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Find Your Perfect Franchise at MyPerfectFranchise.Net
Orangebloods Owned! Contact Andy Luedecke (aka @widespread panic) anytime at:
aluedecke@myperfectfranchise.net
(404) 973-9901
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Getting Caught up on the Texas 2024 In-State OL Class
Ketchum asked me my thoughts this week about a few in-state offensive linemen in the 2024 class. It looks like the state of Texas has a pretty dang good crop this year based on the HUDL highlights of this handful of players, all of whom Texas should be interested in, and many of whom the staff has already offered. Here are my initial thumbnail thoughts on each one, with the caveat that I reserve the right to change my opinions through the course of the recruiting process, especially once I get to see a few of them live in a camp setting:
DANIEL CRUZ, iOL, North Richland Hills (Texas Offer)
Daniel Cruz is good. Nice feet and balance, explosive through hips, brings them through engagement. A little balky in space moving to second level but nasty finisher when he gets his hands on you. Will be fine in zone scheme at guard or center I would think, really good play strength in highlights. Not a college tackle. He's a player we hear Kyle Flood is extremely high on, and it makes sense given that he is likely dying to see some explosion and finishing power out of the center position, where Cruz probably projects best.
ORY WILLIAMS, OT, San Marcos (Texas Offer)
Ory Williams is slow footed and based on his highlights looks like a slow processor. Obviously has size and length and sometimes those guys grow into more balanced players but he's top heavy for now and a clear projection. Obviously some of these kinds of guys hit, and when they do there's a ton of upside... but I'm not really sure based on these highlights how good his play strength is. Ketchum loves him and believes he is dripping with upside and we all know that Kyle Flood sees a guy Williams' size and the deal is basically done. When these guys hit, they hit big and it's probably an offer worth making. He's the player out of all of these guys that I'd be most interested to see running some one on ones in a camp setting to get a firm idea about how his feet and balance look in real life.
MIKE UINI, OT/OG, Copperas Cove (Texas Offer)
Mike Uni has excellent pad level and feel for leverage. Big, strong hands and explosive punch. Ideal physique, not sloppy. Can be a waist-bender at times but that's a nit pick. Kick slide is a little choppy and not as smooth as you would like in prototypical left tackle, but he looks like a college tackle at a big time school to me. Quick as a hiccup off the ball, really really impressive. Would like to see him in 1v1s at a camp because I have slight worries about him in pass pro based on the limited reps in this highlight reel, but he looks like the real deal to me. Very good looking player.
MAX ANDERSON, OT/OG Frisco Rick Reedy (Texas Offer)
Max Anderson is another really good player. I think I like him and Uini best out of these players. He has the best feet and balance, most refined. Not as explosive as Uini but more balanced and a fancier all-around package. Plenty quick off the ball and plenty nasty. Pad level not as consistent as Uni, but those are the two best of this group pretty clearly. Think he could play guard or tackle.
CASEY POE, OG/OT Lindale
Casey Poe is another guy with very good feet. Very athletic. Balance is good functionally, but he's a little frenetic that can make him seem a tiny bit unwieldy and out of control in some of these highlights -- his pass set is clean. Long arms, big paws, a clear take. Good finisher. I think he could play either guard or tackle. There are a few good players on that OL I think. I saw some other guys flash in his highlights.
BLAKE FRAZIER, OG/OT Vandergrift
Blake Frazier plays with sloppy pad level; stands right up out of his stance and it doesn't seem to matter because he has good core strength and keeps a wide base. Good enough feet, clearly a good player. Favorite rep is a 3:25 in the highlight. If he can bottle that same tight package with elbows inside, hips upfield, body weight over the balls of his feet, etc. with a little bit sleeker glide, then we're cooking with peanut oil. The rep at 3:44 is strong in a similar way. It is not the same technique you see throughout the rest of the highlight reel though. He's not going to stay unranked by Rivals for long.
