Lois & Clark Forums Forums General Discussion Off Topic 50 Book Challenge 2020/What I've Read in 2021

I was surprised that I liked it when I read it because I’m not a fan of historical fiction. If you’re interested the author has published a second book in continuation of this one.

15) Monash: The Outsider who Won a War by Roland Perry General Sir John Monash is a legendary figure with respect to WWI. This is a wonderfully written biography of the first Australian commander to be given command of Australian forces independent of British influence (keep in mind at this point Australia was a young nation having only been federated just 13 years prior to the outbreak of WWI). Perhaps his greatest legacy though was leading the organisation of annual ANZAC Day commemorations as he felt that those who died on the battlefield should remembered every year and also the planning of The Shrine of Remembrance war memorial in Melbourne. This also touches on the prejudice he faced as unlike the British high command he was not a career soldier, he was from a British colony and he was also ethnically a German Jew and as such was looked down upon by many and it has been suggested that his Jewish background was one of the reasons why he was never promoted to the rank of Field Marshal despite his excellent leadership and command qualities

16) Tales from 1001 Nights by Anonymous the famed collection of stories from the Middle East. Truthfully, up until now, I had never read the whole collection and only had ever read the stories I was most familiar with (Aladdin and Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves). I admit though that some of the stories seemed really drawn out and I lost a little interest in the end

# 12 The Pawnbroker by David Thurlo Middle East Marine combat vet Charlie Henry leaves the Corps and buys a pawnshop near his native Navajo reservation in New Mexico. But the previous owner was more than dishonest, and his lies and treacheries and criminal acts embroil Charlie in more action that he'd prefer. Book 1 of a series.

I enjoy reading about Navajo culture, and the Thurlos did a terrific job portraying the stresses of reservation life and keeping the peace with the white man's law. Aimee Thurlo passed away in 2014, but she and her husband wrote together for forty years. You can see not only their love of the Navajo people in their prose, their love for each other comes through, too. I can't tell who wrote what part. Thumbs up for any of their work.

# 13 Grave Consequences by David Thurlo Book 2 of the Charlie Henry series. More murder, more mayhem, more interesting but flawed characters trying to recover from various misfortunes and bad decisions, and Charlie is smack in the middle of it again.

# 14 Viper by Lt. Col. (ret.) Dan Hampton A first-person account of training to fight an F-16 Viper (also called Falcon). Col. Hampton flew over 200 combat missions in the two Gulf wars and was credited with destroying more SAM (surface-to-air) missile sites than any other pilot in the theater. A gripping read which includes a (very necessary) glossary - I didn't know what it meant to "zipper" the radio microphone. (It means to click it rapidly for a second or two to acknowledge a transmission.) Not for the faint of heart, I'm afraid.

# 15 Beyond Valor by Jon Erwin and William Doyle The true story of a true hero. Sergeant Red Erwin picked up a malfunctioning magnesium flare in the control room of his B-29 Bomber in early 1945 and dropped it out of the plane through a window. Had he not done so, the flare would have detonated the nine-ton bomb load in the belly of the bomber. The heat from the flare burned off much of his skin, and doctors did not believe he would survive. The Army even flew his bride of seven weeks (from wedding to deployment) to Hawaii to say goodbye. He fooled them all and lived for more than half a century. His heroic act saved his airplane, his crewmates, the mission, the lives of many of the crews of the planes with him. He was awarded the Medal of Honor for his bravery.

17) Victory at Villers-Bretonneux by Peter Fitzsimons amongst my favourite travel memories as an Australian is visiting the Australian memorial on ANZAC Day however, despite my interest in military history I had little knowledge of WWI except what little I knew of Gallipoli. Having read his previous book on Gallipoli which I had thoroughly enjoyed I had a level of expectation which sadly this book did not meet. Though interesting especially given this battlefield would be recorded in history as having seen the first tank against tank battle and also not far from this area the Red Baron the legendary German fighter ace of WWI would be shot down and killed it was a rather laborious read and choppy in presentation.

