Review: A Debt of Death

A Debt of Death by Jonathan Dunsky
My rating: 5 of 5 stars



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Review: Robert B. Parker's Buzz Kill: Sunny Randall, Book 12

Robert B. Parker's Buzz Kill: Sunny Randall, Book 12 by Alison Gaylin
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This picks up a few months after Robert B. Parker's Bad Influence , Gaylin's first in the Sunny series. It has some of the same characters and uses some of the elements from that book, but the story is a more classic murder mystery. The plot got a bit convoluted at points, but the 'big twist' was fairly predictable. I enjoyed it but thought Robert B. Parker's Bad Influence was better.

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Review: Robert B. Parker's Bad Influence: Sunny Randall, Book 11

Robert B. Parker's Bad Influence: Sunny Randall, Book 11 by Alison Gaylin
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Lupica's Sunny was always a good enough imitation of Parker. It was enjoyable to read and revisit that world. But it was incomplete; only as good as an impression. Alison Gaylin is not doing an impression of Parker. There are noticeable differences in style. The dialogue is not that pithy and punchy dialogue that Parker excelled at; I think there was only one "oh-ho!" The pacing and scene descriptions were also different (though not radically so). But Gaylin captures Sunny in a way Lupica just never did. She doesn't, as Lupica too often did, rely on stock characters from the Spenser-verse. This as original a 'Parker' story I've read in a long time: it takes the character of Sunny and the world Parker created and tells a Sunny story in Gaylin's way. The Sunny Themes are there: the never-ending struggle with the challenges of independence and autonomy; the finding one's own authentic footing in a world often dominated by men; the toughness and willingness to do what needs to be done. But Gaylin uses her own style and approach to bring Sunny to life. It is welcome and exciting.

Kate Burton's performance is top notch. She doesn't over do it on the accents, but just enough to give you the shape of the characters.

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Review: Jerusalem: The Biography

Jerusalem: The Biography by Simon Sebag Montefiore
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Starting in the ancient world of Canaanite and Israelite settlements up through early 2000s, Montefiore tells us an epic, sweeping story of the history of Jerusalem. I was curious why the subtitle "The Biography" was used; but it seems to work better than the most likely other candidate: 'The History'. First, there is something of the city, its past, and present that is alive. In our imaginations but also the streets themselves. I recall from my visits, Jerusalem felt different. I've been to other cities, ancient and filled with ruins, but the ancient stones of Jerusalem are still alive: they are still part of the everyday living of the city in a way the Roman Forum is not. Second, Montefiore uses a lot of personal antidotes and individual biographies of figures through Jerusalem's history to tell his story. While there is plenty of what one might expect in a history book: battles, empires conquering, dates, and archeology, much of the focus is individuals, great and small, who have played some part in Jerusalem's story. This makes it more of a biography than simply a history.

Montefiore walks a fine line between Jewish, Christian, and Muslim views of the city and their respective relationships to it. His point is not to adjudicate between disputes but to layout these views, using their own voices. There is nothing of a polemic here.

While I thoroughly enjoyed the book and learned a lot(and John Lee's narration is quite good), there were points where it gets a little bogged down in minutiae or too focused on tangential details of some of the life-stories he uses to tell the history.

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Review: Retrieving the Ancients: An Introduction to Greek Philosophy

Retrieving the Ancients: An Introduction to Greek Philosophy by David Roochnik
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This is a fantastic introduction to ancient Greek philosophy. It is surprisingly in-depth for its length (278 pages), avoids jargon, and is never overly technical. Roochnik’s writing is clear and concise, he keeps the exposition grounded and readable throughout.

Roochnik makes Aristotle the hero of the story. Roochnik sees Aristotle as bringing together positive elements from the pre-Socratics and Plato to craft a philosophical approach that provides a moderate approach that can a ground a life-well lived in an understandable world. To tell this story, Roochnik starts with the Pre-Socratics and how these first Greek philosophers start asking new kinds of questions and providing new kinds of answers. He then turns to Plato and the Socratic shift to a focus on human excellence and the Socratic question of “What is it?” He then closes with Aristotle, showing how he brings these threads to an apotheosis. Roochnik acknowledges that a lot of Aristotle’s approach won’t or can’t work in a modern context but pleads his case that studying Aristotle and his predecessors is something essential for a modern person to better understand themselves and their place.

There is an epilogue that briefly discusses various Hellenistic or Post-Aristotelian thinkers, covering quickly the Stoics, Cynics, and Epicureans.

Highly recommend for anyone interested in philosophy, particularly the ancients.


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Review: Saint's Blood

Saint's Blood by Sebastien de Castell
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

The series continues to delight and surprise me. I love the main characters in this dark, corrupt world. Falcio, Brasti, and Kest are reminiscent of the three musketeers; with the swashbuckling, adventure, and humor. But they are beaten down for more than Dumas' heroes, but still fight for what is right; no matter what. The book is long, but it keeps you engaged and guessing. I found the details on the origins of the saints and the gods and their relationship to the humans to be really interesting.

