Leon Miller

A wonderful surprise!

Revisado: 11-15-21

A wonderful surprise. I expected goofy fun, but instead “State of Terror” combined an all-too-current story, deeply written characters, and constant page-turning thrills to create what many critics are declaring to be one of the best books of the year. Second, I expected a story by the “writer” with a few details thrown in by the “celebrity” to give it a little authenticity; instead, every page is packed with details, observations, and points of view revealing someone who clearly had worked at the highest levels of power. As opposed to a writer and a source, “State of Terror” therefore reads as a full, equal partnership by two close collaborators. Lastly, I didn’t expect it to be such a women’s book. The core of the book is about the value of women’s friendships, but every page reflects on women being underestimated, sidelined, and trivialized because of their sex, yet triumphing despite the obstacles society forces them to endure. It was great fun, it made me think, and I can’t recommend “State of Terror” highly enough.

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Spies, Thrills, Romance!

Revisado: 03-21-21

“Slippery Creatures” is one of the most purely enjoyable books I’ve read in a long time. This wonderful mix of espionage and romance has fascinating, relatable characters; a fast-moving, suspenseful plot; a charming, sexy romance; and enough turns, twists, and red-herrings to keep you turning pages all night. I hope the author writes many more in this series because I’m looking forward to devouring each one.

I say “read” because I actually took advantage of Amazon’s “Whispersync” technology. That allows you to follow the Kindle text while listening to the audio book. Hands down, the audio actor, Cornell Collins, is one of the best I’ve ever heard. He effortlessly gave each character a distinct voice, rhythm, and personality, he easily navigated British regional and class dialects, and his reading is subtle, nuanced, and often playful. It was a vastly entertaining performance that greatly enhanced my reading enjoyment. Highly, highly recommended.

I especially recommend “Slippery Creatures” for fans of the wonderful, amazing, too-great-for-superlatives “Red, White and Royal Blue.” I had been looking for a follow-up and after having tried a few, this is the first book that was a worthy successor. Read “Slippery Creatures,” especially with the audio book. You’ll thank me.

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Almost shockingly wonderful.

Revisado: 03-21-20

Despite its critical acclaim, instant bestseller status, innumerable awards, and snapped-up movie rights, I hesitated to read "Red, White, and Royal Blue." The title seemed too … cute. The book cover seemed too … cute. The theme seemed too … cute. Wow, am I sorry I waited. "Red, White, and Royal Blue" meets and exceeds the attention it has earned. It has everything: warmly drawn and winning characters, a wonderful story, fascinating settings, romance, cut-throat politics, hilarious humor, palace intrigue, current events, love of family, thrills, pop culture, history, sex (very, very hot sex), excitement, love, courage, betrayal, hope for the future, fireworks, and a cliffhanger or two. Reading this book, you will be utterly charmed. You will also fall in love, you will often laugh out loud, and sometimes, you will cry. Oh, will you cry.

I "read" this by following the Kindle e-book text while listening to the brilliant voice acting of award-winning actor Ramon De Ocampo. He was a revelation. He nimbly navigated different characters, different accents, even different languages in a way that gave great life to the story and depth to his characters, and he did it all with a seeming ease and total naturalness. I've rarely heard a more assured and enjoyable performance. If you're thinking about buying the Kindle version, buy the Audible version to go with it. You won't regret it.

Lastly, "Red, White, and Royal Blue" benefits from a second reading. The author's subtle foreshadowing, her placement of little clues of what's to come, is even more enjoyable the second time around and gives a second reading depth and nuance. You'll enjoy it even more the second time.

Especially in these times, we need things that bring us a little escape, a little brightness, and sheer joy. "Red, White, and Royal Blue" does exactly that. Highly, highly recommended.

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Fun period piece

Revisado: 07-23-18

I'd never read an Ellery Queen book so this fulfilled a sort of bucket list item. The most enjoyable aspect was the 1930s setting, style, and language. It was so much fun to hear the narrator speak words like "rascally," "perfidy," "scoundrel," and "perspicacious" with sly humor but no irony. I think I'll read another.

