The Physick Book of Deliverance Dane by Katherine Howe

Goodreads Summary:
"A fresh present-day story infused with an original take on popular history. Forget broomsticks and pointy hats; here are witches that could well be walking among us today. This debut novel flows with poetic charm and eloquence that achieves high literary merit while concocting a gripping supernatural puzzler. Katherine Howe's talent is spellbinding." --Matthew Pearl, author of The Poe Shadow and The Dante Club A spellbinding, beautifully written novel that moves between contemporary times and one of the most fascinating and disturbing periods in American history-the Salem witch trials.

Harvard graduate student Connie Goodwin needs to spend her summer doing research for her doctoral dissertation. But when her mother asks her to handle the sale of Connie's grandmother's abandoned home near Salem, she can't refuse. As she is drawn deeper into the mysteries of the family house, Connie discovers an ancient key within a seventeenth-century Bible. The key contains a yellowing fragment of parchment with a name written upon it: Deliverance Dane. This discovery launches Connie on a quest--to find out who this woman was and to unearth a rare artifact of singular power: a physick book, its pages a secret repository for lost knowledge.

As the pieces of Deliverance's harrowing story begin to fall into place, Connie is haunted by visions of the long-ago witch trials, and she begins to fear that she is more tied to Salem's dark past then she could have ever imagined.

Written with astonishing conviction and grace, The Physick Book of Deliverance Dane travels seamlessly between the witch trials of the 1690s and a modern woman's story of mystery, intrigue, and revelation.

My Thoughts:

I read this book as the September pick for my book club. I knew that it would be a rough read for me as I don't generally enjoy historical fiction but I thought that would be a side note, and I think perhaps that was the case for some readers. I was seriously annoyed by the tone and time shift in this book. I wanted to stop reading it several times. I didn't even finish it in time for the book club discussion. Part of that was because of my new 6 days a week work schedule and part of it was a admittedly a motivation issue.

This book read like a grad student's paper (yes I am aware the main character is a grad student) in that it was dry and hard to swallow from time to time while randomly being really good.

As you can tell I didn't love the book. I think if you enjoy historical fiction you might like this read. Also if you have a thing for the Salem Witches you would likely enjoy this read. Be warned though, if you are like me and have PTSD from college, reading way way way too many academic articles you may be annoyed by this book. Also if you don't love it when a book flip flops between time and story lines you might have the same frustrations with this book. 

While writing this review I was listening to absolutely nothing and it was awesome.

Considering Hate: Violence, Goodness, and Justice in American Culture and Politics by Kay Whitlock and Michael Bronski

Goodreads Summary:

Over the centuries American society has been plagued by brutality fueled by disregard for the humanity of others: systemic violence against slaves, Native peoples, and immigrants. More recent examples include the Steubenville rape case and the murders of Matthew Shepard, Jennifer Daugherty, Marcelo Lucero, and Trayvon Martin. Most Americans see such acts as driven by hate. But is this right? Longtime activists and political theorists Kay Whitlock and Michael Bronski boldly assert that American society's reliance on the framework of hate to explain these acts is wrongheaded, misleading, and ultimately harmful.

All too often Americans choose to believe that terrible cruelty is aberrant, caused primarily by “extremists” and misfits. The inevitable remedy of intensified government-based policing, increased surveillance, and harsher punishments has never worked and does not work now. Stand Your Ground laws, the US prison system; police harassment of people of color, women, and LGBT people; and the so-called War on Terror demonstrate that they themselves are forms of institutionalized violence.

Considering Hate challenges easy assumptions and failed solutions, arguing that “hate violence” reflects existing cultural norms. Drawing upon social science, philosophy, theology, film, and literature, the authors examine how hate and common, even ordinary, forms of individual and group violence are excused and normalized in popular culture and political discussion. This massive denial of brutal reality profoundly warps society's ideas about goodness and justice.

Considering Hate daringly invites readers to think differently—to redefine the meaning of justice within a new framework of transformative imagination, collective responsibility, and civic goodness.

