2015 Goodreads Challenge

As I am sitting here unable to sleep, and it is nearly midnight on the last day of 2015, I realize I have read a TON of books in the last 365 days. I successfully completed my Goodreads Challenge this year. My goal was 200 and I surpassed that, reading a total of  238. Now, I do have to confess, there were a few that were relegated to the 'Did Not Finish' pile, and so I can not say with total honesty that all 238 were actually completed. The problem is, Goodreads only has a 'To-Read', 'Currently Reading', and 'Read' list. If only there was an official 'Did Not Finish' list, the counts would be more accurate. But I digress. Even with the DNFs, I still met and surpassed my goal.

I know it surprises some people to find out how much I read, especially because I have a very active toddler. Here's my secret: I'm a very fast reader, and I utilize nap and bed time to my advantage. Some of my most favorite times of day are when Babe and I are curled up in bed, she sleeping soundly on my arm, me with a book or my Kindle in the other hand.

So now, with two minutes left until 2016 comes to the Midwest, I am pondering my new goal. I know 200 is doable, as I have done it. Is 250? I guess we will find out.

Here's to happy reading in the new year!

Sarah

Update!

I have been cleaning things up a bit and added a new page relating to review requests. This is primarily geared toward authors and publishers, but if you are a fellow reader who would like to know what I think about a book, feel free to also send me a message. Most pages have been updated, take a look!

Happy Reading,
Sarah

In Search of the Paranormal: The Hammer House Murder, Ghosts of the Clink, and Other Disturbing Investigations

Rating: 4 Stars

Review:

I received this as an ARC via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

If you read my prior review which also involved a book about paranormal investigators and their experiences, you know that I have high standards and expectations for how the information is presented. This book, despite being an ARC, was very nearly the complete opposite of that one in so many ways. The history of each case the author presents was much more in-depth the majority of the time, the writing was professional, and it had clearly been through editing already. Much, much more professional. I can't stress enough why that professionalism piece is so important. People who do not believe in ghosts think it is a big joke to begin with.

The author not only recounted his early beginnings as a ghost hunter, but described ways in which the field evolved as well, the equipment used, and why some of these methods are controversial. He notes that many pioneers of paranormal investigations had nothing but a notebook, pencil, and their own two eyes. He does point out though, that having all the gadgets that crews like T.A.P.S. (the team featured on 'Ghost Hunters', on the SyFy network) have would be nice. But, you make do with what you have. As a side note, I have to admit I was glad to see the ridiculously hilarious/awesome 'Most Haunted' get a mention with 'Ghost Hunters'. Not curiously, 'Ghost Adventures' was left out. I am perfectly okay with that.

What I appreciated most about this book compared to the previous paranormal book I read boils down to the focus of the content. Even though the author was sharing his experiences as an investigator, it was not about him. It was about those places, those ghosts, and the people impacted by the potential hauntings he and his team investigated. That made for a much different reading experience.

The book was so strong until the final investigation discussed. Here the author talks of joining a team who used Ouija boards and table tipping as means of communication. While I do believe in paranormal experiences, particularly mine of course, I do draw the line at these kinds of methods - these are so easily manipulated by living, breathing people that I can not put much stock in them. Otherwise, this was an excellent source of investigations that I found highly interesting and finished in just a few hours. Definitely recommended.

The Haunting of the Tenth Avenue Theatre

Rating: 2 Stars

Review:

I received this as an ARC via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. As such, I sincerely hope beyond hope that this book went through major revisions and editing before its final publication. I am not saying this to be purposely disparaging, but because I love reading books about paranormal investigations and really would like to see the field taken more seriously. Amateur writing about these experience contribute to the field continuing to be perceived as amateurish. I do think there is a good story here to tell, but again, more editing was hopefully done before its release.

