The Biology of Luck--#12 finished

Basically a day in the life of two people Starshine, a hot girl, and a guy that is going sort of out with her & has a date that night with her, Larry Bloom.  Larry is a tour guide in New York and an otherwise pretty unremarkable person but has written a book at Starshine and has a letter that he doesn't want to open to see if he will be published.

Starshine was an overweight girl that seems like didn't fit in but lost a ton of weight & became hot.  She has men that want her, a trust fund kid that stands to inherit millions and Larry among them.  The book is about this one day leading up to the date.  Premise sounds good but had trouble finding any way to care about the characters lacking especially at the beginning.  By the end became somewhat enjoyable but overall not worth it in my mind.  Not terrible but not that good either in my opinion.  Sounds like the writer is more of a short story writer and this was first novel.  Maybe will enjoy the short stories more, might have to look some up.

I have posted it on PBS, it is the only copy in system so figure it will move at some point.

Stalin's Daughter--#11 finished

A really interesting account of Stalin's daughter, Svetlana Alliluyeva.  She led a rough life, her mother committed suicide when she was young, around 6 & 1/2.  She didn't find out till many years later that it was suicide though.  She grew up during Stalin's reign of terror, where family members and family friends disappeared and executed or sent to prisons/gulags for years.  She grew up learning as most did there at the time to talk about nothing and to not even whisper your feelings.  Men she dated were scared off or sent away and she always had a body guard.  After Stalin's death she was able to finish her education in literature and then when her 3rd husband died & her 2 kids were basically adults, she found an opportunity to leave and took it.  She eventually made her way to the US and published a couple books that made enough so she could live on for a while.  Married into basically the Frank Lloyd Wright commune in Taos and in her 40s had a baby girl, the marriage didn't last but her daughter probably kept her sane for the rest of her life.  Reading this you truly get an idea of how conflicted and how tough any adjustment away from communism was for her.  I really very interesting read about someone I knew nothing about.

There are 7 WL for it on PBS so I will post at some point & mail off for someone else to enjoy.

Spymaster--#10 finished

The next in Brad Thor's Scot Harvath series.  Obviously spy stuff along with killing and all that.  Scot & his team were able to stop the Russians from the plan to retake the Balkans.  Reading a few of these type series, this seems to be decently possible stuff, no using really new or just being thought of technology.  The very end of book with a big twist and obviously consequences leading into the next book.

There are 18 WL for the book so have some time yet but will probably try to get mailed off soon.

The Sacred Blood--#9 finished

I guess there was a first book to this but I caught on with this, no problems.  Lots of archeology going on.  They dug up Jesus bones in the first book and this book goes with that & the arc of the covenant and a Jewish rabbi that wants to put this altogether to do something.  At least it was fast moving action, even if wasn't all that into the action.

I have posted it on PBS, I think there were already 5 copies so don't expect it to move but you never know.

The Scarlet Letter--#8 finished

An American classic that I hadn't read before and a short book so back around Jan 1st I thought why not get it finally read.  I finished it around the 10th of Feb.  Most classics I enjoy and can see why they have students read.  This was just a tedious book, glad that I didn't have to read in high school because I imagine I would have hated it.  The subject matter and characters are certainly interesting but the never ending paragraphs and use of long fancy words, I just kept wanting him to make his point & move on.  I really didn't enjoy it but oh well at least it is checked off.

I will put this on my keeper shelf because it does come up where kids might need it.

They Call Me Dirty--#7 finished

I actually finished this book in January but just now getting it logged.  This is Conrad Dobler's book about his time in the NFL, talks about his reputation and how he basically developed a leg whip that he used on the defensive players.  It was made illegal at some point in his career because is a great way to injure someone.  Also talked about a lot of the grabbing, fingers in facemask and other just cheap shot things he did, justifying it because everyone was doing it or he had to do those things to protect the quarterback and keep his job.  Sounds like the type of player you wanted on your team but hated when he was on other team.  Also talked a lot about the drinking and sleeping around, well some of it more eluded too than so much details, a different time that is for sure.  Not to say that those things don't go on but players certainly don't put it out there in a book.  Not a bad read, sort of entertaining but since mostly down on football now not something really enjoyed either.  His whole mindset of do anything to win is part of what has brought on the problems in sports today but can see this as a kind of typical athlete mindset.

There is 1 WL for this book on PBS so I will probably post it sometime soon & get it mailed off it they still want it.