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Review: The Running Grave

The Running Grave by Robert Galbraith
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This series continues to impress. Even after seven books, the characters continue to grow and develop. Strike and Robin make such a great team -- though I do get a bit annoyed at times with the way they misread each other's intentions/feelings of each other. Part of me wants them to just get together and be down with it already! But also, I really love how they care and respect each with out being romantically involved.

The story here gets quite intricate. Focused largely on a scientology-like cult, Strike and Robin are hired to get one of the members out. I don't want to spoil anything, so I won't say details. I wouldn't say things get slow or bogged down, but they do take a long time. But there is a point where I couldn't put it down. I had to keep listening.

Robert Glenister's narration is amazing; he really ought to win many awards.

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Review: The Avengers: A Jewish War Story

The Avengers: A Jewish War Story by Rich Cohen
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Cohen sets out the to tell the lesser told side of WW2 and the Holocaust: the Jewish resistance and partisans who fought back against the Nazis. The focal point is on three main individuals: Abba, Vikta, and Ruzka, and mainly Vilna and the surrounding areas. The author tells us how they met, how they helped to form and lead the Jewish partisan group in Vilna. It follows these three through the war and then to Israel.

There are harrowing and fascinating aspects to this story. The details of life under the Nazis, in the ghetto, in the forests is worth the read. But the way the story is told was not as compelling as I would have liked. It is more journalistic and retrospective, and so harder to get inside the emotions of the characters. It’s not a novel, but I was expecting something more of a story. This jumped around a bunch, moved through events too quickly at times.

It is still worth reading for anything interested in this time period, the experiences of the Jews in the war, and after.


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Review: Assyria: The Rise and Fall of the World's First Empire

Assyria: The Rise and Fall of the World's First Empire by Eckart Frahm
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

An informative and approachable overview of the history of Assyria. The author takes you through the origins of Assyrian empire, its wars and conquests, and its people. There is information about the religion and statecraft, it's relationships with its neighbors. After discussing the downfall and disappearance of the empire as empire, the last part of the book discusses the legacy of Assyria up through present day. The intersection of the Assyrian history and biblical history is intriguing. The discussion of ISIS and its despicable destruction of ancient sites was disturbing.

This is a good book to look into if you are interested in getting the big picture. There are details, for sure, but that's not really the point here (and I have no way to evaluate the accuracy of those details -- the only minor error I was able to notice was the occasional anachronistic usage of names of geographic areas; that is, using a place name from a much later time to refer to the place in the past without the qualification of, for example, 'now know as' or some such thing). The point is more to get a sense of the uniqueness of the Assyrian empire and how it influenced later empires in the region. In that regard, the book is quite successful.

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Review: An Inside Job

An Inside Job by Daniel Silva
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Allon is up to his old tricks with heists, forgeries, and restoration. The book is a good read, a fun summer thriller. However, it doesn't quite have the magic of earlier novels. Sometimes it feels like Silva has forgotten that Allon is Israeli and Jewish. There are like maybe four references to remind of us that; and nothing at all in the plot hinges on anything Israeli or Jewish. In the post October 7 world, I would have expect something from Allon about that. The other factor missing is there is little of Allon's inner thoughts and struggles. He's just a maestro orchestrating things as they unfold.

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Review: Before They Are Hanged

Before They Are Hanged by Joe Abercrombie
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

The second book in the First Law Trilogy picks up right where the first ends. While it has been over a year since I read the first book, it didn't take me long to step back into the world. There is a lot more action as the three central story lines set up in the first book come to fruition. The characters are further developed and more of the world is revealed. It continues to be a fresh, unpredictable, and well-crafted fantasy.

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Review: Judaism's Encounter with American Sports

Judaism's Encounter with American Sports by Jeffrey S. Gurock
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

An interesting way to look at the history of Jews in America. Gurock tells the story of how Jewish communities approached athletics from the earliest days up through the early 2000s. The first two chapters do also look at Jewish views of sport and athletics from ancient times up through the modern era. The focus is almost entirely on participation in sport, with only a bit here and there about Jewish fandom.

The main theme of the history is unsurprising: the tension between the pull of athletics and the religious laws. From ancient days to the twenty-first century: the main question is does participation in sports conflict with religious duties and if so, what to do about it. The different Jewish movements, orthodoxy, reform, etc., answer these questions differently. These differences, like in may other areas of American Jewry, leads to many intra-Jewish conflicts. The development and differences between the Y, the JCC, and the synagogue as Jewish communal centers was fascinating.

A secondary theme here is how sports participation becomes a marker of acceptance in American society. The negative view of this, from stricter corners of the orthodox world, is that it is a marker of assimilation and loss of Jewishness.

