The Mailman

 Welsh-Huggins, Andrewt. The Mailman. New York : Mysterious Press, 2025. Print.

 

First Sentences:

Rachel Stanfield paused, not sure she heard her husband correctly, but wanting as always to give him the benefit of the doubt. Grateful for the distraction of a sound outside, she peered through the kitchen window but saw nothing.  


Description:

But the sound Rachel Stanfield thought she heard in these opening sentences was not an animal nor any other natural cause. It was four thuggish men who break into her house, tie up her and her husband, and demand information from her, Unfortunately, she has no idea what the answers they want are. When one of the men pulls out some special tools to "help her remember," things look completely bleak.

 

Then her doorbell rings. 

 

Thus starts the new thriller by Andrew Welsh-Huggins, The Mailman. It is a whirlwind ride of twists and turns, threatening situations with narrow escapes, mysterious data which good guys and bad guys alike are seeking for differing reasons. And then there is an questionable sum of $20 million that seems to play a part in the adventure.

 

Welsh-Huggins introduces into this environment Mercury ("call me Merc") Carter, an independent delivery man with a packet he wants to deliver to the story's narrator, Rachel. He says he has never missed a delivery before to a client and, despite all obstacles, doggedly does not want Rachel's package to be his first failure. 

So after ringing Rachel's doorbell, he finds himself entering into the aforementioned delicate hostage situation. But Merc conducts himself unexpectedly well despite the dangers to everyone in the room, and the adventure begins.

 

I cannot reveal any more of the plot, but will say that it involves kidnapping, lottery payoffs, some very nasty people, mysteries galore, secret numbers, and some nifty MacGyver-like extractions of various people from some very tight situations. 

There is an overwhelming sense of urgency throughout the book, a foreboding threat of violence and crimes, and touched with a bit of ironic humor as well. But after all, it is a thriller, so if you are not into that kind of scenario, give this novel a pass.

 

But for those of us who enjoy tense encounters, good vs. evil face-offs, impending dire consequences, and impossible last-second escapes, this is definitely the book for you. A great read that will keep you flipping pages long into the night as it did me. It's now in my top 5 thrillers of all time, and that's saying a lot! 

 

Best of all, this is the first book in a new Mercury Carter series, with the next edition to come out later in 2026. Cannot wait to dive into that one as well. 

 

 

[If this book interests you, be sure to check out:]

Andrew Welsh-Huggins. Fourth Down and Out.

Former Ohio State University quarterback, now turned private investigator, needs to recover a friend's laptop and erase a file. Easy enough, but the trail leads him throughout Columbus, Ohio and eventually Ohio State itself where the people there still won't forget the huge mistake he made decades ago in an important football game.

 Happy reading.

Fred

[P.S. Click here to browse over 500 more book recommendations by subject or title and read the introduction to The First Sentence Reader.]

Mona's Eyes

Schlesser, Thomas. Mona's Eyes. New York : Europa. 2024. Print.

 

First Sentences:

Everything went dark. As funeral garb. Then, here and there, some flashes, like those bright spots that appear when you vainly stare at the sun from behind eyelids that are as tightly clenched as fists fighting pain or emotion.

Description:

If you are someone not particularly interested in artists, art history, or analysis of art pieces, I'm going to save you time and suggest you read no further in this recommendation for Mona's Eyes by Thomas Schlesser.  While wrapped in a very interesting premise to its plot, Mona's Eyes fills most of its pages with wonderful descriptions of artworks, artists, and period history found in the Paris museums of the Louvre, Orsay, and Beaubourg (the Centre Pompidou).

 

One day, Mona. a ten-year-old Parisian girl, suddenly, inexplicable, goes blind. Her parents rush her to their family doctor who can find nothing wrong with her eyes. Fortunately, after one hour, her sight returns, but her family is left withl questions about why and how this happened, and if or when the blindness might recur. Despite multiple weekly medical tests, no answers emerge.

 

It is reasoned that there could be a psychological aftereffect on the girl from this brief condition, so Mona's parents decide she should see a psychologist. Hearing this, Mona's grandfather volunteers to take care of this need. The parents are relieved of the burden, thinking that he will find a qualified doctor for Mona.

