Powerful

Black is the Body:  Stories from My Grandmother's Time, My Mother's Time and Mine was many things.  At times humorous, at times eye-opening, at times horrific.  At ALL times it was powerful and important and a must-read. 

Very Interesting...

I first learned about Elizabeth Holmes on 60 Minutes and so when I saw Bad Blood:  Secrets and Lies in a Silicon Valley Startup, I knew I had to get it.  Whoa.  This woman has some serious problems.  I would feel sorry for her, and I do, but these are health issues here.  I am so glad that her lies were exposed so that others lives were not lost.  I do hope she gets the help that she needs...because she really needs some!  The book is a very fast read and well done!

India

I don't know much about India.  All I really know is from Mother Teresa and the Indians who live here in the US that I know.  Behind the Beautiful Forevers:  Life, Death and Hope in a Mumbai Undercity was eye-opening and heart-breaking.  Katherine Boo came to Pittsburgh and I didn't see her but my friends did.  The title refers to a billboard that hides Annawadi and reminded me of the ways in which Chicago's housing projects were hidden from view from the parkway.  I had read that in There Are No Children Here:  the Story of Two Boys Growing Up in the Other America and it has haunted me ever since.  Annawadi is referred to as a slum of Mumbai everywhere online but here in the book's title is it called an "undercity" and while I can figure out what that means, I can't seem to find a formal definition or history of the word.
I think this is a very good book and certainly, Boo is an esteemed writer.  For me I had a hard time paying attention at times and I am not sure why.  I do love this kind of nonfiction, not being an intellectual, I love the nonfiction that reads like fiction and this does, but I don't know.  I will certainly recommend this book, and I am glad I read it but it was not read that I read thinking, "I can't wait to get back to the book," but rather "I will be glad when I am done."

Worth the Wait

Calypso is the first new book from David Sedaris is what seems like FOREVER!  It might not be FOREVER, but with Sedaris, I could greedily ask for a book a month!  I love that Mr. Sedaris reads his own audiobooks.  And I loved the mix of hilarity and thoughtfulness.  I simply love this man.   

Proof

17 Carnations:  The Royals, the Nazis and the Biggest Cover-Up in History is proof that even the "biggest cover-up in history" can be made really, really dull.  And I thought it was interesting that no mention was made about Wallis's famous family. 

The F Word

I really, really resonated with Bad Feminist in a lot of ways.   The book isn't just about feminism though.  It deals with a lot of issues.  One of the things that kept running through my mind was that this was written in the Pre-Trump days.  Things were bad then, but they are even worse now for women.  No, for humans!  Dr. Gay is brilliant.  Witty, too. 

Are You Bette or Joan?

There actually is a test for this!  Of course, I took it!  I am Joan.  I am glad.  I am not a big fan of Bette Davis and if I had to be one because Bette Davis just seemed super mean!  I mean, even before I read this book!  Joan Crawford didn't seem so super nice either, but compared to Davis, I will take Crawford.
Bette and Joan:  the Divine Feud was excellent.  Back here I talked about why I am so into these two right now.
Bette Davis's daughter, B.D. Hyman, is an evangelical pastor.
Anyway, great, great book!

Book Group?

I do this nonfiction book group deal and I am always looking for books that we can read.  I think that The Shift:  One Nurse, Twelve Hours, Four Patients' Lives might be a good choice.   I know that two of the women are retired nurses.  I think another women is still a practicing nurse, so it will be good to hear what they think of the book from a personal, experienced POV.  But I don't know if they will want to read it.  I suggest books, but they ultimately have the final say.  This month's book is Dream Home:  The Property Brothers' Ultimate Guide to Finding and Fixing Your Perfect House.  Since we just sold our house and moved to an apartment because I have no money or talent or desire to have a house, this was not my first pick!  But these ladies have their own homes or had their own homes and well, the Property Brothers are pretty cool, so it will be good!
Another cool thing about The Shift is that it is set in Pittsburgh.  Pittsburgh is pretty famous for its hospitals.  I have a strong anti-UPMC bias, and I am pretty sure that is where Theresa Brown, RN is employed, but that is neither here nor there.
Now the only thing that kinda bugged me about the book is that Brown has PhD in English and she is a contributor to the New York Times but there was a lot of pronoun trouble.  You know the whole, "She had the same coloring as me."  I mean, it there were none that obvious, but there were a few that were obvious to me and well, I mean, I am NOT very well versed in grammar!  So it was obvious to me, and I have a million grammatical mistakes in this post alone...well, I just wonder about it.  Is that an old rule?  Is the choice of pronoun now just a choice?  I am not trying to be a smart butt here.  I just found out that we don't have to put two spaces after a period anymore!  I am not really up on changing rules!
Other than that, I really enjoyed the book!

"I was listening to NPR..."

When I hear someone say that I know I am outta my league.  But the thing is...some of the shows that folks say they heard on NPR, really aren't on NPR!  For example, On Being- that's American Public Media, right? So is Prairie Home Companion.  And Freakonomics Radio is WNYC.  And Fresh Air is on WBEZ.  But I digress. Shocking.  Regardless, most people who listen to NPR or WNYC or APM or PRX are smart people. Intellectual people.  And I am none of those things.  Regardless, I DID find Ghostland:  An American History in Haunted Places on NPR's website!  While Stoned explained some great history through the use of stories about famous jewels and the like, and Far and Away looked at some massively important historical events through the travels of Andrew Solomon, Ghostland looks at historical times through tales of haunted places and ghosts.

I found this book to be awesome.  Having a great love of ghost stories and haunted places and a strong like for history and an even stronger like of American history in particular, this was a fascinating way to look at some of the most horrible events and institutions country's past.   I love the way this guy thinks.  Excellent book.  

Too Old for Beanie Babies

I know they were a big craze, but the Beanie Baby fad was after my time as a stuffed animal collector.  But I do remember how popular they were.  The Great Beanie Baby Bubble:  Mass Delusion and the Dark Side of Cute, has a great title.  Ty Warner sounds like an interesting and complicated man.  And after reading the book, even though he did a lot of damage to people.  It's the whole thing "money can't buy happiness"  but who can deny it makes life easier, right?

Gender Issues

The Underground Girls of Kabul:  In Search of a Hidden Resistance in Afghanistan was one of those "no way" books, in that while I listened to it I found myself saying, "no way!"  a good many times.  And it got me thinking a lot and so I found myself having to go back and rewind and re-listen, but that was not because I found it uninteresting, on the contrary, it is a book that makes one think.  Here is the website for the book.  I read this book for the nonfiction book group that I am in and again it proved that just because one HAS to read something, it doesn't always mean it is terrible!  Very, very thought-provoking.

Screams

My dear friend texted me about Scream:  Chilling Adventures in the Science of Fear and I bought it right away on audible.com.  It really is a topic right up my alley.  I am big fan of haunted attractions and have spent seasons visiting more than 30 of them in Pennsylvania, Ohio and West Virginia.  I have written about fear a lot on here, and wondered why we like to be scared.  I had hoped that this book would have some answers and it did.  This was a good book, by a local gal, Margee Kerr who has had article published in the New York Times, and The Atlantic, among many other places about her studies of fear.
She has worked with a local haunt here in the North Hills, The Scarehouse in Etna, which I have been to, but not in a few years.  This book made me vow to go back this year.  And to be very brave and try the infamous Basement.  I have to admit that I never found The Scarehouse to be the scariest attraction, that does to Rich's Fright Farm, hands down.  But again, I have yet to try the Basement and I haven't been to Scarehouse in at least two years.  This fall I hope to visit RFF and Scarehouse and see how they compare.