My Thoughts:

I wish I had this book while I was still in college. I loved the challenges posed to every day thinking and the possibilities of changes presented in this book. I can easily see this book working in a wide variety of Social Science classes and I would highly recommend this for an upper division writing course. 

I read the book twice and found myself sharing quotes frequently. Considering Hate makes us all look at ourselves and our institutions with a new lens. While I am not saying you should buy into their ideas completely I do think that taking a different approach to how you look at the world around you is always a worthwhile exercise. The perpetuation of violence is an issue that needs to be tackled on both the large scale and the small. 

This book blew my mind and I am happier for it.

I would recommend this book to everyone, but particularly those looking for a read that is thought provoking, well written, and informative in a way that isn't textbook dry. I think the common person could easily read this book as it doesn't feel like it was written for academics. 

While writing this review I was listening to the calm sounds of the pond outside my door.

I should note that I did receive this book as an ARC but have since pre-ordered the book in hard copy to keep with my textbooks from school.

Horns by Joe Hill

Goodreads Summary:
Ignatius Perrish spent the night drunk and doing terrible things. He woke up the next morning with a thunderous hangover, a raging headache . . . and a pair of horns growing from his temples.

At first Ig thought the horns were a hallucination, the product of a mind damaged by rage and grief. He had spent the last year in a lonely, private purgatory, following the death of his beloved, Merrin Williams, who was raped and murdered under inexplicable circumstances. A mental breakdown would have been the most natural thing in the world. But there was nothing natural about the horns, which were all too real.

Once the righteous Ig had enjoyed the life of the blessed: born into privilege, the second son of a renowned musician and younger brother of a rising late-night TV star, he had security, wealth, and a place in his community. Ig had it all, and more—he had Merrin and a love founded on shared daydreams, mutual daring, and unlikely midsummer magic.

But Merrin's death damned all that. The only suspect in the crime, Ig was never charged or tried. And he was never cleared. In the court of public opinion in Gideon, New Hampshire, Ig is and always will be guilty because his rich and connected parents pulled strings to make the investigation go away. Nothing Ig can do, nothing he can say, matters. Everyone, it seems, including God, has abandoned him. Everyone, that is, but the devil inside. . . .

Now Ig is possessed of a terrible new power to go with his terrible new look—a macabre talent he intends to use to find the monster who killed Merrin and destroyed his life. Being good and praying for the best got him nowhere. It's time for a little revenge. . . . It's time the devil had his due. . .

My Thoughts:

I started this book after hearing about the movie with Daniel Radcliffe that is coming out, or is out. I admit I am not sure about that last bit. After reading the book I don't think that I will be seeing the movie.

I found the book interesting-ish at first, if not a little bit over the top with how depressing it was right from the beginning. The more I read the book the more I wished I hadn't started reading it to begin with. I found out about half way through the book that it was written by Stephen King's son. I suspect had I known that up front I would have looked into the story a bit more and likely would not have read the book. I am not at all a fan of Stephen King or similar writers. I just don't enjoy such heavy dark reads when there isn't something else to balance it out. This book is exactly that, too dark and nothing to balance it.

I disliked this book at best and totally hated it at worst. I was left with a grimy feeling in my head and I wish I could scrub it with a toothbrush. I had no reason to like Ig. Sure, the writer told me that Ig was a good guy, but I never really believed it. This book was just full of dark and twisty. Also, if I read the name Keith Richards one more time I was going to have to start a drinking game. The writing felt redundant and tired. It felt long and hard to finish. I never felt engrossed in the reading. It was never pleasurable. Mostly this book made me a bit sick.

So, to whom would I recommend this book? I guess to fans of Stephen King, though his fans on goodreads don't have nice things to say. If you like dark and twisty with no balance this is your book. I can't say I learned anything about myself or the world from this book and normally when I have finished a book I can at least say I got a new and interesting perspective on something. Sadly, I just felt tired and a little abused.

Really, I need to stop writing about this book. It has brought out the grumpy mean side of my reviewing and I don't really want to be a lame-o that way. So here is something nice about Horns. I think the idea was interesting and had a lot of potential. I think the writing, with more editing also shows potential for storytelling that can be engrossing. Also, good on you Joe Hill for being a writer, it is hard to finish a book, let alone more than one. Also this book is very successful at exploring a dark nature that all of us have.

While writing this review I was listening to the Once soundtrack.

The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie

Goodreads Summary:

In his first book for young adults, bestselling author Sherman Alexie tells the story of Junior, a budding cartoonist growing up on the Spokane Indian Reservation. Determined to take his future into his own hands, Junior leaves his troubled school on the rez to attend an all-white farm town high school where the only other Indian is the school mascot. Heartbreaking, funny, and beautifully written, The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, which is based on the author's own experiences, coupled with poignant drawings by acclaimed artist Ellen Forney, that reflect the character's art, chronicles the contemporary adolescence of one Native American boy as he attempts to break away from the life he was destined to live.


My Thoughts:
First I would like to say that the drawings for this story are awesome and really add to the story. It has been a long time since reading a book with any kind of illustration and this book has made me think I should read more. I know that the same artist drew all the illustrations but there is such a difference in the styles that it helps with moments in the story where you feel raw emotion and growing up moments. The art really added to the storytelling.


Recently, I took a class in college about inequality in a democracy specifically in terms of economic inequality. A fellow student wrote her 20 page research paper on reservation life here in Utah. I heard about her experiences of first feeling Native and secondarily feeling like an American. I found it interesting that Junior also had those feelings. He had to come to terms with life on the rez and what he experienced when he dared to go to a public school not on the rez. The extreme poverty was something I expected to hear about. But from the point of view of a child is vastly different than the scholarly views I am used to.


***SPOILER***
The second or maybe third story in the book is about Junior watching his Father kill his dog because they didn't have the money to take the dog to the veterinarian. I got choked up thinking about what an experience like that will do to an adult let alone a child.
It was sweet though the way that Junior found friends who accepted him for who he was and didn't hold his poverty against him. So often in high school I saw how the poor kids were treated, or anyone who was even slightly different was treated. That isn't to say that Junior was accepted right away, he wasn't, but eventually he won some people over. I never saw that for the kids I went to school with who were picked on.


Overall, I really enjoyed this book. It was a fast read, even with the heavy parts of the story you don't really need a break from the book. I would recommend this book to anyone who wants a clear picture of Indian reservation life, but expect your heart to break a little. Additionally, I think anyone could benefit from reading this book.


While writing this review I was watching a rerun of Castle, the one where Alexis is kidnapped and taken to Paris.

Days of Blood and Starlight / Dreams of Gods and Monsters By Laini Taylor

Goodreads Summary:

Once upon a time, an angel and a devil fell in love and dared to imagine a world free of bloodshed and war.

This is not that world.

Art student and monster's apprentice Karou finally has the answers she has always sought. She knows who she is—and what she is. But with this knowledge comes another truth she would give anything to undo: She loved the enemy and he betrayed her, and a world suffered for it.

In this stunning sequel to the highly acclaimed Daughter of Smoke & Bone, Karou must decide how far she'll go to avenge her people. Filled with heartbreak and beauty, secrets and impossible choices, Days of Blood & Starlight finds Karou and Akiva on opposing sides as an age-old war stirs back to life.

While Karou and her allies build a monstrous army in a land of dust and starlight, Akiva wages a different sort of battle: a battle for redemption. Forhope.

But can any hope be salvaged from the ashes of their broken dream?

Goodreads Summary:


By way of a staggering deception, Karou has taken control of the chimaera rebellion and is intent on steering its course away from dead-end vengeance. The future rests on her, if there can even be a future for the chimaera in war-ravaged Eretz.

Common enemy, common cause.

When Jael's brutal seraph army trespasses into the human world, the unthinkable becomes essential, and Karou and Akiva must ally their enemy armies against the threat. It is a twisted version of their long-ago dream, and they begin to hope that it might forge a way forward for their people.

