Every year I seek out a few political and true crime reads that I hope will be important ones, to intersperse between the escapist scifi and thrillersEvery year I seek out a few political and true crime reads that I hope will be important ones, to intersperse between the escapist scifi and thrillers dominating my TBR list.
This year I've found more than a few, and I feel so fortunate I got to include Catch and Kill: Lies, Spies, and a Conspiracy to Protect Predators in that list. Ronan Farrow does a superb job of relating the day-to-day frustration of his search for justice for the many women left in Harvey Weinstein's greasy wake. As well, Ronan Farrow enlightens us to the greater issue of corporations and good-old-boy networks covering for (and even supporting) a disturbing culture of sexually predatory men in power. We all may have thought we knew what has been going on, but there is so much more to this story.
The #metoo movement may have slowed a bit in its momentum in the past year, but no one who reads this book will want to allow this slowing to continue. Now is always the time to stand up for equality and respect in the workplace, and there's no better place to start than with the entitled pussy-grabbing men whose impulse control issues with women have gone unchecked for far too long....more
"I hadn't signed up for any of this. I had just wanted to screw around with computers and maybe do some good for my country along the way."
No one want"I hadn't signed up for any of this. I had just wanted to screw around with computers and maybe do some good for my country along the way."
No one wants to bear the weight of an ugly truth that must be told at great personal sacrifice. Snowden's "desperate hope that somebody else, somewhere else, would figure it out on their own" is heartbreaking to read, as you imagine yourself in his shoes.
This novel definitely falls into the glad-I-read-it-but-now-my-stomach-really-hurts category....more
The diary format was fascinatingly effective for this novel: "This isThe Book of the Unnamed Midwife is absolutely my favorite read thus far in 2019.
The diary format was fascinatingly effective for this novel: "This is supposed to be my personal scripture" said one character, when she was caught copying his diary into hers.
For such a stark and difficult world portrayed, I found an odd comfort in the Midwife's genuine and intimate journey. Her diary spoke to me in the same way The Road did, leaving me both hopeful and hopeless for mankind, should there ever be a near extinction level event....more
What a touching, heartbreaking and completely engrossing life, story, and novel.
Throughout Cilka's entire journey, all I could wonder was "Could I beWhat a touching, heartbreaking and completely engrossing life, story, and novel.
Throughout Cilka's entire journey, all I could wonder was "Could I be as brave as she?" Near the end, I realized her story, as related by Heather Morris, is meant to help us question ourselves, but never to know. We can only hope to be as strong, while living through (and maybe even surviving) the worst that mankind can throw at us.
"Everyone affected by war, captivity or aggression reacts differently, and away from it people might try to guess how they would act, or react, in the circumstances, but they do not really know."
I've recommended this book to many people as I've been reading, and most, like my sister, have shied away, stating they couldn't possibly stomach it. This is exactly why I feel compelled to read these books, because I believe as humans we all need to see, remember, respect and understand, no matter how uncomfortable we may feel. My mere discomfort is so insignificant compared to the atrocities all these people endured....more
For someone who grew up in the 1960s-70s, all those intricate details of the era gave Daisy Jones & The Six the edge it needed for me to claim it as aFor someone who grew up in the 1960s-70s, all those intricate details of the era gave Daisy Jones & The Six the edge it needed for me to claim it as a favorite. Smoking, the hang loose flower power vibe, the misogyny, the emergence of great rock music -- Taylor Jenkins Reid nailed the great and not-so-great aspects of the culture of that early period in American rock, almost as if she lived it herself.
"The postcard she sent just said, 'Come to Phuket. Bring coke and lipstick.'”
“I wore what I wanted when I wanted. I did what I wanted with who I wanted. And if somebody didn’t like it, screw ’em.”
Daisy Jones & The Six is a beautiful yet deeply sad novel about a fictional soft rock band -- think CSNY, Fleetwood Mac, Blind Faith -- in the days of the Vietnam War, free love and psychedelic drugs. We get (often conflicting) memories of a band's escalation into stardom, as we are introduced, through one-on-one interviews, to the members of The Six, and to the iconic Daisy Jones, a free-spirited singer who joined them along the way.
“It is what I have always loved about music. Not the sounds of the crowds or the good times as much as the words - the emotions, and the stories, the truth- that you can let flow right out of your mouth. Music can dig, you know? It can take a shovel to your chest and just start digging until it hits something.”
This novel reminded me of my childhood in Chapel Hill, NC, where you couldn't walk down the street without smelling weed in the air or seeing a hopeful (and usually filthy) hippie with a guitar strumming out his peaceful, easy feeling tunes. Everyone had such an earnestness about them then, striving not to be "normal", to buck against the establishment, and to stay cool. "Everything is just free and easy, man." Daisy Jones & The Six sent me back to that magical era, and it moved me in ways I will feel for a very long time.
Let me ask you: did you love the movie "Almost Famous"? If you did, I just know you'd love this novel for all the same reasons....more
Every once in a while, I find a book that is so incredible, I don't want it to end.
It speaks to me in a way I know I won't find again for a long timeEvery once in a while, I find a book that is so incredible, I don't want it to end.
It speaks to me in a way I know I won't find again for a long time, and I try my best to savor every word, every page, but I fail miserably. It's like putting a bag of Tootsie Rolls in front of me -- there is no such thing as restraint, only crazed consumption.
