This month we review five books:
But first, it rained in Phoenix, so some boys decided to go bicycle surfing:
- “The Seeds of War” (305 pages, paperback, 2021) by Alaric Bond: The 14th in our series. Great and getting better even! “1811 and the war with France continues although conflict of another kind is raging on America’s Eastern Seaboard. For many years oppressive trade sanctions have soured Britain’s relations with the newly formed United States; tensions rise further as seamen are illegally pressed and what had been a purely economic dispute soon turns into something far more deadly. Amid the conflict and confusion of fierce political debate, those aboard the frigate HMS Tenacious must also do battle with illegal slavery, powerful privateers, violent tropical storms and enemies that had once been the best of friends.”
- “Churchill: A Drinking Life: Champagne, Cognac, and Cocktails” (168 pages, hardback, 2022) by Gin Sander and Roxanne Langer: “Divided into four sections—Drink Choices, Drinking Companions, Drinking Spots, and Drink Recipes—this book will keep readers turning the pages of fresh and fun material as they lift a drink along with Winston. The book will also focus on the various eras—from the 1910s through the 1960s—the times in which he was drinking alone and with others. Winston certainly drank with a colorful cast of characters, and you’ll glimpse those such as FDR, Stalin, Coco Chanel, Charlie Chaplin, the Duke and Duchess of Windsor, and various other kings, queens, dukes, and duchesses. Among the elegant settings we will pop in and out of for a drink include Hearst Castle, Chanel’s house in the South of France, the Ritz Hotel in Paris, the Dorchester in London, Monaco, the Savoy, the Biltmore, and of course the bars and first-class cabins of the famed ocean liners the Queen Elizabeth and the Queen Mary.”
- “The Boy In Abruzzo” (276 pages, paperback, 2022) by Louis Rosati: I picked this up at the Phoenix airport bookstore on our trip to Bakersfield to close escrow on our 36 bed assisted living facility. Great book. ?????????????????????
- “The Resurrected Jesus: The Church in the New Testament” (256 pages, hardback, 2022) by David Limbaugh and Christen Limbaugh Bloom: “In the fifth and final installment of his bestselling Jesus series, David Limbaugh digs into the New Testament epistles with passion and imagination, showing that the testimony of Jesus’ earliest followers provides irrefutable proof of His resurrection. On a lawyerly quest for truth, Limbaugh looks behind these biblical texts, exploring the lives of their authors, who included some of those closest to the Lord—his most intimate friends, Peter and John, and his own kinsmen James and Jude.”
- “The Philosophy of Modern Song” (352 pages, paperback, 2022) by Bob Dylan: There is some weird stuff in here. This is more insight into Dylan than the reviewed songs. “Dylan, who began working on the book in 2010, offers his extraordinary insight into the nature of popular music. He writes over sixty essays focusing on songs by other artists, spanning from Stephen Foster to Elvis Costello, and in between ranging from Hank Williams to Nina Simone. He analyzes what he calls the trap of easy rhymes, breaks down how the addition of a single syllable can diminish a song, and even explains how bluegrass relates to heavy metal. These essays are written in Dylan’s unique prose.”