught the disciples this concept and applies it to our time.

A paragraph from the book explains the principle far better than I can. "One look at the group Jesus first assembled as his followers tells us that something is lost when sameness is the defining characteristic of a church. Jesus’ example teaches us that something is wrong when we leave out people who differ from us and only feel at home when everyone is the same. His goal is not to make us more of what we are, but help us to become what we can be. That requires us to expand our understanding of what it means to love our neighbor."

What I found so wonderful about this book is how the author reveals the simplicity of the Gospel. It is not a hard and harsh set of rules one has to obey, as some preach. It is really the essence of who God is. God is love. And, by loving my neighbor as myself, I am loving and serving God. I also appreciated Pastor Berlin's discussion of racism, the enslavement of African Americans, and the dishonorable treatment of indigenous people by Christians--and how that was then and still is not acceptable. As he so aptly points out, we are all God's children. He created each of us. Pastor Berlin also affirms my belief that Jesus is the first and foremost advocate for economic and social justice, and we need to be also.

Review: The Huntress by Kate Quinn

Title: The Huntress
Author: Kate Quinn
Publisher: William Morrow Paperbacks
Publication Date: February 26, 2019
Edition: ebook (560 pages)
Genres:

• Fiction
• Historical Fiction
• Mystery
• Thriller
• World War II

My Rating: 4 of 5 stars

Jordan is like any young girl in 1950 America, thinking about her future and enjoying her passion for photography. She is happy for her father when he marries a woman with a daughter, refugees from WWII Germany. But something seems off about this woman, and Jordan is not sure she is who she claims to be. Her life will soon intersect with three others who come together to hunt this woman down.

This was such a good story. Historical. Intense. The book is written from the perspective of each of the characters, in turn, and alternates between World War II and America after the war and in 1950.

Review: The Matriarch: Barbara Bush and the Making of an American Dynasty by Susan Page

Title: The Matriarch: Barbara Bush and the Making of an American Dynasty
Author: Susan Page
Publisher: Twelve
Publication Date: April 2, 2019
Edition: Kindle (432 pages)
Genres:

• Nonfiction
• Biography
• Memoir

My Rating: 4 of 5 stars

The Matriarch is a detailed biography of Barbara Bush, wife of President George H. W. Bush. From her girlhood to her life in the White House and beyond, Susan Page presents Barbara Bush in a way that captures, to the extent a book can, the personality and character of Barbara Bush and many of her life experiences and personal struggles.

Many remarks about Barbara Bush characterize her as "one of the most influential and under-appreciated women in American political history." There were many fascist of her personality and character I was unaware of, prior to reading this book, especially her views on same-sex relationships and abortion. Though she supported her husband and worked to help him achieve his political aspirations, she was an independent thinker and had her own ideas, which did not always parrot the politics of conservatism or the views of her husband. What I am left with, after reading this book, is a better understanding of the many difficulties she had to overcome in life, and her continued effort, always, to do what she believed was right. I think Susan Page captures much of the essence of her subject in this book, and I recommend it to anyone wanting to learn more about Barbara Bush.

Lynn's List (April 12, 2019)

Each Friday I publish a list of titles I have come across, during the past week, that I find interesting. Happy reading!

