Because of the new version of Shogun that was streaming on Hulu, I wanted to reread the book I had read some time back in the 1980s and I found a gorgeous, new, deluxe edition from Blackstone publishing. The cover is amazing and the artwork inside the book, consisting of Japanese kanji (ideograms) are aspects that make you feel wonderfully lost in a different time, place, and culture. The book is heavy, that has to be said, but I devoured it all the same, setting aside time every day to disappear into feudal Japan. The insights into that culture, so different from what Western Europe was like, were offered seamlessly.
'Clavell never puts a foot wrong . . . Get it, read it, you'll enjoy it mightily' Daily Mirror
This is James Clavell's tour-de-force; an epic saga of one Pilot-Major John Blackthorne, and his integration into the struggles and strife of feudal Japan. Both entertaining and incisive, SHOGUN is a stunningly dramatic re-creation of a very different world.
Starting with his shipwreck on this most alien of shores, the novel charts Blackthorne's rise from the status of reviled foreigner up to the hights of trusted advisor and eventually, Samurai. All as civil war looms over the fragile country.
Erik Larson is one of my all-time favorite authors of popular history. His grasp of details, his use of sources is masterful, and he's one of the best story-tellers in publishing. I've read all his books, like Dead Wake about the Lusitania, twice, and am eager to re-read this new one about the start of the Civil War. I've been reading about that war for years but never encountered such a deep dive into what happened at Ft. Sumter day-by-day and also the slave-holding culture of South Carolina and especially Charleston. Every page is gripping and ebautifully written and will make you feel that you are there.
#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • The author of The Splendid and the Vile brings to life the pivotal five months between the election of Abraham Lincoln and the start of the Civil War in this “riveting reexamination of a nation in tumult” (Los Angeles Times).
“A feast of historical insight and narrative verve . . . This is Erik Larson at his best, enlivening even a thrice-told tale into an irresistible thriller.”—The Wall Street Journal
On November 6, 1860, Abraham Lincoln became the fluky victor in a tight race for president. The country was bitterly at odds; Southern extremists…
As a mystery writer and reviewer myself, I have been in love with Cruz Smith's Arkady Renko series ever since I read Gorky Park. His recreation of communist Russia as it becomes an oligarchy is vivid and profoundly engaging, and the sarcastic insights and dialogue of his hero knock me out every single time. This ius the last book in the series. I've read all of the previous books twice and some of them three times. He's a go-to author for me like Robert Harris when I feel the need to be taken completely out of myself. Hotel Ukraine, on the ev of the Russian attack on Ukraine is powerful and haunting and a fitting end to the series.
Successful professor Nick Hoffman finds his secure, happy, college-town life changed forever after a nightmarish encounter with police. The idea that someone can accuse you of a crime, and a SWAT team shows up at your door and drags you away? But even when that horrible night is over, tension and paranoia build in ways that are far too plausible. Someone is clearly out to destroy him. Nick and his partner Stefan Borowski face an escalating series of threats that lead to a brutal and stunning confrontation. A novel of suspense, Assault with a Deadly Lie probes the disturbing psychological impact of slander, harassment, stalking, police brutality, and the loss of personal safety within the academic world.
