Book Log 2020 #66: Armistice by Harry Turtledove

I have almost no recollection of this book, the final in the Hot War series (where advice about using nuclear weapons during the Korean War starts World War III), though from the title it's a safe bet that the war is going to end.

I don't recall any particular highs or lows about the book - it's pretty much the same as his other books in this series - but I do think doing this right on the heels of the long The War that Came Early series about an alternate World War II caused the story lines to blur a bit. 

 Book Log 2020 #65: Tuesday Mooney Talks to Ghosts by Kate Racculia

When a Boston billionaire dies and leaves his fortune to whoever can find it, Tuesday Mooney and an odd assortment of friends and acquaintances team up to solve the puzzles that will hopefully lead them to fame and fortune. Oh, and Tuesday may be being helped by the ghost of a friend who disappeared when they were teens growing up in Salem.

I'm not usually into supernatural stories, but as I grew up near Salem and lived in Boston for a while it was pretty easy for the local angle to win me over.  There's also some obvious similarities between this book and The Westing Game, which was a favorite growing up.

As it turned out, the amount of ghosts in this story worked for me, and I really enjoyed seeing the story unfold. 

 Book Log 2020 #64: The Splendid and the Vile by Erik Larson

This is, to my mind, a kind of sequel to In the Garden of Beasts, where Larson recounts the early days of Nazi Germany through the eyes of the US ambassador to Germany and his daughter. In that book, the characters were initially fascinated, and in some cases thrilled, by the energy and spirit of the Nazis, only to become horrified when their intentions became clear.

In this book, the Nazis have already started to put their intentions into action - they've invaded large parts of Europe and are starting to look across the English Channel - and newly-elected prime minister Winston Churchill has to figure out how to not only resist, but to get the help necessary to defeat the Nazis.

To do this, we get an in-depth look at the decisions Churchill made that bolstered public sentiment and the will to fight back. Along with this we get an intimate look at the personal lives of the Churchills, and how the choices made to fight the war had individual repercussions for each member of the family.

I did like this book quite a bit, just as I like pretty much all of Larson's books. I didn't know a great deal about Churchill prior to reading (and probably still don't know that much about him), but the book did give me a greater appreciation for him.

 Book Log 2020 #63: Palaces for the People by Erik Klinenberg

In this book, the author makes the case that the best way to repair our social fabric, and to redevelop shared values, is to create more and/or better shared spaces, such as parks and libraries. He also gives examples of how social infrastructure - resources and facilities that help communities develop and thrive - have made signficant improvements to quality of life.

This is a premise that I bought into pretty quickly (shocking for someone who regularly goes to the library), but as I read the book I found my enthusiasm waning.  Maybe I just didn't need that much convincing and got bored as the book continued to make a case that I already agreed with. Not sure. But it's worth a read if this is a subject that sounds interesting.

Of course, you can also listen to this episode of 99% Invisible, where the author talks with show host Roman Mars about the book and the ideas behind it, and then decide if you want to take a deeper dive with the book.