Blake Crouch's Recursion is one of those books. It was complex and heartbreaking and nerdy and PERFECT. I wanted to live all those desperate and driven lives -- every day, over and over, as many times as it took -- with Barry and Helena. I wanted to help them find the answers they so desperately sought.
But now I'm finished and I'm sad. It'll take a weekend-long Star Trek Enterprise binge-a-thon and a huge bag of Tootsie Pops to bring me out of this book despair, this loss, this re-entry into my own reality. Someone suggest another perfect book to help me get past this!...more
After reading the reviews and finding this book compared to The Ruins and Indiana Jones, I thought, "Well crap, why has this book been sitting untouchAfter reading the reviews and finding this book compared to The Ruins and Indiana Jones, I thought, "Well crap, why has this book been sitting untouched in my Audible library for over a year?" I promptly moved it to the top of the list, and am so glad I did, because it gave me all the action, adventure, horror and comic relief I was craving, with tasty tidbits of science thrown in for dessert.
The Anomaly reads more like a movie script than a novel, and in this case that's not a bad thing. Sure, most of the "insight" from the characters is pithy rather than life altering, but it makes for fast-paced banter and (I can't think of a better way to describe this) a clean read. Not "clean" like a cozy mystery, free of cursing and gore; rather "clean" meaning concise, no nonsense and focused. The story never loses its momentum, and the ancient evil horror is delivered expertly.
There's a circuitous route to finding the "real" Michael Rutger in Goodreads, but it appears the actual author has written quite a few books under a few different pseudonyms. I might not be able to find everything written by (actual author) Michael Marshall Smith, but I do believe it's worth a little investigating to see what other gems are hidden under his various names. I didn't realize this one would be so interesting, so chances are more good reads await!...more
Jane Doe is no one, just a quiet and mousy pushover waiting for a fine, upstanding Christian man to swoop in and take c5 satisfyingly vengeful stars!
Jane Doe is no one, just a quiet and mousy pushover waiting for a fine, upstanding Christian man to swoop in and take care of her, to prevent her from losing her way and becoming just another whore in a world filled with temptation and sin.
BWAH HA HA HA HA!
Actually Jane's one angry beotch who's out to negotiate her way in to ruin (or kill, if it turns out easier) the arrogant and abusive man who drove her best friend to suicide. Believe me, this man is a piece of work.
Should I be concerned that I totally identified with Jane Doe, a self-proclaimed sociopath? Maybe, maybe not. I am known for my loyalty, for protecting my girlfriends with an unparalleled ferocity. No, I've never killed any of those worthless bags of misogynistic fertilizer who have tried to ruin some of their lives, but I *have* helped them escape manipulative and abusive situations. I can confess to fantasizing about a humiliating demise for several of these creeps, so I admire this badass Jane Doe for following through with a revenge so sweet I can taste it.
This book is dark and twisted, and exquisitely satisfying. I'd recommend it to any woman who's had to deal with one of "those" men. We all know, and have probably dated, at least one of these condescending, self-righteous and entitled mansplaining dirtbags. Watching a woman slowly and methodically retaliate, in a way we could never dare in real life, is nothing short of cathartic.
Does anyone know if Victoria Helen Stone has plans to make Jane Doe into a series? I desperately need more Jane in my life, because she is everything that is right about escapist fiction....more
First there was Livia and she was all kinds of badass. Here was a character of integrity I could totally get behind.
Then there was the pairing of LiviFirst there was Livia and she was all kinds of badass. Here was a character of integrity I could totally get behind.
Then there was the pairing of Livia and Dox/Carl, the charismatic Texan sniper, which was genius. Who doesn't love to laugh with and at good ole Dox? Apparently even Livia gets this big oaf's charm and is uniquely qualified to understand his "je ne sais quoi".
But I spent the last two books in the Livia Lone series aching to get a glimpse of John Rain. Yeah, yeah, he's retired from "the life", but surely we can't keep him away from all the fun in another kill-before-you're-killed race against (yet again) both time and sickeningly powerful men.
"Is this what you call retirement? Danger and intrigue and killing?"
In The Killer Collective, John finally arrives, collected together with all my favorite major players from Eisler's world of vigilante justice and contract killing.
YES, THE WHOLE GANG IS FINALLY TOGETHER.
This time our endearingly damaged, but highly effective, collection of misfits bands together to tackle a particularly vile group of US government employees indulging in a child sex ring called Hurtcore. This is such an evil and disturbing global organization, one that violently damages children physically and breaks them emotionally to get their jollies.
(A quick Google shows this is no fabrication on Eisler's part. Hurtcore is real and even more nefarious than he lets on. Props to the author for not indulging in details, because these pedos are sicker than sick. If only OUR world had the powerhouse of Rain-Livia-Dox and The Killer Collective to take down these darkweb deviants in real life.)
I can never get enough of the nonstop action that always finds John Rain, Dox, Livia, Delilah and the rest of these noble badasses. If these books ever stop, I don't know what I'll do, except reread myself silly through the series again and again. And again.
But there was enough foreshadowing at the end to assure me there will certainly be a Livia Lone #4. My money says it'll be called, or at least themed, "The Reckoning". Bad guys beware: retaliate against Livia and she will most certainly take you DOWN....more
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