It's Me Again

 

By Donald Jack

5 Stars

Historical/Humour

Adult

This is the third book in the series and brings the opening trilogy to a close. My wife searched for this book online to buy me as a gift. When it arrived, I was in for a surprise. The copy she bought was a first-edition hardcover. I've had a lot of books over the years, but I don't think I've ever had a first edition anything before. I noticed changes between this edition and the later edition that I originally read. One of the memorable scenes was completely replaced, and there were other things that were different. I don't really know if it made the book better or not. The one new scene was definitely better, but the other differences may have changed the ending feel of the book. In that case, I preferred the original.

Bandy is sent back to the Royal Flying Corps to lead a squadron. He actually demonstrates excellent leadership there. Readers won't be disappointed. He's still the oblivious anti-hero we've come to love. He blunders from one catastrophe to the next. There are some echoes of other Canadian aces from the war, but that's a topic for another time and place. In the air, Bandy is in his element.

Once again, Bandy reaches the height of heroism and falls from grace and ends up being sent to fight in the Russian civil war. After that, he goes home to Canada. The closing scene beautifully echoes the opening scene in book one. I found it immensely satisfying.

The greatest strength of this series and especially this one book is that it doesn't lose sight of the seriousness and the horror of its historical setting. It goes through the First World War, the Spanish Flu and the Russian Civil War. There is an account of personal loss for Bandy that shocked and upset me. I mourned his loss. It put everything in perspective, though.

Highly recommend this series. I think it created a character that readers just didn't want to go away and so the series continued on.

I Heard That Song Before

 

By Mary Higgins Clark

4 Stars

Mystery/Suspense/Romance

Adult

This book is clearly aimed at women readers. That's not a bad thing. Most readers are women, and the majority of people working in the industry are women. I'm a man, and I borrowed this one from my daughter's library on her recommendation. I'm glad I did.

Kay Lansing is the heroine, and most of the story is told from her perspective. Her love interest, whom she quickly marries, is Peter Carrington, who is handsome, rich and a very nice man. He's in trouble, though. He stands accused of murder, and from a legal standpoint, things are not looking good. She has to figure things out to save the day. Not a bad storyline.

What I liked is pretty simple. It was easy to read. It flowed, and even though I'm not the target audience, I had no trouble staying engaged. I liked the characters, and I liked the story. It was well told.

What I didn't like, and I'm going to nitpick. The transition from Kay Lansing to Kay Carrington was abrupt. It was like a wake-up slap. I'm not sure that is the best way to have handled that, but I'm not marking the rating down because of it. Made me sit up but didn't make me want to put the book down. Maybe I'm being too generous.

Kay was naughty when she was six years old and explored someone else's house. Peter was a sleepwalker. These two characters had virtually no flaws. Like Barbie and her ultimate accessory, Ken. I think they still had depth as characters, but it could have been stronger. 

Nick Greco, the private investigator, had a moment of observation which would have never come from a male mind, especially not one in his role.

There were two occasions when a full explanation was repeated. That might be done for emphasis, but I honestly thought that it didn't serve any purpose.

I mention all these nitpicks because I think a good beta reader or editor should have spotted them and recommended minor revisions. It would have made the book better.

I recommend the book. I felt that reading her work might make me a better writer myself.

History of the Church of God (Seventh Day)

 

By John Kiesz

4.5 Stars

Religion/History

Adult

I read this at the beginning of 1986, shortly after I read the work by Richard C. Nickels. This was found in the Ambassador College/University library. I believe there were actually two copies. The form was like that of a research paper without footnotes rather than a regular book. It was double-spaced, and someone decided to put a cover on it. He refers to his sources through the body of the text. I took the liberty of making a cover image because there doesn't appear to be an image anywhere online. The cover, as I remember it, was green, although I'm probably off on the shade. The title and name of the author were in gold letters and may only have been on the spine of the book. 

John Kiesz was a minister in the Church of God Seventh Day. He was part of a long-standing church family. I believe he was a personal friend of Herbert W Armstrong. His book covers the historical period from the beginning of America to the merger of the Stanberry and Salem branches of the Church of God.

As a reader, I did get bogged down in details at times, but the book is not long and is not very difficult to read. As a historical document, I can recommend it. His work is quoted quite extensively by Mr. Nickels in his book. If you are genuinely interested in Church of God history, you owe it to yourself to go through this. It is available online to read or download as a PDF file. The following link will access it: https://www.friendsofsabbath.org/ABC/CG7/john_kiesz/History%20of%20the%20CoG7_Kiesz.pdf