• The Cornwalls Are Gone by James Patterson
• Private Government: How Employers Rule Our Lives (and Why We Don't Talk about It) (The University Center for Human Values Series #44) by Elizabeth Anderson
• River People (River Women #1) by Margaret Lukas
• Trial & Tribulations (A\windy Ridge Legal Thriller Ser. #1) by Rachel Dylan
• Collision Force: Crossing Forces Book One (Crossing Forces Ser. #1) by C. A. Szarek
• The Art of Fear (The Little Things That Kill Series #1) by Pamela Crane
• Shadows at War: a novel (Danger in the Shadows #1) by Kenneth L. Capps
• Family Inheritance by Terri Ann Leidich
• Destination D by Lori Beard Daily
• Death of an Intern (Laura Wolfe Thriller Ser. #1) by Keith M. Donaldson
• The Sicilian Woman's Daughter: Four generations of mafia women by Linda Lo Scuro
• The Road to Rescue: The Untold Story of Schindler's List by Mietek Pemper
• The Expats: A Novel by Chris Pavone
• The Perfectionists (Perfectionists #1) by Sara Shepard
• The Good Girls (Perfectionists #2) by Sara Shepard
• The Cove: An FBI Thriller (An FBI Thriller #1) by Catherine Coulter
• The Hinge Factor: How Chance and Stupidity Have Changed History by Erik Durschmied
• Verdict on Vichy: Power and Prejudice in the Vichy France Regime by Michael Curtis
• Railroads and the American People (Railroads Past and Present) by H. Roger Grant
• Two Thousand Minnows: A Young Girl's Story of Separation, Hope, and Forgiveness by Sandra Leigh Vaughan
• Only Yesterday by Frederick Lewis Allen
• The Fires of Babylon: Eagle Troop and the Battle of 73 Easting by Mike Guardia
• Maisie Dobbs (Maisie Dobbs #1) by Jacqueline Winspear
• The Next Republic: The Rise of a New Radical Majority by D. D. Guttenplan
• Underground to Palestine by D. D. Guttenplan, I. F. Stone, and Mark Crispin Miller
• Between Shades of Gray by Ruta Sepetys
• Salt to the Sea by Ruta Sepetys
• Phantoms: A Novel by Christian Kiefer
• The Pandemic Century: One Hundred Years Of Panic, Hysteria, And Hubris by Mark Honigsbaum
• March Violets: A Bernie Gunther Novel (Bernie Gunther #1) by Philip Kerr
• Someone Knows by Lisa Scottoline
• Naamah: A Novel by Sarah Blake
• The Bookshop of the Broken Hearted by Robert Hillman
• Alex and Eliza: A Love Story (The Alex & Eliza Trilogy #1) by Melissa de la Cruz
• Love & War: An Alex & Eliza Story (Alex & Eliza #2) by Melissa de la Cruz
• All for One: The Alex & Eliza Trilogy (The Alex & Eliza Trilogy #3) by Melissa de la Cruz
• The Au Pairs (The Au Pairs #1) by Melissa de la Cruz
• Skinny-Dipping (The Au Pairs #2) by Melissa de la Cruz
• Sun-kissed (The Au Pairs #3) by Melissa de la Cruz
• Crazy Hot (The Au Pairs #4) by Melissa de la Cruz
• In the Neighborhood of True by Susan Kaplan Carlton
• Producers, Parasites, Patriots: Race and the New Right-Wing Politics of Precarity by Joseph E. Lowndes
• Soon the Light Will Be Perfect: A Novel by Dave Patterson
• Savage News: A Novel by Jessica Yellin
• The Amish Widow's New Love and Plain Outsider: A 2-in-1 Collection by Alison Stone and Liz Tolsma
• The Wedding Quilt Bride and Anna's Forgotten Fiancé: A 2-in-1 Collection by Carrie Lighte and Marta Perry
• Freedom's Detective: The Secret Service, the Ku Klux Klan and the Man Who Masterminded America’s First War on Terror by Charles Lane
• The Last: A Novel by Hanna Jameson
• The Ash Family: A Novel by Molly Dektar
• Accidental Presidents: Eight Men Who Changed America by Jared Cohen
• The Storm on Our Shores: One Island, Two Soldiers, and the Forgotten Battle of World War II by Mark Obmascik
• A Chance to Remember: An Amish Reunion Story by Kathleen Fuller
• Charged: The New Movement to Transform American Prosecution and End Mass Incarceration by Emily Bazelon
• All That You Leave Behind: A Memoir by Erin Lee Carr
• A Computer Called Katherine: How Katherine Johnson Helped Put America on the Moon by Suzanne Slade
• Afternoon of a Faun: A Novel by James Lasdun
• The Patient One (Walnut Creek Series, The #1) by Shelley Shepard Gray
• Alice & Gerald: A Homicidal Love Story by Ron Franscell
• Vote for US: How to Take Back Our Elections and Change the Future of Voting by Joshua A. Douglas
• Lost Roses: A Novel by Martha Hall Kelly
• How to Make Friends with the Dark by Kathleen Glasgow
• Twenty-one Days: A Daniel Pitt Novel (Daniel Pitt #1) by Anne Perry
• Triple Jeopardy: A Daniel Pitt Novel (Daniel Pitt #2) by Anne Perry
• Feminism for the 99%: A Manifesto by Nancy Fraser, Tithi Bhattacharya, and Cinzia Arruzza
• The War on Normal People: The Truth About America's Disappearing Jobs and Why Universal Basic Income Is Our Future by Andrew Yang
• Mrs. John Doe: A Thriller by Tom Savage
• Tailspin: The People and Forces Behind America's Fifty-Year Fall--and Those Fighting to Reverse It by Steven Brill
• Clock Dance: A novel by Anne Tyler
• Cemetery Girl by David Bell
• Every Breath You Take: A Novel by Judith Mcnaught
• A Free Man of Color (Benjamin January #1) by Barbara Hambly
• Dead Man's Island (Henrie O #1) by Carolyn G. Hart
• Death Traps: The Survival of an American Armored Division in World War II by Belton Y. Cooper
• Tell Me What You Want: Knights Of Texas Book One (Knights of Texas #1) by Susan Sheehey
• A Second Harvest (Men of Lancaster County, #1) by Eli Easton
• Tender Mercies (Men Of Lancaster County Ser. #2) by Eli Easton
• How Sweet the Sound by Amy K. Sorrells
• Then Sings My Soul by Amy K. Sorrells
• Old Newgate Road: A novel by Keith Scribner
• We Are All Welcome Here: A Novel by Elizabeth Berg

