Skip to content
The Dad Speaks
Menu
  • Home
  • About Mark
  • Mark Meets Nina
  • Published E-Books
    • The Dad Speaks: My First-Year as a First-Time Dad
    • The Dad Gets Edumacated
    • The Statman Speaks
  • Contact The Dad Speaks
Menu

Iron Lake (Cork O’Connor, #1) – by William Kent Krueger

Posted on 01/23/202603/27/2026 by Mark Lieberman

Now that I have finished John Sandford Lucas Davenport and Virgil Flowers books and Robert Crais’s Elvis Cole and Joe Pike books, I am ready for a new series. Cork C’Connor was recommended in of my Facebook groups. Well, I read it, and found myself a bit confused with all the characters involved and the…

Read more

Suspect – by Robert Crais

Posted on 01/21/202603/27/2026 by Mark Lieberman

I have now read all of Robert Crais’s books, and I am a bit sad to say goodbye, but am really hoping a new book will be released this year. This one is about Officer Scott James, and his K9 dog named Maggie. One thing I like about Crais’s style of writing is he takes…

Read more

Hostage – the movie

Posted on 01/19/202603/27/2026 by Mark Lieberman

After I read Hostage by Robert Crais, I watched the movie. Although there were quite a few differences amongst them, I liked Bruce Willis as Jeff Talley (he plays a good cop in movies – Die Hard, as an example), I liked the opening credits scene, and I liked the action and suspense. Overall, I…

Read more

The Two Minute Rule – by Robert Crais

Posted on 01/19/202603/27/2026 by Mark Lieberman

For this one, I had no clue what it was about as I only wanted to read because it’s by Robert Crais, and I have read all of his other books. So, yeah, I was intrigued when I learned the main character, Max Holman, was a convicted bank robber who was just released from prison….

Read more

Warm Things (that don’t SPONSOR me…yet)

Posted on 01/18/202603/12/2026 by Mark Lieberman

It’s cold, and snow has been on the ground since Thanksgiving. But, I am very glad that I have warm things, and I don’t have to suffer. It’s not like we don’t use the heat and fireplace, we do, but we don’t maximize them. If I have to go outside to get mail or place…

Read more

Hostage – by Robert Crais

Posted on 01/17/202603/27/2026 by Mark Lieberman

As I have recently finished reading all the Cole and Pike books by Robert Crais, as well as Demolition Angel by Crais, it was time to tackle his stand-a-lone books. This one is about a former hostage negotiator in L.A who is now the Chief of Police in a small town. A hostage situation comes…

Read more

Voice-A-Versa: Finding My Voice(s)Behind the Mic – by Billy West

Posted on 01/15/202603/27/2026 by Mark Lieberman

Thanks to Netgalley for providing me this book to read and review before it’s officially published. I knew his voice primarily from the show, Futurerama, so, yeah, when I saw this book, I was intrigued. Billy’s childhood was very rough as he was physically and sexually abused. His dad was a drunk, and the primary…

Read more

The Big Empty (Elvis Cole, #20) – by Robert Crais

Posted on 01/13/202603/27/2026 by Mark Lieberman

As I have just finished with this one, I am a bit sad it was the last book, But, I am very hopeful that more Cole and Pike books will be available soon (or even Carol Starkey, John Chen, or Jon Stone stand-a-lone books). I really enjoyed all of them, even though, I knew that…

Read more

Ice Day

Posted on 01/11/202603/12/2026 by Mark Lieberman

Last Tuesday, Niko’s school had a late start in the morning due to ice on the road, and about an hour or so after we got that notification through a text message and an email, they canceled school that day and told us it would be an “E-Learning Day”. I am very glad that here…

Read more

What Happened to Your Hair?: How We Played Loud… Loved Proud… and Never Backed Down… Together – by Matthew and Gunnar Nelson

Posted on 01/07/202603/27/2026 by Mark Lieberman

Being a fan of Gunnar and Matthew Nelson’s dad, Ricky Nelson (whose parents were Ozzie and Harriet Nelson), I was really intrigued and wanted to learn more about them. I only knew of one song by Nelson and Nelson, (Can’t Live Without Your) Love and Affection. The book is co-authored by both of them and…

