Book: Interesting Facts About Space

 Book: Interesting Facts About Space

Author: Emily Austin

Pages: 310

This is my 183rd read for the year

This is a story about Enid.  She is obsessed with space and has a phobia of bald men.  She loves listening to true crime podcasts, and she is trying to forge a relationship with her step sisters now that her dad is gone.  She becomes paranoid when she thinks someone is following her and breaking into her apartment.  

This book was terrible.  I almost didn't finish it, but I was reading it as part of a reading challenge and didn't want to start a new book.  It isn't funny.  It is boring and disjointed and chaotic.  I ddn't like Enid at all.  I felt like I was reading about a middle schooler instead of a grown woman.  Pass.

Stars: 1

Book: The Unclaimed

 Book: The Unclaimed

Author: Pamela Prickett

Pages: 336

This is my 182nd read for the year

Here is what Amazon says:

For centuries, people who died destitute or alone were buried in potters' fields - a Dickensian end that even the most hard-pressed families tried to avoid.  Today, more and more relatives are abandoning their dead, leaving it to local governments to dispose of the bodies.  Up to 150,000 Americans now go unclaimed each year.  The author uncovers a hidden social world.  They follow four individuals in Los Angeles, tracing the twisting, poignant paths that put each at risk of going unclaimed, and introducting us to the scene investigators, notification officers, and crematorium workers who care for them when no one else will. 

This book was fine.  I found it a little dry, but I liked the subject.  I found it interesting to learn more about what happens with bodies who don't get claimed.  And I didn't realize that this was happening more and more.  I wonder if I would have read it instead of listened to it, it would have been a better read.  The narrator was fine, but just a little boring.

Stars: 3

Book: The Marriage Act

 Book: The Marriage Act

Author: John Marrs

Pages: 497

This is my 181st read for the year

What Amazon Has to Say:

Britain.  The near future.  A right-wing government believes it has the answer to society's ills - the Sanctity of Marriage Act, which actively encourages marriage as the norm, punishing those who choose to remain single.  But four couples are about th doscover just how impossible relationships can be wen the government is supervising every aspect of our personal lives, monitoring every word, every minor disagreement - and will use every tool in its arsenal to ensure everyone will love, honour, and obey.

This was a pretty good book.  I listened to it, and it passed the time.  I have read a lot of Marrs books, and I like his dystopian take.  There is a bit of reality mixed in with an alternate universe that doesn't seem all that unlikely.  I think there was overall good character development, and a few twists in the book that I didn't see coming which was nice.  It even wraps up nicely.  I THINK this might be a bit of a sequel to "The One" - which I have not read yet, but it is a netflix show I have watched.

Stars: 4

Book: Sway

 Book: Sway

Author: Matthew Bocchi

Pages: 288

This is my 180th read for the year

This is the story of the author.  Matthew was only 9 years old when his father was killed in the 9/11 attacks.  His father - who worked on the 105th floor was above where the planes hit and knew he would never make it out.  However - Matthew and his three brothers - never could understand why.  At such a young age, they thought their father would walk through the door at any minute.  Once Matthew's father was confirmed dead, Matthew started down a rabbit hole of trying to figure out what happened to his father.  He became obsessed with watching videos of jumpers - tryings to see if one was his father.  In the midst of his grief, a family member who he trusted took his innocence and that, along with the death of his father, sent Matthew down a path of personal distruction.  He spent years uner a fog of drugs and alcohol being well into his 20s before he got help.

This is a hard book to review.  Matthew sustained a terrible trauma with the death of his father and the abuse from an uncle that his path didn't surprise me all that much.  His mother was trying to hold herself together and that of his younger brothers (one that was only a few months old when 9/11 happened) that I think Matthew's struggle got easily overlooked.  Matthew was an adult before he told someone about the abuse.  I was happy to hear that he finally got the help he needed and has been in recovery for a few years now.  I hope it takes.  The downside for me of this book was there was just page after page of drug abuse.  It started strong in the beginning of his tale of what happened after 9/11.  But I don't think there is enough substance of this book to make me give it higher than 3 stars because it was just endless drugs.  And while that was obviously his story, it just got to be overwhelming and I was hoping to read more about his family or his brothers.  It could be that they asked not to be a part of it - who knows.