Review: Run Away by Harlan Coben

Title: Run Away
Author: Harlan Coben
Publisher: Grand Central Publishing
Publication Date: March 19, 2019
Edition: ebook (400 pages)
Genres:

• Fiction
• Crime Fiction
• Mystery
• Thriller

My Rating: 4 of 5 stars

How far would you go to help your daughter? Simon Greene faces this question head on, multiple times, as he tries to put together the pieces of why his oldest daughter has run away from home, is addicted to drugs, and is involved with an abusive man. And these questions only become more difficult to answer after he sees her in Central Park and tries to follow her.

This book has so much to offer. Family drama. Parental love. Mystery. A plot that has so many twists and turns, you get lost in it. A great read, and one I couldn't stop reading.

Lynn's List (April 5, 2019)

Each Friday I publish a list of titles I have come across, during the past week, that I find interesting. Happy reading!

• Like Me or Not: Overcoming Approval Addiction by Dawn Owens
• The Holocaust's Jewish Calendars: Keeping Time Sacred, Making Time Holy (Jewish Literature and Culture) by Alan Rosen
• The Gracelin O'Malley Trilogy: Gracelin O’Malley, Leaving Ireland, and ’Til Morning Light (The Gracelin O'Malley Trilogy #1) by Ann Moore
• Leaving Ireland: Gracelin O'malley, Leaving Ireland, And 'til Morning Light (The Gracelin O'Malley Trilogy #2) by Ann Moore
• The Mommie Dearest Collection: Two Memoirs of Survival by Christina Crawford
• Crazy Horse and Custer: The Parallel Lives of Two American Warriors by Stephen E. Ambrose
• The Right Time: A Novel by Danielle Steel
• Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates
• We Were Eight Years in Power: An American Tragedy by Ta-Nehisi Coates
• The Lies We Tell by Niki Mackay
• The Glad Shout by Alice Robinson
• Sky Girls: The True Story of the First Women's Cross-Country Air Race by Gene Nora Jessen
• In the Closet of the Vatican: Power, Homosexuality, Hypocrisy by Frederic Martel
• Severance: A Novel by Ling Ma
• First: Sandra Day O'Connor by Evan Thomas
• Doing Justice: A Prosecutor's Thoughts on Crime, Punishment, and the Rule of Law by Preet Bharara
• The Right Side of History: How Reason and Moral Purpose Made the West Great by Ben Shapiro
• Shelter for Quinn (Badge of Honor #13) by Susan Stoker
• When August Ends by Penelope Ward
• Unbecoming: A Memoir of Disobedience by Anuradha Bhagwati
• Boundaries Updated and Expanded Edition: When to Say Yes, How to Say No To Take Control of Your Life (Mini Bks.) by Henry Cloud and John Townsend
• Phipps Houses and the Future of Affordable Housing in NYC by V. Kasturi Rangan and Lisa A. Chase
• The Start, 1904–1930 (Twentieth Century Journey #1) by William L. Shirer
• The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich: A History of Nazi Germany by William L. Shirer
• Beatrix Potter: Her Inner World by Andrew Norman
• Disasters at Sea: A Visual History of Infamous Shipwrecks by Liz Mechem
• Some Survived: An Eyewitness Account of the Bataan Death March and the Men Who Lived through It by John Toland and Manny Lawton
• Death at the Little Bighorn: A New Look at Custer, His Tactics, and the Tragic Decisions Made at The Last Stand by
• Ph.D. Phillip Thomas Tucker
• The Butterfly Garden: Surviving Childhood on the Run with One of America's Most Wanted by Chip St. Clair
• The White House Boys: An American Tragedy by Roger Dean Kiser
• Boundaries and Relationships: Knowing, Protecting and Enjoying the Self by Dr. Charles Whitfield
• The Other Thief: A Collision of Love, Flesh, and Faith by Frank McKinney
