From my physical non-fiction shelf -  Abigail and John: Portrait of a Marriage by Edith B. Gelles and Colour Bar: The Triumph of Seretse Khama and his Nation by Susan Williams.

From my science reading list - The Genius of Birds by Jennifer Ackerman and Rise of the Rocket Girls by Natalia Holt. 

From my Nixon reading list - 1968: The Year That Rocked the World by Mark Kurlansky.

From my Winter COYER reading list - Radio Girls by Sarah Jane Stratford, Somewhere in France by Jennifer Robson, and Master of Love by Catherine LaRoche.

From my physical fiction shelf - The Trouble with Valentine's Day by Rachel Gibson.

Library pick - Maisie Dobbs by Jaqueline Winspear.

Finally, I am doing an experiment. Every Friday, I am going to read a short book from either my NOOK or Kindle. I am using Random Number Generator to pick from a list. I will announce these picks on my Friday reads. 

Edge of Darkness: The Cincinnati Series,...

1. Great characters: Meredith is a child psychologist but also suffers from depression. She has self harmed and attempted suicide in the past. She still struggles at times and it made her a very believable character. Adam is a recovering alcoholic who struggles daily. Again, this made him relatable and flawed.
2. Fun supporting characters: their circle of friends is filled with fun people. Kate, the FBI agent who knits, Clarke, Meredith's video game creating grandfather, Diesel, the hacker. They add a lot of depth to the story. I can't wait to read more about them.
3. Location: As a citizen of Cincinnati, I loved hearing about places in my town! It was great when she would mention Fountain Square, Columbia Parkway, etc.
4. Suspense/Mystery: The plot revolves around a truly horrific act-human trafficking. The story is well written though and Rose doesn't exploit the topic for shock value or anything. You really feel like you are solving the crime with them. The entire book takes place over a weekend and you get glimpses into Meredith, Adam, a young hooker named Linnea, and the bad guy.
5. Heartbreaking: Linnea's story had me in tears. This was a problem because I was listening while I drove. Driving and crying are not a good mix. But, man, its impossible to not care about this girl!

• POV: 3rd
• Tears: yes
• Trope: second chance romance, police/FBI
• Triggers: forced prostitution, child molestation, and human trafficking are all part of the story. None of the acts are detailed. Most of the story occurs after these situations took place and focus more on the after effects
• Series/Standalone: stand alone
• Cliffhanger: none
• HEA: yes with epilogue a few weeks into the future

Edge Of Darkness

For all the controversy surrounding this novel, I was surprised by how short it actually is. However, for all its lack of length, it sure does pack an important message.

The allegory was a bit didactic for me — I felt like I was being beat over the head with the message, but I haven’t read an allegory yet that hasn’t made me feel that way, so that’s just a genre preference. The message is worthwhile and, scarily enough, seems all too real. As always, Orwell makes a scathing political commentary while still telling an entertaining story. Despite the rather factual narration, I still felt some emotional connection to the characters and was saddened and horrified in all the right parts.

I thought the narration was fantastic. Cosham played to the animal characters, adjusting his speech to sound like the different animals. He also told it in a storyteller voice, which usually I don’t like, but it fit so perfectly with the way Animal Farm is written that I found myself enjoying his rendition. (And after all, the full title is Animal Farm: A Fairy Tale.)

I recommend this book for everyone to read. It’s a classic, it’s banned, it gives an important message, and it’s pretty short, so there’s hardly an excuse not to read it. I didn’t think I was going to like it, but I found it to be interesting and enjoyable.

Another great story by St. James! I would say this is my second favorite book of hers; the first being The Haunting of Maddy Clare. I listened to the audio of this and it was wonderful. She really knows how to evoke an eerie atmosphere. Her descriptions of Franny and Princer's 'appearances' were just chilling. I was starting to think they were real myself. : )

One of the best ways of traveling across America is via the imagination of others.

Using eight books in my TBR pile, I'm journeying from the Farallon Islands off the coast of California  to the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginian via Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado, Kansas, Missouri and Kentucky, writing reviews as I go.

"Bad Country" is set in Arizona, the second State in my trip across fictional America. I've only ever seen the tourist version of Arizona, mostly in the North East of the State: Canyon De Chelly, Monument Valley, Sedona. "Bad Country" takes place in a poorer, bleaker, part of Arizona, South West of Tuscon, close to the border. This is an unpopulated, unforgiving, mountainous, desert landscape where it's easy to die of thirst and never be found.

"Bad Country" is long, slow, sometimes uncomfortable journey into one man's experience of trying to live his life in the unforgiving terrain of the South West Arizona. The journey  is strung across the frame of an investigation of the death of a young boy, shot and left to bleed out under a highway.

The man making the journey and carrying out the investigation is a Native American man, Rodeo Garnet, former rodeo star and now a low key, low rent Private Investigator. Accompanied only by his old dog (whose name we never learn) Rodeo chooses to live a mostly solitary life, based in a run-down house on an abandoned development in a remote location where the desert meets the mountains.

Much of the pleasure of the book comes from the way Rodeo looks at the world with quiet, careful accuracy and reacts to it with a pragmatic calm that remains determined rather than fatalistic or cynical. Mostly, Rodeo sees other people and himself for who they are. He is neither surprised nor disappointed with what he sees, it is what it is, and only some of what he sees requires him to do anything.

As Rodeo slowly and carefully compiles the information he needs to understand what happened to the boy who's death he is investigating, he constantly crosses and recrosses a trail that seems to link together the deaths of a number of Native Americans, one of whom was dumped almost at his door. Rodeo thinks about this and works it through with quiet stoicism.

"Bad Country" looks at Arizona not as an exotic location but as home. It's not a very hospitable home but it's home nonetheless. The plot is set in a stable context of people who have known and each other for so long that they have mostly come to terms with one another. There's no deep existential angst here. No "ain't it awful that my life is so hard". Instead the, main impression I was left with was a very non-Anglo spirit of endurance.

This is CB McKenzie's debut novel and, despite the prizes that it won, I felt that showed through more often than I would have liked. Sometimes the descriptions tried a little too hard. Sometimes the pace was so slow that I was checking for a pulse. Yet mostly, what comes through is a unique voice and a lot of talent.

I listened to the audiobook version and was deeply impressed by the way in which Mark Bramhall's narration enriched  the atmosphere of the book, both from the unhurried pace of his delivery and the accuracy of the accents he used.