A TRUE STORY OF AN AMERICAN NAZI SPY : WILLIAM CURTIS COLEPAUGH
by Robert A. Miller

William Curtis Colepaugh was born in Connecticut and grew up near the sea. His family was German and they deeply influenced him. Colepaugh decided to go to Germany for his education (he thought he would do better there than in the United States, as he wasn't much of a student). He thought highly of the German Army and Hitler and ended up being trained as a spy by the SS.
Sound interesting? Well,  it could have been if the book was written better. It seemed like the author used a fly-by-night publisher. The editing is horrendous, there's too many repetitions, and it's badly in need of a proofreader. Every chapter had misspelled words, incorrect tenses, and wrong punctuation. It was a mess. I got through it, but it was jarring with all of the errors.
Don't bother trying to read this book. There's plenty of other more interesting spy stories out there.
Not recommended.




 

BETTYVILLE : A MEMOIR
by George Hodgman

George Hodgman returns to Paris, Missouri (where he grew up) from Manhattan to take care of his aging mother. He knows that she really should not be living in her house anymore, that she should be in assisted living, but he puts that off knowing that she would never agree. She's resistant and neither one of them can be emotional around each other.
At the beginning of the book, I thought it was funny and had its good moments, especially learning about the history of the town in the south years ago. Then it began to get tedious. His mother is always the same and the writing about her becomes monotonous. He spends an inordinate amount of time talking about himself. He is gay and is not sure if his mother knows.  I think the title of the book should be called Georgeville instead. There's also plenty of mistakes with sentences that do not make any sense, misplaced punctuation, etc.
Don't bother with this one.
Not recommended.