read: They Called Us Enemy by George Takei ★★★★★

They Called Us Enemy by George Takei

★★★★★

George Takei is most well-known for his role as Mr. Sulu in Star Trek. This recollection of growing up in the Japanese internment camps of WWII is powerful, disturbing, haunting, chilling and inspirational. This dark hour of United States history must not be forgotten, and George's graphic novel brings it too life through a little boy's eyes.


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read: One Last Kill ★★★★

One Last Kill by Robert Dugoni
★★★★

Of course, Tracy Crosswhite can't catch a break. She's had some time off to clear her head and enjoy some much needed family time. But the minute she's back in the office, her new nemesis, the chief of police, pushes a 25-year-old serial killer cold case to the top of her list, so that the department can get ahead of some bad press. Not only are there no new leads for Tracy to follow, the chief also pairs her up with the lead detective for the original investigation who also happens to be Tracy's old nemesis, Lt. Nolasco. Then, after 25 years, the killer strikes again, turning the cold case into a hot one and adding the pressure of preventing more killing.

After a bit of a slow start, Dugoni turns up the heat and increases the pace and gives the reader another twisty tale, steeped in Seattle settings and populated with believable characters. Where has the killer been for 25 years? Why are they killing again? How are they staying a step ahead of the investigation? Will Tracy and Nolasco be able to resolve their differences and work together. Keep turning the pages to find out!

Disclosure: Thank you to Netgalley and Thomas & Mercer for providing a free copy of this book in return for my honest review.

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read: The Innovators: How a Group of Hackers, Geniuses, and Geeks Created the Digital Revolution (4 stars)

The Innovators: How a Group of Hackers, Geniuses, and Geeks Created the Digital Revolution by Walter Isaacson
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

A fairly well-rounded account of computing innovations from Ada through the present.

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read: The Overstory (4 stars)

The Overstory by Richard Powers
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I had really hoped for this Pulitzer Prize winning novel to be 5 stars. But it never got there for me. At first it surprised me by not being a novel, but several seemingly unrelated short stories (except each one is about trees). The writing also seemed oddly perfunctory for such an artistic endeavor. I stuck with it and they grew on me.
Then the author started weaving those stories and their characters together into a more engaging epic. Here we go, I thought. Except we didn't go. At least not quickly. Perhaps the author intended the stately pace of his prose to reflect the history-spanning subject of the story: trees. They do not move or think (in the eyes of the story) quickly, relative to human experience. Yet the characters in the novel discover that they do both.
Thus, the book is actually a science fiction story. We have been surrounded by aliens all this time and did not realize it. The trees, and the rest of life on Planet Earth that they are linked to, preceded us and will succeed us. Perhaps they even harbor a bit of sentience, even if we do not understand it. Or they don't. It doesn't matter. It is still life.
For me, all of that would be the foundation of a 5-star story. Especially when it includes eco-warriors and computer geniuses and unrecognized artists. But I have to knock off a half star for the writing being just a bit too artsy and drawn out. And take off another half star for being printed in a font that's just too small for such dense prose (trying to pack 128,000 words into 500 pages). I feel enlightened for reading this book. But it was more of a chore than it probably should have been.

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