The author begins with recounting her childhood tales of ghost hunting, which perhaps were meant to show how her career began. Instead it came off as this book being all about her. It never was really explained why her mom wanted to keep her away from that 'stuff', and was never explained later on either. It came across as filler, but again could have had as much to do with the writing style as the content. I think one of my biggest issues with the writing style had to do with how conversational it was, because that too came across as unprofessional. The book meandered from some history of the theatre finally, to the author's readings staged there, to conversations between the team members, literal conversations - if it was not recorded and she does not know for a fact that the conversations happened in the way portrayed in the book, then no thank you, please do not include them. So many times it was "I stated...". Many sentences started with 'Because'. Tenses changed often. I had to remind myself several times that this was an ARC, and would hopefully not be the final copy. My concern though, seems reasonable. I've yet to read an ARC that needed SO much editing still in order to be ready for publication.

In addition to the writing itself, there were more than a few situations that did not seem to make a lot of sense if this were a professional team who worked actual cases. When the first investigation into the theatre was set to happen, the author says she doesn't even think there will be a lot of activity. Yet she had a pretty major unexplained experience during the performance of her first play there when the lights were set for her, despite no one being in the booth. Not to mention several other unexplained occurrences told to her by people she knew well.

Maybe I have been spoiled by my love of Ghost Hunters (who work on debunking as much as they can FIRST, and then move on to labeling things 'unexplained' BEFORE calling anything paranormal), but I also could not believe the behavior of some of the members of the author's team. One member, Rick, seemed to be afraid of even the idea of a paranormal experience occurring. Two members of her team - Rick may have been one of them, I do not recall - ran yelling down the stairs at the end of the investigation because they claimed to hear a voice say, "Mommy". If that is what it takes to frighten two team members, then perhaps ghost hunting is not their vocation, or even hobby. On top of that, the author had been sort of on-the-job interviewing a potential new team member during an investigation. She talks about needing to trust the team 110%, and suddenly he is on the team and the investigation is not even over? How can you trust someone who has zero experience to begin with in the field, particularly on an investigation where there has been very little interaction? How do you know this guy won't run screaming down the stairs like the other guys? Again, it comes across as unprofessional and there are enough non-believers who already think we are crazy. Standards have to be raised if we want to be taken more seriously.

All in all, I was expecting so much more from this one. I myself have had paranormal experiences (I mean come on, I stayed at the Stanley Hotel. Chase and I purposely went looking for ghosts on our own and had some really awesome experiences that neither of us can explain) and I love reading about the experiences of others. I love the history of these supposedly haunted places, learning about how they came to be and who might still be hanging around. I do not love though when the projects related to them become more about the investigator than the investigatee. I know, it is not a word, but whatever. I can't say I would recommend this one whole-heartedly, as it was an ARC, but perhaps give the published version a chance.

Chosen?: Reading the Bible Amid the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict

Rating: 3 Stars

Review:

I received this book as an ARC via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I have to be upfront and say that I do not know much at all about the conflict aside from the bare bones of it - Israelis and Palestinians are fighting over the same land and have been for decades. I was hoping in this text to get a little a little more background and specifics but it left me with more questions than answers. It appeared more superficial to me, and this might only be because of my lack of knowledge, but the focus was on what was said in the Bible about the Israelites being the Chosen People who were led to the Holy Land. Time and again the author said the land was given unconditionally, but that did not mean it could be kept unconditionally. It really seemed like he was driving that point home, time and again, so that is the main take-way? I do not know enough of this author's beliefs about the topic to know if that is indicative of his specific beliefs about the current conflict.

At the end of the book the author had a Q&A session, which I felt like should have been incorporated into the text itself, perhaps written as part the conclusion? It seemed strange to me, especially when the text was so slim to begin with. I also find it hard to take non-fiction authors seriously who use a lot of exclamation points. I don't know, that is just a personal thing.

I think the majority of the issues with the text are mine, due to my lack of knowledge. I plan to read further in order to learn more about this topic. I could recommend it though for those better versed in the subject.