 

But Henry, her grandfather, has other ideas apart from Mona's parents' expectations.

 

Every Wednesday, instead of sessions with a psychologist, Henry takes Mona to a museum to contemplate and discuss one art piece. Henry fears Mona, who has led a quiet, sheltered life, will not have any memories of beauty, color, people, artists, and the world should she ever go blind again. He wants to provide her with memories and images should the darkness descend on her unexpectedly.

 

The book consists of 52 short chapters, one for each Wednesday in a year, where Henry and Mona analyze an art piece. Mona is asked to stand alone in front of the piece and study it, then step back and discuss what impressions she has with her grandfather while he provides her with his in-depth information about the artists, the historical period of the piece, and an analysis of the work itself. 

 

Personally, I only knew a tiny bit about of few of these artists, such as da Vinci, Michelangelo, Rembrandt, Vermeer, Monet, Cezanne, Klimt, Van Gogh, and O'Keefe. Others were known but only vaguely to me, such as Goya, Gainsborough, Whistler, Kandinsky, Magritte, and Basquait. Most artists were unfamiliar (at least, to me), like Poussin, Friedrich, Cameron, Hoch, and Soulages. 

 

Although each piece is described, I looked up each unfamiliar image of the work ton the internet o better understand exactly what they were seeing. (Note: new copies of this book contain an insert folder with all the art pieces shown. My book was a library copy without the insert so I had to do an internet image search myself. Sigh)

 

There are several other background stories in Mona's Eyes revolving around her family, school, doctors, and friends. But predominately the novel focuses on the appreciation of one specific art piece in each chapter. Henry is a scholarly art historian who brings life to the subtleties of each artwork and its creator, and under his guidance Mona is soon able to provide her own insights.

 

I learned so much about art and the people who created pieces during their eras. Plus, I learned the value of carefully observing a museum piece, not just reading the labels attached nearby and moving on. Each art work contains a story, a symbol, a reflection of the artist's message, and even commentary of the issues of that age.

 

Thoroughly engrossing, hugely informative, and a wonderful introduction to famous art and their creators. 

 

[If this book interests you, be sure to check out:]

 Cane, William and Gabrille, Anna. Every Picture Hides a Story.

Details the background and subliminal content to a huge number of famous paintings as well as the history of the artists. (Previously reviewed here.)

 Happy reading.

Fred

[P.S. Click here to browse over 500 more book recommendations by subject or title and read the introduction to The First Sentence Reader.]

Over to You

Dahl, Roald. Over to You. London : Reynal & Hitchcock. 1946. Print.

First Sentences:

Oh, God, how I am frightened. Now that I am alone I don't have to hide it; I don't have to hide anything any longer. I can let my face go because no one can see me; because there's twenty-one thousand feet between me and them and because now that it's happening again I couldn't pretend any more even if I wanted to. 

Description:

Having recently read Roald Dahl's memoir, Going Solo about his World War II experiences flying for the RAF, I fell in love with his spare, honest writings about his thrilling adventures, and definitely wanted to read much more from him. Luckily among his numerous books for children, I found his Over to You, made up of ten more stories about the men who piloted Hurricane fighter planes in WWII in the desert.

 

These narrations were probably based on the people, locations, and situations from Dahl's own experiences. They certainly seemed, to me, to be realistic. But even if these tales were entirely fictionalized, each one rang true because they focused on the men themselves, not just the situations they faced, real and imagined. We lucky readers can see up close what these pilots were thinking. What were their plans? How did they to occupy their down time? What were their relationships with the local people near their air bases and with the enemy fighters?

 

Here's some examples of the captivating stories contained in Over to You: 

• A pilot, after four years of flying missions, is overcome with dread about having to fly again, a terror that seizes his every moment before and during his time in the air until he comes into combat at which time all his fear dissipates;

• Pilots save and adopt of very young girl whose family had been killed in enemy strafing of her tiny village;

• Pilots on an off-day decide to free several ordinary women who have been forced into prostitution;

• Crew and friends await the return from a mission of their fellow pilot. But when he eventually lands safely two days later, they find he has no memory of the time that has passed since he flew off;

•  A mother senses when her son is on a mission and feels she is in the cockpit with him.

