Bang

I adore Barry Lyga. This book was great. Ten years earlier, when he was four, Sebastian accidentally shot and killed his baby sister, Lola. The accident tore their family apart, and Sebastian has never forgiven himself. He's pretty much an outcast at school and we figure out early on that Sebastian is planning on taking his own life. His only friend goes away for the summer, and it seems like the perfect time to do it, but then Sebastian meets the girl next door, Aneesa. Aneesa doesn't know about Lola, and they become friends. Sebastian finds himself falling in love with her. He does eventually tell her about what happened, and is pleasantly surprised when he discovers it doesn't change how she feels about him. It was very nicely done, I think Lyga did an excellent job of capturing Sebastian's confusion and angst, not just at his past but as a teenager in general.

Young and Damned and Fair; Walking Dead Vol. 27: the Whisperer War; From Cradle to Stage

Catherine Howard was King Henry VIII's fifth wife and the youngest, too. She was by all accounts a pretty, charming, not very bright girl who didn't realize just how dangerous it was being married to Henry. Her family did though, considering she was related to Anne Boleyn, and they happily sacrificed her up to the king in exchange for furthering their own careers. Catherine had boyfriends before she married Henry, slept with at least one of them with the intention of marrying him, and if she didn't commit adultery after she was married she certainly planned to. All of this condemned her to die on the chopping block, most likely before she turned 21. She is usually dismissed as being inconsequential, since her marriage to Henry was quite short, but Russell did a good job of digging up the scant information about her that is available and weaving it into an interesting story.

I should be all caught up on Walking Dead stories now, at least until Vol. 28 comes out. "The Whisperer War" finds Dwight, Michonne, and others from Rick's camp fighting a huge army of undead with the Whisperers sprinkled in. Negan fights with them, destroying his bat Lucille in the process (the scene where he buried her and we learn Lucille the bat was named for the woman he loved who died *almost* made me feel sorry for him, but then I remembered he killed Glenn). A band of the Whisperers make it to the Hilltop and burn it down, and Carl *almost* died (I was ready to light fire to something if that happened). Dwight returns to Rick's camp triumphant after his victory in battle, until Rick informs him that they didn't even make a dent in the army of undead the Whisperers have under their command. Oh boy.

I was very excited when I heard Virginia Grohl on the Lithium channel over Mother's Day weekend talking about her new book, "From Cradle to Stage". It was a lot of fun! She often wondered what other mothers of rock stars experienced when their kids were growing up, and set out to interview them and collect their stories. She talked to a wide variety of moms whose kids have made impacts in the music industry, from Michael Stipe's mom to Dr. Dre's mom to Mike D. from the Beastie Boys' mom. She roundly criticized the school system for labeling these high energy kids troublemakers because they didn't fit the mold and encouraged parents who have creative kids to help them out rather than chastising them for not being better students (she let Dave drop out of high school when he was sixteen to go on tour with his band Scream). She's obviously very proud of Dave (as she has every right to be), and it came through. She did of course mention Wendy Cobain a bit, talked about the devastation Kurt's death wrought on Dave and those who knew him. I was glad she didn't dwell on it, but as always I'm disappointed when people who actually knew him seem to fall for the suicide lies.

The Most Dangerous Animal of All

In "The Most Dangerous Animal of All", Gary L. Stewart makes a pretty convincing case that his biological father, Earl Van Best, Jr., was the Zodiac killer (maybe he and Steve Hodel should get together and chat). Stewart spent a long time looking for his biological parents and when he met his birth mother, he was naturally curious to find out more about his birth father. His mother, Judy, was reluctant to tell him, claiming she'd blocked most of it out since she was only fifteen when she had him, but Gary was persistent, doing research, and what he found was troubling. Van spent time in Japan as a youngster and was fascinated by codes and ciphers, he and his dad spent hours trying to fool each other with unbreakable codes (one of the key features of the Zodiac was the ciphers he sent to the papers, one of which has never been decoded). Van's mugshot looks shockingly similar to the police sketches of the Zodiac, taken from eyewitness accounts (even I see the resemblance, and normally I never do). He had Van's handwriting analyzed to compare to the Zodiac's and it looks like it could be a match (the analyst wouldn't go further than that, since they didn't have access to the original documents, just copies). His fingerprints seem to match Zodiac's, including a scar on his thumb. Gary had the SFPD take a DNA sample so they could compare his to the DNA from the Zodiac crime scenes, but as of publication time the police still had no processed his sample. It was well written and quite compelling.

