"Hark! A Vagrant" by Kate Beaton was a fun collection of hilarious and snarky comics based on historical figures. It was sarcastic and witty, so I thoroughly enjoyed it.
When she was 13, Samantha Geimer was raped by noted film director Roman Polanski. Ever since, she has dreaded hearing about Polanski in the news because then the whole sordid story comes out all over again. In "The Girl" she tells her side of it, and why she wishes it would all just go away. She doesn't think Polanski should be persecuted and pursued any longer, in fact, back when it happened she thought the judge was being overly punitive. I can understand where she's coming from, and I can understand the justice system wanting to punish the guilty. When you start drawing lines in the sand as to what is a really awful crime and what's not so bad, things get ugly and contentious real quick. It was honest and forthright.
Oliver Potzsch steps away from his historical hangman's daughter series to write a contemporary mystery. "The Ludwig Conspiracy" finds bookseller Steven Lukas unhappily and most unwillingly drawn into a murder mystery when a mysterious stranger leaves a book at his shop and then is murdered the next day. Thugs are after the book, and Steven is going to protect it until he finds out what is going on. It was clever and interesting and I enjoyed it. Boy can this guy write!
"White Princess" by Phillipa Gregory is about Elizabeth of York, Henry VIII's mother. Gregory and I have the same view when it comes to Richard III, so I enjoyed this fictionalized account of Elizabeth struggling after Richard's death, forced into marrying Henry VII.
"Obituary Writer" by Ann Hood was a good quick read. It was sweet and sad. Claire cheats on her husband because she is bored with her suburban existence. Forty years earlier in San Francisco, Vivien is devastated when her lover, David, goes missing after the big earthquake in 1906. She ends up becoming famous for her beautifully written obituaries and spends the next 13 years searching for David, mourning him, and putting her own happiness on hold. How Claire and Vivien's stories intertwine is predictable but still enjoyable.
"The King's Grave" by Philippa Langley and Michael Jones is an interesting look at how Richard III's body was found last year. Like Langley, I hope this discovery will lead to a reexamining of his much maligned life.
"Whole" by T. Colin Campbell is his follow up to "The China Study". It was pretty technical and a lot over my head at times, but it was worth the slog through it. Campbell discusses the importance of looking at humans as a whole and not parts, and how nutrition is so vital in the form of whole foods rather than supplements and pills. He's fighting the good fight, that's for sure. Keep it up, sir.
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