Case Solved!

First, I want to say that I might be in love with Erik Larson.  It might be too soon to tell but this is two books that I really enjoyed now.  Thunderstruck kept me riveted right until the very end.  Extremely well-written and interesting.  Also, I find the footnotes absolutely enthralling (and humorous).  Read it, people!!

Now for the disappointing news...I started up Faceless Killers and I'm going to have to pronounce it unpalatable.  Hear me out!!  Let me start off by saying that I had high expectations going into this and I think that might partly be why I'm so distraught right now.  I was expecting something dramatic and mindblowingly gut-wrenching.  Instead I get choppy sentences and confusing passages where I have no clue if the person is narrating their thoughts or speaking aloud.  This could all be due to poor translation, however.  Maybe if I was Swedish and reading the original my socks would be rocked right off of my feet.  But I'm not Swedish and my socks are decidedly stuck on (or they would be if it weren't so atrociously hot and humid up here).  I made it forty pages in and to the fourth chapter but I'm going to have to call it quits. 

This is the moment in the blog when I let you in on a secret: if you don't like a book you don't have to plod your way through to the very end.  That's right, folks!  If you've started up a book and you find yourself just wishing that the darn thing was over with already, you might want to just put it down and start something new.  Sooo I'm going to read Charles and Emma: The Darwins' Leap of Faith by Deborah Heiligman.  You can probably guess from the title that the book is centered on Mr. & Mrs. Darwin.  What you don't know from the title (or maybe you're familiar with this book and this is all redudant to you) is that this is a nonfiction book for young adults.  WHAT?  Yep, I do believe if you read my intro you will see that I bounce around to all different areas of literature.  I have heard great things about this book and it was on my wish list for forever.  From what I've heard, the story centers on Charles Darwin's wife and how her place in his life shaped him as a man and as a scientist.  I've always found Darwin interesting (I did after all major in Anthropology) but I know almost nothing about his life outside of academia.  I'm going to start this thing up tonight and I'll let you all know how it goes!!

Hello! Welcome!

I would like to start out by saying that I do not profess to be some know-it-all when it comes to book recommendations.  You will not always (or maybe never) agree with what I say but that's the wonder of the blog isn't it? ;o)  However, I have been asked recently to give recommendations and because of this I thought it might be a good idea to try out a blog.  So let's get started!

I'm currently reading a fantastic bit of nonfiction entitled Thunderstruck by Erik Larson.  The book focuses on the beginning of the 20th century and two men in particular.  One of these men is trying to do something that is deemed impossible: create a form of transatlantic communication, i.e. wireless.  The other is an unassuming doctor who may or may not have commited a heinous crime.  Larson is a master at writing really compelling nonfiction books.  He weaves the story in such a way that you forget that you're reading about something that actually happened.  I personally enjoy reading the bibliography in the back because the notes he writes about some of the sources used makes me giggle.  I'm almost done with this one and so far I would say that it's a definite must-read!

I just finished another piece of nonfiction which was recommended to me by a librarian chum of mine: The Devil's Gentleman: Privilege, Poison, and the Trial That Ushered in the Twentieth Century by Harold Schechter.  It just so happens that this book is written about the same time period as the book above.  This read centers on two murders (and a third attempted) commited in NY by poison delivered in the guise of mail ordered medicine.  One of the interesting facets of this story is that at the time of this crime a phenomena was launched that still pervades today: yellow journalism (gossip rags).  The crime and the subsequent trial were plastered on the front of the papers and the main suspect was proven guilty even before the start of proceedings (seems familiar huh?).  It was a definite page turner but the ending left me feeling somewhat disappointed.  I would recommend it, however, because it's informative and it blows your mind just how much times have changed yet remained the same.

Well, that's the first entry.  Please let me know if you need recommendations and/or what you thought of the start of my blog!!