Leadership and Self Deception by the Arbinger Intitute

 This is a self-help book presented in the form of a story.  A new manager gets called into his boss's office.  His boss tells him that he is lacking an important skill he will need to be successful in the company.  That skill is being able to see others as people instead of objects.  As the new manager listens to his trainer, he begins to realize what he is learning will help him at home as well as in the office.  He leaves the training eager to mend fenses with his wife and rebelious teenager.  

This is one of the foundational books of the Arbinger Institue leadership development training.  It has a lot of good ideas, and I felt challenged, as I read it, to identify whom I was looking at as objects rather than people.  The way the ideas were presented were as engaging as any book of this type.  I think I liked it more than Crucial Conversations.  I felt like that book's approach to conflict resolution was a bit formulaic.  In the end, people really can tell if you are sincere or just going through the motions. There was a lot of hype and promotion of the Arbinger Institute in the book,  especially at the end, but it wasn't more than I expected. I read it because all the managers at the city where I work will be going to a Arbinger Institute training in November.  I am looking forward to the training. (2018, 302 p)

Magic in the Moonlight by Jules Barke

 Laurel was the tag-along sister who had a crush on her big brother's best friend.  Now that Nate is back in town after being away for ten years getting his life together, Laurel doesn't know how she wants him to see her, as his friend's kid sister, or as something more.  Laurel manages a jumble store on the charming island of Moonrise Cove.  The island and its people have always been touched with whisps of magic, and Laurel is no different. Can Laurel get close to Nate without revealing her magical gift, and does she want to?

This is part of a new series written by my neighbor's writing group.  Each novel is set on the same magical island, but each follows a different couple on their bumpy road to love.  I believe they are independently published, so I didn't know what to expect, but it turned out to be really cute.  It is a clean romance, with likeable and relateable characters.  There are funny mix-ups and bumbling.  This is a good choice for either teen or adult women who want to read a light, fast, clean contemporary romance. (2021, 216 p)

Killing the Mob by Bill O'Reilly and Martin Dungard

This is a new, interesting, and engaging history of organized crime in America and the efforts to defeat it. The authors start off with the famous criminals of the depression era like John Dillinger and Bonnie and Clyde. Then they trace the rise of first the Mob and then the Mofia. They conclude with stories of Jimmy Hoffa and the rise of the modern gangs. They explain how organized crime has been involved with the labor unions, politics, and even the war effort.  As they talk about the crime dynasties, they also discusses efforts, some real, and some just a sham, of the US government to curve organized crime, forcusing on J Edgar Hoover and Robert Kennedy. I found the story very readable and mostly believable, but I did notice that they did not always use the most reliable sources, and included a lot of hearsay.  The book is clearly not an academic study of the topic, but a piece of popular non-fiction, focused on the sensational.  Still, as a piece of popular literature is succeeds splendidly and I am sure I will recommend it to some of my history-loving adult patrons. (2021, 304 p)

Sal and Gabi Fix the Universe by Carlos Hernandez

 Sal and Gabi are back, ready to do what it takes to fix the holes they have made in the multiverse.  They are also looking forward to their special arts school back to school night.  Things seem to be going well, until Sal gets a visit from a Gabi from another universe. She shows Sal what has happened to destroy her world, and claims that Sal's dad, in that universe, made a mistake that caused the destruction. Sal is concerned because his dad had just made a big breakthrough in his study of calamity physics.  Can this new "Gabi" be right?  Is Sal's own father on the road to destroying the universe?

I chose this one after finishing Cold Mourning because I was ready for something much lighter.  This book fit the bill.  It has much the same tone as the first in the series, but if anything, it is even funnier.  I love Hernandez's languange, filled as it is with spanglish and creative metaphore.  He also has a nack for creating really silly and hilarious situations.  I was chuckling outloud as I listened.  The only reservation I have about it is that it was a little long, and could maybe have used some more editing.  The author ended the book with hints of another in the series, and I will probably read it when I come across it. (2021, 432)

Cold Mourning by Brenda Chapman

 Kala Stonechild is the newest member of the Ottowa specialized crime unit.   She has come to Ottowa escaping an uncomfortable situation, and wanting to find a long lost cousin whom she fears is in trouble.  She knows she will have a tough time gaining respect of the other investigators as both a woman and a member of First Nations. A grisly death over the Christmas holidays gives both her, and the new crime unit a chance to prove themselves. 