• A pilot returns from a mission, quietly has a drink by himself in the airport bar, and only after much convincing by fellow pilots does he admit he had seen five enemy planes on his mission and shot them all down.

All these tales are narrated in Dahl's crisp prose. Each sentence conveys a picture of the feelings of the men, their situations, and their surroundings. Even their planes come to life under Dahl's words:

Our two Hurricanes were standing a few yards away, each with that patient, smug look which fighter planes have when the engine is not turning, and beyond them the thin black strip of the sloped down towards the beaches and towards the sea. 

 Dahl portrays the non-combatant civilians with the same intimacy:

It's always the same. As the bombers move south across the country at night, the people who hear them become strangely silent. For those women whose men are with the planes, the moment is not an easy on to bear.

There you have it. It's a quietly passionate book full of fully-rounded, interesting people with questions, observations, bravery, and fears about the War, their surroundings, other people, and their own position in all of it. Each story, to me, was a gem written in precise prose, detailed enough that I felt I knew and even understood every individual character. What more could any reader ask for in a book? Highly recommended.  

 

[If this book interests you, be sure to check out:] 

Roald Dahl. Going Solo.

Memoir of Roald Dahl's flying experiences with the RAF during World War II. Superb writing and adventures in every chapter. (Previously reviewed here.)

Happy reading.

 

Fred

[P.S. Click here to browse over 500 more book recommendations by subject or title and read the introduction to The First Sentence Reader.]

How Steeple Sinderby Wanderers Won the FA Cup

Carr, J.L. How Steeple Sinderby Wanderers Won the FA Cup. New York : Penguin 1975. Print.

First Sentences:

After the big Share-Out there was a thousand pounds left for an Official History. A top Sports Personality put the idea into our Chairman's head. His letter read, 'This most illustrious feat in modern Sporting Annals should -- and must -- be enshrined for posterity, and it will be my proud honour, sir, to perform this service for you and your gallant band, when suitable terms are agreed ..."

Description:

The first sentence above refers to the events occurring in the final pages of this dry, witty novel, How Steeple Sinderby Wanderers Won the FA Cup by J.L. Carr. It is the "history" of a small village in England, Steeple Sinderby, which in one year fielded a football (soccer) club from local players and went all the way to Wembley Stadium to win the prestigious FA Cup. (No spoiler here as this result is part of the novel's title.) The book's first sentence refers to how the winners' purse was to be divided, including leftover funds set aside to document this rise to fame. 

 

Enter the narrator and author of the book, Joe Gidner, a local greeting card writer. Gidner, accepts the position of the team's documentarian, carefully laying out the one-year run of the small-town Wanders' football team. He details the team's history that year based on newspaper articles, minutes from the team's governing committee, along with his own observations of the team, the townspeople of Steeple Sinderby, and the man who created the winning system, Dr. Kossuth.

 

Kossuth, the headmaster of the local school, had no previous interest or experience with football, However, he had developed a system for his school's students performance in educational tests which had dazzled the government examiners. He therefore was asked by the football Committee to develop a similarly unique system for their football team in achieve similar success. After attending only two games, Kossuth came up with seven Postulations to promote winning including:

• The only truly striking difference between the technical skills in amateur and professional players is the latter's control of a ball's movement when struck by his head.  Whenever possible, keep the ball close to the ground and select terrain disadvantageous to flighted passage of balls; 

• Every player except the centre-forward must defend his own goal, and every player except the goalkeeper must assault his opponents' goal;

• A Home team's only advantage is feeling at home. An away side should think itself at home, and then make the home side feel less at home.

These Postulations led the Wanders' Committee to create a home field in a marshy, uneven, rocky area where the team, through practices on it, could feel more comfortable than opponents. They implemented a game strategy where every single player attacked or defended on every play, creating mismatches based on overwhelming their opponents with numbers whether on offense or defense.

 

The rag-tag team which implemented these Postulations was made up of the local vicar, a milkman, a "wild man", and a faded football star who had given up the game for good as "pointless." Townspeople also contributed to the Postulations by cheering so loudly when the Wanders played in their opponents' territory that they drowned out any opponents' fan support. 

 

Implementing these ideas helped the Wanderers win their qualifying preliminary minor league games and move into the next level of competition where they faced more experienced players.

So the First Round Proper now was upon us and into the hat tumbled the survivors of the rough and tumble preliminary rounds of Free for All, battered and weary from too much football and staring wildly around like half drowned men cast up from the sea, amazed to find themselves still breathing though not likely to live.  

It's a serious-sounding book chock full of odd characters, unusual situations, and unexpected outcomes. The players' adventures implementing the Postulations and coming together as a team despite many unexpected setbacks are a wild ride from start to finish. The humor is very subtle, expressed in the narrator's quite serious language (all the more to hide the truly laugh-out-loud occurrences), presenting a highly-believable history of quirky characters and situations.

 

Recommended for lovers of wit, football/soccer competition and strategy, clever small stories and relationships, off-beat characters, and David vs. Goliath match-ups. I loved it.

I often wish that I could have known the end at the beginning, so that each detail could have been savoured as it happened. But then, life isn't a gramophone record one can play again and again till one feels one understands it. It is Now or Never for most of us, and we haven't the time. But we shall tomorrow ... 

[If this book interests you, be sure to check out:]

Jerome, Jerome K. Three Men in a Boat.

Three men (and a dog) set off for a river excursion in a rented boat, although none has any previous boating experience. Probably the closest book I could think of with the very dry, serious British sense of humor. Delightfully witty, unexpected, and funny.

 Happy reading.

Fred

[P.S. Click here to browse over 500 more book recommendations by subject or title and read the introduction to The First Sentence Reader.]

A Month in the Country

 Carr, J. L.. A Month in the Country. New York : New York Review Books. 1980. Print.

First Sentences:

When the train stopped I stumbled out, nudging and kicking the kitbag before me. Back down the platform someone was calling despairingly, "Oxgodby...Oxgodby." No one offered a hand, so I climbed back into the compartment, stumbling over ankles and feet to get as the fish-bass {on the rack] and my folding camp-bed {under the seat). If this was a fair sample of northerners, then this was enemy country so I wasn't too careful where I put my books. 

Description:

In the early Post-World War I year of 1920, Thomas Birkin arrives in a remote village in Yorkshire, England to restore a newly-discovered Medieval mural in a local chapel. He is a man broken by what he has experienced in the War, with a facial tick and halting sentences. Meticulously restoring decaying art pieces, particularly in churches, had become his meager livelihood.

The marvelous thing was coming into this haven of calm water and, for a season, not having to worry my head with anything but uncovering their wall painting for them. And, afterwards, perhaps I could make a new start, forget what the War and the rows with Vinny had done to me and begin where I'd left off....and, afterwards, maybe I won't be a casualty anymore. 

He is not particularly welcomed by the vicar who feels the painting to be restored had been hidden over the years for a reason. He felt is was probably an apocryphal scene not to his liking, with devils, spirits, blood, and other off-putting, ungodly imagery. 

And that is how I first saw him [the priest], his precise businesslike letters made flesh, standing in the doorway below me, seeing by wet footprints that I had come. Like a tracker-dog he looked along their trail to the foot of the ladder and then up it. 

But Birkin is not to be put off, having been commissioned by the church committee over the vicar's protests to do the restoration. Birkin takes up a simple residence in the chapel's bell tower in the loft, careful to be away when the Sunday bells are rung. The wall concealing the mural is only steps from his room, and he allows no one to climb the ladder to view either his work or his lodgings.

 

But he is befriended by several people: two children, Kathy and Edgar, who bring a record player and music into the chapel, chatting constantly with him; Alice Keach, a young woman married to the dreaded vicar, a woman he becomes attracted to; and Moon, a fellow damaged War survivor camped out on the nearby grounds, commissioned to find an ancient burial tomb containing a former property owner. 

 

All these characters strike up their own version of friendship and attachment with Birkin as he toils away on the mural, restoring faces, colors, and images to their original freshness, all the while gleaning hints about the artist himself.

