I see that this book has won the esteemed European Union Prize for Literature. Remind me not to take their recommendations in the future. Maybe it's just me? But I hated every page of this dud. First of all, the author is a gorgeous, svelte woman. Seriously, looks like she should be modeling for Boden. That isn't hate-worthy, but she obviously has a deep-seated prejudice against those who aren't similarly beautiful. Especially in the area of padding. I couldn't begin to count the number of times she described some undesirable character as "fat", "pudgy", "pig". It became a game to me to try to find these descriptors, and Lovely and Lissome Lana didn't disappoint. The obvious judgment aside, how about learning some new words? There's this handy thing called a "thesaurus" which can fix you right up, girlfriend. How about "corpulent", "porcine", "heavy", or "husky"? Or let's even stretch our minds (and characters) further and come up with some other ways to describe people? How about "skinny"? "Withered"? Or "leathery", "grumpy", "jocular", "mumbling", "crusty" or "gangly"? There is a whole world out there that doesn't have to be described as fat. The mother was disgusting and fat. The annoying moms on the beach were fat. The creepy man was fat. Get. Over. Yourself. Beyond this, the characters in the book were completely unlikeable and I was hoping they'd have a car accident and we'd be done with the whole thing asap. Alas, I had to read to the end. What a colossal waste of time.

Some people sail through life, confident and assured that they're a-okay and if somebody has a beef with them, well, too bad for that person. I'm definitely not in that camp. And, as it turns out, lots of us aren't. Brene turns her wisdom to the topic of shame, perfectionism, judgment and self-criticism and does her thing that she does. Like an old carpet that we walk on in the same patterns, over and over, eventually wearing ruts into the weave and forcing ourselves to continue on those self-imposed paths, we can unintentionally steer our thoughts to the same unhealthy conclusions every time we have a hiccup in our behavior, conversations or relationships. Brene pulls out that old carpet and suggests maybe just walking on the floor underneath. Is it perfect? Nope. But you can go anywhere you want. You just have to know that you can. I read it in small chunks that I could ponder, little by little. Or, you can do it however YOU want to do it. No judgment, no shame.

I've always been captivated by stories of seafaring. Brave souls paddling a dugout by the stars, a clipper ship bouncing along, or more recent stories of sailors or merchants braving what that world has to offer--all seem terrifying and thrilling. There's no 911 out there, and things can get dicey. This narrative of the "perfect" storm of October, 1991 follows the crew and initial voyage of the Andrea Gail, sailing into this monster. Through comparisons with sister ships traveling just enough ahead or behind her, the author has pieced together what probably happened during this storm of deathly proportions. Beyond that, the unimaginable bravery of the Air National Guard is detailed in their multiple rescues during this same hellish soup. Truly nightmarish, I found myself stopping and looking up, outside, to estimate just how tall those waves were. Honestly, though, it's hard to comprehend. Riveting and brilliantly paced. I read the book years ago, when it was new, but it was just as captivating the second time around.

If you like John Irving, you just might like this quirky book. The protagonist, Eduardo, has committed some infraction and through connections has gotten a cushy sentence of community service--reading to people in their homes. His clients are unique and there are, of course, back stories and tangled webs involving them and theirs. Although I don't find myself drawn to deep poetry, and this book centers around one particular poem, I found it an easy and painless, if not page-turning, read.

Jory was a non-verbal mystery to his parents, but over time, his mom was able to help him unlock his brilliant brain and enabled him to navigate the world of neurotypical (average?) people. Written as an interview, you'll learn how this Rhodes Scholar's fascinating mind translates his "language" into standard oral communication--no easy feat for someone with his makeup. From spirituality to small talk, end-of-life to courtesy, you may be surprised at his logical, yet extremely sensitive view of things we often, condescendingly and erroneously, assume are beyond the realm of autistic people. It makes you realize that we, the "normal" ones, might be the ones who are lacking.