Tragic story.  I hope his path forward continues to improve.

Stars: 3

Book: Full Dark No Stars

Book: Full Dark No Stars

Author: Stephen King

Pages: 384

This is my 179th read this year

This is a book of 4 short-ish stories.  In "1922" a man is upset that his wife wants to sell the family homestead, and when tragedy strikes, he has to decide what to do.  In "Big Driver" - a write is assulted on her way home from a book reading, and as she pieces together what happened to her, she discovers that revenge is the best approach.  In "Fair Extension" a man makes a deal with the devil which then spirals another family out of control.  And in "A Good Marriage" a wife discovers the horrific past of her husband and has to decide what she should do next.

This book was excellent.  Each story was well written, and around 100 pages each.  It was enough for good character development and to have a nice beginning, middle and end.  I read a lot of King's short story books, but most of them have stories that are less than 50 pages - I liked this better.  My favorite story of the group was "1922" - but probably because it was the longest.  Check this one out.

Stars: 5

Book: Working Stiff

 Book: Working Stiff

Author: Judy Melinek

Pages: 288

This is my 178th read for the year

This is the story of the author.  As a fellow in forensic pathology, she spent two years in New York City as a medical examiner.  Her tenure started 2 months before 9/11 and carried through the following months that she was involved in the recovery efforts and finally her move to California when she had enough.  Her husband and son by her side, she recounts her day to day work as a medical examiner and then what it was like to work the scene of 9/11.  She gets into the details of what it was like to see bodies in various stages as she learned how to determine cause of death, to speak to families, and to present her findings in court.

This was a great book.  I do have to admit that these kind of books fascinate me, and as a nurse, I am not bothered by the content.  But this book should come with a warning for those who are squeemish.  She gets into the details of bodies as they come to her in the morgue, and especially at the scene of 9/11.  She works the 9/11 scene for 8 months - under harsh conditions where bodies and parts are brought to her as they work to try and identify people.  It will chill you.  

Stars: 4

Book: A Fatal Inheritance

 Book: A Fatal Inheritance

Author: Lawrence Ingrassia

Pages: 320

This is my 177th read for the year

This is the story of two families.  The Ingrassia family - the author's family - and the Kilius family.  Both of these families are riddled with cancer throughout their family tree.  The author lost his mother, two sisters, a brother, and a nephew all to cancer.  He takes us back to the 1960s when scientist Dr Li and Dr. Fraumeni started to delve into familial cancer to trace family trees and find out if it was genetic or environmental that was the root cause.  They discover the P53 gene, also know as Li-Fraumeni syndrome and if a person carried this gene, they would get cancer at some point in their lifetime.  It is extremely rare, but it set the path to find out if they could detect the cancers early enough and screne patients often enough, if they could keep them alive.  Moving on from that, they hoped to then be able to attack the inevitable cancer and cure it.  While the first part has been successful in catching cancers early, they are still trying to stop it before it gets any further.  It is passed on from generation to generation - sometimes without people being aware they even carry it before it is too late.

This is a fantastic book.  And very sad.  One story after another of babies all the way through adults who had the P53 gene and did all get cancer.  Hardly any of them survived - even with early detection.  It would riddle their bodies in a wide variety of places - breast, lung, brain, lymph, pancreas, etc and little could be done to stop it from coming.  It is more rare than the BRCA gene.  It was fascinating to read about the research as it progressed through the decades, and how Crisper (and even LCA) was mentioned near the end as gene therapy takes a forefront in controlling disease.  And beyond that were the stories of these two families and the heartbreak of what it must be like to know that if you have this gene, you will get cancer.  And it will almost always be fatal.  Very interesting read.

Stars: 4.5