18) Heatwave by Michael Jan Friedman this book has been mentioned before by Lois and Clark fans as it is one of three written by Friedman based on Lois and Clark. There’s a heatwave in Metropolis and in the midst of this heatwave a major action movie which is being shot in Centennial Park is plagued by a string of unexplainable accidents. Lois and Clark’s task is to go undercover on set as production assistants to find the culprit behind these accidents.

19) Deadly Games by Michael Jan Friedman after returning from a week in Paris on assignment Lois finds out that Clark has been spending time with heiress Janna Leighton. While Lois is miffed that Clark cannot tell her the reasons behind this she is determined to find out the truth behind it all and why Janna is under attack by would-be assassins

20) Exile by Michael Jan Friedman Thaddeus Killgrave seeks revenge on the Man of Steel for thwarting his previous attempts to extort Metropolis by making Superman a host for a highly contagious and deadly virus. With Superman now out of action a team of criminals use it to their advantage by carrying out daring robberies knowing that they won’t be stopped. Lois must go alone to save the man she loves and stop the thieves and Killgrave.

The three books above are great if your looking for more action, but not romance. Lois and Clark barely interact with each other. As for me I do like them and will reread them every now and again. The books published in the UK have glossy coloured pictures of the cast as well so they are worth it for that

1. Bookish And the Beast by Ashley Poston

The third in the "Once Upon A Con" series sees Starfield Villain Vance Reigns shuffled off to the middle of nowhere to get out of the media's crosshairs after yet another screwup. There he meets the awkward heroine, Rose, who unwittingly walks into the house where he's staying and accidently destroys a valuable 1st edition Starfield book. To pay it off, she begins to work for Vance and his handler, organizing the house's library, and, predictably, she realizes Vance was the masked guy she met at the previous year's convention that she'd begun to fall for.

Overall, a very young adult rom-com book and not my favorite in the series. It totally takes place outside of the confines of a convention, which was the big draw for me when I decided to give the series a try. Especially within the restrictions of a pandemic and lockdowns and quarantining, I was missing that well-captured feel to a convention that the previous two books had. Plus, literally everything about the book (down to the original owner of the destroyed Starfield novel) was entirely too predictable for me.

2. Percy Jackson: The Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan

Technically speaking, I listened as my husband read it to the kids.

Percy Jackson attracts trouble. And it isn't until he winds up at Camp Halfblood that he discovers that not only are the Greek Gods real, but also still actively producing demigods with mortals...and that he is one of them. Now he has to help prevent a war of the Olympians (who reside on the 600th floor of the Empire State Building now) by finding the stolen Lightening Bolt of Zeus.

A fun read for a young adult book. I'm a Greek mythology geek, so I get to silently geek out and predict each new monster and god as they are introduced. The kids are loving the series too!

3. Charlotte's Web by EB White

I read the old classic of Zuckerman's Famous Pig to my girls. They hated how sad the ending was. But it brought me right back to reading it when I was maybe just about their age.

# 16 A Time of Change by Aimee and David Thurlo Book 1 of The Trading Post series More Navajo culture and information. This time the action's centered around the Navajos and whites who operate a trading post that features Native art and is staffed by a diverse group of people. Oh, it's also a fairly gripping murder mystery with a doomed romance woven through the story. Nice, non-demanding read with lots of bonus Native American information.

#17 Looking Through Darkness by Aimee and David Thurlo Book 2 of The Trading Post series Continues the story begun by the first book, this time focusing on the hesitant romance between a blind Navajo sculptor and a skittish divorced white woman. Again, there's a murder driving the drama.

Author Aimee Thurlo died not long before this book hit the stores. She and her husband wrote together for more than 40 years. He's still writing, but it appears that Aimee was the main creator in this series, and more volumes are probably not coming. Shame, too.

#18 Rob Thy Neighbor by David Thurlo Book 3 in the Charlie Henry series Charlie and his compatriots are at it again, buying and selling goods in the pawn shop and solving murders and associated mysteries seemingly without effort. It's a fun read.

#19 What the Dog Saw by Malcolm Gladwell Another collection of columns from The New Yorker. There's a profile of Cesar Millan, the Dog Whisperer, a deep dive into the reasons Enron went kablooey, an exploration of the reasons why banning pit bulls doesn't reduce the problem of random canine-on-human violence, and a challenging suggestion for treating homelessness. Gladwell is always a terrific writer, and his positions are supported by research and experts in the field. Two thumbs up.

