My grandfather who I was very close to, passed away mid-March, so I have been struggling with that. As a result, I listened to far fewer audiobooks than normal. Here are the audiobooks I’ve liked…
1- Seizing the Enigma: The Race to Break the German U-Boats Codes, 1939–1943 by David Kahn– This is a great history book about Enigma and WWII. The book is amazing. It contains details about all of the countries who contributed to cracking Enigma, how they did it, how the Germans changed their Naval Enigma machines in 1942 and the devastating effect this had on the allies. It tells how the different countries contributed to the breakthrough of better-developed Turing-Welshman Bombe machines, how thousands contributed to decoding efforts, and it names some of the naval heroes who risked their lives to attain information, machines, etc. It can seem just a tad dry at times but considering it is fact-based historical content, it is quite entertaining and well written.
2- Alan Turing: Unlocking the Enigma by David Boyle– This is a good book about the life of Alan Turing. He helped develop the Turing-Welshman Bombe machines which could decipher most German Enigma ciphers. I was looking for more information on the German Enigma machines and very little of this book was about that subject so it was a bit of a letdown for what I was hoping I’d read. Good book on Turing though.
3- The Wedding Dress Sewing Circle by Jennifer Ryan– I liked this book. It is based on the British women who came together to sew, alter, and repair wedding dresses during WWII. These dresses were blessings to many brides as most women getting married during WWII could not purchase a dress and material was in short supply due to the German UBoats that were creating a barrier to imports. It had some fun romantic stories woven throughout as well. I thought it was a bit far-fetched that all of the main characters ended up with a beau—especially considering how in short supply the young men were at that time. But it was light, fun, and educational.
4- Jesus the Christ by Elder James C. Talmadge– This is a brilliant book about the life of Jesus Christ. I highly recommend it to anyone who wants to understand the significance of Christ’s life and His actions more fully. This is one of the best books I’ve listened to. It has inspired me to be better and I will be going back to it often for the insight, education, and inspiration.
5- Mere Christianity by C.S. Lewis– This is a profound and excellent discourse on why Christianity is the world’s best hope. I LOVED this book and cannot believe that this was my first read/listen. C.S. Lewis is truly a genius. Almost all of his philosophies were spot on to what I also believe (minus the Trinity—I believe that the Godhead is separate). Overall, this book has made me want to be a better Christian.
6- Death Around the Bend by T E Kinsey Book 3– This was another good outing with Lady Hardcastle and Flo Armstrong although I’m not that interested in this series anymore… more on this below…
7- A Picture of Murder by T E Kinsey Book 4– I’ve now listened to four of eleven books in this series, and while the main characters are fun, I have decided that the books are too wordy and slow. I am not sure I will finish the series because even at 3x speed, I find these novels a bit too tedious. There is just too much unrelated dialogue which distracts from pertinent information needed to guess the mystery.
8- Breaking Dawn by Stephanie Meyer– see comments in the notes below
9- New Moon by Stephanie Meyer– see comments in the notes below
10- Eclipse by Stephanie Meyer– see comments in the notes below
Re-reading Twilight was meant to distract me from the difficulties I was experiencing this month and it worked. It is a well-written story —albeit a bit juvenile at times. The older I get the more silly the story becomes. That said, I still like the books. Also, I’ve never loved Jacob Black until this read-through. I’ve overlooked the brilliance of this well-developed character; his imperfections and humor are refreshing and needed to balance out the story.
11- Radical Acceptance by Tara Brach PH.D- I found this book on Audible for free and decided to give it a try. I thought it was going to be about how to accept difficulties in your life and come to terms with them methodically or practically. I didn’t see the subtitle, “Embracing your life with the heart of Buddha”. Had I, I likely wouldn’t have listened to it. I’m not much into the hippie Buddah ethereal mediative philosophy of ‘everything goes’ and ‘accept all thoughts’, and ’embrace all your desires’, etc. I believe we need to develop self-mastery in order to become the best versions of ourselves and truly enjoy life. I couldn’t wait for it to end. I listened to the end of it hoping for some practicality but all I heard was a bunch of mumbo jumbo—such as, “let go and be free”, “rest in awareness”, “look into awareness”, etc.
12- Speak Like Churchill, Stand Like Lincoln by James C. Humes– I was asked to speak in church this month. I re-listened to this audiobook to remind myself of some tips to do to make a speech more engaging for the listener. I love this book and highly recommend it to anyone who has to speak publically.
For other audiobook recommendations, check out this link here.
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