Orange County: A Literary Field Guide

"Orange County: A Literary Field Guide" was a fun collection of poems, short stories, essays, and excerpts from books about Orange County. The book was divided up geographically. One of the best was an excerpt from Steve Martin's book about his first job at Disneyland, it was pretty hilarious. It was a nice, well rounded collection.

James and the Giant Peach; The Force

A coworker was asking me about this book the other day, and I realized I had never read it. Since it's a kid's book it went quick, but it was super cute, I don't know why I didn't read it as a youngster. I read the Charlie books, and a few other books by Dahl. At any rate, if you don't know the story, young James is an orphan sent to live with two mean aunts. One day he meets a man in the forest who gives him a bag of green things and gives him elaborate instructions on making a potion to drink that will bring him happiness. James unfortunately trips and drops the bag near an old peach tree. A peach starts to grow, and it gets as big as a house. James, being a naturally curious little boy, goes out one night to inspect the peach and discovers a tunnel. He crawls through and discovers a group of overgrown insects living in the pit of the peach. They go off on a grand adventure, eventually landing in New York City.

"The Force" by Don Winslow was a complete 180 from "James and the Giant Peach". It was excellent, though, I tore through it. It reminded me a lot of the great TV show "The Shield", only set in New York instead of L.A. Denny Malone is an NYPD detective in charge of an elite task force. They concentrate on getting drugs and guns off the streets. Malone had every intention of being a good, clean cop, but somewhere along the way he and his crew lost their focus. It's understandable, seeing the corruption all around them, the drugs they take off the street later reappearing, feeling like the good they are doing is all for naught. So Denny is dirty. He steals money and drugs from busts and salts the profits away for his family, his kids. So does the rest of his team. But Denny is the one who gets caught. And Denny is the one who is threatened by the Feds: turn rat or go to prison. And Denny is the one has an impossible choice to make.

The Miserable Mill; Tenderness

I have not forgotten about rereading the Series of Unfortunate Events, I've just been making a real effort to read my other library books, so they've been on the backburner. I did finished number four, "The Miserable Mill". After Aunt Josephine's untimely death, Mr. Poe places the Baudelaire orphans in the care of Sir, who runs the Lucky Smells Lumber Mill. It's a pretty miserable place: the workers are paid in coupons and only given gum for lunch. The machines are dangerous, and when Klaus breaks his glasses he is sent to see the mill's optometrist, Dr. Orwell. He comes back acting very strangely. Turns out he's been hypnotized. Violet inadvertently says the correct word necessary to snap him out of it, but the foreman trips Klaus again, sending him back to Dr. Orwell. Where is Count Olaf in all this? Disguised as Dr. Orwell's secretary, Shirley, who is just dying to take in three orphans. Sir tells them one more accident and he's going to give them to Shirley. Luckily the kids are able to foil the plot but now they are being shipped off to a boarding school.

A little while back Publisher's Weekly had a retrospective of 50 Years of YA books. I was surprised at how many I'd actually read, but I hadn't read this one by Robert Cormier, so I gave it a shot. I wasn't terribly impressed, it was a bit cheesy, I think even if I'd read it as a teen I wouldn't have liked it much. Eric Poole is being released from a juvenile detention facility where he's spent the last three years after murdering his mother and stepfather. He was able to convince everyone (except for one old cop) that he had been abused by them. There were also a few teen girls missing around the same time, but the cops couldn't pin those murders on Eric, even though he did it. Lori is a fifteen year old runaway who's obsessed with Eric, and she hangs out around his aunt's house, where he's staying after his release, hoping to get a chance to talk to him. She eventually does, but it doesn't end well for either of them.

