The One with Broke

203. Title & Author: Broke: The Plan to Restore Our Trust, Truth, and Treasure by Glenn Beck (351 pages)

Genre: Nonfiction—Politics & Current Events

Completed: 17 November 2011

              

Summary & Review:

Radio host Glenn Beck presents the staggering situation that the United States currently finds itself in. Already drowning under trillions of dollars of debt, recent political leaders have shown no signs of slowing the hemorrhaging as they continue to spend at record rates. Rather than focusing on just the economic issues present in modern day America, Beck examines the moral shortcomings that have caused the country to forget its past and endanger its future.

                

Many of Beck’s previous books have taken on big issues, but have done so with a healthy amount of levity and humor. This book was a change from that pattern. While there would be the occasional dry aside found throughout the text, this book was written with a very serious tone, and for good reason. The financial situation facing this country is so overwhelming that  you wonder if we can ever get back on track, or if most people even want to.

                

The book was laid-out in a very organized fashion. Beck first examined the history of American debt and spending, then presented his explanations for the causes of our current sorry state, and finally presented his ideas for fixing things. After seeing how bad things are, maybe Ron Paul should be president. I sure like his idea of just completely dumping five federal departments...

                

Rating: 8.5

The One with Silesian Station

202. Title & Author: Silesian Station by David Downing (306 pages)

Genre: Fiction—Spy Thriller

Completed: 9 November 2011

                

Summary & Review:

John Russell, a Englishman living in Berlin during the final days before the German invasion of Poland, is asked by a friend to help locate a young Jewish girl from the Silesian countryside who went missing upon her arrival in the city. Russell, however, finds himself in a ever tightening web of lies and deception as he makes alliances with the SD after being blackmailed, the Americans in order to obtain an American passport, and the Soviets with whom he shares a hatred of the Nazi regime. Struggling to keep his loved ones safe and balance the tenuous house of cards he has set up, Russell investigates the disappearance.

                

This was an enjoyable read. Downing’s prose was crisp, yet descriptive as he was able to artfully portray the intensity of Berlin in the run up to World War II. While I liked the book, the plot was a little wide reaching. But, as this book is a part of a series, it understandably includes other storylines that allow the saga to continue while still providing enough of a narrative thrust for the book to be able to stand alone. Most of the pages were devoted to Russell’s comings and goings as a foreign correspondent for a San Francisco newspaper. These portions of the book were heavy on descriptions of the era, yet light on action. When the climax of the many story arc was reached, the action was fun, but too short-lived.

                

John Russell as a character is a hero that is a little hard for me to identify with. Throughout the novel he clearly expresses his condemnation of the Nazi regime, but he is himself a communist with a lot of sympathy for the Soviet system. I don’t know if these are a reflection of the author’s own political beliefs, i.e. that Nazis were bad and communists were/are good, but I think they must be because several times a distinction is made between the bad “right-wing” Nazis, and the idealistic if a little overly enthusiastic left-wing communists. If they are indeed Downing's beliefs, something doesn't quite compute. While not excusing the Nazi's behavior in the slightest, it should be remembered that communist regimes have been responsible for millions more murders and other atrocities than the Nazi’s ever were. And explain again how the National Socialist party is right-wing? (See Jonah Goldberg’s excellent Liberal Fascism for more on that).

                

Anyway, so despite the strange affinity for communism possessed by the main character (and I assume the author), the book was entertaining enough that I will probably read another one from the series at some point.

Rating: 7.0 

The One with Londonistan

201. Title & Author: Londonistan by Melanie Phillips (191 pages)

Genre: Nonfiction—Current Events, Religion, & Politics

Completed: 31 October 2011

                

Summary & Review:

England is the land that gave birth to the ideals of freedom, liberty, and tolerance, yet in recent decades it has been home to a dangerous ideology that wants desperately to subvert those very same values and impose its own totalitarian system: Islamism. In this book, British journalist Melanie Phillips exposes how the policies of the United Kingdom’s government, church, and academic institutions have made the country a hotbed of terrorism and extreme ideology in the hope that the United States and other Western democracies may prevent similar fates from overcoming them.