I read this book because it was available and I was waiting for other holds.  It had good reviews and Chapman won awards with it as a new author.  In the end, however, it turned out to be super gritty.  There are descriptions of no less than three brutal rape situations.  I don't know why I kept reading.  I guess I hoped that if it had good reviews, the ending would be amazing and worth slogging through the smut. The plotting was good and the characterizations complex and authentic.  But in the end it wasn't worth reading.  I can't really recommend it to anyone unless you are super immuned to that kind of content. (2014, 392 p.)

Artemis Fowl by Eoin Colfer

 Artemis is a 12-year-old genious and heir one of the richest crime families in the world.  He is also mourning the loss of his father, who has disappeared, and his mother, who has lost her senses in grief.  To distract himself, Artemis spends all his time reserching fairy lore and discovers that leprecauns are real.  He decides that he will try to catch one and hold it for ransome.  When he does, he discovers that the fairy folk are much more than he bargained for.  

I was surprised to find that I don't have a blog post for this one.  We read this whole series to our kids when they were growing up.  It is full of wit, action, an fun. I am reading it again because it is our Parent/Child book club title for September.  My kids loved Artemis Fowl, I think, because they were also super smart, and they enjoyed the fact that Artemis stayed one step ahead of his opponents. Now that I have to present it to my parent/child book club, I realize it is not super full of deep meaning.  Mr Colfer does a good job of making all of the characters dimensional. You can kind of see, in this first book, that Artemis is really just a little boy who is hurting, but he isn't super moral yet. During the rest of the series, and because of his interactions with the fairies, particularly Holly,  Artemis learns to be a good guy instead of a super villain.  But I can see why some of my friends were not as thrilled with this series as I was when I first read it.  It will be interesting to see what my parent/child book club families think. (2001, 304 p)

PS: The reason I chose this book is because Disney did a series based on it in 2020.  However, I was just reading the reviews, and they weren't very good.

White Bird by R. J. Palacio

 Julian, from the Wonder book, is interviewing his french grandmother about her experience in WWII.  Though it is hard for her, she decides to tell her whole story, so that what happened will never be forgotten.  The grandmother, Sarah, was a daughter of a wealthy Jew who had nice clothes and went to a private school.  When France is invaded, it at first doesn affect Sarah very much since she lives in the "free" zone.  Soon enough the Nazi's gradually infiltrated even smaller villages, and Sarah realizes, too late, how much danger her and her family are in.  It is only the kindness of one of her classmates, Julian, who is a polio victim, that allows her to survive the war, when so many others parished. 

This is a graphic novel that is really well written, beautifully illustrated, and quite moving.  Palacio adds a touch of the fantastic, which adds a literary element to the story that, though a little odd, ends up working. I listened to the book on recording, and then just looked at the print version afterword.  The readers of the story (it is full cast) do a good job suggesting the illustrations of the graphic novel. The illustrations are done in full color and are quite stunning.  The only thing I didn't really care for was that Palacio (or her editors) felt that this story had to be tied into the Wonder group of stories.  It totally would have worked all by itself, and trying to connect it with Auggie's friend, Julian, felt like a stretch.  I also didn't really like all the preachy moralizing tacked on at the end of the recording. The story gets across the message of the importance of being kind and courageous, without the extra note.  Why not let the young readers make the connections to what is happing in the world today instead of spelling it out. Still, the book is well done.  It is not quite as toned down as "Number the Stars," but it is still  an appropriate introduction to the Holocaust for a 4-6 grade audience, especially with adult guidance.  (2019, 224 p)

(I don't know how I ended up reading three "man's cruelty to man" books in a row.  That wasn't on purpose.  I am totally really for some romantic fluff, people.)

