Category: Nonfiction

4/5, AUTHOR, Book Review, G, Nonfiction, RATING, Read in 2010, READING CHALLENGES 2010

REVIEW: The Fun of Dying by Roberta Grimes

Tara

The Fun of Dying: Find Out What Really Happens Next!
by Roberta Grimes

Copyright: 2010
Pages: 149
Rating: 4/5
Read: Oct. 8-15, 2010
Challenge: 2010 100+ Reading Challenge
Yearly Count: 55

From the back of the book:

If you wonder whether death ends life, how it feels to die, or what heaven might be like, this book is for you. If you worry about a lost loved one or fret about the death of a pet, all the answers to your questions are here. And if you are afraid of death, if you worry that your life has no meaning, or if you have given up on religions, then let this book ease some of your fears while it brings new meaning to your life. Nothing written here is based on the teachings of any religion. Instead, this book draws on more than a century’s worth of evidence to explain in detail how death feels, how it happens, and – most importantly – what comes next. Accounts of near-death experiences are just a small part of the afterlife evidence. A lot of the best death-related evidence was produced in the first half of the 20th century, and it has been ignored ever since by mainstream science and mainstream religions. When it is put together with more recent discoveries, it tells a consistent and amazing story. The Fun of Dying is a complete account of how dying feels and what comes next. Read it, learn the truth, and apply its lessons so you can enjoy your best life forevermore!

I received this book courtesy of Megan Renart at Phenix & Phenix Publicists. This was a quick and easy read, while I didn’t really agree with some of the points that the author made, overall I felt as if it was an interesting read. I haven’t read a lot of books regarding this topic so it was definitely a new learning experience for me. I’m not very religious, so my thoughts in regards to what happens after death are kind of vague. I personally liked the fact that the author made it perfectly clear early on in the book that she is not an “expert” in this field, that she has a career other than studying death (an attorney). I feel like that fact made this book just that much more readable. I would highly recommend this book to anyone who would like to learn more about death and what happens afterward.

3/5, AUTHOR, Book Review, C, Nonfiction, RATING, Read in 2010, READING CHALLENGES 2010

REVIEW: From Love Field by Nellie Connally

Tara

From Love Field: Our Final Hours with President John F. Kennedy
by Nellie Connally and Mickey Herskowitz

Copyright: 2003
Pages: 203
Rating: 3/5
Read: Sept. 4, 2010
Challenge: 2010 100+ Reading Challenge; RYOB 2010
Yearly Count: 45

First Line: We were two couples in the prime of our lives.

This is a memoir written by Nellie Connally, the wife of Texas Governor John Connally. The Connally’s were in the limousine with the Kennedy’s on that fateful trip to Dallas. It’s a quick and easy read, and it was enjoyable. Mrs. Connally really didn’t go into any of the conspiracy theories, she simply states what she went through and felt during the day that the President was assassinated and the following days. I personally felt like Mrs. Connally could have expanded to this book a little bit, but I understand why she felt it necessary to keep it shorter and to the point. Overall, I would recommend this book to anyone who is interested in the Kennedy assassination and is interested in reading a book with a different perspective to the assassination.

3.5/5, AUTHOR, Book Review, C, Nonfiction, RATING, Read in 2009, READING CHALLENGES 2009

REVIEW: Decoding the Lost Symbol by Simon Cox

Tara

Decoding the Lost Symbol
by Simon Cox

Copyright: 2009
Pages: 221
Rating: 3.5/5
Read: Dec. 17-23, 2009
Challenge:  2009 100+ Reading Challenge; 2010 Countdown Challenge
Yearly Count: 69

I was contacted by Anna Suknov at FSB Associates about reading and reviewing this book. First of all, it hurt that I have not read The Lost Symbol yet (But I did see the movie). I guess it never occurred to me that I would need to read the book before I read this “Unauthorized expert guide to the facts behind the fiction.” Now that is not to say that I didn’t enjoy this book. It was pretty good. However, it would help if you read The Lost Symbol before reading this one (OOPS! LOL) I learned some new things. Actually, I learned a lot of new things. I have previously read (and loved) The Da Vinci Code but I never thought to look into just how much of a stretch Dan Brown took when writing it. But after reading this one, I realized that Brown probably stretched quite a bit to make his fiction so enjoyable. On the flip side, it was nice to read this book before reading The Lost Symbol so that I would have a clearer picture of what is what in regards to fiction and fact. So all in all, if you want to know what is fact and what is fiction in The Lost Symbol this is a great resource to begin with! Mr. Cox makes great use of numerous sources and really helped me to understand certain aspects about the book that I never would have understood had I not read this one.