And, perhaps, for themselves. Toward a new way of living, and maybe even love.

But there are bigger threats than Jael in the offing. A vicious queen is hunting Akiva, and, in the skies of Eretz ... something is happening. Massive stains are spreading like bruises from horizon to horizon; the great winged stormhunters are gathering as if summoned, ceaselessly circling, and a deep sense of wrong pervades the world.

What power can bruise the sky?

From the streets of Rome to the caves of the Kirin and beyond, humans, chimaera and seraphim will fight, strive, love, and die in an epic theater that transcends good and evil, right and wrong, friend and enemy.

At the very barriers of space and time, what do gods and monsters dream of? And does anything else matter?

My Thoughts:

I read the first in this series for the 9 3/4 Book Club. For some reason I can't start a series without finishing it. So I did.

...

And the thing is that I wanted to like these books. I didn't hate them, but they weren't great. They could have been good, the idea was solid. The execution was middle of the road with sudden swerves to extremely annoying. I don't have much to say about the second book but always whining is not hot. The third book however...

***SPOILER***

OK, seriously? Who introduces a crazy important character in the third book? Eliza the mostly human angel who happens to have the answers for everything ever? Oh yeah let's introduce her and make her the key and then barely explain all the huge crazy shit that has been going on with all the many worlds. What.The.Fuck.Ever.

I feel like the third book was a "just kidding on concluding all the shit I have been writing about for three books, I am really setting up my next series of books."

And really that is all I have to say about that. Sure, the writing was pretty in a lot of ways but I feel like the story was lacking (not Twilight lacking but pretty close).

I would not recommend these books. Sorry to the writer. I know you probably put a lot of work into these and writing is hard, but I just can't recommend these books even to fans of the genre.

While writing this review I was listening to a rerun of Castle.

Daughter of Smoke & Bone by Laini Taylor

Goodreads Summary:

Around the world, black handprints are appearing on doorways, scorched there by winged strangers who have crept through a slit in the sky.

In a dark and dusty shop, a devil’s supply of human teeth grows dangerously low.

And in the tangled lanes of Prague, a young art student is about to be caught up in a brutal otherwordly war.

Meet Karou. She fills her sketchbooks with monsters that may or may not be real, she’s prone to disappearing on mysterious "errands", she speaks many languages - not all of them human - and her bright blue hairactually grows out of her head that color. Who is she? That is the question that haunts her, and she’s about to find out.

When beautiful, haunted Akiva fixes fiery eyes on her in an alley in Marrakesh, the result is blood and starlight, secrets unveiled, and a star-crossed love whose roots drink deep of a violent past. But will Karou live to regret learning the truth about herself?

My Thoughts:

This was the first selection of The 9 3/4 Book Club, which was recently formed by myself and my bestie. We judge books by their covers. Which the cover of this book is pretty. I am such as sucker for blue with black and white.

This was a really fast read for me. I would say the average reader could finish it in a week or two. I finished it in a long weekend. This is not a book I would have selected on my own as I am not a huge fan of fantastical books. This book has a lot of fantasy creatures running around making a mess of things. That being said, over all I liked the book once I suspended my disbelief enough to enjoy it. 

I was creeped out by the whole teeth hunting thing and what the point of the teeth ended up being didn't help with the creep factor. This book was more imaginative than a lot of YA novels. I liked that it was primarily set in Prague, which isn't a city I get to read about very often but have always wanted to visit.

Karou is a better female lead than a lot of YA females. But she still has some of the same annoying qualities that I wish writers would give up on. Vulnerability doesn't always have to take the form of weakness, which is all I am going to say on that.

Akiva could use a little work, which may or may not be addressed in the next book. For a fierce fighting angel he has a lot of growing up to do. I didn't love the overly masculine and immature nature. Those two things don't really balance this character so mostly I wanted to punch him and say "dude, grow some balls." But the end of the story he is all sorts of mean and evil so I am not sure how I feel about that.