Most of what I read in this book was already familiar to me from other works like Andrew McCarthy’s The Grand Jihad (#160) and Mark Steyn’s America Alone (#164). But, this was a very focused look on the effects of the appeasement of Islamism in the United Kingdom in particular and I appreciated the in depth look. It was a very sad book too, however. I am an Anglophile and have much admiration for many of the accomplishments of Britain and many of the illustrious citizens of its past: Dickens, Newton, John Stuart Mill, Locke, Adam Smith, Tolkien, Churchill, the hosts of Top Gear; the list could go on and on. My own beloved country owes much to that little island nation, as does most of the world. To see how far this country has fallen from its proud history as I read the almost unbelievable accounts in this book was extremely disheartening.

Phillips states that “the first law of terrorism” is that “it preys on weakness.” I agree. I think the more countries give in to demands by the political arm of Islamism to avoid attacks from the terrorist Islamist groups of the same ideology, the more it encourages those groups to keep threatening violence.

Rating: 7.5

The One with 200 Reviews

My last review, that of Leo Tolstoy's War and Peace, was my two hundredth review since I began this list back in March of 2007 (I started posting them on this blog in May of 2008). Those two hundred books amount to 72,577 pages, averaging out to 363 pages per book. I've also listened to an additional fifty-eight audiobooks since I began keeping track of those in January of 2009.

Here is a compiled list of all 200 reviews, alphabetized by author:

·         Ambrose, Stephen E. Band of Brothers: E Company, 506^th Regiment, 101^st Airborne From Normandy to Hitler’s Eagle’s Nest (#114)
·         Athanassakis, Apostolos N., translator. The Homeric Hymns (#35)
·         Baldacci, David. The Collectors (#23)
·         Baldacci, David. First Family (#157)
·         Baldacci, David. Simple Genius (#40)
·         Baldacci, David. Stone Cold (#70)
·         Baldacci, David. The Whole Truth (#85)
·         Barone, Michael. Hard America Soft America: Competition vs. Coddling and the Battle forthe Nation’s Future (#181)
·         Bastian, Heiner, Celine Bastian, and Aeneas Bastian. Damien Hirst: Void (#61)
·         Beck, Glenn. Arguing with Idiots: How to Stop Small Minds and Big Government (#132)
·         Beck, Glenn. The Christmas Sweater (#131)
·         Beck, Glenn. Glenn Beck’s Common Sense: The Case Against Out-of-Control Government,Inspired by Thomas Paine (#125)
·         Beck, Glenn. An Inconvenient Book: Real Solutions to the World’s Biggest Problems (#30)
·         Beck, Glenn. The Real America: Messages from the Heart and Heartland (#91)
·         Berenson, Alex. The Ghost War (#109)
·         Berenson, Alex. The Midnight House (#188)
·         Berenson, Alex. The Silent Man (#163)
·         Bolton, Glorney. Sir Christopher Wren (#105)
·         Brown, Dan. The Lost Symbol (#129)
·         Buchan, John. Greenmantle (#193)
·         Buchan, John. The Thirty-Nine Steps (#168)
·         Buckley, William F. Jr. God and Man at Yale (#176)
·         BYU Academic Publishing. Fitness and Lifestyle Management (#86)
·         BYU Academic Publishing. Know Them Which Labor Among You: Biographies of the First Presidency and the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles (#66)
·         Caldwell, Richard S., translator. Hesiod’s Theogony (#39)
·         Card, Orson Scott. Ender’s Game (#186)
·         Carr, Nicholas. The Big Switch: Rewiring the World, from Edison to Google (#146)
·         Child, Lee. Gone Tomorrow: A Jack Reacher Novel (#148)
·         Child, Lee. The Hard Way: A Jack Reacher Novel (#31)
·         Child, Lee. Nothing to Lose: A Jack Reacher Novel (#112)
·         Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, The. Our Heritage: A Brief History of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (#117)
·         Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, The. Teachings of Presidents ofthe Church: David O. McKay (#128)
·         Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, The. Teachings of Presidents ofthe Church: Heber J. Grant (#150)
·         Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, The. Teachings of Presidents ofthe Church: Joseph Smith (#107)
·         Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, The. Teachings of Presidents ofthe Church: Spencer W. Kimball (#161)
·         Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, The. Teachings of Presidents ofthe Church: Wilford Woodruff (#137)
·         Clason, George S. The Richest Man in Babylon (#41)
·         Coben, Harlen. Drop Shot (#71)
·         Collins, Suzanne. Catching Fire (#155)
·         Collins, Suzanne. The Hunger Games (#153)
·         Collins, Suzanne. Mockingjay (#158)
·         Cormack, Robin. Byzantine Art (#68)
·         Cornwell, Patricia. Book of the Dead (#82)
·         Crais, Robert. Chasing Darkness (An Elvis Cole Novel) (#113)
·         Crichton, Michael. Prey (#81)
·         Crichton, Michael. State of Fear (#5)
·         D’Alleva, Anne. Look Again! Art History & Critical Theory (#76)
·         Darnton, Robert. The Great Cat Massacre: And Other Episodes in French Cultural History (#46)
·         DeLint, Charles. The Painted Boy (#191)
·         DeMille, Nelson. Wild Fire (#26)
·         Derbyshire, John. We Are Doomed: Reclaiming Conservative Pessimism (#196)
·         Diamond, Jared. Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies (#17)
·         Dickens, Charles. A Tale of Two Cities (#143)
·         Dickens, Charles. Christmas Books (#171) including:
o   A Christmas Carol
o   The Chimes: A Goblin Story of Some Bells that Rang an Old Year Out and a New Year In
o   The Cricket on the Hearth: A Fairy Tale of Home
o   The Battle of Life: A Love Story
o   The Haunted Man and the Ghost’s Bargain
·         Dostoevsky, Fydor. Crime and Punishment (#90)
·         Downes, Kerry. Christopher Wren (#102)
·         Doyle, William. The Ancien Règime (#28)
·         Düchting, Hajo. Wassily Kandinsky (#167)
·         Dugoni, Robert. Damage Control (#43)
·         Dunning, John. The Bookman’s Wake (A Mystery with Cliff Janeway) (#115)
·         Ebbutt, Blanche. Don’ts for Husbands (#184)
·         Essers, Volkmar. Henri Matisse (#179)
·         Evans, M.J. Behind the Mist: Book One of the Mist Trilogy (#175)
·         Flanagan, John. Ranger’s Apprentice Book One: The Ruins of Gorlan (#197)
·         Flynn, Vince. Act of Treason (#34)
·         Flynn, Vince. Protect and Defend (#87)
·         Forrer, Matthi. Hokusai: Mountains and Water, Flowers and Birds (#92)
·         Forster, E.M. A Passage to India (#95)
·         Forsyth, Frederick. The Afghan (#32)
·         Forsyth, Frederick. The Day of the Jackal (#83)
·         Furst, Alan. The Foreign Correspondent (#8)
·         Gerritsen, Tess. The Bone Garden (#74)
·         Godfrey, Tony. Conceptual Art (#21)
·         Goethe, Johann Wolfgang von, Faust, Part One and Two (#12)
·         Goldberg, Jonah. Liberal Fascism: The Secret History of the American Left from Mussolinito the Politics of Meaning (#138)
·         Gombrich, E.H. The Story of Art (#183)
·         Grene, David and Richmond Lattimore, editors. Greek Tragedies Vol. 1 (#37)
·         Grisham, John. The Associate (#182)
·         Grisham, John. Playing for Pizza (#64)
·         Grisham, John. Skipping Christmas (#3)
·         Gross, Andrew. The Blue Zone (#45)
·         Hanson, Victor Davis. The Father of Us All: War and History,Ancient and Modern (#192)
·         Hardwicke, Catherine. Twilight Director’s Notebook: The Story of How We Made the Movie (#84)
·         Harris, Robert. Archangel (#108)
·         Harris, Robert. Conspirata (#144)
·         Harris, Robert. Enigma (#22)
·         Harris, Robert. Fatherland (#25)
·         Harris, Robert. The Ghost (#51)
·         Harris, Robert. Imperium (#6)

·         Harris, Robert. Pompeii (#7)

