The Book Shooter by Jack Coughlin is an autobiography of a man who is considered the top-ranked Marine sniper.  Basically, the book revolves around Jack’s life both before joining the Marines, and while in the Marine Corps.  The funny thing is, Jack’s dream was actually to play in the MLB, but that suddenly backfired due to an injury.  He injured his shoulder and was unable to go on to play college baseball for the university that gave him a full scholarship.  So, what does Jack decide to do?  He takes his friend’s word about the Marines and joins the Corps.  What Jack didn’t expect, was that he would turn out to enjoy doing everything that the Marines did in boot camp and infantry training.  It didn’t take him long to get hooked on sniping and evolve into a master marksman.  Soon enough, Jack found himself mowing down enemies from 1000 yards, with each kill being a perfect shot.  Jack was so used to being a sure shot that every time his squad mates went to the shooting range, he would his every target with perfect precision and dead-eye accuracy.  Since this was routine for him, it eventually became a bit boring.  He even said “Paper targets don’t shoot back, so it’s really kind of boring.”  That shows how addicted he is to killing people and doing it in the correct manner.  This is how Jack would eventually become one of the best snipers ever in the Marines.  Jack Coughlin did a good job with this book, the writing style, the tones he uses, and the overall message that he delivers in the book.  He explains, in good detail, all the experiences he had while being a Marine and how it all changed his life completely.  To go from almost playing college baseball to be in the Marine Corps is pretty big change, but it’s what Jack wanted to do, and that’s all that matters.  Shooter, I would recommend to anyone who likes to read about wars or more specifically the Marines.  I enjoyed learning about the background of a Marine sniper’s life story, and I’m sure that others who have the same interest on the Marine Corps would enjoy this book as well.

This book being set during the medieval time period, is quite interesting.  It’s mainly told through the perspective of the main character Will, a teen who is desperately trying to make his way into Battle school.  There’s this one day, Choosing Day, that can make or break but ultimately, change someone’s life.  On this day, the King chooses which area of practice each teen goes to, either Battle school, Writing school, Culinary school, or Finance school.  As a reader, I find it pretty compelling how one day has the ability to just completely change a character’s persona.  I mean when you think about it, Choosing Day in this story is equivalent to Election Day for the Presidential candidates.  I was intrigued how even though Will didn’t get his wish, he was still able to find a way to hold himself together and learn how to be a Ranger.  I felt bad for Will, because he really wanted to follow in his father’s footsteps and get enrolled in Battle school.

But, as it turned out, he possessed skills that he didn’t know were useful in a different field.  Halt, his teacher/mentor and Ranger, is aware of his abilities and doesn’t want them to go unrecognized.  Ranger’s Apprentice is a book that I didn’t have any negativity with, it was quite interesting and the storyline is good.  The author does a good job of setting up the plot the way it is, and he immerses the reader into the story quite early.  This was a good read for me and I would recommend it to anyone who likes medieval books that talk about knights and battles.

Blood Eagleby Robert Barr Smith is a story that is told by a retired United States Colonel, who served as a private in the United States Army, in 1958.  The story follows two particular characters – American Tom Cooper who is a part of U.S. Intelligence, and Englishman Simon Berwick of the British MI6.  Both of their families are killed in unexpected bombings, and that sets them on the edge.  From that point on in the book, it is easy to determine the mood of the two characters.  Tom Cooper and Simon Berwick are willing to do anything and stop at nothing in order to get their revenge.  As a reader, I was intrigued and somewhat motivated to keep reading through each chapter, and find out what these men are going to do next.  To start out, Tom Cooper finds some documents that have direct relation to Adolf Hitler himself!  What a way to not only begin a story, but get the reader’s attention in the early run.  Blood Eagle is a great book that follows the dangerous minds of the men who are desperate to get their revenge, by any means necessary.  Overall, I enjoyed spending time on this book and admire the work of Robert Barr Smith.  It kept me in tune.