Book Review: The Lost City of the Monkey God

The Lost City of the Monkey God by Douglas Preston was a fascinating read. It was like an Indiana Jones adventure with larger than life characters and dangers as well as bringing myths to life. The history and archaeology are well researched. Preston was able to layer in numerous facts while keeping the narrative flowing like a well written novel. I highly recommend this book.

Book Review: A Glorious Defeat: Mexico and Its War with the United States

I really enjoyed Timothy Henderson's book on the Mexico-U.S. war. I felt that he did a very good job comparing and contrasting the American and Mexican's societies and cultures and the difficulties each one faced on the eve of battle. It really opened my eyes to Mexico's caste system and how huge the chasm was between the haves and have nots. Very enlightening read and it moves quickly considering the subject.

Link to this book's reviews and others I have written:

https://www.goodreads.com/review/list/67851669-john-peters-ii

Book Review: Watership Down

Go rabbits!

Even though Richard Adams' superbly written Watership Down is about a group of rabbits this is not a child's whimsical book. It is a serious yet magical novel about a group of rabbits trying on a quest to survive make for a better life for themselves.

The personalities of Adams' rabbits were based upon the personalities of individuals he fought alongside in World War 1 so there is a sense of purpose and gravity to the rabbits' actions. It really brought life to his story. Providing rabbits with back stories, talking about their religion and their concerns as well as their desire to improve their lot really hooks the reader.

Josh Cosham's reading of the audiobook with a British accent added to my enjoyment of Watership Down.

I remembered watching this book in cartoon form back in 1978 with its Hobbit style of art and hoped it would live up to my found memories of it.

It did.

Cartoon trailer:

Watership Down Cartoon