Slough House #5
Thank you, Mick Herron, for another epic outing with the Horses. This series is well worth the reading time. One of those rare times where the TV show is as almost as good as the book. Shows can never be the same but this one comes close. Rodney Ho gets his moment to "shine" although Shirley comes a close second. Emma Flynt seems to be steps away from exile to Slough House. Can't wait to read the next. Joe Country
Subtitle: The Journal of a Japanese Physician, August 6 - September 30, 1945
In America, one typically thinks of nuclear weapons in the terms of "Oppenheimer" and how their beneficial use brought a swift end to WWII (Japan). This diary looks at the immediate aftermath of the explosion in Hiroshima through Japanese civilian eyes.
From the back cover: The late Dr. Michihiko Hachiya was director of the Hiroshima Communications Hospital when the atomic bomb was dropped on the city. Though his responsibilities in the appalling chaos of a devastated city were awesome, he found time to record the story daily, with compassion and tenderness. His compelling diary was originally published to worldwide acclaim in 1955.
I think the author Pearl Buck sums up my sentiments exactly: "A book that we all ought to read in order that we may know what we have done and what will happen in the future if the atomic weapons continue to be used."
Cormoran Strike #6
No secret to anyone anymore, this is actually J. K. Rowling, an author so famous that each book she writes is guaranteed to sell millions of copies--no matter what. I imagine this why she was allowed a such a rambling book--a book that is at the minimum 700 pages too long.
In addition of being too long, it is overly complicated, has way to many characters (who each have at the minimum 3 different identies), long streams of private online chatter, with often at least 3 separate channels, and on different social media platforms. A gazillion mentions of Corm's sore leg (by now it is a separate story line), his self destructive behavior which is still written as if it is something that makes him a sympathetic character--including his passive agressive behavior towards yet another GF and another go round with Charlotte. All women must want him "ick"...I will keep reading the series but it is looking doubtful I will make it to the end.
To me--this seemed a 1,000 more pages of the same old same old dressed out around a very big mess of a case--and oh yes, Corm and Robin almost kiss, again.