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Fascinating and quite different than the movie.

Revisado: 07-23-18

Recently re-released as part of a sort of "classics of sci-fi series," "The Day of the Triffids" is a wonderful 1950s-era Cold War cautionary tale of people taking too much for granted, abusing their planet, placing too much faith in technology, and paying a high price for it. Quite different from the movie, the book is really more about how people would survive when society is reduced to a fraction of its previous numbers, and so was a much more character-focused, person-driven story. It was very surprising, not what I expected, thoroughly enjoyable, had an excellent narrator, I highly recommend it, and I'm very glad I read it.

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Wow. I mean … wow.

Revisado: 07-23-18

I would never have thought that a history of a comic would be so profoundly revealing about such a wide range of areas. Lepore has written a brilliant history we did not know we desperately needed. Women's rights, gun control, birth control, the military, politics, sex, the history of comics themselves, the history of academic psychology, the history of lie detector machines, and on and on. Lepore ties the threads together into a fascinating tale that is revealing, moving, profound, and a great read. Highly recommended.

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Entertaining, informative, delightful.

Revisado: 07-23-18

What a wonderful surprise. I don't recall a cozy that not only made me smile and laugh so often, but was also so interesting and informative. This new series involves a costume designer who works for an annual summer Shakespeare festival at a small hotel in the Catskills. OK, that's a lot to take in, and I was suspicious of such a convoluted premise. Upstate New York is, of course, beautiful, and that was a big plus, but the biggest surprise was the angle of designing costumes for theater productions. The author did her homework and you learn all kinds of truly interesting information about the theater, including how actors like to be treated, how costumes are organized throughout a theater season, how dress rehearsals work, and much, much, more. I knew nothing about these things, I had no idea there was so much to learn, and it was fascinating. The character of the costume designer / detective herself was warm and comfortable, a real person with a solid, well-defined background whom you like and enjoy listening to. That likability was enhanced by the excellent narrator. And, the mystery itself was neatly done. I thoroughly enjoyed it, I learned a lot, my eyes were opened to new experiences, and I'm very glad I discovered this book.

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Great fun.

Revisado: 07-23-18

Delightful, engaging, fascinating, creative, and often goofy fun. Imagine you are a computer scientist who awakens to find himself a disembodied intelligence "alive" only as code in a machine. You're given control of a spaceship and go off exploring. Moreover, you can duplicate yourself and your ship, and so many of you explore different parts of space at once. The result is a sort of collection of interlocking short stories with interlocking plots. It sounds complicated and confusing. Instead, it is delightful, creative, and great fun. It is also surprisingly warm and humane, with Bob the AI (sort of) possessing a wry sense of humor. I "read" this using Amazon's Whispersync (although I'm not sure they still call it "Whispersync") with the Audible audio book version. That was a great plus, because the narrator not only expertly and clearly portrayed numerous characters, he was also wonderful at conveying Bob's odd, often sarcastic, self-deprecating, warm, and funny sense of humor. I'm looking forward to the second book in the series.

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Wonderfu, insightful, important.

Revisado: 07-23-18

Wonderful, funny, insightful, and very important. "Giant of the Senate" is not only one of the most important political books ever written, but also a delightful and often laugh-out-loud memoir of a full, fascinating, and meaningful life. Franken guides the reader from his childhood to a fascinating brief history of Saturday Night Live before discussing his political career and the current state of politics in the US. As his own narrator, Franken is wry, self-deprecating, modest, and warm. Whether your interest is popular culture or political affairs, you'll be fascinated, informed, and vastly entertained.

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Brief but charming.

Revisado: 07-23-18

I loved the scenes of being snowed in at a state park in a travel trailer, but the story itself was slight and short. A fun distraction for Christmas. As is not uncommon with narrators, the narrator wasn't bad with the characters but less accomplished with the authorial (or narrative) voice.

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