Shoe Dog

Title: Shoe Dog

Author: Phil Knight

Pages: 12 discs

Genre: Memoir

Grade: A

Synopsis: Phil Knight was a track athlete at Oregon in the 1950s.  While at Oregon, he would often try out the running shoes made by his coach and mentor, Bill Bowerman.  After Knight finished business school at Stanford 1962 he used a reluctant $50 loan from his father to start importing shoes from Japan.  And, as they say, the rest is history.

My Review: This book surprised me.  I really enjoyed it.  It was honest, candid, funny, sad, happy and really interesting. The company started out of Knight's trunk and basement and he was tenacious and focused on growing his company to the behemoth that it is today.

Gay-Neck: The Story of a Pigeon

Title: Gay-Neck: The Story of a Pigeon

Author: Dhan Gopal Mukerji

Pages: 192

Genre: Children's Fiction, Newbery Award

Grade: B

Synopsis: In India, many of the young boys grow up training pigeons that they grow to love and recognize.  It wasn't uncommon for boys to have flocks of 40 or more pigeons that they train to always return home and carry messages.  Gay-Neck was an especially capable and fearless pigeon that was taken to help the British fight World War I.

My Review: This book was far better then I expected when I judged the book by its cover.  It was awarded the 1928 Newbery Medal.  It is interesting to me how many of the early Newbery Medal winners were books about animals (see: Smoky the Cowhorse and The Voyages of Dr Dolittle).  If you want to learn about carrier pigeons then this is the book for you!

Yearning for the Living God

Title: Yearning for the Living God: Reflections from the Life of F. Enzio Busche

Author: F. Enzio Busche & Tracie A. Lamb

Pages: 307

Genre: Religion, LDS

Grade: A

Synopsis: F. Enzio Busche grew up in Dortmund, Germany and was involved in the Hitler Youth before heading out to fight in WWII as a teenager.  In his early 20's he started meeting with some missionaries before being converted and beginning his life of service in the Church.

My Review: This book was fantastic. I felt like I was reading a full book of conference talks and experiences.  The stories and experiences that are shared by F. Enzio Busche are really quite amazing and testify of miracles, ongoing revelation and the importance of listening to the Spirit.  I have felt motivated to do a better job in my own life, which is some of the highest praise that I can give to a book.

The Defector

Title: The Defector

Author: Daniel Silva

Pages: 480

Genre: Fiction

Grade: B

Synopsis: Gabriel is working in the Italian hills to restore a Renaissance painting for the Vatican when a Russian defector, who had saved his life in Moscow, was abducted and disappeared from London.  The British just assume that he was working as a double agent, but Gabriel doesn't believe it for a second and gathers his team to try and save his friend.

My Review: I don't usually care for spy novels, but this one was alright.  Apparently it is the 9th book in a series, but it stands on its own fairly well.  Maybe now I'll have to start reading some of the other books in the series.

Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell

Title: Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell

Author: Susanna Clarke

Pages: 1006

Genre: Fiction/Fantasy

Grade: B

Synopsis: The book is set in the early 1800s.  Magic has all but disappeared from England, with the exception of one magician in Yorkshire.  He has amassed a huge collection of old manuscripts on magic and has been studying them for years before he is discovered doing magic after raising a woman from the dead in London.  All is peachy until word begins to spread that there is another magician making a name for himself.  The second magician, Jonathan Strange is the polar opposite of Mr Norrell, but they are still attracted to each other and Mr Norrell agrees to take on Jonathan Strange as a pupil.

My Review: This book was just ok for me.  It's quite a long book.  I'm not a die hard fantasy fan and this book just never grabbed me.

The Tiger's Wife

Title: The Tiger's Wife

Author: Tea Obreht

Pages: 338

Genre: Fiction

Grade: B-

Synopsis: Natalia is a young doctor working in a Balkan country. She travels to small, remote villages to inoculate the residents.  While away working she receives word that her grandfather, with whom she is very close, has passed away.  He had told his wife that he was going to visit Natalia, but instead, he died in a remote village that none of the family had ever even heard of.  This story is intertwined with the fables and stories told by Natalia's grandfather to her on their weekly visits to the zoo when she was a child as she tries to solve the mysteries that her grandfather left behind.

My Review: This book didn't really resonate with me and I found myself only reading the book as a means to finish the book and not because I was particularly interested in the story.  The prose is good, but there was nothing to hook me.