German Judicial Functions

It all began with a text message.

My friend Sarah sent me a less than flattering review of A Hangman’s Diary which is the actual diary of an executioner in Nuremberg from the late 16th century to the early 17th century. The reviewer stated that if you were into German judicial functions this book might be for you. Sarah believed that I might, in fact, be this person. I replied that, yeah I could probably get into this read. To which she simply replied: “German judicial functions.”

I laughed. It is true that I have a proclivity to geek out about weird legal nuances. So for funsies, I added A Hangman’s Diary to my Christmas list, and lo and behold when Christmas came round, and I opened my yearly box of books, there it was. In all its judicial glory.

When I began reading it, I took a picture and sent it to my reading group which includes Sarah exclaiming, “Let the German judicial functions begin!”

Sarah: “I can’t believe you are reading that.”

Me: “Yes, you can.”

Sarah: “You’re right. I can.”

The book does not hesitate, it begins with an overview of medieval judicial codes, and honestly, it’s the most interesting part of the book. The diary portion written by the hangman is just a laundry list of crimes and executions. By itself, it is boring, repetitive, and bloody, but if you pay attention, and apply some of the basics of those judicial codes. You can see great discrepancies in punishment. Favors are clearly noted in the diary. For instance, thieves were to be hanged which could be a long and painful death so numerous times the hangman would note: “Beheaded as a favor.” I’m sure this favor included some extra moolah for the big guy with the ax, and it was probably a mercy that could be bestowed without flouting the law. However, due to judicial code one can be sure that the hangman slew numerous innocents, but them’s the breaks.

Generally, the diary left me feeling two things. One I wanted more. I was informed of the crime and punishment, but I wanted the circumstances. I wanted the background, the intent. And two, it made me realize that as much as we wish to believe we have moved far beyond the barbaric ways of the middle ages we haven’t. Our barbarism just has a shiner veneer which in a way makes it worse. It displays our delusions and spinelessness- no I don’t want to go back to beheading as a favor, but it has an honestly to it that I can respect.

Nevertheless, I will agree with the reviewer who began this all, this isn’t the most riveting read out there, but if you are odd, like me, and into legalize or simply wish to do a bit of humane torture to your reading group. A Hangman’s Diary might be for you.

Stick to Pasta and Wine

Hi-yo!

I believe I’ve mentioned or at least alluded to the fact that I am training for a marathon, and it has nearly taken over my entire life. These days I’m either working, training, eating/making food, sleeping, or doing laundry. In the few spare moments I have in this cycle of activities, I have to choose between reading and writing. More often then not, I choose reading because laying on the couch reading after a long run makes it easier for me to lapse into sleeping.

This means my blogging is off the dome and straight into the blogosphere. There is hardly time for writing let alone editing. This is my awkward and excuse ridden apology for this slap-dash post and the slap-dash posts to come.

But as I mentioned I am still finding time to read. This past Saturday I finished reading The Monster of Florence. This is the non-fiction work by Douglas Preston and Mario Spezi about the unknown serial killer of Florence known as The Monster of Florence. Now, since this is a work of non-fiction I can’t critique how this story goes, but honestly, if this had been a novel. I would have thrown it at the wall nine times out of sheer frustration for being unrealistic. There is no possible way that the Italian government could be this stupid.

The upside of this stupidity is that as an American, it makes me feel that perhaps we aren’t doing so bad after all. I think at one point in all of our lives we dream of moving to picturesque Italy and living a serene and idyllic life. If you would like a reality check, read this book. I now have a firm grasp that I will visit Italy and praise their wine and food. But that is as far as I will go. Their insistent need to “save face” and the belief that the obvious answer can’t possibly actually be the right answer makes me want to poke my own eye repeatedly.  Because, this action seems to make more sense than the theories these government ya-hoos come up with regarding who is the monster.

The book is well written but the story is grating; especially, if you aren’t one to get into conspiracy theories. However, you will learn some fun facts. My favorite being that about 40 to 50 percent of Italian verdicts are overturned (yeah, that’s how bad it is.) It will also potentially make you feel better about your own jurisdictions justice system.

Until next time, happy reading!

Book Brawl Part I- 2019

Welcome to the first installment of 2019’s Book Brawl! As I mentioned in my last post, this is where all the books that I’ve read throughout the year will duke it out to see who is named my best book of the year. This brawl will be broken into four posts, so let’s get started.

