NetGalley

Professional Reader 80% 25 Book Reviews 2016 NetGalley Challenge

Saturday, July 21, 2018

Country Dark - Review

Country Dark    🌟🌟🌟🌟
by Chris Offutt
Published April 10 2018 by Grove Press


So much to love in these few pages, Tucker being the main thing. He's a Korean War veteran, hitching a ride home, saving a girl from being raped by her uncle and then marrying her, making a life for them and their children by boot legging.  The writing is spare but still manages descriptions that give you all the visuals you need to imagine their small house in backwoods Kentucky, the wooded setting, the ruts in the road leading through the hills, and all the struggles endured.  You see the good in Tucker as well as the bad.  The bad gets him into trouble, and the good saves his hide time and time again.  After all, he goes off only when he needs to protect himself or his loved ones.  I can't say I agree with some of the things he did  but he knew how to survive (in Korea, in prison, and in the hills) and did it well, better than most.

Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher.


Wednesday, July 18, 2018

What Happened - Review

What Happened  🌟🌟🌟🌟
by Hillary Clinton
Published September 12 2017 by Simon & Schuster


Great book on audio, narrated by HRC herself.  Following are just some notes I made while listening to her tell me What Happened.  Not really a review, just a few thoughts and lots of quotes (actually more than a few as I got a little carried away, sorry!):




In the days following the 11-8-16 election, what I call "The end of the world as we know it," dozens of women apologized to Hillary for not voting. A woman forced her daughter to come over in a restaurant and apologize for not voting.  Hillary wanted to throttle her, or at least say, geez ya just have to vote!  But she did neither, composed and polite as she is. 
....
Her marriage really does sound solid although maybe unusual.  I think they're best friends and good for each other.  I am always wondering about that.  Almost died laughing after learning that they actually watch the Good Wife together!  Can you say... irony?
....
"I did my best 
It wasn't much
I couldn't feel
So I tried to touch.
I've told the truth
I didn't come to fool you.
And even though it all went wrong
I'll stand before the Lord of Song
With nothing on my tongue 
But Hallelujah  

"I'm not giving up and neither should  you."
Kate McKinnon as Hillary Clinton, Saturday Night Live  Nov. 2016.  
....
"I thought I'd  be a damn good President," a quote from HRC.  ðŸ˜­
....
HRC on Women's reproductive rights:
Texas has Defunded Planned Parenthood and refused to expand Medicaid, and maternal fatalities doubled between 2010 and 2014. Six hundred  women have died in TX, not from abortions, but from trying to give birth.  The number of teenagers having abortions actually increased when support for family planning was cut -- in one county up 190% between 2012 and 2014.
....
"Well-behaved women seldom make history."  Laurel Thatcher Ullrich
....
" When any barrier falls in America for anyone, it clears the way for everyone." HRC  
....
Those damn emails!  They occupied so much time during the election  and they do so in this book too.  Glad she explained the whole thing so well - I wish everyone would read at least that part as it's  well worth it.
....
Those damn Russians.  If you make it through  the email part, hold on to your seat because next:  The Russians are coming!  All I kept thinking was "What a freaking $h*itstorm!"  Lots of people to blame all around for doing essentially NOTHING once the extent of the Russian interference became common knowledge.
....
I thought this a very worthwhile way to spend my time. 



Wednesday, July 4, 2018

Eagle & Crane - Review

Eagle & Crane A Novel 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟
by Suzanne Rindell
Published July 3 2018 by G. P. Putnam's Sons


I love this author and this book was a fantastic read.  I'll read anything she writes after The Other Typist, which had me bewitched but also bewildered.  Eagle and Crane fortunately skips the bewilderment and goes straight to endearment and heartbreak.  

Two boys, one a Japanese American, the other white, grow up on the same section of farmland in pre - World War II California.  Their common age and venue make friends out of them despite their families' histories.  Eventually they join a flying circus together and spend some time away from home learning to be stunt men and pilots.  Their friendship hits some bumps but nothing like when the Japanese bomb Pearl Harbor and the war and internment camps are in their backyard.  Oh, and there is also a young woman involved.

To avoid spoilers I'll simply say that the ending has some nice twists, one you might see coming or not, which is always a good thing.  The characters and the story, adventures and history galore, will stay with me for a long time to come.  

Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher.