Mark Joseph Jochim

"What you seek is what you will find, but only if you hunt it with all your heart and mind."

"Not always," Emil said.

"Always," Corporal Gheorghe insisted.

The last book that I finished in 2024, The Last Green Valley by Mark Sullivan, echoes my chosen word of the year for 2025. It is essentially a novel about perseverance, the main characters keep moving forward even in the face of overwhelming difficulties and setbacks. It is also a story about love in a world of hate, a story that examines the human drive towards survival while keeping one's humanity intact while doing so.

I read this book to satisfy the December prompt in my Crossing Continents reading challenge -- a book set in eastern Europe. The novel starts out in a small village in Ukraine toward the end of World War II. Many residents of the farming community -- including our main characters, the Martel family -- are Volksdeutsche, the German community that the Czar had invited to Ukraine a century earlier because of their skill for growing winter wheat, feeding the Russian Empire. A branch of my own family came from this heritage although they were scattered to the winds following the First World War and the Russian Revolution, prior to Stalin's deportations of the farmers to Siberia which was one of the factors leading to the millions of deaths during the 1932-1933 famine. This added another layer to my fascination with this novel.

The Martels -- Adeline and Emil with their sons Walt and Will -- endeavor to escape Stalin's troops, bearing down on them, by reluctantly fleeing under the protection of the Nazis. Adeline has instilled in them all a dream of a lovely green valley surrounded by mountains with a river running through the middle. It is this dream that helps sustain them in their constant push through devastation and despair as armies battle, loss and retreats leading to changing fortunes with starvation and illness ensuing. Their faith -- strong, lost, rediscovered -- pushes them through unforeseen separations and intense loneliness.

It is the love that Adeline and Emil share towards each other and their sons that brighten the many trying periods in their journey, a journey that is very rarely going in the direction of their dream. The remarkable courage that Emil shows also sustains Adeline and this, in turn, is passed to the sons. The remainder of the extended family who begin the refugee march with them never share this courage nor the level of love and faith.

Author Mark Sullivan has stated that a tremendous amount of research went into this novel and it shows, right down to the accuracy in dates and weather for even minor events late in the war and the post-surrender period. The historical background adds to the rich tapestry of human emotions our attachment to Adeline and Emil Martel evoke in us, the reader.

I rate The Last Green Valley as my favorite book read in 2024, tied with The Book Woman's Daughter which I read much earlier in the year. An easy 5-star award on this one full of characters who persevere through not only their love and faith but a profound stubbornness that I share with them, albeit in much less dire circumstances.

"If you must look back, try to find the beauty and the benefit in every cruelty done to you. If you must think about the future, try to have no expectations about it."

James Patterson and Matt Eversmann provide a fascinating glimpse into the work that America's booksellers and librarians do, offering up thumbnail biographies of how each developed their love of reading and how they view modern readers and the impact they have on their lives. I found much of the book extremely inspiring and it gave me numerous ideas of how I can make a difference in developing literacy amongst my (very) young students. One does not have to be a librarian, a bookseller, or even a teacher to instill the love of reading in others we care about.

Excellent writing, as always, from Lawrence Block but the subject matter is perhaps his darkest and creepiest ever. The ending a bit of a disappointment as well but ultimately the only one that made sense. Justice isn't always served and would the authorities finding our protagonist offer any more punishment than the memories he's he's lived with all of these years? Troubling thoughts indeed.

An excellent and highly detailed account of the history of the discovery, measurement and searches for the route to find the highest mountain in the world. The book culminates with the 1921 expedition – which is the point when most, if not all, other books about the mountain begins. George Mallory was a part of that expedition, becoming the first European – quite possibly, the first human being – to ever set foot on the great Qomolungma, “Goddess Mother of the World”, itself.

I never read self-help books but I stumbled across this one via a YouTube video. The book contains exceptional techniques for organizing, digesting, and actually USING the huge amount of information – primarily digital – that we are all bombarded with on a daily basis. Some of the methods described are ones that I have been using and improving upon for years. Others are new to me and ones I plan on implementing in my life.

I read this one rather quickly while taking copious notes. While not particularly life-changing for me as I was already an extremely organized person, many others should benefit from the clearly laid out tips and tricks and indeed build a fully functioning and tremendously useful Second Brain.

Highly Recommended

Very happy to see Chee take the lead on an investigation, breaking into his contemplation on his future as a police officer while at Lake Powell. Bernie, in the meantime, gets herself embroiled in an undercover assignment on the Rez while also thinking about her own future to remain on patrol or advance to a detective position. Plenty of suspenseful moments as both Chee and Manuelito have a few close calls while trying to come to the bottom of the respective crimes.

I don't really write reviews but I really wanted to comment on this novel....

I began reading Tony Hillerman's Navajo mysteries more than 30 years ago, shortly before I moved to New Mexico. His descriptions of of the wonderful landscapes and of the traditions of the Diné were one of three things that motivated me to move to the Southwest from the Kansas City area (the others being an ill-fated university “field trip” of sorts that took in Albuquerque, Santa Fe, Taos, and – best of all – a day at Chaco Canyon; as well as listening to the wonderful music of Robert Mirabal. After I had been living in ‘Burque for a time, I had already talked to Tony Hillerman at several book signings when he, quite ironically, introduced me to Mirabal (and to Clive Cussler but that is another story for another time).

I was happy to hear that Anne had taken up the heavy burden of continuing the series of novels after her father passed away. By then, I had moved all the way to Thailand and the books were not easy to obtain (shipping being a prohibitive factor). I did manage to read ebooks of her first two and thought they were pretty good. After that, I lost track as my busy life took over. It wasn't until a couple of weeks ago that that I discovered that Stargazer was being published.

I found an ebook easily this time around and it took me about three days to finish. I had tears in my eyes for much of the final two or three chapters. Not only from the storyline but just little sprinkles of items about the wonderful region this story takes place in as well as actions by characters that I have known for 30 plus years. I never visited one of the settings of this novel while I lived there despite it being about a two-hour drive from my home. Now, I see how wrong I was by not going when I had the chance and would really like to rectify that when I can. I am also craving a Blake's green chili cheeseburger (or, bettrr yet, one from Owl's Café).

Anne has truly done her dad proud and Stargazer may just be the best in her portion of the series at least. Now, I need to track down the two that I haven't read but I am certain I will enjoy those also.

Well done, Anne Hillerman.

ahéhee'

An excellent introduction to the vastness that is the American West, a region that holds perhaps the most turbulent portions of the Union's relatively brief history.

Having been born in Texas and spending significant portions of my life resident in Kansas and New Mexico, I have long held a fascination with all things Western. I grew up on the novels of Louis L'Amour and Tony Hillerman and tend to pick up fictional works by other authors solely based on their settings within the region.

However, aside from devouring Hampton Sides' excellent Blood and Thunder more than a decade ago, I had never read an historical account of the West. Until now....

Dreams of El Dorado by H. W. Brands covers the entire scope of that vast area beyond the Mississippi starting with the Corps of Discovery in the early nineteenth century and ending with our most “Western” of U. S. Presidents – Theodore Roosevelt – entering that office early in the twentieth century. Along the way, very few trails leading towards the Pacific are left untrod.

Numerous topics in Western history are introduced and detailed within a few short chapters each. These serve to whet the appetite to learn more. This volume has added more items to my TBR list than any single book has in recent memory. Indeed, some of those were written by H. W. Brands himself while I am intrigued enough to start reading the original Journals of Lewis and Clark and the account of John Wesley Harding's exploration of the Grand Canyon to name but two. The best history books lead to further exploration and this one is particularly rich in that regard.

There are some notable exclusions, however. I would like to have seen the Pony Express, Wells Fargo and the Butterfield Overland stage routes included not to mention more on the Western theatres of the Civil War (such as the Battle of Glorieta Pass) and New Mexican exploits by the likes of Kit Carson, Stephen Kearny and Narbona but those are minor knitpicks.

What was included was often written in a style akin to the best page-turners by the fiction writers mentioned above. I highly recommend Dreams of El Dorado as an excellent one-volume introduction to the history of the West.

I have been reading the Reacher novels for quite a few years now and have read most of them (still missing a few of the earlier ones) and always enjoy them, including this latest.

However, it does have a bit of a different feel. It still focuses on Reacher against the bad guys but, at times, Reacher feels like one of the bad guys himself. The violence seems a bit more escalated, colder, on his part. While someone ultimately benefits from his deeds, his killing shows little - if any - sign of morality. Other characters assisting along the way similarly don't seem to mind the ever-increasing body count.

Reacher also seems a bit, dare we say it, less smart than in previous books. He doesn't always read the clues or predict outcomes as accurately as before. Perhaps he's just getting older. Perhaps he's distracted by the woman assisting him. He was luckier than usual to make it all the way to the end of the book....

Blue Moon has a relevancy to today's headlines that make the reader wonder if some of the ideas presented are plausible.

All of this is cloaked in a classic rival gang scenario: Albanians versus Ukrainians on opposing sides of an unnamed city. This could be set anywhere; my guess in this particular case is an inspiration in Ohio or Iowa. It doesn't matter. It could be Anywhere, U.S.A. In fact, at times there is almost a Spaghetti Western element that drives the action, waiting for the big Shootout at the O.K. Corral.

This is a very good addition to the Reacher canon, but not a great one. There is a lack of detailed characterization for one thing, the level of senseless violence is another distractor. At the same time, Lee Child's descriptive abilities are at the top of his game. I would give this novel four stars out of five....

This was my re-introduction to the works of Preston & Child, having read The Relic and perhaps two others many years ago. Old Bones is the first in a series revolving around archaeologist Nora Kelly, based out of New Mexico.

In the early 90's, I had participated in an archaeological dig in southeastern Kansas which eventually led to my taking formal classes at UNM in Albuquerque. While there, I met a few FBI agents who worked out if the Field Office there. I have also had a long-standing interest in the history of the American West.