In January, I read seven books:

• Circling the Sun by Paula McClain
• Steal like an Artist by Austin Kleon
• Notes from a Public Typewriter by Michael Gustafson
• Oathbringer by Brandon Sanderson
• Rain Dragon by Jon Raymond
• Birds of a Feather by Jacqueline Winspear
• Outlander by Diana Gabaldon

Circling the Sun was a memorable book, but in how I felt befuddled about if I liked it or not. Steal and Notes were fun little books that were lovely little reads I did in the morning before work. Oathbringer was an epic third installment in the Stormlight Archives series. I’m looking forward to the next one. Rain Dragon was an almost non-book due to lack of plot.

Birds of a Feather was a great second book about the private detective Maisie Dobbs.  However, the clear winner of January is Outlander. I know people either loved this book or hated it, but I landed firmly in the love camp.

In February, I read eight books:

• The Girls by Emma Cline
• Her Royal Spyness by Rhys Bowen
• The Ice Cream Queen of Orchid Street by Susan Gilman
• The Life-Changing Magic of Not Giving a Fuck by Sarah Knight
• Before They were Hanged by Joe Abercrombie
• An Elderly Lady Up to No Good by Helene Tursten
• The Affair at Styles by Agatha Christie
• The Chronicler of the Winds by Henning Mankell

I read Life-Changing and An Elderly Lady as my morning reading.  Both were enjoyable in very different ways. The Girls, Her Royal Spyness, and Before They were Hanged were all find, but kind of meh. The Girls is a direct rip off from the Manson Murders. Her Royal I don’t remember anything about, and Before was the second book in a trilogy that was clearly a linking book of the foundation book to the action-packed climax that will hopefully be book three.

The Affair was interesting in that it’s the first appearance of Hercule Poirot, but there are better Christie works available.  The Chronicler was a unique story. It was heavy and had the hallmarks of a Mankell stories, but I preferred his Italian Shoes.

The winner for February is clearly The Ice Cream Queen. It was a pleasant surprise. It was far more dynamic than I thought it would be.

In a brawl between Outlander and Ice Cream, I think I have to give it to Ice Cream. Outlander is wonderful, but it’s heavily romantic and is the first novel of a lengthy series. Ice Cream is a contained story that is a bit deeper than time travel and sexy men in kilts.

In the month of March, I read six books:

• The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold
• The Bad Ass Librarians of Timbuktu by Joshua Hammer
• Final Girls by Riley Sager
• Crazy Rich Asians by Kevin Kwan
• A Year of Magical Thinking by Joan Didion
• A Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole

This was a month of greats and duds. Crazy Rich and Confederacy were just kind of annoying. The Bad Ass was not as advertised and thus very disappointing. The other three Lovely, Magical, and Final Girls were all great. It was difficult to pick a winner, but it has to be Final Girls.

In a brawl between Final Girls and Ice Cream Queen it goes to Ice Cream. The reasoning in the ending of Final Girls is what prevented me from giving it five stars, and it’s what is preventing me from having it win here.  The twist was fantastic, but it just wasn’t completely supported.

Anyway, there you have it The Ice Cream Queen of Orchid Street take it in Q1.  Tune in next Friday to see if it can reign supreme or if it will be unseated.

Until next time, happy reading!

Monthly Misfits- Firestarter vs. Catch & Kill

It’s been a while since I’ve done a monthly misfit where I attempt to compare two seemingly unrelated books.  This one is particularly unprecedented because it involves non-fiction and fiction. I’ve toyed with the possibility before but never committed because it just didn’t feel right. However, the time has come. This month’s contenders are Firestarter by Stephen King and Catch and Kill by Ronan Farrow.

The differences are obvious. Firestarter is a novel about people inadvertently obtaining super powers after volunteering to be a part of a scientific experiment. Catch and Kill is non-fiction about the sexual harassment and misconduct of high-powered men namely Harvey Weinstein.

However, both of these books are also about cover ups.  The mistreatment of people that know damaging information. In Firestarter, these are people who knew about or participated in the experiment. For Catch and Kill, it’s the people who experienced Mr. Weinstein’s scandalous behavior.

Firestarter end with the media helping or going to help bring a voice and justice to those in the experiment. Catch and Kill is about the media’s participation in burying stories; helping to cover up the misdeeds of the rich and powerful.

There is one facet that I find most interesting. In Firestarter one of the characters can “push” people with his mind to get them to do things.  Strangely, the smarter the person the easier it is to get them to do what he wishes.

When I first read this, I thought this an innovative and interesting choice by King. Because calculating minds, are minds that can out guess themselves.  They quickly tabulate not only the request but many other things such as social ramifications and wanting to look like they know what they are doing. They wish to avoid embarrassment and shame.

