Shelved: Books Read and Reviewed in October 2025

 

The King's Deception.  Steve Berry.  Ballantine Books, 2013.  432 pages. Book 8 of 20 in the Cotton Malone Series.

The adventures of former Justice Department agent turned Copenhagen rare book dealer Cotton Malone continue in this volume, centered in and around London.  Cotton Malone and his son Gary are flying from Atlanta to Copenhagen for a school break vacation, but they're not alone.  As a favor. Malone has agreed to transport a 15-year old London street kid from Atlanta back to London.  The kid is wanted by both the CIA and British intelligence.   What should be a simple handoff turns into an all-out life or death adventure that threatens them all, and it's rooted in not one, but two, 400-year old British mysteries:  what happened to the legendary "Tudor treasure" and did Elizabeth I harbor a huge secret that would shake the foundations of the United Kingdom?  Some people might look down on these novels, but I find them enjoyable reads.  Berry always starts with tons of research and a real historical question at the core of the book, and he then embellishes the story with a lot of action.  The mysteries are always intriguing and pique my alternate history interests. There may be plot lines that you can see coming from miles away, but there are enough plot twists to hold your attention.  The audiobook versions are great for walks, exercise, housework, sitting around the pool, etc. 

Torpedo Juice.  Tim Dorsey.  William Morrow, 2005.  336 pages.  Book 7 of 26 in the Serge Storms series.

Sadness is realizing that I only have one Serge Storms left to read after this one, since author Tim Dorsey died far too early a couple of years ago.  This is an early one, and the characters of Serge Storms and his boon companion, Coleman, are still being refined and developed. However, it's jumped to a high position on my favorite Serge adventures list.  It's hilarious from beginning to end, and there's plenty of knowledge to be gleaned about the history and culture of the Florida Keys.  Serge has two missions in life:  to bring justice to those who prey on the innocent and to absorb and then to dispense every bit of Florida history, natural and human, that exists.  He makes progress on both fronts here, but he also embarks on a third mission, getting married.  The hunt for his soulmate takes Serge on a typically twisted journey on which he crosses paths with drug dealing kingpins, evil executives, and would-be cult followers.  Along the way, the book takes kind of a meta turn as the Narrator decides to become a part of the story, a brilliant and incredibly original and fun twist.  Also, two sheriff's deputies, Gus and Walter, make a huge contribution to the fun.

Author Talk

The Inheritors:  An Intimate Portrait of South Africa's Racial Reckoning.  Eve Fairbanks.  Simon & Schuster, 2022. 416 pages.  Thanks to Simon & Schuster for the review copy.

In the late 1980s and early 1990s, South Africa underwent a revolution, scrapping more than a century of harshly enforced racial segregation and minority rule and instantly pivoting to a majority-rule democracy - an unparalleled transformation.  Americans being Americans, and American media being American media, South Africa basically ceased to exist at that point because we have almost no attention span for domestic events in foreign countries, especially African countries.  The Inheritors provides an insight into that transformation for American readers, primarily through the experiences of three South Africans: Dipuo, a young black woman and anti-apartheid organizer, Malaika, her daughter born around the time of the transition, and Christo, a white Afrikaans farm boy who was one of the last South Africans drafted to fight in Angola.  Eve Fairbanks built relationships with the three over the course of a decade, and she basically allows them to tell their stories.  Readers learn about the struggles of the country through the struggles of these individuals as they try to cope with unprecedented change.  It's an extremely moving, enlightening, and thought-provoking book.

Author Talk

She Came To Slay:  The Life and Times of Harriet Tubman.  Erica Armstrong Dunbar.  37 Ink, 2019.  176 pages.  Thanks to Simon & Schuster for the review copy.

If any American deserves a fresh, thoroughly researched, well-written, originally illustrated, biography that is equally accessible and enjoyable for everyone from grade school to adulthood, it is Harriet Tubman, and this is the book.  Of course, we all know the basics, that Tubman was the most famous conductor of the Underground Railroad who personally escorted hundreds enslaved people to freedom after her own escape.  Some of us may know of her long career as an abolitionist before the Civil War and her service as a spy and nurse during the Civil War.  Fewer know that she became the first woman to lead an armed combat mission - a very consequential mission.  Even after the war, she never stopped, becoming an active suffragist and an advocate for veterans and for the aged.  Tubman's always been near the top of my list of greatest Americans, and this biography is great introduction to her life for yourself and for any younger readers in your life.  

No Sunscreen For the Dead.  Tim Dorsey.  William Morrow, 2019.  336 pages.  Book 22 of 26 in Serge Storms series. (AI generated photo)

Sadly, it's over.  After three or four years, I've now read all 26 books of the Serge Storms books, and there will never be another one.  It's hard to imagine that another author could ever match the perfect combination of insanity and genius that Tim Dorsey displayed in every single title.  Every book is filled with Florida, and American, history, laugh out loud hilarity, biting dead-on satire, and utter chaos.  Granted, his work is not for everyone.  It's filled with absurd, adult comic book-ish, graphic sex and violence that will turn off some readers, but others will recognize the brilliance and will be entertained like never before.  

I read the books out of order because of availability in used book stores and the public library, and that was not an issue for me, but others might need to read them in order.  This book is number 22 of 26, but, in many ways, I think it is a fitting final adventure.  The theme of the book is retirement in Florida, and Serge explores the idea somewhat wistfully, as he finds his people, people who match his love of Florida, of history, and of life itself - people, like him, who have packed a lot of living into life.  He becomes an honorary resident of a retirement mobile  home community and realized that the other residents led incredibly vital lives and made major contributions to society, but now others are taking advantage of them.  That doesn't stand in Serge-world, and his vigilantism in this book is particularly satisfying.  But wait - there's more.  Dorsey also throws in a great Cold War espionage storyline, and the climax is unbridled chaos.  There are a couple of minor glitches.  The first couple of pages lead the reader to believe that it's a book about the notorious community called The Villages, and all of the action takes place a couple of hours south, in and around Sarasota.  (If Florida is jokingly called God's waiting room," Sarasota is the exam room.) There's also an historical error:  In a flashback, one of the characters reports to a submarine base in 1970.  The problem is that it wasn't a submarine base until 1978.  Whether that was an uncharacteristic slip-up or just a little story-telling adjustment, I don't know, but it wouldn't even register with 99.9% of readers.  In any case, No Sunscreen is a more-than-fitting conclusion for me.