AUTHOR, Book Review, E, Nonfiction, Read in 2009, READING CHALLENGES 2009

REVIEW: Children of Dust by Ali Eteraz

Tara

Children of Dust
by Ali Eteraz

Copyright: 2009
Pages: 337
Rating: 4/5
Read: Nov. 16 – Dec. 3, 2009
Challenge:  2009 100+ Reading Challenge; Countdown Challenge 2010
Yearly Count: 63

First Line: In Mecca fathers become inclined to give up their sons.

This is not a book that I would have picked up from a bookstore or the library. It’s not even something that would have attracted my attention on a shelf. But when I was contacted by Julie Harabedian of FSB Associates about reviewing this book, I was intrigued by the description. I will admit that I know little about Pakistan and their people and their faith. It’s just never anything that I studied in school or on my own time. However, after reading this book I find myself interested in learning more. But to focus on the point of this post: the review of Children of Dust. This is really an enlightening book. It is extremely well written, by which I mean that it really flows. (For anyone who pays attention to the above listed dates in which I read this book, please ignore them: I went out of town and left the book at home because I have a huge fear of leaving books on airplanes). This book is not a slow read by any means. It begins with the Mr. Eteraz’s early childhood in Pakistan and how things were. We then follow him to the United States, when his family immigrated. It was very interesting to see how Mr. Eteraz describes trying to just be a normal kid when he had such a strict upbringing in regards to his home life. But my favorite section of the book was when he returned to Pakistan. I think his years in the United States really opened his eyes up to what his childhood was really like and what his life would have been like had he never immigrated to the United States. As Americans, a lot of us do not understand the kind of impact that religion has on other people around the world. I, for one, am not extremely religious, nor is anyone in my family. And this book really demonstrates quite well how there is a fine distinction between religious belief and religious extremism. I enjoyed this book quite a lot. It allowed me to learn more than a few things about the Pakistani world and their religious beliefs. If you want a really raw emotional book, this is a good place to start.

5/5, AUTHOR, Book Review, D, Nonfiction, P, RATING, Read in 2009, READING CHALLENGES 2009

REVIEW: The Murder of King Tut by James Patterson and Martin Dugard

Tara

The Murder of King Tut
by James Patterson & Martin Dugard

Copyright: 2009
Pages: 332
Rating: 5/5
Read: Nov. 13-15, 2009
Challenge:  2009 100+ Reading Challenge; 2010 Countdown Challenge
Yearly Count: 60

First Line: It was New Year’s Eve as a somber, good-looking explorer named Howard Carter, speaking fluent Arabic, gave the order to begin digging.

King Tut, the Boy King. Less than a decade after becoming Pharaoh of Egypt, the boy dies mysteriously. In the years following his demise, his name is essentially wiped from the history books. Even today, the death of King Tut remains somewhat of a mystery. Howard Carter’s life mission was to uncover a virgin tomb; he wanted King Tut’s tomb the most. He began his search in 1907. It would take many, many years before he finally found Tut and the world would finally begin to understand the Boy King. In this book, James Patterson teams up with Martin Dugard to really look through all the evidence and put Tut’s life and death in a spotlight like never before – true crime and history collides in this book as Patterson unravels the mystery surrounding the Boy King.

Being a history major, I love anything history pretty much. But here recently my husband, mom, and dad, all went up to Indianapolis to see the King Tut exhibit. It really reignited my interest in Egyptian history. I was unfortunately never able to take a course in college on Egypt, but I knew some things from different museum trips and whatnot. But this book was really interesting to me. It read like a novel, which will make history interesting to a lot more people. (It also has the name James Patterson on it – which I have come to the conclusion sells a book like nothing else.) It’s really an easy read. And yet it’s historical. A lot of people don’t read historical books because they might feel bogged down or whatever the reason – however, if you are one of those people, please pick up this book!! You will not be bogged down at all. It reads like all of Patterson’s other works – like a novel. If you have any interest whatsoever in Egypt, this is an interesting book. However, I do want to add, that I’m not completely sold on Patterson’s conclusion – that it was a conspiracy of the three people closest to him. I’m not saying that it isn’t true, it very well may be, but without knowing more information regarding the mystery surrounding Tut’s death I’m not sure if this is right. Who knows if Tut was even really murdered?! However, if he was, there was almost certainly some sort of conspiracy, and it definitely revolved around the desire to have the power that Tut had as Pharaoh. But one of the three people that Patterson names, I’m not completely sold on being a part of the conspiracy. I think that there could possibly be other explanations for that person’s actions. But that’s just my opinion … I highly recommend this book to anyone who loves a good murder mystery, because that’s what this book is all about!

3/5, AUTHOR, Book Review, L, Nonfiction, RATING, Read in 2009, READING CHALLENGES 2009

REVIEW: The Murder of Laci Peterson by Cliff Linedecker

Tara

The Murder of Laci Peterson
by Cliff Linedecker

Copyright: 2003
Pages: 222
Rating: 3.5/5
Read: Oct. 13-19, 2009
Challenge:  2009 100+ Reading Challenge ; RYOB 2009; Countdown Challenge 2010
Yearly Count: 55

First Line: Homicide is the leading cause of death for pregnant women in America.