100 Documents That Changed the World: From the Magna Carta to WikiLeaks

Rating: 3.5 Stars

Review:

I really love books like this, the '50 Objects..." or "12 Maps..." that 'changed the world' type books. This book is no exception, as it covered several documents that truly did change the world, for better or worse. While I disagree somewhat with some of the items included ('War and Peace' and '1984' - I do not consider books to be documents per se), the majority really do help the book live up to its name. How can you go wrong when writing about Magna Carta, the Emancipation Proclamation, the Apollo 11 Flight Plan, and Anne Frank's diary in one volume?

Turns out, you can. Or, at least not 'go wrong', but you can be lacking in detail and description at times. I understand this is not meant to be exhaustive, seeing as how it is quite slim to begin with, so I will get my complaints out of the way before I delve further in to discuss some of the specific documents addressed that I felt were among the most important. There is only one actual page of textual information devoted to each document, though that page often included a small picture of those who signed, witnessed, wrote, etc. the document. The opposite page was usually a picture of the document itself. Additionally, for a good portion of the beginning, nearly all of the documents were from Western Europe. Not all, but a good majority. Surely there were other important documents that could have been included from around the world and not just those few.

Now, to the documents I found most fascinating - it is also kind of embarrassing to admit that I did not know some of the facts I learned from this text. In my defense perhaps we were not taught those aspects in school? So many of these documents today exist now in the National Archives and I wish desperately to see them - namely the Fort Sumter Telegram announcing they were surrendering, and the Emancipation Proclamation. These were two hugely important documents that exist as a testament to the resolve of our young country - we were willing to go to war with ourselves to achieve the ends we wanted. The telegram began the war and the proclamation set us on the road to ending it. As an aside, I never knew that the E.P. ONLY freed slaves who were living in the states that had succeeded from the Union - AND applied only to those held by the Confederacy. So, apparently it was a shrug and a 'sorry' to the slaves living in areas recaptured by the Union, or the nearly 500,000 living in those border states who had not succeeded.

I am curious about the exclusion of the Gettysburg Address as an important document and thought perhaps it was excluded due to the inclusion of the Emancipation Proclamation. But both Martin Luther's 95 Theses were included, followed directly by the Edict of Worms. Those documents were separated by only four years, but concerned the same topic, so not sure why Lincoln's famous speech was not considered important enough?

Fun Fact: Apparently our Founding Fathers were not terribly responsible. The original copy of the Constitution had vanished at some point after its signing and no one knew where it was until 1846! Also, it has only been on display since 1952; I didn't realize it was such a short amount of time when I visited in 8th grade on a class trip.

A little dirty laundry gets aired here in the form of which states ratified the 19th Amendment and when - you keep it classy Mississippi, not ratifying until 1984. I am not surprised that many southern states were among the last to ratify it.

The 15 year old girl in me who will forever love Titanic could not help but be wistfully glad to see the inclusion of Titanic telegrams included as important documents that changed the world. Movie references aside, it really was a wake-up call to these shipping companies that safety measures needed to change and improve to avoid another tragedy on such a scale.

There were several documents relating to World War I and II, which should come as no surprise. The Treaty of Versailles is always troubling to me, as it basically assured that there would be another war - how could there not be? Germany was forced to take all the responsible for the Great War, only for the fact that they were the last ones standing when the war came to an end. It should shock no one that the Nazis were able to rise and grab power so swiftly; the treaty was crushing and the reparations were impossible.

When I think of a document, I think of something of the non-fiction, factual variety. This is why I struggle with the inclusion of books - manuscripts - in this text. However, I feel that Anne Frank's diary certainly deserves its place. The importance of this diary can not be overstated and if you do not believe me, try standing in the Annex and imagining living in this cramped space with seven other people, the majority of whom you struggle regularly to even get along with. It is one of the most humbling experiences I have ever had in my life and could not imagine spending two years in that place. Anne's diary gave a voice to the millions who had theirs cruelly and violently taken away. I did NOT like, however, that Miep Gies was simply referred to as the 'family friend' who later saved Anne's diary after the family had been taken away. Even with the focus being on the document itself, surely Miep deserves much more credit than that.