Overall, I would say this was a good read. I would recommend it to fantasy folks who love some teen drama but want something better than the Twilight series.

While writing this review I was listening to They by Jem.

HRC: State Secrets and the Rebirth of Hillary Clinton By Jonathan Allen

Goodreads Summary:

The mesmerizing story of Hillary Clinton's political rebirth, based on eyewitness accounts from deep inside her inner circle.

Hillary Clinton’s surprising defeat in the 2008 Democratic primary brought her to the nadir of her political career, vanquished by a much younger opponent whose message of change and cutting-edge tech team ran circles around her stodgy campaign. And yet, six years later, she has reemerged as an even more powerful and influential figure, a formidable stateswoman and the presumed front-runner for the 2016 Democratic presidential nomination, marking one of the great political comebacks in history.

The story of Hillary’s phoenixlike rise is at the heart of HRC, a riveting political biography that journeys into the heart of “Hillaryland” to discover a brilliant strategist at work. Masterfully unfolded by Politico’s Jonathan Allen and The Hill’s Amie Parnes from more than two hundred top-access interviews with Hillary’s intimates, colleagues, supporters, and enemies,HRC portrays a seasoned operator who negotiates political and diplomatic worlds with equal savvy. Loathed by the Obama team in the wake of the primary, Hillary worked to become the president’s greatest ally, their fates intertwined in the work of reestablishing America on the world stage. HRCputs readers in the room with Hillary during the most intense and pivotal moments of this era, as she mulls the president-elect’s offer to join the administration, pulls the strings to build a coalition for his war against Libya, and scrambles to deal with the fallout from the terrible events in Benghazi—all while keeping one eye focused on 2016.

HRC offers a rare look inside the merciless Clinton political machine, as Bill Clinton handled the messy business of avenging Hillary’s primary loss while she tried to remain above the partisan fray. Exploring her friendships and alliances with Robert Gates, David Petraeus, Leon Panetta, Joe Biden, and the president himself, Allen and Parnes show how Hillary fundamentally transformed the State Department through the force of her celebrity and her unparalleled knowledge of how power works in Washington. Filled with deep reporting and immersive storytelling, this remarkable portrait of the most important female politician in American history is an essential inside look at the woman who may be our next president.

My Thoughts:
I have always liked Hillary and Bill Clinton. I wondered what kind of strength it took to keep your identity when your husband is president. I have always admired the way that she handled the problems of life, as privately as possible with as much strength as possible. I mention this only as a way of knowing my upfront bias about Hilary Clinton. I won't pretend that I have no such bias.

This book gave us the clear image of a strong woman dealing with unique circumstances. Through the accounts of those closest to Hillary we start to understand the drive, ambition, and personal dedication of Hillary.

Hillary has shown us time and again that she can not be knocked down for long. She shows true integrity and intelligence by always learning from her mistakes. Failed Presidential campaigns have withered lesser people. Hillary has set the stage for her next campaign if she chooses to run. This book shows us her education on how to improve and win next time.

Above all, I think this book humanizes Hillary in a way that not many other books have. Meaning, this book shows that Hillary is a fighter, and sometimes you have to fight hard and dirty. This is human nature, often it is something that is looked down on but honestly I don't think that it should be. Play the game but don't get lost in it is the lens of this book.

I would recommend this book to fans of Hillary and those who don't know much about her. I don't think overly conservative people would love this book, but independent voters could at least get a better picture of Hillary.

While writing this review I was listening to this song.

The Execution By Dick Wolf

Goodreads Summary:

NYPD Detective Jeremy Fisk must make an uneasy ally - the disturbingly beautiful and assertive Mexican Intelligence Agency Detective Cecilia Garza. She recognizes the signature of assassin Chuparosa - a hummingbird carved on a corpse. After years of pursuit, she knows only that he is heading to Manhattan - with the rest of the world for UN Week.