 

And when he finished, he had only a single thought, and it was about the original mural painter.

I knew that, whatever else had befallen me during those few weeks in the country, I had lived with a very great artist, my secret sharer of the long hours I'd labored in the half-light above the arch....And, standing before the great spread of color, I felt the old tingling excitement and  a sureness that the time would come when some stranger would stand there too and understand. 

The characters, the setting, the conversations, and most of all the gentle, smooth writing make A Month in the Country a highly pleasurable book to curl up with in a comfy chair in front of a fireplace, a warm blanket around you, and a hot beverage close at hand. A lovely book in every way.

 

[If this book interests you, be sure to check out:]

Delderfield, R. To Serve Them All My Days.

The narrator, returning from World War I battlefield with sever trauma, joins a boys' school as a teacher, although he has never taught before. The headmaster recognizes the man's worth and mentors him throughout his new career. Probably the book I most often recommend to other readers. Absolutely wonderful characters on every page, especially the narrator. (Previously reviewed here.)

 Happy reading.

Fred

[P.S. Click here to browse over 480 more book recommendations by subject or title and read the introduction to The First Sentence Reader.]

Catapult

Jim Paul. Catapult: Harry and I Build a Siege Weapon. New York : Villard 1991. Print.

First Sentences:

It had occurred to me that holding an old rock might be like looking at the stars.

Description:

I first read Jim Paul's Catapult: Harry and I Build a Siege Weapon when it was published in 1991 (can that really be 35 years ago?) and was very much taken by it. When an article appeared recently in the New York Times Book Review section that revisited this book, I decided to dip into this serious/farcical memoir again.

 

The book details the trials and tribulations of two men trying to build a catapult to launch stones from abandoned military fortification bunker on the cliff side of the Headlands into the San Francisco Bay. Why? Just because it struck them as something to do. One man was an incompetent dreamer, one an irascible skilled builder. Surely, this pair will have an easy time of such a simple project.

 

Got your attention yet? 

 

Author Jim Paul, after finding a billion-year-old pink quartzite rock the size of a grapefruit, got it into his head that this rock needed to be hurled in a magnificent manner...such as with a catapult. This idea intrigued him in theory, helping him to convince his reluctant friend Harry to assist (i.e., design and construct) such a machine. 

 

Armed with a small grant from a local art center, they men researched what a catapult even is or was in olden days. The grant gave them a deadline of three months to build and then employ a catapult to hurl rocks off the San Francisco cliff into the sea. 

 

Two catches: since Federal law forbid bringing weapons onto their lands, Paul had to agree to only launch "fake rocks," a tidbit he kept from Harry who would wash his hands of the project if the catapult was not authentic enough to hurl actual stones. The second grant restriction was there had to be a follow-up public lecture to outline and summarize the project and launch, a notion that terrified Harry who was afraid of both public speaking, but conversely demanded to be included in the presentation out of fear of possibly being given lesser credit. Again, what could go wrong in this scenario?

 

The book details their search for what design their catapult should take, settling on the crossbow style that shot projectiles with immense force, resembling a horizontal crossbow. Now to build one. During the construction phase, they find themselves dealing with various backstreet and polished parts dealers who trafficked in springs, steel, wire, wood beams, welding, etc. 

 

Author Paul also delves into carefully researched history of such related topics as the origins of catapults, Archimedes, Alexander the Great, and the influences these had on the world: making castle walls obsolete and empires possible; the development of steel; and the construction, purpose, and effectiveness of the San Francisco Headlands military barricades where they would test their catapult.

 

The pressure builds as the deadline approaches. Their hunt for obscure but necessary jury-rigged parts and design changes as well as their personal relationships with each other and their families rising to the forefront of their project. Will they meet the deadline? Will the launch be successful? How about that lecture? And what happens when the project actually is completed?

 

A really enjoyable about the process to make a wacky dream become a reality. Every step was new to them, from design to parts, to labor, to testing (if they were ever even to construct a model).

 

I loved their passion, their frustrations with the progress and each other, their discoveries in hidden supply stores, the people they met, and their purposeful, dogged strides toward their goal. A wonderful, inspiring, funny, historically edifying tale well worth your time to read.

