Topaz by Leon Uris

I've been wanting to read a novel by Leon Uris for a few years now. I decided to give his novel, Topaz, a try! I ended up listening to the unabridged audio version of Topaz by Leon Uris and narrated by David de Vries.

Listening time for Topaz by Leon Uris is 11 hours, 8 minutes.

I like cold war, spy thrillers and Topaz by Leon Uris fits the bill in spades for this category. Overall, I like the plot, storyline, and character for Topaz. Leon Uris is a master story teller and definitely writes a layered and detailed story. 


David de Vries is an excellent narrator. I'll have to look into other books he has narrated.

My only complaint is that women aren't always portrayed in the most positive light in this novel. Topaz by Leon Uris was published in 1967. So the female characters seem very stereotypical for the time. 

The following is the plot summary for Topaz by Leon Uris from Audible:

A #1 New York Times bestseller, Topaz follows French intelligence chief André Devereaux and NATO intelligence chief Michael Nordstrom.

On the eve of the Cuban Missile Crisis in Paris, 1962, Devereaux and Nordstrom uncover Soviet plans to ship nuclear arms. But when nobody acts after sharing his findings, Devereaux becomes the target of an assassination attempt and soon realizes the plot extends far beyond Cuba - and himself.

A thrilling and well-paced novel filled with Cold War intrigue, Topaz features two agents on a journey around the world to save NATO and themselves. A subsequent film based on the novel was directed by Alfred Hitchcock and released in 1969.

I am giving Topaz by Leon Uris a rating of 4 stars out of 5 stars.

Until my next post, happy reading!

Beloved Author, Toni Morrison, Dies @ Age 88

I discovered this morning in an online article from The New York Times titled, Toni Morrison, Towering Novelist of the Black Experience, Dies at 88 by Margalit Fox, that Novel Prize winning author, Toni Morrison, died yesterday due to complications from pneumonia. In the article, Margalit Fox wrote a lengthy obituary about Toni Morrison's life. Click on the above link to read the full obituary.

I have only read one of Toni Morrison's novels for a college English course, The Bluest Eyes, back in the early 1990s. I've always wanted to read more of her novels. I remember liking The Bluest Eyes at the time... But I cannot remember much of the plot details for this novel now though. I recently placed it on my reread list.

Have you read any of Toni Morrison's novels? If so, which ones have you read? What did you think of the novels you read by Toni Morrison?

The Evolution of the Book!!

The basic evolution of the book is discussed in the above YouTube video. I enjoyed learning some new things by by watching the video. I hope you enjoy watching the video too.

Trinity: A Graphic History of the First Atomic Bomb by Jonathan Fetter-Vorm

I've wanted to read Trinity: A Graphic History of the First Atomic Bomb by Jonathan Fetter-Vorm for quite awhile. I am glad that I finally did read this book. It's really well done.

The artwork for Trinity: A Graphic History of the First Atomic Bomb by Jonathan Fetter-Vorm is phenomenal and really captures a lot of detail making this a worthwhile read! The text that accompanies this novel provides just the right amount of information about the history of uranium and plutonium, fission, the Manhattan Project, the making of the first atomic bomb, the key players in making the first atomic bomb, detonating the first atomic bombs, its aftermath, and so on. 

I highly recommend Trinity: A Graphic History of the First Atomic Bomb by Jonathan Fetter-Vorm if you like learning about history and want to know the basics behind the first atomic bomb. Additionally, if you like reading graphic novels in general, then you'll like the artwork inside this book as well. 

I also found the font size of the text in this book to be the perfect size... Usually, I find the font size to be so small in graphic novels, comic and manga books that I need to use a magnifier of some sort to read the text itself!

Below is the publisher's summary of Trinity: A Graphic History of the First Atomic Bomb by Jonathan Fetter-Vorm from Amazon:

Trinity, the debut graphic book by Jonathan Fetter-Vorm, depicts the dramatic history of the race to build and the decision to drop the first atomic bomb in World War Two. This sweeping historical narrative traces the spark of invention from the laboratories of nineteenth-century Europe to the massive industrial and scientific efforts of the Manhattan Project, and even transports the reader into a nuclear reaction―into the splitting atoms themselves.The power of the atom was harnessed in a top-secret government compound in Los Alamos, New Mexico, by a group of brilliant scientists led by the enigmatic wunderkind J. Robert Oppenheimer. Focused from the start on the monumentally difficult task of building an atomic weapon, these men and women soon began to wrestle with the moral implications of actually succeeding. When they detonated the first bomb at a test site code-named Trinity, they recognized that they had irreversibly thrust the world into a new and terrifying age.With powerful renderings of WWII's catastrophic events at Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Fetter-Vorm unflinchingly chronicles the far-reaching political, environmental, and psychological effects of this new invention. Informative and thought-provoking, Trinity is the ideal introduction to one of the most significant events in history.

I am giving Trinity: A Graphic History of the First Atomic Bomb by Jonathan Fetter-Vorm a rating of 5 stars out of 5 stars.

Until my next post, happy reading!

50/50 Friday - Best/Worst Read of July 2019

50/50 Friday is a meme hosted by Carrie @ The Butterfly Reads and Laura @ Blue Eye Books. This book meme focuses on the opposite sides of books (best/worst, differing opinions, etc). Every week will have a new topic and several advance topics will be listed in the tab labeled 50/50 Friday!

This week's 50/50 Friday topic is Best/Worst Read of July 2019!! I read 16 books! Still need to write a few reviews though.

My Worst Read of July 2019

The Princess Diarist by Carrie Fisher

(Click on above link to read my review)

My Best Reads of July 2019

I have a tie for this category!! 

Two books made the spot for favorite read for July 2019.

Get Well Soon: History's Worst Plagues and the Heroes Who Fought Them by Jennifer Wright

(Click on above link to read my review)

Whoever Fights Monsters: My Twenty Years Tracking Serial Killers for the FBI by Robert K. Ressler

(Click on above link to read my review)

Which books were your favorite reads in July 2019?