The Best Book I Read This Month: The Johnstown Flood by David McCullough

I’ve been on a nonfiction kick lately, so this month—like last month and the month before—the best book I read was a work about history: The Johnstown Flood by David McCullough. The book is short (for a history book), but it packs a solid punch.

McCullough’s book tells the story of Johnstown, a small town outside of Pittsburgh, and how it was wiped out by a catastrophic flood in 1889. (Don’t worry! Johnstown rebuilt—only to be hit by floods again in 1936 and 1977.) The first chapters meander a bit, as McCullough weaves the tale of the town, its people, and the dam that proved to be their archnemesis. But once McCullough gets to the day of the flood, the story gets much tighter and more powerful. The focus is on the people and towns affected by the flood—the destruction of property, the loss of lives, and tales of seemingly-random survival. It is a tense and emotional tale.

There’s a not-so-implicit statement, too, in this tale, about the ultra-rich and the ordinary joe. The people of Johnstown were, of course, the latter. The ultra-rich were those for whom the dam was built, including Andrew Carnegie—for their pleasure and their leisure. It is hard not to see parallels between the ultra-rich of this story and the billionaires of today and their relationships to the rest of us.

The Best Book I Read This Month: The Ravine by Wendy Lower

A bit late in posting, but the best book I read in March was the most disturbing book I’ve read in a long time: The Ravine by historian Wendy Lower.

As the book’s subtitle (A Family, A Photograph, A Holocaust Massacre Revealed) indicates, the book focuses on the murder of a one family during the Holocaust. But it is not the Holocaust of Western Europe, not the Holocaust of concentration camps. This book focuses on the Holocaust as it occurred in Eastern Europe, where it took on a very different character—graveside massacres instead of formal death camps. The most famous of these massacres occurred at Babi Yar in Ukraine. This book focuses on a smaller massacre, one that may have remained invisible to history were not for a single photograph.

The first ten pages of the book were brutal to read. The focus is entirely on the action in the photograph, which shows the murder of one Jewish Ukrainian family at a ravine and is described in unflinching detail. After that, the book’s focus expands to Lower’s efforts to identify the location, victims, and participants in this murder. Her work is as frustrating as it is rewarding, as she encounters obstacle after obstacle. Even at the end, there is no clean resolution for her or for the reader.

This is not a book that one reads for pleasure. It’s not a book to enjoy. But it is a book that is important and worthwhile. Yom HaShoah (Holocaust Remembrance Day) occurs later this month. Reading this book would be a good way to spend that day.

The Best Book I Read This Month: Say Nothing by Patrick Radden Keefe

I need February to be a couple days longer so I can finish the best book I’m reading this month before the month is over. Say Nothing by Patrick Radden Keefe is incredible. It tells the story of Northern Ireland’s Troubles by focusing on the murder of single mother Jean McConville.

I’m finding the reading slow-going, not because of Keefe’s writing—which is clear and easy to read—but because of the subject matter. It’s heavy, so I can only read it in short bursts. Keefe does not flinch from the violence of the events he describes, neither the scope nor the toll. But he also humanizes the events, giving a full picture of the people involved—their backgrounds, their hopes, their lives beyond the conflict. That’s what makes the story he tells so gripping.

I’m at a point in the book where I think I know whodunit, but I’m not entirely sure. There are likely still a number of twists and turns before Keefe brings the story to a conclusion, because very little in this story is cut and dry.

The Best Book I Read This Month: Death Washes Ashore by Patricia Skalka

The best book I read this month was a short but engaging mystery: Death Washes Ashore by Patricia Skalka. The book is the most recent installment in Skalka’s Dave Cubiak Door County Mysteries series, which I enjoy very much. (My favorite of the series is still Death in Cold Water.)

Death Washes Ashore takes place in the wake of a destructive storm. A strangely-dressed, strangley-positioned body is found on a beach, and Sheriff Dave Cubiak’s team quickly determines the death was not accidental. Over the course of the investigation, Cubiak is drawn not only into the world of larping (live action role playing), but also into a mess of secrets and lies and betrayals.

I enjoy the regular characters in this series. They’re all very down to earth folks. And this story is a well-plotted mystery. I enjoyed all the twists and turns—and the opportunity to visit Door County again, albeit vicariously.

My Favorite Reads of 2021

December was a bust for me, reading-wise. I started three books but only finished one of them. I gave up on the other two. So instead of “The Best Book I Read This Month,” I’m looking back at my favorite reads of the year.

Overall, I finished 38 books this year. There were 8 more that I started but gave up on. Of the 38 I finished, these were my favorites.

The Broken Girls and The Sun Down Motel by Simone St. James

Simone St. James is a master at crafting dual timeline stories that are part mystery and part ghost story. These two blew me away.

Hamnet by Maggie O’Farrell

A heart-breaking exploration of William Shakespeare’s marriage and family.

Horseman by Christina Henry

An imaginative “sequel” to the Legend of Sleepy Hollow

The Dry by Jane Harper

A breathtaking mystery set in the Australian Outback

West with Giraffes by Lynda Rutledge

Part buddy road-trip comedy, part conservationist commentary, West with Giraffes imagines the Depression-era cross-country journey of the San Diego Zoo’s first giraffes.

Death in the East by Abir Mukherjee

The fourth of installment of one my favorite mystery series, Death in the East takes place in 1905 London and 1920s India. It focuses on two closed-room mysteries—and a detective who is detoxing from an opium addiction.

Murder on the Red River by Marcie Rendon

Set in 1970, Rendon’s book introduces us to Cash Blackbear, an Ojibwe woman who takes it on herself to solve the murder of a fellow Native American.