Blood in the Water

I knew nothing about the Attica Prison riots of 1971 before I started this book. The first half is amazing. I learned so much about the political atmosphere and why it played a role in the uprising. I learned more about civil rights from the perspective of prisoners. I learned by heart could get absolutely broken over a past I was never apart of. And most important, I learned why the black communities and the police are still in power struggles, leaving young black males fighting for their lives.

I would highly recommend reading the first half of the book. When I got to the second half, I had to put down. So. Much. Politics. Too many names. It just got tedious. I wanted to learned about the aftermath of the uprising, but there were too many details and not enough arching history.

However, if you have a lot of brain cells and can pay close attention to names, committees, etc I'm guessing the second half is just as good as the first.

When Hitler Took Cocaine and Lenin Lost His Brain

This book is mostly good. It's very short history rants, but most of them are left unanswered - a little maddening and not what I thought the book would be. It gets very morbid and gross at the end, so fair warning. But, it's a short read and I would recommend it for a laugh or to just learn a little more about the quirky and weird historical facts no one really has heard about.

In Twenty Years

This book is about a group of friends from collage who grow up and you guessed it, have a reunion after 20 years. Only one of the friends is dead and everyone in the group is a different person than they were in college. Basically, I read the book because it was more like a mystery, but I didn't really like the book. 2 stars at best.

Chickenizing Farms and Food

I couldn't get in to this book for the life of me, and I deeply care about where my food comes from and the health and treatment of the workers and animals. So boring and pretentious that I put it down.

Moloka'i

This book came as a recommendation from someone who knows her books well. This book is a fantastic read. It's a little long and tedious at times, but even in the boredom, I wanted to keep reading. It's just that the author stuffed so much in theses pages that several major events can happen in the span of two pages. But, well written and very interesting subject. The book is historical fiction about a forced colony of lepers on an island in Hawaii. It follows the life of one girl from early childhood until her death. It took me a long time to read, but am thankful I did. 

The Girl in the Red Coat

Holy moly, this book. Excellent. Read it. And don't read much about it beforehand. Here's what you should know:

A little girl disappears and yes, she's wearing a red coat. The book is mainly about what happens to her, with some chapters about how her family is dealing with the disappearance.

I will let you know, there is no sexual child abuse which as a mother is too difficult to read. There is some physical and emotional abuse though.

Falling

This book has very mixed reviews. It is about a woman, Emma, who moves away from her family in England and worked in banking for 5 years. She was ready to get out of the rat race, so she moved to a small community and tried to find her self. She ended up falling for her landlord, who fell for her back.

First, let me talk about the characters. They were good, but archetypes. But at lease I cared about them. I felt something for all of them, either love or disdain. I enjoyed some of the quirks Jane Green wrote into them, however she tries too much to be relevant with her characters. While the point I'm sure was to relate, I just found myself bored and passing judgement on them. Emma was overly dramatic about life which made her obnoxious.

Second, the writing. It was straightforward and not at all interesting. She tried too hard to throw in every type of modern cultural reference. Ie. Tinder. Facebook. Etc. Nothing much happens the whole book until the last few pages.


Third and lastly, the end. There is a great twist at the end, but getting to the end was a tiny bit boring. And while it certainly makes for a shock, it's not what you want to happen. I love a sad ending, but this one was too much. Maybe it was my state of mind, but I wish the ending was different. But, alas Jane Green wanted it to end in drama and she certainly succeeded.