I followed this case like nothing I had ever followed before or since. I was just absolutely obsessed with it. And yeah, I thought Peterson was guilty from pretty much day one. I don’t want to go into a lot of details of the case itself because anyone who was alive in America and paying the slightest bit of attention in 2002 after the disappearance of Laci to the end of 2005 that culminated with the guilty verdict and death sentence of Scott knows at least the basic facts of this case. All in all, I was like a lot of the American people, I fell in love with the young woman with the deep dimples who was excited to be having a baby boy in a few months. And I was outraged that her husband could possibly be responsible for killing her. To read the first line of this book that I quoted up above is absolutely sickening. Pregnancy is supposed to be the happiest time in a woman’s life. It’s really a miracle, a blessing. Having never been pregnant myself, I cannot imagine what it would feel like to carry a baby inside me. But I also cannot imagine the pain and hurt and betrayal that would accomany being murdered by your spouse either. But to know that you and your baby both were being murdered: unthinkable. There really isn’t nothing new in this book that anyone who paid attention to this case as it was unfolding wouldn’t already know. It was published before Scott Peterson went on trial for the murders of his wife and unborn son, so there is a huge chunk of the case not even covered in it. But I suppose if you want a pretty good description of the facts of the case, this would be a good choice. I have also read Laci by Michael Fleeman (last year I believe). I’m not sure which one would be the better choice, because the facts are the facts pretty much in this case. But if you’re a true crime fan, this is definitely a book and case that will prove to be interesting.

4/5, AUTHOR, Book Review, Nonfiction, RATING, Read in 2009, READING CHALLENGES 2009, S

REVIEW: sTORItelling by Tori Spelling

Tara

sTORItelling
by Tori Spelling

Copyright: 2008
Pages: 271
Rating: 4/5
Read: Aug. 31-Sept. 1, 2009
Challenge:  2009 100+ Reading Challenge
Yearly Count: 45

First Line: When you’re a kid, you don’t worry about what anyone thinks.

Tori Spelling … her name along can evoke a lot of different ideas in one’s head. Donna Martin – America’s Virgin. Aaron Spelling’s daughter. Well-known feud with her mother. So I guess people either love or hate her. Me, I had no real opinion about her going into this book. There was a lot in here that I didn’t know much about to be honest. I knew that she had been raised in an unimaginably huge house (not quite accurate) and her father had bought her a white Christmas one year with the help of a snow machine (accurate) and that she had played Donna Martin, America’s favorite virgin on 90210 (accurate) and that she had been married in a fairy-tale wedding (it was someone’s fairy tale, just not hers) and that she divorced abruptly and remarried in the blink of an eye (fairly accurate) oh and now she has two kids. Okay, so that pretty much summed up what I knew about Tori Spelling. But this book really opened up her world. Tori came across as a girl who had grown up with everything but then didn’t understand when she had to actually work for everything once she turned 16. She seemed to want nothing more than acceptance and love and it didn’t come easy to her. Her life is full of disappointments and sometimes regrets. But you know what, that makes her like every other person. She really proves that life isn’t fair to Tori Spelling. I mean, take for example the fact that her father was reportedly worth $500 million dollars upon his death, all she got out of the will was $800,000 BEFORE taxes … she had to pay rent to her mother for the condo that she lived in for 10 years … she was in debt before she realized what had happened. I guess some people might see this book as nothing more than a sob story, but I really found it enlightening. Sure, she seems to have had a pretty screwed up childhood, but I think that after she met Dean maybe she finally did find what she was looking for in life. Regardless of whatever preconceived notions you have about her, I really do recommend giving this book a shot … if nothing else, it definitely has some hilarious moments like this one:

Dad told me that in order to earn my allowance, I’d have to help out around the house, so he gave me a job and said he’d do it with me. Every weekend we’d go out into the yard to scoop up dog poo and rake leaves. That’s right, every weekend TV mogul Aaron Spelling, net worth equivalent to some small island nation, went out and scooped poo with his daughter (p. 12).

Oh yeah – and her first kiss was with Screech!

AUTHOR, Book Review, G, Nonfiction, Read in 2009

If I Did It by the Goldman Family

Tara

If I Did It: Confessions of the Killer
by The Goldman Family

Copyright: 2006
Pages: 202
Rating: 4/5
Read: June 17-22, 2009
Challenge:  2009 100+ Reading Challenge
Yearly Count: 31

First Line: I’m going to tell you a story you’ve never heard before, because no one knows this story the way I know it.