#20 The Blight Way by Patrick F. McManus Bo Tully Book 1 The fictional town of Blight, Idaho is the scene of some strange murders. Sheriff Bo Tully, most recent of a long line of Tully men who've been sheriff, manages to solve the murders and dodge the bad guys who are trying to kill him. He also gets the girl, or at least one of them. Detective and spy stories must have at least two beautiful women involved with the protagonist in some way - it's a union rule - and Bo is no exception.

#21 The One by John Marrs I know it's been reviewed before, but this is my take. This is the story of science gone crazy. We each apparently have a genetic "soul mate" match somewhere in the world, and Ellie builds a company to help everyone find that match. But there's a fly in the ointment - her soul mate has a hidden agenda, and it reverberates around the world. The science is shaky at best, the characters aren't very engaging, and there's very little dramatic tension in any of the tales. It's not a bad book, but don't believe the superlatives in the blurbs on the cover. If you read it, get it from your local library. Save your money for something really good.

Crazy Babe, Thanks for letting me know about more books by Heather Morris. A friend of mine read the book and said it's a sad story, but a good one.

#13 The Book of Two Ways by Jodi PIcoult

Dawn survives a plane crash, only to realize her thoughts didn't go to her husband and daughter but to the man she left behind 15 years ago. For a while we follow her returning home in one chapter and going to Egypt to find her lost love in the other. At some point the two time lines combine but it was so poorly done I lost track of how. Or maybe by that point, I just didn't care.

I have a love/hate relationship with Jodi Picoult. She takes on some intriguing subjects and does a fascinating job with non-linear story telling. I despised this book . And I don't often say these things. The premise was clucky. There was way too much background on ancient Egypt and Quantum mechanics, partially to justify this alternative path/multiverse premise. And generally I like those types of stories! I also couldn't stand the idea that this woman was ready to throw away her marriage of 15 years, only because she suddenly realized she loved this other guy (who she hadn't seen in 15 years) more than her husband. The behavior of the men by the end of the story seemed totally unrealistic as well.

Terry , I read "The One" recently too and had similar feelings about it. It seemed like they could've asked more interesting questions about the nature of attraction and relationships rather than focusing on suspect science. Netflix has a series on this. I started watching it ('cause that's what we do nowadays ) It's not the same as the book which may be in it's favor. I haven't gotten that far yet.

4. Percy Jackson: The Sea of Monsters by Rick Riordan


Things were going too well for Percy - school was going smoothly, his home life had improved, and it was nearly time to go back to Camp Halfblood for the summer. So of course he nearly gets killed during a dodgeball game with cannibals and finds out that his beloved Camp is on the verge of destruction. So into the Sea of Monsters he must go, to find the Golden Fleece, save his satyr friend, Grover, and face off against Polyphemus the Cyclops, just as Odysseus once did, this time accompanied by a new friend/relative, Tyson the Cyclops. Another fun tale of adventure - this one mirroring some of the dangers of the Odyssey - it kept both my daughters, my husband, and myself entertained and I can hardly wait to see what else the series has in store.

ScifiJoan you’re welcome!

21) Passchendaele: Requiem for Doomed Youth by Paul Ham another travel memory is visiting the Passchendaele Museum which is dedicated to the Battle for Passchendaele (also known as The Third Battle of Ypres) in Belgium which allows you to walk through and experience walking through bunkers and trenches. This is a pretty little village, but in 1917 it would be the centre of a battlefield in which there were many casualties, but not much gain on both sides of the war. Well written and sobering

22) The Western Front Diaries by Jonathan King continuing the WWI theme here with this one. Up until now, I had been reading a general history or of course the stories of the top military brass of the time. It begs the question what was the war like for those on the ground? The men in the trenches risking life and limb for a place so far removed from the land they grew up in? King in this book paints an enthralling account of the experiences of the Australian soldier battle by battle through the diaries and letters of the men who were in the trenches and how the experience for those who survived the horror would not only physically but mentally scar them.

