Mistress--#45 finished

I did not finish this the same day as Corked, it was a day later, but just now getting to sit down & type these up.  This is a good James Patterson page turner type book.  Presidential scandal and a rich online newspaper reporter/owner gets tangled up in it.  Fun stuff and keeps it going with twists and turns.  Wraps up a little too neatly but everyone likes a sort of happy ending or at least happiest that could be expected at that point.  I liked the main character, Ben, has some interesting things about him, a kind of ADHD type personality and also a cut to the chase type.  I wouldn't mind if this was the start of a series with him as the main character but will just have to wait & see.  Patterson really cranks out the books so it could be possible.

There is a bunch of WL for the book, like 140 some, but this book has stain on a couple pages so is not postable for PBS.  I might try to offer it up on a deal page at PBS or maybe just donate it out somewhere.  Still reading the John Stossel book and just started Gone to the Crazies, I think is the name.  Might try to start another tonight but not sure yet.

Corked--#44 finished

It says it is a memoir but is a little crazy if it is.  The author and her dad are the two main characters.  Kathryn, the author, struggles with getting beyond hitting & killing someone with her car several years ago in college.  Her dad is a kind of checked out emotions type but also with very strange ways.  A kind of odd couple but you can see they also kind of favor each other in a way.  She is looking for acceptance from her father and it seems as though wine is his most important part of his life.  She also sees him aging and the fear of losing him without really knowing him scares her as well.  I also think there is a lot to do with the person she hit & killed was an elderly man and she sees her father getting to that point & is realizing that death can be that immediate.

Overall, just okay.  Not a big wine person but kind of fun to read about some of the wineries they visited.  A lot of the tension and her screwed up life just really didn't interest me.  Dad finally told a real story of his life, of being imprisoned for 30 plus days for a crime he didn't commit and how that kind of changed his life.  How when bad stuff happens he sort of returns to that state.  Okay but overall not really that interesting or that funny but this is a first book for the author so not too bad either.

I have posted it on PBS and there is 1 copy a head of it.  I would expect it to move at some point but PBS as whole has been moving slowly so who knows.

Terra Nullius--#43 finished

The author travels through No Man's Land in Australia talking about the horrible and genocidal treatment of the Aborigines in Australia.  I really had studied or read much about Australia and was pretty shocked at what I read.  I remember in the Sydney Olympics there was a big deal that one of Australia's best long distance runners was an Aborigine and that it got a lot of press.  I kind of remember references to 2nd class citizens but no details only that the county seemingly embraced her & that helped relations.  I guess not being in area where colonialism hit at least recently, it is had to imagine this happening.  The US has the Native Americans and also the Africans brought over as slaves and while there were and probably still are real problems, what happened in Australia is horrible and how long it went on is almost just amazing.  Really makes one think that majority rule really sucks for minorities even in supposed civilized countries.  Would like to say "man" is getting better but can't really say that when minorities are fighting for rights & freedoms all across the globe.

As far as the book, it was just okay.  It touched on lots and gave some detail but was generally scattered and hard to get real conclusions from it.  Also had the feeling that maybe some of this is exaggerated--don't want to say for sure but author seemed to have an agenda in this book.  Maybe not though and things were/are this horrible but I can't say this book has all the answers either.

This is an ex-library book and it has some water stains & food stains so is not postable.  It will go to my stack of books that will get donated or turned in for credit at a used books store.  I am still reading John Stossel's book, a James Patterson book Witness and a book about a wine trip, Corked.  My oldest is wanting me to start the Harry Potter series so I might start the first book there in the next few days too.

Orange is the New Black--#42 finished

I was surprised I really enjoyed the book.  Really interesting and open and honest look at author's year spent in federal prison.  You can see in the book how she was able to accept her crime & how playing even a small role in drug running can affect people since many of the other women in prison have their own drug issues.  Not much talked directly about the war on drugs but certainly on non-violent criminals basically shouldn't be in jail/prison.  Prisons only seems to teach them to be better criminals or just puts them further behind the eight ball of life.  I don't know any answers to all this but all of the drug convictions seems to just be maintaining the poverty class--families trying to support others in the families while husband, wife, father, mother, etc are doing time.  Author didn't have the poverty background but many in prison did and that is what they were returning too.  It is really tragic for those and unfortunately we don't know how the others ended up.  Good read but still sad in that sense.

There are many WL for it so at some point I will post it on PBS but I have enough credits now so no big hurry to post.  I started a James Patterson book--Witness and still reading Terra something about Australian outback and the terrible treatment of the Aborigines there.  Also reading the latest John Stossel book.  Will probably just stay with these 3 for a couple days.

K is for Killer--#41 finished

This was the next in line in Sue Grafton's Kinsey Milhone series.  A really good series that is just about at the end of the alphabet.  I do need to step up and read more than a couple a year to get caught up on it.  Good read, interesting case & overall just fun.  This was more on the case and not as much about her personal life.  Looking back on my books read sheets, I read this book in 1998, it seemed familiar but since I had read a handful of these before starting in order just a few years ago I wasn't sure.  I am already looking forward to continuing this so will have start the next in a few weeks probably.

I am also reading Orange is the New Black and Terra Nullius, about the Austrialian no man's land.  Also just started john Stossel's No, They Can't.  Might just go with these 3 for now.