  

[If this book interests you, be sure to check out:]

 Hutchison, Patrick. Cabin: Off the Grid with a Clueless Craftsman.

One man tries to salvage his dilapidated family cabin, despite knowing virtually nothing of carpentry (Previously reviewed here.)

  

Happy reading.

Fred

[P.S. Click here to browse over 500 more book recommendations by subject or title and read the introduction to The First Sentence Reader.]

The Illuminated Life of Maud Lewis

Lance Woolaver. The Illuminated Life of Maud Lewis. Nova Scotia : Nimbus 1994. Print.

First Sentences:

Nova Scotia is a rural province, as far removed from the great cities as any back-to-the-lander might wish. Yet when a Nova Scotian wants to call up the name of a faraway place, he is likely to turn towards Yarmouth, a county of fishing and farming communities, home to such names as Hebron, Hectanooga, Chegoggin and the birthplace of Maud Lewis.

Description:

For those of you who enjoyed the 2016 film, Maudie, starring Sally Hawkins and Ethan Hawke about the crippled folk painter, Maud Lewis, you will love The Illuminated Life of Maud Lewis by Lance Woolaver. For those of you unfamiliar with this remarkable woman and her simple life in a remote region of Nova Scotia, well, all I can say is look into this short biography and gaze on her beautiful paintings and the note cards she sold for a few dollars from in front of her house on an isolated road. 

 

 

 

Whether familiar with Maud Lewis or not, Maud Lewis is a treasure of clear writing, researched details, photographs, and, of course, colorful paintings. Maud was born with severe birth defects around the turn of the century, afflictions that rounded her back and caused her constant pain through arthritis, especially in her hands. She endured constant teasing from schoolmates and only achieved a fourth-grade education due to constant absences for health reasons.

 

Trying to achieve an independent life after the death of her parents, she answered a scrap want ad posted by Everett Lewis on the local general store bulletin board asking for a live-in housekeeper and cook. Lewis was currently living a simple life by selling fish, firewood, and handyman work at the poor house/orphanage that adjoined his one-room house, the same poor house where he was raised. A notable miser, he hoarded his money and refused to get electricity, gas, or running water in his house until his death.

 

He hired Maud as housekeeper, but soon they both realized that, due to her physical limitations, she could not handle cooking, cleaning, and other chores. So Maud began to paint, a skill she had dabbled with her entire life. She covered every surface of their tiny house with tiny birds, flowers, and butterflies, from cupboards to windows, from their salvaged stove to tables, walls, and doors. What was once a ramshackle shed soon became a charming, colorful home. 

 

 

 

Everett scrounged for Maud brushes and leftover paint abandoned in trash piles and empty homes. Besides her house, Maud's painting surfaces were cardboard boxes and slats of wood, wall paper, particle board, and Masonite panels. Whatever paint cans he found were the colors Maud used in her paintings. 

 

When a few passersby on the road noticed her decorated house, Everett (Maud was too shy) showed them her other paintings and sold them for small amounts of money. She painted and then posted a sign outside their front door and began a roadside business. Everett did the selling and took all the earnings, putting it in jars and then burying them in their yard. He even took over the household chores of cooking, cleaning, and washing to free Maud to paint more. Maud enjoyed her new life with freedom to paint, a roof over her head, basic food to eat, and "a much-needed sense of worth."

 

 

 

And the paintings? Since she rarely left her chair by the window, they were created from her memories and imagination. Farm scenes, town buildings, cats, butterflies, birds, and cows were her favorite subjects. There were few people portrayed, but those men pictured driving a cart or hauling lumber were always wearing a red cap and checked shirt just like Everett. 

  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I loved reading about her quiet life where she accepted bitter winters, poverty, a miserly husband, and a few scavenged art materials. She constantly demonstrated that she was a survivor who pursued her art with whatever was at hand, depicting the scenes she remembered from childhood or could envision in her imagination.