#14 The Henna Artist by Alka Joshi

Lakshmi escapes her abusive arranged marriage and makes a life for herself becoming a henna artist. Set in the 1950s India, this book gives insight into the social systems of the era. After many years Lakshmi has become successful but that will all change when her 13 year old sister arrives.

#15 The Power by Naomi Alderman

What if women became more powerful than men? In this book, due to chemical contaminants, women develop the ability to generate electric current, like eels. We see the changes in society from the POV of several different characters, none which were especially likeable. I was excited to read this book, especially with the endorsement from Margaret Atwood. As several reviewers on Goodreads have said, this book would've been better as a short story. I think the main message was that power corrupts but it quickly got extreme with the women killing men by the handful and essentially starting the world over.

#22 Avalanche by Patrick F. McManus Bo Tully Book 2 Sheriff Bo and his father are almost killed in an avalanche while going to an out-of-the-way ski lodge to tell the owner that she's just become a rich widow. When Bo finds evidence that the avalanche was deliberate, he investigates and finds a twisted mystery, which he solves with the help of his father (the former sheriff) and the local restaurant owner/expert tracker/pretend Indian. Not a bad mystery, and humorous in a slightly dark way.

#23 The Double-Jack Murders by Patrick F. McManus Bo Tully Book 3 (I'm sure you're sensing a theme here.) Bo and his occasionally legal crew work a 75-year old double murder case that gets wrapped up in a current murder. Not only does Bo solve both cases, he flirts with nearly every female in the story, all of whom appear to adore him almost unreservedly. Bo is the Sam Spade of the Idaho back country.

#24 The Huckleberry Murders by Patrick F. McManus Bo Tully Book 4 While picking huckleberries with an attractive woman who's giving him romantic signals, Bo finds three young men shot execution-style. He applies his blunderful intellect to the case and eventually solves it, then gets the girl but regrets it because he still mourns the wife he lost a decade before.

#25 The Tamarack Murders by Patrick F. McManus Bo Tully Book 5 Bo and his deputies are in pursuit of a bank robbery suspect who's fleeing up a steep rise when someone shoots the suspect from ambush and kills him. Bo's in real danger this time, but he avoids it with the help of his crew of misfits and solves the crime. Still a fun read.

#26 Circles In the Snow by Patrick F. McManus Bo Tully Book 6 The final entry in the Bo Tully series finds Bo working the murder of a rich man who is mourned by no one - in fact, there are hints that parties are being arranged as he questions suspects. The series ends as Bo decides he's caught enough crooks because he can't tell who to lock up and who to stop chasing even though the person is guilty. He retires to be a Western painter, marries the woman he loves best, puts his wife's death behind him, and goes on a tour of Idaho on his honeymoon accompanied by a senior citizen financial advisor/fortune teller (with his bride's okay, of course). He also discovers why concentric circles eight to ten feet across are suddenly appearing in the snow. Spoiler: it's not aliens.

I tend to read things in bunches. And I like McManus' way of describing the outdoors. He loved it (died 2018) and wrote about it with both humor and tenderness.

23) El Alamein to the River Sangro: Normandy to the Baltic by Bernard Montgomery like many military memoirs, this is rather self serving which given his exploits is not surprising. This was interesting to read, but a little stiff in terms of presentation

24) Patton: A Genius for War by Carlo D’Este this is a brilliant biography of one of WWII’s most controversial and divisive figures whose exploits on the battlefield is perhaps only overshadowed by his many faux pas’ and of course his untimely death after a car accident in a post war Germany. Informative and insightful this further emphasises that Patton was a brilliant commander of troops, but thoroughly not suited to peacetime operations.

#16 Manhattan Beach by Jennifer Egan

This story followed the lives of Anna, her father, and his business associate during WWII. There were hints of organized crime, Anna's foree into diving for the war effort, and disaster at sea. While it created a portrait of life at that time, it just didn't come together for me.

25) The Australian Victories in France in 1918 by General Sir John Monash as far as memoirs go this is one of the few that is not entirely self serving and champions the men who were fighting in the trenches in the closing months of WWI. General Sir John Monash in this book, recounts the battles in France in which Australian troops fought in and won in 1918.

