Finished INCOMING

Almost all of us baby boomers know someone who was in Viet Nam.  But, did we ever hear them talk about it?  I mean, really talk about it? 

Larry never brags in this book--he just talks about what happened, the people he met, his relationships with them, and the work he did there.  Judging from this narrative only, the reader can figure out that Larry was a very good and much loved medic.  Also, we can figure out that he was grateful to be doing something that was helping people, not hurting them.

So, why afterward, didn't he go on to become a doctor?  But that conclusion I also figured out--he had just seen enough suffering and dying for one lifetime.  Of course, the way life is, it wasn't enough.

I found this book extremely compelling.  So compelling I dreamt about it, waking up unsure if the incident I just dreamt about actually happened or did my subconscious make it up?  I had to go back to look.  And now I miss it.  I pick up my next book and wonder what will happen next in Incoming.  Needless to say, I can't wait until Larry's next book.  The only other autobiography I have read as frank and as compelling was written by Maya Angelou.

I have now started The Warmth of Other Suns, The Epic Story of America's Great Migration, by Isabel Wilkerson.  This is about the migration of Blacks from the south to the north and west of our country which took place from about 1915 through 1970.  I was expecting it to read like a dissertation, but, no.  It is a very interesting retelling info from case studies.  I think it will follow three people (and others) from the reasons for the migration through old age.  I already find myself liking both the author and the first person introduced.

Finished SECRETS OF THE U'TANSE

I'm not sure if I have read this book out of order...I may have.  It is now 1000 years after the first human couple was kidnapped by the Cerik and taken as slaves to the poisonous (to us) planet Ko.  (U'tanse is the closest the Cerik can get to pronouncing "humans.)  The U'tanse have multiplied and now populate and serve most Cerik settlements.  Recently a group (rapidly becoming larger) of free U'tanse who have escaped and are having their own children have increased that population.  The protagonist, Joshua, was born free, though, of coure, all of them have to hide because the Cerik want to demolish all people who don't serve them.

Again I love this series and this author.  Marked by richly drawn environment, science, characters, and story these books are always a joy to return to.


I have now started my friend, Larry Sanders' book, Incoming, Memories of a Combat Medic  Growing Up Poor  Getting Drafted to Vietnam  Coming Home and Coming Out.  I have done the math and  Larry has been one of my best friends for 41 years.  I knew he served in Viet Nam as a combat medic, but the visualization of that was always incongruous to me.  Larry is one of the gentlest, most caring, most tender hearted, animal lovers and humane human beings I have ever met.  Seeing him in a war zone just doesn't track.  The Introduction by his writing teacher and his own preface blew me away because the incongruity is explained openly and honestly.  This book is the culmination of a man now in his 60s remembering and coming to grips with this extremely disturbing part of his life.  Though I had heard some of the stories before, certainly not this completely.  Thank you, Larry, for sharing this.  I'm delighted to have a lot left to read.



Oh, Goodreads.com thinks this is only available on Kindle.  Wrong-O.  The paperback book is on Amazon.  It is sitting in front of me right now.

Finished COPPER FALCON

This was actually a prequel to People of the Morning Star.  I liked the two main characters and a chance to see another side of many of the characters from that book.  I hope somewhere in the remainder of the trilogy I will again encounter at least one of the characters of this story.

I have now started Secrets of the U'tanse by Henry Melton.  I have read many books by this author and have given them to a great niece and a great nephew for Christmas.  This book is the continuation of a split saga.  It is several generations since the two people kidnapped by the Cerik and and taken to the alien world of Ko, and most of their decendents are still slaves of their captors.  But some have escaped to start new communities of free humans.  But they must hide on a planet filled by telepaths.

Finished PEOPLE OF THE MORNING STAR

Great villain in this book, as well as all of the other things I love about this series: environment, plot, historical feel and all other characters being fully realized and wonderful.  I believe this is book 1 of a trilogy and I have the other two books at their appropriate places in my "to read" pile.

I have now started Copper Falcon a (long) short story that was included in the book I just finished.  I'm hooked again on the characters...some of whom I know from the book I just read, though not the protagonists.  A departure for the Gears, this is written in first person in the voice of one of the protagonists.

Finished NIGHT CREATURES

Another in The Enchanted World series, all of which are lushly illustrated.  From familiar stories (like Beowulf and Beauty and the Beast to unfamiliar ones, from all over the world (except Africa--a puzzling omission since Africa has as rich a folk tradition as anywhere else), I again enjoyed them all.

I am now about to start Dwarfs in the same series.  Well, we have had Giants, why not Dwarfs?

Finished DO YOU WANT TO KNOW A SECRET?

I think this was the first of the Key News novels from Mary Jane Clark.  I've read several, so it was probably time that I read the first.  It is nice to know how they started.  It took a long time in the book to learn of the first murder, but, though this surprised me, it did not bother me.  I enjoyed the introduction of the familiar characters and the intrigue of personal secrets of the staff being leaked in lurid headlines to the popular tabloid.

I have now started The People of the Morning Star, book #21 in the "People of" series by W. Michael and Kathleen O'Neal Gear and the first in their Cohokia Trilogy.  This one has a serious villain, not really present in most of their books, though certainly present in the last trilogy I read.  He is evil, but understandable and the protagonists are not exactly perfect, either.  I enjoy the character development and interaction, the plot, and the background/ environment of this historical novel.