When it was quired to me when reading Catch and Kill of how Harvey Weinstein was able to do what he did. I posed the comparison to Firestarter, Harvey was calculating, and he targeted people- women that would feel that shame.  The shame of miscalculation.  The shame that they should have been smarter when, in reality, they were smart.  And in Harvey’s mind, smart women wouldn’t ruin their career over a little hotel incident.

Both of these discuss and highlight manipulation.  How the calculation of one set of consequences precipitate another. It wasn’t the Firestarter’s fault that she could start a fire and that it could get out of control when she was upset or angry when her or her father were in danger. Nor were any of these women responsible or at fault for Harvey Weinstein’s actions. Yet both feel bad and shameful for being pushed into situations that led to something horrible.

I grant that comparing the imaged musing of Stephen King with the very real actions of Weinstein seems odd, but it’s interesting to see how mass manipulators in both fiction and real life can be shown to use intelligence against those that have it. We view such a trait as an asset something that will protect us for bad or harmful situations, and yet, paradoxically it can do the opposite.

Until next time, happy reading!

The Gift

Last Wednesday, my boss comes around the corner from reception. She’s wearing a little leather jacket and clearing concealing something under it.

“Hi! I have a gift for you!” She announces.

“Oh…?” My boss’s gifts in the past have been of varying range from gourmet chocolates to free swag from conferences. At this point, I was hoping for chocolate.

She proceeds to yank a large black covered book from inside her jacket.

“I’m only twelve pages into my copy, but it’s really good.” she said as she handed me Catch and Kill by Ronan Farrow. I thanked her, for I will never say no to books, but due to my never-ending backlog.  I don’t stay up on new releases. I had no clue what this book was about nor did I realize that it had been released the day before.

I haven’t had a book this hot off the press since Harry Potter. Nevertheless, I happened to have only nine pages of my current book left with no back up book lurking in my bag thus it seemed like fate.

Before I actually started reading it, I did a little homework and learned what it was about on a marco-level and then just dove in. All the reviews, I had seen were rave but for me the first portion wasn’t tantalizing. Yes, it was a quick read, but it didn’t have me by the lapels. It felt disjointed, and I was a little befuddled at what exactly Mr. Farrow was getting at.

However, at a certain point, the scales tipped. Things started to click into place. Those disjointed puzzle pieces started to make sense. I understood what this was really about. It was here that the book took an upswing. I understood the rave in those reviews.

Due to the beginning, it wasn’t an out of the park read, but it was worthy of praise. I gave it four well-deserved stars and would recommend this book to everybody.

Until next time, happy reading!

Box o’Books- 2019 Nominees

Is it too early to make a Christmas list? Probably…but it is October and since my book buying doesn’t seem to know any bounds. It’s probably a good time to establish a list and swear myself to NOT buy any books or at least not these until after the holiday season.

As many of you know, I get a yearly box of books for Christmas. It’s nice to get a gift card to go and pick out the book you want, but there is something beyond magical when you get this heavy box wrestled out from under the Christmas tree.  And when you open it, there are a bunch of beautiful books. I can thumb through them, feel their pages, smell their new book smell. It has become my absolute favorite part of Christmas.

Last year, I was lucky enough to get all my books on my list.  This probably won’t happen again, but part of the thrill is to see what makes the box!

Here’s this year’s list-

• The Gift of Imperfection by Brene Brown
• The Black Prism by Brent Weeks
• Time Covert by Deborah Harnkess
• Poison Squad by Deborah Blum
• The Bastard Brigade by Sam Kean
• Us Against You by Fredrick Backman
• Foundation by Isaac Asimov
• Rivers of London by Ben Aaronovitch
• Pardonable Lies by: Jacqueline Winspear
• Death at La Fenice by Donna Leon
• The Odessey/Illiad by: Homer
• Les Miserables by: Victor Hugo
• Miss Marple: The Complete Short Stories by Agatha Christie
• Born a Crime by Trevor Noah
• The Golden Compass by Philip Pullman
• The Alchemist by Paulo Coehlo
• Bird by Bird by Anne Lamott
• Naked, Drunk, and Writing by Adair Lara
• Easy French Step by Step- by Myrna Bell Rochester
• A Madwoman Upstairs by Catherine Lowell

There she is. This year’s Box o’book list!!

Until next time, happy reading!

August Reads in a Word

Once again, the month is at an end. This means its time to review the books, I rad in the month of August. I made it through seven books this month. Almost all of these were well worth the time.  Per usual, can you spot my favorite?

