Uncompromising Honor (Honor Harrington #14)

Uncompromising Honor by David Weber is the fourteenth book in his science fiction series featuring Honor Harrington.

The Grand Alliance is at war with the Solarian League - not officially, but the Sol Navy keeps attacking anyway. At some point, Manitcore and allies will have to do something to stop them.

Honor Harrington has worked her way up the ranks of the Manticore Space Navy to second in charge. She is now the First Space Lord. She has faced many enemies of her kingdom along the way, and made many allies.

Uncompromising Honor is the last book in this amazing series. Weber says not to be surprised if we see Honor in other series in the universe. There is also her time teaching at the Saganami academy (which chronologically goes after book 10 in this series).

The Honor books were meant to be a Master and Commander in space. No only did David Weber succeed, but he created what is possibly my favorite scifi series of all time.

Weber, David. (2018). Uncompromising Honor. New York: Baen.

Norwegian Wood: Chopping, Stacking, and Drying Wood in the Scandinavian Way

Norwegian Wood: Chopping, Stacking, and Drying Wood in the Scandinavian Way by Lars Mytting is a complete guide to firewood.

As someone who just purchased a wood stove insert, I wanted a book to teach me about firewood. This one comes highly recommended.

Mytting first became interested in the Norwegian national obsession with firewood when saw a neighbor receive an enormous pile of wood. After spending the winter mostly huddled in the house, his older neighbor Ottar, spent weeks moving the pile of wood from his front yard to the back, stacked as insurance against the next winter.

Mytting then traveled around Scandinavia and spoke to others who seem obsessed with collecting wood in early Spring - spending time drying it correctly, and then stacking it in various ways for the winter.

This is an informative, light look at the relationship wood plays in our lives. It is focused on types of wood found in Norway, but can be applied to trees in the US as well.

Mytting, Lars. (2015). Norwegian Wood: Chopping, Stacking, and Drying Wood in the Scandinavian Way. New York: Abrams.

Lethal White (Cormoran Strike #4)

Lethal White by Robert Galbraith (a pseudonym for JK Rowling) is the forth book in the mystery series featuring Cormoran Strike and Robin Ellacott.

Cormoran is a private investigator based in London. He was military police until an explosion took part of his leg. Now he has a small agency that has been in the news a few times. His partner, Robin Ellacott, started as a temp. She was so helpful and showed a great brain and an interest in solving mysteries.

While Robin is out for her honeymoon, a man comes into the office who makes the temporary secretary nervous. Strike returns to the office to find Billy, who has a nervous twitch and has not bathed for a while. But his story is so detailed is seems credible.

Billy runs away before Strike can convince him to give them contact information. When Strike finds Billy's brother at an anti-Olympics meeting, the man is convinced that a government Minister sent him to harass him.

Then next day, that same Minister hires Strike to find out who is blackmailing him and to get some dirt on them to keep them quiet. Robin goes undercover in the Parliament. And she and Strike get a glimpse of what the upper classes do to each other.

Galbraith is a great writer and the main characters, Robin and Cormoran, are two of my favorites.

Galbraith, Robert. (2018). Lethal White. New York: Mulholland Books.