Review: Sinatra's Century: One Hundred Notes on the Man and His World

Sinatra's Century: One Hundred Notes on the Man and His World by David Lehman
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

My father-in-law lived with us for a year before he passed, and I played him a lot of Frank Sinatra songs while he was here. I bought this book for him, and he read it but wasn't so impressed. I think he'd already heard most of the anecdotes and had a lifetime of guys waxing poetic on their favorite Sinatra lyric. I decided to give it a try, and found that I liked the mix of anecdotes and reviews of Sinatra's work, usually summary reviews, like a listing of some of the best rarely heard songs, with some description that went deeper than typical liner notes. I tracked down and listened to a lot of the uncommon songs on Apple Music - very nice. A nice appreciation of Ol' Blue Eyes.

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Review: The Diving-bell and the Butterfly

The Diving-bell and the Butterfly by Jean-Dominique Bauby
My rating: 5 of 5 stars



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Review: First Meetings: In the Enderverse

First Meetings: In the Enderverse by Orson Scott Card
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I had read that original Ender story in Analog magazine when it came out, but I didn't remember it very well. I was glad to have a chance to reread it without buying the now high-priced copy of Analog. I read the Ender and Ender's Shadow series, so I was glad to read a little more in the same style that provided some historic background into Ender's ancestors and Jane. Good for a few hours of entertainment.

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Review: The Latte Factor: Why You Don't Have to Be Rich to Live Rich

The Latte Factor: Why You Don't Have to Be Rich to Live Rich by David Bach
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

Another personal financial planning / retirement savings parable. One of many, nothing very outstanding here.

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Review: Oh William!

Oh William! by Elizabeth Strout
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I listened to this as an audiobook and I very much enjoyed it. I've seen some not so positive reviews of this on Goodreads, and I wonder if what I liked, the pacing, the shared emotion (or lack of emotion at times), and the way the sentences sounded was as much a function of the narration as the writing. Perhaps so.

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Review: Suder: A Novel

Suder: A Novel by Percival Everett
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Caused me to listen to a particular Charlie Parker album I hadn't listened to before. Very odd happenings, but put together realistically. I look forward to seeing what the author can do without leaning heavily on the bizarre.

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Review: Going Zero

Going Zero by Anthony McCarten
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

A friend read this and thought I would really enjoy it. I can understand her thinking -- the surveillance we all face from the use of technology is something I can worry about. But the problem with books like this is that the author suggests that technology exists that seems far fetched, and then makes that technology a key part of the plot. It happened a couple of times, and while I'm willing to suspend disbelief when reading such books, this one went to the well too many times for me. So I liked the concept and the story and the non-technology related twists, but the tech side was a bridge too far. This did feel very much like a screenplay, and i can see someone like Amazon picking this up for filming.

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