Book Talk

After hearing intriguing feedback, I picked up Orange is the New Black at Half Price Books not long ago.  Maybe you're familiar with the Netflix version (I'm not, but apparently it's a hit).  In this memoir, Piper Kerman recounts her year+ in a federal prison, a sentence she's serving for being convicted of drug trafficking a decade after the actual events occurred.  Her story is so fascinating because she's so ... normal.  She could be anyone you or I know, and here she is in a prison jumpsuit, befriending women from all walks of life who have somehow or another ended up behind bars for varying lengths of time.  Her story is funny, sad, endearing, and totally worth reading.

 The True and Outstanding Adventures of the Hunt Sisters was a random selection from my mom's bookshelf when I was in MN last month.  The story is written in letters, all from Olivia, a Hollywood film producer, to various people in her life - from friends to family to Hollywood execs to her on-again-off-again-ex.  Olivia's letters tell the story of her little sister's final days as she battles cancer.  Although I really enjoyed this book, I didn't really care much for Olivia ... it didn't turn out to be a huge issue other than I think I would have been a bigger fan of the story if I had found a way to really like the main character.

When we were in MN last summer, my aunt, Jane, recommended Forever Ours: Real Stories of Immortality and Living from a Forensic Pathologist. It sounded interesting, so I gave it a try ... and then read the whole thing in a weekend.  The stories of encounters with death, as well as the experiences of loved ones left behind, were fascinating.  This book, from the forensic pathologist's point of view, explores the visions, synchronicities (aka signs), and communications to those and from those who are on the brink of death or who have passed.  I absolutely believe the stories that were relayed in the book because, to some degree, such experiences have been part of my own life.  Incredibly interesting and heartfelt, I absolutely recommend this book.

"That is a good book which is opened with expectation and closed with profit."

Amos Bronson Alcott