Royal Bastards; The Leadership Challenge

"Royal Bastards" by Andrew Shvarts reminded me of "Game of Thrones" for the YA set, but I liked it. Tilla is the bastard daughter of Lord Kent, who rules the Western Provinces for the King. Princess Lyriana comes to visit, and Lord Kent puts his plan to start another Great War into action by murdering her uncle, the King's brother. Unfortunately Tilla and a group of her friends, including the Princess, witness the act and go on the run for their lives. It was very gripping, I enjoyed it.

I read "The Leadership Challenge" for work, but it was quite good, they had lots of great tips on how to be a better leader. Leadership is something you have to practice, you aren't just born with it, and anyone with the drive and desire to be a good leader can do so. I wrote down a whole bunch of things I want to remember and pinned them up all over the board by my desk :)

Walking Dead Vol. 24: Life and Death; Walking Dead Vol. 25: No Turning Back; Walking Dead Vol. 26: Call to Arms; Forever and a Death

I didn't realize I was so far behind on the "Walking Dead". I stopped watching the TV show a few seasons ago, because it was getting tedious and ridiculous, and I forgot about the graphic novels. Vol. 24: Life and Death finds Rick's group facing a new threat: the Whisperers, a band of people who wear the skin of the dead and walk among them. Their leader is named Alpha, and she is Lydia's mom. Lydia is Carl's new girlfriend, and when she goes back to join her people Carl chases after her. Rick infiltrates their group to rescue Carl, who won't leave without Lydia. Alpha orders Lydia to go with Carl, and warns Rick that if he crosses over into their territory again it will end badly for him. When they return to their area, they discover Alpha has murdered twelve of their people.

In Vol. 25: No Turning Back--of course Rick's people want revenge after Alpha killed so many of their own, and they don't trust Lydia. Rick sends Andrea, Lydia, and Carl to the Hilltop with Maggie for their own safety and he and Michonne (who is back, hooray!) try to talk the town out of recklessly going after the Whisperers. Rick is accosted and beat up for his troubles, but he manages to spin it and get the town back on his side when he orders an army to start training.

Vol. 26: Call to Arms has the army training to go after the Whisperers. Negan escapes and joins up with them, eventually killing Alpha to show Rick his loyalty. Andrea is worried about how far gone Carl is over Lydia, he won't listen to reason at all. Eugene has gotten a HAM radio working and is in contact with another group of survivors in Ohio.

Donald Westlake is always fun. Back in the mid 1990s, he was asked to write a treatment for the next James Bond film, if "Goldeneye" ended up becoming a hit (it did). He wrote several, but none of them seemed quite right for the producers of the film and he ended up not working on it after all. But he did turn one idea he had into a book, and it was a lot of fun. Richard Curtis is a wealthy real estate developer who is in debt way over his head. He comes up with an audacious plan to not only steal Hong Kong's gold but destroy the city in the process, getting revenge on those he felt wronged him.

Always and Forever, Lara Jean; Dis Mem Ber; Crime Book; The Long Haul

I was so disappointed with Jenny Han's final book in the series about Lara Jean Song. I loved "P.S. I Still Love You" and "To All the Boys I've Loved Before" but this one left me cold. Lara Jean and Peter are still dating, seniors in high school, looking forward to attending the same college in the fall. But when Lara Jean doesn't get into UVA, it looks like their carefully made plans are going to fall apart. They work it out that Lara Jean will go to William & Mary and transfer to UVA after her first year. All of their friends and family think it's silly for them to assume they're going to be able to carry on their high school relationship into college (Peter's mom even tries to talk Lara Jean into breaking up with Peter), but they're determined. Lara Jean is having a tough time with it, though, really wanting to do what's best for her and she's not sure what to think. Not to spoil too much, but there's a scene that's completely unrealistic. Do you know when in real life teenage boys turn their girlfriends down for sex? The answer is, they don't. This only happens in fiction. At any rate, it was disappointing.

