#bookreviews — Public Fediverse posts

https://www.europesays.com/ie/728456/ Protocols by Andrew Huberman: A book about the brain that could change lives – The Irish Times #BookReviews #Éire #IE #Ireland #Technology

PARE: 100 Reminders for the Unwavering Self

https://amadanesi.com/2026/10/09/pare-100-reminders-for-the-unwavering-self/

Reagan said, "Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!" But walls fall when their makers grow weak, not when others grow bold. The Soviet empire was rotting from within.
#books #bookreviews #ReaganEra #HistoricalRead #WeekendReading
https://thisgrandpablogs.com/berlin-wall-frederick-taylor-review/

My latest read: "The Knave of Graves" by S.J. Shank

Looking for an S-tier dark fantasy read this spooky season? Look no further. 👍

Goodreads
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/9005381453
Book Radar
https://thebookradar.com/review/5595
StoryGraph
https://app.thestorygraph.com/reviews/08fc4ffd-0017-463c-a5f1-df48f02b11ba

#spookyseason #dark #fantasy #bookreview #bookrec #bookreviews #bookrecs #booksofmastodon #readersofmastodon #read #reads #reading #readers #readingcommunity #darkfantasy #bookstodon #booktodon

Book Review: Heaven’s Ditch by Jack Kelly

Author: Jack Kelly
Title: Heaven’s Ditch: God, Gold, and Murder on the Erie Canal
Publication Info: New York : St. Martin’s Press, 2016.
Summary/Review:

I thought I was getting myself into a book about the history of the Erie Canal.  And it is – but it’s about so much more – using the thread of the Erie Canal to connect the stories of turbulent changes in Western New York in the first half of the 19th century.

The canal itself is an engineering wonder constructed by the state of New York under the leadership of Governor DeWitt Clinton.  Did you ever wonder why the canal crosses the entire state rather than a shorter route from the Hudson River to Lake Ontario?  Turns out that option was discarded due to too great a difference in elevations, the hazards of navigating Lake Ontario, and that they would still need a way to get around Niagara Falls to reach the other lakes.  Kelly offers a lot of great detail of the engineering challenges especially in Lockport where the “flight of five” locks was constructed to carry the canal over the Niagara Escarpment,

While workers excavated the canal, the growing Western New York region became the “burned-over district” at the heart of the religious revivals of the Second Great Awakening. The term originates with the Presbyterian minister Charles Grandison Finney. Other leaders emerged to found entirely new religions.  William Miller predicted the end of the world on a specific date, and even though it didn’t come his followers eventually evolved into the Adventist movement.  Meanwhile, Joseph Smith, Jr. founded the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints based on a new scripture he claimed to have found inscribed on golden plates in a hill in Palmyra.

Western New York was also a hotbed of social movements, including abolitionists (many overlapping with new Christian denominations) and women’s suffrage.  In 1826, a former Freemason named William Morgan planned to publish a book exposing Masonic secrets.  After Morgan disappeared and was presumed murdered, the scandal launched an anti-Masonic movement that grew into a political party.  The Anti-Masonic Party held the first presidential nominating convention in 1832, and their candidate – William Wirt – won 7 electoral votes!  And if to tie together this book with a cosmic coincidence, Morgan’s widow Lucinda ended up becoming one of Joseph Smith’s “plural wives!”

The book can be disjointed as jumps back and forth among different threads.  But I found the details of this histories and the connections among them fascinating.

Recommended books:

• The Great Bridge: The Epic Story of the Building of the Brooklyn Bridge by David McCullough
• The King’s Best Highway: The Lost History of the Boston Post Road, the Route That Made America by Eric Jaffe

Rating: ***1/2

The U.S. funded Afghan fighters to push back the Soviets in the ‘80s. But what came next was chaos.
#books #bookreviews #ColdWar #Afghanistan
https://thisgrandpablogs.com/ghost-wars/

A MOVING, MULTIFACETED WORK combines autofiction, memoir, cultural theory, art analysis, and deeply poetic prose to capture the polycrisis of today and frame it against a particular moment in the 1980s through the vivid lens of friendship. A MINUS

https://bookshop.org/p/books/triage-claudia-rankine/fcbb442e7eb9fe9b?ean=9781644454008

@bookstodon

#book #Books #bookreview #bookreviews #bookstodon #fiction #autofiction #culturaltheory #criticaltheory #Blackwriters #Blackwomenwriters