·         Hayward, Steven F. Greatness: Reagan, Churchill, & The Making of Extraordinary Leaders (#177)
·         Hess, Barbara. Willem De Kooning (#130)
·         Hewitt, Hugh. A Mormon in the White House? ( Ten Things Every American Should KnowAbout Mitt Romney) (#49)
·         Hirst, Damien, Will Self, Rudi Fuchs, and Hans Ulrich Obrist. Beyond Belief:Damien Hirst (#62)
·         Hoff, Benjamin. The Tao of Pooh (#93)
·         Hoff, Benjamin. The Te of Piglet (#96)
·         Holland, Elder Jeffery R. Shepherds, Why This Jubilee? (#127)
·         Iles, Greg. 24 Hours (#14)
·         Jance, J.A. Hand of Evil (#72)
·         Jance, J.A. Justice Denied (#57)
·         Kaplan. DAT: Dental Admissions Test 2007-2008 Edition (#47)
·         Kellerman, Faye. The Burnt House (#75)
·         Kellerman, Jonathan. Bones (An Alex Delaware Novel) (#119)
·         Kellerman, Jonathan. Obsession (An Alex Delaware Novel) (#48)
·         Kibbe, Matt B. Rules for Patriots: A Pocket Primer for Patriotic Americans (#172)
·         King, Stephen. Cell (#2)
·         Klavan, Andrew. Empire of Lies (#152)
·         Kostova, Elizabeth. The Historian (#1)
·         LaPierre, Wayne. The Essential Second Amendment Guide (#78)
·         La Plante, John D. Asian Art (#97)
·         Lee, Patrick. The Breach (#141)
·         Levin, Mark R. Liberty and Tyranny: A Conservative Manifesto (#166)
·         Lewis, C.S. The Chronicles of Narnia: The Magician’s Nephew (#54)
·         Lewis, C.S. The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe (#56)
·         Lewis, C.S. The Chronicles of Narnia: TheHorse and His Boy (#99)
·         Lewis, C.S. The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian (#103)
·         Lewis, C.S. The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader (#124)
·         Lewis, C.S. The Chronicles of Narnia: The Silver Chair (#139)
·         Lewis, C.S. The Chronicles of Narnia: The Last Battle (#145)
·         Ludlum, Robert. The Ambler Warning (#29)
·         Ludlum, Robert. The Bourne Identity (#9)
·         Ludlum, Robert. The Bourne Ultimatum (#189)
·         Margolin, Philip. Ties That Bind (#58)
·         Martini, Steve. Guardian of Lies (#170)
·         McCarthy, Andrew C. The Grand Jihad: How Islam and the Left Sabotage America (#160)
·         McCullough, David. 1776: The Illustrated Edition (#122)
·         McCullough, David. John Adams (#100)
·         McKinty, Adrian. Dead I Well May Be (#195)
·         Meltzer, Brad. The Book of Lies (#162)
·         Menzies, Gavin. 1421: The Yeah China Discovered America (#11)
·         Meyer, Stephenie. Breaking Dawn (#52)
·         Meyer, Stephenie. Eclipse (#50)
·         Meyer, Stephenie. Midnight Sun (partial draft) (#60)
·         Meyer, Stephenie. New Moon (#44)
·         Meyer, Stephenie. The Short Second Life of Bree Tanner: An Eclipse Novella (#147)
·         Meyer, Stephenie. Twilight (#42)
·         Meyer, Stephenie with art and adaptation by Young Kim. Twilight: The GraphicNovel, volume 1 (#142)
·         Mink, Janis. Joan Miró (#199)
·         Morris, Dick and Eileen McGann. Fleeced: How Barack Obama, Media Mockery of Terrorist Threats, Liberals Who Want to Kill Talk Radio, The Do-Nothing Congress, Companies that Help Iran, and Washington Lobbyists for Foreign Governments are Scamming Us and What to Do About It (#73)
·         Museum of Modern Art, The. Richard Serra—Sculpture: 40 Years (#24)
·         Murray, Charles. What It Means to Be a Libertarian: A Personal Interpretation (#173)
·         National Gallery, The. John Virtue: London Paintings (#120)
·         Néret, Gilles. Salvador Dalí (#98)
·         Paolini, Christopher. Brisingr (Book 3 of the Inheritance Cycle) (#156)
·         Parks, Tim. Medici Money: Banking, Metaphysics, and Art in Fifteenth-CenturyFlorence (#77)
·         Patterson, James. Cross (#20)
·         Patterson, James. Double Cross (#88)
·         Patterson, James with Maxine Paetro. The 6th Target: A Women’s MurderClub Novel (#89)
·         Patterson, James with Michael Ledwidge. Step on a Crack (#59)
·         Paul, Ron. The Revolution: A Manifesto (#187)
·         Pearson, Ridley. Killer Weekend (#63)
·         Phaidon. 500 Self-Portraits (#116)
·         Puzo, Mario. The Godfather (#16)
·         Reich, Christopher. The Patriots Club (#18)
·         Reich, Christopher. Rules of Vengeance (#190)
·         Remarque, Erich Maria. All Quiet of the Western Front (#110)
·         Ritter, Gerhard. Frederick the Great (#27)
·         Rizal, José. Noli Me Tangere (#94)
·         Robb, J.D. Strangers in Death (#106)
·         Rollins, James. Amazonia (#15)
·         Rowling, J.K. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (#10)
·         Rowling, J.K. The Tales of Beedle the Bard (#69)
·         Sandford, John. Dark of the Moon (#123)
·         Sandford, John. Dead Watch (#36)
·         Sandford, John. Eyes of Prey (#38)
·         Sandford, John. Phantom Prey (#154)
·         Saunders, George. The Braindead Megaphone: Essays (#169)
·         Silva, Daniel. The Confessor (#159)
·         Silva, Daniel. A Death in Vienna (#178)
·         Silva, Daniel. The English Assassin (#136)
·         Silva, Daniel. The Kill Artist (#133)
·         Silva, Daniel. Moscow Rules (#80)
·         Silva, Daniel. Prince of Fire (#198)
·         Silva, Daniel. The Secret Servant (#65)
·         Sparks, Nicholas. The Notebook (#180)
·         Sparks, Nicholas. True Believer (#4)
·         Steyn, Mark. After America: Get Ready for Armageddon (#194)
·         Steyn, Mark. America Alone: The End of the World as We Know It (#164)
·         Steyn, Mark. Lights Out: Islam, Free Speech, and the Twilight of the West (#185)
·         Stoker, Bram. Dracula (#151)