The Birth of the Feature Film:  Crash Course in Film History

The Mirage Factory:  Illusion, Imagination, and the Invention of Los Angeles.  Gary Krist.  Crown, 2018.  416 pages.

Gary Krist is one of those authors at the top of the narrative nonfiction writing game, along with authors like Erik Larson and Abbott Kahler.  In this 2018 book, Krist tells the story of Los Angeles through the lives of three towering figures and their careers from 1910 to 1930:  William Mulholland, the engineering visionary who brought power and water to a formerly written-off barren wasteland in order to make the city even possible, D.W. Griffith, the "father of American film" who built a powerful culture-shaping industry out of a minor novelty, and Aimee Semple McPherson, the charismatic evangelist who built a church that drew tens of thousands of believers each week and who reached millions more each week through magazines, newspapers, tours, and broadcasts on her own radio station.  Singly, they became American icons.  Collectively, they created Los Angeles and made it a major city physically, economically, creatively, and spiritually.  Krist makes the case that all three were both masters of their crafts and masters of illusion, capable of dreaming big dreams and making those dreams come true, overcoming major obstacles in the process.  Yet, the mirages or illusions that they created all dissipated because of their own tragic flaws, "a crescendo of hubris, scandal, and catastrophic failure of design." Each of them saw his or her fortunes and legacies suffer, but the city remained and prospered.  It's a riveting history. No, wait, it's boffo, epic, spectacular, stunning, thrilling, legendary, unforgettable, electrifying, breathtaking, awe-inspiring,  .... etc.

Author talk

Target Tehran:  How Israel Is Using Sabotage, Cyberwarfare, Assassination and Secret Diplomacy to Stop a Nuclear Iran and Create a New Middle East.  Yonah Jeremy Bob and Ilan Evyatar.  Simon & Schuster, 2023.  368 pages.  Thanks to Simon & Schuster for the review copy.

My default position is usually "Truth is stranger (and more interesting) than fiction," and this book definitely makes that case.  I am not a spy thriller reader, but this book should appeal to that group and to those that are fans of political shows like West Wing and The Diplomat.  It is an incredibly inside look at Israel’s covert operations aimed at thwarting Iran’s movement toward becoming a nuclear power. The authors show how Mossad, Israel’s intelligence agency, has combined sabotage, cyberwarfare, assassinations, diplomatic efforts, and intelligence gathering over the last 20 years or so to prevent Iran from obtaining nuclear arms and to reshape power dynamics in the Middle East. It concentrates on events since Israeli agents and Iranians opposed to their government stole Iran's top secret nuclear archives in 2018 in order to prove that Iran was violating previous agreements and actively deceiving the world.  Twenty-first century warfare is in full force as Mossad and the Israeli Defense Force use cyberwarfare and drones in addition to embedded agents and on-the-ground assets and targeted assassinations to destroy Iran's program.   In the process, both Israel and Iran have become Top 5 world cyber-powers. At the same time, there have been some unbelievable diplomatic gains as Israel has forged relationships with several of the Gulf states because they all see Iran as their greatest existential threat.  The book does have some shortcomings.  It is largely one-sided;  the authors had much more access to US and Israeli participants than to Iranians.  Much of the subject matter is still, of course, highly classified, so the authors had to rely on limited declassified documents and interviews with individuals involved, and intelligence agencies and those people involved all have their own agendas.  Finally, time is an issue.  The authors completed writing the book in April 2023, and lots of new developments have already occurred.  Nevertheless, it was a more satisfying read than I anticipated, and I learned a lot about the current climate in the Middle East.

 

Author talk

The Fifties:  An Underground History.  James R. Gaines.  Simon & Schuster, 2023.  288 pages.  Thanks to Simon & Schuster for the review copy.

Too many people think of the 1950s as a decade of conformity and complacency, picturing sock hops, soda fountains, and poodle skirts, but, as I tried to impress upon my students each year, there was always turbulence under that placid surface.  There was the rise of rock and roll and teenage rebellion which shocked older generations.  Beatniks challenged middle-class norms.  Artists shook up the art world.  The Red Scare and the Lavender Scare sent shock waves through government and society.  The civil rights and feminist movements started ramping up.  There was a lot of angst, anger, confusion, and conflict.  This book celebrates several individuals who were brave enough to stand - often alone - on their principles and lead fights that they believed needed fighting.  In particular, Gaines selects gay rights, feminism, civil rights, and environmental movements.  A couple of the people discussed are familiar names, Fannie Lou Hamer, Medgar Evers, and Rachel Carson for example, but the others aren't nearly as well known, or as celebrated as they should be.  There's Norbert Wiener, a mathematician and computer scientist who is considered the father of cybernetics, the forerunner of Artificial Intelligence.  There's Harry Hay who first envisioned a national gay rights movement in the 1940s.  There's Pauli Murray whose law school thesis provided much of the legal basis for Thurgood Marshall's arguments in Brown vs Board of Education and whose legal work made sexual discrimination unconstitutional. Gerda Lerner pioneered the concept of women's history as an academic field, despite being told by superiors and colleagues that there wasn't enough material to study.  Isaac Woodard was a black WWII veteran who was blinded by a South Carolina sheriff because he dared to look him in the eye.  These are all important stories that should be shared.  This book should be widely read.  Almost makes me wish that I was back in the classroom in order to share them. ... Almost.

Who was Xolotl?

Xolo.  Donna Barba Higuera and Mariana Ruiz Johnson.  Levine Querido, release date November 4 2025. 224 pages.  Ages 7-10.

