The CIA Book Club by Charlie English

After the end of WWII Russia exercised its influence on surrounding Eastern European countries to become the USSR.  The US waged a decades long "cold war" to try to undermine communist influence and power of the USSR. One area they targeted especially was Poland because in some ways the Polish people had resisted the iron grip of the USSR more than other countries. They did this by supporting those who published and distributed printed materials that were banned by the communist regime. This book chronicles the efforts of the CIA to get books and printing materials into Poland and follows the lives of key Polish operatives that championed freedom of the press at great personal risk. The author suggests that even though the cost of supporting clandestine printing and distributing efforts in Poland was much less costly than some of the USA's more overt Cold War anti-communist efforts, it was key to the eventual downfall of the USSR and liberation of Poland. 

This is a new nonfiction that has been getting a lot of attention.  It was interesting for me to read it because much of the action of the account happens in the 1980's, and I remember some of the events, especially those related to Lech Walesa.  I remember the controversy about him in the US, some saying he was a hero, and other that he was just a terrorist. This book really opened my mind about the kinds of propaganda campaigns the CIA conducts in other countries, and how they do it through intermediaries so as to not appear to be doing it. It made me wonder what kinds of similar efforts they are conducting now.  The book is interesting, and the reader does a good job, but it is information dense and slogged a little in the middle.  It was hard for me to keep track of all the players the author mentions, especially because the Polish names sound so foreign to me. Still, it is great, as a librarian, to have confirmed to me once again the power of the printed word and the importance of the freedom to read. (2025, 384 p)

Nature Poems to See By: a comic artist interprets more great poetry (illustrator) Julian Peters (Net Galley)

 This is a collection of 24 famous poems that have been illustrated or presented in the style of a graphic novel. The poems are arranged by seasons, with six poems for each season, and most would be familiar to anyone who has ever studied poetry, like "Shall I Compare Thee to a Summer's Day" by Shakespeare, and "Stopping by the Woods on a Snowy Evening," by Robert Frost.  Peters seems to make an effort to include poems from different time periods and a few different cultures, though most are from Western authors. Some of the illustrations are more like graphic novels, with one frame per each couplet, while other seem more like true illustrations, with a lot of words associated with one picture.  Some of the poems are illustrated literally, and in other cases Peters tries to suggest symbolic meanings implied by the poems. At the end of each graphic novel depiction of a poem, the poem is also printed in  traditional font and format.

I received this book as a pre-print from the publisher, Plough.  It has been a while since I have read a poetry collection and I thought that expressing poetry in graphic novel format is an interesting idea. As it turned out I generally liked the book, but I liked some treatments of the poems better than others. I preferred illustrations that did a literal depiction of the poem instead of trying to tie in symbolic meaning.  If a poem has veiled symbolism, one of the charms of reading the poem is trying to figure out the symbolism, or maybe trying to find personal meaning in the symbolism.  The artist, by depicting his symbolic interpretation of the poem, steals from me the experience of creating my own interpretation. That being said, if I were a high school student and needed to interpret a poem and found this graphic novel version on it, I could be pretty excited about it. I actually think teens, particularly English/reader nerd types, are the perfect target audience for this book.  I could also see a high school teacher using one of these illustrated poems as a springboard for a good discussion. If I were a high school English teacher, I would definitely want a copy on my classroom shelf. (2026, 141 p.)

A Grave Matter by Anna Lee Huber

 In this third in the Lady Darby Mysteries, Lady Darby is back at her childhood home to celebrate their family's traditional Hogmanay (New Year's) Ball. But tragedy hits when a caretaker is murdered, and a body exhumed and stolen. Her family begs her to ask Sebastian Gage to investigate the matter, but having him in her life stirs up a host of emotions that are complicated and confusing. As they investigate the theft and other related crimes together, their relationship travels a rocky road toward an, as yet, unknown destination.

I am glad I revisited this series.  It really is a fun, semi-gothic, mystery/romance series.  Both Lady Darby and Lord Gage are interesting and complex characters, and Huber does a good job with their  relationship.  She is also good with setting and includes bits of actual history in each of these novels related to the long-standing conflicts along the English, Scottish border. Huber presents a wide range of clues to the mystery, some important and others not so, but I thought the solution to this mystery was a little anticlimactic. Still, I enjoyed it and will most likely continue on in the series. (2014, 433 p)

Stockings and Spells by Nancy Warren

 It is Christmas time in Oxford and the Vampire Knitting Club has decided to do a booth at the local holiday market to raise money for charity. Lucy makes friends with another booth clerk, and then is horrified when she finds the woman partially strangled with one of the Knitting Club's long Christmas stockings.  Lucy is determined to find the culprit and her search leads to the dark underbelly of the publishing industry. It is a good thing she has several vampires, an ancient Egyptian witch, and her own burgeoning magical powers to call upon for help.