At this early stage, if I had to make a list of how I would personally prioritize these players if I were in charge of recruiting, it would likely look like this:
Max Anderson and Mike Uini
Casey Poe
Blake Frazier
Daniel Cruz
Ory Williams
*****
Getting Caught up on Book Reviews
Now that we're back into the offseason, we can start kicking off the book reviews again. This football season, unlike previous ones, I did manage to have time to listen to many audiobooks as I started adding them into my gym workout and steam-room routine as well as listening to them daily while in the sauna. In the coming months, I'll have lots of travel to various events as well as work to do clearing cedars and landscaping in the spring (stuff I can't do without listening to audiobooks), so there should be more coming down the pipe. Before that, though, let's take a minute to update and clean up the list to start off on a new slate. As always, if you have suggestions for books to add to my reading list for the future, regardless of style/theme, etc. I always appreciate them. I like reading all types of books about all types of subjects.
Added to the list:
The Terminal List Series by Jack Carr
(The Terminal List, True Believer, Savage Son, The Devil's Hand and In The Blood)
FROM THE PUBLISHER: A Navy SEAL has nothing left to live for and everything to kill for after he discovers that the American government is behind the deaths of his team in this ripped-from-the-headlines political thriller that is “so powerful, so pulse-pounding, so well-written—rarely do you read a debut novel this damn good” (Brad Thor, #1 New York Times bestselling author).
Alex's Thoughts: Immediate 5-star addition. Incredible thrill ride of a series, and I can't wait for the next one to come out. If you've been on the fence about reading it, I would change that.
The Highway by CJ Box
FROM THE PUBLISHER: When two sisters set out across a remote stretch of Montana road to visit their friend, little do they know it will be the last time anyone might ever hear from them again. The girls―and their car―simply vanish. Former police investigator Cody Hoyt has just lost his job and has fallen off the wagon after a long stretch of sobriety. Convinced by his son and his former rookie partner, Cassie Dewell, he begins the drive south to the girls' last known location. As Cody makes his way to the lonely stretch of Montana highway where they went missing, Cassie discovers that Gracie and Danielle Sullivan aren't the first girls who have disappeared in this area. This majestic landscape is the hunting ground for a killer whose viciousness is outmatched only by his intelligence. And he might not be working alone. Time is running out for Gracie and Danielle…Can Cassie overcome her doubts and lack of experience and use her innate skill? Can Cody Hoyt battle his own demons and find this killer before another victim vanishes on the highway?
Alex's Thoughts: This was the second book I'd read in CJ Box's Cassie Dewell/Cody Hoyt series (characters and a series that serve as little appetizers until Box releases his next Joe Pickett novel). I can say that this is the worst CJ Box novel I've read and it still managed to keep my attention. I don't like Box doing super-dark stuff and the villain in this one is a type of pure evil that leaves you feeling a little queasy. I give it 3.5 stars.
The River by Peter Heller
FROM THE PUBLISHER: Wynn and Jack have been best friends since college orientation, bonded by their shared love of mountains, books, and fishing. Wynn is a gentle giant, a Vermont kid never happier than when his feet are in the water. Jack is more rugged, raised on a ranch in Colorado where sleeping under the stars and cooking on a fire came as naturally to him as breathing. When they decide to canoe the Maskwa River in northern Canada, they anticipate long days of leisurely paddling and picking blueberries, and nights of stargazing and reading paperback Westerns. But a wildfire making its way across the forest adds unexpected urgency to the journey.
One night, with the fire advancing, they hear a man and woman arguing on the fog-shrouded riverbank; the next day, a man appears on the river, paddling alone. Is this the same man they heard? And if he is, where is the woman? From this charged beginning, master storyteller Peter Heller unspools a headlong, heart-pounding story of desperate wilderness survival.
Alex's Thoughts: This book, like the river Wynn and Jack travel together, has many twists and turns but at the deepest level, it's about the human soul and the turbulence of relationships of all kinds. On top of that, it's a real page-turner. Heller has a unique style of writing that I made a conscious effort to observe and try to emulate. I give it 3.75 stars.
Hard Country by Michael McGarrity
FROM THE PUBLISHER: National best-selling author and New Mexico native Michael McGarrity takes listeners to the wild territory of the late 19th-century American Southwest for this epic tale. After the deaths of his wife and brother, John Kerney gives up his West Texas ranch and heads south in search of a new home. Soon Kerney is offered work trailing cattle to the New Mexico Territory - a job that will forever change his life.