I bought a copy of this book to read during a break at the Southern Festival of Books this past weekend, and it proved to be a great discovery.  I wish I had attended the author's session.  It's a beautifully illustrated children's story of Aztec mythology.  Aztec creator and feathered serpent god Quetzalcoatl had a dog-headed twin brother, a hideous monster, named Xolotl.  Shunned and denigrated by his brother and the other gods, Xolotl struggles to find himself and his function in the realm of the gods. Of course, he becomes the hero, rescuing mankind from extinction and becoming the powerful Lord of the Underworld,  In the process, he creates dogs as humanity's most loyal and devoted companions.  If there's a child in your life that is interested in other cultures, mythology, and art, especially a child who love dogs, this book will be a huge hit.  And if there is not such a child in your life, get a copy for yourself.  You'll love it.

book trailer

The Impossible Fortune.  Richard Osman.  Pamela Dorman Books, 2025.  368 pages.  Book 5 of 5 in Thursday Murder Club mysteries.

A little break from history to read the latest Thursday Murder Club mystery.  We love the whole series, and this one does not disappoint.  (We have still not seen the movie yet because we we are afraid of being let down.)  The four main characters are residents in a retiree community in Britain who solve murders, including a former MI-6 secret agent, a former labor union organizer and agitator, a psychologist, and a nurse.  There is also a large supporting cast of characters, and each one is a well-developed delight.  The mysteries are solid, and there is a lot of humor, with many LOL moments.

Publisher blurb:

"Who's got time to think about murder when there's a wedding to plan?

It’s been a quiet year for the Thursday Murder Club. Joyce is busy with table plans and first dances. Elizabeth is grieving. Ron is dealing with family troubles, and Ibrahim is still providing therapy to his favorite criminal. But when Elizabeth meets Nick, a wedding guest asking for her help, she finds the thrill of the chase is ignited once again. And when Nick disappears without a trace, his cagey business partner becomes the gang’s next stop. It seems the duo have something valuable—something worth killing for.
Joyce’s daughter, Joanna, jumps into the fray to help the gang as they seek answers: Has someone kidnapped Nick? And what’s this uncrackable code they keep hearing about? Plunged back into action once more, can the four friends solve the puzzle and a murder in time?"

The Patriot Threat.  Steve Berry.  Minotaur Books, 2015.  400 pages.  Book 10 of 20 in Cotton Malone series.  

Cotton Malone is back.  The busiest retired secret agent ever in the history of the world.  Working much harder and more often than when he was actually employed.  In this case, his former boss, Stephanie Nelle, tasks him with tracking a rogue North Korean who was once the dictator's anointed heir but who was disinherited and forced into exile.  The problem?  The North Korean is trying to lay hands on top secret historic documents that could cause the collapse of the United States and the destabilization of the world.  You know, the same thing Cotton faces once or twice a year.  The issue is whether or not the 16th amendment establishing the federal income tax was legitimately ratified.  If it was not, the federal government would lose 90% of its revenue and be liable for trillions and trillions of dollars in damages to everyone who ever paid income tax over the last century and who was prosecuted for tax evasion.  In 24 hours time, Cotton, along with agent Luke Daniels and US Treasury Agent Isabella Schaefer, engage in the usual fast-spaced thrilling action in Vienna and across Croatia, racing against North Korean and Chinese intelligence to keep the documents out of the wrong hands.  Typical Cotton formula, but as  satisfying as usual for what it is.  Also, as usual, I learned something from reading this book. In this case, I learned the stories of Haym Salomon, the Jewish businessman who basically financed the American Revolution and was never repaid what he was owned,  and Andrew Mellon, the former Treasury Secretary who built the National Gallery of Art.  I also learned about the real conspiracy theory that the 16th amendment, and the federal income tax, is illegal. 

Author Talk

 Matisse At War:  Art and Resistance in Nazi Occupied France.  Christopher C. Gorham.  Citadel, 2025.  320 pages. Thanks to Kensington Publishing and Citadel for the review copy.

Christopher C. Gorham is an excellent researcher and biographer.  In his newest book, his subject is the great 20th century French artist Henri Matisse, specifically his life in Nice France during Nazi occupation.  Unlike other European creatives who fled Europe during the late 1930s and the early days of World War II, Matisse decided to remain in his home and to continue working, a decision not solely based on patriotism.  As the war progressed, Matisse's health declined, to the point of near death at least once.  It was during this period that he began to move away from painting and adopted the medium of paper cutouts and collage, creating most of my personal favorites of his works.  Gorham discusses his work as skillfully as any art historian, but his real focus is to try to determine what, if anything, Matisse did to aid the Allied war effort, a question that has not been satisfactorily answered in other biographies.   What does he find after a thorough search through letters, journals, and other primary sources?  Spoiler alert:  not much.  No, Matisse didn't join the military Resistance or send coded messages revealing German troop movements or hide Jews downed Allied pilots and help them escape. Instead, Matisse worked, often incorporating French and American patriotic symbolism in his art.  In fact, his mere presence, as others fled, became sort of a minor rallying point for people who knew of it.  Question answered, but honestly, it's not the most exciting answer.  The real excitement and action lay in the lives of Matisse's ex-wife and their children, all of whom risked their lives, and nearly lost them, and joined active resistance cells.  Even Matisse's son Jean, who had already moved to New York before the war and become an important art dealer, worked hard to help Jewish (and other) artists escape to New York and to help them make a living.  It's a good book about Occupied France and an artistic genius.  

Short Lydia Knag interview

Pseudoscience:  An Amusing History of Crackpot Ideas and Why We Love Them.  Lydia Kang, MD, and Nate Pedersen.  Workman Publishing Company, 2025.  320 pages.  

Dr. Lydia Kang and Nate Pedersen's previous book Quackery was a fun and informative look at various medical frauds, missteps,  and deceptions over the years.  In this book they broaden their investigation to look at many pseudosciences and conspiracy theories, investigate their origins, debunk them, and offer explanations for why anyone believed them.  A partial list of the topics covered:  rumpology (reading one's character and future by examining his/her butt), cryptids, UFOs, crop circles, spontaneous human combustion, the Bermuda Triangle, polygraphs, personality tests, faked moon landing conspiracy, world ice theory, flat Earth theory, and ghost hunting. I recommend this book and Quackery for those interested in science history and in human nature in general.  

Shelved: Books Read and Reviewed in September 2025

 

Impossible Monsters:  Dinosaurs, Darwin, and the Battle Between Science and Religion.  Michael Taylor.  Liveright, 2024.  496 pages.