 

This is a book full of charm, beauty, and Maud's perseverance over major obstacles. Author Woolaver and photographer Bob Brooks combined thorough research along with historic photographs of Maud, Everett, their family, and the world they lived in to produce this colorful, revealing book. Highly recommended for art lovers and anyone just interested in the life of a woman who pursued the drive of her desires: to paint for its own beauty.

 

[If this book interests you, be sure to check out:]

 Kane, William and Gabrielle, Anna. Every Picture Hides a Story.

Very readable and informative background stories and explanations of the most famous works by artists including Michaelango, Da Vinci, Ver Meer, Degas, Manet, and many more. (Previously reviewed here.)

 Happy reading.

Fred

[P.S. Click here to browse over 500 more book recommendations by subject or title and read the introduction to The First Sentence Reader.]

 

Special Post - "Reading Trends in America"

Montgomery, David.  "Most Americans Didn't Read Many Books in 2025." YouGov/USA (https://tinyurl.com/34vcp8tw). December 31, 2025. Online.

First Sentences:

Six in 10 Americans (59%) say they read at least one book in 2025, a new YouGov survey finds. That's in line with similar YouGov surveys in 2024 and 2023. Most Americans who did read books only finished a handful of books, while a minority of Americans were plowing through the pages.

 

Description:

Just a short post to bring to your attention the recent annual survey conducted by YouGov regarding the reading habits of Americans in 2025. I found some of this data encouraging, while other items worrisome:

• Besides the 40% of Americans who didn't read any books in 2025, another 27% read one to four books. And 13% read five to nine books. That leaves 19% of Americans who read 10 or more books, including 9% who read 10 to 19 books, 6% who read 20 to 49 books, and 4% who say they read 50 or more books; 

• Americans 65 and older read significantly more books (12.1) than those 45 to 64 (6.4), 30 to 44 (8.2), and 18 to 29 (5.8);

• 46% of Americans read at least one physical book, 24% read at least one digital book, and 23% listened to at least one audio book;

• The most popular genre of books that Americans read in 2025 was mystery and crime: 35% of Americans who read at least one book read a mystery or crime novel. Other top genres are history (30%), biography and memoir (27%), thrillers (23%), fantasy (23%), and romance (23%);

• Half of Americans don't have library cards. Many of those who do rarely or never use library services;

• One in five Americans (20%) say they own between one and 10 physical books, while 14% own between 11 and 25 books, and 13% between 26 and 50. Overall, counting the 9% who say they own no physical books, at least 69% of Americans own no more than 100 books.

There is plenty of additional interesting data in this study, including how many books different demographic groups (age, sex, education, income, etc.) own, how they sort them, and what subjects each group reads. The YouGov data collection method is carefully explained and there are color charts and graphs to further clarify their findings.

 

Its a fascinating data collection about how our country reads, so please click here to learn more. You might be surprised at what you find.

 

U.S. Reading Survey article - https://tinyurl.com/34vcp8tw

Complete U.S. Reading Survey data document - https://tinyurl.com/4e9fws6d

About YouGov - https://yougov.com/en-us

[from their website]

YouGov is an international online research data and analytics technology group. Our mission is to offer unparalleled insight into what the world thinks. Our purpose is to give our global community a voice by collecting, measuring and analyzing their opinions and behaviors and reporting the findings accurately and free from bias.

 

[If this book interests you, be sure to check out:]

 Dirda, Michael. Browsings: A Year of Reading, Collecting, and Living with Books.

History of one of the greatest libraries of the current age, The United State Library of Congress. (Previously reviewed here.)

 Happy reading.

Fred

[P.S. Click here to browse over 500 more book recommendations by subject or title and read the introduction to The First Sentence Reader.]

 

Chasing the Moon

Stone, Robert and Andres, Alan. Chasing the Moon: The People, the Politics, and the Promise That Launched America into the Space Age. New York : Ballantine 2019. Print.

First Sentences:

The sun began rising over the northeast coast of Florida on what would be a humid subtropical mid-July morning....Nearly a million people were gathering under the harsh Florida sun to witness the departure of the first humans to attempt a landing on another world, the Earth;'s moon, 239,000 miles away. Should it be successful, the piloted lunar landing would culminate a decade of mounting anticipation.