Alex's Thoughts: This book spans the time of the post-Civil War to the start of WWI and the West Texas Plains into the New Mexico territory, as the title would indicate, was HARD Country back then. If your family has been in Texas or the southwest for several generations and you've wondered how they even managed to get by to pass on their genes in a time before air conditioning and modern amenities, this book may shine some light on that for you. This is not a western epic about Cowboys chasing Indians or one with loveable characters like Lonesome Dove. This book has flawed characters, sometimes odd, sad and deeply damaged ones. It feels like real life, and real life from that time -- in that hard place -- feels so foreign at times, it borders on the unimaginable. Fantastic book, I give it 4.25 stars.
Arliss Cutter Series by Marc Cameron
(Open Carry, Stone Cross, Bone Rattle)
FROM THE PUBLISHER: U.S. Marshal Arliss Cutter is a born tracker. After enlisting in the military, fighting in the Middle East, and working three field positions for Marshal Services, Cutter is sent to the icy wastelands of southeast Alaska. Three people have disappeared on Prince of Wales Island.
Two are crew members of the reality TV show, Alaska Adventure Jobs. The other is a Tlingit Indian girl who had the misfortune of witnessing their murders. Cutter’s job is to find the bodies, examine the crew’s footage for clues, and track down the men who killed them. Easier said than done. Especially when the whole town is hiding secrets, the trail leads to a dead end—and the hunter becomes the prey . . .
Alex's Thoughts: I'll put it this way, I liked these books enough to read three of them, but not to finish the series of 5. Arliss Cutter is an interesting protagonist and my favorite part about him is that he's such an old man trapped in a younger man's body. Outside of his entertaining personality and peccadilloes, I don't find much in these books to differentiate them from your run-of-the-mill action thriller. These books are entertaining enough to merit a spot on the list and I'd recommend them if you are into this type of novel. I give the series 3.5 stars.
A Strange Habit of Mind by Andrew Klavan
FROM THE PUBLISHER: The founder of Byrner, a global social media platform, Gerald Byrne is universally admired as a visionary, a philanthropist, and a devoted husband and father. And every person who gets in the way of his good work seems to die.
When a former student commits suicide, English professor and ex-spy Cameron Winter takes it upon himself to understand why. The young man was expelled from the university in an unfortunate episode that left Winter sympathetic to his plight; after a prolonged silence, he reached out to his teacher with two words just before taking the fatal plunge from the roof of his San Francisco apartment: "Help me."
Winter has what he calls "a strange habit of mind"—the ability to imagine himself into a crime scene, to reconstruct it mentally and play through various possible causes and outcomes to understand exactly what took place. When he applies this exercise to Adam Kemp's desperate final moments, he discovers a troubling inconsistency. And when he learns that Kemp was in a tumultuous relationship with Gerald Byrne's niece, he begins to suspect that the suicide was the result of a carefully-engineered plot, put in motion by the powerful businessman.
Alex's Thoughts: I discovered Klavan last year when I read the first book in this series (I did not know it was set to become a series at that time) "When Christmas Comes". In that book, I was overwhelmed with Klavan's beautiful writing and the complexity of his main character, Cameron Winter, who I should have known at the time would become a recurring protagonist in a series. A Strange Habit of Mind has standalone value as a read and I certainly recommend it, but if I'm being totally honest, I liked When Christmas Comes a little better, so I have to rate this one a little bit lower at 3.75 stars.
Did not make the list (did not rate above 3.5 stars)
The Cold Dish by Craig Johnson
People's Republic by Kurt Schlicter
Alex's Daily Short Reading List (updated 1-26-2023)
Books I've read or listened to on Audiobook since I've been sharing these reviews on OB (this list is not encompassing of all of my favorite books although it certainly includes a few of them - books I recommend reading/listening to start at 3.5 stars - I will review every book I read, but only list those that I awarded 3.5 stars and up here).