Princess Ever After by Rachel Hauck

 Regina Beswick is a good old Florida girl who used to be an accountant but recently left the corporate ratrace to try her hand at restoring classic cars.  She thinks she has found her "happy place" until Tanner Burkhardt from the Grand Duchy of Hessenberg shows up and informs her that she is the heir to the thrown of Hessenberg and the only one who can save their small country from perminantly become a vassel state to Brighton. She has to decide what is more important to her, her family heritage or living her dream. Her decision becomes even more complicated when she suspects that she is falling for the charming Tanner, who has a checkered past.

This is the second in the "Royal Wedding Series."  It is just as silly and improbable as the first, but after reading the books about the cold war, and WWII, I was in the mood for something light and I enjoyed reading it quite a bit. The next time I am in a low mood, I will probably listen to the next in the series as well.  I am not ashamed to admit it.  Sometimes I just want to read trite escapist Christian romances (so shoot me.)  (368 p. 2014)

The Bomber Mafia by Malcolm Gladwell

 During WWI airplanes and pilots fell under the jurisdiciton of the Army and their main job was supporting ground crews. After the war, the military set up a pilot training school which would eventually become the airforce academy, but in its infancy, was the incubator for what was called the Bomber Mafia.  The Bomber Mafia were a group of military strategists who came up with the idea that to win a war, you don't have to kill a lot of civilians, you just have to take out strategic essential services. In their mind, this could be done with high altitude bombing missions done with technologically aided targeting systems.  The only problem is, that during WWII there wasn't any technology that would make the bombers accurate enought to hit the strategic targets consistantly.  This "book" discusses the rise of the strategic accuracy bombing theory, and the oposing philiosophy, massive distruction bombing, and explains which worked best in WWII.  It also follows a champion of each camp, and explains how one failed and the other was very effective in helping shorten the war. 

The "book" was produced in its audio format before it became a print volume.  The recording contains clips from interviews and newsreels related to the significant events in the book.  It is really well done, and listening to it is more like watching a documentary than like reading a book. Gladwell does a good job of presenting complex moral issues, with out varnishing over hard questions. I learned a lot I didn't know about WWII.  I am embarrassed to say I didn't understand how much Napalm was used against Japan the last year of the war.  The topic of WWII bombers is of special interset to me since my uncle was a bomber and lost his life in WWII.  This is a great choice for any WWII buff, man or woman, who is willing to have their moral fiber stretched a little. (2021)

Who Was Harvey Milk by Corinne A Grinapol

This is a short children's biography about an early Gay Rights activist.  Harvey was born in New York in 1930.  His grandparents were immigrants, but his parents had made a comfortable lifestyle as the owners of a dry goods store.  Harvey was a teen when he first suspected that he was gay, but kept it a secret as he went to teacher's college and then joined the military.  While in the military he heard that in San Francisco gay people could live openly without as much persecution as in some other parts of the country.  Harvey and his partner moved to San Francisco and opened a camera shop.  While in San Francisco Harvey got interested in politics. After several failed attempts, he was eventully elected to the city board of directors.  He was one of the first openly gay people to be elected to public office at a time when homosexuality was still illegal in many states.  Tragically, after only a short time in office Harvey milk was assasinated by a disgruntled political rival.

Sometimes when I know one of my holds will come available soon, I read one of the short biographies in the "Who Was" series while I am waiting. I chose this one because I didn't recognized the name in the title.  It was interesting, and it reminded me of how gays people were looked on when I was a child. Society really has come a long way in accepting a variety of sexual orientations.  This book contains some side bars that explain, on a child's level,  about the LGBTQ commmunity and history. It might be good for parents to be on hand to explain things if a young reader hasen't been exposed to the topic before. (112 p.  2020)