Thus, this novel piqued my curiosity on a number of different levels. It was merely a bonus that it's a great story with enough suspense to make it difficult to put down when one needs to sleep, etc.

I had never read much about the tragedy of the Donner party but now I am intrigued enough to – as suggested at the end of the book – to read one of the non-fiction accounts as well.

This novel was as much about FBI agent Corrie Swanson as it was about Nora Kelly. The historian who sets everything into motion – Clive Benton – is also prominent and fully characterized.

The novel's conclusion is satisfying and also leaves a bit of mystery for the reader to wonder about.

Well done!

I will definitely read the next installment in the Nora Kelly series when it appears. In the meantime, I want to seek out and read as many of the previous Preston & Child novel's as I can....

Cussy Mary Carter is the titular Book Woman, a rider in the Pack Horse Librarian program of President Franklin Roosevelt's Works Progress Administration, established in 1935 to bring the written word to the impoverished people living in remote rural sections of the United States. Our librarian has a route centered on the town of Troublesome in eastern Kentucky. She also happens to be the “last of her kind”, the Blue People of Kentucky who have a rare condition that turns their skin blue. Her nickname is Bluet.

We learn of the patrons along her route and become emotionally attached to a number of them as well as town people, good and bad – some rotten to the core. The love of books and reading permeate the story as does the intense racism in these hills, coves and hollers at the time. The description of each element of the story, including natural aspects and of barely inhabitable abodes is amazing at times and it is easy to visualize much of the setting.

One becomes so emotionally invested in the characters that the final hundred pages or so becomes a roller coaster of tears and cheers. By the time that I learned of Henry and Angeline's fates, I had already deemed this the best novel I'd read since finishing The Vampires of El Norte by Isabel Cañas several months ago. It is definitely my favorite book of January and I am looking forward to reading The Book Woman's Daughter in the near futue.

This collection of essays delights with every passing page. It is a memoir of the author's reading life as well as guidelines for others to follow in their own reading lives. I loved the chapters on bookshelves and acknowledgments, to name but two of many. I have been tracking my reading for a number of years but am inspired by the last chapter to keep a more detailed reading journal to help me remember, to benefit my future self to paraphrase the author.

Highly recommended if you love books and reading them.

Beyond words. This was just so good from start to finish and I was blown away by the sheer brilliance of every aspect of this novel.

I do not even like horror stories. I tend to shun them as I am easily frightened. But this had me turning page after page in sheer awe.

The beauty of the writing made this a story about vampires that I WILL recommend to friends and family alike. The love story intertwined alternatingly had me yelling at the characters and crying when things went awry.

Desperately awaiting a third book from Isabel Cañas. Any wait is much too long...

A fascinating account of Theroux's travels along the U.S.-Mexican border and far into the interior in 2017 and 2018.

While his visits to migrant towns on both sides of the wall were interesting, along with endless accounts of the severe poverty and violence overshadowing everything, I most enjoyed the travelogues from his solo drives through the country. His descriptions of the landscapes, the smells of the towns, the taste of the food, and – above all – the people are without peer. He has a way of transporting the reader spiritually to anywhere he choses to write about.

You really do feel for the innocents that constitute the bulk of Mexico's population. This basically includes almost everyone apart from the police, the politicians, and the narcos and other gangsters that pervade modern Mexican society.

Throughout the book, Theroux references other writers and recommends so many additional books and articles to seek out should you have the interest. I kept finding myself typing different books into my search engine and added more than a few to my Goodreads Want List.

When I was much younger, I read several of Theroux's books in preparation for my own travel adventures. Some 20 years ago, I stopped travelling so much – having settled in southern Thailand where I remain to this day – and, sadly, stopped reading new Theroux books. This one proves that I have many that I need to catch up on!

I always learn a great deal while reading Steve Berry's novels (not to mention, his Facebook posts) and Cotton Malone #18 is no exception. This time around, I learned all about bitcoin and blockchains as well as the CIA's shady origins. The action is unrelenting with nail-biting thrills taking place simultaneously in multiple locations and chapters flowing into further chapters keeping this reader riveted far beyond his bedtime several nights in a row. As always, I sincerely appreciate Berry's Writer's Note at the end, separating the fiction from the facts. It is always amazing to find out how much of the latter propels the former.

The Little Prince is a novella written by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry and published in April 1943. It is the story of a child, the little prince, who travels the universe gaining wisdom. On the surface it's a simple story, but this little prince is as wise as they come and his messages of compassion and goodwill continue to endure.

From the book, we can take away seven timeless life lessons:

1. Don't be too fond of numbers
2. Look after the planet
3. Don't judge others by their words, but by what they do
4. Relationships make life worth living
5. The important things in life you cannot see with your eyes, only with your heart
6. It is the time you give to something that makes it precious
7. And finally, remember to look up at the stars

I enjoyed the story and messages in my first read of 2024.