Lonesome Dove (5 stars)
Joe Pickett Series by CJ Box (5 stars)
The Undoing Project (5 stars)
The Accidental Superpower (5 stars)
I Am Pilgrim (5 stars)
Empire of the Summer Moon (5 stars)
Gridiron Genius (5 Stars)
The Cartel (5 stars)
Disunited Nations (5 stars)
Lone Survivor (5 stars)
The Terminal List Series (5 stars)
The Son (4.75 stars)
The Lincoln Highway (4.75 stars)
The 4-Hour Work Week (4.75 stars)
Astroball (4.75 stars)
Project Hail Mary (4.75 stars)
Dueling With Kings (4.5 stars)
Wanderers (4.5 stars)
Back of Beyond (4.25 stars)
Blue Heaven (4.25 stars)
The Border (4.25 stars)
Wrath of the Khans - Dan Carlin Podcast Series (4.25 stars)
Unfreedom of the Press (4.25 stars)
The Time it Never Rained (4.25 stars)
Hard Country (4.25 stars)
This Tender Land (4 stars)
Supermarket (4 stars)
Ready Player Two (4 stars)
When Christmas Comes (4 stars)
Hollywood Park (4 stars)
The Great Alone (3.75 stars)
Hunting El Chapo (3.75 stars)
The President is Missing (3.75 stars)
The First Conspiracy (3.75 stars)
REAMDE (3.75 stars)
American Wolf (3.75 stars)
The End is Always Near (3.75 stars)
Second Wind (3.75 stars)
The End of the World is Just the Beginning (3.75 stars)
A Strange Habit of Mind (3.75 stars)
The River (3.75 stars)
The Lost City of the Monkey God (3.5 stars)
The Summer That Melted Everything (3.5 stars)
The North Water (3.5 stars)
Deep Survival (3.5 stars)
The Boy From the Woods (3.5 stars)
The Frackers (3.5 stars)
Arliss Cutter Series (3.5 stars)
AS ALWAYS, PLEASE LET ME KNOW ANY BOOKS YOU WOULD RECOMMEND, PREFERABLY THAT ARE AVAILABLE ON AUDIOBOOK. MANY OF THE BEST BOOKS ON THIS LIST HAVE COME VIA RECOMMENDATIONS ON ORANGEBLOODS.
Find Your Perfect Franchise at MyPerfectFranchise.Net
Orangebloods Owned! Contact Andy Luedecke (aka @widespread panic) anytime at:
aluedecke@myperfectfranchise.net
(404) 973-9901
www.myperfectfranchise.net
Getting Caught up on the Texas 2024 In-State OL Class
Ketchum asked me my thoughts this week about a few in-state offensive linemen in the 2024 class. It looks like the state of Texas has a pretty dang good crop this year based on the HUDL highlights of this handful of players, all of whom Texas should be interested in, and many of whom the staff has already offered. Here are my initial thumbnail thoughts on each one, with the caveat that I reserve the right to change my opinions through the course of the recruiting process, especially once I get to see a few of them live in a camp setting:
DANIEL CRUZ, iOL, North Richland Hills (Texas Offer)
Daniel Cruz is good. Nice feet and balance, explosive through hips, brings them through engagement. A little balky in space moving to second level but nasty finisher when he gets his hands on you. Will be fine in zone scheme at guard or center I would think, really good play strength in highlights. Not a college tackle. He's a player we hear Kyle Flood is extremely high on, and it makes sense given that he is likely dying to see some explosion and finishing power out of the center position, where Cruz probably projects best.
ORY WILLIAMS, OT, San Marcos (Texas Offer)
Ory Williams is slow footed and based on his highlights looks like a slow processor. Obviously has size and length and sometimes those guys grow into more balanced players but he's top heavy for now and a clear projection. Obviously some of these kinds of guys hit, and when they do there's a ton of upside... but I'm not really sure based on these highlights how good his play strength is. Ketchum loves him and believes he is dripping with upside and we all know that Kyle Flood sees a guy Williams' size and the deal is basically done. When these guys hit, they hit big and it's probably an offer worth making. He's the player out of all of these guys that I'd be most interested to see running some one on ones in a camp setting to get a firm idea about how his feet and balance look in real life.