26) Kokoda by Peter Fitzsimons like Gallipoli, Kokoda is one of those campaigns that is entrenched in Australian legend. For all I had read given my interest in WWII and in particular the War in the Pacific, I’ve never really known much about the Kokoda campaign. This is well written and reads like a novel so you never feel like you’re reading non-fiction.

27) Admiral of the Pacific the Life of Yamamoto by John Deane Potter the life and times of Admiral Yamamoto Isoroku. True to my interest in military history I always read books from both sides of the conflict. Though short, this book separates fact from fiction into the life of the man who masterminded the attack on Pearl Harbor and the Midway operation. While the names of the Japanese officers use the western derivation, this is still a good read.

Before She Sleeps by Bina Shah


I was excited to read this book. The author is from Pakistan so I thought she'd have a unique perspective. While there are similarities to Handmaid's Tale, this book isn't nearly as good. It was an intriguing premise but I felt she could have done more with it. Some of the women resist being child-bearers and escape to an illegal group that provides companionship for men and not the sexual type. I liked the idea of focusing on men's emotional needs but it wasn't explored very deeply. There was a lot of potential for this book, she could've done much more with it.

#18 The Radium Girls by Kate Moore


I was aware of this situation, referring to it in some of my classes. Yet this book revealed how truly horrifying it was. The torture these women endured with their bodies falling apart and no one able to help them. The years of law suites and the company denying any liability. Very sad.

28) Thirteen Days: A Memoir of the Cuban Missile Crisis by Robert F. Kennedy Robert Kennedy’s account of the tense days in late October 1962 where a standoff between the US and the Soviets over the building of launch sites on the island of Cuba which would bring the world on the brink of WWIII. It is evident though in this eyewitness account of the crisis that Kennedy was very much constrained by the time and no doubt classified nature of what really went on in the White House given that the information was put forward didn’t really contribute more to my knowledge of the incident, but still a worthy read.

29) The Missiles of October: The Story of the Cuban Missile Crisis 1962 by Elie Abel again another book about the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962, but this I felt expanded further than what Robert Kennedy put forward in his account. This tells the story of the crisis from the very first intelligence of the suspicious activity suggesting that the Soviets were indeed preparing to build missile launch sites through to the tense standoff and the subsequent withdrawals.

30) Gallipoli Diaries: The Anzac’s Own Story Day by Day by Jonathan King on April 25 in 1915 Australian and New Zealand troops would land on the shores of Gallipoli in Turkey to face the Ottoman Empire then an ally of Germany as part of a British Invasion force. The invasion of this narrow peninsula was spearheaded by Winston Churchill and would result in a disaster for the allied troops who fought for close to 8 months. This is actually the predecessor to the previous book I read by the same author which pieces together the story of Australian troops on the Western Front many of whom had served in the Gallipoli campaign. Most of what I’ve read and heard about Gallipoli has always been shrouded by Australian legend and so it was fascinating to me to read the real story behind the legend. The author also prior to their passing interviewed the last few surviving veterans of the campaign and was stunned to realise that they didn’t feel pride in what they had done and in fact agreed that Australia should never have gone in the first place. It did seem poignant to me as an Australian though to read this on the 106th anniversary of those landings though. Hopefully, once all the problems with the current pandemic are over I’ll be able to visit Gallipoli and see for myself the place that gave way to a legend and would help forge the Australian identity (federation had only occurred just 14 years prior).

#27 The Godwulf Manuscript by Robert B. Parker - a Spenser mystery This volume introduces Spenser, the Galahad of Boston. There's a lot of background information about him, naturally, and this volume also introduces two women who figure prominently in his romantic life - Becky Loring and Susan Silverman. Spenser solves the case, then goes above and beyond to rescue a young woman who has gotten way off track. It sets the stage for the most prolific detective series that I've seen. A re-read, but still fun.

#28 In The Company of Soldiers by Rick Atkinson - Live combat reporting Atkinson was embedded with the command structure of a U.S. Army unit in Iraq in 2003. This is the story of what he saw, heard, felt, and suffered. An excellent first-hand account of the "fog of war" by an almost objective observer. This volume inspired me to seek out some of his other work.