On one hand, the Victorian Age in the UK was an age of certainty.  "Science" was settled.  The Earth was created by God at 6 pm on October 22, 4004 BC.  The natural world was ordered.  Extinction was impossible.  Why would God allow it?  Why would God create an imperfect species, one doomed to die out?  The Bible was the final authority on all things.  Within 75 years, the new sciences of paleontology and geology developed, Charles Darwin and authors conceived and argued radical new theories of evolutionary history, and authors began to challenge biblical inconsistencies.  The Victorian Age was engulfed by a crisis of faith, an upheaval that swept through society.  Impossible Monsters starts with the early 19th century discoveries of fossils and the realization that they represented previously unknown species in a never-before imagined world.  Michael Taylor, the author, details these discoveries and debates, but most of the book is about the influence of these discoveries on changing perceptions of science, religion, and man's place in the universe.  The book is an excellent read for people interested in the history of science and in the Victorian Age.  It's a great companion read to Dinosaurs at the Dinner Party by Edward Dolnick.

Author Talk

Dinner With King Tut:  How Rogue Archaeologists Are Re-Creating the Sights, Sounds, Smells, and Tastes of Lost Civilizations.  Sam Kean.  Little, Brown and Company, 2025.  464 pages.

I'm a fan of Sam Kean's podcast, "The Disappearing Spoon," and all of his books. He tells great, little-known stories that blend history and science.  His most recent book is one of his best and one of my favorite reads so far this year.  In it, he explores the field of experimental archaeology. Experimental archaeologists are not content to study documents and artifacts.  They seek to experience life as the people of the past did, and they carry out controlled, scientific experiments designed to replicate ancient human behavior and lifestyles, all in hopes of answering the questions that simply analyzing artifacts can't answer.  Some traditional archaeologists look down on the field and consider it frivolous or sensationalistic.  

Kean seeks out the experts and learns the skills that they study.  He learns and practices mummification, hide tanning, trepanation (skull surgery), flint knapping, beer brewing, open ocean navigation, Roman roadbuilding, and ancient tattooing among other skills.  He learns to cook and eat ancient foods including ostrich eggs, guinea pigs, walrus, acorn bread, and various insects.  He plays the ancient Aztec ball game and learns how to build and fire a giant trebuchet (a medieval siege sling weapon).  He relates these experiences with great deference and respect for his teachers, who are - not surprisingly - extremely interesting and unique people, and he incorporates lots of humor, often at his own expense.  (I really wish he had made a video series of each chapter.  I think it would be a huge streaming hit.) But wait - there's more! Each chapter also includes a gripping short story that immerses the reader in each culture that he addresses.  This is a must-read book for people who love history!

Author talk

Wandering Stars.  Tommy Orange.  Vintage, 2024.  337 pages.

Wandering Stars is Orange's second novel, his follow-up to the destined-to-be-a-classic There There.  It does not disappoint, and it confirms that Orange is a truly gifted writer.  It is both a prequel and a sequel to There There, focusing on the family of Opal Bear Shield and Jacquie Red Feather and their three grandsons/grand-nephews as they deal with the aftereffects of the climax event that occurred a few months earlier at the Big Oakland Powwow,  They are also dealing with the effects of generational trauma, trauma which has been passed down through four generations of their family.  Their ancestors' lives have echoed throughout their own lives, even when they didn't know it. That trauma starts with Jude Star, a boy survivor of the 1864 Sand Creek Massacre in Colorado.  At Sand Creek, a Colorado militia unit attacked and slaughtered approximately 230 peaceful Cheyenne and Arapaho, mostly women and children.  The militiamen then took "trophies" of their "victory" - scalps, ears, noses, digits, breasts, and genitals - back to Denver where they were put on display for crowds of paying gawkers.  His son Charles endured abuse at the Carlisle Indian School, where the idea was to "save the man by killing the Indian inside." Following his escape from Carlisle, Charles had a relationship with Opal Viola Bear Shield, the namesake of the present-day Opal.  The whole line grapples with addiction and questions of identity, identity in various senses: personal identity, family relationships, and ethnic identity -what does it mean to be a 21st century Indian?

Wandering Stars is challenging.  It can be depressing.  There's not a lot of real "action."  The book jumps between times, narrators, and voices.  Often, the narrating character interprets things said to him/her in a dozen different ways in his/her head; it sometimes made me wonder if I hear and take things said to me far too literally.  Maybe I don't have enough internal dialogues during conversations.  For its faults - if they are faults - it is still a moving and impactful read.  

Electric Barracuda.  Tim Dorsey.  William Morrow, 2011.  368 pages.  Book 13 of 26 in Serge Storms series.

Time for another mindless and fun palate cleanser read, and, while the hilarious adventures of a Florida history-spewing psychotic serial killer might seem like an odd choice, it works for me, and Electric Barracuda has become one of my favorite Serge Storms series entries.  Serge and his buddy Coleman are at it again.  This time, the conceit is great chase movies.  Serge and Coleman race around Florida from one historic dive and hideout to the next, pretending to be on the run, in order to test Serge's new money-making venture idea:  a travel/tour company for people who want the excitement of a fugitive-on-the-run experience.  A lot of the locations in this book are remote fishing villages that have escaped rampant development, like Cedar Key and Pine Island, and wilderness preserves, with a lot of the action taking place in the Myakka State Park and the Everglades.  They think they're doing a dry run, but they are actually being pursued with a motley crew hot on their trail.  There are long-time nemesis Agent Mahoney, new-to-the-case Agents White and Lowe, a flashy tv bounty hunter named Doberman, a sexy redhead with a life-changing surprise for Serge, and a mysterious stranger who ultimately reveals a huge surprise twist that I definitely never saw coming.  A couple of other Florida authors, Brad Meltzer and Randy Wayne White, make cameo appearances, and there's a side quest involving Al Capone's lost treasure buried in the swamp, with flashbacks to the 1920s for the Capone story and the 1960s for stories involving Serge's grandfather and his gang. Lots of fun.

Trailer for Showtime series

Masters of Sex:  The Life and Times of of William Masters and Virginia Johnson, the Couple Who Taught America How To Love.  Basic Books, 2009.  432 pages.