MIKE UINI, OT/OG, Copperas Cove (Texas Offer)
Mike Uni has excellent pad level and feel for leverage. Big, strong hands and explosive punch. Ideal physique, not sloppy. Can be a waist-bender at times but that's a nit pick. Kick slide is a little choppy and not as smooth as you would like in prototypical left tackle, but he looks like a college tackle at a big time school to me. Quick as a hiccup off the ball, really really impressive. Would like to see him in 1v1s at a camp because I have slight worries about him in pass pro based on the limited reps in this highlight reel, but he looks like the real deal to me. Very good looking player.
MAX ANDERSON, OT/OG Frisco Rick Reedy (Texas Offer)
Max Anderson is another really good player. I think I like him and Uini best out of these players. He has the best feet and balance, most refined. Not as explosive as Uini but more balanced and a fancier all-around package. Plenty quick off the ball and plenty nasty. Pad level not as consistent as Uni, but those are the two best of this group pretty clearly. Think he could play guard or tackle.
CASEY POE, OG/OT Lindale
Casey Poe is another guy with very good feet. Very athletic. Balance is good functionally, but he's a little frenetic that can make him seem a tiny bit unwieldy and out of control in some of these highlights -- his pass set is clean. Long arms, big paws, a clear take. Good finisher. I think he could play either guard or tackle. There are a few good players on that OL I think. I saw some other guys flash in his highlights.
BLAKE FRAZIER, OG/OT Vandergrift
Blake Frazier plays with sloppy pad level; stands right up out of his stance and it doesn't seem to matter because he has good core strength and keeps a wide base. Good enough feet, clearly a good player. Favorite rep is a 3:25 in the highlight. If he can bottle that same tight package with elbows inside, hips upfield, body weight over the balls of his feet, etc. with a little bit sleeker glide, then we're cooking with peanut oil. The rep at 3:44 is strong in a similar way. It is not the same technique you see throughout the rest of the highlight reel though. He's not going to stay unranked by Rivals for long.
At this early stage, if I had to make a list of how I would personally prioritize these players if I were in charge of recruiting, it would likely look like this:
Max Anderson and Mike Uini
Casey Poe
Blake Frazier
Daniel Cruz
Ory Williams
*****
Getting Caught up on Book Reviews
Now that we're back into the offseason, we can start kicking off the book reviews again. This football season, unlike previous ones, I did manage to have time to listen to many audiobooks as I started adding them into my gym workout and steam-room routine as well as listening to them daily while in the sauna. In the coming months, I'll have lots of travel to various events as well as work to do clearing cedars and landscaping in the spring (stuff I can't do without listening to audiobooks), so there should be more coming down the pipe. Before that, though, let's take a minute to update and clean up the list to start off on a new slate. As always, if you have suggestions for books to add to my reading list for the future, regardless of style/theme, etc. I always appreciate them. I like reading all types of books about all types of subjects.
Added to the list:
The Terminal List Series by Jack Carr
(The Terminal List, True Believer, Savage Son, The Devil's Hand and In The Blood)
FROM THE PUBLISHER: A Navy SEAL has nothing left to live for and everything to kill for after he discovers that the American government is behind the deaths of his team in this ripped-from-the-headlines political thriller that is “so powerful, so pulse-pounding, so well-written—rarely do you read a debut novel this damn good” (Brad Thor, #1 New York Times bestselling author).
Alex's Thoughts: Immediate 5-star addition. Incredible thrill ride of a series, and I can't wait for the next one to come out. If you've been on the fence about reading it, I would change that.
The Highway by CJ Box
FROM THE PUBLISHER: When two sisters set out across a remote stretch of Montana road to visit their friend, little do they know it will be the last time anyone might ever hear from them again. The girls―and their car―simply vanish. Former police investigator Cody Hoyt has just lost his job and has fallen off the wagon after a long stretch of sobriety. Convinced by his son and his former rookie partner, Cassie Dewell, he begins the drive south to the girls' last known location. As Cody makes his way to the lonely stretch of Montana highway where they went missing, Cassie discovers that Gracie and Danielle Sullivan aren't the first girls who have disappeared in this area. This majestic landscape is the hunting ground for a killer whose viciousness is outmatched only by his intelligence. And he might not be working alone. Time is running out for Gracie and Danielle…Can Cassie overcome her doubts and lack of experience and use her innate skill? Can Cody Hoyt battle his own demons and find this killer before another victim vanishes on the highway?