One has to wonder about the author a little bit--maybe in his formative years he read Lolita and that really imprinted on him what a sexy relationship is like. I know it was only a story but I found it a bit disturbing. Rose is 14, and from a poor family. She is sold to a household as a cook/maid, and you probably have guessed, for nefarious other uses. There's the requisite ice-cold grand dame, withered and stone-hearted, the "master" who is evil to the core and ugly to boot, and of course, the anti-hero love interest who is more than twice Rose's age. There are some twists, later on in the tale, but I found a lot of it tedious and heavy with philosophy, and just didn't really care, as I'd divorced myself from the characters early on to avoid the sadistic force-feeding nature of the book. Not my flavor.

This sweet book tells has a wonderful array of photos of unlikely (and to some, unloveable) heroes, and gives a short, lively bio of each. Jennifer's supposition is that by dumping our notions of worthiness based on a stereotypical expectation of what "cute" really is, we can appreciate these "ugly" creatures and then, perhaps, do the same with each other. Actually, I thought most of them were just cute. And wouldn't we be better off to give our neighbor the same consideration? It's a keeper. :)

First of all, Jamey can write. From the outset, you just glide along, forgetting that this isn't someone across the table telling you their story. The nuts and bolts are that Tracy, her brother and father are getting by after her mom's accidental death. You learn a lot about some family secrets (love that, at first), there's a sneak attack on Tracy, and then a different man conveniently shows up to trade work for rent--coincidence? That being said, for me, the story being told gets frustrating because over and over, they could have avoided this or that unfortunate event just by having a very basic conversation and being just a tad less secretive. And then there's THE event, which, well, you'd have to read it and I'm not a spoiler. A little nudge over on the fantasy side for me, but like I said, the writing was so good that it was good anyway.

True to form, this author writes a book that draws you in, even when you want to cry. Without spoiling anything, I felt the overarching theme of this book was the endurance of love, even when it is not seemingly returned. Faithfulness, loyalty and commitment abound above all else, even in unexpected places, from unlikely people. But the flip side of all of that is that there is loss, sadness, bereavement, betrayal. If you need a profound book that might move you to tears, here you go.

We all know George was our first president, and this is the first biography of him written by a woman! (The excerpts included in the book of some of the other books make me never want to read them, although the author thinks we all should.) Washington's passion for his country, his desire to serve and his amazingly strong constitution are all admirable and obvious. What was surprising was that the founding fathers weren't a group of like-minded guys, arms linked, walking in lock-step toward the same goal(s). There was backstabbing, lying, published smearing--sounds like anything you might encounter today. An interesting time travel to the psyche of Mr. Washington and what made him tick (and what didn't). Both uplifting and discouraging, a lot like our political landscape. Whaddya know.

In this fascinating book about Henry Every, notorious pirate of the 17th century, you will bounce back and forth between his championing of egalitarianism (to a point) and root for the legal team who strove to string him up. As Every outran and outsmarted his pursuers, you are drawn into the excitement, but there were some encounters that will make you shudder, for sure--he was the ultimate antihero. It was interesting to read about the interconnecting web of piracy's effect on the East India Company, capitalism, the government of England, and even a courtroom scene that would be riveting on Netflix today. Serious swashbuckling drama, and relief that we don't have pirates raiding our towns today.

If you think you know what prison is like, think again. If you think you know what prisoners are like, think again. If you think you might know why prisoners get the sentences they do, think again, long and hard. Prisoners of all stripes were interviewed for their perspective on topics from sentencing practices to family, to making life tolerable while incarcerated. This book of first-hand stories guided by Nigel Poor, from the Prison University Project, and Earlonne Woods, prisoner of San Quentin (at the time of the project) sprung from a podcast they created from spit and imagination. They figured out how to do it, figured out an angle, got a sound guy, and then went on to win Radiotopia's Podquest prize in 2016. You'll find that you have lots more in common with these people than you may have thought, and maybe rethink your position on some of the laws that put people behind bars. Not only did the authors (and podcasters) give us un unprecedented look into these lives, but they developed a deep respect and friendship for each other in the process. Made me wonder what I'm doing with my days that really makes a difference . . . and helps me set my sights on what I'd like to do to change that.