Planet of the Apes Omnibus

Planet of the Apes Omnibus by Daryl Gregory with art by Carlos Magno (2019) 512 pages

I love this franchise. I read this on Hoopla. The movies all seem to take place in America. The story in this graphic novel series has an international scope. It takes place after Caesar leads the apes to form their own civilization, but before the events of the first movie with Charlton Heston. I enjoyed the art work and the steampunk touches in the design here. At the center are two women, an ape and a human, who were raised as sisters. Their grandfather was an idealist ape who led a small city where apes and humans were treated as equals. Now the sisters are grown and leading their respective groups as ongoing fighting continues. Alaya is the Voice of the council of the Apes. Mayor Sullivan leads the humans in their segregated part of the city. The characters and shifting power dynamics kept me engaged through the five different adventures. The fifth part of the series has a new artist take over who simplified the characters a bit, which I did not enjoy. However, the growth of the characters by writer Gregory was still entertaining.
 

Becoming

Becoming by Michelle Obama, 426 pages

Michelle Obama's book is a joy to read. It is an even greater joy to listen to the former first lady read the audiobook to you. You get the same story either way, but listening to Mrs. Obama read the book, you get the feeling that she is telling the story to you, her good friend. She is an amazing woman who has led a great life, from her parents' apartment in Chicago to Princeton and Harvard Law, to her work at Sidley Austin where she met Harvard Law student Barack Obama.
In recounting their years together, Obama does a great job of balancing the personal and public  / professional.
A truly engaging book and a great account of the recent past.

Hope never dies

Hope never dies / Andrew Shaffer, 301 pgs.

Obama and Biden, best amateur detective team EVER.  Ok, maybe they aren't the greatest detectives but so much chemistry!  This tongue in cheek mystery series (it says book 1 so I'm hoping there will be another) is set in Delaware where an Amtrak conductor is killed on the track.  Or was he already dead?  Thus begins the mystery.  A friend of Biden's, Joe thinks this smells fishy but he soon finds that his friend had money troubles, a very sick wife and maybe other secrets.  Biden is still missing the White House and feels like Obama is having too much fun with celebrities.  When these two team up again with unsuspecting Steve, a secret service agent on Obama's detail, they find themselves in plenty of interesting situations.  The run-down motel where the victim lived is the site of an unlikely sleepover and an assault with a high heel.  This book is so fun to read, you don't need to over analyse the plot.  Just hop on the bandwagon and start lobbying for Biden to do an audio version.

Charlotte Walsh Likes to Win

Charlotte Walsh likes to win / Jo Piazza, read by Tavia Gilbert, 310 pgs.

Charlotte Walsh worked her way out of her small town, blue collar beginnings and is a big wig at a California tech company.  She decides that her ability to fix problems is enough of a reason to return home to Pennsylvania and run against the long-time senator of the state.  Surprised by just how quickly the race gets down and dirty, she doubles down and puts her marriage and family at risk.  A timely story of a woman's ambition and politics, Piazza does not shirk from the personal.  Tavia Gilbert does a wonderful job with the audio book making it hard to stop listening.

The Netanyahu Years

The Netanyahu Years by Ben Kaspit, 506 pages.
Benjamin Netanyahu's grandfather, Nathan Milekowsky, was born in Lithuania in the 1880s. At first an admirer of Herzl, Milekowsky later joined the Jewish Revisionist Movement and spoke to Jews throughout Europe about reclaiming Israel. He also changed his last name.His son, Benzion, became a something of an academic and something of a right-wing political activist. Living in Israel, New York, Philadelphia, and then back in Israel, Benzion and his wife Cela had three sons, their oldest, Yoni; their youngest, Iddo; and their middle child, the subject of this strange book, Benjamin Netanyahu. Okay, it's an interesting book, with lots of interesting "facts," and comments. There's an engaging arc presented, Bibi's stint as a soldier, his time in New York, and then his complicated political career. It's just when you check the back of the book there's not a lot in the way of sources, so it seems possible that it's just a big gossip fest. I didn't like what the author had to say about Obama, anyway, so I was okay dismissing the book overall.

Catastrophe 1914: When Europe Went to War

Catastrophe 1914: When Europe Went to War by Max Hastings, 628 pages.

I always enjoy reading histories by Hastings because his works are detailed, balanced, and do a great job of giving a broader picture than many other contemporary historians. Catastrophe devotes a fair amount to the successes of the Russian army, to the battles between Serbia and Austria-Hungary, and to the hopeless meandering of the British Expeditionary Force under John French. There's no hagiography with Hastings, he points out the mistakes made by all actors in the drama and does not seem interested in assessing blame because of country of origin. German General Helmuth von Moltke is shown as a man out of his depth, clinging to a plan that was never practical. British Commander in Chief, Field-Marshal Sir John French is shown to be a defeatist, with almost no interest in cooperating with his allies. His subordinate and eventual replacement, General Sir Douglas Haig, while shown to be an opportunist and conniver, has his reputation as a military commander somewhat restored, with the excellent summation: "where no general of any nationality much enhanced his reputation, Haig was an abler soldier than caricature allows."
The text follows a loose chronology, moving through lead up to the war and the war itself, but following on account in one area through to the end before doubling back to cover a simultaneous, but geographically separate situation.
I enjoyed listening to the downloadable audio, admirably read by Simon Vance, but the scope of the book, the names and places covered during this one year (and mostly the last quarter of that year) made keeping it straight very difficult without the text to consult.