There were so many documents that I found interesting, I could keep writing for a while. I will finish this up with reference to a certain CIA document, dated August 6th, 2001, that stated very clearly an attack on the US by bin Laden was imminent. Unfortunately, this memo was handed to one of the most incompetent presidents in the history of our country, while he was staying at his ranch in Texas. You know, one of his 406 vacation days taken in his presidency, or some absurd number that the GOP conveniently likes to forget whenever they complain about Obama playing a round of golf. As a follow-up, the Iraq War Resolution was included but I couldn't even bother to read such garbage.

So, overall, this really is 3.5 stars. There were so many documents that belonged here, but at times their importance almost felt diminished simply because often only the bare facts were included. It is by no means a be-all, end-all for any of these documents and while I can recommend reading this one, I would also suggest further reading on any of the documents that interest you.

Beyond Belief: My Secret Life Inside Scientology and My Harrowing Escape

Rating: 5 Stars

Review:

I don't even know where to begin. At 7% in I was thinking how batshit insane this all was, how this amounted to nothing more than straight up child abuse. This is not religion, this is not faith, this a money-making scheme built on the backs of children - from those who were unfortunate enough to be born to Sea Org members (the most highly committed Scientology members) and separated from their families for months or years at a time, to others who did forced manual labor to build The Ranch, all while receiving no actual education in anything but the doctrine of LRH (L. Ron Hubbard). There is no way on earth that I could ever be separated from Eleanor in that way for so long. No job or commitment is worth that. Ever. Nothing. Yet without batting an eye Jenna's parents relocated away from Justin (her brother) and Jenna WITHOUT TELLING THEM. The siblings found out from the family living with them what was happening, and by then their parents were already gone. I can't even.

It absolutely breaks my heart to even look at this cover and see this sweet face, and to know that her childhood was completely destroyed by these monsters - her own family being among the perpetrators. Worse still, to know that there are so many who went through and continue to go through the exact same thing she did - the psychological torture, the emotional abuse, even physical abuse. Heartbreaking is the only way to describe it.

Prior to reading this book I had very little knowledge of Scientology. I know it is a super expensive, super secret cult 'religion' that does not believe in pain medication or psychiatry. And it makes Tom Cruise jump around on couches acting like a damn fool. I mean really, would he have done that BEFORE becoming more involved with the cult 'Church'? No. Before that, when he was still married to Nicole, he was normal. There are still many, many things I do not understand (like why are adults called Mr. regardless of gender?) and so I am no expert, but I know what the experience was like for THIS child. I also do not understand why, at the age of seven, Jenna's job at The Ranch was to be the health monitor, keep track of all the illnesses the other children had, and to administer vitamins and help those who were injured. I also do not understand why when books like this come out, these abuses and allegations are not looked into by the authorities. Jenna, however, made a good point after her parents had left the cult 'Church' and didn't talk bad to Jenna about it at all, who was still very much involved. She made the statement that you can't tell a brainwashed person that they are brainwashed, they won't believe it. Perhaps this is why even if any authorities were to look into the allegations, they would come up with nothing, or very uncooperative people who do not see anything wrong with the way they and those around them are treated.

This was a very engaging, horribly heartbreaking story. Ultimately though, Jenna escapes (as the subtitle states, so no spoilers here) and has gone on to speak out against the cult 'Church'. I hope that now that she is free, raising a family of her own, that she can really put her life back together and find peace and happiness that she certainly never would have had if she had remained. Highly recommended.

Here We Are Now: The Lasting Impact of Kurt Cobain

Rating: 1 Star

Review:

I apologize in advance for the language I may use as this review progresses, or the language of my initial short 'review', a brief sentence or two I posted on Goodreads as soon as I finished the book. But seriously. Eff this guy.