Read more

Back To School

Posted on 01/04/202603/12/2026 by Mark Lieberman

After three weeks off from school (one of which he was sick), Niko goes back to school tomorrow. So, what did he do? Well, me and him went to the indoor pool at the Community Center twice. The second, it was snowing lightly and I was extremely reluctant to go, but Niko told me I…

Read more

Reflections On…Books (book, #5)

Posted on 01/02/202603/27/2026 by Mark Lieberman

I notice when I am out in the world, most people tend to be doing something on their phones. Me, on the other hand, can be perfectly happy with my phone in my pocket and my Kindle in my hand reading a book. I can easily be distracted by the words on the screen and…

Read more

Happy 2026

Posted on 12/28/202503/12/2026 by Mark Lieberman

Normally, I reminisce about all the great things that happened during the year from the perspective of being a dad, being a husband, being a full-time employee, being a reader, and being a writer. But, this year, I won’t go on and on and on about it. I will just say, it was a very…

Read more

Author of the Year -2025

Posted on 12/27/202503/27/2026 by Mark Lieberman

Without a doubt, for me, it’s got to be John Sandford. Of the 151 books I read in 2025, 50 were by John Sandford. He was actually recommended in a Facebook book group I belong to, and when I did my research on him, I learned that his Prey series of book all take place…

Read more

Book of the Year – 2025

Posted on 12/27/202503/27/2026 by Mark Lieberman

This year, I read a lot of Fiction thrillers; James Patterson’s Michael Bennett and Women’s Murder Club books and John Sandford’s Lucas Davenport and Virgil Flowers books. It’s not that I didn’t like them, I did and that is why I devoured them. I just couldn’t come to grips and mark any of them as…

Read more

The Forgotten Man (Elvis Cole, #10) – by Robert Crais

Posted on 12/26/202503/27/2026 by Mark Lieberman

Normally, I don’t review books from a series (only, the first and the last). But, these Cole and Pike books are getting better. Yeah, they are predictable as we know Cole and Pike will figure out who did what to who. But, how they get from point A to point B is very different. I…

Read more

The Last Detective (Elvis Cole, #9) – by Robert Crais

Posted on 12/26/202503/27/2026 by Mark Lieberman

I stopped reading this a few chapters in as I wanted to read Demolition Angel first as that is about Carol Starkey. In this book, she is helping Cole with a kidnapping as she works at the juvenile desk (prior, she was a bomb squad technician – hence, the title of Demolition Angel). In the…

Read more

Demolition Angel – by Robert Crais

Posted on 12/24/202503/27/2026 by Mark Lieberman

I was reading The Last Detective (Elvis Cole, #9) and one of the characters that is helping to investigate a kidnapping is Carol Starkey. I don’t remember how I realized that this book, Demolition Angel, is about her and happens prior to The Last Detective. Carol is a former bomb squad technician, and after a…

Read more

L.A. Requiem (Elvis Cole, #8) – by Robert Crais

Posted on 12/22/202503/27/2026 by Mark Lieberman

I really enjoyed this one, primarily because it revolved around Joe Pike and something that happened while he was a police officer. It also provided a lot of great insight to Pike. There is a lot of collaboration amongst LAPD and Cole and Pike. Eventually, Cole and Pike get in trouble with the law. The…

Read more

The Dad Is OOO

Posted on 12/21/202503/12/2026 by Mark Lieberman

Well, I am off from work all next and the following week, as I go back Friday, January 2nd. Last year at this same time, I was off, but it was because we moved. And, totally unexpected, I also had emergency surgery for a heart attack a few weeks before that move. Yeah, shit happened. …

Read more

Posts pagination

  • Previous
  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • 4
  • 5
  • 6
  • …
  • 70
  • Next

Currently Reading

Currently not reading anything

Book Reviews (298) High School Football (302) The Dad Speaks (671)

© 2011 to 2026 Mark Lieberman/The Dad Speaks. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this site’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited.

© 2026 The Dad Speaks | Powered by Superbs Personal Blog theme