I am guessing I am not the only one that likes to read Christmas themed books at Christmas time.  This one isn't particularly Christmas-y. There is no warm, fuzzy, holiday cheer moment at the end or anything.  In reality, it is much like the others in the series.  It doesn't really further the overarching plot of the series and could be read out of order without much being lost (in case you want to save it to read at Christmas).  Still, it is a good mystery with fun characters and a decent twist at the end. All the books in this series are reliable cozy mysteries that are good for when I don't want any added angst in my life. (2018, 238 p)

Christmas in Bethel by Richard Paul Evans

 Beth has too many horrific memories, starting with a childhood of abuse from her mother and stepfather, continuing with images from her time working as a EMT and concluding with memories of an abusive marriage.  With no hope of happiness in sight, Beth considers suicide, but is brought out of her despair by a book called Bethel. She clings to the book and other books by the same author as a lifeline while she builds a life free of abuse. Then she gets to meet the author, J.D. Harper. Sparks fly between them and soon they are caught up in a glamorous romance of fancy dinners and national attention.  She can't bring herself to believe that someone like Harper could really love her because of her past and almost sabotages all they are building with each other. When she discovers that he is keeping secrets about his past as well, their tenuous relationship is stretched to a breaking point.

I keep telling myself I should never again read a romance by Richard Paul Evans, but one of the regular patrons of the library recommended this to me, so I put it on hold. It is marginally better than the other ones I have read, but it still suffers from the same problem that I have found objectionable in all of Evan's romances. In all his romances, the men shower the women with expensive gifts and exciting experiences. They have limitless money, stay in lavish hotels,  and live in perfect mansions. I find it insulting that a male author thinks that this is what all women want. It shows a really shallow view of women. That being said, this book is a little bit better because, in the end, Harper is at least as wounded by his past as Beth is by hers.  Still, I did a full eye role with Harper takes Beth to Tiffany's in New York and insists on buying her a $34,000 pearl necklace and earring set. REALLY?  If someone tried to give me a $34,000 piece of jewelry, I would run the other direction.  I guess some people like Evan's flavor of wish fulfillment fantasy because he sells a lot of books, but not I (272 p. 2024)

The Mona Lisa Vanishes by Nicholas Day

 The Mona Lisa is perhaps the most famous painting in the world, but back in 1910, it was just one of many great artworks in the Louvre Museum in Paris. What catapulted it to world wide fame? It was stolen. This is a children's nonfiction book about the 1911 heist of the Mona Lisa and how it affected the popularity of DaVinci's masterpiece.  It also gives a decent summary of DaVinci's life, and the place of the Mona Lisa in his career. The books ends with the surprising capture of the Mona Lisa thief, and the consequences that befell him. 

When I checked this out I thought it was a children's mystery fiction, but it turned out to be a really well written and entertaining nonfiction.  The tone of the narrative is snappy and informal. Day includes a lot of interesting facts about Paris, the Louvre, and the state of the world in the early 20th Century. He also talks about DaVinci in a not-too-flattering way, that is also engaging and amusing. The reader should beware that Day includes a lot of subjective social commentary in his narrative. This would be a great book for teachers of homeschoolers who want to mix literature with other subjects, like humanities or history, and also have a lot of interesting social questions to discuss. I am not surprised it won the Siebert Medal for children's nonfiction when it came out. (2023, 288 p) 

The JFK Conspiracy by Brad Meltzer and Josh Mensch

 Between the time that J.F. Kennedy was elected, and when he took office, a unhinged anti-Catholic extremist plotted a suicide bombing of the president elect. This sensationalized account reconstructs the plot and also goes into depth about Kennedy's life, his relationship with Jackie Kennedy, and what made Kennedy so successful and controversial. 

Here is another Brad Meltzer/Josh Mensch pseudo history. I think I liked it a little bit more than the Lincoln book, mostly because it was better edited. Although this one had some of the same kind of problem rehashing the same facts over and over, it was much better than the Lincoln one, as the page count suggests.  In modern society JFK is generally revered as one of the great presidents, but in this book Meltzer and Mensch portray him as a thoughtless womanizer who just happened to have a lot of charisma. They focus a lot on Jackie Kennedy and highlight JFK's neglect of her needs and feelings. In full disclosure, I accidentally returned it to Libby with 45 minutes left on the recording so they may have ended the book with a more upbeat assessment of JFK.  I am debating with myself whether I am going to put it on hold again just to listen to the last 45 minutes.  Maybe not. (2025, 304 p)