In contrast to books like Kevin Powers’ The Yellow Birds and Anthony Swofford’s Jarhead, where soldiers’ experiences are brought to life, What Changes Everything illuminates how war tears a
Lawrence Wright’s journalistic writing is the perfect voice for the subject of Scientology. In the hands of most other writers, Scientology would float into the ether, a dark and unfathomable history left unread by sensible readers. That said, though Wright offers Scientology an even-handed approach, his book is full of strange stories, made stranger when compared to the seemingly (sometimes) sane and healthy lives of people who are associated with Scientology.
Overbooked is about the power of travel, as the world’s business travel and tourism has a great impact, both good and bad, on tourists and their destinations. Becker, an investigative journalist by profession, puts together great stories and statistics. For example, in the city of Venice tourism has pushed out locals and hollowed out society. Venice’s remaining 60,000 natives welcome over 20 million tourists each year. In Cambodia, to make space for beach resorts and casinos, farmers were expulsed from land their families had occupied for centuries.
Warehouse 13 stores and safeguards objects imbued with magical powers. Gandhi's sandals bring a sense of peace, Marilyn Monroe’s hairbrush can turn your hair blond, an ancient Roman coin can erase memories. These objects can be healing, frivolous, or extremely dangerous, especially in the wrong hands. Sometimes those wrong hands are merely ignorant, others are deliberately malicious.
Similar to Tina Fay’s Bossy Pants, William Shatner’s Shatner Rules might possibly be better in audio than written form. Narrated by the great Captain Kirk himself, the audio version feels as if you’re watching a personal interview with Mr. Shatner. Whether reading or listening, if you’re in the mood for a humorous, informative biography on a TV legend, this is the book for you.
Mary Roach is the author of several books of science journalism that cover the spectrum of sex, space travel, and cadavers. In Gulp we follow our food from mastication to, well here is an excerpt from the book, “Yes, men and women eat meals. But they also ingest nutrients.
Roshar is a world beset by powerful and devastating storms. Yet these are minor compared the desolation that is about to come this world. To face the oncoming devastation, a lowly slave, a would-be-thief, and a weary soldier, must find the strength within themselves to turn back the tide and become heroes.
I dare you to read this collection of Strayed's advice columns and not be moved. I also found it odd that critics found her personal stories narcissistic and meandering. Au Contraire Mon Frere - her stories reveal her brokenness, her unworthiness, her poor judgment and the tragic acts she's endured at the hands of others. She has walked through the fire and she is still standing strong.
I have recently had two very drastically different experiences with audiobooks. The first was Before I Fall by Lauren Oliver, about a popular girl at school who dies in a car crash and relives the last day of her life over and over, trying to fix what she has broken.
Kresley Cole does it again with this amazing, riveting tale of Lothaire—an ancient vampire bent on ruling all of the Horde (evil vampires, btw)! But wait... his efforts thwarted by puny Elizabeth Pierce, a mere mortal. This book does not follow the same-old, same-old recipe I commonly find in paranormal romance novels.