Thomas Maier's newest book is the biography of a secret British agent who worked his way up high into the FDR administration and helped to inspire Ian Fleming's creation of James Bond.  When I picked up that book, I looked at his past works and decided to read his biography of pioneering sexologists Masters and Johnson.  It was the basis for a Showtime drama that I watched from 2013 to 2016.  For more than four decades, William Masters and Virginia Johnson were the leading American experts on human sexuality, following the groundbreaking work of Alfred Kinsey.  They changed Kinsey's paradigm, however.  Whereas Kinsey relied on interviews with thousands of subjects to learn about sex in America, Masters and Johnson actually watched and recorded thousands of people having sex in their laboratory, and they used scientific instruments to take thousands of measurements during the process.  They published their findings and offered physical and mental therapy to thousands  of couples and individuals who traveled to their St. Louis offices for solutions to sexual dysfunctions of all varieties.  They went from working in secret isolation -fearful of condemnation from the scientific and medical communities, the legal establishment, and the general public-  to becoming media darlings and pop culture icons.  During their journey, America's experts on love and sex had their own relationship issues with other people and then entered into their own relationship with each other, a relationship fraught with each individual's personal foibles, egos, insecurities, and character flaws.  Maier uses interviews with both principals and many others in their circles as well as Masters' own unpublished memoir to tell their story.  It is a thoroughly engrossing story.  One thing that I took from it was the truth behind the aphorism "There's a fine line between insanity and genius."  It's interesting that so many people hailed as scientific geniuses throughout history tend to be mentally unbalanced in some way and often not very nice people.  The word "hubris" definitely comes to mind while reading this book as well.  Note:  As a person with common sense might suspect, this book is full of extremely graphic language and descriptions. 

When Elves Attack. Tim Dorsey.  William Morrow, 2011.  208 pages.  Book 14 of 26 in Serge Storms series. (Photo AI generated)

This short book was a special Tim Dorsey Christmas gift to his fans.  There's not much Florida history covered here, except a nod to the little stop-in-the-road town of Christmas Florida, and most of the action takes place on Triggerfish Lane in Tampa.  For the holidays, Serge decides to rent the house across the street from his buddy and personal hero Jim Davenport in order to observe everything Jim does and to learn how to be a family man.  Of course, it's not that simple, and some bad guys come after the Davenport family, and Serge is forced to swing into action to defend his old friends, and even to do a little family healing along the way.  Naturally, Coleman is at his side, and old friends City and Country and the G-Unit ladies are along for the ride.

The Lacuna.  Barbara Kingsolver.  Harper, 2009.  507 pages.

I give up.  I got this book on sale at Barnes and Noble because it looked interesting:  a sweeping historical fiction saga focused on Mexico and Mexico-US relations from the 1920s into the 1950s seen through the eyes of a young man with an American father and a Mexican mother, featuring his interactions with people like intriguing people like Frida Kahlo, Diego Rivera, Leon Trotsky, J. Edgar Hoover, FDR, and even Charlie Chaplin (I think; I didn't get to him.).  Kingsolver is considered by many to be one of America's greatest living novelists.  I started reading, and I almost immediately realized why I had only ever finished one Kingsolver novel in my lifetime, Demon Copperhead, and I had to force myself to finish that.  Kingsolver may be a great author, but she is in dire need of a great editor.  In my opinion, her books would be so much better if they were half - half of everything.  This book is sooooo slow, plodding, boring, totally lacking any action.  It took 75 pages to introduce Kahlo and Rivera.  Nothing and nobody remotely interesting happened in those 75 pages.  Almost nothing happened for the next 100 pages, so I finally gave up.  It doesn't help that the story is told through journal entries.  I'm hugely disappointed that the terrific premise had such a clumsy execution.

Pineapple Grenade. Tim Dorsey.  William Morrow, 2012.  352 pages.  Book 15 of 26, Serge Storms series.  (Photo AI generated)

This has definitely been a three-Serge Storms (or more, we'll see) kind of month.  In his fifteenth adventure, Serge decides he wants to be a spy, so the action is pretty much confined to Miami.  Why Miami? Because Miami essentially became a major American city as a result of the Cold War.  It was the staging area for US covert operations against Cuba and against Caribbean and Latin American regimes and factions deemed unfriendly to the US.  There were spies and spy money everywhere.  The city enjoyed a huge financial boom thanks to government spending and became known as the Mob's tropical playground, catapulting it into national and international prominence.  Some consider Miami to be the unofficial cultural and economic capital of Latin America. Serge dispenses lots of knowledge about Miami's history and culture and about Cold War history, along with a little vigilante justice.  Along the way, he finds himself at the center of a territorial/power dispute between rival CIA squads and a military strongman's plot to assassinate a foreign president attending the Summit of Americas conference. The usual Serge chaotic fun climaxes with various assassins, Guardian Clowns, Guardian Mimes, and even recurring character Johnny Vegas all in the mix.  

Author talk

House of Smoke:  A Southerner Goes Searching For Home.  John T. Edge.  Crown, 2025.  272 pages.  

I'm a sucker for a great southern memoir, and I'm a longtime fan of John T. Edge's writing, so this book is a must-read for me.  Edge and I have a lot in common.  We're both from small towns in central Georgia, separated by a couple of years in age and about an hour to an hour and half in distance.. His favorite novel is one of my favorite 2 or 3, and we both love food and history and recognize the deep connections between them.  Like him, I'm a huge fan of barbecue joints, and I've frequented two favorites of his youth, Old Clinton BBQ and Fresh Air BBQ.  His career seemingly is my dream career. Yet, our childhoods and college experiences couldn't be more different.  As the founding director of the Southern Foodways Alliance, a contributor to newspapers, magazines, tv shows, and documentaries,  and an author, Edge has showcased the South through its food and shown how food has been inextricably linked with who we are as a people and our history, especially the history of the underclass, the minorities - the people that history books often exclude. "Home" is an overarching theme of his writing, specifically the kitchen and the kitchen table.  Gathering at the table and breaking bread represent the ultimate form of inclusion and a path to understanding and acceptance.  Edge's memoir is about his personal search for the "Home" that he spent much of  his life trying to escape.  It's all about reckoning:  a southerner's reckoning with southern history, a son's reckoning with his chaotic childhood and family life, and a celebrated writer's reckoning with his own hubris and his legacy.  It's his story, told masterfully, and it really resonates with me as a white, Gen X southerner, but I think it's more universal than that.  