REVIEW: The Slantwise Histories by Alix E. Harrow

It’s rare for me to love every single story in a short story collection, but Slantwise Histories by…
#London #Britain #UnitedKingdom #UK #GB #England #Headlines #News #Europe #EU #Harrow #AlixE.Harrow #BookReviews #GrimdarkMagazine#48 #shortstorycollection #TheSlantwiseHistories
https://www.europesays.com/gbr/london/36825/

https://www.europesays.com/gbr/london/36825/ REVIEW: The Slantwise Histories by Alix E. Harrow #AlixEHarrow #BookReviews #GrimdarkMagazine#48 #Harrow #ShortStoryCollection #TheSlantwiseHistories

Book Review: Sing, Unburied, Sing by Jesmyn Ward

Author: Jesmyn Ward
Title: Sing, Unburied, Sing
Narrator: Kelvin Harrison, Jr., Chris Chalk, Rutina Wesley
Publication Info: Simon & Schuster Audio, 2017
Summary/Review:

Sing, Unburied, Sing is a family drama set in contemporary Mississippi.  Central to the story is a road trip in Leonie Stone and her children Jojo and Kayla travel to pick up Michael, her boyfriend and the children’s father.  The story is narrated by three characters:

• Jojo, a 13-year-old who feels that he must care for 3-year-old Kayla due to their mother’s inattentiveness.  He also has spiritual gifts and can see ghosts.  His grandfather Pop is his is role model.
• Leonie, a woman with a troubled life who became a mother at a young age.  Her relationship with Michael is one that reinforces both of their substance abuse problems.  When she’s high, she sees visions of her brother Given who was murdered as a teenager.
• Richie, the ghost of a 12-year-old who knew Pop at the penitentiary many decades earlier.  Jojo can see Richie, who follows the family back from the prison.

The book touches on many themes including racial prejudice (especially within the carceral state), generational trauma, and African spirituality and the supernatural.

Recommended books:

• Beloved by Toni Morrison

Rating: ****

A short book by Timothy Snyder. Read the book. You will identify your country's leader in its pages. Then, you will get hints on how you should behave

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/8922503266

https://link.amazon/B0ap9SFwO

#tyranny #bookreviews #bookrecommendations

Donella H. Meadows's book is brilliant. Not only does it apply to the worlds of climate change and ecology, but it will also apply to business, politics, and many spheres of activity. Read the book. Study it.
https://link.amazon/B0eKQwD7B
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/8909131232

#bookreviews #bookrecommendations

𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗜’𝗺 𝗥𝗲𝗮𝗱𝗶𝗻𝗴: "𝗕𝗲𝗿𝘀𝗲𝗿𝗸 𝗩𝗼𝗹𝘀. 𝟭-𝟯 " 𝗯𝘆 𝗞𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗮𝗿𝗼 𝗠𝗶𝘂𝗿𝗮 -

I'm stubborn. I keep trying to immerse myself in manga, so here is my latest effort, a massive (though still introductory) taste of Miura's classic work. Maybe I'll get it!

#books #bookreviews #bookworm #readreadread #tbr #tbrpile #tbrlist #quotes #reading #kentaromiura #berserkmanga #manga #japaneseliterature

Review: Threshing Day by Rebecca Yarros

https://shelvedwithshell.wordpress.com/2026/10/08/review-threshing-day-by-rebecca-yarros/

Review: The Sentinel’s Sight by M.D. Osborne

A pastoral parable that positively shines with wisdom for believers and dreamers alike, The Sentinel's Sight (The Watchwood Chronicles Book 1) by M.D. Osborne is an inspired tale of overcoming fear and choosing the righteous path to redemption. Lillian Callahan is wise beyond her years as the eldest of five, but occasionally allows herself to [...]…
https://www.selfpublishingreview.com/2026/10/review-the-sentinels-sight-by-m-d-osborne/

#BookReviews #LatestBookReviews #FantasyBookReviews #ReligiousFictionBookReviews

Reagan said, "Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!" But walls fall when their makers grow weak, not when others grow bold. The Soviet empire was rotting from within.
#books #bookreviews #ReaganEra #HistoricalRead #WeekendReading
https://thisgrandpablogs.com/berlin-wall-frederick-taylor-review/

It’s not just history; it's the story of survival. Spies, secrets, betrayals. This book tells it all.
#books #bookreviews #SovietEspionageBooks #KGBDefectorBooks #ColdWarHistory
https://thisgrandpablogs.com/mitrokhin-archive-book-review/