Books I Read in 2024, Vol. III

 

THE PEOPLE VS. ALEX CROSS
James Patterson

Detective Cross has always upheld the law, but now he's on the wrong side of it. He knows he acted in self-defense, but will a jury see him as another policeman gone over the edge?

As Cross prepares to prove his innocence, his former partner brings him a gruesome video tied to the mysterious disappearances of several young girls. Despite Cross's suspension from the department, he can't refuse the case. The illicit investigation leads them to the darkest corners of the Internet, where murder is just another form of entertainment.

This is another of those 4-for-a-dollar books I bought from the library. I first met the Alex Cross character in two movies starring Morgan Freeman, Along Came a Spider, and Kiss the Girls. Because I liked those movies (hello...Morgan Freeman...), I was eager to give this novel a shot. And now I want to back up and start reading the other Alex Cross books. All two dozen of them! (One complaint: I could only guess how to pronounce some of the names in this book: Gary Soneji, Paul Fiore, even Alex's young son, Ali. [ah-LEE? Alley? AWE-lee?])

First Line: From inside a rambling white Colonial home on a shaded street that smelled of blooming wildflowers, a woman called in a pleasant Southern accent: "TW-Two?"

Page 56, Line 5: "I should be talking to Sampson or your wife."

Last line: I smiled and gazed beyond the breaking waves to the sea and the far horizon, feeling that these kinds of moments, these small triumphs, were more than enough to keep me working for the good in the world despite all the dark webs I'd been thrust into over the course of my life.

Books I Read in 2024, Vol. II

WHO BY FIRE: Leonard Cohen in the Sinai
Matti Friedman

In October 1973, the poet and singer Leonard Cohen  -  39 years old, famous, unhappy, and at a creative dead end  -  traveled to the chaos and bloodshed of the Sinai desert when Egypt attacked Israel on the Jewish high holiday of Yom Kippur. Moving around the front with a guitar and a group of local musicians, Cohen met hundreds of young soldiers, men and women at the worst moment of their lives. Those who survived never forgot the experience. And the war transformed Cohen. He had announced that he was abandoning his music career, but his experience in the Sinai inspired one of his most successful songs, and after the war he released one of his best albums and returned to the stage.

This book was a 2022 Christmas present along with Praying Like Monks, Living Like Fools. Abbey got it for me on a whim because she figured Leonard Cohen was kind of my generation. I probably wouldn’t have picked it out of a lineup, but it ended up being an interesting read about a piece of history that I really wasn’t all that aware of.  And reading it in the middle of the current conflict added significance. If you’re any kind of fan of Cohen or Israel, you could do a lot worse than to pick this up and read it.

First Line: Some of the men on the sand look up at the visitor with his guitar.

Page 56 / Line 5: I said, “Are you kidding?”

Last Line: He blessed the people and left the stage.

Books I Read in 2024, Vol. I

 

MEETING RICH: An Untold Story About the Last Three Weeks of Rich Mullins' Life
Caleb J. Kruse

In 1997, the world was rocked with the news of Rich Mullins' passing. Christians everywhere paused their lives to mourn the loss. Radio stations paid tributes. Newspapers dedicated articles....I was with my family when I heard. I was standing in our driveway. It seemed strange, because just a few hours prior, I saw Rich Mullins alive, leaving our house. My last conversation with him took place the night before in our living room. I still hadn't yet wrapped my mind around the fact that this legend had somehow come to stay at our house. Now he was gone?

Beloved got me this book for Christmas, it was on my Amazon wish list, after all. But to call it a book is stretching it...22 pages of text plus several photographs. It would have made a fine magazine article, but a book? And $15?  And hyperlinks to additional information about people and songs that are worthless in this print edition?  Thumper's mama always said that if you can't say anything nice, don't say anything at all, so I think I should just say that this book was mildly disappointing and leave it at that. (Sorry, Caleb.)

First Line: Homeless man.

Page 56, Line 5: [Not enough pages to make this one happen]

Last Line: You may be gone from this world, but you'll always be alive here...in each of our hearts and our memories.