Non-Fiction American History

11. A People's History of the United States 1492 - Present by Howard Zinn - history is often written by the victors. This book helped me see all the others in history. 

12. A History of the American People by Paul Johnson - American history seen through the lens of someone not American. 

13. Through Women's Eyes: An American History with Documents Volume 1 and 2 edited by Ellen Carol DuBois and Lynn Dumenil. A more intersectional look at American history. Very academic but still quite readable.

Non-Fiction Disaster

14. The Big Short: Inside the Doomsday Machine by Michael Lewis - it was hard to pick one Lewis book because I am such a fan of his writing, but this was the first I read so on the list it goes. 

15. The Mercy of the Sky: The Story of a Tornado by Holly Bailey - the story of how the Moore, OK tornado happened and the aftermath. Heartbreaking but also the writing kept me turning pages quickly.

16. Lights Out: A Cyberattack, a Nation Unprepared, Surviving the Aftermath by Ted Koppel - a what if? premise that is a very realistic threat. Infrastructure matters.

Okay, so I was obsessed with Red Tornado, an obsession that DC stopped fueling which is part of the reason I'm not as heavily into rebirth as I could be.   (I know, I know, I'm in the minority and I'm not saying DC isn't right, just that it doesn't draw me in.)

But the plots, the dialogue, and the art are... not what I expect from comics anymore.   Just way too juvenile.   I mean everything.   Would I suggest this series to someone? I mean, not even if they were obsessed with Red Tornado.  I was craving more of him last month and tried to reread these and jus couldn't...

I own most of the comics in this series for Red Tornado; there was not much of him in this. I found the character interaction to be cheesy and the attempts to be subtly meta to be awkward.   I did enjoy some of this, found things like the poking fun at the way women are drawn in comics to be humorous, but this to be 'meh' overall.  That being said, I think I got this for free from Comixology - legally but I paid for the rest and remember liking them more than this issue. 

Then again, they didn't have to deal with setup - and I cherry picked issues that had my favorite character in them, so there's that.

This book was good. It was deep, it dealt with some heavy topics and I may have shed some tears along the way. The ending was a bit...preachy?? but it definitely gave it a satisfying feeling of closure. I'm still a little confused as to how certain things were possible BUT it was fun suspending Reality a bit in order to fully take in the story. I LOVED some of the characters and I really enjoyed the second POV. Helen didn't have too many chapters in her own voice but I enjoyed her contribution, it worked. I think the less you hear about this one the more you'll enjoy the ride so I'll leave it here.... BUT...

Over all: This was a quick, sweet, touching read.

~ Enjoy