• Standing Strong: An Unlikely Sisterhood and the Court Case that Made History by Diane Reeve
• Alive: The Story of the Andes Survivors (P. S. Series) by Piers Paul Read
• House on Fire: A Novel by Bonnie Kistler
• The Girl on the Cliff: A Novel by Lucinda Riley
• The Rising Tide: A Novel of World War II #1 (World War II #1) by Jeff Shaara
• Black Dahlia Avenger: One of the Most Notorious Murders of the Twentieth Century . . . Solved! (Black Dahlia Avenger Ser.) by Steve Hodel
• Kushner, Inc.: Greed. Ambition. Corruption. The Extraordinary Story of Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump" by Vicky Ward
• The Crying Child by Barbara Michaels
• White Rose by Kip Wilson
• The Girl He Used to Know: A Novel by Tracey Garvis Graves
• Trace by Pat Cummings
• American Moonshot: John F. Kennedy and the Great Space Race by Douglas Brinkley
• Since We Last Spoke by Brenda Rufener
• Apocalypse Any Day Now: Deep Underground with America's Doomsday Preppers by Tea Krulos
• Intertwined: A Mother's Memoir by Kathleen English Cadmus
• Howell's Storm: New York City's Official Rainmaker and the 1950 Drought by Jim Leeke
• Little Lovely Things: A Novel by Maureen Joyce Connolly
• Of Privacy and Power: The Transatlantic Struggle over Freedom and Security by Abraham L. Newman and Henry Farrell
• The Unwanted: America, Auschwitz, and a Village Caught In Between by Michael Dobbs
• Beautiful Justice: Reclaiming My Worth After Human Trafficking and Sexual Abuse by Brooke Axtell
• H. H. Holmes: The True History of the White City Devil by Adam Selzer
• Wreck: A Novel by Kirstin Cronn-Mills
• The Affairs of the Falcóns: A Novel by Melissa Rivero
• The Spectators: A Novel by Jennifer duBois
• As Long as Grass Grows: The Indigenous Fight for Environmental Justice, from Colonization to Standing Rock by Dina Gilio-Whitaker
• A Silken Thread: A Novel by Kim Vogel Sawyer
• The Mission of a Lifetime: Lessons from the Men Who Went to the Moon by Basil Hero
• The Matriarch: Barbara Bush and the Making of an American Dynasty by Susan Page
• Bending Toward Justice: The Birmingham Church Bombing that Changed the Course of Civil Rights by Doug Jones
• Burning Fields by Alli Sinclair
• The Life by Martina Cole
• Southernmost Murder by C. S. Poe
• Internment by Samira Ahmed
• The Beginning of Politics: Power in the Biblical Book of Samuel by Moshe Halbertal and Stephen Holmes
• Something in the Water: A Novel by Catherine Steadman
• Where She Lies: A gripping Irish detective thriller with a stunning twist by Michael Scanlon
• Where Angels Fear: An addictive crime thriller with a gripping twist by D. K. Hood
• The Crying Season: An edge-of-your-seat crime thriller by D. K. Hood
• The Girl in the Letter by Emily Gunnis
• The Secret by Kathryn Hughes
• Blood Ties by Sam Hayes
• Miles from Where We Started: A Novel by Cynthia Ruchti
• In His Steps: What Would Jesus Do? by Charles Sheldon
• Washed Away: How the Great Flood of 1913, America's Most Widespread Natural Disaster, Terrorized a Nation and Changed It Forever by Geoff Williams
• We Were Beautiful by Heather Hepler
• Truman: The Personal Correspondence Of Harry S. Truman And Dean Acheson, 1953-1971 (Reading Group Guides Ser.) by David Mccullough
• The Amber Room: A Novel of Suspense by Steve Berry
• The Mars Room: A Novel by Rachel Kushner
• The Mercy Room by Gilles Rozier
• Why I Am Not a Calvinist by Joseph R. Dongell
• Beyond Racial Gridlock: Embracing Mutual Responsibility by George Yancey
• Autobiography of a Freedom Rider: My Life as a Foot Soldier for Civil Rights by Natalie Bell and Thomas Armstrong