I have always felt that I am not meant for Generation Y, but Gen X. I missed it by only two years and have always had a deep affinity for Nirvana, largely due to my introduction early on by my Uncle Kraig, only roughly a decade older than I. While I listened to New Kids on the Block faithfully, there was something about Kurt's voice that always drew me in. I was 11 when he died and I remember watching MTV's breaking news running on repeat, Kurt Loder telling me time and again that the body of Kurt Cobain had been discovered.

I still recall with great clarity seeing the footage of throngs of fans gathering, in tears, some hysterical; Courtney's voice reading his note out loud to them, all of it. I remember even at that young age knowing what I was witnessing was very important, though at the time I did not yet understand why.

Fast forward 20 years and we have Charles Cross STILL cashing in on Kurt's name and giving Courtney positive attention/publicity. I will read anything and everything about Kurt that continues to be published (except his Journals, which I own but will never read). Yet THIS guy, making a buck off his loose connections to one of the greatest musicians of all time...just, fuck this guy.

Cross addresses several areas of popular culture that still are impacted by the short life of Cobain and the even shorter span of his music career. But it does not take a genius, or this doofus making money, to tell us why Kurt matters. He matters because he was talented, and we were privy to just a tiny of sliver of what he was capable of. He matters because we will never know what could have been. He matters because he was a human being with his own demons and struggles, played out on a very public stage. He matters, period.

In the end, I freely admit that I do not believe Kurt killed himself. I am wary of any book (Heavier than Heaven, which I read) that comes out with Courtney's stamp of approval. I am not typically a conspiracy theorist (except for JFK because come on, no way did Oswald pull that off alone), but there is something there we do not know. And maybe it is not ours to know, the fans who still crave any scrap of information, any rough recording, practice session, anything of Kurt - though I personally have no desire to see the newly developed crime scene photos that somehow sat in evidence for the last twenty years and no one thought it was necessary to take a look.

By the way, Cross also mentioned Adele frequently, who I dig. But for him to say that 21 might be as good as Nevermind (or something to that effect, I was seeing red so I don't recall his exact verbage)? No. Nevermind is not even my favorite Nirvana album (In Utero is) and still, no.

If you are like me and deeply love Nirvana but are suspicious of his death, have at it but be aware of Cross towing the party line about Kurt's 'suicide'. It is a short text and won't take long. You'll roll your eyes at parts. especially the stretches he takes to connect Kurt to current music - namely hip-hop. But please, if you even have the slightest doubt about Kurt's death, do not take what Cross says in this book or parts of Heavier than Heaven as absolute fact.

And just for good measure, I leave you with this:

The Children of Henry VIII

Rating: 4 Stars

Review:

When I first saw this slim volume at Half-Price Books (albeit a brand new copy - pay attention to those letters on the stickers, people! There are far more new books for sale in the shop than you might realize!), I knew chances were good that it would not be any new information. But who am I to resist a book about one of the most dysfunctional families in history?

I always feel a bit bad for Henry Fitzroy - while we see Henry VIII, Mary I, Elizabeth I, and Edward VI there on the cover together, poor Fitzroy is relegated to smaller portrait on the back cover, At least he is mentioned however, and significant space is dedicated to him within the text, especially before the arrival of Elizabeth. Once again, Anne was up to her old tricks and did all she could supposedly to ensure that Fitzroy was on the back-burner.