Ten days after the Mexican presidential election, 23 bodies were found beheaded on the US border, each carved by Chuparosa. Near New York, Rockaway has a mass murder. There is more to this threat than meets the eye — and justice is not always blind.

My Thoughts:

This is the second book in the Jeremy Fisk Series and like the first I enjoyed the read. This book had more blood and intense moments than the first so that is just a heads up, there are A LOT of really bloody scenes in this book.

I didn't have a problem with all the blood, it really did help set up what was happening and why. I liked the Garza character even though she was a bit clichéd. I think sometimes clichés exist for a reason and actually work for a story. She has to be the bitch to get respect from her peers in the Mexican Intelligence Agency. 

We do see snap shots of her softer side, just as we see the softer vulnerable side of Jeremy Fisk as he tries to heal from what happened to him in the first Fisk book. These characters are really human but have enough originality to them that they can and do surprise you at the end.

I would recommend this book to fans of Tom Clancy and similar writers. These books has a distinctive male voice, but not overly macho so they are not off putting to female readers. As I previously mentioned there is a lot of blood in this book while exploring the Chuparosa character so if you can't handle stories with cold blooded killers I would suggest skipping this one.

While writing this review I was listening to CBS This Morning, I totally have a crush on Charlie Rose.

Book Club? Totally going to give it a go. Stitch and bitch too? Possibly

For the last six months or more my amazing friend and fellow book blogger has been trying to get me to start a book club with her. Now that I am finally graduated from college and living a life that doesn't revolve around text books I am ready to read and be social about non text books with people that aren't fellow students! This is super exciting for me on several levels but mostly I get to keep intelligent conversation in my life but it doesn't always have to be about Political Science!

We are just putting feelers out there to see who would be into the idea? The when and where (though the where I am thinking is the Work Coffeebar in Midvale Utah as it has enough seating and isn't super packed with people in the evenings so we would all be able to hear one another and support a local business at the same time) haven't been decided yet. Let me know if you are in the Salt Lake City area and would be interested in joining a book club. I think for the most part we would be open to reading any genre. I am a big fan of variety so personally I am open to anything. Really the only thing I would say is a big deal is you actually read the book even if you don't love the selection.

We have also talked about starting a stitch and bitch so if knitting and or crochet is more your speed than reading books also let me know. I have been doing crochet for years and I know a few knitters so it would be fun to get together and share yarn info and project ideas while working on current projects.

I Remember Nothing: and other Reflections by Nora Ephron

Goodreads Summary:

Nora Ephron returns with her first book since the astounding success of I Feel Bad About My Neck, taking a cool, hard, hilarious look at the past, the present, and the future, bemoaning the vicissitudes of modern life, and recalling with her signature clarity and wisdom everything she hasn’t (yet) forgotten.

Ephron writes about falling hard for a way of life (“Journalism: A Love Story”) and about breaking up even harder with the men in her life (“The D Word”); lists “Twenty-five Things People Have a Shocking Capacity to Be Surprised by Over and Over Again” (“There is no explaining the stock market but people try”; “You can never know the truth of anyone’s marriage, including your own”; “Cary Grant was Jewish”; “Men cheat”); reveals the alarming evolution, a decade after she wrote and directedYou’ve Got Mail, of her relationship with her in-box (“The Six Stages of E-Mail”); and asks the age-old question, which came first, the chicken soup or the cold? All the while, she gives candid, edgy voice to everything women who have reached a certain age have been thinking . . . but rarely acknowledging.

Filled with insights and observations that instantly ring true—and could have come only from Nora Ephron—I Remember Nothing is pure joy.

My Thoughts:

I can't read Nora Ephron's writing all night but I love reading her work in small doses. That is mostly because her style is lot like my own thinking and one can only take so much of the same or similar voice.

I laughed a lot and thought a lot about the stories. It was interesting to get her account of what it was like to graduate college and end up as a mail girl because they weren't allowed to write like the men.

I would recommend this book to anyone who likes an honest book with a bit of edge in tone.

While writing this review I was listening to Dust in the Wind by Kansas.