"I Wanna Be Sedated"

Gabba Gabba We Accept You:  The Wondrous Tale of Joey Ramone.  Jay Ruttenberg and Lucinda Schreiber (illustrator).  Drag City, 2025.  51 pages.

I'm not the biggest punk music fan, but I am a huge 80s music fan, and punk had a huge influence on 80s music.  Many of my favorite 80s bands and performers got their starts in the punk world or were punk-adjacent.  The Ramones are considered punk royalty, and I'm familiar with several of their songs, but I don't know a whole lot about them and their work.  This book is a children's version of a biography of the band's frontman, Joey Ramone, framed as an anti-bullying message, dedicated to the many kids who, like Joey, feel just a little bit "weird." The illustrations by Lucinda Schreiber are bold, colorful, and unique, and the text is a nice introduction to Joey's life.  It's a nice thing to share with any children in your life. 

Shelved: Books Read and Reviewed in August 2025

 

Author profile

Sanibel Flats.  Randy Wayne White.  Minotaur, 1990.  397 pages.  Book 1 of 28 in Doc Ford series.

I began another iconic "Florida Man" series.  These are the adventures of Marion "Doc" Ford who retires from life as a special government agent to live a quiet life in a rustic house on stilts on Florida's Sanibel Island.  Also a real marine biologist (the doctorate ), he plans to collect, process, and sell marine life specimens and drink beer.  However, we all know that no government agent can ever really retire, at least in the world of fiction,  and they often get dragged into more, and more dangerous, situations than in their careers.  Doc Ford is no different.

In this case, an old high school buddy is murdered, and his eight-year-old son is kidnapped, held prisoner by the sadistic leader of a guerilla army in the process of revolution in a fictional Central American country, a country that Ford had spent a lot of time in as an agent.  With another buddy named Tomlinson, Ford heads to Masagua to rescue the boy and get to the bottom of why his high school buddy died.  There's a nod to history as Mayan culture and artifacts figure into the plot, but almost all of that is purely fictional.  It's a good adventure story, with the expected twists and turns, and it's different from the other series that I enjoy by Tim Dorsey and Carl Hiaasen.  It's a straight adventure mystery, without the satire and humor.  I'll be reading more in the series. 

The Stingray Shuffle.  Tim Dorsey.  William Morrow, 2003.  320 pages.  Book 5 of 26 in Serge Storms series.

Serge Storms continues his history-filled Florida odyssey in this fifth book of the series.  Like other Serge books, there is a huge cast of characters, some new some recurring, including various gangs - in this case, Russian, Jamaican, Italian, and a couple of Caribbean and South American cocaine cartels, along with a book club and a group of z-list Reno nightclub entertainers.  Like Serge, they're all involved, some unwittingly, in the ongoing search for a briefcase filled with five million dollars.  However, there are some differences as well.  Serge actually leaves Florida, for New York City of all places! And Serge doesn't really play vigilante in this book.  

The historical theme of this book is railroad history in Florida and the huge role that railroads played in developing Florida.  (Ironically - if I am using that word correctly - I'm realizing that I almost never see, let alone cross a railroad track in Florida these days.)  The climax takes place aboard an Amtrak train from NYC to Miami during a special murder mystery interactive trip.  As usual, chaos and hilarity result. In this book, the reader can see that Dorsey is still developing the Serge character and story formula that we know and love.  We get more of a view into Serge's past and internal psychological battles; he struggles with himself more than in later books.  Also, his traveling buddy Lenny is almost totally irrelevant.  I forgot he existed for most of the book.  His later companion, Coleman, is much more involved and interesting, far more developed and fleshed out.  Not one of my favorites in the series.

CBS Sunday Morning

Desi Arnaz:  The Man Who Invented Television.  Todd S. Purdum.  Simon & Schuster, 2025.  368 pages.  Thanks to Simon & Schuster for the free copy to read and review.

Desi Arnaz died prematurely at age 69, before earning his due.  Only in recent decades have books and documentaries cited his innate genius when it came to the entertainment business and specifically television production.  Yet, his great genius was balanced, even overwhelmed, by his many deep flaws, flaws that deeply scarred his life and reputation.  Given extraordinary access to previously unshared family documents by Lucie Arnaz, author Todd S. Purdum has succeeded in telling his full life story, the good and the bad.  After his family was forced to flee political upheaval in Cuba in the mid-1930s and relocate to Miami, the teenaged Desi embarked on a career as musician and singer, and he was generally regarded as mediocre in both talents, but his good looks and great work ethic quickly paved his way to the stage and to minor roles in Hollywood, where he met the woman that would forever change his life, Lucille Ball.  Their marriage was always volatile, to say the least, as he was never able to "forsake all others," blaming his constant patronage of prostitutes on his Latin heritage, and as he eventually fell deeper and deeper into alcoholism.  However, professionally they were America's golden couple, with tens of millions of tv viewers regularly tuning in to "I Love Lucy."   As the producer of the show, he brought innovations to television production and the business behind it that forever changed the industry and dominated the industry, revolutionary changes that are only now being matched by the still-evolving streaming models of in-home entertainment.  The book finally gives him the recognition that he deserves but doesn't gloss over the negatives.  It's a great read for any fans.   

YouTube documentary

The Man Who Invented Motion Pictures: A True Tale of Obsession, Murder, and the Movies. Paul Fischer.  Simon & Schuster, 2022.  416 pages.  Thanks to Simon & Schuster for the free book to read and review.