Alex's Thoughts: This was the second book I'd read in CJ Box's Cassie Dewell/Cody Hoyt series (characters and a series that serve as little appetizers until Box releases his next Joe Pickett novel). I can say that this is the worst CJ Box novel I've read and it still managed to keep my attention. I don't like Box doing super-dark stuff and the villain in this one is a type of pure evil that leaves you feeling a little queasy. I give it 3.5 stars.
The River by Peter Heller
FROM THE PUBLISHER: Wynn and Jack have been best friends since college orientation, bonded by their shared love of mountains, books, and fishing. Wynn is a gentle giant, a Vermont kid never happier than when his feet are in the water. Jack is more rugged, raised on a ranch in Colorado where sleeping under the stars and cooking on a fire came as naturally to him as breathing. When they decide to canoe the Maskwa River in northern Canada, they anticipate long days of leisurely paddling and picking blueberries, and nights of stargazing and reading paperback Westerns. But a wildfire making its way across the forest adds unexpected urgency to the journey.
One night, with the fire advancing, they hear a man and woman arguing on the fog-shrouded riverbank; the next day, a man appears on the river, paddling alone. Is this the same man they heard? And if he is, where is the woman? From this charged beginning, master storyteller Peter Heller unspools a headlong, heart-pounding story of desperate wilderness survival.
Alex's Thoughts: This book, like the river Wynn and Jack travel together, has many twists and turns but at the deepest level, it's about the human soul and the turbulence of relationships of all kinds. On top of that, it's a real page-turner. Heller has a unique style of writing that I made a conscious effort to observe and try to emulate. I give it 3.75 stars.
Hard Country by Michael McGarrity
FROM THE PUBLISHER: National best-selling author and New Mexico native Michael McGarrity takes listeners to the wild territory of the late 19th-century American Southwest for this epic tale. After the deaths of his wife and brother, John Kerney gives up his West Texas ranch and heads south in search of a new home. Soon Kerney is offered work trailing cattle to the New Mexico Territory - a job that will forever change his life.
Alex's Thoughts: This book spans the time of the post-Civil War to the start of WWI and the West Texas Plains into the New Mexico territory, as the title would indicate, was HARD Country back then. If your family has been in Texas or the southwest for several generations and you've wondered how they even managed to get by to pass on their genes in a time before air conditioning and modern amenities, this book may shine some light on that for you. This is not a western epic about Cowboys chasing Indians or one with loveable characters like Lonesome Dove. This book has flawed characters, sometimes odd, sad and deeply damaged ones. It feels like real life, and real life from that time -- in that hard place -- feels so foreign at times, it borders on the unimaginable. Fantastic book, I give it 4.25 stars.
Arliss Cutter Series by Marc Cameron
(Open Carry, Stone Cross, Bone Rattle)
FROM THE PUBLISHER: U.S. Marshal Arliss Cutter is a born tracker. After enlisting in the military, fighting in the Middle East, and working three field positions for Marshal Services, Cutter is sent to the icy wastelands of southeast Alaska. Three people have disappeared on Prince of Wales Island.
Two are crew members of the reality TV show, Alaska Adventure Jobs. The other is a Tlingit Indian girl who had the misfortune of witnessing their murders. Cutter’s job is to find the bodies, examine the crew’s footage for clues, and track down the men who killed them. Easier said than done. Especially when the whole town is hiding secrets, the trail leads to a dead end—and the hunter becomes the prey . . .
Alex's Thoughts: I'll put it this way, I liked these books enough to read three of them, but not to finish the series of 5. Arliss Cutter is an interesting protagonist and my favorite part about him is that he's such an old man trapped in a younger man's body. Outside of his entertaining personality and peccadilloes, I don't find much in these books to differentiate them from your run-of-the-mill action thriller. These books are entertaining enough to merit a spot on the list and I'd recommend them if you are into this type of novel. I give the series 3.5 stars.
A Strange Habit of Mind by Andrew Klavan
FROM THE PUBLISHER: The founder of Byrner, a global social media platform, Gerald Byrne is universally admired as a visionary, a philanthropist, and a devoted husband and father. And every person who gets in the way of his good work seems to die.
