Fact or fiction?

About 3 pages into Thomas Jefferson and the Tripoli Pirates by Brian Kilmeade I felt that the author had a real issue with Muslims and he wrote this book to denounce them through a historical lens. As he drew parallels to the Barbary Wars (what's detailed in this book) and present day conflicts, he made the claim that slavery was a unique and barbarous practice only perpetrated by Muslims against whites. (Duh that's not the case.) By the time I had finished the book my overwhelming impression was that this book was not only Islamophobic but a major piece of revisionist history. (I even checked other reader's reviews to make sure that I wasn't completely off the mark here and they back up my feelings pretty much across the board.) He makes a strong argument for a show of military strength over diplomacy. In fact, the Barbary Wars were what precipitated the formation of the Navy and Marines (the 'shores of Tripoli' ring any bells?). I couldn't even tell you if what he says happened really happened when such a large focus was on ideas other than the historical events of the moment. 0/10

And then to discover that this book which was recommended to me by a coworker was in fact written by a co-host of Fox & Friends made total sense after the fact. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ 

Source: Amazon

What's Up Next: The Star Diaries by Stanislaw Lem

What I'm Currently Reading: Inside Out: A Memoir by Demi Moore

**If you're interested in buying this book or any books really, you can click here or here. The first will re-direct you to AbeBooks and the second will re-direct you to The Book Depository. These are great websites for purchasing books (AbeBooks carries inexpensive used and out-of-print books and The Book Depository ships free everywhere in the world). Full disclosure: I will receive a commission on all sales made by following either of these links. I wouldn't recommend a site that I didn't use and you are under no obligation to purchase anything. :-) **

If this was Shark Week I'd be super relevant

The following book was kindly sent to me by the author, Matthew Danza, who requested a review.

I'm going to come right out and say that I didn't care for The Fin. I can see why some people would enjoy it but this just wasn't the book for me. There's a lot of teenage angst combined with gore which sounds like a good time but I felt like it didn't really go anywhere. The story follows Lee, an annoying and obnoxious teenager, living on a small island with her twin brother James and her father. (There's a secondary storyline about her estrangement with her mother which was awkwardly included but ultimately went nowhere.) Her good friend (who obviously likes her and who she likes back) is named Adam and he rounds out the main cast of characters. Based on the title of this book and the cover art, it's obvious that this is a story about a shark attack. Firstly, I felt the storyline was excruciatingly slow especially for a novella. Also, totally predictable. (And I think the author was going for a Jaws homage but it felt super forced and corny to me.) The only good thing about this book was that it was mercifully short. I think that the author was trying to do too much for the length of a novella. This was a 1/10 for me.

**If you're interested in buying this book or any books really, you can click here or here. The first will re-direct you to AbeBooks and the second will re-direct you to The Book Depository. These are great websites for purchasing books (AbeBooks carries inexpensive used and out-of-print books and The Book Depository ships free everywhere in the world). Full disclosure: I will receive a commission on all sales made by following either of these links. I wouldn't recommend a site that I didn't use and you are under no obligation to purchase anything. :-) **