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."

Graphic

Radium Girls:  The Dark Story of America's Shining Women was graphic and hard to read in many places.  These women, how they suffered.  But their deaths and pain were not in vain.  What a story.  So very tragic.  And greed.  The love of money truly is the root of all evil.  You can read more about them here.

Newbery

Jewell Parker Rhodes should have won the Newbery for Towers Falling.  She should win it next year for Ghost Boys.  This book is incredible.  JPR is one of the most talented writers to which I have ever been exposed.  Incredible.  Moving, honest, sadly "ripped from the headlines."  Creative, sad, hopeful.  Real. 

Rags and Bones

When I was reading The Rag and Bone Shop by Cormier I kept thinking about the book Ragman:  and other Cries of Faith which I read 100 years ago.  One has nothing to do with the other.
I started wondering what a "rag and bone shop" was and found this.  Now I am curious as to how the title of this book fits.  And I see that the book got its title from this.  I  need to think about this more, because I haven't yet read the poem and maybe then I will figure it out. 
This was again another "no happy endings" kind of book.  But it was excellent.  Was Cormier a pessimist or a realist?  I guess it depends on what the one asking the question is.  Some days I might see him a pessimist  and some days as a realist.  I guess on really bad days he might be an optimist!  Ha!  Great book though.  Really great. 

SO NOT Cheesy!

I Am the Cheese is one of those books that I should have read a long time ago but never did.  And now I think I am glad because I got to experience it and loved it at a time in which there is a lot of junk going on and I am just so thankful that I was able to "escape" into another world that goes to show that it could always be worse!  Ha!  It is worse for Adam.  And I am glad he is a fictional character, but I am sure that there are real, living, breathing people who have gone through the misery that he goes through in this book.  Whether what he experienced is real or not real, it is real to him and so it is "real."
The mind is a tricky thing.
And the government is a tricky thing.
Sure you can trust your government, ask a Native American! 
Great book.
I would love to talk about this! 

An Accident

The Boat Rocker was a book I read by total accident.  I didn't even realize it was an accident until I was 1/2 way through it, but I was hooked.  I saw a book with a similar cover and thought that I wanted to listen to it, then I saw this one available on audio and it completely hooked me.  Not knowing much about China, this makes me want to know more.  And I loved the main character, Feng.  It was just perfect.  Loved it.  Highly recommended.

Accidental Read

I didn't understand that Clamour of Crows wasn't an actual play!  The description says, "morality play"  and these were real plays, but now I guess it is a way of describing things that aren't really plays!  It's a book!  And I probably wouldn't have read it if I thought it was just an adult mystery book.  I mean, I pretty much just stick to the authors I know.  And that would have been a big shame, because I really enjoyed this book!