Best for: People interested in learning more about the real cost of solitary confinement. In a nutshell: A collection of essays about solitary confinement, with the vast majority being authored by those who have actually experienced it. Line that sticks with me: “I could see grass through the window at the end of the hall. When they found out I could see it, they put a plate over it. We are way worse than other countries.” Why I chose it: This was a recommendation from […]
I’m a fountain of blood in the shape of a girl…
Patricia Engel has published two other books, the short story collection Vida and the novel It’s Not Love, It’s Just Paris. Even though I haven’t read either of those books, I felt that I needed to read her new novel, The Veins of the Ocean. Not only because the reviews were intriguing (and very positive) but also because I don’t remember ever reading anything by a Colombian American novelist. The Veins of the Ocean is the story of Reina Castillo. When we first meet Reina […]
“Amory Lorch, Cersei Lannister, Chiswyck, Dunsen, Gregor Clegane, Ilyn Payne, Joffrey Baratheon, Meryn Trant, Forel Polliver, Raff the Sweetling, The Hound, The Tickler, Weese”…
They broke the mold after Dumas wrote “The Count of Monte Cristo.” There will never be a revenge plot as ambitious, as smooth, as Rube Goldbergian, as violent, as tense, or as passionate as this. This is the Ur Revenge Plot. I devoured this book. Inhaled it. And it’s partly because my brain melted a bit after the election, and then I was doggedly rebuilding my spirits with Solnit’s “Hope in the Dark” (TBR) (GET OFF MY BACK), and then it was Thanksgiving, and I […]
A high-octane thriller that stretches credibility — if you care
This bloody action-packed Norwegian police procedural/thriller is as exciting and fast-paced in its telling as it is absurd in its plot. The “hero” is young Sonny Lofthus, a lifer and a drug addict who has spent the past 15 years behind bars copping to crimes committed by the crime syndicate that runs all manner of nasty operations in Oslo. In return, he is kept happily supplied with top quality heroin, to which the assistant warden is well paid to keep a blind eye. The broken […]
Learning About Prison the Best Way–Vicariously
I watched only a bit of Orange is the New Black on television before I lost interest. I couldn’t connect with the main character, and I found the storyline a little troubling. I couldn’t understand why we needed a rich, white woman to tell us about prison, and the humor of it hit me the wrong way. But the show continued to grow in popularity, and I continued hearing about it. And then I noticed the book, Orange is the New Black (2010) by Piper […]