• Interview with a Vampire by: Anne Rice = Nebulous

• Obsido by: Amie Kaufman = Persistent

• Salt: A World History by: Mark Kurlansky = Edifying

• The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins = Bewildered

• The Love Goddress’ Cooking School by: Melissa Senate = Charming

• See What I Have Done by: Sarah Schmidt = Uninspired

• The Lost City of Z by: David Grann = Saga

Well there are August’s reads.  Looking forward to September!

Until next time, happy reading!

A Salty Delight

Salt is quite prevalent in my life. My husband and I enjoy cooking and are constantly trying new recipes. Salt is almost always an ingredient. I hear about reducing salt intake from family members and co-workers that battle high-blood pressure. I, personally, am concerned with upping my salt intake due to my running activities. A gross amount of salt can be rubbed off my face after a long run. Any animals that I come across finds me delicious to lick.

This frequent exposure explains why about a year ago, when I saw the book entitled- Salt: A World History sitting on my grandfather-in-law’s bookshelf, I was intrigued. I made a mental note and added it to my box of books for Christmas list.

Last year, I was lucky enough to receive all the books on my list including Salt. But it wasn’t until this week that I finally got around to reading it.

The history of salt is vast and shockingly complex.  It has influenced where civilizations were built. It helped create allies and enemies. It contributed to the outcome of wars and the fall of monarchs.

It is fascinating as the book points out that an unstable metal and a deadly poisonous gas come together and form a stable, delicious rock.  One that not only do humans enjoy consuming but need to.

Salt was a palatable read. Like many nonfiction books, the sheer amount of knowledge and facts per page can be a bit overwhelming, but I found many of them interesting. This book would be a great delight to a foodie or science nerd. (I am conveniently both.) I think almost anyone could enjoy it, but there are times that the history of salt mining and salt taxing that can be a bit tedious.

All-in-all it was enjoyable and accessible, something not every nonfiction book can claim.

Until next time, happy reading!

Don’t be such a Stiff about it

Earlier this year, on one of my book hauls, I pick up the book Stiff by Mary Roach. I remember it being the hot thing when it came out back in the early 2000s.  However, it wasn’t until I heard an interview with the author a few months ago that I thought it might be something I would be interesting in reading.

As usual with most New York Times bestsellers, the cover sports favorable reviewer quotes.  The one on Stiff’s cover proclaims it to be “One of the funniest and unusual books of the year.” For whatever reason when a book is declared “funny” I take this as a challenge as in…

“Oh, so you think you can make me laugh…give me your best shot!”

I immediately plaster on my best resting bitch face and dive in. I don’t know why this occurs. I do not take up this hard nosed attitude with horror books.  When U.S. Weekly declares a book bone chillingly creepy. I take them at their word and scurry on with undo haste to the next tome.

Other descriptors I don’t really register one way or another. I may end up agreeing or disagreeing but ultimately, I don’t become a stubborn prick about them.  But for whatever reason when someone is snooty enough to claim that something will tickle my funny bone. I am skeptical and my laugh threshold is immediately heightened.

Okay, so I started Stiff, stiff faced and ready to battle to see how funny, this funny book was going to be.

Hurumph!!

Roach had me in checkmate on page four. I wasn’t even out of the introduction. Okay, so perhaps this book does deserve its funny moniker. Granted, I wasn’t laughing on every page or even every chapter, but Roach gives a really dark topic a nice dose of levity. Particularly, the footnotes which take the reader on nice, quirky, and amusing tangents that are worth the extra time and squinting to get through.

I thought Stiff was a solid read but be wary that if you are squeamish, this may not be the topic for you. Cadavers by nature are a little yikey, but what Roach discusses regarding how they breakdown and the experiments they have been apart of over the years is, at times, downright gruesome.  But if a little gore doesn’t cause you trouble, I encourage you to pick it up and learn a few odd and mildly disgusting facts and enjoy a laugh or two along the way.

Until next time, happy reading!

July Reads in a Word

Once again, another month has come to a close and a new one has begun. This means it is time to attempt to review July’s reads in a word. This past month, I read six books.  They were varied and all were enjoyable. Nevertheless, summing them up in a single word is not necessarily an easy task, but it is fun. Here we go:

• Voyager by Diana Galadon = Gallant

• The Golden Tresses of the Dead by Alan Bradly = Idiosyncratic

• Black Beauty by: Anna Sewell = Principled

• Murder at the Flamingo by Rachel McMillian = Mystifying

• The Lost Order by Steve Berry = Conspiratorial

• Stiff by Mary Roach = Unconventiona

As always, can you guess which one I enjoyed the most?

Until next time, happy reading!