So was this collection of short stories by Joyce Carol Oates. They were all pretty forgettable. Not terrible, but not great.

I had a lot of fun with DK Publishing's "The Crime Book", though. It was full of vignettes about various crimes committed over the centuries, full of fun little facts and lots of pictures. It was interesting and quick, and covered some crimes I hadn't even heard of, which was impressive.

And finally, I really enjoyed Finn Murphy's funny and charming stories of life on the road as a long haul trucker. I picked this one up because my dad is a truck driver, although he doesn't do long hauls. I've grown up listening to his stories, though, and like Dad, Murphy has some good ones. People are just awful, as anyone who has ever worked in any service industry job can tell you. He had some real horror stories of how people have treated him. He also had some good tips on what you should and shouldn't do when you hire a moving company, something I will keep in mind the next time I move. It made me laugh, and he clearly loves what he does, which came through.

Anne Boleyn, a King's Obsession

I really liked Weir's book about Katherine of Aragon, so I was curious how she was going to treat Anne Boleyn. She did a nice job of making Anne a sympathetic character. Anne is relentlessly chased by King Henry, but she holds fast to her determination to marry on her own terms. She saw how the King treated her older sister after his affair with her, and she didn't want to be cast aside, ruined, as Mary was. She finally agrees to Henry's advances but on one condition: he must marry her. Henry spends years and turns religion in Europe upside down in order to divorce Katherine and marry Anne, but in the end he does. Poor Anne. Henry treats her horribly and blames her for the deaths of their sons, just like he did Katherine. Weir portrayed Anne as more confident than cruel, which is usually how she comes across.

Behind Her Eyes

At first I was afraid "Behind Her Eyes" was going to be a "Gone Girl" ripoff, it kind of seemed like it was going in that direction, but it surprised me, and the twist at the very end was really shocking. Louise is a divorced single mom who meets a very charming, handsome man in a bar one night. Nothing happens, because he's married. She goes into work the next day and guess who is her new boss? She's horrified, especially when she sees how beautiful his wife is. A few days later, Louise runs into Adele, David's wife, as she's dropping her son off at school and Adele invites her out for coffee. Despite her reservations, Louise takes her up on it and they end up becoming friends. Adele is very lonely, and Louise is beginning to suspect David is an abusive husband, he's very controlling and then one day Adele sports a black eye that she makes feeble excuses for. To further complicate matters, Louise and David start having an affair. Louise is horribly guilty for betraying her new friend, but she finds herself irresistibly drawn to David. The lies pile up until we're not sure who we can trust, and like I said, the ending was great. I enjoyed it.

Road to Jonestown

I read Jeff Guinn's book about Charles Manson a few years ago and enjoyed it so much I decided to give his newest book about the Reverend Jim Jones and Jonestown a try. I didn't know much about Jonestown, I've never read anything about it. Guinn did an excellent job of showing how easy it was for Jones to attract followers at first: he truly was good. His intentions were good. He wanted to help the sick and the weak, the poor and the hungry. He was all about racial equality (in the 1950s), adopting Korean and African American children, preaching about how important integration was. He was, at heart, a socialist more than a man of God. Sure, he used chicanery to attract new followers, but his loyal devotees forgave him these underhanded tricks because it was all in the name of the greater good. Somewhere along the way he changed, and it was so subtle even most of his followers didn't notice until it was too late. He became greedy, lustful, smitten with the idea that he really was God. He was using drugs, paranoid that the government was out to get him. He told his followers they were going to be persecuted, bombed, killed, if they didn't escape, and so many of them fled with him to Guyana, where over 900 people, including many infants and children, died in a mass murder/suicide at Jones's orders. It was just heartbreaking, but fascinating.