#29 An Army at Dawn: The War in North Africa, 1942-1943 by Rick Atkinson Vivid account of the invasion of North Africa and the campaign through Tunisia to expel the Axis forces. Atkinson includes first-hand accounts from the commanders on all sides (German, American, British, Italian) alongside testimony from the mid-level officers who commanded the troops and the troops themselves. He pulls no punches as he describes Bernard Montgomery's efforts to take over the entire Allied force, and the problems he engendered with his constant complaining and his reluctance to move quickly when "strongly advised" to do so. There are also accounts of Eisenhower's lack of experience and how his desire to make every commander happy led to rifts between the British and Americans that never healed. Plus, there's a pretty scathing profile of George Patton, who was just as ego-driven as Montgomery but who also shared some faults with the British general (neither of them were thought to be any good at logistics). Excellent book. Very informative. Two thumbs up high for this and the other two volumes in the WW2 history. This first one was awarded a Pulitzer in 2003.

#30 The Day of Battle: The War in Sicily and Italy, 1943-44 by Rick Atkinson Second volume of Atkinson's "Liberation Trilogy." It continues where volume 1 left off, with the Allies in control of North Africa and poised to invade southern Europe somewhere. He explains Churchill's desire to pierce the "soft underbelly of Europe" with landings in southern France, how Churchill was politically coerced to agree to land at Sicily, then move to Italy. We also learn of a disaster when U.S. airborne troops flew over jumpy infantry on the beach at Sicily and antiaircraft fire caused many casualties. He shows how "Smiling Albert" Kesselring (so named for his unflagging optimism) took over the defense of Italy after Mussolini was deposed and how effective he was with too few resources. Another excellent volume.

#31 The Guns at Last Light: The War in Western Europe, 1944-45 by Rick Atkinson Eisenhower plans the invasion of France. Patton sulks because he's not in on the invasion. Montgomery carps because he's not in charge and thinks he can do everything so much better than anyone else. DeGaulle complains because French troops are under-represented and because he's not in charge. The biggest triumph, I think, was molding all these disparate entities into a single force capable of destroying the German military machine. The rivalries which sprouted in North Africa flower in Western Europe as the political and military leaders thrash out the best way to topple the Third Reich. And the Russian campaign, while not the focus of this book, is not ignored, especially since Russian armies tied down many, many divisions of infantry, armor, transport, and air power of Germany and kept them away from the landings and combat in Normandy. We also see enough of the Holocaust to make me punch the next Denier I meet right in the mouth. Great book. All three were compelling reading.

#19 Divide Me by Zero by Lara Vapnyar

I thought this book might be interesting because it was written from the POV of a Russian woman whose mother loved math. Instead it focused the poor decisions of an emotional immature woman. I don't recommend this one .

5. Percy Jackson: The Titan's Curse by Rick Riordan


Percy and his friends continue to fight against the forces trying to bring back the Titan, Cronos, this time joined by the Hunters of Artemis. But when the goddess is captured (along with one of Percy's friends), the demigods and Huntresses must learn to fight alongside each other in order to prevail. While not my favorite book in the series, I still loved every Greek-mythology filled moment of it.

6. Shadows Rising by Madeline Roux

A Warcraft book. This takes place between the events of the Battle For Azeroth expansion and the newer Shadowlands expansion. Sylvanas Windrunner is on the run after the mak'gora where she betrayed the Horde. Both the Horde and the Alliance are desperate to find her and bring her to justice, before she can wreck further harm on Azeroth. The Horde, in particular, know they must convince the Zandalari to join with them, so that their combined strength can fight against this threat. But Queen Talanji is dubious, until rebels begin to attack and weak the loa Bwonsamdi, with whom she is linked to.

As someone who has played WoW since 2005, I really enjoyed the story. It's clear the author is also a fan and player - every last detail matches the game perfectly. And the character voices are so on point that it's easy to hear the actual game voices in your head while reading. Also, I was gratified to see Thrall (the former Horde Warchief) playing a considerable roll in things. I've always been a member of the Horde, and Thrall is my favorite Warchief.