Review: In the Closet of the Vatican: Power, Homosexuality, Hypocrisy by Frédéric Martel

Title: In the Closet of the Vatican: Power, Homosexuality, Hypocrisy
Author: Frédéric Martel
Translator: Shaun Whiteside
Publisher: Bloomsbury UK
Publication Date: February 21, 2019
Edition: Paperback (555 pages)
Genres:

• Nonfiction
• History
• Religion
• Sexuality

My Rating: 4 of 5 stars

Frédéric Martel, noted French journalist, along with his associates, spent four years investigating the Roman Catholic Church concerning homosexuality of priests and higher ups, the handling of sex abuse cases, hypocrisy and abuse of power. All of these aspects have been well hidden and, to a great extent, remain so to this day. The author and/or his associates conducted interviews with 1,500 people at the Vatican and in 30 countries including: 41 cardinals; 52 bishops and monsignori; and 45 apostolic nuncios.

I found this book most informative and revealing, not only because of the candor of the interviewees, but also because of the historical perspective the author brings to this work. The duplicity and hypocrisy was astounding to me, but in no way do I believe it does not also exist in other mainline Protestant and Evangelical churches today.

If you have an interest in these issues, I highly recommend this book. Though it is lengthy and by no means a quick read, its comprehensive coverage of the subject is well worth your time.

Review: The Crying Child by Barbara Michaels

Title: The Crying Child
Author: Barbara Michaels
Publisher: HarperCollins e-books
Publication Date: October 13, 2009 (first published 1971)
Edition: ebook (320 pages)
Genres:

• Fiction
• Mystery
• Suspense
• Supernatural

My Rating: 3 of 5 stars

Joanne McMullen gives up her job and life on the west coast to spend the summer with her sister and brother-in-law on a remote island off the coast of Maine. Her sister, Mary, has had a miscarriage, and Mary's mental state is concerning to Jo. Soon, however, there is much more to worry about. Something is amiss in the house, and family history and a family mystery, from many generations past, must be sorted out before lives no longer hang in the balance.

I so enjoyed this book. In many respects, the writing style is similar to that of Phyllis A. Whitney, so I felt right at home reading this book. But I enjoyed this book in its own right as well. Definitely an author I plan to add to my reading circle.