When a former student commits suicide, English professor and ex-spy Cameron Winter takes it upon himself to understand why. The young man was expelled from the university in an unfortunate episode that left Winter sympathetic to his plight; after a prolonged silence, he reached out to his teacher with two words just before taking the fatal plunge from the roof of his San Francisco apartment: "Help me."
Winter has what he calls "a strange habit of mind"—the ability to imagine himself into a crime scene, to reconstruct it mentally and play through various possible causes and outcomes to understand exactly what took place. When he applies this exercise to Adam Kemp's desperate final moments, he discovers a troubling inconsistency. And when he learns that Kemp was in a tumultuous relationship with Gerald Byrne's niece, he begins to suspect that the suicide was the result of a carefully-engineered plot, put in motion by the powerful businessman.
Alex's Thoughts: I discovered Klavan last year when I read the first book in this series (I did not know it was set to become a series at that time) "When Christmas Comes". In that book, I was overwhelmed with Klavan's beautiful writing and the complexity of his main character, Cameron Winter, who I should have known at the time would become a recurring protagonist in a series. A Strange Habit of Mind has standalone value as a read and I certainly recommend it, but if I'm being totally honest, I liked When Christmas Comes a little better, so I have to rate this one a little bit lower at 3.75 stars.
Did not make the list (did not rate above 3.5 stars)
The Cold Dish by Craig Johnson
People's Republic by Kurt Schlicter
Alex's Daily Short Reading List (updated 1-26-2023)
Books I've read or listened to on Audiobook since I've been sharing these reviews on OB (this list is not encompassing of all of my favorite books although it certainly includes a few of them - books I recommend reading/listening to start at 3.5 stars - I will review every book I read, but only list those that I awarded 3.5 stars and up here).
Lonesome Dove (5 stars)
Joe Pickett Series by CJ Box (5 stars)
The Undoing Project (5 stars)
The Accidental Superpower (5 stars)
I Am Pilgrim (5 stars)
Empire of the Summer Moon (5 stars)
Gridiron Genius (5 Stars)
The Cartel (5 stars)
Disunited Nations (5 stars)
Lone Survivor (5 stars)
The Terminal List Series (5 stars)
The Son (4.75 stars)
The Lincoln Highway (4.75 stars)
The 4-Hour Work Week (4.75 stars)
Astroball (4.75 stars)
Project Hail Mary (4.75 stars)
Dueling With Kings (4.5 stars)
Wanderers (4.5 stars)
Back of Beyond (4.25 stars)
Blue Heaven (4.25 stars)
The Border (4.25 stars)
Wrath of the Khans - Dan Carlin Podcast Series (4.25 stars)
Unfreedom of the Press (4.25 stars)
The Time it Never Rained (4.25 stars)
Hard Country (4.25 stars)
This Tender Land (4 stars)
Supermarket (4 stars)
Ready Player Two (4 stars)
When Christmas Comes (4 stars)
Hollywood Park (4 stars)
The Great Alone (3.75 stars)
Hunting El Chapo (3.75 stars)
The President is Missing (3.75 stars)
The First Conspiracy (3.75 stars)
REAMDE (3.75 stars)
American Wolf (3.75 stars)
The End is Always Near (3.75 stars)
Second Wind (3.75 stars)
The End of the World is Just the Beginning (3.75 stars)
A Strange Habit of Mind (3.75 stars)
The River (3.75 stars)
The Lost City of the Monkey God (3.5 stars)
The Summer That Melted Everything (3.5 stars)
The North Water (3.5 stars)
Deep Survival (3.5 stars)
The Boy From the Woods (3.5 stars)
The Frackers (3.5 stars)
Arliss Cutter Series (3.5 stars)
AS ALWAYS, PLEASE LET ME KNOW ANY BOOKS YOU WOULD RECOMMEND, PREFERABLY THAT ARE AVAILABLE ON AUDIOBOOK. MANY OF THE BEST BOOKS ON THIS LIST HAVE COME VIA RECOMMENDATIONS ON ORANGEBLOODS.