Unless you were living under a rock in 1994, you know this story. Nicole Brown Simpson & Ron Goldman were brutally murdered one night in June. Her ex-husband, the famous O.J. Simpson was the assumed killer. Practically everyone thought he had done it … but he walked away a free man. Although the Goldman family won in a civil trial, they never got the money out of Simpson that they were awarded. Until one day in 2006 when it came out that O.J. was going to write a book, a so-called confession. They fought him on it, they didn’t want something like that in print. But then they realized that maybe it should be published, but that they wanted the rights to it. Well, they eventually won and the book was published.

Okay, so I was a little young in 1994 … I’m going to out my age here, I was 9. However, I remember the trial in 1995. I remember specifically that I was at Walt Disney World with my grandparents and we could hardly pull my grandfather away from the TV to go to the park because he was glued to the trial. I was obviously too young to really know what was going on. But as I grew up and really got interested in true crime stories I saw many TV specials and books on the trial. I formed an opinion based on what I read. When this book came out a few years ago, I have to admit, I was intrigued. A confession? Really?! But I didn’t really want to buy it. So when I saw it in the library last week I snatched it up knowing now would be a great time to read it. And I have to say, the actual original manuscript written by the ghostwriter after extensive interviews with O.J., it was chilling. It sure seemed more of a confession rather than a “If I had done it, this is how I would have done it.” Whatever your opinion on whether or not O.J. did it, this book is a must-read for anyone interested in this trial.

AUTHOR, Book Review, Nonfiction, R, Read in 2008

Dead by Sunset by Ann Rule

Tara
Dead by Sunset
by Ann Rule

Copyright: 1995
Pages: 528
Rating: 2/5
Read: Nov. 20-23, 2008
Challenge: Triple Eight – True Crime Category; Celebrate the Author

First Line: September 21, 1986, was a warm and beautiful Sunday in Portland – in the whole state of Oregon, for that matter.

Attorney Cheryl Keeton’s body was found in her van on an Oregon freeway. Her husband, Brad Cunningham, was the prime suspect. Unfortunately, there was no evidence linking him. He married again, to Sara, a physician. She adopted his three sons and they settled to have a fairytale life together. Unfortunately, things start to go wrong and everything becomes a nightmare…

I was not really impressed by this book. I usually like Ann Rule’s books, but this one seemed to drag a little bit. Maybe it was because I didn’t know anything about this case before picking the book up. I’m not sure, this one just didn’t appeal to me very much.

3/5, AUTHOR, Book Review, D, Nonfiction, Read in 2008

Presumed Guilty by Matt Dalton

Tara
Presumed Guilty: What the Jury Never Knew About Laci Peterson’s Murder and Why Scott Peterson Should Not Be on Death Row
by Matt Dalton with Bonnie Hearn Hill

Copyright: 2005
Pages: 192
Rating: 3/5
Read: Aug. 9-11, 2008
Challenge: Triple Eight – True Crime Category

First Line: On April 18, 2003, Scott Peterson, a thirty-year-old fertilizer salesman from Modesto, California, was arrested for the murder of his wife, Laci, and their unborn child, whose bodies were identified the same day.

Matt Dalton was involved in the Scott Peterson case as a defense attorney alongside Mark Geragos in the early stages of the investigation. Matt was the attorney that had primary involvement with Scott while he was in jail after being charged. Dalton is convinced that Scott Peterson is stone cold innocent. In this book he goes into a lot of detail as to other explanations for Laci’s murder. He discusses theories such as the satanic cult group and that the burglary of the house across the street was related. He also says that he personally uncovered six witnesses who could place Laci alive on the morning of December 24, 2002. But the question that he really left unanswered is why those witnesses were never called to the stand in the trial. Now, he states somewhere along the way that it is up to the trial attorney to decide who gets called as a witness. And for anyone who watched this trial like I did, they know that Geragos did not exactly prove Scott innocent like he said he would in his opening statement. If I’m not mistaken, I believe Geragos even mentioned those six witnesses in that same opening …. so why were they not called?! If they could swear under oath that Laci Peterson was indeed alive and out and about when Scott Peterson was out fishing, why wouldn’t or couldn’t they testify?! As you can tell from my comments, I didn’t buy into this book whatsoever. If perhaps Geragos had called those witnesses to the stand during the trial, the ending would have been different. But as the jurors stated after the trial was over, there simply was no other alternative as to who could have possibly committed that horrendous crime. Overall, I felt that Dalton made a good case on some of the points that he pointed out, but in the end, he didn’t convince me anymore than Mark Geragos at trial convinced me.

There is one passage that I would like to quote from this book:

I again got the feeling I’d had when I first met him – that he was docile. He certainly didn’t seem to fit the profile of a psychopath, and he didn’t strike me as a killer. I couldn’t imagine this young man doing anything like what he’d been accused of. (p. 30)

The first thing I thought of when I read that ….. people said the same thing about Ted Bundy.