Like me, have you lived your life thinking that motion pictures were invented by Thomas Edison or the Lumiere brothers? Well, you're wrong, and I taught it wrong all those years.  The real inventor of motion pictures was Louis Le Prince, a Frenchman who lived and worked primarily in Leeds, UK and New York City, who made his first films in 1887 and 1888.  Why doesn't he get the credit?  Because, before he could complete the legal processes of obtaining patents and properly introduce his invention to the world, he disappeared without a trace.  In 1890, Le Prince went to Dijon, France to visit his brother and settle his recently deceased mother's estate.  After a few days there, he was to take the train to Paris and then Calais, catch the ferry to England for a little work, and then sail home to his wife and children in New York.  His brother saw him off at the station, and Poof!  Neither he nor his luggage were ever seen again. His wife didn't know for sure that he was missing until several months later, and he was finally declared legally dead 7 years later. In 1893, Thomas Edison started promoting his new motion pictures invention, and the illustrations and patent application descriptions looked and sounded very much like Le Prince's work, leading Le Prince's wife to believe that Edison had at least stolen her husband's work and at worst may even have had her husband murdered.  I must admit here that I am firmly in the anti-Edison camp, and any assertion that he was a murderer on top of being one of the most horrible Americans in history is going to pique my interest.

You know the meme "That meeting should have been an email"? This book should have been an article or a short YouTube documentary.  The overwhelming majority of the book is a tedious slog through detailed descriptions of cameras and techniques and legal actions.  Very little of the book is about Le Prince and the mystery of his disappearance, but Fischer does finally present a logical, but still shocking, theory about what happened.  If you're tech-y or legalistic, you'll enjoy.  If not, skip this book and read The Mysterious Case of Rudolf Diesel by Douglas Brunt, a very similar story about a disappearing inventor, instead.

 

The Heat Islands.  Randy Wayne White.  Minotaur, 1992.  276 pages.  #2 of 28 in Doc Ford series.

Marion "Doc" Ford is just an average marine biologist and former National Security Agent who wants to live the bachelor life in his stilt house in Dinkins Bay of Sanibel Island and study the tarpons, sharks and other marine life, supporting himself by selling collecting, preparing, and selling lab specimens for schools and labs.  However, any reader of crime fiction/thrillers knows that no secret agent has ever actually retired to a quiet life.  Sure enough, Doc is minding his own business when a crooked Florida developer (I don't think there's any other kind.) turns up dead, and one of Doc's marina buddies, quiet and unassuming fishing guide Jeth Nicoles is arrested for his murder.  Although Jeth seems resigned to being convicted for the crime, Doc is sure that he is innocent and sets out to prove it.  It's a solid "Florida Man" crime novel with mystery, action, and quirky characters that make South Florida different.

Author talk

How To Sell A Haunted House.  Grady Hendrix.  Berkley, 2023.  432 pages.  

Looking at some time sitting in a waiting room, I wanted a physical book to read, so I grabbed this off a shelf.  Grady Hendrix is an expert in the horror genre, specializing in the cheesiest horror fiction of the 1960s and 1970s.  His nonfiction book, Paperbacks From Hell, is a hilarious and enlightening history of popular culture through the lens of horror.  In each of his own novels, Hendrix selects a sub-genre and incorporates all of the defining characteristics of that sub-genre to tell a thrilling scary story full of humor.  In this case, obviously, the sub-genre is haunted houses.  Estranged siblings Louise and Mark suddenly lose their parents in a car  accident, leaving them to dispose of the family home.  Uncomfortably brought together by the tragedy, they quickly become enmeshed in deep, dark family secrets that threaten not only their lives and sanity, but the life and sanity of Louise's 5-year old daughter.  The house and its contents fight the planned disposal.  As the tagline says, "some houses don't want to be sold, and their home has other plans for both of them."  It's a fun-scary read that ticks all the boxes of the haunted house sub-genre.  On another level, I can also see why this book connected with so many people.  If you've ever dealt with family issues - who hasn't? - or disposed of your parents' property - a huge chunk of your life - this book will stir thoughts and feelings.  

The Lincoln Myth.  Steve Berry.  Ballantine Books, 2014.  448 pages.  Book #9 of 20, Cotton Malone series.

Cotton Malone, the retired US Justice Department Special Agent turned rare book dealer in Copenhagen, is dragged back into action by his former boss.  All he wants to do is sell books, but old friends, his old boss, and/or the US President are constantly calling on Malone, and his dreams of a quiet retirement go up in smoke.  Every few months, some shadowy, evil organization is out to either take over the world or make lots of money or both by using some historical object or secret, and Cotton has to travel around the world to thwart the evil scheme.  In this case, a radical group of Mormons is out to lead a secessionist movement in the US, and the historical mystery revolves around a rumored secret agreement between Abraham Lincoln and Brigham Young that involves a document dating back to the Constitutional Convention.  If it exists, that document would rip the United States apart and upend American history as we think we know it. 

It's the standard Cotton Malone formula:  lots of action, shootouts in historic places, and betrayals.  As usual, somebody asks Cotton how he got his name, and Cotton doesn't answer. We also meet Agent Luke Daniels, the President's nephew and a younger version of Cotton Malone whom Berry has spun off into his own book series.  Naturally, Luke and Cotton clash from the beginning because they are so much alike.  Formulaic, but comfortable and intriguing.  I like the characters and the action, and the books are full of real history.  The history inspires Berry to create the mystery, and he always explains his inspiration and separates fact from fiction in his notes at the end of the book.  The stories are fun adventures, and they always appeal to history lovers who, like myself, are love the "What if?" questions that make history fun.

The Man Who Invented Florida.  Randy Wayne White.  St. Martin's Press, 1993.  294 pages.  Book #3 of 28 in Doc Ford series.

In this entry in the Doc Ford series, readers learn quite a bit about Marian "Doc" Ford's background.  There he is, living in his stilt house in Sanibel Florida, collecting marine specimens and running his scientific supply house, when, out of the blue, he finds himself tied up with his uncle Tucker Gatrell, the man who raised him from age 10 to 16, following the deaths of his parents.  He hasn't seen or had anything to do with his uncle in years, but his uncle needs his help.  Gatrell has lived quite a life, a life that parallels Florida's 20th century history.  He was a fishing guide for important politicians, celebrities and businessmen and a cowboy and rancher who takes credit for many events that shaped Florida, from railroad construction to amusement parks.  He's a professional schemer, whom some might even call con-man.  Now, he's discovered a "real" Fountain of Youth on his undeveloped property, but the state is threatening to quash his entrepreneurial dreams by seizing his land for a park.  Sounds simple, but White manages to throw in kidnapping, archaeology, and the origins of "The Orange Blossom Special," one of the classic songs in bluegrass history. The story climaxes in a huge chaotic mess that reminds me of the resolutions of Tim Dorsey's books.  The world of Florida Man fiction writers seems very incestuous, and they're obviously fans of each other's work, often referencing each others writing.  I could see Tim Dorsey being inspired by the ending of this book.  