·         Stone, David. The Echelon Vendetta (#55)

·         Thor, Brad. The Apostle (#165)

·         Thor, Brad. The First Commandment (#67)
·         Thor, Brad. The Last Patriot (#111)
·         Timmerman, Kenneth R. Shadow Warriors: The Untold Story ofTraitors, Saboteurs, and the Party of Surrender (#79)
·         Tolkien, J.R.R. The Hobbit: or There and Back Again (#135)
·         Tolstoy, Leo. War and Peace (#200)
·         Van Lustbader, Eric. The Bourne Betrayal (#53)
·         Van Lustbader, Eric. The Bourne Sanction (#126)
·         Vaughan, William and Helen Weston. David’s The Death of Marat (Masterpieces ofWestern Painting) (#33)
·         Voltaire. Candide, Zadig, and Selected Stories (#121)
·         Whinney, Margaret. Wren (#104)
·         Wilson, F. Paul. All the Rage (A Repairman Jack Novel) (#140)
·         Wilson, F. Paul. Conspiracies (A Repairman Jack Novel) (#134)
·         Wilson, F. Paul. Crisscross (A Repairman Jack Novel) (#13)
·         Wilson, F. Paul. The Haunted Air (A Repairman Jack Novel) (#174)
·         Wilson, F. Paul. Infernal (A Repairman Jack Novel) (#149)
·         Wilson, F. Paul. Legacies (A Repairman Jack Novel) (#101)
·         Wilson, F. Paul. The Tomb (A Repairman Jack Novel) (#19)

            Zöllner, Frank. Leonardo da Vinci (#118)

Here's to two hundred more!