Overall, readable and interesting. Though at times, the minute details of the internecine battles between Yeshivas about how far to go with participation got a bit tedious.

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Review: A Letter in the Scroll: Understanding Our Jewish Identity and Exploring the Legacy of the World's Oldest Religion

A Letter in the Scroll: Understanding Our Jewish Identity and Exploring the Legacy of the World's Oldest Religion by Jonathan Sacks
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Rabbi Sacks is someone that I have for many years wanted to read. He’s written dozens of books about Judaism and religion, so it was always hard to know where to jump in. A Letter in the Scroll: Understanding Our Jewish Identity and Exploring the Legacy of the World's Oldest ReligionA Letter in the Scroll seemed to fit the bill. It is more personal and direct, not a weighty tome. Intended at first as a gift for his son on his wedding day, it is an attempt by Rabbi Sacks to answer central questions about Jewish identity. What does it mean to be Jewish? Why continue to be Jewish? Sacks' reply is both deeply personal and theological. To answer the question, Sacks retells the story of Judaism, its origins and developments through the millennia.

Sacks' discussion of faith and the nature of Judaism as a religion is, to me at least, novel. As Sacks argues, the faith of Judaism is not one of miracles and believing the irrational: it is as he puts it, more a call or a summons. It is a call to see the world as it is and to do something about it. He situates Jewish faith between a nihilism or cynicism that sees the world as it is but without a need to make it better and a utopian/mystical vision that rejects the world as it is for some other world. Judaism is of this world, this life: each of us must live in this world. For the believer, God created humans as the ones able to see the world as it is and how it ought to be, and that we are responsible for bridging the gap. This a compelling vision (and one that I think can secularized as well).

Sacks' discussion of the problem of evil or theodicy is quite interesting as well. In the face of the Holocaust, he says, we might reject the reality of God or the reality of evil. But if we reject the existence of evil, then Auschwitz is justified – at least from some unfathomable vantage point of God. On the other hand, Sacks argues, if we reject God for a blind, material universe then “there is no reason not to expect an Auschwitz” (180). Sacks says Jewish faith is the refusal take either horn of this dilemma: “each would allow us to live at peace with the world, and it is morally impossible to live at peace with a world that contains an Auschwitz” (180). Furthermore, Sacks argues, this world really is the only possible world or rather a world in which Auschwitz is a possibility is the inevitable result of God creating man. In many ways this is not a satisfying answer to the problem of evil (there are many ‘moves’ one could make here). But there is also something compelling about it: This is the world. It has tragedy and devastation. But it also has love, beauty and hope. We cannot ignore the former or let it overwhelm us; and we cannot forget the latter: we must live in the reality of both. Judaism, as Sacks casts is, is a way of doing just that.

The covenantal aspects of Judaism, as well as Sacks discussion of the dichotomies of the individual and the collective, the particular and the universal, were also very interesting. Though I am not capable of believing as Sacks does, I find much of what he says thought-provoking. It makes a kind of sense to me.

Sacks doesn’t see much future for Jewish life without the Jewish religion: I am more hopeful on that front. In part, I think a secular philosophy can provide justifications for the equal dignity and respect of all humans; the made in the image of the God is not the only way to get there. I do have some minor quibbles about Sacks comments about philosophy, and Spinoza in particular, but these don’t play major roles in the discussion and so do not ultimately detract from the book.

The central point of the book was an attempt to answer questions about Jewish Identity. Sacks gives his answer and there is much to commend in that: but I am not sure it fits with my view: both in the general answers one might give to these questions, but also with my own answers. I think Sacks would be okay with that. This is his answer and his answer made me think more about my own answer. I think that was, at least in part, one of his goals for the book.

For this interested in learning more about the uniqueness of Jewish theology, without having to wade into waters too deep, this is a good starting point.


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Review: The Missing Thread: A Women's History of the Ancient World

The Missing Thread: A Women's History of the Ancient World by Daisy Dunn
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I think the promise of this book is interesting: telling the history of the ancient Greek and Roman worlds with women at the center. I was hoping to learn about forgetten figures and thinkers; to find out about women that have been downplayed or ignored in the history. There is some of that, but this is more or less a retelling of ancient history. In that, it is compelling and Dunn tells the history well. But often the focus, particularly in the Roman period, is on the men and their wives or mistresses of these men. From there, we have speculation and extrapolation about their roles in history. There is also not a lot of focus on what life might have been like for woman more generally in these societies. In earlier periods, there is, unsurprisingly, a potentially confusing mix of stories, myths, and history. It is not always clear or obvious (at least immediately) what the sources are and how reliable or representative they are. There is a lot of speculation and extrapolation from thin data. While Dunn often does note this, it could be clearer.

The book is interesting and I enjoyed listening to it but it just doesn't deliver on the promise.

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