This brings me to a point I would like to address in regards to Henry's illegitimate children, however. There's always been speculation that Mary Boleyn's son and daughter were Henry's and not her husband's, as the timeline is murky about when she was actually Henry's mistress. However, given his lack of heirs - or male heirs - I'd have thought the time would come that, were they his children, or the son at least (also named Henry) then the old grouch would have acknowledge them, Maybe I am wrong, but I do doubt they were his children and given what we know now medically, I am pretty sure these four are his only surviving children. It makes little sense that he would acknowledge one illegitimate child but not any others,

Anyway, on to the book. John Guy is an author that I really like, for the most part. Here he has presented a lot of information in a small space, but does not skimp on the details. he also offers a plethora of notes and references to aid the reader in seeking more information. The inclusion of the Tudor, Howard, and Boleyn family trees was useful as well and would be an asset to those very new to Tudor history. I myself still mix these people up and I have read quite a fair bit of text about the dynasty in the last few years. Still, it is a handy reference to have.

My only complaint is what it often is - lack of photos. However, this time that can attributed to the fact that this is such a short text. Not to mention the fact that even portraits available that we think might be of certain people from the period can often turn out to be misidentified.

Overall I would say that if you already know quite a bit about the Tudors, you can pass on this one. If you are still new to the dynasty then I would certainly say have at it, you will learn quite a bit about these poor children who, unsurprisingly, grew up to be very dysfunctional adults (or at least dysfunctional teenagers, in the case.of Edward, who died at 16 or 17, depending on who you ask).

The Politics of Myth

Rating: 3 Stars

Review:

I received this as an ARC via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

If I would have seen this book cover in the store instead of for free on NetGalley, there is a very good chance I would have skipped it altogether. I get it, it is definitely Jackie and Diana looking at us in the collage, and they are certainly almost mythic figures at this point, but they are not even figures discussed in the book. And really, it is more creepy than anything to me.

I wavered for along time on the rating for this one and I think if I think about it anymore, it would end up being two stars. So, I will go forward as is, trying to review a book that all at once seemed to know its direct purpose and path, yet seemed to get lost along the way.

The idea of myth are interesting and so are all the figures addressed here: King Arthur, Guinevere, Merlin, Ned Kelly, Joan of Arc, Shakespeare, Sherlock Holmes, Robin Hood and Elizabeth I. Some are, of course, real historical people who lived and died in well-documented ways. Others are figures who may have had some basis in reality but over centuries have evolved into something bigger than their humble beginnings.

Truthfully, I found the historical aspects of all those discussed to be far more interesting than the actual premise of the book, the politics behind these myths and how they can used and misused to further the ideas and agendas of others well into our own century. Even Ned Kelly, who is easily the one I knew the least about - along with Sherlock Holmes - was able to keep my interest for the history and facts, though I am not inclined to seek further information about him.

One major issue I do take with the book aside from its meandering, is the fact that there are only nine figures discussed, yet three of them are figures who are very much entwined in one anothers' stories - Arthur, Guinevere and Merlin. Were there seriously no other mythical figures in history that fit this idea that the author had? I find that hard to believe, though when you look at the figures, there are all of British, French or Australian origin, so perhaps that says something about the intent as well.

Unrelated to the purpose of the book, some things I appreciate greatly include the fact that Mary was given a bit better look here when discussing Elizabeth's reign. Certainly Mary does deserve more credit than she gets about the positive things she did in her short reign and I dig that. I also was pleased to see this author does not think Shakespeare is anyone other than the Stratford man we know him as. None of these other supposed writers are given much credit, nor should they be, as I do not buy into the nonsense that Shakespeare was a secret identity.

Speaking of Shakespeare, I have a bone to pick with the author about this line when discussing the Bard in the 20th Century: "...and Kenneth Branagh in some unremarkable recent films." Now, I never saw him in 'Hamlet' (1996), but I most certainly saw 'Much Ado About Nothing' (1993) and I certainly hope that is not what the author is referring to because Much Ado was fantastic. I would suppose they are the films he is referring to though, as these would still qualify as recent (within the last 22 years) when discussing someone who has been dead for 400 years. So, boo to that. I love Much Ado.

Anyway, this is one I can take or leave. it was okay, but I found myself skimming more and more toward the end. Perhaps I am just not the target audience for this one.