Description:

I've had a long-time interest in the space program and have read many books about it. But my favorite for all-inclusiveness has always been The New Ocean (see below) by William E. Burrows. The only problem with it is it's huge (750 small print pages), very detailed with inclusions of reports, meeting notes, newspapers articles, interviews, etc. that, while fascinating to fans like me, might appear too daunting to the casual moonshot reader.

 

Enter my new favorite space age book: Robert Stone and Alan Andres' Chasing the Moon: The People, the Politics, and the Promise That Launched America into the Space Age. This is the companion book to the excellent six-part PBS television series of the same name. Here is a much more focused (350 pages) account of humans and space flight, from 1903 to the last man to walk on the moon, especially focusing on the United States' program to land a man on the moon and bring him home safely. 

 

Chasing the Moon introduces and provides information on:

• Wernher von Braun, who at age 18 started experimenting with rocket launching, free to do so since the WW I Treaty of Versailles did not specify rocketry in its military rearmament restrictions for Germany. After WW II, von Braun became one of the leaders of the US space program, rescued by the US government special program along with 100 other German rocket scientists and brought to the US. This action was made to close the rocket gap with Germany and Russia despite these scientists history of working during the War with POWs and slaves to build German V-2 rocket-launched weapons;

• Arthur C. Clarke, British science fiction writer and member of the British Interplanetary Society, whose articles and stories about the future of space and the current US program rockets, inspired the world's interest in the US program and thus its Congressional financing;

• The US Army, Air Force, and Navy originally developed separate rocket programs and competed with the other branches to win space contracts with the US government. After the Russian Sputnik launch President Eisenhower combined these separate programs into one new civilian department, the National Aeronautic and Space Administration (NASA);

• John F. Kennedy, reeling from the poor publicity from the Bay of Pigs fiasco and the successful flight by Russia of first man in space Yuri Gagarin only one week apart, desperately seized on the US space program as a means to "dramatically alter the narrative about America's future and its standing in the international arena." Although Kennedy had shown little interest in outer space and knew virtually nothing about the US program, he learned that communication satellites beaming to television sets would be a way to regain superiority in space, something the Russians had not begun to explore;

• At Attorney General Robert Kennedy demanded, NASA would only accept the land donated by nearby Rice University for NASA headquarters on the condition that Rice changed its discrimination policy and admit Black Students, which they did;

• The ongoing controversy over NASA not selecting a Black candidate for training in the astronaut program after many years, despite the stellar experience from some of these men;

• While there was much speculation between astronauts, media, and the public on who would be the first man to walk on the moon, the placement of the lander hatch door which, when opened, blocked the right side seat and astronaut from exiting before the left side seat was vacated. Therefore, only the man sitting in the left chair, (Armstrong) was physically able to exit the landing pod first. Decision settled;

• William Safire, Nixon's speechwriter, wrote the president two separate speeches for the public: one after a successful moon mission and one should the astronauts be forced to remain on the moon or died due to some failure;

• Writer Arthur C. Clarke had a beloved dog named Sputnik which was the son of Laika, the first animal launched into space.

I had so many more items marked I found interesting through my reading Chasing the Moon, but want to keep this review at a readable length. I figured by now either you are fascinated enough to read more of this book on your own or you have decided it simply isn't for you. So you are now on your own.

 

But there are many, many more people, incidents, successes, failures, and dreams clearly presented by authors Stone and Anders. You would be missing the beautiful B & W and color photographs, the in-depth interviews, the newspaper clippings, and the words of astronauts during training, flight, and moon landings. It's all here.  

 

I hope you will pick up this fine, important history and learn more about one of humankind's greatest achievement: putting humans on the moon and returning them safely. Highly recommended.

 

[If this book interests you, be sure to check out:]

Burrows, William E. The New Ocean: The Story of the First Space Age.

Simply the best, most readable yet most detailed account of the United State space program. Includes documentation from newly-released Russian files, meeting notes, documents, government involvement, astronauts, behind0the-scenes personnel ... in short, everything possible about the movement of humans into space. Tremendous. Highest recommendation. (Previously reviewed here.)

 Happy reading.

Fred

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