"The Dig"  trailer

The Dig.  John Preston.  Other Press, 2016 (Original: Viking, 2007).  272 pages.

In 1939, as Britain braced for entry into World War II, Mrs. Edith Pretty, a widow who owned a farm at Sutton Hoo in Suffolk, hired a modest, unassuming, self-taught archaeologist named Basil Brown to excavate the mounds that existed on her property.  The result was one of the most important archaeological discoveries ever made in the UK:  one of the mounds was a royal burial mound that included an approximately 90-foot long boat and numerous other Anglo-Saxon artifacts dating back to the early 7th century.  John Preston delivers the fictionalized story of the next three months as professionals from the British Museum and other institutions shove Brown aside (robbing him of the credit that he deserves for several decades) and change the lives of all involved, as well as the understanding of British history.  Today, visitors to the British Museum in London and museums at Sutton Hoo can view the artifacts and reconstructions of artifacts on display.  This book was the basis for a recent Netflix movie of the same name.  It's interesting but slow-moving, like many British period pieces.

Coconut Cowboy.  Tim Dorsey.  William Morrow, 2016.  336 pages.  Book 19 of 26 in Serge Storms series.

Serge Storms is back for another chaotic and crazy history-filled Florida road trip.  This time, Serge and his buddy Coleman trade in their usual muscle car ride for a chopper motorcycle with a sidecar because Serge's  obsession of the moment is the iconic '60s cult classic "Easy Rider." Serge's plan is to finish the epic journey that was cut short in the film by the murder of the lead characters and to take a nostalgic ride back to the simpler times of the late 1960s, discovering modern-day hippie music and culture gatherings and quiet small town Florida life.  Of course, it's Serge's journey, so they make side trips through the panhandle and recent Florida history and Homosassa to see sites of Tom Petty's youth and to meet the most famous resident of the Homosassa Springs State Park, Lu the hippo, a retired movie animal star who resided there from the 1960s until his death in June 2025.  And, of course, Serge is in vigilante mode and much woe befalls road ragers, rude rich jerks, corrupt small town bosses, and Miami drug dealers who cross his path or threaten his friends.  This was an especially fun Serge adventure.

December 6.  Martin Cruz Smith.  Simon & Schuster, 2002. 352 pages.

Novelist Martin Cruz Smith died in July. I had read a few of his Arkady Renko novels, and I decided to go back through his works and read something else.  I discovered December 6.  It's set in ultra-nationalist and ultra-militarist Tokyo in 1941, with flashbacks.  The main character is Harry Niles, the son of American missionaries. Never having even visited the United States and living with an uncle while his parents work in the field, Harry is as Japanese as he can be.  As a child he runs with a group of Japanese kids in the streets exploring the ins and outs of a seamier side of Tokyo, the dance halls and theaters, learning to become a scam artist and con man.  After a brief time in the US when he goes to work for a movie studio, he returns to Tokyo.  As a foreigner, a gaijin, who spent time in Japanese-occupied China and has contacts within the Japanese government, he draws the attention of the police and military.  His contacts lead him to discover the secret plans to attack Pearl Harbor.  Now, he attempts to plant disinformation  amongst the Japanese officials and to alert American officials, as he makes plans to leave Japan before the war with the US begins.  His efforts are complicated by his childhood friends, his Japanese lover, and a Japanese military officer out for revenge.  It's a really good story and a quick read.  If you like the Arkady Renko series  or the historical noir works of James Ellroy, Walter Mosley, or Walter Mosley, for example, I think you'll enjoy this one.

Book talk by author

There There.  Tommy Orange.  Knopf, 2018.  304 pages.  

This novel has gotten a huge amount of attention since its publication, and reviewers have raved about it.  I was moved to pick it up after I saw an Instagram book influencer ( @vestcody ) call it a modern day Canterbury Tales and include it in a list of modern replacements for classics commonly taught in high school.  I read it in two sittings, and I was blown away.  It definitely deserves the hype, and I look forward to reading Orange's follow-up.

There There  absolutely lives up to the Canterbury  comparison, in both structure and quality, and it will be hailed as a classic for years to come.  Chaucer's Canterbury, generally considered unfinished, introduces some thirty characters, pilgrims on their way to visit the shrine to Thomas a Becket at Canterbury Cathedral, but only 24 tales were completed. In There There, a dozen "Urban Indians" in Oakland, California all have their seemingly disparate lives converge at the Big Oakland Powwow, a huge annual event that draws indigenous dancers, vendors, and attendees from throughout the Americas.  Each character has his or her own issues, arising from drugs, alcohol, domestic abuse, and other issues centering on identity that are found throughout the Native American community.  Their lives all intersect on that fateful day at the Powwow.  As author James Baldwin wrote, "People are trapped in history, and history is trapped in them."  Orange captures that sentiment perfectly.  I recommend this book to all readers.  

Constituent Service: A Third District Story.  John Scalzi.  Audible original. 2024.  2 hours 30 minutes. (AI generated image)

Bonus non-history read of the month.  Another fun sci-fi listen from John Scalzi.   I enjoy funny and clever sci-fi like The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy and the British TV series Red Dwarf, and I'm glad to have discovered John Scalzi.  

Amazon blurb:  "The aliens are here ... and they want municipal services!

Ashley Perrin is fresh out of college and starting a job as a community liaison for the Third District–the city’s only sector with more alien residents than humans. Ashley’s barely found where the paper clips are kept when she’s beset with constituent complaints–from too much noise at the Annual Lupidian Celebration Parade to a trip-and-fall chicken to a very particular type of alien hornet that threatens the very city itself.

And if that’s not terrifying enough, Ashley is next up at the office karaoke night.

It's Parks and Recreation meets the Federation of Planets...."